Possession and Medicine in South Central India

Possession is a powerful and surprisingly prevalent belief system in many parts of the developing world. In India it is common for many reasons—isolation, illiteracy, polyglotism, lack of an adequate medical infrastructure, a need for hope. Possession, and the practice of exorcism, is more than just an explanatory system based on superstition and folk lore. It is also an important social structure and force that allows the integration of the sick into the community of the well, and facilitates a first albeit tentative step from the local community to the medical community. In many parts of India, health care delivery as well as social organization is through the practice of possession. Thus, the role and power of possession needs to be appreciated if one seeks to affect health care delivery in India, and further possession should be appreciated if one seeks to better understand how some of its forces might in fact be curative.     

Family Therapy in India: A New Profession in an Ancient Land?

This paper examines the need for family therapy in India and its evolution as an integrated academic discipline and widespread form of clinical practice. Included is a discussion of the numerous factors placing Indian families at risk today, both common and more serious child, marital, and family difficulties, the current status of mental health services and minimal emphasis on family-based treatment, and the potential benefits of family therapy to such a radically diverse and rapidly changing society. Targets of and settings for family therapy training are highlighted, and a brief outline of a training-the-trainer approach is provided.     

Continued Evolution of Family Therapy: The Last Twenty Years

There have been numerous accounts of the history and major trends and issues in family therapy during the field's first three decades in the literature (see for example: Broderick & Shrader, 1981; Framo, 1972; Guerin, 1976; Kaslow, 1973, 1977, 1980; Nichols, 1986, 1999 for some varied depictions, written from each respective author's unique lens). Viewed as a set, packaged with different, yet interrelated contents, they offer a multihued portrait of the emerging field during its infancy, childhood, and adolescence. Now it is time to move on and look at the adulthood era as it has unfolded.     

关于城镇职工医疗保险制度改革和发展趋势

我国城镇职工医疗保险制度改革是本届政府的五大改革之一。改革的基本思路是“低水平、广覆盖、双方负担、统筹结合”。同时,国家有关部委又区同制定出台了６个医疗保险制度改革配套文件。最后对我国医疗保险的发展趋势进行了分析！?     

在新医学模式指导下预防碘缺乏病

碘缺乏病严重危害人类健康,是最大的、可预防的智力损伤因素。通过“社会动员”,推动防治碘缺乏病（ＩＤＤ）“轮子”运转,使我国消除ＩＤＤ事业有了巨大进步。目前存在的问题可能会影响到该事业的可持续发展。对此,提出一些建议。     

Spirituality in Physical Health and Aging

A variety of research has documented the association between various measures of religion/spirituality and physical health outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on this topic. The paper also discusses the mechanisms that are thought to underlie the associations found in the literature. Further, the paper presents several avenues along which future research might proceed in order to advance our understanding of these issues. The paper concludes by making a case for the need for empirical examinations of these issues in countries other than the United States. Particular focus is paid here to religion among older adults in Japan.     

Determinants of Children's Primary Health Care Use

We review factors that influence children's use of primary health care services. Predictors of pediatric health care use include child health status, child mental health, parent and family functioning, demographic characteristics, and access to health care services. Health services research is marked by inconsistencies due to varying approaches to measurement, population sampling, and analysis, and models that do not incorporate situational factors. We present recommendations for practicing clinicians and discuss suggestions for future research to help identify additional factors that may influence a parent's decision to seek help from pediatric physicians. Health care use is determined by multiple factors, and complex models will lead to improved strategies for maximizing health status and establishing optimal pediatric care.     

初中生心理健康与气质、父母教养方式的关系

本研究从心理健康出发,采用《中学生心理健康量表》、《艾森克人格问卷》(儿童版)、《父母教养方式评定量表》对329名初中学生进行测量,探求初中生心理健康与气质、父母教养方式的关系。研究结果发现,初中生的心理健康与气质、家庭教养方式三者间存在交互作用,气质和家庭教养方式对心理健康有影响,气质是某些父母教养方式因子与心理健康的中介因素;并且气质特点与某些父母教养方式对初中生心理健康有较强的预测效应。     

Relationship between maternal aggression and maternal care in the rat

Aggression among female rats is almost entirely confined to the period of late pregnancy and lactation. Behaviorally it is similar to the aggression of males including piloerection and lateral attacks, but it differs in its function. Unlike male aggression which serves to establish a social hierarchy and a territory, i. e., is competitive, maternal aggression is protective, i. e., it serves to prevent predation of the mother's offspring. In this respect it is closely related temporally and causally to maternal care; if the offspring are removed maternal aggression wanes almost immediately–its function no longer exists! Studies on aggression by mothers, among rats, from the author's laboratory are reviewed and comparisons made with maternal care. As noted, maternal aggression and maternal care are closely related during the cycle of maternal behavior and they share a similar hormonal basis and possibly the effect of uterine stimulation, but maternal care requires prolactin and the decline of progesterone while maternal aggression appears independent of pituitary hormones and does not require a decline in progesterone. Maternal aggression like maternal care appears to be organized into a hormonal phase, during pregnancy, parturition, and for about a week postpartum and a nonhormonal phase thereafter. Bilateral radiofrequency lesions of the lateral midbrain peripeduncular nucleus (PPN) produce deficits in maternal aggression if made on lactation day 7 (L7), but not earlier, without producing significant deficits in maternal behavior. Experiments showed that the PPN does not mediate hormonally stimulated maternal aggression; it appears to mediate only nonhormonally stimulated maternal aggression. Studies on the role of pregnancy hormones on long-term retention of maternal aggression and the role of olfaction in maternal aggression are also reviewed. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.