Exposure to violence reduces empathetic responses to other’s pain

Past researches showed that empathy for pain not only triggers a resonance mechanism between other and self, but also is modulated by contextual factors. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the present study demonstrated that short-term media violence exposure reduced both pain ratings and also the activation of anterior insula and anterior mid-cingulate cortex to other’s pain. Thus, violence exposure modulated empathic responses to other’s pain based on a physiological desensitization.     

Psychoanalytic reflections on global warming and its relation to human omnipotence and ethical responsibility

Abstract

Global warming – reality or fantasy? Certainly, global warming is a dystopia linked to other catastrophes in human history, such as the Flood and Noah's Ark. Noah's belief in God saved his life and the life of his family. In our time, we need to sustain our belief in the human capacity to cooperate and survive. This is a necessary background when thinking of the future and analysing the border between fantasy and reality, between fear and paranoia, and in the process in which a new worldview takes form.     

Patient drawings of their melanoma: A novel approach to understanding symptom perception and appraisal prior to health care

Although previous research showed that the thin ideal provided by the media affects body image and eating behaviour in young children, less is known about specific media contents that are related to body image and eating behaviour. This study tested the associations between watching soaps and music television and body dissatisfaction and restrained eating directly, and indirectly through thin ideal internalisation. We conducted a survey in class, in which 245 girls (aged 7–9) completed scales on their television watching behaviour, thin ideal internalisation, body dissatisfaction and restrained eating. Additionally, height and weight were measured. Watching soaps and music television often was associated with higher thin ideal internalisation, which in turn was associated with higher body dissatisfaction and restrained eating. Furthermore, a direct association between watching soaps and music television and restrained eating was found. If watching other types of children's programmes or maternal encouragement to be thin were included in the models, watching soaps and music television remained an important factor, especially with regard to restrained eating. Therefore, our results suggest that if young girls watch soaps and music television often, this is related to higher restrained eating and body dissatisfaction, directly or indirectly, through higher thin ideal internalisation.     

Neuropsychological Functioning in Children with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been associated with deficits in the areas of verbal memory and learning, executive functioning, working memory, and attention in adults. Findings have been less consistent in the few studies examining neuropsychological functioning in childhood PTSD, which are often limited by comparing children with PTSD to children without trauma histories, making it unclear whether observed neuropsychological deficits are related to trauma exposure or to PTSD symptomatology. In an ethnically diverse sample of 62 children who witnessed intimate partner violence (n = 27 PTSD+ and 35 PTSD?), children with PTSD exhibited slower and less effective learning, heightened sensitivity to interference, and impaired effect of rehearsal on memory acquisition on the California Verbal Learning Test – Children's Version, a word list learning task. Both groups performed in the below average range on measures of executive functioning, attention, and intellectual ability.     

Teacher-instigated in-school interpersonal violence: Types and prevalence in South African public schools

The study examined types and prevalence of interpersonal violence in South African schools. Data on in-school interpersonal violence by the South African Council of Teachers (SACE) were analysed. The sample consisted of 1 184 teachers (rural = 32.6%, urban = 59.8%, peri-urban = 7.6%). Following logistic regression analyses, results indicated male teachers were the majority offenders. Furthermore, results showed that female teachers and learners were over nine times more likely to be victims of all types of violence, as compared to males. Findings support a social role theory perspective of gendered aggression in which males are likely to resort to physical violence, while females may engage in verbal violence.     

Perceptions of Violence and Crime as Aggression by Turkish—Islamic Families in Johannesburg

This study explored perceptions of aggression of Turkish-Islamic families with adolescent children in a large South African city. Participants were from four Turkish families with adolescent children (father = 4, mothers = 4; children = 5). Data were collected via interviews and analyzed. The families considered aggression to comprise crime and violence. They also considered it a universal phenomenon.     

Childhood Exposure to Community and Domestic Violence: Prevalence,Risk Factors and Posttraumatic Outcomes in a South African Student Sample

The effects of exposure to direct and vicarious community and domestic violence on the posttraumatic adjustment of 323 South African students were examined. Data were collected using self-administered questionnaires, with the relationship between exposure to violence and posttraumatic outcomes being explored using binomial logistic regression analyses. Two hundred and sixty-two participants (81 %) reported that they had been exposed to some form of interpersonal violence during childhood. An analysis of risk factors for exposure to violence indicated that males were more than twice as likely as females to have experienced victimization by a community member. Direct exposure to domestic violence was the only form of violence which was found to be associated with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Among participants who had experienced direct domestic violence, clinically significant levels of PTSD were significantly predicted by both gender (being female) and by abuse chronicity.     

Tate Modern: Jung modern

Abstract

This paper describes how a counsellor in education has to take on and respond to a number of transferences in the clinical work in addition to holding onto a number of centres within the institution and personally. It takes a close look at one student presentation and speaks to the quality of the emotional and psychological impact on the counsellor. It argues for the need to be both thoughtfully containing and thoughtfully penetrating in the clinical work despite the bombardment of conscious and unconscious material. Over all, the paper states how important it is for the counsellor to stay in touch with his/her own feelings, thereby effectively maintaining the depressive position, though this is painful given the current predominance of suicide and serious suicidal intentions among adolescents and young adults.     

Internal reflections of an external peace process: A case study

Abstract

This case study records and analyzes how external changes, emanating from the ceasefires in Northern Ireland in 1994, resulted in significant changes within the internal world of a Northern Irish Client     

Islamic identity re‐covered: Muslim women after September 11th

For women, hijab is a prominent and oftentimes controversial physical marker of their social identity as Muslims. This study explores the perceptions of Muslim women living in Houston regarding the hijab and how these perceptions were partially shaped by media portrayals of Muslim women overseas after the September 11th tragedy. The effects of these perceptions on women's decisions to wear the hijab after September 11th were also examined. Using a convenience sample of 67 women, semi‐structured interviews were conducted. Results suggest that American Muslim women were more likely to talk about hijab in terms of identity than immigrant Muslim women, and to believe that by wearing hijab they could help portray a more positive image of Muslims in the United States.