Exercises focusing on rotator cuff and scapular muscles do not improve shoulder joint position sense in healthy subjects

Proprioception is essential for shoulder neuromuscular control and shoulder stability. Exercise of the rotator cuff and scapulothoracic muscles is an important part of shoulder rehabilitation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of rotator cuff and scapulothoracic muscle exercises on shoulder joint position sense. Thirty-six healthy subjects were recruited and randomly assigned into either a control or training group. The subjects in the training group received closed-chain and open-chain exercises focusing on rotator cuff and scapulothoracic muscles for four weeks. Shoulder joint position sense errors in elevation, including the humerothoracic, glenohumeral and scapulothoracic joints, was measured. After four weeks of exercise training, strength increased overall in the training group, which demonstrated the effect of exercise on the muscular system. However, the changes in shoulder joint position sense errors in any individual joint of the subjects in the training group were not different from those of the control subjects. Therefore, exercises specifically targeting individual muscles with low intensity may not be sufficient to improve shoulder joint position sense in healthy subjects. Future work is needed to further investigate which types of exercise are more effective in improving joint position sense, and the mechanisms associated with those changes.     

Tactile order memory: evidence for sequence learning phenomena found with other stimulus types

We examine serial order memory for sequences of tactile stimuli and investigate whether established characteristics of order memory, namely serial position effects, error distributions, and Hebb repetition learning, are observed with tactile memory. Visually obscured participants received six tactile stimulations: one to each of six fingers. At test, participants lifted the six fingers in the order of stimulation. For every third trial participants received the same order of stimulation (i.e. the Hebb sequence). Serial recall accuracy produced the canonical bowed serial position function found for immediate serial recall. In addition, recall for the Hebb sequence improved relative to the filler sequences, providing the first demonstration of the Hebb repetition effect with tactile stimuli. Analysis of errors revealed close similarities to that reported with verbal and visual stimuli. This experiment further generalises established features of order memory to tactile memory, supporting the utilisation of an analogous order memory mechanism across stimuli.     

愤怒emoji位置对发送者愤怒感知的影响

emoji自出现以来在世界范围内受到广泛欢迎。研究关注消费者评论中的emoji, 并着重探讨负面消费者评论中, 愤怒emoji如何影响消费者对发送者愤怒感知。研究共进行了3个实验室实验, 研究结果表明: (1)与句尾愤怒emoji相比, 句中愤怒emoji会使人们感到发送者更强的愤怒; (2)在愤怒emoji位置与对发送者愤怒感知关系中, 愤怒emoji位置突出感知和情感加强感知承担连续中介角色; (3)文字评论极性调节了愤怒emoji位置对发送者愤怒感知的影响作用。     

Quand le genre s’en mêle : quelle conciliation entre vie professionnelle et vie privée ?

Declarations of conciliation between private life and professional life based on three factors (sex, gender and positions) are studied in this paper. Our goals were (i) to show that conciliation between the different life spheres need to be considered both in terms of conflict and of life enrichment; (ii) and to demonstrate that the gender variable has combined effects with sex variables, as well as with positions variables, over the perception of work in relation to family interferences in terms of nature (conflict/enrichment), intensity and direction (family over work versus work over family). The study, conducted with 240 employees of low or high professional positions, based on SWING and BSRI scales, shows the moderating effect of gender on the perceptions of conciliation, whether enriching or conflicting. Our results also allow us to conclude that congruent adjustment (masculine domination) of the levels of our three factors constitute a protecting factor for employees, while an incongruent adjustment can constitute a risk factor, this being especially verified for women.     

Mens sana in corpore sano: Psychotherapy with a cerebral palsy child aged nine months

This paper is the acount of the psychoanalytic understanding and treatment of a nine-month-old cerebral-palsy infant and her mother. When first seen, Abigail hung over her mother's arm, and would scream unceasingly if moved from this position. The mother-child relationship seemed to involve their sticking to each other without looking or losing contact. The mother's hidden hate, anger and resentment were communicated non-verbally and Abigail showed signs of finding it difficult or impossible to integrate experiences, given the amount of trauma she had suffered from an attempted abortion and the lack of enough experience of being loved to enable her to grow internally.

The process of assessing the internal world of the infant and her mother, and the thinking and planning of the psychotherapy that followed, are described. In order to promote the secure attachment of the mother-child dyad, and the emotional growth of both, the helping process focused on understanding both the baby's and mother's states in order to make sense of the child's inner world to the mother. Because of the acute pain this process involved for the mother, she was treated individually too, by a different therapist.     

Growth in emotional intelligence. Psychotherapy with a learning disabled girl

This paper describes the once-weekly psychoanalytic psychotherapy of a girl, called Ellie, aged eight at the start of her treatment. Ellie had a learning disability and displayed difficult behaviour at school and at home. In her therapy, Ellie grew in emotional intelligence, more in touch with and able to express her feelings. Her behaviour improved and so did her capacity to learn. In the therapy there were certain limitations to progress and this is discussed in terms of how Ellie's disability affected the basic achievements of emotional development, including a mind with a solid ‘reality ego’, able to contain anxiety, and able to maintain depressive functioning. The importance of parallel parent work, to share observations and understanding of the child's functioning is discussed. Difficulties for both child and parents in dealing with the pain of difference and how this limits emotional intelligence are discussed. The author hopes that this paper will encourage the offering of psychoanalytic psychotherapy to children and young people with learning disabilities, who are significantly more likely to suffer from mental health problems than their peers.     

Book Reviews

Abstract

There are many brief, demanding, aborted cases that no one ever writes about. The typical psychoanalyst or psychoanalytic psychotherapist, however, has many outpatient cases that are shortlived, intense encounters with very disturbed patients. Rather than ignore these encounters as non-analytic or non-instructive, I think these cases add to our knowledge about the mind and its functions. In addition, it is unrealistic to think we can always help a very anxious and disturbed person to enter the treatment process with immediate success. It is more instructive to apply the analytic method and offer the patient what we can and have both analyst and patient learn as much as they can in the time they are able to stay together. Using case material, I show the Kleinian approach to working analytically with these difficult patients. Whether focusing on transference or extra-transference material, the analyst interprets the patient's internal phantasies and anxieties regarding the self and the self's important objects. This analytic stance tends to relieve the immediate anxiety and set the stage for potential self-reflection and the start of basic working-through processes.     

Using optical illusions in the shoulder of a cycle path to affect lateral position

An important factor in single-sided accidents of older cyclists is that they ride off the cycle path onto the verge. Two experiments were performed to assess the feasibility of using virtual 3D objects in the verge to affect the lateral position of bicyclists. In the first experiment, different virtual objects were placed in the shoulder and 1150 passing bicyclists were observed using a fixed camera. The (standard deviation of the) lateral position and speed in four conditions with virtual objects differing in colour, structure, or 3D effect were compared with a control condition in which no virtual objects were applied. In a second experiment, the behaviour of 32 bicyclists aged 50 years or older was measured by mounting two digital action cameras with GPS on the participants’ bicycles. The participants cycled a route of approximately 12 km in which several locations were passed, one of these contained 15 virtual objects similar to the ones used in the first experiment placed in the shoulder of the cycle path. Cyclist behaviour was compared with behaviour at a control location consisting of a solitary two-way cycle path with a grass shoulder. Results indicate that the virtual objects in the tested format had little overall effect on cyclists’ behaviour. However, bicyclists were positioned closer to the virtual objects and the shoulder when they looked at the objects or when they reported that they saw them while cycling. This suggests that the overall visibility of the object design may have been too conservative.     

Psychiatry and religion: a perspective on meaning

ABSTRACT

A Position Statement on Spirituality and Religion in Psychiatry was issued by the World Psychiatric Association in 2016. Among many recommendations, this statement underscores the need for research on both religion and spirituality in psychiatry, especially on their clinical applications. In this contribution we will put light on the issue of meaning and meaning-making, i.e., an important field for every human, Particularly for individuals suffering from severe mental disorders. After an introduction about meaning in its religious/spiritual dimension, we will describe what needs to be studied in order to get a better knowledge as to how patients cope with meaning, and how they process (in terms of meaning-making) the outburst of a severe mental disorder such as schizophrenia.     

Mentoring for Mental Health within a University: A psychodynamic approach

This paper explores the role of mentoring in a British University for students with mental health issues and is written from the perspective of the Mentor who is also a Psychodynamic Psychotherapist. Psychodynamic theory is applied to two case studies in order to understand the conscious and unconscious factors when considering these students’ particular learning difficulties and motivation for entering a learning environment. In the first case study, it is suggested that the student hopes to find his lost father within the containing bricks of the institution. When confronted with frustration and disappointment, he mobilises schizoid defences, precipitating a psychotic episode. The second case study formulates the student’s chronic procrastination, which verges on academic sabotage, as a defence against the unbearable guilt concerning his abilities and achievements in contrast with his unsuccessful and disabled siblings. The challenge of helping these students is explored, including the approaches taken by the Mentor, given her remit and the particular issues presented by the students.