Ego Depletion as a Measure of Emotion Processing Deficits among MUS Patients

Previous studies have found a link between emotion processing deficits and medically unexplained physical symptoms (MUS). The majority of previous studies have used self-report measures of emotional processing, with the majority focusing on alexithymia, and have produced inconsistent and contradictory results. In the present study, we investigated the role of emotion-processing deficits in MUS by assessing emotion regulation performance and the effects of performance on ego depletion. Participants with high or low levels of self-reported MUS watched emotion-evoking videos under instructions to allow or suppress their emotional reactions, and then performed an anagram task to measure their effort and perseverance. Contrary to the research with self-report measures, experimental analysis of emotion-processing revealed that MUS is correlated with the inability to regulate negative emotions. Unexpected self-regulatory tendencies of the participants with high symptom levels were discussed.     

Inventing the enemy

The following article elaborates on the need for the Other in order to delineate the self and one's identity, and the eternal psychological process of turning the Other into an enemy. A parallel process, which can be observed nowadays, leads to a disregard for the otherness of the Other that results in the blurring of identity and an internal loss of the differentiation of intrapsychic structures. Both psychological processes share a dehumanizing approach which leads to neurosis and alienation. In order to withstand these tendencies, a revision of analytical psychology's view of the psyche and of the practice of Jungian analysis is warranted: an alternative to the ‘Fear of the Feminine’ described by Erich Neumann in 1959. It is suggested that consciousness and unconsciousness intertwine but from a position of equality and reciprocity. Such an attitude does not inspire fear. Rather, it recognizes the need of one for the Other and the inevitability of this situation. Moreover, this need and interdependence on equal grounds nourish the wish to know the Other, to be aware of the differences, and yet, at the same time, to acknowledge how close the Other really is. Analytical psychological therapy based on this model stresses the power of the ego while also strengthening its capacity for introspection.     

Skin picking in patients with obesity: Associations with impulsiveness and self‐harm

Previous studies suggest elevated prevalence rates of skin picking and self‐harm in patients with obesity compared to individuals in the general population. Hence, further studies should investigate prevalence rates and correlates of skin picking in this population – especially its differentiation to self‐harm. Skin picking and obesity are both associated with specific facets of impulsiveness. This relation should be explored to shed light on potentially shared mechanisms in etiology. Therefore, the present study examined the occurrence of skin picking and its associations with impulsiveness and self‐harm in a sample of pre‐bariatric surgery patients with obesity class II/III. Within the routine preoperative psychiatric evaluation, a total of 139 bariatric surgery candidates (78% female, BMI range 35–69) completed a self‐report questionnaire assessing sociodemographic variables, anxiety, depression, self‐harm, impulsiveness, and skin picking severity (urges: frequency, intensity, controllability; behavior: frequency, intensity, controllability; resistance, emotional distress, impairment, and avoidance). Ten participants (7.2% of the sample) reported recurrent skin picking leading to skin damage, repeated attempts to decrease skin picking, and psychosocial impairment (emotional distress, impairment in functional areas, avoidance) due to skin picking. In line with previous findings, skin picking severity shows a medium correlation with attentional impulsiveness. The majority of self‐harm types were not associated with skin picking severity. The current study reveals a high occurrence of skin picking compared to the general population. The results indicate an association between skin picking severity and attentional impulsiveness. Further research is needed to investigate the differentiation of skin picking and self‐harm in more detail.     

Like a phoenix: the journey toward core-self restoration following paediatric skin-burn injury: a psychoanalytic perspective

Severe and sudden injury to the skin during childhood may damage both the child’s outer appearance and mental state. Such a trauma can provoke a complete and utter breakdown of the core-self and regression to an ‘unintegrated’ state. We present the case of 11-year-old Michael, who played with matches, set a fire and sustained severe burn trauma. Michael was treated in our rehabilitation ward over several months and received skin treatment, physical therapy and psychotherapy. Paediatric burn injury is not only a physical struggle but is often accompanied by intense emotional distress of the child and his family. In describing Michael’s therapeutic process, we show how the restoration of the core-self, alongside the healing of the outer skin, provoke issues concerning early infantile skin formation, normative age-related conflicts and vulnerabilities specific to the child. By integrating psychoanalytic thinking into the clinical work of skin rehabilitation, following burn injury, we demonstrate how the significant relationship between the skin and the self manifest in different practice.     

From unity to atonement: Some religious correlates of Hans Loewald's developmental theory

Loewald's understanding of ego development offers a way to conceptualise, from a psychoanalytic perspective, those aspects of religious experience that can reflect or contribute to the enrichment of the ego, in contradistinction to the defensive and regressive elements of religious experience that have been well detailed in the psychoanalytic literature in the past. In Loewald's view, a dynamic and metabolic interplay between ego and reality characterises the developmental process. With increasing levels of internalisation, differentiation, individuation and integration, ego and reality are restructured into increasingly resilient and durable forms. An ongoing dialectical tension between separation and reunion provides the driving force for development. Loewald's emphasis on the synthetic rather than defensive aspects of ego functioning forms the basis for his characterisation of sublimation as a 'genuine appropriation' rather than a defence, thus opening up one way to understand non-defensive aspects of religious experience from a psychoanalytic perspective. In the course of this exploration of Loewald's view of ego development and its implications for an understanding of religious experience, the author offers perspectives on Freud's views of religion, on some extreme forms of religious fundamentalism, and on the dynamics of 'mature' faith as illuminated by Loewald's developmental theory.     

无意识自我控制目标启动对自我损耗的补偿效应

本研究基于对无意识目标启动的研究,采用阈上、阈下启动方式探讨无意识目标启动对自我损耗的补偿作用。实验1发现,阈上无意识目标启动能够有效提高自我控制,促进自控表现。实验2发现,阈下无意识目标启动对自我损耗存在补偿效应。上述结果提示,通过无意识启动方式激活自我控制目标,可以克服自我损耗的不良效应,且无需意识参与。     

不合规任务与工作拖延行为的关系：自我损耗和主动性人格的作用

工作拖延行为是当今职场人士面临的普遍困扰之一。基于资源保存理论,本研究从不合规任务视角探究工作拖延行为的成因。对196位员工的两时点调查数据进行层次回归分析,结果表明：不合规任务正向预测员工工作拖延行为,自我损耗在不合规任务与工作拖延行为之间起着中介作用,主动性人格负向调节不合规任务与自我损耗的正向关系以及自我损耗的中介效应。以上结果对预防或降低工作拖延行为具有启发意义。     

Singularity and consciousness: A neuropsychological contribution

In common sense experience based on introspection, consciousness is singular. There is only one ‘me’ and that is the one that is conscious. This means that ‘singularity’ is a defining aspect of ‘consciousness’. However, the three main theories of consciousness, Integrated Information, Global Workspace and Recurrent Processing theory, are generally not very clear on this issue. These theories have traditionally relied heavily on neuropsychological observations and have interpreted various disorders, such as anosognosia, neglect and split-brain as impairments in conscious awareness without any reference to ‘the singularity’. In this review, we will re-examine the theoretical implications of these impairments in conscious awareness and propose a new way how to conceptualize consciousness of singularity. We will argue that the subjective feeling of singularity can coexist with several disunified conscious experiences. Singularity awareness may only come into existence due to environmental response constraints. That is, perceptual, language, memory, attentional and motor processes may largely proceed unintegrated in parallel, whereas a sense of unity only arises when organisms need to respond coherently constrained by the affordances of the environment. Next, we examine from this perspective psychiatric disorders and psycho-active drugs. Finally, we present a first attempt to test this hypothesis with a resting state imaging experiment in a split-brain patient. The results suggest that there is substantial coherence of activation across the two hemispheres. These data show that a complete lesioning of the corpus callosum does not, in general, alter the resting state networks of the brain. Thus, we propose that we have separate systems in the brain that generate distributed conscious. The sense of singularity, the experience of a ‘Me-ness’, emerges in the interaction between the world and response-planning systems, and this leads to coherent activation in the different functional networks across the cortex.