Freud as Leonardo: Why the First Psychobiography Went Wrong

ABSTRACT The first genuine psychobiography, Sigmund Freud's Leonardo da Vinci and a Memory of His Childhood (1910/1957b), presented several important guidelines for psychobiographical research Among them were the rejection both of pathography and of idealization, and the avoidance both of arguments built upon a single clue and of strong conclusions based upon inadequate data Though the guidelines are sound, Freud violated those guidelines in the very work where they first appeared Freud's methodological errors and his “obsession” with the Leonardo book are traced in part to his projective identification with Leonardo, incorporating aspects of his own sexual history and his anxieties about the future of the psychoanalytic movement     

Women at Midlife: Implications for Theories of Women's Adult Development

Research on midlife transitions in women is reviewed, and implications for theories of women's adult development are discussed. Findings on menopause, the postparental period, and the roles of women at midlife are presented. Research on women at midlife suggests that new theoretical models of women's adult development should continue to emerge to accommodate the diversity of women's experiences at midlife. Several theoretical approaches are discussed in light of the research findings, and recommendations are made for future research on women's adult development. Implications for counselors working with women at midlife also are discussed.     

Depression and the soul

Clergy are often confronted by challenges in dealing with the depressed congregant. This paper addresses the interface between psychology, psychiatry, and religion in a discussion of two cases. Models are suggested for dealing with the issues raised by the depressed congregant. The paper developed from a symposium on “The Depressed Congregant: Three Pastoral Responses to a Case Vignette” presented at a conference for cleargy onDepression and The Soul, at Temple Sholom in Chicago.     

Respect: Response to shame in health care

Shame is a not uncommon experience of patients in health care settings. Religious assessments often confuse shame with guilt, and therefore respond in ways that may not be appropriate. Illustrated by a case study, this article distinguishes shame from guilt and examines systemic considerations. Then shame is explored in relation to traditional, negotiating, and individualistic belief paradigms, looking at epistemology, causality, response to shame, healing models, and tasks. It concludes with a discussion of the idea of respect as foundational for responding to people experiencing shame in health care.     

Knowledge of object manipulation and object function: dissociations in apraxic and nonapraxic subjects

An influential account of selective semantic deficits posits that visual features are heavily weighted in the representations of animals, whereas information about function is central in the representations of tools (e.g., Warrington & Shallice, 1984 ). An alternative account proposes that information about all types of objects-animate and inanimate alike-is represented in a distributed semantic architecture by verbal-propositional, tactile, visual, and proprioceptive-motor nodes, reflecting the degree to which these systems were activated when the knowledge was acquired (e.g., Allport, 1985 ). We studied a group of left hemisphere chronic stroke patients, some of whom were apraxic, with measures of declarative tool and animal knowledge, body part knowledge, and function and manipulation knowledge of artifacts. Apraxic (n=7) and nonapraxic (n=6) subjects demonstrated a double dissociation of performance on tests of tool and animal knowledge, suggesting that the apraxic group was not simply more severely impaired overall. Apraxics were relatively impaired in manipulation knowledge, whereas nonapraxics tended to be relatively impaired in function knowledge. Apraxics were also more impaired with body parts than nonapraxics. The association of gestural praxis, tool knowledge, body part knowledge, and manipulation knowledge suggests a coherent basis for the organization of semantic artifact knowledge in frontoparietal cortical regions specialized for sensorimotor functions, and thus provides support for the distributed architecture account of the semantic system.     

Putting families in the center: family perspectives on decision making and ADHD and implications for ADHD care

Objective: To examine components of family-centered care in families' stories about treatment decision making for their child with ADHD. Method: Twenty-eight families participated in qualitative interviews that addressed families' perspectives on (a) the treatment decision-making process, (b) the cause and impact of their child's symptoms, and (c) treatment goals and preferences. Results: The majority of families preferred to be primary or shared decision makers regarding treatment decisions. Families' perspectives on the cause of the child's symptoms varied and often were not consistent with a biomedical framework. Families described multiple areas of impairment on child, family relationships, and family functioning. Perspectives toward evidence-based treatments were mixed, with families also expressing interest in and pursuing interventions not delineated in current treatment guidelines. Conclusion: These findings reinforce the importance of eliciting families' perspectives and involving these important stakeholders in shared decision making as critical components of family-centered care for children with ADHD.     

Active music classes in infancy enhance musical, communicative and social development

Previous studies suggest that musical training in children can positively affect various aspects of development. However, it remains unknown as to how early in development musical experience can have an effect, the nature of any such effects, and whether different types of music experience affect development differently. We found that random assignment to 6 months of active participatory musical experience beginning at 6 months of age accelerates acquisition of culture-specific knowledge of Western tonality in comparison to a similar amount of passive exposure to music. Furthermore, infants assigned to the active musical experience showed superior development of prelinguistic communicative gestures and social behaviour compared to infants assigned to the passive musical experience. These results indicate that (1) infants can engage in meaningful musical training when appropriate pedagogical approaches are used, (2) active musical participation in infancy enhances culture-specific musical acquisition, and (3) active musical participation in infancy impacts social and communication development.     

Women’s perception of men’s sensation seeking propensity from their dance movements

Risk-taking behaviour in men, an expression of the more general personality trait sensation seeking, has been hypothesized to be an evolved aspect of male psychology that arose through sexual selection. Sensation seeking could be seen as a costly behavioural trait that signals a man’s health and vigour and is preferred by women. This study extends knowledge about risk-taking as a cue in human mate choice by examining whether women can perceive men’s sensation seeking propensity (assessed with the Sensation Seeking Scale Form V; SSS-V) by viewing their dance movements. We videotaped 50 men’s dancing and had 60 women judge each dancer on perceived attractiveness and risk-taking. A positive and significant correlation was found between women’s attractiveness judgements and male’s SSS-V total score, thrill and adventure seeking, disinhibition and boredom susceptibility. Further, women’s risk-taking judgements were related to men’s boredom susceptibility. We conclude that (i) male sensation seeking propensity is signalled via their dance movements, and (ii) women are sensitive to these cues as they consider men who score high on sensation seeking as attractive. We discuss our results with reference to the evolutionary psychology concept of sexual selection and mate preferences.