Social risk and protective factors for suicide attempts in low income African American men and women

A case-control study was conducted to examine a broad array of potential social risk and protective factors for suicide attempt among 200 African American men and women receiving care at a large, public, urban hospital. Specifically, we examined the effect of the following potential risk factors for suicide attempt: life hassles, partner abuse, partner dissatisfaction, and racist events; as well as the following potential protective factors: effectiveness of obtaining resources, social embeddedness, and social support. Using logistic regression, suicide attempter status was predicted by two independently significant social variables: one risk factor (life hassles) and one protective factor (social support). Male versus female suicide attempters were not distinguished by the social variables. These findings, which support the utility of an ecological conceptualization of risk and protective factors for suicide attempt, help to clarify the independently significant social environment risk and protective factors for suicide attempts among economically disadvantaged African Americans in particular. Research on both risk factors and protective factors provide a basis for culturally competent interventions aimed at reducing both the risk of future suicide attempts and completions.     

The differential contribution of facial expressions,prosody, and speech content to empathy

Background: Facial expressions, prosody, and speech content constitute channels by which information is exchanged. Little is known about the simultaneous and differential contribution of these channels to empathy when they provide emotionality or neutrality. Especially neutralised speech content has gained little attention with regards to influencing the perception of other emotional cues. Methods: Participants were presented with video clips of actors telling short-stories. One condition conveyed emotionality in all channels while the other conditions either provided neutral speech content, facial expression, or prosody, respectively. Participants judged the emotion and intensity presented, as well as their own emotional state and intensity. Skin conductance served as a physiological measure of emotional reactivity. Results: Neutralising channels significantly reduced empathic responses. Electrodermal recordings confirmed these findings. The differential effect of the communication channels on empathy prerequisites was that target emotion recognition of the other decreased mostly when the face was neutral, whereas decreased emotional responses attributed to the target emotion were especially present in neutral speech. Conclusion: Multichannel integration supports conscious and autonomous measures of empathy and emotional reactivity. Emotional facial expressions influence emotion recognition, whereas speech content is important for responding with an adequate own emotional state, possibly reflecting contextual emotion-appraisal.     

The Logical Basis of the Tractarian Ontology

This paper focuses on the relation between logic and ontology. In particular, it demonstrates how classical logical theory can clarify the ontological part of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. To this end, the work examines the adequacy of a formal system that was devised by the Polish logician, mathematician and philosopher Roman Suszko (1919–1979) as a model for the Tractatus. Following a brief explanation of the Tractarian ontology, the main ideas of Suszko’s system and its philosophical significance will be considered. The latter will be illustrated in the context of central Tractarian concepts. Finally, two implications for a better understanding of the Tractarian ontology will be pointed out.

THE LONG-TERM PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS AND TREATMENT OF HOLOCAUST TRAUMA

The present article gives an overview of the long-term psychological effects of Holocaust traumatization on survivors and their offspring and suggests possible treatment strategies for these client populations. Based on interviews with and treatment of hundreds of such clients and on an extensive review of the literature, it also represents some of the cumulative experience of AMCHA, an Israeli treatment center devoted specifically to this issue.