1/6. Theatres of the psyche.Fragments of the analytic voyage of a forty year old patient, haunted by the idea of her death since infancy when confronted with the anguish that accompanies the discovery of a potentially death dealing illness. In three years of intensive analytic work, her way of functioning psychically changed dramatically (her flight from imaginative life, total disaffectation of her emotional life, psychic deafness regarding her body and its messages...). These discoveries led to my analysand's resuming her psychoanalytic voyage in these words: 'Even if I am destined to die of this cancer, at least I shall have lived'.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = motion (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/6. Combining sensory reinforcement and texture fading procedures to overcome chronic food refusal.Previous research has demonstrated behavioral programs to be effective in treating children with selective food preferences. However, there are few examples of interventions for the child displaying almost total food refusal. The present program combined sensory reinforcement and texture fading procedures to treat a 4-year-old deaf, visually impaired child who only consumed milk and, occasionally, pureed baby food. Sensory reinforcement consisted of the contingent presentation of light and rocking motion following consummatory responses. Texture fading entailed gradually increasing food composition. Results indicated that treatment was associated with substantial increases in the consumption of solid foods. Effects were maintained following the withdrawal of sensory reinforcement and with meals presented outside of the original treatment settings. Various features of the program are highlighted and discussed.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = motion (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/6. psychotherapy during radiotherapy: effects on emotional and physical distress.The authors determined the effects of ongoing weekly individual psychotherapy on the symptoms of patients undergoing a 6-week course of radiotherapy for cancer. Forty-eight patients were given weekly psychotherapy sessions for 10 weeks; another 52 patients served as control subjects. A statistically significant reduction was found in both emotional and "physical" manifestations of distress in the patients receiving psychotherapy compared with the control group. This was true regardless of gender, ward or private patient status, or knowledge of diagnosis. Patient gender and knowledge of diagnosis did affect the pattern and magnitude of the response to psychotherapy.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 5keywords = motion (Clic here for more details about this article) |
4/6. Differential diagnosis of emotional disorders that cause weight loss.Recently, anorexia nervosa has received much attention in the scientific and lay press. As a result there is a danger that the other emotional disorders that can present with weight loss and vomiting will be overlooked. Case examples are presented for anorexia nervosa, conversion disorder, schizophrenia and depression. The presentation and treatment of these four disorders are compared.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 5keywords = motion (Clic here for more details about this article) |
5/6. Group psychotherapy during radiotherapy: effects on emotional and physical distress.OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to ascertain whether group psychotherapy during radiotherapy for cancer significantly decreases patients' emotional and physical distress. METHOD: Twenty-four patients receiving radiotherapy were randomly selected for group psychotherapy (six patients per group, 90-minute weekly sessions for 10 weeks). Another 24 patients served as control subjects. Each patient was given the Schedule for Affective Disorders and schizophrenia (SADS) at the onset of radiotherapy, midway through radiotherapy, at the end of radiotherapy, and 4 and 8 weeks after radiotherapy ended. RESULTS: The combined SADS items for depression, pessimism and hopelessness, somatic preoccupation and worry, social isolation and withdrawal, insomnia, and anxiety and agitation were used as a measure of emotional distress. The combined SADS items for anorexia, nausea and vomiting, and fatigue were used as a measure of physical distress. By 4 weeks after the end of radiotherapy, the patients who received group psychotherapy showed significant decreases in both emotional and physical symptoms, and the decreases were greater than those for the control patients. The subjects who initially seemed unaware of their cancer diagnoses had the lowest baseline levels of emotional and physical distress, but 4 weeks after the end of radiotherapy they had high distress levels. CONCLUSIONS: Group therapy may enhance quality of life for cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy by reducing their emotional and physical distress. The degree to which patients acknowledge the diagnosis of malignancy may be a factor in their initial distress level and their response to radiotherapy and group therapy.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 9keywords = motion (Clic here for more details about this article) |
6/6. Sopite syndrome: a sometimes sole manifestation of motion sickness.Drowsiness is one of the cardinal symptoms of motion sickness; therefore, a symptom-complex centering around "drowsiness" has been identified which, for convenience, has been termed the sopite syndrome. Generally, the symptoms characterizing this syndrome are interwoven with other symptoms but under two circumstances the sopite syndrome comprises the main or sole overt manifestation of motion sickness. One circumstance is that in which the intensity of the eliciting stimuli is closely matched to a person's susceptibility, and the sopite syndrome is evoked either before other symptoms of motion sickness appear or in their absence. The second circumstance occurs during prolonged exposure in a motion environment when adaptation results in the disappearance of motion sickness symptoms, except for responses characterizing the sopite syndrome. Typical symptoms of the syndrome are: 1) yawning, 2) drowsiness, 3) disinclination for work, either physical or mental, and 4) lack of participation in group activities. Phenomena derived from an analysis of the symptomatology of the sopite syndrome are qualitatively similar but may differ quantitatively from abstractions derived in other motion sickness responses. One example is the sometimes unique time course of the sopite syndrome. This implies that the immediate eliciting mechanisms not only differ from those involved in evoking other symptoms, but, also, that they must represent first order responses. diagnosis is difficult unless the syndrome under discussion is kept in mind. Prevention poses a greater problem than treatment.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 10keywords = motion (Clic here for more details about this article) |