Confinia psychiatrica. Borderland of psychiatry. Grenzgebiete der Psychiatrie. Les Confins de la psychiatrie最新文献

Increase of cool distance in social relations entails not only higher consciousness of human being but also a shift from primary ingenuous emotional spontaneity of behavior to intellectually controlled thinking and striving. With progress of civilisation, social conformity is dissolving. That causes a clash between contradictory impulses: unruly urge for freedom and independence on the one hand, and insatiable yearning for harmonic community, that means, for imperturbable warm-hearted human relations on the other. In the same measure as modern men are growing unable to endure those restrictions which are unavoidable in every society, hostile motions are obstructing formation and maintenance of durable confidential contacts. In the end, estrangement and, at last, total disintegration of social structures will be conjured up.

The paper aims to take a closer look at some of the problems surrounding the 'psychosomatic phenomenon'. The origin, development and effects of the phenomenon, as well as the way in which one individual managed to overcome it, are illustrated in the example of the French philosopher and physicist, Blaise Pascal. The authors hold the view that the psychosomatic phenomenon is rooted in disturbances in the early identification processes of the infant. Somatic symptoms flare up whenever the individual, in a phase of disorganization, becomes dominated by his psychosomatic phenomenon. If, however, the person concerned has the ability to go through with the suffering involved in experiencing and elaborating these early defects, thus giving them a psychic dimension, he may be able to overcome them and in this way even attain to creativity. The genius Pascal is an extreme example of one who had this ability and so gained access to his own truth, which he found in God.

The hypothesis that psilocybin induced primary process thinking was assessed. On four separate occasions, a subject was asked to write before, during, and after the hallucinogenic experience induced by doses ranging between 80 and 200 microgram/kg of psilocybin. Texts produced at the drug peak contained significantly more primary process content and were significantly more stereotyped on several measures than those written before or after the drug peak.

In the realm of human culture, ideas and beliefs are studied in the disciplines of sociology, philosophy, not psychology. Although human spiritual abilities, that is, the ability to speak, think, yield thoughts, ideas, beliefs are maybe that which best characterize the human being as such, they are not considered part of the study of human personality. The levels-of-organization model of personality, which is presented here, considers human spiritual powers as part and parcel of human personality, and ascribes to it a very important specialized role. According to it, the highest stage of human growth are his spiritual abilities. Consequently, whatever a person does depends a great deal on what he thinks and believes. The importance of human spiritual powers is best manifested in crisis situations. This presentation will consider immigration as an example to stress, and examine the contribution of human ideas and beliefs to human ability to overcome this kind of stress.

In the epileptic's relation to the world, there is--as a particular way of being--an opposition between two constitutive moments: the world of the dark mass and the world of the light tone of colour as moments of an entirety. This can be seen symbolically in pictures as a contrast between light with an upward trend towards heaven and darkness as an earthy mass with a downward tendency. The two worlds are one at the same time, with diverging trends coexisting in a dynamically flowing organic interrelationship. This is combined with a specific religious atmosphere. From this point of view the attempt is made to gain an understanding of the condition of being ill with epilepsy.

A schizophrenic-paranoid patient was on a continuous maintenance treatment of phenothiazines for 5 years. 8 weeks after switching over to fluphenazine enanthlate injections intramuscularly, "clubbed fingers" occurred. The results of thorough examinations were within normal limits, so the phenothiazine treatment was presumed to be the cause of clubbing. It is suggested than anoxia of the distal tissue gives rise to clubbing due to arterial hypotension, slowing down of the blood and viscosity of the blood.

Opposing positions on mental disorder in current psychiatry, their origins and therapy are presented through a few extreme viewpoints. Considering the foundations of the 'medical model' of psychiatric disorder (Griesinger), it is evident that this model is not a closed system, but rather an open approach which still has validity today. The humanitarian roots of psychiatry prevented Griesinger from treating various positions in an absolute or ideological manner. Finally, the concept of 'illness' is discussed in relation to psychophysiological activation research. Pathology changes in each different situation and is therefore not a static phenomenon. Mental disturbance is not determined by absolute measures, but rather by a reduction in variability of reactions to the particular situation. This concept of illness can determine somato-, psycho-, and sociotherapeutic measures. Psychiatry can only remain based on humanitarian concepts as long as the sciences upon which it is founded are kept in appropriate relation to one another.

The case report of an obese patient deals with his background, history of life and its correlation to obesity. The causes, circumstances and habits of eating are almost a perfect expression of the traditional theories of obesity. This case report emphasizes the correlation between the psychiatric theory that divides the obese people into adult and juvenile types and the histological findings that obesity can be divided into hyperplastic and hypertrophic types according to the quality and quantity of the fat cells. In fact these two theories may be manifestations of the basic, yet unknown cause of obesity. A doubt to the classical theories is cast by the operation of jejunoileostomy which changes many personality characteristics which were considered primary in obesity.

It is hypothesized that Adolf Hitler suffered from a constitutional left-side weakness that allowed his cerebral hemisphere to exert a strong influence on his thought and behavior. Physical characteristics such as trembling of the left extremities, lack of a left testicle, and tendency to exhibit leftward eye movements are interpreted as supportive of the hypothesis. Right hemisphere dominance is consistent with a number of Hitler's personal traits such as praise of the irrational, automatic speech, auditory hallucinations, hypochondriasis, uncontrolled rages, and spatial and musical interests. Right hemisphere dominated thought may also have formed a basis for his two basic political policies: Lebensraum and anti-Semitism.

The main objectives of this paper are: (a) an overview of therapeutic parallels and differences between psychoanalytic and behavioral psychotherapy; (b) an analysis of learning process with reference to insight taking place during psychotherapy. For attaining these objectives, the author reviews the literature and explores the cognitive and educational values inherent in the psychotherapeutic process.