Providentia

Final Public Review for Draft Version of DSM-5 Now Underway

Romeo Vitelli — Tue, 15 May 2012 08:00:00 -0400

As part of their ongoing review process, the American Psychiatric Association's DSM-5 Task Force will be soliciting public feedback on the draft fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) from May 2 through June 15, 2012. This is the final public review period and follows the previous review period of May-June 2011. Already the subject of considerable controversy, the DSM-5 is due for release in May 2013 and is likely to shape mental health policy across North America for years to come. Along with changes to the diagnostic criteria for many established psychiatric disorders, the DSM-5 will also be introducing new diagnosed such as Suicidal Behavior Disorder, Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Disorder, and Persistent Complex Bereavement Disorder. Among the significant changes proposed for existing psychiatric diagnoses, the DSM-5 task force is recommending:

A redefining of current autism diagnoses into a single diagnosis know as Autism Spectrum Disorder intended to accomodate all of the complex problems faced by children and adults currently diagnosed as autistic. This is meant to include Asperger's Syndrome, childhood disintegrative disorder, and pervasive development disorder- not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS). By combining these different diagnoses into a single diagnostic category into a single diagnostic category, the DSM-5 task force is hoping to eliminate potential confusion given the similar symptoms displayed by individuals with the different diagnoses.
Redefining Major Depressive Disorder to allow for he often devastating consequences of grief. Since patients dealing with bereavment often mimic some or all of the diagnostic criteria of Major Depression. Due to the possibility of misdiagnosis by untrained people using diagnostic checklists, the new DSM-5 will include footnotes to help clinicians recognize how loss reactions can be distinguished from mental illness.
Due to c0ncerns about the proposed diagnosis of Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome (which in turn replaces the even more controversial Psychosis Risk Syndrome diagnosis) as well as Mixed Anxiety Depressive Disorder, these two diagnosis have been deferred for further study and possible inclusion in future versions of the DSM.
Communication disorders have now been expanded to Language Disorder and Speech Disorder. A third diagnosis, Social Communication Disorder is proposed (which is distinguished from Autism Spectrum Disorder).
Under the general category of Sleep-Wake Disorders (formerly Sleep Disorders in the DSM-IV-TR) are a range of new diagnoses including Insomnia Disorder, Hypersomnolence Disorders, Obstructive Sleep Hypopnea Syndrome, Nightmare Disorder, Restless Legs Syndrome, Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behavior Disorder and Substance-induced Sleep Disorder.
Trauma and Stressor-Related Disorders will be placed in a separate category and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder will be given a new subtype for preschool children. This category will also include Acute Stress Disorder, Reactive Attachment Disorder, Disinhibited Social Engagement Disorder, and Trauma- or Stressor-Related Disorders Not Elsewhere Classified.
The Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders Work Group has proposed a new diagnostic term Gender Dysphoria with subcategories for children, adolescents and adults. The new diagnostic label will replace existing categories of Gender Identity Disorder and Transvestic Fetishism and has already generated enormous opposition by transgender activists.
Existing DSM-IV-TR diagnoses often linked to antisocial behaviour in children and adults including Conduct Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder and Intermittent Explosive Disorder are now categorized under Disruptive, Impulse Control and Conduct Disorders. Antisocial Personality Disorder (also termed Dyssocial Personality Disorder) is included in this category along with Disruptive Behavior Disorder Not Otherwise Classified.
The category Substance Use and Addictive Disorder has been expanded to include Gambling Disorder (formerly classified as an Impulse Control Disorder), Tobacco Use Disorder, and Tobacco Withdrawal. A group of diagnoses linked to Unknown Substance Use are also included for the first time. As well, Caffeine Use Disorder, Internet Use Disorder, and Neurobehavioral Disorder Associated with Prenatal Alcohol Exposure have been added to Section III of the DSM-5 for further study.
There is also a radical redefinition of personality disorders proposed for the DSM-5 with a streamlined approach to diagnosis and an extensive guide for implementation. A series of examples will be included to help clinicians make a proper diagnosis.
Paraphilic Disorders are now listed in a separate category. Pedophilic Disorder has been expanded to include a new Hebephilic subtype to reflect sexual attraction to post-pubescent children. Including hebephilia in the DSM-5 has been extremely controversial with mental health professionals opposing its inclusion on various grounds. The Sexual and Gender Disorders Work Group are also recommending the inclusion of Hypersexual Disorder and Paraphilic Coercive Disorder for inclusion in Section III of the DSM-5 for further study.

The DSM-5 editors stress that the proposed changes are not final and will undergo further revisions before the end of 2012. The DSM-5 website will be soliciting comments from the public until June 15th to allow for sufficient feedback. Anyone with concerns about the current form of the DSM-5 is welcome to provide feedback. Given that the importance of ensuring that the DSM-5 will be as fair and unbiased as possible, the time to act is now.

Click here for the link.

The Nazi Patient

Romeo Vitelli — Sun, 13 May 2012 08:00:00 -0400

Adolf Hitler never had much luck with his doctors (not that being a hypochondriac helped).

And he certainly had his share of medical issues. Along with lingering problems from his World War I injuries (including posttraumatic stress), he also suffered from uncontrollable flatulence. Ever since childhood, the Fuhrer experienced spasmodic stomach cramps, diarrhea, and constipation although medical historians seem divided on whether this was due to physical causes or lifelong stress.
Whatever the reason, dining with Hitler was often an uncomfortable situation for his supporters due to the digestive attacks that happened after most meals. Although no one dared comment whenever Hitler jumped up from the table and rushed to his room, his medical issues definitely grew worse over time. While trying to cure himself by going over medical manuals (including embracing a vegetarian diet where possible), being a rabid hypochondriac left Adolf Hitler acutely self-conscious about his health. Not only did he examine his stool with elaborate care, but he also experimented with various fad remedies. Along with camomile enemas (don't ask), he also swore off meat completely after 1931 and only ate heaping plates of vegetables which were carefully prepared for him. He also refused all cooked foods (which he considered to be cancer-inducing) and only ate a high-fibre diet. For Adolf Hitler, a daily regimen often involved oatmeal with linseed oil, cauliflower, asparagus tips, and artichoke hearts . This vegetarian fare did little to cure his digestive problems but der Fuhrer refused to consider anything else. His mistrust of most medical doctors seemed to stem from the audacity of some of them to suggest that many of his problems were psychosomatic and that his self-diagnosis and treatment were at the root of his problems.

But his health issues only got worse after meeting Dr. Theodor Morell...

Born and raised in a small village in the upper Hesse, Morell trained as a gynecologist and obstetrician and became a licensed physician in 1913. Despite his thorough grounding in conventional medicine, he developed a reputation for favouring unconventional medical treatments in his Berlin medical practice. Which he made various claims to an academic career, including studying under legendary bacteriologist, Elie Metchnikoff and teaching in different universities, the actual historical evidence for his acadamic career seems suspect. Not that this stopped Morell from labelling himself as a professor at times, or owning shares in several pharmaceutical companies. Theodor Morell's unlikely rise to prominence only began when he met Adolf Hitler during a party at the Berghof near Berchtesgarden in the Bavarian Alps. It still isn't clear why Hitler decided to make Morell his personal physician.

While historians have speculated that he may have treated Hitler for his recurring syphilis, the official story seems to be that Hitler was won over after Morell helped cure a painful case of eczema on his legs and provided temporary relief for his stomach cramps. The other Nazi doctors had little respect for Morell (aside from his fondness for quack cures, he was also grossly obese with a body odour problem) but, from 1937 onward, Dr. Theodor Morell had complete control over the Fuhrer's medical care. Although Hitler had another doctor previously, Dr. Karl Brandt, it was Theodor Morell whose medical opinion he relied on (infuriating Brandt and the other doctors).

And it was some care. While Theodor Morell was probably not a complete quack, the medical treatment that he provided to Adolf Hitler seems bizarre, to put it mildly. Morell was a firm believer in polypharmacy - treatment with multiple medications (and the fact that the good doctor owned shares in many of the drug companies likely influenced his medication choices). He also preferred to administer drugs by injection rather than oral doses. To deal with the Fuhrer's stomach problems, Morell chose not to send his star patient for a thorough gastronintestinal examination (despite Germany having some of the best internists in the world). Instead, he prescribed a generous dose of "Dr. Koester's Anti-Gas Pills" for Hitler's stomach problems. The Fuhrer took as many as sixteen of these pills a day, which was probably a bad idea since they contained dangerous levels of strychnine and atropine. Even in small doses, both ingredients are deadly poisons and likely contributed to many of the adverse symptoms Hitler displayed during the last years of World War II (including glazed eyes, sallow skin, attention problems, and mood swings).

Along with the pills though, Dr. Morell also began giving his patient daily injections of methamphetamine. It is hard to say when Dr. Morrell first introduced Adolf Hitler to this new medication (or whose idea it was) but the daily injections apparently began by late 1941 or early 1942. This was in addition to the other medications, including methamphetamine pills that Hitler took by mouth. Hitler's arms eventually became riddled with injection marks and even Eva Braun grew to despise Morell and referred to him as "that injection quack" as she was talking to her mother. She also dismissed his office as being a "pig sty" and refused to allow him to give her any more medical care. By 1942 however, even Hitler's staunchest supporters were noticing that their leader was becoming increasingly bizarre with signs of distrust, irritability, loss of control, and poor decision-making - all signs of methamphetamine addiction. These symptoms continued right up to the end of the war and Adolf Hitler's suicide on April 30, 1945.

After their leader developed jaundice in 1944, three other doctors (including Karl Brandt) tried to have Morell fired but Hitler adamantly opposed them. Whether this was through loyalty to Morell or his own amphetamine addiction is an open question. Suspicious of the jaundice attack, Heinrich Himmler even went so far as to question Morell's assistant, Richard Weber, over whether the doctor was deliberately poisoning their leader, Weber replied that it was "out of the question. Morell's too big of a coward for that". While Hitler's mental deterioration during the last months of his life has been extensively written about and attributed to mental illness and the corrupting influence of absolute power, a more recent book has suggested that the treatment received from Dr. Morell may have played an important role in his downfall.

As for Theodor Morell, his own downfall was rapid enough. On April 22, 1945, a week before his suicide, Adolf Hitler dismissed Morell from his Fuhrenbunker in Berlin and told him that he no longer needed medical care. In poor health himself, Morell left a large supply of medicine in the bunker for Hitler's needs and managed to catch one of the last German flights out of the city. He quickly fell into Allied hands however and spent the next two years in an internment camp on the site of the former Buchenwald concentration camp. While the interrogators were repelled by Morell's lack of personal hygiene (his body odour was as bad as ever), they managed to collect complete details of the astonishing treatment that he provided Hitler. In addition to the amphetamine injections, Hitler also took more than twenty-eight other kinds of medication including vitamins, testosterone, opiates, liver extracts, laxatives, and sedatives. That also included some more innovative remedies including cocaine eyedrops (Hitler had ten of these a day), human placenta compounds, and "potency pills" made from ground bull's testicles. According to Theodor Morell's diaries (now in the National Archives in Washington, D.C.), Hitler still suffered from daily flatulence despite the bizarre range of medications Morell offered. If Morell hadn't been such an obvious Nazi toady, the Allies might well have pinned him with a medal for his role in Hitler's defeat. As it was, he was released after two years of internment without ever being charged. He died on March 26, 1948 of stroke-related problems.

It's easy to dismiss Dr. Theodor Morell as a total quack who was only propelled to the ranks of power because he was willing to provide his star patient with the medical care that more ethical doctors wouldn't. Still, many of those same "ethical doctors" (including Karl Brandt) were later prosecuted for a range of war crimes involving human medical experimentation and other Nazi extermination policies. Since there was no evidence that Morell was involved in the same way that other Nazi medical doctors were, he was never charged. Presumably, Morell wasn't considered competent enough to participate in mass murder.

If so, being a quack had its advantages

How Do Hormones Affect Cognition During Pregnancy?

Romeo Vitelli — Thu, 10 May 2012 08:00:00 -0400

A longitudinal study recently published in Behavioral Neuroscience investigated the possible influence of estradiol (E₂), progesterone (P), testosterone (T), cortisol (CORT), and prolactin (PRL) levels on cognitive functioning during late pregnancy and the early postpartum period. The performance of 55 pregnant women on a battery of neuropsychological tests, tested once during the third trimester of pregnancy and once during the early postpartum period, was compared with that of 21 nonpregnant controls matched for age and education. Women in the pregnancy group had significantly lower scores than the controls during both the pre- and postpartum visits on tasks of verbal recall and processing speed. CORT levels were significantly associated, in an inverted-U function, with verbal recall scores at both the pregnancy and at postpartum periods and with spatial abilities at postpartum only. During pregnancy, PRL levels were associated in both a linear and an inverted-U function with scores on tests of paragraph recall and in a linear function with scores on tests of executive function. At postpartum, E₂ and CORT were negatively associated in a linear fashion with attention scores. These findings provide new evidence that fluctuating hormone levels during late pregnancy and early postpartum may modulate selected cognitive abilities.

For the abstract.

Celebrating Mental Health Week and National Mental Health Month

Romeo Vitelli — Tue, 08 May 2012 08:00:00 -0400

The Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) has declared May 7 to May 13, 2012 as Mental Health Week. With the theme "Mental Health For All", Mental Health Week is an annual national event designed to encourage people to learn, talk, reflect and engage with others on all issues surrounding mental health. Along with regional and local events, the Assocation is focusing on key topics highlighting the different ways that mental health issues can affect us all.

These topics include :

"Kids Can Have Stress, Too!"

The Kids Can Have Stress Too! program was developed to boost childrens's ability to handle the normal stress of growing up. Educating parents, caregivers, and teachers on how to recognize stress in children, the program is also designed to give them the knowledge and insight to help the children in their care cope with stress in healthy ways. The original program was developed for classroom use with children aged five to nine but a second pre-schooler program has also been developed for pre-school children. The CMHA is working with social service agences and public health units to bring these programs to every province in Canada.

Resiliency: at Home, at School, and at Work

What is resiliency? It is defined as "a combination of skills and positive attributes that people gain from their life to help them solve problems, cope with challenges and bounce back from disappointments". As part of their Mental Health Week initiative, CMHA is encouraging adults to develop their resiliency skills to help them function at work and to teach those essential skills to their children.

Mental Health is Everyone's Concern

Although research shows that one in five Canadians will suffer a mental illness at some time in their lives, the stigma surrounding mental illness remains unacceptably strong. Along with being present in every family, mental illness is also the leading cause of disability in Canada accounting for nearly thirty percent of all disability claims and costs the Canadian economy 50 billion dollars a year in health care costs and lost revenue. To prevent mental illness from being "swept under the carpet", the CMHA is working to combat many of the myths surrounding mental illness that can prevent people from getting the help that they need or becoming reintegrated into society afterward. As the fact sheets available on the CMHA site show, most people with mental illness can, and do, get better and return to their normal lives.

Contact the CMHA to learn more about Mental Health Week events in your community or to download the Mental Health Week 2012 Toolkit.

Also, in the United States, Mental Health America is celebrating May as "Mental Health Month". First started in 1949, marking May as Mental Health Month raises awareness of the one in four Americans who suffer from mental health issues and to improve mental wellness for all. This year's two main themes are:

"Do More for 1 in 4"

Providing a call for action for the one in four Americans who live with diagnosible and treatable mental illnesses. Download the Do More For 1in4 Toolkit.

Healing Trauma's Invisible Wounds

Dealing with trauma can often take a lifetime and many trauma sufferers are either unwilling or unable to get the help they need. Traumatic events can affect entire communities as much as they affect individuals. Download the Healing Trauma's Invisible Wounds Toolkit.

Contact Mental Health America to learn more about Mental Health Month and their other resources.

The Great New York Starvation Challenge

Romeo Vitelli — Sun, 06 May 2012 08:00:00 -0400

In the summer of 1881, New York City`s Clarendon Hall became the scene of a rather unusual public challenge. An eccentric Minneapolis physician, Dr. Henry S. Tanner rented the hall to carry out a forty-two day fast. Not only would Dr. Tanner`s fasting be monitored by New York`s most distinguished medical professionals but anyone outside the medical community would be able to watch for themselves (after paying the twenty-five cents admission fee). According to Dr. Tanner, the point of his fast was to prove that human beings could go without food far longer than the twelve to fifteen-day limit laid down by the orthodox medical community. By -passing that limit, Dr. Tanner hoped to prove that that the human mind possessed "untapped powers that modern medicine has yet to understand". He also hoped to settle one of the great medical mysteries of the late 19^th century: the mystery of the “fasting girls”.

By the end of the 19^th century, scientific authority had slowly edged out religion as a way of answering fundamental questions about how the world worked. Still, spiritualists and their supporters were fighting back vigorously. Despite the tremendous rise in Victorian-age enthusiasm for scientific discovery and big engineering projects, there was a widespread fascination with spirit mediums, psychics and other fantastic claims of the paranormal. Was it possible that scientists didn’t have all the answers after all?

Which brings us to “fasting girls” and the how they were able to survive without food...

Although the notion that religious ascetics could overcome the limits of their own bodies through brutal self-denial had been around since the Middle Ages, cases of young women living without food for extended periods of time first appeared in the medical literature only relatively recently. By 1873, Sir William Gull presented his now-classic paper “Anorexia Hysterica” to describe what he insisted was a new medical disorder (which he later renamed anorexia nervosa) and the fasting girls phenomenon had already become front page news on both sides of the Atlantic. Not long after Sarah Jacob, the “Welsh Fasting Girl” drew headlines during the late 1860s, similar cases were found in the United States and Canada, including Mollie Fancher (a.k.a. “The Brooklyn Enigma”), Kate Smulsey (a.k.a. “The Fort Plains Fasting Girl”) and Josephine Marie Bedard, a French-Canadian girl living in Maine. Mollie Fancher became a particular darling of the Spiritualist movement, as much for her supposed psychic powers as her miraculous ability to go without food.

All of which led to an interesting standoff.

On one side, various scientific authorities insisted that the fasting girls were frauds. Their defenders, including Spiritualists and family members, denied the accusations that the girls were secretly eating and insisted that the fasting was genuine. Spiritualists in turn denounced the hardheaded skepticism of the medical doctors and one of them, Joseph Rodes Buchanan, even insisted that “Medical men and schools know no more of the psychic universe than a mole does of astronomy”. After a controlled study of the most famous case, Sarah Jacob, led to her starvation death in a London hospital in 1869, nobody felt inclined to try repeating the experiment for fear of more starvation deaths. The vigorous debate reached its peak in 1881 and a public challenge from Dr. William Hammond of the New York Neurological Society for a formal proof of food abstinence.

Bringing us back to Dr. Henry S. Tanner and his public fast. Although his initial plan was to go without food completely, he altered this slightly by taking “alcohol vapour baths” but otherwise stuck to his fast under the watchful eye of a panel of physicians (who also measured his urine and feces carefully). Dr. Hammond and his neurologist colleague, Dr. George Beard, didn’t take part in the challenge despite invitations from Dr. Tanner and the media. Over the course of the forty days that the fast lasted, Dr. Tanner was never caught cheating and insisted on continuing despite becoming extremely emaciated. Despite expressing hope that his progressive starvation would lead to the sorts of religious visions and other “psychic experiences” that ascetics had reported in the past, Tanner was disappointed in that. He just got hungry and weak.

Once the forty day fast ended however, Dr. Tanner's claim to winning his challenge failed to impress his critics. Neither Dr. Hammond or Dr. Beard considered the test to be valid despite Tanner losing more than forty pounds in his experiment. As the two neurologists pointed out, the medical panel supervising the fast was made up of “a parcel of doctors whom very few had ever heard of” and that the “alcohol vapour baths” may have invalidated the results since they likely acted as a stimulant. The New York Times was quick to side with the neurologists and labelled the entire event as “Tanner’s Folly” sinice the doctor had failed to win the challenge or to prove his claim. The Times also added that "no physiological principle of any importance was deduced from the undertaking".

Not surprisingly, Dr. Tanner was infuriated and insisted that his successful fast proved his claim about the ability of the mind to overcome the body. He stated that his fasting demonstrated that humans could live in a state of suspended animation similar to bears going into hibernation. While Tanner argued that his going without food for forty days proved that humans were capable of "hysterical lowered vitality" (entering a death-like state under extreme circumstances), hardly anyone was persuaded by his argument. Though fasting girls continued to be studied, it was as examples of mental disorder rather than as being miraculous (despite prominent exceptions).

Although the 20th century would see a far more controlled study of human starvation that was much more useful in learning about the limits of the human body, "Tanner's Folly" earned Henry S. Tanner temporary status as a celebrity (despite his being largely forgotten today). as well as a place in the writings of Mark Twain who, in his 1897 book, Following the Equator: A Journey Around the World, commented that ""I think that the Dr. Tanners and those others who go forty days without eating do it by resolutely keeping out the desire to eat, in the beginning, and that after a few hours the desire is discouraged and comes no more".

Food for thought.

Does Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Increase Suicide Risk in Veterans with PTSD?

Romeo Vitelli — Thu, 03 May 2012 08:00:00 -0400

Research shows that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) independently increase suicide risk; however, scant research has investigated whether mTBI increases suicide risk above and beyond the risk associated with PTSD alone. A research study published in a recent issue of Rehabilitation Psychology compared suicide risk factors among a matched sample of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) military personnel and veterans with PTSD alone or PTSD and a history of an mTBI. Results show that differences in the assessed risk factors were small and suggest that if PTSD and mTBI are associated with elevations in suicide risk relative to PTSD alone, the added risk is likely mediated or confounded by PTSD symptom severity. This finding highlights the importance of screening and treating military personnel and veterans for PTSD. Future explication of the impact of TBI-related impairments on suicide risk will be critical as we strive to ensure safety and optimize care for our military personnel and veterans.

For the abstract.

200 Million Girls Go "Missing" in India and China

Romeo Vitelli — Tue, 01 May 2012 08:00:00 -0400

So there are no girls born, in China anymore
I feel so forlorn, with nobody to keep me warm
Confucian culture scorns daughters in favor of sons
So there are no girls born and I'm doomed to be just one

My parents chose me in utero to carry on the family name
But if I can't find a bride I'll be carrying nothing but shame
You gotta be tall, educated, and own your own house
miss one out of three, you won't find a spouse.

While the plaintive lyrics of the new video and song No girls born (in China anymore) released by Taiwan's Next Media Animation highlights the grim gender imbalance arising from China's population control policy, the epidemic of female infanticide in parts of India is less well-known. A shocking BBC documentary, India's Missing Girls, released in 2007 provides stark testimony relating to the thousands of infants in India who are abandoned, aborted or killed, simply for being female. In one case, a two-day old baby in India's Andhra Pradesh state was found and rescued after being buried alive by her grandfather. Following his arrest, the grandfather defended his actions by insisting that his household could not afford another female. She had been wrapped in a cloth and buried deep in the ground but bystanders found her by the sound of her crying and a tiny hand sticking out of the earth.

In rural China and India, the same somber arithmetic often comes into play for families with limited incomes: boys are more valuable since they will traditionally carry on the family name and provide for parents in their old age. For numerous Chinese families, with the one-child policy in force in many parts of the country, forced abortions (following genetic testing for sex), female infanticides, and underreporting of female births remain common. Despite growing concern over the growing shortage of females in China, the one-child policy is expected to remain in place for at least another decade.

Although mandatory dowries for brides are no longer required in India, they remain a traditional part of most Indian marriages. Since impoverished families worry about dowry costs, female children are typically made to feel that they are burdens from an early age and abandoned children are typically female. Female infanticide has become less common due to advances in medical technology. Still, ultrasound scans to determine an infant's gender in the early stages of pregnancy often lead to abortions if that infant turns out to be female. According to Rita Banerji, founder and chief-administrator of an online global campaign to halt female infanticide in India, "I’m an Indian woman, and my country looks me in the eye and says, “You and your kind mean nothing to us. You are like little flies. We’ve swatted 50 million females like you!” You kill a cow, and a riot breaks out in the city. Here we have young married women and new born girls killed every few minutes in this country. Why does that not evoke the same response from Indians?".

A new documentary film titled "It's a Girl!" scheduled for release this year interviews Banerji and other activists and, as well as a second documentary film, "Born to Die", raise troubling questions surrounding lack of action in China and India concerning the need to protect female infants.

Along with legislation banning the use of portable ultrasound imaging to determine gender of unborn infants, children's organization in India are mobilizing to protect abandoned girls as well as combatting attitudes encouraging female infanticide. The Aarti Homes project was first launched in the Andhra Pradesh city of Kadapa with the discovery of an abandoned three-year old girl in 1992. Over twenty years, the Aarti orphanage expanded from a shelter for abandoned girls to providing shelter and schooling for hundreds of children. As well, the Aarti Foundation provides community outreach programs to raise awareness about gender equality and the very real power imbalance that exists between Indian men and women.

Despite slow progress, the plight of female children in India and China continues. Without real change, the demographic and economic consequences of gender imbalance is likely to haunt both countries for decades to come.

For more information

After Little Albert (Part 2)

Romeo Vitelli — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 08:00:00 -0400

Continued from Part 1

As for his two sons from his later marriage, how they were raised often led to disagreements between him and Rosalie. A 1930 article that she wrote in Parent's Magazine reflected the issues that she had with her husband's ideas about child-rearing. Titled, "I Am The Mother of a Behaviorist's Sons", the article showed only lukewarm support for John Watson's stern behaviourist principles. She even went so far as to suggest that her children be raised with an appreciation of art and music (which her husband often dismissed as frivolous). Rosalie added that "In some respects I bow to the great wisdom in the science of behaviorism, and in others I am rebellious. ... I like being merry and gay and having the giggles. The behaviorists think giggling is a sign of maladjustment." Unfortunately, her positive influence on her sons would be brief. After a bout with dysentery which grew worse despite treatment, Rosalie Rayner Watson died at the age of 35 leaving John Watson to raise their children alone. Devastated by Rosalie's death, he would never mention her name in his children's presence again. As William and James Watson would later describe, his announcing to them that their mother had died was one of the few times that he had ever hugged them.

Aside from advertising work (from which he eventually retired after a few years), John Watson became a virtual recluse on his farm. While he would be involved with other women, he never remarried and began to neglect his personal appearance and hygiene as he grew more eccentric. In 1957, he was surprised when the American Psychological Association told him that he would be awarded a gold medal for his contributions to psychology. Despite going with his sons to New York to receive the award, he asked one of them to stand in for him at the last moment out of fear that he would burst into tears during the public ceremony. The inscription on the medal read:

To John B. Watson whose work has been one of the vital determinants of the form and substance of modern psychology. He initiated a revolution in psychological thought and his writings have been the point of departure for continuing lines of fruitful research.

Considering that John Watson's academic contributions had been overshadowed by later theorists and even his staunchest defenders had since rejected his extreme behaviourist position, it was a magnaminous tribute. He died a year later at the age of eighty. His older son William, who suffered from longstanding emotional problems despite becoming a successful Freudian psychoanalyst (which likely grieved his behaviourist father), eventually commited suicide four years after his father's death. Ironically, William Watson's suicide may have led to a persistent urban legend surrounding the supposed suicide of B.F. Skinner's younger daughter Deborah due to her spending part of her infancy in an Air Crib designed by her father (Deborah Skinner Buzan has since devoted many years of her life debunking that particular rumour).

As for his other son, James Watson did relatively better in life. In a 1981 symposium at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in Los Angeles, he would say that:

Both dad and mother, although she died when I was still a child, rigorously pursued the foundation teachings of behaviorism. Frankly, I think that a better end product would have resulted if the process of growing up had been [tempered] with some measure of affection -- it certainly would have made growing up less like a business proposition where one is judged by bottom-line performance. It is my hope that the teachings of his disciples and others who have followed him have tempered the emotionally spartan upbringing that he espoused. His behavioristic theories on child development unquestionably have value in terms of life's preparation through the setting of standards and developing an understanding of the parameters of acceptable and responsible behavior, but they could have been much improved if one were permitted to mix in a big helping of parental affection. I believe to do so would provide a better psychological foundation for all of us who, at one time or another in life, are ultimately put to the test of weathering the emotional storms that often topple people because of the frail egos and low levels of self-esteem, which usually result from a childhood diet that lacks a deeper sense of human connection.

Although James Watson would later backtrack on his criticism of his father's ideas, other members of John's family would be less generous. The most well-known of John Watson's descendants is his granddaughter, actress Mariette Hartley (of whom I happen to be a long-time fan). In her 1990 book, Breaking the Silence, she described her own emotional problems growing up with her mother, John Watson's daughter Polly. While Ms. Hartley eventually survived her mother's alcoholism and suicide attempts as well as many of the other tragedies that nearly overwhelmed her, the consequences of John Watson's theories definitely had an influence. As Ms. Hartley would state in her book:

Grandfather's theories infected my mother's life, my life, and the lives of millions. How do you break a legacy? How do you keep from passing a debilitating inheritance down, generation to generation, like a genetic flaw?

While John Watson died believing to the end that the psychological revolution that he had helped bring about would change psychology forever, he was largely mistaken. Even in his lifetime, neobehaviourists such as Clark Hull and B.F. Skinner would demonstrate that the radical behaviourism endorsed by Watson was far too simplistic to explain something as complex as behaviour (whether in humans or animals). As new models of cognitive, motivational, and biological psychology came along, Watson's old theories seemed increasingly out of step with the more diversified view of psychology favoured today.

Despite his extreme behaviourism falling out of favour, John Broadus Watson is still considered to be one of the central figures in psychology's history. From the "Little Albert" experiment to his highly controversial theories on raising children, he may well be remembered more as a showman for his own special brand of psychology than as a scientist. Whatever his impact, both personal and professional, he remains larger than life.

And that may well be the legacy he would have wanted most.

Faking Remorse

Romeo Vitelli — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 08:00:00 -0400

Emotional deception is a common behaviour that can have major consequences if undetected. For example, the sincerity of an offender's expressed remorse is an important factor in sentencing and parole hearings. A research study pubished in a recent issue of Law and Human Behavior was the first to investigate the nature of true and false remorse. The researchers examined facial, verbal and body language behaviours associated with emotional deception in videotaped accounts of true personal transgressions accompanied by either genuine or falsified remorse. Analyses of nearly 300,000 frames indicated that descriptions of falsified remorse were associated with a greater range of emotional expressions. Further, sequential analyses revealed that negative emotions were more commonly followed by other emotions—rather than a return to neutral emotion—in falsified versus sincere remorse. Participants also exhibited more speech hesitations while expressing deceptive relative to genuine remorse. In general, the results suggest that falsified remorse may be conceived as an emotionally turbulent display of deliberate, falsified expressions and involuntary, genuine, emotional leakage. These findings are relevant to judges and parole board members who consider genuine remorse to be an important factor in sentencing and release decisions.

For the abstract.

Can Letters Prevent Military Suicides?

Romeo Vitelli — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 08:11:36 -0400

Here is a new guest blog post that I have written at the Huffington Post on a pilot project recently launched to help curb the rising suicide rate in U.S. military personnel.

For many soldiers deployed abroad in distant countries, the sense of isolation and danger can be overwhelming. It is hardly surprising that military suicides have risen astronomically since the beginning of the respective missions to Iraq and Afghanistan with a recent study showing an 80 per cent increase in suicides among U.S. soldiers during the period from 2004 to 2008 alone.

To read more, click here.

Providentia

Final Public Review for Draft Version of DSM-5 Now Underway

Related Stories

The Nazi Patient

Related Stories

How Do Hormones Affect Cognition During Pregnancy?

Related Stories

Celebrating Mental Health Week and National Mental Health Month

Related Stories

The Great New York Starvation Challenge

Related Stories

Does Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Increase Suicide Risk in Veterans with PTSD?

Related Stories

200 Million Girls Go "Missing" in India and China

Related Stories

After Little Albert (Part 2)

Related Stories

Faking Remorse

Related Stories

Can Letters Prevent Military Suicides?

Related Stories