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Therapeutic interventions may trigger nonspecific mechanisms whose effects are not attributable to the specific properties of a given treatment. Recent investigations on the placebo effect as well as other mind-body interactions are helping us to understand some of the underlying mechanisms, as well as beginning to provide us with potentially effective adjuvant treatment strategies for a variety of human diseases.
The importance of religion and spirituality to the American public has been highlighted by recent opinion polls, media attention and empirical studies. Psychosocial researchers are incorporating these variables into studies of emotional and physical illness. A number of studies have found that, for cancer patients, religious, spiritual and quality of life concerns are paramount. This paper reviews the literature relating religion and spirituality to physical and emotional health and quality of life. Definitions and measurement issues related to religiosity/spirituality and quality of life are discussed. The paper provides a rationale and methodological suggestions for future studies assessing religious and spiritual beliefs of cancer patients in relation to quality of life. The authors conclude that regular inclusion of religiosity and spirituality measures in quality of life studies is needed in order to understand the integration of mind, body and spirit in cancer care.
Many of the concepts central to symbolic interactionism were anticipated by the eighteenth century Scottish moralists. The symbolic-interactionist and Scottish moralist orientations both hold that society alone engenders uniquely human qualities, self-arises through sympathetic interaction, and mind and self reconstruct their environments. George H. Mead's conception of though as internal dialogue between the "I" and "me" aspects of the self and his notion of the "generalized other" were foreshadowed by some of the Scottish moralists, particularly Adam Smith. These schools differ, though in their treatments of emotion, communication, political structures, and the origin of sympathy.
The professional literature of the first generation of American psychiatrists is replete with poetical passages drawn from the imaginative works of such English authors as Shakespeare, Byron, and Scott as well as the writings of residents of the asylums they tended. A close reading of such passages in the American Journal of Insanity (AJI), the central medium through which members of this nascent profession attempted to "popularize the study of insanity," suggests they were not simply textual ornaments or signs of the underdeveloped state of American psychiatry in the mid-nineteenth century. Indeed, literary manifestations of the imaginative minds of patients and renowned writers were scrutinized by psychiatrists seeking to advance their understanding of mental disease. Moreover, the English authors were often elevated to the status of medical experts and their poetry and prose were commended to fellow medical practitioners as sources of psychological insight. Toward the turn of the century psychiatrists' engagement with these literary forms was less pronounced in the AJI, due in large part to the impact of rising asylum populations and the coming of a culture of positivist medicine. Yet literary influences on psychiatric writing are still evident in this period, indicating the complexity of the cultural interfaces between psychiatry and literature and the importance of examining the historical processes that have served to define and distinguish the enterprise of the psychiatrist from that of the poet.
Considering the faculty for learning as a primary human characteristic and means to adaptation, any influence that may reduce this faculty becomes a hazard. Sensory and cognitive stimulation of inappropriate strength, both underload and overload, appears to be one such hazard. The central theme of this paper is overload, in contrast to writings in the 1950s and 1960s which dealt mainly with the ill effects of sensory and cognitive deprivation. The presentation consists of four parts: An account of the author's investigation in which the learning performance of students was correlated with varying input loads; critiques of overload by commentators of different backgrounds; the effects of input on man in the perspective of evolution and of brain-mind identity; a recommendation of physiological and biochemical testing of students exposed to varying input loads in correlation with their learning performance. The physical testing is either to ratify or to invalidate two conclusions reached in observations on the behavioral level. These conclusions are (1) that overload, quantitative or qualitative, obstructs the human capacity for learning, and that such interference may to some extent be a reflection of undesirable changes in autonomic conditions; and (2) that preventive measures can be taken by the structure of an input that reduces it in the perception of its receivers.
We articulate an interpretation of mens rea that is broader than the traditional special sense but narrower than the traditional general sense. Mens rea in this intermediate sense addresses the guilty mind required by the sentencing criteria for specific criminal sentences for particular offenses. We advance an analytic structure for the integration of legal and empirical inquiry regarding standards of culpability that establish eligibility for capital punishment under contemporary United States legal doctrine. This structure addresses legal standards of culpability directly as well as indirectly in the form of evolving standards of decency. The general form of this analysis should be applicable more generally to sentencing provisions that address culpability as a sentencing consideration for other criminal sentences.
Failure of Notch signaling in zebrafish mind bomb (mib) mutants results in a neurogenic phenotype where an overproduction of early differentiating neurons is accompanied by the loss of later-differentiating cell types. We have characterized in detail the hindbrain phenotype of mib mutants. Hindbrain branchiomotor neurons (BMNs) are reduced in number but not missing in mib mutants. In addition, BMN clusters are frequently fused across the midline in mutants. Mosaic analysis indicates that the BMN patterning and fusion defects in the mib hindbrain arise non-cell autonomously. Ventral midline signaling is defective in the mutant hindbrain, in part due to the differentiation of some midline cells into neural cells. Interestingly, while early hindbrain patterning appears normal in mib mutants, subsequent rhombomere-specific gene expression is completely lost. The defects in ventral midline signaling and rhombomere patterning are accompanied by an apparent loss of neuroepithelial cells in the mutant hindbrain. These observations suggest that, by regulating the differentiation of neuroepithelial cells into neurons, Notch signaling preserves a population of non-neuronal cells that are essential for maintaining patterning mechanisms in the developing neural tube.
A wide range of physiological and behavioral processes, such as social, sexual, and maternal behaviors, learning and memory, and osmotic homeostasis are influenced by the neurohypophysial peptides oxytocin and vasopressin. Disruptions of these hormone systems have been linked to several neurobehavioral disorders, including autism, Prader-Willi syndrome, affective disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Studies in zebrafish promise to reveal the complex network of regulatory genes and signaling pathways that direct the development of oxytocin- and vasopressin-like neurons, and provide insight into factors involved in brain disorders associated with disruption of these systems. Isotocin, which is homologous to oxytocin, is expressed early, in a simple pattern in the developing zebrafish brain. Single-minded 1 (sim1), a member of the bHLH-PAS family of transcriptional regulatory genes, is required for terminal differentiation of mammalian oxytocin cells and is a master regulator of neurogenesis in Drosophila. Here we show that sim1 is expressed in the zebrafish forebrain and is required for isotocin cell development. The expression pattern of sim1 mRNA in the embryonic forebrain is dynamic and complex, and overlaps with isotocin expression in the preoptic area. We provide evidence that the role of sim1 in zebrafish neuroendocrine cell development is evolutionarily conserved with that of mammals.
A case in which the author began to understand her patient as "collapsing the space between them," rather than as continuing only to free associate, is the occasion for a contemplation of the way psychoanalytic theory effects a transition between what is inner, or lived, and outer, or experienced. Metaphor is seen as the agent of this transition. The author discusses metaphor in relation to the case described, while also examining spatial metaphors of mind in classical analysis and in Kleinian theory. It is suggested that both may be integrated in a third metaphorical-spatial construct, Green's analytic space.
The author presents the analysis of a 23-year-old, obese, psychotic man who was dominated by sensations and unable to work through the different levels of psychic elaboration. He could not discriminate between words and concrete objects or between the perceptual functions of sense organs and the oral-cannibalistic level of instinct. Following the working through of these inabilities, it became possible to understand the patient's use of sensation and to make him aware of his emotions and conflicts. The author's discussion of this material emphasizes the role of the body-mind conflict and how this can be confronted in the analytic relationship. Possible links with neuroscience are also indicated.
Our goal is to understand the molecular mechanisms that govern the formation of the central nervous system. In particular, we have focused on the development of a small group of neurons and glia that lie along the midline of the Drosophila CNS. These midline cells possess a number of unique attributes which make them particularly amenable to molecular, cellular, and genetic examinations of nervous system formation and function. In addition, the midline cells exhibit distinctive ontogeny, morphology, anatomical position, and patterns of gene expression which suggest that they may provide unique functions to the developing CNS. The single-minded gene encodes a nuclear protein which is specifically expressed in the midline cells and has been shown to play a crucial role in midline cell development and CNS formation. Genetic experiments reveal that sim is required for the expression of many CNS midline genes which are thought to be involved in the proper differentiation of these cells. In order to identify additional genes which are expressed in some or all of the midline cells at different developmental stages, a technique known as enhancer trap screening was employed. This screen led to the identification of a large number of potential genes which exhibit various midline expression patterns and may be involved in discrete aspects of midline cell development. Further molecular, genetic, and biochemical analyses of sim and several of the enhancer trap lines are being pursued. This should permit elucidation of the genetic hierarchy which acts in the specification, differentiation, and function of these CNS midline cells.
Posing, living, and laboring as American workers, several 1920s reformist labor investigators sought to develop an alternative to Frederick Taylor's famous characterization of a typical manual laborer as mentally akin to an ox. Through their experiences as workers, they believed that they gained real if limited access to working-class psychology. Accordingly, they presented views of the worker's mind that significantly loosened the strictures of hereditarian and, especially in the case of foreign-born workers, scientific racist thought. But their efforts were shaped by their own backgrounds and biases, and by those of the academic authorities upon whose work they built, and were also mediated through the complexities of their efforts to pass across the class line. Their work finally lent itself less to the purposes of industrial democracy and reform than to those of the rising 1920s schools of industrial psychology, industrial sociology, and personnel relations.
The purpose of this study was to gather data on the efficacy of a newly developed psychosocial group intervention for cancer patients, called mindfulness-based art therapy (MBAT). One hundred and eleven women with a variety of cancer diagnoses were paired by age and randomized to either an eight-week MBAT intervention group or a wait-list control group. Ninety-three participants (84%) completed both the pre- and post-study measurements. As compared to the control group, the MBAT group demonstrated a significant decrease in symptoms of distress (as measured by the Symptoms Checklist-90-Revised) and significant improvements in key aspects of health-related quality of life (as measured by the Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form Health Survey). This investigation of MBAT provides initial encouraging data that support a possible future role for the intervention as a psychosocial treatment option for cancer patients.
Patients with right hemisphere (RHD) or left hemisphere brain damage (LHD) were tested on Theory of Mind (ToM) tasks presented with visual aids that illustrated the relevant premises. As a measure of pragmatic ability, patients were also asked to judge replies in conversation that violated Gricean maxims. Both RHD and LHD patients performed well on the ToM tasks presented with visual aids, but RHD patients displayed difficulty when the same tasks were presented only verbally. In addition, RHD patients showed reduced sensitivity to pragmatic violations. These findings point to the role of right hemisphere structures in processing information relevant to conversations. They indicate that a crucial source of RHD patients' errors in ToM tasks may involve difficulties in utterance interpretation owing to impairments of visuospatial processing required for the representation of textual information.
The simple kinds of conscious thinking that probably occur in nonhuman animals can be studied objectively by utilizing the same basic procedure that we use every day to infer what our human companions think and feel. This is to base such inferences on communicative behavior, broadly defined to include human language, nonverbal communication, and semantic communication in apes, dolphins, parrots, and honeybees. It seems likely that animals often experience something similar to the messages they communicate. Although this figurative window on other minds is obviously imperfect, it is already contributing significantly to our growing understanding and appreciation of animal mentality.
In Drosophila, the development of the midline cells of the embryonic ventral nerve cord depends on the function of the bHLH-PAS transcription factor Single-minded (Sim). The expression domain of sim, however, is also found anterior and posterior to the developing ventral cord throughout the germ band. Indeed, mutations in sim were identified based on their characteristic cuticle phenotype. Eight abdominal segments (A1-A8) can be easily seen in the larval cuticle, while three more can be identified during embryogenesis. Cells located in A8-A10 give rise to the formation of the genital imaginal discs, and a highly modified A11 segment gives rise to the anal pads that flank the anus. sim is expressed in all these segments and is required for the formation of both the anal pads and the genital imaginal discs. A new temperature-sensitive sim allele allowed an assessment of possible postembryonic function(s) of sim. Reduction of sim function below a 50% threshold leads to sterile flies with marked behavioral deficits. Most mutant sim flies were only able to walk in circles. Further analyses indicated that this phenotype is likely due to defects in the brain central complex. This brain region, which has previously been implicated in the control of walking behavior, expresses high levels of nuclear Sim protein in three clusters of neurons in each central brain hemisphere. Additional Sim localization in the medullary and laminar neurons of the optic lobes may correlate with the presence of ectopic axon bundles observed in the optic lobes of sim mutant flies.
We have recently isolated a human homolog (hSIM) of the Drosophila single-minded (sim) gene from the Down syndrome critical region of chromosome 21 using the exon trapping method. The Drosophila sim gene encodes a transcription factor that regulates the development of the central nervous system midline cell lineage. To elucidate the structure of the mammalian SIM protein, we have isolated cDNA clones from a mouse embryo cDNA library. The cDNA clones encode a polypeptide of 657 amino acids with a bHLH (basic-helix-loop-helix) domain, characteristic of a large family of transcription factors, and a PAS (Per-Arnt-Sim) domain in the amino-terminal half region. Both of these domains have striking sequence homology with human SIM and Drosophila SIM proteins. In contrast, the carboxy-terminal half of the mouse SIM protein consists of a proline-rich region with no sequence homology to the Drosophila SIM protein. A similar proline-rich domain is known for the activator domain of a number of transcription factors. Whole-mount embryo in situ hybridization experiments revealed that the SIM mRNA is expressed prominently in the diencephalon of mouse embryos at 8-9.5 days postcoitum. The structural characteristics of the mouse SIM protein and its expression in the diencephalon during embryogenesis strongly suggest that the newly isolated mammalian SIM homolog may play a critical role in the development of the mammalian central nervous system. We propose that the human SIM gene may be one of the pathogenic genes of Down syndrome.
In the efforts to establish neuroscientific theories of the mind, one should distinguish between conceptual and scientific obstacles. The conceptual obstacles comprise, for example, various dualist-materialist philosophical positions, emergentism, failure to distinguish between models and non-models, lack of ontological commitment, and the constraints of language. The scientific obstacles comprise, for example, the lack of methods to describe the behaviour of neuron networks and their properties, the difficulties of establishing transition rules between micro-networks and macro-networks, the difficulties in working with non-Pavlovian paradigms and imposing information processing constraints and informational requirements on brain processes.