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Bioethics of the refusal of blood by Jehovah's Witnesses: Part 1. Should bioethical deliberation consider dissidents' views?

Jehovah's Witnesses' (JWs) refusal of blood transfusions has recently gained support in the medical community because of the growing popularity of "no-blood" treatment. Many physicians, particularly so-called "sympathetic doctors", are establishing a close relationship with this religious organization. On the other hand, it is little known that this blood doctrine is being strongly criticized by reform-minded current and former JWs who have expressed conscientious dissent from the organization. Their arguments reveal religious practices that conflict with many physicians' moral standards. They also suggest that a certain segment of "regular" or orthodox JWs may have different attitudes towards the blood doctrine. The author considers these viewpoints and argues that there are ethical flaws in the blood doctrine, and that the medical community should reconsider its supportive position. The usual physician assumption that JWs are acting autonomously and uniformly in refusing blood is seriously questioned.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

Medical paternalism and the fetus.

A number of developments in the medical field have changed the debate about the ethics of abortion. These developments include: advances in fetal physiology, the increase in neonatal intensive care and the survival rates of premature infants. This paper discusses the idea of selective termination and the effects that these decisions have on disabled people of today. It presents a critique of the counselling services that are provided for the parents of a disabled fetus and discusses how this is viewed from a social perspective. The article ends with an argument that the mother deserves to be autonomous in the decision of abortion. The easiest and most fair way to develop her autonomy is to consider the relationship between a professional and a mother as an expert-expert relationship. Here both parties are considered experts in diagnostic information, treatment options, possibilities, and their history, family roots, philosophy and way of life, respectively.

Abortion, Eugenic↗

Moral emotions and moral behavior.

Moral emotions represent a key element of our human moral apparatus, influencing the link between moral standards and moral behavior. This chapter reviews current theory and research on moral emotions. We first focus on a triad of negatively valenced "self-conscious" emotions-shame, guilt, and embarrassment. As in previous decades, much research remains focused on shame and guilt. We review current thinking on the distinction between shame and guilt, and the relative advantages and disadvantages of these two moral emotions. Several new areas of research are highlighted: research on the domain-specific phenomenon of body shame, styles of coping with shame, psychobiological aspects of shame, the link between childhood abuse and later proneness to shame, and the phenomena of vicarious or "collective" experiences of shame and guilt. In recent years, the concept of moral emotions has been expanded to include several positive emotions-elevation, gratitude, and the sometimes morally relevant experience of pride. Finally, we discuss briefly a morally relevant emotional process-other-oriented empathy.

Adult↗

Ethical issues in prenatal diagnosis and fetal therapy: a Catholic perspective.

The author deals with the ethical problems arising from the techniques of prenatal diagnosis and fetal therapy. With regard to the use of prenatal diagnostic response, he underlines the frequent connection between the unfortunate response and the voluntary termination of pregnancy; with regard to this, he reports the various positions which can be found in the literature on ethics. In the light of Catholic ethics, the author affirms that prenatal diagnosis is only acceptable when it respects the life and integrity of the embryo and the human fetus and is directed towards its safeguarding or healing. The moment and form of the communication of the response is also considered. Finally, some guidelines to justify conditions for fetal therapy intervention are pointed out.

Abortion, Eugenic↗

A paradoxical effect of guilt in the psychotherapy of children.

I have described paradoxical naughtiness due to guilt which occurs in some child patients during therapy and, if undetected and not interpreted, can escalate to destructive proportions. A clear conceptualization of the superego developmental line is crucial since it provides a framework for understanding the shifting superego transferences as played out by the child. The prohibitive and the loving superego transferences in turn provide the specific material for interpretations that lead to new identifications with the therapist's benign superego and at times eventual understanding of the child's internalization and distortion of parental superego functions from the past.

Child↗

Freud, evolution, and the tragedy of man.

It is argued that Freud was not, as Sulloway (1979) contends, a "crypto-biologist" of the mind, but rather a cultural anthropologist of the mind. Freud's genetic conception of the psychic apparatus was neither exclusively nor critically derived from biology. Rather, it was based on an anthropogenetic approach to the archaic heritage of mind inspired in part by the moral philosophy of Nietzsche. The idea of tragedy was the unifying theme of Freud's cultural interpretation of evolutionary psychology. The historical search for the primal origins of neurosis led Freud to the unavoidable conclusion that neurosis was in the beginning a prehistoric moral dilemma which, over the course of mental evolution, eventually evolved into guilt, discontent, and neurosis as modern-day phylogenetically endowed facts of life. Freud (1930) made it clear that the source of man's biological and cultural evolutionary progress--self-denial--was also responsible for the tragedy of the human condition, namely, repression, eternal psychic ambivalence, and chronic mental illness. He believed that neurosis began, as Nietzsche (1887) exclaimed, with the "reduction of the beast of prey 'man' to a tame and civilized animal..." (p. 42). For both Freud and Nietzsche, the cause of the human tragedy was not merely the fall from Nature, but the inexorable knowledge that Man's denial of his biological heritage was the very basis for being human.

Anthropology, Cultural↗

Social control of health behavior: associations with conscientiousness and neuroticism.

Despite considerable research demonstrating associations of conscientiousness and neuroticism with health-related behavior, our understanding of how and why these traits are related to lifestyle is limited. This study examined the social regulation of health behavior in a probability sample of 509 household residents who completed a Random Digit Dial (RDD) telephone survey. Results suggest that the social regulation of health behavior experienced by highly conscientious individuals has more to do with their own internalized notions of responsibility and obligation to others than to specific actions by others aimed at influencing their health habits. In contrast, individuals with higher neuroticism experience more overt attempts by others to influence their health habits but have more negative affective and behavioral responses to these social influence attempts. Findings suggest that elucidating the distinct social influence processes that operate for conscientiousness and neuroticism may further understanding of how these traits are related to health behaviors and status.

Adult↗

What is meant by telling the truth: Bonhoeffer on the ethics of disclosure.

This article explores Dietrich Bonhoeffer's writings on truth telling with reference to the problem of medical error in the US, the UK, and other developed nations, with particular attention to physicians' resistance to disclosing their own mistakes to injured patients and their families. The brief essay 'What is Meant by "Telling the Truth"?' and its historical context--Bonhoeffer's imprisonment and interrogation in 1943--is proposed as a text for medical ethicists and others seeking to overcome the barrier of the 'hidden curriculum' within the culture of medicine, which encourages medical students and physicians to conceal their errors and to fear disclosure.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

Maintaining integrity through clinical supervision.

This article suggests that there is a relationship between successfully maintaining integrity in nursing and the practical provision of opportunities for shared reflection offered by good clinical supervision. In order to establish this case, I will first give some definitions and then proceed to consider how these ideas relate conceptually. The article makes no attempt to offer empirical research as confirmation, but provides a conceptual and moral argument making use of anecdotes for purposes of clarification and illumination. It is the author's belief that, if it is understood and implemented properly, clinical supervision offers a radical challenge to nursing's existing culture. If nurses are interested in the survival of the profession, it is perhaps a challenge that has to be addressed.

Anecdotes as Topic↗

Health status and the five-factor personality traits in a nationally representative sample.

The authors' objective was to determine the association between the 'big-five' personality traits and mental and physical disorders among adults in the United States. The Midlife Development in the United States Survey, a nationally representative sample of 3032 adults ages 25-74, was used to determine the association between the five-factor traits of personality and common mental and physical disorders. Findings are consistent with and extend previous results showing that conscientiousness is associated with significantly reduced likelihood of a wide range of mental and physical disorders among adults in the general population, and inversely that neuroticism is associated with increased rates. Among adults with physical illnesses, associations were found between personality and likelihood of physical limitations, especially conscientiousness. These findings provide a framework upon which research on complex causal processes may proceed. Thus future research attention might profitably be directed to conscientiousness-relevant processes, such as adherence to health and treatment recommendations and internalization of healthy societal norms for sensible health-related behavior.

Adult↗

The contribution of embarrassment to phobic dental anxiety: a qualitative research study.

BACKGROUND: Embarrassment is emphasized, yet scantily described as a factor in extreme dental anxiety or phobia. Present study aimed to describe details of social aspects of anxiety in dental situations, especially focusing on embarrassment phenomena. METHODS: Subjects (Ss) were consecutive specialist clinic patients, 16 men, 14 women, 20-65 yr, who avoided treatment mean 12.7 yr due to anxiety. Electronic patient records and transcribed initial assessment and exit interviews were analyzed using QSR"N4" software to aid in exploring contexts related to social aspects of dental anxiety and embarrassment phenomena. Qualitative findings were co-validated with tests of association between embarrassment intensity ratings, years of treatment avoidance, and mouth-hiding behavioral ratings. RESULTS: Embarrassment was a complaint in all but three cases. Chief complaints in the sample: 30% had fear of pain; 47% cited powerlessness in relation to dental social situations, some specific to embarrassment and 23% named co-morbid psychosocial dysfunction due to effects of sexual abuse, general anxiety, gagging, fainting or panic attacks. Intense embarrassment was manifested in both clinical and non-clinical situations due to poor dental status or perceived neglect, often (n = 9) with fear of negative social evaluation as chief complaint. These nine cases were qualitatively different from other cases with chief complaints of social powerlessness associated with conditioned distrust of dentists and their negative behaviors. The majority of embarrassed Ss to some degree inhibited smiling/laughing by hiding with lips, hands or changed head position. Secrecy, taboo-thinking, and mouth-hiding were associated with intense embarrassment. Especially after many years of avoidance, embarrassment phenomena lead to feelings of self-punishment, poor self-image/esteem and in some cases personality changes in a vicious circle of anxiety and avoidance. Embarrassment intensity ratings were positively correlated with years of avoidance and degree of mouth-hiding behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: Embarrassment is a complex dental anxiety manifestation with qualitative differences by complaint characteristics and perceived intensity. Some cases exhibited manifestations similar to psychiatric criteria for social anxiety disorder as chief complaint, while most manifested embarrassment as a side effect.

Adult↗

Predicting three mood phenomena from factors and facets of the NEO-PI.

The relationship between transient mood phenomena and enduring personality characteristics was studied. Eighty-one women completed the NEO Personality Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1985) and provided daily unidimensional mood ratings for 20 days. Average mood was negatively related to Neuroticism (N) and positively related to Extraversion (E). More fine-grained analyses revealed that Positive Emotions, a facet of E, was a better predictor of average mood than was the overall E factor score. The greater a facet's loading on N or E, the better it predicted average mood. Within-day mood variability (mood fluctuation) was positively related to Openness to Experience (O), particularly to the facet, Fantasy. Across-day variability (mood swing) was positively related to both E and O. No relationship was found between any of the mood variables and Agreeableness (A) or Conscientiousness (C). The 3 mood variables were virtually independent of one another, but each showed moderately high temporal stability across the 4-week period.

Adolescent↗

Correspondence between five-factor and RIASEC models of personality.

In this study, we examined relationships between the full five-factor (FF; Costa & McCrae, 1985, 1992; Digman, 1990) and Holland's (1985a) RIASEC models of personality in a sample of 1,034 adults. The NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (Costa & McCrae, 1992) and the Self-Directed Search (Holland, 1985c) provided measures of the FF and RIASEC dimensions, respectively. Canonical correlation analyses provided evidence primarily for a pattern of linkages between the FF Extraversion, Openness, and Agreeableness measures and the RIASEC Enterprising, Artistic, and Social scales. Findings from this and previous studies indicated that the FF model appears to ignore the Realistic dimension and provides coverage of the Investigative and Conventional dimensions in women only. In turn, the RIASEC model appears to provide modest coverage of the FF Neuroticism and Conscientiousness domains for women and not at all for men.

Adult↗