Brief Remarks on Some Linguistic Features of Empathy and Sympathy

The use of words by an individual or culture is subject to the very same psychological forces that drive man\u27s other activities . Hence, the history of a word\u27s usage becomes a telling record of the mental processes of its creators and users, both conscious and unconscious. Etymology, as Freud has observed in his dreambook (1900), contributes significantly to our understanding of the deeper layers of the psyche . Let us take the word rival, for example, and see how we may make use of etymological data. It is derived from the Latin riva lis, I which originally meant one sharing a stream or neighbor, companion, aid (Oxford English Dictionary, 197 1; Shipley, 1984, p. 333). When Shakespeare has Bernardo say: If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus , The rivals of my watch , bid them make haste (Hamlet, Act 1, Sc. i, 11. 13- 14) rival is used in just this sense: companion, help meet, colleague. Yet this meaning is now obsolete. Today to declare someone a rival is to brand him or her a competitor, someone with whom one struggles, a foe, an enemy. The inevitable dark side of human relations is thus revealed: proximity implies danger, friends may betray, neighbors attack

Masson\u27s Assault on Truth: A Critique

In his book, The Assault on Truth, j. M. Masson (I) proposes to challenge the very foundations of psychoanalysis by showing how Freud \u27s abandonment of the so-called seduction theory of the etiology of neurosis was erroneously predicated. Masson\u27s argument, in essence, may be summarized as follows. Freud, while studying with the eminent neurologist Charcot in Paris (from October 1885 to February 1886), found himself exposed to the prevalent horrors of ch ild abuse, which were copiously detailed in the French medical literature at the time, and which were very probably demonstrated to him at the Paris morgue. The impression of these revelations would contribute profoundly to Freud\u27s formulation of his seduction theory of the etiology of the neuroses in a trio of papers published in 1896

Book Review: The Soft Voice of Reason

FREUD AS AN EXPERT WITNESS K. R. Eissler Madison, Connecticut, International Universities Press 1986, 449 pages

In the Beginning...Phylogeny in Freud\u27s Overview of the Transference Neuroses: A Review-Essay

A PHYLOGENETIC FANTASY I. Grubrich-Simitis, editor A. Hoffer and P. T. Hoffer, translators Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass. 198

A Brief Note on a Psychotherapeutic Technique Described by Glover and Its Application During Psychiatric Residency

Few would dispute the existence of a general tendency to blame psychological ailments on physical problems. For example, we often attribute changes in mood to the somatic effects of the weather, irritability to diet, apathy to physical exhaustion, etc. How many of us can deny at some time having attempted to explain to our spouses that an outburst of temper was really the fault of our indigestion, let us say? Of course, our spouses are rather skeptical. And as psychiatrists we too preserve a skepticism towards the explanations of this kind which our patients so often provide. This is not to say that we render meaningless the influence of somatic factors on the psyche, but only to acknowledge that unconscious processes operate in devious and wily ways, and that a psychological principle independent of these psychosomatic relations seems to be hard at work. In extreme cases, excessive and overriding concern for physical status is unequivocally indicative of a major psychiatric disturbance- and the processes of denial and displacement are observable in purer culture, as it were. But we must not ignore the attempt at self-cure inherent in such tendencies, the acknowledgment of which might lead to efficacious therapeutic interventions. Indeed, as resident psychiatrists, circumstances permit us to practice a type of brief psychotherapy which has long been utilized, albeit in an uncomprehending, intuitive manner. Glover (1931) had laid th e theoretic groundwork for the technique I am about to describe, in his brilliant and far-reaching paper on inexact interpretation (the perusal of which is strongly recommended to the reader), which consequently warrants a brief discussion

Medical Student Attitudes Toward Cell Phone Use on Rounds

Purpose: Mobile devices are ubiquitous and serve as an important resource for on-the-spot research about patient questions and conditions. However, even when a device is used to address patient needs, patients and members of the medical team may assume the student is using their phone for non-clinical activities and perceive the student as uninterested and disengaged. Medical students are aware of this potential for misperception, and as such, we designed a study to investigate the attitudes of third and fourth year medical students towards cell phone use on internal medicine rounds. Methods: Our target learner population was third and fourth year medical students on their internal medicine rotations. Voluntary and anonymous surveys generated data in aggregate assessing the attitudes of students towards cell phone use while on rounds. Results and Conclusions: The results of our study show that medical students have a strong desire to use smart phones for professional reasons on rounds. The data also show that despite this desire, students do not feel comfortable accessing their technology for fear of professional repercussions from both attendings and patients. An overwhelming 75% of students reported that they would use their smart phones more frequently if formal guidelines were in place encouraging professional cell phone use. We hope to develop an intervention to eliminate the fear of professional repercussions medical students currently experience as digital learners using smart phones. This intervention would seek to bolster medical education and patient care by adding transparency to cell phone use between medical students, attendings and the patients they treat

Addressing Health Disparities and Cultural Competency in Reproductive Health Through Active Learning in the University of Puerto Rico, School of Medicine

Introduction: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) individuals face health disparities linked to societal stigma, discrimination, and denial of their civil and human rights which impact reproductive health. Previous pregnancy, induced abortion, and hormonal contraceptive use are common among women who report sex with women, regardless of self-identification as lesbian. LGBTQ have higher risk of smoking, use illicit drugs or have alcohol related problems. Methods: A faculty development training addressed methods and skills for teaching cultural competence and eliminate health disparities. Faculty facilitated a small group active learning activity, including a vignette and a reflective self-evaluation, for medical students to provide better health care services to LGBTQ women in childbearing age. A pre-test and post-test were administered. Analysis was performed using Statistix8.0. Results: A total of 115 second year medical students were included in the educational activity. Subjects included 101 students (87%) on the pretest and 104 students (90%) on the post-test. Subjects showed an overall improvement in knowledge (89% correct answers pre-test, 100% post-test, (

Role of HIF2 signaling in small intestine regeneration after radiation injury

View full abstracthttps://openworks.mdanderson.org/leading-edge/1037/thumbnail.jp

OncoLog Volume 53, Number 02, February 2008

Assessing Symptom Burden in Cancer DiaLog: Making Headway in Hematology, by Guillermo Garcia-Manero, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Leukemia Helping Kids Make Smart Food Choices Expanding Therapy Options for Advanced Cancerhttps://openworks.mdanderson.org/oncolog/1167/thumbnail.jp

Genetic correlates in patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia treated with Hyper-CVAD/Hyper-CMAD plus dasatinib or Hyper-CVAD plus ponatinib

Department of Leukemia Research Department of Leukemia Department of Genomic Medicinehttps://openworks.mdanderson.org/edwk21/1004/thumbnail.jp