A phenomenological exploration into the personal experience and impact of therapist self-disclosure on the therapist

Extensive research has been carried out on self-disclosure within the therapeutic relationship. The emphasis remains on disclosure offering therapeutic benefit for the client. Thus, the therapist primarily enters the therapeutic space in the service of healing for the client. However, it may be that they too (therapists) in their position as a ‘wounded healer’ (Jung, 1993) receive some relief, benefits, or discomforts to themselves regarding their unresolved deficits, traumas and emotional injuries as a result of their shared self-disclosures. Researching this topic highlighted a potential gap in this area, namely what was the impact and personal experience of therapist self-disclosure on the disclosing therapist? A Qualitative methodology encompassing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) felt appropriate as it allowed for non-intrusive enquiries whilst giving participants the flexibility and freedom to share their individual, unique findings and meaning-making in their purest form (Smith, Flowers & Larkin, 2009). This study was interested in exploring the impact and experience of therapist self-disclosure on the disclosing therapist. A sample size of five therapists was interviewed. The participants’ subjective and personal experiences of this phenomenon were explored and investigated via an in-depth, semi-structured interview. The data analysis and interpretation of the data produced three master themes: firstly, ‘what is self-disclosure’ - exploring the complexities involved in this phenomenon. The second master theme, ‘risks involved in therapist self-disclosure’ focused on explorations into professional and relationship risks. The final master theme explored ‘the personal impact and experience of therapist self-disclosure on the disclosing therapist’. This involved the emotional and psychological impact of therapist self-disclosure on the therapist, power awareness, the therapist’s use of self and the therapist as a ‘wounded healer’. This study highlighted the importance of therapists remaining cognisant of the complexities involved in therapist self-disclosure and its impact upon them (and by implication the client). In this way, they may honour the duality existing within this phenomenon. The findings highlighted that therapists are indeed impacted on a personal level by their self-disclosures. Thus, training programmes and supervision need to give greater focus to and guidelines for the use of therapist self-disclosure in relation to trainees and newly qualified therapists as these aspects all have implications for better practice, self-care, training and ethics

Metaxanine, A Systemic Fungicide Against Plasmopara Viticola on Wine Grapes: Disease Control, Residues and Effect on Fermentation and Wine Quality

The systemic fungicide metaxanine/methyl D, L-N-(2,6-dimethyl-phenyl)-N-(2 methoxyacetyl) alaninate/, was compared with mancozeb for the control of Plasmopara viticola (B x C) Berl. & de T. on grapevines in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. The systemic fungicide gave better control thanmancozeb. Good control was obtained with applications of the systemic fungicide at 21 day intervals, despite the fact that weather conditions were particularly favourable for disease development. Residues of metaxanine recovered from grapes were low and did not affect either the onset, or the rate of fermentation of grape juice, nor did it affect wine quality

Susceptibility to Phytophthora Cinnamomi of two Grapevine Rootstock Clones after Thermotherapy

The grapevine rootstocks 99 Richter clone I/30/1H74 infected with grapevine fleck and leafroll and 99 Richter Prosperi Super subclone 5 infected with stem pitting and leafroll were more susceptible to Phytophthora cinnamomi without treatment than after heat treatment to eliminate viruses. Recent field observations by various local workers (unpublished) and claims by local growers suggested that 99 Richer (Vitis berlandieri P. x V rupestris S.) grapevine rootstock material previously subjected to thermotherapy is more susceptible to Phytophthora cinnamomi Rands than untreated material. This contribution provides data on the effect of thermotherapy on the susceptibility of two 99 Richter rootstock clones to P. cinnamomi

Recombination and base composition: the case of the highly self-fertilizing plant Arabidopsis thaliana

BACKGROUND: Rates of recombination can vary among genomic regions in eukaryotes, and this is believed to have major effects on their genome organization in terms of base composition, DNA repeat density, intron size, evolutionary rates and gene order. In highly self-fertilizing species such as Arabidopsis thaliana, however, heterozygosity is expected to be strongly reduced and recombination will be much less effective, so that its influence on genome organization should be greatly reduced. RESULTS: Here we investigated theoretically the joint effects of recombination and self-fertilization on base composition, and tested the predictions with genomic data from the complete A. thaliana genome. We show that, in this species, both codon-usage bias and GC content do not correlate with the local rates of crossing over, in agreement with our theoretical results. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that levels of inbreeding modulate the effect of recombination on base composition, and possibly other genomic features (for example, transposable element dynamics). We argue that inbreeding should be considered when interpreting patterns of molecular evolution

Ascorbic acid causes spuriously low blood glucose measurements

CITATION: Strijdom, J.G., Marais, B.J. & Koeslag, J.H. 1993. Ascorbic acid causes spuriously low blood glucose measurements. S Afr Med J, 83(1):64-65.The original publication is available at http://www.samj.org.za[No abstract available]Publisher’s versio

Clustered bottlenecks in mRNA translation and protein synthesis

We construct an algorithm that generates large, band-diagonal transition matrices for a totally asymmetric exclusion process (TASEP) with local hopping rate inhomogeneities. The matrices are diagonalized numerically to find steady-state currents of TASEPs with local variations in hopping rate. The results are then used to investigate clustering of slow codons along mRNA. Ribosome density profiles near neighboring clusters of slow codons interact, enhancing suppression of ribosome throughput when such bottlenecks are closely spaced. Increasing the slow codon cluster size, beyond $\approx 3-4$, does not significantly reduce ribosome current. Our results are verified by extensive Monte-Carlo simulations and provide a biologically-motivated explanation for the experimentally-observed clustering of low-usage codons

A new 1,1,6-trimethyl-1,2-dihydronaphthalene (TDN) precursor isolated from Riesling grape products: Partial structure elucidation and possible reaction mechanism

A heteroside, which produces 1,1,6-trimethyl-1,2-dihydronaphthalene (TDN) by acid hydrolysis, was isolated from Riesling grapes by retention on Amberlite XAD-2 resin, followed by preparative TLC and HPLC techniques. It was partially identified by NMR spectroscopic procedures. The presence of a megastigm-4-en-9-one structure with an enol-ether function in the C4 position and a OH/OR function in the C6 position was ascertained. The sugar part should be constituted of two or three glucose moieties with the same NMR characteristics. The linkage of these moieties to the megastigmane structure in the C4 position and possibly also in the C6 position remains to be determined. The isolated conjugated form produced only a TDN-d4 isomer when reacted at 50 degrees C in D2O at different acid pH values. A possible reaction mechanism was proposed, considering the kinetics of TDN-d(4) formation during the hydrolysis of the raw glycosidic fraction from two differently aged Riesling wines at pH 2, and comparing it with the kinetics of TDN formation as well. The latter may correspond to the mechanism proposed by WINTERHALTER (1991). Thus, the presence of at least two different TDN precursors in grape products at different concentrations was proved