244 research outputs found
Paranoid atmospheres: Psychiatric knowledge and delusional realities
In this paper I investigate the topic of paranoid atmospheres. This subject is especially of interest with respect to persons who are deluded, and also, I will demonstrate, sheds light upon the psychiatrist's "gaze" and knowledge of delusions. In my argument I will follow a path initially outlined by Karl Jaspers (1883-1969): modern psychiatric diagnosis of delusions is a diagnosis of form and not content. Jaspers' emphasis on the form of delusions enables psychiatrists to be self-critical about their professional knowledge and, consequently, prevent the development of dogmatic attitudes. In accord with Jaspers, my argument will focus on the basic structure of delusions and highlight the difference between delusional realities and non-delusional realities, a difference that follows from the possibility of self-criticism of one's own conscious and explicit convictions. I will demonstrate the importance of self-criticism with regard to paranoid atmospheres and also to psychiatric knowledge. In this manner, an understanding of delusions as lived experience will be developed, which argues that an escalation of the influence of delusional convictions, resulting in a profoundly paranoid atmosphere, is most problematic for the deluded person. To acknowledge this insight mirrors the need for a self-critique of psychiatric discourse, encourages an empathic and respectful relationship between professionals and deluded patients, and enables deluded persons to restrict their paranoid atmosphere. It is the main conclusion of my paper that a deluded person cannot do (with respect to his delusional convictions) what a psychiatrist must do (with respect to his psychiatric knowledge and his own existential convictions) in order to prevent a profoundly paranoid atmosphere in their relationship: be self-critical
No departure to "Pandora"? Using critical phenomenology to differentiate "naive" from "reflective" experience in psychiatry and psychosomatic medicine (A comment on Schwartz and Wiggins, 2010)
The mind-body problem lies at the heart of the clinical practice of both psychiatry and psychosomatic medicine. In their recent publication, Schwartz and Wiggins address the question of how to understand life as central to the mind-body problem. Drawing on their own use of the phenomenological method, we propose that the mind-body problem is not resolved by a general, evocative appeal to an all encompassing life-concept, but rather falters precisely at the insurmountable difference between "natural" and a "reflective" experience built into phenomenological method itself. Drawing on the works of phenomenologically oriented thinkers, we describe life as inherently "teleological" without collapsing life with our subjective perspective, or stepping over our epistemological limits. From the phenomenology it can be demonstrated that the hypothetical teleological qualities are a reflective reconstruction modelled on human behavioural structure
Measurement of polarization-transfer to bound protons in carbon and its virtuality dependence
We measured the ratio of the transverse to longitudinal
components of polarization transferred from electrons to bound protons in
by the process at the
Mainz Microtron (MAMI). We observed consistent deviations from unity of this
ratio normalized to the free-proton ratio,
, for both -
and -shell knocked out protons, even though they are embedded in averaged
local densities that differ by about a factor of two. The dependence of the
double ratio on proton virtuality is similar to the one for knocked out protons
from and , suggesting a universal behavior.
It further implies no dependence on average local nuclear density
Beam-Normal Single Spin Asymmetry in Elastic Electron Scattering off Si and Zr
We report on a new measurement of the beam-normal single spin asymmetry
in the elastic scattering of 570 MeV transversely polarized
electrons off Si and Zr at . The
studied kinematics allow for a comprehensive comparison with former results on
C. No significant mass dependence of the beam-normal single spin
asymmetry is observed in the mass regime from C to Zr.Comment: Submitted for publication to Physics Letters
Observation of Lambda H-4 hyperhydrogen by decay-pion spectroscopy in electron scattering
At the Mainz Microtron MAMI, the first high-resolution pion spectroscopy from
decays of strange systems was performed by electron scattering off a Be-9
target in order to study the ground-state masses of Lambda-hypernuclei.
Positively charged kaons were detected by a short-orbit spectrometer with a
broad momentum acceptance at zero degree forward angles with respect to the
beam, efficiently tagging the production of strangeness in the target nucleus.
In coincidence, negatively charged decay-pions were detected by two independent
high-resolution spectrometers. About 10^3 pionic weak decays of hyperfragments
and hyperons were observed. The pion momentum distribution shows a
monochromatic peak at p_pi ~ 133 MeV/c, corresponding to the unique signature
for the two-body decay of hyperhydrogen Lambda H-4 -> He-4 + pi-, stopped
inside the target. Its binding energy was determined to be B_Lambda = 2.12 +-
0.01 (stat.) +- 0.09 (syst.) MeV with respect to the H-3 + Lambda mass
Exclusive electroproduction of K+ Lambda and K+ Sigma^0 final states at Q^2 = 0.030-0.055 (GeV/c)^2
Cross section measurements of the exclusive p(e,e'K+)Lambda,Sigma^0
electroproduction reactions have been performed at the Mainz Microtron MAMI in
the A1 spectrometer facility using for the first time the Kaos spectrometer for
kaon detection. These processes were studied in a kinematical region not
covered by any previous experiment. The nucleon was probed in its third
resonance region with virtual photons of low four-momenta, Q^2= 0.030-0.055
(GeV/c)^2. The MAMI data indicate a smooth transition in Q^2 from
photoproduction to electroproduction cross sections. Comparison with
predictions of effective Lagrangian models based on the isobar approach reveal
that strong longitudinal couplings of the virtual photon to the N* resonances
can be excluded from these models.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure
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