Psychoanalytic concepts of violence and aggression

Psychoanalytic clinical theories focus on three different assumptions that overlap to a certain extent depending on individual history (OPD Task Force, 2008): Psychopathology (a) manifests itself as an expression of unconscious conflict between different wishes and needs as well as expectations from the social environment, (b) is an expression of an impairment of personality functioning, and (c) evolves in dysfunctional relationships. Bearing in mind biological protective and risk factors (e.g. Hill, 2002), mental disorders are mainly seen as manifestations of early problems arising from childhood experiences. Thus, psychoanalytic theories tend to deal with the question of how early experiences can have an impact on adult functioning. For example, Benjamin (2003) has stated that representations of past interactions get “copied” into present interactions by three different processes: identification (behaving like a significant other), recapitulation (behaving as being in control of the other), and introjection (treating the self the same way the other did). Psychoanalytic thinking aims to understand each patient individually, starting with the etiology of problems and progressing to the specific psychogenesis of symptoms, that is, how a person copes specifically with aversive experiences and current life situations. In that sense, any psychopathology is regarded as an adaptation to inner and attachment-related problems associated with impaired functioning or dynamic defenses against unbearable mental states. Later in life, these “solutions” may become rigid, may not fit well with the demands of current situations, and may cause suffering both for the individual and for others around him/her. This basic assumption leads to a quite unique stance in psychoanalytic theory, in which symptoms – even the most cruel or irrational behavior – are considered to be meaningful in terms of assuming a vital function of regulating the self or interpersonal relationships. The hidden (or, rather, not superficially obvious) meaning of symptoms can be understood in terms of the individual’s personal history, unconscious conflict, or structural impairment incurred in the course of psychological adaptation to environmental demands which the individual aims to cope with within the limits of his/her constitutional capacities and social resources

Attachment-related mentalization moderates the relationship between psychopathic traits and proactive aggression in adolescence

The lack of affective responsiveness to others' mental states - one of the hallmarks of psychopathy - is thought to give rise to increased interpersonal aggression. Recent models of psychopathy highlight deficits in attachment security that may, in turn, impede the development of relating to others in terms of mental states (mentalization). Here, we aimed to assess whether mentalization linked to attachment relationships may serve as a moderator for the relationship between interpersonal aggression and psychopathic traits in an adolescent community sample. Data from 104 males and females with a mean age of 16.4 years were collected on mentalization capacities using the Reflective Functioning Scale on the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). Psychopathic traits and aggressive behavior were measured via self-report. Deficits in mentalization were significantly associated with both psychopathic traits and proactive aggression. As predicted, mentalization played a moderating role, such that individuals with increased psychopathic tendencies did not display increased proactive aggression when they had higher mentalizing capacities. Effects of mentalization on reactive aggression were fully accounted for by its shared variance with proactive aggression. Psychopathic traits alone only partially explain aggression in adolescence. Mentalization may serve as a protective factor to prevent the emergence of proactive aggression in spite of psychopathic traits and may provide a crucial target for intervention

Introduction to Mentalization-Based Approaches for Parents, Children, Youths, and Families

Family members mentalize when they try to understand each other's behavior on the basis of intentional mental states. This article aims to introduce and briefly describe how the concept of mentalization can provide a useful framework for clinicians to understand psychopathology of children, youths, and families. The authors further outline how mentalization-based techniques and interventions can be applied to build epistemic trust and to reestablish mentalizing in families by presenting clinical vignettes of initial sessions from various clinical settings in the United Kingdom and Germany. The article concludes with a brief summary about the current evidence for mentalization-based interventions with children, adolescents, and families and provides an outlook for future clinical and research work

Theory and practice of trauma-focused mentalization-based treatment: Is trauma treatment possible in a group setting?

Currently, there are no official treatment guidelines for complex posttraumatic stress disorder (cPTSD). The cPTSD differs from PTSD in the symptoms, duration or frequency of trauma exposure and in a high comorbidity with borderline personality disorder (BPD). Thus, there is a need for the development of new treatment methods targeted for this patient population. This article presents a new trauma-focused mentalization-based treatment using a group treatment approach that was developed for patients with cPTSD. In addition to the theoretical background and the conceptual framework of trauma in mentalization-based treatment, the treatment procedure is described in detail and illustrated based on a case example

Reaching out to early-career astrobiologists: AbGradE's actions and perspectives

Astrobiology Graduates in Europe (AbGradE, pronounced ab-grad-ee) is an association of early-career scientists working in fields relevant to astrobiological research. Conceptualized in 2013, it was initially designed as a mini-conference or workshop dedicated to early-career researchers, providing a friendly environment where early-career minds would be able to present their research without being intimidated by the possibility of facing a more traditional audience, composed mainly of senior scientists. Within the last couple of years, AbGradE became the first point of call for European, but also for an increasing number of non-European, early-career astrobiologists. This article aims to present how AbGradE has evolved over the years (in its structure and in its way of organizing events), how it has adapted with the COVID-19 pandemic, and what future developments are considered

Mentalization moderates and mediates the link between psychopathy and aggressive behavior in male adolescents

Objective: To examine the role of mentalizing in the relationship between psychopathy and aggression in a sample of 75 male adolescents. Method: The participants were drawn from two other studies comparing mentalizing abilities of offenders with healthy community samples. Data was collected on mentalization capacities using the Adult-Attachment-Interview. Psychopathic traits and aggressive behavior were measured via self-report. Results: A mediator-analysis revealed that mentalization partially explains the relationship between psychopathic traits and proactive aggressive behavior. Furthermore, mentalization has a moderating effect indicating that only individuals low on mentalization behave aggressively when high on psychopathic traits. Conclusions: Psychopathic traits alone do not explain aggressive behavior and therefore further research is needed to understand other mediating factors

Near-field examination of perovskite-based superlenses and superlens-enhanced probe-object coupling

A planar slab of negative index material works as a superlens with sub-diffraction-limited imaging resolution, since propagating waves are focused and, moreover, evanescent waves are reconstructed in the image plane. Here, we demonstrate a superlens for electric evanescent fields with low losses using perovskites in the mid-infrared regime. The combination of near-field microscopy with a tunable free-electron laser allows us to address precisely the polariton modes, which are critical for super-resolution imaging. We spectrally study the lateral and vertical distributions of evanescent waves around the image plane of such a lens, and achieve imaging resolution of wavelength/14 at the superlensing wavelength. Interestingly, at certain distances between the probe and sample surface, we observe a maximum of these evanescent fields. Comparisons with numerical simulations indicate that this maximum originates from an enhanced coupling between probe and object, which might be applicable for multifunctional circuits, infrared spectroscopy, and thermal sensors.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, published as open access article in Nature Communications (see http://www.nature.com/ncomms/

Infrared nanoscopy of Dirac plasmons at the graphene-SiO2 interface

We report on infrared (IR) nanoscopy of 2D plasmon excitations of Dirac fermions in graphene. This is achieved by confining mid-IR radiation at the apex of a nanoscale tip: an approach yielding two orders of magnitude increase in the value of in-plane component of incident wavevector q compared to free space propagation. At these high wavevectors, the Dirac plasmon is found to dramatically enhance the near-field interaction with mid-IR surface phonons of SiO2 substrate. Our data augmented by detailed modeling establish graphene as a new medium supporting plasmonic effects that can be controlled by gate voltage.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

Partitioning of crystalline and amorphous phases during freezing of simulated Enceladus ocean fluids

This work was supported by The Leverhulme Trust (grant number RPG‐2016‐153).Saturn's ice‐covered moon Enceladus may contain the requisite conditions for life. Its potentially habitable subsurface ocean is vented into space as large cryovolcanic plumes that can be sampled by spacecraft, acting as a window to the ocean below. However, little is known about how Enceladus’ ocean fluids evolve as they freeze. Using cryo‐imaging techniques, we investigated solid phases produced by freezing simulated Enceladean ocean fluids at endmember cooling rates. Our results show that under flash‐freezing conditions (>10 K s−1), Enceladus‐relevant fluids undergo segregation, whereby the precipitation of ice templates the formation of brine vein networks. The high solute concentrations and confined nature of these brine veins means that salt crystallization is kinetically inhibited and glass formation (vitrification) can occur at lower cooling rates than typically required for vitrification of a bulk solution. Crystalline salts also form if flash‐frozen fluids are re‐warmed. The 10 µm‐scale distribution of salt phases produced by this mechanism differs markedly from that of gradually cooled (∼1 K min−1) fluids, showing that they inherit a textural signature of their formation conditions. The mineralogy of cryogenic carbonates can be used as a probe for cooling rate and parent fluid pH. Our findings reveal possible endmember routes for solid phase production from Enceladus’ ocean fluids and mechanisms for generating compositional heterogeneity within ice particles on a sub‐10 µm scale. This has implications for understanding how Enceladus' ocean constituents are incorporated into icy particles and delivered to space.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe