THE PSYCHOTHERAPIST’S SOCIAL ROLE UNDER A DIALOGICAL PERSPECTIVE: A STUDY OF THE PERSONAL CONSTRUCTION OF ‘I AS PSYCHOTHERAPIST’

To become a psychotherapist is a self-organizing challenge for anyone who assumes that role, involving a dynamic dialogical interplay between social expectations and personal features. This involves subjective and intersubjective processes in which self-image (or “internal I-position”) emerges as co-relative others’ images (or “external I-positions”). The classical distinction between the motives of agency and communion is considered here a valuable theoretical tool for this dialogical approach, because it may help to distinguish and classify diversity in terms of two kinds of orientations towards clients: one more self-centred (focused on the therapist’s abilities and power) and the other a more other-centred (focused on the contact and empathy with the client). Following these assumptions, clearly rooted in a dialogical approach of self-identity, we analyse the discourse of three psychotherapists about two different clients (one referred to as a “positive client” and another referred to as a “negative client”). The results suggest that this adaptation is a very dynamic process and that different therapists create different meanings to their occupational role. Moreover, this analysis also allows a distinction between those different selfimages in terms of their global orientation. One of the therapists seems to engage in self-organization processes focused in self-needs, other seems focused on client’s needs and the third seems to keep a balance between thosetwo orientations. The implication of these results for future research and their practical and theoretical implications are discussed

COMMENTARY ON COMMENTARIES: A SPACE FOR DIALOGUE AMONG DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES

In this commentary we discuss our reactions towards the six contributions on our article “The psychotherapist’s social role under a dialogical perspective: A study of the personal construction of «I as psychotherapist»” (in this issue). These commentaries discuss a multiplicity of problems and potentials, providing us with a meaningful space for dialogue among our multiple and sometimes discrepant perspectives. We have organized our reaction around three issues: (1) the importance of context influence on the process of being a psychotherapist; (2) the use of the motives as a tool to organize the psychotherapists’ diversity; and (3) the methodology for studying the dialogical processes

Hemoglobinopatias em Portugal e estratégias de prevenção: Contributo da genética molecular

O estudo das hemoglobinopatias em Portugal permitiu estabelecer, há já duas décadas, a prevalência de portadores de beta talassémia e de drepanocitose nas diferentes regiões do país1. Ficou a saber-se que as mesmas distribuem-se essencialmente pelo centro e sul do país, apresentando tanto a beta-talassémia como a drepanocitose uma prevalência global de 1-2%. Contudo, existem regiões onde a prevalência pode atingir valores de 5 a 10% (ex. beta-talassémia no barlavento Algarvio, drepanocitose nas bacia dos rios Tejo e Sado e alguns concelhos da região de Lisboa onde existe um maior número de residentes de origem africana). Complementarmente, os estudos de genética molecular da beta-talassémia revelaram que existem quatro mutações mais frequentes2, as quais também predominam nos países da bacia do mediterrâneo. Contudo, face aos movimentos migratórios globais, ao diagnóstico e investigação contínuos, na nossa população também existem alterações clinicamente relevantes que, sendo relativamente raras em Portugal, são frequentes noutras regiões/países (p. ex. HBB: c.364G>C (HB D Punjab); HBB:c.364G>A (Hb O-Arab). Estes estudos, em conjunto com o aconselhamento genético, contribuem de forma continuada para a prevenção das referidas doenças hereditárias em Portugal, permitem alargar o rastreio hematológico e bioquímico a familiares dos casos índex, identificar portadores assintomáticos e principalmente detetar novos casais em risco de terem descendência afetada com qualquer uma das formas mais graves de hemoglobinopatias (drepanocitose, talassémia major e intermédia e talassodrepanocitose), para as quais está indicado/pode ser oferecido o diagnóstico pré-natal molecular. Dado serem doenças autossómicas recessivas, o risco de cada casal ter, em cada gravidez, descendência afetada é de 25%. Assim, conhecendo-se as alterações moleculares de cada elemento de cada casal, cumpre-se o objetivo primordial do Programa Nacional de Controlo das Hemoglobinopatias (ativo durante vários anos em Portugal), ou seja, pode atuar-se de forma a prevenir o surgimento de novos indivíduos com a doença em causa. A referida prevenção fundamenta-se no diagnóstico clínico junto das populações, no diagnóstico hemotológico e bioquímico, na investigação molecular, no estabelecimento de testes genéticos fiáreis e no aconselhamento genético, culminando estas atividades tanto na identificação da natureza da alteração como na identificação de portadores e de casais em risco. O diagnóstico molecular de hemoglobinopatias, atualmente tem por base a PCR (amplificação enzimática de DNA) através da pesquisa direta das mutações mais frequentes na população ou identificadas no caso índice ou na família, recorrendo por exemplo a ARMS, restrição enzimática ou através da sequenciação do gene HBB, complementadas quando aplicável, com a pesquisa de deleções mais ou menos extensas por GAP-PCR ou por MLPA. A identificação molecular da alteração patogénica no gene beta-globina, beta zero(β0) (se não há síntese de cadeias beta-globina), β+ (se ocorre uma redução significativa da síntese de cadeias beta-globina), ou a identificação de alterações que dão origem a cadeias globínicas funcionalmente anormais, constitui a ferramenta indispensável para disponibilizar o DPN a casais e famílias e, para que a prevenção em causa se torne efetiva. 1 – Martins MC et al (1993). J Med Genet 30:235-239. 2 – Faustino P et al (1992). Hum Genet 89:573-576

Biochemical and toxicological effects of organic (herbicide Primextra® Gold TZ) and inorganic (copper) compounds on zooplankton and phytoplankton species

In Europe, mainly in the Mediterranean region, an intensive usage of pesticides was recorded during the past 30 years. According to information from agricultural cooperatives of the Mondego valley (Figueira da Foz, Portugal), Primextra® Gold TZ is the most used herbicide in corn crop fields and one of the 20 best-selling herbicides in Portugal. Copper is mainly used in pesticide formulations. This study aims to determine the ecotoxicological and biochemical (namely fatty acid profiles) effects of the herbicide Primextra® Gold TZ and the metal copper on marine plankton. The organisms used in this study are three planktonic species: the marine diatom Thalassiosira weissflogii, the estuarine copepod Acartia tonsa and nauplii of the marine brine shrimp Artemia franciscana. Fatty acids (FAs) are one of the most important molecules transferred across the plant-animal interface in aquatic food webs and can be used as good indicators of stress. The conducted lab incubations show that T. weissflogii is the most sensitive species to the herbicide followed by A. tonsa (EC50 =0;0.0078 mg/L and EC50 =0;0.925 mg/L, respectively), whereas the copepod was the most sensitive species to the metal followed by T. weissflogii (EC50 =0.234 mg/L and EC50 =0.383 mg/L, respectively). A. franciscana was the most tolerant organism both to the herbicide and to the metal (EC50 =20.35 mg/L and EC50 = 18.93 mg/L, respectively). Changes in the FA profiles of primary producer and primary consumers were observed, with the increase of saturated FA and decrease of unsaturated FA contents, especially of highly unsaturated FAs that can be obtained mainly from food and therefore are referred to as ‘essential FA’. The study suggests that discharges of Primextra® Gold TZ or other pesticides mainly composed by copper may be a threat to plankton populations causing changes in the FA contents and thus in their nutritive value, with severe repercussions for higher trophic levels and thus the entire food web

Distance learning in the pursuit of public policies of economic interest and valorization of knowledge

This article is based on research whose objective was to analyze the impact of technological development and distance learning in the pursuit of public policies of economic interest and valorization of knowledge in force in Portugal. The research showed that technological progress and development and distance learning had been the essential elements for the achievement of the objectives of public policies that have been defined in Portugal in the particular field of qualification of workers and the valorization of knowledge, modernization of companies and the economy.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio