The InterPsych Newsletter 2(2)

 


 

IPN 2(2) Section F: Announcements


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VOLUME 2, ISSUE 2   THE INTERPSYCH NEWSLETTER          NOV, 1994
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                 SECTION F:  ANNOUNCEMENTS

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                          * INDEX *
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     1:   STUDY OF MALE SEXUAL ABUSE SURVIVORS
     2:   NIMH STUDY ON BORDERLINE PERSONALITY
     3:   EUROPEAN MULTICENTRE EPIDEMIOLOGY STUDY
     4:   MENTAL HEALTH VIDEOS IN HEALTH CENTRES
     5:   US HUD FORUM
     6:   ESSAY CONTEST
     7:   STUDIES ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF CONSCIOUSNESS by Dr.
          Yves Chesni
     8:   CENTER FOR THE EVALUATIVE CLINICAL SCIENCES AT
          DARTMOUTH MEDICAL SCHOOL
     9:   CALL FOR PAPERS:THE JOURNAL OF MENTAL HEALTH
          ADMINISTRATION
     10:  CALL FOR PAPERS: CLINICAL CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND
          PSYCHIATRY
     11:  MEMBERSHIP TO ADVANCED FEMINIST THERAPY INSTITUTE

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1:        STUDY OF MALE SEXUAL ABUSE SURVIVORS
*************************************************************

I am currently conducting a study of male sexual abuse
survivors.  The research proposes to discover how adult male
survivors understand their experience.  There will be several
rounds of questions given to each subject after initial
demographic questions are answered.  The actual topics and
questions to be discussed cannot be revealed at this time.

If you are interested in participating or finding out more
information about the study, please contact me (Mark R.
Halcomb) at (holcomb@holonet.net).

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2:        NIMH STUDY ON BORDERLINE PERSONALITY
*************************************************************

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is accepting
women with a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder who
are in treatment with a mental health professional and who
are between the ages of 18 and 45 for a two week, inpatient,
clinical research study of this disorder.  For admission
criteria, a description of the medication- free evaluation
study at St. Elizabeth's in Washington, D.C., and application
materials, call Kathleen O'Leary, M.S.W. at 202/373-6068 or
send e-mail inquiries to Eric Watsky, M.D. at
watskye@dirpc.nimh.nih.gov (not to psycho-pharm@netcom.com)

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3:        EUROPEAN MULTICENTRE EPIDEMIOLOGY STUDY
*************************************************************

We are planning to start an European multicentre
epidemiological study on the impact of the current political,
economic, and social changes in the countries of Central and
Eastern Europe upon general psychological health, minor
psychiatric morbidity and the prevalence of culture-change
syndromes, and on cross-cultural aspects of eating disorders.
At present, centres from Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland,
Slovenia, Croatia, Georgia and Austria are cooperating. Any
other participants from Eastern, Central and Western Europe
are welcome to join.  For further information please contact
the study co-ordinator: Dr. Guenther Rathner,
Leopold-Franzens-University of Innsbruck, A-6020 Innsbruck,
Austria. Fax +43-512-504 3444. E-mail:
Guenther.Rathner@uibk.ac.at

*************************************************************
4:        MENTAL HEALTH VIDEOS IN HEALTH CENTRES
*************************************************************

My colleagues and I are interested in using short
video-tapes, played in waiting rooms in a community health
centre, as a means of identifying people with mental health
problems. We intend to focus on depression, addictions and
anxiety in a pilot study. We hypothesize that videos,
featuring actors in a mini-soap setting, will help people
recognize mental health problems, and will serve as a
non-threatening conduit for self-referral to a
community-based support team.

We would appreciate any information from list members
regarding either the use of video-tapes featuring mental
health issues, in a family health centre/community health
centre; or any similar approaches to identifying and
'enrolling' people in a primary-care based support service.

Phil Barker RN PhD, Professor of Psychiatric Nursing
Practice,  Department of Psychiatry, University of Newcastle
Upon Tyne, Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1
4LP, UK, (+44)091 232 5131 EXT 24473

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5:        US HUD FORUM
*************************************************************

On December 1-2, 1994, the US Dept of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD) is convening the first National Consumer
Forum on Section 202 and Section 811 housing programs for
persons who are elderly or disabled.  HUD is interested in
receiving input from residents and eligible (both current and
previous) participants of the above federal housing programs.
HUD is seeking recommendations for changes in the programs so
that housing needs are better addressed.  Some areas for
dialogue may include:

** Segregation (elderly and disabled residents)
** "Linking" services with housing
** Set-asides

If there are issues which you would like to see addressed at
the forum or have comments on the above topics, please
contact: Laura V Tosh, 703 739 9333 x31, or at NASMHPD, 66
Canal Center Plaza 302, Alexandria VA 22314, or c/o
773374.1051@compuserve.com by Monday, November 28, 1994

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6:        ESSAY CONTEST
*************************************************************

The ASCAP Society is sponsoring a competition for residents
and fellows in psychiatry and related fields, and for
graduate students in psychology, biology, anthropology and
related academic disciplines, and for recent graduates of
such programs (within seven years of terminal degree).

Our award, The Aaron T Beck ASCAP Award, will be given for
the best previously unpublished paper related to the subjects
of evolutionary biology and psychopathology.

The ASCAP Society is an international group of clinicians and
academics who are linked by a common interest in evolutionary
biology and how this perspective might inform our work and
research (ASCAP refers to Across-Species Comparisons and
Psychopathology).

One of our members, Dr Beck, whom we are honoring with this
award, suggested that we focus on how an evolutionary
approach can be used to integrate various levels of
understanding and thereby generate new or broadened
perspectives in psychopathology. There are many possible
topics including, to name a few, comparative psychology and
psychiatric illness, comparative brain anatomy and behavior,
relations of attachment processes and social rank hierarchy,
psychiatric drugs as probes of system function, psychotherapy
from an evolutionary perspective, and contemporary
evolutionary theory and psychoanalysis.

The Aaron T Beck ASCAP Award will be presented at our annual
meeting in Santa Barbara, California, on June 27, 1995. The
award carries with it a cash prize of $1000 (to support trip
expenses). Our meeting will be held the day before the annual
meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society at the
University of California at Santa Barbara.

We take this opportunity to submit an essay yourself if
qualified and to notify residents, graduate students,
fellows, and recent graduates of your department about this
competition. Please post a printout of this as a notice.

All participants should send three copies of their paper to:

Mark Erickson, M.D. -- ASCAP Beck Award c/o Russell Gardner,
Jr., M.D., Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences,
4.450 Graves Building (D28), University of Texas Medical
Branch, Galveston, TX 77555-0428.

The postmark deadline for entries will be March 31, 1995. Do
not hesitate to call (409-772-7029) or make e-mail requests
(rgardner@utmb.edu) for further information about the ASCAP
Beck Award or the ASCAP Society.

*************************************************************
7:        STUDIES ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF CONSCIOUSNESS
          by Dr. Yves Chesni
*************************************************************

STUDIES ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF CONSCIOUSNESS by Dr. Yves
Chesni, former director of the Service Medico-Pedagogique
(Geneva, Switzerland), Vice President, International Stress
Management Association, and member, New York Academy of
Sciences, has been translated from the French and is now
available in English.

Preface to the American Edition
In the five conferences here reproduced, the author has
treated some selected points in the development of
consciousness, with special emphasis on the perspectives of
critical philosophy, psychology, psychotherapy, and
spirituality.

The first conference situates the study of consciousness.
Contrary to Descartes and Husserl, the realist philosopher
does not cast doubt on the existence of the world, other
people, his own body, and a large part of his own
consciousness. Contrary to Kant, he does not believe that he
is separated from things by his own sensorial and
intellectual structures. Like Aristotle, he sees in knowledge
the common act of a subject capable of knowing and an object
capable of being known, but for all that he does not despair
of his ability to determine the respective parts played by
each of the two factors.

Contrary to physiological reductionism, he does not pretend
to understand a system that is endowed with consciousness and
yet abstracts from consciousness. Contrary to the absurdity
of solipsism, he infers a consciousness more or less
analogous to his own among his peers and a number of other
animal species. In consciousness he perceives simultaneously
a sign, a consequence, and a factor of differentiation and
correlation, a higher form of unity requiring, respecting,
and promoting the originality of the parts.

The second and fourth conferences deal with the fetters of
neurosis in human development and their suppression, through
psychoanalysis--which is a part of "cognitive
therapy"--behavioral psychotherapy, or through the one and
the other conjointly. These neurotic automatisms, repetitive,
unconscious, involuntary and coercive--the contrary of free
behavior--result from the unfortunate conjunction of an
inadequate environment during infancy and from certain
hereditary virtualities, particularly the tendency to react
totally to signs isolated from context, as new-born children
and instinctual animals do, who still have only minimal
intelligence and are adapted by means of innate behaviors
served up whole and entire by the evolution of species.
While shedding light on their prevention or treatment, the
understanding of neurotic mechanisms contributes at the same
time to that of normal development: i.e., the growth within
us of the power to grasp the whole, to situate the parts in
their relationships with each other and in respect to the
whole, to be neither blinded nor bound by any of them; the
power within us, to put it succinctly, of expanding that
inner freedom that penetrates, humanizes, and enlarges our
humblest joys.

The third conference speaks of spirituality. In every age
throughout the entire world, spiritual men and women have
desired to wipe out the obstacles, and not only the neurotic
ones, to inner freedom: "If you stop at something," St. John
of the Cross counsels us, "you fail to push forward towards
the All." It is the purgative way that attempts to rid us of
all pettiness in order that we might be attuned to the
essential, to the All, that we may even, as Christian mystics
believe, be rendered "divine by participation." But opinions
differ regarding the nature of the All, the place of man
within and in respect to the All, and the possibility of
knowing the All--which is not the same as knowing all.

Thought has a neuro-motor aspect. It disappears, completely
or selectively, as the eye and speech muscles relax. This
"relaxation of the mind," this putting to rest of the spirit,
is, according to Jacobson, the essential element of
progressive relaxation. It is not foreign to the technics of
spiritual disencumberment, purification, and perfecting at
issue in the following chapters. Such is the object of the
fifth conference.

The book is available from The Live Oak Press, PO Box 60036,
Palo Alto, CA 94306, at $37.50. Inquiries to
mhamilton@aol.com.

*************************************************************
8:        CENTER FOR THE EVALUATIVE CLINICAL SCIENCES AT
          DARTMOUTH MEDICAL SCHOOL
*************************************************************

The Center for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences (CECS) at
Dartmouth Medical School offers master's and doctoral degrees
in a program oriented toward mid-career professionals. The
Center is directed by Jack Wennberg, whose seminal work in
small area variations, claims analysis, and exploration of
patient preferences is internationally recognized. The M.S.
program's interdisciplinary curriculum is very flexible, and
features opportunities for mentored research and practicum
work in topical areas.

Students take six courses in health policy, medical decision
making & health behavior, and medical care epidemiology.
After completing these core courses, they either (1) carry
out research in areas of their choice, under the guidance of
CECS faculty, or (2) enroll in practicums taught by Jack
Wennberg and his associates. Remaining requirements are
satisfied through electives and directed readings. The
readings/research can be done at the student's home base and
may involve institutional collaboration between Dartmouth and
an employer. One such collaboration this year involved beta
testing of medical mapping technology.

The master's program structure can accommodate students'
professional commitments, to some degree.  As little as one
Dartmouth term at a time--ten weeks--need be spent in Hanover
(i.e., on campus). Only two terms in residence are required.

The admissions process involves an application, references,
and official transcripts or equivalent. Students may apply
any time for the program, but all students begin in
mid-September. Applicants are admitted until the class is
filled. Late applicants may be placed on a waiting list, if
they wish.

Detailed information about the program can be obtained by
contacting Patricia Read-Hunter, the Coordinator of
Educational Programs, by e-mail or telephone.
Tel. no. (603) 650 1782; e-mail,
patricia.read-hunter@dartmouth.edu.

*************************************************************
9:        CALL FOR PAPERS:THE JOURNAL OF MENTAL HEALTH
          ADMINISTRATION
*************************************************************

DEADLINE FOR MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSIONS: FEBRUARY 1, 1995

The Journal of Mental Health Administration (JMHA) is seeking
manuscripts on the organization, financing, and delivery of
behavioral health services (including mental health, alcohol,
and drug abuse services).  Specific topics of interest
include (but are not limited to) the following:

Law and Mental Health Policy
Comorbidity of Mental Disorders with Substance Disorders
Mental Health and Substance Abuse Outcomes Research
Children's Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services

JMHA also publishes articles on mental health planning,
policy analysis, marketing, financing, organizational
structure, program evaluation, and the entire spectrum of
mental health management and service delivery issues.

A detailed "Information for Authors" may be acquired by
contacting Carolyn Martinez, Editorial Associate, Internet:
cmartine@hal.fmhi.usf.edu; 813/974-6407; or fax: 813/974-4406

Manuscripts should be approximately 15-25 pages in length and
contain an abstract preceding the text.  Send manuscripts to
Bruce Lubotsky Levin, Dr.P.H., Editor, Journal of Mental
Health Administration, Florida Mental Health Institute,
University of South Florida, 13301 Bruce B. Downs Blvd.,
Tampa, Florida 33612, or call 813/974-6400; fax:
813/974-4406; Internet: levin@hal.fmhi.usf.edu

*************************************************************
10:       CALL FOR PAPERS: CLINICAL CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND
          PSYCHIATRY
*************************************************************

In 1996 SAGE Publications will be launching Clinical Child
Psychology and Psychiatry - a major, new journal to bring
together clinically oriented work of the highest distinction
from an international and multi-disciplinary perspective. The
journal will be edited by Bryan Lask from Great Ormond Street
Hospital, London.

Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry will provide a high
quality forum for papers which focus on clinical and
therapeutic aspects of child and adolescent psychology and
psychiatry.

Contributions should be sent to: Dr Bryan Lask, Department of
Psychologal Medicine, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Great
Ormond Street, London WC1N 3JH, UK.  Contact: Jane Makoff
(makoff@sageltd.co.uk).

*************************************************************
11:       MEMBERSHIP TO ADVANCED FEMINIST THERAPY INSTITUTE
*************************************************************

The next meeting of the Advanced Feminist Therapy Institute
is being planned for November, 1995 in Albuquerque, New
Mexico (more details as they become available).  This is a
limited attendance, members only conference.  Women who are
interested in attending should apply for membership now.
Write to Polly Taylor, Administrator, 904 Irving Street,
#258, San Francisco, CA 94122 to request a membership
application.