________________________________________________________________ VOLUME 2, ISSUE 5 THE INTERPSYCH NEWSLETTER JUNE, 1995 ________________________________________________________________ SECTION C: INTERPSYCH UPDATE (1/2) ********* * INDEX * ********* 1. ELECTRONIC FORUM UPDATE a. affective-disorders b. anxiety-depression-youth c. assessment-psychometrics d. clinical-psychophysiology e. computers-in-mental-health f. current-issues-in-psych g. forensic-psychology h. geriatric-neuropsychiatry i. helplessness-l j. managed-behavioral-healthcare k. mental-health-in-the-media l. personality-disorders m. psycho-analysis n. substance-related-disorders o. transcultural-psychology 2. MAY'S FEATURED FORUM: TRAUMATOLOGY 3. FORUMS COMING SOON a. Continuing-education b. Group-psychotherapy 4. RECENT IP MEMBER PUBLICATIONS a. Donald Klein, M.D. (DonaldK737@aol.com) b. Charles H. Stinson, M.D. (stinson@macsun.ucsf.edu c. Michael C. Corballis, Ph.D. (m.corballis@auckland.ac.nz) d. Donald Klein, M.D. (DonaldK737@aol.com) e. Donald Klein, M.D. (DonaldK737@aol.com) f. Robert Galatzer-Levy, M.D. (gala@midway.uchicago.edu) 3. THE BEST OF INTERPSYCH a. Re: Trend Toward Significance b. Feedback and thanks re: Consult c. Re: how memories are implanted d. Croatia - Zagreb e. Re: Lunchmeat and Lists/Advertisers f. SSRI's, weight gain and unsubscribe Point/counterpoint -- commentaries on John Leo's essay CAFFEINE MADE ME DO IT, submitted by Ken Pope]: g. Diagnoses and Caffeine h. Diagnoses & Personal Responsibility =============================================================== 1. ELECTRONIC FORUM UPDATE =============================================================== A. Affective-disorders ------------------- This list is just getting started, with new members continuing to join. Discussions thus far have involved the differentiation of bipolar illness from ADHD, bright light therapy for bipolar disorder, and pathophysiology of bipolar illness. Participation has been light, and attempts will be made to increase this by posting more literature reviews and queries about cases. Contributor: Steve Dubovsky B. Anxiety-depression-youth ------------------------ Activity within the anxiety-depression-youth forum has been very slow. Various efforts are in place to try to stimulate a bit more interest, communication and activity. These include invitations to specific individuals to submit brief papers or items for discussion, submission of reference details for relevant papers, chapters, or books, circulation of conference paper abstracts given by members and so on. This has produced a marginal increase in communications. The only recent theme that has generated some interest has been the topic of arm cutting/self injury amongst adolescents. Hopefully we will see increased communications now that the system is fully operative and the initial bugs have been sorted out. Contributor: Sue Spence (sues@psych.psy.uq.oz.au) C. Assessment-psychometrics ------------------------ Over the past several weeks, discussion has focused on the structure of personality disorder ratings. The initial impetus for the discussion was consideration of whether the structure of personality disorder symptom ratings should be expected to parallel the personality disorder clusters employed by the DSM- IV. This led to a broader discussion of structure of personality trait ratings. In particular, ways in which technical aspects of factor analysis (e.g. extraction and rotation strategies) can obscure interpretation of structure were debated. Contributor: David L. DiLalla, Ph.D. (ddilalla@siu.edu) D. Clinical-psychophysiology ------------------------- The forum and the concept behind this has been presented in the annual meeting of the American Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback (March 1995). Since that meeting the subscription rate has tremendously increased and the list has almost doubled its membership. We encountered some technical problems which made some people leave the list. Hopefully these problems will be minimized in InterPsych new place. The forum is now very active and people exchange views regarding the following issues: Biofeedback equipment, Teaching psychophysiology, Media coverage of the field, Clinical Issues, and Personal issues. A preliminary home page for the list has been established at Tel-Aviv University at the address: http://freud.tau.ac.il/~biosee When the InterPsych facility is ready, this WWW site will probably be more active and updated. Contributor: Dr. Arnon Rolnick E. Computers-in-mental-health -------------------------- Computers-in-mental-health is a closed list that was only set up five months ago. Its growth has been hampered by several glitches, such as the moderators being automatically deleted from the list for a while! Numbers are now in excess of 60 members and growth continues at a steady rate. We have had postings on software for alcohol intake monitoring, hand-held computers, office management software, psychological test programs, and educational resources. One member has used the group to try out a new educational program. The group continues to keep up to date with new mental health resources on the net. Postings are light--6 messages a day. We hope the forum will act as a brainstorming/problem solving pool for people wrestling with software/programming packages. Contributors: Martin & Carl F. Current-issues-in-psych ----------------------- After a period of relative dormancy on the list, traffic has picked up and there has been lively discussion of applications of internet-technology to psychotherapy. There also has been some interesting discussion on the ethical, legal and practical ramifications of using computers to write clinical case notes. Contributor: David L. DiLalla, Ph.D. (ddilalla@siu.edu) G. Forensic-psychology ------------------- A variety of subject threads have been entertained within the last few weeks...these include testamentary capacity, malpractice of experts, sexual offender recidivism, Pornography and violence managed care/ethical practice/in SO recidivism pornography, Standard of Care, Custody Determination, Custody Determination, psychiatrist liability, Postdocs. in Forensic Psychology, as well as others. In the last two weeks in particular there have been numerous subscribes while only a few unsubscribes. Why this rush, I do not know. Each new subscriber is sent a welcome message asking for interests and inviting participation in a warm manner. Most responses have been of a very positive nature. Recently we have been considering making the list into a data base as well as discussion group, relative to standard of care for psychiatry or forensic psychiatry. However, this is a complex matter which will likely not be addressed any time soon if ever. In general the list has been vital but not enough so. I aspire to getting a lot more going, having members take responsibility for certain threads of discussion and improving the list as a genuine resource for those interested in psychiatry and the law. Contributor: Ronald Shlensky, M.D., J.D. (3004rs@rain.org) H. Geriatric-neuropsychiatry ------------------------- The geriatric neuropsychiatry forum has been very active in recent weeks and a few people have said they can't keep up with the volume of mail. One subject of intense debate has been how to treat agitation and repetitive vocalizations in dementia patients. Numerous pharmacological and environmental/behavioral interventions and their relative merits were discussed, as was the capacity for learning in this patient population. Contributor: Mike Usman, M.D. I. Helplessness-l -------------- The Helplessness Forum has varied in activity from lively to lulled in the last few months. Things have gotten quiet recently--perhaps because of the academic year's end. Recent discussions have included comparisons of explanatory style to self-esteem; explanatory style to dispositional optimism; and angry/hostile attributions. As of late May, 1995, we have around 440 members. Contributor: David Fresco (fresco@cattell.psych.upenn.edu) J. Managed-behavioral-healthcare ----------------------------- Managed-behavioral-healthcare may be reviled in some quarters, but here on the InterPsych the debate is lively, among advocates and opponents of managed-behavioral-healthcare. Traffic has increased from all quarters, up to over twenty messages per day. Recent topics have included the ongoing debate about ethics in a managed environment, fees charged by managed care companies for credentialling, education of graduate students and course curricula. New members include representatives from the insurance industry, health care consultants, public sector employees, and graduate students. The list has over three hundred subscribers, currently. Contributor: Greg Alter K. Mental-health-in-the-media -------------------------- Things have been rather slow on Mental-health-in-the-media. I was overseas for a while, so couldn't get access to the net to encourage discussion. In the next short while, I'll be posting to the forum some issues to discuss: ethics and the role of the mental health expert when it comes to journalists interviewing victims of trauma; and with the Melbourne International film festival starting next week, a look at psychologists and the like who have made films, such as one which will be shown looking at girl rock groups! Light weight at this early stage, but interesting enough to get things moving! Contributor: Les Posen (lposen@budapest.ozonline.com.au) L. Personality-Disorders --------------------- The PD SIG has been very quiet since its inception. I suspect part of the problem has been the few members we've had until recently. I'm hoping that the recent increase in membership will increase involvement and activity. Dr. Millon continues to be very interested in its progress. Contributor: Thomas E. Will M. Psycho-analysis --------------- The psycho-analysis list continues to actively draw comments from people with widely varied viewpoints. A nice feature of the list is that psychoanalysts and people interested in psychoanalysis from different perspectives seem actually to be talking to one another in a meaningful way. Thus we have Freudian talking with Jungians talking with Adlerians. Some recent topics have been how new ideas get introduced into psychoanalysis, topics in the history of psychoanalysis, the status of the concept of "will" in psychoanalysis and the place of institutions in the development of psychoanalysis. Contributor: Robert M. Galatzer-Levy M.D N. Substance-related-disorders --------------------------- Substance-related-disorders was formed to facilitate discussion among health professionals and students about all facets of mood altering substances and their use, abuse, and addiction. We have had a slow start, as technical difficulties made subscribing/unsubscribing and even posting to the list difficult. These now are rectified. Recently there has been an active thread of discussion about use of opiates in chronic pain. We have had guidelines as to appropriate use posted, and members have posted on addiction and withdrawal. For the time being, as forum leader, I will post a topic a week to try get the members of the list using it and starting to feel like a community. Contributor: Peter Mezciems, MD, CCFP, ASAM cert. O. Transcultural-Psychology ------------------------ The volume of mail on transcultural-psychology (TP) has been stable to steadily increasing within managable limits. Members come and go -- the forum consists of presently well over 400 members with a core group of ca. 200 long-time subscribers. Owing to cultural sensitivity (?), the atmosphere on TP is a friendly, courteous, and supportive one. I am very thankful that the TP membership has been resilient and tolerant regarding technical glitches, which either arose from Netcom or, alas, quite often from misdirected unsubscribe commands. We also witness discussion threads that carry on for unusually long time periods, f.i.on cultural differences of non-verbal behavior/silence. Recent topics were, among others, resources for and discussion of teaching and practicing cross-cultural counseling/psychotherapy and questions of ethnic identity. Also, the forum has acted as a good but further improvable vehicle for up-to-date announcements (position openings/funds, resources on the Internet, conferences/meetings). TP is currently enlisting a growing Board of Advisors (BoA) to ensure that the forum will further prosper and develop, given the diversity of members and topics discussed. Present and future TP members interested in joining the BoA are welcome to submit a statement of interest. Contributor: Sunkyo Kwon (fu03c2dj@fub46.zedat.fu-berlin.de) =============================================================== 2. JUNE'S FEATURED FORUM: TRAUMATOLOGY =============================================================== The Traumatic-Stress Forum is changing to the Traumatology Forum July 1. The Forum is now the founding sponsor of Operation Healing, which started from the mutual concerns of Forum members. OH started at 10:02 am (Tallahassee time) April 26, exactly one week after the bombing. InterPsych is also a founding sponsor and has done a great deal to help in the very early days, especially. The Mission of Operation Healing: "To provide any and all assistance to the State of Oklahoma that results in reaching the pre-bombing status quo or better within one year of the bombing. This includes but is not limited to managing the outside offers of assistance so that such offers do not unduly burden those whey are trying to assist. This will be the first of many future operations that will be organized under the banner of the Green Cross. Operation Healing is the efforts of an ad hoc group of seasoned professionals who are collaborating on an American need met by the world. Operation Healing applies the philosophy of volunteerism, grass roots cooperation among Americans joined with colleagues internationally to help our fellow human beings cope with being hurt by fellow Americans. Services provided in Operation Healing will include, but are not limited to the following: 1. General Consultation 2. Specific Confutation 3. Corporate Services 4. Government Agency Services 5. Publications About Coping with Bombing-related Disasters 6. Publications About Operation Healing and the Green Cross Those interested in joining us in the "virtual volunteers' tent" will learn the latest information on the Operation and will have an opportunity to help out (even if you never leave your computer). If you want to subscribe to the Traumatology Assistance Network (the Oklahoma City initiative called Operation Healing) send mail to listproc@mailer.fsu.edu with the following request: subscribe TRAUMA-TOLOGY Your Name end The computer program will pick up your e-mail address from your message. To unsubscribe, send mail to listproc@mailer.fsu.edu with the following request: unsubscribe TRAUMA-TOLOGY Your Name end When you succeed you will receive a message that includes an involvement questionnaire to identify your credentials and what you wish to do to help in the recovery effort. The Forum also "published" its first issue of TRAUMATOLOGY. The traffic is quite heavy over extraordinarily important issues. Contributor: Charles Figley (cfigley@garnet.acns.fsu.edu) =============================================================== 3. FORUMS COMING SOON =============================================================== A. Continuing-Education -------------------- Once activated, the Continuing-Education forum will have three purposes: 1. To distribute announcements of upcoming continuing education programs for mental health professionals. 2. To enable InterPsych members to make their continuing education needs known. 3. To encourage discussion about curricular and administrative matters among continuing education providers. Contributor: Gilbert Levin (glevin@netaxis.com) B. Group Psychotherapy ------------------- Group Psychotherapy is a new InterPsych electronic forum. The subjects discussed in the forum will be research in group psychotherapy, working with special populations in groups, processes and stages in the group work, different models for group psychotherapy, the leader and co-leading in the group, or any other issues in this field. Professionals could exchange ideas, publish essays, consult colleagues, describe their professional experience, talk about researches in progress or inform others about important congresses all over the world. Contributor: Arnon Rolnick (biosee@freud.tau.ac.il)