Approaches to psychic performance and responsibility of Reincidivist victim. Content analysis

In order to understand the psychic functioning of the recidivist victim, there had been done a content analysis focused on experiences made to whole amount of adult recidivist victims served during August and September of 2017 in the National Service of Forensic Medicine and Sciences Mérida was carried out. Recidivist victim is understood as a person who has been victims of the same crime more than once, denounced or not, by the same aggressor or another. It was found that in 66.7% of cases aggression came from a partner or ex-partner. On the other hand, 100% of the cases refer to verbal violence. When violence came from exercised by the partner or ex-partner, as well as a tendency towards physical aggression related to the aggressor mentioned above. Difficulties in the handling of attachments and limits in recidivist victims are hypothesized. Also it is recommended to make a deeper qualitative research in order to reach an explanatory understanding of the object of study.

Quality of life and methods of treatment of people suffering from migraine

People with migraine often use self-treatment, which can lead to increased intensity and frequency of pain, affecting the quality of life and the level of fitness of these people. The study was carried out in a group of 100 people with migraine headaches, aged 19 to 67 years, who reported for the first time to the Migraine Treatment Center at the Neurology Clinic of the Medical University of Lodz. The subjects completed the SF-36 quality of life questionnaire, the MIDAS level of disability assessment questionnaire and the original questionnaire, which questions concerned pain and treatment. In the majority of subjects, a significant increase in severity of headaches was observed. All but one person were qualified for the 4th degree of disability (MIDAS): average of 88.7 points, average frequency – 22.11/90, intensity – 7.15/10. A positive correlation (r = 0.22) was found between the amount of prescribed drugs and the number of points in the Midas Questionnaire. Significant lost of points was observed in the SF-36 Questionnaire; Physical Health – 5.62/100, Somatic Pain – 30.79/100, Social Functioning – 40.35/100, Energy – 41.12/100, Functioning Physical – 44.51/100, Emotional Functioning – 49.33/100, General Functioning – 50.59/100 and Psychic Functioning – 54.38/100. Most of these values strongly correlated negatively with MIDAS score values: Physical Health (r = –0.33, p = 0.001), Energy (r = –0.42, p = 0.000), Psychic Functioning (r = –0.27, p = 0.006), Social Functioning (r = –0.45, p = 0.000), Somatic pain (r = –0.24, p = 0.017), General Health (r = –0.44, p = 0.000). The self-treatment of people with migraine, as well as visiting the primary care physician only is a very dangerous phenomenon. Improper treatment, both ad hoc or prophylactic, may lead to increase in the frequency and intensity of headaches, and over time to a change in the nature of migraine for a chronic pain. Treatment, initially effective due to overuse of ad hoc and non-prescription drugs, in the long-term it may lead to the development of medication overuse headache (MOH).

Psychological Mechanisms of Cultural, Clinical and Individual Transformations of Mentalization

The subject of theoretical revision is the impairment of social cognition, which is wellknown in the clinics of borderline personality disorders. Mentalization is understood as a form of social cognition, which allows to perceive, imagine and emotionally relate, make sense and causality of what’s happening in a subjective world – of self and another person. Mentalization supposes integration of contextual factors, material and physical aspects of situation and behavior, as well as inner subjective feelings, beliefs, goals and intentional states as representative motives for a given behavior. In the perspective of the cultural-historical theory and methodology by L.S. Vygotsky a new interpretation is offered for the clinical phenomena of mentalizationdeficit, an understanding is given for transformation of its structure and functions as a consequence of the person’s loss of interpsychic social connections and disintegration of intrapsychic organization of consciousness, impairment of its systemic structure, narrowing and simplification of cross-functional bonds and intrapsychic “mythology”. In the result of this double destruction of bonds, ontogenetically early and primitiveforms of mentalization are «splitting off», isolated and start holding a domineering position in psychic functioning. The process of mentalization regresses to its pre-categorical and cognitive-affective non-differentiated levels and structures (syncretic and complex organization), unfolding involuntarily and unconsciously, lacking meaningful coherence, symbolic mediation and focus for understanding thesubjective world – of self and the Other. The unconscious substitution of the psychic picture of the inner world with impulsive actions, hypochondriac and narcissistic fixations, autistic pseudo-mentalization and manipulation is lacking the meaningful and sanguineous dialogue with the Other. The loss of social connections (interpsychic communication), without being mediated by the addressed to the Other speech dialogue is interiorized into the inner “muteness” – the loss of not only understanding of others, but the interruption of meaningful inner and “worded” dialogue with the self, self-understanding. Keywords: mentalization disorders, cultural-historical approach, structure-functional disorganization.

What we do not know about the psyche?

In this paper, traditional views on the relationship between mental activity and the brain activity are reviewed, and the hypothesis of brain as the biological interface, which was suggested by the author in 2008, is developed. Approaches to research of the psyche in the areas of physiology, psychology, psychotherapy and psychiatry are summarised, and their implications to therapy of patients with mental disorders are analysed. Two models of mental disorders are suggested, which are based on clearer differentiation of organic (the brain-related) pathology and mental disorders as such, which result from informational non-material influence on the psyche as the informational system rather than on the brain. Difference between nervous and psychic functioning of the organism and the personality is outlined; mental activity is viewed as an acquired programmed function, which is formed in asocial informational environment. The question of aim of psychopharmacological influence is raised, as well as a number of other questions, which do not have unambiguous answers. The author substantiates the theory of the brain as the biological interface and outlines its historical prerequisites in the literature.