Romeo Vitelli's Blog, page 6

Whither psychotherapy in the 2030s? Following a decennial tradition, the authors of a study published in Professional Psychology: Research and Practice conducted an e-Delphi poll on the future of psychotherapy in the United States. A panel of 56 psychotherapy experts participated in two rounds of predictions and achieved consensus on most items. The experts forecast multicultural, mindfulness, and cognitive–behavior therapies to increase the most, whereas classical psychoanalysis, reality therapy, and gestalt therapy to decrease the most. Technological, relationship-building, strength-oriented, skill-building, and self-change interventions were expected to rise. Master-level clinicians of multiple professions were projected to expand while psychiatrists to decline in the proportion of psychotherapy rendered. Therapy platforms with the highest likelihood of flourishing were videoconferencing, texting, smartphone applications, and multiple or flexible platforms. Short-term therapy, crisis intervention, and very short-term therapy were predicted to increase the most. Forecast scenarios with the highest likelihood were therapy personalization, treatment of health problems, requirement of evidence-based practices for insurance reimbursement, and integration of psychotherapy into primary care. Limitations of the Delphi methodology are elucidated, and practice implications for health-service psychologists are advanced. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved

For the abstract

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Parenting self-efficacy is a critical determinant of high-quality parenting behavior, but this aspect of parenting cognitions has been understudied for fathers. A new study published in the Journal of Family Psychology used ongitudinal data from a sample of 182 fathers of firstborn infants in dual-earner families were  assess how expectant fathers’ rearing history, personality and personal characteristics, and family relationships were associated with their initial levels of parenting self-efficacy in the early postpartum period. Expectant fathers completed surveys assessing their rearing history, personality, and personal characteristics during the third trimester of pregnancy and reported on their perceptions of coparenting and parenting self-efficacy at three months postpartum. Results of hierarchical regression analyses showed that new fathers were at risk for lower parenting self-efficacy when they had greater attachment anxiety and neuroticism, believed that mothers are inherently better caretakers, and planned to use their own fathers as models for childrearing. In contrast, new fathers had greater parenting self-efficacy when they perceived their coparenting relationships with children’s mothers more positively. These findings inform theory about the development of fathers’ parenting cognitions and behavior and practice with expectant and new fathers, and, if replicated in a larger, more representative sample, may be used to identify expectant fathers at risk for low parenting self-efficacy and in the design of policy initiatives to enhance father–child relationships. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

For the abstract

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As one of the leading French mathematicians of his generation and the author of two books on elementary geometry, Jacques Hadamard was always open to new mathematical ideas.   When he received a mathematical proof in the mail from a previously unknown mathematician named Andre Bloch, Hadamard was mesmerized by its elegance.  The proof related to a branch of elementary geometry involving paratactic circles, systems of two circles with orthogonal planes with the intersection being the common diameter of the two circles and cut according to a harmonic division.  According to Bloch, parataxy remained invariant under inversion and any inversion with respect to a point situated on one of them transforms them into a circle and its axis.

Hadamard was so intrigued by Bloch's discovery that he immediately decided to invite him to dinner.  Since he had no other way of contacting Bloch, Hadamard wrote to the return address of 57 Grand Rue, Saint- Maurice with the invitation.  Bloch wrote back that a visit would be impossible but asked the great mathematician to visit him instead.  It was only when Jacques Hadamard finally took him up on his offer that he discovered why Bloch was unable to come to him:  57 Grand Rue, Saint-Maurice was the address of the Charenton lunatic asylum (now the Esquiral hospital) where Andre Bloch was an inmate.   He had been involuntarily committed to the hospital following a brutal triple murder in 1917 and would never be allowed to leave.  Although Hadamard was astonished by his discovery, he and Bloch talked at length about mathematics while he learned more about the inmate's story.

Born in 1893 in Besancon, France, Andre Bloch was one of three sons of an Alsatian Jewish watchmaker and his wife.  Orphaned at an early age,  Andre and his brother Georges were in the same class despite Georges being younger.  While Andre was a poor student at first, he and George entered the Ecole Polytechnique together but only finished their first year when World War One broke out.  Both brothers were drafted and Andre served in the artillery as a second lieutenant.  Although George and Andre were both wounded in the war (Georges lost an eye while Andre fell from an observation post) only George was discharged and allowed to return to school.   Due to lingering injuries, Andre was hospitalized several times and eventually placed on indefinite leave.

On November 17, 1917,  while Andre Bloch was visiting with his aunt and uncle at their family home in Paris,  he attacked his brother, aunt, and uncle at a family meal. After knifing all three of them to death, he then ran shouting into the street where he was arrested without resistance.  Given that the country was still at war and the case involved two army officers, there was little publicity involved.  Andre was quietly committed to the Charenton asylum for the rest of his life.

His reason for the murders remains unclear although he would later justify his action by telling his doctors that he had been fulfilling his "eugenic duty".  As he explained it, the laws of eugenics were indisputable and his actions had been clearly necessary given the family history of mental illness.  In all other respects, he seemed perfectly sane and he devoted his time to working on various mathematical proofs.  This was all the more remarkable considering that he was entirely self-taught.  He wrote to various prominent mathematicians on a range of different topics in theoretical and applied mathematical proofs.  Everything that he knew about mathematics was learned through the mathematics books which had been provided to him and the mathematics journals to which he subscribed (including the Bulletin des Sciences Mathematiques).  Along with Jacques Hadamard, he also maintained regular correspondence with other mathematicians such as George Polya, Georges Valiron, Charles Emile Picard, and Paul Montel.  Although he always gave the Charenton hospital as his return address without revealing his actual circumstances, Bloch's status as an inmate became an open secret.  Since many of the letters are still in existence, they represent a fascinating look at Bloch's contributions to the field of mathematics.

Along with four papers on holomorphic and meromorphic functions (which have since become standard), Andre Bloch wrote papers on function theory, number theory, geometry, and algebraic equations among other topics.  He was also keenly interested in the elections at the Academie des Sciences and expressed hope that he would eventually be allowed to present his work in person at the College de France and the University of Strasbourg.  Bloch allowed however that "in all probability, that will not be for quite a while".    Even during the Nazi occupation, Bloch continued to publish but was careful to write under assumed names to avoid calling attention to his Jewish origins (the irony of having to hide from his fellow eugenicists was probably lost on him though).  

According to available records, Andre Bloch was a model inmate and lived his life in a monastic fashion with little interaction with the other inmates or staff.  He did all his work at a small table installed for him at the end of a corridor and even avoided going out onto the hospital grounds stating that "Mathematics is enough for me".  According to family members, Andre Bloch's main enjoyment came from his mathematics work and long games of chess with staff or inmates.

As for the murders that led to his being sent to the asylum, he never showed any real remorse.   In his classic book, Des Hommes Come Nous, prominent psychiatrist Henri Baruk devoted part of one chapter to the "Mathematician of Charenton" (Bloch wasn't named in the book).   Baruk commented on his patient's "rational morbidity" in describing how the murders had been necessary to eliminate that branch of his family that he considered defective.  Even late in life, Bloch would argue that his actions had been "a matter of mathematical logic.  There had been mental illness in my family.  The destruction of the whole of the branch had to follow as a matter of course".  When his physician protested, Bloch accused him of "emotional language" and insisted his actions were based on his philosophy of "pragmatism and absolute rationality". 

After developing leukemia, Andre Bloch was admitted to Saint-Anne Hospital for an operation and died on October 11, 1948.  Shortly before his death, Bloch had been notified that he had been awarded the Becquerel prize by the Academic des Sciences (the prize was given to him posthumously several months after his death).  He is still remembered for his numerous contributions to mathematics including Bloch's theorem,  Bloch space, and Bloch's constant.  

Would his contributions have been more extensive if he hadn't been confined for most of his life?  Did his traumatic experiences in the war lead to his explosive violence?  These are questions that will likely never be answered.  Still, Andre Bloch's case represents a fascinating example of how even institutionalized psychiatric patients can continue having an influence on the world if their determination (or obsession?) is great enough.

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Child maltreatment (CM) is a widespread problem associated with poor mental and physical health outcomes. The underlying mechanisms of this link are not always well understood, however certain biological changes observed in maltreated individuals may play a role in connecting experience and outcome. A new review published in Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy  specifically focuses on 2 markers of biological embedding, DNA methylation (DNAm) and telomere length (TL) in maltreated children and youth. As biomarker changes are not uniform among maltreated children, we additionally discuss biological and environmental resilience factors that may contribute to variability. Method: We conducted a systematic review of Medline, Embase and PsycINFO databases for studies examining DNAm and/or TL in maltreated children and youth. Methodological quality of the included studies was assessed using the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) checklists for cohort studies and randomized control trials. Data extraction focused on various factors including population and CM (type, chronicity, severity, and duration) characteristics. Results: The initial search returned 1,688 nonduplicate results, with 417 full text articles reviewed. Twenty-six articles from 16 studies were ultimately included of which 8 examined telomere length and 18 examined DNA methylation. Conclusions: While some heterogeneity of findings was found, evidence supports differential changes in both biomarkers associated with CM. This review enhances understanding of the constellation of biological changes related to CM and consideration of the important role of resilience factors in mitigating risk. Elucidating these factors may highlight targets for future study and intervention development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

For the abstract

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It should have been a routine night at the temporary prisoner of war camp that had been set up at the end of Main Street in Salina, Utah. 

Two months following Germany's formal surrender on May 7, 1945, the 250 German prisoners of war who were still housed at the camp were waiting to be repatriated back to Europe. Due to the limited space available, the prisoners were kept in 43 tents scattered across the campgrounds with guards posted on towers to watch them. On July 8, 1945, Private Clarence Bertucci climbed one of the guard towers and relieved the guard there to begin his midnight shift. Bertucci then took this regulation .30-caliber machine gun, threaded it in the belt of cartridges, and took aim at the tents where the prisoners were sleeping.  He methodically fired 250 rounds and managed to hit thirty tents in his fifteen-second rampage. By the time a corporal managed to disarm Bertucci, six prisoners were dead and an additional twenty-two were wounded (three would later die of their injuries).

Beginning in World War I, camps in Utah were frequently used to house German nationals and prisoners of war.  With the 38th Infantry located at Fort Douglas near Salt Lake City,  Utah's location seemed ideal for housing German POWs following the United States' entry into World War II.  Hundreds of German prisoners were held in the camps during the course of the war and often housed in tents due to the limited space available. Guarding the prisoners was not a popular duty for the soldiers stationed at the camps.

Due to low morale and the generally poor quality of training that the guards were provided, discipline was a continuing problem. According to one well-known history of the Utah prison camps, many of the guards were described as being "of low mentality, non-intellectual, (who) could neither understand nor see the reason for the Geneva Convention. Many drank and went AWOL. They read comic books rather than listen to the news.  They liked to think of themselves as heroes, their one desire being 'to shoot a Kraut'."  While guards with more military experience and better training became common towards the end of the war, numerous guards with disciplinary problems still remained.

Clarence Bertucci was definitely one of them.

Born in New Orleans in 1921, Bertucci was a sixth-grade dropout who enlisted in the army in 1940.  Despite his long service in the military, he seemed incapable of being promoted beyond the rank of private and was a frequent discipline problem (including facing a court-martial on two occasions). He never served overseas except for an eight-month stint with an artillery unit in England and, like many other problem cases, was eventually transferred to Fort Douglas to serve as a guard. Despite his pathological hatred of Germans, he seemed to manage his duties well enough.

According to later testimony, Bertucci had reportedly felt "cheated" due to being unable to serve in combat. He was also quoted as saying, "Someday I will get my Germans; I will get my turn."   He kept it to himself if he was upset by the news of the war's end and that the prisoners he had been guarding would soon be going home. When Bertucci went out drinking on the evening of May 7, he showed no indication of what he was planning. According to the waitresses at his favorite bar, he simply told them that "something exciting" would happen that night and then he went back to the fort to begin his shift.

After being taken into custody, Bertucci was completely unrepentant about what he had done. As far as he was concerned, the killings were justified due to his victims being German soldiers. Following his placement in a local hospital for a psychiatric assessment, the military was forced to deal with the political fallout. The killing of nine prisoners by a U.S. soldier was a public relations disaster during what should have been a time of celebration. Despite the absence of any real evidence of mental impairment, Clarence Bertucci was declared insane by a military panel and sent to a New York mental hospital. There is little information available on what happened to him afterward or how long he spent in hospital. He died in 1969.

His victims, ranging in age from 24 to 48, were buried at Fort Douglas Cemetery. Dressed in U.S. military khaki uniforms, they were buried with military honors (there was no military flag on the caskets since the new German flag wasn't available). Only their common death date and the inscription on their tombstones distinguish their graves from all the others in the military cemetery. The other injured soldiers were repatriated when they were declared medically fit for travel. Bertucci's rampage marked a sad end to the otherwise successful internment of hundreds of thousands of enemy soldiers in U.S. territory during World War II and is still remembered as the worst massacre at a POW camp in U.S. history.

In 1988, the German Air Force funded the refurbishment of the memorial statue at Fort Douglas Cemetery. A moving ceremony was held on the third Sunday in November (the German national day of mourning) and the statue was rededicated in honor of the deceased prisoners and all victims of despotic governments around the world.

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Stress associated with global health threats such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and related containment efforts may be associated with significant sleep disruption. Stress-related sleep disturbance is an established transdiagnostic risk factor; thus, identifying associations with coping strategies may inform future intervention efforts. A new study published in the journal Health Psychology examined secondary control-oriented coping strategies, including positive reappraisal, which may be particularly effective in the context of stressors characterized by high uncertainty and low controllability such as a pandemic. Method: The current study (total N = 227 undergraduate students, predominantly female) examined the associations among primary and secondary control-oriented coping strategies, positive and negative affect (PA, NA), and the development of acute sleep disturbance in the month after the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic. Control of prepandemic reported sleep disturbance allowed for prospective analyses of pandemic-related change. Results: Participants reported high levels of stress due to the pandemic onset, including difficulties with time management, difficulties with work or school, and worry about the future. Reappraisal and acceptance were both associated with higher concurrent PA, lower NA, and less increase in sleep disturbance; however, positive reappraisal was the only coping strategy that predicted unique variance in increased sleep disturbance. Conclusions: Current findings add to our understanding of stress adaptation in response to stressors characterized by high severity, high uncertainty, and low controllability, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and suggest that positive reappraisal and PA may foster resilience to stress-related sleep disturbance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

For the abstract

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Men are more likely than women to harm themselves and others with firearms. Central to this problem is men’s interest in owning firearms. The precarious manhood paradigm (PMP; Vandello et al., 2008) suggests that masculinity is tenuous and must be outwardly displayed. In a new study published in the journal Psychology of Men & Masculinities, researchers conducted a PMP-informed experiment to test whether threats to masculinity were associated with increased interest in owning firearms. Community participants in the United States (Men n = 388, Women n = 243) completed an online “marketing survey” and were then given false personality feedback profiles. All feedback was standardized with exception of the masculinity/femininity profile. Men were randomly assigned to a masculinity threat (masculinity reported as below average; MThreat, n = 131), boost (masculinity reported as above average; MBoost, n = 129), and control (masculinity reported as average; MControl, n = 128) conditions. Women were randomly assigned to a femininity threat (n = 84), boost (n = 87), and control (n = 72) conditions (conditions were identical except women received femininity threats/boosts). Participants were then asked about their interest in owning various firearms. MThreat participants reported significantly higher interest in owning every firearm shown compared to MControl participants, and significantly more interest than MBoost participants for half of the firearms. No differences in firearm interest were evident between MBoost and MControl conditions. No differences in firearm interest were evident across all conditions in the women sample. All participants were then debriefed. Results suggest men’s desire to own firearms maybe connected to masculine insecurities. Efforts should be made to socially defuse the masculinity-firearm connection. Further research implications and limitations are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

For the abstract

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I am pleased to announce that my new book True Crime Stories You Won't Believe: A Cavalcade of Chaotic Justice is finally out on Amazon (Kindle and  paperback).

This book is a compilation of  some of Providentia's true crime stories, revised and updated, that defy simple description. 

They include:

The strange tale of a psychotic geisha who severed her lover’s genitals to carry as a token of her love and who inspired a cult following
How a small-town murderer helped inspire the movie Psycho and left his hometown with a reputation they never lived down
A father who sacrificed his daughter to prove his faith in God and his followers who fully expected her to be raised on the third day (she wasn’t)
A Sorbonne graduate student who killed and cannibalized the woman he loved and went on to become a bizarre media celebrity
A 19th century serial killer who earned the title of “the worst woman in the world” by killing a series of husbands for profit
The assassination attempt on John F. Kennedy you never heard about but which very nearly succeeded.
George Stinney, the fourteen-year-old child who died in the electric chair for a crime he didn’t commit.
Joseph Vacher, the “French Ripper” whose crimes shocked France but tried to blame it all on the rabid dog that bit him.
How mob boss Vincent Gigante earned himself the nickname of “the Oddfather”
Leonarda Cianciulli, the Corregio “Soapmaker” who killed three women as a sacrifice to protect her own children.

These stories, and more, are all featured here making this book a must for any connoisseur of true crime and bizarre justice.   And a great gift idea with Mother's day coming up (or not).   For now, it's available for free on Kindle Unlimited and I'd really appreciate some honest reviews from any of my readers.   Contact me directly if you'd like a free epub version for examination and to review for your own blog or web page.  I hope to do an entire series of Providentia books in time so keep an eye out for future titles.





To order the book on Amazon

To see my Amazon Author page.

 

  

                    

A new study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology tested if people’s basic belief in the notion that human beings have developed from other animals (i.e., belief in evolution) can predict human-to-human prejudice and intergroup hostility. Using data from the American General Social Survey and Pew Research Center (Studies 1–4), and from three online samples (Studies 5, 7, 8) we tested this hypothesis across 45 countries, in diverse populations and religious settings, across time, in nationally representative data (N = 60,703), and with more comprehensive measures in online crowdsourced data (N = 2,846). Supporting the hypothesis, low belief in human evolution was associated with higher levels of prejudice, racist attitudes, and support for discriminatory behaviors against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ), Blacks, and immigrants in the United States (Study 1), with higher ingroup biases, prejudicial attitudes toward outgroups, and less support for conflict resolution in samples collected from 19 Eastern European countries (Study 2), 25 Muslim countries (Study 3), and Israel (Study 4). Further, among Americans, lower belief in evolution was associated with greater prejudice and militaristic attitudes toward political outgroups (Study 5). Finally, perceived similarity to animals (a construct distinct from belief in evolution, Study 6) partially mediated the link between belief in evolution and prejudice (Studies 7 and 8), even when controlling for religious beliefs, political views, and other demographic variables, and were also observed for nondominant groups (i.e., religious and racial minorities). Overall, these findings highlight the importance of belief in human evolution as a potentially key individual-difference variable predicting racism and prejudice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

For the abstract

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A Chicago-area woman sentenced to 35 years in prison for the brutal murder of her five-year-old son is appealing her sentence on the grounds that she was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time.  In her statement to the court, 39-year-old Joann Cunningham said that she had asked the boy's father, 60-year-old Andrew Freund, and a local priest for an exorcism as she was "seeing demons" and believed that she and her son were possessed.    Along with her postpartum psychosis defense, she also insists that she failed to receive adequate counsel.

On April 15, 2019, Cunningham, who was pregnant with her second child at the time, had reportedly become angry at her son, A.J., over the soiled underwear he had tried to conceal.  She then forced the boy to stand under a cold shower for twenty minutes, struck his head with the showerhead, and put him to bed wet and naked.  After realizing their son was dead, Cunningham and Freund then kept his body hidden in a plastic tote in their basement for two days.  Meanwhile, they maintained the pretense that he was still alive with family members until burying his body in a shallow grave in a nearby field.  Freund then called 911 on April 18 reporting his son missing.  This led to a community-wide search involving local police and the FBI which continued for a week before Freund was finally persuaded to lead authorities to A.J.'s grave.  After repeatedly denying any role in the death, Freund has since been convicted of involuntary manslaughter for his own role in the death as well as concealing the boy's body afterward.

A.J.'s death has also led to a major upheaval in the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services over perceived mismanagement of his case and failure to detect signs of abuse earlier.   Though he was born with heroin in his system and spent much of his early life under court-ordered foster care,  he was later returned to the custody of his parents.  Along with other health care needs, he also showed behavior problems.   Their other child has since been placed in foster care.

While Andrew Freund is currently serving a thirty-year sentence, the judge in JoAnn Cunningham's case is still deliberating over Joann Cunningham's petition for postconviction relief.  Judge Robert Wilbrandt announced that he has 90 days to decide whether the post-conviction petition has merit. If relief is granted, Cunningham’s guilty plea and sentence could be set aside and a date set for a new trial.

For more information

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