Journal of Projective Psychology and Mental Health: Volume 20, Number 1, Jan 2013 Editorial |
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| 1. Editorial: SIS Psychotherapeutic Applications, Wilfred A. Cassell, pages 1-2. I invite readers to consider the 21st century human’s precarious state and our transient existence on the planet earth. Visualize our planet’s journey, spinning in the vast Cosmos prior to the anticipated annihilation of the sun. Recall that the earth, the fragile human body pulsates in a time limited fashion. All SIS professionals need to carefully plan and prioritize the relative importance of future projects. Because my wife, Mary, continues to suffer the consequences of her aortic dissection and stroke suffered years ago in India, I cannot be with you physically. Yet, please understand that I am with you in a supportive spiritual fashion. Since I am now 78 years old, many of my colleagues have died. Their loss reminds me of my own mortality. Our society now needs more objective evidence documenting the therapeutic efficacy of SIS technology. I respectfully request that all so motivated SIS society members envision futuristic statistically controlled clinical therapeutic trials. In order to more deeply consider this challenge, I now invite you to take a few moments for SIS image guided Yoga meditation. For trance induction, activate your most effective personal subjective steps for body-mind-spirit relaxation. Then imagine what your spiritual soul is currently experiencing within your pulsating body. Focus on the professional goals that you have with specific reference to SIS research and clinical applications that you may have completed. For psychic time travel, imagine the morbid symbolism of your body’s demise by conjuring up an image of death symbolized in SIS-II B22. Recall that this portrays your soul, exciting your dying body. If you have previously benefited from the use of culture sanctioned spiritual symbols associated with your religion, enrich the meditation by recalling these from memory neural records in your brain’s visual cortex. Concurrently bring into cognitive consideration what you hope to accomplish both personally and professionally prior to that ultimate fate. Consider repeating this near death psychic voyage on days that you have set aside for religious activities. To further enrich this subjective mystical journey, occasionally repeat this meditation exercise at bedtime. Use as dream programming visual input, either the Booklet version of B22 or the more powerful video/computer monitor electronic self-administered systems. Such supplemental exercise should provide a much stronger subjective modality for futuristic SIS planning. Since even professionals trained in dream interpretation are, because of their own mental defense mechanisms, necessarily partially blind to the symbolic significance of their own sleep imagery/affect, consider consulting colleagues trained in SIS evoked dream stimulation. Through internet communication I would be pleased to assist members of our SIS society in this regard (bldubey@gmail.com). At the present stage of scientific knowledge, clinical investigators need more statistical research data concerning differentiating “Placebo” effects of treatment for the various Mental Disorders, from truly efficacious modalities. Internationally, there currently appear to be two opposing viewpoints. One school of thought contends that “Medications are more effective than psychological treatment”. Those in the opposite camp argue that “Psychological treatments such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy are just as effective, but unlike pharmacotherapy, have long lasting effects, some of which may prevent recurring illness. What seems to be most fascinating conceptual background is that thanks to research using neuroimaging techniques, such as positron emission tomography (PET), single-photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT) and functional MRI indicate that both psychotherapy and medication change the brain. My personal bias regarding treatment is traceable to my 1960’s psychiatric research in Canada’s providence center of Saskatchewan. Then because of socialized medicine government funded computer based total population medical/psychiatric care utilization statistics, supplemented by community surveys of psychiatric morbidity, meaningful epidemiological studies were possible. These suggested that consideration of socioeconomic conditions regarding prevention and early detection of preventable conditions was the most humane and cost effective approach for government funding. After preliminary case history diagnostic work I realized that the SIS could aide in such endeavors. Now years later, I challenge members of our society to scientifically study the potential efficacy of SIS technology as an aide to therapy! 2. Perceiving One’s Own Dead Body and Death Anxiety Dissolving SIS Spiritual Symbols Wilfred A. Cassell, Bankey L. Dubey, Tyrone Charles and Padma Dwivedi, pages 3-17. The present paper using the Somatic Inkblot Series SIS-II deals with the seemingly impossible perception of one’s own dead body. It involves a Vietnam soldier suffering from Combat PTSD, who in a transient psychotic state hallucinated seeing his own dead body in a mass grave along with those of deceased loved ones. The unique case enables the reader to graphically understand the clinical concomitants of severe Death Anxiety. In addition, it demonstrates the healing power of spiritual symbols. 3. Integrated Intervention in Psychiatry of Urgency: the Role of the Projective Space in the Psychotherapeutic Interview, S. Daini, B. Grasso and L. Bernardini, pages 18-35. The authors present a model of crisis intervention experienced at a psychiatric service located in General Hospital and run by a team of psychiatrists and psychologists. The purpose of the intervention was to apply a model of reading and psychodynamic intervention to periods of psychic crisis, which otherwise would have suggested an admission in a Psychiatric Hospital. The method followed has led to a series of diagnostic and emergency psychotherapy interviews and to the implementation of a psycho-diagnosis, in particular with the use of projective tests, during the immediate post-critical period. The treatment plans paid particular attention to the need of patients for care continuity. Clinical examples are presented in the context of attempted suicide, personality disorder psychotic crisis and psychosomatic disabling disorder. The intervention model proposed is compared with other western psychoanalytic models and allows an alternative reading of the crisis moment, the preservation of a patient-centred intervention and continuity with subsequent phases of psychoanalytic therapy. 4. Effect of Psychotherapy in Phobic Patients and Their Follow-up, M. G. Sharma, Vandana Sharma and Awadhesh Upadhyay, pages 36-41. The present study aims to see the effect of systematic desensitization and group therapy on different types of phobic patients viz: hydrophobia, zoophobia, nyctophobia and astraphobia. One hundred and ten (110) phobic patients matched on Socio-economic status, ranging from 12 to 19 years (Mean age of 16.7 years) with a mean length of abnormal fear for at least three years. The Rorschach Inkblot Test was administered using Beck’s method to ascertain personality characteristics on selected indices viz: R, W, obvious details, rare details, M, C, CF, FC, Vista, Shading, Affective ratio, H, Hd, Anatomy, Good form, Animal, Popular, Lambda, White space, T/IR and Rejection of cards. The Mean scores obtained on different variables were analyzed using Chi Square test. The patients were evaluated at S. I. Mental and Physical Health Society (SIMPHS) Varanasi (India). Results indicated that the two groups differ significantly on total Responses, Whole responses, obvious details, rare details, Movement, CSum, Vista, Human, Human detail, Good form, Animal, Popular, Lambda, T/IR and Rejection of cards. After 7 months of psychotherapy most of the patients became symptom free. The findings of the Rorschach test and efficacy of Psychotherapy are discussed in the paper. 5. Unravelling the Roots of Personality Disorganization through Psychodynamic Lens: A Case Study. Somdeb Mitra, Saugata Basu and Nilanjana Sanyal, pages 42-48. Brief Dynamic Therapy attempts to bring about changes in the client's psychopathology by conceptualising it within the frameworks of psychoanalytic thought and actively working out a focal conflict area. The present paper aims to show the understanding of psychopathology, process of psychotherapy, and its outcome on the basis of therapeutic contents in the context of a single case having prominent features of emotional instability. The study attempts to illustrate the utilisation of the techniques as well as the therapeutic relationship, in the framework of psychodynamic psychotherapy. The probable pathways by which these factors bring about the change in the client are discussed. It is suggested that such a work could serve as a pilot study for larger scale research. 6. SIS Guided Therapy for an Adolescent Girl’s Tension Headaches, Wilfred A. Cassell, Preeti Pandey, Ajay Tiwari, Nalini Mishra and B.L.Dubey, pages 49-54. The Somatic Inkblot series (Cassell, 1990, Cassell and Dubey, 2003) was administered to a 17 years old girl of 12th grade. She was suffering from a tension headache for the last 2 years. Her other complaints were feeling heaviness and tightness in head, nausea, muscular stress, tingling sensations, numbness, feeling tiredness and physical weakness. She was diagnosed as a case of Tension Headaches by her physician. The SIS responses projected her intra psychic conflict, poor interpersonal relationships, pent up aggression, inferiority complex and disturbed family functioning. The SIS images were used as a therapeutic intervention tool with a positive outcome. 7. Effect of therapeutic intervention in a Case of Schizophrenia through SIS-II and Rorschach Daniel Saldanha, Preethi Menon, Sameer Guliani, Vivek Goyal, Madhav Garg, Abhinav Tewari and Madalsa Agrawal, pages 55-61. This is a pilot study to see the effect of medical intervention on the responses of Rorschach Inkblot Test and Somatic Inkblot Series-II in a case of Schizophrenia. The study shows how clinicians can effectively supplement Rorschach data utilizing SIS - II images to monitor the progress of the treatment. In this instance the chief symptoms of hyper sexuality were dramatically reduced. The addition of the SIS data facilitates understanding the significance of hidden desires of the psychotic patient which otherwise would have not been revealed. 8. Consistency of Response Pattern on Rorschach after an Interval of 14 Years: A Case Report, L.S.S. Manickam, pages 62-67. Rorschach Inkblot test has been in use in India since 1947 and was used with a diverse clinical and non-clinical population. In the recent period it is primarily used with the clinical population. Different scoring systems are followed in the country. Though research findings showed the usefulness of Rorschach Inkblot Test in diagnosis, understanding psychopathology and in therapy, research interests related to the use of the Rorschach Inkblot Test in India appears to be declining. There is a need to revitalise the training on its use, interpretation and research. The case report of a patient who had not undergone psychotherapy and showed the consistency of the responses even after an interval of fourteen years is presented. Probably there are a group of patients who maintain their perceptual structure, unaffected by ageing and input from the environment, in the absence of receiving any form of psychotherapy. 9. Dichotic listening asymmetry: A Potential Neuro-Behavioral Marker of Depression, Rakesh Pandey and I. L. Singh, pages 68-73. Depression has often been linked with the anomalous pattern of hemispheric asymmetry and recent studies provide support that neuro-behavioural measures of hemispheric asymmetry may potentially be used as a marker of depression. With this background the present study examines the nature of hemispheric asymmetry in depression using a dichotic listening test. The rhymed fused alphabets were presented in dichotic listening paradigm to clinically, sub-clinically, previously depressed individuals as well as on age and gender matched healthy controls. The findings revealed that all the four groups showed a significant right ear (i.e., left hemispheric) advantage. However, this left hemispheric advantage was less pronounced in depressed groups (clinically and sub-clinically depressed) as compared to depression free groups (previously depressed and normal controls). The observed gradient in the magnitude of left hemispheric asymmetry from depression to no-depression suggests that with increasing severity of depression the individuals tend to show reduced left hemispheric performance and as the symptoms of depression gradually becomes less severe or disappear the left hemispheric performance tend to recover. The findings imply that reduced left hemispheric asymmetry may serve as a potential neuro-behavioral marker of depression. |
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