Aglaja Stirn

Neuronal Correlates of Colour-Graphemic Synaesthesia: Afmri Study

Synaesthesia is a perceptual phenomenon in which specific events in one sensory modality induce experiences in another. In colour-graphemic synaesthesia, subjects report colour experiences induced by written letters. Our subjects displayed this type of synaesthesia, as verified by a test of the consistency of the perceptual associations over time, and had no history of neurological or psychiatric disorders. We investigated the hypothesis that the synaesthetic colour experience is accompanied by an activation of the human colour area (V4/V8) using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). With retinotopic and colour mapping we could confirm that colour stimuli specifically activate area V4/V8. For the study of colour-graphemic synaesthesia we used an AB boxcar design with blocks of letters that elicited a synaesthetic colour experience (condition A) alternating with blocks of letters that did not (condition B). In both hemispheres condition A led to a significantly higher activation of V4/V8 than condition B. These findings support the hypothesis that the grapheme-induced colour perception in synaesthesia is caused by an activation of the colour areas of the human visual cortex.

Cortical responses to self and others

The extrastriate body area (EBA) is one among the multiple, functionally specialized regions of the human visual cortex exhibiting modulation by body‐related stimuli. Here we investigate whether activation patterns differ for the perception of ones own body and the bodies of others. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to identify body‐related brain areas and to see how these areas differentiate between images of ones own body and those of others in the absence of facial or motion cues. Whole brain explorative group‐level analysis identified body‐related blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal enhancement in five regions of the right and in one region of the left hemisphere (right: in the extrastriate visual and parietal cortex and in the precentral gyrus, left: in the extrastriate visual cortex). General linear model group‐level random effects analysis of the self–other contrast revealed self‐related responses in the extrastriate and parietal regions in the right hemisphere but also in the right middle frontal gyrus. These results suggest the existence of a cortical network for the extraction of body‐related information and another cortical network for the extraction of self‐related body information. The two networks partially overlap in the right superior and inferior parietal cortices, but are clearly segregated in the extrastriate visual cortex and in the middle frontal gyrus. In addition, we report that the classical EBA is only involved in the analysis of body‐related information but not in the assignment of body identity. The latter appears to be accomplished by a network in right hemisphere comprising the fusiform body area, regions of the superior parietal lobe, the inferior parietal cortex, and the middle frontal gyrus. Hum Brain Mapp, 2009.

Tattoos, body piercings, and self-injury: Is there a connection? Investigations on a core group of participants practicing body modification

Abstract Reliable psychosocial data about practitioners of body piercing and tattooing are few and controversial. The goal of this study was to reinvestigate the issue by studying a large sample of individuals with body modifications (BMs), focusing on the motives and relations to biographical events. A 55-item anonymous self-report questionnaire was distributed among volunteers of what is considered to be a core group of individuals wearing BMs (N=432). Results show that BMs changed the participants’ attitude toward their body considerably, and 34% of all participants reported BM practices in conjunction with decisive biographical events. Twenty-seven percent of the participants admitted self-cutting during childhood. This group differed from the group without self-cutting with respect to several features before, during, and after BM. The rate of medical complications of BM was 16% in the total sample, with a remarkably higher rate (26%) among participants with a history of self-cutting. The data suggest that the significance of BMs ranges from simple peer group imitations to highly informative symptoms of possibly severe psychopathological conditions. In the latter case, BMs sometimes serve as therapeutic substitutes.

Motivations for body piercings and tattoos — The role of sexual abuse and the frequency of body modifications

Though the popularity of body modification increases, psychosocial data about practitioners of body piercing and tattooing are few and controversial. Most studies used semi-structured interviews and relatively small sample sizes. The aim of this study was to explore psychosocial background information (motivation, sexual abuse) for body modification practises based on a sufficiently large sample. A core group of 432 subjects with body piercings and/or tattoos (readers of a specialised magazine on body modification; mean age: 28 years) was investigated in this study using a 55-item questionnaire. The mean number of body modifications (piercings and tattoos) was nine. Participants with a history of sexual abuse and high users with more than 10 body modifications differed from those without these features with respect to several motivations and consequences of body modification. Participants with sexual abuse often stated that they wanted to overcome certain experiences, and high users were characterised by the feeling of an addiction to continue body modification. Clinicians should include questions on body modifications and their motives in anamnestic schedules.

Body Integrity Identity Disorder – First Success in Long-Term Psychotherapy

OBJECTIVE The Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID) is a fairly unknown and unexplored psychic illness. Very little cases underwent a psychotherapeutic treatment. METHODS We report on the two-and-a-half year psychotherapy with a 37 years old man, who wants an amputation of his two legs. RESULTS Origin and meaning of the amputation desire were uncovered in psychotherapy. CONCLUSIONS The psychodynamic oriented therapy with cognitive-behavioral elements can be used to develop further treatment approaches.

Piercing – Risiken, Folgen und psychologische Hintergründe eines kulturellen Phänomens

Eine breite Anzahl unterschiedlicher Medizinberufe sieht sich mit der zunehmend populären Praxis des Piercings konfrontiert. Dieser Artikel beschreibt die typischsten Formen dieser Art der Körpermodifikation, ihre Ursprünge und Besonderheiten sowie die mit ihnen verbundenen Nebenwirkungen und Komplikationen. Einige der vielfältigen und oftmals intensiven psychologischen Motivationen für Piercing werden vorgestellt und diskutiert.

Krankheitstypische Gegenbertragungsreaktionen@@@Countertransference reactions as specific for the different psychic illnesses

ZusammenfassungTypische Gegenübertragungen der wichtigsten, psychotherapeutisch bedeutsamen Krankheitsgruppen (Neurosen, psychosomatische Erkrankungen, somatopsychische Störungen, Persönlichkeitsstörungen, Sucht und Traumata) werden beschrieben. Die hier vorgenommene Auswahl stützt sich zum einen auf die lange Tradition klinischer Beschreibungen und zum anderen auf die zunehmende empirische Sicherung des Phänomens. Auch wenn es aufgrund der unterschiedlichen Krankheitsebenen zu Mischungen im Gegenübertragungserleben kommen kann, plädiert der Beitrag für die Wichtigkeit der umfassenden Analyse der Gegenübertragung. Hierdurch wird dem Therapeuten der Umgang mit den vielfältigen Gegenübertragungsgefühlen erleichtert, und diese werden zu einem wichtigen differenzialdiagnostischen Werkzeug für die tägliche Praxis.AbstractCharacteristic countertransferences of the most important groups of psychotherapeutically relevant diseases (neurotic, psychosomatic, somato-psychic disorders, personality disorders and traumas) are presented. The choice made is derived from the long tradition of clinical description and the increasing amount of empirical evidence about the phenomenon. Even if due to the different levels on which a disease may function a mixing of different countertransferences may occur, it is suggested that a precise analysis facilitates a therapist’s dealing with the various countertransference feelings and makes countertransference an important differential diagnostic tool for the daily practice.

Drei stationäre Therapieverläufe von essgestörten Patientinnen, verglichen mit der Methode des Zentralen Beziehungskonfliktthemas (ZBKT)

In this article the results of a research with the CCRT-method on the psychotherapies of three in-patients suffering from eating disorders are presented. The CCRT describes recurrent internal and interpersonal relationship patterns in narratives. Each therapy session was recorded on tape and transcribed. The CCRT components were identified from the verbatim transcripts. All three patients clearly showed a negative self-perception and despite a more graded attitude regarding other people they felt rejected by the community throughout the entire therapy. The CCRT of each patient was different: patient 1. had conflicts between dependence and independence with increasing autonomy; patient 2. had great symbiotic desires, which at the beginning of the therapy were warded off with a performance ideal; patient 3. showed self-assertion and an increasing level of openness against the community, despite a high level of fear and self-isolation at the onset of therapy. Despite methodological deficiencies the CCRT method proved to be sensitive enough to show similarities and differences among the individual courses of treatment.

Können Team-Supervisionen mit der ZBKT-Methode untersucht werden?

Die Diskussion daruber, was unter Supervision zu verstehen ist bzw. was diese leisten soll, ist theoretisch vielfach gefuhrt worden (z.B. Puhl 1990). Eine empirische Prufung dieser durchaus heterogenen Vorstellungen steht jedoch noch weitgehend aus (vgl. Barde 1991).