Psychiatric disturbances associated with Erhard Seminars Training: II. additional cases and theoretical considerations.

In a previous article, the authors reported on 5 individuals who developed psychoses after participation in Erhard Seminars Training (est). Two additional cases are reported, and the combined case material is discussed in terms of group and psychodynamic theories. The authoritarian est leadership style may mobilize in trainees an overdetermined and pathological reliance on identification with the aggressor. Such a mechanism may be central to the production of psychiatric casualties, particularly in individuals with defective ego boundaries. Future controlled research is necessary to ascertain the rate of occurrence of psychiatric disturbances associated with est and to test the authors' hypotheses.

Psychiatric disturbances associated with Erhard Seminars Training: I. A report of cases.

Erhard Seminars Training (est) is a large-group experience that is becoming widely available in this country. This is the first case report in the professional literature of psychiatric disturbance following est training. Five patients, only one of whom had a history of psychiatric disturbance, developed psychotic symptoms including grandiosity, paranoia, uncontrollable mood swings, and delusions. Further work is necessary to ascertain the factors that determine outcome in est.

Psychotherapy of schizophrenia: an empirical investigation of the relationship of process to outcome.

The Boston Psychotherapy Study found no major differences in the effects of insight-oriented and supportive psychotherapies in the treatment of schizophrenia. The authors of the current study looked beyond the assignments to those treatment designations and used blindly rated transcripts of tape-recorded sessions to examine the relationship of therapist interventions and patient outcomes at 2 years. They found significant relationships between skillfully conducted psychodynamic exploration and greater improvements in negative symptom areas of schizophrenia. The authors note the limitations and implications of these findings for clinical practice and research.

Multisite oligonucleotide-mediated mutagenesis: application to the conversion of a mitochondrial gene to universal genetic code.

Using multisite oligonucleotide-mediated mutagenesis in conjunction with a mutagenesis selection procedure and rapid screening by allele-specific oligonucleotide hybridization has allowed us to develop a reliable protocol that enables a large number of base changes to be introduced rapidly into a piece of DNA, with the minimum number of manipulations. We have applied this protocol to generate synthetic versions of four mouse mitochondrial genes capable of being expressed in the nucleus/cytosol.

Man's man/ladies' man: motifs of hypermasculinity.

Hypermasculine character styles are commonly encountered in clinical practice, popular media imagery and, indeed, in everyday life. Such "hypermasculinity" is readily recognized as an exaggeration and distortion of traditionally masculine traits, and has been studied by Adler (1923), Freud (1937), Reich (1949), Ovesey (1969), and Stoller and Herdt (1982), among others. In this article, I will review those contributions and identify and elucidate two modal forms of hypermasculinity: the Man's Man and the Ladies' Man. I will argue that these two patterns constitute recognizable forms of character pathology with their own understandable developmental paradigms, intrapsychic conflicts and object ties. A developmentally based model for the evolution of hypermasculinity will be proposed, and the implications of these concepts explored.

Dose-dependent leucovorin efficacy with an intermittent high-dose 5-fluorouracil schedule.

Sixteen patients with metastatic carcinoma of the colon were treated with a regimen of leucovorin 200 mg/m2, given as a 10-min infusion followed by a median dose of 833 mg/m2 (range 500-1000 mg/m2) 5-fluorouracil every two weeks. For the 16 patients with proven metastatic disease, two-year survival exceeds 50%. Responses were: 2 complete; 4 partial; 4 minor; 3 progression; and 3 not evaluable but without progression to date. Toxicities include: 8 (50%) leukopenia; 9 (56%), 1 severe thrombocytopenia; 9 (56%), 2 severe, diarrhea; 9 (56%), 3 severe, nausea/vomiting; 8 (50%), 1 severe, stomatitis; 7 (44%) conjunctivitis; 6 (38%) alopecia; and 13 (81%), 3 severe, neurotoxicity. Leucovorin appears to exert a dose-dependent beneficial effect on both the response and survival produced by the intermittent high-dose 5-fluorouracil schedule. This benefit first appears to increase substantially when the leucovorin dose is increased from 120 to 200 mg/m2. Findings identify a testable candidate regimen for selected good risk patients. Full selection criteria remain to be identified.