Child Sexual Abuse by Catholic Priests, Deacons, and Male Members of Religious Orders in the Authority of the German Bishops' Conference 1946-2014.

This study explores the extent of sexual abuse of minors by members of the Catholic Church in Germany. It is the first comprehensive study to examine this extent in a European country. The goals of this study are as follows: (a) to analyze whether the extent and characteristics of sexual abuse in a European country are comparable to those in the United States and Australia and (b) how discrepancies can be explained. The personnel files of 38,156 Catholic Priests, deacons, and male members of religious orders in the authority of the German Bishops' Conference were analyzed. The study period lasted from 1946 to 2014. All 27 German dioceses took part in this study. A total of 4.4% of all clerics (N = 1,670) from 1946 to 2014 were alleged to have committed sexual abuse, and 3,677 children or adolescents were identified as victims. These results are similar to those from comparable studies in the United States. Sexual abuse of minors within the authority of the Catholic Church seems to be a worldwide phenomenon.

Cerebral granulomatosis as a manifestation of Crohn's disease.

BACKGROUND: Crohn's disease (CD) is associated with a variety of extra-intestinal manifestations. Most commonly these involve the eye, skin, joints, coagulation system and liver. Cerebral manifestations of CD have been reported to a far lesser extent. The extensive detrimental impact of neurological symptoms on a patient's quality of life makes an early diagnosis and treatment particularly important. In previous case-reports, diagnosis of cerebral manifestations in CD often relied upon magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) alone. To our knowledge, only one case-report has documented a histologically confirmed case of cerebral lesions associated with CD so far. CASE PRESENTATION: A 39-year-old right-handed woman with a history of CD was referred to our hospital with etiologically unexplained Gadolinium (Gd)-enhancing cortical lesions, triggering epileptic seizures. A CT-scan of the thorax and bronchoalveolar lavage found no signs of sarcoidosis. Lumbar punctures and laboratory testing found no underlying infection or coincidental autoimmune disorders and MRI-scans showed progression of lesion load. Consequently, the patient underwent stereotactic biopsy of a cortical lesion. Histological examination revealed a mixed lympho-histiocytic and tuberculoid granulomatous inflammation surrounding small vessels and no signs for infection. After exclusion of other granulomatous diseases and the typical histological findings we diagnosed a cerebral granulomatosis as a manifestation of CD. The patient was initially started on azathioprine, which had to be switched to corticosteroids and methotrexate because of an azathioprine related pancreatitis. The patient has not suffered any further epileptic seizures to date. CONCLUSION: Cerebral manifestation of CD is a possibly underreported entity that may respond well to immunosuppressive treatment. In contrast to earlier reports of cerebral manifestations in CD, our patient showed no coincident gastrointestinal symptoms indicating an activity of CD during the progression of cortical lesion load, suggesting that similar to other extra-intestinal manifestations in CD, the activity of gastrointestinal symptoms does not necessarily reflect the activity of CD associated cerebral vasculitis. Therefore, diagnosis and therapy of cerebral manifestation may be delayed when focusing on gastrointestinal symptoms alone.

Sexual abuse of minors within the Catholic Church and other institutions : A literature review.

Sexual violence against children remains a global public health problem. The health sector has an opportunity and responsibility to be part of the multisector collaboration to prevent and respond to sexual abuse of minors. The following article presents a critical analysis of hitherto published empirical studies that examine the extent and variety of sexual abuse of minors within the Catholic Church and other institutions. The analysis consists of 40 studies concerning the Catholic Church and 13 studies concerning other institutions not belonging to the Catholic Church. We report the characteristics of the offenders and the offenses. Furthermore, the devastating consequences for children abused by members of powerful institutions are discussed. Knowledge on the role of institutions in sexual abuse of minors and psychological distress following these experiences is necessary to point the way to improvements in prevention and intervention strategies. This literature review is part of a larger research project on the sexual abuse of minors in the context of the Catholic Church in Germany (MHG Study) that is conducted by an interdisciplinary team of psychologists, psychiatrists, criminologists, and sociologists and is funded by the German Bishops' Conference.

Launching reappraisal: it's less common than you might think.

Cognitive reappraisal is thought to be ubiquitous. However, no studies have quantified how frequently people reappraise (vs. letting their emotional response go unregulated). To address this issue, the authors created a laboratory decision context in which participants watched a series of negatively valenced images, and in each case had the option of electing to reappraise to decrease negative affect. Given the many benefits and few costs associated with reappraisal, we expected that most images would be reappraised. However, to our surprise, participants implemented reappraisals for only 16% of images (Study 1). Regulatory rates remained low for both low- and high-intensity images, even when another regulatory option (i.e., distraction) was available (Study 2). The authors hypothesized that participants did not proactively reappraise because there were hidden costs associated with reappraisal. They considered 2 classes of costs: overcoming default bias and cognitive effort, and they measured the percentage of trials for which participants chose to reappraise using a fully crossed 2 × 2 design that examined the effects of removing defaults and of providing support in creating reappraisals. Removing defaults, but not providing reappraisal support, increased rates of reappraisal (Study 3). Everyday decision-making frequently involves default options. These results suggest that contextual variables (such as the presence of defaults) may play a large role in the decision to regulate emotions.