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C Koupernik

Publications and source records attributed to C Koupernik.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1996

[From Kandinsky to Clerambault. Value of eponyms].

The Syndrome of Mental Automatism in delusional states has been described by the French psychiatrist G. de Clérambault in 1919. It consists mainly of involuntary production of impressions and ideas, ascribed by the patient to an external influence and still occurring within himself. Phenomena like thought echo, influence delusion, thought guess belong to M.A. Actually this syndrome is largely unknown in Anglo-Saxon countries. Somewhat similar description figures in DSM-III-R under the heading 295. A2-A3. Soviet psychiatrists claim that a quite similar clinical picture has been described by Kandinsky in his monograph posthumously published by his widow in 1890. The present writer shows that a great part of what Kandinsky described was actually based on self-observation. But it is true that Kandinsky described what he calls a "psychological chasm", where thought is either imposed upon the patient or stolen from him. The present writer considers that it is more a phenomenological approach than a semiological one and he is doubtful about the actual value of eponyms.

Eponyms↗
PubMed1995

[Psychiatric clinical practice and medical clinical practice].

The field of Psychiatry encompasses the study of both nomothetic (i.e. submitted to a lawfulness) and idiographic (i.e. unpredictable, submitted to the free will or decisions of the individuals) phenomena. Clinical-diagnostic investigations function at three different speeds: -Adagio: slow gathering of diversified data, pertaining to: .history of malady (or psychological maladjustment); .personal history of the patient; .opinion of members of the family; .opinion of the referring practitioner; .last but not least: opinion of the nursing staff. -Allegro: selective grouping of the most significant symptoms; the putative syndrome is then compared with classical well-recognized diagnostic entities (inferential diagnosis). -Presto: the immediate primal impression; this type of perception deals mainly with a tentative and almost reflex appraisal of the personality; it is based on disputable data. This type of unconscious guess is actually more emotional than rational. Psychiatry cannot rely upon "hard symptoms" (such as a cardiac murmur), nor on images (if the latter are convincing they actually contribute to a diagnosis of organic brain impairment), or on chemical evidence of an underlying metabolic disorder. Dexamethazone suppression test did not hold its promises. Only the shortening of the latency time of the paradoxical (R.E.M.) sleep might be useful. All this contributes to the use of psychotropic drugs as a diagnostic tool. It is legitimate because what is known of the action of these drugs on various neuro-transmitters has given us some insight. Nevertheless simplistic ideas which flourished some twenty of thirty years ago, have not been entirely validated.

Antidepressive Agents↗
PubMed1994

[AIDS: ethical drift].

AIDS is not merely a new viral disease, or an unprecedented variety of acquired immune deficiency. It is an STD equally transmitted by blood and birth, it has for the last eleven years, baffled all the assault attempted by the most competent researchers, it is lethal in the vas majority of cases, it has reached a planetary dimension. Its prevention interferes as well with more than one religion's prescriptions and will undoubtedly interfere with sexual fulfillment. Finally, it reminds us that what we call ethics is fragile, that it is actually based on an agreement and that it can be drastically modified if a majority of citizens are under threat.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1991

[Confabulatory paraphrenia, taxonomy and psychopathology].

A 60 year old woman has elaborated for the last 20 years a delusional system, which refers to an illegitimate birth but which also claims that she has published works of well-known French Writers and that she has been for some time in concentration camp. There is probably a relationship to what happened to her during infancy (she spent the 13 first years of life in foster homes and institution). To some extent she justifies Bruno Bettelheim's thesis relative to a similarity of experiences of concentration camp and deprived infancy. Such a delusional system can be classified under the krapelinian heading of paraphrenia fantastica. Its does not seem to have been included in the DSM-III and DSM-III-R.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1988

[AIDS and society].

On the basis of information gathered from media the writer delineates the following aspects of the impact of AIDS upon social life: advertising the danger, sex education of the youth, purposeful contamination by AIDS-patients, legal repressive measures, the doctors and the right to test, Anglican Church and acceptance of homosexuality among ministers, antagonistic incentives epidemiologic research and the right to confidentiality. Finally, he endorses the recent declaration of the America Psychiatric Association determined to fight discrimination and refusal of care.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1981

[Pleading for a double approach (author's transl)].

The writer criticizes the unifying models such as the classical, nineteenth century Psychiatry which makes of Psychiatry a mere branch of Medicine or Psychosomatic Medicine which imposes a "psychodynamic" pattern for the whole Medicine. He therefore recommends a dual and simultaneous approach destined to decipher two series of different signals and to meet somewhat different situations and decisions. This dual approach supposes a double training; it applies to the patient seen for the first time, but also to the patient in treatment who can either unveil significant symptoms of an underlying somatic disease or become somatically ill, with no relation with his psychiatric symptoms. Finally, a similar attitude of vigilance should be observed as far as supervision of chemotherapy is concerned.

Humans↗
PubMed1981

[Congress of Clinical and Psychopathological Genetics. Conclusions].

Pavlov is reported to have compared his own line of research and Freud's one to two tunnels driven through a mountain by two teams of sappers who hope to be able to join. The ways of Genetics and of Psychoanalytical Psychopathology have in common their concern with Time but their methods are drastically different they apprehend different fecats of reality. Nevertheless both imply a strong reference to Fate. Consequences of genetic loading can be attenuated by scientific progress but in the absence of ethical boundaries research may unintentionally open Pandora's box.

Humans↗