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P J Mahony

Publications and source records attributed to P J Mahony.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Assessment of the thigh cuff technique for measurement of dynamic cerebral autoregulation.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Dynamic methods of measuring cerebral autoregulation have become an accepted alternative to static evaluation. This article aims to describe a set of data collected from healthy volunteers by a dynamic method, the purpose being to qualify and quantify expected results for those who may be designing a study using this technique. METHODS: Cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) (measured by transcranial Doppler) and arterial blood pressure (Finapres) were recorded in 16 normal subjects before, during, and after the induction of a blood pressure drop (release of bilateral thigh cuffs). This procedure was repeated 6 times for each subject. A mathematical model was applied to the data to generate an autoregulatory index (ARI) with values between 0 and 9. RESULTS: The ARI values for this sample population follow a normal distribution, with a mean+/-SD of 4.98+/-1.06 (n=15). Analysis of the cumulative mean ARI values of all subjects showed an exponential-type convergence of ARI toward the sample mean as the number of test iterations increased. The population average blood pressure drop on thigh cuff release was 26.4+/-7.1 mm Hg (n=16), occurring in 4.6+/-1. 7 seconds. The corresponding population average drop for CBFV was 15. 6+/-5.8 cm/s, taking 2.5+/-1.0 seconds. No significant trend was noted in the measurements as the number of test iterations increased. The correlation between the predicted and actual CBFV, having a mean value of 0.76+/-0.19, showed evidence of a nonlinear relationship to ARI values. Significant correlation was also found between ARI and (1) arterial blood pressure before cuff release and (2) the magnitude of the drop in CBFV on cuff release. CONCLUSIONS: The distribution of ARI values is not significantly different from normal. At least 3 iterations of the test procedure should be performed and averaged to obtain the mean ARI for each subject. There is no significant evidence of physiological accommodation as the number of test iterations increases. The effects of mean blood pressure and the magnitude of the change in CBFV should be considered as possible covariates when ARI data are analyzed.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

The dictator and his cure.

The role of notetaking in the case of Little Hans has been almost completely overlooked in the pertinent psychoanalytic literature. A focus on notetaking shows, among other things, how Freud's cherished little patient became a dictator and thereby took a decisive step in his analysis.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Freud's cases: are they valuable today?

To appreciate the recent debate as to whether Freud's case histories should still be taught to analysts, it is fruitful first of all to look at the wider context of other disciplines. Indeed, there is a contemporary movement at large which challenges the notion of canon or any authoritative list of classics. Three attitudes towards teaching Freud's works are worth spelling out. There is, first, the dismissive attitude represented recently by Jacob Arlow. A second approach is that Freud's works should be retained in the teaching curriculum merely for the purpose of subverting them. A final approach is that, in spite of the undeniable advances in theoretical and clinical psychoanalysis, Freud's case histories remain indispensable and even unsurpassed.

Curriculum↗
PubMed1989

Aspects of nonperverse scopophilia within an analysis.

This essay is intended to contribute to the increasing importance ascribed to scopophilia in modern psychoanalytic literature. The exceptional position of scopophilia is twofold: by virtue of its subdivisions, voyeurism and exhibitionism, it constitutes one of the two pairs of component drives recognized by Freund; and it informs one of the two major perceptual avenues that comprise communication in the analytic setting. A case is presented which shows how the psychic life of a female patient was dominated by a nonperverse scopophilia in a remarkable variety of ways, ranging from hyper-investment to inhibition and phobic curtailment. The case is equally noteworthy for the way in which these various phenomena were reenacted in the transference and in the particular visual character of the analytic scene; thus the patient's optical focal symbiosis and ophidiophobia are related to what I call the analyst's "retro presence."

Adult↗
PubMed1989

[How does Freud speak to us?].

For well over a decade I have been exploring certain psychodynamic aspects of Freud's discourse and their implications, which tend to be scotomized by an ideologically-driven organizational psychoanalysis. Ideally there should be a continuity between the more circumscribed communicative scene of clinical psychoanalysis and the broader scene of communication with one's psychoanalyti-cally oriented colleagues. More specifically, a historical framework stretching from the Renaissance to the nineteenth century helps to highlight the distinctivness of that kind of discourse which Freud preferred to use. In particular, it was one which stimulated and facilitated both the associative and critical processes of Freud in the act of writing, and ours as well in the act of reading him. Such a discourse not only describes but also enacts psychic activity on the conscious, preconscious and unconscious levels. There is ultimately a democratic spirit in such expression, which I have pointedly called elsewhere Freud's prose of solidarity, and alternately, Freud's policy of a non-apartheid lexicality.

English Abstract↗
PubMed1984

Further reflections on Freud and his writing.

As we broaden our frames of reference, Freud's genius looms larger. An adequate appreciation of Freud accordingly necessitates an examination of how he read and wrote and how Strachey translated him. Despite the enormous amount of psychoanalytic commentary, the subject of his writing qua writing still remains untapped to a considerable extent. By deepening our awareness of the nuances and implications of the manner in which Freud wrote, we correspondingly increase our knowledge of his original mind and the way he understood psychoanalysis.

Dreams↗