Biomedical subjects

S L Drob

Publications and source records attributed to S L Drob.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1999

Jung and the Kabbalah.

Jung's use of Kabbalistic symbols and ideas as well as his personal Kabbalistic vision are critically examined. It is argued that as great as Jung's acknowledged affinity is to the Kabbalah, his unacknowledged relationship was even greater. Jung has been accused of being a contemporary Gnostic; however, the interpretations Jung placed on Gnosticism and the texts Jung referred to on alchemy were profoundly Kabbalistic, so much so that one would be more justified in calling the Jung of the Mysterium Coniunctionis and other late works a Kabbalist in contemporary guise. Although Jung, at least during the 1930s, appears to have had powerful motives that limited his receptivity to Jewish ideas, his highly ambivalent and at times reproachable attitude toward Judaism should not prevent one from appreciating the affinities between Jungian psychology and Jewish mystical thought.

History, 20th Century↗

PubMed1998

Identifying dissociative identity disorder: a self-report and projective study.

This study compared 21 female adult psychiatric patients diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder (DID) with 21 female adult nondissociative psychiatric patients to determine whether DID patients exhibit a distinguishing set of clinical features, and perceptual, attentional, and cognitive processes. Participants were assessed with the Dissociative Disorders Interview Schedule to assess diagnostic status. Group scores on the Dissociative Experiences Scale, Tellegen Absorption Scale, Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Brief Symptom Inventory, and the Rorschach test were compared. DID participants reported earlier and more severe childhood trauma, more dissociative symptoms, and a greater propensity for altered states of consciousness. The DID participants also exhibited increased projective and imaginative activity, a diminished ability to integrate mental contents, a complex and driven cognitive style, and a highly unconventional view of reality.

Adult↗

PubMed1989

The dilemma of contemporary psychiatry.

The factionalized state of contemporary psychiatry is considered from clinical, historical, and philosophical points of view. Six schools of psychiatric thought and practice are described and six potential routes toward their future rapprochement are examined.

Humans↗

PubMed1988

Psychiatry and the death penalty: dilemma for mental health professionals.

The arguments for and against mental health professionals' participation in death penalty proceedings are presented against the background of U.S. Supreme Court decisions which have had a bearing on this issue. It is concluded that the possibility of presenting mitigating psychologic testimony in such proceedings necessitates the possibility of exacerbating psychiatric testimony and that hence, mental health professionals who testify for the prosecution in such cases do not, on a wider view, violate their hippocratic oaths or other ethical codes. A number of safeguards, however, should be instituted with respect to such testimony. Psychiatrists, psychologists or other qualified mental health professionals should (1) testify with medical "possibility" or "probability," (2) not be permitted to address ultimate legal issues and (3) be permitted, in fact encouraged, to present alternative interpretations of forensic psychiatric findings. It is further argued that in addition to being justified in testifying for the prosecution on death penalty cases, mental health professionals may have a moral rationale for treating death row prisoners and restoring them to competency.

Antisocial Personality Disorder↗

PubMed1987

Tarasoff decision: a decade later dilemma still faces psychotherapists.

The landmark cases on the "duty to warn" concept are reviewed. Two trends are noted in the court rulings. The first trend narrowly interprets the duty to warn as applying only to situations involving a serious threat to a specific individual. The second trend has broadened the doctrine to include warnings about patients who do not make threats and whose potential victims are unspecified. The authors argue that the original Tarasoff Doctrine is sound both from the perspective of public policy and psychotherapeutic practice, but that its broader interpretation is problematic for psychotherapists.

Commitment of Persons with Psychiatric Disorders↗

PubMed1987

Competency to stand trial: a conceptual model for its proper assessment.

The assessment of competency to stand trial is frequently fraught with conceptual confusion resulting from a failure to properly apply the data of the clinical examination to the relevant legal criteria. A basic question scheme that encompasses (1) the defendant's psychiatric status, (2) the effects of that status on his functioning, and (3) his apparent ability to participate in legal proceedings, is introduced to clarify the evaluation of fitness to stand trial. The way in which combinations of answers to three "basic questions" generate a scheme that clarifies the difficulties encountered in most competency evaluations is shown. Eight paradigm cases are generated. Five of these (competence, incompetence, mentally ill but competent, malingering, and impaired but competent) are frequently straightforward. However, the three possibilities in which a defendant meets criteria entailed by two of the three questions are inherently subject to controversy. These situations (circumscribed psychosis related to the charges, malingering in the context of mental illness, and functional deficits in the context of minor mental illness) are discussed in detail and illustrated with case material.

Adult↗