It is always the woman who is raped.

Rape is described as an act of power that is sanctioned by literature, myth, and culture. Rape is a dire experience for women because it implies total loss of self--the woman is a function, not a person. The victim experiences total emptiness and isolation from self and society. The author believes that an effective "treatment" for the rape victim is community. Women asserting themselves by speaking out about their experience validate themselves as persons.     

Cerebellar hypermetria is larger when the inertial load is artificially increased

Hypermetria is a classical cerebellar symptom designating the overshoot observed when a patient is asked to make a very fast and accurate movement. The movement studied here was wrist flexion. Hypermetria was found to be increased by artificially increasing the inertia of the moving hand. A normal subject adapted himself to increasing inertia by increasing both his agonist activity (the launching force) and its antagonist activity (the braking force). In the same circumstances, a patient with symptoms of cerebellar system dysfunction was found to be able to increase his agonist activity but not his antagonist activity.     

What is the Bereitschaftspotential?

Since discovery of the slow negative electroencephalographic (EEG) activity preceding self-initiated movement by Kornhuber and Deecke [Kornhuber HH, Deecke L. Hirnpotential?nderungen bei Willkurbewegungen und passiven Bewegungen des Menschen: Bereitschaftspotential und reafferente Potentiale. Pflugers Archiv 1965;284:1-17], various source localization techniques in normal subjects and epicortical recording in epilepsy patients have disclosed the generator mechanisms of each identifiable component of movement-related cortical potentials (MRCPs) to some extent. The initial slow segment of BP, called 'early BP' in this article, begins about 2 s before the movement onset in the pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA) with no site-specificity and in the SMA proper according to the somatotopic organization, and shortly thereafter in the lateral premotor cortex bilaterally with relatively clear somatotopy. About 400 ms before the movement onset, the steeper negative slope, called 'late BP' in this article (also referred to as NS'), occurs in the contralateral primary motor cortex (M1) and lateral premotor cortex with precise somatotopy. These two phases of BP are differentially influenced by various factors, especially by complexity of the movement which enhances only the late BP. Event-related desynchronization (ERD) of beta frequency EEG band before self-initiated movements shows a different temporospatial pattern from that of the BP, suggesting different neuronal mechanisms for the two. BP has been applied for investigating pathophysiology of various movement disorders. Volitional motor inhibition or muscle relaxation is preceded by BP quite similar to that preceding voluntary muscle contraction. Since BP of typical waveforms and temporospatial pattern does not occur before organic involuntary movements, BP is used for detecting the participation of the 'voluntary motor system' in the generation of apparently involuntary movements in patients with psychogenic movement disorders. In view of Libet et al.'s report [Libet B, Gleason CA, Wright EW, Pearl DK. Time of conscious intention to act in relation to onset of cerebral activity (readiness-potential). The unconscious initiation of a freely voluntary act. Brain 1983;106:623-642] that the awareness of intention to move occurred much later than the onset of BP, the early BP might reflect, physiologically, slowly increasing cortical excitability and, behaviorally, subconscious readiness for the forthcoming movement. Whether the late BP reflects conscious preparation for intended movement or not remains to be clarified.     

Emotion recognition impairment is present early and is stable throughout the course of schizophrenia

Individuals with schizophrenia experience problems in the perception of emotion throughout the course of the disorder. Few studies have addressed the progression of the deficit over time. The present investigation explores face emotion recognition (FER) performance throughout the course of schizophrenia. The aim of the study was to test the hypotheses that: 1) FER impairment was present in ultra high-risk (putatively prodromal) individuals, and that 2) impairment was stable across the course of the illness. Forty-three individuals with a putative prodromal syndrome, 50 patients with first episode of schizophrenia, 44 patients with multi-episode schizophrenia and 86 unaffected healthy control subjects were assessed to examine emotion recognition ability. ANCOVA analysis adjusted for possible confounder factors and subsequent planned contrasts with healthy controls was undertaken. The results revealed deficits in recognition of sadness and disgust in prodromal individuals, and of all negative emotions in both first-episode and multi-episode patients. Furthermore, there were no significant differences between clinical groups. Within the framework of the neurodevelopmental model of schizophrenia, our results suggest the presence of emotional recognition impairment before the onset of full-blown psychosis. Moreover, the deficit remains stable over the course of illness, fitting the pattern of a vulnerability indicator in contrast to an indicator of chronicity or severity.     

Who is the Dreamer Who Dreams the Dream and Who is the Dreamer Who Understands It

Sandra Buechler has made a very important contribution to our understanding of the role psychoanalytic training can play in the generation and deepening of shame in psychoanalytic candidates. Unfortunately, it is inevitable that this culture of shame will come to include our patients unless we become more aware of humiliation processes in training. Likewise. Andrew Morrison again movingly describes for us the personal experience of shame. My contribution is to contextualize shame, and to argue that while shame may be experienced individually, it is a relational and systemic phenomenon in its genesis, maintenance, and consequences.     

Sutton's law in epilepsy: because that is where the lesion is

Successful epilepsy surgery requires unambiguous identification of the epileptogenic zone. This determination may be a challenge when the pre-surgical evaluation yields conflicting data. We evaluated an adult patient with a right insular mass, but a seizure semiology, interictal EEG, and ictal EEG, suggesting left temporal lobe epilepsy. Resection of the mass, a ganglioglioma, resulted in seizure freedom and disappearance of interictal left temporal lobe epileptiform discharges. This case illustrates the principle that in localization-related epilepsy, the money is usually in the mass.     

Hypnosis and weight reduction: which is the cart and which is the horse?

Hypnosis has often been described as a useful adjunctive treatment for excess weight. However, the literature shows that very few controlled studies have been conducted in this realm, and none have incorporated the key variables of either the hypnosis components or the weight-reduction components. In this paper I offer a brief review of the literature on hypnosis for weight reduction, present weight-reduction outcome data, outline variables common to people with chronic weight problems, and I offer suggestions for future uses of hypnosis within a comprehensive approach to weight reduction rather than as the primary treatment. Suggestions are also made concerning the multiple opportunities for future research using hypnosis in the substance-abuse field.