Lack Of Affection Research Articles

John Nash: The Sufferings of Those Who Loved Him

This article, as a sequel to three previous papers on John Nash by Capps (2003, 2004a, & 2004b), focuses on the other side of Nash’s ‘beautiful mind’ by examining the sufferings of those who loved him. Nash’s mistress and wife, appear to have suffered the most by Nash’s narcissistic and paranoid schizophrenic tendencies due to his noncommittal and disrespectful attitudes. Nash’s exploitive and experiential ways of relating to his close male friends (“special friendships”) seemed to have caused much pain and agony in at least two of his special friends. In addition, Nash’s two sons also suffered from his lack of affection and responsibility. Thus it is crucial for people in mental health professionals as well as in pastoral care and counseling not only to care for the mentally ill but also for those who are around him or her.

Daughter's Perceptions of Being Mothered by an Incest Survivor: A Phenomenological Study

ABSTRACT This article presents the results of a qualitative analysis of the experience of being the daughter of an incest survivor using a phenomenological approach to the narratives of six women. The majority of the daughters identified a number of effects of their mother's abuse that they perceived as harmful as a child and that lasted into adulthood. Most perceived their mothers as failing to grow up. The daughters responded with a lack of affection toward their mothers, complications in differentiation and integration of a negative self-view. Even in adulthood, the daughters reported a number of characteristics that are normally associated with being a victim of sexual abuse, despite the fact that only two of the six had been so abused. The mother's ultimate disclosure of her incest history helped the daughter to offset these difficulties. The clinical implications of these findings are outlined.

Childhood trauma and perceived parental dysfunction in the etiology of dissociative symptoms in psychiatric inpatients.

Research on the etiology of dissociation in adults has focused primarily on childhood sexual abuse. The role of co-occurring childhood stressors and of more chronic adverse conditions such as neglect is less clear. This study examined the level of dissociation in relation to childhood trauma (sexual/physical abuse, witnessing interparental violence), early separation from a parent, and perceived parental dysfunction. One hundred sixty inpatients consecutively admitted to a general psychiatric hospital were administered the Dissociative Experiences Scale and the Structured Trauma Interview. The mean Dissociative Experiences Scale score was 17.4; 18.0% of the patients scored beyond 30. Early separation was reported by 26.4% of the patients; 30.1% had witnessed interparental violence; 23.6% reported physical abuse; 34.6% reported sexual abuse; 11.7% reported rape before age 16; and 42.1% reported sexual and/or physical abuse. The level of dissociation was primarily related to reported overwhelming childhood experiences (sexual and physical abuse). When sexual abuse was severe (involving penetration, several perpetrators, lasting more than 1 year), dissociative symptoms were even more prominent. Highest dissociation levels were found in patients reporting cumulative sexual trauma (intrafamilial and extrafamilial) or both sexual and physical abuse. In particular, maternal dysfunction was related to the level of dissociation. With control for gender and age, stepwise multiple regression analysis indicated that the severity of dissociative symptoms was best predicted by reported sexual abuse, physical abuse, and maternal dysfunction. These findings indicate that dissociation, although trauma-related, is neglect-related as well. This implies the importance of object relations and attachment in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with dissociative disorders.

Expectativas dos clientes hospitalizados frente ao relacionamento com a equipe de enfermagem

São levantadas as expectativas dos clientes hospitalizados frente ao relacionamento com a equipe de enfermagem num setor de doenças infectoparasitárias num hospital universitário do município do Rio de Janeiro no 1º semestre de 1995. Foi elaborado um roteiro de entrevista aplicado a cinco (05) clientes, internados por mais de uma semana, de ambos os sexos e adultos. Os dados foram coletados, organizados e analisados através da construção de categorias descritivas, cuja denominação foi: a) Categoria 1: Sentimentos e Expectativas e; b) Categoria 2: Comunicação e Relacionamento. Os resultados encontrados na categoria 1 foram: 1) Carência afetiva; 2) Angústia, medo e ansiedade; 3) Solidão e depressão; 4) Reflexão; 5) Insegurança; 6) Preocupação com equipamento, de ser manipulado, cortado, tratado impessoalmente, perder o autocontrole, de dar trabalho às pessoas e dependência física. Na categoria 2 identificou-se: 1) Dúvidas e necessidade de informação acerca da sua doença, evolução do seu quadro de saúde e tempo de permanência no hospital; 2) Oportunidade de expressar sentimentos e idéias;3) Compreensão do significado da mensagem transmitida pelo enfermeiro. Enfatizou-se o fortalecimento do intercâmbio recíproco de informações, idéias, crenças, sentimentos e atitudes na interação enfermeiro-clieipte para o desenvolvimento do relacionamento terapêutico, com o objetivo de ajudar o cliente a satisfazer suas necessidades básicas.

Depressed Mothers' Touching Increases Infants' Positive Affect and Attention in Still-Face Interactions

The effects of depressed mothers' touching on their infants' behavior were investigated during the still-face situation. 48 depressed and nondepressed mothers and their 3-month-old infants were randomly assigned to control and experimental conditions. 4 successive 90-sec periods were implemented: (A) normal play, (B) still-face-no-touch, (C) still-face-with-touch, and (A) normal play. Depressed and nondepressed mothers were instructed and shown how to provide touch for their infants during the still-face-with-touch period. Different affective and attentive responses of the infants of depressed versus the infants of nondepressed mothers were observed. Infants of depressed mothers showed more positive affect (smiles and vocalizations) and gazed more at their mothers' hands during the still-face-with-touch period than the infants of nondepressed mothers, who grimaced, cried, and gazed away from their mothers' faces more often. The results suggest that by providing touch stimulation for their infants, the depressed mothers can increase infant positive affect and attention and, in this way, compensate for negative effects often resulting from their typical lack of affectivity (flat facial and vocal expressions) during interactions.

The Eye of his Master: Children and Charity Schools

The aim of this paper is to examine the evidence from a number of charity schools, for attitudes towards the childhood of the ‘poorer sort’ in the early eighteenth century. Conventionally it has been claimed that lack of affection, and even brutality, characterized the relationship between parents, especially fathers, and their children. Lawrence Stone, in particular, has promoted the view that, as a result of the very high mortality rate among children until the late eighteenth century, parents did not invest much affection in them in order to insulate themselves from the sorrow resulting from their likely deaths before reaching adulthood. This view was also taken by Ivy Pinchbeck and Margaret Hewitt. They pointed out the formality of address seen in letters between children and parents of the upper classes, and suggested that cruelty to children and flogging was commonplace at all levels of society. These views have been challenged by Linda Pollock, who has suggested that, when examined carefully, the evidence suggests that, from the sixteenth century at least, nearly all children seem to have been wanted, loved, and cared for. She claims that the majority of children were not subject to brutality, and that physical punishment was used relatively infrequently and as a last resort. Pollock suggests that from the eighteenth century onwards parents were much concerned with ‘training’ a child in order to ensure that he or she absorbed correct values and beliefs and would grow into a model citizen.

Causes of child abuse and neglect.

This paper is a study of child abuse and neglect from the perspective of the child. Generally, the mistreatment of children was associated with "poor care" from parents, attributed mainly to immaturity, marital problems, alcohol abuse, unemployment, drug abuse and lack of money. Differences in attribution are noted between males and females, and some differences are noted by the age of the child. When factors other than the causes given by the children were taken into account, mistreatment was significantly related to family break-up, as well as long-term disinterest and lack of affection from the parents. When the children were asked for their "worst experience in life," the most common responses were "abuse" "family break-up," and for the juvenile offenders "getting charged with a crime."

EMOTIONAL ABUSE AMONG THE ELDERLY: AFFECTING BEHAVIOR VARIABLES

Abuse of the elderly can take many forms, and the most insidious is emotional abuse. The purpose of the present study was to determine some of the behavior variables affecting emotional abuse among the elderly. It examined the variables based on the perceptions of the elderly subjected to emotional abuse. Results suggested nine most frequently stated behavior variables of emotional abuse among the elderly: lack of attention, lack of affection, neglect, derogatory naming, demeaning commentary, exploitation, threats of violence, loud talking, and confinement.

Violence in Marriage

Societal attitudes about marital violence have changed in the last twenty years. Battered wives have much more legal protection available than even a few years ago. There is now a substantial body of research on battered women and their marriages; less is known about violent men and the reasons for their violent behavior toward wives. Although studies of marital violence have inevitable methodological problems, survey data on the prevalence of violence in marriage suggest that as many wives hit husbands as husbands hit wives but that the degree of physical injury tends to be far greater for women than for men. Numerous studies have attempted to find a relation between various characteristics of the battered wife and the violence she experiences, but most of this work has not been replicated. Studies of men have similarily failed to find many consistent predictors of their violence. Marital rape and a lack of affection between spouses, once violence becomes established, characterize violent marriages. The ...

The pre-morbid personality of patients with Parkinson's disease.

A review of the extensive descriptive literature suggests that many Parkinsonian patients exhibit an emotional and attitudinal inflexibility, a lack of affect and a predisposition to depressive illness, which may antecede the development of motor abnormalities by several decades. Introspective, over-controlled, anhedonic personality traits together with suppressed aggresivity are frequently found. It is unclear whether these behavioural patterns are relevant aetiological factors or prodromal symptoms of the disease.

Psychodynamic theories of opiate addiction: New directions for research

The numerous clinical and research reports on the personality dynamics in opiate addiction present a number of differing and at times contradictory viewpoints. Predominant are formulations that consider opiate addiction as an attempt to deal with intense depression related to feelings of deprivation by seeking a soothing, infantile, symbiotic experience, or as an attempt to seek relief from cruel, harsh, excessively punitive parental standards that create feelings of being unacceptable and worthless, or as a defense against the emergence of profound and overwhelming aggressive impulses that could precipitate an underlying psychotic potential. Clinical and empirical investigations indicate that while there may be a small group of addicts who function at a psychotic or borderline level, most opiate addicts are severely neurotic or character disordered, dealing with intense depression. Clinical experience and research findings indicate that opiate addicts have serious difficulty managing painful, dysphoric affects, especially depression, anxiety and anger. Depression is often considered a central issue for many heroin addicts. Depression in opiate addiction is often discussed as focused around feelings of deprivation, neglect, and a lack of affection and love. But recent evidence suggests that issues of guilt, shame, and profound feelings of self-criticism and worthlessness are paramount. Rather than being able to contain depression and/or anxiety, or finding appropriate ways for expressing their anger, opiate addicts prefer to withdraw from the pain and stress of interpersonal relationships into self-induced grandiose, omnipotent experiences of bliss. Subsequent research is needed to confirm and elaborate these formulations and in particular longitudinal research is needed which will permit the differentiation of whether these personality factors are the cause or the consequence of opiate addiction. Also, while these formulations seem appropriate for opiate addicts as an overall group, evidence suggests that there may be several different subtypes of individuals who are vulnerable to intense involvement with opiate and subsequent research should be directed toward attempting to identify meaningful subtypes among individuals with opiate addiction.

Predicting couples' response to brief directive sex therapy.

Pretreatment Marital Satisfaction Inventory (MSI) scores for 26 couples entering brief directive sex therapy were correlated with posttreatment ratings of dissatisfaction with the frequency of intercourse and individuals' lack of affection for their partner. Six of 11 MSI scores obtained at intake predicted termination ratings of sexual distress, and five scales predicted posttreatment ratings of marital distress. Separate multiple regression analyses for both outcome criteria permitted the delineation of separate MSI predictors for these two distinct components of couples' therapeutic response. Results confirm previous implications of marital distress as a moderator of couples' response to sex therapy.

Behavior in nonorganic failure to thrive.

Twenty-one infants with failure to thrive were examined, shortly after hospital admission, for a set of eight noninterpersonal and six interpersonal behaviors identified as possibly being associated with nonorganic failure to thrive. The infants selected for study exhibited some of the target behaviors early in the course of hospitalization, and all were subsequently diagnosed as having nonorganic failure to thrive. The target behaviors include inactivity; irritability; posturing; lack of affect; rumination; excessive thumbsucking; disproportionate use of hands and fingers rather than arms, legs, and trunk; crying when approached; lack of or decreased vocalization; lack of cuddling; poor eye contact; lack of response to a human stimulus; and indifference to separation. Abnormal interpersonal behaviors were more common than abnormal noninterpersonal behaviors. Identification of these target behaviors may be valuable in diagnosing nonorganic failure to thrive, avoiding the necessity for expensive organic evaluations and providing for earlier social assessment and intervention.

Machiavellianism and leadership.

The relevance of Machiavellian ism as a personality style for leadership was studied in the context of experimental task groups. The subjects were 84 male undergraduate students. The experimental design assigned 14 high Machiavellians (Machs) and 14 low Machs as leaders of task groups who constructed toy cube bridges under either a favorable or an unfavorable situation. In the favorable situation, the leader was presented to the group as technically qualified, and his authority was emphasized (high leader power). Task performance was evaluated according to a single criterion (structured task). In the unfavorable situation, the leader's qualities or special status were not emphasized (low power), and task performance was evaluated according to multiple criteria (unstructured task). No performance differences were found between high Mach and low Mach led groups. However, significant differences were observed with regard to group interactions. High Mach leaders gave more orders and were less involved in reducing tension. They were also less directive and requested more assistance when the situation was unfavorable, whereas the low Machs' behavior across situations remained unchanged. This study focused on the relevance of Machiavellianism as a personality style for leadership behavior. The concept of Machiavellianism, as introduced by Christie and Geis (1970), pertains to cognitive agreement with the basic ideas of Nicollo Machiavelli, for example, mistrust in human nature, lack of conventional morality, opportunism, and lack of affect in interpersonal relationships. People who scored highly on standard measures of Machiavellianism (high Machs) were found to have a strong tendency to manipulate other people (Geis & Christie, Note 1). In an experimental bargaining coalition game, high Machs manifested better sense of timing and adjusted their acts to current circumstances. They also appeared to initiate and control the structure of group interaction. High Machs manifested higher effectiveness under ambiguous, rather than clear, situations. They also were found to be detached from ego-involving elements in bar

Interviewer evaluations of interviewee nonverbal behavior

Personnel representatives ( N = 52) were shown one of four videotaped job interviews in which the verbal content of the 16-min interview was identical, but the interviewee's nonverbal behavior was manipulated. A “low nonverbal” interviewee was defined by minimal eye contact, low energy level, lack of affect and voice modulation, and a lack of speech fluency. The “high nonverbal” interviewee demonstrated the opposite behavior on each of these components. The subjects were asked to rate the videotaped candidates on dimensions previously identified as critical in influencing a job interviewer's decisions. Nonverbal behavior was found to have a significant effect on almost every rating made by subjects in this study. After reviewing the entire 16-min interview, 23 of the 26 subjects who saw the “high nonverbal” candidate would have invited him/her for a second interview. All 26 of the subjects who saw the “low nonverbal” candidate would not have recommended a second interview.

Christian Heresy and Jewish Polemic in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries

The suggestion that there was meaningful contact between Christian heretics and Jews during the middle ages is entirely plausible, quite significant, and generally unproved. That the existence of heresy had some impact upon the status of medieval Jews is, of course, beyond question. Inquisitorial proceedings aimed at heretics affected not only crypto-Jews (whether real or alleged) but members of the established Jewish community as well. Jews were accused of harboring heretics, encouraging them, and even of leading orthodox Christians into heresy. On several important occasions, procedures usually directed against heretical works were turned against the Talmud, the works of Maimonides, and certain sections of the Jewish liturgy. By the end of the middle ages, Jews were very well aware of the Church's lack of affection for heretics.

Attentive, Affective, and Adaptive Behavior in the Cat

Lesions of the lateral portion of the upper midbrain, involving medial, lateral, spinal, and trigeminal lemnisci primarily, result in a consistent syndrome of symptoms in the cat. (i) There is a marked sensory deficit, characterized mainly by sensory inattention and poor localization in the tactile, proprioceptive, auditory, gustatory, and nociceptive modalities, where direct pathways are interrupted. Similar defectsappear in vision and olfaction where no known direct or primary paths are interrupted. (ii) These cats are characterized by a lack of affect, showing little or no defensive and aggressive reaction to noxious and aversive situations and no response to pleasurable stimulation or solicitation of affection or petting. The animals are mute, lack facial expression, and show minimal autonomic responses. (iii) They show a hyperexploratory activity characterized by incessant, stereotyped wandering, sniffing, and visual searching, as though hallucinating. This behavior appears to be centrally directed and is very difficult to interrupt with environmental stimuli. (iv) They also demonstrate exaggerated oral activities: they snap in response to tactile stimulation of the lips, seizing and swallowing small objects even if inedible; they overeat; they hold objects too large to swallow (a mouse, a catnip ball) firmly clamped in the mouth for long periods of time; they mount and seize other animals (rat, cat, dog, monkey) by the back or the neck; they lick and chew the hair and skin of the back or tail incessantly when confined in a cage. In interpreting these results we emphasize the view that the syndrome is due chiefly to the extensive, specific, sensory deprivation produced by interruption of the lemnisci at the rostral midbrain. The relation of these findings to the effects of sensory isolation in man and animals, to the effects of midbrain lesions and neodecortication, to parietal lobe syndrome in primates, and to the behavior of autistic children is discussed. It is our belief, from these studies, that the symptoms produced by interruption of the lemnisci, characterized by a high degree of somatotopic and modality localization, are due to a loss of patterned sensory input to the forebrain, particularly to the neocortex and to the rostral midbrain. Without a patterned afferent input to the forebrain via the lemnisci, the remaining portions of the central nervous system, which include a virtually intact reticular formation, seem incapable of elaborating a large part of the animal's repertoire of adaptive behavior (45).

Nostopathy--a study of pathogenic homecoming.

The following findings were characteristic of the group we have been studying as illustrating the problem of nostopathy in the returning veteran. The adjustment in the premilitary life was not free from neurotic episodes but they did not lead to disabling results. Many of the homes were described as being cold, and a lack of affection was a frequent complaint of our patients. None of the homes could be described as having a good relationship between the parents and the children, and between the siblings themselves. A better than average adjustment to the rigors of combat conditions was observed in the entire group. It was early noted that nostopathy occurred in those men who had had extensive combat experiences without any early clinically diagnosed breakdowns and who had often exceeded the amount of time spent in combat as contrasted to others in similar circumstances. In other words, the superego control in this special situation was unusually strong, and these men did not give up and request to be returned but rather kept on until they were ordered to return. The severe traumatic experiences the soldiers went through without any demonstrable symptomatology at the time may still have caused damage to their adaptability. We certainly found a history of traumatic war experiences in all our cases. However, only a few showed evidence of traumatic neurosis. The changes in the home situation, including even minor ones, had meaning for the veteran and, if one studied his life history, one could understand how that situation was of pathogenic importance. The group under investigation is an exception to the usual psychiatric experience that the civilian neurotic individual is a poor military risk. Ordinarily, we would expect that ability to adjust in war would be more or less correlated to civilian adjustment; yet in our group, all functioned much better in war than they did in their civilian lives. The result is that the predictability of psychiatric breakdown in war based on civilian history is made more difficult. It cannot be stressed enough that such individuals may be of great value in the military setting during times of national emergency. It should be our responsibility not to overlook the potential excellent serviceman among the neurotic population. Pathological reactions to return home are not limited to the veteran returning from war but can also be found among those who return from a long absence due to prolonged hospitalization or imprisonment. Cases have been observed in state hospital work where the patient would do well until the moment that his discharge was contemplated and then without any obvious reason there was a return of his illness. Often it is not recognized that the return home was conceived by the patient as a danger to him. The major difference between the returnee from victorious war and from humiliating institutionalization is the increase or decrease in self-esteem. However, in some of the returning veterans, a sense of guilt predominated and they could therefore not accept any narcissistic reward for their participation in the successful war. A study of our own patients has shown to us the pathogenic significance of the return home as an important factor in their illness.

Somatic organization of the schizophrenic.

Organic studies of schizophrenia indicate that the schizophrenic's mental and emotional charactristics of withdrawal, dissociation, and lack of affect are paralleled by analogous manifestations in his somatic organization. The physiological homologues of the mental disturbances appear as decreased reactivity to physiological stress, loosely organized homeostatic mechanisms and indolence of the circulatory system.

Surgery and Autonomic Nervous System

A review of the extensive descriptive literature suggests that many Parkinsonian patients exhibit an emotional and attitudinal inflexibility, a lack of affect and a predisposition to depressive illness, which may antecede the development of motor abnormalities by several decades. Introspective, over-controlled, anhedonic personality traits together with suppressed aggresivity are frequently found. It is unclear whether these behavioural patterns are relevant aetiological factors or prodromal symptoms of the disease.