Empathy or sympathy: a necessary distinction?

As a deeply hybrid discipline, psychiatry demands research that tackles the concepts constituting it and its objects. This is an essential prerequisite to empirical studies, the validity of which are directly dependent on a clear understanding of the underlying concepts. Empathy and sympathy are concepts used variably and inconsistently in clinical practice and research, with ensuing uncertainties around their role and meaning.

What is Psychiatry? Was ist das, die Psychiatrie?

Drawing on Heidegger's method of analysis, the question of what is psychiatry is explored from . This leads to a conception of psychiatry as a form of interpersonal interaction in which there is a specific reaching out of one to another. It is a 'specific reaching out' because, following the recognition through the interaction between that the other is in some form of distress, there is the corresponding need to assuage.

Exploring longitudinal changes in implicit awareness of dementia: An investigation of the emotional Stroop effect in healthy ageing and mild dementia.

The aim of the study was to investigate responses to dementia-relevant words in healthy older people and to investigate changes in response over 20-months in people with early-stage dementia. An emotional Stroop task, using colour-naming dementia-relevant words, was used as an indicator of implicit awareness of dementia. Overall, 24 people with dementia and 24 healthy older people completed an emotional Stroop task (T1).

Empathy: a case study in the historical epistemology of psychiatry.

The hybrid constitution of psychiatry carries important implications for understanding the discipline and the legitimacy of its research approaches. One implication concerns the central role of concepts in forming the knowledge base of psychiatry. Because of this, it is vital to explore the structures and interrelationships of concepts through their historical constitution.

Quo Vadis, ? A Journey of Epiphytic Moss across the European Continent.

is a species of epiphytic moss in which a significant expansion from the oceanic part of Europe to the east of the continent has been observed in the recent two decades. The improvement in air quality in Central and Eastern Europe, but also climate change, probably plays a role in this. This study shows what direction of its spreading we can expect in the future.

Historical Epistemology: a Research Approach in Psychiatry.

Drawing on a key issue raised in the paper by Scardigno and Mininni (2021), this commentary explores the question of historical research in psychiatry. Firstly, the importance of historical research is highlighted for both psychiatry as a medical discipline, and for descriptive psychopathology, the language of psychiatry. Of significance has been the construction of psychiatry as a hybrid discipline formed through the deep participation of both the natural and the social sciences.

Anti-angiogenic effects of the blue-green alga Arthrospira platensis on pancreatic cancer.

Arthrospira platensis, a blue-green alga, is a popular nutraceutical substance having potent antioxidant properties with potential anti-carcinogenic activities. The aim of our study was to assess the possible anti-angiogenic effects of A platensis in an experimental model of pancreatic cancer. The effects of an A platensis extract were investigated on human pancreatic cancer cells (PA-TU-8902) and immortalized endothelial-like cells (Ea.

Cognitive rehabilitation, self-management, psychotherapeutic and caregiver support interventions in progressive neurodegenerative conditions: A scoping review.

Background: Despite its potentially significant impact, cognitive disability may be overlooked in a number of progressive neurodegenerative conditions, as other difficulties dominate the clinical picture.

Objective: We examined the extent, nature and range of the research evidence relating to cognitive rehabilitation, self-management, psychotherapeutic and caregiver support interventions in Parkinsonian disorders, multiple sclerosis (MS), frontotemporal dementias (FTD), motor neuron disease and Huntington's disease.

Methods: Scoping review based on searches of MEDLINE and CINAHL up to 15 March 2016.

Chlorophyll-Mediated Changes in the Redox Status of Pancreatic Cancer Cells Are Associated with Its Anticancer Effects.

Nutritional factors which exhibit antioxidant properties, such as those contained in green plants, may be protective against cancer. Chlorophyll and other tetrapyrrolic compounds which are structurally related to heme and bilirubin (a bile pigment with antioxidant activity) are among those molecules which are purportedly responsible for these effects. Therefore, the aim of our study was to assess both the antiproliferative and antioxidative effects of chlorophylls (chlorophyll /, chlorophyllin, and pheophytin ) in experimental pancreatic cancer.

Translational neuroscience and psychiatry: A conceptual analysis.

As rapidly developing research disciplines and enterprises, the translational sciences have made significant impact on research direction in medicine. Psychiatry has likewise been affected, and in this regard, the translational neurosciences have been the major drivers. This paper explores the conceptual underpinnings of this enterprise in relation to psychiatry.

Haploinsufficiency of and in the Foetus with an abnormal facial profile detected in the first trimester of pregnancy.

Background: Interstitial microdeletion 14q22q23 is a rare chromosomal syndrome associated with variable defects: microphthalmia/anophthalmia, pituitary anomalies, polydactyly/syndactyly of hands and feet, micrognathia/retrognathia. The reports of the microdeletion 14q22q23 detected in the prenatal stages are limited and the range of clinical features reveals a quite high variability.

Case Presentation: We report a detection of the microdeletion 14q22.

Historical and conceptual aspects of motor disorders in the psychoses.

Historical epistemology is a useful method to understand the longitudinal construction of the movement disorders in psychiatry. Four periods can be identified in such a process. The first, extending from Classical times to the work of Griesinger, included disorders such as catalepsy, crocidism, epilepsy and paralysis.

Research in Psychiatry: Concepts and Conceptual Analysis.

Current research in psychiatry is increasingly focused on empirical studies with methods and technologies adopted from medicine. This paper argues that psychiatry has a different epistemological basis from medicine, and it is on account of this that research in psychiatry demands a different approach, one that perforce focuses on the clarification of concepts central to psychiatric practice. This means undertaking conceptual analysis and conceptual history and only then moving on to empirical study.

Awareness of memory task impairment versus everyday memory difficulties in dementia.

The study investigated different types of awareness of memory dysfunction in dementia, specifically judgements concerning memory task performance or appraisal of everyday memory functioning and also exploring the neuropsychological correlates of such awareness. This was investigated in 76 people with dementia, comprising 46 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 30 patients with vascular dementia (VaD). The Memory Awareness Rating Scale (Clare et al.

The construction of anosognosia: history and implications.

The construction of anosognosia as a clinical 'disorder' resulted from the convergence (in the work of various writers and culminating in Babinski) of a name, a concept, and a clinical phenomenon. During the early stages of this convergence, unawareness of neurological dysfunction was not considered as an independent clinical phenomenon. Started in the work of Anton, the process of separating it as a differentiable clinical state is completed by Babinski who reaffirmed the semiological independence of 'unawareness'.

What contributes to a good quality of life in early dementia? Awareness and the QoL-AD: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Self-report quality of life (QoL) measures for people with dementia are widely used as outcome measures in trials of dementia care interventions. Depressed mood, relationship quality and neuropsychiatric symptoms predict scores on these measures, whereas cognitive impairment and functional abilities typically do not. This study examines whether these self-reports are influenced by personality and by the person's awareness of his/her impairments.

Phenomena of awareness in dementia: heterogeneity and its implications.

Despite much research on the relationship between awareness and dementia little can be concluded concerning their relationship and the role of other factors. It is likely that studies capture different phenomena of awareness. This study aimed at identifying and delineating such variation by analysing data from three questionnaires obtained during the longitudinal study of awareness in 101 people with early-stage dementia.

Trajectories of quality of life in early-stage dementia: individual variations and predictors of change.

Background: Little evidence is available about how quality of life (QoL) changes as dementia progresses.

Objectives: We explored QoL trajectories over a 20-month period and examined what predicted change in QoL.

Method: Fifty-one individuals with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's, vascular or mixed dementia (people with dementia (PwD)) participating in the Memory Impairment and Dementia Awareness Study rated their QoL using the QoL-Alzheimer's Disease Scale at baseline and at 20-month follow-up.

Memory awareness profiles differentiate mild cognitive impairment from early-stage dementia: evidence from assessments of performance monitoring and evaluative judgement.

Background: Measures of memory awareness based on evaluative judgement and performance monitoring are often regarded as equivalent, but the Levels of Awareness Framework suggests they reflect different awareness phenomena. Examination of memory awareness among groups with differing degrees of impairment provides a test of this proposition.

Method: Ninety-nine people with dementia (PwD), 30 people with mild cognitive impairment (PwMCI), and their relatives completed isomorphic performance monitoring and evaluative judgement measures of memory awareness and were followed up at 12 and (PwD only) 20 months.

Method and explanation in history and in social representations.

A commonly held point of view defines a discipline as a science if it uses inductive and/or deductive methods in studying phenomena in question, because these methods, it is believed, will enable generalization of findings. Both history and theory of social representations study unique phenomena and therefore, for these disciplines, induction and deduction are unsuitable methods of exploration. History and theory of social representations treat a historical event and a social psychological phenomenon, respectively, as dynamic, systemic and one of its kind.

Self-concept in early stage dementia: profile, course, correlates, predictors and implications for quality of life.

Objective: Although it is increasingly accepted that people with dementia retain a sense of self, there is a need for empirical evidence regarding the nature of the self-concept in early stage dementia, how this changes over time and how it relates to quality of life.

Methods: Self-concept was assessed using the short form of the Tennessee Self-concept Scale in 95 individuals with early stage dementia; 63 were reassessed after 12 months, and 45 were seen again at 20 months. Participants also completed measures of mood, cognitive functioning and quality of life.

Epistemology of psychiatry.

In historical and epistemological terms, psychiatry is a new discipline born during the 19th century. Rooted in both the natural and social sciences, psychiatric objects of inquiry, namely mental symptoms and mental disorders, are hybrid, constituted by the blending of components arising from disparate sources of knowledge ranging from the biological to the semantic in its widest sense. This poses problems for psychiatric research and therapy.

Verbal fluency and awareness of functional deficits in early-stage dementia.

Assessment of activities of daily living is an important element in the diagnosis of dementia, with research suggesting a link between functional ability and cognition. We investigated the relationship between self- and informant ratings of instrumental activities of daily living (iADL) and verbal executive functioning in early-stage dementia. A total of 96 people with early-stage Alzheimer's disease or vascular or mixed dementia and their carers completed the Functional Activities Questionnaire; people with dementia also completed a test of letter fluency.

'She might have what I have got': the potential utility of vignettes as an indirect measure of awareness in early-stage dementia.

Objectives: In early-stage dementia, awareness at the meta-representational level involving a person's appraisal of his/her own condition and its implications has usually been assessed by interview, but contextual factors may influence responding. We examined the utility of an indirect, vignette-based method of eliciting awareness.

Method: Three vignettes describing early-stage dementia, established dementia and healthy ageing were used to elicit views of the problem and the kinds of advice that might be helpful for the characters depicted.