Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

In Response: Maintenance Ect, Max Fink, Md

Jefferson Journal of Psychiatry

Therapy resistance, relapsing illness, and rapid cycling are aspects of chronic affective illness that continue to frustrate us. ECT was re-introduced to answer the problem of therapy resistant depression. In their recent review, Matzen et al. (I), report their experience in eight cases treated with maintenance ECT. They argue that maintenance ECT should also be considered for relapsing depressive illness.

No systematic study of maintenance ECT has been undertaken since the early I950s, and yet, as reported by Kramer (2) it continues to be used. Kramer directed inquiries to members of the International Association for the Advancement of Electrotherapy. Of …

In Response: The Ideal Psychiatry Residency Training Program, Allan Tasman, Md

Jefferson Journal of Psychiatry

There is little to be added in the way of specifics to James Deming's review of the necessary ingredients for an ideal Residency Training Program (1). He not only reviews the specific issues which must be addressed regarding the "nuts and bolts" of training, but also emphasizes the need for phase specificity of both clinical and didactic experiences and the need to view residency training from a developmental perspective. Rather than comment specifically on the points Deming raises, I would like to address other ingredients in residency training which are to be valued in the ideal program.

In Response: The Usefulness Of Neutrality, Paul A. Dewald, Md

Jefferson Journal of Psychiatry

The term "neutrality" as used in psychoanalysis has multiple meanings, each carrying major emotional significance. In that sense "neutrality" is a term which evokes the metaphor of the "Six Blind Men and the Elephant."

In her paper, "The Usefulness of Neutrality," Julia Jones Zawatsky uses the term to express a variety of issues related to a complex and difficult clinical situation. Neutrality includes the therapist taking an equidistant position from the various forces involved in the compromise formation used to solve psychic conflict. She also uses the term to acknowledge the multiple facets of the therapist's conscious and unconscious …

In Response: Should Psychotherapy Be Taught To Psychiatric Residents?, Robert Michels, Md

Jefferson Journal of Psychiatry

The debate discussing whether psychotherapy should be taught to psychiatric residents (1) reflects the change, growth, and maturation of the profession. A theme that virtually defined psychiatric practice only a few decades ago is viewed by some as ready for discard while others still see it as essential. Of course, this isn't the first time. Eighty years ago some argued that the intellectual excitement and therapeutic promise of psychoanalysis was more than ample reason to discard the sterile and clinically nihilistic concern with constitutional neuropathic diatheses that marked 19th century psychiatry. Fortunately, wiser heads prevailed.