Cognitive Psychology Commons^™

Preliminary Evidence For Medication Effects On Functional Abnormalities In The Amygdala And Anterior Cingulate In Bipolar Disorder, Hilary P. Blumberg, Nelson H. Donegan, Charles A. Sanislow, Susan Collins, Cheryl Lacadie, Pawel Skudlarski, Ralitza Gueorguieva, Robert K. Fulbright, Thomas H. Mcglashan, John C. Gore, John H. Krystal

Charles A. Sanislow, Ph.D.

RATIONALE: Abnormal amygdala and frontocortical responses to emotional stimuli are implicated in bipolar disorder (BD) and have been proposed as potential treatment targets.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate amygdala and frontocortical responses to emotional face stimuli in BD and the influences of mood-stabilizing medications on these responses.

METHODS: Functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed while 17 BD participants (5 unmedicated) and 17 healthy comparison (HC) participants viewed faces with happy, sad, fearful, or neutral expressions.

RESULTS: The group by stimulus-condition interaction was significant (p<0.01) for amygdala activation, with the greatest effects in the happy face condition. Relative to HC, amygdala increases were greater in unmedicated BD, but lower in medicated BD. Rostral anterior cingulate (rAC) activation was decreased in unmedicated BD compared to HC; however, BD participants taking medication demonstrated rAC activation similar to HC participants.

CONCLUSIONS: Although the sample sizes were small, these preliminary results suggest that …

Levels Of Consciousness, Archetypal Energies, And Earth Lessons: An Emerging Worldview, Carroy U. Ferguson

Carroy U "Cuf" Ferguson, Ph.D.

Worldviews emerge from our individual and collective Levels of Consciousness at given points in time and space and from what we come to “believe” is possible or not. In my own experience, my research on Consciousness, and my study of various cultures, societies, and Consciousness literature, I have identified at least seven Levels of Consciousness, twenty-five Archetypal Energies, and various Earth Lessons, which we seem to commonly experience as human beings, in our own unique personal, societal, and global life spaces.

Avoidant Personality Disorder And Social Phobia: Distinct Enough To Be Separate Disorders?, Elizabeth Ralevski, Charles A. Sanislow, Carlos M. Grilo, Andrew E. Skodol, John G. Gunderson, M. Tracie Shea, Shirley Yen, Donna S. Bender, Mary C. Zanarini, Thomas H. Mcglashan

Charles A. Sanislow, Ph.D.

Objective: Existing evidence from anxiety disorder research indicates that social phobics (SP) with avoidant personality disorder (AVPD) experience more anxiety and show more impairment than patients with SP alone. The purpose of this study was to examine whether in patients diagnosed with AVPD, the co-occurrence of SP adds to its severity. We hypothesized that the addition of SP will not add to the severity of AVPD alone.

Method: Two groups of patients (AVPD = 224; AVPD/SP = 101) were compared at baseline and 2 years later on multiple demographic and clinical variables.

Results: Patients with AVPD and an additional diagnosis …

Actantial Analysis Greimas’S Structural Approach To The Analysis Of Self-Narratives, Yong Wang, Carl W. Roberts

Department of Sociology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This paper introduces a formal procedure for analyzing narratives that was developed by the French/Lithuanian structuralist, A. J. Greimas. The focus is on demonstrating the utility of Greimas's ideas for analyzing one aspect of personal narratives: identity-construction. Reconstructing the basic actantial structure from self-narratives is shown to provide cues to power differentials among actants as perceived by the narrator. Distinguishing narrated events along conflict versus communication axes helps the analyst determine whether an experiential or a discursive domain is of primacy for the narrator. Moreover, investigation of communicative outcomes can be used to validate (or invalidate) findings on power relations. …