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Core Characteristics (core + characteristic)
Selected AbstractsThe man with the purple nostrils: a case of rhinotrichotillomania secondary to body dysmorphic disorderACTA PSYCHIATRICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 6 2002L. F. Fontenelle Objective: To describe a different type of self-injurious behavior that may be secondary to body dysmorphic disorder (BDD). Method: Single case report. Results: We reported a case of an individual who have developed the self-destructive habit of pulling and severely scraping hairs and debris out of the mucous membrane of his nasal cavities. We have proposed the term rhinotrichotillomania to emphasize the phenomenological overlapping between trichotillomania (TTM) and rhinotillexomania (RTM) exhibited by this case. The main motivation behind the patient's actions was a distressing preoccupation with an imaginary defect in his appearance, which constitutes the core characteristic of BDD. The patient was successfully treated with imipramine. Conclusion: The case suggests that certain features of TTM, RTM, and BDD may overlap and produce serious clinical consequences. Patients with this condition may benefit from a trial of tricyclics when other effective medications, such as serotonin reuptake inhibitors, are not available for use. [source] Core neuropsychological characteristics of children and adolescents with 22q11.2 deletionJOURNAL OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY RESEARCH, Issue 8 2010C. Jacobson Abstract Background The 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22qDS) confers high risk for intellectual disability and neuropsychological/academic impairment, although a minority of patients show average intelligence. Intellectual heterogeneity and the high prevalence of psychiatric diagnoses in earlier studies may have obscured the prototypical neuropsychological profile in 22qDS. Methods We examined intelligence, memory, reading and mathematical processes in 31 children/adolescents with 22qDS, selected for educational underachievement and an absence of psychiatric diagnoses, using standardised, psychometrically matched instruments that specify how typical a score is for a given intelligence quotient (IQ). Results Corroborating earlier findings, verbal IQ was significantly superior to performance IQ; verbal memory and basic reading were relative strengths; and visual/spatial memory was a relative weakness. All four findings transcended performance characteristics that are typical of low-IQ individuals. Rote learning yielded the highest score; reading comprehension, numerical operations and mathematical reasoning were among the lowest-performed academic domains. Albeit in the expected direction, performance in the respective components could not be clearly differentiated from what is IQ-appropriate. Conclusions A superiority of verbal intelligence over non-verbal intelligence, relative strengths in verbal memory and basic reading, and a relative weakness in visual/spatial memory are likely to be core characteristics of children/adolescents with 22qDS, transcending performance features that are typical of individuals with low IQ. [source] Mazes, Conflict, and Paradox: Tools for Understanding Chronic PainPAIN PRACTICE, Issue 3 2009Cary A. Brown PhD Abstract This article presents an argument for framing chronic pain within a complex adaptive systems (CAS) paradigm. The first aim of this article is to demonstrate how chronic pain can be framed as a CAS and how paradox, one of the core characteristics of a CAS, exists within the chronic pain experience. The second aim is to illustrate how paradox exists at multiple levels within the health care encounter and ongoing experience of chronic pain. Finally, the article will use the example of interactions at the patient/clinician level to illustrate how health care workers' efforts to deal with issues emergent from the range of paradoxes have for the most part been ineffective, and at times harmful, to persons experiencing chronic pain. This article uses the example of chronic pain to explore how the manner in which health care providers and patients recognize and deal with paradoxes can either worsen the pain experience or help generate creative new ways to manage the chronic pain condition. The CAS principles discussed in this article hold application across a range of chronic conditions for which a traditional biomedical paradigm proves insufficient. [source] Professionalism and the Millbank Tendency: The Political Sociology of New Labour's EmployeesPOLITICS, Issue 1 2003Paul Webb This article analyses party employees, one of the most under-researched subjects in the study of British political parties. We draw on a blend of quantitative and qualitative data in order to shed light on the social and political profiles of Labour Party staff, and on the question of their professionalisation. The latter theme is developed through a model derived from the sociology of professions. While a relatively limited proportion of party employees conform to the pure ideal-type of professionalism, a considerably greater number manifest enough of the core characteristics of specialisation, commitment, mobility, autonomy and self-regulation to be reasonably described as ,professionals in pursuit of political outcomes'. [source] |