Romeo Vitelli's Blog, page 3

The nature of posttraumatic stress disorder in treatment-seeking first responders.

Approximately 10% of first responders report posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Although reports within first responders suggest that they have distinct symptom presentations, there is a need to understand how the clinical profiles of first responders may differ from others seeking treatment for PTSD. A new study in the European Journal of Psychotraumatology compared the PTSD symptom profiles of first responder and civilians seeking treatment for PTSD. Method: Participants self-referred to the Traumatic Stress Clinic (University of New South Wales, Sydney) for enrolment in out-patient treatment trials for PTSD. Participants comprised people of mean age 41.72 years (SD = 10.71) who met DSM-IV criteria for PTSD. The sample was composed of 128 first responders and 182 civilians. Clinician-administered interviews of PTSD (Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale) and depression were conducted, as well as measures of self-report measures of depression, alcohol use, posttraumatic appraisals, and anger. Results: First responders reported greater rates of dysphoric cluster of symptoms, including diminished interest, emotional numbing, and social detachment, and less psychological reactivity and avoidance of situations, than civilians with PTSD. Beyond PTSD symptoms, first responders also reported more severe levels of depression and suppressed anger. Conclusions: These findings indicate that treatment-seeking first responders present with a distinct clinical profile that is characterized by dysphoric symptoms. These symptoms can predict poor treatment response and require specific attention in treating PTSD in first responders. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

For the abstract

                   Related StoriesMassed cognitive processing therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder in women survivors of intimate partner violence.Identifying individuals with subtle cognitive declineIs Life Getting Better? 

The Body Snatcher

In the summer of 1989, construction workers doing renovations in the basement of an old campus building made a gruesome discovery:   layer upon layer of bones, including complete skeletons that were unmistakably human.   According to the forensic anthropologists assigned to investigate the remains, there were more than 10,000 bones though even the experts couldn't tell how many there were in all.   They also unearthed piles of human clothing, buttons, and medical instruments though there was nothing else to indicate the names and identities of the deceased.

While all the bones were eventually unearthed to be taken to Georgia State University for research, there was no real mystery about where they all came from. The building being renovated was once the home to the Augusta Medical College, and the bones themselves were the remains of hundreds of dissections carried out by medical students during the 19th century.  That many dissected bodies had been obtained illegally by "resurrection men" digging up fresh corpses from local cemeteries has no secret. Still, newspaper stories covering the discovery did focus on one almost-forgotten figure from history:  the former slave who had been the most prolific body snatcher of his time.

Little is known about Grandison Harris' early life before being purchased by the Augusta Medical College in 1852. By all accounts, he had been chosen by the medical college because they needed a strong slave for the type of work they had in mind.  Though his official job title was "janitor,"  his actual job was much more sinister.  During the 19th century, laws banning the use of human corpses for dissection were widespread (typically considered "desecration"), and medical schools faced the problem of getting enough bodies to train students in surgery.   While some places allowed the bodies of executed criminals to be used instead, this was hardly widespread, and the body shortage remained acute on both sides of the Atlantic.

All of which led to the demand for people who specialized in securing bodies for medical schools in various ways.   Many of these bodies were obtained by robbing cemeteries or claiming the corpses of people without families.   Usually treated as a misdemeanor by courts recognizing that resurrection men served a necessary purpose, the ghoulish Burke and Hare case that emerged in 1828, not to mention the "Burkers" of London who followed their example, led to a change in UK laws that eventually eliminated the need for body snatching altogether.

In Georgia, however, the laws against body snatching remained in place.  And so, for nearly three decades, Grandison Harris plied his trade as a full-time grave robber.  While many other resurrection men worked in teams due to the effort in digging up corpses, the powerfully built Harris managed just fine on his own.  What made his job even easier was his privileged position with the medical school and his position as a "janitor," which helped allay suspicions.   His nightly routine was straightforward:  driving his horse cart to the cemetery of his choosing, he would slip in, pick out the grave he wanted, dig it up, smash the coffin lid with an axe, and toss the body into a sack to go on his cart.   By carefully refilling the grave, he removed any traces showing it had been disturbed.  

It probably also helped that Harris preferred not to steal from the more prominent cemeteries that could afford proper security to prevent body thefts.   Instead, Harris focused on the cemeteries that catered to African American families and the local "Potter's field" where paupers and unidentified corpses were buried.  Not that this was unique to Georgia in any way, mind you.  Back in the 19th century, cemeteries were as segregated as neighborhoods were, with "Negro burying grounds" being set aside even in Potter's fields in most U.S. cities.  This made them prime targets for resurrection men looking for bodies to sell, and, despite complaints from families of the deceased, the stealing would continue for decades.  

In his quiet way, Grandison Harris became a legend among the staff and students at the medical college.  According to one story, a medical student had snuck up Harris' horse cart while getting a drink in a local tavern (as he usually did after a hard night's work).  The student then removed a body from one of the sacks in the cart and took the corpse's place.  When Harris returned to the cart, the student began moaning in a ghostly voice: "Grandison, I'm cold.  Get me a drink!"  Harris, who likely had lots of experience dealing with student pranks, reportedly told the voice to "get your own drink."  

But resurrection men like Grandison Harris rarely had an easy job securing bodies.   Well-publicized cases of body-snatching (usually involving the bodies of white people) often led to family members taking the law into their own hands to protect the bodies of their recently buried relatives.   This included hiring security to watch the graves or, in some cases, setting up a spring-gun trap in the coffin.   Newspaper stories about the thousands of bodies "mutilated every year on dissecting tables in medical colleges in the United States" were also used to sell "burglar-proof grave vaults" to the well-to-do.  As for poorer families that couldn't afford extra security, all they could do was leave trace markers such as specially placed stones on the graves to tell if they had been disturbed in any way.   

This also led to widespread public resentment against medical schools, including the 1788 Doctor's riot in New York City that left many rioters and militiamen dead.   But there was nothing equivalent in Georgia since Grandison Harris was canny enough to avoid exposure for decades.  The college administrators appreciated Harris' work, considering what he accomplished for them.  In 1858, just a few years after his body-snatching began, they purchased Harris' wife and son from a South Carolina plantation for $1,250 (not a small sum in those days) and brought them to Augusta to join him.  

Ironically enough, Grandison Harris became a prominent figure in the local African American community (likely because they had no idea he was the one stealing the bodies of their loved ones).  His time at the medical college allowed him to become an authority on human dissection and anatomy, and he also lectured medical students on these subjects.   Still, considering the common discrimination and class barriers at the time, it's hardly surprising that he was never officially acknowledged for his work.  

 Also, with the changing times and the greater availability of corpses due to changes in legislation, Harris eventually lost much of the medical college's legal protection.  Finally, in 1882, he was arrested for body-snatching and ordered to pay $1000 and spend twelve months working on a chain gang (no word is given on whether the fine was paid).  Despite this setback, he continued to work for the college though he was only paid about $15 a month, according to records.   He eventually retired in 1905 on a pension of $10 a month and died in 1911, having lived well into his nineties.   He is buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery, not far from many of the graves he had stolen bodies from over the years.

Aside from the inevitable mention that whenever new stories of human remains linked to the college come to light, Grandison Harris has also enshrined in local legends surrounding resurrection men and body-snatching.   In 2013, a debut novel by author Matthew Guinn was released to widespread acclaim, including being a finalist for the Edgar Award for best mystery novel.   Titled "The Resurrectionist," the novel is largely based on the story of Grandison Harris, who is represented in the book by a tormented slave named "Nemo" (no man).   Just something to keep the Grandison Harris legend alive for another generation.

                   Related StoriesTo Hide in Plain SightNew True Crime Stories You Won't Believe Book Now OutThe Carolina Kissing Case 

New True Crime Stories You Won't Believe Book Now Out

It's finally here.   True Crime Stories You Won't Believe:  Book Two follows up from the first book with a new collection of bizarre tales of crime and punishment.   They include:  

The real story behind “Arsenic and Old Lace” and why the reality isn’t as lighthearted as Hollywood made it out to be.
A case in which a dream helped solve a gruesome murder. Or did it?
When a staunch Irish sea captain murdered almost his entire crew on the high seas and what happened afterward.
Did a Ouija board drive an Alabama mother and daughter to commit murder?
The story of Jane Toppan and what drove her to kill so many of her patients.
The story of Blanche Monnier, whose family locked her away for decades to keep her from marrying the wrong man.
Was the Devil responsible for the murder of Alan Bono?
The true story of the Vampire of Le Muy and his bizarre need to steal corpses.
The story of Bridget Cleary, whose husband killed her in the belief that she had been replaced by fairies.

And this is just a sampling of the stories you will find. Though you may well be acquainted with some of these stories, I try to be as complete as possible, including newspaper accounts and additional details from what other true crime writers have written about these cases.   

Order from Amazon (e-book or paperback)

Order from Kobo and other retailers (e-book or paperback)

 

 

                   Related StoriesThe Carolina Kissing CaseTo Hide in Plain SightThe Mad Bomber 

Massed cognitive processing therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder in women survivors of intimate partner violence.

Survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) report significant trauma histories, high rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), head injuries and comorbid disorders, and multiple barriers to treatment that often preclude the regular attendance and engagement required in typical therapy protocols. The significant challenges faced by IPV survivors needing treatment may be ameliorated by condensing effective treatments for PTSD, such as cognitive processing therapy (CPT), in an accelerated delivery timeline. A new research study published in the journal Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy used a multiple subject, single case design of six matched pairs of 12 female IPV survivor.  Researchers preliminarily tested the relative effectiveness of individual massed CPT delivered over 5 days (mCPT) as compared with standard CPT (sCPT) delivery in women IPV survivors. Assessments included full psychiatric diagnostic interviews, clinical interviews assessing trauma history and head injury prior to treatment, symptom monitoring during treatment, and full repeat assessments at 1 month and 3 months following treatment. Results showed that no treatment group effect was found for PTSD severity between mCPT and sCPT among intention-to-treat, F(1, 10) = .01, p = .93. Both mCPT and sCPT were associated with significant improvement in PTSD, F(2, 20) = 45.05, p< .001, ds = 1.32–2.38). COverall, findings indicate mCPT appears effective in reducing psychological symptoms for women IPV survivors and suggest that condensed treatment is both palatable and feasible. Accelerated treatment delivery in this population may provide a necessary lifeline for women with IPV-related PTSD. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

For the abstract

                   Related StoriesIdentifying individuals with subtle cognitive declineThe Carolina Kissing CaseIs Life Getting Better? 

Identifying individuals with subtle cognitive decline

Dementia is a devastating neurological disease that may be better managed if diagnosed earlier when subclinical neurodegenerative changes are already present, including subtle cognitive decline and mild cognitive impairment. In a new study published in the journal Neuropsychology, researchers used item-level performance on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) to identify individuals with subtle cognitive decline. Method: Individual MoCA item data from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative was grouped using k-modes cluster analysis. These clusters were validated and examined for association with convergent neuropsychological tests. The clusters were then compared and characterized using multinomial logistic regression. Results: A three-cluster solution had 77.3% precision, with Cluster 1 (high performing) displaying no deficits in performance, Cluster 2 (memory deficits) displaying lower memory performance, and Cluster 3 (compound deficits) displaying lower performance on memory and executive function. Age at MoCA (older in compound deficits), gender (more females in memory deficits), and marital status (fewer married in compound deficits) were significantly different among clusters. Age was not associated with increased odds of membership in the high-performing cluster compared to the others. Conclusions: We identified three clusters of individuals classified as cognitively unimpaired using cluster analysis. Individuals in the compound deficits cluster performed lower on the MoCA and were older and less often married than individuals in other clusters. Demographic analyses suggest that cluster identity was due to a combination of both cognitive and clinical factors. Identifying individuals at risk for future cognitive decline using the MoCA could help them receive earlier evidence-based interventions to slow further cognitive decline. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

For the abstract

                   Related StoriesIs Life Getting Better?Listening to COVID-19 survivors: What they need after early discharge from hospital - A qualitative study.Cyberbullying victimization among adolescencts: Results of the international self-report delinquency study 3. 

The Carolina Kissing Case

It all began on November 1, 1958, in Monroe, North Carolina, when two boys, aged eight and nine, walked seven-year-old Sissy Marcus home from school. Though what happened next seemed innocent enough, it was only after Sissy got home and told her mother that she had kissed the two boys on their cheeks that all hell broke loose. Sissy's father and some of his friends picked up shotguns and searched for the two boys and their parents.

The fact that the two boys in question, nine-year-old James "Hannover" Thompson and seven-year-old David "Fuzzy" Simpson were African American and that the kiss took place in racially segregated North Carolina was enough to embroil both children in one of the most bizarre miscarriages of justice in U.S. history. During the late 1950s, the growing controversy over desegregation and fears surrounding "racial miscegenation" had already fueled racist tensions to an all-time high. Only three years earlier, 14-year-old Emmett Till had been lynched by a Mississippi mob for the "crime" of allegedly whistling at a white woman.

As for James Thompson and David Simpson, both boys were arrested immediately after the kissing incident. They were held in the local jail and not allowed to see their parents or legal counsel for over a week. They were also subjected to beatings to try to force a confession out of them. Though they were finally granted access to legal counsel, they were still held in jail for months and subjected to repeated harassment. On Halloween night, for example, a contingent of Klansmen visited their jail cell to intimidate them. This so terrified the two boys that they tried climbing the cell walls to escape. Finally, after three months in jail, they were finally charged and convicted of molestation following a brief trial during which their defense counsel was not allowed to be present.

Juvenile Judge Hampton Price sentenced both boys to indeterminate terms at the Morrison training school for Negro Boys. In defending his decision, Price reportedly commented that "since they just stood silent and didn't say nothin', I knew that was a confession of guilt." Monroe's mayor, Fred Wilson, also defended the decision stating that "such acts are not tolerated here whether involving white or colored at any age."

The case became a rallying point for white supremacist groups and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP.). Almost immediately after their conviction, Robert F. Williams, local head of the NAACP, sent an impassioned telegram to President Eisenhower pleading for him to intervene. As Williams pointed out in the telegram, both boys had been denied proper legal counsel or the chance to face their accuser in court. "Please tell me, Mr. President," he telegram read, "when Negroes may expect your Justice Department to introduce the 14th Amendment to the U.S. constitution to this social jungle called Dixie." Though then-Press Secretary acknowledged that the telegram had been received, nothing further came of it. Once the boys began serving their sentence, public interest in the case quickly died down.

When newspapers covered the story, it was often to defend the sentence (one memorable editorial suggested that the boys were better off in reform school where they could count on better treatment than they received at home.) The newspapers also accused both boys of being incorrigible troublemakers who thoroughly deserved their sentence. All of which heightened the local animosity against the families of both accused. Not only were their parents and siblings subjected to verbal taunting, but both of their mothers were fired from their jobs as domestics. Even more alarmingly, members of the Ku Klux Flan riddled their houses with bullets numerous times and burned crosses on their lawns, something the local police did little to prevent.

It was only when famed civil rights lawyer Conrad Lynn was asked by the NAACP to take on the case that things began to change. Lynn had already made a name for himself by defending numerous unpopular cases and his unswerving support for African American civil rights. This included participating in the first Journey of Reconciliation in 1948, a historic attempt to overturn Jim Crow laws that would see him arrested for being caught sitting in a "whites only" section of an interstate bus. Once released on bail, he quickly resumed his bus journey.

But acting as an attorney for James Thompson and David Simpson was a frustrating experience for Lynn. As he would later relate in a 1994 newspaper interview, many black churches flatly refused to help finance the appeal he was trying to launch, and he was even branded an outsider by some of his opponents. "They had no guts," Lynn said in the interview. "They accepted the children as rapists. The blacks were more than willing to accept the stereotype of black men as rapists. And they also considered me a communist. That, and the fact that the kids were charged with rape, was enough for them."

He had more success visiting synagogues and liberal churches and finally securing a new hearing in Wadesboro, North Carolina. Meanwhile, former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt took a personal interest in the case and petitioned North Carolina's governor, Lester Hodges, to intervene. Instead, Hodges and his hand-picked attorney general Malcolm Seawall came to Wadesboro to ensure the conviction was not overturned. Despite Lynn's defense, Seawall managed to sway the judge in the case with an impassioned tirade about the need to uphold "traditional values."

Not only did the two boys stay in jail, but their mothers were kept from seeing them for weeks. It took the efforts of a U.K. reporter, Joyce Egginton, to turn the case into an international scandal for North Carolina. Covering the trial for the London Observer, she secured permission to visit the boys in jail and managed to bring their mothers in as well. By smuggling in a camera, she could take a picture of the mothers embracing their children and visual proof that James and David had been beaten while in custody.

Egginton's story and the incriminating photograph were reprinted across Europe and Asia. The London Observer ran the photograph under the one-word headline, "WHY?" and the resulting international outrage put even more pressure on North Carolina's governor to overturn the conviction. This included demonstrations in numerous European cities, including a riot in Rotterdam that led to rocks being thrown at the U.S. embassy there.

While North Carolina officials offered a deal to the mothers of the two boys, which would have required them to admit to being guilty, the mothers refused, and their incarceration dragged on into 1959. Finally, after receiving a petition with over 15,000 names, Eleanor Roosevelt personally phoned President Dwight Eisenhower and asked him to intervene. The president, in turn, phoned Governor Hodges and immediately pressured him into releasing the two boys.

After three months of detention, James Thompson and David Simpson were finally released, and their criminal records were expunged. Unfortunately, that was all the consideration they would ever receive. Not only were they never compensated for their ordeal, but no official apology was ever given. As for Governor Hodges, he was openly embarrassed about the negative publicity over the case, but he also refused to make any apologies for what had happened.

As for James Thompson and David Simpson, they never really recovered from their ordeal. While David Simpson largely disappeared from the public record, James Thompson went on to have numerous scrapes with the law (which local newspapers declared to be "proof" that the original sentence had been deserved). In a 2011 interview, he speculated on how his life might have been if that long-ago ordeal had never happened. "Could I have been a doctor? Could I have went off to some college, or some great school? It just destroyed our life."

In that same interview, other family members shared their bitterness about James' experience. According to his sister, Brenda, having him home again after his time in jail "was like seeing somebody different, that you didn't even know. He never talked about what he went through there. But ever since then, his mind just hadn't been the same." She also shared her bitterness over his treatment by police and the courts. "My brother and his friend had to suffer on account of that," she said. "And I mean, they suffered. From one kiss. I've thought about that. It all started with a kiss."

                   Related StoriesTo Hide in Plain SightThe Mad BomberThe Case of the Pimlico Poisoner 

Is Life Getting Better?

National-level differences in individuals’ ratings of their recollected past, current, and anticipated future life satisfaction (LS) were examined in a new study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology using results from two pioneering projects comprising national-level results for 14 countries (Cantril, 1965) and 15 regions of the world (Gallup International Research Institutes & Charles F. Kettering Foundation, 1976; Study 1), as well as sequential results from the Gallup World Poll based on 137 countries representing a broad range of nations from around the world surveyed from 2005 to 2018 (Study 2). Results from both studies revealed a robust belief that “life gets better” over time (i.e., recollected past < current < anticipated future LS) in nations around the world. Such beliefs were examined in relation to objective and subjective indicators of societal-level functioning. Results replicated across studies in showing that nations with less positive societal functioning and prosperity were characterized by less recollected past improvements in LS, and yet greater anticipated future improvements in LS. Results from Study 2 also revealed that such expectations were positively biased compared to changes over time in national levels of LS; further, greater bias was related to less positive societal-level functioning. In conclusion, examining national-level differences in LS from a subjective temporal perspective provides valuable new insights concerning human development and prosperity across countries, over time, and around the world. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

For the abstract

                   Related StoriesListening to COVID-19 survivors: What they need after early discharge from hospital - A qualitative study.Cyberbullying victimization among adolescencts: Results of the international self-report delinquency study 3.Internet-delivered therapy for family carers of people with dementia (iACT4CARERS) 

To Hide in Plain Sight

The Doctors' Trial, which ended on August 20, 1947, led to the conviction of sixteen medical doctors involved in Nazi medical experiments and mass murder. While seven defendants were sentenced to death and nine others received prison sentences, not all the medical doctors who had been part of the Nazi war machine had gone on trial. It is to one of these doctors and how he eventually came to justice to which we now turn.

By all accounts, Werner Heyde's early life did not indicate what would come later. Born in 1902, he enlisted at sixteen to fight in World War One. After the war ended, Heyde completed medical training and became a psychiatrist. Despite serving in different hospitals and clinics, his career was utterly ordinary until joining the Nazi party in 1933. He found his new political affiliation very helpful in his career and used these connections to become a full professor at Wurzburg.

Heyde's chief mentor among the Nazis was Theodor Eicke, a former patient who had convinced him to join the party. Heyde rose quickly in party ranks and joined the SS in 1936. Being a trained psychiatrist, Heyde was the natural choice to form a neuropsychiatric unit in the SS and to become consulting psychiatrist for the Gestapo. His greatest contribution to the Nazi cause was his role in Aktion T4.

As head of the SS medical department, Heyde played a leading role in the planning and implementing of a  national register of mental patients and "defective" children and adults. Throughout World War 2, more than 275,000 "defectives" were killed across occupied Europe, and until 1941, Heyde acted as the chief "expert" who made the final decision concerning executions. Despite later being replaced by Paul Nitsche, Heyde continued administrating killing programs in concentration camps.

Under the later Aktion 14F13, the criteria for death were expanded to include all inmates deemed unfit due to disease. Heyde helped draft the criteria and trained the medical doctors to recognize these "signs" (usually based on an inability to work or being an "enemy of National Socialism"). His enthusiasm for his duties made him extremely popular with the Nazi hierarchy, and he quickly rose in the ranks. By 1945, he had become a full colonel.

And then the war ended...

In May of 1945, Werner Heyde was arrested by British troops and transferred to a prison in Frankfurt to be held for trial in Nuremberg. He somehow managed to escape custody on July 24, 1947. Purchasing new identity papers for himself under the name of Fritz Sawade, Heyde eventually gained a position as a sports physician in a school near Kiel, Germany.

Although family members and colleagues later admitted to knowing his true identity, "Fritz Sawade" had a highly successful practice for years. He even gave testimony as an expert witness in numerous forensic cases (including psychiatric testimony), which provided him with a very comfortable income. By 1959, Sawade's true identity had become an open secret to many local psychiatrists, government officials, and judges. But his flamboyant lifestyle and involvement in high-profile trials eventually led to Heyde's undoing.

During the war, Hans Gerhard Creutzfeldt had been an active opponent of the Nazi regime. As an eminent neurologist, he saved many of his patients from Aktion T4. His wife spent four years in prison for making "spiteful and malicious remarks" about Hitler, and Creutzfeldt's home and clinic were destroyed by Allied bombings. After the war, he served as chancellor at the university in Kiel until he was dismissed by British authorities (they considered him too liberal), and he relocated to Munich.

While acting as an expert witness, he was outraged by one of Fritz Sawade's forensic opinions and decided to investigate. It must have shocked him when he recognized Sawade as the fugitive Werner Heyde. Realizing that Heyde had the quiet support of many local doctors and judicial authorities was likely an even bigger shock.  Despite opposition, Creutzfeldt and his two sons managed to be heard.

Werner Heyde was arrested in 1959 and held in custody for two years. In 1961, just days before his trial began, Heyde was found dead in his cell of an apparent suicide. There was widespread suspicion that Heyde's death had been "encouraged" by medical doctors and authorities, fearing what would have come out during the trial. The case was officially closed with Heyde's death, and the matter was considered settled. The question of how a fugitive Nazi could live for years as a successful medical doctor and expert witness was never answered.

Hans Creutzfeldt died in 1964. Despite his eminence in neurology, his humanitarian efforts during the war, and his role in exposing Werner Heyde, Creutzfeldt was largely forgotten for decades after his death. Until that is, in 1995 when researchers reported on the existence of a new variant of a disease that Creutzfeldt had co-discovered with his colleague Alfons Jakob back in 1921. Through its link with "Mad Cow disease" and dementia, Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease became one of the most talked-about medical conditions in the world, and Hans Creutzfeldt finally achieved an odd sort of immortality.

Such is life.

                   Related StoriesThe Mad BomberThe Case of the Pimlico PoisonerShooting Teddy Roosevelt 

Mapping principal dimensions of prejudice in the United States.

Research is often guided by maps of elementary dimensions, such as core traits, foundations of morality, and principal stereotype dimensions. Yet, there is no comprehensive map of prejudice dimensions. A major limiter of developing a prejudice map is the ad hoc sampling of target groups. In a new study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers used a broad and largely theory-agnostic selection of groups to derive a map of principal dimensions of expressed prejudice in contemporary American society. Across a series of exploratory and confirmatory studies, they found three principal factors: Prejudice against marginalized groups, prejudice against privileged/conservative groups, and prejudice against unconventional groups (with some inverse loadings for conservative groups). The authors documented distinct correlates for each factor, in terms of social identifications, perceived threats, personality, and behavioral manifestations. They then discuss how the current map integrates several lines of research, and point to novel and underexplored insights about prejudice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

For the abstract

                   Related StoriesListening to COVID-19 survivors: What they need after early discharge from hospital - A qualitative study.Cyberbullying victimization among adolescencts: Results of the international self-report delinquency study 3.Internet-delivered therapy for family carers of people with dementia (iACT4CARERS) 

Listening to COVID-19 survivors: What they need after early discharge from hospital - A qualitative study.

A study recently published in the International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being explores the post-discharge experience and needs of COVID-19 survivors. A qualitative study was conducted. using 16 post-discharge COVID-19 patients aged 31–68 years. The semi-structured interviews were conducted by telephone one month after discharge and were analysed by Colaizzi’s 7-step method. Results showed that the post-discharge experience of COVID-19 patients were classified into four categories and ten subcategories. Category I: physiological problems consisted of physical sequelae (such as fatigue, shortness of breath, sleep disorder, chest pain) and a lack of physical rehabilitation guidance. Category II: psychological issues included anxiety, depression, fear, and psychological trauma. Category III: social issues included social stigma and financial stress. Category IV: positive experience and change included gratitude to social support and cherishing life and family. Conclusions: COVID-19 survivors urgently need guidance for physical rehabilitation and psychological growth, social support provisions, and protection from social stigma. The experience of COVID-19 survivors is significant for planning healthcare management systems and guiding public health prevention efforts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

For the abstract (open access)

                   Related StoriesCyberbullying victimization among adolescencts: Results of the international self-report delinquency study 3.PTSD in First RespondersInternet-delivered therapy for family carers of people with dementia (iACT4CARERS)