Schizotypal Personality Disorder: A Clinical Social Work Perspective

Schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) is considered to be a “schizophrenia spectrum disorder” as evidenced in part by its cross-listing in that chapter of the DSM-5. SPD is considered to be a condition with limited potential for positive change because one of its major features is the presence of a biologically based cognitive deficit. This assumption, however, is an example of the medical model’s creating a bias against psychosocial features that are always involved in character development. The social work profession’s bio-psycho-social perspectives focus more comprehensively on all features of the condition and promote a more optimistic view of clients’ change potentials. The purposes of this paper are to examine SPD from a social work perspective and to demonstrate, with a case example, how effective intervention can be organized and delivered.     

The duty to care and the need to split

This paper arises out of psychoanalytically oriented consultancy to teams of staff in the helping professions where there is a statutory 'duty to care'. It takes as its premise the seemingly paradoxical hypothesis that workers may need to split off part of their emotional experience in order to preserve their own mental health and provide reliable services to their clients. I argue that while a professional 'duty to care' requires us to be emotionally 'in touch', the demands of our clients together with the demands of the institutional response to the 'duty to care' cause us to split off parts of our awareness. I also argue that provided the splitting does not become extreme we are doing no more or less than the rest of society. In other words, there is a degree of 'normal splitting' which numbs our awareness of danger and destructiveness and seeks to protect us from too much anxiety and pain. Yet if professional workers are charged with the responsibility of assessing risk and acting accordingly for the protection of all concerned they need ways of being 'in touch' (re-integrating the splits) for some or enough of the time. Finally, I will describe ways of being 'in touch', illustrating the difficulty and the pain of re-integrating the splits and some of the insights that can arise out of this work with examples from my consultancy work.     

Preference for realistic art predicts support for Brexit

Following the UK’s EU referendum in June 2016, there has been considerable interest from scholars in understanding the characteristics that differentiate Leave supporters from Remain supporters. Since Leave supporters score higher on conscientiousness but lower on neuroticism and openness, and given their general proclivity toward conservatism, we hypothesized that preference for realistic art would predict support for Brexit. Data on a large nationally representative sample of the British population were obtained, and preference for realistic art was measured using a four‐item binary choice test. Controlling for a range of personal characteristics, we found that respondents who preferred all four realistic paintings were 15–20 percentage points more likely to support Leave than those who preferred zero or one realistic paintings. This effect was comparable to the difference in support between those with a degree and those with no education, and was robust to controlling for the respondent’s party identity.     

Turkey’s Twitter public diplomacy: Towards a “new” cult of personality

This study examined how Turkey uses social media as a tool for public diplomacy and how the state’s soft-power efforts have recently changed on the global stage. The researchers constructed a dataset of 2769 Twitter posts by the Turkish government’s most influential public diplomacy accounts. The analyses revealed that the focus of Turkey’s Twitter public diplomacy has become concentrated on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and is thematically focused on the political values embodied by the Turkish president. The findings suggest that public diplomacy remains to be the diplomacy of the government, not of the public, and social media is used as just another tool for propaganda, not as a means of engagement with foreign publics. Further, the findings indicate the emergence of a “new” cult of personality in public diplomacy and point out the instrumental role of social media in changing the dynamics of leader-follower relationship. The study contributes to public relations theory and practice by advancing the burgeoning public diplomacy scholarship at the intersection of social media and relational approaches.     

战国四公子风范及其性格探微

战国时期，群雄割据，连年混战，政局动荡。为了达到强大自己并统一天下的目的，各诸侯国对人才的需要极度膨胀，而这一时期，以好客喜士而闻名的四公子，即齐国孟尝君、赵国平原君、魏国信陵君、楚国春申君，为其所处诸侯国的人才储备与供应做了巨大贡献。司马迁在《史记》中对四公子的行径描述详细。在这里，分别从“四公子何以进入《史记》”“四公子之好客”“四公子之疏误…‘从生活环境窥探四公子的性格”和“太史公笔下的四公子”等方面浅显解析战国四公子之异同。     

论福楼拜的人格心理在小说《包法利夫人》中的体现

运用人格模型理论对福楼拜的人格心理进行系统分析，得出：福楼拜在神经质方面主要表现为烦躁、忧郁；在经验开放性方面主要表现为富于想像；在外倾性方面主要表现为悲观厌世、孤独、生活单调。他这些方面的人格心理，在小说《包法利夫人》中都得到了一定的体现。     

李白人格精神现代价值论略

李白的诗歌作品是展示其人格精神的重要载体。终生不渝地坚持信念理想、关心社会且勇于批判现实、积极进取、坚持个性独立、真诚热爱大自然等是李白人格精神的基本表现。这些精神具有超越时空的鲜明特征，对促进当今社会、文化事业的发展具有重要意义。     

不同的选择决定不同的人格存在——以存在主义解读《红字》与《荆棘鸟》

1850年问世的《红字》以及一个多世纪后的1977年面世的《荆棘鸟》可谓神父爱情悲剧的孪生篇章。通过对比可以看出,两部作品中的人物在欲望中的不同选择导致不同人格存在：在欲望中沉沦的邪恶者、在欲望中迷失的可悲者以及在欲望中自我救赎的坚守者。可以说作品中关于欲望与选择以及人性内在关联的深刻阐释使这两部小说具备了文学艺术的永恒价值。     

李振钧题画诗考论

李振钧出身安徽太湖官宦世家,清代道光九年状元.他的诗集《味灯听叶庐诗草》中有59首题画诗.清代题画诗的繁荣,对书画的喜爱以及与画家的广泛交游促使他创作了大量的题画诗.他的题画诗反映了他看重性情、坦率放纵、追求个性自由、热爱艺术的特点,为我们提供了观照他的新角度.诗歌书画是他安顿自己痛苦心灵的处所,也是其解救自己的途径.他的人生经历反映了一个灵魂在现实的挤压和艺术的放纵里挣扎的心路历程.最终,他为了外在的功名放弃了自我,又不能适应官场的倾轧,45岁便抑郁而终.     

鲁迅人学思想在教育视阈中的当代阐释

鲁迅“立人”思想的提出基于20世纪中国处转型时期的非常时刻,其目的在于通过国民个体素质的改造实现民族文化新质的形成。鲁迅人学思想辩证地论述了个体与群体、科学与人文的关系,新颁布的《国家语文课程标准》的基本理念形成了与鲁迅人学思想的世纪对话。重温鲁迅的人学思想对语文学科的建设和民族现代化进程的推进有着重要意义。