The Journal of Mind and Behavior

Volume 15, Number 3, Summer

The New Schizophrenia: Diagnosis and Dynamics of the Homeless Mentally Ill
Alvin Pam, Albert Einstein College of Medicine
The Journal of Mind and Behavior , Summer 1994, Volume 15, Number 3, Pages 199-222, ISSN 0271-0137
Culture is a major determinant of personality and mental health. It follows that if society does not meet the developmental needs of many of its people, rampant psychiatric symptoms will serve as ineffable comments on the culture. Nevertheless, the mental health field often misses the social implications of symptoms it treats. Traditionally, professionals have viewed schizophrenics as most apt to come from an enmeshed, dysfunctional, and seclusive family system; the patient can neither leave nor remain at home, eventually gravitating between home and hospital. Currently, there may be a new pattern of schizophrenia which is precipitated by fragmentation of family bonds rather than enmeshment. This pattern tends to arise in the context of a “no parent family,” into which ten percent of American children are now born, with the patient gravitating over time toward inconsolable object-seeking and homelessness.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Alvin Pam, Ph.D., Psychology Department, Bronx Psychiatric Center, 1500 Waters Place, Bronx, New York 10461

A Neural Network Approach to Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Dan J. Stein and Eric Hollander, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine
The Journal of Mind and Behavior , Summer 1994, Volume 15, Number 3, Pages 223-238, ISSN 0271-0137
A central methodological innovation in cognitive science has been the development of connectionist or neural network models of psychological phenomena. These models may also comprise a theoretically integrative and methodologically rigorous approach to psychiatric phenomena. In this paper we employ connectionist theory to conceptualize obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). We discuss salient phenomenological and neurobiological findings of the illness, and then reformulate these using neural network models. Several features and mechanisms of OCD may be explicated in terms of disordered networks. Neural network modeling appears to constitute a novel and potentially fertile approach to psychiatric disorders such as OCD.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Dan J. Stein, Director, Anxiety Disorders, Department of Psychiatry, Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, Queens Hospital, 82-68 164^th Streen, Jamaica, New York 11432

On the Distinction Between the Object and Content of Consciousness
Thomas Natsoulas, University of California, Davis
The Journal of Mind and Behavior , Summer 1994, Volume 15, Number 3, Pages 239-264, ISSN 0271-0137
This article treats of the distinction between objects and contents of pulses of consciousness – those minimal temporal sections of James’s stream that give veridical or nonveridical consciousness of, or as though of, something, which can be anything perceivable, feelable, imaginable, thinkable, or internally apprehensible. The objects of pulses of consciousness are whatever the pulses mentally apprehend (or take), whatever it is that they, by their occurrence, give awareness of respectively. Their contents are the particular ways (cognitive and qualitative) in which they mentally apprehend (or take) their objects, or would mentally apprehend (or take) them in those cases in which their objects do not exist. I argue, inter alia, (a) that not all pulses of consciousness have objects, though James holds that they all possess cognitive content; (b) that centaurs can be neither objects nor contents of consciousness, since they do not, have not, and will not exist; and (c) that some hallucinations whose objects are not physically present have objects anyway, such as a long lost relative or a historical figure. I consider four psychologists’ views with which I disagree, views proposing a consciousness without content (Gibson), a consciousness without objects (White), a consciousness of phenomenal items in a phenomenal environment (Henle), or a consciousness that systematically mistakes its constructed “objects” for their external counterparts (Yates).

Requests for reprints should be sent to Thomas Natsoulas, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of California, 179 Young Hall, Davis, California 95616-8686

Quantum Physics and Consciousness, Creativity, Computers: A Commentary on Goswami’s Quantum-Based Theory of Consciousness and Free Will
Michael G. Dyer, University of California, Davis
The Journal of Mind and Behavior , Summer 1994, Volume 15, Number 3, Pages 265-290, ISSN 0271-0137
Goswami (1990, 1993) proposes to replace the current scientific paradigm of physical realism with that of a quantum-based monistic idealism and, in the process, accomplish the following goals: (a) establish a basis for explaining consciousness, (b) reintegrate spirituality, mysticism, morality, a sense that the universe is meaningful, etc., with scientific discoveries and the scientific enterprise, and (c) support the assumption that humans possess free will – i.e., that they are not controlled by the apparently inexorable causality of the physical laws that govern the functioning of their brains. Here, we critically examine this approach, from an artificial intelligence and neural network perspective, and point out what appear to be some inherent weaknesses in Goswami’s arguments.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Michael G. Dyer, Ph.D., Computer Science Department, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90024

Book Reviews

The Imagery Debate
Book Author: Michael Tye. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1991
Reviewed by Nigel J.T. Thomas, California Institute or Technology
The Journal of Mind and Behavior , Summer 1994, Volume 15, Number 3, Pages 291-294, ISSN 0271-0137
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract available.] This book is a philosopher’s examination of the dispute, which raged amongst cognitive psychologists in the 1970s, and has continued to sputter on since, about the nature of mental imagery. As Tye sees things (and, indeed, as the textbooks generally have it) on the one side of the issue we find Stephen Kosslyn and certain close associates, arguing that mental images are best understood on analogy with pictures; and on the other side we find Zenon Pylyshyn, ably seconded by Geoffrey Hinton, arguing that the principal analogy is thoroughly misleading, and should be replaced by an analogy to descriptions. Tye’s consideration of this debate, attempting to clarify and arbitrate a tangled mess of argument and to explore the implications of what he takes to be the proper outcome, is generally excellent. If you want to understand the strengths of the arguments of Kosslyn, Pylyshyn, and their allies, then this book is to be recommended very warmly.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Nigel J.T. Thomas, Ph.D., Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, 101-40, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125

A Study of Concepts
Christopher Peacocke. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1992
Reviewed by Andrew Pessin, Kenyon College
The Journal of Mind and Behavior , Summer 1994, Volume 15, Number 3, Pages 295-298, ISSN 0271-0137
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract available.] This is a difficult book. It is densely written and argued, in a turgid prose replete with technical terms and neologisms, and sprinkled with symbols. It’s recommended only for those willing and able to study it very deeply and carefully. Since it’s impossible here to grapple with its argument fully, what I’ll do is present a few of its main ideas to give a feel for it as a whole, then raise some general questions.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Andrew Pessin, Ph.D., Department of Philosophy, Kenyon College, Ascension Hall, Gambler, Ohio 43022-9623

Insomnia: Psychological Assessment and Management
Book Author: Charles M. Morin. New York: Guilford Press, 1993
Reviewed by Ian R. Nicholson, Victoria Hospital
The Journal of Mind and Behavior , Summer 1994, Volume 15, Number 3, Pages 299-302, ISSN 0271-0137
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract available.] This book is among the latest in the Guilford Press series, Treatment Manuals for Practitioners, edited by David Barlow. While there are only 11 manuals in this series, it already has received significant praise and recognition. Previous volumes have described programs for the psychological management of such problems as chromic headaches, post-traumatic stress disorder, sexual dysfunctions, and panic disorders. This current volume in the series once again provides practitioners with useful information in treating a specific disorder.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Ian R. Nicholson, Ph.D., Adult Outpatient Psychiatry, Victoria Hospital, 375 South Street, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 4G5

WordPerfect 6.0 for Windows
Book Author: WordPerfect Corporation, Orem, Utah
Reviewed by David A. Allie, Phoenix Systems
The Journal of Mind and Behavior , Summer 1994, Volume 15, Number 3, Pages 303-308, ISSN 0271-0137
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract available.] WordPerfect 6.0 for Windows (WPWin) is a major upgrade to WordPerfect Corporation’s flagship word processing software. WPWin is both powerful and flexible, while remaining easy-to-use. WPWin provides all of the necessary tools for creating everything from a simple letter to a complex newsletter; it can easily assist you in both the design of basic letters and memos, or intricate articles and books. WPWin is an excellent program which will provide both the academician and researcher with a wide range of high-quality support tools, including a spell-checker, thesaurus, file indexer, grammar checker, and hypertext engine.

Requests for reprints should be sent to David A. Allie, Phoenix Systems, 25 Village Lane, Biddeford, Maine 04005-9334

Anxiety: Recent Developments in Cognitive, Psychophysiological, and Health Research
Book Authors: Donald G. Forgays, Tytus Sosnowski, and Kazimierz Wrzesniewski (Editors). Washington, D.C.: Hemisphere Publishing Corporation, 1992
Reviewed by Ian R. Nicholson, Victoria Hospital
The Journal of Mind and Behavior , Summer 1994, Volume 15, Number 3, Pages 309-310, ISSN 0271-0137
[Note: First paragraph, no abstract available.] This text might better be titled “Anxiety: Proceedings From a Satellite Conference of the Stress and Anxiety Research Society (STAR) 1990 Annual Meeting.” In the preface of this book, the editors indicate that because of the housing limitations at the castle where the meeting took place, only 24 people were invited to participate. The focus of this satellite meeting was to examine the construct of anxiety from the cognitive, psychophysiological, and health perspectives. The participants were also attempting to reach some “rapproachment” in their views on the construct of anxiety. The text is a compendium from 18 of the 22 presenters at that meeting.

Requests for reprints should be sent to Ian R. Nicholson, Ph.D., Adult Outpatient Psychiatry, Victoria Hospital, 375 South Street, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 4G5

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