Providentia

Russian Cannibal Case Underway

A 27-year-old Russian woman is under arrest in Russia for axing a female victim to death before cooking and eating her in the presence of her seven year old son. Following her arrest, 27-year old Olesya Mostovschikova told Irkutsk police that the murder occurred when she quarreled with the victim, 32-year-old Tatiana Romanchuk during a drinking session. She then grabbed an axe and struck the victim numerous times on her head and body. During the confession, Mostovschikova stated that 'I cut off her ears, gouged out one eye, cut off an arm, and a hand. I took the hand, arm and eye and cooked these body parts in the oven.' Her son witnessed the killing and cannibalism.

With the help of another friend (only identified as 'Julia'), they concealed the body and shared in eating the flesh (Julia would later state that she had helped out of fear). Mostovschikova later buried the remains in her garden and placed the legs in a nearby rubbish bin. Police were notified by neighbours who found the legs in the bin. After an investigation, police traced the killing to Mostovschikova's house where the remains were found in her garden.

Mostovschikova faces fifteen years in prison and her son has been placed in a children's rehabilitation centre. This is the third cannibalism case involving female victims in Russia in the past six months.

For more information.

Happy Ada Lovelace Day (Part 2)

Continued from Part One

When Morton Prince founded the Harvard Psychological Clinic in 1927, it was made part of Harvard Arts and Sciences school rather than the medical school. Prince intended the clinic to foster psychology as a separate discipline rather than as an offshoot of psychiatry. He also wanted the clinic to strengthen the relationship between clinical and experimental psychology (even then there was a significant gulf between the branches). With Henry Murray as his assistant, Prince made the clinic into a major focus for psychological research by the time of his death in 1929.

While Christiana Morgan threw herself into her work at the Clinic, her own status there was uncertain at first. Since she had no academic credentials (she scorned academic degrees as being meaningless), all that Murray could offer her was a position as a research assistant. The fact that her affair with Murray was widely known worked against her although there was no question that Christiana was brilliant in her own right. It was also through her influence that the Clinic became extremely women-friendly and attracted serious female researchers from across the country.

Unfortunately, the presence of other women at the clinic led to Henry becoming romantically linked to several of them over the years. As the "other woman" in Henry's life (he was still married to a long-suffering Josephine), Christiana had reason to be upset and even suffered a nervous breakdown at one point. He always returned to her in the end although episodes of depression recurred for the rest of her life. It was during this period when Christiana Morgan and Henry Murray first began developing the Thematic Apperception Test.

While the idea was originally Henry Murray's, it was Christiana Morgan who designed the actual test format and developed most of the picture cards that were eventually used. As a Jungian psychoanalysis (with her own private practice), Christiana incorporated many of her own ideas on human emotion and personality into the test cards. During the time she was working on the test, her life was rocked by two tragedies in her life. Both of her parents died within months of each other and, only a year later, her husband died. William Morgan had never been the same after the war due to tuberculosis and shell shock but the emotional turmoil of his odd marriage to Christiana took a further toll.Though Christiana grieved for her parents and her husband, it quickly became clear that there would be no change in her relationship with Henry as a result.

Professionally, things became slightly better when Christiana was made a research associate at Radcliffe College in 1935 and the paper introducing the TAT listed her as senior author (the test was first known as the Morgan-Murray TAT as a result). Despite concerns about the test's validity, the TAT went on to become one of the most widely used psychological tests in the world. In the decades that followed, clinicians used the test to assess dreaming, psychotic thinking, vocational screening, and forensic assessments. Christiana was also instrumental in developing a children's version of the TAT and introducing new uses for the test. She also remained busy with her own research and psychotherapy practice until World War II brought changes to both her and Henry.

While Henry Murray took time away from the clinic to work with the OSS, Christiana's health worsened dramatically. Her high blood pressure became life-threatening and she was forced to undergo a radical sympathectomy to stabilize her condition (there were no blood pressure medications at the time). Although the surgery saved her life, the long-term consequences were severe (part of her sympathetic nervous system was destroyed as a result). Although she eventually returned to her work, things would never be the same.

When the 1943 revision of the TAT was published by Harvard University Press, there was one notable change. Christiana's name had been dropped and Henry Murray was listed as the primary author. Murray himself would later state that Christiana had asked that her name be removed given her health problems and the demands that being primary author placed on her although others have disputed this. Whatever the reason, Christiana continued working on the TAT for the rest of her life despite the changes that the war had brought to the Clinic. Women scholars tended not to have the same support of their male colleagues that they did before the war and Christiana became more isolated as a result.

Although she would develop alcohol problems later in life, Christiana still cultivated a brilliant circle of friends including Alfred North Whitehead and Lewis Mumford. Her relationship with Murray was still volatile and his affairs with other women continued (along with his marriage to Josephine). Even after his wife's death in 1962, Murray continue to be ambivalent about marrying Christiana and their marriage plans never seemed to materialize. When Murray became involved with a younger woman, Christiana's mental health went downhill. The cause of her death on March 14, 1967 while she was in the Virgin Islands with Murray is still unclear. Henry Murray later provided conflicting versions of what happened but whether she died accidentally or deliberately drowned herself remains a mystery.

The memorial service for Christiana was carefully stage managed by Henry Murray which antagonized many of her friends (Lewis Mumford refused to attend and Christiana's son only agreed to go at the last minute). Her obituary glossed over her many contributions to psychology and mainly described her association with the Harvard Psychological Clinic. Henry Murray married Caroline Chandler two years after Christiana died and had a prominent career in psychology until his death in 1988.

While Christiana Morgan is still largely remembered through her association with Murray, there seems to be a growing interest in her life and work.  A biography titled Translate This Darkness: The Life of Christiana Morgan was published in 1993 and online resources detailing her life and work are being developed.

What are the Long-term Consequences of Preschool Head Injuries?

While mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) is a leading cause of injury for children during their pre-school years, there is little information regarding the long-term outcomes of these injuries. A research study published in the February 2009 issue of Child: Care, Health and Development examines the epidemiology of MTBI in preschoolers. Using a birth cohort analysis, cases of confirmed MTBI were divided into an outpatient group of 55 children and an inpatient group of 21 children (admitted to hospital for observation). The remaining 852 children in the cohort served as the reference control group. The researchers examined mother/teacher ratings for behaviours associated with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and oppositional defiant/conduct disorder (obtained yearly from age 7 to 13) with results showing evidence of behavioural deficits in the inpatient group relative to more minor outpatient injury MTBI and the reference control group. For the inpatient group, there was evidence of increasing deficits over years 7-13. The researchers concluded that more severe pre-school MTBI may be associated with persistent negative effects in terms of psychosocial development. The vulnerability of pre-school children to MTBI indicates a pressing need to identify high-risk cases that may benefit from monitoring and early intervention.

Click here for the abstract.

Happy Ada Lovelace Day (Part I)

March 24 is Ada Lovelace Day.  According to the pledge site, "Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology. Women's contributions often go unacknowledged, their innovations seldom mentioned, their faces rarely recognised. We want you to tell the world about these unsung heroines. Whatever she does, whether she is a sysadmin or a tech entrepreneur, a programmer or a designer, developing software or hardware, a tech journalist or a tech consultant, we want to celebrate her achievements."

While psychology isn't considered a high-technology field as a rule (although that can vary depending on which branch you're working in), there are certain tools of the trade that have taken on a certain fame of their own.  Which brings me to a little-known innovator who still hasn't received the fame that she deserves...

Though not as famous as some of the other psychological tests that have been developed over the years, the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) represents one of the first true projective tests.  Made up of thirty ambiguous pictures presented on cards, subjects being given the test are usually instructed to invent detailed stories concerning the test images.  The cards are often divided into two series which could be administered on consecutive days.  The test was designed to explore  underlying personality dynamics and unconscious motivation in both adults and children.  Despite ongoing criticisms of projective tests in general (which I tend to share), that TAT is still used for psychodynamic assessments, personality research, and testing of psychotic thought processes.

The first research paper introducing the TAT was published in 1935 by  Christiana Morgan and Henry A. Murray.  While Henry Murray was already prominent in the field of personality psychology, Christiana Morgan was arguably far more important in the test's development and early publications consistently identified her as the senior author (the test was even known as the Morgan-Murray Thematic Apperception  Test at first).  Somewhere along the line, things changed however.  By the 1943 revision, the test was being published solely under Murray's name aside from an acknowledgment of the support staff at Harvard University.  As to what happened to Christiana Morgan, that's a story in itself...

Born in Massachusetts in 1897, Christiana Drummond Councilman came from a fairly privileged background (her father was  a medical professor at Harvard Medical School and her mother belonged to one of Boston's most prominent families).    While higher education was usually not considered "proper" in the restrictive Boston social set to which Christiana's family belonged, her precocious intellect made her stand out in her exclusive finishing school.  After coming out as a debutante in Boston high society, she met William Morgan at a dance.  Despite strong family opposition and Christiana's own lingering reservations (she didn't think he was her intellectual equal), they became engaged after only five months since William was being shipped overseas to fight in World War One.  While her fiance was away, Christiana completed nurse's aid training despite her family's disapproval (they didn't think it  was a proper occupation for a well-bred young woman) and tended patients through the rest of the war and the devastating Spanish Influenza epidemic that followed.  She also became an ardent suffragette and fought for many of the feminist causes of the time. Christiana and William finally married after his return from the war and their son, Thomas was born in 1920.  She abandoned nursing and apparently never looked back. 

Following their move to New York and William taking on a new job at a major bank, Christiana studied at the Art Students League and developed a fascination for Jungian psychoanalysis.  After William's mother became ill, he and Christiana grew apart due to the time he spent caring for his mother in Chicago.  It was during this period that she began having extramarital affairs.  Two names in particular that were associated with her included Chaim Weizmann (later President of Israel) and "Mike" Murray (brother of Henry Murray).  Christiana also became more aware of Henry Murray although their eventual affair lay in the future. While Christiana and William eventually reconciled, their relationship would never be the same. 

Largely inspired by Carl Jung's writings, Christiana and her husband became part of the Extravert/Introvert movement and took courses at the New School of Social Research (some of which were taught by Henry Murray).  Christiana and William eventually moved to Cambridge, England in 1924 so that William Morgan could pursue an academic career.  Henry Murray went to Cambridge as well to become a psychoanalyst and things definitely became awkward due to the developing sexual tension between Christiana and Henry (which their spouses certainly noticed).  It didn't help that Christiana felt isolated due to being excluded from the largely men-only Cambridge intellectual community. 

When Henry Murray went to Zurich to consult Carl Jung directly, Christiana and William traveled to Zurich shortly afterward to become part of Carl Jung's circle.  While Christiana became one of Jung's star patients, he handed her husband over to one of his students.  It was during this period that Christiana developed an amazing series of drawings and writings developed over the course of her sessions with Jung.  There is certainly no doubt that Christiana Morgan had a profound impact on Jung. He would later develop an entire Vision Seminar around his extended analyses of Christiana's visions and drawings (the lectures ended in 1929 when her identity became known).  According to some sources, it was Jung himself who encouraged Christiana Morgan and Henry Murray to have an affair to "unlock their subconscious" and resolve the sexual tension between them.   The fact that their spouses didn't share Jung's Bohemian attitude seemed less important. 

By 1925, Henry Murray was offered a position at Harvard University as a research associate.  He invited Christiana to join him as a research assistant despite his wife's reservations.  Although Christiana stayed in Zurich to continue therapy with Jung, she eventually agreed to return to the U.S. while her husband stayed on at Cambridge.  As part of the fledging staff for the Harvard Psychological Clinic (which formally opened in 1927 with Murray as Assistant Director), the prospect of continuing her work with Jungian psychoanalysis seemed intriguing enough. 

It also allowed her to be with Henry Murray...

Continue to Part Two

Art Student Charged With Faking Mental Illness

Note: I'm changed the order of posts this week so that I can run my history post on Tuesday (which is also Ada Lovelace Day).

A Stockholm art student has been charged over an incident in which she faked mental illness to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital. In a dramatic incident in January, 35-year old Anna Odell, threatened to jump off a bridge. Horrified witnesses called police and Odell began kicking and screaming when they attempted to restrain her. After arriving at the hospital psychiatric ward, Odell was eventually sedated and forcibly restrained in a hospital gurney before being kept overnight. There was widespread outrage when she later reported that the entire incident was an act and part of a larger performance art project to be completed in May.  The head of the psychiatric clinic where Odell had been assessed later expressed outrage and stated that "She and the head of the school ought to cut their hair and get a real job,”

Odell faces charges of violent resistance, harassment, violent conduct, and raising a false alarm. If convicted, she may face a short jail term. The lawyer assigned to her case announced that they have not gone over the accusations to date.  Following the controversial art project (which had been approved by Odell's advisors), Sweden's University College of Arts, Craft, and Design is planning to introduce new ethics guidelines to prevent further incidents.

'Click here for more information.

Can We Get Too Attached to Our Possessions?

Hypersentimentality to possessions may play in important role in the development and maintenance of compulsive hoarding. A study published in the April 2009 issue of Journal of Anxiety Disorders examined the formation of attachment to a newly acquired object in an sample of 62 subjects who had been diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder to determine whether specific hoarding symptoms moderated the development of attachment to an object over time. Participants rated their level of attachment to a keychain immediately upon receipt (time 1) and one week later (time 2). The authors investigated whether individuals with a tendency to hoard and strong beliefs about the value of possessions would exhibit greater attachment to the object over time. Statistical analysis revealed that a person's initial attachment to the object was the best predictor of attachment one week later. Although emotional attachment increased similarly for all participants independent of their hoarding symptoms, specific hoarding-related beliefs and behaviors uniquely predicted initial attachment to the keychain. The authors discussed the results in relationship to potential treatment for compulsive hoarding disorders, including Diogenes Syndrome. 

Click here for the abstract.

Wrong Diagnosis Claimed in Sex Change Case

A 66-year old Australian man who underwent gender reassignment surgery and later resumed life as a man is suing the Gender Dysphoria Clinic at Melbourne's Monash Medical Centre where he was treated between 1993 and 1995. The unnamed former patient maintains that he sought the surgery after being diagnosed with transsexualism by psychiatrists Trudy Kennedy and Chris Grant. The lawsuit further adds that the doctors were mistaken in believing that the patient met the clinical criteria for transsexualism, i.e., preoccupation with "female" activities, abhorrence for male genitalia, and long-term opposite-gender identification. The patient's attorney also argued that the doctors failed to consider his childhood sexual abuse and a note made by another doctor who had argued against the operation.

Following the surgery, the patient became dissatisfied living as a woman and resumed dressing as a man after five years. He filed a complaint with the Victoria Ombudsman in 2004 and sought legal counsel in 2007. The lawsuit also names the treating psychologist, Patricia Miach for failing to make a correct diagnosis and the plastic surgeon, Graham Isaacs, who carried out the gender reassignment surgery.

Preliminary arguments over the lawsuit have been heard by Victoria's Supreme Court and the case is set to resume.

Click here for more information.

Is There a Link Between Insomnia and Paranoia?

A study published in the March 2009 issue of Schizophrenia Research examines the complex relationship between chronic insomnia and paranoid ideation. Previous research has found that insomnia is a potential cause of anxiety, depression, and hallucinations while separate research has shown that these same factors are predictors of paranoia. In the present study, the authors examined for the first time the association of insomnia symptoms and paranoia in the general population and the extent of insomnia in psychiatric patients with persecutory delusions. Using a sample of 300 individuals from the general population and 30 individuals with persecutory delusions and a diagnosis of non-affective psychosis, assessments of insomnia, persecutory ideation, anxiety, and depression were for both samples. The results indicated that Moderate or severe insomnia was present in more than 50% of the delusions group. Consistent with the theoretical understanding of paranoia, the association was partly explained by the presence of anxiety and depression. The study provides the first direct evidence that insomnia is common in individuals with high levels of paranoia. It is plausible that sleep difficulties contribute to the development of persecutory ideation and that successful insomnia treatment for this group could have the added benefit of lessening paranoia.

Click here for the abstract.

"Missed Opportunities" Linked to Killing Spree

An independent report released by the U.K. National Health Service and the Surrey County Council has concluded that a 2004 killing spree committed by a psychiatric outpatient might have been prevented with adequate treatment. The report added that the killer, Daniel Gonzales, failed to receive the necessary treatment for his paranoid schizophrenia due to "missed opportunities" despite nearly 60 appointments with mental health professionals for the seven years prior to the deadly events in 2004.

Both Gonzales and his mother had repeatedly requested that he be hospitalized to address his increasingly bizarre symptoms which included hallucinations, thoughts of self-harm, and a fascination with fictional serial killer Freddy Krueger and the Columbine school killings. Despite appeals to health authorities and his mother's Member of Parliament, doctors concluded that Gonzales was inventing his symptoms or was under the influence of street drugs. In frustration, his mother added in a letter to her MP, "...does my son have to commit murder to get help?"

On September 15 2004, Daniel Gonzales brutally murdered 73-year old Marie Harding in Sussex (while wearing a hockey mask). Two days later, he killed 75-year old Derek Robinson and his wife Jean, 68 in Highgate, London.He also killed Kevin Milloy, 46, in London and attempted to kill two other people. He was arrested after his final murders when a bystander saw him naked and covered in blood at the house of his last victims.

During the course of his three-day killing spree, Gonzales wrote letters to himself about his experiences (he gave himself the nickname of "Zippy") in which he described the murders as being ""...one of the best things I've done in my life".After receiving six life sentences and being held in Broadmoor Hospital, Gonzales was later found dead in his cell in 2007. He had slashed his wrists with CDs.

The report concluded that doctors could not have predicted the extreme violence of which Daniel Gonzales was capable but also indicated that "more should have been done to engage Mr Gonzales while he was being cared for up to the date of the murders in 2004." A statement released by the Gonzales family indicated support for the report and its conclusions and added that ""We hope very much that the recommendations are acted upon so no-one else suffers in the way the victims and their families have."

Click here for more information.

Substance Use At The Crime Scene

Substance use has long been shown to have an effect on an individual's propensity to commit property crimes with recent studies showing substance users more likely to leave forensic material at a crime scene. A study published in the January, 2009 issue of Journal of Forensic Sciences examines property crimes solved in Northamptonshire, U.K., during 2006 with 70 crime scene behavior characteristics being analyzed for substance and nonsubstance use offenders. Statistical analysis of the results identified statistically significant crime scene behavior predictors that were found to be either present at or absent from the crime scene when the offender was a substance user. Most significant predictors present indicated lack of preparation by the offender, irrational behavior, and a desire to steal high value, easily sold property. Most significant predictors absent from the crime scene indicated more planning, preparation, and execution by the offender. Consideration is given to how this crime scene behavior might be used by police investigators to identify offenders.

The Effects of Substance Use on Offender Crime Sce...[J Forensic Sci. 2009] - PubMed Result.