Providentia

Better Warfare Through Chemistry

During the closing days of World War II, the Nazi regime became increasingly desperate for soldiers given the severe casualties sustained on the Russian and Western fronts.   Since recruitment drives were failing to keep up with demand, they decided to solve the problem by using chemicals to enhance the performance of those soldiers they already had.  Despite Adolf Hitler's public stand against drug and alcohol abuse (ignoring his own bizarre dependence on amphetamines), Nazi scientists had long experimented with different drugs that could be used as performance enhancers in soldiers.  Even before the war began,  Germany began amassing millions of amphetamine tablets for use by the military though this supply was quickly exhausted.

Then came a new drug, Pervitin, that had recently been brought to market by Temmler Werke, a German pharmaceutical company that had enthusiastically promoted the drug for military use.  Basically a methamphetamine compound, Pervitin quickly caught the attention of Otto Ranke, then-director of the Institute for General and Defense Physiology at Berlin’s Academy of Military Medicine and, not coincidentally, a member of the Wehrmacht. 

After military researchers learned that Pervitin could reduce hunger, thirst, pain sensitivity, and the need for sleep in soldiers, it was soon distributed to troops fighting on all fronts, often without their knowledge.    Given the official Nazi stand on drug and alcohol use, the millions of Pervitin tablets distributed to soldiers were labeled as "Panzerschokolade," or "tank chocolate" (also known as pilot's chocolate" or "pilot's salt" when distributed to air force pilots).  Even Adolf Hitler became an enthusiastic Pervitin user and had his personal physician, Theodor Morell, prescribe the pills in large doses.   

At first, it appeared that Pervitin was a major success.   Nazi troops stormed through Europe in a Blitzkrieg made possible by soldiers high on amphetamines and other drugs.  Stories continued to be reports of soldiers, often on the verge of exhaustion or collapsing due to sub-zero temperatures,  being able to return to normal duty with large amphetamine doses.    Naturally, the drawbacks of Pervitin abuse became all too apparent soon enough.   Not only did many soldiers become addicted, but the side effects, including insomnia, psychotic behaviour, and, in some cases, heart failure grew increasingly common.   Then, there were the withdrawal effects, including sweating, dizziness, hallucinations, and depression which continued to plague soldiers long after the war ended.   Though the Third Reich's Health Leader, Dr. Leonardo Conti, tried restricting the drug, many soldiers simply turned to black market sources to feed their addiction.  

Finding a Better Drug

Even as Pervitin was being distributed to German troops across Europe,   Nazi scientists began searching for even better performance-enhancing agents to help the war effort.  It probably helped that they had an unlimited supply of involuntary research subjects in death camps such as Dachau and Auschwitz.   At Dachau, for example, scientists explored the "mind control" effects of mescaline by administering large doses to French and Jewish prisoners.   To their disappointment, they found that mescaline made prisoners even harder to control since they became incapable of following even simple orders. 

For that matter, Nazi scientists even conducted drug experiments on themselves, largely to help deal with the pressures of wartime service.    One of the doctors, Dr. Franz von Wertheim, a medical officer stationed near the Western Wall, wrote the following in his diary entry dated May 10, 1940: “To help pass the time, we doctors experimented on ourselves. We would begin the day by drinking a water glass of cognac and taking two injections of morphine. We found cocaine to be useful at midday … as a result, we were not always fully in command of our senses.”   As you might expect, addiction became a major problem for military doctors with morphine addiction rising more than 400 percent over the course of the war.

By early 1944, as the German war effort was becoming even more desperate, Vice-Admiral Hellmuth Heye asked German scientists to develop a new drug that could work even better than Pervitin.  Something that, in a sense, would make them into "super soldiers" able to overcome fatigue, boost self-confidence, and make them better at fighting.   Soon afterward, pharmacologist Gerhard Orzechowski announced a new drug, available in pill form, that combined cocaine, methamphetamine, and a morphine-based agent to increase pain tolerance.

This new drug, code-named D-IX, was first tested on Jewish prisoners at Sachsenhausen, a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany.    The prisoners who took part in the tests were all required to take the experimental drug and then forced to march up to 50 miles (75km) without resting, carrying 50-pound (20kg) packs.   In describing the experiments, one prisoner later wrote "At first the members of the punishment battalion whistled and sang songs. [But] most of them had collapsed after the first 24 hours."   Though many of the prisoners who participated in the "Pill Patrol" later died due to physical exhaustion, the Nazi doctors overseeing the experiment hailed it as a success, and plans were soon made to mass-produce D-IX tablets and distribute them to all Nazi troops.  These plans fell through when the war ended and D-IX quietly faded into obscurity.  

Not that Germany was unique in providing amphetamine tablets for military use during the war.   Whether inspired by their German allies or not, the Imperial Japanese armed forces also distributed amphetamine tablets to their own troops.  For soldiers sent on special missions, including kamikaze pilots, there was Philopon which basically consisted of tablets containing methamphetamine and green tea powder (the Emperor's crest was stamped on each tablet).    As for American and Allied troops, amphetamine use was just as pervasive with millions of tablets being distributed to soldiers with little real warning of the potential dangers.   In a real sense, amphetamines were a major part of every soldier's "first aid kit" as a way of countering exhaustion.   

The Alcohol Alternative

And then there was that familiar standby, alcohol, which, along with amphetamines, was widely available for all troops, German, Japanese, and Allied, alike.   The Nazi high command was especially motivated to keep their soldiers well-plied with alcohol considering that the shortage of older recruits meant bringing in new soldiers who were little more than adolescents.    To ensure they maintained the necessary "courage", Nazi officers often distributed alcoholic beverages as a special reward whenever possible. 

Walther Kittel, a general in the Nazi medical corps defended the use of alcohol by saying that only a fanatic would refuse to give a soldier something that can help him relax and enjoy life after he has faced the horrors of battle, or would reprimand him for enjoying a friendly drink or two with his comrades.   Along with the liquor supplied by the officers, there was also the bootleg variety supplied from local bootleggers, or even the occasional still run by soldiers themselves. 

But, much like amphetamines (which soldiers often mixed with alcohol), problems soon developed, including public drunkenness,  soldiers fighting with each other,  insubordination, and “crimes involving unnatural sexual acts.”    Between  September 1939 and April 1944, over seven hundred soldiers died in various alcohol-related mishaps (though the actual number was likely higher).   Then again, the alcohol craze was hardly limited to Nazi troops alone.    Not only were American soldiers eagerly buying up all the beer and liquor they could find, but they even resorted to making up their own "brews" mixing juice with Aqua Velva aftershave (pure alcohol was one of the ingredients).  

For soldiers who couldn't get enough real alcohol, there was also methyl alcohol which was widely available as a solvent and antifreeze.  It definitely had a " kick " with a 98 percent alcohol content leading to some soldiers being either killed or blinded.    Even with aggressive crackdowns, including well-publicized executions of bootleggers, the demand for bootleg alcohol was strong enough for it to continue being a danger throughout the course of the war.

After the War

For soldiers desperate to escape the horrors of war, even temporarily, drugs and alcohol remained an essential part of military life.   While officially discouraged by Allied and Axis commanders, most turned a blind eye to substance abuse so long as it didn't interfere with a soldier's ability to fight.    Long after the end of hostilities,  drug and alcohol addiction continued to plague many soldiers trying to return to civilian life.   It probably didn't help that many of the drugs they used were extremely common, including amphetamines and opiates, and many doctors prescribed them freely for problems ranging from depression to obesity.    As for the veterans themselves, they often had little real help available to them, especially for treating addiction given that the widespread use of drugs and alcohol during the war remained a "dirty little secret" for decades and the specter of addiction would crop up in later wars as well.

Though programs to help veterans cope with trauma and substance abuse are more widely available today, this was only after decades of political activism by veterans' groups demanding better access to mental health treatment.   Even today, however, drug and alcohol use remains far too common among active and retired service personnel, many of whom face the same issues that plagued WWII servicemen decades before.

The Rise of Telepsychology

Mental health providers’ usage of telehealth modalities saw an exponential increase in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Some experts have suggested that it takes considerable time, education, consultation, and/or supervision to develop the new technology-based competencies. Education is required to understand not just the technologies, but the practices (e.g., ethical, legal, safety planning), differences from face-to-face care, and workflows. Given the need for rapid transition due to COVID-19, it is unclear how providers prepared for the integration of telehealth with their traditional practices. As such, the purpose of a new study in Professional Psychology: Research and Practice  was to examine mental health providers’ educational activities prior to and post telehealth implementation. Four hundred and four practicing providers (i.e., psychologists, counselors, therapists, social workers) were assessed via an online researcher-created survey. Results indicated significant increases in telehealth usage following COVID-19, with videoconferencing being the most common modality used. Although approximately 74% of surveyed providers sought telehealth education prior to usage, approximately 26% did not. In supplement of anything learned prior, approximately 61% indicated pursuing additional education post implementation. Taken together, a significant portion of providers can be viewed as having gained information that guided ethical, legal, and safe clinical services. Nevertheless, with consideration of the breadth and duration of the educational activities pursued, many providers would likely still benefit from additional education to foster a more complete understanding of the new telehealth competencies. Details regarding usage and educational activities are discussed. Application of information is outlined. Findings can help provide direction for additional educational efforts for providers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

For the abstract

The Problem with Robert Schumann

On March 6, 1854, when Robert Schumann first became a patient at a private sanatorium located in Endenich (now part of Bonn), he assumed that entering as a voluntary patient would count in his favour when he eventually decided to leave.  Instead, he would spend the rest of his life there.

Already famous for his prowess as a pianist and a composer, Schumann's seemingly idyllic life, including his marriage to Clara and the eight children they had together, was marred by his lifelong problems with depression.   By late 1853, he began developing new and even more worrisome symptoms, including auditory hallucinations of angelic voices (which may have been linked to problems with tinnitus).   This soon progressed to his experiencing visions of angels and, as his condition deteriorated, of demons as well.   The demonic voices continually told him he was a sinner and that they would be throwing him into Hell.   He also screamed at times due to the belief that he was being savagely attacked by wild animals. 

In the first months of 1854, he began worrying about the possibility of harming himself or his family and he warned Clara that he posed a danger to her.n On February 27, he eluded the family members keeping watch on him, and proceeded to a bridge overlooking the Rhine river near his Dusseldorf home.   Then, after throwing his wedding ring into the river, he jumped in himself.  Fortunately, two fishermen witnessed his jump and managed to reach him in their boat and bring him to safety (despite his attempting to throw himself into the river a second time).  

When the fishermen brought Schumann home, he was placed under the constant care of two physicians (Clara didn't learn about the suicide attempt until some time later).   After being kept in isolation for several days, he asked his doctors to arrange his transfer to a mental institution "because only there would he recover."    Since the Schumanns were relatively well-off, the decision was made to send him to the private sanatorium at Endenich where he would receive far better treatment than in a public hospital.    Though Clara was distraught by her husband's condition, she was helped by her mother, children, and family friend, Johannes Brahms, all of whom were present when he was transferred to Edenich with only one physician to accompany him.

The asylum at Edenich certainly had a good reputation and its director, Dr. Franz Richarz, was considered one of the top experts in his field.  Located on a seven-acre estate that had originally been built as a summer residence, it had been purchased just two years before by Dr. Richarz who had then converted it to a hospital.   Retaining much of its original splendor, including extensive gardens, the hospital seemed like an ideal setting for recovering patients.  Certainly, its policies were unusually progressive for that era with patients being allowed to walk on and off the grounds for exercise (though Schumann was constantly supervised due to his suicidal history).    Unfortunately, treatment was also extremely expensive and, despite offers of help from Brahms and other friends, was a major financial concern for Clara Schumann.

She was also concerned about the weekly reports she received from the hospital about her husband.   The doctors had asked her not to visit or communicate with her husband directly since they thought this would help him recover faster.   Even the few visitors he received weren't allowed to talk to him, only to observe from a distance.   Whether or not this made good medical sense, it certainly contributed to his feeling of isolation, especially from Clara and his beloved children.   

While the doctors continued to report on his progress, any hope for a speedy recovery was dashed by Robert's frequent relapses, not to mention his constant guilt over something that happened prior to his marriage to Clara (historians are divided over what exactly this was).   Despite his relapses, he definitely improved over time and often went on walks through the hospital's gardens.   Though he was eventually allowed visitors, his improvement was still rocky.   

The hallucinations slowly subsided but he was still prone to paranoid delusions, including the belief that his wine was poisoned.  He was also distressed over not hearing from Clara at all and he apparently didn't realize that the doctors had instructed her not to write to him directly.   After a few months, the doctors relented and asked Clara to write to him but she was still asked not to discuss any topics that might distress him.

While Clara tried to write as often as possible, her own life was going through a profound change.   She had largely been overshadowed by her husband before his hospitalization but raising her children alone allowed her to establish herself as one of Europe's finest pianists.   As a result, she was kept busy going on frequent musical tours to help pay for Robert's care as well as to support herself and her children.   Despite her worries about Robert's condition, she definitely enjoyed all the public attention she was receiving, and, ironically enough, her success as a pianist allowed her to earn far more money than Robert would likely have earned at his regular music position in Dusseldorf.  

As for Robert himself, he continued to recover and, while his letters to Clara were sporadic, he also wrote to many of his other friends, including Brahms.   In these letters, along with what he told friends during visits, Robert seemed apprehensive about his doctors and the treatment he was receiving at Endenich.    When one of his close friends, Joseph Joachim, visited Schumann December 1844,  Robert told him that he wanted to leave Edenich because "the doctors there completely misunderstood him".   There was no evidence that Joachim told Clara about this but Robert later sent her a letter in which he wrote, "My Clara, ” he wrote, “I feel as if something dreadful lies before me. What sorrow—if I never see you and the children again!”  Though his doctors took this to mean that he was considering suicide, it seems more likely that he was afraid that he would never be allowed to rejoin his family. 

Though Clara herself didn't visit Edenich, she arranged for several friends to see her husband and investigate other possible clinics.  One friend, Bettina von Arnim, visited Robert and later told Clara that she would do everything she could "to free poor Schumann as soon as possible from his imprisonment."   She was also extremely critical of the hospital and the doctors themselves, many of whom she thought were even more disturbed than their patients.

Despite Bettina's urging, Clara was reluctant to take her husband out of the hospital and, instead, met with Dr. Richarz who assured her that everything was fine and that Robert should not be moved.   This was apparently enough for Clara and she agreed to keep him at Edenich for at least another year.  Unfortunately, Robert had apparently regarded Bettina as being his last hope and his condition quickly deteriorated when nothing changed.   

By 1856,  Robert had become much worse as Brahms noted in his two visits that year.  After one of these visits, Brahms reported that his friend was largely incoherent and that "often he only babbled, something like bababa—dadada" and that he showed little sign of understanding his friend when he tried to talk.   

In June of that year, Clara received a telegram from Edenich while she was touring in England.   The telegram said that Robert was "totally debilitated" though he was still apparently conscious.   She finally went to Edenich herself on July 27 after receiving word that her husband was dying.    Even though Brahms and the doctors had tried to stop the visit (to spare her the shock), Clara was still stunned by what she saw.    As she would later report, "He smiled at me and, with great exertion placed his arm around me. I will never forget it...He spoke with spirits, so it seemed, and would not permit anyone around him for long, or he would become restless.   It was nearly impossible to understand him any longer."  

Robert Schumann died in his sleep on July 29 at 4 pm.   Clara came to his bedside a half-hour later to see her husband one last time.  "I stood by the corpse of my dearly  beloved husband and was at peace; all feelings went in thanks to God that he was finally free."  The funeral was held just four days later and the general consensus among everyone present was a sense of relief that his "miserable existence" was over.   Clara Schumann never remarried and spent the rest of her life as a concert pianist who helped to popularize Schumann's work worldwide.

As for the exact cause of  Schumann's death, that continues to be a mystery even today.   While he was only forty-six when he died, the autopsy report itself was largely inconclusive.  In an article Doctor Richarz wrote on Schuman in 1873, he claimed that Robert suffered from "incomplete general paralysis" resulting from a "slow,  but irreversible and progressive deterioration in organization and strength of the entire nervous system."   Along with his "melancholic depression",  Richarz attributed Schumann's early death to his refusal to eat and the emaciated state of his body when he died.  

Other medical historians have also suggested that Schumann suffered from schizophrenia or bipolar depression based on the bizarre symptoms he often displayed.  In recent years, another explanation that seems more widely accepted was that he suffered from tertiary syphilis (also called general paresis in those days).   Certainly, he had numerous symptoms linked to advanced syphilis, including hallucinations, speech and movement difficulties, and an eventual mental collapse.   Schumann himself apparently believed that he had syphilis due to a previous affair (which contributed to his delusions of being sent to Hell due to his "wickedness").   Still, no traces of the brain degeneration commonly seen in tertiary syphilis turned up in his autopsy, something that would have been evident if he really had the disease.   Certainly, there was no indication that he passed it on to Clara or that any of his children developed congenital syphilis afterward (though one son was committed to a psychiatric asylum years later).   

Ironically, it may well have been the treatment received at Edenich that truly led to Schumann's death.   In his own article, Doctor Richarz displayed a total lack of empathy towards his patient that reflects Schumann's own sense of despair at not being allowed to leave the hospital.  His hopes for a release were raised by visits from friends such as Bettina von Arnim, his condition only deteriorated when he felt abandoned and he began starving himself as a result.   As it happens, other patients also engaged in hunger strikes, largely in protest to the treatment they were receiving at Edenich, though little is known about what later happened to them. 

So,  was Robert Schumann's death due to despair at being abandoned or because of a still-undiagnosed medical condition?   We may never know for sure.  Despite the mystery surrounding Schumann's death, the love affair between Clara and Robert, as well as their friendship with Brahms continues to be commemorated.  With numerous books and movies written about the three of them, not to mention the musical works that Johannes Brahms and Robert Schumann completed between them,  Clara, Robert, and Brahms have become the stuff of legend.

Forecasting the Future of Psychotherapy

Whither psychotherapy in the 2030s? Following a decennial tradition, the authors of a study published in Professional Psychology: Research and Practice conducted an e-Delphi poll on the future of psychotherapy in the United States. A panel of 56 psychotherapy experts participated in two rounds of predictions and achieved consensus on most items. The experts forecast multicultural, mindfulness, and cognitive–behavior therapies to increase the most, whereas classical psychoanalysis, reality therapy, and gestalt therapy to decrease the most. Technological, relationship-building, strength-oriented, skill-building, and self-change interventions were expected to rise. Master-level clinicians of multiple professions were projected to expand while psychiatrists to decline in the proportion of psychotherapy rendered. Therapy platforms with the highest likelihood of flourishing were videoconferencing, texting, smartphone applications, and multiple or flexible platforms. Short-term therapy, crisis intervention, and very short-term therapy were predicted to increase the most. Forecast scenarios with the highest likelihood were therapy personalization, treatment of health problems, requirement of evidence-based practices for insurance reimbursement, and integration of psychotherapy into primary care. Limitations of the Delphi methodology are elucidated, and practice implications for health-service psychologists are advanced. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved

For the abstract

The Mathematician in the Asylum

As one of the leading French mathematicians of his generation and the author of two books on elementary geometry, Jacques Hadamard was always open to new mathematical ideas.   When he received a mathematical proof in the mail from a previously unknown mathematician named Andre Bloch, Hadamard was mesmerized by its elegance.  The proof related to a branch of elementary geometry involving paratactic circles, systems of two circles with orthogonal planes with the intersection being the common diameter of the two circles and cut according to a harmonic division.  According to Bloch, parataxy remained invariant under inversion and any inversion with respect to a point situated on one of them transforms them into a circle and its axis.

Hadamard was so intrigued by Bloch's discovery that he immediately decided to invite him to dinner.  Since he had no other way of contacting Bloch, Hadamard wrote to the return address of 57 Grand Rue, Saint- Maurice with the invitation.  Bloch wrote back that a visit would be impossible but asked the great mathematician to visit him instead.  It was only when Jacques Hadamard finally took him up on his offer that he discovered why Bloch was unable to come to him:  57 Grand Rue, Saint-Maurice was the address of the Charenton lunatic asylum (now the Esquiral hospital) where Andre Bloch was an inmate.   He had been involuntarily committed to the hospital following a brutal triple murder in 1917 and would never be allowed to leave.  Although Hadamard was astonished by his discovery, he and Bloch talked at length about mathematics while he learned more about the inmate's story.

Born in 1893 in Besancon, France, Andre Bloch was one of three sons of an Alsatian Jewish watchmaker and his wife.  Orphaned at an early age,  Andre and his brother Georges were in the same class despite Georges being younger.  While Andre was a poor student at first, he and George entered the Ecole Polytechnique together but only finished their first year when World War One broke out.  Both brothers were drafted and Andre served in the artillery as a second lieutenant.  Although George and Andre were both wounded in the war (Georges lost an eye while Andre fell from an observation post) only George was discharged and allowed to return to school.   Due to lingering injuries, Andre was hospitalized several times and eventually placed on indefinite leave.

On November 17, 1917,  while Andre Bloch was visiting with his aunt and uncle at their family home in Paris,  he attacked his brother, aunt, and uncle at a family meal. After knifing all three of them to death, he then ran shouting into the street where he was arrested without resistance.  Given that the country was still at war and the case involved two army officers, there was little publicity involved.  Andre was quietly committed to the Charenton asylum for the rest of his life.

His reason for the murders remains unclear although he would later justify his action by telling his doctors that he had been fulfilling his "eugenic duty".  As he explained it, the laws of eugenics were indisputable and his actions had been clearly necessary given the family history of mental illness.  In all other respects, he seemed perfectly sane and he devoted his time to working on various mathematical proofs.  This was all the more remarkable considering that he was entirely self-taught.  He wrote to various prominent mathematicians on a range of different topics in theoretical and applied mathematical proofs.  Everything that he knew about mathematics was learned through the mathematics books which had been provided to him and the mathematics journals to which he subscribed (including the Bulletin des Sciences Mathematiques).  Along with Jacques Hadamard, he also maintained regular correspondence with other mathematicians such as George Polya, Georges Valiron, Charles Emile Picard, and Paul Montel.  Although he always gave the Charenton hospital as his return address without revealing his actual circumstances, Bloch's status as an inmate became an open secret.  Since many of the letters are still in existence, they represent a fascinating look at Bloch's contributions to the field of mathematics.

Along with four papers on holomorphic and meromorphic functions (which have since become standard), Andre Bloch wrote papers on function theory, number theory, geometry, and algebraic equations among other topics.  He was also keenly interested in the elections at the Academie des Sciences and expressed hope that he would eventually be allowed to present his work in person at the College de France and the University of Strasbourg.  Bloch allowed however that "in all probability, that will not be for quite a while".    Even during the Nazi occupation, Bloch continued to publish but was careful to write under assumed names to avoid calling attention to his Jewish origins (the irony of having to hide from his fellow eugenicists was probably lost on him though).  

According to available records, Andre Bloch was a model inmate and lived his life in a monastic fashion with little interaction with the other inmates or staff.  He did all his work at a small table installed for him at the end of a corridor and even avoided going out onto the hospital grounds stating that "Mathematics is enough for me".  According to family members, Andre Bloch's main enjoyment came from his mathematics work and long games of chess with staff or inmates.

As for the murders that led to his being sent to the asylum, he never showed any real remorse.   In his classic book, Des Hommes Come Nous, prominent psychiatrist Henri Baruk devoted part of one chapter to the "Mathematician of Charenton" (Bloch wasn't named in the book).   Baruk commented on his patient's "rational morbidity" in describing how the murders had been necessary to eliminate that branch of his family that he considered defective.  Even late in life, Bloch would argue that his actions had been "a matter of mathematical logic.  There had been mental illness in my family.  The destruction of the whole of the branch had to follow as a matter of course".  When his physician protested, Bloch accused him of "emotional language" and insisted his actions were based on his philosophy of "pragmatism and absolute rationality". 

After developing leukemia, Andre Bloch was admitted to Saint-Anne Hospital for an operation and died on October 11, 1948.  Shortly before his death, Bloch had been notified that he had been awarded the Becquerel prize by the Academic des Sciences (the prize was given to him posthumously several months after his death).  He is still remembered for his numerous contributions to mathematics including Bloch's theorem,  Bloch space, and Bloch's constant.  

Would his contributions have been more extensive if he hadn't been confined for most of his life?  Did his traumatic experiences in the war lead to his explosive violence?  These are questions that will likely never be answered.  Still, Andre Bloch's case represents a fascinating example of how even institutionalized psychiatric patients can continue having an influence on the world if their determination (or obsession?) is great enough.

Are There Biomarkers for Child Abuse?

Child maltreatment (CM) is a widespread problem associated with poor mental and physical health outcomes. The underlying mechanisms of this link are not always well understood, however certain biological changes observed in maltreated individuals may play a role in connecting experience and outcome. A new review published in Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy  specifically focuses on 2 markers of biological embedding, DNA methylation (DNAm) and telomere length (TL) in maltreated children and youth. As biomarker changes are not uniform among maltreated children, we additionally discuss biological and environmental resilience factors that may contribute to variability. Method: We conducted a systematic review of Medline, Embase and PsycINFO databases for studies examining DNAm and/or TL in maltreated children and youth. Methodological quality of the included studies was assessed using the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) checklists for cohort studies and randomized control trials. Data extraction focused on various factors including population and CM (type, chronicity, severity, and duration) characteristics. Results: The initial search returned 1,688 nonduplicate results, with 417 full text articles reviewed. Twenty-six articles from 16 studies were ultimately included of which 8 examined telomere length and 18 examined DNA methylation. Conclusions: While some heterogeneity of findings was found, evidence supports differential changes in both biomarkers associated with CM. This review enhances understanding of the constellation of biological changes related to CM and consideration of the important role of resilience factors in mitigating risk. Elucidating these factors may highlight targets for future study and intervention development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

For the abstract

The Utah POW Massacre

It should have been a routine night at the temporary prisoner of war camp that had been set up at the end of Main Street in Salina, Utah. 

Two months following Germany's formal surrender on May 7, 1945, the 250 German prisoners of war who were still housed at the camp were waiting to be repatriated back to Europe. Due to the limited space available, the prisoners were kept in 43 tents scattered across the campgrounds with guards posted on towers to watch them. On July 8, 1945, Private Clarence Bertucci climbed one of the guard towers and relieved the guard there to begin his midnight shift. Bertucci then took this regulation .30-caliber machine gun, threaded it in the belt of cartridges, and took aim at the tents where the prisoners were sleeping.  He methodically fired 250 rounds and managed to hit thirty tents in his fifteen-second rampage. By the time a corporal managed to disarm Bertucci, six prisoners were dead and an additional twenty-two were wounded (three would later die of their injuries).

Beginning in World War I, camps in Utah were frequently used to house German nationals and prisoners of war.  With the 38th Infantry located at Fort Douglas near Salt Lake City,  Utah's location seemed ideal for housing German POWs following the United States' entry into World War II.  Hundreds of German prisoners were held in the camps during the course of the war and often housed in tents due to the limited space available. Guarding the prisoners was not a popular duty for the soldiers stationed at the camps.

Due to low morale and the generally poor quality of training that the guards were provided, discipline was a continuing problem. According to one well-known history of the Utah prison camps, many of the guards were described as being "of low mentality, non-intellectual, (who) could neither understand nor see the reason for the Geneva Convention. Many drank and went AWOL. They read comic books rather than listen to the news.  They liked to think of themselves as heroes, their one desire being 'to shoot a Kraut'."  While guards with more military experience and better training became common towards the end of the war, numerous guards with disciplinary problems still remained.

Clarence Bertucci was definitely one of them.

Born in New Orleans in 1921, Bertucci was a sixth-grade dropout who enlisted in the army in 1940.  Despite his long service in the military, he seemed incapable of being promoted beyond the rank of private and was a frequent discipline problem (including facing a court-martial on two occasions). He never served overseas except for an eight-month stint with an artillery unit in England and, like many other problem cases, was eventually transferred to Fort Douglas to serve as a guard. Despite his pathological hatred of Germans, he seemed to manage his duties well enough.

According to later testimony, Bertucci had reportedly felt "cheated" due to being unable to serve in combat. He was also quoted as saying, "Someday I will get my Germans; I will get my turn."   He kept it to himself if he was upset by the news of the war's end and that the prisoners he had been guarding would soon be going home. When Bertucci went out drinking on the evening of May 7, he showed no indication of what he was planning. According to the waitresses at his favorite bar, he simply told them that "something exciting" would happen that night and then he went back to the fort to begin his shift.

After being taken into custody, Bertucci was completely unrepentant about what he had done. As far as he was concerned, the killings were justified due to his victims being German soldiers. Following his placement in a local hospital for a psychiatric assessment, the military was forced to deal with the political fallout. The killing of nine prisoners by a U.S. soldier was a public relations disaster during what should have been a time of celebration. Despite the absence of any real evidence of mental impairment, Clarence Bertucci was declared insane by a military panel and sent to a New York mental hospital. There is little information available on what happened to him afterward or how long he spent in hospital. He died in 1969.

His victims, ranging in age from 24 to 48, were buried at Fort Douglas Cemetery. Dressed in U.S. military khaki uniforms, they were buried with military honors (there was no military flag on the caskets since the new German flag wasn't available). Only their common death date and the inscription on their tombstones distinguish their graves from all the others in the military cemetery. The other injured soldiers were repatriated when they were declared medically fit for travel. Bertucci's rampage marked a sad end to the otherwise successful internment of hundreds of thousands of enemy soldiers in U.S. territory during World War II and is still remembered as the worst massacre at a POW camp in U.S. history.

In 1988, the German Air Force funded the refurbishment of the memorial statue at Fort Douglas Cemetery. A moving ceremony was held on the third Sunday in November (the German national day of mourning) and the statue was rededicated in honor of the deceased prisoners and all victims of despotic governments around the world.

Sleep, Stress, and the Pandemic

Stress associated with global health threats such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and related containment efforts may be associated with significant sleep disruption. Stress-related sleep disturbance is an established transdiagnostic risk factor; thus, identifying associations with coping strategies may inform future intervention efforts. A new study published in the journal Health Psychology examined secondary control-oriented coping strategies, including positive reappraisal, which may be particularly effective in the context of stressors characterized by high uncertainty and low controllability such as a pandemic. Method: The current study (total N = 227 undergraduate students, predominantly female) examined the associations among primary and secondary control-oriented coping strategies, positive and negative affect (PA, NA), and the development of acute sleep disturbance in the month after the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic. Control of prepandemic reported sleep disturbance allowed for prospective analyses of pandemic-related change. Results: Participants reported high levels of stress due to the pandemic onset, including difficulties with time management, difficulties with work or school, and worry about the future. Reappraisal and acceptance were both associated with higher concurrent PA, lower NA, and less increase in sleep disturbance; however, positive reappraisal was the only coping strategy that predicted unique variance in increased sleep disturbance. Conclusions: Current findings add to our understanding of stress adaptation in response to stressors characterized by high severity, high uncertainty, and low controllability, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and suggest that positive reappraisal and PA may foster resilience to stress-related sleep disturbance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

For the abstract

The precarious masculinity of firearm ownership

Men are more likely than women to harm themselves and others with firearms. Central to this problem is men’s interest in owning firearms. The precarious manhood paradigm (PMP; Vandello et al., 2008) suggests that masculinity is tenuous and must be outwardly displayed. In a new study published in the journal Psychology of Men & Masculinities, researchers conducted a PMP-informed experiment to test whether threats to masculinity were associated with increased interest in owning firearms. Community participants in the United States (Men n = 388, Women n = 243) completed an online “marketing survey” and were then given false personality feedback profiles. All feedback was standardized with exception of the masculinity/femininity profile. Men were randomly assigned to a masculinity threat (masculinity reported as below average; MThreat, n = 131), boost (masculinity reported as above average; MBoost, n = 129), and control (masculinity reported as average; MControl, n = 128) conditions. Women were randomly assigned to a femininity threat (n = 84), boost (n = 87), and control (n = 72) conditions (conditions were identical except women received femininity threats/boosts). Participants were then asked about their interest in owning various firearms. MThreat participants reported significantly higher interest in owning every firearm shown compared to MControl participants, and significantly more interest than MBoost participants for half of the firearms. No differences in firearm interest were evident between MBoost and MControl conditions. No differences in firearm interest were evident across all conditions in the women sample. All participants were then debriefed. Results suggest men’s desire to own firearms maybe connected to masculine insecurities. Efforts should be made to socially defuse the masculinity-firearm connection. Further research implications and limitations are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

For the abstract

Bigotry and the human–animal divide: (Dis)belief in human evolution and bigoted attitudes across different cultures.

A new study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology tested if people’s basic belief in the notion that human beings have developed from other animals (i.e., belief in evolution) can predict human-to-human prejudice and intergroup hostility. Using data from the American General Social Survey and Pew Research Center (Studies 1–4), and from three online samples (Studies 5, 7, 8) we tested this hypothesis across 45 countries, in diverse populations and religious settings, across time, in nationally representative data (N = 60,703), and with more comprehensive measures in online crowdsourced data (N = 2,846). Supporting the hypothesis, low belief in human evolution was associated with higher levels of prejudice, racist attitudes, and support for discriminatory behaviors against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ), Blacks, and immigrants in the United States (Study 1), with higher ingroup biases, prejudicial attitudes toward outgroups, and less support for conflict resolution in samples collected from 19 Eastern European countries (Study 2), 25 Muslim countries (Study 3), and Israel (Study 4). Further, among Americans, lower belief in evolution was associated with greater prejudice and militaristic attitudes toward political outgroups (Study 5). Finally, perceived similarity to animals (a construct distinct from belief in evolution, Study 6) partially mediated the link between belief in evolution and prejudice (Studies 7 and 8), even when controlling for religious beliefs, political views, and other demographic variables, and were also observed for nondominant groups (i.e., religious and racial minorities). Overall, these findings highlight the importance of belief in human evolution as a potentially key individual-difference variable predicting racism and prejudice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

For the abstract