ARCHIVES OF PSYCHIATRY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY 2/2004

Reflections on psychotherapy by Professor Stefan Leder     5
A. Längle, Ch. Probst Existential questions of the elderly     15 Summary The objective of this paper is to assess the actual understanding of aging by younger and older people. For this purpose two surveys have been conducted. Their results show that old age poses important existential challenges, namely coming to terms with the transitory character of life, coping with the approach of death and parting, enduring illness and suffering, being confronted with the question of the meaning of life and ultimate religious questions, and, finally, managing problems of loneliness, anxiety and depression. This leads to the conclusion that the life of the elderly requires an enhanced ability to respond to the fundamental questions of existence, because this loom ever larger during old age and contributes considerably to its inherent problems. The paper concludes with some remarks on an appropriate existential attitude to be adopted by the mental health professional in discussions with elderly patients.
	Katarzyna Bażyńska, Zofia Bronowska, Irena Namysłowska, Cezary Żechowski The sense of coherence in patients of a psychiatric adolescent unit     21 Summary The study analysed the sense of coherence in three diagnostic subgroups (psychotic, eating disorder, and neurotic and personality disorders) of patients in a psychiatric adolescent unit and their families.
Marek Nieznański, Monika Czerwińska, Agnieszka Chojnowska, Sławomir Walczak, Witold Duński Effectiveness of cognitive skills training in schizophrenia     33 Summary Background and aim: Cognitive impairments are widely acknowledged as a central feature of schizophrenic disorders. The present study evaluated the effects of cognitive skills training in a sample of schizophrenic outpatients. Material and methods: Fourteen subjects in the experimental group received 12 sessions of practice skills with various cognitive tasks, while 19 patients in the control group participated in sessions involving psychoeducation only. Results: The analysis of treatment effects indicated that patients from the experimental group improved their performance in all cognitive tests and enhanced some aspects of illness awareness. Patients in the control group improved in their overall symptom score and in all insight scores. Conclusion: A brief course of cognitive training can be sufficient to improve cognition in patients with schizophrenia. However, the generalizability of this effect on illness awareness and symptomatology is less tangible.
	Barbara Józefik, Grzegorz Iniewicz, Irena Namysłowska, Romualda Ulasińska Family relations as perceived by parents of females suffering from anorexia nervosa - Part I     47 Summary The article presents the results of research upon the assessment of family relations on the part of the parents of girls suffering from anorexia nervosa.
Richard D. Chessick An unfinished experimental didactic novel. Chapter 10: Milan.     61