‎101011 manuscripts: Perl and the Chronicle of Matthew of Edessa‎

The Chronicle of Matthew of Edessa is a twelfth-century Armenian history that survives in 43 manuscripts, held in ten libraries in eight countries. My task is to create a definitive text that is based on all of them. I will talk about the problems of medieval text editing, the ways in which Perl and phylogenetics have come to my rescue, and show a few pretty pictures of manuscripts

The closing door of climate targets

Robust evidence from a range of climate–carbon cycle models shows that the maximum warming relative to pre-industrial times caused by the emissions of carbon dioxide is nearly proportional to the total amount of emitted anthropogenic carbon (1, 2). This proportionality is a reasonable approximation for simulations covering many emissions scenarios for the time frame 1750 to 2500 (1). This linear relationship is remarkable given the different complexities of the models and the wide range of emissions scenarios considered. It has direct implications for the possibility of achieving internationally agreed climate targets such as those mentioned in the Copenhagen Accord and the Cancun Agreements (3, 4). Here I explain some of the implications of the linear relationship between peak warming and total cumulative carbon emissions.

Health literacy builds resilience among individuals and communities

Health is created in the context of everyday life, and health literacy originates in and helps shape the sociocultural context in which people live. Empowerment, equity, co-production and cultural capital have been shown to be positively associated with people’s health.

Beyond Symptoms: Typical Plans and Motives of Suicide Attempters Compared to Non-Suicidal Depressive Individuals

Aim: A major depressive episode is still a frequently discussed risk factor of suicidal behaviour. However, current studies suggest that depression is predictive of suicidal ideas but much less of suicidal act (Nock et al., 2009). This implies that suicidal behaviour should not only be seen as a symptom of a depressive disorder, but should be understood as an independent behaviour, which must be examined separately. The present qualitative study focuses on typical Plans and motives of suicide attempters compared to non-suicidal depressive individuals.Methods: Plan Analysis (Caspar, 2007), a clinical case conceptualization approach was used to analyze the instrumental relations between participants' behaviours and the hypothetical Plans and motives "behind" this behaviour. Video taped narrative interviews of 17 suicide attempters and intake interviews of 17 non‐suicidal depressive patients were investigated with the Plan Analysis procedure and a Plan structure was developed for each participant. These were used for establishing a prototypical Plan structure for each clinical group.Results: Results indicate that suicidal behaviour serves various Plans and motives only found in suicide attempters. Furthermore depressive patients pursue interpersonal control strategies which may serve as a protective factor for not evolving suicidal behaviour.Discussion. Findings are discussed with respect to current theoretical models of suicidality as well as implications for suicide prevention.

Moments of tension and strain in psychotherapy and how they promote a good alliance and outcome

It is well established that the therapeutic relationship contributes about as much to therapy outcome as ‘technical’ intervention. Furthermore, it follows clear prescriptive concepts in the same manner as technical interventions do. ‘Motive Oriented Therapeutic Relationship’ is such a concept for establishing a solid basis for whatever therapeutic work the patients’ problems require (Grawe, 1980, 1992; Caspar, 1996). Yet, the therapeutic relationship doesn’t explain everything because other factors play a significant role too. Previous studies showed that outcome is clearly better when therapists achieved a generally high quality of a therapeutic relationship when they did not shy away from possibly threatening interventions such as confrontations. This ratio of a fruitful alliance and marginally present confrontations in the same session also showed significant correlations with patient’s assessment of alliance and progress in therapy (Figlioli et al., 2009). The current state of research in the field, however, does not give any answers to questions like how good and bad confrontations can be characterized or what role does the intensity, respectively frequency of confrontations play in the process of psychotherapy. Therefore, we analyzed a sample of 80 therapies of 3 sessions each representing either good or bad outcome. Independent raters judged moment by moment how therapists used confrontative interventions. 20 cases, which showed an excellent or a very poor outcome, as well as an unexpected pattern were analyzed in further quantitative details. We found that confrontations are correlated to good outcome when they are uttered implicitly, related to an important topic of the patient (e.g. one of the defined therapy goals), long but weak, embedded in prior complementarity and not in the first three sessions of a therapy, as well as not an interactional discrepancy between the patient and the therapist.

Psychological intervention in injured individuals

Aim: Injured individuals face a high risk for the development of psychological symptoms such as depression or anxiety, which influences early return to work after an accident. So far, it is unclear to which extent early psychological interventions can improve the ability to return to work. The aim of the study was to investigate whether an improvement of the treatment‐triage influences early return to work and well being in injured individuals. Method: The study sample consists of injured individuals with different mental health-related or work-related disabilities after an accident. Participants are included eight weeks after an accident. Participants are randomly assigned to the intervention or to the control group. The intervention is an individualized psychotherapy consisting of cognitive‐behavioral therapy and work related topics in an individual setting. Wellbeing and work related factors are assessed at baseline and after six months. Result: The recruitment is still ongoing. The preliminary results of this randomized controlled study will be presented at the conference. Discussion: An individualized psychotherapy might have the potential to improve the rehabilitation process in injured individuals and improve the ability to return to work.