Systems Psychiatry, Psychiatric Reaearch, Idealist Philosophy, Intersubjectivity, Collective Consciousness, Reality, Cognition, Ethology, Evolution, Amphetamine Addiction, Ethics.

Interdisciplinary Psychiatry and Philosophy

CIRIP, International Center for Interdisciplinary Psychiatric Research

A research center without walls

Centre International de Recherche Interdisciplinaire en Psychiatrie

Bygaden 24 B,Svog.DK-4000 Roskilde,Denmark (Axel Randrup)
33 Rue Lacépède, F-75005 Paris,France (Pierre Marchais)
Letters to the editor,Axel Randrup: arandrup@mobilixnet.dk

Update December 13, 2002

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Contents:

Some publications from the Center. With abstracts.
At the top and the bottom of this section, NEWS

Activities and Interests of the Members

Announcement: The International Journal of Transpersonal Studies NEW

For search in all web sites from CIRIP see the bottom of this page

Some publications from the Center. With abstracts

NEW
The four dimensional approach to the psychical and psychopathological phenomena

L'approche quadrimensionnelle des phénomènes psychiques et psychopathologiques

by Pierre Marchais

Key-words- Epistemology, functioniong, psychical, history of psychiatry, interdisciplinarity, methodology, observation, frame of reference, spatio-temporality, mental disturbances.

Summary- Spatio-temporality is a general frame of reference, at the same time universal and particular, habitually represented in a binary mode by the space-time diagramme.t this diagramme is in fact a reduction of several variables. Its deployment in four dimensions admits of more refined registrations. Its operant character is at the same time permanent and variable depending on the nature of the findings and the projects of the observer. Three dimensions represent space. The first of these is about the objective observations; the second admits of registration of phenomena which are spotaneously experienced by the patient or interpreted by the observer; The third is reserved for frames of reference for observation given by the milieu and for the steps taken by the observer. The fourth dimension is the temporality permitting to multiply the findings of the preceding three dimensions. The product of all these factors make visible the dynamics of cognition, the evolutionary structure and the basic properties of the phenomena studied.
The author states three types of application: the study of the total of the aquired cognitions, the analysis of the experienced disturbances, the approach of looking for the functioning of a system.
He emphasizes the interest of this approach by the variety of its fields of application, the refinement of the qualitative findings, the potential for enrichment of the knowledge by the changes of paradigms, and its enlargement into the interdisciplinary field.

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NEW

Commentary on "Stereotyped activities produced by amphetamine in several animal species and man". Psychopharmacologia (1967) 11:300-310

A landmark publication from the early days of the dopamine hypothesis

Psychopharmacology vol. 162 (4), pp. 349-350, 2002.
A paper in the series Landmark in Psychopharmacology.

by Rasmus Fog and Axel Randrup

The paper commented on was authored by Axel Randrup and Ib Munkvad

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NEW

Classification in Psychiatry: Principles, Modes and Ways of Thinking

De l'esprit et des modes de classification en psychiatrie
Ann. Méd-Psychol. 2002, 160, 247-252.

by Pierre Marchais

Key words: classes, classification, operational bipartition, paradigm, set theory

Summary: A classification is a system of classes designed to represent the mental disorders according to a fixed rule. The author reminds of the paradox of the growing number of mental disorders versus the absence of a natural classification and he envisages in succession what a classification is, why it exists, how it is estsblished, and what its evolution is like.
The principle of classification is similar in all sciences, but it is more complex in psychiatry, because of the nature of the objects studied.
Classification seems desirable for general reasons of representation, communication and action, as well as for singular reasons related to person and milieu which incite to elaborate it.
Its construction depends on the agonist-antagonist paradigmes chosen (relations which are real/virtual, of forme/dynamics, qualitative/quantitative) and on the way the data are collected (linear or circular steps, ontological or operational bipartition, type of reasoning).
Its evolution shows its sucessive openings, passing from the concept of disease to the concept of grouping of criteria which are associated accordinng to the underlying dynamic processeses and finally to combinations of functional disorders.
A conclusion leads rapidly to the intrinsic and extrinsic consequences.

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NEW

On Transformation of Symptoms.
Operational Dualism and Hallucimation

De la transformation du symptome. Le dualisme opératoire et l'hallucination

Ann. Méd.-Psychol. 2001, 159, 43-53.

by Pierre Marchais

Key words: "Circular" thinking, epistemological connection, delusional conviction, hallucination, hyperset, linear thinking, psychopathological transformation, symptom, systemal mode, theoretical psychiatry

Summary: How can a tool as simple as the operational dualism at the same time account of the complexity of a symptom and its transformations, confirm the first classical contribution to this subject, integrate therein the structural data of our time, and help in reconstitution of the phenomenon studied? An answer to that is given based on a link between the various aspects of the symptom of hallucination and the procedures of the observer. Regarding the symptom as an object of study exterior to the observer, the bipartitions applied in a linear way have given the first descriptive results. Taking into account the experience of the patient and the role of the observer, the bipartitions are inscribed in a circular procedure, and have in this way expressed certain structural data according to the experience of the subject and the frames of reference of the observer. Integrating these two types of procedure, the study of the bipartitions leads to a general model of the function of thought concerning both the patient and the observer. This admits of confirmation, completion, and refinement of the preliminary results about the symptoms. Various constitutive functions of the hallucination have in thisway been described precisely. Thus considering the effect of these bipartitions, the hallucinatory symptom appears as an emergence of a network of complex functions, which permits to understand better their possible transformations.

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The Historic Process in Psychiatry

Le processus historique en psychiatrie

Ann. Méd.- Psychol. 2001, 159, 95-110.

by Pierre Marchais

Key worda: epistemology, historic eras, historic periods, hypersets, hypersystem, interdisciplinarity, model, sets, systemal method

Summary: The epistemological perspective indicates a new reading of the history of psychiatry. A short recapitulation of the historic developments permits their classification in eras and periods. In order to describe their structuration and assure their representation, the author envisages the notions set and hyperset. Thus he is lead to retain the systemal method and the concept hypersystem which serve him to make a model of this historic process. The model obtained in this way can be justified by its straight correspondences between the known historic facts and the structuration of the human psyche. The interest of this unified vision is to unite the various developments in the past and the possible developments in the future, and to stress the importance of interdisciplinarity in psychiatry.

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THE MODEL IN IMAGES
PEDAGOGIC INSTRUMENT IN PSYCHOTHERAPY

Le modèle imagé: Instrument pédagogique en psychothérapie

Ann. Méd.-Psychol. 1998, 156, no. 10, 708-714.

by Pierre Marchais

Key words: Psychotherapy, metaphoric function, model in images, systemal model, pedagogics, affects, psychoanalysis, conditionnng

Summary: The question of the model in images may best be centered with the help of some generalities concerning the diversity of psychotherapies and their common kingpin directed at the aptitude to believe, their ternary situation and their purpose. The means of action in psychotherapy are related to the role of the affects and the mental representations in images, to the role of reason and its graphic translation of the pathologic dynamics, and to a strategy adapted to each case.
The elaboration of a structural model of the psychic system is different according to the theory used, to its orientation with respect to ideas and ethics, and to its possible implications. Nevertheless, it permits an improved clarification of the models of action directed at the properties of the mental image in order to unravel the pathologic organisations which become manifest at the end of the system. Thus a systemal approach, centered on a fuzzy logic and on notions of wholes, shows the efficacy of simple binary and ternary models, as evidenced by observations of phobias and obsessions.

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Interdisciplinary Approach to Occupational Therapy of Psychotic Patients

Metodology of Occupational Therapy (Japan). Vol. 2, pp. 19-36, 2000. In English with summary in Japanese.
This journal is edited by Society for Interdisciplinary Research Works of Occupational Therapy, S.I.R.W.O.T

by Axel Randrup

[SECTION I] Stereotyped Behavior Related to Fragmented Behavior, Psychosis and Occupational Therapy

[SECTION II] Drug Therapy, Biochemistry, Dopamine in the Brain

[SECTION III] Therapy and Prevention by Environmental and Social Means. Cultural Factors. Ethics

Excerpt from section III. I can go back to our bank voles from section one, those small animals in restricted cages, they developed stereotypied behavior. Their cages were not only small, they were also without possibilities for doing what these animals usually do when they are living in the woods. Then, my friend, Grethe Soerensen said, "Shouldn't we for once make an experiment, where we try to make it better for the animals?" I found that was a good idea. She said, "In many medical experiments you do some harm to animals." She didn't like that, she is an animal friend. "But let's do the opposite," she said, "let's try to make better conditions for animals." So she constructed larger cages, not much larger, twice or three times the ordinary size. She put in some twigs and some other things she collected in the woods, which she knew the animals were using, so they could perform their usual activities, climb small branches, twigs, go through holes etc. You might see that as a kind of occupational therapy. They got the opportunity for occupation. And they had somewhat more space, but not an extremely large space. And these changes were very effective in preventing stereotypy. The animals, the bank voles, placed in these cages, with opportunities for more activities, they had next to nothing in terms of stereotypy, while control animals in the ordinary cages developed stereotypy as usual. The voles seemed to lead more normal lives in the improved cages.
This of course immediately indicates economic problems. How much will you pay to make it better for the animals? And that is one point, where I think there is a contact with ethics. Some people are more concerned about animal welfare than others. Some people are mostly concerned with economics; other people, perhaps, mostly with animal welfare. And there is still a debate going on, sometimes a fierce debate, because there is a lot of persistence on both sides.
So that is for animals. Then we can think about humans. Of course, you immediately think about humans, and then again you hit ethics. How much will you pay for better environments for humans? Some employers don't care much about their workers. How much will we, generally pay for better conditions for workers ? Here again, we encounter different attitudes.

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An Alternative to Materialism:

Converging Evidence from Nature Spirituality and Natural Science

Cybernetics & Human Knowing, Vol. 4 (4), 15-24, 1997

by Axel Randrup

Abstract

By means of examples nature spirituality is described as certain particularly intense nature-experiences, felt to be essential and important. The author is familiar with such experiences, and I find that they influence also my rational, scientific conception of nature, emphasizing the reality of direct, conscious experience of both living, chemical and physical systems. This makes it difficult to accept materialist realism (or materialism), the view that nature exists as an external world separated from and independent of any observer .

Materialist realism is generally espoused by natural science, but findings in several scientific disciplines in this century have led to severe difficulties with this view. Examples are given from the disciplines Evolutionary Epistemology, Second Order Cybernetics, Cognitive Neurophysiology, Statistics and Physics.

As a more consistent alternative to materialism the author suggests a philosophy saying that reality consists entirely of conscious experiences (individual, collective or egoless).

On the practical plane the recognition of spiritual values and the striving for consistency may lead to an improved, more sustainable lifestyle for the individual and for society. The departure from stark materialism may also help to develop cross-cultural exchange and understanding, a topical issue right now for both scientific and political reasons.

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Collective and Egoless Consciousness

Significance for Philosophy of Science and the Mind- Body Problem

The International Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, Vol. 18 (No.2) pp. 133-137, 1999.

by Axel Randrup

Excerpts

Abstract. Collective consciousness and egoless consciousness can be regarded as realistic alternatives or complements to individual consciousness. This contention is supported by evidence from the literature (psychological, philosophical, anthropological, spiritual, Buddhist) and by personal observations and interpretations. It contradicts the idea that a philosophy which regards reality as consisting only of conscious experiences must inevitably lead to solipsism.
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In a previous paper (Randrup 1997, see above, An Alternative to Materialism) the author proposed a skepticist-idealist philosophy, claiming that reality consists entirely of conscious experiences. This proposal is seen as a more consistent and unified alternative to materialism. Science is regarded as a catalog of intersubjective, conscious experiences ("observations") recognized as scientific and structured by means of concepts and theories (also regarded as conscious experiences). Materialism is seen as possible and useful within a certain (large) domain, but inconsistent beyond that domain. This view is supported by examples of contradictions and problems met in materialist science (in cognitive neurophysiology, the evolutionary study of cognition, statistics, physics, second order cybernetics) and by the felt reality of intense nature experiences (Randrup, 1997a).
Philosophies of this type (idealism, phenomenalism, skepticism) have been known in the West in modern times since the work of the philosophers Berkeley and Hume in the 18th century and have often been met with the objection that they entail solipsism. I will argue that solipsism (individualism) is only one possible frame of reference for consciousness. Collective consciousness and egoless consciousness are seen as viable alternatives or complement
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In various non-Western cultures, such as African, Aboriginal Australian, American Indian, East Asian, and "preconquest" cultures, views and attitudes are encountered which emphasize the collective and relational features of human beings and their minds at least as much as the individual features; indeed it seems that modern Western individualism is an exceptional or unique phenomenon among the world's cultures, past and present.
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Although individuality is so prominent in Western cultures and daily life, there are features of collectivity. "Objective" science seems to be an important example of this. In order to be recognized as scientific, an observation has to be confirmed by several scientists - become intersubjective. An intersubjective observation is often conceived as the same observation or experience distributed over different individual minds or consciousnesses and then unified by means of an "objective" materialist concept. It can, however, also be conceived (and experienced) to be unified from the beginning as one observation constituting a part of a collective consciousness.
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The collective part of their consciousness will be associated with the brains of all the persons involved and not only with one brain (brains are here seen as heuristic structures in the scientific catalog mentioned in the introduction).

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Collective Consciousness Across Time

Anthropology of Consciousness, vol.13 (1): 27-41, 2002

by Axel Randrup

Abstract
The notion of collective conscious experience is here seen as an alternative or complement to the more familiar notion of individual conscious experience. Much evidence supports the concept of collective experience in the present. But what about time? Can a conscious experience which, when regarded as individual, is referred to the past be considered a collective experience extended in both past and present ? My answer is yes, and this answer is supported by evidence about conceptions of time and conscious experience in various cultures, including Western culture and science, and by evidence about the psychological Now. Egoless conscious experience is an alternative to both individual and collective experience; it is often connected with experience of timelessness, and is then unrestricted by time.
Key words: Conscious experience, collective and egoless, time , cultures

See also the abstract above on Collective and Egoless Consciousnes

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More Than One Truth: Consequenses for Our World View

In Research in Progress: Advances in Interdisciplinary Studies, Vol.4 (G. Lasker, ed.)Windsor University, Windsor, Canada. 1997. ISBN 092183635X

by Axel Randrup

When you go on bicycle you have the immediate impression that the force you apply to the pedals is proportional to the speed you obtain, and you can use this as a working theory. This theory may appear to be contradicted by Newtonian theory saying that force is proportional to *acceleration*. But if you consider the friction of the wheels of the bicycle with the road, you can reconcile the two theories.
Newtonian theory covers the larger domain, and therefore many people think that it is the real truth. But in our century, Newtonian theory too has been shown to cover only a limited domain of empirical observation. General Relativity covers a larger domain.
My point is that all three theories convey some truth, describing real structures in our multitude of empirical observations. The history of science indicates that no theory gives us the truth standing forever.
The theories do not differ only with respect to structure (relations), also some of their entities are different. Thus gravitational force "exists" in Newtonian theory, but in General Relattivity it is replaced by another "existant", space-time curvature. I therefore think that these entities do not have absolute existence , but are parts of a theory, helping to show structures in our world of empirical observations.
These views may appear unpractical within a discipline, e.g. physics, but they are helpful for interdisciplinary understanding.

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The Perennial Philosophy

Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Conference of the International Society for the Systems Sciences. CD Rom, ISBN 0-9664183-0-1 , 1998.
Eds. Janet K. Alllen, Jennifer Wilby.

by Axel Randrup

By "The Perennial Philosophy" we shall here understand a philosophy of experienced spirituality saying that there is something similar or a common core to all experiences of spirituality and mysticism - across cultures and across the ages. In our time this idea was revived by Aldous Huxley (1945), and has received support from a number of authors. There has also been opposition, however, emphasizing the importance of the cultural differences (Katz, 1978,1983).

Personally I tend to agree with the "perennialists", though I understand that for example a Jewish mystic, who sees the "being joined" to God (devekuth) as the essence of his spirituality, may find spiritual experiences not including God essentially different from his own. On the other hand, the Jewish tradition, as many other traditions, has a general view of man ( Adam and Eve, Messiah) which could be an opening for the perennial philosophy.

Spiritual experiences are often said to be ineffable, transverbal and this of course makes it difficult to discuss the idea of the perennial philosophy in words. So I must admit that my positive attitude to this philosophy depends on intuition more than on reason.

Since religion and spirituality are important aspects of the life in our "Global Village", I think it is important, also for practical reasons, that we exchange views on these matters. Mutual understanding of both similarities and differences will be important for the development of a peace culture, which will be important or even necessary for a sustainable way of life on this planet.

Key words: experienced spirituality; cultures; similarities; differences; sustainable way of life.

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New

An Idealist Approach to the Study of Evolution and Cognition

Submitted to the journal Evolution and Cognition.

by Axel Randrup

In the materialist exposition of evolutionary epistemology a contradiction inevitably emerges between the belief in a material world independent of the human observer and the equally firm belief that all our thoughts and cognitions (including the assumption of a material world) depend on the human cognitive apparatus in its present stage of evolution.
I shall argue that this contradiction can be overcome in an exposition of evolutionary epistemology based on idealist philosophy.

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NEW

Animal Mind: An Approach Based on the Notion of Collective Conscious Experience

Submitted

by Axel Randrup

Abstract

The discussion of animal mind in this paper is based on an idealist philosophy contending that only conscious experience is real, and on the notion of collective conscious experience. The latter has earlier been explained by me as experience referred to a group of humans as the subject. Here it is contended that also a group of humans and animals can be seen as the subject of collective conscious experiences, the We. In the literature there are widely divergent opinions about animal consciousness as well as about,when and where consciousness first appeared in evolution. These opinions are all based on the presunption that if animals have conscious experience,it will always be individual. I believe that the wide divergence of opinions is due to the in-built uncertainty in the estimation of individual animal consciousness, and I argue that the notion of collective conscious experience provides a possibility for studying the problems of animal mind and the related human problem of "other minds" in a more detailed and rational way.

Key words: Collective consciouness, animals, evolution, idealist philosophy, ethics.

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Activities and Interests of the Members,

see also CIRIP Archives

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Pierre Marchais

MD, psychiatrist, Cofounder and vice president of CIRIP, former president of Sociéte Médico- Psychologique, Paris.
33 Rue Lacépède, F-75005 Paris, France. Fax: +33147079210

pmarch@club-internet.fr

Pierre Marchais is a pioneer of systems psychiatry in France (la méthode systémale) and has published a number of articles and books on this subject.

Representative publications:

Le nouvel esprit psychiatrique

Métamorphose et développement de la psychiatrie clinique

Pierre Marchais
avec la participation d'Axel Randrup

Frisons-Roche, Paris 1996, 272 pp.

This book descibes the new systems (or systemal) thinking in psychiatry developed by P. Marchais during more than 30 years of work in clinical psychiatry. The summaries (English and French) in CIRIP Archives of a lecture given by P. Marchais gives an impression of the content of the book. Here follows in French a definition of the of the word systemal which is central in this clinical work:

Systémal,

adj. (1977,Pierre Marchais; dérivé de système)

Excerpt. Qui évoque le système dans une perspective d'ensemble, fonctionnelle et dynamique, le système n'étant pas limité à lui-même, mais se trouvant situé au sein du milieu.

La méthode systémale est une méthode d'analyse et de synthèse recourant à cette notion, qui fut initialement destinée à l'étude des processus psychopathologiques. Elle se fonde sur la clinique et des démarches logico-mathématiques modernes (d'ensembles et de logique du flou) conjugant leur universalité et leur rigeur à l'indétermination propre au vécu individuel.

La psychiatrie systémale est une synthèse en permenent développement des différentes données cliniques obtenues par cette méthode.

La connaissance systémale est liée à la nature interdisciplinaire de la méthode.

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Le processus de connaissance

Cognitive Processes

Pierre Marchais with participation of Jean-Blaise Grize

Frison-Roche, Paris, 2000, 396 pp.

An extension of the work of P. Marchais on the dynamics and systems structure of the psyche to include cognition. J-B Grize adds his expertise in logics.

Progresses from psychiatry to interdisciplinarity.

Sections on intuition, logic, language, hermeneutics, altered states, experienced transcendences (naturel, supranaturel, surnaturel) etc.

From the editor's remarks, in French:

La connaissance répond-elle à une pulsion de l'homme pour comprendre les phénomènes et les situations qui l'entourent ? Pour l'auteur, neuropsychiatre, cela ne fait aucune doute et il en étude la genèse au travers des plus importantes dysrégulations psychiques, dont on sait qu'elles peuvent impliquer des troubles du comportement, des troubles des automatismes ou encore des troubles du fonctionnement d'ensembles des diverses organisations. Une mise en garde de l'auteur intéresse les théories normatives (langagières, discursives), imagières (Freud) ou celles qui ont cherché à formaliser la connaissance à l'aide de méthodes statististiques diagnostiques, de critères et d'échelles. Queel est en effet le caractère objectif d'un phénomène observé et ne faut-il pas dénoncer le culte du nombre comme une fin en soi ? Cet ouvrage est destiné tout particulièrement aux psychiatres, aux psychologuess, et touts personne intéressé par le sujet.

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Torben Larsen

Højmevænget 24, DK-5250 Odense SV, Denmark
Cand. oecon., health-economical consultant, Fyns County, Denmark.
tla@dialogue2000.org
www.dialogue 2000.org

Torben Larsen has for many years studied meditation, yoga, biofeedback and neuropsychologic research associated with these phenomena. Research with chiefpsychologist J. Beckmann on the health-psychological aspects of training of yoga in the general evening school. Lundbeckprize 1991 for a paper on the comprehensive reform of the hospital structure in Fyn county, 1990. Originator of VisInfo, a coordinating system for hospital referrals, based on electronic communication with the general practitioning physicians. Publication on VisInfo:

Health Services, Coordination and the Internet

Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine 54 (1997) 123-130

by Torben Larsen

The ongoing specialization of medical services requires socioeconomic coordination of different health services. The general practitioner (GP) is the key to improve this primary coordination. To qualify referral decisions byby the GP an Internet-like information system (VisInfo) has been implemented. In brief the purpose of the information system is to give the GP a tool which will enable him to refer patients to hospital treatment and -examination on the best possible foundation. The purpose is to direct the referrals to an åppropriate hospital unit in the county where capacity is available It is also the purpose to prepare the patient for hospital treatment by undertaking the relevant pre-examinations and giving the best possible information about the hospital treatment and the after-treatment. Provisional danish experiences with this information system for GPs indicate better over all utilization of health resources and more coordinated healt care at minimal marginal costs representing an excellent cost-efficiency. Based on the BlacSeaDiabetes Action Plan and the BlackSea TeleDiabetes-project the potential for dissemination of medical informatics in the Black Sea region through the adaption of the VisInfo-strategy is discussed. See also the paper on the Black Sea project in the preceding section of this home page. A workshop entitled "Medical Networking Around the Black Sea" was held 2nd-5th October in Odense, Denmark, presided by Torben Larsen.

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Raymond Swing

Drosselvej 81, DK-2000 Frb. Denmark
swing@mail.tele.dk

I started a biological study but did not finish. Thereafter I functioned as a schoolteacher for thirty years and also received some further education in music at the conservatory in Aalborg, Denmark and at the Humbolt University in Berlin, DDR (theory and history). I had always been interested in philosophy and dialectics (Marx), physics, biology, economics. history, culture, and philosophy of science. Therefore, after retiring from teaching I took these issues up again in a more serious way.

I have published some essays in DIALEKTIK and in EUROPÄISCHE ENZYKLOPÄDIE ZU PHILOSOPHIE UND WISSENSCHAFTEN (about termodynamics) and work on the articles:

ZWEI BEMERKUNGEN ZUM BEGRIFF DES GESELLSCHAFTLICHEN MENSCH-NATURVERHÄLTNISSES

ON THE WAY TO A GENERAL AND GENERATIVE DIALECTICS. MODELS OF DIALECTICAL GENESIS

Interests:
Anthropogenesis, anticipation, dialectics, dialectical contradictions, dominium, consciousness, emergence, generative dialectics, intentionality, language, nature, negations, objectivity, property, society, subjectivity.

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Dennis Murphy

Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec H4B 1R6, Canada MURPHYD@vax2.concordia.ca

Media Research.

Editor (with G. Lasker) of the book

Advances in Research of Human Consciousness

Publ.by Windsor University, Windsor, Canada. 1994 , ISBN 0-921836-16-3

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Burt Angrist

MD, Professor of Psychiatry, New York University Medical Center, Staff Psychiatrist New York Dept.of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 423 East 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010, USA

Burt Angrist is an experienced specialist on the effects of amphetamine and other stimulant drugs in humans, particularly amphetamine psychosis. Representative publication:

Amphetamine Psychosis: Clinical Variations of the Syndrome

In Amphetamine and its Analogs, Academic Press, 1994, pp. 387-414.

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Erik Schiørring

Psychologist, Denmark.

Comprehensive interdisciplinary studies of the effects of amphetamine and other stimulant drugs in animals and man.

Representative publications:

Psychopathology Induced by "Speed Drugs"

Pharmacol. Biochem. & Behavior 14, Suppl. 1, pp. 109-122, 1981.

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Drugs, Agression & Violence

Presented in part at "Conference on Agression", Abrahámhegy, Hungary, May 10-12, 1995.
Printed in Hungarian: Drogok, Agresszió és Tettlegesség in: Az Agresszió Problémái Korunkban,
I.Kappeter(Ed.), SZMA, Budapest, 1996

"General increase in human misery" - "Drug use, drug induced aggression and violence, drug trafficking" will be the headlines in this paper, which intends to emphasize the serious degree of aggression and violence that is so closely connected with and produced by the Speed-Drugs.

Excerpt. There are no happy drug-addicts, and no drug-addicts come from happy social circumstances. And do not deny this with reference to a few important exceptions. The increased level of general misery among both "West" and "East" populations, is the main cause of drug addiction. Lack of hope and the world-wide problems of civil wars (including private divorces!) contribute to this and make therapy and other intervention more difficult. In general such factors as early childhood injuries, abuse or neglect; socialisation experiences; lack of economic opportunity; community disorganization; and physical reactions to specific types of drugs are important adjuncts to the three dimmensions described above (the psychopharmacologic, the economic and the systemic dimensions). One point remains very clear: The problem of drugs and violence are complex and seem to be intensifying, underscoring the urgency for effective public health and social interventions. Some may despair, believing the links between substance abuse and violence to be inseparable and complex to a degree, where a solution cannot be found. But efforts to understand these relationships can contribute to reduce their recent intensification.

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Axel Randrup

Byg. 24, Svog. DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark,
e-mail arandrup@mobilixnet.dk Dr. phil., CIRIP president.

Member Spirituality and Systems SIG, International Society for the Systems Sciences; Board member of Danish Society for Human Ethology; Member American Philosophical Association;

Member of the editorial board for The International Journal of Transpersonal Studies; Consulting editor Cybernetics & Human Knowing.

Interests and research: Idealist philosophy, Collective consciousness, Mind-matter relations, Psycho-pharmacology, Amphetamine and other stimulant drugs, Interdisciplinary research.

Representative publications:

Stereotyped Behavior, Amphetamine, and Psychosis

Deals with behavioural pharmacology and neurochemistry of psychosis. Emphasizes that psychotic patients are fellow human beings. Current Contents, This week's citation classic, Vol. 33, #3, Jan. 15, 1990, sections Clinical Medicine, Arts and Humanities, Social & Behavioral Sciences, and Life Sciences. See more in CIRIP Archives

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An Alternative to Materialism: Converging Evidence from Nature Spirituality and Natural Science

Cybernetics & Human Knowing, Vol. 4 (4), 15-24, 1997

For abstract see above in the first section of this home page.

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Collective Consciousness Across Time

Anthropology of Consciousness, vol.13 (1): 27-41, 2002

For abstract see above in the first section of this home page.

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Grethe Sørensen, Denmark

Cand.scient. in zoology, specialty: ethology (behavioural biology). Cofounder and board member of CIRIP. Member of Danish Society for Human Ethology.

Research on normal and abnormal behaviour of bank voles with interdisciplinary links to psychiatry and systems science.

Representative publications:

Stereotyped Behaviour, Hyperaggressiveness and "Tyrannic" Hierarchy induced in Bank Voles by a Restricted Cage Milieu.

Prog. Neuro-Psychopharmacol.& Biol. Psychiat. 11, 9-21, 1987

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Abnormal Behaviour of Bank Voles Reduced by an Enriched Cage Milieu.

Perspectives for the Problem of Humane Attitudes in Biological Psychiatry.

Ethol. Sociobiol. 10 , 414-415 ,1989.

Excerpt. Our experiments show,with genuinely biological methods, the importance of the milieu factor in the study of abnormal behaviour of bank voles, a result which usually does not emerge from biochemical and pharmacological experiments. And while we are working on changes of the voles' milieu, we are readily led to hypotheses about changes of human milieux, which may be helpful in the prevention and treatment of psychiatric diseases. From this there is only a short step to understanding and study of the importance of humane attitudes to psychiatric patients.

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Søren Brier

Ved Vandløbet 21, DK-2610 Rødovre, Denmark

sbr@kvl.dk
http;//www.flec.kvl.dk/sbr/index.htm

Master of Science in biology (ethology), Ph.D. in philosophy of science, Associate professor Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Editor of Cybernetics & Human Knowing, a journal of second-order cybernetics autopoiesis and cyber-semiotics. www.imprint-academic.com/C&HK

August 1996, Award from Systems Research Foundation for contributions to the advancement of Cybernetics and for editorial work on the journal Cybernetics & Human Knowing.

Interests and research: A philosophy of science approach to information science and technology; cognitive science; second order cybernetics; cyber-semiotics; attempts to establish an interdisciplinary viewpoint focusing on development of a non-reductionistic view of psycho-biological systems.

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Announcement NEW

The International Journal of Transpersonal Studies (IJTS) will be renewed from2003, Vol. 22. Each edition will typically consist of three sections:

The General section is dedicated to original articles of high quality.

The second section contains several articles dedicated to a specific theme or topic germane to transpersonal studies.

The third section is dedicated primarily to reader reactions, responses, and comments to articles published in IJTS.

Transpersonal studies may be generally described as a multidisciplinary movement concerned with the exploration of higher consciousness, expanded self/identity, spirituality, and human potential.

Contact: co-editor Douglas MacDonald, Ph. D. macdonda@udmercy.edu

Commencing in 2003, IJTS will be a publication of Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center, San Francisco.

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Sincerely, Axel Randrup, CIRIP president, home page editor.

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