Curiosity: reflections on its nature and functions.

This paper attempts to clarify the nature, function and centrality of curiosity in the development of object relations and the consolidation of the self. It demonstrates how the primary relationship between the infant and the care-giver influences the development of curiosity, the ability to use it productively for thinking and for building the internal world. Curiosity, in its schizoparanoid forms, is an attempt at freezing states of primary undifferentiatedness. In its more mature forms, it serves as an integrative agent and signifies both the possibility and the need to know, as well as the boundaries of knowledge. It is an essential element in the individual's psychic fabric and counterbalances splitting and projective identification. Hence, in analysis, it is vital to be constantly attentive to all the diverse expressions of curiosity or, conversely, to its absence. In the transference, the analyst, as well as the analytic setting, often become the aims of that curiosity and its containers. By allowing curiosity and surviving it, curiosity is transformed from an expression of destructiveness and disintegrating intrusiveness to a necessary prerequisite for psychological growth, self-discovery and creativity. Several vignettes illustrate the impact of curiosity during therapy.

Combined thermal and crush injury to the hand and fingers.

Combined thermal and crush injury is a relatively rare type of injury, although it may be more common in industrial settings. The combined insult of heat and pressure results in an injury that apparently is more severe than the simple additive effect, as the heat is transmitted deeper through the crushed tissues. The full extent of tissue destruction cannot always be fully recognized initially. Treatment in stages is the preferred approach, rather than attempted immediate reconstruction procedures. Failure of immediate skin grafting procedures in some of the cases presented herein was the result of underestimation of the severity of trauma. Early debridement should be done soon after admission. Definitive treatment as dictated by the magnitude of injury needs to be delayed until the extent of injury is delineated. Our conclusions from the presented experience with this type of injury were successfully applied in the treatment of the last presented patient.

The cracked container, the containing crack: chronic illness--its effect on the therapist and the therapeutic process.

In this paper, we have tried to examine the complex dynamics of the therapist's physical chronic illness. Little attention has been paid to physical non-functioning, especially during chronic illness, and its psychotherapeutic corollaries. A crucial theme is the extent of damage to the capacity to contain. It is our claim that, when sufficiently worked through, the 'cracked therapeutic container' may serve as a facilitator of better understanding and enhance empathy. The impact of chronic illness on the therapeutic setting, contract, process and language is discussed as well as some salient features of chronicity.

Work and family roles of Soviet women: historical trends and cross-section analysis.

PIP: Changes in the way of life of USSR women over the last 2 generations are very similar to those experienced by women in most industrialized and industializing societies. The rate of participation of women in the labor force increased substantially, and this movement was accompanied by a marked rise in the level of women's general and professional education. As a result, women occupy more white collar positions than they did in older generations, but these developments have created a double burden for most women who complain that increased resonsibilities outside the home have not been synchronized with an adequate increase in men's sharing household responsibilities. Historical explanations for changes in women's role particularly emphasize the nature of relationships between participation, wages, incomes, fertility, education and labor market conditions. The long term changes of these major variables, since the 1920s, along with an investigation based on an income survey of 1000 immigrant families, are studied in this paper. Cross sectional analysis examines a longer life cycle, participation decisions, and relates them to decisions on fertility and education. Fertility rates among the Jewish immigrants are much higher and labor participation rates of women much lower than for the rest of the population. Some of the main features of the long trends since 1926 are: 1) of the overall measures of participation of women, only those in the 15-54 and 20-54 age ranges show some increase over the 1926-1980 period, 2) sharp rises in specific participation rates for 25-44 and 45-54 age groups since 1950, and for urban women overall, 3) only a small fraction of the total increase in participation can be attributed to the increase in the proportion of single women, and 4) by 1980 the overall female participation figure rose to 80%--and 88% for the 20-54 age group--the difference reflecting the sharp decline in 15-19 age group participation. While the short run decision about participation is heavily determined by the expected wage, other family income, and the presence of small children, longer term decisions about participation are influenced by the level of education and by fertility--decisions normally made early in life. Although women's schooling is rapidly catching up with men's, their relative wages have hardly increased because the extra pressure of home and work responsibilities results in high divorce rates, lower fertility, and lower investment in human capital and effort on the job.^ieng

The labor-force participation of married women in the Soviet Union: a household cross-section analysis.

PIP: Approximately 80% of women in the Soviet Union ages 15-54 years are employed outside the home. To identify the impact of demographic and economic variables on the high rate of labor force participation among Soviet women, data from an income survey of 1016 2-parent families of emigrants to Israel were analyzed. It was hypothesized that differences in participation rates among Soviet women correspond to differences in other sources of family income, wage rates and market conditions, level of education, and family household conditions, with response to changes in economic variables mediated by the role played by persuasion and social pressure in encouraging women to participate. Overall, 89.3% of the women in the sample were labor force participants. Nonparticipants were, as expected, from families with higher levels of other income. The personal qualifications of nonworking wives were considerably lower than those of working wives, with nonworking wives averaging 9.4 years of schooling compared with 13.2 years for working wives. Offered wages for working wives averaged 69 kopecks/hour in contrast to 40-50 kopecks/hour for nonworking women. A maximum-likelihood functional estimation of participation rates whoed significant coefficients for family income (negative), expected wages and education (positive), and residence in a large city (positive). The coefficients for residence in a medium-sized city, existence of a private plot, presence of nonworking men in the household, occupational status of the husband, and total number of children were insignificant. The supply of hours of work was backward-bending. The results suggest that Soviet women reach the decision to participate in the labor force through consideration of the same factors as their counterparts in nonsocialist countries. The analysis further indicates that, at present levels of fertility and exogenous conditions, the participation rate in the Soviet Union will not decrease. However, policies designed to raise the fertility level, including better facilities for children and more support for women who leave the labor force to raise young children, could ease labor force participation among soviet women.^ieng