Dual agency, dual relationships, boundary crossings, and associated boundary violations: a survey of military and civilian psychiatrists.

We hypothesized that psychiatrists with high dual-agency potential (military and health maintenance organization [HMO] psychiatrists) were more likely than non-HMO civilian psychiatrists to engage in dual relationships, report pressures to do so, participate in other general boundary-crossing activities, and report associated counter-therapeutic outcomes (boundary violations). Ninety military and 191 demographically matched civilian psychiatrists reported the number of boundary-crossing activities (including dual relationships) and associated counter-therapeutic outcomes in the preceding year with adult patients. Military and HMO psychiatrists reported greater external pressures than non-HMO civilian psychiatrists to engage in dual relationships; however, all three groups were similar in their reported numbers of dual relationships. The reported boundary-crossing activities and dual relationships studied here are not necessarily associated with reported boundary violations. The relative risk of a particular boundary crossing associating with harm to a patient likely depends on the therapeutic context and should be determined on a case-by-case basis.

Autotomy in Blue Crab (Callinectes sapidus Rathbun) Populations: Geographic, Temporal, and Ontogenetic Variation.

Blue crab (Callinectes sapidus Rathbun) populations were examined at four sites in Chesapeake Bay and three additional sites along the southeastern Atlantic coast and Gulf of Mexico; the aims were to assess the incidence of limb autotomy and to determine whether injury patterns varied temporally, geographically, and ontogenetically. These data, which include four years of information from one site (Rhode River, Maryland, a subestuary of central Chesapeake Bay), make this study the most extensive and intensive survey of limb autotomy yet conducted in arthropods. A substantial percentage (17-39%) of the blue crab populations were either missing or regenerating one or more limbs, suggesting that autotomy is an important mechanism for their survival. The frequency of limb autotomy varied, both within and between years, and over broad geographical scales. Injury levels were generally correlated positively with crab size. Limb autotomy was independent of sex and molt stage, and frequencies varied little among sites in the Rhode River. Patterns of limb injury in C. sapidus were remarkably consistent among all sites. The most frequent injury involved loss of a single cheliped. Swimming legs suffered the least damage. Severe multiple limb loss was rare. Right and left limbs were lost with equal frequency in most populations. This consistency of autotomy pattern suggests differential vulnerability of limbs and standard behavioral response by blue crabs to various injury-causing agents. The frequency of autotomy was density-dependent in the Rhode River, indicating that intraspecific interactions (e.g., cannibalism) may be a major cause of limb loss in populations in the Rhode River subestuary and elsewhere.