Self-perception and Experiential Schemata in the Addicted Brain

Childhood experiences of perpetrators of child sexual abuse

PURPOSE

This study explored the childhood experiences of perpetrators of child sexual abuse.

DESIGN AND METHODS

A blend of narrative inquiry and phenomenology was employed. Interviews were conducted with 23 community-dwelling perpetrators (21 males, 2 females). The education of participants ranged from GED to PhD.

FINDINGS

There were four types of narratives: There Was No Love; Love Left; Love Was Conflated With Sex; and a Pretty Good Childhood. Chronic sorrow for a painful childhood was evident in most participants.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Cognitive-behavioral treatment may not be optimal for all perpetrators because it is not designed to facilitate recovery from early trauma and loss.

EEG current source density and the phenomenology of the default network

In recent years, there has been an increasing line of research dedicated to the investigation of the default mode network (DMN) of the brain and resting state networks. However, the mental activity of the DMN has not been rigorously assessed to date. The specific aims of the current study were 2-fold: First, we sought to determine whether the current source density (CSD) levels in the DMN would correspond to other neuroimaging techniques. Second, we sought to understand the subjective mental activity of the DMN during baseline recordings. This study was conducted with 63 nonclinical participants, 34 female and 29 males with a mean age of 19.2 years (standard deviation = 2.0). The participants were recorded in 8 conditions. First, 4-minute eyes-closed baseline (ECB) and eyes-opened baseline (EOB) were obtained. The participants then completed 3 assessment instruments and 3 image conditions while the electroencephalography (EEG) was continuously recorded. Participants completed subjective reports for baselines and image conditions. These were rated by 3 independent raters and compared for reliability using a random effects model with an absolute agreement definition. The mean CSD between all conditions differed significantly, in many but not all regions of interest in the DMN. Interestingly, as suggested by other studies, the DMN appears preferential to self-relevant, self-specific, or self-perceptive processes. The reliability analyses show α for interrater agreement for ECB at .95 and EOB at .96. The subjective reports obtained from the participants regarding the mental activities employed during baseline recordings correspond to attentional and self-regulatory processes, which may also implicate the resting state or DMN as playing a direct role in the maintenance of a complex behavior (eg, being still, attending, and self-regulating). Thus, attention and self-regulation constitute the phenomenology of the resting state (DMN) in this study. The results also demonstrate that EEG CSD is a useful method to examine the DMN during concept-specific tasks to elucidate the neural activity associated with these concepts. Standardized low-resolution electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA) can localize to 5 mm(3), which is comparable to the findings in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). However, sLORETA can provide data about the difference in activity between groups, individuals, or populations which in many cases fMRI cannot provide.