Try a different filter or a new search keyword Streaming and Download help Byrds-y folk-rock from this twangy Texas group is good for what ails ya A gorgeous work of experimental fingerpicked guitar from the noted American Primitive guitarist Merce Lemon makes a real artistic leap forward on this gorgeous work of introspective indie folk Heartfelt songwriting from this Sheffield artist with big emotions filling out the space between spare Sly humor and mordant dryness is balanced by Thompson’s spirited cinematic sounding music that blends psych-folk and post-rock Sparkling and knotty indie rock from this Australian group with interlocking guitars and shifting rhythms Bandcamp Daily your guide to the world of Bandcamp “Strong Love — Songs of Gay Liberation 1972-81” Resurrects a Forgotten Era of Queer Music Ezra Furman’s “Twelve Nudes” is a “Firehose of Frustration” Joan Shelley’s Music Cuts Through the Chaos of Daily Life Backxwash joins the show to discuss her recent release Lynn Harmon (left) and Diana Langshaw (right) are among nine Republicans running for four open seats on the Ross Township Board of Trustees No other candidates submitted their photo.Vote411 .st1{fill-rule:evenodd;clip-rule:evenodd;fill:#2a2a2a}By Aya Miller | amiller2@mlive.comKALAMAZOO COUNTY MI -- Nine Republicans are competing for four open trustee seats on the Ross Township Board of Trustees the four winners of the August primary would run uncontested in November and win the seats MLive has partnered with the League of Women Voters Michigan Education Fund this year to provide voters with a Vote411 election guide Candidates filled out general information about their campaigns and answered a list of questions from the League of Women Voters spent 25 years in the paper industry and 12 years in banking is a project manager and has 34 years of experience working in the private manufacturing sector Lang works in human resources and has over 20 years of experience in the field She has also served on the boards of multiple community organizations but owned a livestock and horticulture business in Ross Township since 1965 Sulka and White did not complete the Vote411 survey by the time of publishing Ross Township is northeast of Kalamazoo and includes the southern half of Gull Lake All responses in the voter guide were submitted directly by the candidate and have not been edited by the League of Women Voters except for necessary cuts if a reply exceeded character limitations Publication of candidate statements and opinions is solely in the interest of public service and should NOT be considered as an endorsement The League never supports or opposes any candidates or political parties What are your top three priorities for the office you seek Bekes: Help Ross Township continue to be financially stable Continue to think outside the box for Ross Township opportunities Harmon: 1) Ensure compliance with the mission of Ross Township 2) Build upon the foundation of Ross Township as a place to raise your family in a rural environment 3) Deliver a balance budget and evaluate every dollar spent as if it were my own money Preserve & protect our rural natural resources and groundwater and wildlife for everyday life and recreation that includes swimming hunting and fishing that we need to protect and preserve Increase transparency to our residents with improved communications to our neighbors Assessments and tax increases should never be voted on and approved by the board until all residents affected are informed by US postal mail and their voices are heard We need to run efficiently and minimize the tax burden on homeowners Langshaw: Keep a stable and educated staff and elected officials at the township level Address issues citizens have whether large or small Continue to collaborate with other townships and citizens now and in the future through education and communication skills and experiences would you bring to this office Bekes: Over four years of Ross Township Trustee experience and management experience basically my entire career I was a Chief Operating Officer for both Fletcher Paper Mill and Badger Paper Mill my last 8 years of 25 years working in the paper industry and was a Vice President at both IndyMac Bank and Wells Fargo my entire 12 years of working in the banking industry The combination of operations experience and finance experience bodes well for the role of Ross Township Trustee I’ve been the Board Liaison to the Planning Commission since 2020 and am also currently serving as a member of the Zoning Board of Appeals in Ross Township customer focused private sector approach to the Township My approach is built on a strong background of financial acumen look for solutions that win for everyone involved I live in the effect area of concern with PFAS and understand the impact it has on our lives We need someone on the township board to advocate for us all during these uncertain times with PFAS I have spent countless hours attending meetings and talking to EGLE and the EPA educating myself on the effects causes and looking for possible solutions to get the state to cleanup I promise to continue to fight for groundwater clean up Langshaw: Ross Township Subcommittees since 1990 Alternate rep - Kalamazoo Water & Waste Committee Original member & officer - Four Township Water Resources Council President of the North American Gladiolus Council Trustee & Secretary - International Gladiolus Hall of Fame International Fellow Kellogg Foundation sponsored Conveining the Community - Kalamazoo County Local Leadership What are the major environmental issues facing your township and what activities or initiatives would you support to address them Bekes: PFAS - I support giving citizens a choice of treatment options including the potential of bringing in public water Solar - I support locating solar farms to the designated commercial areas within Ross Township Water Quality - I support having residents on Sherman Lake hook up to the available sewer system (versus septic) to improve water quality Harmon: There are two major environmental challenges facing Ross Township The first one is protecting our ground water by pushing back on the State of Michigan to ensure contaminated ground water from surrounding areas is cleaned up before it enters Ross Township The second issue is the attack on our farm lands from outside interests who want to destroy our rural and agricultural resources State Government has stripped local municipalities of the right to regulate our land usage but we are evaluating all legal means to protect our communities protecting and preserving our groundwater and natural resources in our beautiful rural community Immediate effort to remediate the contaminated groundwater needs to be a top priority for EGLE for Ross Twp Residents should not be forced to pay or connect to public water if brought to our area Only 2 wells tested above PFAS safe levels current PFAS levels are above EPA standard they have until 2029 to upgrade and come into compliance Public water will not save our beautiful lands making sure our township publishes as much material as possible to educate citizens proecting rural character in our township through educated planning and zoning Want more Kalamazoo-area news? 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All rights reserved (About Us) The material on this site may not be reproduced except with the prior written permission of Advance Local Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site YouTube's privacy policy is available here and YouTube's terms of service is available here Ad Choices Head of the Department of Pediatric Dentistry at MedUni Vienna's University Clinic of Dentistry was re-elected as President of the German Society of Pediatric Dentistry (DGKiZ) for the third time at the society's annual meeting teaching and practice in the field of pediatric dentistry Katrin Bekes was unanimously re-elected by secret ballot at the Board elections which were held as scheduled at the General Assembly on September 28 2024 in Erlangen during the annual meeting of the specialist society She will take on the responsible role of President of the society for a further two years when she was the youngest president in the history of the specialist society She also served as Secretary General of the DGKiZ for 11 years and can therefore look back on 16 years of board work About the person Katrin Bekes comes from Hattingen an der Ruhr She studied dentistry at the University of Halle-Wittenberg where she initially worked as a research assistant at the University Clinic for Conservative Dentistry After moving to the pediatric dentistry section there she took over as head of the department a year later she was appointed Professor of Pediatric Dentistry Oral and Maxillofacial Medicine at the Medical University of Vienna and took up the position in April 2015 she has headed the Department of Pediatric Dentistry at the University Clinic of Dentistry Vienna It is the first chair in pediatric dentistry in Austria she also implemented the special outpatient clinic for mineralization disorders (molar incisor hypomineralization) at MedUni Vienna's University Clinic of Dentistry Bekes has also been Vice President of the Austrian Society for Pediatric Dentistry since 2017 and is a Councillor for Austria at the European Academy for Paediatric Dentistry (EAPD) and the International Association of Paediatric Dentistry (IAPD) We use cookies that are technically necessary for the functionality of our website marketing and analysis purposes to optimise the user experience on our site data is processed both by us and by third-party providers some of which are based in third countries (e.g You can find more information about the tools and the partners in our data protection declaration in which we also explain exactly what data transfer to the USA can mean You can individually adjust or revoke your cookie settings at any time if you wish These cookies are necessary for the basic functions of the website You can block or delete them in your browser settings but you then run the risk that some parts of the website will not function properly Necessary to obtain consent for certain cookies and thus for the use of certain tools To track users on your website(s) or app(s) the default Matomo Tracking code in JavaScript uses 1st party cookies which are set on the domain of your website Please email us at publicaffairs@yu.edu Copyright © 2023 | Yeshiva University News | Editor Login | Privacy Policy Let us suppose that there is a party in Papua New Guinea which believes that New Guinea should rightfully belong to the British Another party holds that New Guinea can only be happy under Dutch supervision At this point someone rises to speak and asks ‘Should New Guinea not be ruled by the Papua who live here anyway?’ László Németh (Balatonszárszó endemic— political regime that began to furnish the ship of the Hungarian state in 2010 has from the start provoked wide-ranging and hostile commentary Its detractors ceaselessly articulate their critique in terms of the opposing poles of democracy and dictatorship apparently incapable of interpreting the discourse on westernization and democracy in any framework of reference other than that of liberal democracy They routinely source the criteria of this liberal democracy from the practices of Western countries which they regard as the unquestioned benchmark and see any political move in a diverging direction as an act of distancing the aberrant country (particularly the one in which they happen to live) from the West politically This kind of discourse exhibits the unadulterated symptoms of the colonizer’s attitude of speech in that it employs the dichotomy of the advanced centre versus the subordinated periphery but what really matters in this juxtaposition is its cultural component and self-determination of the nation state colonial oversight has seen its arsenal of specific tools of colonization dwindle to the point that it now has nothing to rely on other than the cultural hegemony of its allies in the local comprador-intellectual camp all national forces are anti-imperialist by nature in the age of soft colonization and hybrid neo-colonialism the war of independence must be fought in the cultural field in the first place Whether it appears in the guise of imperialistic internationalism or of cultural assimilation to the mother country Thirty years after the fall of communism it seems safe to say that internationalism itself is alive and well except that it has assumed different forms (globalization and that the colonialist logic remains an integral part of its arsenal.4 If internationalism is indeed the ‘highest stage of capitalism’ then globalization must be seen as the ultimate consequence of liberalism asserting that ‘The concept of humanity is an especially useful ideological instrument of imperialist expansion and in its ethical-humanitarian form it is a specific vehicle of economic imperialism’ The forces of imperialism invariably represented empires when they served ostensibly universal ideas and values: the British Empire those of Anglo-Saxon civilization; the French those of enlightened Francophone culture; the Spanish and Germans the norms they considered their own The Angolan Mario de Andrade was right in concluding that ‘culturally speaking colonization robs the natives of their distinct personality since it amounts to nothing less than the denial of national identity’.2 This resonates with the Martiniquean Frantz Fanon’s observation that ‘The colonial situation calls a halt to national culture in almost every field Within the framework of colonial domination there is not and there will never be such phenomena as new cultural departures or changes in the national culture’.3 Precisely for this reason it does not matter whether it is one or another foreign power that is engaged in colonization given that stripping the native population of its distinctive national characteristics is an inherent component of the logic of colonization regardless of whether it appears in the guise of imperialistic internationalism or of cultural assimilation to the mother country asserting that ‘The concept ofhumanity is an especially useful ideological instrument of imperialist expansion From Napoleon’s attempt at European hegemony after the French Revolution (1799–1814) to the worldwide unipolar violence perpetrated in the name of Pax Americana (1991–2016) experiments in building empires invariably sought to establish a liberal status quo these plans were implemented in three distinct phases 1) Wherever Napoleon marched in with his Grande Armée he brought the ideals of the revolution with him in their secular-legalist form ‘Napoleon … created inside France the only conditions under which free competition could be developed … and beyond the French borders it swept away feudal institutions everywhere bourgeois society in France with an appropriate up-to-date environment on the European continent.’7 When in 1806 Hegel had a glimpse of the French emperor marching into Jena he saw in him the embodiment of the conquering power of modern statehood counter-revolutionary uprisings everywhere from the Kingdom of Spain through Tyrol to Prussia and Russia 2) The failure of the Napoleonic attempt at continental hegemony gave way to a maritime hegemony that lasted for a century (1815–1917/22) under the global British Empire Schmitt ascribed the inception of this new global empire to the British navy nurtured by the power the crown wielded on the seas and through commerce The Pax Britannica rested on multiple pillars including the productivity of industrial capitalism relentless exploitation of the benefits of free trade and the tailoring of the legal- political environment to conform to liberal British norms which spanned nearly three decades following the end of the Cold War which combined cultural conquest (the Californian ideology hallmarked by Silicon Valley McDonald’s) alternating with ‘humanitarian intervention’ or ceaseless air strikes in the name of the Global War on Terror (bombs the American ideology actually served to lay the foundations of what George H it is apparent that liberalism does not and cannot feel safe unless it continues to build global systems and spread its own model to all corners of the world (because ‘democracies do not make war on one another’) This condition suggests several conclusions: a) If an empire wishes to remain liberal even by means of war; b) no liberalism can survive outside an imperial framework as was the case with Pax Americana; c) an internally consistent anti- liberal approach is at once and of necessity anti-imperialist in that it opposes all forms of global power and universal political and economic solutions understood as the reciprocal conditions of national and popular sovereignty The present phase of liberal imperialism aims at creating an invisible global empire What it envisions is not the world power of a single nation but the amalgamation of all nation states by erasing the borders between them ‘Imperialism and nationalism represent irreconcilable positions of thought We can endorse the view that the entire earth should be subjected to a single regime whose authority will embrace all nations; or we can seek a world of independent national states as the best form of political order.’8 Liberal imperialism imagines a world in which a single universal law reigns supreme the anti-imperialist thought of the nationalist paradigm believes in the coexistence of independent and autonomous nation states The prevailing European discourse after 1989 spoke in two voices extolling the virtues of broadening federal institutional integration and the attendant gains in depth attained by Europe on the one hand and the spread of allegedly superior values through channels afforded by these structures The Maastricht Treaty of 1992 situated the European Union in the context of global neoliberal integration the Union aggravated the diminishing economic autonomy of member states by abrogating some of their most important political powers in the name of the transfer of sovereignty and envisioned the continental alliance as a ‘community of values’ which subjected member states east of the fallen Iron Curtain to the hegemony of postmodern Western liberalism The waves of enlargement which began shortly after the democratic turn across the former Soviet satellites (2004 2013) conceived of their admission to the ‘Club of Europe’ as being contingent on their voluntary adoption of values at the cost of meshing their gears with a ready-made discourse on civilization This ‘normative imperialism’ (Frank Furedi) continues to be enforced by a variety of means today including the terms of transatlantic financial integration the decisions of federal courts of justice and the pressure of the international media It is apparent that liberalism does not and cannot feel safe unless it continues to build global systems It would be difficult not to notice the degree to which the imperialist gaze of Western European powers in the nineteenth century resembles the transatlantic perspective in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries which has equally been characterized by demands for a unilateral espousal of its own norms and the comprehensive adoption of its own political system The similarity between them is underscored by the fact that both look upon the East from a Western vantage point invariably perceiving the former as chaotic yet amenable to being reformed through adequate rationalization and an imparting of the progressive thinking proper to the West While the initial orientalism of the West was every now and then mingled with a measure of romantic paternalism a hypocritical mercifulness toward the ‘savages’ and a questionable Christian responsibility derived from a sense of superiority the version prevalent today is marked rather by overt disdain These traits are echoed by many phenomena of daily experience such as the behaviour of Western party tourists on a trip to ‘Eastern Europe’ and its depictions in the media (cf which convey the idea that when you are in the colonies you can do things you would never dare to do at home Whether it was the endeavour to ‘civilize’ other parts of the world in the nineteenth century or recent efforts along much the same lines the yardstick of change has always remained the West Western forms and norms are universal in nature and Westernization is the sole possible path of modernization the entire process and value categories of accession to the EU can easily be read as a discourse of colonization particularly if one considers that the (fringe) conditions of the ‘Eastern enlargement’ were dictated by the central powers of the West.9 Made to fit the prerequisites of munificent admission to ‘Europeanness’ integration within the Union can only be attained subject to permission and according to the rules of the countries that had been the largest colonial powers until the middle third of the twentieth century It is no coincidence that the inertia of history and the gravitational force of dominant culture are jointly responsible for the resurfacing at the turn of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries of nineteenth-century social Darwinism in the form of neoliberal monetarism of the civilizing attitude as human rights discourse and of romanticizing orientalism as the lecturing of ‘East European countries’ What are actually the countries of Central and Eastern Europe continue to be taught lessons ten years after they ‘joined Europe,’ and by the same countries that once created colonial empires The founders of the EU and the winners of the first rounds of enlargement (Belgium and Portugal) all had colonies and acted as empires these countries together had come to possess almost half of the inhabitable Their holdings outside the mother countries amounted to three fourths of the colonized lands of the world including overseas protectorates and trade settlements Over 80 per cent of these territories belonged to three superpowers (These ratios did not change significantly after the First World War All that happened was that the Western Entente redistributed the colonial territories of the losers Then their holdings dwindled to 58 per cent during the Second World War a number of countries still command territories overseas and Portugal.) Among the countries of Europe only those in the West of the continent have ever had colonies The Eastern and Central European countries were not (or have not been) part of the colonial discourse the reading of colonization in two senses: they have never enjoyed the benefits of colonies and they have never been colonized themselves the increasingly visible fault line between the West and the East within the EU in reality traces the borders that used to separate the imperialist countries from those without a colonial past This same line of demarcation was re-enacted by the Iron Curtain and has been enriched with new nuances since it fell Edward Said argues that in the nineteenth century the Western colonial powers created an interconnected culture of politics and literature— the culture he calls orientalism—which served to justify the proper economic- political practices of imperialism and administrative organization of the colonies were ensured and legitimized by a branching cultural hegemony composed of achievements in cartography According to the reading of colonization Antonio Gramsci arrives at from his thesis on hegemony the economic and military foundations of imperialism are superseded in importance by the ‘cultural superstructure’ which exercises hegemony over the entire system He poses the rhetorical question of whether a financial-economic imperialism is possible without political-intellectual hegemony.11 In other words ‘the colonial project was not reducible to a simple military−economic system but was underpinned by a discursive infrastructure a whole apparatus of knowledge’.12 In this reading the hegemony of the colonists was truly deepened with the tools of culture and symbolic systems.13 If a colonizer succeeded in having the natives contemplate themselves through his lens then culture in the broad sense of the term enabled him to achieve a legitimacy far stronger than could have been secured by any other means The colonizers always strove to perpetuate the subjugation of local populations Every theoretical and practical criterion of classical colonialism has manifested itself since the end of the 1980s in the way the West looks and acts upon our region the former stereotypes about the inhabitants of colonies (despotism lack of self-reliance) have been consistently reiterated in the late twentieth and the early twenty-first centuries imperialistic theory has adopted other names and colonialist practices have assumed divergent forms including financial sanctions (the withholding of funds) Western dominance remains the name of the game Yet the colonialist attitude underpinning the operation of the EU is getting stronger and more unmistakable along with its characteristic stance towards institutions The imperialist agenda has grown more mellow and overall culture is increasingly superseded by legal discourse as the medium of its legitimization The lords of expectations governing globalization and liberal democracy—let us call them the ‘Davos Men’ (Samuel P Huntington) or the ‘Atlantic Ruling Class’ (Kees van der Pijl)—are associated less and less with specific states and more and more with international (federal the torch of imperialism is carried not by state actors but by entities best described as inter-state (EU the natives only have their own national parties to rely on to represent and advocate their interests—we ourselves which is the Irish-language meaning of Sinn Féin the driving force behind Ireland’s fight for independence not so much by main military force as by foisting their mentality upon the natives They achieved this primarily by harping on backwardness and aggrandizing their assumed superiority as conquerors The direct acquisition of colonies may have been accomplished by means of armed occupation and commercial exploitation but they were secured for the long term through cultural subjection and ideological reasoning which portrayed subjugation as necessary The project of colonization was completed when this view had gained wide currency and acceptance Achille Mbembe points out that ‘the universalization of imperialism cannot be explained by the violence of coercion alone: it was a consequence too of the fact that many colonized people agreed to become consciously complicit in a fable which they found attractive in a number of respects’.14 The most faithful ally of colonizers is the sense of inferiority and shame—if the native is convinced that his beliefs are irrational and that he must feel embarrassed about them decolonization will not truly begin while doing so they must make sure that the centre of gravity commanding identification coincides with the very core of their own morality The most cohesive force holding a colonial system together lies in the hearts and minds of people the work of broadening this cultural hegemony will be less effective if entrusted to officials and officers of colonial administration arriving from overseas than if it is left to natives who speak the local language and know the local customs and will therefore present the codes of colonization as self-evident and valid This group is that of the comprador intellectuals Every age throughout colonial history had its own compradors who often lent not only their talent but their hearts and convictions to the cause of advocating the superiority and rationality of the political and social system of imperial centres They were the ones whom a leader of the Mau-Mau uprising in Kenya described as belonging to ‘a black European class’ eager to bolster and justify British colonial practices locally The interests of the colonizers are thus best represented by natives who have internalized the values of colonization This is tantamount to the admission that the colonized do not exist as a political entity (Edward Said) to the degree that his overall identity depends solely on the colonizers and his existence only makes sense in the context of colonization ‘the total result looked for by colonial domination was indeed to convince the natives that colonialism came to lighten their darkness’ This is the model emulated by the topographical mindset of the comprador intelligentsia today which qualifies a state as Western if it seeks to institutionalize liberal democracy regardless of its actual geographical and cultural traits and situation In their role of mediators imparting meaning to the system like the original conquerors and the colonists of today are ‘stationed temporarily’ in each location This marks the fundamental anthropological difference between the ‘anywheres’ and the ‘somewheres’.17 One might add that this comprador sentiment has a habit of arming itself with supercilious cosmopolitan cocksureness and blatant contempt for everything domestic The recognition of the ‘Washington consensus’ after 1989 not only brought the ‘American control of Europe’ (Béla Pokol) within reach but at once established a cultural hegemony in which a unilateral naturalization of norms from the West served as a key condition for participating in global integration who had been living in the United States for over thirty years that ‘America can be in no sense a model for a small Central European nation’.18) This colonial practice is followed to this day in the form of a peculiar soft imperialism the attitude of dictating civilization today manifests itself in the hardline version of the one that characterized the age of colonial empires some people continue to spread the colonizers’ cultural code among the natives adopting the conquerors’ manners of speech and preaching the superiority of their norms László Németh said that ‘we are being sent “saviours” appointed from the outside … these advisers understand precious little about the actual state of Hungarians turn against that which has been built here for the protection of the natives and which can question their own jurisdiction and competence’.19 If we stay within the framework of colonial discourse it will make sense why the heirs to the servants of Soviet colonists from 1945 to 1989 (the technocrats of the late Kádár era and the socialist party MSZP) and the harbingers of the new colonialists (the ‘democratic opposition,’ liberal intellectuals the SZDSZ party—Alliance of Free Democrats) joined forces against the shy and timid proponents of native interests The political-economic-intellectual pact of post- communism ‘promoted the social development of the centre to the status of a universal model and portrayed social formations deviating from that model … as being responsible for the country’s falling behind’ The line of demarcation between colonialists (with their in situ acolytes) and the natives (with their own representatives) is far more decisive than the internal conflicts dividing the locals two natives respectively on the left and the right who share a native awareness (i.e. the same national culture) have more affinity with each other than with any local or foreign representative with an imperialist/colonialist attitude who happens to stand on the same political side of the spectrum with them in the general sense nationally-minded right can hardly be accused of imperial ambitions tends to be willing to serve the prevailing the definitive deep current of the political and ideological conflict does not spring from an internal constellation but from the relationship to external forces The choice of national or international equates to that between native resident or foreign colonialist the new colonial expectations in Hungary were conveyed by an elite that had swiftly closed ranks following the democratic turn critically minded intellectuals of the ‘democratic opposition’ To paraphrase the title of a book published in 1978 by György Konrád and István Szelényi not only had the Road of Intellectuals to Class Power come to its end but the class of what Gábor Fodor called ‘the reformist ideological continuum’ had become fully formed This class served the post-communist era in simultaneous roles as its praetorian guard and mastermind of its political and cultural programmes The pillars supporting the consensus among this bipolar elite of compradors were provided by their shared desire to perpetuate the discourse of modernization unconditional respect for ‘market mechanisms’ The medium transmitting this consensus was supplied by the public discourse of intellectuals The comprador elite did not have a single original idea that would have sprung from Hungarian soil; it was The paradigm of emulation lasted so long as there was something to imitate all they were left with was intellectual vacancy and pining over illiberalism adopted by the liberal democratic intelligentsia in March 1989 contained every single element of the neoliberal ‘crisis management’ package submitted by the IMF two months before (deregulation Appearing on two facing pages of the volume the three most important principles of the Programme are articulated as follows: 1) ‘the MARKETPLACE is the field where human activities are assessed and measured against one another’; 2) [in a system built on an organization of society answering the needs of the marketplace] ‘the spheres of CULTURE and POLITICS cannot rely on any core value other than that of tolerance’; finally has always been synonymous with Western Europe Our region experienced the great moments of its history when the goal of catching up with Europe was elevated to the ranks of politics.’ We are thus not an independent entity The famous ‘Blue Book’ of the SZDSZ can then be read as a political script of the neocolonial hegemony that prevailed in Hungary from 1990 to 2010 This becomes even more apparent in view of the cultural agenda intimately linked with it the points of which (‘the state is a bad steward’ Westernization) all aimed at preventing a national reversal or recovery after 1989 To cut a long story short: the goal was simply to replace one brand of imperial internationalism with another The process is illustrated well by what George Soros said to a reporter in his entourage in Temesvár (today Timișoara in Romania) in 1993: ‘Just write that the former Soviet Empire is now called the Soros Empire.’ When Hungary’s comprador elite held direct executive power (1994–1998 it implemented an economic policy tailored to meet the expectations of the ‘Washington consensus’ (deregulation thereby setting the country on a path of ‘maldevelopment’ that was eerily similar to postcolonial Hungary was smoothly enmeshed within the post-Cold War neoliberal system of global structures (EU whenever they ruled during the post- communist era (1990–2010) were always able to indirectly put into action the Western-liberal values and the monetarist attitudes informing them which imbued the increasingly impertinent inroads of transatlantic political and economic influence with the glossy colours of progress and belonging to the West It is as if the lines written by Fanon about the comprador bourgeoisie after their countries clinched independence were really about us: this class ‘identifies itself with the Western bourgeoisie from whom it has learnt its lessons’; at home ‘it lives to itself and cuts itself off from the people’; it has ‘nothing better to do than to take on the role of manager for Western enterprise and it will in practice set up its country as the brothel of Europe’ A decisive part of this programme consisted of popularizing the transformation of the political system and of bolstering the authority of those who articulated expectations by which to measure the success of the transformation The machinery of Western-liberal hegemony— with its essential cogwheels of the left-liberal daily press a string of economists and philosophers arriving or returning from abroad and the host of opinion formers associated with the ‘democratic opposition’—continues to preach the indiscriminate naturalization of Western standards as an indispensable condition of belonging to the centre even at the cost of negating native values and interests This is none other than the age-old and well-known psyche driven by self-abnegation with its inferiority complex and compulsion to meet expectations This programme of self-colonization certainly had its antecedents to draw on who was long regarded as the unquestioned foremost authority on regime change treated the narrative of falling behind (a narrative eminently suited for the purpose) in rather eloquent terms Bibó went so far as to say that ‘In terms of social and political development Hungary kept abreast of the West during the first five hundred years of our national history but it got stuck in the early sixteenth century to hit upon its straight path to progress’.28 According to Bibó Hungarian society has been continually and gradually falling behind the West for half a millennium Bibó provides a relentless description of the ‘stalling of social development in Hungary’ the ‘cul-de-sac’ of the country’s evolution the ‘misery of a small state in Eastern Europe’ and its sheer inability to catch up with and master the incontrovertible historic achievements that have added up to Western progress as we know it foreshadowed the copycat of self-colonization as a future reference in the politics of history The fact that the validity of this extremely harmful ‘intellectual myth of salvation’ (András Lánczi) was called into question at a time when the liberal project was shaken to its foundations worldwide and the post-communist era edged close to its end serves as yet another piece of evidence for the close correlation between these phenomena more or less coincided with the twilight of the liberal intelligentsia and the loss of confidence of the post-communist economic-political elite between 2006 and 2010 holding out for us the promise of rescue—the opportunity to finally accomplish the decolonization of our minds The two-thirds parliamentary mandate won at the general elections in 2010 and 2018 provided the government with a massive legitimacy with which it was easier to attain political results in the interest of the natives Further help came with major world events such as the 2015 migration crisis the Brexit referendum and Donald Trump’s ascent to the presidency in 2016 and the sovereigntist- populist wave sweeping across Europe Simón Bolívar attributed the liberation of the peoples of Latin America not simply to the weakening of Spain as a colonialist power and the victorious armed combat of the natives but also to the fact that ‘the tie that bound [America] to Spain has been severed Only a concept maintained that tie and kept the parts of that immense monarchy together.’ As he wrote in the same letter in 1815 ‘We have been harassed by a conduct which has not only deprived us of our rights but has kept us in a sort of permanent infancy with regard to public affairs.’ The veil of colonization goes hand in hand with the voluntary acceptance of this infancy We cannot grow up without tearing the former to shreds although in Hungary the ‘party of natives’ clinched a constitution-changing majority three times in eight years and the course of the world had taken another direction by the second half of the 2010s all this has been in vain if the narrative of colonization is permitted to survive unscathed most institutions of the liberal cultural hegemony have remained untouched What I mainly have in mind is not tangible culture as embodied by the media one might say that between 2008 and 2016 the colonial lords themselves lost heart and even witnessed malfunctions on their own turf (especially Trump’s public reneging on the ‘Washington consensus’ and Great Britain’s secession from the EU) the local comprador bourgeoisie lost its political-economic hegemony although the cultural hegemony of the comprador intellectuals is still alive and well as we speak which has been responsible for interiorizing the mindset of colonization along with its cohorts in non-governmental organizations and various other activists remain free to spread the ‘colonial mentality’ the attitude of ‘let’s dare to dream small’ and to advocate the mission of permanent emulation that can be traced from Bibó to Jászi and ‘liberal democracy’ began to drift away from their original meaning they have become mere parts of the arsenal employed in exerting political influence and perpetrating acts of collective psychological terror whose deliberately extended meaning also renders them eminently suitable for exercising cultural leverage They serve to patch together the now fragmented discourse on falling behind to undermine the desire for autonomy and independence and to herd people back into the fold of the colonial mind and it is not our desire to be thrust back into darkness.’ Telling tales of history and assigning meaning to them is a mild but all the more efficacious means of maintaining the old rule This kind of narrativizing is aptly characterized by the proverb that ‘until the lions have their own historians the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter’ (quoted by Chinua Achebe in an interview) Colonizers always had their local profiteering helpers the most effective of whom distinguished themselves by endowing colonization with meaning and thus became instrumental in spreading the point of view of the conquerors among the natives the role of the insider as intermediary between the occupying lords and their subjects proved almost more essential than that of external military force and commercial transmission While the classical comprador-bourgeoisie is engaged in trade selling resources and building infrastructure and the armed staff of the garrisons are empowered to secure the background for these activities by means of an apparatus of disciplining detractors and offenders it really depends on the mediators whether the colonizers ultimately succeed in ingraining their codes and delivering their message to their intended audience—in other words whether they are able to have their own world view interiorized the permanent designation of the centre and the periphery along with a final and unappealable hierarchy of values assigned to them or the definition of the political notions describing the colonial regime once and for all until the cultural hegemony of the colonizers has been shaken off This may happen before the colonial system actually unravels and may not take place even after the colonists have departed This tallies with the view of Thomas Sankara who said that ‘[w]e have to work at decolonizing our mentality and … recondition our people to accept themselves as they are’ The domestic adherents of (neo)liberal world hegemony like storytelling they have concocted a great number of interpretations in an attempt to explain what has been happening in Hungary since 2010 from ‘fascistoid mutation’ to ‘autocratic capitalism’ and ‘the mafia state’ The latter expression has been popularized by a trilogy entitled Post-Communist Mafia State: The Case of Hungary (2013–2015) whose authors themselves happen to match to a tee the portrait gallery depicting the comprador intellectuals of the post-communist era their pet phrase was adopted by George Soros when he spoke against Hungary in Davos in January 2017 this rather inane label has been augmented by seemingly more professional explanations with the aim of winning acceptance as is usually the case) for the academic consensus that has been trendy in the pivotal states of the Union Non-governmental organizations and various other activists which have a habit of advancing swiftly from the status of scholarly terminology to the ranks of political slogans are sourced from the specialized discipline of so-called transitology a school of political science devoted to scrutinizing the fulfilment in ‘new democracies’ of various criteria defining Western/transatlantic liberal democracy Experts in the field study these processes in the historical context shaped by the fall of dictatorships in Southern Europe and Latin America in the mid-1970s the transformation of postcolonial systems in Africa and Asia and the regime changes in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989–90 Representing an inherently Western point of view this theory contemplates ‘democracy’s third wave’ (Samuel P Huntington) as a prelude to the ‘end of history’ (Francis Fukuyama) which is consummated in the marriage of love between global communism and liberal democracy Transitologists claim that the work of transition has ultimately failed or the global discourse on falling behind must be upheld calibrating the moral-political yardstick to Western liberal democracy Fareed Zakaria voiced concerns over the ‘rise of illiberal democracy’ this was followed by a magnum opus on ‘competitive authoritarian regimes’ which documentary description of ‘hybrid systems’ after the Cold War subsuming them under the category of ‘competitive authoritarianism’ the bulletins of international capital and the global liberal elite (Financial Times for the narrative that sets up parallels between Orbán and Bolsonaro to suggest that ‘these’ are all leaders of one and the same dictatorial counter-revolution which seeks to undo the achievements of the liberal revolution since 1989 this only proves that global liberalism is in its death throes everywhere.) If there is a discipline where it makes sense to pose Gramsci’s rhetorical question of whether science is not itself a ‘political activity’ transitology is but a typical imperial rationalization which teaches the ways in which the values of an expansionist empire can be mastered and its logic of operation adopted with no strings attached Transitology arrogates to itself the definition of democracy and monopolizes its meaning which evolved with a view to national interests and domestic values this is precisely why the current Hungarian political system is problematic in the eyes of the transitologist the representative of a discipline that really serves no purpose other than those of territorial oversight They would point out that these systems contained elements of both and (There is a rigorous classification for you!) the ‘hybrid regime’ has a layered typology Each of these labels refers to a model that is no longer an autocracy but not yet liberal democracy normative scale by which the implementation of liberal democracy is measured operates as a sort of checklist each of these criteria gauges the vindication of liberal democracy against the yardstick of enabling the broadest possible freedom of powers not under democratic control (non-governmental organizations More cracks appeared in the early twenty- first century marring the integrity of transitology as a set of criteria measured by Freedom House country reports and rule of law indices bolstered by mainstream political literature and made compulsory by global political-economic centres Something had to be done about a state of affairs in which not all ‘new democracies’ had attained liberal democracy not to mention that certain attempts at doing so had backfired and begun to exhibit signs of what was described as authoritarian governance—in short that liberal democracy had failed to become the universally accepted model The solution consisted of coming up with the nebulous phrase of ‘hybrid regime’ used to denote systems regarded by the pundits as being neither open democracies nor closed and of the strictest possible constraints placed upon public entities enjoying legitimation by the people (heads of state This methodology of assessment is closely linked to the greater scope of the discourse on rule of law which expects a country to enforce principles (transparency disclosure) that can be interpreted broadly enough to be used smartly against political opponents It invariably sanctions any defiance of the centre’s normative All of this is further related to the threat posed to the model of national majority democracy by the powers wielded by international courts of justice.33 It comes down to international bureaucracy versus majority democracy and national sovereignty Arguments posited on the notion of the ‘hybrid regime’ are well-suited to the task of keeping the colonial logic intact news coverage in daily papers and on television and petitions routinely feature the perception that Hungary derailed from the tracks of progress in 2010 no longer meets the criteria of liberal democracy and has detached itself from the Western consensus with their higher respect for the exactitude of terminology tend to use the subservient phrase of ‘competitive authoritarian regime’ or attesting to a measure of independent thought of ‘externally constrained hybrid regime’ to describe the political arrangement in Hungary since 2010 the moment they enter the limelight of the greater public they begin to speak about the ‘age of hybrid counter- revolution’ sometimes wasting no time in providing advice on ‘how to overthrow Orbán’s hybrid regime’.34 As for what to do about this phenomenon in practical terms we now have a Hungarian translation of a manual on how to make a copy/paste revolution (Srdja Popovic Commentaries like these cannot be simply dismissed as further attempts on the part of foreign actors to meddle in Hungary’s internal affairs who fall in line with a string of interventionists from the American Deputy Chief of Mission (acting more like a proconsul) in Budapest from 2013 to 2014 through the subversive machinations of NGOs funded by Soros to the coordinated action of the opposition in the winter of 2018–19 Efforts to roll back countries liberated from colonial rule are exemplified by the destabilization of Congo between 1960 and 1965 accomplished by methods that seem relevant today reflecting the rather wide- ranging experience of Africa at the time ‘The essence of neo-colonialism is that the State which is subject to it is independent and has all the outward trappings of international sovereignty In reality its economic system and thus its political policy is directed from outside.’ 35 Admittedly the Cold-War arsenal of recolonialization has now been replaced by softer striving all along to refrain from offending the sensibilities of the ‘international community’ today it is by construing that very sensibility that efforts continue to discipline maverick countries using the alternative techniques of broad condemnation the Article 7 proceedings are the parachute commando of our age A liberal New York journalist positively hostile to the changes in Hungary has provided an eloquent example of the resentment and furious antagonism that a national action against the local representatives of imperial structures is capable of provoking The Hungarian government’s decision to subject the Budapest university of George Soros to the domestic laws in force triggered a concerted assault on Hungary The article in question is merely an afterword to this commotion but it does contain a passage worth quoting at length because of the zeal with which it conveys the unadulterated colonialist attitude of the Central European University ‘Soros had conceived the school during the dying days of communism’ ‘to train a generation of technocrats who would write new constitutions and lead the post-Soviet world into a cosmopolitan future would “become a prototype of an open society” CEU has been the barricades of a civilizational struggle where liberalism would mount a defense against right-wing populism The fate of the university was a test of whether liberalism had the tactical savvy and emotional fortitude to beat back its new ideological foe.’ Well Another telltale symptom is the vehemence of international protest elicited by the abolition of the privileges of certain ‘ideological apparatuses’ (Althusser) the defence of Soros’s university marshalled a wide range of forces from the American deep state through the ‘international academic community’ to the European People’s Party while the gainsayers of the transformation of academia by the state point-blank declared that ‘we have our vested connections and are determined to mobilize half the world’ The concept of humanity is an especially useful ideological instrument of imperialist expansion Central and Eastern Europe has been the subject of a back-rolling experiment fuelled by the local hostility toward migration and the solidarity of the Visegrád Group The alliance of the domestic opposition is organized in a quasi- franchise system from Warsaw to Prague a perpetual war of unforeseeable outcome and a National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) while Bosnia and Herzegovina is troubled by its admitted migrants and North Macedonia has even had its government overthrown do not seek to establish sovereign democracies but rather governments resembling a pilotless aircraft Even if used only as an analogy or metaphor there is no term more apt than colonization to describe the relationship in which Hungarian society the military force of colonization is virtual and its administrative implementation coalescent with the institutions of global integration its voice of culture still speaks loudly enough and local vicars have lost some of their leverage Liberation from colonial rule usually takes place in three phases: 1) first removing the most obvious yokes of colonization; 2) this is followed by economic decolonization which amounts to shaking off a more indirect form of colonization; 3) the final stage is that of cultural/mental decolonization in the course of which the tools of independence and self- determination are augmented by a nationalism capable of generating identity and cohesion.38 Ewa M Thompson calls attention to the tendency of some Western researchers to frown upon the strengthening of national feeling after the colonial era in Asia and Africa as if to insinuate that building an identity with the nation as its core value The Eurasianist Nikolai Trubetzkoy suggested early on that though the order of colonization had firmed up owing to economic domination its most distinctive feature consisted of the cultural superiority of the colonizers liberation was unimaginable without simultaneously ensuring the consolidation and independent development of a unified national culture If we remain a colony in the cultural sense and standards to be dictated by rear-guard comprador intellectuals we will not have won complete independence even if we manage to step up advocacy of native interests and detach ourselves from the centres of colonialism in the economic sense freedom from colonial rule begins in the minds of people culture is a weapon in the struggle for independence when occupation is carried out not by armies but by cognitive means Edward Said points out that ‘Belgian rule in the Congo may have come to an end in 1960 but that does not mean the effects of Belgian rule have also ended’ the relaxation or even cessation of colonial control are simply not enough An efficacious advocacy of the natives must simultaneously aim to fortify their own proper identity and to pave a consistently independent political path for them unless they want to remain colonized long after the colonizers have left Representing indigenous interests implies both the protection of local culture and the operation of a domestic political model appropriate for that culture The two prerequisites presuppose each other by necessity there can be no pro- native model without a truly indigenous culture The elaboration of our ‘Hungarian identity’ (László Németh) and a governance serving the interests of Hungarians constitute the double-edged sword of independence The disorienting erosion of identity is a vital part of the discourse which seeks to perpetuate the cultural hegemony of colonization The scientific and political labels under the umbrella term of ‘hybrid regime’ serve as clever instruments of the linguistic-political campaign which articulates its aversion to the periphery in terms of its endorsement of the values and interests of the centre that is global liberal democracy It represents nothing but the age-old colonialist attitude The aspect of colonization that is the most difficult to eradicate consists of its use of increasingly less tangible Robbing the natives of their self-awareness and the indoctrination of their inferiority are more hard-hitting weapons than any armed occupation an underhanded operation is clearly more efficient and less messy than deploying tanks or dropping bombs The key strategy today is not to vanquish the adversary by main force but to persuade the population of the enemy Wars are no longer fought primarily in the battlefields but in the consciousness of people the would-be victors must stage their landings on the shores of the mind Part of this cognitive warfare is the relegation of people to the eternal fate of natives in which any shift toward independence is cut short by their being at the mercy of financial markets the pressures exerted by the media and NGOs which insists on treading its own path on its own resources and whose government is committed to protecting the native population inevitably poses a peril to the invisible empire This article was originally published in Hungarian in the 2 (2020) issue of the journal Kommentár Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective Metrics details Targeted protein degradation (TPD) is an emerging therapeutic modality with the potential to tackle disease-causing proteins that have historically been highly challenging to target with conventional small molecules In the 20 years since the concept of a proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTAC) molecule harnessing the ubiquitin–proteasome system to degrade a target protein was reported where numerous companies have disclosed programmes in preclinical and early clinical development With clinical proof-of-concept for PROTAC molecules against two well-established cancer targets provided in 2020 the field is poised to pursue targets that were previously considered ‘undruggable’ we summarize the first two decades of PROTAC discovery and assess the current landscape We then discuss key areas for the future of TPD including establishing the target classes for which TPD is most suitable expanding the use of ubiquitin ligases to enable precision medicine and extending the modality beyond oncology Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout targets acute myeloid leukemia blasts and leukemia stem cells Discovery of CRBN E3 ligase modulator CC-92480 for the treatment of relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma The myeloma drug lenalidomide promotes the cereblon-dependent destruction of Ikaros proteins Lenalidomide causes selective degradation of IKZF1 and IKZF3 in multiple myeloma cells Lenalidomide induces ubiquitination and degradation of CK1alpha in del(5q) MDS Identification of a primary target of thalidomide teratogenicity Structure of the DDB1-CRBN E3 ubiquitin ligase in complex with thalidomide Development of targeted protein degradation therapeutics Protacs: chimeric molecules that target proteins to the Skp1-Cullin-F box complex for ubiquitination and degradation Harnessing the power of proteolysis for targeted protein inactivation PROTACs: an emerging therapeutic modality in precision medicine Targeted protein degradation: current and future challenges Small-molecule approaches to targeted protein degradation Ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis: biological regulation via destruction Proteolysis-targeting chimeras as therapeutics and tools for biological discovery Targeted degradation of KRAS by an engineered ubiquitin ligase suppresses pancreatic cancer cell growth in vitro and in vivo Targeted destruction of c-Myc by an engineered ubiquitin ligase suppresses cell transformation and tumor formation Structural basis for the recognition of hydroxyproline in HIF-1 alpha by pVHL Structure of an HIF-1alpha-pVHL complex: hydroxyproline recognition in signaling Small-molecule inhibitors of the interaction between the E3 ligase VHL and HIF1alpha Targeting the von Hippel-Lindau E3 ubiquitin ligase using small molecules to disrupt the VHL/HIF-1alpha interaction Catalytic in vivo protein knockdown by small-molecule PROTACs Selective small molecule induced degradation of the BET bromodomain protein BRD4 Immunomodulatory agents lenalidomide and pomalidomide co-stimulate T cells by inducing degradation of T cell repressors Ikaros and Aiolos via modulation of the E3 ubiquitin ligase complex CRL4(CRBN) Anticancer sulfonamides target splicing by inducing RBM39 degradation via recruitment to DCAF15 Structural complementarity facilitates E7820-mediated degradation of RBM39 by DCAF15 Selective degradation of splicing factor CAPERalpha by anticancer sulfonamides Structural basis and kinetic pathway of RBM39 recruitment to DCAF15 by a sulfonamide molecular glue E7820 Aryl sulfonamides degrade RBM39 and RBM23 by recruitment to CRL4-DCAF15 Targeted protein degraders crowd into the clinic Targeted protein degradation as a powerful research tool in basic biology and drug target discovery Evolution of cereblon-mediated protein degradation as a therapeutic modality Androgen receptor degradation by the proteolysis-targeting chimera ARCC-4 outperforms enzalutamide in cellular models of prostate cancer drug resistance Targeting nuclear receptors with PROTAC degraders Defining the human C2H2 zinc finger degrome targeted by thalidomide analogs through CRBN a transcription factor implicated in Duane radial ray syndrome Oral selective estrogen receptor downregulators (SERDs) a breakthrough endocrine therapy for breast cancer Estrogen receptors as therapeutic targets in breast cancer an androgen receptor (AR) PROTAC degrader in patients (pts) with metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) following enzalutamide (ENZ) and/or abiraterone (ABI) an orally bioavailable estrogen receptor degrading PROTAC for the treatment of patients with breast cancer 112th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 1116 (AACR Prey for the proteasome: targeted protein degradation-a medicinal chemist’s perspective Samarasinghe, K. T. G. et al. Targeted degradation of transcription factors by TRAFTACs: TRAnscription Factor TArgeting Chimeras. Cell Chem. Biol. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chembiol.2021.03.011 (2021) Transforming targeted cancer therapy with PROTACs: A forward-looking perspective Tripartite degrons confer diversity and specificity on regulated protein degradation in the ubiquitin-proteasome system Mechanisms of substrate recognition by the 26S proteasome Extended pharmacodynamic responses observed upon PROTAC-mediated degradation of RIPK2 Lessons in PROTAC design from selective degradation with a promiscuous warhead Mutant-selective degradation by BRAF-targeting PROTACs BAF complex vulnerabilities in cancer demonstrated via structure-based PROTAC design Targeted degradation of SLC transporters reveals amenability of multi-pass transmembrane proteins to ligand-induced proteolysis The dTAG system for immediate and target-specific protein degradation In vitro and in vivo degradation of programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) by a proteolysis targeting chimera (PROTAC) Targeted degradation of oncogenic KRAS(G12C) by VHL-recruiting PROTACs Bioorthogonal chemistry: fishing for selectivity in a sea of functionality New electrophiles and strategies for mechanism-based and targeted covalent inhibitor design Tailored bioorthogonal and bioconjugate chemistry: a source of inspiration for developing kinetic target-guided synthesis strategies Experimental and computational approaches to estimate solubility and permeability in drug discovery and development settings Oral druggable space beyond the rule of 5: insights from drugs and clinical candidates Two decades under the influence of the rule of five and the changing properties of approved oral drugs Mapping the efficiency and physicochemical trajectories of successful optimizations Practical application of ligand efficiency metrics in lead optimisation Lipophilic efficiency as an important metric in drug design Strategies toward discovery of potent and orally bioavailable proteolysis targeting chimera degraders of androgen receptor for the treatment of prostate cancer Poongavanam, V. & Kihlberg, J. PROTAC cell permeability and oral bioavailability: a journey into uncharted territory. Future Med. Chem. https://doi.org/10.4155/fmc-2021-0208 (2021) Current strategies for the design of PROTAC linkers: a critical review Solution conformations shed light on PROTAC cell permeability Impact of linker length on the activity of PROTACs a first in class androgen receptor degrading PROTAC for the treatment of men with metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer 112th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 1115 (AACR Cereblon modulators: low molecular weight inducers of protein degradation A cereblon modulator (CC-220) with improved degradation of Ikaros and Aiolos Structural basis of lenalidomide-induced CK1alpha degradation by the CRL4(CRBN) ubiquitin ligase A novel cereblon modulator recruits GSPT1 to the CRL4(CRBN) ubiquitin ligase Phenotypic screening with target identification and validation in the discovery and development of E3 ligase modulators DT2216-a Bcl-xL-specific degrader is highly active against Bcl-xL-dependent T cell lymphomas Utilizing PROTAC technology to address the on-target platelet toxicity associated with inhibition of BCL-XL Principles of ubiquitin-dependent signaling Targeted protein degradation: expanding the toolbox Mechanisms of action of the novel sulfonamide anticancer agent E7070 on cell cycle progression in human non-small cell lung cancer cells Discovery of novel antitumor sulfonamides targeting G1 phase of the cell cycle Structural basis of indisulam-mediated RBM39 recruitment to DCAF15 E3 ligase complex Discovery of a molecular glue promoting CDK12-DDB1 interaction to trigger cyclin K degradation The CDK inhibitor CR8 acts as a molecular glue degrader that depletes cyclin K Rational discovery of molecular glue degraders via scalable chemical profiling Degradation of CCNK/CDK12 is a druggable vulnerability of colorectal cancer Molecular mechanisms of cereblon-based drugs Targeting the E3 ubiquitin ligases DCAF15 and cereblon for cancer therapy Small-molecule MDM2/X inhibitors and PROTAC degraders for cancer therapy: advances and perspectives Targeted protein degradation by chimeric small molecules Degradation of proteins by PROTACs and other strategies HaloPROTACS: use of small molecule PROTACs to induce degradation of halotag fusion proteins Rapid and direct control of target protein levels with VHL-recruiting dTAG molecules Advances in targeted degradation of endogenous proteins Targeted protein degradation tools: overview and future perspectives Integrated cross-study datasets of genetic dependencies in cancer Functional genomics identify distinct and overlapping genes mediating resistance to different classes of heterobifunctional degraders of oncoproteins Acquired resistance to BET-PROTACs (proteolysis-targeting chimeras) caused by genomic alterations in core components of E3 ligase complexes Cellular resistance mechanisms to targeted protein degradation converge toward impairment of the engaged ubiquitin transfer pathway Multiple cereblon genetic changes are associated with acquired 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F-box protein targets by SCF-RBR E3-E3 super-assembly Modular PROTAC design for the degradation of oncogenic BCR-ABL K-Ras(G12C) inhibitors allosterically control GTP affinity and effector interactions Targeting KRAS mutant cancers with a covalent G12C-specific inhibitor RAS-targeted therapies: is the undruggable drugged The KRAS(G12C) inhibitor MRTX849 provides insight toward therapeutic susceptibility of KRAS-mutant cancers in mouse models and patients The clinical KRAS(G12C) inhibitor AMG 510 drives anti-tumour immunity Exploring targeted degradation strategy for oncogenic KRAS(G12C) A chemoproteomic approach to query the degradable kinome using a multi-kinase degrader Mapping the degradable kinome provides a resource for expedited degrader development Unifying catalysis framework to dissect proteasomal degradation paradigms Molecular recognition of ternary complexes: a new dimension in the structure-guided design of chemical degraders Structural basis of PROTAC cooperative recognition for selective protein degradation Plasticity in binding confers selectivity in ligand-induced protein degradation Electrophilic PROTACs that degrade nuclear proteins by engaging DCAF16 Covalent ligand screening uncovers a RNF4 E3 ligase recruiter for targeted protein degradation applications Harnessing the anti-cancer natural product nimbolide for targeted protein degradation Chemoproteomics-enabled discovery of covalent RNF114-based degraders that mimic natural product function A nimbolide-based kinase degrader preferentially degrades oncogenic BCR-ABL Bardoxolone conjugation enables targeted protein degradation of BRD4 Harnessing the E3 Ligase KEAP1 for targeted protein degradation Henning, N. 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novel brain-enriched E3 ubiquitin ligase RNF182 is up regulated in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients and targets ATP6V0C for degradation The TRIM9/TRIM67 neuronal interactome reveals novel activators of morphogenesis The structural differences between a glycoprotein specific F-box protein Fbs1 and its homologous protein FBG3 and SCF complex formation for a lectin family of ubiquitin ligases A selective BCL-XL PROTAC degrader achieves safe and potent antitumor activity Discovery of PROTAC BCL-XL degraders as potent anticancer agents with low on-target platelet toxicity Cancer testis antigens in sarcoma: expression function and immunotherapeutic application A cancer-specific ubiquitin ligase drives mRNA alternative polyadenylation by ubiquitinating the mRNA 3′ end processing complex Degradation of AMPK by a cancer-specific ubiquitin ligase A comprehensive guide to the MAGE family of ubiquitin ligases Cellular and disease functions of the Prader-Willi syndrome gene MAGEL2 Antibody 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redundant for interleukin-1 (IL-1) receptor-associated kinase phosphorylation and IL-1 responsiveness Assessing IRAK4 functions in ABC DLBCL by IRAK4 kinase inhibition and protein degradation Targeting IRAK4 for degradation with PROTACs and biological evaluation of IRAK4-targeting PROTACs Opportunities for small molecules in cancer immunotherapy The next generation of immunotherapy for cancer: small molecules could make big waves Proteasomal and lysosomal degradation for specific and durable suppression of immunotherapeutic targets Genome-wide CRISPR screens in primary human T cells reveal key regulators of immune function Hematopoietic progenitor kinase1 (HPK1) mediates T cell dysfunction and is a druggable target for T cell-based immunotherapies The advantages of targeted protein degradation over inhibition: an RTK case study Tau: enabler of diverse brain disorders and target of rapidly evolving therapeutic strategies Tau reduction prevents neuronal loss and reverses pathological tau 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M Haas for providing editorial support; and the reviewers for their supportive comments during finalization of the manuscript PROTAC is a registered trademark of Arvinas Operations is a consultant and shareholder in Arvinas which is developing drug candidates in the targeted protein degradation space Nature Reviews Drug Discovery thanks John Harling reviewer for their contribution to the peer review of this work Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations This refers to the mechanism of action of a small-molecule drug whereby its function is transiently recruited to a target protein in a catalytic manner (for example ubiquitylation by an E3 ligase recruited by a proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTAC)) resulting in a pharmacological effect (degradation of the protein) that drives a phenotype This contrasts with occupancy-driven pharmacology whereby the function of a target protein is directly blocked by a small-molecule inhibitor The dosage (a range of concentrations) of a drug that provides efficacious therapy and is safe (without toxic side effects) Proteins that may not have an enzymatic function on their own but serve as protein–protein interaction hubs to recruit and orient signalling complexes An allele-specific tagging system that uses a protein of interest (POI) fused to a FKBP12(F36V) construct that allows specific degradation of the fused POI via an FKBP12(F36V) binder linked to a cereblon (CRBN) or a von Hippel–Lindau (VHL) ligand A chemical reaction that occurs inside a living organism without altering its biology A set of physicochemical property guidelines for small molecules that indicate the likelihood of a small molecule being orally bioavailable in humans It is more of a rule of thumb than an absolute rule and many approved drugs fall outside the rule of 5 The time required for the amount or concentration of a protein to be reduced by 50% under physiological conditions It is a measure of the propensity of a protein to be degraded by the ubiquitin–proteasome system (UPS) Proteins with short half-lives are rapidly degraded by the UPS (constantly being turned over) whereas proteins with long half-lives are more stable Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41573-021-00371-6 Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Translational Research newsletter — top stories in biotechnology, drug discovery and pharma. Providing teletherapy requires a unique therapeutic approach and mastery of the teletherapy context. We aimed to develop a self-report scale for therapeutic interventions pertinent to teletherapy, and to examine its relationship with teletherapy process variables, and therapists’ attitudes towards teletherapy technology. A total of 839 therapists participated in a survey study that included standardized measures of therapeutic process (real relationship, working alliance, therapeutic presence), attitudes towards and intention to use teletherapy in the future, and a list of 13 teletherapy intervention items that we hypothesized to be specific to the teletherapy format. Twelve of the 13 teletherapy intervention items loaded on one factor, with good reliability. The 12-item Teletherapy Intervention Scale was positively related to working alliance, the real relationship, therapeutic presence in teletherapy sessions, as well as to positive attitudes towards teletherapy and intention to use teletherapy in the future. Aspects specific to the practice of teletherapy may be successfully captured by a self-report scale, and adequately navigating the challenges and opportunities of teletherapy might enhance the therapeutic process. Further studies are needed to provide additional validation of the scale, and in how to best use this Teletherapy Intervention Scale in research and clinical training. Volume 14 - 2023 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1206960 Introduction: Providing teletherapy requires a unique therapeutic approach and mastery of the teletherapy context We aimed to develop a self-report scale for therapeutic interventions pertinent to teletherapy and to examine its relationship with teletherapy process variables and therapists’ attitudes towards teletherapy technology Method: A total of 839 therapists participated in a survey study that included standardized measures of therapeutic process (real relationship attitudes towards and intention to use teletherapy in the future and a list of 13 teletherapy intervention items that we hypothesized to be specific to the teletherapy format Results: Twelve of the 13 teletherapy intervention items loaded on one factor The 12-item Teletherapy Intervention Scale was positively related to working alliance therapeutic presence in teletherapy sessions as well as to positive attitudes towards teletherapy and intention to use teletherapy in the future Discussion: Aspects specific to the practice of teletherapy may be successfully captured by a self-report scale and adequately navigating the challenges and opportunities of teletherapy might enhance the therapeutic process Further studies are needed to provide additional validation of the scale and in how to best use this Teletherapy Intervention Scale in research and clinical training This increased self-disclosure appeared to be related to an increase in self-disclosure of the patient and might thus indeed have been therapeutic (Luo et al. Interestingly, although some boundaries were loosened, other boundaries became easier to keep. Among the several advantages noted regarding teletherapy, for example therapists found it easier to start and end the sessions on time in teletherapy than they did in their in-person sessions (Aafjes-van Doorn et al., 2022) another opportunity in teletherapy is accessing the patients’ home environment via the screen Many therapists were also able to take advantage of the opportunity to actively ask and gain more insight into the patients’ home The first aim of our study was to develop a therapist self-report scale for the use of therapy interventions pertinent to teletherapy based on findings from previous qualitative studies on patients’ and therapists’ experiences of teletherapy (Aafjes-Van Doorn et al., 2023; Békés et al., 2023) we aimed to explore how this newly developed Teletherapy Intervention Scale relates to the teletherapy process specifically the therapeutic relationship (therapeutic alliance and real relationship) and attitudes towards teletherapy and future intention to use it English speaking licensed therapists and therapists in training were eligible to participate if they had conducted teletherapy via videoconferencing at least once in the past 3 years Participants were recruited via professional email listservs for clinicians from different mental health professions information about the study was posted on international social media groups for mental health professionals worldwide (Facebook therapists completed an about 20-min anonymous survey and standardized psychotherapy process measures Participants did not receive any compensation for completing the survey All study data were collected between March 08 a period of time during which the COVID-19 incidence rate was relatively low and the social restrictions and mask requirements had been lifted in most countries The study was approved by the [local - omitted for peer review] institutional review board The individual items and standardized measures used in this survey can be found at https://osf.io/qa382/?view_only=ab5158d0656845a6af654937d5b3470e. The instruction of the standardized measures was adapted to ask participants to respond considering their “typical experience” in teletherapy [adapted from Lin et al. (2021) and Probst et al. (2021)] We included 13 new items that reflect therapists’ mastery of the teletherapy setting their use of the opportunities and counteracting the inherent challenges specific to the teletherapy setting The items were developed based on a review of previous qualitative studies on therapists’ experiences regarding the specifics of the teletherapy process and interventions Authors of previous qualitative studies on teletherapy acted as experts in reviewing and editing these items so that they capture the essence of therapists reported experience [omitted for peer review] Items aimed to capture ways that therapists cope with and counteract certain challenges posed by teletherapy (e.g. being active in sessions to compensate for a sense of disconnection verbalize feelings to compensate for reduced nonverbal cues being more humane as opposed to professional to facilitate a sense of closeness despite physical distance) other items are related to positive experiences despite the challenges (e.g. managing to feel focused in session and attuned to the patients despite commonly experienced challenges with these deepening the sessions despite a pull to stay on a more superficial level) while other items described taking advantage of opportunities arising through the tele-sessions (e.g. exploring the patients’ home environment to 5 - Very typical: (1) I share my personal experiences with my patients; (2) I am emotionally attuned to my patients; (3) I am active in session trying to engage the patient and direct the session; (4) I express my feelings not only in my face/tone but I also verbalize my feelings explicitly; (5) To understand my patient’s feelings I rely on nonverbal signals; (6) I let patients see me as I really am; (7) I am fully focused and present in the sessions; (8) The sessions are deep intense (as opposed to superficial); (9) We connect as humans besides professional and patient; (10) I tend to start and end my sessions on time; (11) I am comfortable with the use of silences in my sessions; (12) I make active efforts to connect emotionally with my patient; (13) I express curiosity about the patients’ home environment the Chronbach’s alpha of this scale was 0.84 Therapeutic alliance was assessed with the Working Alliance Inventory - Short Revised - Therapist (WAI-SRT; Hatcher and Gillaspy, 2006). The WAI-SRT is a 10-item scale that uses a five-point Likert scale, ranging from seldom (1) to always (5). Following Bordin’s (1979) theoretical model Cronbach’s α for teletherapy WAI-SRT was 0.89 The Real Relationship Inventory Therapist Form (RRI-T; Gelso et al., 2005) was used to assess the real relationship It includes scales measuring realism and genuineness The RRI-T has altogether 24 items to rate on a 5-point Likert scale from Strongly Disagree (1) to Strongly Agree (5) Cronbach’s α for the RRI-T overall score was 0.87 for the subscales realism and genuineness were 0.73 and 0.76 The Therapeutic Presence Inventory Therapist (teletherapy-T; Geller et al., 2010) is a 21-item self-report questionnaire regarding the therapist’s in-session experience with various aspects of therapeutic presence Participants respond on a 7-point Likert sale ranging from Not at all (1) to Completely (7) Cronbach’s alpha was 0.80 for this scale in our sample the UTAUT-T’s Cronbach’s alpha was 0.79 First, to identify the latent constructs associated with the ratings on the 13 teletherapy intervention items, we conducted exploratory factor analyses (EFAs). EFA is recommended when identifying the factor structure of a newly developed measure with limited evidence to specify a prior factor model (Fabrigar et al., 1999) We used the Maximum likelihood (ML) method because there was no evidence of severe non-normality in the distributions of measured variables We used the Promax with Kaiser normalization rotation method Two criteria were used to determine the number of factors retained; (1) Assessing rating scores of the 13 items such that factors with eigenvalues above one were retained; (2) Inspecting a scree plot of the observed eigenvalues ordered from largest to smallest looking for natural break or drop-off point where the curve flattens off and using the number of data points above the drop-off point as an indicator of number of factors to retain we calculated Cronbach’s alphas to assess the internal consistency of the scale to establish relationships between teletherapy interventions and other variables first we used zero-order Pearson correlations and independent samples t-tests to establish whether the Teletherapy Intervention Scale was related to demographic variables and self-reported primary therapeutic orientation we controlled for significant variables when running Pearson correlational analyses between Teletherapy Intervention Scale and therapeutic alliance and attitudes towards teletherapy and intention to use teletherapy in the future variables We created a binary variable for self-reported primary therapeutic orientation which included cognitive and/or behavioral (CBT) approaches versus process-oriented approaches (including humanistic Gender was treated as a binary variable (1 = female The small number of nonbinary participants (n = 9) were removed for this covariate analysis All statistical analyses were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics (Version 28) we decided to remove this item from the scale and continue with a 12-item one factor solution We calculated internal consistency of the scale and correlations with other study variables using this 12-item scale Scree Plot of the 13 Teletherapy Intervention Items in the Exploratory Factor Analysis The 12-item scale’s Chronbach’s alpha was 0.83 Inter-scale correlation coefficients were all r > 0.30 In this study we aimed to develop a self-report scale to assess interventions specific to teletherapy This new Teletherapy Intervention Scale intends to assess mastery of teletherapy coping with and counteracting challenges and using opportunities inherent in the teletherapy setting We also examined the relationship between the Teletherapy Intervention Scale and other process variables in teletherapy regarding the therapeutic relationship and therapists’ attitudes towards teletherapy technology and intention to use it in the future Exploratory factor analysis showed that 12 items out of the originally included 13 items of the Teletherapy Intervention Scale could be conceptualized as representing one underlying construct (“I share my personal experiences with my patients”) possibly because it was not seen as therapeutic per se or reflects a therapeutic stance more generally rather than a unique teletherapy experience The Teletherapy Intervention Scale was positively related to the therapeutic alliance which provides preliminary support for the Teletherapy Intervention Scale’s validity since it implies that using teletherapy interventions may results in being able to create a better therapeutic relationship with patients and being more present in teletherapy sessions Importantly, conceptually, the better use of teletherapy specific interventions by the therapists may relate to better therapeutic outcomes as well. There is strong evidence for the relationship between the therapeutic relationship and symptom improvement both in teletherapy (Norwood et al., 2018) and in in-person therapy (Cataldo et al., 2021; Smith et al., 2022) and given the relationship between teletherapy interventions and relational variables in our study teletherapy interventions might also relate to better outcomes in teletherapy the newly developed Teletherapy Intervention Scale could also be used by graduate schools and training institutes to aid the development of skills in teletherapy be used as an observer-rated competency scale when evaluation video recorded teletherapy sessions to assess how therapists in training navigate the unique aspects of the teletherapy process It could also be used as a self-report scale for therapists themselves when they review their own work and want to identify micro skills they need to target in their deliberate practice This scale could also be used more generally as a concrete tool to teach therapists about research findings on the teletherapy process and how it might impact their own clinical practice Several limitations and future directions can be identified this study reported on the initial development and validation of a Teletherapy Intervention Scale It is surprising that 3 years after the start of the sudden transition to teletherapy no therapy intervention scale has been developed that taps into the teletherapy context specifically this initial development of the teletherapy intervention scale is important a further limitation is that the validity of the standardized scales of working alliance real relationship and therapeutic presence could be questioned given that these measures were used to assess the therapists’ experiences with their typical in-person sessions and teletherapy sessions rather than a specific session with a specific patient as originally intended by the standardized scales our study reported on therapists’ perspectives of the frequency of used interventions We know from previous research that therapists might not be the best judge of what interventions they actually use in their therapy sessions Further studies are needed to explore differences in therapeutic interventions in in-person and teletherapy settings as perceived not only by therapists but also by patients and to provide practical guidelines for training and clinical practice in using teletherapy interventions our study did not include treatment outcomes; future studies should assess the potential relationship between the use of teletherapy interventions and treatment efficacy This study is unique in that it operationalizes how exactly therapeutic interventions in teletherapy are different from interventions used in in-person therapy It reports on the development of a scale for teletherapy interventions which captures therapists’ mastery over the inherent challenges and opportunities of teletherapy our findings indicate that certain interventions in teletherapy sessions appear unique to teletherapy and that therapists using these may also be able to experience better relational quality in their teletherapy sessions be more present in their teletherapy sessions and had more positive views of and intention to continue using teletherapy The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by Western IRB The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study and wrote up the first draft of the manuscript XL collected data and edited the manuscript All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher The Supplementary material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1206960/full#supplementary-material 1. ^https://osf.io/96yr7 Aafjes-van Doorn The complexity of teletherapy: not better or worse CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Aafjes-van Doorn COVID-19 related traumatic distress in psychotherapy patients during the pandemic: the role of attachment Aafjes-Van Doorn Therapists’ perception of the working alliance real relationship and therapeutic presence in in-person therapy versus tele-therapy Aafjes-van Doorn Practicing Online During COVID-19: Psychodynamic and Psychoanalytic Therapists’ Experiences Aafjes-van Doorn Grappling with our therapeutic relationship and professional self-doubt during COVID-19: will we use video therapy again “I miss 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This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited in accordance with accepted academic practice distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms *Correspondence: Vera Békés, dmVyYS5iZWtlc0B5dS5lZHU= †These authors share first authorship Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher 94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or goodLearn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish ANTON Du Beke has been a staple of Strictly Come Dancing ever since he waltzed onto our TV screens in 2004 But when he's not busy taking over the world of ballroom dancing, the Strictly judge enjoys his home life with his wife and children. Born in 1976, businesswoman Hannah Summers is the Chief Marketing Officer at leading mobile network security company AdaptiveMobile. The company are responsible for half the texts sent in the whole world. Hannah has over 25 years of experience in marketing and communication - in the telecommunications, technology and pharmaceutical industries. Hannah has a degree in English Literature from the University of Bristol. The couple sparked rumours they’d tied the knot after Hannah wore an engagement ring and wedding band during the first day of Chelsea Flower Show in May 2017 Hannah and Anton had been dating for six years before tying the knot The couple live in a four-bedroom property in Buckinghamshire worth an estimated £800,000. CAUGHT OUT AGAIN!Jamie Borthwick wooed me with talk of marriage while dating 2 other womentv falloutThe biggest TV co-star feuds ever - from This Morning duo to The X Factor judgesThe Strictly stalwart’s spokesman later confirmed they had indeed got married on the quiet following the birth of their twins The couple were keen to start a family and tried to conceive for years, before deciding to give IVF a shot The twins are named George and Henrietta After appearing on Michael McIntyre's Big Show in December 2018, Hannah drew a lot of comparisons with one very famous face Fans were quick to point out her resemblance to Sophie, Countess of Wessex One wrote on Twitter: "I’m sure Anton du Beke’s wife is married to Prince Edward." Another added: "Was tryna think who Anton’s wife looks like then it come to me....Prince Edward’s missus The Duchess of Wessex #DeadRinger." writing: "Anton du Beke's wife looks like royalty! WITH Strictly's 20th anniversary special airing in September The Sun takes a look at which celebs have been confirmed for the new series: Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click this link: thesun.co.uk/editorial-complaints/ You can read the interview in English below What topics and subject areas are at the focus of this year’s Tranzit Festival Can and does the festival intend to thematise Tranzit has always been both the same and different each year This is especially true for the four-day major event held in Tihany which has followed a similar schedule for over half a decade while managing to remain up-to-date The main theme remains fundamentally similar: Tranzit serves as a conceptual and practical arena for the creation of an independent the exact themes change every quarter and every year And I have intentionally phrased the dichotomy of war and peace as either-or as opposed to the points of the compass as and-and These are related to smaller thematic groups or the processes taking place in the first third of the 21st century such as the impending global paradigm shift and cultural sovereignty the Tihany Tranzit has functioned as an ‘ideological expo,’ and this August it combines all the excitement of a political festival Which presentations and programmes will in your view be the most important As the programme is quite diverse and lasts from morning to early evening there are competing roundtable discussions and debate forums vying for attention every hour so providing a detailed list would be lengthy and unjust to omit anyone I can reveal that the ministerial-level presentations in the morning and the domestic political debates after lunch interest me greatly I find the intellectual and personal calibre on the other side so poor that I expect little intellectual excitement from the participation of opposition figures I’m eternally optimistic: even amidst the greatest moments of nonsense Much of the public discourse takes place within echo chambers Engaging in debates is a must; arguments need to be tested shadowboxing is an important part of the training regimen and marksmanship skills are honed on the shooting range There are definitely no echo chambers in Tihany The occasional critical voice or internal debate is always present As long as it’s constructive and driven by a communal intent rather than individual posturing and as long as it doesn’t stoop to personal attacks how is conservative thought faring domestically and globally the structure of cultural hegemony is changing thanks partly to the government’s efforts of the past 12–13 years and the voluntary organising and intellectual work of many and I notice that the national-conservative side produces two or three times more ideology-focused books not to mention the quality of the publications and talent development produce more knowledge and deeper understanding than the leftist-liberal milieu which is essentially just defending the fortress of literature This means two things for us: a lot of humility and even more work Following the controversies around the Opera and the Liszt Academy the so-called ‘culture war’ has been reinvigorated What are your thoughts on its current state Viktor Orbán spoke about the difference between systems and eras considering the former as political operations and the latter as a broadly understood cultural content ensemble the liberal intelligentsia fights its little seasonal culture war but they really wanted to create a bigger issue from the appointments of director generals to public cultural institutions as well the answer to the question is that in this country the left-liberal intelligentsia is waging a culture war while we are fighting for our own national culture This is not a party issue or a left-right matter because if we succeed there will still be people reading and writing in Hungarian in the next thousand years Click here to read the original article. Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective. Volume 12 - 2021 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.648503 This article is part of the Research TopicRecent Empirical Research and Methodologies in Defense MechanismsView all 17 articles Despite many theoretical and clinical writings the theorized connection between defense mechanisms and adult attachment in depressed patients has received little empirical attention This is the first study to examine patients’ defense mechanisms in relation to their attachment in a clinical sample of depressed patients and also the first to use observer-rated measures for assessing both defense mechanisms and attachment we aimed to investigate the relationship between patients’ attachment and their use of defense mechanisms in psychotherapy sessions as well as patterns of change over treatment We conducted a secondary analysis of data from a randomized controlled trial of 30 patients receiving psychotherapy for major depression Session transcripts were previously coded for defense mechanisms using the Defense Mechanisms Rating Scales and depression severity data were collected by the clinician-rated HRSD-17 and the self-report BDI-II Patients’ attachment was assessed in two transcripts one in an early session and a second in a late session using the novel observer-rated Patient Attachment Coding System preoccupied attachment-related characteristics were significantly positively related to overall defensive functioning and negatively related to Depressive immature defenses preoccupied attachment-related characteristics were negatively correlated with Non-depressive immature defenses early-phase defense use was related to late phase attachment; specifically early neurotic and immature Depressive and Non-depressive defenses predicted an increase in avoidant whereas immature Non-depressive defenses predicted a decrease in preoccupied attachment-related characteristics over the course of treatment after controlling for early attachment effects The results imply a longitudinal relationship between defenses and change in attachment-related characteristics over the course of treatment in a depressed sample and warrant further research about the relationship between defenses and attachment during psychotherapy Patients’ attachment-related differences and defense mechanisms are the two main aspects of personality functioning and are thought to be important predictors of symptom severity and psychotherapy outcome (Blatt and Levy, 2003; Perry, 2014; Dagan et al., 2018; Perry et al., 2020) Despite increasing interest in the topic over the past few years there is still little empirical research conducted on the associations between defense mechanisms and patient’s attachment we sought to address this important gap in the literature by empirically examining the relationship between patients’ attachment-related characteristics and their use of defense mechanisms in treatment sessions conducted as part of a previous RCT for depression Ainsworth and colleagues proposed that infants seek proximity with their caregiver in one of three ways: secure involving actively seeking proximity if they generally expect the caregiver to be available when they are distressed; avoidant they seem to defensively inhibit their search for physical proximity; and resistant (or ambivalent) if they expect the caregiver to be unpredictable or inconsistent leading to constantly monitoring their proximity to the caregiver even when he or she is within reach Later work showed that these infant differences are robustly predicted by parent’s attachment representations, as assessed in a semi-structured interview, the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI; Main et al., 1985) parents of secure infants in the AAI appear to openly access their own representations and memories of their relationships with their parents and are termed “secure-autonomous.” Parents of avoidant infants seem to shift their attention away from discussing attachment relationships and stressful episodes and are termed “dismissing,” while parents of resistant infants appear to focus excessively on such topics and are termed “preoccupied.” Certain defense mechanisms are prominent in the interpersonal patterns that convey the effect of attachment insecurity on psychological distress, such as depression. For example, dismissing attachment classifications seem to be associated with denying one’s own weaknesses and those of one’s attachment figures (Main et al., 2002) preoccupied attachment may be associated with hyperactivating the expression of distress and maintaining a consistent focus on negative emotions which may work to gain and maintain others’ proximity – at least in the short term Given the importance of attachment security and defense mechanisms in the development of psychopathology, such as depression (Høglend and Perry, 1998; Martin-Joy et al., 2017) and their general importance in treatment formulations (e.g., Fonagy, 2001; Eagle, 2013) it is important to better understand the relationship between these two processes the overall aim of our study was to investigate the relationship between patients’ attachment and their use of defense mechanisms in psychotherapy for depression as well as any patterns of change over time where attachment style was assessed as a predictor of defense use we aimed to explore the role of defense mechanism in predicting changes in in-session attachment-related characteristics over treatment we explored the following two research questions: What is the relationship between depressed patients’ in-session attachment-related characteristics and their defense mechanisms We hypothesized that patients with secure attachment would exhibit higher overall defensive functioning we also expected that patients with insecure attachment specifically avoidant and preoccupied patterns Does patients’ defensive functioning in the early session predict their attachment security in the late phase of treatment We expected that patients’ overall defensive functioning and amount of mature or immature defense use early in treatment would predict attachment-related characteristics in the late phase of treatment early Depressive Immature defense use would predict insecure (avoidant and preoccupied) attachment-related characteristics in the late phase of treatment This study reports on secondary analyses of existing treatment data collected as part of a previously conducted randomized controlled treatment trial (RCT) of 30 patients undergoing treatment for major depression (see Perry et al., 2021 for a detailed description of the RCT) Inclusion criteria in the study were having acute recurrent major depression and a 17 or higher score on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale; exclusion criteria included psychotic or bipolar type I disorders substance use or dependence serious enough to interfere with therapy and an effective response to antidepressant medications The clinician-rated Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HRSD-17; Hamilton, 1960) was used to assess depression levels pre-and post-treatment The HRSD-17 is a 17-item semi-structured interview which assesses depression on a 5-point Likert scale The HRSD-17 has demonstrated good internal consistency in previous studies with a mean alpha of 0.79 across studies in our report Cronbach’s alpha=0.83 The self-report Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II; Beck, et al., 1996) was also administered pre-and post-treatment. The BDI-II is a widely used 21-item measure of Depressive symptoms experienced during the previous week, using a four-point Likert scale. Internal consistency of the BDI-II has been reported to be good in several studies, for example, a Cronbach alpha of 0.90 has been reported (Storch et al., 2004) Cronbach’s alpha for BDI-II was 0.96 in the present report the coder assesses the frequency and intensity of 40 different discourse markers as they occur in a transcript which are grouped into five main scales used to assign a final main attachment classification to the patient: Proximity seeking and Contact maintaining which are associated with Secure attachment; Avoidance which is associated with Avoidant attachment; and Resistance which is associated with Preoccupied attachment is used as a global score of security which encompasses the five main PACS scales although a person may exhibit predominantly secure attachment characteristics they may also exhibit some avoidant and resistant markers four clinical psychology doctoral students completed a one-week comprehensive training workshop in the use of the PACS taught by the developer (A.T.) and attended weekly reliability consensus meetings on practice transcripts for 3months following the training workshop When their ICC with the developer of the PACS reached 0.80 or above the students started coding the session transcripts for the study Session transcripts were randomly assigned across the four raters the raters received ongoing intensive supervision from the developer of the PACS Inter-rater reliability was calculated on 29 (50%) out of 58 coded sessions and the ICC between the developer and the coders was 0.85 From the available session transcripts already coded on the DMRS two sessions per treatment were coded with the PACS one session from the early phase of treatment (the second session) and a session at the late phase of treatment (the penultimate session) altogether resulting in a sample of 60 PACS coded sessions the total sample of 30 treatments was used Two patients were dropped out during treatment; therefore the cross-sectional analysis at the early phase was based on n=30 whereas the analyses at the late phase of treatment and the change across treatment included n=28 The use of an existing data set and observer ratings meant that there were no missing attachment or defense scores To compare initial attachment and defense scores across the three treatment arms The small number of patients in each treatment modality only allowed us to conduct pilot comparisons and to report effect sizes and not values of p The attachment and defense variables were not normally distributed (skewness and kurtosis more than twice the standard error) attachment scores on the Balance scale were significantly positively skewed due to the high prevalence of insecure patients in the sample (n=21) non-parametric tests of defenses and attachment were used in subsequent analyses Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare attachment and defenses in the early and late phases of the treatments A paired samples t test was used to compare self-rated and observer-rated depression scores at pre-and post-treatment Spearman’s rho correlations were used to analyze the relationship between variables on the DMRS and the PACS Linear regression analysis was used to examine whether early-phase defensive functioning predicted late-phase attachment For checking the assumptions for the regression models we confirmed that the data contained approximately normally distributed errors with equal variance and met the assumptions of homogeneity of variance and linearity Two-tailed tests of significance were applied throughout Given the exploratory nature of the examinations and the relatively low power we did not apply a correction for multiple correlations All statistical analyses were conducted using SPSS 24.0 Average overall defensive functioning (M=4.88; SD=0.57) early in treatment fell into the level usually associated with acute depression or personality disorders and was comparable to other mixed outpatient groups reported in the literature [M=4.62, SD=0.27, t(49)=1.93, p=ns.; Perry and Henry, 2004]. Table 1 shows the means and significant changes in the relevant variables Early-phase PACS and defense variables differed in the three treatment arms Pilot comparison using Eta-squared showed that variance in early treatment PACS variables across the three treatment arms was Balance η2 =0.010 and Resistance η2 =0.154; and variance based on the treatment arms in early-phase defense variables ranged between Neurotic defenses η2 =0.035 and ODF η2 =0.108 Based on these significant relationships between DMRS defenses early in treatment and PACS scales in the late phase of treatment we conducted linear regressions to establish whether defense use (DMRS Immature Neurotic defenses) in the early phase predicts attachment-related characteristics (PACS Avoidance Resistance scales) in the late phase of treatment after controlling for early levels of attachment-related characteristics Since the DMRS Immature defenses category can be divided into the two mutually exclusive subcategories of Depressive immature defenses and Non-depressive immature defenses we substituted these subcategories in the regression model rather than the less specific DMRS Immature defense category We used stepwise regression to assess the unique contribution of Depressive and Non-depressive defenses in predicting the change in attachment-related characteristics both early Depressive and Non-depressive immature defenses significantly predicted late-phase PACS Avoidance after controlling for baseline PACS Avoidance (B=6.47 early Non-depressive immature defenses (but not Depressive immature defenses) negatively predicted PACS Resistance at the late phase of treatment after controlling for early PACS Resistance (B=−18.56 early DMRS Neurotic defenses significantly predicted late-phase PACS Avoidance after controlling for early PACS Avoidance (B=−0.3.84 Early-phase DMRS Neurotic defenses did not predict late-phase PACS Resistance significantly after controlling for early Resistance (B=5.16 This pilot study is the first to examine patients’ defense mechanisms in relation to their attachment in a clinical sample of depressed patients and also the first to use observer-rated measures for assessing both defense mechanisms and attachment the present study explored the role of early-phase defense mechanisms in predicting changes in attachment-related characteristics over the course of psychotherapy We first hypothesized that patients with higher overall defensive functioning and less Immature defenses would be associated with more attachment security across all sessions We found that attachment security (PACS Balance) and PACS Avoidance were not related to defenses but PACS Resistance was positively associated with overall defensive functioning at the early phase of treatment and negatively associated with Depressive Immature defenses in the early phase PACS Resistance was also negatively associated with Non-depressive immature defenses at the late phase of treatment Our second hypothesis was partly supported in that early-phase Immature and Neurotic defense use was related to late-phase attachment-related characteristics both Depressive and Non-depressive immature defense use and Neurotic defense use were associated with more late-phase PACS Avoidance even after controlling for early-phase PACS Avoidance levels more Non-depressive defense use during the early phase of therapy predicted less PACS Resistance at the late phase after controlling for the effect of early PACS Resistance levels The positive relationship between overall defensive functioning and preoccupied attachment-related characteristics at the early phase of treatment may be explained by the fact that defensive functioning is usually at its lowest not at the beginning of psychotherapy but somewhat later in treatment when the patient is more deeply engaged in working on difficult topics in therapy even though attachment-related characteristics may be detected already in early sessions defense style of the patient when dealing with stressful conditions (or topics) may only be displayed later in therapy or across several sessions we assessed defenses and attachment in only one session transcript from each time point The last sessions before termination often trigger attachment-related issues and may bring up relational insecurities which might result in bias toward lower defensive functioning and more insecure attachment characteristics than what the patient would typically display Although this treatment trial allowed for a pilot comparison between three different psychological treatments the variability in the number of sessions and length of therapy across the three treatment arms (an average of 21 sessions in CBT and 62 in PDT) limited the ability to interpret the temporal relationship between defenses and attachment in our study Future studies using more sessions per treatment may more reliably assess change processes during the course of treatment Another explanation for the relative lack of a cross-sectional relationship between defenses and attachment-related characteristics might also be methodological Both defense mechanisms and attachment were coded across whole therapy sessions and summary scores for both constructs were used in the subsequent analyses It is thus possible that unrelated segments were coded as defense and as attachment episodes future studies implementing a more fine-grained approach focusing on identifying episodes when defense and attachment events overlap in the transcripts may more accurately reflect the association between specific defense mechanisms and attachment-related characteristics the widely varying prevalence of the three attachment styles in our sample limited a fair comparison of patients with different attachment classifications It is important to also note that the comparison of the results based on self-report and observer-rated methods is limited due to the inherent differences occurring when studying phenomena at least partly outside of awareness Findings obtained by self-report measures may not be directly translatable to results with observer-rated methods increase in avoidance and decrease in preoccupied characteristics thus might be considered as a possible proxy for improvement in attachment-related problems within insecure attachment The longitudinal (but not cross-sectional) findings of our pilot study support the theorized connection between defense mechanisms and adult attachment in depressed patients, as well as the few empirical findings that examined this association in non-clinical samples. These studies found that insecure attachment is typically associated with the less adaptive defense mechanisms (e.g., Prunas et al., 2019) Whereas our study did not find the expected relationship between attachment and defense variables in the same session our findings showed that neurotic and immature defenses are related to change and possibly improvement in insecure attachment over the course of treatment the type of instrument used to assess attachment uniquely contributed to the explanation of variance in depression symptoms among adolescents and studies including self-report tools reported bigger effect sizes compared to those based on interviews and observations Although beyond the scope of the current investigation it would be interesting to examine whether similar patterns between attachment and defenses would emerge if self-report assessments of attachment were used the PACS observer-rated coding system at the moment does not include the fourth attachment category Unresolved/disorganized (insecure) attachment The inclusion of an additional attachment category may differentiate within the large proportion of patients currently classified as Preoccupied in our study Another limitation of this study is the relatively small sample size which allowed for running correlations on the higher order defense and attachment categories but did not allow for testing regression or mediation models on defense levels or individual defenses The considerable differences in treatment length especially the significantly longer psychodynamic therapies also limit the generalizability of our results regarding temporal changes we could only report initial comparisons across treatment arms Given that some of the effect sizes across treatment modalities were large (Avoidance η2=0.158 further studies with larger sample sizes (powered to assess between-treatment effects) are warranted this study can be seen as an exploratory pilot study and larger-scale studies should examine the exact nature of the relationship between defense mechanisms and attachment security A better understanding of the connections between insecure attachment and immature defenses with specific symptom clusters might induce clinicians to assess and intervene both on manifest symptoms and on defensive and relational styles to help improve severe symptoms in depressed patients during the course of treatment Identifying these mechanisms may offer novel targets for the treatment of depression Using the PACS system to study patients’ attachment in session transcripts illustrates the potential clinical relevance of applying post hoc observer-rated measurements within the context of a highly controlled research design These observer codings are not only relevant with regard to the research insights they provide but also might provide a useful clinical training tool to graduate students who are interested in learning more about the psychotherapy process and how to attune their interventions to different types of patients developing simple observer-rated methods that require minimal or no training to use are warranted These methods could provide tools for clinicians to assess their patients’ defensive and attachment-related patterns in situ which has the potential to significantly enhance case formulation and tracking treatment-related changes over time The data analyzed in this study is subject to the following licenses/restrictions: The IRB decision did not allow publishing the dataset. Requests to access these datasets should be directed to dmVyYS5iZWtlc0B5dS5lZHU= The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal Canada (original RCT) and Yeshiva University’s IRB (WIRB) JP: providing data from the original RCT and conceptual contribution The Supplementary Material for this article can be found online at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.648503/full#supplementary-material Ainsworth Google Scholar Bakermans-Kranenburg The first 10,000 adult attachment interviews: distributions of adult attachment representations in clinical and non-clinical groups Google Scholar Variation in susceptibility to environmental influence: An evolutionary argument CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Identifying psychotic defenses in a clinical interview CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Attachment and emotion in school-aged children Google Scholar sadness and depression,” 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University of Chicago Press) Google Scholar Adult attachment representations and depressive symptoms: A meta-analysis Sensitivity and attachment: A meta‐analysis on parental antecedents of infant attachment Google Scholar Di Giuseppe Preliminary reliability and validity of the DMRS-SR-30 a novel self-report measure based on the Defense mechanisms rating scales Google Scholar Attachment and the processing of social information across the life span: theory and evidence Google Scholar Extending the Transdiagnostic model of attachment and psychopathology “Adult romantic attachment: developments in the study of couple relationships,” in Handbook of Attachment: Theory Google Scholar Google Scholar The significance of attachment security for children’s social competence with peers: A meta-analytic study doi: 10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-050212-185553 CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Høglend Defensive functioning predicts improvement in major 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26 Google Scholar AAI predicts patients’ in-session interpersonal behavior and discourse: A “move to the level of the relation” for attachment-informed psychotherapy research Assessing attachment in psychotherapy: validation of the patient attachment coding system (PACS) Mentalizing in the presence of another: measuring reflective functioning and attachment in the therapy process Patients’ adult attachment interview classification and their experience of the therapeutic relationship: are they associated Research in psychotherapy: psychopathology Pathways to defense of the self: A theory of two types of paranoia Google Scholar “Defense Mechanisms” in Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences Shackelford (New York: Springer International Publishing) Google Scholar CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Starrs CJ and Perry JC (2021) The Relationship Between Defense Mechanisms and Attachment as Measured by Observer-Rated Methods in a Sample of Depressed Patients: A Pilot Study Received: 31 December 2020; Accepted: 26 August 2021; Published: 27 September 2021 Copyright © 2021 Békés, Aafjes-van Doorn, Spina, Talia, Starrs and Perry. 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Volume 12 - 2021 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.705699 Therapists’ forced transition to provide psychotherapy remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic offers a unique opportunity to examine therapists’ views and challenges with online therapy This study aimed to investigate the main challenges experienced by therapists during the transition from in-person to online therapy at the beginning of the pandemic and 3 months later and the association between these challenges and therapists’ perception of the quality of the relationship with their online patients and therapists’ attitudes and views about online therapy and its efficacy at these two timepoints As part of a large-scale international longitudinal survey we collected data from 1,257 therapists at two timepoints: at the start of COVID-19 when many therapists switched from providing in-person therapy to online therapy when they had had the opportunity to adjust to the online therapy format therapists reported on perceived challenges quality of working alliance and real relationship and their views on online therapy’s efficacy compared to in-person therapy Factor analysis of individual survey items at both timepoints identified four different types of challenges among this therapist sample: Emotional connection (feeling connected with patients Distraction during sessions (therapist or patient) and Therapists’ boundaries (professional space Older and more experienced therapists perceived fewer challenges in their online sessions all four types of challenges were associated with lower perceived quality of the therapeutic relationship (working alliance and real relationship) and more negative attitudes toward online therapy and its efficacy perceived challenges with three domains – Emotional connection and Therapists’ boundaries significantly decreased – whereas challenges in the fourth domain – Distraction – increased therapists’ concerns about being able to connect with patients online appeared to be the most impactful in that it predicted negative attitudes toward online therapy and its perceived efficacy 3 months later above and beyond the effect of therapists’ age and clinical experience Clinical and training implications are discussed In recent years, a body of pre-pandemic research has shown that online therapies’ and in-person therapies are comparable with regard to the quality of the working alliance (e.g., Simpson and Reid, 2014), and that online therapy can be similarly effective (Simpson, 2009; Backhaus et al., 2012) therapists’ concerns about online therapy persisted and had hindered the uptake of online therapy via videoconferencing regardless of age and therapeutic orientation were apprehensive about offering online therapy and reluctant to integrate online therapy work into their regular practices Most psychotherapists had little training and experience in providing online psychotherapy pre-pandemic but nevertheless had multiple concerns about this therapy format With the COVID-19 pandemic starting in early 2020 the involuntary mass transition to online therapy drastically changed this landscape Following restrictions imposed to manage the COVID-19 pandemic many therapists had to move their practice online regardless of their previous attitudes and concerns about online therapy Providing online therapy became an accepted necessity and many therapists suddenly gained extensive experience with this therapy format Age has been theorized to also have an impact on attitudes toward technology use (Venkatesh et al., 2012), and younger age is often associated with being more technology savvy. In the context of online psychotherapy, pre-pandemic studies found no relationship between age and attitudes toward online therapy (Liu et al., 2015; Hennemann et al., 2017); however therapists of all ages’ sudden and en masse transition to online therapy might have posed specific challenges to therapists based on their age and experience even though younger generations might have had more preliminary experience with video conferencing which they might have used more for personal communication purposes clinically more experienced therapists might have had the advantage of having developed more solid and transferable therapy skills that could be more easily adapted to the new online platform we aim to investigate therapists’ perceived challenges with providing online therapy during the pandemic and to identify how these challenges shaped their experiences and attitudes toward online therapy during the pandemic Our main research questions were threefold: (1) What are the main challenges experienced by therapists during the transition to online therapy and do these challenges differ among therapists of different ages and levels of experiences What challenges did therapists experience 3 months later and how did these experienced challenges change over time (2) How do therapists’ perception of the quality of the relationship (working alliance and real relationship) with their online patients at the start of the pandemic relate to their perceived challenges at baseline and at the 3-month follow-up (3) How do perceived challenges at the beginning of the pandemic and 3 months later relate to therapists’ attitudes toward online therapy and its efficacy at these two timepoints when controlling for relevant covariates (age and experiences) Descriptive characteristics of the therapists (N = 1257) therapists were asked about perceived challenges with switching from in-person to online therapy and its efficacy compared to in-person sessions we also assessed the therapists’ perception of the quality of the online therapeutic relationship (working alliance and real relationship) The sub-sample of participants who completed the 3-month follow-up measurement (N = 320) did not differ significantly on any demographic variables or in their attitudes and views on the efficacy of online therapy from the therapists who only provided baseline data All therapists were asked to report the challenges they experienced with conducting online therapy at baseline as well as at follow-up what are the main challenges for you using online therapy (Multiple answers possible).” Response options (yes or leave blank) were based on theoretical and clinical writings about challenges in online therapy pre-Covid and included the following 11 possible challenges: Technical/internet problems Difficult to read patient’s emotions Difficult to feel connected with the patient Difficult for me to find a professional space for the online session Difficult for the patient to find a suitable space for the online session Risk of me getting distracted during session Risk of a patient getting distracted during session Participants also had an option to report “other” challenges Cronbach’s alpha in the current study was 0.84 at baseline The UTAUT-T consists of 21 items about various aspects of online therapy that are scored on a Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) “I find online therapy works well for patients,” and “I feel apprehensive about using online therapy” (reverse item) Higher scores indicate a more positive attitude toward online therapy Cronbach’s α was 0.64 in this study To examine how therapists perceived the efficacy of online therapy in comparison to in-person therapy we included the following item to the baseline and follow-up survey; “How do you view online therapy now?” Responses were rated on a five-point Likert scale; Definitely less effective than in-person therapy (1); Somewhat less effective than in-person therapy (2); As effective as in-person therapy (3); Somewhat more effective than in-person therapy (4); and Definitely more effective than in-person therapy (5) After identifying the best-fitting factor structure responses of participants were re-coded based on whether they endorsed any challenges for each specific factor Chi-Square tests were used to examine differences between endorsement of challenges at baseline and 3-month follow-up for the participants who provided both baseline and follow-up data Exploratory factor analysis of individual survey items at baseline and 3-month follow-up indicated a best-fitting model of four factors (model fit indices and factor loadings are shown in Tables 1, 2) The four different types of perceived challenges were: Emotional connection (therapists’ difficulties in feeling connected with patients Distraction (therapist or patient getting distracted during sessions) Patient privacy (difficulties with confidentiality or in patient’s finding a private space for therapy) and Therapist boundary (therapists’ issues with creating a professional workspace and boundaries) The indicators for the items about technical/internet problems and for scheduling challenges did not load on any factors and were not associated with any of the outcome variables; therefore they were removed from the subsequent analyses Model fit indices for exploratory factor analyses of perceived challenges at baseline (N = 1,257) and 3-month follow-up (N = 320) and Patients’ privacy were endorsed as challenges approximately equally (52.3 respectively) at the beginning of the pandemic whereas Therapists’ boundary issues were less of a concern (28.5%) About one-third of the therapists endorsed challenges in Technical/internal problems (68.8%) and only a small proportion reported challenges in Scheduling (6.9%) Therapists’ age and clinical experience were significantly negatively related to all four types of challenges at baseline, that is, older and more experienced therapists perceived fewer challenges of any kind in their online sessions. These correlations remained significant after applying a Bonferroni correction for multiple testing. Results of the Pearson correlations are presented in Table 3 Pattern loadings for the four-factor dimensional model at baseline (N = 1,257) and 3-month follow-up (N = 320) and Patients’ privacy were endorsed at the rate of 49.4 whereas the endorsement of challenges in Therapists’ boundary was at 22.2% Difficulties with technical/internet problems and with scheduling were endorsed at 79.7 and 2.2% age and clinical experiences were only related to difficulties with Therapists’ boundary and to Distractions but not to Emotional connection and Patients’ privacy When comparing the endorsements of challenges at baseline and the 3-month follow-up for people who had data at both timepoints (N = 320) we found significant decreases in difficulties in Emotional connection (54.1% at baseline vs Therapists’ boundary (28.7% at baseline vs Patients’ privacy (60.0% at baseline vs we noticed significant increase in difficulties of Distraction (57.5% at baseline vs p < 0.001) and Technical/internet problems (68.8% at baseline vs all perceived challenges seemed to have decreased 3 months after the start of the pandemic except for the increases in difficulties in Distractions of patients and therapists and in Technical/Internet problems At baseline, both working alliance and real relationship were significantly negatively related with challenges in Emotional connection (see Table 4) Working alliance was also significantly negatively related to challenges in Therapists’ boundaries The real relationship at baseline was significantly related with challenges in Emotional connection at the 3-month follow-up indicating that the genuineness of the therapeutic relationship was associated with less perceived challenges in Emotional connections 3 months later Working alliance at baseline was significantly negatively related to challenges in Distraction at 3-month follow-up indicating that poor working alliance at baseline may predict getting more distracted during online sessions 3 months later Pearson correlations between categories of perceived challenges and attitudes and perceived efficacy of online therapy at baseline and 3-month follow-up Both attitudes and views on the efficacy of online therapy significantly improved from baseline to the 3-months follow-up assessment (t = −7.45 all types of challenges were associated with negative attitudes toward online therapy and all but Patients’ privacy issues were associated with negative perceived efficacy of online therapy only challenges with Emotional connection at baseline were negatively associated with attitudes and perceived efficacy of online therapy at 3-month follow-up only perceived challenges with Emotional connection (but not the other challenge categories) at follow-up remained associated with more negative attitudes toward online therapy and its efficacy at follow-up Two separate linear regressions were conducted to examine if the challenges reported at baseline predicted attitudes toward online therapy and its efficacy at follow-up while controlling for the effect of age and clinical experience Challenges with Emotional connection (B = −0.50 p = 0.001) and challenges with Patients’ privacy (B = −0.30 t = −2.27 p = 0.03) at baseline predicted more negative attitudes toward online therapy at the 3-month follow-up (ΔR2 = 0.11) whereas age and clinical experience did not significantly contribute to these predictions challenges with Emotional connection (B = −0.71 p < 0.001) and challenges with Patients’ privacy (B = −0.23 p < 0.001) at baseline predicted lower levels of perceived efficacy of online therapy at 3-month follow-up (ΔR2 = 0.15) The COVID-19 pandemic provided a unique context in which to better understand therapists’ attitudes toward online therapy and how those attitudes change over time we aimed to examine therapists’ perceived challenges with online therapy during the early months of the pandemic we examined the main challenges experienced by therapists during the transition from in-person to online therapy at the start of the pandemic and 3 months later and their associations with therapists’ perception of the quality of the relationship with their online patients and their attitudes toward online therapy and its efficacy at these two timepoints Results indicated that initially many therapists reported multiple relational they reported fewer challenges 3 months later Factor analysis of individual survey items at both timepoints indicated four different types of challenges: Emotional connection (difficulty with emotionally connect to the patient) Distraction (therapist or patient being distracted during sessions) Patients’ privacy (private space and confidentiality) Therapists’ boundaries (professional work space and issues with boundary setting) Therapists’ age and clinical experience were significantly negatively related to all four challenge categories older and more experienced therapists perceived fewer challenges in their online sessions perceived challenges with Emotional connection and Therapists’ boundaries significantly decreased whereas challenges around Distractedness increased Only perceived challenges with Emotional connection (but not the other three challenge categories) remained associated with more negative attitudes toward online therapy and its efficacy therapists who reported a therapeutic relationship that was sufficiently genuine (high real relationship scores) early in the pandemic perceived less challenges regarding emotional connection 3 months later Therapists who reported more challenges with Patients’ privacy issues at baseline subsequently perceived online therapy to be less efficacious Challenges with Emotional connectedness at the start of the pandemic predicted more negative attitudes toward online therapy as well as its perceived efficacy 3 months later therapists often did not have experience with the online therapy format and lacked training and knowledge of its efficacy which might have led to more negative initial views Over time and with gaining more experience of practicing online therapy as we did not ask participants about the exact nature of their experienced distractions at each timepoint Future qualitative research is needed to better understand the nature of these distractions for patients and therapists over time therapists still feel challenged by the relational aspects of online therapy and this challenge has a significant and long-term impact on their attitudes and views on online therapy and its efficacy Acknowledging and addressing challenges regarding feeling and expressing empathy and reading patients’ emotions in online sessions should now be a central part of therapist training our results support the notion that first-hand experience with online therapy reduces negative attitudes toward online therapy and its efficacy Our findings indicate that even under the stressful circumstances of a global pandemic and the involuntary transition to online therapy instead of in-person experiencing the ability to overcome initial challenges and personally learning what it is like to provide online therapy led to more positive attitudes toward online therapy and its efficacy Although at this point even the short-term future of online therapy is uncertain an important implication of these results is to expose psychology trainees to the online therapy format early enough so that they can learn skills of how to manage challenges related to online therapy Training of junior therapists appears to be especially important in this regard younger and less experienced therapists appeared to be more challenged by the switch to online therapy compared to their older and more clinically experienced counterparts this survey study did not examine the experienced challenges of participating therapists’ respective patients Patients’ attitudes are important to examine especially because the online interventions are designed for and paid by patients and might have been especially crucial in this time of global distress Therapists might be willing to encounter challenges as part of their professional duties; however as they are the people who pay for services and their treatment outcomes might be ultimately affected The patients’ experienced challenges during this forced transition to online therapy are thus arguably the most important Future studies might benefit from a 360-degree perspective on the online therapy experiences including viewpoints from patients and clinical supervisors the survey responses on therapists’ challenges and perceived efficacy of online therapy were single items that although based on theory and clinical writings The development of standardized scales of experienced challenges in (transitioning to) online therapy as well as its perceived efficacy is warranted this empirical study applied only quantitative measures and thus did not provide contextual insights into the specific therapists’ circumstances Future research designs may benefit from the inclusion of a qualitative approach and might be able to tease apart what parts of the therapists’ experiences resulted from the unique situation of COVID-19 and what part reflects online therapy more generally the COVID-19 pandemic has provided a unique context in which to examine therapists’ perceived challenges in providing online therapy not just based on preconceived worries but based on involuntary extensive experience Therapists in our study struggled with connecting emotionally with patients and with maintaining their own boundaries in sessions These challenges initially led to less positive views on the therapeutic relationship except that therapists became more easily distracted in online sessions over time Concerns about being able to connect with patients were the most impactful as it predicted negative attitudes toward online therapy and its perceived efficacy over time therapists’ views on online therapy and its effectiveness become more positive over time Results will need to be replicated in online therapy sessions outside of the pandemic as it is possible that the societal unrest and high-stress context influenced therapists’ perceived professional challenges and openness to new technologies More research and professional training is needed to address the challenges faced by therapists when transitioning to online therapy especially around the ability to emotionally connect with patients online and how to manage distractibility that is inevitable in an online therapy format The data analyzed in this study are subject to the following licenses/restrictions: The datasets may be available on request. Requests to access these datasets should be directed to VB, dmVyYS5iZWtlc0B5dS5lZHU= The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by the Yeshiva University’s Western IRB VB and KAD contributed to collecting the data and writing the manuscript TP and LH contributed to collecting the data and finalizing the manuscript The China American Psychoanalytic Alliance supported the data collection in China Psychotherapists’ vicarious traumatization during the COVID-19 pandemic A scoping review of machine learning in psychotherapy research Videoconferencing psychotherapy: a systematic review Nonverbal overload: a theoretical argument for the causes of Zoom fatigue CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Békés Psychotherapists’ attitudes toward online therapy during the COVID-19 pandemic CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Békés Comparative fit indexes in structural models PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar A new incremental fit index for general structural equation models CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar and human resilience: have we underestimated the human capacity to thrive after extremely aversive events CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Videoconferencing psychotherapy for panic disorder and agoraphobia: outcome and treatment processes from a non-randomized non-inferiority trial Zoom in the classroom: transforming traditional teaching to incorporate real−time distance learning in a face−to−face graduate physiology course Psychological adjustment during the global outbreak of COVID-19: a resilience perspective Google Scholar Australian mental health worker attitudes towards cCBT: what is the role of knowledge Live psychotherapy by video versus in−person: a meta−analysis of efficacy and its relationship to types and targets of treatment doi: 10.1002/cpp.2594 [Epub ahead of print] Using fit statistic differences to determine the optimal number of factors to retain in an exploratory factor analysis transference/countertransference and outcome in time-limited counseling and psychotherapy Google Scholar Therapists’ and clients’ ratings of real relationship The real relationship and its role in psychotherapy outcome: a meta-analysis Development and validation of a revised short version of the Working Alliance Inventory CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Health professionals’ acceptance and adoption of ehealth interventions in inpatient routine care Development and validation of the working alliance inventory CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: conventional criteria versus new alternatives CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar What factors determine therapists’ acceptance of new technologies for rehabilitation–a study using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) Relative efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy administered by videoconference for posttraumatic stress disorder: a six-month follow-up The real relationship in psychotherapy: relationships to adult attachments Working alliance inventory-short revised (WAI-SR): psychometric properties in outpatients and inpatients PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Google Scholar Working alliance and outcome effectiveness in videoconferencing psychotherapy: a systematic review and noninferiority meta−analysis The effects of telepsychology format on empathic accuracy and the therapeutic alliance: an analogue counselling session Tele-analysis: the use of media technology in psychotherapy and its impact on the therapeutic relationship Standardized web-based cognitive behavioural therapy of mild to moderate depression: a randomized controlled trial with a long-term follow-uup Psychotherapy via videoconferencing: a review CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Therapeutic alliance in videoconferencing psychotherapy: a review Clinicians’ attitudes toward therapeutic alliance in e-therapy Barriers and facilitators for the implementation of blended psychotherapy for depression: a qualitative pilot study of therapists’ perspective Development of a questionnaire to measure the attitudes of laypeople and psychotherapists toward telemedicine in mental health Attitudes towards digital treatment for depression: a European stakeholder survey User acceptance of information technology: toward a unified view CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar Consumer acceptance and use of information technology: extending the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology Telepsychotherapy for generalized anxiety disorder: impact on the working alliance Revisiting this question in light of recent methodological advances Prout TA and Hoffman L (2021) Psychotherapists’ Challenges With Online Therapy During COVID-19: Concerns About Connectedness Predict Therapists’ Negative View of Online Therapy and Its Perceived Efficacy Over Time Copyright © 2021 Békés, Aafjes-van Doorn, Luo, Prout and Hoffman. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) *Correspondence: Vera Békés, dmVyYS5iZWtlc0B5dS5lZHU= Reading"How to successfully revive..." More fromWork Contact Advertising Opportunities Newsletters Insights + Opinion Creatives + Projects Advice + Resources Culture + Lifestyle Nicer Tuesdays The View From... POV Forward Thinking Review of the Year Jenny Brewer Olivia Hingley Ellis Tree Elizabeth Goodspeed Liz Gorny Extra Search we are actually still using the same typographic principles and the same typefaces that were designed in the first century of movable type,” explains the Rotterdam-based designer Nóra Békés with her friend and ongoing collaborator Céline Hurka Nóra has released a new book Reviving Type providing an insight into the importance of historical typefaces and how they can be revived today for a contemporary audience Many of the type designs that we see and use today (whether we know it consciously or otherwise) originate from Renaissance or Baroque models based on the former in the first place.” Consequently “It is important to understand the relationship between typographic genres,” she tells It’s Nice That “as well as the historical constructions and how they work technically.” making a revival typeface is a great educational tool As exemplified in Nóra and Céline’s new book to design a revival typeface involves in-depth research an understanding of the history and craft of the original typeface in question not to mention how the design has evolved over the years the topic of type revival also provides a more general insight into history typography and printing inherently entwine and affect modern language “The interesting thing here,” says Nóra on the interconnectedness of typography “is that the designer-researcher does not just read a readymade history but is triggered to look for multiple sources of various kinds (from punches and matrices to old printed books and contemporary research articles).” The creative pair first became interested in the subject while studying together at The Hague’s Royal Academy of Art Building up their individual practices since with a focus on archival research and type-centred design have always been attracted to archives for its “magical aura that gives you the feeling that you are entering a secret world.” By working with the delicate nature of historical archives – where the interaction is extremely limited – the duo came to question the value of the research “What do you get out of your visit?” asks Céline and take-away that you can create from your research It investigates the very core of the archive material itself Reviving Type allows us to further comprehend design ideas from the past and combine elements of someone else’s design with one’s own typographic penchants “Making a type revival is so much more than copying printed type into a digital font,” exerts Nóra “It involves just as many design decisions as making a typeface from scratch – plus a lot of research and the smell of 500-year-old ink.” Further Infowww.revivingtype.com Jynann Ong Jynann joined It’s Nice That as an editorial assistant in August 2018 after graduating from The Glasgow School of Art’s Communication Design degree In March 2019 she became a staff writer and in June 2021 Fancy a bit of It's Nice That in your inbox Sign up to our newsletters and we'll keep you in the loop with everything good going on in the creative world Instagram TikTok LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Pinterest About Careers at It’s Nice That Privacy Policy Insights Residence Creative Lives in Progress If You Could Jobs © It’s Nice That 2024 · Nice Face Logo © It’s Nice That www.revivingtype.com About Contact Advertising Opportunities Newsletters Insights + Opinion Creatives + Projects Advice + Resources Culture + Lifestyle Nicer Tuesdays The View From... POV Forward Thinking Review of the Year Jenny Brewer Olivia Hingley Ellis Tree Elizabeth Goodspeed Liz Gorny Instagram TikTok LinkedIn Facebook Twitter Pinterest Careers at It’s Nice That Privacy Policy Insights Residence Creative Lives in Progress If You Could Jobs A radio host in Australia successfully broke the Guinness World Record for "longest audio-only live stream" termed the show "a very unusual radio show" Australian radio personality Mario Bekes broke a Guinness World Record by hosting a 55-hour and 26-minute marathon talk show on Alive 90.5 FM The record-breaking radio host's challenge began on April 30 and continued until May 1 who also hosts the inspirational podcast "Life: The Battlefield," was prohibited from using music or listener calls while attempting the record The lengthy broadcast featured advice given to the audience as well as interviews with a number of guests Bekes' health was being monitored by a doctor After going to the gym and getting a cup of coffee Mario started things off in the early morning Due to the vibrant energy of the studio and the encouragement of his team he remained upbeat for the first few hours of the attempt Bekes set the record for the longest audio-only live stream with the show's final duration of 55 hours and 26 minutes breaking the previous mark of 53 hours and 1 minute set by British radio hosts Matt Hall and Dan Ramsden in 2020 Xi will hold bilateral talks with Putin on strategic ties and issues on international and regional agenda Sources say there was "alleged impropriety" in publicity Swindon and Greater Manchester area on suspicion of "terrorism offences" Closed-door “general congregations” allow cardinals to discuss challenges new pontiff will face Numerous reports say VOA was preparing to resume broadcasts next week Copyright © 2025. The News International, All Rights Reserved | Contact Us | Authors Fotó: mediadrumimages/influencedfx / Northfoto Pianist Ying Ho and cellist Jonathan Békés's extraordinary recital was a gift There was so much to love about this duo it’s difficult to know where to start Pianist Ying Ho and cellist Jonathan Békés had a unanimity of conception throughout and an extraordinary level of communication Both players had a wonderful sense of foreground and background; they switched from one to the other so seamlessly Schumann’s Fantasy Pieces opened the program Békés and Ho gave us an understated opening that then seemed to blossom from the heart with beautifully nuanced phrasing and a wonderful feeling for the sometimes fragmentary nature of the music The duo followed this with the fifth movement of Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time Békés spoke beautifully and profoundly about what it might mean to be writing music from a concentration camp and as I listened I marvelled at the resilience of the human spirit that can produce such beauty and religious devotion amidst such adversity moving from the intimacy of a whisper to outpourings of heartfelt passion Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Contribute to Limelight and support independent arts journalism It is hard to find words to do justice to Jonathan Békés' magical performance with Mark Letonja and the TSO This month’s concert highlights from ABC Classic James Wannan’s devilishly difficult execution seemed effortless on the viola earning him MVP (Most Valuable Player) of the concert with Konstantin Shamray coming a close second Pianist Karen Smithies and cellist Jonathan Békés are a match made in heaven and this recital showcased the art of musical conversation at its best The Tasmanian String Quartet emerged because of the impact of COVID-19 on music in Tasmania and is proving to be an impressive chamber ensemble An afternoon filled with joy from Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra musicians Check out our playlists from our latest issue Our free Weekly Newsletter delivers the latest arts news reviews and features to your inbox each Saturday All is now set as renowned gospel artists such as Tosin Bee Michael Akingbala and others will be performing at Agege for Christ Crusade Organized by Fountain of Hosanna Church of Christ the annual program tagged The Gates of Hell shall not prevail program will commence from the 31st of August to the 3rd of September the crusade will hold at Agege Stadium and guests will have the opportunity to enjoy both spiritual as well as material ministrations the host and General Overseer of Fountain of Hosanna Church of Christ Prophet Kehinde Abiodun stated that the 4-day program was inspired by the Holy Spirit to reach out to the world with the gospel of Christ “Our mandate to this generation is to preach the gospel of Christ deliver people from the chains of the devil and prepare the world for the second coming of Christ Jesus Christ is still the same as yesterday We will also be interceding for our political leaders and the destiny of Nigeria as a country” According to the organizers of this crusade buses will be stationed at strategic locations within Lagos state and its environs to convey people to and fro the event venue THISDAY is published by THISDAY NEWSPAPERS LTD. Nigeria with offices in 36 states of Nigeria the Federal Capital Territory and around the world It is Nigeria’s most authoritative news media available on all platforms for the political professional and diplomatic elite and broader middle classes while serving as the meeting point of new ideas culture and technology for the aspirationals and millennials The newspaper is a public trust dedicated to the pursuit of truth and reason covering a range of issues from breaking news to politics sports and community to the crossroads of people and society You can email us at: hello@thisdaylive.com or visit our contact us page Sorry, this audio is not yet available or has expiredBrought to you by "haunted by an autumnal sadness," "but the sadness of compassion, not pessimism." - Diana McVeagh Recorded live in concert by ABC Classic at Federation Concert Hall, Hobart 27/5/2022 Engineer Veronika Vincze. Producer Toby Frost. Ludwig van Beethoven: King Stephen, Overture, Op 117Franz Schubert: Symphony No 3 in D, D200Edward Elgar: Cello Concerto in E minor, Op 85 Jonathan Békés (cello)Tasmanian Symphony OrchestraMarko Letonja (conductor) Cellist Jonathan Békés performs with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. Image by Melanie de Ruyter Arts, Culture and Entertainment, Music, Acoustic, Chamber Music, Chamber Music, Classical Music, Composer, Orchestral, StringsTracklist03:01Played at 03:01King Stephen: Overture [07'27]Composer Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra + Jonathan Békés (cello) Fasch: Concertos, Orchestral Suite, 449 210-2 Tatjana Ruhland (flute) + Florian Wiek (piano) + Gesa Jenne-Dönneweg (violin) + Ingrid Philippi (viola) Download the ABC listen app for free music podcasts and playlists STRICTLY legend Anton Du Beke fought back tears on TV last night as he opened up about his mum's secret health battle The 57-year-old got very emotional as he spoke about his mother Ascensión on Kate Garraway's Life Stories on Wednesday night Anton joined Strictly Come Dancing in 2004 and was living with his mum at the time he got visibly upset as she's currently not very well because it was only me and mum because we were together it was just me and mum." he continued: "She's not been well and it makes me sad because what we were talking about earlier as well In the same episode Anton revealed how he was drunkenly abused by their father as a child because he dreamed of becoming a dancer The dancer was repeatedly called "gay" by his dad Antal who staunchly disapproved of his ballroom ambitions Anton's sister Veronica was in the audience as he discussed the trauma of his teen years at the hands of their Hungarian father. I don't think he was quite so impressed with Anton dancing He was not a nice person when he was drunk." Anton also bravely revealed for the first time how he was once stabbed by Antal in a drunken rage on Boxing Day after a row He told Kate: "It came to a head one evening. I ended up in hospital for three days "This is the first time I’ve even mentioned it I’m sure my friends and family don’t even know." Úgy tűnik nem található semmi ezen a helyen IMPRESSZUM SZERZŐI JOGOK ADATVÉDELEM FELHASZNÁLÁSI FELTÉTELEK Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén on Friday awarded the Pro Cultura Minoritatum Hungariae prize to 13 persons and organisations working to preserve the culture of Bulgarian Roma and other ethnic minorities in Hungary Ivan Kariliev received the award for his four-decade work to preserve the culture and religious life of ethnic Bulgarians in Hungary Publisher Athéna Görög and the Sirtos orchestra received the prize for promoting Greek culture and folk music Zoltán Gyula Halmi and Zoltán Patyi were awarded as dance teachers and choreographers promoting Romanian folk music and dances the founder and chef of the Kira restaurant in Békés was awarded for his work promoting traditional Roma cuisine Other awardees included the Croatian Traditions Association the St Kinga Choir of ethnic Poles in Hungary and the Pécs-Baranya National Association of ethnic Germans Pro Cultura Minoritatum Hungariae was founded in 2005 Another headline failure as in it does not make sense in English,” Hungary’s first Roma restaurant was awarded!” – it either has to be ‘rewarded’ or (and preferably) ‘received an award’ and website in this browser for the next time I comment Y"},"category":false,"taxonomy":{"active":false,"name":"category"}},"markup":{"custom_html":true,"wpp-start":"","wpp-end":"<\/ul>","title-start":"","title-end":"<\/h2>","post-html":"{thumb} {title} {stats}<\/span>{excerpt}<\/p><\/li>"},"theme":{"name":""}} You have successfully joined our subscriber list © 2025 DailyNewsHungary | All rights reserved Damilola and Bukola have recounted how their marital journey has so far been In a chat with Tope Omogbolagun, the couple opened up on the secret of their marriage of 11 years. Damilola: I met her in church during anointing service she knew before me that I would be her husband but I got to know later after God revealed her to me Bukola: I knew that he was my husband by divine instruction I also knew before him that he was the will of God for me and I waited for him to hear from the Lord It was tough waiting for him because during the waiting time he called me one day and told me to stop coming to his house so that the lady he was dating wouldn’t think he was double dating I visited his house regularly because he stayed close to Ebute-Meta not too far from where I usually held rehearsals at our church headquarters Most of the rehearsals were vigils and I attended anointing service at Abule Odu the next day He usually attended the anointing service too so I always stopped by at his house to make my journey easy to the programme That was why I usually went to his house so that we could attend services together When he knew that I was his wife and he was convinced Damilola: It was tough because before then I had my plans initially to be in the United States to marry a medical doctor because He had a better purpose for both of us He revealed her to me but before then I had ‘innocently’ told her not to visit my house so that it wouldn’t appear that I was double-dating as I had a fiancé I had another lady I was dating after the US plan didn’t work So when I knew afterwards that she’s the one for me Thank God for my covenant brother and friend For how long did you court before marriage What stood out for you on your wedding day Bukola: Everything about our wedding day was awesome starting from the engagement to the church service and the reception The church service was a concert and the reception was awesome Everything stood out from the beginning to the end There was the part where the pastor asked the congregation that “Is anyone here that objects to this union?” I prayed to God not to allow anyone to raise their hand because of my past escapades What lessons have you learnt from marriage Bukola: One thing I held onto before marriage was that it must work and also no room for divorce The two statements have kept me going till today and forever it will be We’ve been through many things but the Lord has kept us We do argue over things but as the Bible says in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 26 “We shouldn’t let the sun go down on our anger.’’ We have decided never to go to bed angry we must talk through any disagreement and this has really kept us going We are good talkers; we don’t hide things from each other because it’s difficult to do What is your advice to young people on marriage They should make sure that they are in tune with the Holy Spirit Don’t marry of your will but of God’s will Nollywood veteran actor Patrick Doyle was recently on PlusTV Africa’s “Tea Time” show where he spoke about a need for a balance of family.. Idris Okuneye better known as Bobrisky has expressed his gratitude to actress Eniola Badmus for turning up for him Nigerians on Instagram have resorted to insulting and blasting Nigerian music artist manager and the founder of record label Made Men Music Group who is well known for playing the role of Jennifer West Ham boss David Moyes has lambasted the VAR decision to cancel a goal scored by one of his players Minutes after denying ever cheating on her estranged husband Korra Obidi has been slammed with receipts Ola took to her Instastory on Instagram to open up about her marital status and why she left the.. Gist Lover has set the internet in a frenzy after unveiling the alleged crisis rocking Rita Dominic’s marriage Fine Boy Nollywood actor Frederick Leonard has called out his female colleagues for stinking The movie star who obviously couldn’t stand the offensive smell.. Rita Dominic has stepped out for the first time with her husband Fidelis Anosike since news of his alleged affair.. Ibidun Ajayi-Ighodalo’s mum had planned to gift her a house on her 40th birthday which would been on July 19 Eucharia Anunobi has reacted to the reports that she is allegedly having an affair with her 27-year-old colleague; Identified as...