Focal psychotherapy and self pathology: A clinical illustration

This paper examines the concept of “focal psychotherapy” as a form of psychoanalytic psychotherapy utilizing essentially the same conceptualization of the therapeutic process as long-term psychotherapy or psychoanalysis, mainly that the primary interventions are interpretive. Since in this treatment process a narrower sector of the psychopathology is reactivated than in long-term psychotherapy, the psychotherapy is restricted to the exploration and working through of a focal conflict precipitated by a recent event which has overwhelmed the patient's characterological defense mechanisms. The case report illustrates the applicability of focal psychotherapy to patients whose core pathology is understood to consist of deficits in the structure of the self rather than structural conflict.     

Daily reports of distress: Not for women only

A context-dependence paradigm was developed for research into effects of the menstrual cycle in women. This involved the investigation of situational effects on self-reported distress in both men and women. For 35 consecutive days, 25 women and 36 men working in two occupations that varied in degree of situational stress completed Body Awareness Questionnaires (modified menstrual distress questionnaires) and daily subjective stress ratings. After controlling for contraceptive use, age range, and percentage of body fat, the following variables were selected for a multiple regression analysis as predictors of distress: (a) job stress, (b) feminine values, (c) life stress, (d) subjective stress, (e) type of job, (f) sex, (g) job experience, and (h) history of menstrual distress. Women working in the high-stress job (military police) reported significantly more distress than all the other groups. Life stress was identified as the dominant predictor of distress. In a separate analysis of daily distress scores and menstrual cycle phases for all the women, there was no interaction between the type of job and the menstrual cycle phase on reports of distress. A similar analysis of the effects on sex and shift revealed shift effects in distress for men but not women. Sources of variability for both sexes (shift-work rotation and cycle phase) are discussed.     

Valuing Diversity and Interest in Intergroup Contact

The present research examines ways in which valuing diversity relates to interest in intergroup contact among members of minority and majority status groups. Using open-ended responses, Study 1 reveals that ethnic minority group members are less likely to perceive that diversity is valued than ethnic majority group members, yet those who perceive that diversity is valued tend to express greater interest in intergroup contact. Surveys of Black and White respondents (Study 2) and ethnic minority and majority respondents (Study 3) indicate similar trends. Moreover, these studies consistently show that valuing diversity uniquely predicts interest in intergroup contact among majority group members, whereas perceiving that outgroup members value diversity predicts interest in intergroup contact among minority group members. Implications of these findings for understanding the role of diversity in intergroup relations, and reformulating aspects of intergroup contact theory, are discussed.     

A Comment on Drash and Tudor’s (2004) Operant Theory of Autism

The Analysis of Verbal Behavior - The authors comment on Drash and Tudor’s operant theory of autism. Concerns with the theory’s face validity and empirical support are presented, along...     

Optimal design for the proportional odds model

The authors construct locally optimal designs for the proportional odds model for ordinal data. While they investigate the standard D‐optimal design, they also investigate optimality criteria for the simultaneous estimation of multiple quantiles, namely D_A ‐optimality and the omnibus criterion. The design of experiments for the simultaneous estimation of multiple quantiles is important in both toxic and effective dose studies in medicine. As with c‐optimality in the binary response problem, the authors find that there are distinct phase changes when exploring extreme quantiles that require additional design points. The authors also investigate relative efficiencies of the criteria.     

Self-Sustained Quality of Life Monitoring: The Philippine Social Weather Reports

In the Philippines, measurement of social indicators covering Qualityof Life and other social concerns has been institutionalized by means ofa unique Social Weather Reporting system. The Social Weather Reports arebased on a series of national surveys operated on a self-sustaining,syndicate-cum-omnibus basis by a private research institute whichoperates as an “enterprising non-profit.” The surveys began on asemestral basis in 1986 and have been run quarterly since 1992. Amongtheir regular topics are self-rated poverty, QOL gaining/losing andoptimism/pessimism, victimization by common crimes, satisfactionwith the performance of government institutions and officials, publicopinion on contemporaneous critical issues, and electoral prospects.Since the topics all deal with public issues, subscribers to the SocialWeather Reports are mostly from the public sector, plus some corporateand diplomatic institutions. Access of non-subscribers to the surveyfindings is on a delayed basis; all surveys are archived for publicuse. The most important factors behind the success of the Social WeatherReports have been their consistent focus on indicators of democracy andgovernance and their record in predicting the outcomes of the 1992,1995, and 1998 national elections in the Philippines.     

A Behavioral Conceptualization of Aphasia

Aphasia is an acquired language impairment that affects over 1 million individuals, the majority of whom are over age 65 (Groher, 1989). This disorder has typically been conceptualized within a cognitive neuroscience framework, but a behavioral interpretation of aphasia is also possible. Skinner''s (1957) analysis of verbal behavior proposes a framework of verbal operants that can be integrated with the work of Sidman (1971) and Haughton (1980) to describe the language difficulties individuals with aphasia experience. Using this synthesis of models, we propose a new taxonomy of aphasia based on the observed deficit relations. Assessment and treatment implications are also discussed.     

Exercises for mental wellness. Couldn't we all benefit?

For most of us, our cognitive functioning could be improved in many ways. Many of us struggle with our thinking skills at times, especially during times of stress and information overload. Some of the research that supports the use of prescribed cognitive exercises to slow cognitive decline in older adults may ultimately prove to be beneficial for all of us. Mental health nurses should encourage regular daily mental workouts, along with aerobic physical exercises, for everyone, not just older adults. Personal fitness training should focus not only on physical fitness, but also on mental fitness.