Clinical application of anxiety management and relaxation training: A multi-referral workshop

Anxiety may be so significant a block to problem-solving and the treatment process that clinicians, regardless of their treatment orientation, often find it useful to have tranquilizing medications prescribed for their clients as a concomitant to therapy. This paper reports on the practical application of group relaxation training as an anxiety management tool for clients at mental health centers. Besides teaching relaxation, this training, for which there are no contraindications listed in thePhysicians Desk Reference, teaches body awareness and self-regulation, specificity and clarifying thoughts, and is a useful model for the rational, problem-solving process.     

A two-step robust estimation of the process mean using M-estimator

Parameter estimation is the first step in constructing control charts. One of these parameters is the process mean. The classical estimators of the process mean are sensitive to the presence of outlying data and subgroups which contaminate the whole data. In existing robust estimators for the process mean, the effects of the presence of the individual outliers are being considered, while, in this paper, a robust estimator is being proposed to reduce the effect of outlying subgroups as well as the individual outliers within a subgroup. The proposed estimator was compared with some classical and robust estimators of the process mean. Although, its relative efficiency is fourth among the estimators tested, its robustness and efficiency are large when the outlying subgroups are present. Evaluation of the results indicated that the proposed estimator is less sensitive to the presence of outliers and the process mean performs well when there are no individual outliers or outlying subgroups.     

What Explains the 2007–2009 Drop in Employment?

We show that deterioration in household balance sheets, or the housing net worth channel, played a significant role in the sharp decline in U.S. employment between 2007 and 2009. Counties with a larger decline in housing net worth experience a larger decline in non‐tradable employment. This result is not driven by industry‐specific supply‐side shocks, exposure to the construction sector, policy‐induced business uncertainty, or contemporaneous credit supply tightening. We find little evidence of labor market adjustment in response to the housing net worth shock. There is no significant expansion of the tradable sector in counties with the largest decline in housing net worth. Further, there is little evidence of wage adjustment within or emigration out of the hardest hit counties.     

Psychiatrically hospitalized college students: a pilot study.

This pilot study presents data on an underreported group: college students who require psychiatric hospitalization. Although the study is too small to sustain broad generalizations, the authors found indications of significant correlations between students' hospitalization and the academic cycle, substance abuse, and distance from home. It is hoped that other institutions will undertake similar studies of this group of students to provide a broader body of data from which to draw inferences regarding prevention, intervention, and psychiatric hospitalization.     

The Siting of Radioactive Waste Faculties: What Are the Effects on Communities?1

Abstract Despite literally dozens of attempts, and the expenditure of billions of dollars, efforts to site radioactive waste disposal facilities in this country have been uniformly unsuccessful. While both researchers and policymakers continue to address reasons for these failures, little attention is being given to the consequences for the communities themselves of these intensive siting battles. Using a research framework that addresses both the sources and consequences of community conflict, we examine what is happening in four different areas currently being considered as potential hosts for either a high- or a low-level radioactive waste facility. Some degree of conflict is observed in each community, although it varies from one area to another based on such differences as potential to experience economic benefits, perceptions of class and ethnic equity, and the role of extra-local players in the controversy. We conclude that current policies lead to inequitable distributions of risk that, in turn, create “fairness” questions that are important both in explaining current patterns of conflict and in anticipating long-term consequences for the affected communities.     

The analytic template: Help or hindrance in the conduct of psychotherapy?

This paper explores the impact of psychoanalytic theory and practice on the conduct of psychotherapy. A brief review of the origin of the interface between the two modalities begins the discussion and case examples are used to highlight differences and commonalities. While recognizing the vast contributions made by psychoanalytic theorists to the field of psychotherapy, an attempt is made to establish an arena of legitimacy for the pursuit of psychotherapy. The role of goals is proposed as defining of the psychotherapeutic enterprise.