Pharmacological treatments of pathological gambling

Medication treatment studies have demonstrated short-term efficacy of various SRIs, opioid antagonists, and mood stabilizers in sub-samples of adult treatment seeking pathological gamblers. Pathological gambling is frequently comorbid with bipolar spectrum disorders, substance abuse/dependence, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and comorbidity may influence treatment response in pathological gambling. This review focuses on recent research examining the treatment of pathological gambling and highlights methodological challenges for future studies.     

Women,Therapy and Dependency

A microsociological longitudinal study of 120 middle class Melbourne women who were having psychotherapy or counselling was conducted over a five year period. The relative effectiveness of four dominant kinds of psychotherapy was assessed, together with outcomes for types of individuals. The therapies were medical chemotherapy (with psychotherapeutic drugs prescribed by general practitioners), social casework counselling, human relations training and church pastoral counselling. Personal accounts of the women revealed their main concerns were to change their personal identities, and the economic, psychological and emotional aspects of dependency on significant others. After five years, only a small proportion of the total showed positive changes as represented by movement towards independence and autonomy. More than twice as many experienced a serious deterioration of circumstances and increased dependency on others, on therapists and drugs. None of the psychotherapies had much positive outcome. However the clients who felt most helped by the therapies became professional therapists themselves — a finding which suggests the perpetuation of ineffectual systems.     

Minding the Gap: Positivism, Psychology, and the Politics of Qualitative Methods

This article explores the politics and practices of qualitative research, in particular by interrogating the "gap" between qualitative and quantitative approaches to research. Two main claims are elaborated: first, that despite being recommended on grounds of ethical superiority (such as of nonmanipulation and instrumentality), qualitative research is not immune from such problems and may indeed harbor its own practices of exploitation; second, and correspondingly, that the moral high ground associated with qualitative research arises from the ways it is used rather than from any intrinsic features of the methodology. The argument is made that it is important to maintain this distinction in order to counter the tendency toward methodological fetishism so prevalent in scientistic (i.e., aspiring to "natural" scientific status) disciplines such as psychology. After framing these issues with some comments on the current popularity of qualitative methods, the article illustrates these claims by exploring 5 key ways that the positivist agenda of the discovery and control of a natural world can return in qualitative research, especially when this is mistakenly evaluated according to criteria formulated for quantitative analyses. The article concludes with a consideration of the epistemological and political status of attempts either to bridge or exacerbate the gap between qualitative and quantitative approaches.     

Sociology, ethics, and the priority of the particular: learning from a case study of genetic deliberations

There are growing debates about the relationship between the two disciplines of sociology and ethics, particularly as they each become increasingly involved in research and policy formation on the life sciences, especially genetics. Much of this debate has been highly abstract, often stipulating the seemingly different character of the two disciplines and speculating on their theoretical potential--or lack thereof--for future collaborative work. This article uses an existing collaboration between a sociologist and an ethicist, on a study of participation in genetic databases, to explore some of the challenges, for both disciplines, of working together. Building upon this case study, we examine the suggestion that the Aristotelian concept of 'phronesis' provides the grounds for establishing one possible theoretical framework with which the disciplines can be bridged. Further exploration of this approach leads to suggestions for ways of thinking about the apparently fundamental divides between the disciplines and for ways of adding to notions of a 'public sociology'.     

‘Contestation,negotiation, and resolution’: The relationship between power and collective leadership

The relationship between power and collective leadership (CL) has been theoretically understood and empirically addressed in many different ways. To make sense of this diversity, we investigate and diagram the role of power in CL. First, we identify six representations of power—six ways in which scholars have found that power shapes the emergence and enactment of CL. These representations include: Even in CL, individual power matters; Leaders can devolve power to their subordinates by empowering them; Contextual characteristics related to power can influence the possibility and enactment of CL; CL can create the collective power necessary for people in marginalized positions to challenge embedded power dynamics; Power is intrinsic to the co-construction process; Attributions affect who can enact CL, how they are viewed, and whether they have power. Second, we offer a conceptual framework that provides a comprehensive way to understand the relationship between power and CL. The framework includes two dimensions, one related to power (that runs from episodic to systemic) and the other related to CL (that runs from entitative to emergent). Third, we create a conceptual map by placing the six representations within this framework. Based on our research, we make the case that we cannot understand CL without understanding the ubiquitous, complex, and even contradictory role of power. We also suggest avenues for expanding and elaborating discussions of power in the CL literature.