Imagine no religion: Heretical disgust,anger and the symbolic purity of mind

Immoral actions, including physical/sexual (e.g., incest) and social (e.g., unfairness) taboos, are often described as disgusting. But what about immoral thoughts, more specifically, thoughts that violate religious beliefs? Do heretical thoughts taint the purity of mind? The present research examined heretical disgust using self-report measures and facial electromyography. Religious thought violations consistently elicited both self-reported disgust and anger. Feelings of disgust also predicted harsh moral judgement, independent of anger, and were mediated by feelings of “contamination”. However, religious thought violations were not associated with a disgust facial expression (i.e., levator labii muscle activity) that was elicited by physically disgusting stimuli. We conclude that people (especially more religious people) do feel disgust in response to heretical thoughts that is meaningfully distinct from anger as a moral emotion. However, heretical disgust is not embodied in a physical disgust response. Rather, disgust has a symbolic moral value that marks heretical thoughts as harmful and aversive.     

Dimensional models of psychopathology: research agenda and clinical utility

This commentary emphasizes the implications for a mental health research agenda that stem from the papers in this special section on dimensional models of psychopathology. These include the need to extend dimensional models to a wider range of psychopathology; the relationship of the dimensions described in these papers, largely based on symptom and self-report measures, to findings from current research in genetics, neuroimaging, and other domains of neuroscience; the need for new scales that can assess the entire range of relevant dimensions with modern psychometric techniques; and ways to employ these dimensions in applied clinical situations. It is concluded that hierarchical dimensional models offer powerful ways of organizing our thinking about psychopathology and will serve to guide many promising avenues of future research.     

Prenatal stress and risk for psychopathology: specific effects or induction of general susceptibility?

This review focuses on prenatal stress as a risk factor for psychopathology. Evidence from animal studies is summarized, and the relevance of prenatal stress models in animals for human studies is discussed. In the offspring of prenatally stressed animals, overactivity and impaired negative feedback regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis are consistent findings and may reflect a pathophysiological mechanism involved in the development of psychopathology. Reduced activity of the opioid GABA/benzodiazepine, serotonin, and dopamine systems and increased activity of the sympathico-adrenal system have been found as well. These alterations have been linked to a diverse spectrum of psychopathology. Therefore, the evidence supports the view that exposure to prenatal stress may result in a general susceptibility to psychopathology, rather than exerting a direct effect on a specific form of psychopathology.     

Diathesis-stress models of psychopathology: A quantitative genetic perspective

When genetics is considered in diathesis-stress models of psychopathology, it is often assumed that heredity provides the diathesis and environmental factors are responsible for the stressor. We discuss two quantitative genetic models relevant to the diathesis-stress construct. One model focuses on genotype-environment interaction, which is the usual way in which genetic influence is represented in diathesis-stress models. A second model—genotype-environment correlation—provides an alternative that represents both genetic and environmental influences relevant to the development of psychopathology. Implications of these models for clinical research are discussed.     

Do time in abstinence,emotional intelligence and psychopathology predict the sensation of craving in persons with SUD?

IntroductionSubstance use is a global health problem. Craving is one of the main predictors of relapse. If the presence of psychopathology and the deficit of emotional intelligence are combined, the course and outcome of the disease can worsen.ObjectiveThe aim is to analyze the impact of time in abstinence, psychopathology, and emotional intelligence on the sensation of the craving in people with substance use disorders in treatment, comparing two methodologies (hierarchical linear regressions and comparative qualitative analysis).MethodThe participants, after signing the informed consent, were assessed in abstinence, psychopathology (SA-45), emotional intelligence (TMMS-24), and craving.ResultsThe results showed that craving was positively associated with psychopathology, shorter abstinence times, and younger age. Increased emotional attention was associated with increased psychopathology. Craving was explained by less time in abstinence using hierarchical regression models. In QCA models, high levels of craving were predicted by the interaction between high levels of psychopathology, shorter abstinence times, lower emotional repair, and high emotional attention. Low levels of craving were due to less psychopathology, prolonged abstinence, and emotional intelligence.ConclusionThe methodologies are complementary because combining them makes it easier to understand the problem of consumption.     

Hierarchical taxonomy of psychopathology across development: Associations with personality

Normal-range personality provides a framework for the hierarchical organization of psychopathology. However, little is known about how personality-psychopathology associations differentiate across this hierarchy. The developmental aspects of this hierarchy and its personality framework are also understudied. We used National Comorbidity Survey data to construct bass-ackwards comorbidity models in age groups ranging from adolescence to middle adulthood and related the resulting dimensions to neuroticism, extraversion, and openness. Neuroticism showed stronger associations with internalizing versus externalizing and with broader versus narrower psychopathology dimensions. Extraversion showed comparatively weaker associations at all levels of psychopathology hierarchy. Openness was generally unrelated to psychopathology. Results were consistent across age groups, suggesting that psychopathology hierarchy and its relations with personality are largely stable across adolescence and adulthood.     

Comparing factor structures of adolescent psychopathology

Research on the structure of adolescent psychopathology can provide information on broad factors that underlie different forms of maladjustment in youths. Multiple studies from the literature on adult populations suggest that 2 factors, Internalizing and Externalizing, meaningfully comprise the factor structure of adult psychopathology (e.g., Krueger, 1999) and presumably represent broad vulnerability for co-occurring disorders. Though this research was partially inspired by early work with children and adolescents (e.g., Achenbach & Edelbrock, 1984), the role of substance use in these models of youth psychopathology has not been fully explored. Toward this goal, we recruited 223 youths (10-17 years of age, M = 14.2) from mental health agencies and the community. We found evidence for a 3-factor model of youth psychopathology, including Internalizing (depression, generalized anxiety), Externalizing (conduct disorder, attention deficit, oppositional defiant disorder), and Substance Use (alcohol and cannabis). The 3-factor model showed the best fit to the data relative to other factor models tested, including across subsamples of adolescents who differed on level of psychopathology (treatment vs. community samples). Implications for the structure of adolescent psychopathology, including important developmental considerations, are discussed.     

THE STATUS OF THE ANOMALY IN THE FEMINIST GOD-TALK OF ROSEMARY RUETHER

Abstract. Scripture, the creeds, and tradition have provided the raw material that theology has attempted to refine. The contribution of much recent theology comes from new insight into these materials by women, blacks, and the Third World, often as examined by analytic tools derived from post-Christian ideologies. The theology of Rosemary Ruether stands out because of her choice of sources, among which she includes documents excoriated as heretical by what she calls the patriarchal orthodoxy of the early Christian church. Because of this it is useful to examine this type of theology in relation to other theological inquiries of recent years. The thesis of this paper is that, in her ability to incorporate source material hitherto regarded as heretical, Ruether has demonstrated the scientific character of this kind of theology.     

The p factor in children: Relationships with executive functions and effortful control

Lower levels of self-regulation have been implicated in multiple psychological disorders. Despite conceptual overlap (broadly reflecting self-regulatory functions), executive functions (EF) and effortful control (EC) are rarely jointly studied in relation to broadband psychopathology. The present study investigated associations of correlated factors (internalizing-externalizing) and bifactor psychopathology models with EF and EC in a large (N = 895) childhood community sample (M_age = 11.54, SD_age = 2.25). Associations between both self-regulation constructs (EF and EC) with psychopathology were largely accounted for via a general psychopathology factor. However, EC evidenced stronger associations, questioning the utility of task-based EF measures to inform self-regulatory psychopathology.     

Toward a Model-Based Approach to the Clinical Assessment of Personality Psychopathology

Recent years have witnessed tremendous growth in the scope and sophistication of statistical methods available to explore the latent structure of psychopathology, involving continuous, discrete, and hybrid latent variables. The availability of such methods has fostered optimism that they can facilitate movement from classification primarily crafted through expert consensus to classification derived from empirically based models of psychopathological variation. The explication of diagnostic constructs with empirically supported structures can then facilitate the development of assessment tools that appropriately characterize these constructs. Our goal in this article is to illustrate how new statistical methods can inform conceptualization of personality psychopathology and therefore its assessment. We use magical thinking as an example, because both theory and earlier empirical work suggested the possibility of discrete aspects to the latent structure of personality psychopathology, particularly forms of psychopathology involving distortions of reality testing, yet other data suggest that personality psychopathology is generally continuous in nature. We directly compared the fit of a variety of latent variable models to magical thinking data from a sample enriched with clinically significant variation in psychotic symptomatology for explanatory purposes. Findings generally suggested a continuous latent variable model best represented magical thinking, but results varied somewhat depending on different indexes of model fit. We discuss the implications of the findings for classification and applied personality assessment. We also highlight some limitations of this type of approach that are illustrated by these data, including the importance of substantive interpretation, in addition to use of model fit indexes, when evaluating competing structural models.     

Incorporating narrative identity into structural approaches to personality and psychopathology

Structural models that connect personality and psychopathology have tended to adopt a somewhat narrow view of personality, focused on dispositional traits. In this paper, we lay the groundwork for incorporating narrative identity into future research on the structure of personality and psychopathology. Narrative identity is a well-mapped domain of personality, one with demonstrated incremental validity in the association with and prediction of psychological well-being. In this paper, we provide a brief overview of the construct of narrative identity, situate it within the broader endeavor of integrating basic personality science with the science of psychopathology, particularly involving personality pathology, and describe an agenda for future research on this vital and largely overlooked topic.     

Reciprocal Relations of Worry,Rumination, and Psychopathology Symptoms After Loss: A Prospective Cohort Study

Bereavement can precipitate symptoms of depression, prolonged grief disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Targeting repetitive negative thought (i.e., worry, rumination) in treatment may help reduce post-loss psychopathology. Yet, evidence on longitudinal associations of depressive rumination and worry with post-loss psychopathology symptoms has been mixed and the directions of effects are still unclear. Recently bereaved adults (78% female) completed questionnaires assessing depressive rumination (brooding), worry, and depression, prolonged grief and posttraumatic stress symptoms 11 times in 1.5 month intervals. We applied random-intercept cross-lagged panel models (RICLPMs) to examine reciprocal within-person associations between worry and psychopathology symptoms, between rumination and these symptoms, and between worry and rumination. Main findings were that worry showed reciprocal relationships with psychopathology symptoms (although worry did not consistently predict prolonged grief symptoms). Depressive rumination was predicted by psychopathology symptoms, but not vice versa. Worry showed reciprocal relations with depressive rumination. Findings suggest that worry may be part of a downward spiral, enhancing psychopathology symptoms following loss, whereas depressive rumination is solely a consequence of such symptoms.     

Application of stochastic modeling to the assessment of group and individual differences in cognitive functioning

This article begins with a guiding schema of relations among cognitive science, clinical science, and assessment technology. Emphasis is placed on stochastic modeling of cognitive processes. Basic models are adjusted so as to parsimoniously accommodate performance deviations occurring with psychopathology. Modified portions of models indicate functions affected by disorder, whereas portions remaining intact indicate spared functions. Findings from clinical cognitive science are applied to the individual case using Bayesian procedures. Methods are instantiated with respect to cognitive psychopathology of paranoid schizophrenia. The authors address observations and issues arising from this application, including integration of these methods with current assessment practices.     

Clinical and psychopathological research on attachment: the contribution of the psychic envelopes model

This paper proposes to put into perspective the attachment model (Bowlby) and that of psychic envelopes (Anzieu) so as to grasp the contribution of attachment theory to the field of psychopathology. Having laid the foundations of the epistemological debate between these two models, relying on a discussion of the stakes inherent in the psychoaffective development approach, the author refers to current forms of psychopathology, which draw massively on the borderline and narcissistic concepts, in order to discuss the sense and benefits of the “skin–ego” model as an alternative and complement to attachment theory. Beyond altering reference models in psychopathology, this debate and related inputs lead to consider therapeutic applications through a combination of the notion of “caregiving group” – a group version of the attachment figure – and the notion of therapeutic offer as a necessary alternative to the ideology of demand.     

On inhibition/disinhibition in developmental psychopathology: views from cognitive and personality psychology and a working inhibition taxonomy

Disinhibition is a common focus in psychopathology research. However, use of inhibition models often is piecemeal, lacking an overarching taxonomy of inhibitory processes. The author organizes key concepts and models pertaining to different kinds of inhibitory control from the cognitive and temperament/personality literatures. Within the rubrics of executive inhibitory processes, motivational inhibitory processes, and automatic attentional inhibition processes, 8 kinds of inhibition are distinguished. Three basic temperament traits may address key executive and motivational inhibitory processes. Future developmental psychopathology research should be based on a systematic conceptual taxonomy of the kinds of inhibitory function relevant to a given disorder. Such an approach can clarify which inhibition distinctions are correct and which inhibition deficits go with which disorders.     

Emancipatory education versus school-based prevention in African American communities

Schools have become strategic settings for the work of community psychologists. In a review of 177 primary prevention programs for children and adolescents, Durlak and Wells (1997) found that 129 (72.9%) were based in schools. The literature in community psychology describes many school-based prevention programs targeting problems such as substance abuse, school maladjustment, delinquency, and violence (e.g. C. A. Mason, A. M. Cauce, L. Robinson & G. W. Harper, 1999). A large number of these programs are based in schools in African American communities and include social–cognitive, decision making, affective education, and other skills-building modules along with direct instruction. In this paper, it is argued that ideas from emancipatory education (e.g. Freire, 1998) and African-centered education (e.g. H. Madhubuti & S. Madhubuti, 1994; M. J. Shujaa, 1995) should guide school-based interventions in communities of people of African descent. There is an extensive and distinguished history of emancipatory schools and school-based programs in African American communities. Included in this history are the freedom schools during reconstruction, the SNCC Freedom Schools, the Liberation Schools of the Black Panther Party, the Malcolm X Academy in Detroit, Sankofa Shule in Lansing, the Institute for Positive Education/New Concept Development Center in Chicago, the Benjamin E. Mays Institute in Hartford, and the schools affiliated with the Council of Independent Black Institutions (CIBI) to name just a few. This paper will first provide a brief, critical review of the role of schools and social oppression. Second, primary prevention programs in communities of people of African descent will be examined, questioning some of the dominant methods and assumptions. Next, underlying assumptions about relationships between African identity, educational success, and healthy outcomes for young people will be addressed. This will be followed by a discussion of African-centered emancipatory education, focusing specifically on the role of students as agents of social change and the importance of critical reflection on African cultural resources. The Benjamin E. Mays Institute will be presented as an example of how ideas from an African-centered emancipatory approach to education have been incorporated within a school serving a community of people of African descent in Hartford, Connecticut.     

Rephrasing the madness and creativity debate: What is the nature of the creativity construct?

This paper aims to reframe the debates about the association between creativity and mental illness. For centuries the link between the two has been debated, yet research has largely ignored the underlying nature of creativity in this context. The full understanding of the creativity construct, however, is essential to completely grasp its relationship with psychopathology. Three possible models for the creativity construct are proposed: the existence of different kinds of creativity each associated with specific types of psychopathology, creativity operating as a continuum, and creativity as a single entity. Support for each model is examined among the current literature. It is concluded that all three models are viable possibilities for the conceptualization of the creativity construct, each offering ample predictions and hypotheses for future research.     

The subjective–agentic personality sector (SAPS): Introduction to the special issue on self,identity, and psychopathology

This special issue is predicated upon the premise that there exists a subjective–agentic personality sector (SAPS) that is crucially relevant to the understanding and treatment of psychopathology. SAPS is often overlooked by “trait” models in personality psychology. It is comprised of “hot” cognitions about one's self and identity as they unfold throughout the life span and are brought to bear on interpersonal relationships. There are four ways in which SAPS may be involved in psychopathology: (a) inherently, as a component of psychiatric disorders, (b) as a passive vulnerability dimension, namely by interacting with life stress, (c) as an active vulnerability dimension, that is, by propelling external situations that culminate in psychopathology, and (d) by constituting a central consequent of psychopathology (i.e., the scarring pattern, see below). In this Journal of Personality special issue, experts in personality and psychopathology demonstrate the centrality of SAPS in unipolar depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar spectrum disorder, eating disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder, complex trauma and borderline personality disorder, social anxiety disorder, suicidality in the context of mood disorders, and recovery from schizophrenia. A commentary by Dan McAdams, a leader in the study of self and identity, concludes this special issue.