Wilderness family therapy: An innovative treatment approach for problem youth

We present a treatment program (The Family Wheel) designed to integrate wilderness therapy interventions with family therapy for the treatment of troubled adolescents. The Family Wheel program was conducted in the high desert of southern Idaho. Participation in this four-day program required parents and their adolescent children to engage in an intensive experiential family therapy while camping and trekking in the wilderness. An evaluation of the program revealed positive outcomes for the programs' participants. The theory, research, and pragmatics of conducting such an innovative program are discussed.     

Psychoanalytic and biological approaches to mental illness: schizophrenia.

Biological psychiatrists tend to look upon the phenomena of mind and meaning, which are the data of psychoanalysis, as meaningless epiphenomena, and propose reductive explanations of complex mental states, whereas psychoanalysts tend to ignore the proliferation of neurobiological data indicating the importance of constitutional factors in mental illness. Interactive models which confuse biological causes and psychological consequences, or vice-versa, are theoretically unsound. A scientific model hierarchy is proposed, along with some principles for coexistence and collaboration between neurobiology and psychoanalysis. The problem is illustrated with schizophrenia, a condition whose probable biological underpinnings are now generally considered to remove it from the realm of psychoanalysis. Schizophrenia-vulnerable phenotypes consistent with organic findings and clinical observations are hypothesized, and some ideas about their development in the context of early object relations, leading to pathological forms of symbiosis, are elaborated. A neurobiological rationale for the psychoanalytic treatment of schizophrenia is presented, and special problems related to the biological and symbiotic substrate are examined.     

Plasticity during childhood and adolescence: innovative approaches to investigating neurocognitive development

Adolescence is a period of profound change, which holds substantial developmental milestones, but also unique challenges to the individual. In this opinion paper, we highlight the potential of combining two recently developed behavioural and neural training techniques (cognitive bias modification and functional magnetic neuroimaging‐based neurofeedback) into a research approach that could help make the most of increased levels of plasticity during childhood and adolescence. We discuss how this powerful combination could be used to explore changing brain–behaviour relationships throughout development in the context of emotion processing, a cognitive domain that exhibits continuous development throughout the second decade of life. By targeting both behaviour and brain response, we would also be in an excellent position to define sensible time windows for enhancing plasticity, thereby allowing for targeted intervention approaches that can help improve emotion processing in both typically and atypically developing populations.     

Experimental approaches to developmental dyslexia: An introduction

Summary The nine papers on reading processes and problems collected together in this issue are discussed and related to each other. The studies all share a theoretical framework which is based on models of cognitive psychology and experimental methods developed in this area. A single major hypothesis emerges from these studies on the nature of developmental dyslexia. In its weak form the hypothesis suggests a phonological deficit, in its strong form a specific deficit in speech-motor programming. While other determinants of reading failure are not ruled out, the evidence from the various independent experiments allows the surprisingly parsimonious interpretation of developmental dyslexia as a type of speech problem.     

Agent communication pragmatics: the cognitive coherence approach

Different approaches have investigated the syntax and semantics of agent communication languages. However, these approaches have not indicated how agents should dynamically use communications. Instead of filling this pragmatics gap, most approaches have mainly focused on the ‘structure’ of dialogues even though developers are more interested in agents’ capabilities of having ‘useful’ automated conversations with respect to their goals rather than in their abilities to structure dialogues. This led us to work on a theory of the use of conversations between agents. In this paper, we propose a pragmatics theory which extends and adapts the cognitive dissonance theory (a major theory of social psychology) to multi-agent systems by unifying it with the theory of coherence in thought and action that issues from computational philosophy of mind. Precisely, we show how this theory allows us to provide generic conceptual tools for the automation of both agent communicational behavior and attitude change processes. This new motivational model is formulated in terms of constraints and elements of cognition and allows us to define cognitive incoherences and dialogue utility measures. We show how these measures could be used to solve common problems and answer some critical questions concerning agent communication frameworks use. Finally, our exploration in applying the cognitive coherence pragmatics theory as a new communication layer over classical BDI agents is presented. It relies on our dialogue games based agent communication language (DIAGAL) and our dialogue games simulator toolbox (DGS). The resulting framework provides the necessary theoretical and practical elements for implementing our theory. In doing so, it brings in a general scheme for automatizing agents’ communicational behavior as it is exemplified in this article.     

Behavioral approaches to weight control: An updated review

Recent developments in the behavioral treatment of obesity were surveyed. Since the earlier review (Abramson, 1973) no studies of aversive therapy have been published. Three studies of covert sensitization have yielded discouraging results. Any positive effects of this technique appear to be the result of non-specific demand characteristics rather than aversive conditioning. Several demonstrations of the effects of therapist controlled reinforcement indicate that this technique can promote weight loss while the contingencies are in effect. The weight is rapidly regained, however, after the contingencies are withdrawn. It is concluded that self-control treatments, especially complex self-control, are the most consistently successful treatment approaches. Several methodological problems are presented and unresolved issues are discussed.     

Contributions of clinical neuropsychology to the study of schizophrenia

Clinical neuropsychological findings are examined with respect to competing hypotheses about localized neuropathology in schizophrenia. Two general models of structural and functional impairment are described. The first addresses deficits in cortical/subcortical processes concerned with arousal, attention, and higher cortical functions. The second addresses impairments in the balance of lateralized functions consistent with left hemisphere overactivation. Empirical data provide support for both models, and suggest that the explanatory power of these models may vary when they are applied to different subtypes of schizophrenia.     

Building spiritual fitness in the Army: an innovative approach to a vital aspect of human development

This article describes the development of the spiritual fitness component of the Army's Comprehensive Soldier Fitness (CSF) program. Spirituality is defined in the human sense as the journey people take to discover and realize their essential selves and higher order aspirations. Several theoretically and empirically based reasons are articulated for why spirituality is a necessary component of the CSF program: Human spirituality is a significant motivating force, spirituality is a vital resource for human development, and spirituality is a source of struggle that can lead to growth or decline. A conceptual model developed by Sweeney, Hannah, and Snider (2007) is used to identify several psychological structures and processes that facilitate the development of the human spirit. From this model, an educational, computer-based program has been developed to promote spiritual resilience. This program consists of three tiers: (a) building awareness of the self and the human spirit, (b) building awareness of resources to cultivate the human spirit, and (c) building awareness of the human spirit of others. Further research will be needed to evaluate the effectiveness of this innovative and potentially important program.     

Hub Group: an innovative approach to group therapy in a short-term inpatient adolescent unit

Two and one-half years of Hub Group have shown that short-term, ward-based, heterogeneously mixed adolescent groups can work. Backed by a behaviorally based privilege system, Hub Group contracting methods facilitate rapid investment in group therapy, are flexible enough to accommodate change, and provide a meaningful ritual that involves all group members in promoting change for the individual. Hub Group's method of self-rating and rewards promotes objectivity in self-evaluation. The contracts' images are compact, but all encompassing, providing a continuum along which to move in developing greater responsibility and productive functioning for the adolescents. There are distinct advantages and disadvantages to mixed levels of functioning within the same group. The nurturance and tolerance for others fostered by Hub Group is a primary advantage. Despite the obvious disadvantages of rapid turnover, common issues such as acceptance, attachment, and separation are ever present to be addressed. Leadership must be either supportive or confrontive, but always active in these groups. Hub Groups have shown that with the support and supervision of IDTU's administrative staff, diversely trained staff can comfortably perform multiple roles within the unit and be effective as group leaders.