Book reviews

Blue Dragon White Tiger. Michael Saso, 1990 Hawaii, University of Hawaii Press 215 pp., No price given

Chuang‐Tzu for Spiritual Transformation. Robert E. Allinson, 1989 Albany, State University of New York Press 203 pp., $39.50 hb, $14.95 pb

Japanese Martial Arts and American Sports. Cross‐Cultural Perspectives on Means to Personal Growth M. Kiyota & H. Kinoshita (Eds), 1990 Tokyo, Nihon University 247 pp., No price given

The Question of Rationality and the Basic Grammar of Intercultural Texts. Hwa Yol Jung, 1989. IUJ Monograph 3, Nigata, International University of Japan ¥2000

The Arabic Linguistic Tradition. G. Bohas, J.‐P. Guillaume & D. E. Kouloughli, 1990 London and New York, Routledge 163+x pp., £30.00

The Body: Toward an Eastern Mind‐Body Theory. Yuasa Yasuo, edited by T. P. Kasulis and translated by Nagatomo Shigenori Albany, State University of New York Press $14.95 hb

Sainthood, Its Manifestations in World Religions. Richard Kieckerhefer & George D. Bond (Eds), 1990 University of California Press XII + 263 pp., $12.95 pb

East of Existentialism: The Tao of the West. Ray Billington, 1990 London, Unwin Hyman xviii+316 pp., No price given     

Fading—A new technique in the treatment of phobias

Phobias have been subject to more research by behavior therapists than any other psychiatric disorder. In 1975 Marks described more than 20 different techniques that have been developed for or used in the treatment of phobias.The technique to be described in this paper—fading—was first used by Barlow and Agras (1973) as an alternative to aversive techniques for homosexuals. Originally the technique was designed to change the stimulus control of sexual responsiveness by introducing or “fading in” heterosexual stimuli during periods of sexual arousal elicted by homosexual stimuli.One purpose of the single-case studies presented here was to explore the possibility of achieving a similar result with phobic clients. In other words, the aim was to create a state of calmness and positive sensations in the client and then to gradually “fade in” phobic stimuli. The hypothesis was that the stimulus control of anxiety exerted by the phobic stimuli would decrease and finally be extinguished due to the antagonistic effects of observing and imagining positive scenes.A second purpose of this application of fading was to develop a technique for reducing phobic anxiety which could give more control to the client than is the case in, for example, systematic desensitization.     

The role of integration in recognition failure and action memory

In three experiments, we studied memory for action events with respect to exceptions from the Tulving-Wiseman function demonstrated in experiments on recognition failure of recallable words. In Experiment 1, we examined exceptions of poor integration in a regular recognition failure condition (i.e., recognition of targets without contextual cues, followed by recall of targets in the presence of contextual cues). In Experiment 2, we examined exceptions of cue overlap in which subjects also had access to the information of contextual cues at recognition test. In Experiment 3, we attempted to equate the levels of recognition across the action and verbal encoding. In addition, the cue overlap and no-cue overlap conditions were studied in a within-subjects design. Results from the three experiments indicated that encoding enactment (episodic integration) and conceptual integration (semantic integration) are related to each other. As a consequence of this relationship, there is a larger independence between recognition and recall of well-integrated items with encoding enactment. On the other hand, for the poorly integrated items without encoding enactment, there is a larger dependence between recognition and recall. Even in the cue overlap condition, where there is a case of large dependence between recognition and recall, the same pattern of data was observed. The results are discussed in terms of an episodic integration view of encoding enactment.     

Lens on International Clinical Supervision: Lessons Learned from a Cross-National Comparison of Supervision

Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - Clinical supervision is an essential mechanism for training psychologists internationally. But although it is performed globally, scholarship has primarily...     

The role of intentionality in perceiving terrorism as a more important problem than traffic accidents

Current Psychology - We hypothesized that perceived intentionality is one of the factors explaining why terrorism is perceived to be a more important problem than traffic accidents. In Study 1, we...     

The Mediator Role of Negative Cognitive Emotion Regulation Strategies Between Interpersonal Problems and Borderline Personality Beliefs

Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy - Interpersonal difficulties and emotion regulation are the core characteristics of borderline personality disorders (BPD). However, how...     

Postpartum Depression Among Women With Disabilities: A Multicultural Counseling Perspective

Postpartum depression is an important mental health problem for women, and women with disabilities are at greater risk than are women without disabilities. This article explores the disability‐specific contextual, environmental, social, and systemic causes of postpartum depression from an ecological perspective. I aim to help counselors develop a nonpathologizing, multicultural counseling–rooted approach and to prepare counselors to work effectively with this unique population. Implications of multicultural counseling tenets and advocacy are also examined for best practices. La depresión posparto es un problema de salud mental importante para las mujeres, y el riesgo es mayor para las mujeres con discapacidades que para las mujeres sin discapacidades. Este artículo explora las causas contextuales, sociales, del entorno y sistémicas de la depresión posparto relacionadas con la discapacidad desde una perspectiva ecológica. Mi objetivo es ayudar a los consejeros a desarrollar un enfoque no patológico basado en la consejería multicultural y preparar a los consejeros para trabajar de forma efectiva con esta población singular. También se examinan las implicaciones de los principios de la consejería multicultural y la defensoría para las prácticas recomendadas.     

Understanding Islamic aid flows to enhance global humanitarian assistance

In 2008 the then Organisation of the Islamic Conference established its own Islamic Cooperation Humanitarian Affairs Department (ICHAD) as an alternative to the OECD DAC. Subsequently, aid from ICHAD predominantly goes to Muslims. This is most likely because zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam and regarded as ibadah (worship), from which non-Muslims are excluded. As such, this paper will examine the theology and ethics of giving in Islam (zakat and sadaqa) and explore these aid flows and, and whether there is room for a more inclusive interpretation that can lead to greater integration and co-operation.     

Does Problem Focused Coping Buffer the Effects of Trait Anxiety on Depressive Symptoms of Chronic Urticaria Patients?

The present study examined the moderating role of problem-focused coping in trait anxiety—depressive symptoms' relationship in patients with chronic urticaria (CU). Eighty-eight CU patients, who applied to an outpatient clinic of Clinical Immunology and Allergic Diseases, filled out a questionnaire set including State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Ways of Coping Inventory, and Beck Depression Inventory. The results suggested that CU patients high on trait anxiety reported more depressive symptoms, and the ones using more problem-focused coping (PFC) strategies reported less depressive symptoms. Also, PFC strategies moderated trait anxiety-depressive symptoms relation. Accordingly, PFC strategies did not lead to any significant difference in CU patients who were low on trait anxiety in terms of the level of depressive symptoms. However, CU patients with high trait anxiety experienced significantly less depressive symptoms if they used more PFC strategies. The findings were discussed in the light of the relevant literature.     

Matching Patient and Therapist Anaclitic–Introjective Personality Configurations Matters for Psychotherapy Outcomes

Decades of psychotherapy research suggest that patient–therapist match accounts for outcome beyond single patient or therapist variables. This study examines the associations between different patterns of patient–therapist matching (in terms of orientation on relatedness or self-definition) and outcomes at termination of psychoanalytic psychotherapy with young adults. Thirty-three patients and their therapists were classified as predominately anaclitic or introjective at baseline. Patients in the convergent patient–therapist dyads (both anaclitic or both introjective) showed significantly greater symptom reduction and increased developmental levels of representations of mother than patients in the complementary dyads (opposite personality configurations). Moreover, convergent patient–therapist match was connected with larger effect sizes on all outcome measures and lower proportion of non-improved patients. These findings suggest the importance of the therapists’ early adjusting their orientation on relatedness or self-definition to their patients’ predominant personality configuration in order to enhance treatment outcomes.