Keeping (Direct) Reference in Mind

This paper explores the psychological analogues of a cluster of arguments that have played an important role in motivating a now widespread, reference‐based approach in philosophy of language. What I will call the psychological analogues of Kripke‐style arguments provide a substantial motivation for a reference‐based approach to concepts. Insofar as such an approach is rarely given serious consideration, the availability of these arguments suggests the need for a rethinking of some foundational assumptions in philosophy of mind and other branches of the cognitive sciences.     

A Clinical Intervention in Chronic Pain and Insomnia with a Combined Model of Treatment: A Test of Concept

Co-occurring chronic pain and insomnia are common in a clinical setting. Cognitive–behavioral theoretical (CBT) frameworks exist for both conditions independently. The purpose of this study was to address the problem of co-occurring chronic pain and insomnia with an integrated CBT model based on empirical support. One-hundred eleven individuals (age range 21–65 years) meeting the general criteria for chronic pain and insomnia were included in this study. Participants completed a demographic form, the Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes about Sleep—16-item version, Insomnia Severity Index, Sleep Hygiene Index, Sleep Associated Monitoring Index, Pain Catastrophizing Scale, Pain Disability Questionnaire, Modified Somatic Perceptions Questionnaire, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Significant positive bivariate relationships were observed for pain catastrophizing (PC) and dysfunctional beliefs and attitudes about sleep (DBAS), as well as somatic awareness and sleep-associated monitoring. Two backward stepwise regression models were utilized to determine a model for predicting insomnia severity and pain disability respectively using a combination of sleep and pain-associated measures. Insomnia severity was predicted by DBAS, PC, and somatic awareness. Pain disability was predicted by PC, DBAS, depression, and social support. Maladaptive thought patterns related to pain and insomnia and associated features appear to have a synergistic effect on both insomnia severity and pain disability and support a combined cognitive–behavioral model.     

Persistent and stable biases in spatial learning mechanisms predict navigational style

A wealth of evidence in rodents and humans supports the central roles of two learning systems—hippocampal place learning and striatal response learning—in the formation of spatial representations to support navigation. Individual differences in the ways that these mechanisms are engaged during initial encoding and subsequent navigation may provide a powerful framework for explaining the wide range of variability found in the strategies and solutions that make up human navigational styles. Previous work has revealed that activation in the hippocampal and striatal networks during learning could predict navigational style. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the relative activations in these systems during both initial encoding and the act of dynamic navigation in a learned environment. Participants learned a virtual environment and were tested on subsequent navigation to targets within the environment. We observed that a given individual had a consistent balance of memory system engagement across both initial encoding and subsequent navigation, a balance that successfully predicted the participants’ tendencies to use novel shortcuts versus familiar paths during dynamic navigation. This was further supported by the observation that the activation during subsequent retrieval was not dependent on the type of solution used on a given trial. Taken together, our results suggest a model in which the place- and response-learning systems are present in parallel to support a variety of navigational behaviors, but stable biases in the engagement of these systems influence what solutions might be available for any given individual.     

Top Ten Questions Male Sexual Abuse Survivors Want to Know from Health Care Research

Sexual abuse is an often overlooked public health issue for boys and men. Given its prevalence and well-documented connection to mental and physical health disorders, the relevance of male survivor input and engagement in health care research is profound. Using a community-based participatory research design, an in-person focus group with male survivors of sexual abuse and researchers was conducted. This paper describes the top ten research questions male sexual abuse survivors would like to have answered. Survivors were most interested in knowing how sexual abuse and assault impact men’s emotional and sexual functioning, what factors are involved in preventing and treating sexual assault-related emotional distress, and what can be done to prevent sexual abuse of boys and men. The fact that some of the questions survivors expressed an interest in knowing about have actually previously been investigated by researchers suggests a disconnect in translating evidence-based findings. Clinical and research implications include designing outreach interventions and gender-specific psychoeducation to increase engagement and access to care for men.     

HIV infection in the South African construction industry

South Africa has one of the highest HIV prevalences in the world, and compared with other sectors of the national economy, the construction industry is disproportionately adversely affected. Using data collected nationally from more than 57,000 construction workers, HIV infection among South African construction workers was estimated, together with an assessment of the association between worker HIV serostatus and worker characteristics of gender, age, nature of employment, occupation, and HIV testing history. The HIV infection of construction workers was estimated to be lower than that found in a smaller 2008 sample. All worker characteristics are significantly associated with HIV serostatus. In terms of most at-risk categories: females are more at risk of HIV infection than males; workers in the 30–49 year old age group are more at risk than other age groups; workers employed on a less permanent basis are more at risk; as are workers not having recently tested for HIV. Among occupations in the construction industry, general workers, artisans, and operator/drivers are those most at risk. Besides yielding more up-to-date estimated infection statistics, this research also identifies vulnerable sub-groups as valuable pointers for more targeted workplace interventions by construction firms.     

School Perceptions of Children Raised by Grandparents

Increasing numbers of children raised by grandparents are students in schools. Their substitute family structure and precursors to the emergence of this family structure have implications for the children's school performance. Research suggests teachers view these children as at risk for difficult school functioning. The aforementioned judgment is problematic because teacher expectations, attributions, and biases are associated with stereotype threat that impacts student performance adversely. The author compares children raised by grandparents with children raised by parents and foster parents. The author examines the children's perceptions of their teachers' views of their school performance. He also examines the children's general feelings about school. Participants in the study were 6,550 students in Grades 6–8 from the nationally representative Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey. Nonparametric statistical analyses reveal children raised by grandparents believe teachers' view their school performance negatively when compared with children living with both parents. Strategies are described to improve the children's performance in school and to foster favorable teacher perceptions.     

A Narrative Analysis of Sibling Grief

Sibling grief is linked to serious physical and mental health outcomes, yet remains the least researched of all family bereavement. This exploratory study created a shared sibling grief narrative. Open-ended interviews were conducted with 27 participants who lost a sibling. Primary themes included Shared Life: Identity Within the Sibling Arrangement; Sibling Death: Pivotal Moments in Time; Life After Sibling Loss: Emotional Suffering, Life After Sibling Loss: Missing Roles & Changing Relationships; and The Sibling Lives On. The following study findings clarify the overlooked impact that sibling death has on the surviving sibling and demonstrate the crucial need for more sibling loss research.     

The role of personal practice in therapist skill development: a model to guide therapists,educators, supervisors and researchers

Prior to 2000, personal practice (PP) for therapists mostly meant personal therapy. Recently a new landscape of PPs has emerged, with meditation-based programs and therapy self-practice/self-reflection (SP/SR) programs playing an increasing role in training and personal/professional development. The challenge now for practitioners and researchers is to refocus on the role of PPs in training and professional development. Are PPs of value - or not? Do they have a role in therapist development? How might PPs enhance therapist skilfulness? Do different PPs act in similar or different ways? Currently, the PP literature lacks a theoretical framework to guide practitioners in their choice of PPs or researchers in their choice of research questions and measures. The purpose of this article is to provide such a framework, the Personal Practice (PP) model. The PP model proposes primary impacts of PPs in four domains: personal development/wellbeing, self-awareness, interpersonal beliefs/attitudes/skills and reflective skills. The model also suggests a secondary impact on therapists’ conceptual/technical skills when therapists use reflection to consider the implications of their PP for their “therapist self”. We offer some suggestions to enhance the quality of future research, and conclude that PPs may play an important and perhaps unique role in therapist training.     

Vitalizing Enactment: A Relational Exploration

Drawing from her extensive work with deeply disturbed children Alvarez (2012) theorized a form of intervention termed “vitalization” in which the analyst actively reaches out to contact and “reclaim” her most inaccessible patients, engaging them in the world of emotions and relationships. In this paper I consider Alvarez’s ideas through the lens of Relational thought, reconceptualizing vitalization as a unique form of enactment that can draw the analytic dyad from deadened impasse into enlivened contact. In vitalizing enactment embryonic affects, hopes, and longings find expression and are potentiated for patient and analyst alike. This is a view of enactment as a progressive and creative lived experience, rather than an unconscious collision to be survived and symbolized. I contextualize vitalizing enactment in relation to Alvarez’s original formulations as well as relevant contemporary theories and present a clinical vignette to illustrate this paper’s themes.