Dialectical behaviour therapy skills training compared to standard group therapy in borderline personality disorder: A 3-month randomised controlled clinical trial

Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) has proven to be an effective treatment in borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, the effectiveness in BPD of DBT skills training (DBT-ST) alone is not known. This study aimed at comparing the efficacy of DBT-ST and standard group therapy (SGT) for outpatients with BPD. Sixty patients meeting the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for BPD, as assessed by two semi-structured diagnostic interviews, were included in a 3-month, single-blind randomised controlled trial. A total of 13 weekly group psychotherapy sessions of 120 min of either SGT or DBT-ST were conducted. Assessments were carried out every 2 weeks by two blinded evaluators. Observer-rater, self-report scales and behavioural reports were used as outcome measures. DBT-ST was associated with lower dropout rates, 34.5% compared to 63.4% with SGT. It was superior to SGT in improving several mood and emotion areas, such as: depression, anxiety, irritability, anger and affect instability. A reduction in general psychiatric symptoms was also observed. Three-months weekly DBT-ST proved useful. This therapy was associated with greater clinical improvements and lower dropout rates than SGT. DBT-ST seems to play a role in the overall improvement of BPD seen with standard DBT intervention. It allows straightforward implementation in a wide range of mental health settings and provides the additional advantage that it is cost effective.     

Aggression inhibition in high‐ and low‐risk subjects for child physical abuse: effects of a child's hostile intent and the presence of mitigating information

Exposure of an aggressor to the suffering of his/her victim generally inhibits subsequent attacks [e.g. Baron, 1971a] presumably because of an empathic process. Physically abusive parents and individuals at high risk for child physical abuse are thought to present a deficit in empathy [e.g. Milner, Halsey and Fultz, 1995]. The present research was designed to investigate whether high‐risk, compared to low‐risk, subjects for child physical abuse select more aggressive responses and aggress with more intensity toward a supposed child whose behavior is adequate, inadequate or ambiguous in the presence of the child's pain cues. A second objective was to explore whether high‐risk, compared to low‐risk, subjects for child physical abuse fail to adequately integrate mitigating information and, therefore, do not inhibit their aggressive behavior following the receipt of mitigating information before or during an inadequate child behavior. Participants were engaged in an experimental task that involved attempting to teach a child how to proceed accurately through a computer‐displayed maze and were given the opportunity to send positive (pleasant sounds and happy faces) and negative feedback (mad faces and unpleasant sounds) to the child. Two hundred and fifty undergraduate students participated in the experiment. A 2 × 5 factorial design based on two levels of the participant's risk status (high, low) and five conditions based on the child's behavior and the introduction of mitigating information was employed. As expected, low‐risk, compared to high‐risk, subjects showed less aggression when mitigating information was provided. Aggr. Behav. 32:1–15, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Gender roles in relation to assertiveness and eysenckian personality dimensions: Replication with a spanish population sample

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the cross-national replicability of the usual pattern of associations observed in Anglo-Saxon samples between masculinity and femininity on the one hand and difficulty and distress in assertiveness and the major Eysenckian dimensions of personality on the other hand. Participants were 925 SpanishSs (54% females; and 95.5% “European or other white”). Both the masculinity theory of psychological well-being and the notion thathigh femininity would not be implicated in self-assessed psychologicaldistress ordysfunction were supported by the data. Higher-order analysis showed that masculinity loaded highly on Positive Affect, whereas femininity had its primary loading on Constraint. Tentative support was found for the femininity-humility hypothesis advanced by P. B. Zeldow, S. R. Clark, and D. C. Daugherty in 1985.     

Be water: Direct and indirect relations between perceived emotional intelligence and subjective well‐being

Trait emotional intelligence (TEI) has been shown to have predictive capacity for certain dimensions of adaptation, such as life satisfaction and affectivity. The Trait Meta Mood Scale (TMMS), based on the EI ability model, has been shown to have predictive capacity for subjective well‐being through its three factors (attention, clarity, and emotional repair), but little is known about the mediating role played by these dimensions, both among themselves and in relation to other variables. The aim of the present study was to analyse the direct and indirect relationships between the TMMS factors and subjective well‐being dimensions, using structural equation modelling, also including self‐efficacy in the model as a mediator of these relationships. Attention was found to have a negative effect on subjective well‐being, which was inhibited when clarity and repair were included as mediators. Self‐efficacy played a major role since it increased the positive effect of clarity and repair on subjective well‐being. This study provides evidence of the advantage of using the TMMS factors separately and of studying their mediational role in order to better understand the processes underlying the manner in which TEI influences subjective well‐being.     

Conserved: inherited beyond genes / Conservado: heredado más allá de los genes

For more than a century we have discussed the extent to which a trait is innate or acquired, but little has been discussed regarding the mechanisms through which that inheritance takes place. Based on studies by Lorenz and Neo-Darwinism, we have blindly bet on genetics as the mechanism of inheritance. However, evolution considers conserved traits, but this concept lacks a specific inheritance mechanism. We would like to restore the concept of conserved to integrate other inheritance mechanisms. As such, we analyse the inheritance of both genes and the environment, allowing us to fully explore inherited psychopathologies.     

Perversion – structure or organization?

Abstract

This paper aims to discuss perversion, its implications in the clinical setting, and some of the key concepts around it. First, the etymology of the words “perversion”, “structure”, and “organization” is analyzed. Next follows a discussion on the sexual organization of instincts – from the Unconscious to the Oedipus complex in Freud and Lacan – setting the ground for a disavowal-based theory of perversion. An instructive approach has been chosen so as better to organize the various points presented.

Laender NR et al. Perversion – Struktur oder Organisation?

Der Aufsatz diskutiert die Perversion, ihre Auswirkungen im klinischen Setting und einige Schlüsselkonzepte. Zuerst wird die Herkunft der Wörter Perversion, Struktur und Organisation analysiert. Dann folgt eine Diskussion über die Organisation der Sexualität bzw. der Instinkte – vom Unbewussten bis zum Ödipuskomplex bei Freud und Lacan – wodurch eine Theorie der Perversion auf der Basis von Ablehnung begründet wird. Ein instruktiver Zugang, bei dem die verschiedenen Punkte von Interesse gut strukturiert sind, wurde gewählt.

Laender NR et al . Perversion – organización o estructura?

Este trabajo intenta discutir la perversión, sus implicaciones en la clínica y algunos de los conceptos clave alrededor de la perversión.

Primero, es analizada la etimología de las palabras Perversión, Estructura y Organización. Despúes sigue una discusión sobre la organización sexual de los instintos- desde lo Inconsciente hasta el complejo de Edipo en Freud y Lacan- planteando las bases para una teoría de la negación-desaprobación de la perversión.

Para organizar mejor los varios aspectos presentados se escogió una aproximación instructiva.     

Human values,legal regulation,and approval of homosexuality in Europe: A cross‐country comparison

Although research has revealed a trend toward liberalization of attitudes toward homosexuality in Western countries, acceptance of homosexuality differs remarkably among individuals and across countries. We examine the roles of individual value priorities and of national laws regarding homosexuality and the interaction between them in explaining approval of homosexuality. Data are drawn from the European Social Survey and include representative national samples of 27 European countries in 2010. As hypothesized, individuals who prioritized openness to change and universalism values approved of homosexuality more, whereas those who prioritized conservation and power values exhibited more disapproval. Approval was greater in countries whose laws regarding homosexuality were more progressive. In addition, legal regulation of homosexuality moderated the associations of individual value priorities. In countries with more progressive laws, both the positive effect of openness to change values and the negative effect of conservation values on approval of homosexuality were weaker. However, the positive effect of universalism values and the negative effect of power values did not vary as a function of national laws regarding homosexuality. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.