The Relevance of the Rorschach and Patient–Examiner Relationship in Treatment Planning and Outcome Assessment

In this era of evidence-based mental health care, traditional forms of depth-oriented psychotherapy and psychological assessment have been marginalized in graduate training in clinical psychology. As a counterpoint, this article presents the evaluation and treatment of an adolescent client, along with an outcome assessment, and illustrates ways that aspects of traditional psychological testing, including the Rorschach (Exner, 1986) and the patient–examiner relationship, can enhance psychodiagnosis and treatment planning. Additionally, this case illustrates ways that test data can illuminate the concept of underlying disturbance and its utility in diagnostic formulation, treatment planning, and outcome assessment.     

Mental Health among Youth in South Australia: A Survey of Flourishing,Languishing, Struggling,and Floundering

The Complete State Model of Mental Health was used to describe the prevalence of flourishing, languishing, struggling, and floundering in life in a sample of young South Australians (n = 3,913; 13–17 years, 52% female). Categorisation was based on the relative proportion of mental health and mental illness symptoms reported on standardised measures and the association of these categories to health‐risk behaviour. Variability in categories and health‐risk behaviour due to gender or region was investigated. Results indicated that a disturbingly small proportion of adolescents (<50%) were flourishing in life, that poorer states of mental health were associated with increased health‐risk behaviour, and that the propensity to engage in health‐risk behaviour did vary by gender and region. The current study extends the platform from which positively focused mental health strategies can be tailored and launched to meet the mental health needs of adolescents.     

The Internal Consistency of Moral Reasoning: A Multitrait-Multimethod Assessment

The consistency of moral judgment across five dimensions (immanent justice, moral realism, retribution vs. restitution, efficacy of severe punishment, and communicable responsibility) from two basic, structural components of the cognitive-developmental approach was examined. The two components were (a) the more general concept of level and (b) the more specific concept of stage. Multitrait-multimethod analysis supported the compatibility between the two constructs. The methods differed in their degree of association between the five measured dimensions; the stage technique appeared to be more consistent than the level scale. Finally, comparisons between dimensions indicated that the notion of moral development seems to be multidimensional, vis-à-vis unidimensional, as originally implied by Piaget and later by Kohlberg.     

Reliable misrepresentation and tracking theories of mental representation

It is a live possibility that certain of our experiences reliably misrepresent the world around us. I argue that tracking theories of mental representation (e.g. those of Dretske, Fodor, and Millikan) have difficulty allowing for this possibility, and that this is a major consideration against them.     

Asymmetrical Perception of Changing Intensity in Short Tonal Stimuli: Duration of Stimulus

A number of reports have suggested that changing intensity in short tonal stimuli is asymmetrically perceived. In particular, steady stimuli may be heard as growing louder; stimuli must decrease in intensity to be heard as steady in loudness. The influence of stimulus duration on this perceptual asymmetry was examined. Three participants heard diotic tonal stimuli of eight durations between 0.8 s and 2.5 s. Each stimulus increased, decreased, or remained steady in intensity; initial intensity was 40 dB SPL (sound pressure level relative to 0.0002 dynes/cm²), and carrier frequency was 1 kHz. Participants made forced binary responses of “growing louder” or “growing softer” to each stimulus. For each duration, that value of intensity change eliciting equal numbers of both responses was determined. The results indicated a pronounced perceptual asymmetry for 0.8-s stimuli, which diminished for longer stimuli; changing intensity in 2.5-s stimuli was perceived symmetrically. Additionally, sensitivity to changing intensity improved as stimulus duration increased, suggesting that responses may be based in part on the difference in intensity between the beginning and end of the stimulus. Possible ramifications of the asymmetry reside in (a) the percussive nature of many natural sounds and (b) selective responding to approaching sound sources.     

Sustained Attention and the Type a Behavior Pattern: The Effect of Daydreaming on Performance

The present study examined the ability of Type A and Type B subjects to sustain attention during a 40-min visual vigilance task. It was predicted that Type A subjects would perform better than Type B subjects and that the performance of both groups would be related to the frequency of daydreams during the vigil. Type A subjects outperformed Type B subjects with regard to perceptual sensitivity (A') and number of signal detections. Although both groups reported an increase in the number of their daydreams as the vigil progressed, Type A subjects reported fewer daydreams during each period of watch than did Type B subjects. In addition, an inverse relationship was found between the number of signal detections and the frequency of daydreams.     

Attentional Demands Associated With Postural Control Depend on Task Difficulty and Visual Condition

The authors aimed to assess the effect of vision on variations in attentional resources allocated to postural control during tasks of various levels of difficulty. Test-retest reliability of postural and cognitive parameters was also evaluated. Twenty adults stood quietly on a force platform during 30-s trials (primary task). Twelve conditions involving combinations of three bases of support, two vision conditions, and the presence or absence of a simple reaction time task (secondary task) were tested. Baseline trials of the reaction time task were also performed with the participants seated. Reaction time and postural parameters demonstrated good to excellent test-retest reliability in most conditions. Postural control was altered by the reduction of the base of support and by the absence of vision. Maintaining an upright stance increased reaction time compared with a seated position, indicating that quiet standing tasks required some attention even in young adults. Changes in postural steadiness were correlated with changes in reaction time, showing a significant relationship between the difficulty of the postural task and the attentional resources allocated to postural control. However, reaction time increased with the reduction of the base of support only without vision. This dual task paradigm showed that vision can compensate for the increase in attentional demands during the most difficult postural tasks.     

Kierkegaard,MacIntyre and Narrative Unity—Reply to Lippitt

In a recent article in this journal, John Lippitt mounts a forceful argument against narrativist approaches to issues in personal identity and practical deliberation, with specific reference to the application of such approaches in the interpretation of Kierkegaard's writings. The present critical discussion piece addresses two points in Lippitt's argument. First, it seeks to meet Lippitt's challenge to clarify the notion of “a whole life” as this figures in narrativist positions. Second, it clarifies the sense in which narrative unity, and even selfhood, may be a matter of degree. It then uses this latter insight to sketch a defense of the claim that narrativity may indeed play a crucial role in Kierkegaard's distinction between ethical and aesthetic ways of life.     

Investigating the interface of the investment model and adult attachment theory

We examined whether the extent to which individuals accord importance to components of the investment model varies by attachment. In Study 1, rewards and costs in a hypothetical relationship were experimentally manipulated, and participants (single and dating undergraduates) reported perceptions of rewards, costs, and satisfaction. In Study 2, investments and alternative quality were manipulated, and participants reported perceptions of investments, alternatives, satisfaction, and commitment. Study 1 revealed that relative to others, individuals high in both anxiety and avoidance (i.e., fearful) accord less weight to rewards when determining satisfaction. Study 2 revealed that relative to others, individuals low in anxiety and high in avoidance (i.e., dismissing) accord more weight to investments and alternatives, and less weight to satisfaction when determining commitment. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.