Effectiveness of the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale with Older Generalized Anxiety Disorder Patients

To expand the collection of instruments available for assessment of anxiety in the elderly, this report examined the original and revised Hamilton anxiety scales in a sample of 50 older adults diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and 93 normal community participants (ages 55–82). Although the revised anxiety scale had better discriminant validity (lower correlation with the revised Hamilton depression scale) than the original anxiety and depression scales, a considerable amount of shared variance still existed (41% shared variance, GAD sample alone; 17% control sample alone; 74% shared variance, both samples combined). Near-perfect group classification was possible using 7 items from the original anxiety scale and 10 items from the revised anxiety scale. Results are discussed in light of their implications for use of the Hamilton anxiety rating scale with older anxiety-disordered patients.     

Book Reviews

S amuels , A. The Plural Psyche. Personality, Morality and the Father
S egaller , S., B erger , M. Jung, The Wisdom of the Dream
S tork , A nthony . Freud
H aynal , A ndre . The Technique at Issue. Controversies in Psychoanalysis from Freud and Ferenczi to Michael Balint
B rähler , E. (Ed.) Body Experience. The Subjective Dimension of Psyche and Soma     

Brain activation upon ideal-body media exposure and peer feedback in late adolescent girls

Media’s prevailing thin-body ideal plays a vital role in adolescent girls’ body image development, but the co-occurring impact of peer feedback is understudied. The present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to test media imagery and peer feedback combinations on neural activity related to thin-body ideals. Twenty-four healthy female late adolescents rated precategorized body sizes of bikini models (too thin or normal), directly followed by ostensible peer feedback (too thin or normal). Consistent with prior studies on social feedback processing, results showed increased brain activity in the dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC)/anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and bilateral insula in incongruent situations: when participants rated media models’ body size as normal while peer feedback indicated the models as too thin (or vice versa). This effect was stronger for girls with lower self-esteem. A subsequent behavioral study (N = 34 female late adolescents, separate sample) demonstrated that participants changed behavior in the direction of the peer feedback: precategorized normal sized models were rated as too thin more often after receiving too thin peer feedback. This suggests that the neural responses upon peer feedback may influence subsequent choice. Our results show that media-by-peer interactions have pronounced effects on girls’ body ideals.     

Gender Differences in Family Stories: Moderating Influence of Parent Gender Role and Child Gender

One hundred and twenty families and their 4-year-old children participated in a study on family stories. The participants were primarily White (91%), with the remainder Black (4%), Hispanic (2%), and Asian (2%). The parents were primarily middle class and upper class, with approximately 5% identifying themselves as from a lower socioeconomic background. Parents were asked to tell their son or daughter stories about when the parent was growing up. All parents completed measures of child behavior and a subset of parents completed the Bem Sex Role inventory. Stories were coded for the strength of affiliation, achievement, and autonomy themes. No gender differences were found for parents or child in the strength of affiliation themes. Fathers told stories with stronger autonomy themes than did mothers, and sons were more likely to hear stories with themes of autonomy than were daughters. An interaction was found between gender type of parent and gender of child for strength of achievement theme. Traditional gender-typed parents told stories with stronger achievement themes to their sons, and nontraditional gender-typed parents told stories with stronger achievement themes to their daughters. Exploratory analyses were conducted examining the relations among story theme, parent gender type, and child behavior. Higher levels of externalizing behaviors were found in boys whose fathers endorsed strong masculine attitudes, but told stories with weak achievement themes. Higher levels of internalizing behaviors were found in girls whose mothers told stories with strong affiliation themes, but endorsed weak feminine attitudes. Family stories are proposed to be one aspect of socialization that includes an interaction between child and parent characteristics.     

The philosophy of self-care,individuation and psychodrama: exploring creative means to encountering the “unknown other” in self

ABSTRACT

In this article I investigate creative means to encounter otherness in oneself as a prerequisite for intercultural education. Firstly, I look at ancient Greek philosophy and the concept of self-care. Secondly, I draw from C. G. Jung’s individuation as a process of incorporating shadow parts in the self and thirdly I explore psychodramatic methods. The article is concluded with the example of a concrete application of the “Inner Team” model in a workshop on intercultural competence for caregivers in the context of elderly care.