Does acceptance and relationship focused behavior therapy contribute to bupropion outcomes? A randomized controlled trial of functional analytic psychotherapy and acceptance and commitment therapy for smoking cessation

This study evaluated a treatment combining bupropion with a novel acceptance and relationship focused behavioral intervention based on the acceptance and relationship context (ARC) model. Three hundred and three smokers from a community sample were randomly assigned to bupropion, a widely used smoking cessation medication, or bupropion plus functional analytic psychotherapy (FAP) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). Objective measures of smoking outcomes and self-report measures of acceptance and relationship processes were taken at pretreatment, posttreatment, 6-month, and 1-year follow-up. The combined treatment was significantly better than bupropion alone at 1-year follow-up with 7-day point prevalence quit rates of 31.6% in the combined condition versus 17.5% in the medication-alone condition. Acceptance and the therapeutic relationship at posttreatment statistically mediated 12-month outcomes. Bupropion outcomes were enhanced with an acceptance and relationship focused behavioral treatment.     

The development of category-based induction: reexamining conclusions from the induction then recognition (ITR) paradigm

Three studies examined the development of category-based induction using an induction then recognition (ITR) procedure in which participants make category-based predictions about study items and are then given a surprise recognition test that requires discrimination between old and new category members. Exposure duration for study items was either self-paced (Experiment 1) or fixed for 5-year-olds and adults (Experiments 2a-b). Adults always showed a decrement in recognition performance following induction. Children showed the same decrement when exposure duration was equated across age groups. These results show that both young children and adults spontaneously access category-level information during induction. When study exposure time is self-paced, however, children may process additional, noncategorical aspects of study stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved).     

Qualitätsmanagement für Psychoanalytiker

The article discusses current problems with the quality of psychotherapeutical services. Based on professional quality-management models (ISO 9.000, EFQM) a concept of quality management and accreditation for psychoanalysts is proposed.     

Falsification and the protective belt surrounding entity-postulating theories

Meehl’s article is a contradiction. In every area, he recognizes some of what is wrong and then advocates a course that will produce more of the same. He sees the problem with falsification and in essence advocates for its alternative, verification, but falsely claims this strategy is still falsification and is useful when there is a loose link between theories and their auxiliaries and conditions. He acknowledges the proven value of tightening the link between theories and their auxiliaries and conditions, but rejects that course because it does not apply to his preferred theories. Twenty-five years later there is even more “slow progress” to ponder. It is time to dismantle the protective belt surrounding entity-postulating theories that Meehl’s reasoning has helped to create.     

Aversive memory reactivation engages in the amygdala only some neurotransmitters involved in consolidation

Consolidation refers to item stabilization in long-term memory. Retrieval renders a consolidated memory sensitive, and a "reconsolidation" process has been hypothesized to keep the original memory persistent. Some authors could not detect this phenomenon. Here we show that retrieved contextual fear memory is vulnerable to amnesic treatments and that the amygdala is critically involved. Cholinergic and histaminergic systems seem to modulate only consolidation, whereas cannabinoids are involved in both consolidation and reactivation. The lability of retrieved memory affords opportunities to treat disorders such as phobias, post-traumatic stress, or chronic pain, and these results help searching for appropriate therapeutic targets.     

Retrospective assessment of childhood sexual and physical abuse: a comparison of scaled and behaviorally specific approaches

This study compared retrospective reports of childhood sexual and physical abuse as assessed by two measures: the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), which uses a Likert-type scaling approach, and the Computer Assisted Maltreatment Inventory (CAMI), which employs a behaviorally specific means of assessment. Participants included 1,195 undergraduate students recruited from three geographically diverse universities. Agreement was high across the two measures in the classification of victim status (92% and 80% for sexual and physical abuse, respectively). However, the CTQ classified more participants as sexually abused than did the CAMI, whereas the opposite trend was found for physical abuse. For child physical abuse, many participants reporting abusive acts on the CAMI scored below the cut-point for physical abuse on the CTQ. Classification differences for both types of abuse were largely unrelated to demographic factors, socially desirable responding, or self-reported withholding of information. The implications of these results are discussed in light of future research using retrospective methods of assessing childhood abuse.     

Attributions of Responsibility for Memory Problems in Older and Younger Adults

This study investigated older and younger persons' responsibility attributions for the cause of and solution to a memory problem and, for comparison, a weight problem. Traditional college-age students (n = 116) and persons over 65 years of age (n = 98) read a vignette describing either a 25-year-old or 65-year-old who had a memory or weight problem. Results indicated that both the age of the help-seeker and problem type affected attributions. Specifically, the 65-year-old was perceived to be less responsible than the 25-year-old for the cause of and solution to a memory problem. In addition, help-seekers with a memory problem were held less responsible for causing and solving their problem than were help-seekers with a weight problem.