Post traumatic stress disorders

A clinical overview of the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD) is presented emphasizing altered qualities of experience and behavior. A schema of human psychological responses to stressful life events is reviewed as an introduction to the extensive development of concepts of pathological stress response syndromes: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders; post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic type; delayed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. An illustrative case history is presented. The potential development of PTSD in individuals experiencing less than overwhelming stressors is conceptualized.     

Gender role typing,the superwoman ideal,and the potential for eating disorders

The interactive effects of gender role typing and adherence to a superwoman ideal (desiring to excel in many diverse roles) on the potential for disordered eating were examined among a nonclinical sample of women. Results indicated that both masculine and feminine gender-typed women who strongly adhered to a superwoman ideal were at greater risk for eating disorders than androgynous superwomen. In contrast, androgynous superwomen had relatively low potential for disordered eating and appeared comparable to women who, regardless of gender typing, rejected the superwoman ideal. Women undifferentiated with regard to gender type, whether superwomen or not, also had reduced potential for disordered eating. Findings are discussed with regard to gender role socialization and expectations, and the implications for mediating the potential for eating disorders are considered.     

Conversational skills training with a chronically hospitalized psychiatric inpatient

While conversational skills training has been conducted with select psychiatric populations, it has rarely been used with severely debilitated inpatients. The purpose of this study was to use a multiple baseline design across conversational components to evaluate the effectiveness of a conversational skills training package to enhance the conversational repertoire of a severely impaired inpatient. Audiotaped conversations with a standard confederate were evaluated for the frequency of questions, self-disclosures, and reinforcing/acknowledging comments. Generalization probe conversations to novel partners were also obtained. Training effects were noted for the 3 conversational units. Mixed results were obtained for generalization and follow-up.     

Assessment of delusional beliefs during the modification of delusional verbalizations

This study examined the strength of delusional beliefs during the modification of delusional verbalizations of a 51 year-old chronically mentally ill inpatient. The changing-criterion design was used to document the effectiveness of a behavioral treatment package to alter the rate of delusional responses to personal background questions. The results revealed a stepwise decline in the frequency of delusional responses. Generalization effects to novel interviewers were obtained. No changes were obtained on the subject's ratings of delusional beliefs, with the subject assigning ratings of absolute conviction to his beliefs throughout the duration of the study.     

An analysis of performance by pre-school children on the KRISP and on a length discrimination task

The speed and accuracy of judgements made by pre-school children on the Kansas Reflection-Impulsivity Scale for Pre-schoolers (KRISP - Wright 1971, 1973) and on a two-choice length discrimination task were investigated. If subjects were relatively accurate on the KRISP then correct responses tended to be faster than errors while if subjects were relatively inaccurate errors were the faster. It is inferred that accurate subjects respond asymptotically in terms of a speed-accuracy tradeoff while inaccurate subjects set a less demanding criterion. Accurate subjects showed a tendency to increase inspection time as a function of item difficulty. This relation did not hold for inaccurate subjects.However, groups classified by means of the KRISP did not differ in either the speed of correct responses or accuracy of line length discriminations. For all groups judgement times were significantly related to stimulus differences and to stimulus ratios. There was no evidence that so-called impulsive children engage in less efficient and less detailed processing than other children.It is argued, contrary to the view of Kagan and his co-workers (e.g. Kakan 1966), that speed and accuracy of responding may not reflect a stable trait dimension. Rather children appear to be able to change their strategies according to the particular demands, implicit or explicit, of the task.     

The dispositional shift in attribution over time

Two experiments examined the effect of time on causal attributions. In Experiment I, subjects who described themselves into a tape recorder assumed more personal responsibility for their behavior after 3 weeks' time than others who explained their behavior immediately after its occurrence. In Experiment II, actor-subjects took part in a getting acquainted conversation and explained their behavior more dispositionally and less situationally after 3 weeks' time than they had initially, while observer-subjects experienced no change over time. Results were interpreted in terms of an altered self-perspective in memory and the diminished salience of situational details over time.     

On the limits of Kagan’s impulsive reflective distinction

A logical analysis is made of the Matching Familiar Figures (MFF) Test on the basis of which children have been classified as "impulsive" or "reflective." The reflective strategy is implicitly preferred to the impulsive because the reflective child makes fewer errors though generally taking longer to make his first response. We show that the test allows the choice of a number of "game plans" and speed-accuracy tradeoffs which in practice may not be very different. Error rates may not indicate perceptual sensitivity, in any case, since sensitivity and response factors may be confounded in the error rate. Using a visual running-memory-span task to avoid the inherent difficulties of the MFF test, we found that children previously classified on the basis of that test as impulsive or reflective did not differ in recognition accuracy but did differ in response bias and response latency. Accuracy and bias are estimated by way of Luce's choice theory (Luce, 1963), and the results are discussed in those terms.     

A primer for advancing psychology in the public-sector

Psychologists working in the public sector should, in addition to providing direct services, advocate for systems change. Although many consumers treated in the public sector face a constellation of severe life problems, working to improve the system of care is more difficult than providing treatment. Improving the quality of life of consumers of publicly funded mental health services requires that psychologists become advocates. Four prerequisites to systems change, plus coalition building, legislative advocacy, the work of state psychological associations, and forming alliances between psychologists and nonpsychological community organizations such as Rotary International, are described. In conclusion, 12 orienting ideas are listed for psychologists who want to advocate for social, institutional, and political change.     

An existential view of adolescent development

In clinical work with adolescents there is a stark similarity between what they experience and the concepts of existentialism. However, surprisingly very little has been written in terms of how the concepts of existentialism can or should be applied to this age group. Rather, existentialism seems to be a concept reserved for its application to the adult population. In fact, a search of the literature included in PsychINFO under "existentialism" and "adolescent development" results in only 5 hits. Perhaps by avoiding the use of these ideas as they might apply to adolescents, for various reasons a disservice is being done. Drawing on ideas posited in existential literature will not only benefit adolescents, it will assist caring adults in their work with them and encourage professionals to expand on existing ideas when conducting research and developing theories that apply to this age group.