Systemic Practice

In this paper we propose to develop a methodology, based on a set of isomorphic patterns of practice, for studying the operational competencies of systemic therapists. By attending to the therapists' actions at the level of practice, we have identified unifying principles that run across the different models of systemic family therapy. This is a pattern of action that we call "systemic practice." In order to show the application of this methodology in the art of practice, we have analyzed excerpts from two videotaped sessions.     

Features of Families with Major Affective Disorders

This article reports the authors' observations on 22 families in which a young adult member has been diagnosed as manic-depressive, and on 11 families in which a member has been diagnosed as suffering from major schizoaffective disorder. All families could be described as extremely rigid and bound-up systems. Many of them were characterized by a "restrictive parental complementarity" and reciprocal delegation, and they shared certain cognitive features and assumptions. "Manic-depressive" families showed similarities as well as differences when compared with families in which there were schizophrenic and serious psychosomatic disorders.     

Interpretation of the personality inventory for children-revised (PIC-R): Influence of cognitive impairment

The Personality Inventory for Children-Revised (PIC-R) is a parent-report measure of social-emotional adjustment for children 3 to 16 years of age. The present study examined the clinical value of the PIC-R by exploring the impact of age and developmental status on PIC-R profiles, particularly on the Psychosis (PSY) scale, within a sample of preschool and school-age children referred for assessment of suspected cognitive impairment and learning problems. Compared to school-age children, significantly more preschoolers obtained elevated scores on the Psychosis scale; those preschoolers with cognitive impairments were even more likely to obtain significantly elevated Psychosis scale scores, despite the absence of diagnosed childhood psychosis. No significant relationship was found between Psychosis scale elevations and cognitive impairment in the school-age group. The PIC-R was moderately accurate in identifying cognitively impaired preschoolers but only minimally accurate in identifying cognitively impaired school-age children.     

Effects of D-amphetamine on response acquisition with immediate and delayed reinforcement.

The present study examined in 8-hour sessions the effects of d-amphetamine (1.0, 5.6, and 10 mg/kg) on the acquisition of lever-press responding in rats that were exposed to procedures in which water delivery was delayed by 0, 8, or 16 seconds relative to the response that produced it. Both nonresetting- and resetting-delay conditions were studied. Although neither shaping nor autoshaping occurred, substantial levels of operative-lever responding developed under all conditions in which responses produced water. The lowest dose (1.0 mg/kg) of d-amphetamine either had no effect on or increased operative-lever pressing, whereas higher doses typically produced an initial reduction in lever pressing. Nonetheless, overall rates of operative-lever pressing at these doses were as high as, or higher than, those observed with vehicle. Thus, response acquisition was observed under all reinforcement procedures at all drug doses. In the absence of the drug, most responding occurred on the operative lever when reinforcement was immediate. Such differential responding also developed under both nonresetting- and resetting-delay procedures when the delay was 8 seconds, but not when it was 16 seconds. d-Amphetamine did not affect the development of differential responding under any procedure. Thus, consistent with d-amphetamine's effects under repeated acquisition procedures, the drug had no detrimental effect on learning until doses that produced general behavioral disruption were administered.