Group Interventions with Perfectionistic Thinking

The cognitive pattern of perfectionistic thinking is described and its development discussed. The stages and strategies of a group intervention for this pattern are described.     

The many publics of the counselor: a dialogue

The following is a condensed and edited version of a dialogue that took place in December 1973 in the format of a guest panel discussion for the benefit of a class in “Guidance in the Secondary School.” The panelists were selected as being representative of the various publics served by school counselors; the participants were a junior high school student, a high school student, a teacher, a beginning counselor, an experienced counselor, a superintendent of schools, and a counselor educator. By way of introduction, the dialogue begins with a sketch of the participants. (Pseudonyms are used for the students.)     

Childbirth pain,attachment orientations,and romantic partner support during labor and delivery

Attachment anxiety is associated with greater perceived physical pain, whereas social support is associated with lower pain perceptions. Few studies, however, have examined the joint effects of attachment and support on acute physical pain in a dyadic context. In this study, first‐time expectant mothers (N = 140) and their male partners completed romantic attachment measures (prenatally) and postnatal assessments of women's pain and men's emotional support during labor and delivery. More securely attached women benefited from emotional support in terms of reduced pain, more avoidantly attached women reported greater pain when given more support, and more anxiously attached women reported greater pain, regardless of their partners' support. These results advance our understanding of which women are most vulnerable to painful childbirth.     

Why a Victim's Age is Irrelevant When Assessing the Wrongness of Killing

Intuitively, all killings are equally wrong, no matter how old one's victim. In this paper we defend this claim — The Equal Wrongness of Killings Thesis — against a challenge presented by Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen. Lippert-Rasmussen shows The Equal Wrongness of Killings Thesis to be incompatible with two further theses: The Unequal Wrongness of Renderings Unconscious Thesis and The Equivalence Thesis. Lippert-Rasmussen argues that, of the three, The Equal Wrongness of Killings Thesis is the least defensible. He suggests that the most convincing considerations apparently in favour of the Equal Wrongness thesis may be satisfied just as well if we adopt an alternative principle, a 'Prioritarian View' about the wrongness of killing. We argue that The Prioritarian View does not resolve the trilemma: it too is inconsistent with the other two theses. Instead, we argue, the most plausible resolution of the trilemma involves a rejection, rather, of The Unequal Wrongness of Renderings Unconscious Thesis. In its place, we offer an attractive principle that is compatible with both The Equal Wrongness of Killings Thesis as well as The Equivalence Thesis.     

Naturalism and Normativity

Synthetic naturalism is a form of moral realism which holds that we can discover a posteriori that moral properties exist and are natural properties. On this view moral discourse earns the right to be construed realistically because it meets the conditions that license realism about any discourse, that properties it represents as existing pull their weight in empirical explanations of our observations of the world. I argue that naturalism is an inadequate metaphysics of moral value, because parallel arguments to those used by the naturalist to establish the reality of 'moral' properties and their normativity for persons of sympathetic temperament can be constructed, which would equally demonstrate the reality of normatively antagonistic value properties, and their normativity for differently psychologically constituted agents. Since moral discourse implicitly denies that there are such diverse and competing normative truths the strategy fails to establish moral realism.     

Childhood trauma and psychosis: Review of the evidence and directions for psychological interventions

There is controversy over whether childhood trauma (CT) is a causal risk factor for psychosis. The aim of this study was to provide psychologists with a brief overview of the research into relationship between childhood trauma and psychosis and directions for psychological interventions. It details six of the highest quality studies in the area and tentatively concludes from these that there is evidence for a relationship between CT and psychosis. Hallucinations and delusions have been implicated as important factors in the relationship between CT and psychotic disorder and these are discussed, along with post‐traumatic intrusions and schemas, which have been conceptualised as part of the psychological mechanisms whereby CT confers a risk for psychosis. The development of psychological interventions for people with psychosis who have experienced CT is in its infancy but has been based on evidence‐based cognitive behavioural interventions in psychosis and post‐traumatic stress disorder. A formulation‐based approach is described in this paper, along with a case study.     

Communicating to Farmers About Skin Cancer The Behavior Adaptation Model

Although health campaigns promote avoidance of behaviors that put an individual's health at risk, often these behaviors cannot be avoided, and campaign messages designed to encourage behavior adaptation afford greater likelihood of success. With that in mind, a model of health risk behavior adaptation was proposed and tested using four different behaviors in a communication campaign aimed at reducing farmers' risk for skin cancer, farmers and farm wives answered a series of questions about their skin cancer prevention and detection behaviors and attitudes. Interpersonal expectancies, social resources, and actual procedural knowledge predicted perceived procedural knowledge and public commitment, which, in turn, predicted behavior adaptation.     

Mental Imagery in Career Counseling and Life Planning: A Review of Research and Intervention Methods

The use of imagery in career counseling and life planning continues to increase just as the use of imagery in counseling and psychotherapy increases. The rationale for using imagery in career counseling and life planning is the same as in counseling and psychotherapy: It allows the client and counselor to bring into awareness unconscious material that is already influencing choices and makes this material usable in future planning. Imagey also allows the client to try on alternative roles. Several studies are cited that indicate that the imagery components of daydreams and fantasies are useful tools for career exploration and life planning when they are accessible to clients and properly processed. Relevant counseling applications and research studies are cited. Some recent tools for eliciting and processing these daydreams and fantasies are presented, and limits as well as benefits of techniques are discussed.