THE ROLE OF INDEPENDENT VARIABLE INTEGRITY IN THE BEHAVIORAL MANAGEMENT OF TOURETTE SYNDROME

We examined the effects of self-monitoring, dissimilar response practice, and competing response practice on the tics of two preadolescent males with Tourette Syndrome. Tic frequencies were assessed using an alternating treatments design over the course of approximately 1 month. The data indicate that neither of the participants’ tics changed as a result of the interventions. Upon examination of independent variable integrity data, we noticed that the participants were not implementing the treatments as instructed. The results are discussed in the context of improving the research methodology in this area, particularly with respect to independent variable integrity measures.     

What Works Best for Reducing Symptoms and Improving Quality of Life? A 6-Months Follow-up Study on the Effectiveness of Group Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and Group Information and Support for Adults Suffering from Depression

A non-randomized effectiveness trial was conducted in an urban secondary care public mental health service in Ireland. The effectiveness of an 8 session group cognitive behavior therapy program (gCBT-8), where the focus was on behavioral activation and cognitive restructuring, was compared with that of an enhanced 12 session group cognitive behavior therapy program (gCBT-12), which contained additional sessions on schema work, and a 12 session information and support control group program (gIS-12) in which there was no CBT skills training. One hundred and eighty-one adults with unipolar mood disorders were allocated to gCBT-8 (N?=?67), gCBT-12 (N?=?62), or gIS-12 (N?=?52). Before and after treatment, and at 6 months follow-up participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II), the Beck Anxiety Inventory, the Clinical Outcome and Routine Evaluation, the Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale, and the brief World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale. An intention-to-treat analysis of mean scores showed that the three programs had similar outcomes. There were significant improvements on all dependent variables with post-treatment gains maintained at follow-up. The three programs also led to similar remission and combined reliable improvement and remission rates on the BDI-II. It was concluded that all three programs had similar levels of effectiveness.     

The Use of Prayer to Manage Anger: Do Characteristics of the Emotional Experience Matter?

Research has established that individuals use prayer to manage negative emotions, yet little is known about how the characteristics of individuals’ emotional experiences—such as how long the emotions last and the source of emotions—influence the use of this emotion management strategy. Using data from the 1996 General Social Survey emotion module (N = 1114), we evaluate the extent to which the use of prayer to manage anger is associated with: the intensity, source, and duration of negative emotions experienced; reflection on the negative emotion-inducing incident; and perceived appropriateness of emotional reaction. Estimated logistic regression models show that characteristics of emotional experiences (except perceived appropriateness) are significantly associated with the use of prayer to manage anger. The analyses reveal that the appropriateness of using prayer to manage negative emotions varies based on specific aspects of the emotional experience, carrying implications for interventions such as pastoral counseling or anger management programs.     

The Cultural Evolution of Structured Languages in an Open‐Ended,Continuous World

Language maps signals onto meanings through the use of two distinct types of structure. First, the space of meanings is discretized into categories that are shared by all users of the language. Second, the signals employed by the language are compositional: The meaning of the whole is a function of its parts and the way in which those parts are combined. In three iterated learning experiments using a vast, continuous, open‐ended meaning space, we explore the conditions under which both structured categories and structured signals emerge ex nihilo. While previous experiments have been limited to either categorical structure in meanings or compositional structure in signals, these experiments demonstrate that when the meaning space lacks clear preexisting boundaries, more subtle morphological structure that lacks straightforward compositionality—as found in natural languages—may evolve as a solution to joint pressures from learning and communication.     

Christoph Durt,Thomas Fuchs,and Christian Tewes (eds): Embodiment,enaction and culture: investigating the constitution of the shared world

Continental Philosophy Review - The following is a review of Embodiment, Enaction and Culture. Investigating the Constitution of the Shared World. Edited by Christoph Durt, Thomas Fuchs, and...     

Thematic review of family therapy journals in 2007

In 2007 many developments in a broad range of areas were covered in the family therapy journals. In this review, reference will be made to particularly significant papers but also to the less significant but representative articles in the areas of child‐focused problems, adult‐focused problems, couples, divorce, diversity, developments in systemic practice, assessment, training, research, international professional developments and deaths.     

The role of naming in stimulus categorization by preschool children

The purpose of the current study was to assess whether children would categorize pictures when taught the relevant listener and speaker behaviors separately. A category-sort test was used to assess emergent conditional relations. Category-sort trials consisted of looking at (Test 1) or tacting/labeling (Test 2) a sample stimulus and selecting the appropriate comparison stimuli. In Experiment 1, 4 children (3-5 years) were taught to tact pictures of six U.S. state maps as either north or south. An assessment was conducted to determine whether they would (1) correctly categorize or sort when presented with a visual sample and (2) select the correct stimuli when hearing their category names (listener behavior). Two of the children categorized the pictures during Posttest 1 after the initial (pairwise) tact training. The other 2 categorized after receiving additional tact training with all pictures presented together. However, one of them categorized only during Posttest 2. In Experiment 2, 4 children (3-5 years) were taught to select pictures when hearing their category names. An assessment was conducted to determine whether they would (1) correctly categorize or sort and (2) tact the stimuli (speaker behavior). One child categorized the pictures during Posttest 1, and two during Posttest 2. The other child required additional training with all pictures grouped together. When participants failed to categorize, they also failed to tact the pictures accurately. Taken together, results from Experiments 1 and 2 show that both speaker and listener behavior play an important role in stimulus categorization.