Body‐Weight Self‐Schema: Determinant of Mood and Behavior in Women With an Eating Disorder1

The schema approach to self‐concept was used to investigate the association between body‐weight self‐conception and self‐esteem, negative affect states, and disordered eating behavior in women with anorexia nervosa (n= 26) or bulimia nervosa (N= 53) using experience sampling methodology. We predicted that self‐esteem would be lower and unpleasant affect and disordered eating behaviors would be higher when the body‐weight self‐schema was activated in working memory compared to when non‐weight‐related self‐schemas were activated. Participants recorded the currently activated self‐schema, self‐esteem, affect, and behavior in response to an alarm‐watch signal 5 times daily for 5 days. Activation of the body‐weight self‐schema was associated with lower self‐esteem and higher negative affect, but not higher levels of disordered eating behavior. Low self‐esteem and negative affect, however, were associated with disordered eating behavior. Findings have important implications for treatment of eating disorders.     

Are valence and social avoidance associated with the memory conformity effect?

Pairs of participants were shown photographs which varied in terms of valence from negative to positive, and two days later, together, they were given a memory recognition test. When the first person responded the second person saw the response. This affected how the second person responded, what is called memory conformity. The memory conformity effect was larger for previously unseen stimuli (fillers) than for previously seen stimuli (targets), and was greatest for those with low scores on a social avoidance measure. While memory for negative (and most arousing) stimuli was most accurate, the memory conformity effect did not differ significantly by the stimulus valence. Implications for theories of memory malleability and for assessing the reliability of memories in a forensic context are discussed.     

The Suicide (SPI) and Violence Potential Indices (VPI) from the Personality Assessment Inventory: A Preliminary Exploration of Validity in an Outpatient Psychiatric Sample

Assessing risk of harm to self and others is an important component of psychological assessment, although methods for risk assessment vary considerably. The Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) is frequently administered to evaluate general psychological functioning, as well as to provide information about suicide and violence risk. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the construct validity of the PAI Suicide (SPI) and Violence Potential (VPI) indices in a sample of 158 psychiatric outpatients referred for psychological and neuropsychological assessment within a large northeastern academic medical center between 2007 and 2011. Results generally supported the convergent and divergent validity of both SPI and VPI when evaluating groups with and without a history of suicide and violence risk, and effect sizes were moderate to large even after controlling for other covariates. SPI and VPI scores were also found to vary significantly across different psychiatric groups in ways that would be expected. Finally, we explored the relationship between SPI and VPI, and executive functioning impairment??a neuropsychological variable found to be associated with impulsive self and other-harming behaviors. Consistent with prior research, SPI and VPI were found to be significantly elevated in groups demonstrating executive dysfunction. The implications of these findings and specifically the utility of using SPI and VPI in the assessment of risk are discussed.     

External Correlates of the Personality Assessment Inventory Higher Order Structures

This brief report explores the external correlates of 2 higher order structures of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey, 1991, 2007); Hoelzle and Meyer's (2009a, 2009b) PAI Components and Hopwood and Moser's (2011) Internalizing and Externalizing Dimensions. Scores from these higher order structures were correlated with life-event data including education, marital status, employment, suicide attempts, psychiatric hospitalizations, trauma, medical problems, hallucinations, paranoid ideation, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, and arrest. Although some differences were noted, the results showed that both Hoelzle and Meyer's Components and Hopwood and Moser's Dimensions were meaningfully correlated with a wide range of life outcomes in a conceptually consistent manner. Overall, these findings provide support for the utility of these higher order variables.     

The cognitive-affective neuroscience of the unconscious

There is an ongoing debate about how best to conceptualize the unconscious. Early psychodynamic views employed theories influenced by physics to explain clinical material, while subsequent cognitivist views relied on computational models of the mind to explain laboratory data. More recently, advances in cognitive-affective neuroscience have provided new insights into the workings of unconscious cognition and affect. We briefly review some of this recent work and its clinical implications.     

Music, mourning, and consolation

The attacks of September 11, 2001, prompt a consideration of the role of music in mourning and trauma. The intrapsychic functions of music in the mourning process are explored, as is music as a unique response to trauma and as a special aesthetic expression of a range of affects connected with grief. Also explored is the allied notion of consolation, a topic underdeveloped in the analytic literature.     

Some reflections on the influence of Chinese thought on Jung and his psychological theory

Jung claimed that Richard Wilhelm, whose masterful translations of Chinese wisdom literature into a European language (German) and thence into Western consciousness have brought Chinese modes of thinking to so many, was one of the most important influences on his own life and work. The contacts between the two men, which took place from the early 1920's until Wilhelm's death in 1930, were few but intense and for Jung decisive in several ways. Wilhelm's translations of the I Ching and The Secret of the Golden Flower opened new avenues for Jung that had far-reaching consequences on his research and writing after 1930. The latter opened the door to the study of alchemy as a key to the archetypal process of individuation as rooted in the collective unconscious. 'Synchronicity' is a term that grew out of his contact with Chinese thought, in particular with the I Ching. From his contact with Chinese thought, additionally, he received confirmation of the view, independently arrived at, that adult psychological development is not linear but rather circular and spiral-like. The letters between Jung and Wilhelm illuminate the great importance Jung ascribed to Wilhelm's contribution toward bridging East and West and the potential value of Chinese philosophy for psychotherapy.