Therapeutic factors in two forms of inpatient group psychotherapy: Music therapy and verbal therapy

Therapeutic processes in one type of creative arts group psychotherapy, music therapy, were compared with verbal group psychotherapy. Sixty-one short-term inpatients ranked group psychotherapy curative factors and completed satisfaction ratings. Therapists rated 201 group therapy sessions— 109 music therapy and 92 verbal therapy. Statistical analysis revealed that patients highly valued both group formats. The mean curative factor rankings for both groups included cohesiveness, instillation of hope, and altruism among the most helpful factors. Therapists' ratings indicated qualitative differences between the two groups. Music therapy involved more therapeutic interaction among patients and emotional expression, whereas verbal therapy emphasized concrete problem solving.Supported in part by Biomedical Research Support Grant Program grant #S07-RR05755 from the Division of Research Resources, National Institutes of Health.     

Dynamically oriented group therapy with alcoholics: Making it work despite the prevailing bias

A bias exists in the psychiatric community against dynamically oriented group therapy with alcoholics. The basis for this bias lies primarily in negative experiences of practitioners who have attempted to use traditional therapy with alcoholic patients who continued to drink. At Appleton Outpatient Clinic, we have found that dynamically oriented group therapy is a highly suitable treatment modality for alcoholic patients when negative biases of treators can be addressed and when initial preparatory work is done with patients. This preparatory work includes: (a) building a working alliance around abstinence and providing adequate supports to make this possible; (b) explicit contracting that establishes clear treatment goals and consequences should the goals not be met; (c) preparatory short-termgroup experiences.This paper was presented at the 1988 annual meeting of the American Group Psychotherapy Association.     

Emerging quality improvement measures in genetic counseling

The need to establish guidelines for total quality management in genetic counseling is now recognized as new genetic technologies are being introduced into genetics services and primary care. Genetic counselors have an important role in developing methods for assuring quality in the genetic counseling process. Emerging quality improvement measures as well as selected examples from the Quality Assurance Program in the Genetics Services Division at the Foundation for Blood Research are presented as examples of direct genetic counselor involvement. Suggestions for future directions of quality improvement activities for genetic counselors are discussed.     

Schedule-induced polydipsia and polyphagia in nondeprived rats reinforced by intracranial stimulation

Five rats, which were neither food nor water deprived, working on fixed or variable-interval schedules of reinforcement for intracranial stimulation developed consistent and excessive patterns of postreinforcement eating or drinking. The gradual deterioration of polydipsia and polyphagia in this situation points to a distinction between the acquisition and maintenance of these behaviors.     

Interhemispheric alpha asymmetry and imagery mode

Interhemispheric alpha activity was measured while subjects were engaged in covertly imaging familiar pictorial material using three imagery modes: “shapes and colors,” “words,” or both. The results showed suppression of alpha activity in the hemisphere which is primarily involved in the cognitive mode being used by the subject.     

Dynamic effects of food magnitude on interim-terminal interaction

We tested the assumption of a facilitatory relation between periodic food presentation and schedule-induced drinking by examination of (a) elicited drinking, (b) drinking in anticipation of food delivery, and (c) possible indirect effects of food delivery on drinking. We exposed rats to a fixed-time 60-second schedule in which interfood intervals ended in either one or four food pellets with equal probability. In Phases 1 and 3, a stimulus signaled the magnitude of upcoming food presentation. In Phase 2, the stimulus was eliminated. Changes in drinking and “head-in-feeder” distributions within interfood intervals demonstrated that head-in-feeder was controlled directly by food presentation, but drinking was not. Head-in-feeder increased and drinking was reduced when large meals began or ended an interval. In Phases 4 to 6, meal size was manipulated across sessions yielding a positive relation between meal size and schedule-induced drinking. We conclude: (1) Schedule-induced drinking is determined by distributions of food-related behavior and results from indirect effects of food delivery; and (2) the amount of schedule-induced drinking and the form of the drinking distributions in this experiment can be accurately explained by two assumptions: (a) Food presentation facilitates food-related behavior through elicitation and anticipation; and (b) food-related behavior and drinking are reciprocally, linearly related.     

Ripple effect: Communication of planning team decisions to program implementers

Due process provisions are intended to insure that special education placement and programming decisions are fair. However, educators should address the issue of whether those decisions are properly implemented. This paper explores how placement decisions are communicated to the teachers and support personnel who are responsible for implementing students' special education programs. The communication network used by planning teams was characterized as informal; most information was communicated orally by many different planning team members. The results were discussed in the context of whether the messages provided to program implementers were consistent and clear.