Neurocognitive endophenotypes of impulsivity and compulsivity: towards dimensional psychiatry

A key criticism of the main diagnostic tool in psychiatry, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders (DSM-IV), is that it lacks a biological footing. In this article, we argue for a biological approach to psychiatry based on 'neurocognitive endophenotypes', whereby changes in behavioural or cognitive processes are associated with discrete deficits in defined neural systems. We focus on the constructs of impulsivity and compulsivity as key examples of the approach and discuss their possible cross-diagnostic significance, applying them to co-morbidities and commonalities across a range of disorders (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, substance dependence, obsessive-compulsive disorder and eating disorders). We argue that this approach has important implications for the future classification of psychiatric disorders, genetics and therapeutics.     

The Disproportionality Dilemma: Patterns of Teacher Referrals to School Counselors for Disruptive Behavior

Disproportionality plagues schools nationwide in special education placement, dropout, discipline referral, suspension, and expulsion rates. This study examined predictors of teacher referrals to school counselors for disruptive behavior in a sample of students selected from the Educational Longitudinal Study 2002 (National Center for Education Statistics, n.d.). Findings demonstrated that students’ race predicted English teacher referrals; students’ gender, previous disciplinary infractions, and teachers’ postsecondary expectations for students predicted English and math teacher referrals. Implications for practice, policy, and research are discussed.     

Psychotherapy integration in the treatment of personality disorders: a commentary

Whereas research on the treatment of personality disorders over the past several decades has focused primarily on comparing the efficacy of various treatment packages associated with different theoretical models, there is increasing evidence that the field would benefit from focusing more attention on developing integrative treatments that are both informed by research and capable of scientific verification. The articles assembled for this special section each propose a different approach to integrative treatment for personality disorders. In this commentary, we outline a number of reasons for making such a shift to more integrative treatments, consider some of the potential challenges to integration, and discuss the different approaches to integration illustrated in these articles. We highlight some of the difficult tradeoffs that must be made in developing an integrative approach and discuss similarities and differences in the response to such challenges by the contributors to this special section. Finally, we point to several areas for future research that we believe will contribute to the development of increasingly effective treatments for individuals with personality disorders.     

Treating Prepartum Depression to Improve Infant Developmental Outcomes: A Study of Diabetes in Pregnancy

Whether and how the co-occurrence of depression and diabetes in pregnancy may worsen infant development has not been reported. Pregnant women with diabetes and with (n?=?34) or without (n?=?34) major depressive disorder (MDD) were followed during pregnancy and 6-months postpartum. The MDD subset received randomly assigned treatment with cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) or supportive counseling (SC). Depression severity was measured with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI); infant developmental outcomes were measured with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID) and its Behavior Rating Scale (BRS). Infants of women with MDD had lower BRS scores (p?=?.02). Reduction in depression scores was associated with better infant outcomes on the BSID and BRS (p values <.03). These preliminary findings suggest depression occurring in pregnant women with diabetes is associated with poorer infant development and improvement in prepartum depression is associated with improvement in measures of infant development.     

Conscious and Unconscious Use of Self: The Evolution of a Process

Recent emphasis has been placed on the central role of the therapeutic relationship in successful treatment. One aspect of the development of an effective relationship is the clinical social worker's use of self. We argue that the use of self happens both consciously and unconsciously and is a dynamic and evolving process in psychotherapy. This evolution can result in the clinical social worker shifting from a stance of doing to being. Drawing from a Japanese tradition of learning, three stages of learning provide a framework for understanding how therapists may transition from a state of doing to being in the therapy. Through this process, the conscious use of self may develop into unconscious use of self. Two case examples demonstrate how expanding and using one's self-awareness and the new knowledge through meaningful learning experiences can shift a clinical social worker's ability to develop and enhance his or her use of self, inviting therapeutic presence and depth.     

Coping strategies and leadership in the adaptation to social change: The Israeli Kibbutz

This research assessed adaptation to community change in the Israeli kibbutz. A sample of 270 kibbutz members provided self-reports on their perception of the leaders of the change, change appraisals, coping strategies, and assessment of change outcomes. The main results showed that the perception of transformational leadership was negatively related to threat/loss and positively related to challenge/controllability appraisals; challenge/controllability appraisals were related positively to problem-focused coping and positive affect, whereas threat/loss appraisals were related positively to emotion-focused coping and negative affect. The findings contribute to an understanding of the stress and coping processes during a major change in a communal way of life, and underline the importance of leadership perception as a resource that contributes to better adaptation.     

Self-Efficacy and Memory Aging: The Impact of a Memory Intervention Based on Self-Efficacy

ABSTRACT

A multifactorial training program was developed for older adults, to improve self-efficacy and memory performance. Elements designed to raise self-efficacy were integrated into class discussions, homework readings, and practice exercises, including an emphasis on memory potential at any age, self-set goals, and opportunities for mastery. Strategy training focused on association, organization, attention, imagery, and PQRST. Significant improvements for the training group, as compared to a wait-list control group, were observed for memory self-efficacy, locus of control, name recall and story recall. Trained participants were using effective strategies more so than the control group. Final test scores were predicted by self-efficacy, condition assignment, and baseline ability (with some variation across the three tasks). These findings suggest that an integrated and comprehensive training program that incorporates principles of self-efficacy theory has great potential for improving older adults' memory ability.     

Similarities and differences in visual and spatial perspective-taking processes

Processes for perspective-taking can be differentiated on whether or not they require us to mentally rotate ourselves into the position of the other person (Michelon & Zacks, 2006). Until now, only two perspective-taking tasks have been differentiated in this way, showing that judging whether something is to someone’s left or right does require mental rotation, but judging if someone can see something or not does not. These tasks differ firstly on whether the content of the perspective is visual or spatial and secondly on whether the type of the judgement is early-developing (level-1 type) or later-developing (level-2 type). Across two experiments, we tested which of these factors was likely to be most important by using four different perspective-taking tasks which crossed orthogonally the content of judgement (visual vs. spatial) and the type of judgement (level-1 type vs. level-2 type). We found that the level-2 type judgements, of how something looks to someone else and whether it is to their left or right, required egocentric mental rotation. On the other hand, level-1 type judgements, of whether something was in front of or behind someone and of whether someone could see something or not, did not involve mental rotation. We suggest from this that the initial processing strategies employed for perspective-taking are largely independent of whether judgements are visual or spatial in nature. Furthermore, early developing abilities have features that make mental rotation unnecessary.     

Age and race differences in racial stereotype awareness and endorsement

Age and race differences in race stereotype awareness and endorsement were examined in 382 Black and White fourth, sixth, and eighth graders. Youths reported their own beliefs and their perceptions of adults' beliefs about racial differences in ability in two domains: academics and sports. Children's own endorsement of race stereotypes was highly correlated with their perceptions of adults' race stereotypes. Blacks reported stronger traditional sports stereotypes than Whites, and 4th‐ and 6th‐grade Blacks reported roughly egalitarian academic stereotypes. At every grade level, Whites reported academic stereotypes that favored Whites, and 6th‐ and 8th‐grade Whites reported sports stereotypes that favored Blacks. Results support the tenets of status theory and have implications for identity development and achievement motivation in adolescents.