Clark,D. A., & Beck,A. T. (2012) The Anxiety and Worry Workbook: The Cognitive Behavioral Solution New York: The Guilford Press

This article reviews The Anxiety and Worry Workbook: The Cognitive Behavioral Solution by D. A. Clark and A. T. Beck (2012). This workbook offers readers a thorough introduction to a classic, though updated, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) approach for anxiety in a self-directed format. The first 8 chapters provide meticulous coverage of cognitive therapy strategies for identifying cognitive distortions relevant to anxiety-inducing thoughts, collecting evidence against such threatening thoughts, and developing alternative statements, as well as detailed explanation of behavioral strategies for reducing safety behaviors and conducting self-guided exposures to feared stimuli. It may therefore appeal to diverse readers who struggle with a range of anxiety problems, but is particularly suited to individuals with symptoms of panic disorder, social phobia, or generalized anxiety. The final 3 chapters discuss specific applications for each of these common conditions. The workbook offers straightforward CBT strategies made accessible via use of engaging metaphors, a wealth of worksheets, and numerous case examples. Moreover, it educates readers about cognitive constructs particularly relevant to specific disorders (e.g., anxiety sensitivity in panic disorder, fear of negative evaluation in social phobia). In summary, this “first self-help workbook for anxiety by the originator of cognitive therapy” does not strive to break new ground, but thoroughly equips the anxious yet self-motivated individual to combat threatening thoughts and engage fears with courage.     

The social and communication impact of stuttering on adolescents and their families

Purpose

Stuttering can cause wide ranging psychosocial impact. This is particularly the case for adolescents who may face additional physical, emotional and personality changes as they become adults. This study reports the findings of an investigation into the social and communication impacts of stuttering on Australian adolescents seeking treatment for stuttering and their families.

Method

A cross-sectional design utilising questionnaires assessed the self-perceived communication competence and apprehension, stigma and disclosure, and experiences of teasing and bullying of 36 adolescents who stutter. Additionally, the impact of stuttering on the families of these adolescents was investigated.

Results

Adolescents who stutter have below average self-perceived communication competence, heightened communication apprehension, are teased and bullied more often than fluent peers, and they try to keep their stuttering secret. The families of the adolescents in the study reported high levels of emotional strain, family conflict and difficulty managing their child's frustrations.

Conclusion

The findings from this study emphasise the wide-ranging impact of stuttering beyond the surface level behaviours. Clinicians working with adolescents who stutter should take note of both the outcomes of this study and the suggestions for more effectively coping with the condition in this population.Educational objectives: The reader will be able to: (a) summarise findings with regards to the impact of stuttering on an adolescent's social and communication skills; (b) summarise areas of impact on the families of adolescents who stutter; (c) compare these findings with previous reported data for this population; (d) discuss the clinical implications of the results for working with adolescents who stutter and their families.     

Partisan Bias and Information Discounting in Economic Judgments

Research shows that partisanship biases people's views about the economy. Yet, there is little understanding of the factors, if any, that might mitigate the influence of partisanship on these judgments or the effect of partisanship on metacognitive judgments. This study uses an experimental design to show that partisanship continues to bias economic judgments even when subjects receive direct and neutral information about specific aspects of the economy. Moreover, it extends our understanding of partisan bias by showing it has a direct effect on people's metacognitive assessments of their own attitudes—particularly the degree of uncertainty people have in their own economic judgments. However, it appears that people are aware of the conflict between their partisan‐based judgment and economic information since we observe increases in economic uncertainty when information is counter to a subject's partisan predisposition. The results provide new insight into the extent of partisan bias and the difficulty of countering partisan‐based judgments.     

The Weapon Focus Effect in Target‐Present and Target‐Absent Line‐Ups: The Roles of Threat,Novelty, and Timing

When an eyewitness suffers an impairment of memory for a perpetrator because the criminal used a weapon during the crime, this impairment is called the weapon focus effect. The literature is split on how this arises: Some implicate the narrowing of attentional cues to the weapon because the arousal of the victim increases, whereas others claim that the weapon is a novel object in most everyday contexts, and novel objects demand more attention than contextually appropriate ones. The current study employed a simulated crime paradigm featuring a normal, novel, or threatening object. Timing of the object's presentation was manipulated such that it was visible before, after, or during the time when the culprit's face was visible. Target‐present and target‐absent line‐ups as well as retrospective questions were administered. Both the novel object and the weapon resulted in increased mistaken identifications in target‐absent line‐ups. Structural equation modeling suggested that object novelty mediated this effect. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

“It’s Really No Big Deal”: The Role of Social Supply Networks in Normalizing Use of Cannabis by Students at Canadian Universities

Cannabis (marijuana) has undergone a normalizing process as indicated by high use rates, social tolerance, and broader cultural acceptance of its use in many countries. Users also maintain access through extended friendship networks that facilitate the cultural diffusion of the practice. The social nature of supply is herein theorized in terms of Goffman’s understanding of activities that function to preserve a sense of normalcy as a collective achievement enabling predictable constructions of reality. Based on in-depth interviews with undergraduate students, we explore how social networks of supply—characterized by casual access, reciprocity, and sharing—contribute to shared meanings about using marijuana as an unremarkable or “normal” thing to do.     

Hydrocortisone infusion exerts dose- and sex-dependent effects on attention to emotional stimuli

Glucocorticoid administration has been shown to exert complex effects on cognitive and emotional processing. In the current study we investigated the effects of glucocorticoid administration on attention towards emotional words, using an Affective Go/No-go task on which healthy humans have shown an attentional bias towards positive as compared to negative words. Healthy volunteers received placebo and either low-dose (0.15 mg/kg) or high-dose (0.45 mg/kg) hydrocortisone intravenously during two separate visits in a double-blind, randomized design. Seventy-five minutes post-infusion, the subjects performed tests of attention (Rapid Visual Information Processing [RVIP]), spatial working memory (Spatial Span) and emotional processing (Affective Go/No-go task [AGNG]). On the attention task, performance was impaired under both hydrocortisone doses relative to placebo, though the effect on error rate was not significant after controlling for age; Spatial Span performance was unaffected by hydrocortisone administration. On the AGNG task, relative to the placebo condition the low-dose hydrocortisone infusion decreased response time to emotional words while high-dose hydrocortisone increased response time. In the females specifically, both high and low dose hydrocortisone administration attenuated the normal attentional bias toward positively valenced words. These data suggest that, in healthy women, the modulation of attention by the emotional salience of stimuli is influenced by glucocorticoid hormone concentrations.     

Perinatal Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Implications for Occupational Therapy in Early Intervention Practice

The purpose of this article is to present literature regarding perinatal posttraumatic stress disorder and to describe the implications of research findings for occupational therapy screening and treatment in early intervention practice. Changes in legislation regarding early intervention practice and family centered care are presented as a rationale for including maternal mental health screening as a standard practice in the field of early intervention. A case study illustrates symptoms of perinatal posttraumatic stress disorder and the effect on maternal-infant co-occupational engagement. The Model of Human Occupation is used to guide clinical reasoning about potential occupational therapy interventions.