Making Space for Community Critical Methodology: Stories from the Australian Context

Our collective account considers the ways community critical methodologies can inform academic endeavors. Methodology is understood to be the theorizing of methods that produce and legitimate knowledge claims. For us, community critical approaches incorporate poststructural and other forms of critical theory in the questioning of taken for granted assumptions. This forms a valuable foundation for community praxis as it focuses not just on social issues outside, but on an examination within; on the institution of psychology itself. We find “examining within” a vital process for our research, teaching, and community engagement. Above all it is important to ask whose interests are served by the construction and presentation of knowledge in particular ways. We present three pieces of practice which engaged with critical methodologies. The first examines collaborative research methodologies developed with young people in rural Australia who are primary carers for a family member. The second examines tensions involved in trying to employ critical methodologies in multi‐stakeholder work between community organizations, communities, and researchers. The third examines opportunities and barriers when employing critical methodologies in learning and teaching with undergraduate students. We reflect upon the intersecting threads of commonality and difference between them and consider the implications for practice.     

The Mediating Effects of Spiritual Bypass on Depression,Anxiety, and Stress

Spiritual bypass is a defensive psychological posture that prevents people from feeling the pain of difficult emotions or experiences through 2 primary pathways: (a) Psychological Avoidance and (b) Spiritualizing. The authors collected a sample (783 participants) from the general population and tested a parallel mediation model in which 2 factors of spiritual bypass mediated the effect of spirituality on depression, anxiety, and stress. The results demonstrated that Psychological Avoidance and Spiritualizing partially mediated the effect of spirituality on depression and anxiety, whereas they completely mediated the effect of spirituality on stress. The findings are presented in the context of the study's limitations, and implications for clinical practice and research are provided.     

Examining the Clinical Efficacy of Core Transformation: A Randomized Clinical Trial

This randomized clinical trial with a sample of adults (N = 129) from India explored the effects of a single core‐transformation session on symptom experience and psychological growth. The results over the total 8‐week study period indicated significant, moderate overall effect sizes (ds = 0.63 and 0.52) for symptom experience, emotional stability, affect balance, global well‐being, and purpose in life. Implications for research and clinical practice are discussed.     

Working memory for language is not special: Evidence for an articulatory loop for novel stimuli

The “articulatory loop” for rehearsal of verbal materials in working memory has been shown not to be a unique hard-wired structure associated with spoken language. Specifically, a parallel rehearsal process for sign language occurs in fluent signers. Here we show that the same rehearsal process can occur for unfamiliar, nonmeaningful body movements. We conclude that working memory maintenance does not rely on a dedicated architecture, but instead involves the strategic recruitment of resources as needed for the task demands.     

Recycling,evolution and the structure of human personality

Lower childhood cognitive ability may be a risk factor for greater cognitive decline in late life and progression to dementia. To assess variation in age-related cognitive change, it is helpful to have valid measures of cognitive ability from early life. Here, we examine the relation between childhood intelligence and cognitive change in later life in two samples, one born in 1921 and the other in 1936. All participants completed the same test of mental ability (one of the Moray House Test series) at age about 11 years, and were re-examined on Raven’s Progressive Matrices at age 77 (1921-born) or age 64 (1936-born). Where possible, the 1921 sample was re-tested at the age of about 80 years old and the 1936 sample re-tested at about 66 years. After taking into account various covariates, including sex, education and occupation, childhood intelligence was a significant predictor of cognitive change in later life. Results were in the direction that participants with lower childhood mental ability experienced relatively greater cognitive decline, whereas those of higher childhood mental ability showed improved performance. This result suggests that higher premorbid cognitive ability is protective of decline in later life.     

The impact of childhood intelligence on later life: following up the Scottish mental surveys of 1932 and 1947

The Scottish Mental Surveys of 1932 and 1947 collected valid IQ-type test scores for almost everyone born in 1921 and 1936 and attending school on June 1, 1932 (N=89,498) and June 4, 1947 (N=70,805). These surveys are described. This research, using the surveys' data, examined (a) the stability of intelligence differences across the life span, (b) the determinants of cognitive change from childhood to old age, and (c) the impact of childhood intelligence on survival and health in old age. Surviving participants of the Scottish Mental Surveys were tested, and the surveys' data were linked with public and health records. Novel findings on the stability of IQ scores from age 11 to age 80; sex differences in cognitive aging; the dedifferentiation hypothesis of cognitive aging; and the effect of childhood IQ on all-cause and specific mortality, morbidity, and frailty in old age are presented.     

Suicidality and psychosis: beyond depression and hopelessness

The present study examined recent suicide attempters with and without psychotic disorders in order to understand factors that contribute to suicide ideation during and following the suicide attempt. Patients with psychotic disorders endorsed higher levels of suicide ideation than patients without psychotic disorders. Even when depression, hopelessness, substance abuse, and social problem solving were controlled for, there was a significant association between psychotic disorder and suicide ideation. During the follow-up period, patients with psychotic disorders subsequently attempted suicide at a significantly higher rate than patients without psychotic disorders. The clinical relevance of these findings is discussed.