Lebensqualität von ärztlichen und psychologischen Psychotherapeuten

In a large empirical cross-sectional study the quality of life of medical and psychological psychotherapists ( n =71, respectively n =103) was examined as well as the influence of the different therapeutic methods used. Instruments used were the Questionnaire on Quality of Life of Physicians (Reimer and Jurkat 2003) respectively the Questionnaire on Quality of Life of Psychologists (Jurkat and Reimer 2003) as well as the SF-36 Health Survey (Bullinger and Kirchberger 1998). The majority of participants in both samples are satisfied with their life. Psychological psychotherapists are comparatively more content with their work situation and judge their own health more positively than their medical colleagues do. Both groups feel their income situation to be a loss in quality of life. A common fear is an even greater bureaucratic burden and financial deterioration. Thus it seems that psychohygienic measures and secure job perspectives may contribute to raising the quality of life of psychotherapists.     

Belastungen in der Kindheit und in der Jugend Essgestörter

Depending on definition and sample, a minority of varying size of women with eating disorders report to be victims of sexual and/or physical abuse. These stressful experiences are risk factors for mental disorders in general and not specifically for eating disorders. Parental high expectations and pre-morbid negative self-evaluation seem to be specific risk factors for anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Probably, patients with bulimia nervosa suffered more childhood adversity than those with restrictive anorexia nervosa. Patients with a history of sexual and/or physical abuse may be more severely ill and more difficult to treat than other patients with eating disorders. Careful questioning about childhood adversity seems advisable. In therapy, maintaining factors—like problems of self-esteem—are more important than predisposing or precipitating factors. For prevention, it is recommended to provide for the safety of children when treating their parents with mental illness—particularly substance use disorders—and to avoid parental high expectations.     

Einfluss des Behandlungssettings auf den Gesundungsverlauf

Even though managed care systems research emerged as an important field in psychotherapy research in the last years, studies examining the effects of its psychotherapeutic measures on outcome are still rare, especially in Germany. Little is known about the effectiveness of psychotherapy in different treatment settings, i. e. whether and how patients in outpatient psychotherapy differ from inpatients in respect to initial impairment status and pace of improvement. Two longitudinal data sets—inpatient (N=759) and outpatient (N=521)—were used to scrutinize these questions. Results yielded no differences between treatment settings as to patients’ initial impairment. A linear model adequately represented the mean course of improvement in inpatient psychotherapy. For outpatient psychotherapy, a bipartite linear model for treatment and for the follow-up period proved more appropriate. During 1 year, patients in both settings attained a similar amount of improvement. However, pace of in-treatment improvement was 10 times faster in the inpatient setting. Initial impairment substantially predicted the course of psychological improvement in both treatment settings.     

Postpartale psychische Störungen

Any postpartum mental disorder in a mother can influence the mother-child relationship and communication and lead to the development of psychosomatic disorders or disorders of behavioral regulation with diagnostic status. These can have a long-term impact on the mother-child relationship and the child’s mental development. Based on research findings on mother-child interaction, the authors expound why including the child in treatment is crucial. Accordingly, possible contraindications for mother-infant treatment are described. Clinical parent-infant treatment practice is reviewed as an interdisciplinary and multiprofessional challenge and the necessity of adhering to minimum standards, beside adult psychiatric skills, of child psychiatric and developmental expertise in diagnostics and intervention for quality assurance.     

Expectations About Couple Therapy Over Time

One common factor of therapy, expectations, has been demonstrated to be a significant contributor to outcome in individual therapy. Despite this, little is known about expectations about couple therapy. This paper presents the qualitative results of a study exploring clients’ expectations before beginning couple therapy and after six sessions. Results indicate that clients form pre-therapy expectations about their therapist, the process of therapy, and their partner. Results also showed that after six sessions, clients’ expectations about therapy were often met or modified in ways that were positive. Implications for therapists and researchers are included.     

Family Expressiveness Mediates the Relation Between Cumulative Family Risks and Children’s Emotion Regulation in a Chinese Sample

Family expressiveness, a reflection of a family’s emotional environment, has been identified as a critical factor that influences children’s emotion regulation, yet research on this topic is limited, especially in varying cultural contexts. The present study addresses this research gap and expands on the extant literature by examining the influence of family expressiveness on children’s emotional development in the context of cumulative risks (e.g., low annual household income, parental psychological distress, parents’ education level, marital dissatisfaction and the family’s housing situation). Our final sample included one hundred and seventy-eight school-aged children (84 boys and 94 girls) and their biological parents. Results showed that higher scores on the familial risk index were related to increased emotion dysregulation and decreased adaptive emotion regulation, through the mediated effects of positive family expressiveness. Negative expressiveness, however, did not mediate the aforementioned links. Reasons for the different findings regarding positive expressiveness and negative expressiveness were discussed. These findings highlight the importance of cumulative risk on children’s emotional development in the Chinese cultural context and offer potential avenues to promote adaptive emotional development in the context of cumulative risks.     

Children’s Maternal Support-Seeking: Relations to Maternal Emotion Socialization Responses and Children’s Emotion Management

The present study examined children’s support-seeking of mothers (SSM) as a moderator of the association between maternal emotion socialization responses and children’s emotion management. Participants included 119 mother–child dyads (63 boys, M age = 9.61 years, 73.1 % Caucasian). Maternal emotion socialization was assessed via observed mother–child interactions and child report. Analyses indicated several main effects such that child-reported maternal reward responses were associated with stronger child emotion management, whereas perceived maternal punishment and neglect were associated with poorer child emotion management. Regarding the significant interactions, observed maternal general unsupportive socialization responses were negatively associated with emotion management. Additionally, for children low in SSM, child-reported maternal overriding of children’s emotions was positively associated with better emotion management. Support-seeking of mothers may mitigate the risk of some unsupportive maternal socialization responses and may be an adaptive strategy in middle childhood in particular contexts.     

Coping with Abusive Supervision: the Neutralizing Effects of Perceived Organizational Support and Political Skill on Employees’ Burnout

While research into the antecedents of burnout has steadily grown, the relationship between abusive supervision and burnout remains largely unknown. In addition, we know little about the contingencies under which abusive supervision may be related to employees’ burnout. This study aims to examine the contingency side of the abusive supervision-burnout relationship by addressing the exploratory question of whether perceived organizational support and individual differences in political skill play moderating roles in the abusive supervision-burnout relationship. The present article developed a model and tested it with data from a sample of 248 supervisor–subordinate dyads. We hypothesized and found that (1) Abusive supervision was positively associated with burnout; (2) the positive relationship between abusive supervision and burnout was moderated by the employees’ perceived organizational support in such a way that the relationship was weaker for employees who perceive higher rather than lower organizational support; (3) the positive relationship between abusive supervision and burnout was moderated by the employees’ political skill in such a way that the relationship was weaker for people with high, rather than lower level of political skill.