Completed suicide in the gifted: a late comment on "suicide among gifted women".

A recent study by Tomlinson-Keasey, Warren, and Elliott (1986) found differences between completed suicides in Terman's sample of gifted children and comparison subjects. The present article suggests that the differences identified in Tomlinson-Keasey et al. may have been confounded by the fact that completed suicides are typically found to have higher levels of psychiatric disturbance than nonsuicides. Data are presented to illustrate that when the completed suicides in Terman's sample are matched for psychiatric disturbance with the comparison subjects, few differences are found.     

Colic and fussing in infancy,and sensory processing at 3 to 8 years of age

The purpose of this follow‐up study was to examine whether a group of 28 clinic‐referred infants with colic, excessive crying, or both at 4 to 12 weeks demonstrated sensory processing, coping, and behavioral/attention regulation difficulties at 3 to 8 years of age. Seventy‐five percent of the sample demonstrated atypical behavioral responses to sensory experiences. Hours of fussing during infancy significantly correlated with inattention, emotional reactivity, touch processing, environmental coping, and externalizing behavior at 3 to 8 years, but not hours of crying. The most striking result was that children with more hours of early fussing showed less efficient sensory processing, poorer coping with the environment, and more attention/hyperactivity problems compared to those with less hours of fussing. Results suggest that hours of fussing rather than crying could be an early marker for infants at risk.     

Personality Traits in Clinical Depression and Remitted Depression: An Analysis of Instrumental-Agentic and Expressive-Communal Traits

The present study evaluated levels of instrumental and expressive traits and vulnerability to severe depression. A sample of 44 depressed psychiatric patients (i.e., 22 currently depressed patients and 22 remitted depressed patients) completed the Beck Depression Inventory and the Personal Attributes Questionnaire, a well-known personality measure that assesses masculinity (i.e., instrumentality) and femininity (i.e., expressivity). Analyses revealed that currently depressed patients, relative to the remitted depressed patients, had significantly lower levels of both instrumental and expressive traits. Overall, most currently depressed patients were characterized by unhealthy, undifferentiated sex-role self-concepts (i.e., low levels of masculinity and femininity) while the sex-role self-concepts of remitted depressed patients closely resembled those found in nonclinical populations. The current results qualify recent research on the impact of depression on personality ratings by suggesting that severe depression may contribute by lowering scores on self-report assessments of socially desirable personality traits reflecting agentic, instrumental characteristics, and communal, expressive characteristics.     

Are Some Psychotherapies Much More Effective Than Others?

In a previous paper we had reported on the examination of comparisons of 18 metaanalyses of active treatments with each other (Luborsky, Rosenthal, Diguer, et al., 2001). These metaanalyses gave a small and nonsignificant mean level of difference between types of treatments. The smallness of this correlation confirms Rosenzweig's (1936) expectation that because of the large overlap in effective ingredients of different psychotherapies, comparative studies of psychotherapies would show little difference. Such a comparison that includes psychoanalyses seems a long way off, but if outcomes of psychoanalyses are defined similarly to those in the other psychotherapies, the expected differences in outcomes may also be small.     

Employee Stock Options: Are They Indeed Superior to Other Incentive Compensation Schemes?

Although employee stock options are gaining in popularity as a compensation plan aimed at improving work performance, there is neither theoretical nor empirical evidence that they are indeed superior to other incentive schemes, such as profit sharing and gain sharing. This paper examines, from a theoretical perspective, the possible effects of four incentive plans on employee motivation and performance: merit pay, profit sharing, gain sharing, and employee stock options. The analysis relies on two behavioral theories, Expectancy and Equity, and a conceptual financial framework. The different approaches yield incongruent predictions as to which of the four schemes can be expected to most enhance employee motivation. While the managerial theories favor stock options over profit or gain sharing, financial theory makes the case that all plans are identical in a competitive labor market, whereas if stock options are restricted and the labor market exhibits some degree of imperfection, gain and profit sharing plans may prove superior.     

Possible role of posttraumatic stress disorder in suicide terrorists: an hypothesis

Recent reports by journalists of suicidal terrorists suggest that exposure to recent violence in traumatic situations, combined with childhood exposure to violence, may lead to posttraumatic stress disorder, which in turn may result in suicidal violence.     

A proposed typology of personality disorders based on Andras Angyal's system principles: a preliminary note

A classification of personality disorders is proposed based on a typology derived from Andras Angyal's theory of personality, which has two trends (autonomy and homonomy) and two patterns (vicarious living and noncommitment).     

Psychache and suicide: a preliminary investigation

Shneidman's Psychological Pain Assessment Scale (PPAS; 1999) was administered to 88 psychiatric patients. Both current and worst-ever psychache were significantly higher in those patients judged by a psychiatrist, on the basis of a structured clinical interview, to be at risk of suicide. However, current and worstever psychache were not associated with having attempted suicide in the past. Thus, for the present sample of psychiatric patients, the PPAS appears to be more sensitive to current suicidality than to past suicidality. Further, there are validity issues with the PPAS, with the need for multi-item measures and probably a multifactor measure.     

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.