Therapeutic alliance in guided internet-delivered cognitive behavioural treatment of depression, generalized anxiety disorder and social anxiety disorder

Guided internet-delivered cognitive behaviour therapy (ICBT) has been found to be effective in several controlled trials, but the mechanisms of change are largely unknown. Therapeutic alliance is a factor that has been studied in many psychotherapy trials, but the role of therapeutic alliance in ICBT is less well known. The present study investigated early alliance ratings in three separate samples. Participants from one sample of depressed individuals (N = 49), one sample of individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (N = 35), and one sample with social anxiety disorder (N = 90) completed the Working Alliance Inventory (WAI) modified for ICBT early in the treatment (weeks 3-4) when they took part in guided ICBT for their conditions. Results showed that alliance ratings were high in all three samples and that the WAI including the subscales of Task, Goal and Bond had high internal consistencies. Overall, correlations between the WAI and residualized change scores on the primary outcome measures were small and not statistically significant. We conclude that even if alliance ratings are in line with face-to-face studies, therapeutic alliance as measured by the WAI is probably less important in ICBT than in regular face-to-face psychotherapy.     

TripleR: An R package for social relations analyses based on round-robin designs

In this article, we present TripleR, an R package for the calculation of social relations analyses (Kenny, 1994) based on round-robin designs. The scope of existing software solutions is ported to R and enhanced with previously unimplemented methods of significance testing in single groups (Lashley & Bond, 1997) and handling of missing values. The package requires only minimal knowledge of R, and results can be exported for subsequent analyses to other software packages. We demonstrate the use of TripleR with several didactic examples.     

The language of landmarks: the role of background knowledge in indoor wayfinding

To effectively wayfind through unfamiliar buildings, humans infer their relative position to target locations not only by interpreting geometric layouts, especially length of line of sight, but also by using background knowledge to evaluate landmarks with respect to their probable spatial relation to a target. Questionnaire results revealed that participants have consistent background knowledge about the relative position of target locations. Landmarks were rated significantly differently with respect to their spatial relation to targets. In addition, results from a forced-choice task comparing snapshots of a virtual environment revealed that background knowledge influenced wayfinding decisions. We suggest that landmarks are interpreted semantically with respect to their function and spatial relation to the target location and thereby influence wayfinding decisions. This indicates that background knowledge plays a role in wayfinding.     

Brain Fag: A Case Study Showing the Diagnosis and Therapy in Nigeria

The co-occurrence of somatic complaints along with other forms of mental illness such as depression, anxiety and brain fag is well documented in mental health literature. In Africa, the notion that somatic complaints are a variant of depression is popular. However objective empirical efforts to prove this notion are inconclusive. The common co-occurrence of somatic complaints along with depression, anxiety and brain fag complaints in Nigeria may put clinicians in a dilemma in making diagnostic and therapeutic decisions for their clients. In this paper the authors applied the Harmony Restoration Therapy (HRT) in the management of somatic, depressive, anxiety and brain fag symptoms of a client. The HRT is a psychotherapeutic framework based on the Africa world view of health and illness where health is harmony and illness is disharmony in one’s world of relationships. The case was used to illustrate the co-morbidity of depression, anxiety, somatization and Brain Fag and tries to contribute to how Brain Fag can be treated.     

The impact of uncertainty and communal coping on mental health following natural disasters

Abstract

Feelings of uncertainty are a central feature of the disaster experience. Surprisingly, though, there is very little systematic quantitative research about the impact of uncertainty on disaster survivors. Moreover, communal coping has increasingly received attention as a potential buffer of the negative effects of stressors but that literature is also limited in its application to disasters. This investigation applies research in the domain of uncertainty, together with the Theoretical Model of Communal Coping to better understand the experience of a community exposed to three wildfires in a one year period. A random-digit dialing procedure was used to gather data from 402 individuals. Participants completed measures of mental health, uncertainty, and communal coping in the context of their experience with the most personally stressful of the three wildfires. All analyses were examined separately for those who were evacuated and those who were not. Results support the negative impact of uncertainty across both evacuated and nonevacuated sub-samples and show a strong buffering role for communal coping among those who evacuated. The implications of these findings for the understanding of wildfire survivors' experiences are noted and future directions are proposed.     

Error detection and error memory in spatial navigation as reflected by electrodermal activity

The study investigated spatial navigation by means of electrodermal activity (EDA). Two groups of healthy subjects (group 1, age <38; group 2, age ≥38) were recorded during navigation through two 3-D virtual mazes differing in difficulty, that is, Maze Simple (MazeS) and Maze Complex (MazeC). Our results show (1) an effect of difficulty, that is, larger skin conductance responses (SCRs) and slower velocity profiles while navigating through MazeC as compared to MazeS. (2) An effect of age, that is, larger SCRs and faster velocity profiles in younger subjects (group 1) compared to older subjects (group 2). (3) An effect of maze region, that is, SCRs increased when subjects entered dead ends with group 1 (young group) decreasing in velocity, whereas group 2 (old group) increased in velocity. (4) And an error memory effect, that is, subjects who remembered an error at a given decision point (crossroads preceding dead ends in MazeC) from previous trials, and then if they did not repeat that error, elicited decreased SCRs as compared to subjects who did not remember and subsequently repeated an error. The latter aspect is the most impactful as it shows that EDA is able to reflect error detection and memory during spatial navigation. Our data designate EDA as suitable monitoring tool for identification and differentiation of the affective correlates underlying spatial navigation, which has recently attracted researchers’ attention due to its increased use in 3-D virtual environments.     

SELF-REPORTED EXPRESSION AND CONSEQUENCES OF EMBARRASSMENT IN PORTUGAL AND THE U.K.

Data was collected by questionnaire from Portuguese and U.K. college students in order to compare self-reports of the physiological/behavioural response associated with embarrassment, coping attempts and observer reactions to the actor's embarrassment in the two cultures. Blushing/increased temperature, increased heart rate and smiling/grinning characterised embarrassment in both cultures, although blushing was referred to with less frequency by the Portuguese sample; gaze aversion was a response specific to the U.K. sample. Smiling/grinning as a method of coping with embarrassment and as a reported reaction from an observer was reported with similar frequency by both samples; gaze aversion as a method of coping with embarrassment was referred to with greater frequency by the U.K. sample; staring by observers was mentioned with greater frequency by the Portuguese sample. More intense experiences of embarrassment were reported by the Portuguese sample who also reported being more successful in attempts to control their embarrassment. The results are discussed in relation to national stereotypes. Un questionnaire a été utilisé pour ramasser des données chez des étudiants portugais et britanniques, afin de comparer leurs auto-évaluations de la réaction psychologique/comportementale associée i rembarras, avec les tentatives d'adaptation et les réactions des observateurs à l'embarras de l'acteur dans les deux cultures. Le fait de rougir associé à une élévation de la température, la tachycardie, ainsi que le sourire caractérisaient l'embarras dans les deux cultures, bien que le fait de rougir était moins souvent mentionné par les sujets portugais; détourner le regard était une réponse particulière des sujets britanniques. Le sourire comme façon d'éviter l'embarras et en tant que réaction d'un observateur était rapporté tout aussi fréquemment par les deux échantillons de sujets; détourner le regard comme façon de se sortir d'embarras était rapporté beaucoup plus fréquemment par les sujets britanniques; par contre, fixer quelqu'un du regard était mentionné plus fréquemment par les observateurs portugais. Des expériences embarrassantes plus intenses étaient rapportées par les sujets portugais, qui ont aussi rapporté un succès plus grand pour ce qui est du contrôle de leur embarras. Les résultats sont discutés en relation avec des stéréotypes nationaux.     

Cross-cultural Variation in the Importance of Psychological Characteristics: A Seven-country Study

The Psychological Importance (PI) of personality traits is defined as the degree to which they provide information useful in understanding and predicting behaviour. University students from 7 countries (Chile, China, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Portugal, and the United States) rated the PI of each of the 300 items of the Adjective Check List along a 5-point scale. PI was shown to be a meaningful (i.e. reliable) concept in each country. Comparisons of PI ratings between pairs of countries indicated correlations ranging from 0.23 to 0.73, with a mean of 0.49 among the 7 countries. A variety of additional analyses indicated that six of the seven countries tended to group themselves into two clusters: (1) China, Nigeria, and Pakistan; and (2) Chile, Norway, and the United States. In the second cluster, trait importance had a curvilinear relationship to trait favourability (i.e. both good and bad traits may be important) whereas in the first cluster trait importance and favourability had a linear relationship (i.e. only good traits may be important). The findings were suggestive of substantial cross-cultural differences in the importance assigned to psychological traits.     

Intention to Migrate,Job Opportunities and Aspiration for Better Pay: An Information Integration Approach

This study examines (a) the relationship between intention to migrate, aspiration for better pay, and job opportunities in host countries in samples of Portuguese and French adolescents, and young French adults; and (b) the relationship between intention to return to country of origin, pay and job opportunities in Portuguese migrant workers living in France. In the two Portuguese groups, the model that best accounts for intentional processes is multiplicative. This finding partially explains why a minimal change in one of the two parameters can have repercussions that are apparently disproportional with this change. In the two French groups, the models that best account for intentional processes are the additive model (for young adults) and a unifactorial model (in adolescents). The discussion centres on possible links between these cross-cultural differences and recent findings on the effect of task difficulty and perceived stakes on integration rules.