The Suicide (SPI) and Violence Potential Indices (VPI) from the Personality Assessment Inventory: A Preliminary Exploration of Validity in an Outpatient Psychiatric Sample

Assessing risk of harm to self and others is an important component of psychological assessment, although methods for risk assessment vary considerably. The Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) is frequently administered to evaluate general psychological functioning, as well as to provide information about suicide and violence risk. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the construct validity of the PAI Suicide (SPI) and Violence Potential (VPI) indices in a sample of 158 psychiatric outpatients referred for psychological and neuropsychological assessment within a large northeastern academic medical center between 2007 and 2011. Results generally supported the convergent and divergent validity of both SPI and VPI when evaluating groups with and without a history of suicide and violence risk, and effect sizes were moderate to large even after controlling for other covariates. SPI and VPI scores were also found to vary significantly across different psychiatric groups in ways that would be expected. Finally, we explored the relationship between SPI and VPI, and executive functioning impairment??a neuropsychological variable found to be associated with impulsive self and other-harming behaviors. Consistent with prior research, SPI and VPI were found to be significantly elevated in groups demonstrating executive dysfunction. The implications of these findings and specifically the utility of using SPI and VPI in the assessment of risk are discussed.     

Disease-avoidant behaviour and its consequences

Medical conditions that are non-contagious, but that appear contagious, seem to result in the sufferer being avoided. Error management theory (EMT), suggests that such false alarms occur because the cost of infection poses a greater threat to ones fitness than avoidance. Study 1 attempted to demonstrate a disease-related false alarm effect by asking participants, to evaluate a series of vignettes, featuring people with infectious diseases, non-infectious diseases that looked infectious and non-infectious diseases that did not. Judgements of contracting infection under varying levels of contact, and desire to avoid were obtained. Consistent with EMT, a false alarm effect was evident. Study 2 examined the importance of the face as a key indicator of real and apparent infection, by determining whether facial symptoms result in a greater desire to avoid people with infectious and non-infectious diseases. Consistent with expectation, participants reported a greater desire to avoid people with facially displayed symptoms. Together, these results support the idea that humans have evolved a general tendency to avoid individuals with disease signs, especially if displayed upon the face. One consequence is that where a facially displayed disease sign persists, even if known to be benign, its bearer will experience chronic avoidance.     

"Age of onset of marijuana use and executive function": Correction to Gruber et al. (2011)

Reports an error in "Age of onset of marijuana use and executive function" by Staci A. Gruber, Kelly A. Sagar, Mary Kathryn Dahlgren, Megan Racine and Scott E. Lukas (Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, Advanced Online Publication, Nov 21, 2011, np). Figure 1 should have been presented in color. All versions of this article have been corrected. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2011-27123-001.) Marijuana (MJ) remains the most widely abused illicit substance in the United States, and in recent years, a decline in perceived risk of MJ use has been accompanied by a simultaneous increase in rates of use among adolescents. In this study, the authors hypothesized that chronic MJ smokers would perform cognitive tasks, specifically those that require executive function, more poorly than control subjects and that individuals who started smoking MJ regularly prior to age 16 (early onset) would have more difficulty than those who started after age 16 (late onset). Thirty-four chronic, heavy MJ smokers separated into early and late onset groups, and 28 non-MJ smoking controls completed a battery of neurocognitive measures. As hypothesized, MJ smokers performed more poorly than controls on several measures of executive function. Age of onset analyses revealed that these between-group differences were largely attributed to the early onset group, who were also shown to smoke twice as often and nearly 3 times as much MJ per week relative to the late onset smokers. Age of onset, frequency, and magnitude of MJ use were all shown to impact cognitive performance. Findings suggest that earlier MJ onset is related to poorer cognitive function and increased frequency and magnitude of MJ use relative to later MJ onset. Exposure to MJ during a period of neurodevelopmental vulnerability, such as adolescence, may result in altered brain development and enduring neuropsychological changes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Explaining the relation between thin ideal internalization and body dissatisfaction among college women: the roles of social comparison and body surveillance

Sociocultural models of disordered eating lack comprehensive explanations as to how thin ideal internalization leads to body dissatisfaction. This study examined two social psychological theories as explanations of this relation, namely social comparison and objectification theories, in a sample of 265 women attending a Southeastern university. Social comparison (both general and appearance-related) and body surveillance (the indicator of objectification) were tested as mediators of the relation between thin ideal internalization and body dissatisfaction using bootstrapping analyses. Results indicated that body surveillance was a significant specific mediator of this relation; however, neither operationalization of social comparison emerged as such. Results serve to elaborate upon the sociocultural model of disordered eating by providing a more comprehensive understanding of the processes by which thin ideal internalization manifests itself in body dissatisfaction. The current findings also highlight the importance of targeting body surveillance in clinical settings.     

Going Gaga: Investigating,Creating, and Manipulating the Song Stuck in My Head

Summary: Having a song stuck in your head is a commonly experienced intrusive thought. We explored the intrusive song phenomenon through a survey, an experimental diary study, and three laboratory experiments. Contrary to the belief that only obnoxious songs get stuck, we found that songs people know and like frequently became intrusive. We also found that intrusive songs followed environmental cues. In addition, if a song continued to play in someone's head immediately after listening to it, the song was likely to return as an intrusive song within the next 24 hours. Similar to mind wandering, the return of intrusive songs depended on cognitive resources: people reported that intrusive songs returned during low cognitive load activities, and we found that overloading the cognitive systems with challenging activities increased intrusive song frequency. Throughout our studies, we easily created and manipulated intrusive song experiences. Songs provide a valuable method to investigate intrusive thoughts. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Family of Origin Coaching for Clinicians in a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service

The role of the therapist as a person rather than only as a technician has become increasingly important in family therapy since the post-modern turn. Despite this there is a paucity of research exploring supervision models that focus on self-reflection, as opposed to clinical competence. This study documents the experience of a Family of Origin Coaching group, conducted with six clinicians and one supervisor working in a child and adolescent mental health service. A participatory action framework was used, with data analysed using grounded theory. A variety of benefits were reported, including personal development, an enhanced empathy towards clients and an ability to better cope with stressful team dynamics. Family of Origin coaching has the potential to yield benefits for clinicians as a compliment to traditional supervision. Issues of confidentiality and safety need to be addressed carefully, especially during times of organisational change or stress.     

Attention and social functioning in children with malformations of cortical development and stroke

Attention and social functioning and their interrelationships have not been routinely examined in children with early brain insult (EBI). This study aimed to describe attention and social functioning in children with two types of EBI: malformations of cortical development (MCD) and stroke. Children diagnosed with MCD (n?=?14, 6 males) or stroke (n?=?14, 8 males) aged 8 to 14 years (M?=?12 years 11 months) completed neuropsychological assessments to examine attention processes. Primary caregivers completed a questionnaire to assess executive components of children's attention and teachers completed a questionnaire to measure children's social functioning. Brain scans (MRI or CT) were coded by a pediatric neuroradiologist. Higher rates of impairments in attention and social function were found in children with EBI compared with normative expectations. Children with MCD experienced more global and clinically significant levels of impairment than children with stroke; though impairments were present in both groups. A strong association between executive components of attention and social function was observed. In addition, complex attention processes were associated with social function. The findings emphasize the reciprocity between attention, behavior and social outcomes, and the vulnerability of social function following EBI.     

Marriage and Family Therapists' Comfort Level Working With Gay and Lesbian Individuals,Couples, and Families

As professionals, therapists should be prepared to work with a diverse population. The purpose of this study was to explore predictors of American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy Clinical Members' comfort level in working with gay and lesbian individuals, couples, and families. Results indicated that therapists' scores on the Support for Lesbian and Gay Human Rights Scale predicted their comfort level in working with gay and lesbian individuals, couples, and families. The challenge for training programs is to assist therapists-in-training and supervisors with self-exploration and to increase opportunities for interactions with gays and lesbians.     

Parent–child interaction therapy (PCIT) in young children with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract

Parent–child interaction therapy (PCIT) is an evidence-based treatment for typically developing children with disruptive behavior. We conducted a randomized-controlled trial of PCIT versus wait-list control (WLC) with 23 children with ASD (3–7?years) and disruptive behavior. Over 16 treatment sessions, PCIT significantly predicted reductions in disruptive behavior over WLC and explained a significant variation in scores on the ECBI Intensity subscale. Additionally, parent skills improved significantly compared to WLC. However, no statistically significant group differences were found on child compliance rates, autism severity, or parental stress. Results support PCIT as an evidence-based treatment for disruptive behavior in ASD.

• Highlights

• Parent skills were significantly improved for those receiving PCIT

• Intensity of disruptive behaviors decreased significantly for those receiving PCIT

• Parental stress and autism severity did not significantly decrease with PCIT

     

DETECTING CHANGES IN NON‐SIMULATED EVENTS USING PARTIAL INTERVAL RECORDING AND MOMENTARY TIME SAMPLING: EVALUATING FALSE POSITIVES,FALSE NEGATIVES,AND TRENDING

Several studies have evaluated false positives and false negatives produced with partial interval recording (PIR) and momentary time sampling (MTS) using simulated data. However, no study to date has evaluated false positives and negatives using a large sample of non‐simulated behaviors. In addition, few studies have evaluated whether interval methods of data collection alter trends that are evident in continuous records. We conducted three experiments to evaluate the extent to which various interval sizes of MTS and PIR produced false negatives (Experiment 1), false positives (Experiment 2), and trends that were inconsistent with the continuous records (Experiment 3). Collectively, the results show the following: (i) 10‐s PIR and 10‐s MTS produced few false negatives and few false positives (i.e., both were sensitive) to changes in duration events; (ii) 10‐s PIR produced very few false negatives, but an unexpected high percentage of false positives for frequency events; and (iii) each interval size of PIR and MTS produced a high percentage of changes in trending for duration events and frequency events. We briefly discuss the potential limitations and clinical implications of these findings. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.