Hypertension reduction through forgiveness training

The objective of this study was to determine if patients with diagnosed stage-1 hypertension could benefit by a forgiveness training program to achieve measurable reductions in anger expression and blood pressure. Twenty-five participants were randomly divided into wait-listed control and intervention groups. The control group monitored blood pressure while the intervention group participated in an 8-week forgiveness training program. At the end of eight weeks, the wait listed group became an intervention group. Those who received forgiveness training achieved significant reductions in anger expression when compared to the control group. While reductions in blood pressure were not achieved by all the participants, those participants who entered the program with elevated anger expression scores did achieve significant reductions in blood pressure. It is suggested that forgiveness training may be an effective clinical intervention for some hypertensive patients with elevated levels of anger.     

Community mental health services for black and ethnic minorities

An investigation into the provision of community mental health services in one local authority Borough found that facilities for the rehabilitation and resettlement of the recovering mentally ill into the community were very limited and fell far short of ofJicial recommendations and that very little consideration was given to meeting the needs of black and ethnic minorities. An analysis of data porn service providers (Local Authority/Social Services/Health Authority), multidisciplinary teams, voluntary agencies and 120 black and ethnic minorities (users and non-users of mental health services) in the Borough suggested that black and ethnic minorities had little or no say in decisions about the provision of community mental health services to the extent that they feLt excluded. In many instances service providers had limited contact with black and ethnic minorities and some members of the multidisciplinary team had little to do with black people but yet influenced major decisions about the provision of services to meet their needs. The findings drew sharp attention to the diference between the views of service providers and those of service users in terms of the provision of community mental health services to meet the needs of black and ethnic minorities. Ninety six percent of those involved in the study were appalled over the apparent lack of emphasis placed on the provision of services to meet the needs of black and ethnic minorities and felt that nothing was being done to improve the inadequate service which was offered ly the voluntary sector.     

Classroom behavior and the academic progress of learning disabled students

A total of 43 learning disabled (LD) students who were identified in grades 1–3 were followed up in their second year of special education services. Teachers completed the Classroom Behavior Inventory (CBI) for each LD student and for randomly selected classmates, and both groups of students were observed with the SCAN system in regular classroom settings. Group differences in teacher perceived task orientation, independence, and verbal expressiveness replicated previous findings with the CBI for this LD sample. SCAN observations partially replicated previous results in that LD children interacted with teachers more often than classmates. Multiple regression analyses indicated that both measures of behavior were predictive of reading achievement during year 1 when the LD children were identified, and that the CBI predicted academic progress from one year to the next. Both teacher ratings and observational evidence converged on the importance of task-oriented behavior, independent functioning, and socially appropriate behavior in understanding the poor achievement of LD students.     

A Parallax View of Counseling: The Social Influence Model

Heppner, Paul, & Heesacker, Martin. Interpersonal Influence Process in Real-Life Counseling: Investigating Client Perceptions, Counselor Experience Level, and Counselor Power Over Time. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1982, 29, 215–223. Hackman, Hollis, & Claiborn, Charles. An Attributional Approach to Counselor Attractiveness. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1982, 29, 224–231.     

Attending to feelings and cognitive performance

The effect on cognitive performance of attending to internally generated stimuli was examined. Specifically, the effect of examining feelings and sensations upon performance in the Stroop test and upon the performance of mental addition was measured. In two initial experiments subjects more quickly named, in the Stroop test, the color of the ink (“red”) in which a color word (“green”) was printed following instructions to attend to their feelings. It was found that this facilitation was due in part to the slowing of the automatic, interfering habit of reading for word meanings. In a third experiment, the effect of attending to physical sensations on the back of the hand was found to have a similar facilitating effect and was seen as resulting from the allocation of attention to internally generated stimuli. In a final experiment, attending to feelings and to the physical sensations on the back of the hand was found to increase speed of mental addition. This effect was attributed to increased attention to internally generated stimuli (here knowledge about the arithmetic performance at the moment).