Revisionist Erikson and Caring for Troubled Congregations

Many declining Protestant congregations find that change often comes at a high price. Resistance to needed congregational change may take the form of intergenerational conflict. This essay proposes that there is a new resource for the ministry of caring for these, and other, troubled congregations, namely, the recent revision of Erik H. Erikson’s life cycle schema by Donald Capps, in which each Erikson life cycle stage is relocated to a particular decade of life. Revisionist Erikson will be brought into dialogue with a generational life cycle model, culminating in a case interpretation showing the value of revisionist Erikson for congregational care.     

Adaptable Robots

In this essay we consider some of the characteristics of adaptive biological systems and how these might work as models in designing a robot intended for the exploration of complex environments. Trying to design a robot that has such properties forces one to think hard about the nature of those properties. Here we have one intersection between philosophy and computing. We consider the nature of adaptability and some properties of complex biological systems that are relevant to designing adaptive robots, including direct perception, animacy, affordances, redundant degress of freedom, collective decisions, and emergent properties. We explain how these concepts were used in the development of a robotic arm.     

The book of Job as a resource for counseling

The book of Job is commonly considered an exemplary study in the dynamics of suffering and the problem of theodicy. This article considers the book of Job for its insights into the challenge of providing pastoral care to persons in spiritual pain. The dialog between Job and his friends illustrates how spiritual distress challenges the theological assumptions of both sufferer and caregiver. In an effort to maintain one's own spiritual equilibrium, and no doubt out of good faith efforts to comfort the afflicted, the pastoral caregiver may be tempted to cling to theological formulas and religious perspectives which disallow the sufferer's experience of anger and despair. The story of Job affirms the value of authenticity over piety, speaks of the transformative power of suffering, and provides the counselor/pastoral caregiver insights into the pitfalls and promise of caring for persons in spiritual pain.     

Change in caregiver depression as a function of the Strong African American Families Program.

A randomized prevention trial contrasted families who participated in the Strong African American Families Program (SAAF), a preventive intervention for rural African American parents and their 11-year-olds, with control families. This article focuses on the program's effect on primary caregivers' depressive symptoms. Among the 167 caregivers with elevated scores on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale, SAAF participation was associated with reduced depressive symptoms, enhanced parenting, and perceived improvements in youth behavior. Change in parenting (consistent discipline, youth monitoring, and open communication) but not change in youth intrapersonal competencies significantly mediated intervention effects on caregivers' depression. Results support the link between reduced depressive symptoms and stronger family relationships, particularly the importance of enhanced parenting efficacy in alleviating depressive symptoms.     

Gray, black, and blue: the state of research and intervention for intimate partner abuse among elders

Though not as common as in younger populations, intimate partner abuse (IPA) among elders is a significant and often overlooked problem. In this article, we focus on problems for research and intervention. We begin with a brief review of the phenomena of elder abuse and IPA, highlighting problems resulting from definitional issues and inconsistencies in research methodology. The balance of the paper comprises a discussion of problems for intervention. Drawing from the IPA and elder abuse literatures, risk factors unique to IPA among elders are presented, and limitations of existing screening and risk assessment instruments for use within this context are identified. The focus then shifts to legal considerations when working with elders who have experienced or perpetrated IPA. Our goals are to synthesize the elder abuse and IPA literatures, identify limitations within both, and to reflect upon the state of knowledge regarding IPA among elders. Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Placement shift, sibling relationship quality, and child outcomes in foster care: a controlled study.

Sibling unity during family transitions is considered a protective factor for child behavior problems, but there is little empirical support for the widespread child protection policy of placing siblings together in foster care. In a prospective study of 156 maltreated children, siblings were classified in 1 of 3 placement groups: continuously together (n = 110), continuously apart (n = 22), and disrupted placement (siblings placed together were separated; n = 24). Changes in child adjustment as a function of sibling relationship and placement group were examined. Sibling positivity predicted lower child problems at follow-up (about 14 months later), while sibling negativity predicted higher child problems. Placement group did not affect child behavior problems at follow-up; however, compared to siblings in continuous placement (either together or apart), siblings in disrupted placement with high initial behavior problems were rated as having fewer problems at follow-up, while siblings in disrupted placement with low initial behavior problems were rated as having more problems at follow-up. These findings highlight the importance of considering relationships between siblings and the risk that one poses to another before early placement decisions are made.     

The relationship between self-reported vividness and latency during mental size scaling of everyday items: phenomenological evidence of different types of imagery

We examined how the relationship between ratings of vividness (or image strength) and image latency might reflect the concerted action of two visual imagery pathways hypothesized by Kosslyn (1994): the ventral pathway, processing object properties, and the dorsal pathway, processing locative properties of mental images. Participants formed their images at small or large angular display sizes, varying the amount of size scaling needed. In Experiment 1, display size varied between participants, and images were trial unique. The higher the vividness, the faster the generation of small images (requiring size scaling of less than 10 degrees), which would recruit mainly the ventral pathway. This vivid-is-fast relationship changed for large images (requiring size scaling of 10 degrees or more), which would recruit mainly the dorsal pathway. The size-dependent alteration of the vivid-is-fast relationship was replicated in the first block of Experiment 2. However, when repeated over 3 consecutive blocks, image generation sped up, and gradually the vivid-is-fast relationship tended to occur for all display sizes until complete automatization of image generation occurred. The findings suggest that differential patterns of vividness-latency relationship can reflect the types of images involved, their relative ventral and dorsal contributions, and the involvement of working memory.     

Varying cautionary instructions, monetary incentives, and comorbid diagnostic training in malingered psychopathology research

In this article, we combine two analogue experiments in which we empirically examined three malingering methodological issues in individuals trained and instructed to simulate posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on the Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI; Briere, 1995). In Experiment 1, we examined TSI scale effects of the following manipulations using a 2 x 2 design with 330 college students: (a) inclusion or exclusion of cautionary instructions regarding believability of participants' simulation and (b) different financial incentive levels. In Experiment 2, we examined comorbid psychiatric diagnostic training with 180 college students who were either trained to simulate PTSD and comorbid major depressive disorder or trained to simulate only PTSD. Caution main effects were significant for all but two TSI Clinical Scales, incentive main effects and interactions were only significant for one Clinical scale each, and the comorbidity manipulation did not yield any scale differences. We discuss malingering research design implications regarding the use of cautionary instructions, financial incentive levels, and comorbid training.     

Combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder: a case report using virtual reality exposure therapy with physiological monitoring.

The current report summarizes a case study from an Office of Naval Research (ONR) funded project to compare the effects of virtual reality graded exposure therapy (VRGET) with cognitive behavioral group therapy in active-duty corpsmen. Details of the collaborative program between the Virtual Reality Medical Center (VRMC) and Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD) will be discussed.     

Non-lateralised deficits of drawing production in hemispatial neglect

Spatially lateralised deficits that typically define the hemispatial neglect syndrome have been shown to co-occur with other non-lateralised deficits of attention, memory, and drawing. However even a simple graphic task involves multiple planning components, including the specification of drawing start position and drawing direction. In order to investigate the influence of these factors in neglect we presented patients with a circle-copying task, and specified the drawing start point. The ability to draw from the instructed location was strongly related to tests that measure constructional abilities, but not related to start point laterality. In contrast, the direction in which patients drew the circle was affected by start point laterality: patients with neglect were less likely to draw in a typical direction when the cue was on the affected side of space and this was strongly related to severity of the neglect. Patients with neglect consistently produced circles that were smaller than the model; however, the scaling was not affected by the laterality of the start point, nor was the proportion of drawings correctly started at the cue. These findings demonstrate the complex relationship between neglect and even the simplest test for the syndrome.