Using Art in Counseling: Ethical Considerations

Various mental health professionals use, on occasion, drawings and other types of art in therapy, but relatively little has been written on the ethics surrounding this technique. The authors take the position that artwork should be viewed as equivalent to verbal communication. Such equivalency gives rise to a variety of ethical issues that encompass confidentiality, documentation, ownership, research, publication, and display of artwork.     

Feeling our way into empathy: Carl rogers,Heinz Kohut,and Jesus

Throughout their academic careers Carl Rogers and Heinz Kohut developed two contrasting definitions of empathy that influenced the ways in which both men sought to help their clients cope with emotional suffering. These two different understandings of empathy are contrasted to each other and finally compared with the understanding of empathy demonstrated in the teachings and actions of Jesus. It is hoped that through studying these ancient religious narratives we might be able to recover a deeper meaning of empathy.     

Computers come to school,but psychology hasn't noticed

Children are beginning to learn about computers at school, but more fundamental changes in their education will occur as computers are used across the whole curriculum. Although some psychologists are playing pioneering roles, the discipline of psychology seems largely unaware of the deep changes just starting in education. Yet psychology has the methodology and subject matter knowledge to make a central contribution. In addition, computers in regular educational use have great promise as research facilities, possibly allowing at last good control to be combined with realism in educational research, and giving new hope for a theory of human learning. Psychologists must be more active in the development of educational computing, and in the public policy debate that will determine the future of our children's education.     

Sports specific metacognitions and competitive state anxiety in athletes: A comparison between different sporting types

This study investigated the relationship between sport related metacognitions with state anxiety dimensions, and compared how sporting categories affected these variables, among an online sample of athletes (N = 187). A MANOVA revealed there were significant differences between sporting types in metacognitive beliefs relating to the utility of rumination and arousal, the need to control thoughts, and levels of somatic anxiety. Correlations and multiple regressions showed that that in contrast to the relationships with self-confidence, cognitive and somatic state anxiety were positively associated with specific dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs, but negatively related to metacognitive processes. Overall, these findings highlight that: (a) athletes might adopt metacognitions to meet the different cognitive demands of sport types; and (b) metacognitions are in part responsible for the occurrence of state anxiety and self-confidence during competitions. The findings of this study have implications toward how researchers and sports practitioners approach the comprehensive nature of competitive anxiety.     

Sleep as a mediator of the relationship between social class and health in higher education students

A substantial body of research indicates that higher education students from lower social class backgrounds tend to have poorer health than those from higher social class backgrounds. To investigate sleep as a potential mediator of this relationship, online survey responses of students from five large Australian universities, one Irish university and one large Australian technical college were analysed in three studies (Study 1 N = 628; Study 2 N = 376; Study 3 N = 446). The results revealed that sleep quality, sleep duration, sleep disturbances, pre-sleep worries and sleep schedule variability mediated the relationship between social class and physical and mental health. Sleep remained a significant mediator when controlling for related variables and other mediators. Thus, the findings suggest that sleep partly explains social class differences in health. We discuss the importance of addressing sleep issues among students from lower social class backgrounds.     

Investigating whether controlling and aggressive relationship behaviors are discriminant

Control is theorized as central to intimate partner aggression (IPA). Tools measuring nonphysical “controlling behaviors” in relationships have therefore been developed to identify the latent construct of control. However, the underlying assumption that “controlling behaviors” form a distinct subset of IPA has not been validated. This study investigates the divergent validity of acts considered as “controlling behaviors” against other aggressive acts used in relationships. The IPA and relationship literatures were reviewed to identify 1,397 items involving “controlling,” physical, sexual, and psychologically aggressive acts perpetrated and/or experienced by an intimate partner. In total, 101 item pairs were identified and used to measure IPA tactics across these categories. In Study 1, exploratory factor analysis in a community sample (N = 561) found no evidence of a distinct factor of “controlling behaviors.” Behaviors labeled as “controlling” in existing measures were distributed across other factors, including “eclectic aggression,” “direct psychological aggression,” and “monitoring acts.” In Study 2A (N = 424 students), confirmatory factor analysis replicated the results of Study 1 and established configural measurement invariance (Study 2B), indicating no evidence for psychometric differences between samples. These results indicate that behaviors described as “controlling” in existing measures were not statistically distinguishable from other forms of IPA, and suggest that future research should investigate motivational, rather than behavioral, differences in the use of IPA. The findings challenge research to confirm whether a set of discrete behaviors can be used to accurately identify control in relationships and question the validity of tools that adopt this methodology.     

Young adults' partner preferences and parents' in-law preferences across generations,genders, and nations

To examine cultural, gender, and parent–child differences in partner preferences, in eight countries undergraduates (n = 2,071) and their parents (n = 1,851) ranked the desirability of qualities in someone the student might marry. Despite sizable cultural differences—especially between Southeast Asian and Western countries—participants generally ranked kind/understanding (reflecting interpersonal communion) highest, and intelligent and healthy (reflecting mental/physical agency) among the top four. Students valued exciting, attractive partners more and healthy, religious partners less than parents did; comparisons with rankings by youth in 1984 (i.e., from the parents' generation) suggested cohort effects cannot explain most parent–child disagreements. As evolutionary psychology predicts, participants prioritized wives' attractiveness and homemaker skills and husbands' education and breadwinner skills; but as sociocultural theory predicts, variations across countries/decades in gendered spousal/in-law preferences mirrored socioeconomic gender differences. Collectively, the results suggest individuals consider their social roles/circumstances when envisioning their ideal spouse/in-law, which has implications for how humans’ partner-appraisal capabilities evolved.     

Helping behaviour among people who use drugs: Altruism and mutual aid in a harm reduction program

People who use drugs, and particularly people experiencing addiction, are rarely afforded the opportunity to have their voices heard when it comes to drug treatment or drug policy or even when attempting to define themselves and their life experiences. Of course, there is much more to a person than one area of their behaviour. The current study seeks to capture and understand the lived experiences of people who use drugs, with a focus on their relationships and helping behaviour. We interviewed 32 participants in a harm reduction program seeking to provide understanding beyond stigmatizing and criminalizing drug narratives, by exploring their motivation and context for helping behaviours. Grounded theory methodology was used to understand the patterns of helping behaviour, along with the contexts in which help is or is not given. We particularly focus on participants' distribution of syringes and carrying medicine to reverse overdose (naloxone). Participants shared stories of altruism and mutual aid, along with barriers and disincentives to helping others. We situate these behaviours within contrasting environments of a free harm reduction program and the competitive market system of the U.S. society. Implications for practice and public policy are discussed.     

When I Became a Refugee,This Became My Refuge: A Proposal for Implementing a Two-Generation Intervention Using Yoga and Narrative to Promote Mental Health in Syrian Refugee Caregivers and School Readiness in Their Preschool Children

ABSTRACT

This article represents our attempt to establish a blueprint for a comprehensive refugee intervention program to be disseminated across the globe. Specifically, we describe a proposal to conduct a two-generation intervention program that addresses the socioemotional needs of both Syrian caregivers and their preschool children who have fled the atrocities of their home country and have settled in Turkey. The goal is to improve the school readiness skills of preschool children ravaged by war, dislocation, and poverty. First, we describe a caregiver intervention, which consists of trauma-sensitive yoga; second, we describe a child intervention, which consists of a storytelling and story-acting activity. Finally, we discuss how to assess the effectiveness of this two-generation intervention program. Our hope is that this novel intervention program will be implemented in other regions experiencing an influx of refugee families who need immediate psychological services.     

Prospective and retrospective memory in normal aging and dementia: an experimental study

Two experiments investigated the effects of normal aging and dementia on laboratory-based prospective memory (PM) tasks. Participants viewed a film for a later recognition memory task. In Experiment 1, they were also required either to say "animal" when an animal appeared in the film (event-based PM task) or to stop a clock every 3 min (time-based PM task). In both tasks, young participants were more successful than older participants, who were, in turn, more successful than patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). For successful remembering in the time-based task, older participants and AD patients checked the clock more often than did young participants. In Experiment 2, participants were asked to reset a clock either when an animal appeared in the film (unrelated cue-action) or when a clock appeared in the film (related cue-action). Responses were faster in the related condition than in the unrelated condition. Again, there were differences in PM performance between young and older participants, and between older participants and AD patients. The observed deficits were not due to the forgetting of the PM task instructions in either experiment. Retrospective memory (RM) tasks (digit span, sentence span, free recall, and recognition) were more impaired by AD than were the PM tasks. Factor analysis revealed separate factors corresponding to RM and PM.