The effect of interference on temporal order memory for random and fixed sequences in nondemented older adults

Two experiments tested the effect of temporal interference on order memory for fixed and random sequences in young adults and nondemented older adults. The results demonstrate that temporal order memory for fixed and random sequences is impaired in nondemented older adults, particularly when temporal interference is high. However, temporal order memory for fixed sequences is comparable between older adults and young adults when temporal interference is minimized. The results suggest that temporal order memory is less efficient and more susceptible to interference in older adults, possibly due to impaired temporal pattern separation.     

Do Deaf Individuals’ Dating Scripts Follow the Traditional Sexual Script?

The current study investigated Deaf individuals’ dating expectations. Prior research on dating expectations has identified three common scenes: initiation/meeting, activities, and outcomes/conclusions. Participants were asked to report their expectations for each scene on a typical date. Talking was the most frequently occurring initiation activity. Dinner and a movie were among the top date activities in the activities scene. Activities were often reported as group gatherings. Dating outcomes included a good night kiss and making plans for another date. These expectations do not match prior research with hearing participants where the Traditional Sexual Script could be identified. Comparisons and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Positive emotion dysregulation across mood disorders: How amplifying versus dampening predicts emotional reactivity and illness course

Maladaptive regulation of positive emotion has increasingly been associated with psychopathology. Little is known, however, about how individual strategies used to manage positive emotion predict concurrent emotional responding and prospective illness course across mood disorders. The present study examined the concurrent and prospective influence of amplification and dampening regulation strategies of positive emotion (i.e., self-focused positive rumination, emotion-focused positive rumination, and dampening) among remitted individuals with bipolar I disorder (BD; n = 31) and major depressive disorder (MDD; n = 31). Rumination over positive emotional states concurrently predicted increased positive emotion across both mood disordered groups during an experimental rumination induction. However, dampening positive emotion concurrently predicted increased emotional reactivity (i.e., heart rate and negative affect) and prospective increases in manic and depressive symptoms for the BD group only. This suggests that amplifying positive emotion transdiagnostically increases positive emotion across mood disordered groups, while attempts to dampen positive emotion may paradoxically exacerbate emotional reactivity and illness course in BD. For individuals with BD, negative thinking about one's positive emotion (via dampening) may be particularly maladaptive.     

Reward Dysregulation and Mood Symptoms in an Adolescent Outpatient Sample

Research on bipolar spectrum disorders (BPSD) in adolescence has burgeoned in the last decade, but continued work is needed to identify endophenotypic markers associated with illness onset and course. The present study examined reward dysregulation—measured via the behavioral activation system (BAS)—as one putative marker of BPSD in adolescence. A diverse group of 425 outpatient adolescents between 11 and 17 years of age (52 % male) completed the Behavioral Inhibition and Activation Scale (BIS-BAS) scale to measure reward dysregulation. Semi-structured interviews determined diagnoses and severity of mood symptoms. Parent-reported BAS was associated with increased symptoms of mania, and parent and adolescent-reported BAS were associated with symptoms of depression. Parent-reported BIS scores were associated with increased symptoms of mania. Results held independent of diagnostic status. Furthermore, parent BIS/BAS reports were stronger predictors for manic symptoms compared to adolescent-reports. Results extend work in adults with BPSD, suggesting a transdiagnostic association between reward dysregulation and mood symptom severity in adolescence.     

Talking about sex after cancer: A discourse analytic study of health care professional accounts of sexual communication with patients

There is consistent evidence that health care professionals (hcps) are not addressing the sexual information and support needs of people with cancer. Thirty-eight Australian hcps across a range of professions working in cancer care were interviewed, to examine constructions of sexuality post-cancer, the subject positions adopted in relation to sexual communication, and the ways in which discourses and subject positions shape information provision and communication about sexuality. Participants constructed sexual changes post-cancer in physical, psychological and relational terms, and positioned such changes as having the potential to significantly impact on patient and partner well-being. This was associated with widespread adoption of a discourse of psychosocial support, which legitimated discussion of sexual changes within a clinical consultation, to alleviate distress, dispel myths and facilitate renegotiation of sexual practices. However, this did not necessarily translate into patient-centred practice outcomes, with the majority of participants positioning personal, patient-centred and situational factors as barriers to the discussion of sex within many clinical consultations. This included: absence of knowledge, confidence and comfort; positioning sex as irrelevant or inappropriate for some people; and limitations of the clinical context. In contrast, those who did routinely discuss sexuality adopted a subject position of agency, responsibility and confidence.     

Embodying sexual subjectivity after cancer: A qualitative study of people with cancer and intimate partners

Research has increasingly recognised the profound impact that cancer can have upon embodied subjectivity. However, there has been little acknowledgement of the centrality of sexuality to subjectivity, and marginalisation of the experiences of intimate partners of people with cancer. This Australian qualitative study explores the post-cancer experiences of embodied sexual subjectivity for 44 people with cancer (23 women and 21 men) and 35 partners of people with cancer (18 women and 17 men) across a range of cancer types and stages. Semi-structured interviews were analysed with theoretical thematic analysis, guided by a post-structuralist approach to sexual subjectivity as a dynamic process of becoming that can change over time, and by Williams’ [(1996). The vicissitudes of embodiment across the chronic illness trajectory. Body and Society, 2, 23–47] framework on post-illness embodiment. Participants took up the following post-cancer subject positions: ‘dys-embodied sexual subjectivity’ – characterised by bodily betrayal, sexual loss, lack of acceptance, depression, and anxiety; ‘re-embodied sexual subjectivity’ – characterised by greater sexual confidence, acceptance, the exploration of non-coital sexual practices and increased relational closeness; and ‘oscillating sexual subjectivity’ – involving a shift between states of sexual dys-embodiment and sexual re-embodiment. The findings point to the importance of focusing on the sexual health of people with cancer and partners across the cancer trajectory.     

A review of: “Feminism and psychotherapy: Reflections on contemporary theories and practices”

I. Bruna Seu and M. Colleen Heenan (eds) (1988) Feminism and Psychotherapy: Reflections on Contemporary Theories and Practices, London: Sage, $14.99 (pb)