The flexible boundaried group: format, techniques, and patients' perceptions

The model of a flexible boundaried group was developed to manage the problem of irregular group attendance of chronic mentally ill patients. The central element in the model enables patients to determine, within limits, the frequency with which they will attend sessions. Review of attendance records and patient interviews from one flexible group suggest that members adhere to their contractual agreement and are accepting of irregular attenders. This finding has been supported by experiences in three additional groups composed of chronically ill individuals. These groups, comprised of regular, core attenders and peripheral members, become cohesive and form a viable therapeutic treatment structure.     

What's in a name: what analyst and patient call each other

Awkward moments often arise between patient and analyst involving the question, "What do we call each other?" The manner in which the dyad address each other contains material central to the patient's inner life. Names, like dreams, deserve a privileged status as providing a royal road into the paradoxical analytic relationship and the unconscious conflicts that feed it. Whether an analyst addresses the patient formally, informally, or not at all, awareness of the issues surrounding names is important.     

Prospective incidence of first onsets and recurrences of depression in individuals at high and low cognitive risk for depression

Do negative cognitive styles provide similar vulnerability to first onsets versus recurrences of depressive disorders, and are these associations specific to depression? The authors followed for 2.5 years prospectively college freshmen (N = 347) with no initial psychiatric disorders at high-risk (HR) versus low-risk (LR) for depression on the basis of their cognitive styles. HR participants had odds of major, minor, and hopelessness depression that were 3.5-6.8 times greater than the odds for LR individuals. Negative cognitive styles were similarly predictive of first onsets and recurrences of major depression and hopelessness depression but predicted first onsets of minor depression more strongly than recurrences. The risk groups did not differ in incidence of anxiety disorders not comorbid with depression or other disorders, but HR participants were more likely to have an onset of anxiety comorbid with depression.     

Not well known, used little and needed: Canadian chaplains' experiences of published spiritual assessment tools

What are Canadian chaplains' experiences of published assessment tools? Utilizing a quantitative and qualitative methodology with multiple investigators and theoretical triangulation, this article reports the results of a survey of chaplains in the Canadian Association for Pastoral Practice and Education (CAPPE) and interview results of 15 chaplains in three focus groups. Findings indicated that published spiritual assessment tools are not well know, used little, criticized for being reductionistic and not fitting the clinical situation. Participants noted, however, that spiritual assessment is needed for spiritual care. Thirty percent reported the development of their own tools (not published) and three published tools were mentioned by 50% and more. Discussion, limitations of the research, and suggestions for education, practice, and future research are offered.     

Negative priming from activation of counting and addition knowledge

In two experiments, subjects were presented with digit pairs (e.g., 32) and asked to respond to the rightmost number. Negative priming, that is, slowed processing, was evident when the rightmost number was a counting-string (e.g., 43 following 12) or addition-sum (e.g., 65 following 32) associate of the number pair from the preceding trial. The studies are the first to demonstrate negative priming with counting and arithmetical memory representations and suggest the obligatory activation of these representations with the presentation of number pairs. The results are also consistent with the view that negative priming often occurs at the semantic level. Received: 15 February 2000 / Accepted: 8 June 2000     

Rapid acquisition of choice and timing in pigeons

Pigeons were trained on a concurrent-chains procedure in which the initial link associated with the shorter terminal-link delay to food changed unpredictably across sessions. In the minimal-variation condition, delays were always 10 s and 20 s, whereas in the maximal-variation condition delays were generated pseudorandomly for each session. On some terminal links, food was withheld to obtain measures of temporal control. Measures of choice (log initial-link response ratios) and timing (start and stop times on no-food trials) showed temporal control and stabilized within the 1st half of each session. In the maximal-variation condition, choice was a nonlinear function of the log delay ratio, consistent with a categorical discrimination but contrary to models based on the matching law. Residuals from separate regressions of log response and log start and stop time ratios on log delay ratios were positively correlated. Overall, results support cognitive models that assume that initial-link choice is based on an all-or-none decision process, and that choice and timing are mediated by a common representation of delay.     

The role of cluster B and C personality disturbance in the course of depression: a prospective study

The association between personality disturbance and depression has been noted consistently. Prospective tests of personality's impact on the course of depression, however, are lacking. In a sample of 159 undergraduates who experienced at least one prospective depressive episode, dimensional scores for clusters B and C personality disturbance were examined as prospective predictors of four indicators of the course of depression: severity, episode duration, symptomatic chronicity and number of episodes. Cluster C personality disturbance, characterized by anxious and fearful features, predicted depression chronicity. Cluster B, characterized by dramatic, emotional and/or erratic features, predicted severity and duration of depression. The findings are discussed in terms of the possible mechanisms underlying the effects of clusters B and C, as well as implications for future research.     

Personality measurement, faking, and employment selection

Real job applicants completed a 5-factor model personality measure as part of the job application process. They were rejected; 6 months later they (n = 5,266) reapplied for the same job and completed the same personality measure. Results indicated that 5.2% or fewer improved their scores on any scale on the 2nd occasion; moreover, scale scores were as likely to change in the negative direction as the positive. Only 3 applicants changed scores on all 5 scales beyond a 95% confidence threshold. Construct validity of the personality scales remained intact across the 2 administrations, and the same structural model provided an acceptable fit to the scale score matrix on both occasions. For the small number of applicants whose scores changed beyond the standard error of measurement, the authors found the changes were systematic and predictable using measures of social skill, social desirability, and integrity. Results suggest that faking on personality measures is not a significant problem in real-world selection settings.