Distinctions between separation anxiety and social anxiety in children and adolescents

Separation anxiety and social phobia are intertwined to a considerable degree, and high comorbidity rates have been reported. The present study used latent class analysis (LCA) to investigate if classes of children and adolescents with-simultaneously-high rates of separation anxiety and low rates of social anxiety symptoms, or vice versa, could be identified. Eight- to 18-year-olds from a large general population (n=1000) and referred sample (n=735) were assessed with the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC). With LCA, a separate class of referred 8-11-year-old children with high separation anxiety scores, and simultaneously lower social anxiety scores was identified, next to a class of children with high scores on separation anxiety and social anxiety. In the other groups (referred 12-18-year-olds and children and adolescents from the general population), a class with individuals who specifically scored high on separation anxiety could not be revealed. The results indicated that separation anxiety represents a different construct than social anxiety in referred children (but not in referred adolescents or in the general population). It can be concluded that, in referred children, research regarding etiology and treatment outcome of anxiety symptoms should be aimed specifically at separation anxiety and social anxiety, instead of just investigating a broader anxiety dimension.     

Coming of age in New York City: two homeless boys

This paper focuses on two cases, both homeless young gay men living--trying to survive--in New York City. The young men's stories and their manner of being in psychotherapy are presented. One, Hispanic, had developed as an angry, aggressive, manipulative anti-authoritarian; the other, African American, was engaging, passive, exploitable, and full of rescue fantasies. The author raises questions about how humiliating childhood physical and sexual abuse and neglect can become woven into character formations of such opposite sorts. The paper concludes with reflections on the technical challenges of working with homeless youth of color in drop-in center circumstances, and some indication of how the therapeutic process had to be adapted to these young people and their situations.     

Ultimate, provisional, and personal meaning of life: differences and common ground

Building on Viktor Frankl's clinical approach of Logotherapy and the works of subsequent theoreticians, three types of meaning of life were theoretically derived and empirically investigated, Ultimate, Provisional, and Personal meaning. These types were characterized, first, by the amount of agreement of subjects, second, by sources of Life Meaning, which were assessed by content analyses, third, by correlations, and fourth by prediction with ratings of important life concepts from the domains of Well-being, Religiosity, and Prosocial Behavior. 192 German adults, 45 men and 147 women, whose M age was 31.6 yr. (SD = 11.9), participated. Analysis indicated different sources for the Ultimate meaning compared with the other meaning types, which seem to display more similarities with each other. Other important life concepts, such as Belief, Harmony, Happiness, and Human Goodness were related to the investigated types of meaning of life. Some implications for clinical applications, research perspectives, and Positive Psychology are discussed.     

Temporal stability of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in a chronic traumatic brain injury sample

The aim of the present study was to investigate the temporal stability of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) in a clinical population with documented brain pathology, stable cognitive deficits, and for whom repeated testing is common: chronic severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Participants were 34 patients at least 1 year post severe TBI living at a large residential rehabilitation facility. The WCST was administered in standard fashion with both the standard and 64-card versions scored. All derived scores with norms were examined. Results indicated acceptable temporal stability of most scores for both the standard and short WCST, although the stability of the WCST-64 was poorer than for the standard WCST. Three sets of significant change indices are provided for clinical use.     

Does role stress predict burnout over time among health care professionals?

Abstract The main objective of this study is to test the effects over time of three role stress variables (role conflict, role ambiguity and role overload) on the three burnout dimensions (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment). Based on theoretical models on burnout and on meta-analytical research, it is hypothesized that the three role stress variables will predict changes over time in emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, but not in personal accomplishment. The results obtained by means of hierarchical regression analysis partially support the hypothesis. The three role stress variables predict emotional exhaustion over time. Role conflict and role overload predict depersonalization over time. Finally, contrary to expectations, role ambiguity predicts personal accomplishment over time.     

Constructions of work stress and coping in a female- and a male-dominated department

In the present study the nature of stress and coping was investigated and considered as socially constructed. Thirty small group interviews were performed using the Critical Incident Technique in one female- and one male-dominated customer service department of a telecom company. The main themes about stress among both women and men were often expressed as collective phenomena and were connected to the organizational change and downsizing process, problems when carrying out the work and lack of autonomy. However, a striking difference between female and male interviews was found in the way that women to a greater extent expressed lack of autonomy and their working situation was described as strictly regulated. The findings illustrate that a traditional gender difference regarding autonomy could be found when comparing a female- and a male-dominated department even though they were performing the same type of job. Both women and men portrayed coping as a mixture of collective and individual strategies. They often mentioned collective acceptance, resignation and hardening. There is a need for further research about women and men at work, taking into consideration the interpersonal context and the collective nature of stress and coping.     

Narrators and comparators: the architecture of agentive self-awareness

This paper contrasts two approaches to agentive self-awareness: a high-level, narrative-based account, and a low-level comparator-based account. We argue that an agent’s narrative self-conception has a role to play in explaining their agentive judgments, but that agentive experiences are explained by low-level comparator mechanisms that are grounded in the very machinery responsible for action-production.     

The amygdala, reward and emotion

Recent research provides new insights into amygdala contributions to positive emotion and reward. Studies of neuronal activity in the monkey amygdala and of autonomic responses mediated by the monkey amygdala show that, contrary to a widely held view, the amygdala is just as important for processing positive reward and reinforcement as it is for negative. In addition, neuropsychological studies reveal that the amygdala is essential for only a fraction of what might be considered 'stimulus-reward processing', and that the neural substrates for emotion and reward are partially nonoverlapping. Finally, evidence suggests that two systems within the amygdala, operating in parallel, enable reward-predicting cues to influence behavior; one mediates a general, arousing effect of reward and the other links the sensory properties of reward to emotion.