Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills for Families of Individuals With Behavioral Disorders: Initial Feasibility and Outcomes

Family members of individuals with behavioral disorders are a valuable source of logistical and emotional support for patients. Family members may take on tremendous financial and/or psychological responsibility to care for their loved ones, which can result in poor psychological outcomes for the family and, in turn, impede the recovery of the patient. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills training is an effective treatment that has been utilized with numerous populations, including family members of individuals with behavioral problems, and has shown efficacy in improving various interpersonal outcomes; however, no study has examined feasibility and outcomes of delivering all four unabridged DBT skills modules to this population. Twenty participants attended weekly DBT skills classes for 6 months, where they acquired skills in mindfulness, emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness, and distress tolerance. There were significant pre-post improvements for emotion dysregulation, stress reactivity, and various interpersonal outcomes; there were no significant changes in depression or anxiety. These results suggest that DBT skills may be effective at improving broad clinical domains in a sample of family members of individuals with behavioral problems. This research is the first step in demonstrating that DBT skills might benefit family members of patients with heterogeneous mental health problems and, therefore, fits in to the field’s growing interest in cost-effective transdiagnostic interventions.     

Clinician competencies: Strengths and limitations for work with transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) clients

Individuals who identify as transgender or gender nonconforming (TGNC) face a number of health disparities compared to individuals who identify as cisgender (those who self-identify with the sex they were assigned at birth). For example, TGNC individuals experience heightened rates of clinical depression, anxiety, general psychological distress, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts. Despite these troubling disparities, many TGNC individuals report hesitance to seek mental health services due to concerns regarding culturally insensitive or even overtly discriminatory services from providers. In addition to decreasing service utilization among TGNC populations, discriminatory services impair intervention effectiveness even when TGNC individuals persist in seeking mental health services. The American Psychological Association (APA) and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) provide guidelines for culturally competent work with TGNC clients; however, research indicates a profound lack of TGNC-specific training and resources among mental health care providers. To address this gap, the present investigation utilized a mixed-method design to assess training experiences, understanding of terminology, and TGNC competence among mental health care providers at various training levels. Participants were current mental health clinicians across the United States. Implications for improving reported and demonstrated weaknesses are discussed.     

胆囊收缩素对脂多糖诱发的病态行为及外周细胞因子的影响

细胞因子在病态行为的产生中有重要的作用。八肽胆囊收缩素在前人研究中表明能够拮抗脂多糖在大鼠体内引起的细胞因子的分泌。实验目的：利用八肽胆囊收缩素的抗炎作用研究细胞因子在病态行为中的作用。实验方法：共分两个实验进行, 将大鼠分为控制组、免疫激活剂脂多糖组(200 μg/kg剂量, 腹腔注射)以及注射不同剂量的八肽胆囊收缩素的实验组(分别为20 μg/kg 、40 μg/kg 、80 μg/kg 和120 μg/kg剂量), 各实验组在注射脂多糖前半小时注射相应剂量的八肽胆囊收缩素, 药物注射两小时后进行行为实验 (糖水摄取量测验、旷场测验和高架十字迷宫测验), 然后对大鼠前炎性细胞因子包括白细胞介素-1β(IL-1β)、白细胞介素-6 (IL-6)、肿瘤坏死因子-α (TNF-α)及抗炎性细胞因子白细胞介素-10(IL-10)的血清浓度进行分析。实验结果：脂多糖诱发大鼠产生病态行为, 与控制组相比, 脂多糖组糖水摄取量降低, 旷场测验中活动性降低, 高架闭臂进入次数减少; 脂多糖诱导炎性细胞因子分泌增加, 与控制组相比, 脂多糖组前炎性细胞因子IL-1β、IL-6、TNF-α的分泌增加。在脂多糖注射前注射八肽胆囊收缩素能够抑制前炎性细胞因子IL-1β、IL-6、TNF-α的分泌, 但八肽胆囊收缩素未能改善免疫诱导的病态行为。结论：本实验结果表明仅改变外周的细胞因子浓度并不能完全改变动物的病态行为, 病态行为的产生可能与脑区的细胞因子有更大的联系。     

通过法则关系区分员工对组织的认同与反认同

员工对组织的认同与反认同有相关的心理机制(如员工对自尊的追求)与社会基础(如组织身分的多样性), 但它们是相互独立的两个构念。在个人建立自己的社会身分时, 认同体现了“求同”、而反认同则体现“存异”。基于理论分析所构建的法则关系中, 二者具有不同的前因变量和结果变量。对5家企业250名员工的问卷研究发现, 对组织认同的员工会更倾向于主动维护组织利益, 而对组织反认同的员工在工作中敷衍了事。嵌套的系列结构方程结果表明二者分离的模型对数据的拟合, 好于将二者合并的模型, 验证了这两个构念不同的基本论点。     

句子语境中韵律作用的眼动特征

采用眼动记录的方法,考察了不同句子语境中,不同类型的动宾组合的加工过程。结果发现,韵律限制对句子阅读的认知加工过程起重要作用。符合韵律限制的[2+2]和[1+2]型动宾组合比不符合韵律限制的[2+1]型动宾组合加工更容易,更少地寻找支持信息。语境能引导读者更快地通达符合韵律限制的词汇的意义。在中性语境中,符合韵律限制的[2+2]和[1+2]型动宾组合比不符合韵律限制的[2+1]型动宾组合加工更容易,更少地需要语境的支持。在偏向语境中,同时符合韵律限制和语境信息的[2+2] 型动宾组合加工更容易,更少地需要语境的支持。     

The development of the Body Morph Assessment version 2.0 (BMA 2.0): Tests of reliability and validity

This study tested the psychometric characteristics of the Body Morph Assessment version 2.0 (BMA 2.0). A sample of 563 adults composed of four groups classified by gender and ethnicity (Caucasian men and women and African-American men and women) were studied. Support for the internal consistency and test–retest reliability of the BMA 2.0 was found for both men and women. A study of convergent validity was conducted. The BMA 2.0 was found to have adequate reliability and validity. Norms were established for the BMA 2.0 estimates of current body size (CBS), ideal body size (IBS), and acceptable body size (ABS) for Caucasian and African-American men and women. In summary, the BMA 2.0 is a reliable and valid computerized measure of CBS, IBS, ABS, the CBS–IBS discrepancy (body dissatisfaction), and provides an estimate of over/underestimation of body size as compared to individuals of the same sex and body mass index.     

康德两种因果性的道德意蕴

康德在西方伦理思想史上的重要地位主要体现在<纯粹理性批判>中提出的四个"二律背反"所揭示的自然与自由的因果性问题.通过这两种因果性,康德鲜明地揭示了自然因果性的存在领地和自由因果性的存在领地,使自由因果性典型地呈现在其所探讨的形而上学何以可能的本体世界.在这样的本体世界中,康德将自由放在道德律令、道德法则和至善的层面上加以探讨,彰显出自由在人的形而上追求意义上的伦理价值和道德意蕴.对自由的探讨也为他的<实践理性批判>奠定了伦理学基础.     

《太平经》图像作于明代考

<正统道藏>收录有<太平经>57卷,国内学者多认为它为汉代道经<太平清领书>之残卷,日本学者则倾向认为它出于六朝本<太平经>,但这些讨论都没有涉及其中的图像内容.通过对57卷本<太平经>中图像多角度的详细解读,证明这些图像绘于明代,盖当时原图像已经遗失或严重损毁,时人根据经文内容对其进行了再创作.     

Responsibility Attribution For Violence Against Women: A Study Of Chinese Public Service Professionals

This study examined how Chinese public service professionals attributed responsibility to victims and perpetrators of violence against women (VAW). A total of 2,308 Chinese public service professionals in Hong Kong completed questionnaires on attitudes toward women, VAW–related perceptions, and assignment of responsibility to actors in written VAW vignettes. Compared to agency professionals consisting of medical doctors, lawyers, and police officers, communal professionals consisting of psychologists, social workers, and nurses attributed a higher level of responsibility to VAW victims and perpetrators. For both professional groups, attitudes toward women and educational attainment were the most salient predictors of responsibility attribution to VAW victims and perpetrators. Perceived VAW effects on victims were also a robust predictor of responsibility attribution to perpetrators. With regard to group differences, gender was predictive of responsibility attribution for communal but not for agency professionals. Except for perpetrator responsibility attribution for agency professionals, age was also predictive of how professionals assigned responsibility to VAW victims and perpetrators.     

A framework for ML estimation of parameters of (mixtures of) common reaction time distributions given optional truncation or censoring

We present a framework for distributional reaction time (RT) analysis, based on maximum likelihood (ML) estimation. Given certain information relating to chosen distribution functions, one can estimate the parameters of these distributions and of finite mixtures of these distributions. In addition, left and/or right censoring or truncation may be imposed. Censoring and truncation are useful methods by which to accommodate outlying observations, which are a pervasive problem in RT research. We consider five RT distributions: the Weibull, the ex-Gaussian, the gamma, the log-normal, and the Wald. We employ quasi-Newton optimization to obtain ML estimates. Multicase distributional analyses can be carried out, which enable one to conduct detailed (across or within subjects) comparisons of RT data by means of loglikelihood difference tests. Parameters may be freely estimated, estimated subject to boundary constraints, constrained to be equal (within or over cases), or fixed. To demonstrate the feasibility of ML estimation and to illustrate some of the possibilities offered by the present approach, we present three small simulation studies. In addition, we present three illustrative analyses of real data.