Who uses community mental health centres? A study of one health district

A caseload analysis was undertaken to investigate those clients seen by five community mental health centre teams within one healthcare district. The 985 clients are described in terms of demographic and clinical features and questions relating to service provision are discussed.     

Book reviews

Hall, G. (1991). Perceptual and associative leaning. Oxfod: Clarendon Press. Pp. xi + 300. ISBN 0-19-8524182-0. £35.00.

Rahmann, H., & Rahmann, M. (1992). The neurobilogical basis of memoy and behavior. New York: Springe Verlag. Pp. 292. ISBN 3-540-97545-4. £53.00.

Iversen, I.H., & Lattal, K.A. (Eds.). (1991). Experimental analysis of behavior, arts 1 and 2. Techniques in the behavioral and neural sciences, volume 6 (series editor: J.P Huston). Amstedam: Elsevier. Pp. 724. ISBN 0-444-8932-2. £50.00 (paperback).

Baudry, M., & Davis, J.L. (Eds.) (1991). Long-tem potentiation: A debate of current issues. Cambridge, Ma & London, England: MIT Press. Pp. xxii + 454. ISBN 0-262-02330-x. £62.95 (Hb).

The Biological Council Animal Reseach and Welfare Panel (1992). Guidelines on the handling and training of laboatory animals. Univer-sities Federation for Animal Welfare. Pp. ISBN 0-900767-77-4. £2.50.     

Latent inhibition, context specificity, and context familiarity

In two appetitive licking experiments, thirsty rats were pre-exposed to two stimuli prior to conditioning sessions in which one or both of these stimuli were paired with water. Consistent with other results, latent inhibition was disrupted when conditioning took place in a context different from that in which stimulus pre-exposure had occurred. But in animals given prior exposure to the context of stimulus pre-exposure before the start of stimulus pre-exposure, substantial and equivalent latent inhibition was evident whether or not there was a change of context between stimulus pre-exposure and conditioning. These results are discussed in terms of current theories of latent inhibition.     

Reverse causation in activity-cognitive ability associations: the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936

Active lifestyles might protect cognitive abilities; however, studies rarely consider the reverse causal direction. Activity-cognition associations might reflect stable intelligence differences rather than a protective effect of activity. The Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 (n = 1091) completed cognitive tests aged 70, having taken an intelligence test aged 11. Activity (assessed by participation in 15 activities that produced a socio-intellectual activity factor, and by physical activity) was positively associated with cognition (r = .08 to .32, p ≤ .05). When age-11 IQ and adult social class were controlled, only physical activity remained significantly associated with general cognitive ability and processing speed.     

Do personality scale items function differently in people with high and low IQ?

Intelligence differences might contribute to true differences in personality traits. It is also possible that intelligence might contribute to differences in understanding and interpreting personality items. Previous studies have not distinguished clearly between these possibilities. Before it can be accepted that scale score differences actually reflect personality differences, personality items should show measurement invariance. The authors used item response theory to test measurement invariance in the five-factor model scales of the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) and NEO-Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) across two groups of participants from the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 with relatively low and high cognitive abilities. Each group consisted of 320 individuals, with equal numbers of men and women. The mean IQ difference of the groups was 21 points. It was found that the IPIP and NEO-FFI items were measurement invariant across all five scales, making it possible to conclude that any differences in IPIP and NEO-FFI scores between people with low and high cognitive abilities reflected personality trait differences.     

Treating disturbed emotional regulation in sexual offenders: The potential applications of mindful self-regulation and controlled breathing techniques

It has been noted that some offenders are characterized by problems in the appropriate regulation of emotional states. Deficits in emotional regulation are particularly pertinent in sexual offenders. Therefore, therapeutic programs should, in part, focus on the development of effective strategies for the control of emotional arousal. In this review, we will provide an outline of how anatomical structures including the amygdala and regions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) are involved in the appropriate regulation of emotion. It is argued in this paper that the effective control of emotional states may be helped through the adoption of a group of meditational practices, known as mindfulness techniques, which have emerged from Buddhist philosophy. These techniques involve slow, deep breathing and have been shown to affect vagal modulation of the heart and the functioning of specific neural circuits which are critically involved in emotional regulation.