Cultural considerations using the structured clinical interview for DSM-III for mood and anxiety disorders assessment

This paper focuses on the impact that culture has upon standardized or structured interviews. It briefly reviews how these interviews evolved from a primary research function, what they can teach us about clinical work, and the multiple ways that culture influences these supposedly objective instruments and the diagnoses which follow from their use. Although the use of structured interviews and standardized diagnostic criteria has been a major advance for the field in terms of reliability, care needs to be exercised when evaluating individuals from disparate cultural backgrounds.     

Influence of occupational information giving on cognitive complexity in decided versus undecided students

Some research in the area of vocational counseling has focused on information-processing variables of subjects, such as the cognitive complexity-simplicity dimension. Because much vocational counseling consists of giving occupational information to the client, researchers have investigated the effect of information giving on the processing styles of subjects. Bodden and James (Journal of Counseling Psychology, 23, 280–282, 1976) found that giving occupational information to subjects caused them to become more cognitively restricted; they concluded that the practice of giving occupational information in counseling should be reexamined. The present study attempts to replicate that work while additionally controlling for the decided/undecided status of the subjects. Ninety-three subjects were administered the Career Decision Scale and the Cognitive Differentiation Grid at pretest. Subjects were then randomly assigned to the experimental-information condition or the control-no-information condition and were tested 48 hr later on the Cognitive Differentiation Grid. No significant differences were found between decideds and undecideds as a result of vocational information that they were given, and the results failed to replicate the Bodden and James (1976) findings. Implications of the results are discussed and further necessary research is specified.     

CONTINGENT REINFORCEMENT FOR BENZODIAZEPINE-FREE URINES: EVALUATION OF A DRUG ABUSE TREATMENT INTERVENTION

This study evaluated contingent reinforcement for benzodiazepine-free urines as a therapeutic intervention for promoting reduced use of supplemental benzodiazepine drugs among methadone maintenance outpatients. Ten methadone maintenance patients were selected for participation on the basis of positive urinalysis results. During a 12-week intervention period these patients were offered clinic privileges, including monetary payments or methadone take-home doses, contingent on benzodiazepine negative urinalysis test results. Eight of ten participants responded to the intervention with at least 2.5 weeks of consecutive clean urines. An increase in benzodiazepine-negative tests during the contingent reinforcement period was significant for the group as a whole. The results suggest that more widespread application of contingent reinforcement procedures may be warranted in drug abuse treatment clinics.     

The letter-frequency effect and the generality of familiarity effects on perception

A widely accepted perceptual principle is that familiar patterns are easier to recognize than are less familiar patterns. Previous letter-recognition studies are examined to determine whethermore frequent letters in English are easier to recognize than less frequent letters (the letterfrequency effect). Most studies required subjects to identify single letters, while some measured reaction time to compare two letters or name or classify a letter. The results, based on over 800, 000 observations from 58 studies that span nearly 100 years, showed that: (1) there is no letter-frequency effect in recognition studies in which subjects simply report letters, and (2) there is a letter-frequency effect in reaction time studies. The presence of la letter-frequency effect for reaction time studies is interpreted as demonstrating an effect of familiarity on a comparison stage and perhaps a response stage, but not on input coding. The absence of a letter-frequency effect for single-letter recognition studies is interpreted as limiting the generality of the effect of familiarity on perception and as limiting the generality of models that correctly predict frequency effects for words. Alternative explanations for the absence of a letter-frequency effect are discussed.     

Reliability of headache diagnosis

The literature on diagnosis of head pain associated with psychological factors indicates that these diagnoses rely almost exclusively on self-report criteria. The reliability of self-report criteria for diagnosis of headache has not been previously reported. The present study investigated the reliability of headache diagnosis based on the criteria suggested by the Ad Hoc Committee on Classification of Headache. The results indicated modest rater agreement. It was concluded that the headache literature may be confounded by unreliable diagnostic procedures. Improved methods of classifying headache types using self-report, behavioral, and physiological measures during pain-free and headache states are required before adequate reliability of headache classification can be achieved. It is suggested that reliable and valid measurement and classification would eliminate much of the confusion currently existing in the headache literature.     

ARGUMENTUM AD FEMINAM

The last issue of this journal published an exchange between Marilyn Friedman and me that had taken place at a lively session of the American Philosophical Association in December, 1990. Friedman's paper “‘They Lived Happily Ever After’: Sommers on Women and Marriage” was a barbed critique of my views on the family. My rejoinder, “Do These Feminist Like Women?” pointed out that Friedman's orthodox brand of feminism was not sensitive to the values and aspirations of most American women. That issue of the Journal of Social Philosophy also published a third paper of Friedman's “Does Sommers Like Women?” twice as long again as my rejoinder. This second critique went further into earlier writings of mine raising new issues, and criticizing me in rather unpleasant ad feminam ways. If an uncharacteristic asperity colors my response, it is because I do not find myself able to deal coolly and impersonally with the accusation that I intentionally misrepresent some of the feminist philosophers I criticize.     

ABSTRACTS OF LITERATURE

This paper attempts to formulate dynamics based on clinical material from family sessions rather than based on individual reconstruction. It is believed that the identified adolescent patient regresses with narcissistic symptoms because, in the struggle for independence, he upsets the family equilibrium. The parents emerge from their adolescence with low self-esteem and the need for the support of external objects. The adolescent's separateness from the family recreates the problem for the parents and prevents his individual growth as well as his separation from the family.