Live supervision in the postmodern era of family therapy: Issues,reflections, and questions

This article asserts that the family therapy field is approaching an epistemological shift from structuralism and positivism to postmodernism and relativism. The confluence of these movements: feminism, constructivism/constructionism, and cultural relativism is cited as a major impetus for the shift. Live supervision is examined within the context of this transformation, with a discussion of implications for the future.     

Supervising the person of the therapist: Issues,challenges and dilemmas

A major critical issue in marriage and family therapy today is the professionalization of the discipline. Thus the focus on training individuals for a career in marriage and family therapy necessitates the revisitation of the debate over personal growth versus skill development. The trend toward training the person of the therapist, however, would suggest that the field is moving toward the integration of self awareness and skill in the therapeutic system. With the popularization of training the person of the therapist comes other issues, challenges, and dilemmas for the field, including the crucial issue of training gender and culturally sensitive therapists. The potential for creating dual relationships when training the person of the therapist is both a dilemma and a challenge.     

On the processing of arguments

This paper is concerned with the processing of informal arguments, that is, arguments involving probable truth. A model of informal argument processing is presented that is based upon Hample's (1977) expansion of Toulmin's (1958) model of argument structure. The model postulates that a claim activates an attitude, the two components forming a complex that in turn activates reasons. Furthermore, the model holds occurrence of the reason, or possibly the claim and the reason, activates values. Three experiments are described that provide support for the model.This research was supported by the Mellon Foundation and by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement of the Department of Education via an award for the Center for the Study of Learning to the Learning Research and Development Center. The contents of the paper are not necessarily the position of any of these organizations.     

Nonsuicidal physically self-damaging acts in adolescents

To determine the frequency and correlates of nonsuicidal physically self-damaging acts in 12–14 year olds, a two stage epidemiologic survey with a self-administered questionnaire (N=3283) followed by a psychiatric interview of a subsample of the adolescents and their parents (N=444) was used. Prevalence estimates of interview validated nonsuicidal physically self-damaging acts were 2.46% in males and 2.79% in females. Significant relationships were found between nonsuicidal physically self-damaging acts and suicidal ideation, major depression and undesirable life events. Data suggest that physically self-damaging acts occur at substantial rates during early adolescence. The strong correlation between nonsuicidal self-destructive acts and both suicidal ideation and major depression clarifies prior conflicting reports in the literature and suggests that a history of self-damaging acts should be taken into consideration when evaluating for possible depression and suicide risk.     

Direct observation of quality of care in residential settings

Direct-observation procedures were used to objectively and efficiently assess several classes of service provided for individuals residing at two state facilities for the developmentally disabled. Time samples were taken of the condition of the clients' physical environment and of the clients themselves. The ongoing behavior of both clients and staff also was recorded. Each residence was observed at least three times during both regular work hours and evening/weekend hours. Results showed that both facilities scored high in the categories regarding the physical condition of the living areas, as well as the categories concerning the condition of the clients. Greater variability was seen in the data on client and staff behavior. More generally, the results indicate that time-sampling procedures can be used efficiently to collect data on multiple aspects of service delivery for large numbers of individuals.     

Sado-masochism as a defense against merging: Six case studies

This paper reports on several patients who use sado-masochism as a defense against an unconscious wish for and fear of merging. The sado-masochism can be expressed as a sexual perversion or in a difficult ungratifying interpersonal relationship. These relationships have some of the quality of addictions in that the patients have a compulsive need to continue them and find it extremely difficult to leave them. Therapy must focus on helping the patient become more separate, rather than on other problems which may also be present. Initially, the therapist needs to take an educational stance in regard to the process the patient must complete, rather than the more traditional analytic stance.     

EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS AND TREATMENT OF MULTIPLY CONTROLLED SELF-INJURY

A functional analysis of the self-injurious behavior (SIB) of 3 adults with profound developmental disabilities showed that each engaged in SIB in more than one assessment condition. Such outcomes may result from a failure to isolate the variable maintaining SIB, or they may reflect multiple sources of control over SIB. In order to identify more clearly the determinants of SIB, each subject was exposed to a series of treatments appropriate to one or both of the apparent functions of SIB. These treatments, applied sequentially on baselines appropriate to each behavioral function, identified the maintaining variables for SIB through differential outcomes across baselines. Results indicated that the SIB of 2 subjects was multiply controlled, confirming the outcomes of the functional analysis. However, the SIB of the 3rd subject was eliminated using a treatment designed for a single function, suggesting spurious results of the original assessment. Alternative interpretations of undifferentiated assessment data are discussed, as are analysis and treatment issues related to multiply determined behavior disorders.     

The influence of perceptual and motor factors on bimanual coordination in a polyrhythmic tapping task

Summary In this study the role of perceptual and motor factors on the motor organization (integrated versus parallel) adopted by musically skilled and unskilled subjects in a polyrhythmic tapping task was investigated. Subjects tapped a 3:2 polyrhythm to match the timing of two isochronous tone trains, one tone train for each hand. Perceptual factors were examined by the manipulation of the frequency difference between the tone trains to produce either an integrated or a streamed percept. Motor factors were examined by comparison of performance on two versions of the 3:2 polyrhythm. In one (simultaneous) version, each cycle of the polyrhythm began with a simultaneous left- and right-hand tap. In the other (shifted) version a 100-ms interval was introduced between the initial left and right taps in each cycle. Examination of the pattern of variances and covariances among intertap intervals suggested that most of the subjects in this study adopted an integrated motor organization that involved interleaving the timing of the two hands. Further analysis revealed that a serial chained model described the pattern of covariances best for the simultaneous pattern, whereas a hierarchical organization described the pattern of covariances for the shifted pattern best. The finding that performance was more accurate with integrated tones than with streamed tones provides some support for a perceptual-motor facilitation hypothesis.     

AIDS prevention for intravenous drug users in the community: Street-based education and risk behavior

Conducted a study of behavior change associated with a street-based AIDS education project targeted to intravenous (IV) drug users in San Francisco. Two cross-sections were sampled from drug detoxification clinics and street locations in 1986 (n = 438) and 1987 (n = 623). Significant increases were reported in the percentage of IV drug users who used bleach to decontaminate syringes, who did not share needles in past year, and in condom use. A significant reduction in an index of the number of needle-sharing partners was reported. Respondents ranked treatment program as most important source of AIDS information prior to implementation of the program, and ranked outreach workers as most important after implementation. Findings suggest that this community-based outreach program had at least some impact on knowledge about AIDS and may have led to reductions in behaviors known to transmit HIV.