Why Should We Lower Our Defenses About Defense Mechanisms?

Personality and social psychologists already use ideas that are closely related to defense mechanisms, but few of our paradigms include extensive theoretical or empirical treatment of such mechanisms. Yet defense mechanisms focus on negative affect and protection of the self, and many of the controversies, issues, and impasses contemporary researchers confront also concern negative affect and self-protection. This article discusses whether we might find systematic consideration of defense mechanisms and defensive processing to be broadly useful across several related areas of personality and social psychology in which the relationships between self and affect are implicated. Areas considered include positive illusions and adaptation, the interpretation of reports of negative affect, and related concepts from the coping, self-regulation, affect regulation, and goals literature. Thinking about defense mechanisms would seem to have both specific value for sharpening our understanding of different possible interpretations of our data, and broad heuristic value for thinking about personality integration and social behavior.     

Therapeutic Document in Group Counseling: An Active Change Agent

In this article, the authors provide a therapeutic document model using language as an active change agent. The practice of the therapeutic letter has demonstrated substantial power in narrative therapy to foster client change. No literature, however, has applied this construct in group counseling. Grounded in social constructionism, re-authoring therapy and the power of written language, this model transforms the usually time-consuming and frequently nontherapeutic client documentation into a functional intervention. As a competency-based intervention, this model provides counselors with principles and procedures to enhance clients' self-agency and expedite the change process in group counseling.     

The effects of stimulus movement and attention on peripheral stimulus localization by 8- to 26-week-old infants

This study examined the effect of stimulus movement on localization probability and latency during attention and inattention. Forty infants, 10 each at 8, 14, 20, and 26 weeks of age were presented with a central stimulus. Then, a peripheral stimulus was presented (static or dynamic checkerboard). Stimulus movement did not affect localization probability. Infants localized the dynamic peripheral stimulus more quickly than the static peripheral stimulus when there was no focal stimulus. Focal stimulus attention attenuated this difference in localization latency between static and dynamic stimuli. Signal detection analysis showed that sensitivity to the peripheral stimulus increased over this age range along with a decrease in the bias against responding. The effects of attention were on response bias rather than stimulus sensitivity. These results imply attention affected the localization response to the peripheral stimulus but did not affect the sensitivity of the sensory and perceptual pathways to peripheral stimuli.     

Creative Cognition and Psychosis Vulnerability: What’s the Difference?

Evidence from experimental psychology provides unequivocal support for enhanced creativity among individuals who are prone to psychotic and mood disorders. At the same time, there is strong epidemiological evidence for greater incidence of creative achievement among those diagnosed with bipolar disorder (but not schizophrenia). This review examines the evidence for common factors predisposing an individual to creativity and psychosis, as well as factors that distinguish the capacity for creative achievement from the creative potential that may be inherent in psychosis vulnerability. Factors implicated as common to creative potential and psychosis vulnerability include enhanced divergent thinking, reduced latent inhibition and preattentive filtering mechanisms; on the other hand, greater cognitive flexibility, motivation, and openness to experience tend to be associated with creative achievement, but not psychosis. This evidence is considered with respect to the utility of tailored vocational interventions to effectively harness creative potential, which may be useful for young individuals in the early stages of illness or their unaffected family members.     

Dark Storm Clouds and Rays of Sunshine: Profiles of Negative and Positive Rumination About Daily Hassles and Uplifts

Daily negative events (hassles) and positive events (uplifts) have an impact on our subjective well-being, and how we react to those events (e.g., negatively ruminating by reflecting on the difficulties that come with hassles, positively ruminating by reflecting on the good aspects of uplifts) often has additional influence. However, little is known about the use of positive and negative rumination in combination. Using data from 469 adults, we examined retrospective accounts of negative and positive rumination about specific hassles and uplifts in reference to a 24-h period. Although differences in rumination were not observed across various domains (e.g., work, family, health), profiles emerged in relation to valence. Specifically, we identified four profiles of rumination: Non-Ruminators (39 %), Multivalence Ruminators (10 %), Positive Ruminators (26 %) and Negative Ruminators (24 %). Neither age nor gender systematically related to rumination profile. We further examined whether the associations among hassles, uplifts and well-being outcomes differed across these profiles. Results suggested few differences in the structural relations across the profiles, although the strength of associations was stronger for Negative Ruminators than Positive Ruminators. Results are discussed in terms of the robustness of effects of hassles and uplifts on subjective well-being across individual difference variables.     

Comparison of the Effects of Telephone Suicide Prevention Help by Volunteers and Professional Paid Staff: Results from Studies in the USA and Quebec,Canada

Research since the 1960s has consistently found that lay volunteers are better at helping suicidal callers than professionals. Yet, professional degrees are increasingly becoming requirements for helpline workers. In our first study, we conducted post hoc comparisons of U.S. helplines with all professional paid staff, all lay volunteers, and a mix of both, using silent monitoring and standardized assessments of 1,431 calls. The volunteer centers more often conducted risk assessments, had more empathy, were more respectful of callers, and had significantly better call outcome ratings. A second study of five Quebec suicide prevention centers used silent monitoring to compare telephone help in 1,206 calls answered by 90 volunteers and 39 paid staff. Results indicate no significant differences between the volunteers and paid employees on outcome variables. However, volunteers and paid staff with over 140 hours of call experience had significantly better outcomes. Unlike the United States, Quebec paid employees were not required to have advanced professional degrees. We conclude from these results and previous research that there is no justification for requiring that suicide prevention helpline workers be mental health professionals. In fact, the evidence to date indicates that professionals may be less effective in providing telephone help to suicidal individuals when compared to trained lay volunteers.