Efficacy of self-administered treatments for pathological academic worry: A randomized controlled trial

Research on treatments for reducing pathological worry is limited. In particular, academic worry is a common theme in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) samples as well as non-clinical student samples. Given the high cost of anxiety disorders to society, research is needed to examine the efficacy of self-administered treatments designed to reduce pathological worry. The primary goal of this study was to investigate the benefits of three self-administered interventions for reducing academic worry. College students (N = 113) experiencing clinically significant academic worry were randomized to either: (a) worry exposure (WE); (b) expressive writing (EW); (c) relaxation consisting of pulsed audio-photic stimulation (APS); or (d) waitlist control (WLC). Participants were instructed to practice their interventions three times per week for one month and completed home practice logs online to track treatment adherence. Academic worry, general anxiety, and perceived stress were assessed at baseline and post-treatment. Academic worry and general anxiety were also assessed at a three-month follow-up. Those assigned to the WE and APS conditions showed significant improvement relative to EW and WLC at post-treatment. All treatment conditions showed continued improvement by follow-up, with no between-group differences. Treatment and public health implications are discussed.     

Intrusive imagery in severe health anxiety: Prevalence, nature and links with memories and maintenance cycles

Increased understanding of the nature and role of intrusive imagery has contributed to the development of effective treatment protocols for some anxiety disorders. However, intrusive imagery in severe health anxiety (hypochondriasis) has been comparatively neglected. Hence, the current study investigates the prevalence, nature and content of intrusive imagery in 55 patients who met DSM-IV-TR (APA, 2000) criteria for the diagnosis of hypochondriasis. A semi-structured interview was used to assess the prevalence, nature and possible role of intrusive imagery in this disorder. Over 78% of participants reported experiencing recurrent, distressing intrusive images, the majority (72%) of which either were a memory of an earlier event or were strongly associated with a memory. The images tended to be future orientated, and were reliably categorised into four themes: i) being told ‘the bad news’ that you have a serious/life threatening-illness (6.9%), ii) suffering from a serious or life-threatening illness (34.5%), iii) death and dying due to illness (22.4%) and iv) impact of own death or serious illness on loved ones (36.2%). Participants reported responding to experiencing intrusive images by engaging in avoidance, checking, reassurance seeking, distraction and rumination. Potential treatment implications and links to maintenance cycles are considered.     

Human Cloning in Film: Horror,Ambivalence, Hope

Abstract

Fictional filmic representations of human cloning have shifted in relation to the 1997 announcement of the birth of Dolly the cloned sheep, and since therapeutic human cloning became a scientific practice in the early twentieth century. The operation and detail of these shifts can be seen through an analysis of the films The Island and Aeon Flux . These films provide a site for the examination of how these changes in human cloning from fiction to practice, and from horror to hope, have been represented and imagined, and how these distinctions have operated visually in fiction, and in relation to genre.     

Self-ordered pointing as a test of working memory in typically developing children

The self-ordered pointing test (SOPT; Petrides & Milner, 1982 Petrides, M. and Milner, B. 1982. Deficits on subject-ordered tasks after frontal- and temporal-lobe lesions in man. Neuropsychologia, 20(3): 249–262. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) is a test of non-spatial executive working memory requiring the ability to generate and monitor a sequence of responses. Although used with developmental clinical populations there are few normative data against which to compare atypical performance. Typically developing children (5–11 years) and young adults performed two versions of the SOPT, one using pictures of familiar objects and the other hard-to-verbalise abstract designs. Performance improved with age but the children did not reach adult levels of performance. Participants of all ages found the object condition easier than the abstract condition, suggesting that verbal processes are utilised by the SOPT. However, performance on the task was largely independent from verbal and nonverbal cognitive ability. Overall the results suggest that the SOPT is a sensitive measure of executive working memory.     

Sources and Types of Confidence Identified by World Class Sport Performers

This study identified the sources and types of confidence salient to 14 (7 male, 7 female) successful World Class athletes. Nine sources of confidence were identified: Preparation, performance accomplishments, coaching, innate factors, social support, experience, competitive advantage, self-awareness, and trust. A testament to the multi-dimensional nature of sport confidence, six types of sport confidence were also identified: skill execution, achievement, physical factors, psychological factors, superiority to opposition, and tactical awareness. Gender was related to both the sources of confidence and the subsequent types of confidence experienced by the athletes. For example, females placed more importance on good personal performances than males who derived confidence from winning. Results were discussed in the context of previous sport confidence literature and implications for sport psychology and coaching practices were drawn.     

Further Observations on Group Judgments of Lifted Weights

With use of a sample of five kibbutzim and subjects from three cities in Israel, the hypothesis investigated was that the adults in the kibbutz would obtain higher scores than the other subjects in their perceptions of the past and present on the Self-Anchoring Striving Scale. These responses were compared to those of two groups from the United States, Jewish and non-Jewish. The total sample consisted of 160 Ss with 40 Ss in each of the four groups. It was also hypothesized that there would be less discrepancy in the perceptions of the future as compared to the past and present between Israeli and United States Ss. The hypotheses presented were supported by the data.

The kibbutz sample in expressing hopes and aspirations had a significantly higher number of Ss that desired world peace than the other three samples. The Israeli city sample in responding to aspirations had a significantly greater number of responses than the kibbutz for the following categories: having a good job, owning a house, and possessing wealth.

The Israeli city sample compared to the kibbutz had a significantly higher number of responses to a fear of a deterioration in the standard of living. The rank order correlation of the verbal responses indicated that the responses of the American Jewish group were more similar to both Israeli groups than the United States non-Jewish group.     

Aurelius Augustine on Imagination

The evaluation of a person seeking or volunteering information in cooperatively or competitively oriented problem solving groups was investigated in 63 white and black, male and female, high school and college students. It was hypothesized that under cooperative conditions the seeking of information would be evaluated more positively than would the volunteering of information, while under competitive conditions the volunteering of information would be evaluated more positively than would the seeking of information. A highly trained confederate (C) engaged in either the seeking of information or the volunteering of information in four-person problem solving groups in which Ss were either cooperatively or competitively oriented. Ss rated Cs on eight bipolar scales. The results confirmed the hypothesis.     

The biasing effect of personality on self-estimates of cognitive abilities in males and females

In addition to exploring the relationship between psychometric and self-estimated measures of Crystallized Knowledge (Gc) and Visual Processing (Gv), this study investigated whether personality significantly moderated these relationships, thereby influencing the accuracy of the self-estimates. Adult participants (N = 165) completed the Big Five Inventory and self-estimated their levels of Gc and Gv. They were subsequently administered the Multidimensional Aptitude Battery II, a group test of cognitive ability. Significant and positive relationships between psychometric Gc and Gv and their respective self-estimates were found. Additionally, investigation of the moderating effects of personality for each gender separately using standard multiple regressions found that females high in Extraversion and males low in Conscientiousness were more prone to overestimating their Gv ability, while males high in Openness provided more accurate estimates of their Gv than those low in Openness. Elucidating the personality traits that distort self-perceptions of intellectual functioning has significant implications for the identification of individuals at risk of harboring inaccurate expectations, leading to the potential for interventions aimed at ameliorating associated deleterious consequences.