Sensory Modulation for People with Anxiety in a Community Mental Health Setting

Anxiety is a common mental health issue involving cognitive and physiological hypersensitivity to threat. It negatively affects occupational participation. Sensory modulation intervention aims to use calming sensory input to manage the hypersensitivity and physiological arousal associated with anxiety. The empirical evidence for using sensory interventions for anxiety, however, is limited. This mixed methods single subject case design explored the effectiveness of a 6-week sensory modulation intervention for reducing anxiety and improving occupational participation. Results showed significant reduction in anxiety and improved participation, providing further evidence that sensory modulation is an effective approach for the self-management of anxiety.     

Women's neuroethics? Why sex matters for neuroethics

The Neuroethics Affinity Group of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH) met for the third time in October 2007 to review progress in the field of neuroethics and consider high-impact priorities for the future. Closely aligned with ASBH's own goals of recruiting junior scholars to bioethics and mentoring them to successful careers, the Neuroethics Affinity Group placed a call for new ideas to be presented at the Group meeting, specifically by junior attendees. One group responded with the idea to probe a new direction for neuroethics focused on the neuroscience of gender differences. In the spirit of full disclosure, two of the authors are a student (Chalfin) and fellow (Murphy) of the program I formerly directed at Stanford University. The third (Karkazis) is junior faculty there. The intellectual ownership of the ideas in the report below, however, are entirely theirs. Like lit torches in a juggling act, there are many directions this project can go. The report is a snapshot of these authors' first iteration of the concept of women's neuroethics. Many thanks are extended to participants of the ASBH Neuroethics Affinity Group meeting whose enthusiasm and feedback was immensely helpful in shaping the concept and moving it ahead.     

Development of the Family Therapy Enactment Rating Scale

This report describes the development of a new scale designed to establish how therapists intervene and clients respond during effective enactments in family therapy sessions. The Family Therapy Enactment Rating Scale (FTERS) was developed by clinically trained investigators who observed 27 videotaped family therapy sessions and listed therapist interventions and client responses during four phases of enactments: pre-enactment preparation, initiation, facilitation, and closing commentary. Interrater reliabilities for the FTERS were calculated by training 6 undergraduate volunteers to rate independently a sample of 12 enactments. When reliabilities were found to be relatively low, a second study was conducted in which the FTERS was revised and reliabilities were calculated with a different sample of 21 videotaped enactments and a new group of 6 undergraduate raters. Reliability for the FTERS was found to be sufficiently robust to make this measure of therapist interventions and client responses a useful instrument for evaluating what takes place during enactments. Findings on the FTERS were used to offer tentative guidelines for effective initiation and facilitation of enactments in family therapy sessions.     

Development of a Swedish version of the adolescent coping orientation for problem experiences (A–Cope)

The objective was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Adolescent Coping Orientation for Problem Experiences (A-Cope) among Swedish adolescent girls. A sample of 590 13- and 15-year old girls participated. The original version of the A-Cope failed to demonstrate an adequate factor structure. A revised version was developed (A-Cope-S), consisting of 28 items forming 6 subscales with moderate to acceptable homogeneity. The findings suggest that the A-Cope-S is suitable for the study of coping among Swedish adolescent girls.     

Decisions Under Distress: Stress Profiles Influence Anchoring and Adjustment

ABSTRACT— People frequently make decisions under stress. Understanding how stress affects decision making is complicated by the fact that not all stress responses are created equal. Challenge states, for example, occur when individuals appraise a stressful situation as demanding, but believe they have the personal resources to cope, and are characterized by efficient cardiovascular reactivity and approach motivation. Threat states, in contrast, occur when situational demands are perceived to outweigh resources and are characterized by less efficient cardiovascular reactivity and withdrawal motivation. We randomly assigned participants to social-feedback conditions (i.e., positive or negative feedback) designed to engender challenge or threat, or a no-stress condition. Participants then completed an anchoring-and-adjustment questionnaire. Those assigned to the challenge condition adjusted more from self-generated anchors than those assigned to the threat condition. Cardiovascular responses mediated the relationship between condition and adjustment. This study demonstrates the importance of considering profiles of cardiovascular reactivity when examining the influence of stress on decision making.     

Scepticism and self-transformation in Nietzsche – on the uses and disadvantages of a comparison to Pyrrhonian scepticism

Scepticism is central to Nietzsche’s philosophical project, both as a tool of criticism and, through its role in self-transformation, as a tool for responding to criticism. While its importance in his thought and its complexity have been acknowledged, exactly what kind of scepticism Nietzsche calls for still stands in need of analysis. Jessica Berry’s [Nietzsche and the Ancient Skeptical Tradition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011] comparison between Nietzsche and Pyrrhonian scepticism recognized the importance of the practical dimension of Nietzschean scepticism but distorted Nietzsche’s philosophy in attempting to paint it as Pyrrhonian in character. Earlier discussions recognize Nietzsche’s opposition to Pyrrhonian suspension of judgement and tranquillity. They have not, however, explored in sufficient detail Nietzsche’s sceptical practice and how it affects the individual. In this article, I combine Berry’s emphasis on scepticism as a practice with attention to the important differences between Nietzsche and Pyrrhonism. I outline Nietzsche’s scepticism as a transformative practice, arguing that its differences from Pyrrhonian scepticism are as illuminating as any similarities. The scepticism that Nietzsche advocates involves not just destruction of our beliefs but destruction of who we are, and at the same time as cultivating the capacity to do without certainty, requires an experimental engagement with our drives – allowing the creation of new values.     

Moderating Effects of Mathematics Anxiety on the Effectiveness of Explicit Timing

Explicit timing is an empirically validated intervention to increase problem completion rates by exposing individuals to a stopwatch and explicitly telling them of the time limit for the assignment. Though explicit timing has proven to be effective for groups of students, some students may not respond well to explicit timing based on factors such as mathematics anxiety. The present study examined the effects of explicit timing on mathematics performance for 81 fourth and fifth graders with differing levels of mathematics anxiety. Students completed more digits correct during explicit timing as compared to baseline and control. Additionally, results indicated there was a significant linear relationship between mathematics anxiety and mathematics performance. Students with low and medium mathematics anxiety completed more digits correct with higher accuracy than students with high mathematics anxiety. Lastly, digits correct and accuracy remained consistent during baseline, control, and explicit timing when condition and anxiety level were both considered. Educational professionals must be cognizant not only of academic variables impacting students learning, but also mental health variables, such as mathematics anxiety, in order to provide a comprehensive treatment package capable of ameliorating academic difficulties.     

Levels of psychopathy and its correlates: a study of incarcerated youths in three states

We report the results of a study on psychopathy and its correlates among 203 youths incarcerated in residential commitment programs in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Delaware. Latent class analysis of the psychopathy data identified three classes of youths: low psychopathy, moderate psychopathy, and high psychopathy. Significant differences were found among the three groups in regard to their criminal thinking, delinquency, experience of stressful events, family relationships, and drug use. Conduct disordered, psychopathic youths were the most troubled among the youths studied.     

Promoting Self‐Advocacy Among Minority Students in School Counseling

This article presents self‐advocacy competencies developed to promote the academic, career, and personal/social success of minority students. The authors discuss challenges faced by minority students in today's educational environment and review principles of self‐advocacy. Competencies for developing self‐advocacy awareness, knowledge, and skills are discussed along with school counseling strategies for promoting self‐advocacy among minority students.     

An evaluation of the effects of response interruption redirection and matched stimulation on vocal stereotypy

Stereotypy is one of the core diagnostic features of autism spectrum disorder and warrants behavioral intervention when it negatively impacts the person's life. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of noncontingent matched stimulation (NCR‐M) compared with response interruption redirection (RIRD) on reducing levels of vocal stereotypy in the natural environment. Interventions were compared using an alternating treatments design followed by generalization and maintenance phases, which utilized lay people as instructors. Results showed that both RIRD and NCR‐M resulted in a reduction in vocal stereotypy for three out of four participants within an educational setting. An increase in appropriate vocalizations was found for two out of four participants for both interventions. These results suggest that both NCR‐M and RIRD were effective in reducing levels of vocal stereotypy, yet their effects on appropriate communication remain undetermined. Social validity scores were obtained following the study, which demonstrated that both interventions were met with approval across a variety of measures.