A comparison of two psychological treatments for bulimia nervosa

Two standardized psychological treatments for bulimia nervosa were studied. A cognitive behavioural approach was compared with a form of short-term focal psychotherapy. Twenty-four patients who met strict diagnostic criteria for bulimia nervosa were randomly allocated to the two treatments. All the interviews were tape-recorded so that checks on their content could be made. Assessments took place at the beginning and end of treatment, and at 4-, 8- and 12-month follow-up. None of the patients dropped out of treatment or follow-up, but 1 patient from each treatment group had to be withdrawn on clinical grounds. Patients in both groups made substantial improvements which were well maintained over the 12-month treatment-free follow-up period. The cognitive behavioural approach was superior to short-term focal psychotherapy in terms of its effect on the patients' overall clinical state, their general psychopathology and social adjustment, and their assessment of their outcome.     

Affect intensity and the appraisal of emotion

The present study investigated the association between a personality trait known as affect intensity and the perceived qualities of emotions. Subjects completed the Affect Intensity Measure (AIM), and they rated the phenomenological qualities and causal dimensions of previous emotional experiences involving happiness, pride, anxiety, and hate. The results showed that high and low scorers on the AIM reported different perceptions of certain qualities of the emotional event, independent of the emotion's valence; subjects with high scores on the AIM rated their emotions as higher in intensity, frequency, and vividness of recall. In contrast, further analyses revealed little relation between AIM scores and causal dimension ratings of the emotions. However, within-subject analyses indicated that the emotions did differ in their perceived causes, thus supporting predictions from Weiner's attributional model of emotion. The results are discussed in terms of the need for a complex approach to the study of emotion which incorporates intersubject and intrasubject differences.     

An empirical investigation of psychopathy in a noninstitutionalized and noncriminal sample

This study examined the construct of psychopathy using the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) in 54 participants from the general population. To obtain a sample of community participants with psychopathic characteristics, participants were recruited using advertisements for a "personality study" that incorporated the characteristics of psychopathy in a nonpejorative manner. The methodology successfully recruited community participants with moderately elevated PCL-R scores. Participants exhibited the personality features of psychopathy (Factor 1) to a greater extent than the behavioral features (Factor 2), which is consistent with the results obtained with the PCL-R normative samples. Roughly 40% of the sample reported no history of involvement with the criminal justice system, yet these participants exhibited moderately elevated PCL-R scores. Moreover, a sizeable portion of the noncriminal participants reported a substantial history of violent behavior. Comparisons of PCL-R scores between participants with and without a criminal history suggest that these two groups differ in ways unrelated to criminal justice system involvement.     

Perfectionism,social problem-solving ability,and psychological distress

The present research examined the relation between dimensions of perfectionism and self-appraised problem-solving behaviors and attitudes. Specifically, in two separate studies, we tested the hypothesis that socially prescribed perfectionism (i.e., the perception that others demand perfection from the self) is associated with poorer social problem-solving ability. In addition, measures of psychological adjustment were included in Study 2 so that we could (1) examine whether socially prescribed perfectionism and poorer problem-solving ability were still associated after removing variance associated with psychological distress; and (2) compare depression and anxiety in terms of their respective associations with social problem-solving ability. Correlational analyses of the data from both studies confirmed that socially prescribed perfectionism is associated with more negative self-perceptions of problem-solving orientation, and that the link between socially prescribed perfectionism and negative perceptions of problem-solving orientation remains present after removing variance due to levels of negative affectivity. Both depression and anxiety were associated with a negative problem-solving orientation, but only depression was associated with more negative appraisals of actual problem-solving skills. The results suggest that perceived exposure to imposed standards of perfection undermines the problem-solving process and that individuals with high levels of socially prescribed perfectionism are particularly in need of counseling interventions designed to provide a more positive problem-solving orientation.This research was supported by grants #410-91-0856 and #410-93-1256 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1994 annual meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association in Providence, Rhode Island. The authors wish to thank Shawn Mosher for his assistance with the data collection.     

A comparison of short-term memory tests as predictors of reading achievement for learning-disabled and educable mentally retarded students

Poor performance' on short-term memory (STM) tasks has been associated with reading difficulties. However, little research has been devoted to delineating the STM tests that best predict this relationship. To gain insight into the relative efficacy of different STM tests to predict reading achievement, nine measures of STM frequently used by school psychologists were examined with a group of learning-disabled (n = 48) and educable mentally retarded (n = 34) students. The factor structure underlying the STM tasks was also investigated. The results indicated that not all of the STM tasks were significant (p < .05) predictors of reading. Stepwise regression analyses indicated that a sentence memory task was the best predictor for the learning-disabled students, whereas a letter sequences task was the best predictor of reading for the educable students. Factor analysis indicated that a language factor (auditory/verbal) and a non-verbal factor (visual/spatial) were the major components underlying performance on the STM measures. These findings were discussed in the context of the prediction of reading as a function of diagnostic group and the task structure of the STM tests.     

Perfectionism, life events, and depressive symptoms: A test of a diathesis-stress model

The present research tested the hypothesis that perfectionists who experience stress are vulnerable to depression, in part because negative life events represent a failure to maintain control over negative outcomes. In Study 1, 215 subjects completed the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS) and control measures. The MPS assesses self-oriented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed perfectionism. It was confirmed that self-oriented and other-oriented perfectionism were associated with both higher desire for control and greater perceived personal control. Study 2 examined whether trait levels of perfectionism moderate the link between life stress and symptoms of depression. In addition, prospective analyses investigated whether perfectionism accounts for changes in levels of depressive symptomatology over time. Two samples comprised of 374 students (Sample 1) and 173 students (Sample 2) completed the MPS and measures of major life stress and depression symptoms. Subjects in Sample 2 completed these measures at two timepoints separated by a three-month interval. Regression analyses indicated that self-oriented perfectionism and life stress interact significantly to produce higher levels of depressive symptomatology. Moreover, in Sample 2, self-oriented perfectionism at Time 1 was associated with increases in depression symptoms three months later for those individuals who had experienced a major life event. The results provide support for diathesis-stress models, which maintain that perfectionists exposed to life stress are vulnerable to symptoms of depression. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for the study of personality, stress, and vulnerability to symptoms of depression. This research was supported by grants #410-89-0335, #410-91-8056, and #410-93-1256 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada awarded to the authors.     

The assessment of competency for execution: An overview

Competency for execution is a legal competency that is an integral part of the capital punishment process in the United States. With the rapidly increasing population under death sentence, the issue of competency for execution is likely to be raised with increasing frequency in the coming years. This creates some compelling ethical issues for the mental health professions. The questions of whether mental health professionals should provide assessment of competency for execution and, if so, how the assessment should be performed, are issues of immediate urgency.     

Sarah Lucia Hoagland's Lesbian Ethics: Toward New Value And Ablemindism

Sarah Hoagland suggests that through developing the method of “attending” and the ethics of “autokoenony,” individual integrity and agency will result. While acknowledging the utility of these ideals for many lesbians and wimmin, 1 argue that Hoagland's thesis is, regrettably, not universally applicable.