Family therapy and outcome: Relationships between therapist and family styles

This study examined therapeutic outcome for a group of 175 clinic families divided into levels of family competence and style, and, later, into seven clinical groupings. The division into these groups was based on the level of rated Competence and Style determined by using the Beavers Systems Model. Therapists also rated their level of Openness/Sharing Strategy, Power Differential, and Partnership with the family at the third session. Results indicate that more competent families who fared well in therapy had therapists who formed a partnership, disclosed strategy, and employed a minimal power differential with the family. The most disturbed families, and those with a Centrifugal style, did better with therapists employing a high power differential and lower levels of openness and partnership. The study also presented the distribution of individual diagnoses by family groups. Implications for family therapists, including the value of family assessment, are provided.     

The role of blood pressure, cortisol, and prolactine among soldiers injured in the 1991–1993 war in Croatia

Ninety soldiers with at least three months of combat exposure—60 injured soldiers (30 with permanent disabling and 30 with nondisabling injuries), 30 noninjured soldiers and 30 healthy controls—were interviewed and investigated with physiological (Prolactine, Cortisol, BP, Hb) and psychological tests (MMPI), IES-15 (Impact of Event Scale), PTSS (Post-Traumatic Symptom Scale). Their was related injuries had a different effect on the physiological stress response of the soldiers as reflected in the levels of prolactine, cortisol, hemoglobin and blood pressure. In a report of personality characteristics of the same soldiers, we demonstrated that the experience of posttraumatic stress was not dependent upon physical injury, but rather on the psychological appraisal of the situation. The results of the present article confirm earlier findings that the relationship between physiological and psychological consequences of trauma are complex, and that the perception of an event and the social context within which the traumatized soldier exists is as important as the event itself. The physiological response to the trauma varied greatly among the soldiers regarding the psychosocial impact of the consequence of the injury. So the anticipation of future possible trauma among less severely wounded soldiers (expected to go back to war) was followed by pathological stress responses. Trauma seems to operate somewhat independently from the overt conscious appraisal of the situation and relationship between psychological, psychosocial, and physiological aspects are interrelated in a multifactorial way. An integrative approach is therefore of great importance in assessment as well as in treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Editorial Note This historical article is being published for the first time. It is based on the Ph.D. thesis of Dr. Harry A. Teitelbaum for which he was awarded a doctorate by the University of Maryland in College Park in 1936. The dissertation was stored prior to publication and was not rediscovered until 1997. Teitelbaum’s work was performed during the early days of the development of knowledge regarding the mechanisms that regulate endocrine function. The understanding of the broad capability of interactions among endocrine glands was evolving. It was a field that Teitelbaum contributed to for several years, many of which were spent in collaboration with Horsley Gantt in his laboratory at Johns Hopkins. Although some of the experimental strategies and some of the wording of the report seem quaint today, the contribution of Teitelbaum’s research was solid and highly relevant to questions being asked at the time.     

Co-morbidity of crying and feeding problems with sleeping problems in infancy: Concurrent and predictive associations

The co-morbidity of crying, feeding and sleeping problems at 5 months of age was investigated in a representative sample of 432 infants in South Germany. A crying, sleeping or feeding problem was reported in 32.7% of these infants by their parents and a further 14.6% had two or more of these problems. Little co-morbidity between crying and feeding problems was found. There were moderate to strong associations between crying and sleeping behaviours. Feeding problems showed little relationship to sleeping behaviour, but feeding type and frequency of feeds were related to night waking. Breastfed infants woke much more often at night. Crying and feeding problems at 5 months were poor predictors of sleeping behaviour at 20 or 56 months of age. Later sleeping behaviour was best predicted by infant sleeping behaviour. At 56 months, maternal distress due to sleeping and co-sleeping practices was predicted by maternal distress due to crying and feeding practices at 5 months of age. The predictions were significant but generally weak to modest in strength. Future studies on the consequences of crying or feeding problems should take into account patterns of co-morbidity. So-called ‘post-colicky’ sleep problems are not due to increased crying per se but rather appear to be the consequence of associated infant sleeping problems and parental caretaking patterns for dealing with night waking in infancy.     

The interaction between cohesive systems and dispersive systems: Creating the trigenerational therapeutic context

The author presents a model for research investigation and clinical use that deals with the interaction between cohesive and dispersive family of origin systems as reflected in marital and family interaction in nuclear families.From a paper presented at the tenth annual meeting of the American Family Therapy Association, June, 1988, Montreal, PQ, Canada.     

Intuition in family therapy: A short manual on post-modern witchcraft

Intuition is an important part of a mature clinician's work. Yet, it is a component of clinical work which is looked upon with suspicion, due in part to the Middle-Age's association between intuition and the work of witches. This paper describes a tenuous link between intuition, witches, and Carl Whitaker. Patterns for including intuition in family therapy are discussed.     

Vocal cues to deception: A comparative channel approach

The study investigated the leakage potential of different voice and speech cues using a cue isolation and masking design. Speech samples taken from an earlier experiment were used in which 15 female students of nursing dissimulated negative affect produced by an unpleasant movie or told the truth about positive affect following a pleasant movie. Several groups of judges rated these speech samples in five conditions: (1) forward or clear, (2) electronic filtering, (3) random splicing, (4) backwards, (5) pitch inversion, (6) tone-silence sequences. The results show that vocal cues do indeed carry leakage information and that, as reflected in the differences among the conditions masking different types of cues respectively, voice quality cues may be centrally implicated. In addition, gender differences in decoding ability are discussed.