Ethics for Mental Health Influencers: MFTs as Public Social Media Personalities

The increase in social media usage contributes to a greater number of Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs) using social media to grow their professional outreach and to increase awareness about mental health by engaging with online audiences. Although existing literature has discussed how MFTs can make ethical use of personal social media in and around their therapeutic role, no literature at this time has explored the potential ethical issues faced by MFTs seeking to build public presence on social media as a “mental health influencer.” The present paper intends to provide a definition of mental health influencers (MHIs) and reviews ethical concerns relevant to MFTs acting as MHIs. Particular consideration is given to ethical dilemmas and conflicts-of-interest which may emerge via parasocial relationships developed through social media influencing, as well as how the boundaries and the limitations of an MFT’s professional scope can be tested when presenting as a personable, public figure over digital platforms. A framework for conceptualizing ethical issues for MHI-MFTs is offered, with a selection of prescient issues being examined within the scope of existing ethical standards set forth by the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy’s (AAMFT) Code of Ethics. Reflections are offered about what questions and guidelines should be observed by MFTs in order to avoid unethical use of social media as an MHI, followed by a brief discussion about future considerations which should be considered by MHIs.

     

Contrast, component duration, and the following schedule of reinforcement

Experiment 1 investigated component duration in a four-component multiple schedule designed to separate the effects of the preceding schedule of reinforcement from those of the following schedule of reinforcement. The preceding schedule in the preceding component had no consistent effect regardless of component duration. The following schedule was a powerful determinant of behavior, however, with higher response rates resulting from a following period of extinction. Moreover, the effect of the following schedule was greater with short component durations, which strongly suggests that component-duration effects previously found with multiple schedules are due generally to variation in the degree of control by the following schedule. Experiments 2--4 investigated the basis of the effects of the following schedule. In some situations differential responding in the following component was the controlling variable, but in others it was differential reinforcement in the following component. The results are consistent with the view that response rate during a stimulus is inversely related to the "value" of the following component, where the calculation of value must include both primary and conditioned reinforcement.     

Personal Factors Related to Typicalness of Career and Success in Active Professional Women

Eighty women from the field? of medicine and law, in careers ranging from very atypical to very traditional for women, were compared on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (Vocabulary and Block Design subtests), Bern Sex-Role Inventory, Atkinson's measure of achievement motivation, and a childhood experiences questionnaire developed in conjunction with the study. Subjects in atypical, relative to those in typical careers were found to score higher 011 cognitive measures, psychological masculinity, and, in law, achievement motivation. Childhood experiences of women in atypical careers included: more traditionally masculine play patterns, greater unhappiness during adolescence, and less coercion by parents to fit a traditionally feminine stereotype.     

Maternal depression and early positive parenting predict future conduct problems in young children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at risk for adverse outcomes such as substance abuse and criminality, particularly if they develop conduct problems. Little is known about early predictors of the developmental course of conduct problems among children with ADHD, however. Parental psychopathology and parenting were assessed in 108 children who first met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.) criteria for ADHD at 4-7 years old. When demographic variables and baseline ADHD and conduct problems were controlled, maternal depression predicted conduct problems 2-8 years following the initial assessment, whereas positive parenting during the structured parent- child interaction task predicted fewer future conduct problems. These findings suggest that maternal depression is a risk factor, whereas early positive parenting is a protective factor, for the developmental course of conduct problems among children with ADHD.     

Self-control relies on glucose as a limited energy source: willpower is more than a metaphor

The present work suggests that self-control relies on glucose as a limited energy source. Laboratory tests of self-control (i.e., the Stroop task, thought suppression, emotion regulation, attention control) and of social behaviors (i.e., helping behavior, coping with thoughts of death, stifling prejudice during an interracial interaction) showed that (a) acts of self-control reduced blood glucose levels, (b) low levels of blood glucose after an initial self-control task predicted poor performance on a subsequent self-control task, and (c) initial acts of self-control impaired performance on subsequent self-control tasks, but consuming a glucose drink eliminated these impairments. Self-control requires a certain amount of glucose to operate unimpaired. A single act of self-control causes glucose to drop below optimal levels, thereby impairing subsequent attempts at self-control.     

Short-term predictive effects of the looming cognitive style on anxiety disorder symptoms under restrictive methodological conditions

The looming cognitive style (LCS), an overarching cognitive vulnerability for anxiety syndromes, pertains to a tendency to construct dynamic expectations (mental scenarios, images) of negative events as progressively increasing in danger and rapidly escalating in risk. This study tested the hypothesis that the LCS has functions as a cognitive antecedent and moderator for even short-term changes over a brief time interval in anxiety syndromes (worry, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms, social anxiety, general anxiety) under restrictive methodological conditions. These included: (a) a one-week interval during which very little changes in anxiety were observed, and (b) controlling for participants' depression and intolerance of uncertainty. As hypothesized by our model, the looming cognitive style predicted short-term changes in worry and OCD symptoms over the week interval, and tended to predict changes in social (audience) anxiety. This style also functioned as a moderator and predicted changes in OCD symptoms among participants already high on this anxiety outcome. Intolerance of uncertainty predicted changes in social (audience) anxiety but not changes in OCD symptoms or worry. These findings support the looming vulnerability theory of anxiety, and encourage further attention into the possible role of the LCS as a cognitive antecedent and moderator of changes in a spectrum of anxiety syndromes.     

On the dynamic information underlying visual anticipation skill

What information underwrites visual anticipation skill in dynamic sport situations? We examined this question on the premise that the optical information used for anticipation resides in the dynamic motion structures, or modes, that are inherent in the observed kinematic patterns. In Experiment 1, we analyzed whole-body movements involved in tennis shots to different directions and distances by means of principal component analysis. The shots differed in the few modes that captured most of the variance, especially as a function of shot direction. In Experiments 2 and 3, skilled and less skilled tennis players were asked to anticipate the direction of simulated shots on the basis of kinematic patterns in which only the constituent dynamic structures were manipulated. The results indicated that players predicted shot direction by picking up the information contained in multiple low-dimensional dynamic modes, suggesting that anticipation skill in tennis entails the extraction of this dynamic information from high-dimensional displays.     

Investigating models of affect: relationships among EEG alpha asymmetry, depression, and anxiety

The approach-withdrawal and valence-arousal models both predict that depressive and anxious profiles will be associated with relatively reduced left frontal and increased right frontal activity respectively, while the valence-arousal model also proposes a dissociation by lower and higher right parietotemporal activity, respectively. Recent work further suggests that subtypes of anxiety disorders may be characterized by distinctive patterns of activity depending on their type of arousal (anxious arousal/apprehension). The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships among nonclinical depression/anxiety and lateralized frontal/parietotemporal activity by categorizing participants (N=428) on the basis of both negative mood and alpha EEG. Key findings include: (i) greater right frontal lateralization in anxious participants, symmetrical frontal activity in depressed/comorbid, and left frontal lateralization in healthy controls; (ii) right frontal lateralization in anxious arousal participants, left frontal and right parietotemporal lateralization in anxious apprehension; (iii) bilateral increase in frontal and increased right parietotemporal activity in depressed/comorbid participants. Findings support predictions for frontal but not posterior regions. Grouping on the basis of EEG may not be reciprocally predictive of negative mood groupings, suggesting involvement of additional factors.