Differentiating anxiety and depression: the State-Trait Anxiety-Depression Inventory

ABSTRACT

The differentiation of trait anxiety and depression in nonclinical and clinical populations is addressed. Following the tripartite model, it is assumed that anxiety and depression share a large portion of negative affectivity (NA), but differ with respect to bodily hyperarousal (specific to anxiety) and anhedonia (lack of positive affect; specific to depression). In contrast to the tripartite model, NA is subdivided into worry (characteristic for anxiety) and dysthymia (characteristic for depression), which leads to a four-variable model of anxiety and depression encompassing emotionality, worry, dysthymia, and anhedonia. Item-level confirmatory factor analyses and latent class cluster analysis based on a large nation-wide representative German sample (N?=?3150) substantiate the construct validity of the model. Further evidence concerning convergent and discriminant validity with respect to related constructs is obtained in two smaller nonclinical and clinical samples. Factors influencing the association between components of anxiety and depression are discussed.     

Theorietreue und Variationen

Interventional techniques can be integrated into inpatient group psychotherapy. Our approach is not meant to be a wild eclecticism but an empirically founded interventional repertoire that contains psychoanalytical, depth psychological, behavioral and hypnotic therapeutic interventions. A “uniform solution” for an integrative therapy is not possible. A tension between theory conformity and variations remains inherent to psychotherapy for a multitude of reasons. An interventional repertoire is illustrated by case examples which use operationalized psychodynamic diagnostics (OPD). The results must be appraised within the time frame of inpatient treatment. The conception in guideline psychotherapy that the individual approaches cannot be mixed because they would lose their effectiveness, does not correspond to our experiences. The chances and risks of switching interventions must be considered.     

A central performance drop with luminance stimuli requiring spatial integration

This study reports four experiments that analyzed detection performance for luminance contrasts as a function of retinal eccentricity in order to find further support and explanations for the central performance drop (CPD) in the fovea. In the first experiment, 10 participants (16-37 years of age) had to detect a target patch in a stimulus consisting of bright and dark pixels. Luminance differences between target and context areas were achieved by placing a different number of bright (and dark) pixels in the target and the context area. Results showed a marked CPD; that is, performance did not peak in the fovea but in the parafovea. A spatial integration hypothesis was proposed to explain this CPD. Alternative explanations were tested in three further experiments with a total of 28 participants from 19-46 years of age (using the decision criterion effect, the selective masking effect, and inhibition by high frequencies). The findings did not contradict the spatial-integration hypothesis.     

A RESPONSE TO CARL HELRICH: THE LIMITATIONS AND PROMISE OF QUANTUM THEORY

Abstract. I respond to Carl Helrich's criticism of my proposition that the emergence of complex order in the universe is from Virtual State Actualization (VSA). The question is discussed as to whether quantum theory is able to afford any kind of quantum ontology or whether it merely allows an epistemological view. I point out that, even though many contradictory interpretations of quantum theory are currently possible, the concept of VSA is based on molecular properties that are so simple and factual that they are beyond interpretation. Helrich's appeal for caution in proceeding from physical reality to Divine Reality is wholeheartedly supported and a detailed discussion is given.     

A RESPONSE TO STANLEY KLEIN: A DIALOGUE ON THE RELEVANCE OF QUANTUM THEORY TO RELIGION

Abstract. I respond to Stanley Klein's critique of my essay “Quantum Reality, the Emergence of Complex Order from Virtual States, and the Importance of Consciousness in the Universe,” arguing in support of the necessity to derive a quantum perspective of evolution rather than adhering to an essentially classical view. In response to Klein's criticism of my concept of a cosmic morality, the origins of that concept are traced back to Zeno of Citium. I wholeheartedly embrace Klein's suggestion that the new science inspires views of the human condition that can help us make the world a better place.     

QUANTUM REALITY,THE EMERGENCE OF COMPLEX ORDER FROM VIRTUAL STATES,AND THE IMPORTANCE OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN THE UNIVERSE

Abstract. I review some characteristic aspects of quantum reality and make the connection to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's vision and a generally new quantum perspective of biological evolution. The quantum phenomena make it possible to conclude that the basis of the material world is nonmaterial; that the nature of reality is that of an indivisible wholeness; and that elementary particles possess aspects of consciousness in a rudimentary way. The quantum perspective of evolution makes it possible to conclude that the emergence of complex order in the biosphere is not from nothing (ex nihilo) but by the actualization of virtual quantum states—that is, by actualizing empty states which are part of the mathematical structure of material systems, representing a logical order that is not real in a material sense but, predetermined by system conditions, has the potential to become real in quantum jumps. I show how the existence of virtual states makes it possible to suggest that a transcendent reality underlies the visible order of the world and is immanent to it; and constantly new forms evolve from it.     

Spatial dependence of color assimilation by the watercolor effect

Color assimilation with bichromatic contours was quantified for spatial extents ranging from von Bezold-type color assimilation to the watercolor effect. The magnitude and direction of assimilative hue change was measured as a function of the width of a rectangular stimulus. Assimilation was quantified by hue cancellation. Large hue shifts were required to null the color of stimuli < or = 9.3 min of arc in width, with an exponential decrease for stimuli increasing up to 7.4 deg. When stimuli were viewed through an achromatizing lens, the magnitude of the assimilation effect was reduced for narrow stimuli, but not for wide ones. These results demonstrate that chromatic aberration may account, in part, for color assimilation over small, but not large, surface areas.     

Scintillating lustre and brightness induced by radial lines

Gray disks inserted into the central gaps of an Ehrenstein pattern appear to lighten up and scintillate with each movement of the eye or stimulus pattern. We call this phenomenon scintillating lustre. Both phenomena-illusory brightness and scintillating lustre-depend on the presence of the radial inducing lines converging onto the gaps. Without the radii the gray disks appear matte. Using parametric stimulus variation, we show that the strength of scintillating lustre covaries with line-induced brightness enhancement when the length, width, number, and contrast of the radial lines, as well as the size of the gaps in the Ehrenstein figure, are varied. Following the proposal by Anstis (2000, Vision Research 40 2551-2556), we suggest that lustre results from a competition between the ON and OFF visual pathways. Whereas Helmholtz's binocular gloss is elicited by stereoscopically fused incremental and decremental stimuli, the present study demonstrates that lustre can also arise from the interaction between line-induced brightness (illusory increment) and a dark gray disk (physical decrement).