Beard's concept of neurasthenia and Freud's concept of the actual neuroses

Beard's concept of neurasthenia and Freud's concept of the actual neuroses are described and evaluated critically. Despite differences in the content of their theories, especially in the role of sexual factors and sexual mechanisms, there are important formal and logical similarities. Both Beard and Freud incorrectly identified the causes of the neuroses being studied; both used inadequate methods of assessing the strengths of the causal factors; and the central theoretical concepts of both were equally vacuous. Freud adopted the same method of study as did Beard, but does not seem to have been influenced directly by him.     

Fibromyalgia: Predicting openness to counselling referrals

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic pain condition that can negatively impact on all aspects of patients’ lives. The purpose of this study was: first, to explore the biopsychosocial factors that may contribute to adjustment to FM symptoms; second, to investigate how referrals to counselling related to patients’ ratings of their relationship with their physicians; and, last, to examine if self-reports of illness distress, emotional problems, and practical problems can predict who will be open to counselling referrals. For this cross-sectional study, data from 190 people were collected through an online survey. Statistical analysis revealed that emotional problems reported were the best predictor of variance in illness distress and contentment scores. Further, results indicated that referrals made in accord with patients’ perceptions that they would benefit from counselling may have a positive influence on how patients rate their relationships with their physicians. Finally, self-reported scores of illness distress, number of emotional problems, and number of practical problems accurately predicted who would be open to counselling referrals in 67% of cases. Research results provide support for addressing emotional issues to facilitate adjustment to FM symptoms, and for use of psychosocial measures to determine when patients with FM will be open to counselling referrals.     

A comparison of two methods for the administration of paradoxical intention

Recent research in the treatment of insomnia by paradoxical intention has utilized two different methods of instruction. Studies utilizing the random assignment of subjects to treatment groups employ a procedure in which clients are provided with a straight-forward explanation based on the present authors' understanding of the use of paradoxical intention with insomnia (type A administration). In contrast, controlled case studies have employed reframing, a procedure which explains the need for the paradoxical intention in a manner which best suits the specific understanding of the individual client (type B administration). The present study employed the type B method in a design employing the random assignment of clients to groups. Three additional groups (type A administration, placebo control, no-treatment control) completed the design. The results indicated that the type A method was superior to the type B procedure when the same method for administering paradoxical intention was applied to a randomized group of individuals.     

Pathways to competence: parental adversity and the roles of parenting quality and social support

The authors studied a representative Canadian cohort from the National Longitudinal Study of Children and Youth at 3 points in time, when the participants were aged 10-11 years (n = 2,147), 12-13 years (n = 1,976), and 14-15 years (n = 1,762). The presence of parent-related adversity appeared detrimental to young people's emotional and behavioral competence. Parents' self-reports of adversity predicted children's self-reports of their own behavioral functioning 2 years later. The authors identified parenting quality and social support as independent resource variables for young people's competence, rather than protective variables in the face of parent-related adversity. Latent variable path analyses suggested the increasing value of both resource variables over time for all young people.     

Influence of chronic corticosterone and glucocorticoid receptor antagonism in the amygdala on fear conditioning

Glucocorticoid receptor activation within the basolateral amygdala (BLA) during fear conditioning may mediate enhancement in rats chronically exposed to stress levels of corticosterone. Male Sprague-Dawley rats received corticosterone (400 microg/ml) in their drinking water (days 1-21), a manipulation that was previously shown to cause hippocampal CA3 dendritic retraction. Subsequently, rats were adapted to the fear conditioning chamber (day 22), then trained (day 23), and tested for conditioned fear to context and tone (day 25). Training consisted of two tone (20s) and footshock (500 ms, 0.25 mA) pairings. In Experiment 1, muscimol (4.4 nmol/0.5 microl/side), a GABAergic agonist, was microinfused to temporarily inactivate the BLA during training. Rats given chronic corticosterone showed enhanced freezing to context, but not tone, compared to vehicle-supplemented rats. Moreover, BLA inactivation impaired contextual and tone conditioning, regardless of corticosterone treatment. In Experiment 2, RU486 (0, 0.3, and 3.0 ng/0.2 microl/side) was infused on training day to antagonize glucocorticoid receptors in the BLA. Corticosterone treatment enhanced fear conditioning to context and tone when analyzed together, but not separately. Moreover, RU486 (3.0 ng/side) selectively exacerbated freezing to context in chronic corticosterone-exposed rats only, but failed to alter tone conditioning. Serum corticosterone levels were negatively correlated with contextual, not tone, conditioning. Altogether, these suggest that chronic corticosterone influences fear conditioning differently than chronic stress as shown previously. Moreover, chronic exposure to corticosteroids alters BLA functioning in a non-linear fashion and that contextual conditioning is influenced more than tone conditioning by chronic corticosterone and BLA glucocorticoid receptor stimulation.     

Measures of sensitivity based on a single hit rate and false alarm rate: the accuracy, precision, and robustness of d', Az, and A'

Signal detection theory offers several indexes of sensitivity (d', Az, and A') that are appropriate for two-choice discrimination when data consist of one hit rate and one false alarm rate per condition. These measures require simplifying assumptions about how target and lure evidence is distributed. We examine three statistical properties of these indexes: accuracy (good agreement between the parameter and the sampling distribution mean), precision (small variance of the sampling distribution), and robustness (small influence of violated assumptions on accuracy). We draw several conclusions from the results. First, a variety of parameters (sample size, degree of discriminability, and magnitude of hits and false alarms) influence statistical bias in these indexes. Comparing conditions that differ in these parameters entails discrepancies that can be reduced by increasing N. Second, unequal variance of the evidence distributions produces significant bias that cannot be reduced by increasing N-a serious drawback to the use of these sensitivity indexes when variance is unknown. Finally, their relative statistical performances suggest that Az is preferable to A'.     

The relationship between spirituality and depressive symptom severity,psychosocial functioning impairment,and quality of life: examining the impact of age,gender, and ethnic differences

Research has documented the contribution of spirituality on overall health and mental health among college students. However, very few studies have explored the impact of cultural and ethnic differences on the effect of spirituality on mental health outcomes in this population. The aims of this study were to examine the relationships among spirituality, depressive symptom severity, psychosocial functioning impairment, and quality of life in a large multi-ethnic sample of college students and explore the impact of age, gender, and ethnicity on these relationships. The sample consisted of Latino, African-American, Caucasian, and Caribbean/West Indian college students. Findings indicated that spirituality, believing in God's presence, age, gender, and ethnicity were significantly related to depressive symptoms. These factors were also associated with impairment in psychosocial functioning and quality of life related to depression.