A Participant-Observer's Perspective on Psychotherapy Integration

Jacobson has raised a number of issues about the usefulness of psychotherapy integration. Some of his concerns stem from his doubt that people are capable of change, and some that appear to be the result of a misinterpretation of what constitutes psychotherapy integration. This article attempts to clarify some of these misunderstandings, which seem to be the result of equating psychotherapy integration with the integration of theories. Comments are also made about the research underpinings related to work in this area.     

A comparison of “traditional” and “atypical” workers: Demographic,behavioral, and attitudinal differences

Differences among full-time (n=1066), part-time (n=132), and moonlighting employees (n=153) in a variety of occupations were examined. Moonlighters as compared to full-timers were younger, more frequently male, perceived less educational fit with their main jobs, and were primary wage earners. Full-timers as compared to part-timers were more frequently male, married, and primary wage earners. Part-timers had the greatest turnover, but no differences were detected for other withdrawal behaviors. Part-timers were more satisified with working conditions but were less satisfied with extrinsic rewards and life in general. Moonlighters expressed a stronger work ethic and placed less importance on working conditions.A version of this paper was presented at the 1991 Meetings of the Southwest Division of the Academy of Management in Houston, TX.     

REDUCTION OF SELF-INJURIOUS HAND MOUTHING USING RESPONSE BLOCKING

We evaluated a response-blocking procedure for reducing the self-injurious hand mouthing of 2 adults with profound disabilities. The procedure reduced mouthing in both cases. The results suggest research is warranted to delineate the behavioral process responsible for the effect of response blocking and to determine the procedure's long-term utility.     

The impact of training in sexual counselling for drugs workers upon HIV related risk behaviours and attitudes among injecting drug users

Forty-five drug-using clients attending two drug services at a London hospital were interviewed before and after a training programme on sexual counselling delivered to staff working at the two units. Following staff training, clients reported increased interaction during counselling with staff on sexual issues. Results indicated that drug use and injecting behaviours were unaflected by the stag training and that changes in sexual behaviour were modest. Attitudinal changes were more substantial with more positive attitudes emerging to limiting the number of sexual partners and towards the use of condoms. The value of observed attitudinal changes and the importance of decision-making processes of clients for harm minimization are discussed     

The effects of processing requirements on neurophysiological responses to spoken sentences

Ten English speaking subjects listened to sentences that varied in sentential constraint (i.e., the degree to which the context of a sentence predicts the final word of that sentence) and event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during the presentation of the final word of each sentence. In the Control condition subjects merely listened to the sentences. In the Orthographic processing condition subjects merely listened to the sentences. In the Orthographic processing condition subjects decided, following each sentence, whether a given letter had been present in the final word of the preceding sentence. In the Phonological processing condition the subjects judged whether a given speech sound was contained in the terminal word. In the Semantic processing condition subjects determined whether the final word was a member of a given semantic category. A previous finding in the visual modality that the N400 component was larger in amplitude for low constraint sentence terminations than for high was extended to the auditory modality. It was also found that the amplitude of a N200-like response was similarly responsive to contextual constraint. The hypothesis that N400 amplitude would vary significantly with the depth of processing of the terminal word was not supported by the data. The "N200" recorded in this language processing context showed the classic frontocentral distribution of the N200. The N400 to spoken sentences had a central/centroparietal distribution similar to the N400 in visual modality experiments. It is suggested that the N400 obtained in these sentence contexts reflects an automatic semantic processing of words that occurs even when semantic analysis is not required to complete a given task. The cooccurrence and topographical dissimilarity of the "N200" and N400 suggest that the N400 may not be a delayed or a generic N200.     

Worksite stress management interventions

Despite the general agreement that stress plays a role in everyday life, there continues to be substantial controversy about how stress can be managed at the worksite. During the last decade, our knowledge of stress management interventions has increased substantially. Despite this improvement, deficiencies in the literature exist. In this article, we offer a framework that may be used for viewing organizational stress interventions, briefly review some of the stress management intervention literature in the context of this framework, and identify future needs that may be particularly appropriate for organizational psychologists to address.     

Variations on the vertical jump: individual adaptations to changing task demands

Here we explored the coordination of joint behaviors exhibited during the vertical jump and variations of that jump. By manipulating the take-off angle, we required an adjustment to changing task demands. It was hypothesized that kinematic features of the jump would change but that spatiotemporal relationships essential to propulsion would remain invariant across all conditions. To test this hypothesis, six adult male subjects performed jumps at six different take-off angles. An analysis of cinematographic data revealed that individual subjects changed the sequence and timing of lower-extremity joint reversals. In contrast, the covariation of joint behaviors during the propulsive phase and the timing of maximum intersegmental extension velocities were extremely stable within each individual across changes in task. We argue that the flexibility to alter sequence and timing is part of a strategy that permits adaptation to the context and facilitates a continued coordination among variables associated with propulsion.     

Noncontingent reinforcement for the treatment of severe problem behavior: An analysis of 27 consecutive applications

Noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) is a commonly used treatment for severe problem behavior displayed by individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The current study sought to extend the literature by reporting outcomes achieved with 27 consecutive applications of NCR as the primary treatment for severe problem behavior. All applications of NCR were included regardless of treatment outcome to minimize selection bias favoring successful cases. Participants ranged in age from 5 to 33 years. We analyzed the results across behavioral function and with regard to the use of functional versus alternative reinforcers. NCR effectively treated problem behavior maintained by social reinforcement in 14 of 15 applications, using either the functional reinforcer or alternative reinforcers. When we implemented NCR to treat problem behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement, we often had to add other treatment components to produce clinically significant effects (five of nine applications). Results provide information on the effectiveness and limitations of NCR as treatment for severe problem behavior.     

Comparing the CASI-4R and the PGBI-10 M for Differentiating Bipolar Spectrum Disorders from Other Outpatient Diagnoses in Youth

We compared 2 rating scales with different manic symptom items on diagnostic accuracy for detecting pediatric bipolar spectrum disorder (BPSDs) in outpatient mental health clinics. Participants were 681 parents/guardians of eligible children (465 male, mean age = 9.34) who completed the Parent General Behavior Inventory-10-item Mania (PGBI-10 M) and mania subscale of the Child and Adolescent Symptom Inventory-Revised (CASI-4R). Diagnoses were based on KSADS interviews with parent and youth. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses and diagnostic likelihood ratios (DLRs) determined discriminative validity and provided clinical utility, respectively. Logistic regressions tested for incremental validity in the CASI-4R mania subscale and PGBI-10 M in predicting youth BPSD status above and beyond demographic and common diagnostic comorbidities. Both CASI-4R and PGBI-10 M scales significantly distinguished BPSD (N = 160) from other disorders (CASI-4R: Area under curve (AUC) = .80, p < 0.0005; PGBI-10 M: AUC = 0.79, p < 0.0005) even though scale items differed. Both scales performed equally well in differentiating BPSDs (Venkatraman test p > 0.05). Diagnostic likelihood ratios indicated low scores on either scale (CASI: 0–5; PGBI-10 M: 0–6) cut BPSD odds to 1/5 of those with high scores (CASI DLR- = 0.17; PGBI-10 M DLR- = 0.18). High scores on either scale (CASI: 14+; PGBI-10 M: 20+) increased BPSD odds about fourfold (CASI DLR+ = 4.53; PGBI-10 M DLR+ = 3.97). Logistic regressions indicated the CASI-4R mania subscale and PGBI-10 M each provided incremental validity in predicting youth BPSD status. The CASI-4R is at least as valid as the PGBI-10 M to help identify BPSDs, and can be considered as part of an assessment battery to screen for pediatric BPSDs.