Dialectical Behavior Therapy Techniques for Counseling Incarcerated Female Adolescents: A Case Illustration

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) may successfully address the needs of female juvenile offenders, but systemic barriers prohibit adherence to the full DBT protocol. The authors built a rationale for using select DBT techniques with female adolescent offenders and provided a case illustration.     

"Learning to live with what you can't rise above": control beliefs, symptom control, and adjustment to tinnitus.

The relations between 3 types of perceived control, symptom severity, and 2 adaptational outcomes, depressive symptoms and psychological well-being, were examined in a sample of 319 people with tinnitus. Consistent with previous studies of control and adjustment to chronic health conditions, general health and symptom control were associated with better psychological adjustment, and retrospective control was associated with worse psychological adjustment. Only symptom control emerged as a significant moderator in the symptom severity-adjustment relationship, such that stronger beliefs in one's ability to control symptoms were most strongly associated with better adjustment among those with more severe tinnitus symptoms. These findings were consistent with coping perspectives and cognitive adaptation theory and suggest that symptom-related perceptions of control may be an effective coping resource to nurture in chronic health contexts with severe symptoms.     

Exploring the Influence of Culture on Career Through the Career‐in‐Culture Interview

This study sought to understand how culture in general affects career development. Using an adapted version of the Career‐in‐Culture Interview (Ponterotto, Rivera, & Sueyoshi, 2000 ), the authors interviewed 14 adults from a variety of cultural backgrounds. Through a qualitative analysis of the interviews, themes were identified based on 4 of the interview questions and were reported based on occupations the participants were aware of while growing up, their cultural and ethnic backgrounds, religious/spiritual backgrounds, and family influence. These themes promote a developmental consideration of career‐related issues in counseling. The findings can help counselors better work with clients by focusing not just on the individual but also on cultural influences on career development.     

The acoustic bases of human voice identity processing in dogs

Animal Cognition - Speech carries identity-diagnostic acoustic cues that help individuals recognize each other during vocal–social interactions. In humans, fundamental frequency, formant...     

Unemployment experiences in context: A phenomenological study in two townships in South Africa

This study aimed to explore the unemployment experience of residents of a historically disadvantaged South African neighbourhood. Informants were twelve black community members (females?=?75%; age ranges: 20 to 29?=?58.3%, and 30 to 39?=?33.3%). Individual interviews were conducted with the participants. Thematic analysis of the data revealed that participants valued employment despite their present unemployment. They indicated that being unemployed is a painful experience, but that they also held an optimistic view of a future in which they would have employment. The findings further suggest that diminished social support by the community and public social welfare agencies aggravate negative experiences of unemployment. Employment support programmes are needed to connect the unemployed to job networks; as well as to empower those who are unemployed to fulfil their positive work participation expectations.     

Simultaneous perception of both interpretations of ambiguous figures

When viewing ambiguous figures like the classic duck/rabbit, people alternately perceive one interpretation and then the other, but not both interpretations at once. When two identical ambiguous figures appear together, the majority of observers perceive them as identical, and they typically alternate in unison. Just as most observers cannot see a single figure as both a duck and a rabbit, most cannot see one figure in a pair as a duck and the other as a rabbit even though the two figures and their features are spatially distinct. Is this inability to see both interpretations an inherent limitation of the visual system or is it just due to differences in top-down processing? We show that a simple prompt immediately allows people to see both interpretations, to their own surprise.     

Systematic Review of the Effects of Religion-Accommodative Psychotherapy for Depression and Anxiety

Integrating religion into psychotherapy may improve treatment for depression and anxiety. This review systematically examines clinical trials of religion-accommodative psychotherapy for depression or anxiety. Results indicate that integrating religion into psychotherapy does not lead to significantly more improvements in depression or anxiety than equivalent therapy without religious components. However, when compared with less stringent control groups, such as supportive psychotherapy, religion-accommodative therapy may be more effective, at least immediately post-treatment. Results from the 11 studies reviewed indicate that psychotherapy integrating religion is at least as effective for treating depression and anxiety as other forms of psychotherapy. Conclusions were limited by lack of power, comparable control groups, focus on anxiety, and treatment manuals.     

Age Differences and Similarities in Identity Distress Following the Katrina Disaster: Theoretical and Applied Implications of Erikson��s Theory

This study examined predictions from Erikson??s lifespan developmental theory in the context of severe disaster exposure. Relationships among traumatic stress exposure, age, identity distress, and posttraumatic stress (PTS) symptoms were explored among 401 individuals (age 18?C86, mean = 32.83, SD = 14.1 years) exposed to Hurricane Katrina. Traumatic exposure experiences were related to identity distress ratings, but results suggested that the association was a function of PTS symptoms. Identity distress was negatively correlated with age, but the association between identity distress and age was moderated by the level of PTS symptoms. Identity distress was associated with PTS symptoms even while controlling for general psychological symptoms. The utility of the identity distress construct and theoretical implications for identity research in the wake of disaster are discussed.     

Reelin supplementation enhances cognitive ability, synaptic plasticity, and dendritic spine density

Apolipoprotein receptors belong to an evolutionarily conserved surface receptor family that has intimate roles in the modulation of synaptic plasticity and is necessary for proper hippocampal-dependent memory formation. The known lipoprotein receptor ligand Reelin is important for normal synaptic plasticity, dendritic morphology, and cognitive function; however, the in vivo effect of enhanced Reelin signaling on cognitive function and synaptic plasticity in wild-type mice is unknown. The present studies test the hypothesis that in vivo enhancement of Reelin signaling can alter synaptic plasticity and ultimately influence processes of learning and memory. Purified recombinant Reelin was injected bilaterally into the ventricles of wild-type mice. We demonstrate that a single in vivo injection of Reelin increased activation of adaptor protein Disabled-1 and cAMP-response element binding protein after 15 min. These changes correlated with increased dendritic spine density, increased hippocampal CA1 long-term potentiation (LTP), and enhanced performance in associative and spatial learning and memory. The present study suggests that an acute elevation of in vivo Reelin can have long-term effects on synaptic function and cognitive ability in wild-type mice.