Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Social Anxiety Disorder: Predictors of Treatment Outcome in a Quasi-Naturalistic Setting

We examined the outcomes of individual cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for social anxiety disorder (SAD) in a sample of 93 adults seeking treatment in a university outpatient clinic specializing in CBT for SAD. Treatment followed the structure of a manual, but number of sessions varied according to client needs. After approximately 20 weeks of therapy, patients’ social anxiety had decreased and their quality of life had increased. Patients with more severe SAD or comorbid major depressive disorder (MDD) at pretreatment demonstrated higher levels of social anxiety averaged across pre- and posttreatment. However, clinician-rated severity of SAD, comorbid MDD, or comorbid generalized anxiety disorder did not predict treatment outcome. Higher pretreatment scores on measures of safety behaviors and cognitive distortions were associated with higher social anxiety averaged across pre- and posttreatment and predicted greater decreases from pre- to posttreatment on multiple social anxiety outcome measures. We found no predictors of change in quality of life. Those with high levels of safety behaviors and distorted cognitions may benefit more from CBT, perhaps due to its emphasis on targeting avoidance through exposure and changing distorted thinking patterns through cognitive restructuring methods. Our study lends support to the body of research suggesting that manualized CBT interventions can be applied flexibly in clinical settings with promising outcomes for patients over a relatively short course of therapy.     

Overlapping and Distinct Cognitive Impairments in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity and Autism Spectrum Disorder without Intellectual Disability

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are commonly comorbid, share genetic liability, and often exhibit overlapping cognitive impairments. Clarification of shared and distinct cognitive effects while considering comorbid symptoms across disorders has been lacking. In the current study, children ages 7–15 years assigned to three diagnostic groups:ADHD (n?=?509), ASD (n?=?97), and controls (n?=?301) completed measures spanning the cognitive domains of attention/arousal, working memory, set-shifting, inhibition, and response variability. Specific processes contributing to response variability were examined using a drift diffusion model, which separately quantified drift rate (i.e., efficiency of information processing), boundary separation (i.e., speed-accuracy trade-offs), and non-decision time. Children with ADHD and ASD were impaired on attention/arousal, processing speed, working memory, and response inhibition, but did not differ from controls on measures of delayed reward discounting, set-shifting, or interference control. Overall, impairments in the ASD group were not attributable to ADHD symptoms using either continuous symptom measures or latent categorical grouping approaches. Similarly, impairments in the ADHD group were not attributable to ASD symptoms. When specific RT parameters were considered, children with ADHD and ASD shared impairments in drift rate. However, children with ASD were uniquely characterized by a wider boundary separation. Findings suggest a combination of overlapping and unique patterns of cognitive impairment for children with ASD as compared to those with ADHD, particularly when the processes underlying reaction time measures are considered separately.     

Creativity through Connectedness: The Role of Closeness and Perspective Taking in Group Creativity

Achievements in various fields of creativity are resulting more and more from collaborative teams. This research investigated the role of interpersonal process variables, namely closeness and perspective taking in group creativity, with a 2 by 2 experimental design. Sixty-one 3-person groups assigned to 4 conditions (a: closeness and perspective taking, b: perspective taking, c: no closeness and no perspective taking, d: closeness). Group members collaboratively wrote stories that were rated by 3 independent expert judges. There was a positive main effect of closeness and negative main effect of perspective taking on group creativity scores. Moreover, the significant interaction between perspective taking and closeness displayed that combination of closeness with perspective taking negatively affect group creativity. These results indicate that closeness might be beneficial for group creativity only when it is not accompanied with perspective taking.     

Differenzialdiagnose schizoaffektive Störung versus bipolare Störung

This case presentation describes a 22-year-old woman after an episode of psychotic mania. Manic-psychotic and depressive episodes, partially with psychotic symptoms, and different diagnoses have been documented for the past 5 years, raising the question of the differential diagnosis between bipolar disorder and schizoaffective disorder. Depending on the classification (ICD-10 versus DSM-5), schizoaffective disorder is defined differently. According to ICD-10, schizoaffective episodes can be diagnosed when affective and schizophrenic symptoms occur simultaneously. In a different approach, DSM-V requires psychotic symptoms in the absence of major mood episodes for at least 2 weeks in the course of the disorder.     

Contemporaneous and 1-year longitudinal prediction of children's prosocial behavior from sympathy and moral motivation

The authors investigated the contemporaneous and longitudinal relations of children's (M age = 6.4 years) prosocial behavior to sympathy and moral motivation. Mothers and kindergarten teachers rated children's prosocial behavior. The authors measured sympathy via self- and adult reports. Moral motivation was assessed by children's attribution of emotions to hypothetical victimizers and self-as-victimizers and by moral reasoning after rule violations. Mother-rated prosocial behavior was contemporaneously and longitudinally related to sympathy. Moral motivation moderated the relation of sympathy to mother-rated prosocial behavior. Furthermore, boys' level of mother-rated prosocial behavior increased with level of moral motivation, whereas girls were high in mother-rated prosocial behavior, regardless of their level of moral motivation. Sympathy contemporaneously predicted kindergarten teacher-rated prosocial behavior.     

Postnatal Depression and Infant Health Practices Among High-Risk Women

Women’s postnatal depressive symptoms have been associated with many adverse outcomes for children. The current study examined the frequency association with relative risk between postnatal depressive symptoms and mothers’ use of preventative infant health practices. The study used the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and Parental Health and Depression Questionnaire (PHDQ) to identify women’s depressive symptoms in a prospective longitudinal sample of 134 high-risk non-white mothers receiving well-baby health services. Unadjusted frequency comparisons examined the effect of women’s postnatal depressive symptoms on infant outcomes. Results found that compared to 60 women without postnatal depressive symptoms, 74 women with symptoms engaged in significantly fewer well-child health-visits, were less likely to use home safety devices or place their infants in the preferred back-to-sleep position, and did not complete immunizations. Depressed women were also more likely to lack knowledge of nurturing and sensitive parenting, use corporal punishment and inappropriate foods, and to show poor parenting practices. These findings provide additional supportive evidence that more efforts are needed to identify and assess women’s depressive symptoms to promote health and safety of young children. Methodological limitations and recommendations for future research are addressed.     

Mix me a list: Context moderates the truth effect and the mere-exposure effect

When participants are repeatedly presented with an unfamiliar stimulus, this stimulus is rated as more likable (mere-exposure effect) or more valid (truth effect) as compared with a similar non-repeated stimulus. Both effects have been discussed as effects of fluency. Typical research designs on these effects involve a test phase in which ratings of both repeated and non-repeated stimuli are required. Based on research on moderators of fluency effects, we propose that the procedure of assessing the effects with mixed lists of repeated and non-repeated stimuli contributes strongly to the emergence of both effects. Two experiments found that the truth effect and the mere-exposure effect were strongly moderated by whether mixed lists or only repeated items were used at the test phase: whereas strong effects occurred in a context of repeated and non-repeated stimuli, the effects vanished with only repeated stimuli. Methodological and theoretical implications are discussed.     

“I’m Just Trying to Find my Way Like Most Kids”: Bisexuality, Adolescence and the Drama of One Tree Hill

This essay offers a narrative reading of the representation of bisexuality on One Tree Hill by examining the character Anna Tagaro. Grounding this reading in observations about bisexuality, media representation and adolescent identity formation processes, the essay exposes Anna’s representation as both a viable coming out story for an adolescent audience and a systematic erasure of bisexuality as a valid social identity. The displacement of political activism with friend and ally Peyton creates a representation that functions both as liberating and constraining simultaneously. Moreover, Anna’s inclusion as the only Latina character in an all white, all heterosexual cast offers an intersectional representation of race and sexual identity. This conflict between progress and constraint in the representation of youth identity choices offers scholars ample data for future studies in teen television and sexuality.     

Review of Instruments Assessing Parenting Competencies used in Child Custody Evaluations

The following instruments of parenting capacity that are currently used in child custody evaluations are reviewed: The Ackerman–Schoendorf Scales for Parent Evaluation of Custody (ASPECT), the Bricklin Perceptual Scales and Perception of Relationships Test, the Child Abuse Potential Inventory, the Parent–Child Relationship Inventory, and the Parenting Stress Index. Each instrument is described, as well as research on the measure's norms, reliability, validity, and generalizability. The measures are discussed with regard to their approach in assessing parental effectiveness and principles of test construction.