Secondary prevention interventions for young drug users: a systematic review of the evidence

This paper reviews the international scientific evidence on the effectiveness of secondary prevention interventions for young drug users. The review provides insight into the effectiveness of interventions that have been evaluated using moderately strong research designs. Most of the studies included are from the United States of America. Some interventions are effective in reducing drug use and associated problems while others have no or mixed effect. Those successful in reducing drug use include behavior therapy, Minnesota 12-step programs, residential care, and general drug treatment. Those with either no effect or mixed effect include schools interventions. Involving parents and other agencies may enhance an intervention's effect. There is a lack of good quality studies outside the USA. Future interventions should focus on either low- or high-risk groups of young drug users. Future research should be conducted on a wider range of services for young people and include non-medical outcomes such as communication skills, schooling, employment, family relations, and economic costs.     

Characteristics of auditory agnosia in a child with severe traumatic brain injury: a case report

We present a case that is unusual in many respects from other documented incidences of auditory agnosia, including the mechanism of injury, age of the individual, and location of neurological insult. The clinical presentation is one of disturbance in the perception of spoken language, music, pitch, emotional prosody, and temporal auditory processing in the absence of significant deficits in the comprehension of written language, expressive language production, or peripheral auditory function. Furthermore, the patient demonstrates relatively preserved function in other aspects of audition such as sound localization, voice recognition, and perception of animal noises and environmental sounds. This case study demonstrates that auditory agnosia is possible following traumatic brain injury in a child, and illustrates the necessity of assessment with a wide variety of auditory stimuli to fully characterize auditory agnosia in a single individual.     

A Multitrait–Multisource Confirmatory Factor Analytic Approach to the Construct Validity of ADHD and ODD Rating Scales with Malaysian Children

Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to model a multitrait by multisource matrix to determine the convergent and discriminant validity of measures of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-inattention (IN), ADHD-hyperactivity/impulsivity (HI), and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) in 917 Malaysian elementary school children. The three trait factors were ADHD-IN, ADHD-HI, and ODD. The two source factors were parents and teachers. Similar to earlier studies with Australian and Brazilian children, the parent and teacher measures failed to show convergent and discriminant validity with Malaysian children. The study outlines the implications of such strong source effects in ADHD-IN, ADHD-HI, and ODD measures for the use of such parent and teacher scales to study the symptom dimensions.     

Psychometric evaluation of the restructured clinical scales of the MMPI-2

Conceptual overlap and heterogeneity have long been noted as weaknesses of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory's clinical scales. Restructured clinical (RC) scales recently were developed to address these concerns (A. Tellegen et al., 2003). The authors evaluated the psychometric properties of the RC scales in psychology clinic clients (N=285) and military veterans (N=567). The RC scales were as internally consistent as the clinical scales and correlated strongly with their original counterparts (except for RC3/Hysteria). They also were less intercorrelated, produced conceptually clearer relations with measures of personality and psychopathology, and yielded somewhat greater incremental utility than the clinical scales. Thus, the RC scales demonstrated several psychometric strengths while utilizing 60% fewer items, but the 2 sets of scales cannot be used interchangeably. Interpretive considerations are discussed.     

Assessment of the hypochondriasis domain: the multidimensional inventory of hypochondriacal traits (MIHT)

Although hypochondriasis is associated with the costly use of unnecessary medical resources, this mental health problem remains largely neglected. A lack of clear conceptual models and valid measures has impeded accurate assessment and hindered progress. The Multidimensional Inventory of Hypochondriacal Traits (MIHT) addresses these deficiencies with scales that correspond to a 4-factor model. The MIHT was built with construct validity as a guiding principle and began with an item pool that broadly assessed dimensions identified in the literature. The items were administered to large samples; factor analyses of the responses led to item pool revisions and scale refinements. Multiple studies validated the final MIHT scales and 4-factor model; these findings suggest that the MIHT will contribute to theory and research.     

Empirical and conceptual problems with longitudinal trait-state models: introducing a trait-state-occasion model

The latent trait-state-error model (TSE) and the latent state-trait model with autoregression (LST-AR) represent creative structural equation methods for examining the longitudinal structure of psychological constructs. Application of these models has been somewhat limited by empirical or conceptual problems. In the present study, Monte Carlo analysis revealed that TSE models tend to generate improper solutions when N is too small, when waves are too few, and when occasion factor stability is either too large or too small. Mathematical analysis of the LST-AR model revealed its limitation to constructs that become more highly auto-correlated over time. The trait-state-occasion model has fewer empirical problems than does the TSE model and is more broadly applicable than is the LST-AR model.     

Assessment and treatment of adult acute responses to traumatic stress following mass traumatic events

Assessment and treatment of acute responses to traumatic stress has received much attention since September 11, 2001. This article elucidates principles of early intervention with adults in the immediate (within 48 hours) and early recovery phase (within the first week). The principles have been drawn from research on risk and recover factors, stress and traumatic stress theory, and expert consensus recommendations. The debriefing model is discussed, and principle interventions of psychological first aid, pharmacology, and mass trauma systems are described. This article concludes with brief guidelines for longer-term interventions and recommendations for future research.     

Intuition and autism: a possible role for Von Economo neurons

Von Economo neurons (VENs) are a recently evolved cell type which may be involved in the fast intuitive assessment of complex situations. As such, they could be part of the circuitry supporting human social networks. We propose that the VENs relay an output of fronto-insular and anterior cingulate cortex to the parts of frontal and temporal cortex associated with theory-of-mind, where fast intuitions are melded with slower, deliberative judgments. The VENs emerge mainly after birth and increase in number until age 4 yrs. We propose that in autism spectrum disorders the VENs fail to develop normally, and that this failure might be partially responsible for the associated social disabilities that result from faulty intuition.