Stories for therapy: The right story to the right person at the right time

In the postmodern information era with its increasing complexity and demands on my time, I find storytelling increasingly attractive. The right story told to the right person(s) at the right time in the right way can powerfully define and shape both individuals and the systems into which they organize themselves. As interventions go, I find stories to be relatively high impact, low-risk, parsimonious, and user-friendly. This paper contains some of my favorite teaching stories and describes why and how I use them as both a family therapist and teacher of family therapy.     

“Not with me you don't”: A story of narrative practice and dissociative disorder

This paper discusses issues relating to therapeutic practice based upon the narrative metaphor. A case of someone suffering the effects of Dissociative Identity disorder is used to illustrate the difficulties that clients can experience with the “expert” knowledge conception of therapy. The value of the “respectful” and “non-expert” emphasis of Narrative Practice emerges even when the therapist believes that he or she lacks expertise in the client's apparent “condition.” Three themes emanating from the case form the basis for the discussion: the client's experience of being recruited into accepting the diagnostic label of Dissociative Identity Disorder; the effects of being forced to accept a contract to eliminate self-abusive behaviour; and the therapist's dealing with a gun in the therapy room.     

The ombudsman for research practice

We propose that institutions consider establishing a position of “Ombudsman for Research Practice”. This person would assume several roles: as asounding board to those needing confidential consultation about research issues — basic, applied or clinical; as afacilitator for those wishing to pursue a formal grievance process; and as aneducator to distribute guidelines and standards, to raise the consciousness regarding sloppy or irregular practices in order to prevent misconduct and to promote the responsible conduct of research. While there are compelling features to this position, many complex issues need to be considered and resolved. We invite readers to respond to questions we raise in the text.     

Ethics education in science and engineering: The case of animal research

Conclusion The past one hundred fifty years of debate over the use of animals in research and testing has been characterized mainly byad hominem attacks and on uncritical rejection of the other sides’ arguments. In the classroom, it is important to avoid repeating exercises in public relations and to demand sound scholarship. This paper is a modification of material originally included in the handbook which accompanied the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Seminar “Teaching Ethics in Science and Engineering”, 10–11 February 1993.     

Guidelines for training in the ethical conduct of scientific research

Historically, scientists in training have learned the rules of ethical conduct by the example of their advisors and other senior scientists and by practice. This paper is intended to serve as a guide for the beginning scientist to some fundamental principles of scientific research ethics. The paper focuses less on issues of outright dishonesty or fraud, and more on the positive aspects of ethical scientific behavior; in other words, what a scientist should do to maintain a high level of ethical conduct in research. There are a number of fairly specific rules, guidelines, or commonly accepted operating principles that have evolved for the ethical conduct of science. In order to discuss this code of ethics, this paper is divided into sections dealing with specific areas of scientific ethics. These areas are: data collection and storage, ownership of data, confidentiality, communication, authorship, collaboration, the peer review system, and rules of dealing with ethical complaints. Illustrative case histories are presented to provide examples of the type of ethical dispute or problem being discussed. If scientific trainees learn the accepted rules of behavior that govern the conduct of science, ethical problems that arise out of ignorance, misunderstanding, or poor communication can be avoided.     

Bit-plane layering for high-resolution EGA and VGA graphics on the IBM PC/XT/AT

Each page of video memory comprises four parallel planes that can be manipulated and displayed independently or in combination. A technique is described that involves programming the video hardware to achieve this. The utility of well-known video programming technology, such as the tachistoscope display, is thereby extended. Assembly language code is included, and a demonstration program is described.     

The comorbidities of adolescent problem behaviors: A latent class model

The correlations and comorbidities of a series of adolescent problem behaviors were studied in a sample of 739 New Zealand 15-year-olds. This analysis revealed the presence of strong comorbidities between different problem behaviors. The data were modeled using methods of unrestricted latent class analysis and this suggested that the best fitting model to describe the data was one which assumed that adolescent problem behaviors were described by four general classes of children. While the same general four-class model applied to males and females, there were marked gender differences in the rates of problems. Specifically, the predominant problem behaviors in females were those relating to an accelerated transition to adulthood marked by early sexual activity, alcohol abuse, and cannabis use whereas the predominant problems for boys were related to antisocial and law-breaking behaviors. Rates of children with no problems (85%) and with multiple problems (3%) were similar for boys and girls.This research was funded by grants from the Health Research Council of New Zealand, the Canterbury Medical Research Foundation, and the National Child Health Research Foundation.     

Impact of a prevention program on aggressive children's friendships and social adjustment

A group of 46 aggressive boys aged 8 to 9 years participated in a prevention program aimed at reducing their externalizing problems in the short term and at preventing delinquency in the long term. Outcome measures were collected during the 3-year period following the prevention program. At that time, the boys were 10, 11, and 12 years old. Outcome measures included teacher ratings of aggressiveness and self-reports of delinquent behaviors. The boys' friends were rated on disruptive behaviors by their classmates. The experimental boys' outcome measures were compared to the measures obtained from 58 aggressive boys in a control group. The disruptive ratings of the experimental and control subjects' best friends were also compared. Differences in teacher-rated aggressiveness between the two groups increased from one year to the next for the 3-year followup period. Similarly, the friends' disruptive scores differed increasingly between the two groups over the 3-year period. The effect of the prevention program on the subjects' friendships and the mediating impact of friends with regard to social adjustment were stressed.This study was funded by the following agencies: National Welfare Grants Program of the Canadian Ministry of Health and Welfare, Conseil Québécois de la Recherche Sociale, Conseil de la Santé et des Services Sociaux Régional du Montréal Métropolitain, Fondation Cité des Prairies, Fonds FCAR-Centre et Equipes, Institut de la Recherche en Psycho-Education de Montréal, Centre d'Accueil le Mainbourg. Lucie Bertrand, Rita Béland, Michel Bouillon, Raymond Labelle, Hélène O'Reilly, and Daniel Reclus-Prince supervised or administered the intervention.     

Relativistic hidden variable theories?

I show that for any quantum dynamics and any choice of observables as hidden variables an adequate hidden variable theory always exists. I argue that hidden variable theories have no more problems in reconciling non-locality with relativity than no-hidden-variable theories.