An innovative cognitive strategy to assist problem gamblers

The clinical and research literature suggests that cognitive and behavioural therapies are particularly helpful in assisting clients overcome problem gambling behaviour. Several articles have described the efficacy of a range of cognitive interventions, especially provision of information regarding rates of return and the odds of games and the exploration of irrational beliefs and myths and misconceptions regarding gambling activity. This paper describes in detail an innovative cognitive strategy which focuses on problem gambling clients' financial status. The strategy incorporates the use of illustrations, generally using a whiteboard, to highlight how problem gambling behaviour negatively impacts on financial wealth over time. Step by step instructions are provided, together with illustrations, to allow clinicians to incorporate the strategy in treatment with their own clients.     

The Association of American Medical Colleges and the Association of Medical School Psychologists: Finding Psychology’s Place in Academic Medicine

This paper highlights the role of the Association of Medical School Psychologists (AMSP) as a bridge between academic medicine and psychology. AMSP’s affiliation with Division 12 of the American Psychological Association is discussed, but the primary focus is AMSP’s affiliation with the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and the AAMC’s Council of Academic Societies (CAS). The history, structure, activities, and goals of AAMC and CAS are examined. AMSP’s affiliation with AAMC is important for psychologists in medical schools and academic medical centers, and for psychology in general, because AAMC is the major voice of academic medicine in the US. AAMC activities affect medical education at all levels, as well as research and health services at academic medical centers, and health care policy at the national level. AMSP’s dual affiliation with AAMC’s CAS and APA’s Society of Clinical Psychology will increase psychology’s visibility and influence in academic medical centers and enhance the two-way flow of ideas and information between academic medicine and psychology.     

Proceedings of the American Psychological Association for the legislative year 2007: minutes of the annual meeting of the Council of Representatives and minutes of the meetings of the Board of Directors

Provides the minutes of the Annual Meeting of the Council of Representatives February 16-18, 2007, Washington, DC, and August 9 and 13, 2007, San Francisco, CA, and minutes of the February, June, August, and December 2007 meetings of the Board of Directors. These minutes are the official record of the actions of the American Psychological Association taken during the year by both the Board of Directors (the Board) and the Council of Representatives (Council). The main topical headings are I. Minutes of Meetings; II. Elections, Awards, Membership, and Human Resources; III. Ethics; IV. Board of Directors; V. Divisions and State, Provincial, and Territorial Psychological Associations; VI. Organization of the APA; VII. Publications and Communications; VIII. Convention Affairs; IX. Educational Affairs; X. Professional Affairs; XI. Scientific Affairs; XII. Public Interest; XIII. Ethnic Minority Affairs; XIV. International Affairs; XV. Central Office; and XVI. Financial Affairs.     

Inequity in Hindu–Muslim Riots: A Test of Two Biases1

During the past 50 years, substantially more Muslims than Hindus have died in riots in India. This study examined and found support for 2 possible individual‐level reasons that are consistent with this disproportionate number of deaths. First, Hindus, compared to Muslims, considered historical incidents to be more important for contemporary Hindu–Muslim relations. Second, Hindus showed an ultimate group bias in that they generally valued Hindu lives more than Muslim lives, whereas Muslims showed no difference in the valuation of Hindu and Muslim lives. Together, these results are consistent with an equity notion that Hindus consider as relevant input factors both historical incidents and perceptions that in‐group members’ lives are more valuable than are out‐group members’ lives.     

Appetitive memory reconsolidation depends upon NMDA receptor-mediated neurotransmission

Memory persistence is a dynamic process involving the reconsolidation of memories after their reactivation. Reconsolidation impairments have been demonstrated for many types of memories in rats, and signaling at N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors appears often to be a critical pharmacological mechanism. Here we investigated the reconsolidation of appetitive pavlovian memories reinforced by natural rewards. In male Lister Hooded rats, systemic administration of the NMDA receptor antagonist (+)-5-methyl-10,11-dihydro-SH-dibenzo{a,d}cyclohepten-5,10-imine maleate (MK-801, 0.1 mg/kg i.p.) either before or immediately following a brief memory reactivation session abolished the subsequent acquisition of a new instrumental response with sucrose conditioned reinforcement. However, only when injected prior to memory reactivation was MK-801 effective in disrupting the maintenance of a previously-acquired instrumental response with conditioned reinforcement. These results demonstrate that NMDA receptor-mediated signaling is required for appetitive pavlovian memory reconsolidation.     

Psychologists in Academic Health Centers and Medical Centers: Being Visible,Relevant and Integral

Psychologists play key roles in academic health centers. This article is an outgrowth of a presentation at the 2015 Conference of the Association of Psychologists in Academic Health Centers addressing various strategies by which psychologists can effectively adapt to and develop successful careers in medical schools, academic health centers, and teaching hospitals. The authors encourage early career and mid-career psychologists in academic health centers to be active, engaged members of their institutions and to participate in multiple aspects of the research, educational, and clinical missions.     

All in My Head: Beckett,Schizophrenia and the Self

This article will explore the representation of certain mental and somatic phenomena in Beckett’s trilogy of novels Molloy, Malone Dies and The Unnamable, exploring how his understanding of schizophrenia and psychosis informs his representation of the relationship between mind and body. It will also examine recent phenomenological and philosophical accounts of schizophrenia (Louis Sass, Josef Parnas, Shaun Gallagher) that see the condition as a disorder of selfhood and concentrate in it on the disruption to ipseity, a fundamental and pre-reflective awareness of self that leads to a loss of ‘grip’ (in the term of Merleau-Ponty) on concepts and percepts. Beckett’s writing might, it is argued, make such disruptions more tangible and intelligible. The article will also consider John Campbell’s argument that immunity of the first person to error—Sydney Shoemaker’s foundational philosophical idea that we cannot misspeak the first person pronoun—is revoked in states of psychosis, and relate such states to the moments in Beckett’s writing where this immunity is challenged, and quasi-psychotic experiences represented.     

Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory Correlates with Personality Characteristics of Organ Donation Advocates

Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) and background questionnaire data were collected from a sample of men and women organ donation advocates (N = 362) as part of a national study to investigate their personality characteristics, temperaments, and attitudes about organ donation advocacy. Goals included identifying unique traits for advocates, and response consistency between the TCI and questionnaire. The TCI results included high scores on Cooperativeness and Self-Directedness, and low on Harm Avoidance dimensions. The questionnaire results indicated that most advocates were White, married, college-educated females, who typically spent less than 2 hr with potential donor families, were satisfied with life and job, and believed they would be in a donation position 2 years from the time surveyed. TCI and questionnaire measures were correlated for Self-Transcendence and Spirituality, Helpfulness and Job Satisfaction, and Compassion and Identification variables.     

Children's behavioral styles at age 3 are linked to their adult personality traits at age 26

We observed 1,000 3-year-old children who exhibited five temperament types: Undercontrolled, Inhibited, Confident, Reserved, and Well-adjusted. Twenty-three years later, we reexamined 96% of the children as adults, using multiple methods of comprehensive personality assessment, including both self- and informant-reports. These longitudinal data provide the longest and strongest evidence to date that children's early-emerging behavioral styles can foretell their characteristic behaviors, thoughts, and feelings as adults, pointing to the foundations of the human personality in the early years of life.     

Lesions of orbitofrontal cortex and basolateral amygdala complex disrupt acquisition of odor-guided discriminations and reversals

Recent work indicates that both orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and the basolateral complex of the amygdala (ABL) are involved in processes by which cues are associated with predicted outcomes. To examine the respective roles of these structures in discrimination learning, rats with bilateral sham or neurotoxic lesions of either OFC or ABL were trained on a series of four 2-odor discrimination problems in a thirst-motivated go, no-go task. After acquisition of the series of odor problems, the rats were trained on serial reversals of the final odor problem. Performance on each problem was assessed by monitoring accuracy of choice behavior, and also by measuring latency to respond for fluid outcomes after odor sampling. During discrimination learning, rats in both lesioned groups had similar deficits, failing to show normal changes in response latency during learning, while at the same time exhibiting normal choice behavior relative to controls. Choice behavior was affected only during the reversal phase of training, in which OFC and ABL lesions produced distinctive deficits. Rats with ABL lesions were impaired on the first reversal (S1−/S2+), but were unimpaired at acquiring a reversal back to the original odor-outcome contigencies (S1+/S2−), whereas rats with OFC lesions were impaired on both types of reversals. These findings suggest that OFC and ABL serve partially overlapping roles in the use of incentive information that supports normal discrimination performance.