Therapists’ Responses to Religious/Spiritual Discussions with Trauma Versus Non-trauma Clients

This research explores therapists’ reactions to discussions of religion and spirituality in secular psychotherapy. We used a mixed method design including qualitative and quantitative components to examine data from 14 mental health professionals. Therapists acknowledged the importance of, and outlined reasons for, engaging in religious/spiritual discussions. They provided examples of the diverse ways in which their own views on religion/spirituality have an effect on their therapeutic work. Therapists view attention to religion/spirituality in trauma therapy as necessary. They see an emphasis on religion/spirituality within the treatment of traumatized clients as possessing distinctive qualities in comparison to their treatment of other populations.     

A Neuropsychological Model of Mentally Tough Behavior

Four studies were conducted with two primary objectives: (a) to conceptualize and measure mental toughness from a behavioral perspective and (b) to apply relevant personality theory to the examination of between‐person differences in mentally tough behavior. Studies 1 (N = 305 participants from a range of different sports) and 2 (N = 110 high‐level cricketers) focused on the development of an informant‐rated mental toughness questionnaire that assessed individual differences in ability to maintain or enhance performance under pressure from a wide range of stressors. Studies 3 (N = 214) and 4 (N = 196) examined the relationship between reinforcement sensitivities and mentally tough behavior in high‐level cricketers. The highest levels of mental toughness reported by coaches occurred when cricketers were sensitive to punishment and insensitive to reward. Study 4 suggested that such players are predisposed to identify threatening stimuli early, which gives them the best possible opportunity to prepare an effective response to the pressurized environments they encounter. The findings show that high‐level cricketers who are punishment sensitive, but not reward sensitive, detect threat early and can maintain goal‐directed behavior under pressure from a range of different stressors.     

Children’s effortful control and academic achievement: do relational peer victimization and classroom participation operate as mediators?

Given that early academic achievement is related to numerous developmental outcomes, understanding processes that promote early success in school is important. This study was designed to clarify how students’ (N = 291; M age in fall of kindergarten = 5.66 years, SD = 0.39 year) effortful control, relational peer victimization, and classroom participation relate to achievement, as students progress from kindergarten to first grade. Effortful control and achievement were assessed in kindergarten, classroom participation and relational peer victimization were assessed in the fall of first grade, and achievement was reassessed in the spring of first grade. Classroom participation, but not relational peer victimization, mediated relations between effortful control and first grade standardized and teacher-rated achievement, controlling for kindergarten achievement. Findings suggest that aspects of classroom participation, such as the ability to work independently, may be useful targets of intervention for enhancing academic achievement in young children.     

Associations Between Maternal Mental Health and Child Emotional and Behavioral Problems: Does Prenatal Mental Health Matter?

This study examined associations between elevated symptoms of prenatal depression or anxiety and offspring emotional and behavioral problems during mid to late childhood taking into account the impact of later maternal mental health symptoms. The sample consisted of 2,891 women and their children (49 % male) from a prospective, community-based study, the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Women completed measures of depressive (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale) and anxious (Crown Crisp Experiential Index) symptoms at regular intervals beginning in pregnancy. Mothers and teachers assessed offspring emotional and behavioral problems using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire when children were 10–11 years old. Multivariable regression models were fit to address study hypotheses. Exposure to elevated symptoms of maternal depression during pregnancy was associated with increased total offspring emotional and behavioral problems, even after controlling for later maternal mental health problems and a range of sociodemographic and psychosocial characteristics, according to mothers’ but not teachers’ reports. Similarly, children exposed to elevated symptoms of maternal anxiety during pregnancy were reported to have increased total emotional and behavioral problems by mothers but not by teachers. We found support for modest associations between elevated symptoms of maternal depression and anxiety during the prenatal period and certain domains of offspring emotional and behavioral problems in mid to late childhood above and beyond the impact of later maternal mental health problems. These findings highlight the need for additional clinical and research attention to the prenatal period and to both maternal depression and anxiety.     

Parental Depressive Symptoms and Adolescent Adjustment: A Prospective Test of an Explanatory Model for the Role of Marital Conflict

Despite calls for process-oriented models for child maladjustment due to heightened marital conflict in the context of parental depressive symptoms, few longitudinal tests of the mechanisms underlying these relations have been conducted. Addressing this gap, the present study examined multiple factors longitudinally that link parental depressive symptoms to adolescent adjustment problems, building on a conceptual model informed by emotional security theory (EST). Participants were from 320 families (158 boys, 162 girls), including mothers and fathers, who took part when their children were in kindergarten (T1), second (T2), seventh (T3), eighth (T4) and ninth (T5) grades. Parental depressive symptoms (T1) were related to changes in adolescents’ externalizing and internalizing symptoms (T5), as mediated by parents’ negative emotional expressiveness (T2), marital conflict (T3), and emotional insecurity (T4). Evidence was thus advanced for emotional insecurity as an explanatory process in the context of parental depressive symptoms.     

The Positive Influence of Creating a Holistic Facial Composite on Video Line‐up Identification

Witnesses to a crime may be asked to create a facial composite of the offender from memory. They may then view a suspect in a police line‐up. Previous research on this topic has found both recognition impairment and enhancement following composite construction. In Experiment 1, creator‐participants employed the holistic facial composite system system EFIT‐V or the feature‐based E‐FIT system to create a single composite, and in Experiment 2, creators constructed up to three EFIT‐Vs. In both experiments, facial composite creators were one‐and‐a‐half times more likely than non‐composite creating controls to make correct target identifications from a video line‐up. No between condition effects were found in target‐absent trials in Experiment 1. The development of holistic facial composite systems has enhanced suspect identification rates in police investigations, and these results suggest that the use of such a system can also have a positive influence on a composite‐creating witness' later recognition of the suspect. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Impact of a Digital Recorder Intervention in Pragmatic/Experiential Therapy for Couples: A Pilot Study to Assess Emotional Flooding

The present study explored the effectiveness of a unique intervention for couple therapy, the Canned Attitude Method (a technique developed by Brent Atkinson), which utilized a digital recorder in and between therapy sessions. Participant dyads were randomly assigned to the intervention group utilizing the digital recorders or the control group, in which Pragmatic/Experiential Therapy for Couples (Atkinson in J Syst Ther 17:18–35, 1998) was conducted without the use of digital recorders. Both the intervention and the control groups were composed of five couples each for a total of 20 participants. This study hypothesized that the use of the Canned Attitude Method in couple therapy would produce a significant change in marital satisfaction, emotional flooding, and positive psychological tendencies associated with intimate relationships. Findings approached significance, demonstrating decreases in the experience of emotional flooding, gains in relationship satisfaction, and a shift towards positive attributes within the couples’ relationships.     

„Rocken statt Ritzen“

Background

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) starts in adolescence and decreases during young adulthood. Despite a high prevalence among adolescents only a few therapeutic interventions directly addressing adolescents exist.

Aim

By connecting music therapy with elements from behavioral therapy an attempt was made to create a therapeutic program which is attractive to adolescents.

Material and methods

A pilot trial of the program “Stop cutting - rock!” was conducted with 12 adolescent females with a mean age of 15.15 years (standard deviation SD ±1.34). The study aimed to compare the frequency of NSSI throughout the treatment phase as well as a pre-post comparison of depression scores.

Results

The results showed a trend towards a decreasing frequency of NSSI. Depression scores decreased significantly between the assessment before therapy and at a 3-month follow-up after the end of the therapy.

Conclusion

The positive feedback concerning music therapeutic elements points to the attractiveness of the approach. By integrating multimodal therapeutic strategies it seems possible to create an individually tailored intervention for adolescents with NSSI.     

Development of Mathematical Knowledge in Young Children: Attentional Skill and the Use of Inversion

The principle of inversion, that a + b ? b must equal a, is a fundamental property of arithmetic, but many children fail to apply it in symbolic contexts through 10 years of age. We explore three hypotheses relating to the use of inversion that stem from a model proposed by Siegler and Araya (2005 Siegler , R. S. , &; Araya , R. ( 2005 ). A computational model of conscious and unconscious strategy discovery . In R. V. Kail (Ed.), Advances in child development and behavior (pp. 1 – 42 ). New York , NY : Elsevier .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). Hypothesis 1 is that greater calculational skill is related to greater use of inversion. Hypothesis 2 is that greater attentional skill is related to greater use of inversion. Hypothesis 3 is that the relation between attentional skill and the use of inversion is particularly strong among children with high skill in calculation. We found suggestive evidence for Hypothesis 2 and clear evidence for Hypothesis 3, indicating that for children who are strong at calculation, attentional flexibility is related to use of inversion.     

Existential psychotherapy and the therapeutics of activism*

This paper considers the socio-political perspectives of Sartre, de Beauvoir and Fanon and their relationship to existential psychotherapy practice. It argues that their existential analyses of oppression must play a greater part in informing existential psychotherapeutic practice and pedagogy. In this current neo-liberal political age, in which therapy is increasingly being utilised as a form of psychological coercion and mystification, an understanding of the structures and systems of alienation and oppression that construct experience must translate to a broadening therapeutic concern beyond individual to social change. The author suggests that engaging with a politics of alienation and actively responding to the oppressive social conditions which generate distress and marginalisation should be intrinsic to existential psychotherapy practitioners and their representing institutions.