Thinking about psychoanalytic curricula: an epistemological perspective

The author discusses the role that curriculum development can play in preparing psychoanalytic candidates to understand the challenges created by theoretical pluralism in our field and by the growth of knowledge in neighboring disciplines. Curriculum design can be used to encourage the development of epistemological perspectives that can serve as organizing frameworks to help candidates think critically about psychoanalytic knowledge. It is possible to teach these complex matters in a way that students find accessible and useful. The author presents exemplars taken from the curriculum at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research in New York.     

Group versus individual cognitive-behavioural treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder: a controlled trial

The efficacy of group cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has received relatively little research attention compared with the large number of studies that have investigated individual CBT. The current study is the first controlled study to compare an identical CBT protocol, containing both cognitive and behavioural elements, delivered either individually or in a group. Participants were randomly assigned to either 10 weeks of individual CBT, 10 weeks of group CBT or a 10 week wait-list. Participants with significant rates of secondary comorbidity were included in the study to enhance the generalisability of results. Intention-to-treat and completer analyses were carried out and indicated no differences between the group and individual treatments on outcome measures. Large effect sizes were found for both conditions. Analysis of clinically significant change indicated that the individual treatment was associated with a more rapid response but that both treatments had equivalent rates of recovered participants by brief follow-up. The importance of further investigations of the efficacy of group CBT for OCD is discussed.     

The Influence of Headteachers' Backgrounds,Experiences and Beliefs on their Perceptions of the Nature of Children's Spirituality

The purpose of this article is to examine headteachers' perceptions of a range of issues relating to pupils' spiritual development as revealed in a survey undertaken in schools in 1998 and 2000. In particular, it seeks to examine their views regarding three major issues: (1) the meaning of the term spiritual development; (2) the areas of school life which contribute to pupils' spirituality; and (3) who should have responsibility for promoting spiritual development. A preliminary study of headteachers' perceptions of these issues was conducted in three education authorities in 1998 and documented in the International Journal of Children's Spirituality (Davies, 1998). The present study has increased the database to include headteachers from three additional authorities and has further analysed the results to take into account factors in headteachers' backgrounds which might influence their perceptions in this area.     

Information giving and involvement in treatment decisions: Is more really better? Psychological effects and relation with adherence

Objectives : The aim of this study is to improve our understanding of the ways in which a medical consultation style relates to satisfaction and adherence.

Design : Participants completed questionnaires about preferred and perceived consultation styles; psychological variables such as satisfaction, anxiety and depression; and questions about taking medication. Questionnaires were completed prior to the consultation, immediately after, three months later and one year later. Doctors also completed a scale on completion of the consultation. The decisions in question related to women seeking advice about Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) and decisions about pain management.

Results : Patients expressed preferences for information about the treatment options and for active involvement in the decision process. The extent to which patients perceived themselves as having received information about the treatment options was a particularly consistent predictor of satisfaction. The extent to which patients perceived themselves as having been prepared for the side effects of HRT was a consistent predictor of anxiety.

Conclusions : Perceptions of the amount of information received about medical options, including information preparing individuals for potential side effects of medication, appears to be more important to satisfaction and anxiety, than actual involvement in the decision.     

Relating inter-individual differences in metacognitive performance on different perceptual tasks

Human behavior depends on the ability to effectively introspect about our performance. For simple perceptual decisions, this introspective or metacognitive ability varies substantially across individuals and is correlated with the structure of focal areas in prefrontal cortex. This raises the possibility that the ability to introspect about different perceptual decisions might be mediated by a common cognitive process. To test this hypothesis, we examined whether inter-individual differences in metacognitive ability were correlated across two different perceptual tasks where individuals made judgments about different and unrelated visual stimulus properties. We found that inter-individual differences were strongly correlated between the two tasks for metacognitive ability but not objective performance. Such stability of an individual’s metacognitive ability across different perceptual tasks indicates a general mechanism supporting metacognition independent of the specific task.     

Together, slowly but surely: the role of social interaction and feedback on the build-up of benefit in collective decision-making

That objective reference is necessary for formation of reliable beliefs about the external world is almost axiomatic. However, Condorcet (1785) suggested that purely subjective information--if shared and combined via social interaction--is enough for accurate understanding of the external world. We asked if social interaction and objective reference contribute differently to the formation and build-up of collective perceptual beliefs. In three experiments, dyads made individual and collective perceptual decisions in a two-interval, forced-choice, visual search task. In Experiment 1, participants negotiated their collective decisions with each other verbally and received feedback about accuracy at the end of each trial. In Experiment 2, feedback was not given. In Experiment 3, communication was not allowed but feedback was provided. Social interaction (Experiments 1 and 2 vs. 3) resulted in a significant collective benefit in perceptual decisions. When feedback was not available a collective benefit was not initially obtained but emerged through practice to the extent that in the second half of the experiments, collective benefits obtained with (Experiment 1) and without (Experiment 2) feedback were robust and statistically indistinguishable. Taken together, this work demonstrates that social interaction was necessary for build-up of reliable collaborative benefit, whereas objective reference only accelerated the process but--given enough opportunity for practice--was not necessary for building up successful cooperation.     

"I want to be a daddy!": meanings of masculine identifications in girls

This paper suggests revisions in our understanding of feminine identity formation, the girl's negative oedipus complex, and masculine identifications in girls. Analytic material from the cases of three girls is used to explore the various origins and intrapsychic functions of masculine identifications at each phase of the girl's development. Accounts of feminine development based on such concepts as castration shock, primary femininity, primary identification with mother, or core gender identity are seen as oversimplified. Feminine and masculine identifications are neither primary nor secondary, but the product of a long line of development, of ongoing conflict resolution, and of defensive transformations.     

Counselling in colleges of education

Information on the form and functioning of student welfare services in colleges of education is reported from evidence supplied by college principals, by counsellors, and by student bodies reporting through their union presidents. The personal tutor system is ubiquitous, but is supplemented in two-fifths of the colleges by full-time and/or part-time 'trained' counsellors.¹ Where the personal tutor system operates alone, a modest degree of effectiveness can be claimed in dealing with academic and vocational problems, but little success in identifying and resolving the more personal problems of students. Various inferences are drawn for the further development of counselling services in colleges of education.