Structural family therapy with Mexican-American family systems

Characteristics of traditional Mexican-American families with consequent family rules that affect these family systems are discussed along with selected clinical cases. The specific cases discussed involve: (1) interactions with family of origin in intercultural marriages, (2) intracultural differences in levels of acculturation and traditional family rules, and (3) extended family impact in response to severe life crisis. The development of therapeutic processes from structural and strategic family therapy approaches, which reflect appreciation for cultural differences and strengths, is suggested.This material was presented at the annual meeting of the Texas Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, January, 1994, San Antonio, TX.     

Training the supervisor: Integrating a family of origin approach

The replication of intergenerational patterns is considered here within the supervisor-family therapist-and family system, and the proposal of integrating a family of origin approach into the training of supervisors is presented. To become aware of the relation of one's own family of origin issues and their potential impact within the supervision and treatment can effectively improve intervention approaches, benefitting the supervisor, the therapist and the family in treatment. Being considerate of the training needs and levels of supervisors is an important component when integrating family of origin work into the training.     

“Operationalism” in psychotherapy: A possible means of putting a sorry state of theory in better order?

It will be shown in this paper that the study of the actual conduct of psychotherapy, at least in its classical form with a patient speaking his or her mind in any way the patient desires and a therapist helping the patient pursue those thoughts and wishes and conflicts and hopes for better luck in real life than before, is more conducive to agreement among rather different therapists, to clearer reasoning over psychotherapeutic interventions, and to more promising theoretical articulations than anything available in the theoretical texts of psychotherapy.     

The relation of family cohesion to marital adjustment

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between family cohesion and marital adjustment. The sample consisted of 70 married graduate students from the State University of New York at Buffalo. The Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale was used to measure family cohesion. The Dyadic Adjustment Scale was used to measure marital adjustment. The Demographic Data Sheet was used for demographic characteristics. Overall, the result of ANOVA with planned comparison revealed that high marital adjustment was not only associated with a moderate level of family cohesion but also associated with a high level of family cohesion.This article is based on the first author's doctoral dissertation at State University of New York at Buffalo.     

Goal attainment and satisfaction scores for CMHC clients

The purpose of this study was to explore the psychometric properties of goal attainment scales and client satisfaction measures. The findings revealed that goal attainment results, like other types of self-report psychotherapy outcome measures, are directly related to (a) indicators of a client's social class, and (b) the manner of treatment termination (unilateral dropout vs. mutual consent). The extent of client--therapist agreement on goal scores was relatively low thereby supporting the necessity of obtaining both perspectives in evaluating treatment outcome. Furthermore, because measures of client satisfaction were found to be sufficiently independent from goal outcome scores, it was concluded that they provide a unique source of program evaluation data. Finally, it was concluded that Goal Attainment Scaling is best considered to be a quality assurance tool for individual client/therapist dyads rather than a mechanism for the determination of the effectiveness of specific mental health programs and services.     

Anonymity reconsidered

This paper questions the concept of the therapist's anonymity and offers as an alternative the concept of an anonymity/self-disclosure dimension along which the therapist can position himself depending on several criteria. These criteria pertain both to characteristics of the therapist, the patient, and the material to be disclosed.     

Texture size specificity in the slant aftereffect

Transfer of the median plane slant aftereffect was assessed across changes in stimulus texture size (sine-wave grating frequency). Under binocular viewing, reliable decrements in aftereffect magnitude were observed when texture size was changed, compared with no-change control conditions. Under monocular viewing conditions, no significant aftereffects were found. The results indicate a spatial-frequency-specific component of binocular slant aftereffects.     

Effect of perceptual cohesiveness on pattern recoding in the block design task

In the block design task, one type of intelligence test task, the subject reproduces a square-field pattern by assembling cubes having solid and diagonally divided surfaces. The task requires that the subject recode the perceived stimulus pattern into the alternatives available on the block surface. This experiment examined the effect on response or reproduction time of perceptual cohesiveness of pattern, quantified as the number of adjacent same-colored edges of cubes which abutt to form the pattern. This stimulus variable interacts with the type of design (quantified as total set size for designs constructed of all solid surfaces, all diagonally divided surfaces, or mixtures of the two types of surfaces) and with cuing (presence or absence on stimulus pattern of a superimposed grid congruent with block edges of the constructed design). Cohesiveness increases the difficulty of “mentally slicing” or recoding the pattern into the set of block alternatives. The psychological processes involved in recoding probably are the most important ones underlying the intelligence test task.     

Prevention education and substance abuse treatment

Relapse prevention is influenced by a number of variables including stress and negative mood states, motivation and commitment to abstinence, social support, physiological factors, withdrawal symptoms, and a repertoire of cognitive and behavioral strategies utilized in responding to the relapse process. Diverse theoretical approaches have emphasized conditioning models as well as information processing, cognitive and affective components of treatment, cognitive and behavioral coping responses, and a variety of other procedures. Outcome studies related to treatment have failed to consistently support the effectiveness of several of these components. To overcomes this, the authors advocate a single subject design in the study of these approaches. This article emphasizes the role of relapse prevention, and training and education in facilitating long-term abstinence, particularly with those intervention methods that are based on social learning theory and cognitive-behavioral models.