Inventory of Interpersonal Problems Personality Disorder scales: operating characteristics and confirmatory factor analysis in nonclinical samples

Research involving clinical samples has demonstrated the utility of a 28-item personality disorder (PD) screening measure (Inventory of Interpersonal Problems--Personality Disorder scale [IIP-PD]) culled from the IIP in the prediction of the presence or absence of a PD (Pilkonis, Kim, Proietti, & Barkham, 1996). This article extends these diagnostic efficiency findings to nonclinical samples and presents additional data regarding the factor structure of the 28 IIP-PD items. Diagnostic efficiency statistics for the IIP-PD scale, calculated using both interview and self-report methods, support the utility of the IIP-PD scale as a screening tool for the presence or absence of a PD. High specificity estimates indicate that individuals who do not exceed Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) symptom thresholds rarely exceed the IIP-PD cutoff. Furthermore, a high negative predictive power (NPP) estimate derived using an interview-based diagnostic standard suggests that the IIP-PD scale accurately screens out individuals who do not have a PD. Finally, cross-validated confirmatory factor-analytic results involving items composing the 5 IIP PD subscales identified in previous research (Kim, Pilkonis, & Barkham, 1997) suggest that a measurement model with a single second-order factor (general PD) and 5 first-order factors (one representing each PD subscale) provided the best fit to the observed data compared to 2 other competing models.     

The relative effects of the frostig program, corrective reading instruction, and attention upon the reading skills of corrective readers with visual perceptual deficiencies

How effective are the Frostig training program and corrective reading instruction for improving the reading and visual-motor skills of pupils who possess deficiencies in both areas? Each of the three teachers worked each school day for sixteen weeks with the subjects of the two treatment groups plus a play placebo group. On the basis of the results of this study there is little, if any, support for the use of the Frostig program or corrective reading as treatments to improve the reading skills of children considered to possess a visual-motor problem. Due to the performances of the attention-placebo group, it is logical to hypothesize that improvements of the remedial groups are more a function of personal attention than the unique remedial powers of the two treatments. Consideration should be given to the optimal number of Frostig sessions as well as to the possibility of a ceiling effect of the Frostig program. Eight weeks of training would appear to be the maximum time before regression or improvement takes place.     

A comparison of administration procedures for the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure: flowcharts versus pen switching

The Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure (ROCF) is commonly used to assess visuospatial skills, visuoconstruction, visual memory, and executive functioning. Two different methods are traditionally used to record the order in which the figure is drawn: the flowchart method and the pen-switching method. Although it has been suggested that pen switching may interfere with performance, to date no research has been conducted to assess whether ROCF performance significantly differs due to administration method. As part of routine neuropsychological evaluation, 100 inpatients and outpatients were randomly assigned to either method. Using the Boston Qualitative Scoring System and the traditional 36-point scoring method, the authors unexpectedly found that the pen-switching group generally performed better than the flowchart group, and productions drawn with pen switching were also significantly faster to score.     

The social life of the Samson Saga in Israeli religious Zionist rabbinic discourse

This article will explore how different contemporary groups of Israeli religious Zionists read and relate to the Biblical tales of Samson. Using current religious Zionist discourse (Bible lessons, newspaper articles and written opinion pieces) authored or delivered by leading rabbinic figures, this article will demonstrate how contemporary interpretations of the ‘Samson Saga’ (Judges 13–16) are used as a medium through which contemporary religious Zionists in Israel and the West Bank contest the meanings of political sovereignty, violence and personal ethics. More broadly, this article will argue that a focus on how sacred texts are interpreted, debated and contested in social contexts (or the ‘social life’ of a text) can offer scholars a thicker and more nuanced window into the varied ways in which religious nationalists grapple with competing political visions and desires.     

Moving along to things left undone

This paper expands on three areas of clinical theory that are introduced and discussed in the lead paper and the others in this symposium. The first issue addressed is the concept of the real relationship as used in the moment of meeting model of psychotherapeutic change. Particular focus has been placed on the past, the present, and the hierarchy of goals in the treatment relationship. Second, the paper explores the concept of implicit relational knowledge with attention to the concepts of transference, countertransference, interpretation, and insight in the change process. Finally, the paper attends to the nature of the “now moment” in the moment of meeting model. Specifically explicated are ways this concept relates to changes in brain organization and also ways the moment of meeting model relates to other psychotherapy models, such as the relational schools and self-psychology. © 1998 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health     

Dyadically expanded states of consciousness and the process of therapeutic change

This paper addresses an intersubjective issue that arises out of our model of therapeutic change: Why do humans so strongly seek states of emotional connectedness and intersubjectivity and why does the failure to achieve connectedness have such a damaging effect on the mental health of the infant? A hypothesis is offered—the Dyadic Expansion of Consciousness Hypothesis—as an attempt to explain these phenomena. This hypothesis is based on the Mutual Regulation Model (MRM) of infant–adult interaction. The MRM describes the microregulatory social-emotional process of communication that generates (or fails to generate) dyadic intersubjective states of shared consciousness. In particular, the Dyadic Consciousness hypothesis argues that each individual, in one case the infant and mother or in another the patient and the therapist, is a self-organizing system that creates his or her own states of consciousness (states of brain organization), which can be expanded into more coherent and complex states in collaboration with another self-organizing system. Critically understanding how the mutual regulation of affect functions to create dyadic states of consciousness also can help us understand what produces change in the therapeutic process. © 1998 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health     

Implicit relational knowing: Its role in development and psychoanalytic treatment

It is increasingly apparent that “something more” than interpretation is needed to bring about change in psychoanalytic treatment. Drawing on clinical and developmental observations, we propose that interactional processes from birth onward give rise to a form of procedural knowledge regarding how to do things with intimate others, knowledge we call implicit relational knowing. This knowing is distinct from conscious verbalizable knowledge and from the dynamic unconscious. The implicit relational knowing of patient and therapist intersect to create an intersubjective field that includes reasonably accurate sensings of each person's ways of being with others, sensings we call the “real relationship.” This intersubjective field becomes more complex and articulated with repeated patient–therapist encounters, giving rise to emergent new possibilities for more coherent and adaptive forms of interaction. During a transactional event that we term a “moment of meeting,” a new dyadic possibility crystallizes when the two persons achieve the dual goals of complementary fitted actions and joint intersubjective recognition in a new form. We argue that such moments of meeting shift the relational anticipations of each partner and allow for new forms of agency and shared experience to be expressed and elaborated. © 1998 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health     

Depressed fathers' stereotyping of infants labeled “depressed”

This study investigated whether depressed and nondepressed fathers stereotyped infants labeled “depressed” and how they viewed their own infants. Twenty-five fathers (12 nondepressed, 13 depressed) of 4-month old infants rated their infants' psychological, social and physical attributes on the Infant Stereotyping Scale (ISS). They then rated videotaped infants, labeled “normal” or “depressed”, on the ISS. Fathers rated depressed versus normal infants lower on sociability, social behavior, and cognitive competence. Depressed versus nondepressed fathers, rated depressed infants lower on social behavior, potency, and sociability. Depressed fathers rated their own infants lower on social behavior, potency, and cognitive competence as well as being more vulnerable. Implications of parental depression on stereotyping effects and possible risks for infants are discussed. © 1997 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health     

Judging and actualizing intrapersonal and interpersonal affordances

The current study investigated the perception of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and tool-based grasping possibilities. In Experiment 1, participants judged whether they would grasp planks of wood-presented in ascending, descending, and random orders of length-using one hand (1H), two hands (2H), or with a tool that extended their reach (TH). In Experiment 2, participants physically grasped the planks using 1H, 2H, or TH. In Experiments 3 and 4, the choice of TH was replaced with a choice of grasping the planks with another person (2P). The results showed that presentation order influenced the participants' behavior differently in the judgment and action experiments. The same behavioral patterns, however, were observed when participants switched between 1H and 2H, 2H and TH, and 2H and 2P grasping. The point at which participants judged they would switch between the different modes of grasping, as well as the point at which participants physically switched between the grasping modes, occurred at similar action-scaled ratios. The equivalence of perceiving intrapersonal and interpersonal affordances is discussed.