Culturally adapted versus standard exposure treatment for phobic Asian Americans: Treatment efficacy, moderators, and predictors

This study is a 6-month follow-up of a randomized pilot evaluation of standard one-session treatment (OST-S) versus culturally adapted OST (OST-CA) with phobic Asian Americans. OST-CA included seven cultural adaptations drawn from prior research with East Asians and Asian Americans. Results from 1-week and 6-month follow-up show that both OST-S and OST-CA were effective at reducing phobic symptoms compared with self-help control. Moreover, OST-CA was superior to OST-S for several outcomes. For catastrophic thinking and general fear, moderator analyses indicated that low-acculturation Asian Americans benefitted more from OST-CA than OST-S, whereas both treatments were equally effective for high-acculturation participants. Although cultural process factors (e.g., facilitating emotional control, exploiting the vertical therapist-client relationship) and working alliance were predictive of positive outcomes, they did not mediate treatment effects. This study offers a potential model for evaluating cultural adaptation effects, as well as the mechanisms that account for such effects.     

The role of protein synthesis in memory consolidation: progress amid decades of debate

A major component of consolidation theory holds that protein synthesis is required to produce the synaptic modification needed for long-term memory storage. Protein synthesis inhibitors have played a pivotal role in the development of this theory. However, these commonly used drugs have unintended effects that have prompted some to reevaluate the role of protein synthesis in memory consolidation. Here we review the role of protein synthesis in memory formation as proposed by consolidation theory calling special attention to the controversy involving the non-specific effects of a group of protein synthesis inhibitors commonly used to study memory formation in vivo. We argue that molecular and genetic approaches that were subsequently applied to the problem of memory formation confirm the results of less selective pharmacological studies. Thus, to a certain extent, the debate over the role of protein synthesis in memory based on interpretational difficulties inherent to the use of protein synthesis inhibitors may be somewhat moot. We conclude by presenting avenues of research we believe will best provide answers to both long-standing and more recent questions facing field of learning and memory.     

Clients Helping Therapists Find Solutions to their Therapy

This paper is offered as a beginning toward including client perspectives on treatment and client participation in supervision. Rather than see therapists as technical experts who do things to people, many of us now see therapists as nonexperts who create conversations with people (Goolishian & Anderson, 1992). This new shift challenges the traditional training positions of supervisor and supervisee, respectively. Including clients' voices the supervisor participate from a nonexpert position.     

Is hostility linked with affiliation among males and with achievement among females? A critique of Pollak and Gilligan

This investigation attempted to replicate and to clarify methodologically an investigation by Pollak and Gilligan (1982). Those investigators reported sex differences in violence imagery to Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) pictures depicting affiliation and achievement situations. Pollak and Gilligan concluded that men perceive danger in situations of affiliation whereas women perceive danger in situations of achievement. It was demonstrated in the present study that Pollak and Gilligan incorrectly classified TAT cards into motivational categories, which may have resulted in incorrect inferences. In addition, their findings could not be replicated when using four different systems for classifying TAT cards into motivational categories. Other potential sources of error in their research, including a restrictive scoring scheme for hostility, unusual instructions, and failure to control for sex role in the TAT pictures, did not influence the pattern of results.