The causality principle of psychotherapy and supportive methods in group psychotherapy--reflections on the principles of method combinations

A causality principle of psychotherapy is offered, starting from a technologically orientated concept of psychotherapy as a process. Working from target, commencement, principles, and means, psychotherapeutic methods may be characterised. From these, rules governing the therapist's mode of conduct are arrived at. The causality principle provides a theoretic and practical basis for the integration of ancillary methods into various therapeutic concepts, and for therapeutic teamwork.     

Thoughts on the 7th world congress of the IPPNW (International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War) in Moscow

The authors discuss the international campaign of doctors in opposition to nuclear warfare, "the ultimate scourge of mankind", and give their impressions of the seventh international IPPNW congress held in Moscow from May 29 to June 1, 1987.     

Computer-assisted implementation of the MMPI test

In a research programme lasting one year a computer-supported technique for the MMPI-Test has been developed in co-operation of the Clinical-Psychology and the Bio-Medical. Engineering Departments. The use of the microelectronically operated test apparatus has proved extremely economic.     

Loss of smell and taste within the scope of vitamin B 12 deficiency

The article deals with the case of a patient who had a partial gastrectomy and developed a vitamin B12 deficiency syndrome with anemia, myelopathy and complete loss of the senses of taste and smell. Regression of the symptoms followed liberal dosing with vitamin B12.     

Space-time behavior of single and bimanual rhythmical movements: data and limit cycle model

How do space and time relate in rhythmical tasks that require the limbs to move singly or together in various modes of coordination? And what kind of minimal theoretical model could account for the observed data? Earlier findings for human cyclical movements were consistent with a nonlinear, limit cycle oscillator model (Kelso, Holt, Rubin, & Kugler, 1981) although no detailed modeling was performed at that time. In the present study, kinematic data were sampled at 200 samples/second, and a detailed analysis of movement amplitude, frequency, peak velocity, and relative phase (for the bimanual modes, in phase and antiphase) was performed. As frequency was scaled from 1 to 6 Hz (in steps of 1 Hz) using a pacing metronome, amplitude dropped inversely and peak velocity increased. Within a frequency condition, the movement's amplitude scaled directly with its peak velocity. These diverse kinematic behaviors were modeled explicitly in terms of low-dimensional (nonlinear) dissipative dynamics, with linear stiffness as the only control parameter. Data and model are shown to compare favorably. The abstract, dynamical model offers a unified treatment of a number of fundamental aspects of movement coordination and control.     

On obtaining episodic priming in a lexical decision task following paired-associate learning

In four experiments, subjects made lexical (word-nonword) decisions to target letter strings after studying paired associates. In this lexical decision test, word targets previously studied as response terms in the paired associates were preceded at a 150-ms and/or 950-ms stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) by one of various subsets of the following six types of primes: a neutral (XXX or ready) prime, a semantically unrelated word prime episodically related to the target through its having been previously studied in the same pair, a semantically related word prime previously studied in a pair with some other unrelated word, a semantically unrelated word prime previously studied in a pair with some other unrelated word, a nonstudied semantically related word prime, and a nonstudied semantically unrelated word prime. At the 950-ms SOA, facilitation of lexical decisions produced by the episodically related primes was greater in test lists in which there were no 150-ms SOA trials intermixed, no previously studied semantically related primes, and no studied nonword targets. At the 150-ms SOA, facilitation from episodic priming was greater in test lists in which there were no semantically related primes and all studied word targets and no studied nonword targets. Facilitation effects from semantically related primes were small in magnitude and occurred inconsistently. Discussion focused on the implications these results have for the episodic-semantic memory distinction and the automaticity of episodic and semantic priming effects.     

Social phobia: individual response patterns and the effects of behavioral and cognitive interventions

In the present study, the role of individual response patterns in the treatment of social phobic patients was investigated. Seventy-four patients were diagnosed as social phobics. On the basis of extreme scores on a behavioral test (the Simulated Social Interaction Test) and on a cognitive measure (the Rational Behavior Inventory), the response patterns of 39 patients were analyzed, and the patients themselves were classified as either 'behavioral reactors' or 'cognitive reactors'. Half of the patients with each response pattern received a behavioral focused treatment, i.e. social skills training (SST), while the other half received a cognitive oriented treatment, i.e. rational emotive therapy (RET). Patients received group therapy in eight weekly sessions. Within-group differences showed a considerable improvement in all treatment groups. Between-group differences failed to lend support to the hypothesis that treatment that fits a response pattern (i.e. SST for behavioral reactors and RET for cognitive reactors) will result in a greater improvement than one that does not.     

Shift in stimulus range and the exponent of the power function for loudness

The exponent of the power function for loudness was tracked over the course of 60 trials with one stimulus range and compared to the exponent over the course of 60 subsequent trials with a different stimulus range. Three stimulus sets were used: (1) weak, a short range of relatively soft tones (45-55 dBA); (2) strong, a short range of relatively loud tones (64-74 dBA); and (3) complete, a longer range of soft to loud tones (40-90 dBA). All pairs of stimulus sets were tested, together with three control conditions in which no shift in range occurred. Ten subjects were run in each of the nine groups. For preshift trials, the mean exponent was lowest for the strong stimulus series, highest for the weak series, and at an intermediate value for the complete series. These differences were all significant. Following a shift in stimulus range, the weak series still yielded the highest exponent, but the exponents were not reliably different for the complete and strong series. Postshift exponents also depended significantly on the preshift range experienced by the subjects. These effects were not confined to the period immediately following the shift in range, but persisted for up to 60 trials.