Distress Tolerance and Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy: A New Role for Behavioral Analogue Tasks

Rational-emotive behavior therapy (REBT) is a widely utilized treatment approach for many mental disorders, but it has been “relatively neglected in the professional scientific literature” (Ellis 2003b). This neglect has been attributed in part to a lack of solid REBT outcome studies, which in turn stems from the difficulty of measuring constructs of interest in REBT, such as irrational beliefs, via self-report measures. In light of these concerns, the current paper aims to identify the potential utility of behavioral analogue laboratory tasks for advancing the understanding of mechanisms in REBT, as well as treatment outcome using this therapeutic approach. Specifically, we focus on the utilization of behavioral measures of distress tolerance and their application to the key REBT construct of frustration intolerance. In identifying the parallels across distress tolerance and frustration intolerance, we consider how the incorporation of distress tolerance tasks into REBT research can be useful in evaluating the role of frustration intolerance in the initiation, maintenance, and treatment of disordered behavior across a broad range of clinical disorders.

Person–Situation Interaction in Adaptive Emotional Functioning

Two studies applied a person–situation model to examine the effect of emotional affordances of situations. Participants rated their emotional functioning as more extensive in situations classified as being high in emotional affordance than those classified as low in emotional affordance. Participants who scored higher on the individual difference characteristic of emotional intelligence were more interested in entering high emotional affordance situations than were individuals lower in emotional intelligence, and participants who scored higher on emotional intelligence were rated by others as being more successful in high emotional affordance situations than individuals lower in emotional intelligence. These results provide preliminary evidence that the interaction between emotional intelligence and situations may influence emotional functioning.     

A Comparative Effectiveness Study of Two High-Frequency Word Interventions: Traditional Drill and WordSheets

Traditional drill and practice (TDP) has been shown to be both effective and efficient for increasing word recognition. WordSheets (WS) is a novel drill procedure similar to TDP with two key differences: (a) WS increases opportunities to respond, which may increase efficiency and (b) WS present instructional stimuli in a context that more closely resembles actual reading passages, which may enhance generalization to connected text. The study sought to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of TDP and WS in a sample of first-grade students (n = 27) identified by their teachers as struggling readers. Results indicated that, although WS led to significantly more opportunities to respond, it was both less effective and efficient than TDP with regard to cumulative retention. However, there were no significant differences across interventions in regard to the maintenance or generalization of treatment gains. Limitations and implications of the current study for school-based professionals are discussed.     

Tap,swipe, and build: Parental spatial input during iPad® and toy play

Despite the increase in the use of interactive technological devices, little is known about the impact that play context has on the production of spatial language by parents. To investigate whether there is differential parental spatial input afforded by play contexts with their preschoolers, 34 children (20 girls, 14 boys) and their primary caregivers engaged in 30‐min 3‐dimensional (3D) spatial play using blocks and puzzles and virtual 2‐dimensional (2D) spatial play using an iPad^® in 2 separate home visits. There were no significant differences in the average amount of spatial talk and the number of spatial categories used by parents in both 3D and 2D play contexts. However, the amount of parental spatial talk decreased significantly with older preschoolers using the iPad^®. In the 3D play contexts, parents produced more words related to spatial dimensions, location and directions, and continuous amount than in the 2D play contexts. However, in the 2D play contexts, they produced more words associated with orientations and transformations as well as deictics than in the 3D play contexts. Our findings suggest that technology can be effectively introduced into play contexts to elicit enriched parental spatial input by supporting parents and caregivers with best practices.

Highlights

• The present study examines the differences in parental spatial talk when using traditional versus technology‐based learning tools with their preschoolers.
• Two 30‐min home observations of parent–child dyads playing blocks and puzzles versus spatial apps on an iPad^®. No significant differences in the amount of parental spatial talk and the number of spatial categories in both play contexts were found.
• Our findings suggest that technology can be effectively introduced into play contexts to elicit enriched parental spatial input.

     

A case-controlled field study evaluating ICD-11 proposals for relational problems and intimate partner violence

Background/Objective: Intimate partner relationship problems and intimate partner abuse and neglect — referred to in this paper as “relational problems and maltreatment” — have substantial and well-documented impact on both physical and mental health. However, classification guidelines, such as those found in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10), are vague and unlikely to support consistent application. Revised guidelines proposed for ICD-11 are much more operationalized. We used standardized clinical vignette conditions with an international panel of clinicians to test if ICD-11 changes resulted in improved classification accuracy. Method: English-speaking mental health professionals (N = 738) from 65 nations applied ICD-10 or ICD-11 (proposed) guidelines with experimentally manipulated case presentations of presence or absence of (a) individual mental health diagnoses and (b) relational problems or maltreatment. Results: ICD-11, compared with ICD-10, guidelines resulted in significantly better classification accuracy, although only in the presence of co-morbid mental health problems. Clinician factors (e. g., gender, language, world region) largely did not impact classification performance. Conclusions: Despite being considerably more explicated, raters’ performance with ICD-11 guidelines reveals training issues that should be addressed prior to the release of ICD-11 in 2018 (e. g., overriding the guidelines with pre-existing archetypes for relationship problems and physical and psychological abuse).     

A Place for Individual Differences in What Everyone Knows About What Everyone Does: Positive Affect,Cognitive Processes,and Cognitive Experiential Self Theory

Individual differences are often incorporated into experimental research to elucidate inconsistent effects. We argue that the inclusion of such differences into established and seemingly straightforward findings is imperative to the goal of reaching a more complete understanding about the processes of interest. Drawing on research on the cognitive effects of positive affect, we illustrate how integrating individual differences in cognitive processing styles to this literature might lead to a more nuanced understanding of the impact of affect on cognitive processes. The addition of individual differences to psychological research should be seen as a means to a thorough scientific comprehension of a topic rather than as burdensome caveats to otherwise straightforward findings.