Rumination, distraction, and mindful self-focus in depressed patients

Rumination has been proposed as a cognitive risk factor for the onset and maintenance of depression. In parallel, mindfulness interventions have shown to reduce the risk for recurrence of depressive episodes. This study aimed to investigate effects of short periods of induced rumination, distraction, and mindful self-focus on sad mood in depressed patients and to assess possible moderator effects of habitual variables on respective mood changes. Seventy-six depressed patients 3.5 years after discharge from inpatient treatment were subjected to negative mood induction and subsequently randomly assigned to a rumination, distraction, or mindful self-focus induction. Habitual aspects of rumination, distraction, and mindfulness were assessed by questionnaires. Compared to rumination, the induction of a mindful self-focus and of distraction showed clear beneficial effects on the course of negative mood. While habitual distraction predicted better mood outcomes across all conditions, patients high in habitual mindfulness tended to show stronger negative mood reduction specifically after the induction of a mindful self-focus. This study indicates that - similar to distraction - an experimentally induced mindful self-focus is able to reduce negative mood in depressed patients. Implications regarding possible subgroups of patients who might particularly benefit from mindfulness-based interventions are discussed.     

Die Bindungstheorie und ihre Relevanz für die Psychotherapie

Zusammenfassung W?hrend im ersten Teil der übersicht über die Relevanz der Bindungstheorie Grundlagen und Methoden der Bindungsforschung skizziert wurden, werden nun die m?glichen Implikationen der Theorie für die Psychotherapie und Psychosomatik er?rtert. überlegungen zur allgemeinen klinischen Relevanz und zum Verh?ltnis der Bindungstheorie zur Psychoanalyse bilden die Basis für die Darstellung konkreter Anwendungen von Ergebnissen der Bindungsforschung in der therapeutischen Praxis. Es folgen zusammenfassende Darstellungen von Untersuchungen, die sich mit der Bedeutung von Bindungscharakteristika für die Entwicklung psychosomatischer St?rungen und die Krankheits- bzw. Stre?verarbeitung befassen sowie von Studien, in denen Bindungscharakteristika psychischen St?rungen zugeordnet wurden. Schlie?lich wird die Bedeutung der Theorie für die Psychotherapie und die Psychotherapieforschung dargestellt.      

Hard-to-manage preschool boys: Family context and the stability of externalizing behavior

Preschool boys identified by their teachers as active, inattentive, and impulsive (N=42) were compared with matched classroom controls (N=43) and with parentidentified problem boys (N=27) on measures of family functioning often associated with children's problem behaviors, including family history of psychopalhology, stressful life events, and family composition. Teacher-identified and parent-identified problem boys did not differ on measures of family adversity, and both groups came from less well functioning families than comparison boys. Mothers of problem boys, regardless of referral source, were more negative and controlling toward their sons when observed in a compliance task. Children's problem behaviors were moderately stable over a oneyear follow-up period; initial symptom levels, maternal self-reported depression, and negative maternal control predicted follow-up ratings of externalizing problems.Thanks are expressed to Clea Angell, Clare Flanagan, Julie Hunt, Patricia Huszar, Andrea Lurier, Sarah McAuliffe, Jasmine Sardessai, and Teri Sobolik for help with data collection, coding, and analysis. We are grateful to the staff of the many preschools in the Pittsburgh area who facilitated our work. Special appreciation is expressed to the children and parents who participated in this study.Portions of these data were presented at the Rochester Symposium on Developmental Psychopathology, Rochester, New York, October 1988, and at the Society for Research in Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, Costa Mesa, California, February, 1990. This work was supported by grant R0I MH32735 from the National Institute of Mental Health to Dr. Campbell.     

Shedding light on words and sentences: near-infrared spectroscopy in language research

Investigating the neuronal network underlying language processing may contribute to a better understanding of how the brain masters this complex cognitive function with surprising ease and how language is acquired at a fast pace in infancy. Modern neuroimaging methods permit to visualize the evolvement and the function of the language network. The present paper focuses on a specific methodology, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), providing an overview over studies on auditory language processing and acquisition. The methodology detects oxygenation changes elicited by functional activation of the cerebral cortex. The main advantages for research on auditory language processing and its development during infancy are an undemanding application, the lack of instrumental noise, and its potential to simultaneously register electrophysiological responses. Also it constitutes an innovative approach for studying developmental issues in infants and children. The review will focus on studies on word and sentence processing including research in infants and adults.     

Ambulante Psychotherapie der Substanzstörungen

Background

The revision of the psychotherapy guidelines in 2011 broadened the options for treating substance use disorders (SUD) in outpatient psychotherapy (OP).

Aim

The aims of this study were to answer the following questions: how frequently are SUDs treated in OP? What opinions do psychotherapists (PT) hold concerning the new treatment possibilities?

Material and methods

In this study the frequency of OP for patients with SUD, e.g. harmful use and abuse of as well as dependence on psychotropic substances according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR) and the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10), by private practice PTs as well as their attitude towards the treatment of patients with these diagnoses were investigated. Private practice PTs in five states in East Germany were asked to participate in a postal survey.

Results

Of the 1,382 PTs contacted, 229 (16.6 %) participated in the study. Of the respondents 94.3 % had treated at least one patient with SUD (4-week prevalence including nicotine dependence). These rates ranged from 3.1 % to 26.6 % depending on the substance and diagnosis (SUD as primary reason for treatment). The highest rates of strong affirmation for OP of approximately 20?% were found for disorders related to alcohol, tobacco and medication.

Conclusion

Most PTs treated at least one patient with SUD in OP. However, this particular type of treatment offer should be further extended. Information about the options of treating SUD in OP should be further disseminated and conducting such treatment should be supported by (e.g.) therapist training.     

Erziehungsfähigkeit in familienrechtlichen Begutachtungen

Parental competence describes the multidimensional ability of parents to take responsibility for their children and to bring them up. There is a multitude of criteria and guidelines for the assessment of parental competence in the context of family court procedures, when a child’s well-being is at risk or in the case of divorce and separation. However, little is known about what forensic experts in Germany understand by the term parental competence. In a nationwide study  600 forensic experts were questioned about the contents and their methods of assessment concerning parental competence. Of the 104 participating psychologists and doctors (response rate 17.3 %) 90 % follow a schema while assessing parental competence and include the factors interaction and communication skills, care and nurturing, relationship skills, attachment capabilities, teaching rules and complying with them, and the ability to foster a child. While 99 % conduct a talk with the mother, 98 % conduct at least one talk with the father; 27 % talk to both parents together, 94% talk to the child systematically, 84 % use free play and 78 % combine playing and talking. The most frequently mentioned third persons include social workers, new partners, nursery school teachers and child protective services. Approximately 77 % use standardized tests. Although the study revealed a large heterogeneity in the procedures used by forensic experts, there is more accordance concerning the understanding of the term parental competence and the assessment procedure. Possibilities to assess parental competence in more general and standardized terms are discussed.     

How Adolescents’ Mental Health Predicts Their Physical Health: Unique Contributions of Indicators of Subjective Well-being and Psychopathology

Studies among youth have established a link between mental health and physical health, and highlight the importance of attending to these relationships to provide a more complete picture of functioning. However, most previous investigations have limited their focus to examining the relationship between physical health and either particular aspects of psychopathology or particular aspects of subjective well-being. The current study serves as a first examination that includes both positive (subjective well-being [SWB]) and negative (psychopathology) indicators of mental health in relation to physical health functioning, assessed via self-report measures completed by a sample of 401 early adolescents from the general population. Mental health indicators accounted for 30% of the variance in physical health ratings, and 4 of the 5 mental health indicators were unique predictors of physical health. Positive affect, a component of SWB, explained the most unique variance in physical health, followed by the other components of SWB. Results support the importance of attending to positive indicators of mental health when determining the link with physical health among youth. Implications for a research and practice focus on comprehensive wellness among youth are discussed.     

Transcending Lindemann's predictions for the melting temperatures of metals and for the long-wavelength limit of their liquid structure factors

Lindemann's melting criterion remains useful. However, one prediction it makes for liquid metals (our focus here) is that the long-wavelength limit of the structure factor S(q) at freezing, S _{T m} (0), where T _m is the melting temperature, is a universal constant. For 34 metals we have calculated S _{T m} (0) from input data, which is essentially the measured T _m and the surface thickness L, defined near freezing as the product of isothermal compressibility and surface tension. To complete the characterization of S _{T m} (0) we fit to one metal, chosen as Rb, for which S _{T m} (0) is well established experimentally. For a wide variety of metals considered, S _{T m} (0) is then found to vary by a factor of 10.