SYMLOG: Clinical technology for therapist family of origin and family system appraisal

SYMLOG, an acronym for Systematic Multiple Level Observation of Groups, reflects a technology for the quantification and graphic organization of subjective observational data. The SYMLOG field diagram-a graphic diagram which reflects relational interactions on three dimensions-provides the opportunity to analyze the admixture of therapist family of origin dynamics in conjunction with family relational behaviors. This article presents a sample SYMLOG clinician family of origin evaluation with accompanying elaboration surrounding SYMLOG field theory.     

Privatization and the mental health system. A private sector view

Privatization has received significant attention in the popular and professional press. The notion has gained increasing political acceptance with the private sector being seen as cost-effective, innovative, and responsive. Private mental health initiatives will grow because the private sector is seen as an efficient allocator of resources and because there are profit opportunities in traditionally public services. However, a partnership between the private and public sectors will be required in planning and development, serving difficult groups, and defining and measuring quality of care.     

Is the startle reaction an emotion?

In this study, we examined startle reactions in which the subjects did and did not know when a blank pistol would be fired. In addition, we asked subjects to suppress their startle response and to simulate a startle when there was no gunshot. Detailed measurement of facial muscular actions supported most of the findings reported by Landis and Hunt (1939), but our findings suggested that startle be considered a reflex not an emotion. The findings are considered in terms of current disagreements about exactly what constitutes an emotion, including the argument between Zajonc (1980) and Lazarus (1984) about the role of appraisal.     

WHIMSICAL DESIRES

To desire is to want, but not necessarily to be disposed to do anything. That is to say, desiring does not necessarily involve having any disposition to act. To lend plausibility to this view I appeal to the example of whimsical desires that no action could help us to realise. What may lead us to view certain desires as whimsical is precisely the absence of any possibility of realizing them. While such desires might seem less than full‐blooded, I argue that we can have full‐blooded desires concerning such matters because of our (non‐whimsical) concern for others. That is to say, whimsical desires can have a borrowed seriousness. The article goes on to strengthen the separability of dispositions and desires by narrowing down the concept of triggering conditions for a disposition. If we allow the triggering conditions to be too broad then it will always make sense to say that someone with a desire simply must have a disposition because, all other things being equal, they would bring about what they desire if they were able to do so.     

Stress and emotional memory retrieval: effects of sex and cortisol response

In some situations, memory is enhanced by stressful experience, while in others, it is impaired. The specific components of the stress-response that may result in these differing effects remain unclear, and the current study sought to address this knowledge gap. Forty healthy participants (20 women, 20 men) were exposed to emotionally arousing and neutral pictures. Twenty-four hours later, 20 participants underwent a social stressor (speech and math tests), and 20 underwent a control reading task, both followed by a delayed free recall task. Cortisol responders to the stress condition (5 men and 1 woman) showed reduced memory retrieval for both neutral and emotionally arousing pictures. Men and women in the stress condition who did not produce a cortisol response showed increased retrieval of unpleasant pictures compared to controls. The results provide further evidence that cortisol is a primary effector in the stress-induced memory retrieval deficit. At the same time, stress can enhance memory retrieval performance, especially for emotional stimuli, when the cortisol response is absent.     

Depressed Adolescents and Comorbid Psychiatric Disorders: Are There Differences in the Presentation of Depression?

Patterns and correlates of comorbidity, as well as differences in manifest depressive profiles were investigated in a sample of depressed adolescents. A sub-sample of the youth were characterized as belonging to either a Pure depression group, an Internalizing group (depression and co-occurring internalizing disorders), or an Externalizing group (depression and co-occurring externalizing disorders). Item response theory (IRT) and differential item functioning (DIF) were used to assess whether the depressed adolescents from the different comorbidity groups presented with different depressive symptoms. Results indicated that the comorbidity groups were meaningfully distinct in terms of psychosocial correlates as well as showed differences in depressive symptom profiles as informed by DIF analyses. In particular, the comorbidity groups differed in terms of presentation of psychomotor changes and cognitive impairments. Implications for assessment are discussed.

The impact of stress on the life history strategies of African American adolescents: cognitions, genetic moderation, and the role of discrimination

The impact of 3 different sources of stress--environmental, familial (e.g., low parental investment), and interpersonal (i.e., racial discrimination)--on the life history strategies (LHS) and associated cognitions of African American adolescents were examined over an 11-year period (5 waves, from age 10.5 to 21.5). Analyses indicated that each one of the sources of stress was associated with faster LHS cognitions (e.g., tolerance of deviance, willingness to engage in risky sex), which, in turn, predicted faster LHS behaviors (e.g., frequent sexual behavior). LHS, then, negatively predicted outcome (resilience) at age 21.5 (i.e., faster LHS → less resilience). In addition, presence of the risk ("sensitivity") alleles of 2 monoamine-regulating genes, the serotonin transporter gene (5HTTLPR) and the dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4), moderated the impact of perceived racial discrimination on LHS cognitions: Participants with more risk alleles (higher "sensitivity") reported faster LHS cognitions at age 18 and less resilience at age 21 if they had experienced higher amounts of discrimination and slower LHS and more resilience if they had experienced smaller amounts of discrimination. Implications for LHS theories are discussed.     

Worry spreads: interpersonal transfer of problem-related anxiety

This paper distinguishes processes potentially contributing to interpersonal anxiety transfer, including object-directed social appraisal, empathic worry, and anxiety contagion, and reviews evidence for their operation. We argue that these anxiety-transfer processes may be exploited strategically when attempting to regulate relationship partners' emotion. More generally, anxiety may serve as either a warning signal to other people about threat (alerting function) or an appeal for emotional support or practical help (comfort-seeking function). Tensions between these two interpersonal functions may account for mutually incongruent interpersonal responses to expressed anxiety, including mistargeted interpersonal regulation attempts. Because worry waxes and wanes over time as a function of other people's ongoing reactions, interpersonal interventions may help to alleviate some of its maladaptive consequences.