An outcome survey of psychology residency training program graduates of the University of Texas Houston Medical School

A survey of 71 graduates of the psychology residency program at The University of Texas Houston Medical School and the Texas Research Institute of Mental Science indicated that two-thirds of the respondents were involved in private practice, conducting primarily individual therapy, with assessment also playing a major role in their practice. Managed care had the effect of placing limits on the numbers of sessions available to patients, reducing income, and increasing paperwork associated with practice. Implications for training during residency are that individual therapy, using focused short-term approaches, and assessment should continue to be the primary clinical experiences for trainees, and that there should also be training in the business aspect of practice, including marketing.     

A longitudinal study of high scorers on the hypomanic personality scale

Former college students (n = 36) identified by high scores on the Hypomanic Personality Scale (HYP; Eckblad & Chapman, 1986) were compared with control participants (n = 31) at a 13-year follow-up assessment. As hypothesized, the HYP group reported more bipolar disorders and major depressive episodes than the control group. The HYP group also exceeded the control group on the severity of psychotic-like experiences, symptoms of borderline personality disorder, and rates of substance use disorders. HYP group members with elevated scores on the Impulsive-Nonconformity Scale (Chapman et al., 1984) experienced greater rates of bipolar mood disorders, poorer overall adjustment, and higher rates of arrest than the remaining HYP or control participants.     

Religious implications of paranormal events occurring during chemically-induced ‘psychedelic’ experience

Pastoral Psychology -     

In the eye of the storm: race and genomics in research and practice

The difficulties of operationalizing race in research and practice for social, behavioral, and genetic researchers and practitioners are neither new nor related to recent genetic knowledge. For geneticists, the bases for understanding groups are clines, observed traits that gradually change in frequency between geographic regions without distinct identifiable population boundaries and population histories that carry information about the distribution of genetic variants. For psychologists, race may not exist or be a social and cultural construct associated with fluid social inferences. Because definitions of populations and race can be socially and biologically incongruent, the authors suggest that geneticists and social and behavioral scientists and clinicians attend to external validity issues by operationalizing population and racial categories and avoiding race proxies for other biological, social, and cultural constructs in research designs, data analyses, and clinical practice.     

Logotherapy-Enhanced REBT: An Integration of Discovery and Reason

Viktor Frankls Logotherapy and Albert Elliss Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) are at seemingly opposite ends of the psychotherapeutic spectrum. However, a close review of the assumptions and philosophy of each school of therapy reveals that these two systems are compatible. We propose that a Logotherapy-enhanced REBT can increase human achievement and happiness by balancing the individual discovery of meaning with the pursuit of reason. This integrated and enhanced therapy will help human beings participate in positive life experiences and take greater responsibility for change. Fruitful and beneficial aspects of a Logotherapy enhanced-REBT are explored with respect to cognitions, emotions, and the reduction of rumination. Conclusions are drawn, limitations are discussed, and future recommendations are outlined.     

The thrall of the negative and how to analyze it

From clinical material of patient-analyst pairs caught up in negativistic transference-countertransference enmeshment, the defensive functions of negativism are explored for both patient and analyst. Fascination with and dread of the negative intersect as patients struggle to avoid terrifying aspects of self and other. The analyst works to avoid being trapped in negativism within the dyad. Containing, metabolizing, and transforming the dyad's mutual destructiveness and mutual love enable analyst and patient to feel safer with both. How to play with the negative, to engage the patient in play at the intersection of destructive negativism and dangerous love, is described.     

In defense of cultural competency in psychotherapy and treatment

Cultural competency guidelines and policies are being widely established. Yet some critics have challenged the evidence for cultural competency and the lack of efficacy studies that demonstrate its outcomes. Various positions are examined that discuss cultural competency research. They include the need for more resources for research, scientific practices that overlook ethnic research findings, fruitfulness of theory-driven rather than population-based research, problems in defining cultural competency as a technique, and development of policies in the absence of research. Implications of these positions are discussed.     

Delayed matching to two-picture samples by individuals with and without disabilities: an analysis of the role of naming

Delayed matching to complex, two-picture samples (e.g., cat-dog) may be improved when the samples occasion differential verbal behavior. In Experiment 1, individuals with mental retardation matched picture comparisons to identical single-picture samples or to two-picture samples, one of which was identical to a comparison. Accuracy scores were typically high on single-picture trials under both simultaneous and delayed matching conditions. Scores on two-picture trials were also high during the simultaneous condition but were lower during the delay condition. However, scores improved on delayed two-picture trials when each of the sample pictures was named aloud before comparison responding. Experiment 2 replicated these results with preschoolers with typical development and a youth with mental retardation. Sample naming also improved the preschoolers' matching when the samples were pairs of spoken names and the correct comparison picture matched one of the names. Collectively, the participants could produce the verbal behavior that might have improved performance, but typically did not do so unless the procedure required it. The success of the naming intervention recommends it for improving the observing and remembering of multiple elements of complex instructional stimuli.