“Phobie à deux” and other reasons why clinicians do not apply exposure with response prevention in patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder

Meta-analyses suggest that exposure with response prevention (ERP) is the most efficacious treatment for obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) and treatment guidelines for the disorder accordingly recommend ERP. Despite this, many therapists, including those with a cognitive-behavioral therapeutic background, do not perform ERP in patients with OCD. The present study aimed to elucidate the reasons why. German therapists (N = 216) completed an anonymous online survey, the newly developed Reasons for Not Performing Exposure in OCD Scale (REPEX), that inquired whether, to what extent, and how they perform ERP in the treatment of OCD. We also asked their reasons for not applying ERP in the past. Most therapists considered ERP an efficient treatment for OCD. Marked differences emerged between physicians and psychologists, however. The former used exposure less often and for a shorter period, preferred in sensu to in vivo exposure, and conducted exposure less often in the personal environment of the patient than did psychologists. Both groups were familiar with clinical guidelines to a similar extent. A factor analysis of the REPEX scale revealed five factors. Patient lack of motivation, preference for exposure to be self-help as well as alleged organizational difficulties were endorsed most often. The latter was correlated with the age of the therapist and was far more often affirmed by physicians. Fear of side effects was named by a subgroup of clinicians; in the context of patient ambivalence, this may foster “phobie à deux”. Unlike prior research, lack of expertise was rarely identified as a reason not to use ERP. Recommendations for improving adherence to guidelines are discussed.     

The time course of spatial memory distortions

Four experiments investigated the memory distortions for the location of a dot in relation to two horizontally aligned landmarks. In Experiment 1, participants reproduced from memory a dot location with respect to the two landmarks. Their performance showed a systematic pattern of distortion that was consistent across individual participants. The three subsequent experiments investigated the time course of spatial memory distortions. Using a visual discrimination task, we were able to map the emergence of spatial distortions within the first 800 msec of the retention interval. After retention intervals as brief as 50 msec, a distortion was already present. In all but one experiment, the distortion increased with longer retention intervals. This early onset of spatial memory distortions might reflect the almost immediate decay of detailed spatial information and the early influence of an enduring spatial memory representation, which encodes spatial information in terms of the perceived structure of space.     

Restricted Maximum Likelihood Estimation for Parameters of the Social Relations Model

In many areas of research, the round-robin design is used to study interpersonal judgments and behaviors. The resulting data are analyzed with the social relations model (SRM), whereby almost all previously published studies have used ANOVA-based methods or multilevel-based methods to obtain SRM parameter estimates. In this article, the SRM is embedded into the linear mixed model framework, and it is shown how restricted maximum likelihood can be employed to estimate the SRM parameters. It is also described how the effect of covariates on the SRM-specific effects can be estimated. An example is presented to illustrate the approach. We also present the results of a simulation study in which the performance of the proposed approach is compared to the ANOVA method.     

Emotional Valence and Perceived Event Frequency Affect Memory Accuracy for a Personally Relevant Life Event

False autobiographical remembering is known to be affected both by an event's emotional valence and its perceived frequency (PEF). Here, we present a procedure that enables the assessment of retrieval accuracy for details of an overarching personally relevant real‐life event (a graduation ceremony) while taking into account variations in both their valence and PEF. Former university students who attended the same graduation ceremony completed a questionnaire with true and false statements about the ceremony. Their task was to judge whether the event details were true. Event details were previously rated for valence (positive vs. negative) and PEF (high vs. low) and their truth status was confirmed with original video footage from the ceremony. The results showed that valence modulated the effect of PEF on memory accuracy in that a decrease in false memory judgements was observed only for negative low‐PEF (implausible) event details. These results are interpreted within the affect‐as‐information framework. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Support interventions for older adults: Confidante relationships,perceived family support,and meaningful role activity

The rationale and problems encountered in implementing a peer-support telephone intervention are described. The research conducted by Heller, Thompson, Trueba, Hogg, and Vlachos-Weber (1991) was based on epidemiological literature documenting the moral enhancing value of confidante relationships. However, that literature may be insufficiently precise to form the basis for an intervention without prior ethnographic study of the local target population. Furthermore, the positive effects of peer friendships may refer to long established relationships rather than to newly formed social ties. It is concluded that future support intervention research with older adults should concentrate on reinforcing meaningful role activities, and that greater attention should be given to strengthening indigenous ties before attempting to create new ones. While prior process research and formative evaluation are of value, we also emphasize the importance of well-controlled field studies in the ultimate test of intervention hypotheses.     

What Mediates the Relationship Between Religious Service Attendance and Aspects of Well-Being?

Religious service attendance predicts increased well-being across a number of studies. It is not clear, however, whether this relationship is due to religious factors such as intrinsic religiosity or due to nonreligious factors such as social support or socially desirable responding. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between religious service attendance and well-being while simultaneously examining intrinsic religiosity, social support, and socially desirable responding as potential mediators of the relationship. A sample of 855 participants (71 % female, average age 19.5) completed questionnaires assessing religiosity, social support, socially desirable responding, and well-being. Path models were estimated using maximum likelihood estimation to analyze the data. Intrinsic religiosity was the strongest mediator of the relationship between religious service attendance and depressive and anxiety symptoms. This suggests that the mental health benefits of religious service attendance are not simply the result of increased social support or a certain response style on questionnaires; rather, it appears that the relationship is at least partly the result of people trying to live their religion in their daily lives.     

Modelling inter-individual differences in latent within-person variation: The confirmatory factor level variability model

Psychological theories often produce hypotheses that pertain to individual differences in within-person variability. To empirically test the predictions entailed by such hypotheses with longitudinal data, researchers often use multilevel approaches that allow them to model between-person differences in the mean level of a certain variable and the residual within-person variance. Currently, these approaches can be applied only when the data stem from a single variable. However, it is common practice in psychology to assess not just a single measure but rather several measures of a construct. In this paper we describe a model in which we combine the single-indicator model with confirmatory factor analysis. The new model allows individual differences in latent mean-level factors and latent within-person variability factors to be estimated. Furthermore, we show how the model's parameters can be estimated with a maximum likelihood estimator, and we illustrate the approach using an example that involves intensive longitudinal data.