Social Neuroscience: Progress and Implications for Mental Health

ABSTRACT— Social neuroscience is a new, interdisciplinary field devoted to understanding how biological systems implement social processes and behavior. Social neuroscience capitalizes on biological concepts and methods to inform and refine theories of social behavior, and it uses social and behavioral constructs and data to inform and refine theories of neural organization and function. We focus here on the progress and potential of social neuroscience in the area of mental health. Research in social neuroscience has grown dramatically in recent years. Among the most active areas of research we found are brain-imaging studies in normal children and adults; animal models of social behavior; studies of stroke patients; imaging studies of psychiatric patients; and research on social determinants of peripheral neural, neuroendocrine, and immunological processes. We also found that these areas of research are proceeding along largely independent trajectories. Our goals in this article are to review the development of this field, examine some currently promising approaches, identify obstacles and opportunities for future advances and integration, and consider how this research can inform work on the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders.     

Racial microaggressions in everyday life: implications for clinical practice

Racial microaggressions are brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward people of color. Perpetrators of microaggressions are often unaware that they engage in such communications when they interact with racial/ethnic minorities. A taxonomy of racial microaggressions in everyday life was created through a review of the social psychological literature on aversive racism, from formulations regarding the manifestation and impact of everyday racism, and from reading numerous personal narratives of counselors (both White and those of color) on their racial/cultural awakening. Microaggressions seem to appear in three forms: microassault, microinsult, and microinvalidation. Almost all interracial encounters are prone to microaggressions; this article uses the White counselor--client of color counseling dyad to illustrate how they impair the development of a therapeutic alliance. Suggestions regarding education and training and research in the helping professions are discussed.     

Longitudinal effects of hope on depression and anxiety: a latent variable analysis

This study tested the prospective effects of hope on depression and anxiety using a longitudinal design. A sample of 522 college students completed self-report measures of hope, depression, and anxiety at three time points, with 1-month delays between administrations. Structural equation modeling was employed to test two cross-lagged panel models of the reciprocal effects of the Agency and Pathways components of hope on depression and anxiety. Results indicated statistically significant negative effects for the Agency component of hope on later depression but no unique effect of the Pathways component of hope on depression. Likewise, Agency showed a statistically significant negative effect on later anxiety, but again Pathways had no significant influence on anxiety. In both cases, neither depression nor anxiety demonstrated any longitudinal effects on either the Agency or Pathways components of hope. Implications of these findings are discussed, along with potential directions for future research.     

Transleadership for Transdisciplinary Initiatives

This article shares the genesis of a new idea we called transleadership, as it is informed by Nicolescuian transdisciplinarity. While aligned with several leading edge approaches to leadership, we propose that transleadership stands out because it emerges at the convergence of seven transconcepts: complexity (emergence), logic and reality, intersubjectivity, sensemaking, tensions, power and influence, leverage, and the creation of in vivo, hybrid knowledge. Transleadership accommodates the intricate and complex process of leading a diverse collection of (often contradictory) people, ideas, and consciousness to a new space and place where transdisciplinary knowledge can be created to address wicked problems facing humanity, using transdisciplinary thinking.     

Effects of Group Activity Play Therapy on Problem Behaviors of Preadolescent Ugandan Orphans

This randomized controlled study examined the effectiveness of group activity play therapy (GAPT) with 60 displaced Ugandan orphans, ages 10 to 12 years, exhibiting clinical levels of behavior problems. Teachers and housemothers reported that experimental group children demonstrated statistically significant reductions (p < .025) in behavior problems compared with children in the active control condition and that GAPT demonstrated moderate to large treatment effects. Results support GAPT as an effective intervention for troubled Ugandan orphans.