Client-Centered Therapy With Diverse Populations: The Universal Within the Specific

It is proposed that in cross-cultural counseling there can be a synthesis of two dichotomous approaches—the culturally specific and the universal. The conclusion is that within the universalistic philosophical stance there is a highly specific process available to the counselor. Client-centered therapy is a therapeutic process that most effectively engages the individual as well as the universal being.     

Assessing MMPI Constructs Through the Measurement of Response Latencies

Responses to the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) were assessed with respect to their relevance to schema theory. The relation between scores on self-reported personality dimensions and the speed of processing test items associated with each dimension was examined. With previously derived factor analytic content scales, negative correlations were obtained between scale scores and mean latencies for endorsing relevant items, and positive correlations were found between scale scores and mean latencies for rejecting relevant items. A similar analysis completed on the traditional clinical scales revealed no such pattern. Results were interpreted as supporting the conceptualization of item responding as a content-based, schema-relevant process.     

Attributions about the causes and consequences of cataclysmic events

Abstract

Basic to the study of disasters and other life crises are questions about how victims and observers make sense of the event. Attribution theory, which describes how and why people ascribe causes to events and behaviors, can provide a useful framework for helping researchers in their quest to understand how and why victims and observers respond as they do to cataclysmic events. In spite of its clear potential for guiding research, surprisingly few studies looking at disaster and nearly no studies of terrorism have used an attributional perspective. While other negative life crises have been studied, cataclysmic events such as disasters and terrorist attacks possess distinctive features that set them apart from other types of trauma. Because of differences in degree of consensus, perceived control, and intentionality, cataclysmic events offer attribution researchers a unique arena in which to test and clarify basic assumptions. This article reveiws the work done in the field and outlines areas of concern for future efforts.     

Temporal stability of the transcendent actualization inventory

This paper describes a study of the temporal stability of a new inventory, the Transcendent Actualization Inventory, which aims to estimate actualization of psychospiritual potential. For 200 subjects, the test-retest reliability was .84 for Time 1 vs Time 2. Cronbach coefficient alpha was .81 at Times 1 and 2, as previously reported (N=478).     

Attentional biases in PTSD: More evidence for interference

Attentional biases to trauma-related stimuli have been widely demonstrated in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, the majority of these studies used methods not suited to differentiating difficulty disengaging attention from threatening stimuli (interference) from facilitated detection of threat. In the current study, a visual search task (VST) with a lexical decision component was used to differentiate between attentional interference and facilitation. Forty-six sexual assault survivors with High PTSD or Low PTSD symptoms completed the VST with three types of stimuli (trauma-related, general threat-related, and semantically-related neutral words), to examine the specificity of attentional biases associated with PTSD symptoms. High PTSD participants showed increased interference to trauma-related words relative to Low PTSD participants. Furthermore, the increased attentional interference in High PTSD participants was specific to trauma-related stimuli. No evidence was found for facilitated detection of threatening stimuli in PTSD. These results provide additional support for attentional biases in PTSD relating to attentional interference with trauma-related cues rather than facilitated detection of threat. The implications for this pattern of results are discussed in relation to anxiety disorders that are characterized by rumination and/or intrusions (e.g., PTSD, GAD) rather than those more circumscribed to fight or flight response (e.g., phobias).     

EVALUATION OF A STRUCTURAL MODEL OF OBJECTIFICATION THEORY AND EATING DISORDER SYMPTOMATOLOGY AMONG EUROPEAN AMERICAN AND AFRICAN AMERICAN UNDERGRADUATE WOMEN

This study evaluated a structural equation model of objectification theory among European American (EA;  n  = 408) and African American women (AA;  n  = 233). Modeling results indicated a particularly strong association between thin-ideal internalization/body monitoring and eating disorder symptoms, with weaker relationships among body dissatisfaction, depression, anxiety, and eating disorder symptoms. The measurement model was not equivalent for EAs and AAs; however, the structural model was invariant, suggesting that the relationships among these variables may be similar for both groups. Thus, objectification theory does appear to be applicable to AA women, although specification of relevant constructs and refinement of assessment instruments is warranted.     

Victim Resistance: Theory and Data on Understanding Perceptions of Sexual Harassment

This article reports on a study of perceptions of sexual harassment when a victim offers verbal resistance, and introduces the theoretical application of the notion that women sometimes use token resistance to sexual attention. Perceptions of sexual harassment were examined based on a vignette in which physical or verbal harassment and victim's facial expression were varied. Participants were 337 undergraduates (91% European American, 5% African American, 1% Hispanic American, 1% Asian American). Perceptions of sexual harassment were stronger for physical harassment than verbal harassment, except when the target smiled. Overall, women had stronger perceptions of harassment than did men. Also, a stronger belief in women's use of token resistance to sex was associated with weaker perceptions of sexual harassment. These findings suggest that a number of factors influence perceptions of harassment, even when a victim verbally resists.     

Environmental factors associated with a spectrum of neurodevelopmental deficits

A number of environmental agents have been shown to demonstrate neurotoxic effects either in human or laboratory animal studies. Critical windows of vulnerability to the effects of these agents occur both pre- and postnatally. The nervous system is relatively unique in that different parts are responsible for different functional domains, and these develop at different times (e.g., motor control, sensory, intelligence and attention). In addition, the many cell types in the brain have different windows of vulnerability with varying sensitivities to environmental agents. This review focuses on two environmental agents, lead and methylmercury, to illustrate the neurobehavioral and cognitive effects that can result from early life exposures. Special attention is paid to distinguishing between the effects detected following episodes of poisoning and those detected following lower dose exposures. Perinatal and childhood exposure to high doses of lead results in encephalopathy and convulsions. Lower-dose lead exposures have been associated with impairment in intellectual function and attention. At high levels of prenatal exposure, methylmercury produces mental retardation, cerebral palsy and visual and auditory deficits in children of exposed mothers. At lower levels of methylmercury exposure, the effects in children have been more subtle. Other environmental neurotoxicants that have been shown to produce developmental neurotoxicity include polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins, pesticides, ionizing radiation, environmental tobacco smoke, and maternal use of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana and cocaine. Exposure to environmental agents with neurotoxic effects can result in a spectrum of adverse outcomes from severe mental retardation and disability to more subtle changes in function depending on the timing and dose of the chemical agent.     

Individuation and relationship violence

Abstract

This paper examines relationship dynamics of couples in which the man has been violent toward the woman. The thesis offered here, from a systemic perspective, is that violence in intimate couple relationships is, in part, a distance-regulating mechanism that maintains a balance between separateness and connectedness in the relationship. The individual developmental process that allows a balance to be maintained without violence or other “distance regulators” is individuation. Some of the theoretical positions taken by previous authors that clarify the connection between individuation and relationship dynamics are presented. Next, the link between lack of individuation and relationship violence is explored using the work of other scholars to support our thesis and the “voices” of women who have experienced date violence. The “voices” come from a multiple case study using qualitative methods and analyses conducted by the second author. Finally, therapeutic intervention when relationship violence is viewed from the perspective suggested here is discussed.