StopPulling.com: An Interactive, Self-Help Program for Trichotillomania

Despite the widespread nature and significant impact of trichotillomania (TTM), relatively few controlled studies have evaluated treatment options for people with this disorder. Pharmacological treatment and behavior therapy are the two most widely accepted approaches to treating TTM, but few mental health professionals with appropriate expertise are available to provide care. The cost of treatment also is prohibitive in some cases. A number of self-help books are available for people with TTM, but no empirical data have documented associated outcomes. This paper describes the development and two phases of program evaluation for an alternative, Internet-based self-help treatment strategy for repetitive hair pulling. StopPulling.com is an on-line, interactive self-help approach derived from evidence-based cognitive behavioral models of treatment for TTM. Following program development, an initial test phase elicited feedback from individuals with repetitive hair pulling and professionals with expertise in the treatment of TTM or Web site development. StopPulling.com was modified in accordance with feedback from this initial test phase, and a revised version was made available to the public in January 2003. Preliminary data from 265 users of the program during the first year of public availability suggested significant improvement in symptoms, with some evidence that duration of program use accounted for reductions in symptom severity. Response rates were comparable to long-term follow-up after more intense cognitive behavioral treatment. StopPulling.com may provide a potentially useful self-help alternative or adjunctive strategy for repetitive hair pulling.     

Enhancing attributional style and positive life events predict increased hopefulness among depressed psychiatric inpatients

A prospective study was conducted to investigate whether enhancing attributional style and positive life events are associated with recovery from depression through the mediation of increased hopefulness, as predicted by the Needles and Abramson (1990) model of recovery from depression. The Attributional Style Questionnaire, Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Hopelessness Scale, Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale, Uplifts Scale, and Revised Hassles Scale were administered to 32 depressed psychiatric inpatients shortly after admission and readministered a mean of 10 days later. The results indicated that the combined effects of enhancing attributional style and positive life events predicted decreases in hopelessness, which were in turn associated with decreases in depression symptom levels. By contrast, neither the combined effects of depressotypic attributional style and life events nor the combined effects of dysfunctional attitudes and life events was associated with decreases in hopelessness or depression symptom levels.     

Archetypal Identity Development,Meaning in Life,and Life Satisfaction: Differences Among Clinical Mental Health Counselors,School Counselors,and Counselor Educators

Adults pursuing careers in counselor education, clinical mental health counseling, and counselor education (N = 256) participated in a study that examined relationships among archetypal identity development, meaning in life, and life satisfaction. Significant differences between groups existed for 5 archetypal identities, and meaning in life was significantly related to life satisfaction.     

The cataphoric use of the indefinite this in spoken narratives

Are concepts that were introduced with the unstressed, indefinite articlethis, as opposed to the indefinitea/an, more accessible from listeners’ mental representations? Subjects heard and then verbally continued each of a series of informal narratives. The last clause of each narrative introduced a new noun phrase that began with either the indefinitethis or the indefinitea/an (e.g.,this egg oran egg). When the concepts were introduced with the indefinitethis, the subjects referred to them more frequently, often within the first clauses that they produced, and typically via pronouns. In contrast, when the concepts were introduced witha/an, the subjects referred to them less frequently and typically via full noun phrases. Thus, concepts introduced with the indefinitethis were more accessible; therefore, the indefinitethis appears to operate cataphorically to improve referential access.     

Rehearsal of faces and details in action events

The relationship between mental rehearsal and facial identification accuracy was explored in two experiments involving either a staged classroom event or a video scenario. The results suggest that when subjects rehearsed immediately following an event, compared to subjects in non-rehearsal conditions, identification accuracy was increased when the target face was unchanged in appearance but was reduced when the face was changed slightly in appearance from viewing to test. However, when rehearsal of the event was delayed 10 minutes, identification accuracy was improved even when the face had changed in appearance. Immediate rehearsal, in contrast, led to a reduction in identification performance. In short, in some circumstances the gains in specific memory brought about by mental rehearsal serve to reduce than improve identification accuracy. The relevance of these findings to memory theory and everyday eyewitness testimony is discussed.     

Plans for balancing work and family life: Do women pursuing nontraditional and traditional occupations differ?

Work-involvement plans of women pursuing training in three fields are compared. Three approaches to the connection between gender and work are reviewed: an occupational, a differential gender socialization, and a role conflict approach. Data from 173 female students in traditional (nursing) and nontraditional (engineering and veterinary medicine) fields are used. The work plans of women pursuing these traditional and nontraditional occupations were similar. A minority in each field expected to work full time when their children were of preschool age. We obtained modest support for the structural and differential gender socialization approaches, and substantial support for the role conflict approach. Plans to pursue nontraditional professions do not appear associated with plans for nontraditional family life.