The challenge of becoming an integrative counsellor: The trainee's perspective

Aim: Integrative therapeutic practice is commonplace within the UK. Counsellors and psychotherapists increasingly report working in this way and numerous training courses have developed which advocate such practice. Despite its popularity, researchers have paid little attention to the impact that such training has upon students. This study therefore explores newly qualified counsellors' reflections of undertaking professional training in integrative counselling. Design: Newly qualified counsellors were invited to take part in a focus group to discuss their training experiences. Two groups were held involving a total of seven people. The data generated was analysed using Grounded Theory. Findings: The core-category ‘The challenge of becoming an integrative counsellor’ was identified. Embedded within this were four sub-categories: (1) ‘training issues’, (2) ‘applied issues’, (3) ‘the development of an integrative theory and identity’, and (4) ‘the impact of integrative training post qualification’. Key findings include the willingness of trainees to tolerate theoretical ambiguity and the discomfort that surrounded not belonging to a pure paradigm community. Discussion: Recommendations are made that trainers and practice supervisors are mindful of the distinct struggles that integrative trainees encounter. Additionally, in response to the isolation that some trainees report, greater use of peer support networks is encouraged.     

Theory of mind skills 1 year after traumatic brain injury in 6- to 8-year-old children

This study examined the longer-term effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI) on theory of mind (ToM) skills of children who were between the ages of 5 and 7 years at the time of injury. Fifty-two children with orthopaedic injury, 30 children with moderate TBI, and 12 children with severe TBI were evaluated approximately 1 year post-injury (mean age=6.98 years, SD=0.59, range=6.02–8.26). Children with severe TBI did not engage in representation of first- and second-order mental states at a developmental level comparable to their peers, suggesting stagnation or lack of development, as well as regression of putatively existing ToM skills. Age, task-specific cognitive demands, and verbal abilities were strong predictors of ToM performance. However, even after taking those factors into account, children with severe TBI had poorer ToM performance than children with orthopaedic injuries.     

Support for lateralization of the Whorf effect beyond the realm of color discrimination

Recent work has shown that Whorf effects of language on color discrimination are stronger in the right visual field than in the left. Here we show that this phenomenon is not limited to color: The perception of animal figures (cats and dogs) was more strongly affected by linguistic categories for stimuli presented to the right visual field than those presented to the left. Moreover, the magnitude of the visual field asymmetry was reduced when demands on verbal working memory were increased by a secondary task. This reduction did not occur when the secondary task imposed demands on spatial working memory. Taken together, these results demonstrate that the lateralized Whorf effect may be quite general, reflecting an interaction of linguistic and perceptual codes primarily in the left hemisphere.     

Probabilistic models of set-dependent and attribute-level best-worst choice

We characterize a class of probabilistic choice models where the choice probabilities depend on two scales, one with a value for each available option and the other with a value for the set of available options. Then, we develop similar results for a task in which a person is presented with a profile of attributes, each at a pre-specified level, and chooses the best or the best and the worst of those attribute-levels. The latter design is an important variant on previous designs using best-worst choice to elicit preference information, and there is various evidence that it yields reliable interpretable data. Nonetheless, the data from a single such task cannot yield separate measures of the “importance” of an attribute and the “utility” of an attribute-level. We discuss various empirical designs, involving more than one task of the above general type, that may allow such separation of importance and utility.     

Multisource Assessments of Behavioral Competencies and Selection Interview Performance

This study sought to determine whether and how ratings of leadership in a developmental multisource feedback program compare against those obtained by leadership selection decision makers. Seventy‐seven senior managers received feedback on eight competencies that also formed the basis of a subsequent promotional interview for senior executive positions. Each rating source displayed a unique perspective on the participants, but only the supervisor and peer ratings predicted performance on the interview. As well, peer, subordinate, and self‐ratings failed to improve upon the supervisors' predictions. The results also suggested a general performance factor underlying both the multisource assessments and the interview ratings.     

Discriminant validity of the ZKPQ in a sample meeting BPD diagnosis vs. normal-range controls

Widiger and Simonsen (2005) state that given the limitations of the categorical model of Personality Disorders classification proposals are to be expected for dimensional classifications. The purpose of this paper is to test the alternative five factorial model (AFFM) of personality in a sample with PDs. Subjects were administered the ZKPQ to test the discriminant capacity of the AFFM in classifying subjects diagnosed with BPD (n = 74) vs normal-range controls (n = 148) paired by age and sex, and identifying sensitive and/or specific dimensions that can be of help in diagnosing BPD. The results showed that high scores on N-Anx and Imp-SS, and low scores on Act are prognostic factors for being diagnosed with BPD. Likewise, this model correctly classified 88% of subjects with a kappa index of 0.73. The AFFM of personality appears to have a substantial power for predicting SCID-II interview-based BPD diagnosis.     

Preservation of long-term memory and synaptic plasticity despite short-term impairments in the Tc1 mouse model of Down syndrome

Down syndrome (DS) is a genetic disorder arising from the presence of a third copy of the human chromosome 21 (Hsa21). Recently, O’Doherty and colleagues in an earlier study generated a new genetic mouse model of DS (Tc1) that carries an almost complete Hsa21. Since DS is the most common genetic cause of mental retardation, we have undertaken a detailed analysis of cognitive function and synaptic plasticity in Tc1 mice. Here we show that Tc1 mice have impaired spatial working memory (WM) but spared long-term spatial reference memory (RM) in the Morris watermaze. Similarly, Tc1 mice are selectively impaired in short-term memory (STM) but have intact long-term memory (LTM) in the novel object recognition task. The pattern of impaired STM and normal LTM is paralleled by a corresponding phenotype in long-term potentiation (LTP). Freely-moving Tc1 mice exhibit reduced LTP 1 h after induction but normal maintenance over days in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampal formation. Biochemical analysis revealed a reduction in membrane surface expression of the AMPAR (α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-propionic acid receptor) subunit GluR1 in the hippocampus of Tc1 mice, suggesting a potential mechanism for the impairment in early LTP. Our observations also provide further evidence that STM and LTM for hippocampus-dependent tasks are subserved by parallel processing streams.     

The Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior at fifty

The Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior was founded in 1958 by a group of male psychologists, mainly from the northeastern USA and connected with either Harvard or Columbia. Fifty years later about 20% of both editors and authors reside outside this country and almost the same proportion is made up of women. Other changes in the journal include having its own website for more than a decade and now publishing online as well as on paper. A recent connection with PubMed Central of the National Library of Medicine has made possible the completely free electronic presentation of the entire archive of about 3,800 articles.