The Interplay of Parental Response to Anger,Adolescent Anger Regulation,and Externalizing and Internalizing Problems: A Longitudinal Study

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - Numerous studies have reported substantive correlations between anger socialization, children’s anger regulation, and...     

Modality Effects Examined by Means of an Online Sentence-Picture Comparison Task

Journal of Psycholinguistic Research - Are oral sentences accompanied by pictures easier to understand than written sentences accompanied by the same pictures? This question—intensely...     

Learning at any rate: action–effect learning for stimulus-based actions

Recent studies reported converging evidence for action–effect associations if participants adopted an intention-based action control mode in free choice conditions, whereas no evidence for action–effect associations was found when participants adopted a stimulus-based mode in forced choice conditions. However, it is not yet clear whether action control modes moderate acquisition or usage of action–effect associations. In the present experiment, two groups of participants underwent an acquisition phase consisting of either free or forced choice key presses that produced irrelevant, but contingent effect tones. In a subsequent test phase, participants freely chose the key to press after former effect tones were presented. A reliable consistency effect resulted for both the groups, i.e. participants preferred the key that produced the irrelevant tone in the preceding acquisition phase. In combination with prior findings, this consistency effect suggests that usage, but not acquisition of action–effect associations depends on an intention-based action control mode.     

Pr?diktoren tumorassoziierter Fatigue

Fatigue is a serious cancer-related syndrome reported by cancer patients during and after treatment. Especially the impact of chronic fatigue on quality of life is substantial. The aim of this study was to identify predictors of fatigue after finishing treatment from an early stage of the cancer treatment. A sample of 551 cancer patients with heterogeneous diagnoses completed questionnaires assessing fatigue, psychological and psychosomatic data plus treatment data. The patients were recruited from an acute care hospital (t1) and the participants completed the questionnaire 2?C2.5 years after treatment (t2). Regression analysis showed that the strongest predictor of later fatigue was fatigue during the therapy. Other impact factors are radiotherapy and pain. The results suggest that the diagnosis and treatment of acute fatigue should be carried out at an early stage of cancer treatment to prevent chronic fatigue. Suitable diagnostic methods and treatment options will be presented.     

The self-image in borderline personality disorder: an in-depth qualitative research study

Patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) suffer from affective instability, impulsivity, and identity disturbance which particularly manifest in an unstable or insecure self-image. One main problem for studies of core psychopathology in BPD is the complex subject of identity disturbance and self-image. The purpose of this study was to investigate the self-image of BPD patients with a qualitative research approach. Twelve patients with BPD were compared to 12 patients with remitted major depressive disorder (MDD) without personality disorder, using the Structured Interview of Personality Organization (STIPO). The transcribed interviews were analyzed using a combination of content analysis and grounded theory. BPD patients described themselves predominantly as helpful and sensitive; reported typical emotions were sadness, anger, and anxiety. MDD patients on the other hand reported numerous and various characteristics and emotions, including happiness, as well as sadness and anxiety. Other persons were characterized by the BPD group as egoistic and satisfied, while the MDD group described others as being balanced and secretive. BPD patients displayed an altruistic, superficial, and suffering self-image. Aggressive tendencies were only seen in other persons. Our findings support the concept of a self and relationship disturbance in BPD which is highly relevant for psychotherapy treatment.     

English adaptation versus mother tongue: reliability of the English version of MODDI-F administered to Hong Kong Chinese college students

Two samples of Hong Kong college students completed the English and the Chinese version of the Multidimensional Orientation Toward Dying and Death Inventory (MODDI-F), respectively. Results show substantially lower coefficients of internal consistency in the English version when compared with its Chinese counterpart. The construct validity of the instrument, i.e., the statistical relationships between its subtests, was confirmed. Whenever available, the use of a questionnaire that is worded in the participants' mother tongue is recommended.     

Psychoedukation bei Personen mit erh?htem Psychoserisiko

Background

So far only few studies are available which have evaluated the effectiveness of psychoeducation for individuals at risk of psychosis in the early initial prodromal state (EIPS) whereas the benefit of psychoeducation in psychotic patients has been repeatedly confirmed. Thus the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of psychoeducation in individuals with increased risk of psychosis in the EIPS.

Method

A total of 128 help-seeking outpatients in the EIPS participated in a randomized controlled multicentre trial of 12 months of either psychoeducation as part of an integrated psychological intervention (IPI) or supportive counseling (SC). The time to transition to psychosis at 12-month and 24-month follow-up as well as the social adjustment at baseline, time of transition or post-treatment by means of the social adjustment scale (SAS?II) were assessed.

Results

The IPI was superior to SC in preventing progression to psychosis at 12-month (3.2% versus 16.9%, p?=0.008) and 24-month follow-up (6.3% versus 20.0%, p?=0.019). Both treatments resulted in significant pre-post improvements in SAS?II with no significant differences between the two groups.

Conclusions

Psychoeducation as part of an integrated intervention is effective for preventing the onset of psychosis over a 24-month time period in people in an EIPS. Moreover patients at risk of developing first episode psychosis seem to benefit from a specific psychoeducational intervention in the context of other treatments as well as from SC.     

Test anxiety,working memory,and cognitive performance: Supportive effects of sequential demands

Substantial evidence suggests that test anxiety is associated with poor performance in complex tasks. Based on the differentiation of coordinative and sequential demands on working memory (Mayr & Kliegl, 1993), two studies examined the effects of sequential demands on the relationship between test anxiety and cognitive performance. Both studies found that high sequential demands had beneficial effects on the speed and accuracy of the performance of test-anxious participants. It is suggested that the more frequent memory updates associated with high sequential demands may represent external processing aids that compensate for the restricted memory capacity of individuals with high test anxiety.