A critique of the microcounselling approach to problem understanding

Microcounselling approaches involve teaching the component behaviours of effective counselling or interviewing within a problem-solving framework. Egan, Ivey and Carkhuff, as proponents of this view, stress that later action stages of the problem-solving cycle should be based on an adequate understanding of the client's problem. The relationship between the skills which comprise the microcounselling approach and the goal of problem understanding is examined. It is argued that the approach lacks any explanation of how problem understanding is reached, and that it concentrates instead on the communication techniques involved in the discovery and modification of the client's understanding. This omission leaves counsellors without a rationale for the modification of their clients' views and without a means to regulate their use of the various microskills. Information theory and recent research on complex problem-solving are introduced to explain the skills involved in reaching a high-quality understanding of a client's problem. Given that these complex cognitive processes are not addressed in the microcounselling approach, suggestions are made for its modification.     

Apparent size and duration of a movement after-effect

Four experiments were performed to study the relationship between Emmert's law and the duration of the movement after-effect (MAE). The duration of the MAE increased with increased distance of the test field; this result was shown to be produced by the correlative change in apparent size of the after image. The effect did not occur when cues for distance judgments were reduced. Reducing the duration of the MAE suppressed the variation in its duration at varying distances of the test field. Some implications for the mechanism of the MAE are discussed.     

Effects of cognitive training on academic and on-task behavior of hyperactive children

A cognitive training program that taught both self-instructional and self-management skills was used with three 7-to 8-year-old hyperactive children. A multiple baseline across individuals design was used to evaluate the effects of training on on- task behavior and math accuracy. There were significant changes in math accuracy for all subjects, and two subjects showed significant improvements in on- task behavior. Evidence suggesting generalization to untrained behaviors was shown by an increase in self-correction of oral reading for all subjects. The results suggest that cognitive training specifically designed to promote generalization to classroom tasks can improve the classroom behavior and academic achievement of hyperactive children.The study was supported by a scholarship to the first author from the Specific Learning Difficulties Association (SPELD, Auckland). The authors would like to thank Mr. T. F. Walbran, deputy district senior inspector of primary schools, and Mrs. S. Gribben and the staff of Dominion Road Primary School; Mrs. F. Donovan helped with the collection of reading data and Dr. G. Arvidson gave assistance with data analysis. Special thanks also go to the graduate students who served as trainers or observers.     

Revised Provisional Diagnostic Profile: 2016

ABSTRACT

In Anna Freud’s and other previous versions of the diagnostic profile, drive theory and the structural model were the central organizing concepts. Though these are retained in the current version, greater emphasis has been made of other conceptual perspectives. In particular, the importance of understanding the impact of the child’s external world and the child’s attachment security; also the central importance of affects, both their recognition and management. These changes are seen in such sections as those on the ego which has been expanded to include a section on play and affects. The developmental line of anxiety and the concept of theory of mind have also been added.     

Clinical events in coronary patients who report low distress: adverse effect of repressive coping

OBJECTIVE: Coronary artery disease (CAD) patients who report low distress are considered to be at low psychological risk for clinical events. However, patients with a repressive coping style may fail to detect and report signals of emotional distress. The authors hypothesized that repressive CAD patients are at risk for clinical events, despite low self-rated distress. DESIGN: This was a prospective 5- to 10-year follow-up study, with a mean follow-up of 6.6 years. At baseline, 731 CAD patients filled out Trait-Anxiety (distress), Marlowe-Crowne (defensiveness), and Type D scales; 159 patients were classified as "repressive," 360 as "nonrepressive," and 212 as "Type D." MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary endpoint was a composite of total mortality or myocardial infarction (MI); the secondary endpoint was cardiac mortality/MI. RESULTS: No patients were lost to follow-up; 91 patients had a clinical event (including 35 cardiac death and 32 MI). Repressive patients reported low levels of anxiety, anger and depression at baseline, but were at increased risk for death/MI (21/159 = 13%) compared with nonrepressive patients (22/360 = 6%), p = .009. Poor systolic function, poor exercise tolerance, 3-vessel disease, index MI and Type-D personality--but not depression, anxiety or anger--also independently predicted clinical events. After controlling for these variables, repressive patients still had a twofold increased risk of death/MI, OR = 2.17, 95% CI = 1.10-4.08, p = .025). These findings were replicated for cardiac mortality/MI. CONCLUSION: CAD patients who use a repressive coping style are at increased risk for clinical events, despite their claims of low emotional distress. This phenomenon may cause an underestimation of the effect of stress on the heart. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved).     

Media representations of majority and minority groups

This research series replicated and extended earlier findings of Gardikiotis, Martin, and Hewstone ( 2004 ), who examined via content analysis UK media representations of numeric majority and minority groups. Using news articles from North and South Dakota, where majority/minority population characteristics mirror those of the UK in terms of number and power, Study 1 replicated the patterns of results found in Gardikiotis et al. Study 2, in which articles from California newspapers were analyzed, yielded findings contrary to Gardikiotis et al. and our Dakota analyses: Minority headlines were more frequent in California, and majority articles were longer than minority articles. Consistent with UK and Dakotas findings, majority headlines in California were associated with politics and identity adjectives, whereas minority headlines were linked to social issues and ethnicity‐based adjectives. Arguably, these differences occurred because in California, unlike the UK and the Dakotas, Whites are not simultaneously the social power and the numeric majority. Variations in power and number associated with majority and minority status were discussed in explaining differences across contexts, and in signaling possible shortcomings in the conceptualization and methods used to investigate minority and majority influence. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Psychometric testing and applications of the Body Attitudes Questionnaire translated into Portuguese

Although many body attitudes scales have been developed, none have been translated into Portuguese. This study aimed to translate the Ben-Tovim and Walker Body Attitudes Questionnaire and assess validity and reliability for a Brazilian sample. Women with (n = 39) and without (n = 57) eating disorders completed the scale, to assess discriminant validity. Convergent validity was assessed by the correlations between the scores and a measure of body dissatisfaction. The questionnaire was applied twice to controls after 1 mo. to evaluate reliability. Eating-disordered women had significantly higher mean scores on Feeling Fat, Disparagement, Salience and Lower Body Fatness, and lower scores on Attractiveness. No mean difference on Strength and Fitness was found. Most subscales were significantly correlated with the body-dissatisfaction measure. Test-retest coefficients ranged from .57 to .85. The translated version of the Body Attitudes Questionnaire seems to be a valid and reliable measure of body attitudes.     

Commentaries on 'The symbolism of the story of Lot and his wife'

In this article, four child and adolescent psychotherapists discuss their responses, within a psychoanalytic framework, to the theoretical and technical questions raised by Monica Lanyado in her paper 'The symbolism of Lot and his wife'.     

Grief in two guises: ‘Mourning and melancholia’ revisited

¹ 1. A version of this paper was given at the Institute of Psychoanalysis Conference: ‘Mourning and Melancholia through the Life Cycle’, London, 1998. This paper is a re-reading of Freud’s classic paper. The themes of mourning and melancholia are viewed in relation to children and adolescents with illustrations from case histories. Mourning is interpreted in a broader sense: not only as grief (both expectable and traumatic) but as a response to the developmental process itself as phases of childhood are shed and an emerging newer identity is assumed. The author argues that Freud’s paper left the way open to make a number of further distinctions of the processes involved within melancholia.