Mandatory personal therapy: does the evidence justify the practice? In debate

ABSTRACT

The article addresses the question of whether the practice of mandatory personal therapy, followed by several training organisations, is justified by existing research and evidence. In doing so, it discusses some implications of this training requirement from an ethical and ideological standpoint, raising questions of import for training organisations and highlighting avenues for further research.     

Training in health psychology: An international look

With the progression of health psychology as a new field in psychology specific training programs are more and more needed. A survey of the training situation of health psychology in Northern America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand highlighted a lack of formalized training programs in most countries except the United States and Canada, as well as an enormous variety between countries on standards of training, and on the differentiation of health psychologists from clinical psychologists.

For the qualification of health psychology as an independent psychological discipline a plea is made for international standardization of quality control and suggestions for the content of formalized training programs in health psychology are given.     

Recall initiation strategies must be controlled in training studies that use immediate free recall tasks to measure the components of working memory capacity across time

There has been great interest in using working memory (WM) training regimens as an alternative treatment for ADHD, but it has recently been concluded that existing training regimens may not be optimally designed because they target the primary memory component but not the secondary component of WM capacity. This conclusion requires the ability to accurately measure changes in primary and secondary memory abilities over time. The immediate free recall task has been used in previous studies to measure these changes; however, one concern with these tasks is that the recall order required on training exercises may influence the recall strategy used during free recall, which may in turn influence the relative number of items recalled from primary and secondary memory. To address this issue, previous training studies have explicitly controlled recall strategy before and after training. However, the necessity of controlling for recall strategies has not been explicitly tested. The present study investigated the effects of forward-serial-order training on free recall performance under conditions in which recall strategy was not controlled using a sample of adolescents with ADHD. Unlike when recall order was controlled, the main findings showed selective improvement of the secondary memory component (as opposed to the primary memory component) when recall order was uncontrolled. This finding advances our understanding of WM training by highlighting the importance of controlling for recall strategies when free recall tasks are used to measure changes in the primary and secondary components of WM across time.     

A Randomized Trial of Attention Training for Generalized Social Phobia: Does Attention Training Change Social Behavior?

The use of attention training protocols for the treatment of generalized social anxiety disorder (SAD) is undergoing increased examination. Initial investigations were positive but more recent investigations have been less supportive of the treatment paradigm. One significant limitation of current investigations is overreliance on self-report. In this investigation, we expanded on initial investigations by using a multimodal assessment of patient functioning (i.e., including behavioral assessment). Patients with a primary diagnosis of SAD (n = 31) were randomly assigned to eight sessions of attention training (n = 15) or placebo/control (n = 16). Participants were assessed at pre- and posttreatment via self- and clinician-report of social anxiety as well as anxious and behavioral response to two in vivo social interactions. Results revealed no differences between groups at posttreatment for all study outcome variables, suggesting a lack of effect for the attention training condition. The results are concordant with recent investigations finding a lack of support for the use of attention training as an efficacious treatment for patients with SAD.     

Cultural Diversity: Do We Need a New Wake-Up Call for Parent Training?

In 1996, Forehand and Kotchick concluded that parent-training (PT) interventions largely ignored cultural influences on parenting behavior. They reasoned that the failure to integrate the influence of ethnicity into theories of parenting behavior could result in culturally biased and less effective interventions. The present article addresses whether their “wake-up call” went unheard. We review research on PT treatment studies and examine (a) the rate of inclusion of ethnic minority parents in PT research, (b) the effectiveness of PT across ethnic groups, and (c) the effectiveness of culturally adapted PT interventions. Results show that there has been an increase in the ethnic diversity of PT treatment studies over the past three decades, yet only one methodologically sound study directly examined ethnicity as a moderator of PT treatment outcome. Despite the paucity of evidence that ethnicity is a moderator of parent-training outcomes, a number of culturally adapted PT treatments have been developed. These adapted interventions have rarely been tested against the unadapted interventions on which they are based. The results fail to support the current emphasis on ethnicity in efforts to improve the effectiveness of PT. We present methodological and conceptual limitations in the existing literature and provide recommendations for researchers studying the effects of ethnicity on PT outcomes.     

Career Development for Psychology Students through an Inpatient Mental Health Volunteer Programme

We report on a volunteer programme for undergraduate psychology students, as a prospective career pathway into the inpatient mental health context. Data on motives for joining the programme, as well as their expectations and career plans were collected from 56 students (mainly under 25 years of age; approximately 80% females) in a volunteer placement within an inpatient mental health setting. About 89.3% of the volunteers reported being on the programme to enhance their applications for postgraduate training prospects in the same field. Only 10.7% were motivated primarily by the desire to help mentally ill patients. Over three-quarters planned to pursue postgraduate training in clinical psychology.     

Web-based training improves on-field offside decision-making performance

ObjectiveThe present study examined to what extent off-field offside decision-making training transfers to real-life offside situations.Design/methodsEighteen Belgian assistant referees were included in the experiment. Ten assistant referees (i.e., training group) were exposed to a pre- and posttest and, in between, four off-field offside training sessions via a web-based training protocol. The remaining eight assistant referees participated in the control group and only completed the pre- and posttest. During both test sessions, which were conducted separately for each group, both an on- and off-field offside decision-making test was completed.ResultsFirst, an increase in response accuracy and a decrease in flag errors were observed for the training group from pre- to posttest in both the on- and off-field offside test. Second, only the training group improved in the recall and recognition accuracy of the position of the receiving attacker at the moment of the pass.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates that perceptual-cognitive skill training results in a positive and direct transfer to on-field offside decisions. Therefore, the structure and the content of the current training intervention mimics the perceptual difficulties of real-match situations and can help the assistant referees to mediate and enhance their offside decision-making skills, both on- and off-field.     

The good,the bad and the uncertainty: Trainees' perceptions of the personal development group

Background: Views about the purpose and role of personal development groups (PD group) in the counsellor training process are varied. Some argue they enhance self‐awareness, self‐exploration, the ability to be congruent and, ultimately, that they make for better practitioners. Others argue there is no clear evidence for such benefits and that they can actually be damaging to trainees. Aims: This study aimed to explore the beliefs of 25 trainees enrolled on counselling diploma or counselling psychology doctoral courses. It looked in particular at their perceptions of the purpose of PD groups and their expectations regarding support, difficulties and the scope of their participation. Method: Data was collected using open‐ended questions in an anonymous survey and was subjected to a thematic analysis. Results: Trainees appeared to hold mixed – and sometimes conflicting – views about the PD group. For some it was a positive endeavour that facilitated learning about self and clients, and helped in the processes of developing counselling skills and keeping the training group healthy. For others it was a feared space, which could elicit negative emotional experiences, and impact negatively on both learning outside of the PD group and the health of the group itself. Still others were unclear about its purpose. Hope/idealisation (of the process, the facilitator and course tutors) were also evident in the trainees' responses. Implications: Implications of these findings for counselling training are discussed.     

Social Work,Psychoanalysis, and Smoke-Filled Rooms

Abstract

This paper describes one social worker's journey from the first days of his social work education to his current experience as a psychoanalyst, and the subsequent transformation of his professional self. The complementary nature of the relationship between social work and psychoanalysis is considered. Through a personal vignette, the author hopes to remind current social work educators about the usefulness of psychoanalytic theory and practice within the context of casework values and principles.     

The Counselor Feedback Training Model: Teaching Counseling Students Feedback Skills

Giving and receiving feedback is an important counseling skill; therefore, it is crucial to focus on this skill within counselor training. This article presents the Counselor Feedback Training Model, a developmental approach designed to assist counselor educators in teaching counseling students how to give and receive feedback.