Love in Action: An Integrative Approach to Last Chance Couple Therapy

This article presents an integrative approach to the special challenges of therapy with couples on the brink of dissolution or divorce—who often describe this therapy as their “last chance.” In some, one partner is considering ending the relationship, and in others, both partners are considering ending it. Often, these couples have had prior dissatisfying experiences in couple therapy. Four types of last chance couples are described: high‐conflict couples; couples in which partners have differing goals for their lives or different timelines for reaching shared goals; couples in which one or both partners have acted in a manner that violates the values, expectations, emotional comfort, or safety of the other; and couples in which there has been a gradual loss of intimacy. The Therapeutic Palette, a multiperspectival, theoretically eclectic integrative approach, is enlisted as a general framework for selecting and sequencing use of particular theories and their associated practices, based on the three “primary colors” of couple therapy: time frame/focus, level of directiveness, and change entry point. An additional complementary framework, the creative relational movement approach, is proposed to provide an integrative frame encompassing both language‐based and action‐based practices, suggesting that meaning is held and expressed as much through interaction or “relational motion” as it is through language. Principles of change are described. Due to the couple's level of crisis and desire for immediate evidence of possible improvement, priority is given to action‐based interventions in early stages of therapy, by engaging couples in “experiments in possibility.” Typical action approaches are described. An extended vignette follows.     

Measuring goal involvement in specific achievement situations: Development and validation of a 6-goal questionnaire

IntroductionCurrently, there is a growing interest regarding the dynamics of achievement goals and its consequences on motivational patterns, which urges researchers to focus more and more on states of goal involvement.ObjectiveBased on Elliot, Murayama, and Pekrun's (2011) 6-goal framework, this research aimed to develop and validate a state-like form French Achievement Goal Involvement Questionnaire (FAGIQ-6).MethodFirst, a 40-item preliminary version was created. Its clarity was assessed among 152 French undergraduate students. Then, its factorial structure was tested using confirmatory factor analyses on data collected among 439 French junior high school students. Finally, regression analyses on data collected among 317 other junior high school students were used to test how the instrument relates to constructs known to be related to the different achievement goals.ResultsThe structure of the FAGIQ-6 included 18 items that were deemed clear and that were organized into six factors (task-approach, self-approach, other-approach, task-avoidance, self-avoidance, and other-avoidance). Regression analyses showed that: Perceived competence positively predicted all approach goals and task-avoidance; an entity theory of ability positively predicted other-referenced goals; an incremental theory of ability positively predicted all task and self goals; task-approach and self-approach positively predicted intrinsic motivation and task absorption; approach goals and task-avoidance positively predicted intrinsic motivation; and other-avoidance positively predicted anxiety.ConclusionThe FAGIQ-6 can reliably measure goal involvement in specific achievement situations and thus enables new avenues of research on the dynamics of achievement goals.     

Impact of situational threat on the behavioral activation system

Previous research has indicated that individuals respond differently to difficult tasks, depending on whether the situational factors surrounding the task make the individual perceive it as a challenge or a threat. Distinct response patterns between these two stress responses have been identified and vary based on an individual’s personality traits. In keeping with this research, the current study examined how performance pressure-induced threat impacts the relationship between trait approach motivation and prefrontal cortex activation utilizing a simple line bisection task. Participants completed line bisection tasks before and after performing a difficult motor skill task under pressure intended to provoke a threat-based response. As expected, individuals with high levels of trait approach motivation showed a rightward line bisection bias at pretest absent in participants with low levels of trait approach motivation. However, in contrast to previous studies utilizing more challenge-based tasks that report consistent rightward line bisection bias in high approach motivation populations, the current study identified a shift towards a leftward line bisection bias after the study task. The results suggest that the inability to succeed under pressure caused high trait approach participants to temporarily lose their approach orientation due to threat response.     

EEG neurofeedback improves cycling time to exhaustion

ObjectiveThe role of the brain in endurance performance is frequently debated; surprisingly, few investigations have attempted to improve endurance performance by directly targeting brain activity. One promising but untested approach to modifying brain activity is electroencephalogram (EEG) neurofeedback. Consequently, our experiment is the first to examine an EEG neurofeedback intervention for whole-body endurance performance.MethodWe adopted a two-part experiment. The first consisted of a randomized parallel controlled design. Forty participants were allocated to three experimental groups; increase relative left cortical activity (NFL), increase relative right (NFR), and passive control (CON). They performed a depleting cognitive task, followed by either six 2-min blocks of EEG neurofeedback training (NFL or NFR) or time-matched videos of the neurofeedback display (CON). Next, they performed a time-to-exhaustion (TTE) test on a cycle-ergometer. We then tested participants of NFL and NFR groups in an additional experimental visit and administered the opposite neurofeedback training within a fully repeated-measures protocol.ResultsEEG neurofeedback modified brain activity as expected. As hypothesized, the NFL group cycled for over 30% longer than the other groups in the parallel controlled design, NFL: 1382 ± 252 s, NFR: 878 ± 167, CON: 963 ± 117 s. We replicated this result in the repeated-measures design where NFL: 1167 ± 831 s performed 11% longer than NFR: 1049 ± 638 s. There were no differences in pre-exercise fatigue, vigor or self-control; area under the curve group-differences for perceived effort were interpreted within a goal persistence framework.ConclusionThe brief EEG neurofeedback intervention elicited greater relative left frontal cortical activity and enhanced endurance exercise performance.