The association between risky decision making and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms: A preregistered assessment of need for cognition as underlying mechanism

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is related to suboptimal decision making in experimental tasks and to real-life risk-taking behavior (RTB) such as substance abuse and unsafe traffic conduct. In this preregistered study, we tested whether these associations are mediated by need for cognition—the extent to which one tends towards, and enjoys, analytical thought. In a large sample of young adults (N = 463, M_age = 19.7 years), we tested whether need for cognition mediated the association between self-reported ADHD symptoms on the one hand and decision-making strategy complexity on an experimental gambling task and self-reported real-life RTB on the other hand. Preregistered confirmatory analyses indicated first that ADHD symptoms were positively associated with real-life RTB, but the association was not mediated by need for cognition. Second, ADHD symptoms were not related to decision-making strategy complexity, and need for cognition was not a significant mediator. Explorative analyses revealed that (a) need for cognition was associated with higher decision-making accuracy and slower reaction time; (b) need for cognition was related to inattentive but not to hyperactive/impulsive ADHD symptoms; (c) need for cognition was associated with health-related RTB but not interpersonal RTB; and (4) only the association between inattention and health-related RTB was mediated by need for cognition. We conclude that need for cognition is not a mediator in the association between ADHD symptoms and RTB. Additionally, we conclude that neither ADHD symptoms nor need for cognition predict decision-making strategy complexity. Implications for both future research and clinical practice are discussed.     

Effects of socially appropriate singing on the vocal stereotypy of children with autism spectrum disorder

This study evaluated the effects of children with autism spectrum disorder engaging in socially acceptable singing on their vocal stereotypy. A multiple‐baseline across four participants with embedded multielement designs was used to assess the effects of the singing intervention upon later occurrence of vocal stereotypy for each participant. Results showed that fewer instances of vocal stereotypy occurred during and after singing intervention sessions. Additionally, two children began to emit appropriate singing after intervention, which suggests that the topography of their vocal stereotypy (e.g., monosyllabic or screeching sounds) was altered to some extent. Overall, results suggest positive implications for teaching appropriate vocal behaviors as functional replacements for vocal stereotypy.     

Clinical research on behavioral activation as treatment for post‐traumatic stress disorder: A brief review and meta‐analysis

Behavioral activation (BA), an effective treatment for depression, has recently been receiving attention as a possible intervention for PTSD. BA interventions could be particularly useful in treating underserved populations (i.e., individuals with lower socioeconomic status). A literature search was conducted, which identified seven outcome studies that examined the effectiveness of stand‐alone BA treatment for individuals with PTSD. All studies identified for this brief review demonstrated clinically significant reductions in PTSD symptoms using BA as an intervention. A meta‐analysis of these few studies revealed a nonsignificant effect (Cohen's d = 0.713, p = .512) despite reporting an average symptom reduction of 25.8%. Other studies utilizing BA treatment for PTSD do so in tandem with other interventions and were excluded from analysis. This brief review summarizes the literature on the use of BA as a stand‐alone treatment for PTSD and suggests that future research seek to confirm the usefulness of BA as a potential treatment modality for mental health‐care providers treating individuals with PTSD.     

Psychometric properties of the Driving Behaviour Scale (DBS) among polish drivers

Anxiety can negatively affect an individual’s psychological wellbeing and lead to mild-to-moderate functional impairment in various areas of their lives. Despite this, the relationship between anxiety and driving performance has received very little empirical attention. The Driving Behaviour Scale (Clapp, Olsen, Beck, et al., 2011, Clapp, Olsen, Danoff-Burg, et al., 2011) was developed as a measure of anxious driving behaviours to support research in this area. The current study details adaptation and validation of the Driving Behaviour Scale (DBS; Clapp, Olsen, Beck, et al., 2011, Clapp, Olsen, Danoff-Burg, et al., 2011) in 310 university students in Poland. The overall internal consistency for the DBS was 0.76, while the two subscales demonstrated acceptable internal consistency (safety/cautious = 0.75 and hostile/aggressive behaviours = 0.85). The reliability estimates for performance deficit returned a lower coefficient of 0.65. Factor analysis produced a three-factor solution that supported the original structure of the DBS. The DBS may be utilised as a measure of driving anxiety in samples drawn from the general population.     

A thematic analysis of practitioners' understanding of domestic abuse in terms of post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex‐PTSD (C‐PTSD)

There is a growing body of evidence suggesting that domestic abuse (DA) should be conceptualised within the complex post‐traumatic stress disorder (C‐PTSD) model. Recently, in the draft of the International Classification of Diseases, Eleventh Revision, produced by the World Health Organization (WHO), C‐PTSD was included as a separate criterion in which DA is incorporated (ICD‐11, WHO, 2018). In this study, a thematic analysis was used to explore to what extent practitioners working with DA survivors are familiar with PTSD and C‐PTSD. Research into such a prevalent and detrimental problem as DA is important to understand whether the development of theoretical knowledge about DA and C‐PTSD is addressed in practice. In a Women's Centre in South London, six semi‐structured interviews with middle‐aged female practitioners were conducted to investigate each counsellor's experiences, knowledge and reflections. Six final themes were constructed to summarise the main results. The findings demonstrate limited practitioner understanding of DA in terms of C‐PTSD, which seems to impact not only the effectiveness of treatment plans with DA survivors, but also counsellors’ own psychological and physical states. It is also indicated that DA can be conceptualised within the C‐PTSD model that corresponds with previous literature indicating the complex nature of DA. The overall results of the current research acknowledge that DA sectors should not be neglected and better funding and effective psychoeducation in this field are needed.     

Resistance and outcome expectations in cognitive‐behavioural therapy for generalised anxiety disorder

Greater client resistance has been consistently found to be negatively associated with outcome in psychotherapy. However, the pathways through which resistance impacts such outcomes are underexplored. Given that client outcome expectation (OE) has been identified as an important common factor in psychotherapy, the goals of the present study were to examine: (a) the impact of resistance on subsequent client and therapist OE (COE & TOE, respectively); and (b) whether COE and/or TOE mediate the relationship between resistance and outcome. These relationships were tested among 44 clients with severe generalised anxiety disorder treated with cognitive‐behavioural therapy in the context of a randomised controlled trial (Westra, Constantino, & Antony, 2016). Resistance was measured at a mid‐treatment session, and COE and TOE were assessed at baseline and immediately after the resistance session. Treatment outcome was measured via client‐rated worry severity at post‐treatment. As predicted, higher resistance was associated with lower subsequent COE and TOE; B = ?.73, p < .001 and B = ?.46, p < .001, respectively. In turn, lower post‐resistance COE predicted higher post‐treatment worry (B = ?.5, p < .001), indicating mediation. In contrast, TOE did not mediate the relationship between resistance and outcome (B = ?.02, p = .876). These results suggest that resistance can be demoralising to both clients and therapists. However, only lower client morale may be detrimental to therapy outcome. This study contributes to understanding outcome pathways through two common therapy processes.     

抽动症儿童的箱庭治疗个案研究

探讨箱庭治疗对抽动症儿童的有效性和作用机制。对一名抽动症儿童进行15次箱庭治疗,综合使用作品分析、访谈法和问卷法对治疗的过程及效果进行评估,结果发现个案的变化经过问题呈现、转变和自性三个阶段,箱庭治疗所提供的自由受保护的空间、矫正性的情绪体验以及良好的咨访关系等能够帮助个案减少抽动症状,提高情绪调节能力和人际交往能力。     

Clinical cut‐off point for the Distrust dimension of the Dimensional Clinical Personality Inventory 2 (IDCP‐2)

The Clinical Dimensional Personality Inventory 2 (IDCP ‐2) is a 206‐item self‐report tool developed for the assessment of 12 dimensions (divided into 47 factors) of personality pathology. One of the scales comprising the instrument, the Distrust scale, is intended to provide psychometric information on traits closely related to the Paranoid Personality Disorder (PPD ). In the present research, we used the Item Response Theory and the Receiver Operating Characteristic curve analysis to establish a clinical meaningful cutoff for the Distrust scale. Participants were 1,679 adults, among outpatients diagnosed with PPD , outpatients diagnosed with other PD s, and adults from the community. The Wright map revealed that outpatients were located at the very high levels on the latent continuum of the Distrust scale, with a very large effect size for the mean difference between patients and non‐patients. The ROC curve supported a cutoff at −1.00 score in theta standardization which yielded 0.87 of sensitivity and 0.54 of specificity. Findings from the present investigation suggest the IDCP ‐2 Distrust scale is useful as a screening tool of the core features of the PPD . We address potential clinical applications for the instrument and discuss limitations from the present study.     

Thought-shape fusion in anorexia nervosa: an experimental investigation

Cognitive biases and cognitive distortions have been implicated as important factors in the development and maintenance of many disorders. The concept of thought-shape fusion (TSF) in eating disorders was developed by Shafran, Teachman, Kerry, and Rachman (British Journal of Clinical Psychology 38 (1999) 167) as a variant of thought-action fusion, described by Shafran, Thordarson and Rachman (Journal of Anxiety Disorders 10 (1996) 379). TSF occurs when thinking about eating certain types of food increases a person's estimate of their shape and/or weight, elicits a perception of moral wrongdoing, and/or makes the person feel fat. Shafran et al. (1999) examined both the psychometric and experimental properties of TSF in an undergraduate sample. This paper reports an extension of this work to a clinical group (N=20) of patients with anorexia nervosa. After completing a set of relevant questionnaires, participants were asked to think about a food which they considered extremely fattening. They were then asked to write out the sentence, "I am eating--.", inserting the name of the fattening food in the blank. After being asked to rate their anxiety, guilt, feelings about their weight, morality, etc., participants were given the opportunity to neutralize their statement in any way they chose. The majority of the participants neutralized in ways consistent with the findings of Shafran et al. (1999). The results are discussed in terms of cognitive-behavioural formulations of eating disorders, and of the influence of cognitive biases and cognitive distortions on the processing of information relevant to food, weight and shape in anorexia nervosa.