Cognitive Processing Therapy for Incarcerated Adolescents with PTSD

Summary

Despite increased recognition of trauma's association with conduct disorders, trauma treatment for the conduct-disordered population has been neglected. This study evaluated the effect of short-term, cognitive processing therapy (CPT) treatment on self-reported symptoms of trauma, such as anxiety, depression, intrusion, avoidance, and numbing. After treatment, the CPT group showed significant declines in these symptoms, while the wait-list control group did not.     

A Mind-Body Approach to Domestic Violence Perpetrator Treatment: Program Overview and Preliminary Outcomes

Conventional interventions with perpetrators of domestic violence are marginally effective. Given these results, researchers and practitioners are beginning to focus on identifying ways to improve domestic violence treatment outcomes. This article describes how a rural state-sponsored domestic violence offender program utilizes a treatment approach known as Mind-Body Bridging to help its clients overcome their abusive behaviors. Preliminary findings from an ongoing outcome study are also reported. According to these findings, the program has a high completion rate coupled with a low recidivism rate. Ninety-three percent (82 of 88) of the clients who have participated in this program completed the program, and just 7%?(6 of 82) of those who completed the program reoffended during the follow-up period, which ranged from 9 to 27 months.     

Legal and Ethical Issues in the Court-Mandated Treatment of Batterers

Summary

In the following article, we will explore the nature of the therapeutic relationship as it relates to batterers' treatment programs. We will consider the impact of obligations created by forces outside the relationship, such as those imposed by legal proceedings. We will discuss the concepts of confidentiality, privilege, and agency and their impact on the therapeutic relationship and the extent to which the therapists' understanding of the role these concepts play may be altered by court orders that impose treatment on a client/patient. Finally, we examine the issues and choices a therapist must make when engaging in court-ordered treatment of batterers, and the implications of those choices for both therapist and client; we will also suggest guidelines to help therapists sort through the often conflicting goals of therapy and the legal process.     

Correlates of Readiness to Change in Victims of Intimate Partner Violence

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a social problem associated with significant morbidity; however, victims do not always utilize treatment and resources. One's readiness to change might be one variable impacting his or her pursuit of treatment and other resources. This study investigated correlates of readiness to change, and readiness to change's impact on treatment utilization. Data were collected from 223 women residing in battered women's shelters. Correlational analyses find that generally victims with more psychopathology and distress, as well as more social support, were more ready to change. Posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, overall distress, and social support were the strongest predictors of readiness to change. Finally, victims higher in readiness to change were more likely to seek mental health treatment and other IPV-related services.     

Cognitive Behavioral Treatment for Insomnia in Veterans with Long-Standing Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Pilot Study

This uncontrolled pilot study assessed the effects of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia in veterans with long-standing posttraumatic stress disorder. Male veterans with current chronic insomnia and PTSD (n?=?8; M age = 58.6, SD?=?3.0; 87.5% African American, 12.5% European American; 87.5% Vietnam Veterans, 12.5% 1st Gulf War Veterans) reported a trauma related to their military service. Participants appeared for five weekly individual sessions of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia and completed one-week assessments of objective sleep (actigraphy) and subjective sleep (sleep diaries), the Insomnia Severity Index, and measures of functioning, posttraumatic stress disorder, and psychological distress both before and after treatment. Paired t tests revealed significant posttreatment improvements for various subjective assessments of sleep patterns but actigraphy-defined sleep was unchanged. Measures of functioning, nightmares, and posttraumatic stress disorder severity were also unchanged at posttreatment. Preliminary results were encouraging in improving subjective perceptions of sleep in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder, warranting further study with more rigorous methodology.     

Can We Prevent the Hitting? Recommendations for Preventing Intimate Partner Violence Between Young Adults

ABSTRACT

All empirically-evaluated partner violence prevention programs were reviewed. Most changed knowledge and attitudes regarding dating and sexual aggression, but few demonstrated behavioral change. Peer violence and substance use programs directed toward at-risk individuals demonstrate much larger effects than those directed at all individuals. Research is needed to (a) identify risk-factors for violence persistence, (b) examine the cost-benefit of universal and targeted programs, and (c) explore the ability of programs, such as parenting, stress management, and substance abuse programs, to reduce partner aggression. We recommend that institutions implement hierarchical systems of prevention, with brief interventions for all; more extensive program for moderate levels of aggression; and intensive psychosocial and legal interventions for serious offenders.     

Experts and laymen grossly underestimate the benefits of argumentation for reasoning

Many fields of study have shown that group discussion generally improves reasoning performance for a wide range of tasks. This article shows that most of the population, including specialists, does not expect group discussion to be as beneficial as it is. Six studies asked participants to solve a standard reasoning problem—the Wason selection task—and to estimate the performance of individuals working alone and in groups. We tested samples of U.S., Indian, and Japanese participants, European managers, and psychologists of reasoning. Every sample underestimated the improvement yielded by group discussion. They did so even after they had been explained the correct answer, or after they had had to solve the problem in groups. These mistaken intuitions could prevent individuals from making the best of institutions that rely on group discussion, from collaborative learning and work teams to deliberative assemblies.     

Sex Differences in Risk Taking: Repeated Sessions on a Computer-Simulated Task

Two experiments were conducted to investigate sex differences in risktaking behavior on a computer-generated and controlled task. Male and female subjects faced a video display of simulated mine fields with varying numbers and patterns of dots representing mines in the fields. In Experiment 1, they estimated the probability that a tank might successfully cross 100 mine fields when starting from an unknown point below each field. This was followed by the risk-taking task in which they decided whether to send a tank across each of the fields. The participants were tested on the risk-taking task once in Experiment 1 and over four separate sessions in Experiment 2. Scores, based on decision outcomes, and decision latencies were recorded. No significant sex differences were found in the participants' ability to estimate probabilities or in their total scores for decisions made on the risk-taking task. In low probability-of-success situations, women initially took greater risks than men but took longer to make their decisions; in all subsequent sessions, this pattern was reversed, with men taking greater risks and a longer time to make decisions. The findings support the growing body of evidence that men are more inclined to take risks than women in a variety of situations, indicate the importance of obtaining data over repeated sessions when investigating sex differences in risk taking, and demonstrate that computer-simulated tasks can provide a valid means for laboratory studies of sex differences in risk taking.     

Interest Patterns as Related to Fields of Concentration Among Engineering Students

The author designed, constructed, and demonstrated an apparatus the function of which was to make possible the study of the effects of a stressor animal upon experimental animals.     

Can intergroup contact improve humanity attributions?

In this paper, intergroup contact was evaluated as a strategy to favor outgroup humanization. We tested a double‐mediation model, in which contact is associated with both decreased salience of intergroup boundaries and the adoption of a common identity. These recategorizations, in turn, are related to lower levels of anxiety and higher levels of empathy, both emotions being proximal predictors of outgroup humanization. The model was tested using structural equation modeling in the context of different intergroup relations: Italians versus immigrants (Study 1); Northern Italians versus Southern Italians (Study 2). Supporting the hypotheses, group representations and emotions mediated the relationship between contact and humanity attributions. The practical implications of results are discussed.