Taking the Red Pill: Using The Matrix to Explore Transgender Identity Development

This article presents a plot analysis of The Matrix and comparisons to a transgender identity development model. Major scenes throughout the movie are discussed through the lens of Devor’s transgender identity development model. The main character’s evolution from Mr. Anderson to Neo is presented, as well as how his experiences align with multiple stages in transgender identity development. Stages of transgender identity development are discussed and emphasized, including identity confusion, discovery of transgenderism, identity acceptance, transition, and transgender pride. These stages and others are discussed and related to uses in counseling sessions with transgender individuals and their family members.     

Evaluating the Effects of Creative Journal Arts Therapy for Survivors of Domestic Violence

The authors implemented a small series (N = 3) single-case research design to assess the effectiveness of a 9-session creative arts therapy treatment program for adult survivors of domestic violence. Analysis of participants’ scores on the Outcome Questionnaire (OQ-45.2) and Brief Resilience Scale using the percentage of nonoverlapping data procedure yielded treatment effects indicating that a creative arts therapy treatment program may be effective for reducing mental health symptoms and improving resiliency. It is recommended that this body of research continue for other educational, work, and health settings.     

Using The Mirror Story to Understand Self

Research indicates self-esteem reflects many factors in a person’s life, such as relationships with parents or parent figures, attachment types, experiences of worth enhancement, ethnicity, generation, and cultural values. However, debate continues on whether self-esteem is simply a reflection of Western culture and may not be a universal factor of human nature. This research was undertaken to understand how four persons of diverse ethnic, gender, and age categories may each perceive the self from reading the same story. First, the authors offer a brief overview of how self-esteem is viewed and explore a few cultural, gender and age aspects of self-esteem. They then present our pilot study with the methodology, results, and discussion, and offer implications for mental health counselors.     

Overcoming Obstacles: Exploring the Use of Adventure Based Counseling in Youth Grief Camps

Bereavement can be confusing and complex for children and adolescents. Supporting youth in their grief may require interventions from helping professionals. Grief camps provide a supported environment designed to address the developmental needs of grieving children and adolescents. Adventure Based Counseling (ABC) provides structure and guidance for ropes course experiences and a theoretical basis for camps. This article explores how ABC on the ropes course addresses the unique needs of children and adolescents within the context of grief camps. An example plan provides guidance to camps hoping to incorporate the ABC framework into programming.     

Observed Attachment and Self-Report Affect Within Romantic Relationships

Adult attachment provides unique insights that help researchers and clinicians understand the complexities of individuals and relationships. In romantic relationships, individual attachment can explain partners' abilities for closeness and autonomy as well as how they experience affect within the relationship. These affective experiences during couple interactions have been shown to influence both proximal and distal relationship outcomes. Thus, the authors explore the impact of partners' observed attachment behaviors—coded using the AABQ—on continuous reports of their affective experiences during both difficult and positive marital conversations. Variables examining couple affective negativity and flexibility were developed using state space grids, and data were analyzed using GridWare. Results showed that observed female attachment behaviors significantly impacted a couple's affective experiences of negativity and flexibility during conversations, while there were no significant associations between male observed attachment behaviors and the couple affective experience. Clinical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

生命意义感获取的心理机制及其影响因素

生命意义感体验对个体身心健康有重要的影响,其相关研究也已开始受到心理学各个领域的广泛关注。生命意义感获得与维持的理论研究主要是包括意义感层次模型、意义感构建模型及意义感维持与流动模型。大五人格、心理模拟、积极/消极情绪和亲社会行为是影响个体生命意义感体验的主要因素。未来研究要进一步探讨生命意义感产生的影响因素,完善相关的理论模型,并要从时间序列的角度探讨意义感的产生过程,并对生命意义感获得及维持的跨文化差异进行探讨。     

Jus interruptus bellum: the ethics of truce-making

With his new book, A Theory of Truces, Nir Eisikovits has succeed in producing the most comprehensive and insightful book to exist on the nature and morality of truces during international military conflict. In it he plausibly argues that thought about such conflict should avoid binary terms such as long-lasting peace and all-out war, and instead must readily acknowledge conditions ‘in between’ them, such as cease-fires and agreements to limit belligerence to certain times. In this critical notice of Eisikovits’ book, I have two major aims, in light of the fact that in it he does not systematically engage with the contemporary literature on and positions in just war theory. One aim is to situate Eisikovits’ analysis of truces in that context, and to contend that he has implicitly founded a new field that would be aptly labelled jus interruptus bellum as distinct from jus in bello and jus ex bello. Another is to build on Eisikovits’ ethical appraisal of truces, by considering what principles of just war theory entail for them.     

Therapists’ perspectives about working with meaning in life in psychotherapy: A survey

Of 212 practicing therapists who completed a survey about working with meaning in life (MIL) in psychotherapy, 129 (61%) had recently worked with MIL with at least one client and reported on their work with a client in this survey. Those therapists who had worked with a client on MIL as compared with those who had not were older, more experienced, more humanistic/existential/experiential in orientation; reported more MIL training; and felt more competent working with MIL. Clients reported on primarily had internalizing, interpersonal, and career issues. Only 12% of clients explicitly labeled MIL as an issue coming into therapy. The three most frequently used interventions involved offering support; helping clients examine thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to discover hopes and goals; and facilitating exploration of MIL cognitions and experiences. Therapists reported many positive consequences from working with MIL. Therapists reported minimal training in MIL and moderate competence in working with MIL. Implications for practice, training, and research are presented.     

In situ stress relaxation mechanism of a superelastic NiTi shape memory alloy under hydrogen charging

On account of its good biocompatibility, superelastic Ni–Ti arc wire alloys have been successfully used in orthodontic clinics. Nevertheless, delayed fracture in the oral cavity caused by hydrogen diffusion can be observed. The in situ stress relaxation susceptibility of a Ni–Ti shape memory alloy towards hydrogen embrittlement has been examined with respect to the current densities and imposed deformations. Orthodontic wires have been relaxed at different martensite volume fractions using current densities of 5, 10 and 20 A/m² at 20 °C. The in situ relaxation stress shows that, for an imposed strain at the middle of the austenite–martensite transformation, the specimen fractures at the martensite–austenite reverse transformation. However, for an imposed strain at the beginning of the austenite–martensite plateau, the stress decreases in a similar way to the full austenite structure. Moreover, the stress plateau has been recorded at the reverse transformation for a short period. For the fully martensite structure, embrittlement occurs at a higher stress value. This behaviour is attributed to the interaction between the in situ austenite phase expansion and the diffusion of hydrogen in the different volume fractions of the martensite phase, produced at an imposed strain.     

‘I feel better when…’: An analysis of the memory-experience gap for peoples’ estimates of the relationship between health behaviours and experiences

Objective: People often overestimate how strongly behaviours and experiences are related. This memory-experience gap might have important implications for health care settings, which often require people to estimate associations, such as “my mood is better when I exercise”. This study examines how subjective correlation estimates between health behaviours and experiences relate to calculated correlations from online reports and whether subjective estimates are associated with engagement in actual health behaviour.

Design: Seven-month online study on physical activity, sleep, affect and stress, with 61 online assessments.

Main Outcome Measures: University students (N = 168) retrospectively estimated correlations between physical activity, sleep, positive affect and stress over the seven-month study period.

Results: Correlations between experiences and behaviours (online data) were small (r = ?.12–.14), estimated correlations moderate (r = ?.35–.24). Correspondence between calculated and estimated correlations was low. Importantly, estimated correlations of physical activity with stress, positive affect and sleep were associated with actual engagement in physical activity.

Conclusion: Estimation accuracy of relations between health behaviours and experiences is low. However, association estimates could be an important predictor of actual health behaviours. This study identifies and quantifies estimation inaccuracies in health behaviours and points towards potential systematic biases in health settings, which might seriously impair intervention efficacy.