Advanced Brief Strategic Therapy: An overview of interventions with eating disorders to exemplify how theory and practice work

This paper aims at introducing some of the central aspects of the evolution that brief strategic therapy has undergone at the Centro di Terapia Strategica of Arezzo, Italy, towards advanced therapeutic strategies which differ from the original Palo Alto model. (Fisch, Weakland, &; Segal, 1982; Watzlawick, 1978 Watzlawick, P. 1978. The language of change: Elements of therapeutic communication, New York: Basic Books.  [Google Scholar]; Watzlawick, Beavin, &; Jackson, 1967; Watzlawick, Weakland, &; Fisch, 1974). We will focus on how the concept of self-deception is central to the formation and the persistence of psychological disorders; and how the usage of non-ordinary logics and the understanding of the individual's perceptive-reactive system are of key importance in unravelling such disorders, allowing the therapist to guide the patient towards an efficacious and efficient solution. Rather than attempting to describe and enlist the theoretical corpus that underlies brief strategic therapy, we have chosen to exemplify some focal concepts that connect theory to practice, and vice versa, by presenting the outline of some therapeutic protocols devised for solving eating disorders which can be specifically tailored for each individual patient.     

Early and persistent motor difficulties in infants at-risk of developing autism spectrum disorder: A prospective study

Analyses were conducted in order to investigate motor development in younger siblings of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Infants at familial risk and low risk of developing ASD were tested longitudinally between the ages of 7 and 36 months. Data were analysed from motor scales on the Mullen Scales of Early Learning and the Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales at each age point. Significantly lower motor scores in at-risk infants were evident from the age of 7 months compared to the low-risk group. Infants who were later diagnosed with ASD demonstrated significantly poorer Fine Motor skills at 36 months than at-risk infants without any developmental difficulties. In addition, Gross Motor scores were highly correlated across the two measures for low-risk infants and infants who later developed ASD. Early motor difficulties may be an early indicator of a number of neurodevelopmental disorders, including ASD.     

Project ABLE

This paper describes a proposed model for the management of Army soldiers rendered ineffective due to inadequate skills in coping with life stress. The history of Army mental health programs is reviewed to establish the rationale for program development. The proposed treatment methods and staffing are discussed. The application of this peacetime treaetment model in the management of combat psychiatric casualties is presented. Emphasis is placed on the role of the Army occupational therapist as a professional skilled in the use of task-directed behavior to enhance daily living skills.     

Occupational Therapy Intervention in the Treatment of Alcoholics

The first section of this article will provide the rationale for all occupational therapists to learn extensively about the isease of alcoholism regardless of area of practice or type of agency where employed. It will offer su estions on how this learning can take place. The second section will take an historic look at occupational therapy literature documenting the use of occupational therapy in alcoholism rehabilitation from 1941 to the present. It will describe modalities currently being used by occupational therapists in alcoholism rehabilitation and discuss expansion of occupational therapy in this practice area.     

键盘操作的工效学研究回顾

对K键盘、分离键盘、TONY键盘、槽式键盘及和弦键盘等的工效特征 (输入效率、肌肉疲劳、EMG特征和主观舒适感 )进行了比较和总结 ,系统地回顾和分析了键盘启动力和听觉反馈等因素对操作者打字力、肌肉活动水平和主观舒适感的影响效应。在总结近几十年相关研究的基础上 ,提出今后应进一步开展键盘启动力、打字速度和反馈方式等方面的研究。     

Affect and automatic mood maintenance

The hedonic contingency model (HCM; Wegener & Petty, 1994) states that individuals have learned to seek out positive activities while in a happy mood in order to maintain or elevate that mood. We argue that this tendency may become overlearned and, thus, automated. More specifically, the experience of a happy mood was predicted to automatically activate the mood-maintenance tendency proposed by the HCM. Participants induced into happy, sad, or neutral moods ranked their preferences for future activities that were nonconsciously associated with either a positive or negative valence. Supporting the notion of automatic mood maintenance, happy participants appeared to evaluate the affective qualities of the future activities and base their preferences on this evaluation without realizing that they were doing so. Theoretical implications of this finding are discussed.     

A Comparison of Results and Acceptability of Functional Behavioral Assessment Procedures with a Group of Middle School Students with Emotional/Behavioral Disorders (E/BD)

There is currently controversy over the validity and applicability of functional behavioral assessment (FBA) procedures with students with emotional/behavioral disorders (E/BD). A set of FBA procedures, including teacher and student interviews and direct classroom observations, were carried out with eight students with disabilities (7 classified E/BD, one classified LD). Results indicated that when all three methods (teacher/student interviews, classroom observations) yielded a ranking for a function they agreed 64% of those occasions. For those situations in which there was overall disagreement there was agreement between teacher interview and classroom observations most of the time. Social validity data indicated that both students and teachers felt that the assessment procedures were a useful and productive process.     

Peer Perceptions and Liking of Children with Anxiety Disorders

Examined three aspects of childhood anxiety and peer liking: (1) whether or not children can detect anxiety in age-mates, (2) the degree to which peer-reported anxiety, self-reported anxiety, and presence of anxiety disorders are associated with peer liking, and (3) whether or not self-reported anxiety and presence of anxiety disorders are associated with peer liking after controlling for peer-reported anxiety. Peer raters (9.5–12.5 years) rated videotaped speech samples of target children with anxiety disorders (AD; 9.5–13 years) and target children without anxiety disorders (NAD; 9.5–13 years). Peer-rated anxiety was positively correlated with target children’s self-reported anxiety and was higher among children with AD and children with social phobia (SP). Peer liking was inversely related to peer-reported anxiety and was lower for target children with SP. Target children with SP were liked less regardless of how anxious peers perceived them to be. Peer rater and target child demographics did not moderate the relationship between peer-rated anxiety and peer liking.     

克恩伯格边缘性人格组织理论述评

边缘性人格组织是人格障碍的内在结构。克恩伯格主要从非特异性自我虚弱性、现实检验、原始防御机制、病理性的内在客体关系以及身份认同紊乱五个方面阐述了边缘性人格组织理论。该理论弥补了DSM-Ⅳ中人格障碍诊断标准的无理论化倾向的缺陷,并为深入理解人格障碍的心理病理学提供了一个系统框架。     

"Just looking at food makes me gain weight": experimental induction of thought-shape fusion in eating-disordered and non-eating-disordered women

Thought-shape fusion (TSF) is a cognitive distortion that can be induced experimentally and is associated with eating pathology. The current study was conducted in order to elucidate the effects of TSF induction in females with eating disorders (n=35), as well as in restrained eaters (n=38) and unrestrained eaters (n=39). It was hypothesized that TSF induction would result in anxiety, guilt, increased feelings of fatness, perceived weight gain and feelings of moral wrong-doing relative to an anxiety and control induction. It was further hypothesized that restrained eaters and individuals with eating disorders would exhibit a stronger reaction to a TSF induction than would unrestrained eaters. The results indicated that, as predicted, TSF can be induced in individuals both with and without eating disorders, and individuals with eating disorders reported the highest levels of "state" TSF after the induction relative to the non-clinical controls. However, contrary to expectations, restrained eaters reported higher levels of perceived weight gain and moral wrong-doing after the anxiety induction (but not the TSF induction) relative to the control induction. Potential mechanisms for this pattern of results are discussed, and the clinical implications of research on TSF are also considered.