Diagnoses,Relational Processes and Resourceful Dialogs: Tensions for Families and Family Therapy

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM‐5), given its psychiatric focus on mental disorders in individuals, presents families and family therapists with challenges. Despite considerable controversies over its adoption, the DSM‐5 extends a process of standardizing a language for human and relational concerns. No longer a diagnostic language of professionals alone, its use is medicalizing how mental health funders and administrators, as well as clients, respond to human concerns. For family therapists who practice systemically, particularly from poststructuralist and strengths‐based orientations, many tensions can follow when use of the DSM‐5 is expected by mental health administrators and funders, or by clients who present concerns about themselves or a diagnosed family member. In this paper, I explore how such DSM‐5 related tensions might be recognized, navigated, and negotiated in the practice of family therapy with clients, and with administrators and funders.     

Coping Styles,Pain Expressiveness,and Implicit Theories of Chronic Pain

Whereas some individuals use active coping strategies and are able to adaptively cope with their pain, others use passive strategies and catastrophic appraisals, which are often associated with increased displays of pain behavior and negative pain-related outcomes. To investigate attribution-based implicit theories as a potential underlying mechanism that might affect coping success, we hypothesized that pain patients with an incremental implicit theory of pain (i.e., view pain as malleable) would have more active coping strategies, lower levels of pain expressiveness, and better pain-related outcomes than those with an entity implicit theory of pain (i.e., view pain as nonmalleable). Patients with chronic back pain undergoing a functional assessment completed a variety of self-report measures and participated in a pain-inducing physiotherapy procedure. The results revealed those with an incremental theory of pain used more active coping strategies, displayed less pain behavior, and reported better pain-related outcomes (e.g., lower levels of depression) than individuals with an entity theory of pain. The findings suggest implicit theories of pain may represent an underlying social-cognitive mechanism linked to important coping, emotional, and expressive reactions to chronic pain. Identifying such a mechanism may provide valuable information for the assessment and treatment of chronic pain.     

The Symptom as Ally,not Enemy

The practice of the Western medicine often identifies the symptom with the disease itself, but a current of thought and medical practice considers it as the important message of an organic imbalance. In fact, in standard therapies symptoms are usually suppressed, thus interrupting a normal physiological process and risking severe reactions due to the organic imbalance. Dr. Hahnemann, the father of homeopathy, founded his diagnostic and therapeutic model on the interpretation of the symptoms and maintained that symptoms are an expression of altered physiology. The same concept is to be found in Dr. Reckeweg's “reactivity” and homotoxicology; he believed that diseases are the expression of the struggle of the body against toxins. Reckeweg's contribution was particularly important in considering the inflammation process as a biologic process through which the body restores its health. Also PNEI (psycho-neuro-endocrino-immunology) proposes a model where the symptom is interpreted as information and as the result of an imbalance. Several other medical approaches address particular attention to the meaning of symptoms. The Bach Flower Therapy, for instance, is guided exclusively by the negative moods, which can become the cause of functional and organic diseases; balance is restored thanks to superior harmonic energetic vibrations conveyed by the superior energy living in some flowers. This interpretation of the nature of symptoms is becoming a more and more relevant issue among both the specialistic and the general public.     

Flexible job search behaviour among unemployed jobseekers: antecedents and outcomes

The interest in flexible job search behaviour (FJSB) among unemployed jobseekers, i.e., the extent to which jobseekers also look for jobs that deviate from their studies and earlier work experience, has grown considerably in recent years. Yet, there is large disagreement on both its consequences and drivers. Career scholars as well as policymakers believe that FJSB is important for unemployed and can improve their employment prospects. However, evidence from human resource (HR) literature raises doubts whether FJSB can enhance re-employment success. Similarly, whereas the career literature links FJSB to positive attitudes, such as career adaptability, the HR literature suggests that people searching flexibly may feel pushed into this behaviour due to more negative reasons, like few labour market perspectives. The aim of this study is examining these opposing expectations. We focus on three FJSB types: flexibility with respect to pay/hierarchical level, skill use and commuting time. Hypotheses are tested using two-wave data with 672 unemployed. Results indicate, among others, that career-adaptable people are not inclined to search more flexibly. In addition, FJSB may in certain cases hamper people’s re-employment likelihood. People searching more flexibly also more often became underemployed and as such experienced a more negative job quality.     

The exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of two subjective career success instruments

This study investigated the psychometric properties of two subjective career success instruments within the South African context: Perceived Career Success (PCSS: Gattiker &; Larwood, 1986 Gattiker, U. E., &; Larwood, L. (1986). Subjective career success: A study of managers and support personnel. Journal of Business and Psychology, 1(2), 78–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF01018805[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) and Life Success Measures Scale (LSMS: Parker &; Chusmir, 1992 Parker, B., &; Chusmir, L. H. (1992). Development and validation of a life-success measures scale. Psychological Reports, 70(2), 627–637. http://dx.doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1992.70.2.627[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Data were collected via a convenient sample of 708 South African Police Services (SAPS) personnel (females = 36.8%; Sotho language = 62.50%). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted on both instruments, followed by confirmatory factor analyses (CFA). Both instruments showed acceptable construct validity and reliability of scores.     

Career success criteria and locus of control as indicators of adaptive readiness in the career adaptation model

The present research had two goals. The first goal was to identify additional individual characteristics that may contribute to adaptive readiness. The second goal was to test if these characteristics fit the career adaptation model of readiness to resources to responses. We examined whether career success criteria (measured at Time 1) and career locus of control (measured at Time 1) would contribute to adaptivity and predict university students’ career decision-making self-efficacy (measured at Time 2) through the mediation of career adaptability (measured at Time 1). Results based on a two-wave survey among a sample of 437 Chinese university students showed that the criteria of intrinsic fulfillment and work-life balance, as well as internal career locus of control positively predicted Chinese university students' career adaptability, which in turn predicted career decision-making self-efficacy. These findings support the career adaption model and carry implications for career construction theory and university students' career development.     

Building a Life Worth Living During a Pandemic and Beyond: Adaptations of Comprehensive DBT to COVID-19

Our team at the Jefferson Center City Clinic for Behavioral Medicine has recently been challenged to find a synthesis between the need to adapt to circumstances associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, while at the same time retaining the spirit and essential components of comprehensive DBT. This fine balance between unwavering centeredness and compassionate flexibility is central to DBT (Linehan, 1993), and has proven essential during these times of uncertainty. This short article highlights challenges and innovations faced by our DBT Team, Skills Group, individual DBT sessions, phone coaching, and also our community at large, as we strive to help our patients and team members build a life worth living during and following a pandemic.     

Defining the new concept of sustainable success – A state-of-the-art analysis on the phenomenon

Research on success and sustainability has been somewhat limited and narrow. Yet, in the current world, a positively oriented understanding about the concept of sustainable success is needed. The purpose of this research was to analyze what kind of research about sustainable success has been conducted and what the elements of sustainable success according to research found around this topic are. These questions were answered through a literature review or a state-of-the-art review that focused on nine articles that were chosen for a more detailed analysis. The findings illustrate how success and sustainability appeared as research targets and what the main elements of success and sustainability were in the data. None of the articles under review used positive psychological knowledge or strength-based approaches in their definition of success and sustainability. The need for a conceptual definition for sustainable success appeared evident. From the perspective adopted in this research, sustainable success consists of positive development, flourishing, and well-being, and also top performances. It is based on positive educational psychological knowledge. Educational psychological research alongside multidisciplinary perspectives can provide new and innovative ways of understanding and guiding people's behaviors toward sustainability.     

Countering Deficits: A Grounded Theory of Success From Graduate Students of Color

The existing research on students of color in counselor education focuses on the barriers they experience, providing a deficit perspective. Using grounded theory and a critical race theory framework, we studied the racialized experiences of 19 graduate students of color in counselor education. Grounded in participants' voices, we propose a liberatory theory of academic success. Implications for promoting the success of students of color in counselor education and for future critical race theory research are discussed. Las investigaciones hasta la fecha sobre estudiantes de color en programas educativos de consejería se centran en las barreras que afrontan, lo cual ofrece un déficit de perspectiva. Usando un muestreo teórico y un marco de teoría crítica de la raza, estudiamos las experiencias racializadas de 19 estudiantes de posgrado de color en programas educativos de consejería. Basándonos en las voces de los participantes, proponemos una teoría liberatoria de éxito académico. Se discuten las implicaciones para fomentar el éxito de estudiantes de color en programas educativos de consejería y para investigaciones futuras de teoría crítica de la raza.     

The fit between dignity self‐construal and independent university norms: Effects on university belonging,well‐being,and academic success

Universities struggle with students’ low well‐being and high dropout rates. High (compared to low) fit between students’ self‐construal and perceived university norms might help to prevent these problems. A strong dignity self‐construal (i.e., the understanding that one's worth is independent of others) is adaptive if university norms stress independence. The more a university norm is perceived as stressing independence, the better the fit for students with a strong (vs. weak) dignity self‐construal. Thus, if students with a strong dignity self‐construal perceive a university norm as stressing independence, they should develop a greater sense of belonging to the university and, in turn, experience higher well‐being, more motivation, and lower dropout intention. A longitudinal study with two measurement points conducted with students from 18 universities (N = 719) provided support for these predictions. This underlines the relevance of the fit between student and (perceived) school characteristics for the higher education sector.