Emotion-Focused Therapy: An Interview with Leslie Greenberg

Over the past 30 years Leslie Greenberg has developed and refined the Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) approach. This therapy model stands apart from other, humanistic-based approaches in its focus on empiricism. In addition, EFT is one of the few therapy models that is truly integrative in nature, combining client-centered, gestalt, and cognitive principles. This paper includes a recent interview with Greenberg in which he describes the development of EFT and his views regarding future directions of EFT, as well as his views on the field of psychotherapy more generally.     

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy to Improve Mood in People with Epilepsy: A Randomised Controlled Trial

This study compared a 9-week individualised Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) programme for people with epilepsy (PWE), with a wait-list control. Fifty-nine PWE were randomised and 45 (75%) completed post-treatment outcomes. People with lower quality of life (QoL), particularly for cognitive functioning, were more likely to drop out. Analyses based on treatment completers demonstrated significant improvements on the Neurological Depressive Disorders Inventory for Epilepsy (p = .045) and Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale-Depression subscale (p = .048). Importantly, CBT significantly reduced the likelihood of clinical depressive symptoms (p = .014) and suicidal ideation (p = .005). Improvements were not observed for anxiety, QoL or maintained overtime for depression. Results suggest that CBT was effective, however, and could be improved to increase patient retention and long-term outcomes.     

You can't miss what you've never had: Can you?: The challenges and struggles of single parenthood from a psychoanalytic perspective

The issue of the growth of single-parent families has been in the forefront of political, social and moral debate in recent years. Children from single-parent families tend to be over-represented in clinic populations. Yet this state of My being may be no more potentially pathological than the nuclear family, which can become conceptually idealized The aim of this paper is to look behind the statistics and examine the impact on children of life in a single-parent family, to explore how this may be managed, and to look for potentiating factors which can enable good-enough development to unfold. Case material is used to illustrate the theme.     

Consider the Children

Summary

In this article, we consider interventions for children exposed to family violence in light of the research on children's problems associated with witnessing family violence. Next, we review risk and protective factors related to these children's adjustment with the view that all children are not similarly affected by exposure to family violence. Against this background, we then move to consider directions for interventions from a systemic perspective. We take into account not only the exposure to interactions between their mother and father, but also children's relationships with their mother, father, and siblings, as well as within broader systems such as the peer group, the school, and the community. We consider the critical challenges within each of these important systems for children exposed to family violence, and we propose some potential interventions to address the problems. Finally, we summarize an evaluation of an intervention that incorporates some of the elements identified by a systemic perspective. The evaluation revealed a significant improvement in children's self-reports of depression and anxiety over the course of the program. Mothers rated their children as significantly improved in emotional and hyperactive behaviour problems. There was no relation between mothers' involvement in counselling and children's improvement. Overall, the results suggest that the Peer Group Counselling Program effectively provided support to children exposed to family violence. Finally, we discuss the steps necessary to support children and families in moving toward violence-free lives.     

The Collective Preference for Shared Information

Decision-making groups prefer to discuss shared information that all members know instead of unshared information that a single member knows. This bias toward discussing shared information can lead groups to make suboptimal decisions when unshared information is critical for good decision making. This preference for discussing shared information may stem from group members' positive evaluations of each other's task capabilities when shared information is communicated. Members who already are perceived as capable (i.e., those high in status, experts, and leaders) need not bolster their image by communicating shared information. Instead, they discuss unshared information more than members perceived as less capable. As members low in status gain respect by communicating shared information, they may risk mentioning unshared information later during discussion. Assigning group leaders, informing members of their expert roles, and allowing ample time for discussion may increase groups' discussion of unshared information.     

Jungian Perspectives on the Etiology and Treatment of Torture

As increasing numbers of people worldwide suffer the effects of torture and other war trauma, practitioners are challenged to adapt their theoretical backgrounds to their treatment. One such school of thought, Analytical Psychology, contains several premises that can help to decipher the causes of violence and oppression, and provides potentially useful techniques for treating those who have suffered their effects. Practitioners who find themselves in a position to treat survivors of torture and other war trauma can draw upon the basic principles of Analytical ology outlined in this article to enhance their treatment modalities.     

From I: A/M to “Who am I?”—Aggregation/Massification and Trauma-Based Affects and Object Relations in Groups: A Response to Earl Hopper

Hopper's portrayal of the fourth basic assumption of Incohesion: Aggregation/Massification has two components: (1) a revision of Turquet's theory of BA Oneness to incorporate the polarity of aggregation and massification stemming from annihilation anxiety; and (2) a conception of the difficult patient as having an encapsulated psychosis. Hopper's theory of the encapsulated psychosis offers an important but incomplete perspective in explaining borderline and narcissistic pathology, as well as psychological trauma. In this response to Hopper, I suggest that the fourth assumption is in fact a still more primitive state of boundary opening and closing. I also see a need to differentiate trauma as such from borderline pathology, and further hold that the relationship between Hopper's British Independent theory and trauma theories based on dissociation needs to be clarified.     

Financial and Ethical Considerations for Professionals in Psychology

The profession of psychology is one of many entities affected by the current economic recession. The question of what to do when clients cannot pay agreed-upon charges will need to be answered. Ethical issues related to setting the fee for psychotherapy, insurance coverage, abandonment, pro bono psychotherapy, and lack of resources are addressed in light of the 2002 American Psychological Association's Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct and other relevant literature. The impact of the Mental Health Parity Act on the financial complexities that professionals in psychology now face is also discussed. Several recommendations are made for psychologists, calling them to be proactive in their communities, to be advocates for their clients, and to critically evaluate their financial practices.     

Prenatal depression effects and interventions: A review

This review covers research on the negative effects of prenatal depression and cortisol on fetal growth, prematurity and low birthweight. Although prenatal depression and cortisol were typically measured at around 20 weeks gestation, other research suggests the stability of depression and cortisol levels across pregnancy. Women with Dysthymia as compared to Major Depression Disorder had higher cortisol levels, and their newborns had lower gestational age and birthweight. The cortisol effects in these studies were unfortunately confounded by low serotonin and low dopamine levels which in themselves could contribute to non-optimal pregnancy outcomes. The negative effects of depression and cortisol were also potentially confounded by comorbid anxiety, by demographic factors including younger age, less education and lower SES of the mothers and by the absence of a partner or a partner who was unhappy about the pregnancy or a partner who was depressed. Substance use (especially caffeine use) was still another risk factor. All of these problems including prenatal depression, elevated cortisol, prematurity and low birthweight and even postpartum depression have been reduced by prenatal massage therapy provided by the women's partners. Massage therapy combined with group interpersonal psychotherapy was also effective for reducing depression and cortisol levels. Several limitations of these studies were noted and suggestions for future research included exploring other predictor variables like progesterone/estriol ratios, immune factors and genetic determinants. Further research is needed both on the potential use of cortisol as a screening measure and the use of other therapies that might reduce prenatal depression and cortisol in the women and prematurity and low birthweight in their infants.     

Effectiveness Research: Transporting Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Depressed Adolescents (IPT-A) From the Lab to School-Based Health Clinics

This paper describes the process of modifying and transporting an evidence-based treatment, Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Depressed Adolescents (IPT-A), from a university setting to school-based health clinics. It addresses conceptual issues involved in the shift from efficacy to effectiveness research as well as operational issues specific to the transport of IPT-A into school-based health clinics. Consideration is given to the rationale for an IPT-A effectiveness study, methodological concerns, and the timing of the move from the lab to the community. The authors identify challenges and barriers to initiating effectiveness and transportability research and provide suggestions for overcoming these barriers. Recommendations for conducting research in school-based practice settings are provided.