Psychology Without Psy Professionals: Exploring an Unemployed Centre Families Project as a Mental Health Resource

The activities and technologies of the psychology (Psy) disciplines, in the process of privileging professional understandings of distress, could be seen to be potentially facilitating corrosion in the capacity of the lay public to understand and ameliorate their distress. This paper draws on the experiences of people who use an Unemployed Centre Families Project in the South of England to provide an example of community mental health work that does not draw on the dominant discourses, institutions or practitioners of the Psy sciences. Through interviews with centre users, staff and volunteers, a picture emerges of a community space that provides a variety of services, projects and opportunities that have a very considerable positive impact on the mental well‐being of the centre users. This picture highlights non‐medical intersubjective processes that offer possibilities for recoveries from mental distress but that are often neglected and subordinated in the professional worlds of Psy and psychiatry. Such centres facilitate social networks and practical help, and transitions in identity can be beneficial for those experiencing mental distress. In so doing, they make prominent some of the key limitations of biomedical approaches to recovery. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Coping orientation and psychological distress in healthcare professionals: The utility of appraising coping acceptability

The purpose of this study was to examine interaction effects of healthcare professionals' coping orientation (i.e., engagement versus disengagement) and appraisal of coping acceptability (ACA) on psychological distress, taking into account the individuals' job specificity and the psychological climate in their work environment. A cross‐sectional survey was conducted, and Japanese healthcare professionals (N = 189; 117 female; mean age: 40.1 ± 11.2 years) reported the coping strategies that they employed for task‐related or interpersonal stressors, their cognitive appraisal of the stressors, their ACA, and the psychological distress evoked by the stressors. The results showed that adding consideration of the ACA to the variable of coping orientation significantly improved predictions of psychological distress for both task and interpersonal stressors. There was no significant interaction between the coping orientation and the use of coping strategies that incorporated the ACA. These results suggest that considering the ACA, in addition to the coping orientation, would be useful for understanding individual differences in the mediators of healthcare professionals' coping in stressful situations.     

The Nature and Meaning of the Near-Death Experience for Patients and Critical Care Nurses

This study was designed to develop a conceptual framework for the near-death experience (NDE), reflecting its nature and meaning for the patient and the critical care nurse. The study used naturalistic inquiry to examine the question: What is the nature and meaning of an NDE and how has it influenced the individual's view of the self, the future, and feelings and beliefs about life and death? The NDE Scale (Greyson, 1983) was used with patients and semi-structured interview guides were used with both nurses and patients to explore the NDE from a comprehensive perspective. An NDE was defined as the report of “unusual” recollections associated with a period of unconsciousness during either serious illness or injury, or resuscitation from a cardiac or respiratory arrest. The sample included 12 patients who experienced an NDE and 19 nurses who cared for patients who experienced NDEs. This study highlighted the emotional aspects of the NDE. Patients described how the NDE transformed their lives and nurses reported how their experiences with patients changed them personally and professionally.     

How self‐compassion moderates the effect of body surveillance on subjective happiness and depression among women

According to objectification theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997), being treated as an object leads women to engage in self‐objectification, which in turn increases body surveillance and body shame as well as impairs mental health. However, very little is known about what factors could act as buffers against the detrimental consequences of self‐objectification. This paper seeks to understand the role of self‐compassion (the ability to kindly accept oneself or show self‐directed kindness while suffering) in the perception that women have of their own bodies. Results indicate that self‐compassion moderated the effect of body surveillance on depression and happiness separately among women. More specifically, for women low in self‐compassion, body surveillance was negatively associated with happiness, which was explained by increased depression. In sum, our results indicate that self‐compassion protects against the detrimental consequences of body surveillance.     

早期情绪性对学前儿童问题行为和社交能力的影响

本研究拟考察早期各种情绪性成分及其交互作用对学前儿童问题行为和社交能力的影响。被试为299名儿童及其父母。母亲在儿童6和14个月时报告儿童的各种情绪性成分,父母在儿童48个月时分别报告儿童的问题行为和社交能力。结果发现：（1）6个月时的受限后沮丧和恐惧不能显著预测学前儿童的问题行为与社交能力,但14个月时的受限后沮丧能显著正向预测外显问题行为,恐惧能显著正向预测内隐问题行为,负向预测社交能力。6和14个月时的微笑/大笑均能显著正向预测社交能力。（2）在14个月时,恐惧能显著负向预测高受限后沮丧的学前儿童的社交能力,但不能显著预测低受限后沮丧的学前儿童的社交能力;在14个月时,恐惧能显著负向预测低微笑/大笑的学前儿童的社交能力,但不能显著预测高微笑/大笑的学前儿童的社交能力。     

Distinguishing Caregiver Strain from Psychological Distress: Modeling the Relationships Among Child, Family, and Caregiver Variables

Although both have been used in studies of the impact of mental illness on the family, the constructs of caregiver strain (often referred to as burden of care) and psychological distress have not been clearly distinguished. The vagueness surrounding these constructs, and the lack of a cohesive conceptual framework for understanding how they relate, leads to contradictory interpretations of results. This compromises the building of the knowledge base needed to develop and evaluate interventions to support families as they struggle to meet the needs of their children with emotional and behavioral challenges. We utilized the ABCX Model as a framework for understanding caregiver strain and its relationship to psychological distress. Structural equations modeling was used to test the hypothesized relationship between caregiver strain and psychological distress, as well as the role of key child and family variables. These included child symptoms, stressful life events, social support, family functioning, and material resources. Our findings indicated that caregiver strain and psychological distress, although related, have distinct correlates and different implications in the family context.     

The Role of Social Support,Being Present,and Self‐kindness in University Student Psychological Distress

Objective

Self‐kindness, which is thought to be part of self‐compassion, has the potential to contribute to mental health, as well as serve as a focus for interventions. However, little attention has been given to the potential role of self‐kindness specifically, especially in the context of mindful presence and available social support, in buffering distress.

Method

Structural equation modelling was used to test a theoretically based model of how these factors relate to each other and psychological distress. Participants were 592 Australian university students.

Results

Results confirmed our hypotheses, showing that: (a) receiving social support is important to the capacity for self‐kindness both directly and indirectly through the ability to “be present,” and (b) the relationship between social support and psychological distress is partially mediated by the practices of self‐kindness and being present. The model of social support, being present, and self‐kindness accounted for half the variance in psychological distress. With the addition of stressors, a regression model explained a total of 62% of the variance.

Conclusions

These findings have implications for understanding the construct of self‐kindness and its role in the development of interventions to improve student success.     

What is told when the story is retold? Consistency of victimization reports in psychiatric patients

The use of retrospective self‐reports is a major methodological concern when ascertaining the occurrence of victimization experiences, with additional concerns when assessing psychiatric patients. The test for consistency can overcome some of these concerns, increasing the confidence in the information reported. Our aim was twofold: (1) to know the consistency of victimization reports; and (2) to test the role of changes on emotional distress in predicting report discrepancies, in a sample of 34 adult psychiatric patients. Participants were assessed twice, with a year interval. Sexual abuse was the experience that presented the higher level of consistency for childhood victimization, while assault with a weapon had the higher consistency level for adolescent and adult victimization. We found that increases on emotional distress predicted report discrepancies, and more specifically, increases in the report of victimization. Our results displayed acceptable consistency levels, suggesting some stability in the reporting of victimization over time. Considering that inconsistencies tended either to increases and decreases in the reporting of victimization, it would be important to consider the impact of such experiences when intervening with psychiatric patients.     

Links among the Self,Stress, and Psychological Distress during Emerging Adulthood: Comparing Three Theoretical Models

The authors tested three theoretical models linking self, stress, and psychopathological distress in emerging adulthood. The vulnerability model posits that self-concept pathology leads to distress. The scarring model postulates that distress and stress lead to self-concept pathology. The stress generation model stipulates that distress and self-concept pathology lead to the experience of episodic and chronic life stress. Change in ruminative brooding was examined as a potential mechanism in all models. One-hundred and seventy Israeli freshmen (M_[age]?=?23.19, 68% females) were followed up three times over the duration of one year. Distress and six dimensions of the self (self-criticism, self-concept inadequacy, hated sense of self, self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, and self-concept clarity) were assessed repeatedly. Acute and chronic stresses were measured at Time 2 using the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Stress Interview. Distress prospectively predicted self-concept pathology pertaining to all of the dimensions, except self-concept clarity, which was adversely affected by chronic stress. Change in ruminative brooding mediated scarring for self-criticism, a hated self, and self-concept clarity. Low self-esteem emerged as a powerful chronic stress generator. Self-concept clarity was as the only dimension leading to change in distress. In emerging adulthood, psychological distress and—to a lesser extent—chronic stress might “scar” the self.