What is Psychotherapy for? A Plausible Alternative to Empirically Supported Therapies,Therapy Relationships,and Practice Guidelines

Task forces come up with empirically supported therapies and therapist-client relationships. A careful study of their research provides an empirically supported answer to the long-standing question of what psychotherapy is for. Accordingly, if your way of doing therapy falls outside the empirically based boundary, (a) you can risk declining their practice guidelines; (b) you can develop your own practice guidelines; and (c) you can pursue some exciting implications from having an alternative set of guidelines for how to do psychotherapy. A strategy is proposed as a plausible alternative to the task forces empirically based strategy.     

School-Based Mental Health Programs and Services: Overview and Introduction to the Special Issue

School-based mental health (SBMH) programs and services have grown progressively in the United States in the past two decades, related in part to increased recognition of their advantages and heightened federal support. However, SBMH is an emerging field, with many issues needing attention. This introductory article provides a context for the special issue by highlighting the importance of increased conceptual clarity about SBMH, enhanced mental health—education systems integration, and advancement of the SBMH research base. Key elements for success of SBMH programs and services are discussed, as underscored recently by the report of the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health (2003) and other important initiatives. These elements include (a) school–family–community agency partnerships, (b) commitment to a full continuum of mental health education, mental health promotion, assessment, problem prevention, early intervention, and treatment, and (c) services for all youth, including those in general and special education. A synopsis of the articles in the special issue is provided, emphasizing their conceptual and empirical contributions to delivery and sustainability of effective mental health practices in schools.     

回合式教学法的有效学习：来自自闭症儿童职前教师的证据

使用异步培训技术自主学习循证教育干预方法,或可帮助自闭症儿童职前教师应对新时代自闭症儿童融合教育高质量发展带来的挑战。采用3个实验探究了自闭症儿童职前教师在3种学习材料呈现方式下对回合式教学法的自主学习效果。结果发现,学习材料呈现方式对自闭症儿童职前教师自主学习回合式教学法的效果有显著影响：“字幕+画面+声音解说”组成的视听双通道材料——真实教学视频下的学习效果最好,“文本+图像”组成的PPT材料比同属视觉单通道材料的Word文本更有优势。结果表明,无论是在知识层面的学习(实验1、2和3),还是在实操层面的忠诚度提升(实验3),学习内容以视听双通道方式呈现时,自闭症儿童职前教师的自主学习效果最好。     

Experiencing Buddhist practices promotes nonbelievers’ preference for future rewards in intertemporal choices

Religious individuals often prefer future rewards more in intertemporal decision-making than nonreligious individuals, but the reasons behind this preference remain under-investigated. Focusing on decision-making in Buddhist culture, the current study aimed to examine three potential mechanisms: Buddhist practices, self-control and belief in future-oriented concepts. In five studies, we consistently found that nonbelievers’ preference ratings for Larger and Later (LL) options increased after visiting a temple (Study 1, n = 99) or participating in Buddha name chanting (Studies 2–5, n = 314). We also found in Studies 3 and 4 that this effect was mediated by the individual's level of self-control, but no evidence was found to support the mediation of belief in future-oriented concepts. These results contribute to the work attesting to the effect of religious practices on individuals (especially nonbelievers). They also provide a mechanism (self-control) for the positive correlation between individuals’ religiousness and preference for future rewards in intertemporal decision-making.     

Addressing women's breast cancer risk and perceptions of control in medical settings

Many women with family histories of breast cancer deal with two distinct but related issues: their objective physical risk and the emotions this risk engenders. Studies indicate that approximately 70% of African American and white women are concerned about their chances of developing breast cancer someday and perceive themselves to be at risk. Health care providers, including psychologists, need to be aware of the special needs and psychosocial concerns of high-risk women with family histories of breast cancer, since perceptions of breast cancer risk influence screening practices. Providers need training in understanding the significance of specific family patterns of breast cancer, screening guidelines appropriate for women at risk, and the benefits and risks of available prevention options, including genetic screening. Delivering accurate information about both established risk factors known to elevate personal risk, such as age and family history, and factors which women associate with breast cancer, such as bumping and bruising a breast, smoking, and oral contraceptive use, is essential for promoting accurate risk perceptions and appropriate screening schedules.     

What If the Church Really is the Body of Christ?

Abstract : What does it mean to claim that the church is the body of Christ? Following the lead of the New Testament, Bonhoeffer, Jenson, and Hauerwas, this article articulates how the church becomes the body of Christ through the narrative of Scripture and the practices of worship. As Jesus Christ has a distinctive character, so also the body of Christ has a distinctive character. This character is described through the four classical marks of the church—one, holy, catholic, apostolic. These notae ecclesiae are to be interpreted not only in relation to the inner constitution of the church but ethically in relation to the church's calling to be “shalom church” for the life of the world in peacemaking, doing justice, caring for creation, and defending human dignity. Particular communal practices that embody this character are proposed for the life of the church.     

Unveiling the reasoning processes of robots through introspective dialogues in a storytelling system: A study on the elicited empathy

The work studies the empathy elicited by a storytelling system in which the characters in the story are interpreted by humanoid robots and modelled as cognitive agents. The ACT-R architecture is exploited to shape the characters’ personalities and equip them with knowledge and behaviours typical of social practices. The narration is enriched with gestures and emotional expressions obtained by setting parameters that can be correlated to some emotions, such as the pitch and speech rate, the LEDs colour and the head inclination. The system has been evaluated by comparing a simple narrative modality with an enhanced one, where an introspective dialogue is adopted to explain and let transparent the internal reasoning processes of the characters. The obtained results show that storytelling affected the cognitive component of empathy, especially through the advanced narrative mode.     

宁夏临终关怀现状及实践

在宁夏回族地区如何开展临终关怀工作和提高临终关怀工作的质量,根据在宁夏回族地区开展临终关怀工作五年的实践体会,分析了宁夏主要由于社会老龄化的压力、家庭结构的变化和宁夏疾病死因顺位变化原因开展临终关怀的必要性。探讨了目前宁夏临终关怀面临的七个主要问题,即热心从事临终关怀的专业人员少、临终关怀机构缺乏、社会重视度低、心理治疗严重不足、社会义工资源短缺、医院与外界对临终关怀医护人员的关怀少和患者及家属对临终关怀治疗的期望值高。总结了在宁夏开展临终关怀实践的六点体会。     

Parenting in youth tennis: Understanding and enhancing children's experiences

ObjectiveThe overall purpose of this study was to develop a grounded theory of optimal parental involvement in youth tennis.DesignA Straussian grounded theory methodology (Corbin and Strauss, 2008, Strauss and Corbin, 1998) was used. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted with 90 youth tennis players, ex-youth players, parents, and coaches from the United Kingdom. Data were analyzed through a process of open and axial coding, and theoretical integration. Through this process data were broken down into smaller units (concepts), relationships between concepts were identified, and a substantive grounded theory was developed.ResultsThe grounded theory of optimal parental involvement in tennis was built around the core category of ‘understanding and enhancing your child's tennis journey.’ The core category was underpinned by three categories: (a) Share and communicate goals, which referred to the need for parents and children to have the same aims for the child's tennis involvement; (b) develop an understanding emotional climate, which accounted for the need for parents to continually seek to foster an environment in which children perceived parents understand their experience, and; (c) engage in enhancing parenting practices at competitions, which denoted the specific behaviors parents should display in relation to competitive tennis.ConclusionThe theory predicts that consistency between goals, emotional climate, and parenting practices will optimize parenting in youth tennis.     

Culture-bound syndromes and healing practices in Malaysia

This paper describes prominent culture-bound syndromes (CBS) in Malaysia. While some of the syndromes are listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV), their causation and treatment are not addressed. It is important for mental-health professionals to know that while the DSM-IV is widely used in many non-Western countries, the local population continues to believe in and practice indigenous methods of healing. Mental-health concepts and healing practices in the Malay and Chinese cultures, their clinical implications, and the need for ongoing research are emphasized.