Couple Therapy and Addictions

Abstract

Therapies for alcoholism, substance abuse, and other addictions traditionally focus on characteristics of individuals such as behaviors, thoughts, and emotions. These kinds of programs tend to target problems inside the abusing person rather than a relational system. Treatments that are more recent locate the problems within systems of people. Regardless of the locus or cause of the abuse or addiction, seen as arising from disease processes, systemic dynamics, or other mechanisms that lead to unfortunate habits and behaviors, utilizing the individual's partner or family in therapy has become an important part of successful treatment. This article reviews models of couple treatment for alcoholics and substance abusers in terms of initiation into treatment, primary treatment, and relapse prevention.     

The Invisible Griever

Many people are equipped, through crisis intervention strategies and plans, to handle the immediate ramifications of a death within a particular school or community system. However, after the crisis has passed the question generally surfaces as to how one can help the children who have been greatly impacted by the death and are in the midst of the grieving process. The grieving child has often been invisible to adult caregivers like counselors, teachers, and school psychologist. The means of helping a child who has experienced a death in his family can be greatly enhanced by the developmcnt of grief support groups. Through the use of support groups children can learn to share their feelings, discover that they are not alone, and move through the grieve process.     

Vulnerabilities of Academically Gifted Students

Abstract

It is often assumed that gifted students enjoy relatively good social and emotional adjustment, vibrant mental health, and overall well being. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, and a significant number of gifted students experience painful, troubling and often debilitating psychological problems. Gifted children and youth possess a set of personality characteristics that make them uniquely vulnerable. School personnel and parents need to be cognizant of these risk factors so that they can provide coordinated and comprehensive educational and social opportunities to foster resilience and, when needed, provide preventive and therapeutic mental health interventions for those gifted students with actual psychological problems.     

Protective effect of supportive family relationships and the influence of stressful life events on adolescent adjustment

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the association between the occurrence of stressful life events and internalizing and externalizing problems, and to analyze longitudinally buffering effects of supportive family relationships. To this end, 100 Spanish adolescents were studied twice, when they were in mid-adolescence (15–16 years) and two years later. They completed questionnaires regarding stressful life events, family relationships, and adolescent adjustment. Results showed that high quality parent-adolescent relationships protected boys and girls against the negative consequences of stressful life events on externalizing, but not internalizing, symptoms. The adolescents who enjoyed good relationships with their parents in mid-adolescence did not increase their externalizing problems in late adolescence as consequence of the occurrence of stressful events. However, these stressors did lead to an increase in the number of externalizing problems when the family relationships were of a middle or low quality. These results highlight the important role that supportive family relationships play in the behavioral adjustment of adolescents, protecting them against some negative consequences of stressful life events, and suggest the relevance of supporting parents through resources such as parent education in order to help them to improve their relationships with their adolescents.     

Women Court-Ordered for Domestic Violence: Improvements in Depression

A quasi-experimental design was employed to compare depression at intake and completion of a sample of primarily Latina women court-ordered to a batterer intervention program. Data were derived from the intake assessments of 112 women over 24 months. Overwhelmingly, women reported being abused by their current and former partners. Approximately 58% of the women in this sample were depressed at intake. When culturally competent, gender-appropriate treatment is given to court-ordered women, depression symptomatology may decrease to levels of normal functioning. Further research is needed to understand court-ordered women as well as how to meet their unique needs.     

Parental Hostility and Depression as Predictors of Young Children's Aggression and Conduct Problems

Parental hostility and parental depression are associated with childhood behavior problems, but these have been studied independently in the literature. This study examined the relationships between parental hostility and depression and childhood aggression and conduct problems. Parental hostility was hypothesized to predict children's current and future (two months later) aggression and conduct problems. Participants were primary caregivers of children 0 to 10 years of age. Results indicate that hostility is a better predictor of present and future childhood aggression and conduct problems than depression. Implications of this finding for preventing and treating childhood aggression and conduct problems are discussed.     

Child Homicide in the City of Los Angeles

SUMMARY

Homicide is the only leading cause of child death which has increased in rank in the past 30 years. This investigation describes the deaths of 0-14 year olds which were classified as homicides by the Los Angeles Police Department from 1980 to 1989. Special focus is given to suspect-to-victim relationship and victim race/ethnicity because of their relevance to prevention and program planning. Family members were suspects in 49.8% of the cases (mother, 14.5%; father, 13.6%; mother's paramour, 8.5%; male and female caretaker, 11.1%; other family members, 2.1%). Few differences emerged among the Black, Hispanic, and non-Hispanic White child victims. Non-Hispanic White victims had the highest proportion (67.7%) and Hispanic victims had the lowest proportion (42.7%) of within-family suspects. Prevention implications include the need to focus on the actions of male caregivers and the observation that the substance and content of prevention programs (e.g., an emphasis on reducing blunt force trauma to young children) can be consistent across race/ethnic groups.     

Exploration of Recovery Trajectories in Sexually Abused Adolescents

Abstract

This study documents recovery status and symptom changes in a one-year follow-up of sexually abused adolescent girls in child protection services in the province of Québec, Canada. Sixteen French-speaking participants completed questionnaires assessing symptoms, types of maltreatment endured, and services received and were interviewed using the Multidimensional Trauma Recovery and Resiliency Interview (MTRR-I), which was in turn rated by interviewers using the companion rating scale, the MTRR. Analyses of one-year follow-up data revealed statistically significant changes towards better functioning on multiple domains and less symptomatology for a majority of the girls interviewed. The recovery status of a minority of research participants seems to have worsened in the interval. The discussion considers these findings and addresses relevancy of the MTRR measures in cases of sexually abused adolescents.     

Resilience to Childhood Abuse and Neglect in College Students

This study examined the prevalence of a history of childhood maltreatment in a college sample and identified the relationship between being maltreated as a child and later college adjustment in men and women. Results indicate that men who had been maltreated in childhood had more resilient outcomes in college than women who had been maltreated in childhood. Negative life events and protective factors acted as mediators in the relationship between childhood maltreatment and college adjustment for women, and protective factors acted as a moderator in the relationship between childhood maltreatment and college adjustment for men.