Problem Solving Therapy

This paper describes how problem solving therapy (PST) would be applied to the treatment of Sylvia (I. Caro, 2001), a 27-year-old depressed wife and mother of three. PST involves training individuals in five major processes: problem orientation, problem definition and formulation, generation of alternatives, decision making, and solution implementation and verification. We briefly describe a problem solving model of depression that highlights the moderating nature of problem solving ability regarding the stress–depression relationship. Based on this model, we then delineate how PST can be specifically applied to Sylvia. This is followed by a brief overview of the research base supporting the efficacy of PST for depression.     

Counsellors' experiences of working with suicidal clients: An exploratory study

Counselling is increasingly available in a wide variety of contexts, including mental health and psychiatric services. As a consequence, counsellors increasingly work with clients who present with suicidal ideation, expressing either suicidal thought and/or intent in the counselling session. This paper describes an exploratory study that examined the experience of counsellors when working with suicidal clients. The paper considers counsellors' behavioural, cognitive and emotional responses to such suicidal expression, both on a personal and professional level. The research employed semi‐structured interviews. A constant comparative method was used in analysing the transcribed interview text. Results suggest that counsellors experience a range of responses when their clients express suicidal thought, including fear, anxiety, anger and professional impotence. The interviewees also expressed self‐doubts about their professional competence. In addition, they identified the threat of litigation for negligent practice and the lack of confidence in appropriate risk assessment approaches as significant causes for concern. The implications for further research, and practice, are discussed.     

FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS AND TREATMENT OF INAPPROPRIATE VERBAL BEHAVIOR

The present study examined the possible function of inappropriate verbal behavior of an adult man who had been diagnosed with both mental retardation and psychosis. Results of a functional analysis indicated that inappropriate verbal utterances were maintained by attention. An intervention consisting of the differential reinforcement of appropriate verbal behavior effectively reduced the inappropriate behavior.     

自我和物体为参照系的心理旋转分离：内旋效应

采用虚拟的旋转不同角度左、右手模型,构建“左右手判断(Left and right hand judgment: LR)”任务和“相同－不同判断(same and different judgment: SD)”任务,考察这两种实验任务是否都存在内旋效应和角度效应,以此推论被试采用何种旋转策略。结果发现：（1） 两种实验任务结果均表现出显著的角度效应。（2）在LR任务条件下,存在显著的内旋效应,而在SD任务中不存在内旋效应。从而表明当人手图片作为心理旋转材料时,它具有双重角色。被试心理旋转加工时究竟选用何种参照系的旋转策略,与实验材料和实验任务两者都密不可分     

中国军人心理健康状况的元分析

研究的目的在于深入探讨军人的心理健康状态。通过文献查阅收集了77篇用SCL-90作为测评工具的关于军人心理健康状况的研究,样本量为56164人,根据被试情况把这些研究分为两组,一组为军事应激条件下的军人,另一组为非军事应激条件下的军人,分别对两组研究进行了元分析。研究发现非军事应激条件下军人的心理健康水平与军人常模差不多;军事应激条件下军人的心理健康水平在应激前高于军人常模,应激中低于军人常模,应激后与军人常模差不多。其中城镇驻军的心理健康水平高于高原驻军,高于边防驻军;应激中的心理健康水平低于应激后,低于应激前;地域、人员类别以及应激水平等因素对军人SCL-90得分有显著影响。敏感性分析和发表偏倚显示本研究的稳定性较好,没有发表偏倚。表明中国军人的心理健康状况并非很差;与金华等的地方成人常模和蔡心培的国家军用标准相比,王焕林19662人的军人常模更适合于做军人的比较标准;地域、人员类别以及应激水平等因素对SCL-90得分有显著影响     

心理疾病污名形成理论述评

心理疾病污名是加诸于患者身上的耻辱标记,妨碍患者的治疗和康复。心理疾病污名的成因理论包括功能主义和生物文化两个派别,污名的发展模型解释了污名的形成过程,身份威胁模型对污名的作用机制进行了阐述。通过抗议、教育和接触可以有效地减少污名。在中国开展相关研究应注重分析传统文化、心理疾病类型与污名的关系,探讨各种减少污名策略的可行性     

Sleeping Beauty and Self-location: A Hybrid Model

The Sleeping Beauty problem is test stone for theories about self- locating belief, i.e. theories about how we should reason when data or theories contain indexical information. Opinion on this problem is split between two camps, those who defend the “1/2 view” and those who advocate the “1/3 view”. I argue that both these positions are mistaken. Instead, I propose a new “hybrid” model, which avoids the faults of the standard views while retaining their attractive properties. This model appears to violate Bayesian conditionalization, but I argue that this is not the case. By paying close attention to the details of conditionalization in contexts where indexical information is relevant, we discover that the hybrid model is in fact consistent with Bayesian kinematics. If the proposed model is correct, there are important lessons for the study of self-location, observation selection theory, and anthropic reasoning.     

The propensity theory: a decision-theoretic restatement

Probability theory is important because of its relevance for decision making, which also means: its relevance for the single case. The propensity theory of objective probability, which addresses the single case, is subject to two problems: Humphreys’ problem of inverse probabilities and the problem of the reference class. The paper solves both problems by restating the propensity theory using (an objectivist version of) Pearl’s approach to causality and probability, and by applying a decision-theoretic perspective. Contrary to a widely held view, decision making on the basis of given propensities can proceed without a subjective-probability supplement to propensities.     

Explanation and the Hard Problem

This paper argues that the form of explanation at issue in the hard problem of consciousness is scientifically irrelevant, despite appearances to the contrary. In particular, it is argued that the ‘sense of understanding’ that plays a critical role in the form of explanation implicated in the hard problem provides neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition on satisfactory scientific explanation. Considerations of the actual tools and methods available to scientists are used to make the case against it being a necessary condition, and work by J.D. Trout that exploits psychological research on the hindsight and overconfidence biases is used to show that it is not a sufficient condition. It is argued, however, that certain intellectual and moral concerns give us good reason to still try to meet the hard problem’s explanatory challenge, despite its extrascientific nature.