Predictors of reading fluency in Italian orthography: Evidence from a cross-sectional study of primary school students

This study investigates the role of linguistic and visuospatial attentional processes in predicting reading fluency in typical Italian readers attending primary school. Tasks were administered to 651 children with reading fluency z scores > ?1.5 standard deviation to evaluate their phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming (RAN), verbal short-term memory, vocabulary, visual search skills, verbal-visual recall, and visual-spatial attention. Hybrid models combining confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis were used to evaluate the data obtained from younger (first and second grade) and older (third–fifth grade) children, respectively. The results showed that phonological awareness and RAN played a significant role among younger children, while also vocabulary, verbal short-term memory, and visuospatial attention were significant factors among older children.     

Emotional Intelligence and the Identity Negotiation of a Racial Minority Group in a Majority School Context

This article describes the possible impact of emotional intelligence on identity negotiation of a racial minority group in a majority school context. The study investigated the adjustment and functioning of racial minority groups in majority school contexts, as well as the identity negotiation associated with it, and determined whether there is a correlation between the former and the Emotional Intelligence (EI) of the participants. Participants were 16 black and 21 white learners attending two schools where they were in the minority (mean age = 16.23 years; SD = 1.49 years). The learners attended Grades 9–12. Data were first organised, after which themes and patterns were identified, and the data appraised and categorised (Creswell, 2007), after which a comparison was drawn between the identified categories of existing knowledge. Findings suggest that racial integration in both high schools actually occurred in name only; most participants chose to mingle within their own racial groups and the black participants in particular were exposed to racism, discrimination and prejudice on a regular basis. Despite the necessary steps taken and implemented by government in order to oppose racism in the country and promote racial integration in schools, it seems that the consequences of apartheid remain for the foreseeable future.     

Therapeutic outcomes in the Welsh Government's school‐based counselling strategy: An evaluation

Aims: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of school‐based counselling, as delivered in the Welsh Government's School‐based Counselling Strategy, for reducing psychological distress in young people aged 11–18. Method: The study used a quantitative cohort design, comparing levels of distress on either the Young Person's CORE (YP‐CORE) or the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) from baseline to endpoint. Data were available on 3613 episodes of counselling, across 42 datasets. Meta‐analytical procedures were used to identify the mean effect size and predictors of outcomes. Results: Within each dataset, counselling was associated with significant reductions in psychological distress, with a mean effect size (d) of 0.93(95% CI = 0.89–0.97) using a fixed effects model and 1.09 (95% CI = 0.97–1.22) using a random effects model. Datasets using the YP‐CORE had larger effect sizes than those using the SDQ, and datasets with more complete response rates had lower outcomes than those with poorer response rates. Conclusion: The results confirm that school‐based counselling, as delivered in the UK, is associated with significant reductions in psychological distress, comparable to adult counselling and psychotherapy services.     

Envy: the canker in the bud

This paper explores the relevance of the concept of moral masochism as a response to early trauma and the implications of this for psychotherapy.

Consideration is given to early conceptualisations of moral masochism within the psychoanalytic literature, in particular, the move from drive theory to object relations. More recent developments in relation to trauma and defences, such as disassociation, are explored. It is suggested that a more complex and fuller understanding requires thinking about the subtle and shifting interaction of both these levels. This allows the possibility of building a more nuanced understanding which can look at both behaviour, as described in the trauma literature, and meaning which is the core of a more classical psychoanalytic approach.

Case histories are used to illustrate the linkages between moral masochism and trauma and the transference and countertransference dynamics and challenges involved. Progress varied in these cases, with both positive and negative outcomes. This theoretical background is used to suggest why this may be so.     

Love,artificiality and mass identification

How are we to understand the phenomenon of mass identification, epitomised in recent exhibitions of national feeling such as that of South Africa’s 2010 Football World Cup celebrations? Rather than focusing on the concepts of discourse and nationalism, or advancing an analysis of empirical data, this paper outlines a conceptual response to the challenge at hand, drawing on the tools of psychoanalytic theory. Three explanatory perspectives come to the fore. Firstly, such exhibitions of mass emotion might be understood as demonstrations of love, as examples of the libidinal ties that constitute and consolidate mass identification. Secondly, the marked artificiality of such displays of emotion and the fact of the ‘externality’ they entail might be seen, paradoxically, to be essential rather than inauthentic or secondary features of the displays in question. Thirdly, we might advance, via Lacan, that many of our most powerful emotions require not only recourse to the field of the inter-subjective, but reference also to the anonymous, ‘fictional’ framework of available symbolic forms.     

From consulting room to institution to society

Abstract

An examination of the links between clinical work and the context in which it takes place. The article will explore how the dynamics of the staff group can spill over into the consulting room and how unresolved issues in the consulting room can spill over into the staff group. It will also explore how the dynamics of both can be affected by broader social and political attitudes.     

A Review of “Trauma and Human Existence: Autobiographical,Psychoanalytic and Philosophical Reflections”

Abstract

The author sets out to locate Bion's model of the mind within the developmental history of psychoanalysis, from Freud to Klein to Bion, using biographical material and clinical case examples, to illustrate Bion's concepts of container/contained, his understanding and use of projective identification, his extension of the use of the countertransference, and his differentiation between the psychotic and non-psychotic aspects of the mind. Links, and attacks against linking are discussed, as well as Bion's thoughts about learning versus knowing, being versus becoming and his emphasis on the essential importance of the development of the capacity to think.     

From Projective Identification to Empathic Connection

SUMMARY

This article examines the challenging journey of successful coupling by understanding the marital relationship within a developmental framework. The process of Projective Identification is viewed as a useful concept found at the confluence of family systems and psycho-dynamic streams of thought, bridging the interpersonal and intrapsychic experience of couples whose individuative strivings are stalled. A map is offered for the transformation of a marriage from the stages of Idealization and Disillusionment toward the stage of Acceptance and empathic connection.     

Multicultural Issues in Evidence-Based Interventions

SUMMARY

School psychologists involved in the delivery of psychological and educational interventions face the challenge of identifying interventions that will work within their schools. The evidence-based intervention (EBI) approach has received attention as a promising way to identify effective interventions. The national Task Force on Evidence Based Interventions in School Psychology (sponsored by the American Psychological Association Division 16 and the Society for the Study of School Psychology, and endorsed by the National Association of School Psychologists) has developed coding criteria to review, evaluate, and identify efficacious interventions. This paper expands the work of the Multicultural and Diversity Committee of the EBI Task Force and offers direction for school psychologists in selecting and implementing interventions appropriate for their settings. We explore the meaning of EBIs in the context of a diverse world and discuss the cultural considerations that are necessary to responsibly adopt an EBI perspective. The paper is organized into three sections where we (a) examine EBIs from a multicultural perspective, (b) describe recent advances in infusing a multicultural perspective into EBI work and the Procedural and Coding Manual for Review of EBIs, and (c) offer a set of guidelines for making decisions about implementing an EBI in a new setting.     

ADHD Assessment

Abstract

This study examined effects of negative versus positive symptom formats on the assessment and subsequent classification of ADHD in children in public schools. Symptoms associated with the disorder based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) were presented to parents and teachers of referred children according to both types of formats. Informants were then asked to indicate whether the symptoms described the child's behavior over the last six months. Overall, the negatively phrased symptoms appeared to generate response bias which resulted in an increased percentage of children meeting the DSM-IV criteria for ADHD. Additionally, the decision reliability or classification agreement between the two formats was low, suggesting the possibility of confirmation bias in the assessment process. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.