Competitive Memory Training (COMET) for OCD: A Self-treatment Approach to Obsessions

Competitive Memory Training (COMET) is a cognitive intervention that aims to change the maladaptive cognitive-emotional networks underlying obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). COMET has not been previously tried as a self-help intervention. The present study tested the preliminary feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of COMET for OCD implemented as a self-help intervention. Sixty-five participants with OCD recruited through online OCD self-help fora completed an online baseline assessment including measures of OCD symptoms, self-esteem, and depression. Participants were randomly assigned to either COMET or a wait-list control group. All participants were approached 4 weeks later to complete an online post-assessment. There was no evidence for a greater decline of OCD symptoms or depression under COMET. When analyses were limited to only those participants who reported reading the entire manual at least once, self-esteem was higher at post-assessment in the COMET group. Although 78.1% of patients in the COMET group rated it as appropriate for self-administration, only 56.5% performed COMET exercises regularly and 26.4% read the entire manual at least once. The feasibility and effectiveness of COMET as a self-help internet intervention for OCD was not supported in this study. Further work is needed to better understand if modifications to our implementation of COMET may yield improved outcomes.     

Robert Persons’s Resolution(1582) and the issue of textual piracy in Protestant editions of Catholic devotional literature

Abstract

Despite current attention to continuing crypto-Catholics in England during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, less attention has been paid to the extent to which Catholic culture may have affected the Protestant mainstream. This study demonstrates the general neglect of this subject, and examines the role played, then and now, by the attack of Robert Persons SJ on Edmund Bunny, a Church of England minister, for publishing a Protestant adaptation of Persons’s work. This study argues that Bunny had a more serious intent than the ‘piracy’ he is widely credited with, and that his editorial practices resembled those employed by Roman Catholics, including Persons himself. While more serious cases of textual piracy have been largely overlooked, conventional condemnation of Bunny’s edition has done little more than contribute to a general misunderstanding of (and a paucity of interest in) the reception of Catholic literature in whatever format by Protestants.     

Internet-based treatment of social phobia: a randomized controlled trial comparing unguided with two types of guided self-help

Internet-based self-help for social phobia with minimal therapist support via email have shown efficacy in several controlled trials by independent research teams. The role and necessity of therapist guidance is, however, still largely unclear. The present study compared the benefits of a 10-week web-based unguided self-help treatment for social phobia with the same intervention complemented with minimal, although weekly, therapist support via email. Further, a third treatment arm was included, in which the level of support was flexibly stepped up, from no support to email or telephone contact, on demand of the participants. Eighty-one individuals meeting diagnostic criteria for social phobia were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions. Primary outcome measures were self-report measures of symptoms of social phobia. Secondary outcome measures included symptoms of depression, interpersonal problems, and general symptomatology. Measures were taken at baseline, post-treatment, and at 6-month follow-up. Data from a telephone-administered diagnostic interview conducted at post-treatment were also included. Results showed significant symptom reductions in all three treatment groups with large effect sizes for primary social phobia measures (Cohen’s d = 1.47) and for secondary outcome measures (d = 1.16). No substantial and significant between-groups effects were found on any of the measures (Cohen’s d = 00–.36). Moreover, no difference between the three conditions was found regarding diagnosis-free status, clinically significant change, dropout rates, or adherence measures such as lessons or exercises completed. These findings indicate that Internet-delivered treatment for social phobia is a promising treatment option, whether no support is provided or with two different types of therapist guidance.     

我国环境审计研究回顾与展望

上世纪90年代以来,随着环境问题的日益突出以及环保观念的日益增强,我国涌现出大量环境审计研究成果,其主题既涉及环境审计的概念、目标、对象、理论框架等基本理论,也涉及环境审计技术方法等应用理论。然而,现有研究存在过于偏重基本理论而忽视应用理论、过于偏重规范分析而忽视实证研究、过于偏重合规性政府环境审计而忽视环境绩效审计以及企业环境审计等不足。未来应当在借鉴国外有益经验的基础上,联系我国实际,综合运用多种方法,进一步对环境审计的理论框架、主体等问题展开系统研究,尤其应在进一步研究政府环境审计相关理论和应用问题的同时加大企业环境审计的研究力度。     

幽门螺杆菌研究历程的启示

幽门螺杆菌(Helicobacterpylori,Hp)的发现被视为现代消化疾病研究领域的一个里程碑,其发现者澳大利亚科学家马歇尔(Barry J.Marshall)和沃伦(J.Robin Warren)被授予2005年度诺贝尔医学奖.通过对幽门螺杆菌研究历程的反思,我们可以得到以下启示:对疾病的认识是一个曲折的探索过程;实践与理论的互动促进科学发展;科学发现是偶然性和必然性的统一;科学研究需要耐得住寂寞,持之以恒;科学需要创新,循规蹈矩不可能创造任何奇迹;科学是一种社会活动,需要良好的合作和互助.     

Giving and Receiving Help: Interpersonal Transactions in Mutual-Help Meetings and Psychosocial Adjustment of Members

The helping transactions that occur in group meetings have been theorized to be important therapeutic mechanisms within mutual-help (or self-help) groups. Hypothesized links between giving and receiving help and psychosocial adjustment were examined in a mutual-help group for individuals with serious mental illness (GROW). Participants' adjustment was assessed at two time points and helping behaviors were measured with observational coding of weekly group interactions during the period between assessments. Frequencies of helping behaviors were used to predict Time 2 adjustment after controlling for initial adjustment. Consistent with the helper therapy principle, giving help to others predicted improvements in psychosocial adjustment; giving advice was a unique predictor. Total amount of help received was not associated with adjustment, but receiving help that provided cognitive reframing was associated with better social adjustment. A predicted interaction suggested that receiving help was related to better functioning when members experienced high levels of group integration.     

Helping and change without traditional therapy: Commonalities and opportunities

The therapeutic elements of four types of helping interactions (friends/family, religion, cinematherapy/bibliotherapy, and self-help groups), and their commonalities with traditional psychotherapy are explored. Empirical findings in these areas are discussed, along with suggestions for process and outcome research. Recommendations for the integration of self-help and paraprofessional counseling with professional therapy are presented.