Decreasing bouts of prolonged sitting among office workers

Many workers in industrialized nations spend their day seated at a desk. Research suggests that accumulated sitting time increases risk for certain diseases (van der Ploeg, Chey, Korda, Banks, & Bauman, 2012). To reduce risk, health researchers recommend frequent standing or walking breaks during the workday. In the current study, we evaluated 3 behavioral interventions to decrease bouts of prolonged sitting among office workers. Information alone was not as effective as a treatment package that consisted of a tactile prompt, feedback, and goal setting.     

The Parable of the Sower: a case study examining the use of the Godly Play® method as a spiritual intervention on a psychiatric unit of a major children’s hospital

This case study examines the use of Godly Play® as a pastoral intervention on a psychiatric unit at Children’s Health – Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. The chaplain adapts Godly Play®, more typically used as a programme of Christian formation in churches and schools, for this setting, leading a ‘Purpose and Meaning’ group weekly whose goal is to provide inpatients with a developmentally appropriate way of reflecting on and expressing their own sense of identity, purpose and meaning within the personal, social and spiritual milieu in which they identify themselves as members. The case study examines how the method is adapted as a spiritual intervention in a clinical setting, and analyses its effectiveness in meeting the stated goals of the group.     

Bi‐ocularity,the functioning mind of the psychoanalyst

With the use of clinical material the author discusses the importance of a ‘bi‐ocular’ mode of attentiveness, one pole of which rests on the psychic process of reverie and the other on ‘analysing’. This is necessary to foster the development of a psychic space in which experiences which were ‘in the shadow’ or unrepresented, can come to the fore and be given shape first pictorially and later ideationally. This requires staying with and fostering the ambiguity of the different times and spaces without collapsing them into the clear, logical and explanatory. It requires the psychoanalyst to make space for that which is ‘other’, other than just apparently here and now, and other than just ‘you and me’, while maintaining the analytic ‘fire’ in a situation in which there is ‘no model in real life’, a place maximally geared to that which is not apparent.     

Learning blossoms: Caregiver-infant interactions in an outdoor garden setting

Plants provide unique opportunities for learning by engaging all human senses. Recent laboratory studies have shown that infants use a combination of behavioural avoidance and social learning strategies to safely learn about plant properties from adults. Here we investigate how infants and their caregivers interact with plants in an outdoor garden as a first step towards examining the operation of these social learning processes in naturalistic settings. We focus on two specific aspects of spontaneous infant-caregiver interactions with plants: olfactory and touch behaviours. Additionally, we look at whether infants' and caregivers’ prior knowledge of the plants in our study influences infants’ behaviour. Our results showed a multifaceted connection between infants’ and caregivers' previous experience with the plants and their olfactory and touch behaviours. First, infants tended to touch and smell the plants after their caregivers did, and this appeared to be independent of whether infants had seen the plant before. Second, infants systematically engaged in some of the same types of olfactory and touch behaviours their caregiver displayed towards plants. Finally, infants whose caregivers were given more information about the plants in the study showed fewer touch behaviours, but no difference in olfactory behaviours. These findings bolster the previous laboratory studies of plant learning early in life, highlighting the importance of olfactory behaviours, and underscoring the benefits of using ecological observations to explore unique aspects of human development.     

Mandated Reporting Among School Personnel

Summary

An empirical review and critique of existing state standards for batterer programs in the domestic violence field appeared timely, given the current debate about their status and utility. Although there has been a considerable amount of polemic discussion of the topic, relatively limited data have been reported. The present article surveyed the content of standards developed in 30 states within the United States. Five categories of interest were examined including: (1) the minimum length of treatment specified; (2) specification of treatment orientation, methods, and content; (3) preferred or allowable modalities of treatment; (4) whether research findings were mentioned or endorsed as a basis for development of treatment standards; and (5) methods for developing and revising standards. A related area, the minimum education required for providers, was also included as an area of interest to further describe the current pool of practitioners targeted for regulation. An analysis of the content of these standards was then performed with regard to existing peer-reviewed research in the field. The results are discussed in terms of the strengths and weaknesses of current standards, the areas in which further research is needed, and specific recommendations regarding steps that might be taken to improve existing efforts.     

Competence

Summary

Competence in mental health is explored in many roles, including that of researcher, author, teacher, supervisor, therapist, evaluator, consultant, forensic specialist, case manager, and administrator. It is viewed not only as a construct but also as an ongoing process within the individual. Five fundamental areas are examined: (1) Maintaining high standards of competence, (2) keeping within one's boundaries of competence and limitations of one's expertise, (3) maintaining competence in human diversity in practice and research, (4) engaging in continuing education in scientific and professional areas, and (5) protecting the welfare of others when standards are lacking. Guidance is also received from ethics codes, published standards of practice, federal and state laws, and institutional policies and regulations.     

Martin Niemöller

ABSTRACT

A text by Martin Niemoller which begins “When the Nazis came for the Communists …” has been widely quoted, but its text varies greatly and the date and original audience have been uncertain. This article examines the evidence and concludes that the most probable original version, which differs from most versions by having no mention of the Jews, was published in an article by Niemoller in 1979. This text was probably first spoken in the context of Niemoller's political activism in the late 1950s or 1960s. The various developments in the famous text can then be explained by principles of oral (or semi-oral) transmission of texts.     

Professional Ethical Issues and the Development of Professional Ethical Standards in Counseling and Clinical Psychology in China

This article aims to summarize the current ethical issues in the field of clinical and counseling psychology and the process of developing professional ethical standards in China. First, through a review of the history of counseling and psychotherapy in China, general background information is provided. Important ethical issues are then discussed based on the results from several empirical studies. Finally, the process of developing the new edition of the Chinese Psychological Society Code of Ethics for Clinical and Counseling Psychology, the main contents as well as the considerations taken into account in the development of this code are presented.     

Individual treatment needs in the therapeutic environment of a special school

This paper is about the therapeutic process and technique in psychotherapy with deprived children. The need to monitor as a coherent whole both the broader environmental setting and the movements of the transference is illustrated by clinical case material. It is concluded that a) the child's attack on the setting and therapeutic relation has to be picked up and contained both in the transference relationship and in the broader network by the team-work, and b) by carefully following the transference, the child can be helped to a dependent relationship inside which feelings can be made sense of, thus furthering resilience by achieving a better ability to separate good qualities of the self from self-destructive, anti-social aspects of the internal object.