AIDS counselling in the context of the terrence higgins trust

The Terrence Higgins Trust provides counselling and support services for people who are affected by HIV. Counselling involves enabling people to unlock feelings and find ways in which to deal with them. Counsellors need to be able to listen non-judgetnentally. To listen and really hear what the client is saying, and also to what is not being said.

‘Being there’ involves dealing with one's own feelings about disability, death, dying, sex, sexuality, anger and so on. Counsellors also have a responsibility to look after their own needs. This means getting regular supervision to discuss the work they are doing and their feelings about this.

Counselling people living with, or affected by HIV brings up feelings of helplessness, anger, fear, grief and despair, but with this comes joy, amazement and wonder at the power and magic in all human beings.     

Memory lapses during a pandemic: Differential associations between COVID-stress and daily memory lapses?

The policies related to COVID-19 pandemic such as stay at home orders and social distancing increased daily stress and associated impairments in mental health. This study examines the association between COVID-related stress and cognitive functioning by examining two different types of daily memory lapses, those related to prospective memory (i.e., memory for future plans) and retrospective memory (i.e., memory for past information) as well as the perceived emotional and functional consequences of daily memory problems. As part of a larger study, 58 adults (18 men; 22 ± 3 years) completed a web-based version of the daily inventory of stressful events including stress related to COVID-19 and positive/negative affect for eight consecutive days between 8 September 2020 and 11 November 2020. Findings showed that prospective lapses were positively correlated with COVID-19 stressors (r = 0.41, p = 0.002). At the within-person level, daily COVID-19 stressors were significantly associated with the number of prospective lapses (b = 0.088, SE = 0.040). COVID-19-related stressors were not significantly related to retrospective lapses (all ps > 0.05). Our findings suggested that more daily COVID-19 stressors were related to greater numbers of prospective lapses in daily life even among healthy younger adults. Thus, future research should address long term relations of COVID-19 stress and cognitive functioning in addition to the specific cognitive impairments related to COVID-19 infection.     

Ratings of Emotional Response to Pictorial Stimuli: Positive and Negative Affect Dimensions

The purpose of this study was to investigate the structure of emotional responses to pictorial stimuli within the affective space defined by orthogonal dimensions of positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA). College student participants (N = 151) viewed 60 color photographic slides from the International Affective Picture System (Lang, Bradley, & Cuthbert, 1995) and rated their emotional responses to each slide using the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988). Consistent with prediction, affective reactions to pleasant slides were characterized as high in PA, and low in NA. Unpleasant slides produced elevations on the NA scale, but contrary to expectation, also produced elevated ratings of PA, with the magnitude of PA scale scores increasing systematically with NA scale scores. The results suggest an interesting divergence between the structure of pictorially elicited affective reactions and that of ad hoc mood states. Directions for future research are discussed in relation to the unique properties of the slide viewing paradigm.     

Romantic partners and body image disturbance: Further evidence for the role of perceived—actual disparities

In this study, female and male college dyads (primarily Caucasian) involved in a “romantic relationship” used schematic figures to rate their conceptions of body size on a variety of rating protocols, including actual self, ideal self, ideal opposite gender, perceived partner's ideal opposite gender, perceived partner's rating of self, and rating of partner's body size. Based on the reflected-appraisal literature and previous body image research on perceived—actual disparities in body size ratings, five discrepancy indices were created and related to dispositional levels of body image disturbance, eating dysfunction, and general psychological function (self-esteem, depression). The results clearly indicated gender differences in the particular predictor associated with all measures of disturbance. For females, the discrepancy between the Self rating and the Perceived Partner's Ideal Other Gender rating accounted for almost all of the variance associated with clinical indices of disturbance. For males, the discrepancy between the Self rating and the Actual Partner's Ideal Other Gender rating was the only important predictor to emerge in regression analyses. The findings are interpreted in light of recent research on actual/perceived differences in body size ratings.     

A follow up study of a behavioral program for young people with learning disabilities and challenging behavior

This paper describes a pilot follow-up study of a behavioral program for 20 young people with learning disabilities and challenging behavior. Eighteen participants made good overall improvement during the treatment period, and this was partially maintained at follow-up. Eight had continued to improve, eight had deteriorated slightly and four had deteriorated markedly. Adaptive skills were generally maintained. The reemergence of challenging behaviors explained the difference between the Good and Poor Outcome groups. Those participants in the Good Outcome group were younger on admission, scored lower on adaptive skills and higher on challenging behaviors. In addition they had remained on the treatment programme for 12–18 months and had been discharged from the Unit for longer. The overall level of independent living had increased from preadmission and the majority of participants were living in less restrictive placements. These results confirm and extend the findings of previous research. The paper concludes by highlighting the need for more detailed longitudinal follow-up studies in this area.     

Is there a ‘psychosomatogenic’ family?*

Review of the literature revealed two family theories of psychosomatic illness: the ‘enmeshed’ family of Minuchin and the family with affect disturbances. We interviewed twelve families, each containing a child with eczema. Most, but not all, of the families do fit in with one or other or both of the proposed interactional patterns, but the theory of a single family type, the ‘psychosomatogenic family’, is not supported. This complements the studies of individuals where specificity hypotheses have proved oversimplified.     

Sex differences and sex-role stereotyping in clinical psychologists' reports: a research note

This paper presents an empirical study of sex differences and sex-role stereotyping in clinical psychologists' reports. The results of numerous analyses showed no significant evidence at any point of sex differences or sex-role stereotyping in the form or the subject matter of the clinical reports.

     

Sexual victimization among sorority women: Exploring the link between sexual violence and institutional practices

This study investigates the incidence and nature of sexual coercion among sorority women. Particular emphasis is placed on sexual coercion that occurs within the context of fraternal life. Overall, almost half of those studied had experienced some form of sexual coercion, 24% experienced attempted rape, and 17% were victims of completed rape. Almost half of the rapes occurred in a fraternity house, and over half occurred either during a fraternity function or was perpetrated by a fraternity member. This study provides evidence that fraternities represent a social context that tolerates, if not actually encourages, sexual coercion of women, including sorority women.