Is there room for criticism of studies of psychodynamic psychotherapy?

Comments on the original article, "The efficacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy," by J. Shedler (see record 2010-02208-012). Shedler declared unequivocally that "empirical evidence supports the efficacy of psychodynamic therapy" (p. 98). He did not mention any specific criticisms that have been made of evidence on psychodynamic psychotherapies or address possible distinctions between evidence for short-term versus long-term psychodynamic psychotherapies. Instead, he attributed dissenting views to biases in evidence dissemination and review, which he suggested are rooted in a "lingering distaste in the mental health professions professions for past psychoanalytic arrogance and authority" related to a "hierarchical medical establishment that denied training to non-MDs and adopted a dismissive stance toward research" (Shedler, 2010, p. 98). Shedler (2010) justified his blanket dismissal of criticisms of evidence supporting psychodynamic psychotherapy on the basis of several published meta-analyses. The validity of conclusions from metaanalyses depends on the quality of the evidence synthesized, the nature of the studies included, and the rigor of the statistical analyses employed. Many meta-analyses, however, are not performed rigorously, which can result in treatment efficacy estimates that obscure important intertrial differences and that are unlikely to be replicated in clinical practice.     

Unlocking the Secrets of the Wounded Psyche: Interview with Donald Kalsched

The last 20 years have seen huge progress in our understanding of the injured psyche. Inner space is opening in a way that is helping us heal the deep psychological wounds that many of us carry. Donald Kalsched has been exploring the archetypal dimensions of the trauma process. His interest arose out of his work as a Jungian analyst: Many of his clients got stuck in their therapeutic journey, or worse, they tried to sabotage it—Kalsched wanted to understand why. He discovered that most of them had suffered childhood trauma. He asked: What is it about trauma that leads people to sabotage the road to healing? What systems come into play to help a child to survive psychological trauma, and how do these systems limit later development? His conclusion was that the psyche's internal response to trauma sets up a “self-care system” designed to ensure the person's survival, but that this defensive system ultimately retraumatizes the person from within, cutting off life-saving attachments to others and eclipsing all possibilities of true-self living in the real world. This theory has had a huge impact because it changes our understanding of what happens in psychological trauma and so opens the door to healing.     

A forgotten resource critical to the future of behavior analysis: undergraduate psychology majors

The demand for board-certified applied behavior analysts is not being met, and there is a perception that fewer students are exposed to systematic courses in basic and applied behavior analysis than was true a generation ago. This article outlines how we have successfully implemented an undergraduate curriculum in behavior analysis within a traditional department of psychology. Certification credentials offered by the Behavior Analysis Certification Board facilitated the approval of this curriculum, and the cultural practice selection contingencies that supported the creation of our curriculum in behavior analysis may be similar at other comprehensive universities. Advice for developing an undergraduate program in behavior analysis within a psychology department is outlined. We also summarize strategies we have used to attract talented students to the courses and the significant impact these strategies have had on the number of our graduates who pursue graduate training in basic and applied behavior analysis. Attracting the best and brightest students to behavior analysis is critical to the future of the field.     

蒙汉族大学生父母教养方式、成人依恋与心理困扰的关系研究

通过整群抽样方法抽取了576名大学生,对其施测父母养育方式量表、亲密关系体验量表和心理困扰量表,运用结构方程模型技术,分别考察了父母养育方式的蒙汉族差异以及成人依恋模式在父母养育方式和心理困扰间的中介作用。结果表明:(1) 蒙古族父母对孩子的关爱程度和给孩子的自主性要显著高于汉族;(2) 汉族的成人依恋模式在父母过度保护与抑郁-焦虑-压力之间起着部分中介作用,而蒙古族成人依恋的中介作用不明显,但母亲的冷漠拒绝和过度保护会导致个体依恋回避和依恋焦虑,父亲的冷漠拒绝和过度保护会影响个体的抑郁和焦虑,母亲的过度保护和父亲的冷漠拒绝会影响个体的压力。     

A decolonial perspective of collective coping in the adult attachment and life satisfaction link

This study examined the role of cognitive flexibility and collective coping in the relationship between adult attachment and life satisfaction while comparing Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC; n = 187) and White (n = 135) groups. Result showed that the relationship between attachment anxiety and life satisfaction was mediated via cognitive flexibility and collective coping only in the BIPOC group. This study informs culturally responsive attachment-based counseling and advances literature from a decolonial perspective.     

The Social Sciences,Philosophy, and the Cultural Turn in the 1930s USDA

One of the more unusual attempts by the American state to mobilize academic expertise unfolded in the late 1930s, when the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) hired scholars in the “culture and personality” fields and philosophy to aid its efforts to promote economic, social, and cultural change in the countryside. USDA progressives also reached out to disciplinary scholars in other ways as they sought to institute a deliberative mode of planning in local communities and to remake the curricula of the land‐grant colleges in support of that project. These USDA initiatives and scholars’ responses reveal that scientific knowledge was mobilized in the 1930s not just for the instrumental purpose of regulating economic behavior but also to explain and legitimate federal programs and to inform ambitious projects for cultural change. At the USDA, as at many other sites between the wars, scientific thinkers turned to the social sciences and philosophy in order to understand and then change the public mind.