Application of the consensus Rorschach to couples

The consensus method of administering the Rorschach is described and the literature reviewed. The consensus method is viewed as an adaptation of the Rorschach as a form of behavioral assessment, especially as regards couple interaction. Materials on two couples are presented as illustrations.     

Effects of Acute Stress or Centrally Injected Interleukin-1beta on Neuropeptide Expression in the Immune System

Acute stress stimulates the expression and release of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) and arginine vasopressin (AVP) from the hypothalamus, and the pro-opiomelanocortin products beta-endorphin and ACTH from the anterior pituitary. These neuropeptides are also expressed in immune tissues, and it has been proposed that they may modulate immune responses to stress through paracrine mechanisms. We subjected rats to restraint stress or central injection of interleukin (IL)-1beta to determine whether these acute stimuli can alter the expression of neuropeptides in the spleen and thymus. Restraint stress significantly increased the contents of all these neuropeptides in thymic, but not splenic, extracts. A single icv injection of IL-1beta increased contents of CRH, AVP, ACTH and beta-endorphin in the spleens of both sham-operated and adrenalectomised (ADX) rats. IL-1beta increased thymic contents of CRH and ACTH in sham-operated rats but these increases were not observed in ADX rats. These results suggest that the effects of IL-1beta on neuropeptide expression in the spleen are independent of glucocorticoids, whereas IL-1beta stimulation of neuropeptide expression in the thymus is dependent on circulating glucocorticoids. There were significant correlations between increases in CRH, ACTH and beta-endorphin in the spleen, and between CRH and ACTH in the thymus, consistent with the suggestion that IL-1beta-induced increases in ACTH and beta-endorphin may be mediated through CRH. These results provide evidence that stressors can directly influence neuropeptide expression in immune tissues. Thus stress may influence immune functions through paracrine mechanisms involving locally synthesised neuropeptides as well as through activation of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis.     

Social cues, cognitive style, error magnitude, and male performance on the Felt Figure Replacement Technique.

A series of studies was undertaken to determine possible factors contributing to low predictive utility for Felt Figure Replacement Technique (FFRT) scores from normal, adult males. It was first postulated that normal adult males, compared to normal adult females, are less sensitive to social cues present in the FFRT task. Twenty-six undergraduate males and the same number of undergraduate females were asked to replace both a) department store manikins, thought to be less abstract, and then b) felt figures. While task differences were obtained, these were not dependent on gender, nor did any overall gender differences occur for three types of replacement error. The second study involved 31 college males and 33 college females replacing both felt figures and a male and female confederate. It was assumed that differential attention to social cues would be more visible in this comparison. The general results were identical to the first study.     

Counselors and Juvenile Delinquents: Toward a Comprehensive Treatment Approach

The complex problems experienced by juvenile offenders require a multifaceted approach to treatment. Meeting the interwoven psychological and environmental needs of delinquent youngsters involves four differential treatment functions: behaviour adjustment, growth counseling, child advocacy, and social chance. Mental health counselors and juvenile-justice-system workers can coordinate their efforts toward comprehensive treatment by analyzing their roles in terms of these four functions and by keeping their roles clearly understood among themselves and with their clients.     

The Felt Figure Replacement Technique as a personality assessment device: validity reconsidered

Conclusions from an earlier study testing the validity of the Felt Figure Replacement Technique (FFRT) were questioned and three new measures of FFRT performance were developed. The reliability of these three measures, and the conventional measure of distance error, was checked using a sample of 54 female and 49 male undergraduates at Oregon State University. These subjects also completed an established personality inventory. Three of the four FFRT measures tested proved to be reliable, and it was found that models combining the three reliable FFRT measures could yield successful predictions on the personality dimensions for females but not for males; although males and females perform similarly on the FFRT. Both groups made the same kinds of errors relative to the standard placement. Also, males and females differ on only one of the three reliable FFRT measures. It was concluded that the FFRT may yet prove a valuable assessment approach, and the implications of these conclusions for personality assessment were discussed.     

Editorial

Rorschach aggressive content was examined in 42 children who had been referred for psychological evaluations and 42 children who were considered well-adjusted. The two groups did not differ on two standard, global indices of aggressive content, but they did differ with respect to various specific kinds of aggressive imagery. In particular, the normal children more frequently focused on aggression in the context of direct interactions fights — whereas the problematic children talked as if the figures were at the mercy of unknown or unreal attackers.