Personality Disorder Attributes as Supplemental Goals for Change in Interpersonal Psychotherapy

Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) is a manualized, short-term (usually 12–16 sessions) based on the assumption that psychological disorders often emerge secondary to social and interpersonal problems that require active intervention to achieve symptom remission. The time-limited nature of IPT compels therapists to establish the goal of diminishing, on a weekly basis, a small number of focused interpersonal problems with a decided emphasis on proximal rather than historic conflicts and associated patterns of behavior. This strategy discourages the adoption of diffuse therapy goals and directions that have more opportunity to emerge in long-term, unstructured treatment modalities. The role of traditional personality testing in short-term therapy, when it occurs, is to identify and quantify symptom clusters that warrant attention as dependent measures in the treatment process. The role of personality factors in the genesis or maintenance of psychological disturbance is rarely addressed. The present article explores theoretical and pragmatic objections to the use of personality testing in IPT. A method is proposed for the limited but systematic incorporation of personality testing in the IPT treatment process using the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-III). While unreasonable to expect personality transformation through short-term therapy, the partial attenuation of maladaptive behavioral, attitudinal, and emotional reactions to stressors could prove exceedingly helpful to short-term treatments such as IPT.     

Effects of high and low dosages of methylphenidate in children with strong and sensitive nervous systems

This investigation was undertaken to explore the possible causes and consequences of the finding that attention- and learning-disordered children with sensitive (weak) nervous systems were titrated at higher dosages of methylphenidate than those with strong nervous systems. Pretreatment parent and teacher ratings of hyperkineticassociated behavior were no different for children typed as having strong or sensitive nervous systems or for those subsequently prescribed higher or lower dosages by a child psychiatrist “blind” to their type as well as condition (drug or placebo). However, those titrated at lower dosages, regardless of whether strong or sensitive, were rated as more improved than those given higher dosages. Pretreatment reaction time (RT) data suggested that sensitive types prescribed low dosages had less of a problem sustaining attention, and placebo RT data suggested that strong types titrated at low dosages had more of a problem sustaining attention. A contrast of placebo and drug RTs showed that strong types titrated at lower dosages improved more than strong types given higher dosages, whereas sensitive types given higher dosages improved more than sensitive types given lower dosages. The latter finding is thought to add support to the theory of Gray (1964), who suggested that, paradoxically, the weak nervous system needs a more intense stimulus than the strong to reach the concentration threshold.     

Rehab Retrospect: Former Prostitutes and the (Re)construction of Deviance

In this study, in-depth qualitative interviews with former street prostitutes currently in an outpatient drug rehabilitation program are utilized to examine the transition out of prostitution and from a deviant to a non-deviant identity. Little extant literature explores the relationships between stigma management and desistance as prostitutes attempt to exit the industry. This research finds that while in rehab, the women activated meanings of their previous drug addiction both as a stigma management technique and as a cognitive process that distances them from the prostitute identity. They conceptually bundled their prostitution identity with that of drug addiction, ultimately reinforcing that they completed the transition out of deviance.     

Studies of nervous system sensitivity in children with learning and attention disorders

Clinically referred children, diagnosed as having learning or attention disorders, with or without hyperactivity, were found to vary widely on a measure of nervous system sensitivity recommended by the Pavlovian investigator Vasilev. That is, the children were contrasted on their mean press and release reaction times (RTs) to four tones, ranging from soft (55 db) to very loud (100 db), with the expectation that some would be able to maintain a parallel separation of press and release RT gradients across all intensity levels (strength), whereas others would show convergence or overlap of the gradients at higher intensities (weakness). Contrary to expectation, girls did not have weaker or more sensitive nervous systems than boys, although the girls rated themselves as less tolerant of intense stimuli. Significantly more of the children diagnosed as hyperactive had weaker nervous systems. The boys also participated in a blind crossover study contrasting placebo and methylphenidate effects; the prescribing physician, who was not informed of the child’s nervous system classification, adjusted the dosage levels so that subjects with weaker nervous systems were titrated at higher dosage levels than those with stronger nervous systems. Gray (1964) suggested an explanation of this paradox, i.e., that the weak nervous system requires a more intense stimulus than the strong to reach the threshold of concentration (or focused attention), whereas for other thresholds the strong requires a more intense stimulus than the weak. Gray’s theory was further supported by the finding that children typed as weak (unmedicated) did not show as great facilitation in RT with reward (moderate stimulus) as did those typed as strong.     

General versus gender-specific attributes of the psychology major

In the present study, the authors extended the search for general and gender-specific factors associated with the selection of psychology as a college major by using the Family Environment Scale (FES; R. H. Moos & B. S. Moos, 1994) and Coolidge Axis II Inventory (CATI; F. L. Coolidge & M. M. Merwin, 1992). The findings were restricted to one general (Schizoid) and one gender-specific (Self-Defeating) set of personality traits that seemed to be associated with the selection of a college major. The intuitive role of many presumed gender-specific factors (e.g., women are more open to discussing personal problems with others) may prove difficult to establish empirically.     

TAKING IN MORE OF LIFE

This is a story not only about my father's death but also about how it has affected me and life as I see it. I believe that the circumstances in my life following my father's death are connected to each other and have become my greatest lessons that I have learned in life.     

Assessment sensitivity in legal discourse

We explain three phenomena in legal discourse in terms of MacFarlane’s assessment-sensitive semantics: incompatible applications of law, assessments of statements about what is legally the case, and retrospective overruling. The claim is that assessment sensitivity fits in with the view, shared by many legal theorists at least with respect to hard cases, that the final adjudicator’s interpretation of legal sources is constitutive of the applied norm. We argue that there are strong analogies between certain kinds of statements in legal discourse as understood in light of that view and discourse about matters of taste and future contingents. Thus, if assessment-sensitive semantics provides a compelling account of discourse about matters of taste and future contingents, then it likewise provides a compelling account of those statements in legal discourse.     

Using A Thought Experiment To Clarify A Radiobiological Controversy

Synthese - Are philosophers of science limited to conducting autopsies on dead scientific theories, or might they also help resolve contemporary methodological disputes in science? This essay (1)...