Does the contextual interference effect last over extended transfer trials?

The contextual interference effect (random practice yields better transfer and retention compared to blocked practice) detected in a study of 24 boys and 33 girls randomly selected (M age = 10.5 yr., SD = .6) performing a linear positioning motor task seemed to dissipate in extended transfer trials.     

Psychological Change in Everyday Life: An Exploratory Study

The innovative moments model was used in a pilot study that aimed to explore the change processes involved in everyday change outside psychotherapy. According to this model, the emergence and development of innovative moments (IMs) as exceptions to a problematic pattern are closely associated with psychological change. A longitudinal design covering 4 months of interviews was implemented with 13 adults who were coping with significant personal problems without clinical psychopathological complaints. Semistructured interviews were used to explore participants' personal accounts of their problems, and change was assessed using a scaling task at the end of the study. A total of 114 interviews were analyzed using the innovative moments coding system. A general linear model showed that higher levels of change were associated with higher proportions of complex IMs over time. Moreover, lower levels of change were associated with an increase in elementary IMs. These results support the idea that successful psychological change in everyday life shares similarities with the change pattern found in psychotherapy using the innovative moments model.     

Post natal depression,the mother's conflict and parent – infant psychotherapy

This paper sets out to consider a psychodynamic approach to postnatal depression. In particular, it examines the advantages of psychodynamic parent?–?infant psychotherapy both as a treatment model, and also as a way of thinking that can help to formulate a theory of the postnatal period. An illustration is provided in the clinical account of the therapy of a couple and their nine-week-old infant. The author draws on this example, and on findings from psychoanalytic theory, infancy research, evolutionary biology and anthropology to suggest an integrated understanding of the postnatal state of mind and its challenges.     

A psychological approach to ethics

This article has the purpose of calling attention to C.G. Jung's archetypal concept of the Self as an approach to ethics. The distinction between simple morality and transcendent ethics is established. Comparison is made between the archetype of the Self and Kant's categorical imperative. Freud's superego, however, is assimilated to a natural outlook on morality, such as the notion of altruism in sociobiology. The superego is only the psychic effect of the current moral code—which could be explained either culturally or as a Lamarckian acquired characteristic of the unconscious. Jung's transcendent ethics is expressed in an ethical mandala.     

Prolonged exposure therapy for chronic combat-related PTSD: a case report of five veterans

Prolonged exposure (PE) therapy has been found efficient in reducing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms mostly among rape victims, but has not been explored in combat-related PTSD. Five patients with severe chronic PTSD, unresponsive to previous treatment (medication and supportive therapy) are described. Patients were evaluated with the PTSD Symptom Scale-Interview, and Beck Depression Inventory, before and after 10-15 sessions of PE therapy. All five patients showed marked improvement with PE, with a mean decrease of 48% in PTSD Symptom Scale-Interview score and 69% in Beck Depression Inventory score. Moreover, four patients maintained treatment gains or kept improving 6-18 months after the treatment. The results suggest that PE was effective in reducing combat-related chronic PTSD symptoms.     

Psychoanalytic observation in community and primary health care education

Summary

This paper describes a psychoanalytic observation seminar that was set up as part of an MA in Community and Primary Health Care programme. The seminar was intended for senior professionals outside psychotherapy trainings, drawn from the health and social-care fields. The author outlines the way in which a conventional infant-observation model was adapted for this group, enabling the students to observe both individual subjects and also diverse primary-health and community-care settings. The advantages of such a learning experience are discussed; and also the inevitable anxieties stirred by it. Several examples of observations are provided, showing how students were helped to negotiate and explore challenging primary-health and community-care settings.     

The Impact of Spatial Cues on Preschoolers' Selective Attention

The effects of spatial arrangement on preschool children's ability to selectively attend were investigated. Three- and 4-year old children were shown a multicolored dollhouse room intended to serve as a special place containing miniature chairs and models of animals. One category of objects was designated as relevant and 1 as irrelevant. Relevant items were placed in each of the apparatus's corners or in the middle of its walls. Children in the corners condition correctly relocated more relevant items than children in the wall or control conditions. The findings suggest that for both age groups, the ability to recall relevant items may be independent of their ability to demonstrate a selective attention strategy.