The utilization of genetic counselors within a newborn screening program

Genetic counselors have participated in the Michigan Newborn Screening Program on a contractual basis since 1988. Their role includes newborn screening education and training, newborn nursery site visits, and monitoring newborn screening in hospitals. Their impact has been to improve the quality of newborn screening services by reducing errors and increasing completion of data fields on newborn screening cards, improving hospital nursery cooperation and problem solving, and enhancing health department response to specific problems.     

Humility as a psychotherapeutic formulation

Humility training is conceptualized as an appropriate treatment for persons who occasionally describe themselves, but are most frequently described by others as overbearing, insensitive and deceitful. Procedures are outlined to identify unrecognized fears and improve interpersonal skills. Humility is presented as a counterpoint to assertiveness and aggression/anger control interventions.     

Neuroleptic malignant syndrome--3 case reports

An account is given of three patients who exhibited a malignant neuroleptic syndrome after the administration of neuroplegics. Like other authors, we identified typical elicitation factors and clinical characteristics. In one case a catatonic dilemma with lethal issue was observed. In the final case dealt with in this paper, the renewed application of neuroplegics following the termination of the malignant neuroleptic syndrome was tolerated without complications, whereas in the case of an epileptic patient with damage to the brain, the malignant neuroleptic syndrome returned upon dosage increase.     

APPLICATION OF A SOCIAL SKILLS TRAINING PROGRAM IN THE MODIFICATION OF INTERPERSONAL DEFICITS AMONG RETARDED ADULTS: A CLINICAL REPLICATION

Six mentally retarded adults, equally divided into two treatment groups, were provided with individualized social skills training programs. Treatment, evaluated via a multiple-baseline design strategy, was sequentially and cumulatively applied across target behaviors over a four-week intervention period. Behavioral observation probes and social validation measures served as the primary dependent variables. Results indicated that (a) treatment was effective for virtually all behaviors across all subjects, (b) improvements occurred for both training and generalization scenes, and (c) behavioral performance was maintained one month following the termination of treatment.     

Action comprehension: deriving spatial and functional relations

A perceived action can be understood only when information about the action carried out and the objects used are taken into account. It was investigated how spatial and functional information contributes to establishing these relations. Participants observed static frames showing a hand wielding an instrument and a potential target object of the action. The 2 elements could either match or mismatch, spatially or functionally. Participants were required to judge only 1 of the 2 relations while ignoring the other. Both irrelevant spatial and functional mismatches affected judgments of the relevant relation. Moreover, the functional relation provided a context for the judgment of the spatial relation but not vice versa. The results are discussed in respect to recent accounts of action understanding.     

The psychological neuroscience of depression: implications for understanding effects of deep brain stimulation

In this article it is suggested that current psychological theories of depression presuppose that this condition will develop as a result of a vicious circle involving negatively biased communication between systems of emotional stress-/alarm-signaling, executive functions and mood regulation. These systems may from a neuroanatomical point of view be located in the limbic system, the orbitofrontal and lateral prefrontal cortex and the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA-) axis respectively. The theoretical and practical implications of this model for the understanding of pharmacological treatments of depression are briefly discussed and this theory is related to the catecholamine hypothesis of depression. The model is furthermore discussed in relation to deep brain stimulation (DBS) of treatment resistant major depression. Similarities and differences between this perspective and the one advocated by the "homeostatic theory" of depression are discussed. It is concluded that a topographical psychological theory may offer a useful heuristic in thinking about depression and that it offers several testable predictions about treatments of the disorder.     

Do Bettors Correctly Perceive Odds? Three Studies of How Bettors Interpret Betting Odds as Probabilistic Information

This paper reports on three studies investigating how accurately bettors (=people who regularly bet on sports events) interpret the probabilistic information implied by betting odds. All studies were based on data collected by web surveys prompting a total of 186 experienced bettors to convert sets of representative odds into frequency judgments. Bayesian statistical methods were used to analyze the data. From the results, the following conclusions were made: (i) On the whole, the bettors produced well‐calibrated judgments, indicating that they have realistic perceptions of odds. (ii) Bettors were unable to consciously adjust judgments for different margins. (iii) Although their interval judgments often covered the estimates implied by the odds, the bettors tended to overestimate the variation of expected profitable bets between months. The results are consistent with prior research showing that people tend to make accurate probability judgments when faced with tasks characterized by constant and clear feedback. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Remarks on the Case of Pamela

This is a discussion of Robert Grossmark's paper: “The Case of Pamela.” It emphasizes the trauma in her early upbringing and uses her own words to describe the severe damage this did to both her physical and her emotional sense of existence. It touches on the crumbling of her ability to trust, the dysregulation of her physical and mental economy, the substitution of false self personnae for the endangered real self, and the inevitable enactments that occur in a treatment of this sort. Though recognizing the remarkable help that this treatment afforded her, it suggests that a further phase of explicit negative transference is being postponed and might be necessary for the full completion of this treatment.