The case of Gary: In search of post-hoc quixotic flexibility.

Responds to M. F. Hoyt's (see record 1995-22250-001) commentary on T. F. Van Denburg and E. J. Van Denburg's (see record 1994-18427-001) response to Hoyt's (see record 1994-18395-001) commentary on Van Denburg and Van Denburg's (see record 1993-06526-001) article about a case of premature therapy termination. Issues related to limits and flexibility in treatment are addressed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Termination in the case of Gary: Overdue, not premature.

Using the recent report of T. F. Van Denburg and E. J. Van Denburg (see record 1993-06526-001) as a case in point, the author advocates that when a patient quits treatment it may be more useful to ask "What should I have done differently?" rather than wonder why the patient finally declined more of the same. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Therapeutic flexibility in the case of Gary: Too little, too late.

Responds to T. F. Van Denburg and E. J. Van Denburg's (see record 1994-18427-001) response to M. F. Hoyt's (see record 1994-18395-001) commentary on Van Denburg and Van Denburg's (see record 1993-06526-001) article about a case of premature therapy termination. When a treatment is not working try something different. The issue is not long vs short therapy, but a readiness to respond flexibly. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical Psychologists as Psychotherapists: History, Future, and Alternatives.

As managed care and other cost-containment strategies become centralfeatures of the American health care system, doctoral-level clinical psychologists will be increasingly supplanted in the role of psychotherapist by lower cost providers such as social workers, marriage and family counselors, and masters-level psychologists. To provide one basis for clinical psychologists to make judgments about their role in psychotherapy, this article describes what the field was like before psychotherapy became a core activity and then compares the present transition with its historical counterpart: the opening up of the psychotherapy profession to doctoral-level clinical psychologists after World War II. History suggests that efforts to resist the current changes will be unsuccessful and that the most adaptive coping strategy for clinical psychologists is to take advantage of the transition by re-envisioning training and practice of clinical psychologists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interesting case no. 15. Double median neck cyst

The aim of this study was to assess which patients are referred from general practice, in order to target areas in which our service could be improved. An anonymous postal questionnaire was sent to 433 local general practitioners (GPs), 72.3% (313) of whom replied. The majority of GPs indicated that they would always send patients with a diagnosis of either gonorrhoea or syphilis to the department, while most would send less than 50% of patients with Chlamydia trachomatis infection. Viral infections (i.e. warts and herpes) were referred more frequently than chlamydia. Referral of trichomoniasis was uncommon, as was advice about contacts in all conditions except gonorrhoea and syphilis.     

Awards for Distinguished Professional Contributions: Gary B. Mesibov.

Discusses the contributions made by Gary B. Mesibov, one of four 1997 recipients of the American Psychological Association (APA) Awards for Distinguished Professional Contributions. Mesibov is recognized for his clinical and scholarly contributions to the field of autism. A selected bibliography is appended. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Early Career Awards for 1978: Gary E. Schwartz.

Gary E. Schwarts earned the Early Career Award for his outstanding contributions to our understanding of biofeedback and self-regulation of psychophysiological processes and the application of this knowledge to research on the etiology and treatment of psychosomatic and affective disorders. Schwartz conducted pioneering studies in humans, demonstrating learned specificity and patterning in the cardiovascular system and the potential of self-control of blood pressure in the treatment of hypertension. His innovative theories and research on facial muscle patterning and self-regulation of emotion in depression, lateralization of brain mechanisms in emotion, and self-regulation and disregulation in stress and disease successfully integrated psychobiology with psychopathology and medicine and enabled him to play a leading role in the development of the new fields of health psychology and behavioral medicine. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

In case of emergency: no need for consent

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending its current informed consent regulations to permit harmonization of the Department of Health and Human Services' (DHHS) policies on emergency research and to reduce confusion on when such research can proceed without obtaining an individual subject's informed consent. This regulation provides a narrow exception to the requirement for obtaining and documenting informed consent from each human subject, or his or her legally authorized representative, prior to initiation of an experimental intervention. The exception would apply to a limited class of research activities involving human subjects who are in need of emergency medical intervention but who cannot give informed consent because of their life-threatening medical condition, and who do not have a legally authorized person to represent them. FDA is taking this action in response to growing concerns that current rules are making high quality acute care research activities difficult or impossible to carry out at a time when the need for such research is increasingly recognized.     

Alternatives to the sequential lineup: The importance of controlling the pictures.

Because sequential lineups reduce false-positive choices, their use has been recommended (R. C. L. Lindsay, 1999; R. C. L. Lindsay & G. L. Wells, 1985). Blind testing is included in the recommended procedures. Police, concerned about blind testing, devised alternative procedures, including self-administered sequential lineups, to reduce use of relative judgments (G. L. Wells, 1984) while permitting the investigating officer to conduct the procedure. Identification data from undergraduates exposed to a staged crime (N?=?165) demonstrated that 4 alternative identification procedures tested were less effective than the original sequential lineup. Allowing witnesses to control the photographs resulted in higher rates of false-positive identification. Self-reports of using relative judgments were shown to be postdictive of decision accuracy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Consolidation of Long-Term Memory: Evidence and Alternatives.

Memory loss in retrograde amnesia has long been held to be larger for recent periods than for remote periods, a pattern usually referred to as the Ribot gradient. One explanation for this gradient is consolidation of long-term memories. Several computational models of such a process have shown how consolidation can explain characteristics of amnesia, but they have not elucidated how consolidation must be envisaged. Here findings are reviewed that shed light on how consolidation may be implemented in the brain. Moreover, consolidation is contrasted with alternative theories of the Ribot gradient. Consolidation theory, multiple trace theory, and semantization can all handle some findings well but not others. Conclusive evidence for or against consolidation thus remains to be found. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On Sarason: Technology, yes; science, no.

Comments on S. B. Sarason's (see record 1984-28403-001) assertion that something should not be investigated or developed just because it can be. The present author suggests that (1) the constraints proposed by Sarason could result in dependence on tradition rather than new knowledge; (2) a distinction should be made between science, whose goal is to uncover knowledge, and technology, whose goal is to develop applications of this knowledge; and (3) constraints should be limited to technology. (2 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The king with no clothes.

Posits that a theory is required which treats of generosity, love, joy, sadness, and the willingness to die. Theories which appreciate the thrill and exuberance of life as well as the shadows are required. It is stated that we have a hoard of molecular theories which pretend to molar status. We are as a King with no clothes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relinquishing the placebo: Alternatives for psychotherapy outcome research.

Comments on the article by W. Wilkins (see record 1986-25162-001) on placebo problems in psychotherapy research and suggests a refinement of efficacy research strategies that will allow such comparisons while relinquishing the use of a placebo construct. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)