Preventing therapist-patient sexual intimacy: Therapy for a therapist at risk.

Survey research, as well as rates of complaints to licensing boards, ethics committees, and the civil courts, indicate that therapist–patient sexual intimacy is a major problem for the profession. Furthermore, research suggests that overwhelming majority of psychologists experience sexual attraction to their patients, are uncomfortable with that attraction, and may be at risk for acting it out. It is important for the profession to develop various models of intervention that can help therapists to accept and understand this attraction while refraining from acting it out. I present, via a fictional case study, a preliminary approach to such intervention. Aspects of this approach include careful attention to issues of confidentiality, privilege, and informed consent to treatment; specific definition of tasks and roles; use of contracts; education and acceptance; and covert conditioning, covert modeling, self-talk, and related cognitive-behavioral techniques. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Therapist-patient sexual intimacy involving children and adolescents.

A survey of 90 psychologists showed that 22 reported instances of sexual intimacy between therapists and minor patients. A total of 81 instances were reported, with 56% involving female patients (aged 3–27 yrs) and 44% involving male patients (aged 7–26 yrs). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a theory of followership.

Unlike most of the leadership literature, which focuses on the leaders themselves, the point of departure in this paper is that the psychology of the followers is the key to understanding the leaders' influence. Followers' attraction to leaders is analyzed from three theoretical perspectives: (a) psychodynamic, according to which the leader represents a protective parental figure; (b) psycho-cognitive, in which the leader serves as a convenient explanation for a complex reality; and (c) social-psychological, in which the leader becomes a kind of narrative that grants meaning and strengthens social identity. The article illustrates how these perspectives can help in the choice of concepts and models of leadership and in examining their validity in predicting and explaining leaders' influence in various contexts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a theory of consciousness.

Posits that an adequate explanation of psychological phenomena that have a conscious aspect implies a theory of awareness that is now lacking. On psychological, physical, and philosophical grounds, a preliminary model is presented, postulating awareness as a field effect with 2 primary modes: detector and effector. Any adequate field theory of awareness seems to entail a set of field equations; an outline of preconditions for their eventual derivation is presented, partially based on C. T. Tart's (1975) paradigm for the experimental investigation of consciousness. It is argued that the field paradigm of physics provides a fruitful precedent for dealing with an unobservable event having observable consequences. (French abstract) (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Biased reporting of therapist–patient sexual intimacy.

To investigate bias in reports of therapist–patient sexual intimacy, information about 559 patients who were sexually intimate with their previous therapists was collected via questionnaire from 318 psychologists who subsequently saw these patients in therapy. Psychologists, the experimental Ss in the present study, were predominantly aged 40–49 yrs, and 64% were male. It was found that Ss who reported that no harm occurred to patients as a result of therapist–patient sexual intimacy (SI) admitted twice the prevalence of SI between patients and themselves than did Ss in general. Those Ss who had experienced SI with patients were less likely to report adverse effects of SI either for patients or for therapy. Fewer Ss with a history of SI than those without reported anger toward offending therapists, and fewer recommended punishment. A higher percentage of female than male Ss reported anger toward offenders and recommended punishment, yet women did not rate the effects of SI as more harmful than did men. In general, anger toward offending therapists and recommendations for punishment were associated with the degree to which patients were thought to have been harmed. Ss who had been consultants to a greater number of other therapists about sexual contact with patients reported relatively more cases in which therapy ended soon after SI began than did Ss who were consulted by fewer therapists. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sexual harassment and sexual intimacy in learning environments.

This paper, prepared under the auspices of the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) Education and Training Committee, reviews the literature on sexual harassment and sexual intimacy between students and faculty or supervisors in educational contexts with a particular focus on the Canadian scene. Topics discussed include definitional issues, incidence and examples, consequences, ethical issues, and strategies for change. Past responses of CPA to these concerns are outlined. Also included is the set of recommendations recently approved by the CPA Board of Directors, designed to assist educational institutions in addressing the problems of sexual harassment and inappropriate sexual intimacy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a perceptual theory of transparency.

Theories of perceptual transparency have typically been developed within the context of a physical model that generates the percept of transparency (F. Metelli's episcotister model, 1974b). Here 2 fundamental questions are investigated: (a) When does the visual system initiate the percept of one surface seen through another? (b) How does it assign surface properties to a transparent layer? Results reveal systematic deviations from the predictions of Metelli's model, both for initiating image decomposition into multiple surfaces and for assigning surface attributes. Specifically, results demonstrate that the visual system uses Michelson contrast as a critical image variable to initiate percepts of transparency and to assign transmittance to transparent surfaces. Findings are discussed in relation to previous theories of transparency, lightness, brightness, and contrast-contrast. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a statistical theory of learning.

(This partially reprinted article originally appeared in Psychological Review, 1950, Vol 57, 94–207. The following abstract of the original article appeared in PA, Vol 24:5093.) An attempt has been made to clarify some issues in current learning theory by giving a statistical interpretation to the concepts of stimulus and response and by deriving quantitative laws that govern simple behavior systems. Dependent variables, in this formulation, are classes of behavior samples with common quantitative properties; independent variables are statistical distributions of environmental events. Laws of the theory state probability relations between momentary changes in behavioral and environmental variables. From this point of view it has been possible to derive simple relations between probability of response and several commonly used measures of learning, and to develop mathematical expressions describing learning in both classical conditioning and instrumental learning situations under simplified conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a theory of motive acquisition.

"Too little is known about the processes of personality change at relatively complex levels." Empirical study of the problem is hampered by both practical and theoretical difficulties. Despite difficulties "a program of research has been under way for some time which is attempting to develop the achievement motive in adults." Motives are learned; they are "affectively toned associative networks" arranged in a hierarchy of strength within a given individual. A short course to develop n Achievement in some form or another has been established. 12 propositions dealing with means of producing motive change are specified and discussed. A table of variables (independent, intervening, and dependent) conceived as entering into the motive change process is presented. The "propositions should hold best… narrowly for motives and especially the achievement motive." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a cognitive theory of catharsis.

Reviews 4 counseling analog studies which conclude that (1) expression of anger, either verbally or physically, does not automatically reduce anger, and (2) a cognitive process needs to accompany emotional expression. Results contradict the "hydraulic model" (J. Breuer and S. Freud, 1937) of emotions. An alternate model is proposed suggesting that anger expression will lead to anger reduction if it leads to coping with the anger-instigating event. Coping is achieved through dealing with the environment or through changing one's self-perceptions and attitudes. The model is extended to the emotion of sadness, and it is suggested that the experience and expression of emotions in general are therapeutic only if they facilitate a cognitive assimilation or working through process. (43 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a theory of dream recall.

Examines evidence for 3 hypotheses of dream recall in studies of variables characteristic of presleep, sleep, and postsleep periods. Neither correlational nor experimental data show consistent support for the hypothesis that repression affects dream recall. Salience and interference concepts are strongly supported and if taken together with cognitive and motivational variables, suggest a promising model for dream recall based on interactions among situational, organismic, and individual difference factors. (117 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a theory of motivational interviewing.

The widely disseminated clinical method of motivational interviewing (MI) arose through a convergence of science and practice. Beyond a large base of clinical trials, advances have been made toward “looking under the hood” of MI to understand the underlying mechanisms by which it affects behavior change. Such specification of outcome-relevant aspects of practice is vital to theory development and can inform both treatment delivery and clinical training. An emergent theory of MI is proposed that emphasizes two specific active components: a relational component focused on empathy and the interpersonal spirit of MI, and a technical component involving the differential evocation and reinforcement of client change talk. A resulting causal chain model links therapist training, therapist and client responses during treatment sessions, and posttreatment outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Impact of child sexual abuse on developing sexuality.

This article reviews theoretical and empirical literature on sexual abuse and focuses on the effects of child sexual abuse on developing sexuality. The issues addressed include (a) prominent family qualities associated with sexual socialization, (b) theoretical formulations that account for the effects of sexual abuse on developing sexuality, and (c) research findings on the impact of child sexual abuse on the sexuality development of child victims and adult survivors. Directions for future research and implications for practitioners are also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sanctification of sexuality: Implications for newlyweds' marital and sexual quality.

Research on the intersection of sexuality, religion, and spirituality has primarily examined whether global levels of religiousness (e.g., service attendance) deter premarital and extramarital sexual activity. Virtually no empirical work has addressed whether specific spiritual beliefs about sexuality enhance marital sexuality. Using a community sample of 83 individuals married between 4 and 18 months, we found that greater perceptions of sexuality as sanctified predicted greater marital satisfaction, sexual satisfaction, sexual intimacy, and spiritual intimacy beyond global religiousness and demographics. The findings open a new line of research on religion and family life, and extend theories on the possible benefits of the sanctification of intimate relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Women's history of sexual abuse, their sexuality, and sexual self-schemas.

In this study, the authors assessed 48 female survivors of child sexual abuse (CSA) and 71 female control participants using measures of adult sexual function, psychological function (i.e., depression and anxiety), and sexual self-schemas. The primary purpose of this study was to examine whether differences existed between women with and without a history of CSA in the way that they viewed themselves as a sexual person and, if so, whether such differences mediated the link between early unwanted sexual experiences and later adult sexuality. CSA survivors were found to view themselves as less romantic and passionate than women who were not abused. In particular, CSA survivors showed an inverse relationship between romantic/passionate sexual self-schemas and negative sexual affect during sexual arousal. The relationship between CSA and negative sexual affect was independent from symptoms of depression and anxiety, suggesting that the impact of CSA on sexual self-schemas may be independent from the impact that the abuse may have in other areas of the survivor's life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Variables in experimental games: Toward a field theory.

Experimental studies of gaming have dealt with task, situational, and personality variables. Most studies have focused on either dyadic matrix games (with the Prisoner's Dilemma as a prototype) or triadic competitive games (with the Board Game as a prototype). Types of variables in each category are: (1) task variables matrix variations, mode of presentation, length of run, threat, and power relationships; (2) situational variables strategy variations, instructions, feedback and communication, character of opponent, and reward; and (3) personality variables general differences between Ss, family background, psychopathology, attitudes and traits, and motives. In dyadic games, level of cooperation is significantly influenced by conditions in all 3 categories. In triadic games, similarly, all 3 classes of variables influence coalition formation, strategy, and outcomes. The following problems arise: comparison of game-situations, effects of situational constraints, demand characteristics, relevance to social interaction, relevance of variables, interactional effects, and variations in group size. Strictly rational theories emphasize task (and situational) variables, in contrast to theories which emphasize perceptual, cognitive, and motivational processes (personality and situational) variables. Neither kind of theory is sufficient, and a field theory is preferable. (4 p. ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward generative theory.

Argues that much contemporary theory lacks generative potency, that is, the capacity to challenge prevailing assumptions regarding the nature of social life and to offer alternatives to contemporary patterns of conduct. This deficit may be traced primarily to the commitment of the field to traditional positivist assumptions that (a) give preeminent weight to "the fact," (b) demand verification of theoretical ideas, (c) encourage disregard for the temporal dependency of social pattern, and (d) recommend dispassionate comportment in scientific affairs. Shortcomings are demonstrated in each of these cases, and the groundwork is laid for developing generative theory, liberated both from the press of immediate fact and the necessity for verification. Such theory may properly function to sustain value commitments and to restructure the character of social life. (85 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a viable theory of individual differences.

This article deals with 2 metatheoretic issues: (a) the problem of making scientific inferences and (b) the problem of the conceptual framework. Inability to overcome inductive uncertainty lies at the core of the debates concerning the interpretation of factors and how they are organized. Failure to embed factors in a viable, process-oriented conceptual framework has also obstructed progress. Theoretical structures based on the information-processing paradigm and invariant factors are the most promising extant approaches. (49 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Eliminating cultural oppression in counseling: Toward a general theory.

Proposes a general working theory of how race- and culture-specific factors interact to produce people with differing world views. Empirical and clinical data are reviewed that indicate 2 psychological concepts—locus of control and locus of reponsibility—may explain how world views are formed and their consequent dynamics. Four world views are identified representing combinations of internal and external locus of control and internal and external locus of responsibility. It is proposed that the internal locus of control and responsibility world view is most characteristic of Western counseling approaches and assumptions. Cultural oppression occurs when this world view is blindly imposed upon the culturally different client. Implications of each world view are discussed with respect to counseling in the US. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)