Some implications of psychotherapy research for therapeutic practice.

Implications for practice and research are drawn from a survey of psychotherapy research findings, condensed into 6 broad conclusions: (1) psychotherapy causes clients to become better or worse adjusted than controls; (2) control Ss improve with time as a result of informal therapeutic encounters; (3) therapeutic progress varies with therapist warmth, empathy, adjustment, and experience; (4) client-centered therapy is the only interview-oriented method that has been validated by research; (5) traditional therapies are seriously limited in effectiveness and are relevant for a small minority of disturbances; and (6) behavior therapies have considerable promise for enhancing therapeutic effectiveness and should be utilized or experimented with more widely. (2 p. ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Open systems consultation: Some lessons learned from case experience.

Contends that mental health consultation has been dominated by G. Caplan's (see record 1964-06327-001) approach. Recently, it has been argued that mental health consultation can be better understood in open systems terms. The present article provides a case study of how the entry phase of the consultation process can be conceptualized in open systems terms and how this conceptualization provides both particular clarity of analysis and clearer directions for the solution of consultation problems. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Leadership, followership, and evolution: Some lessons from the past.

This article analyzes the topic of leadership from an evolutionary perspective and proposes three conclusions that are not part of mainstream theory. First, leading and following are strategies that evolved for solving social coordination problems in ancestral environments, including in particular the problems of group movement, intragroup peacekeeping, and intergroup competition. Second, the relationship between leaders and followers is inherently ambivalent because of the potential for exploitation of followers by leaders. Third, modern organizational structures are sometimes inconsistent with aspects of our evolved leadership psychology, which might explain the alienation and frustration of many citizens and employees. The authors draw several implications of this evolutionary analysis for leadership theory, research, and practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Biography and psychodynamic theory: Some lessons from the life of Francis Galton.

The case of Francis Galton illustrates that a psychologically oriented biographer must be opportunistic in selecting which psychodynamic theories to use because such choices are inevitably constrained by the nature of the available data. The data from Galton's childhood, though copious, are more usefully dealt with from an Adlerian than a Freudian perspective. Galton's theory of innate and hereditary intellectual differences is derived at least partly from his sense of personal inferiority, and his scientific and literary style is related to his birth order position as a youngest child. For interpretation of Galton's responses to the stresses of medical training in adolescence, the Freudian conception of ego defense mechanisms proved useful. The few available hints regarding his sexuality are possibly related to a midlife crisis he experienced in the 1860s, which culminated in his inspiration for eugenics. The article concludes with a discussion of the general nature, advantages, and limitations of the personality theories available to a biographer. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some additional lessons from the Wechsler scales: A rejoinder to Kaufman and Keith.

Responds to A. Kaufman's (see record 1995-15767-001) and T. Z. Keith's (see record 1995-15768-001) comments on the article by G. M. Macmann and D. W. Barnett (see record 1995-15770-001), suggesting that discussion of their article centers not on posited questions nor conclusions, but rather on the Wechsler scales proper. Macmann and Barnett insist that Wechsler scales and other measures of general intellectual function are a costly and ineffective use of professional skills, suggesting a need for alternative models, such as assessment of cognitive variables in the context of instruction. Further, they suggest that although a general factor model may be structurally more defensible, little can be gained from the analysis of general or Full Scale IQ. It is suggested that the most promising futures for the assessment of intelligent behavior are likely to be realized through a focus on thought processes and problem-solving strategies within the context of meaningful social and instructional situations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Private practice research.

Considers the anomaly that private clinical-consulting settings have produced remarkably influential observations and theory but minimal empirical research. Output over the past 25 yr. is limited to 15 empirical studies. Such research has been constrained by low intraprofessional status and lack of financial support, as well as by limited residual motivation in practitioners. Some practitioners have also argued the impossibility of being both a therapist and researcher with patients so that this may be another attenuating factor on research productivity. It is suggested that private practice research could be furthered by greater status rewards, broader financial support, and special incentives. Psychological research into the gamut of private practice calls for less evasion and more facilitation than it has encountered up to the present. (37 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-care unit: Some lessons in institutional power.

The hypothesis that the chronic psychiatric patient purposefully pursues a goal (continued hospitalization) that has harmful effects on him as a potential participant in the extrahospital community was the initial basis of a rehabilitation program. The staff's use of their power in defining the hospitalization situation was directly related to the outcome of the program. Exercise of power to redefine the hospitalization situation is probably a prerequisite to high discharge rates for chronic patients and is suggested as a basis for precluding the accretion of a chronic population. (18 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Beyond clinical trials: Generalizing from research to practice.

Suggests that clinical trials, or evaluations of psychotherapy techniques in clinical settings with patient populations, play a pivotal role in treatment research. Well-controlled psychotherapy trials provide a test of what treatment can do under conditions in which procedures such as therapist training and monitoring and the integrity of treatment are optimal. Methods designed to reduce the hiatus in how treatments are implemented, monitored, and evaluated in clinical research and practice include developing standardized assessment and treatment packages that can be implemented by practitioners, altering the manner in which clinical training is implemented and evaluated, training clinicians in strategies to evaluate their own clinical work, and conducting clinical replication case studies as a way to evaluate treatment applications in clinical practice. These alternatives combine standardization, training, evaluation, and clinical practice to help increase the generality of research findings to clinical work and to help merge research and clinical priorities. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Research into practice/practice into research.

This article introduces a new section of this journal devoted to the interface between research and clinical practice in the family field. The purpose of this section is to provide a vehicle through which communication between clinicians and researchers can be improved, so that each can benefit most from the work of the other. This article reviews the historical antecedents of researcher/clinician alienation, discusses the specific ways clinicians can enhance research and that research can enhance clinical activity, and describes the plan for this section of the Journal of Family Psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effort mobilization when the self is involved: Some lessons from the cardiovascular system.

In this article it is proposed that the principles of motivational intensity theory (Brehm & Self, 1989) apply to effort mobilization for challenges with consequences for performers' self-esteem and self-definition (i.e., self-involvement). Accordingly, involvement of the self makes success important and thus justifies the mobilization of high resources. However, up to this level of maximally justified resources, actual effort is mobilized in correspondence to subjective task difficulty as long as success is possible. We report a series of experimental studies that have operationalized effort intensity as cardiovascular reactivity during task performance and used multiple manipulations of self-involvement (social evaluation, self-awareness, ego involvement, personal goals) and task difficulty. The empirical evidence clearly supports the idea that the principles of motivational intensity theory apply to performance conditions that have direct consequences for self-definition and self-esteem and challenges a number of other theoretical accounts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The gap between research and practice.

Comments on the article by M. D. Sherman and M. H. Thelen (see record 1997-38424-014) examining distress and professional impairment among psychologists in clinical practice. The current author takes exception to 2 conclusions made in the original article. First, Pipal notes that the suggestion for a practitioner to set aside 20–30 minutes per day to complete paperwork and other similar duties is inadequate, given this work consumes hours for many practitioners. Second, Pipal contends that the gender-specific finding that female practitioners report greater distress and impairment regarding work factors due to roles and perfectionistic attitudes is also a point of concern, suggesting that role overload leads to stress regardless of one's perfectionistic tendencies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learning lessons from sunk costs.

Study participants rated the quality of several arguments for continuing an original plan in sunk cost situations in order to (a) avoid wasting resources, (b) learn to make better decisions, (c) punish poor decision making, and (d) appear consistent. The lesson-learning argument was perceived as most appropriate when adult teachers taught lessons to others, the original decision was carelessly made, or if it consumed comparatively more resources. Ratings of the lesson-learning argument were higher for teacher-learner than for adult-alone situations, regardless of whether the learner was a child or an adult. The implications for improving decision making and judging whether the sunk cost effect is a bias are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Creating a link between research and practice.

Reviews the book, Understanding Research in Clinical and Counseling Psychology by J. C. Thomas; M. Hersen (Eds.) (see record 2003-02257-000). This is a research methods textbook written primarily for clinical and counseling students and would be useful for any students who are planning on pursuing a helping vocation, or for current practitioners. Targeted for this specific audience, it bridges the gap between research and practice by describing clear links between the two throughout the text. Even though this is an edited book, with different authors for each chapter, the writing across the chapters is similar, and thus is easy to read and understand. The authors' foci on bridging this gap sets this text apart from other available research textbooks. The most prominent difference with this text is the use of examples. The emphasis of the examples is on aspects of research that are relevant and important to the field of psychology. The 16 chapters are divided into four sections: Research Foundations, Research Strategies, Research Practice, and Special Problems. Each section has a different scope, which creates structure and links between the various topics. The gap between research and practice can be vast and difficult to close for many practitioners. The book keenly focuses on the issue of closing this gap by presenting research concepts interwoven with practice issues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Risk Adjustment for the Medicare program: lessons learned from research and demonstrations

The Balanced Budget Act (BBA) of 1997 requires numerous changes in Medicare. Medicare's managed care program has been reinvented as "Medicare + Choice," offering an expanded range of delivery system options for beneficiaries and a schedule of payment changes that will dramatically affect managed care plans. Preceding some of these BBA-legislated changes to Medicare were years of research and demonstrations. Risk-adjusted payment in the Medicare + Choice program, which is mandated for implementation in 2000, is one example of a longstanding developmental initiative. This paper provides a brief overview of risk adjustment-related research and demonstration activities carried out by the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) since the 1980s, and describes a possible technical approach for the implementation of risk-adjusted Medicare managed care payments in 2000.     

Research to inform practice, practice to inform research.

Introduces the current issue of Professional Psychology: Research and Practice. The editor discusses his appointment of four associate editors, to serve as action editors for individual submissions and assemble groups of articles on special themes, and notes that the intent of the new editorial team is to make the journal a forum for the discussion of how evidence-based practice is fulfilled. He also notes that the journal will be a forum for providing a fair and balanced presentation of any and all controversial issues relevant to professional psychology, and discusses the types of articles that will and will not be published. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memorable lessons from a multifaceted career.

Summarizes some of the major lessons of the author's experience consulting with thousands of patients, trainees, and supervisees in several dozen countries and hundreds of cities. The need for versatility in treatment style and approach is stressed, as well as the need of therapists to nurture and to know themselves. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some unprinciples of psychological research.

Presents 8 fictitious examples of information that contains errors of design or analysis. These examples include (1) the nonsample sample, (2) insignificant significance, and (3) the Byzantine bypass (avoiding the obvious). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the making of new men: Some extrapolations from research.

Analyzes Soviet and American patterns of socialization and their effects. Results indicate that Soviet society devotes more attention to problems of child rearing than does that of the United States, where socialization is disrupted by an accelerating trend toward segregation by age, contributing to increasing alienation, apathy, and juvenile delinquency. As a basis for developing appropriate countermeasures, research literature is presented regarding the major forces which shape the behavior and development of the child. Practical implications of these principles are examined in the contexts of family, school, and community. (French summary) (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mathematical coupling in medical research: lessons from studies of oxygen kinetics

BACKGROUND: Smooth muscle hamartoma is an uncommon lesion. Diagnosis is usually made at birth in infants presenting a plaque with minimal or no infiltration and covered with long dark hairs. Congenital forms with multiple plaques are rarely reported. CASE REPORT: A 5-day-old infant (normal pregnancy and delivery) had plaques localized on the buttocks, the left thigh, leg and shoulder and the right ankle. The plaques were minimally infiltrative and covered with long black hairs. Histology examination showed hyperplastic smooth muscle bundles with varying orientation. The diagnosis was smooth muscle hamartoma. The rest of the clinical examination was normal. CONCLUSION: This case of congenital smooth muscle hamartoma showed a particular form with partially regressive multiple plaques.     

Autism: From research to practice.

Autism is the most commonly studied of a spectrum of developmental disorders that are believed to be neurobiologically based but which, at this point, for lack of good biomarkers, are defined purely by behavior. In the last 20 years, the definition of autism has shifted in emphasis from extreme aloofness and positive signs of abnormality in repetitive and sensorimotor behaviors to a greater awareness of the importance of more subtle reciprocal social communication deficits as core features. Standard diagnostic instruments were developed for research purposes to acquire information both through caregiver interviews and direct clinical observation. Use of these instruments in clinical practice resulted in major improvements, which in turn affected research results. These results yielded further improvements that led to changes in clinical practice over time. The synergism between research and clinical practice in the understanding of autism is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)