Memories of abuse in borderline patients: true or false?

This review will examine issues related to the validity of memories of child abuse in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD). A large body of research has shown that all memories are distorted by cognitive schema, and that "recovered memories" may be particularly unreliable. Empirical findings on trauma in BPD will be reviewed, as well as the difficulties in verifying trauma histories. Evidence will be examined suggesting that borderline patients have a distorted perception of interpersonal events. Clinical recommendations will be made for the evaluation of memories of abuse in patients with BPD.     

What is the psychiatrist's role in drugs and alcohol?

OBJECTIVE: This article describes a consensus view of the role of psychiatrists in respect of alcohol and other drug (AOD) problems, in response to the view expressed by Wodak [1]. METHOD: The data were selected on the basis of the knowledge and experience of the authors. RESULTS: Psychiatrists have made major contributions in the primary, secondary and tertiary prevention of AOD problems over many years in Australia and New Zealand. In recent years there has been an explosion of new knowledge in the AOD area and a shift from mental health to primary and public health care for these patients. Substance use disorders (SUD) are highly prevalent in all areas of psychiatric practice, requiring treatment in their own right as well as complicating the treatment of coexisting psychiatric illness. CONCLUSION: It is argued that psychiatrists have important roles in harm reduction, prevention and policy development; brief and early intervention in SUD in liaison and child psychiatry; and systematic treatment for those with dependence and other psychiatric comorbidity. A research and collaborative approach to AOD services and patients should be encouraged, rather than engaging in divisive debate over "ownership' of this area of clinical practice.     

Research in alternative medicine. What is documented, and what is documentation?

A study of the literature describing research on alternative medicine showed that, in general, the research was of poor quality. Any clinical effect of kinesiology had not been documented. Only few studies on reflexology had been controlled. Several controlled studies on healing showed significant effect, mainly in patients with psychosomatic disorders, or when the patient had great faith in the healer. Acupuncture seems to be effective against nausea, in patients with chronic pain and in patients who have had stroke. The data do not support the claim that acupuncture is effective for asthma or addiction. In the case of homeopathy the evidence from clinical trials is positive but not sufficient to draw a definite conclusion, for example, is it better than placebo? The majority of studies seems to disregard the principle of homeopathy, i.e. that the treatment should be individualised. Even if the documented effect of alternative medicine is not convincing, the effect is favourable empirically and may in itself be sufficient to give practitioners of alternative medicine an authorization. The term "alternative medicine" should be replaced by "complementary medicine".     

Does self-threat promote social connection? The role of self-esteem and contingencies of self-worth.

Six studies examined the social motivations of people with high self-esteem (HSE) and low self-esteem (LSE) following a threat to a domain of contingent self-worth. Whether people desired social contact following self-threat depended on an interaction between an individual's trait self-esteem and contingencies of self-worth. HSE participants who strongly based self-worth on appearance sought to connect with close others following a threat to their physical attractiveness. LSE participants who staked self-worth on appearance wanted to avoid social contact and, instead, preferred a less interpersonally risky way of coping with self-threat (wanting to enhance their physical attractiveness). Implications for theories of self-esteem, motivation, and interpersonal processes are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What is the shelf life of a test? The effect of time on the psychometrics of a cognitive ability test battery.

The psychometric stability of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery was studied with data collected at 5 points over a 16-year period using item response theory (IRT) methods. Although 25 of the 200 items changed significantly over the years across 3 different gender-ethnic groups (i.e., White men, White women, and Black men), the overall characteristics of the tests were not severely affected by item-level changes. Items from tests that were more semantically laden were found to be more susceptible to the effects of time compared with those that focused on skills and principles. The findings are discussed in the context of the effects of time on the effectiveness of psychological measures. A call is made to test developers and test users to pay attention to the shelf life of their tests. The use of IRT methods for studying the effects of time on psychometrics is also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What is the character of research on leadership character?

This article examines the theories and research on character and leadership by the authors in the Special Issue on “Defining and Measuring Character in Leadership” (Thompson & Riggio, 2010). It explores the variety of definitions and frameworks and identifies similarities across them. We note that the dominant foundations of the frameworks are transformational leadership and positive psychology. This raises concerns that the models may be too narrowly constructed. On the other hand, important insights are offered in the special issue on the measurement of character in leadership. In addition, the articles offer some tentative interventions for promoting leadership character among managers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Exploring the link between racial discrimination and substance use: What mediates? What buffers?

The relation between perceived racial discrimination and substance use was examined in 2 studies that were based on the prototype-willingness model (Gibbons, Gerrard, & Lane, 2003). Study 1, using structural equation modeling, revealed prospective relations between discrimination and use 5 years later in a panel of African American adolescents (M age 10.5 years at Time 1 [T1]) and their parents. For both groups, the relation was mediated by anger and/or hostility. For the adolescents, it was also mediated by behavioral willingness, and it was moderated by supportive parenting. Study 2 was a lab experiment in which a subset of the Study 1 adolescents (M age = 18.5 years) was asked to imagine a discriminatory experience, and then their affect and drug willingness were assessed. As in the survey study, discrimination was associated with more drug willingness, and that relation was again mediated by anger and moderated by supportive parenting. Implications of the results for research and interventions involving reactions to racial discrimination are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Are associations between parental divorce and children's adjustment genetically mediated? An adoption study.

The hypothesis that the association between parental divorce and children's adjustment is mediated by genetic factors was examined in the Colorado Adoption Project, a prospective longitudinal study of 398 adoptive and biological families. In biological families, children who experienced their parents' separation by the age of 12 years exhibited higher rates of behavioral problems and substance use, and lower levels of achievement and social adjustment, compared with children whose parents' marriages remained intact. Similarly, adopted children who experienced their (adoptive) parents' divorces exhibited elevated levels of behavioral problems and substance use compared with adoptees whose parents did not separate, but there were no differences on achievement and social competence. The findings for psychopathology are consistent with an environmentally mediated explanation for the association between parent divorce and children's adjustment; in contrast, the findings for achievement and social adjustment are consistent with a genetically mediated explanation involving passive genotype–environment correlation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What explains the relationship between the therapist structure × patient reactance interaction and drinking outcome? An examination of potential mediators.

Recent research found that among patients in aftercare treatment for alcoholism the level of therapist structure interacted with the level of patients' interpersonal reactance to predict alcohol use outcomes. The present study examined two sets of potential mediators of this interaction effect among a sample from two aftercare sites of Project MATCH (n = 127). The mediator constructs were types of pro-recovery change talk and resistance to therapeutic work. Dependent variables were percentage of days abstinent (PDA) and percentage of heavy drinking days (PHDD) across the year after treatment. Multiple-mediator models using bootstrapped estimates of indirect effects were used to test for mediation. Results indicated that the 'taking steps' aspect of change talk partially mediated the Structure × Reactance interaction effect on both PDA and PHDD post treatment. Resistance was not found to mediate the interaction effect though resistance did predict worse drinking outcomes. Depending on patients' openness to being influenced by others, therapist structure early in treatment may promote or inhibit pro-recovery steps taken by aftercare patients between treatment sessions. Those steps in turn play an important role in predicting future alcohol use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An investigation of the effects of time and involvement in the relationship between stressors and work–family conflict.

Previous researchers have proposed that the time and energy involved in family and paid work should affect the relationship between stressors and conflict in both the work and family domains. Using a sample of 113 registered nurses, the authors hypothesized that the amount of time and involvement in both domains would moderate the stressor–conflict relationships. Results supported many of the interactions in predicting conflict in each domain, and implications for the health of working women with family responsibilities were discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotion regulation as a mediator of associations between mother–child attachment and peer relationships in middle childhood.

Although a link between attachment and peer relationships has been established, the mechanisms that account for this link have not been identified. The 1st goal of this study was to test emotion regulation as a mediator of this link in middle childhood. The 2nd goal was to examine how different aspects of emotion regulation relate to peer competence. Fifth graders completed self-report and semiprojective measures to index mother–child attachment, mothers reported on children's emotionality and coping strategies, and teachers reported on children's peer competence. Constructive coping was related to both attachment and peer competence, and mediated the association between attachment and peer competence, suggesting that emotion regulation is one of the mechanisms accounting for attachment-peer links. Constructive coping was more strongly associated with peer competence for children high on negative emotionality than for children low on negative emotionality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The mediating role of extreme peer orientation in the relationships between adolescent–parent relationship and diabetes management.

The study examined whether the quality of the adolescent–parent relationship was associated with better diabetes management in adolescents with Type 1 diabetes by decreasing adolescents' extreme peer orientation. Adolescents (n = 252; 46% male and 54% female) aged 10 to 14 years with Type 1 diabetes completed assessments of extreme peer orientation (i.e., tendency to ignore parental advice and diabetes care to fit in with friends), adolescent–parental relationship, and adherence; HbA1c scores indexed metabolic control. Adolescents with higher quality relationships with parents reported less peer orientation and better diabetes care. The mediational model revealed that adolescents' high quality relationships with their parents (mother and father) were associated with better treatment adherence and metabolic control through less peer orientation. It is likely that high quality adolescent–parent relationships may be beneficial to adolescent diabetes management through a healthy balance between peer and parental influence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Memory for age–face associations in younger and older adults: The role of generation and schematic support.

Memory for ages of unfamiliar faces was examined in an associative memory task to determine whether generation as well as schematic support (cues from faces) would enhance later cued recall of the age information and reduce older adults' associative deficit. Participants studied faces and were either presented with the age or first had to guess before being shown the correct age. Later, participants were given a cued-recall test. Both younger and older adults exhibited associative memory enhancements from first generating the ages at encoding (a generation effect) despite the fact the initial generation was often inaccurate. Although older adults recalled fewer ages overall compared with younger adults, older adults were able to remember the age information for older faces equally as well as younger adults. However, when errors committed during generation were large and when schematic support was not available to support encoding and retrieval (when the age information was inconsistent given the cues from the face), generating was no longer beneficial for either older or younger adults. Thus, although older adults display an associative deficit when remembering specific age–face associations, this can be reduced through the use of prior knowledge and generation at encoding. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What is wrong with the measles vaccine in Mexico? Study of an epidemic outbrake of measles

Chemical and electronic synapses are present in the ocellar synaptic region of the moth, Trichoplusia ni. The chemical synapses all appear to be of "conventional" type. Four different chemical synaptic contacts were observed: Receptor cell axons presynaptic to receptor cell axons, receptor cell axons presynaptic to 1st order interneurons, 1st order interneurons presynaptic to receptor cell axons, and 1st order interneurons presynaptic to 1st order interneurons. Two different types of contact made by electronic synapes were observed: Contacts between receptor cell axons and 1st order interneurons, and contacts between 1st order interneurons. The significance of this synaptic arrangement for the generation of "on" and "off" responses in the 1st order interneurons is discussed.     

What is moral about guilt? Acting “prosocially” at the disadvantage of others.

For centuries economists and psychologists have argued that the morality of moral emotions lies in the fact that they stimulate prosocial behavior and benefit others in a person's social environment. Many studies have shown that guilt, arguably the most exemplary moral emotion, indeed motivates prosocial behavior in dyadic social dilemma situations. When multiple persons are involved, however, the moral and prosocial nature of this emotion can be questioned. The present article shows how guilt can have beneficial effects for the victim of one's actions but also disadvantageous effects for other people in the social environment. A series of experiments, with various emotion inductions and dependent measures, all reveal that guilt motivates prosocial behavior toward the victim at the expense of others around—but not at the expense of oneself. These findings illustrate that a thorough understanding of the functioning of emotions is necessary to understand their moral nature. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

But is it good for the psychologists? Appraisal and status of DSM-III.

Presents a critical analysis of the 3rd edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III). Improvements over DSM-II are acknowledged; it is suggested, however, that problems with larger issues (e.g., multiaxial, diagnosis, operational criteria, and the medical model) overshadow these positive features. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Are psychotic psychopathology and neurocognition orthogonal? A systematic review of their associations.

A systematic review (58 studies, 5,009 individuals) is presented of associations between psychopathological dimensions of psychosis and measures of neurocognitive impairment in subjects with a lifetime history of nonaffective psychosis. Results showed that negative and disorganized dimensions were significantly but modestly associated with cognitive deficits (correlations from -.29 to -.12). In contrast, positive and depressive dimensions of psychopathology were not associated with neurocognitive measures. The patterns of association for the 4 psychosis dimensions were stable across neurocognitive domains and were independent of age, gender, and chronicity of illness. In addition, significantly higher correlations were found for the negative dimension in relation to verbal fluency (p = .005) and for the disorganized dimension in relation to reasoning and problem solving (p = .004) and to attention/vigilance (p = .03). Psychotic psychopathology and neurocognition are not entirely orthogonal, as heterogeneity in nonaffective psychosis is weakly but meaningfully associated with measures of neurocognition. This association suggests that differential latent cerebral mechanisms underlie the cluster of disorganized and negative symptoms versus that of positive and affective symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)