Review of Qualité de vie et drogues. Place aux jeunes.

Reviews the book, Qualité de vie et drogues. Place aux jeunes (1986). In this volume, the author shares his initiatives in the plan of therapeutic and preventive intervention. This book discusses drug use and quality of life in young people. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of La psychologie environnementale.

Reviews the book, La psychologie environnementale by Jean Morval (2007). This book was written in order to fill a important gap in psychology. The fact is that environmental problems and their influence on the daily lives of individuals have relatively few interests to psychologists. This book provided a place for these environmental issues. The contribution of Jean Morval is contains original and relevant issues. The text consists of three chapters as well as an introduction and a conclusion. Chapter 1 provides a revision of basic notions of environmental psychology, personal space, regulation of privacy, 'territoriality', and environmental competence or ecological responsibility. Chapter 2 deals with the effects of four environmental stressors specifically behaviour: noise, heat, pollution and density. Chapter 3 deals with the advances and research. The future on a concept of crucial environmental psychology, the appropriation of space are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of La dynamique des groupes.

Reviews the book, La dynamique des groupes by J. Maissonneuve (1968). This book presents certain major aspects of the dynamics of the groups. The author does not pretend to be exhaustive since it discusses only the topics that are more developed or most significant. Thus, after a brief presentation of the basic topics, it goes on to discuss the central theme of cohesion, problem, conformist and the deviation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of La Capacite D'Apprehension Verbale.

Reviews the book, La Capacite D'Apprehension Verbale by Stéphane Ehrlich (1972). Ehrlich has chosen the range of apprehension as the point of departure and central focus of this work. The author's main theme follows the basic ideas proposed by Miller in his famous "Magical number 7" paper, as well as by Fraisse in his much earlier work on perception (1944-45) which is largely unknown to English-language psychologists. Given the limitations and general invariance of the immediate memory span, how is the capacity to increase the repertoire of correct responses during learning to be accounted for? For Ehrlich the answer lies in the structuration of originally independent stimuli into higher-order groupings (Miller's chunks). Starting with relatively brief presentations of the various types of theories of memory (fading of traces versus interference), it goes on to outline general problems of methodology and definition. The last three of the six chapters examine in considerable detail the concept of structuration as the basic process responsible for learning, integrating Ehrlich's own work with that of North-American researchers. The book presents an extremely lucid, detailed and well-organized evaluation of the state of the art in this field. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of multicomponent interventions on caregiver burden and depression: The REACH multisite initiative at 6-month follow-up.

Meta-analysis was used to examine pooled parameter estimates of 9 active compared with 6 control conditions of the Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer's Caregiver Health (REACH) project at 6 months on caregiver burden and depressive symptoms. Associations of caregiver characteristics and outcomes were examined. For burden, active interventions were superior to control conditions (p=.022). Also, active interventions were superior to control conditions for women versus men and for caregivers with lower education versus those with higher education. For depressive symptoms, a statistically significant association of group assignment was found for Miami's family therapy and computer technology intervention (p=.034). Also, active interventions were superior to control conditions for Hispanics, nonspouses, and caregivers with lower education. Results suggest interventions should be multicomponent and tailored. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

La CLAve to increase psychosis literacy of Spanish-speaking community residents and family caregivers.

The authors developed and tested a 35-min psychoeducational program with the goal of increasing Spanish-speaking persons’ literacy of psychosis. The program uses popular cultural icons derived from music, art, and videos, as well as a mnemonic device—La CLAve (The Clue)—to increase (a) knowledge of psychosis, (b) efficacy beliefs that one can identify psychosis in others, (c) attributions to mental illness, and (d) professional help-seeking. Assessments were conducted before and after administering the program to both community residents (n = 57) and family caregivers of persons with schizophrenia (n = 38). For community residents, the authors observed increases across the 4 domains of symptom knowledge, efficacy beliefs, illness attributions, and recommended help-seeking. For caregivers, increases were observed in symptom knowledge and efficacy beliefs. La CLAve is a conceptually informed psychoeducational tool with a developing empirical base aimed at helping Spanish-speaking Latinos with serious mental illness obtain care in a timely manner. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expressed emotion and attributions in the carers of patients with Alzheimer's disease: The effect on carer burden.

Burden of care, expressed emotion (EE), causal attributions, and salivary cortisol were assessed in 100 carers of patients with Alzheimer's disease. Forty-one carers were rated high EE, which was associated with higher scores of carer distress and strain, and greater reports of noncognitive features in the patient, but not with cortisol levels. High EE carers made more attributions personal to, and controllable by, the patient for negative events. Critical carers made more attributions of the patient's behavior that was idiosyncratic. Warmth toward the patient was associated with the opposite of this pattern. Overinvolved carers made attributions of the patient's behavior to causes external to the patient and internal to themselves. Cortisol levels were associated with self-reports of strain and distress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Le meilleur des mondes, le pire des mondes: La place des relations intimes en psychologie et dans notre vie quotidienne.

This article examines the place of relationships in our daily lives and in the field of psychology. The first section of the article offers reasons why relationships are central for humans. Next, the place of relationships in the history, institutional aspects, and subfields of psychology is presented. Then a paradox about relationships is presented: They are both among the most positive, uplifting of life's experiences and yet they can also be among life's darkest aspects. Despite the negative aspects of relationships, most people are very happy in their intimate relations. The paper ends with possible explanations for why satisfaction may be so high. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Psychology and life (Canadian edition).

Reviews the book, Psychology and life (Canadian edition) (2009), by Richard J. Gerrig, Philip Zimbardo, Serge Desmarais, and Tammy Ivanco. As part of an effective strategy to deal with the many emerging challenges of teaching large introductory psychology classes, a modern textbook geared toward introductory psychology must keep up with these changes and offer useful features that address the needs of the student. To this end, Psychology and Life (Canadian Edition) presents an impressive update of the classic textbook by Gerrig and Zimbardo. The text continues to hit on the key principle of psychology as a science with a thorough and updated research-based presentation. The textbook is well organised into 17 chapters covering the range of typical introductory psychology topics. The chapters are written in a midlevel text that will be accessible to the broad range of students enrolled in most introductory psychology courses. While maintaining a high level of readability and interest, the work is solidly grounded in research as it highlights psychology as a science. As the title of the textbook suggests, the authors make a conscious effort to demonstrate that the research and curriculum presented in each chapter have an immediate impact on daily life. This is a well-written, organised, and appealing text that students will find engaging and instructors will find suitable for providing a solid grounding in the science of contemporary psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Intensive group psychotherapy.

Reviews the book, Intensive group psychotherapy by George R. Bach (1954). According to the reviewer, as a new addition to the rapidly increasing body of literature on group psychotherapy, this volume contains a number of unique features that will certainly command the attention of clinical and social psychologists. It is first of all a concrete and highly practical presentation of group psychotherapy as practiced privately with neurotic patients. The reviewer states that in this respect, it should fill a growing need for work dealing with private group treatment, a field that seems to have some interesting social implications. In addition to this more practical feature, this book is unusual because it is one of the first in this area which includes an attempt to apply the technical developments in group dynamics evolved by the social psychologists directly to the therapeutic treatment of character disorders, hysterics, and other neurotic patients frequently encountered in private practice. The reviewer states that the greatest direct appeal of this book will certainly be the clearly written first half which deals with practical problems of group therapy. The second half of the book opens with an extensive and interesting discussion of a theory of "contact psychology" and group life. In this reviewer's opinion, this book will be of interest both to group therapists and to students seeking material that bridges the gap between clinical and social psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to the special section on Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer's Caregiver Health (REACH).

This article provides background information and an overview on Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer's Caregiver Health (REACH) a multisite intervention trial for caregivers of persons with Alzheimer's disease designed to reduce caregiver burden and depression. REACH is the largest randomized controlled clinical trial to date, involving 1,222 caregiver and care recipient dyads recruited from 6 different sites in the United States. The authors describe the design of the study, summarize the interventions implemented at each site, and provide an overview of the 4 articles in this special section. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of La baisse du désir sexuel: méthodes d'évaluation et de traitement.

The decrease in sexual desire is considered to be one of the most common sexual dysfunctions, but it is also one of the most difficult to treat. Dr. Trudel's book proposes a cognitive-behavioral treatment as well as a multimodal approach for this problem. Using scientific research as his evidence this book is an essential resource for psychologists and clinicians especially for those which work with French-speaking clients. This book explains both evaluation methods as well as treatment for the loss of sexual desire and considers the multitude of factors that can effect the development, maintenance and exacerbation of these problems paying special attention to cognitive and behavioral factors and the interaction of the two. The goal of the book is to give a detailed presentation of the evaluation and treatment of loss of sexual desire. Trudel presents a study on the treatment in his "laboratory on sexuality and the couple" in the department of psychology at the University of Quebec in Montreal. In the first section of the book, factors that are associated with loss of sexual desire are discussed and Trudel examines the role and interaction of individual and environmental factors. The next section of the book describes the evaluation of the loss of sexual desire. This section includes interviews and psychometric methods which are both practical and useful. The third section of the book reviews studies and the results of treatment for loss of sexual desire. In the last section, various methods of intervention are presented including couples therapy, sex therapy, cognitive therapy and working with one's sexual fantasies. This section ends with a discussion on methods of application, resistance to treatment and prevention of relapse. Overall, this book is very well written and easily accessible to various types of audiences: psychologists, psychiatrists, sexual and general health therapists who are interested in the treatment of sexual dysfunctions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Improving the quality of life of caregivers of persons with spinal cord injury: A randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To assess the efficacy of two psychosocial interventions for caregivers of older persons with spinal cord injury (SCI). Design: A multisite, three-group, randomized controlled trial comparing two active intervention conditions with each other and to an information-only control group. One hundred seventy-three caregiver and care-recipient dyads were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: a caregiver-only treatment condition in which caregivers received a multicomponent intervention based on their risk profile; a dual-target condition in which the caregiver intervention was complemented by a treatment targeting the care recipient, designed to address both caregiver and care recipient risk factors; and an information-only control condition in which the caregiver received standard printed information about caregiving, SCI, and aging. Outcome Measures: A multivariate outcome comprised of six indicators linked to the goals of the interventions was the primary outcome of the study. The multivariate outcome included measures of depressive symptoms, burden, social support and integration, self-care problems, and physical health symptoms. Results: At 12 months, caregivers in the dual-target condition had improved quality of life as measured by our multivariate outcome when compared to the control condition. Using the dyad as the unit of analysis, the dual-target condition was superior to both the control condition and the caregiver-only condition in our multivariate outcomes analysis. Dyads enrolled in the dual-target condition had significantly fewer health symptoms than control condition and caregiver-only condition participants and were less depressed when compared to participants in the caregiver-only condition. In follow-up analyses we found that a higher proportion of caregivers in the dual-target condition had clinically significant improvements in depression, burden, and health symptoms when compared with the caregiver-only condition. Conclusion: Caregivers are in need of and can benefit from interventions that help them manage the medical and functional limitations of the care recipient. Intervention strategies that target both the caregiver and care recipient are particularly promising strategies for improving the quality of life of caregivers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of La psychologie de A à Z: 500 mots pour comprendre.

Reviews the book, La psychologie de A à Z: 500 mots pour comprendre by Camilo Charron, Nathalie Dumet, Nicolas Guéguen, Alain Lieury, and Stéphane Rusinek (2007). Summarizing a discipline as broad as psychology in 500 words, that is the challenge that the five authors of Psychology from A to Z took up. In itself, establishing a list of the 500 most important concepts or words in psychology is likely to give rise to vigorous debate. Moreover, there is also the constraint to describe each concept in a few lines only. To further increase the challenge, the book presents itself as a dictionary whose reading will not be linear: each definition must therefore be independent while avoiding the repetition from one entry to another. Read more about this book review in the full text pdf. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of La thérapie cognitivo-comportementale : Théorie et pratique.

Reviews the book, La thérapie cognitivo-comportementale: Théorie et pratique (Cognitive-behavior therapy: Theory and practice), edited by Ga?tan Morin (2008). This book is an introduction to cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), covering both its theoretical and practical aspects. It brings a significant contribution to the literature on the topic in the French language. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Management of work and personal life: Problems & opportunities.

Reviews the book, Management of work and personal life: Problems & opportunities edited by Mary Dean Lee and Rabindra N. Kanungo (1984). Management of work and personal life is a timely book that breaks new ground in a much neglected but increasingly important area for research and problem solving. This book represents a distillation of selected symposium contributions from several participants from various disciplines. The purpose of this symposium, held at McGill University in April 1983, was "to stimulate, develop, and diffuse new ideas that might help individuals and organizations adapt to a changing society in which the traditional idealized models for coordinating work and personal life are passé." This book will also be of considerable interest to professionals involved in such activities as life-style counselling and career planning. In general, the editors have selected symposium contributions that attempt to summarize what is known in six different areas related to management of work and personal life, and then suggest directions for future research. The six areas are work and family roles, work and leisure, quality of life, occupational stress, career and adult development, and behavioural patterns of structuring daily life. Overall, the reviewer feels that this book is important reading for scholars who wish to study or do research in the general area of improving quality of life through integrated management of different life facets. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Self-disclosure in psychotherapy.

Reviews the book, Self-disclosure in psychotherapy by Barry A. Farber (see record 2006-11792-000). At one point or another, most therapists have wondered how much their patients are telling them and wrestled with how much they should reveal themselves to their patients. This book aims to provide an integrative and up-to-date review of the literature that has addressed these kinds of questions. By looking at patient, therapist, supervisee, and supervisor self-disclosure, Farber attempts to show both common and unique aspects of self-disclosure across the different parties involved in psychotherapy. Work from historical, clinical, research, and cultural perspectives comes together to provide readers with a multifaceted view of self-disclosure in psychotherapy. This book will be of interest to therapists, researchers, psychotherapy supervisors, and therapists-in-training. Farber's discussion of self-disclosure offers a nuanced perspective on the dilemmas involved in the psychotherapy process. By highlighting the features of self-disclosure across patients, therapists, supervisees, and supervisors, Farber enriches understanding of the phenomenon and encourages empathy for the perspectives of those in other psychotherapy roles. We believe that Farber has successfully synthesized work from various perspectives to create an illuminating review of self-disclosure in psychotherapy. The book condenses a broad range of literature into clearly organized and digestible chapters. The integration of research and theory with clinical vignettes, quotations from books and movies, and popular song lyrics make this work an unusually engaging and accessible read. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Comprendre et soigner la crise suicidaire.

Reviews the book, Comprendre et soigner la crise suicidaire by Laurent Morasz et Fran?ois Danet (2008).This work examines a psychodynamic theoretical approach focused on the suicide crisis clinic and the “caregiver/cared for” relationship by illustrating different clinical examples representing individuals at various stages of the suicide process. The value and strength of this book lie in the rich and interesting clinical experience it brings forward; there is no attempt to distinguish between “objective” and “more subjective psychodynamic” approaches. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of A Dialectical Psychology.

Reviews the book, A Dialectical Psychology by Allan R. Buss (1979). This collection of papers, most of them previously published, covers topics as diverse as attribution theory, life-span development, humanistic psychology, history of differential psychology, interactionism, the relations of fact and theory and of individual and society, and the future of psychology in general. Those who seek in this book a dialectical psychology will find it neither explained nor exemplified. While interesting connections are drawn from time to time between psychological theory and the social-historical context, it is not clear what is so "critical" about the way in which they are drawn, nor does one ever attain the feeling of having been led very far beyond "mere surface appearance." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)