Some pitfalls in psychological theorizing.

"The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to certain examples of confusing psychological statements. These could be classified as involving circularity, lack of parsimony, and indefinite regress. It is hoped that pointing to these examples will lead to their avoidance… . Explanations must lie outside of the thing explained… . It seems to us that, before we invoke a new term, we are obligated to consider whether we are adding unnecessarily to an already unparsimonious state of affairs… . The mere fact that one uses a new term implies that there is a difference, and it seems to us this carries with it the obligation to make the difference explicit. What is particularly unfortunate is the fact that failure to do so is often associated with a disregard for the work of others on essentially the same problem… . A greater regard for parsimony would probably lead to unification rather than fragmentation of research findings." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Community mental health: Corpse or phoenix? Personal reflections on an era.

The death of community mental health practice has been predicted for many years. In the US, the community mental health era began in the mid-19th century. However, the movement reached its height, conceptually and programmatically, in the national program of the 1960s and 1970s. Ideological shifts have led to its decline since that time. Nevertheless, the contributions of the community mental health movement have permeated the current service structure, and the future rise of more community mental health activities appears inevitable. These trends are traced in a personal odyssey through the era. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The psychological/mediation intervention model.

Psychological/mediation intervention (PMI), a form of single-session psychotherapy, is presented as a flexible approach suitable for use in a variety of situations involving interpersonal conflict. The dual objectives are first resolution of the immediate conflict and second, as a preventative measure, alteration of the interactional pattern that gave rise to the difficulties. PMI is contrasted with 3 types of increasingly used forms of mediation—divorce, issue-centered, and neighborhood mediation. The procedures of PMI, designed to meet the 2 objectives, are described and illustrated for each of its 6 stages: introducing the concept and methods, creating a safe atmosphere, establishing a therapeutic contract, engaging in social learning instruction, finding solutions, and evaluating the session. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rehospitalization of schizophrenics as a function of intelligence.

Reports that brighter schizophrenic Ss were less often rehospitalized 3 and 5 yrs after discharge than Ss of less than median IQ. It is concluded that the prognostic significance of IQ contributes to differences in intelligence between acute and chronic hospitalized schizophrenics and poses serious difficulties for the study of differential deficits in cognitive abilities in these groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral differences between acute and chronic schizophrenics: Course of psychosis, effects of institutionalization, or sampling biases?

Notes that scores of studies have been reported which demonstrate behavioral differences between acute and chronic schizophrenics. These data have most often been interpreted as reflecting changes in psychological functioning due to processes intrinsic to the schizophrenic disorder and/or the effects of institutionalizaton. Examination of the construct of chronicity and of the design of these studies suggests that (a) the existence of perceptual and cognitive changes during the course of schizophrenia has not been demonstrated and (b) the observed acute-chronic differences may primarily reflect sampling biases. (60 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)