Psychotherapy in two-plus-one sessions: Outcomes of a randomized controlled trial of cognitive–behavioral and psychodynamic–interpersonal therapy for subsyndromal depression.

A total of 116 clients with a range of subsyndromal depression received 3 therapy sessions: 2 sessions 1 week apart followed by a 3rd session 3 months later (the 2?+?1 model). Clients were stratified for severity on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) as stressed, subclinical, or low-level clinically depressed. In a 2?×?2 design, they received either cognitive–behavioral (CB) or psychodynamic–interpersonal (PI) therapy, either immediately or after a 4-week delay. An initial advantage for the immediate condition disappeared once the delayed-condition clients received treatment. Improvement rates at the end of treatment were 67% (stressed), 72% (subclinical), and 65% (low-level clinically depressed). There were no significant differences between CB and PI treatment methods, with the exception at 1-year follow-up, when the BDI showed a significant advantage for CB. Implications for designing very brief planned interventions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comprehensive process analysis of insight events in cognitive-behavioral and psychodynamic-interpersonal psychotherapies.

Comprehensive Process Analysis (CPA) is an interpretive, qualitative research method for analyzing significant therapy events. CPA was used to analyze 6 client-identified significant insight events in 2 treatments. Two events are presented in depth. The psychodynamic-interpersonal therapy event documented the existence of 2-part significant events and the value of key words. The cognitive-behavioral therapy event illustrated the role of context in transforming small therapy events into significant events. Events in both therapies involved therapist interpretations of recent difficult life events that were delivered in a firm but interactive style. Interpersonal therapy events were distinguished by links to themes from previous sessions and led to awareness of painful emotions. Cognitive therapy events were externalizing reattributions given to more clinically distressed clients. A revised 5-stage microprocess model of the insight is presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Increased immobility in an automated forced swimming test following lesion of the habenula in rats: Absence of evidence for a contribution from motor impairment.

The effects of lesions of the habenula on responses during a forced swimming test (FST) were examined. Active behavior, documented by turns on a drum immersed in a water tank, were reduced in lesioned rats. Lesioned rats also demonstrated an inability to escape from the water by climbing onto the drum when it was locked in position at the end of the test. There was a tendency for lesioned rats to show more activity in open-field tests either after the FST or independent of such prior testing. Lesioned rats showed no motor or postural abnormalities and were able to maintain position for longer than controls during a rotating rod test. Collectively, the results are compatible with the suggestion that lesions of the habenula impair the ability to change motor strategies under stress but indicate such failures may not be ascribed to gross motor impairment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Teaching Freud: A lesson.

This article addresses the objectives of teaching undergraduates about psychoanalysis and offers some evidence for how those objectives are addressed in contemporary textbooks and achieved in the students. Arguing that there is a poor match between goals, strategies, and achievement, we make some specific suggestions about how to proceed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Philosophy of Metaphor: Science or Poetry?

Minds and Machines -     

Proton irradiation emulation of PWR neutron damage microstructures in solution annealed 304 and cold-worked 316 stainless steels

Solution annealed (SA) 304 and cold-worked (CW) 316 austenitic stainless steels were pre-implanted with helium and were irradiated with protons in order to study the potential effects of helium, irradiation dose, and irradiation temperature on microstructural evolution, especially void swelling, with relevance to the behavior of austenitic core internals in pressurized water reactors (PWRs). These steels were irradiated with 1 MeV protons to doses between 1 and 10 dpa at 300 °C both with or without 15 appm helium pre-implanted at ∼100 °C. They were also irradiated at 340 °C, but only after 15 appm helium pre-implantation. Small heterogeneously distributed voids were observed in both alloys irradiated at 300 °C, but only after helium pre-implantation. The pre-implanted steels irradiated at 340 °C exhibited homogenous void formation, suggesting effects of both helium and irradiation temperature on void nucleation. Voids developed sooner in the SA304 alloy than CW316 alloy at 300 and 340 °C, consistent with the behavior observed at higher temperatures (>370 °C) for similar steels irradiated in the EBR-II fast reactor. The development of the Frank loop microstructure was similar in both alloys, and was only marginally affected by pre-implanted helium. Loop densities were insensitive to dose and irradiation temperature, and were decreased by helium; loop sizes increased with dose up to about 5.5 dpa and were not affected by the pre-implanted helium. Comparison with microstructures produced by neutron irradiation suggests that this method of helium pre-implantation and proton irradiation emulates neutron irradiation under PWR conditions.     

Phase-transfer catalysed synthesis of disubstituted poly(phenylene vinylene)

An attempt to synthesize a series of phenyl ring disubstituted poly(o-, m- and p-phenylene vinylene) is reported. In this ‘one-pot’ reaction, a phase-transfer catalyst was used to promote the extraction of strong base deprotonated bischloromethyl aromatic anions from the aqueous to the organic phase to sustain a nucleophilic substitution reaction with the remaining bischloromethyl monomers. The polymers obtained were characterized for their chemical compositions and physical properties by elemental, i.r. and u.v. spectroscopic, and thermal analyses. The o-substituted polymers were found to have low melting temperatures, good solubilities and high molecular weights, but low yields. The m-substituted monomers, however, produced only non-conjugated poly-m-xylylenes. The p-substituted polymers offered the best combination of yield and physical properties. Films cast from soluble poly(2,5-dibutoxy-p-phenylene vinylene) have electrical volume resistivity in the range 300–500 ohm cm when doped with concentrated sulfuric acid.