Psychotherapy: The humanistic (and effective) treatment.

Although it is well established that psychotherapy is remarkably effective, the change process in psychotherapy is not well understood. Psychotherapy is compared with medicine and cultural healing practices to argue that critical aspects of psychotherapy involve human processes that are used in religious, spiritual, and cultural healing practices. A model of psychotherapy is presented that stipulates various aspects that involve uniquely human characteristics. Central to this model is patient acquisition of an adaptive explanation of his or her difficulties. Finally, the research evidence for this model is presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

In memoriam: Sol L. Garfield, PhD (1918-2004).

It is with sadness that we note the passing of Sol Garfield. Sol L. Garfield was born on January 8, 1918, in Chicago and passed away on August 14, 2004 at the age of 86. Sol Garfield's contributions have been recognized many times by awards committees, perhaps most notably in the "Distinguished Professional Contributions to Knowledge" award of the American Psychological Association (APA), the "Distinguished Career Research" award of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, and as an honored figure in the APA Oral History of Psychology Project. There are few practitioner-scientists whose range of influence has stood up so well for such a long period of time. He is one of the most frequently cited and influential psychologists in America. He is also well known for leadership and administration in professional organizations, government research programs, and universities where high standards of performance and ethics are maintained. Sol Garfield will be sorely missed by society. He stood out as a consistent advocate of scientific evidence in service to psychotherapeutic practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Telehealth Interventions in Rehabilitation Psychology: Postcards From the Edge.

This special section grew out of a symposium at the 112th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association in Honolulu, Hawaii, that presented innovative telehealth interventions in rehabilitation from around the world. Several presentations represented the cutting edge of science and technology for which only preliminary data were available--hence the subtitle "Postcards From the Edge." The collected articles represent emerging approaches by pioneers in telehealth rehabilitation and are intended to inform the clinical and research efforts of others who are grappling with the particular blend of psychological and technological issues that these interventions provide. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Full Circle: Spiritual therapy for the elderly.

Reviews the book, Full Circle: Spiritual therapy for the elderly by Kevin Kirkland and Howard McIlveen (1999). This book describes "Full Circle", a program developed by the authors to provide spiritual therapy for seniors with dementia, including the Alzheimer type. The program is called spiritual therapy because it is "for facilitating healing, resolution, remembering, and experiencing of the sacred, the complete, the joyous, the whole" (p.x). Detailed information is provided on how to conduct "Full Circle." The format consists of having a group of seniors sitting in a circle together for singing, holding hands, sharing stories, discussion, and prayer. The main emphasis is on singing familiar hymns and/or secular songs, but "Full Circle" also provides opportunities for life review and reminiscence. The book can be a valuable resource for those working with residents in long-term facilities. However, I doubt it very much whether one can simply conduct "Full Circle" purely on the basis of this book without considerable professional experience of working with cognitively impaired seniors. In short, I find the book helpful, but not fully developed. The authors are to be commended for addressing such an important issue in a clear and readable way. For those working with seniors, this book, despite its shortcomings, will be a useful resource for spiritual care and music therapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Commentary on evidence-based parent and family interventions: Will what we know now influence what we do in the future?

As has been demonstrated in this exceptional review of the empirical literature, much has been written about models, programs, and services for working with families. Indeed, the Task Force of the Family and Parent Intervention domain can be commended for its diligent and thorough approach to uncovering and dissecting research in this domain. Speaking through the lens of a researcher in this area, the purpose of the present commentary is to highlight some of the findings of the task force, recommend research priorities, and call for the identification of means to increase the utility of the Task Force findings in the future. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

A multicenter, randomized clinical trial of a cognitive remediation program for childhood survivors of a pediatric malignancy.

Survivors of childhood cancer whose malignancy and/or treatment involved the central nervous system may demonstrate a consistent pattern of neurocognitive deficits. The present study evaluated a randomized clinical trial of the Cognitive Remediation Program (CRP). Participants were 6- to 17-year-old survivors of childhood cancer (N = 161; 35% female, 18% Hispanic, 10% African American, 64% Caucasian, 8% other) who were at least 1 year off treatment and who manifested an attentional deficit. They were enrolled at 7 sites nationwide. Two thirds of the participants were randomly assigned to cognitive remediation. All participants were assessed using a battery of academic achievement/neurocognitive tests and parent/teacher measures of attention. The CRP resulted in parent report of improved attention and statistically significant increases in academic achievement. Effect sizes were modest but were comparable with those for other clinical trials of brain injury rehabilitation and for psychological interventions in general. The CRP is presented as a potentially beneficial treatment for many survivors of pediatric cancer. Long-term clinical significance remains unproven. Further work is needed to improve effect sizes and treatment compliance and to address the needs of other populations with pediatric brain injury. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Why diets fail--expert diet advice as a cause of diet failure.

Comments on an article titled Medicare's Search for Effective Obesity Treatments: Diets Are Not the Answer, by Mann et al (see record 2007-04834-008). The current author states that this article offers the following broad, sweeping conclusion: "The benefits of dieting are simply too small and the potential harms of dieting are too large for it to be recommended as a safe and effective treatment for obesity" (p. 230). This statement is provocative and unproven in the text. According to the laws of thermodynamics, which appear to apply everywhere in the known universe, anytime one consumes fewer Calories than one burns, there will be weight loss (Brooks, Fahey, & Baldwin, 2005, p. 22), despite the claims of some diet gurus and MDs (Cruise, 2005, p. 55; Katz, 2005). Any and every diet must work so long as a person voluntarily sustains a condition of fewer Calories in than out for a sufficient duration. Yet the article's conclusion denies this simple universal truth. This is a failing. Since the laws of thermodynamics are likely to remain operational on this planet for the foreseeable future and all episodes of fewer Calories in than out will always result in weight loss, the better approach to analyzing why diets fail is to look to expert diet advice as the primary cause. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivational Interventions for Heavy Drinking College Students: Examining the Role of Discrepancy-Related Psychological Processes.

The authors examined the effects of a brief motivational intervention for heavy, episodic alcohol use on discrepancy-related psychological processes. Heavy-drinking college students (N = 73) were randomly assigned to a motivationally based intervention (MBI) or an assessment-only control (AC) condition. Cognitive (actual-ideal discrepancy) and affective (2 forms of cognitive dissonance) discrepancy processes were assessed at baseline and immediately following the experimental manipulation. At 6-week follow-up, MBI participants demonstrated significantly greater reductions in problematic drinking than AC participants. Moreover, actual-ideal discrepancy and negative, self-focused dissonance were significantly increased following the intervention (discomfort-related dissonance was not) and were correlated with outcome alcohol involvement. These discrepancy processes did not, however, mediate the relationship between condition and outcome. The findings lend some support to the role of discrepancy enhancement in drinking-related behavior change among college students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological treatment of late-life anxiety: An empirical review.

This study provides a meta-analytic review of nonpharmacological interventions for late-life anxiety, focusing on treatment efficacy. Included in the analysis are studies in which a comparison was made either to a control condition or to another treatment. A total of 15 outcome studies, published or reported between January 1975 and January 2002, were identified involving 495 participants (mean age exceeding 55.0 years and a grand mean of 69.5 years) and providing 20 separate treatment interventions. The analysis indicated that psychological interventions were reliably more effective than no treatment on self-rated and clinician-rated measures of anxiety, yielding an effect size of .55. Maintenance of treatment gains (a minimum of 6 months follow-up) was insufficiently reported across studies to allow for a reliable demonstration of an overall estimate of long-term efficacy. It is concluded that psychological interventions produce significant improvements, but the analyses must be qualified by data limitations in the research synthesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Contextual determinants of mothers' interventions in young children's peer interactions.

In this study, the role of context in mothers' interventions in their preschool children's peer relationship problems was investigated. Event theme (aggression, peer rebuff, or initiating play), the child's role in the event (actor or target), the child's age and sex, and the mother's emotional reaction were examined as predictors of the extent to which mothers (N = 71) said they would discuss peer relationships, encourage peer interaction, and use power assertion in response to a series of videotaped vignettes depicting common peer relationship problems. Mothers suggested using more discussion in aggressive situations and more encouragement in initiating play situations. Mothers said they would use more power assertion when the child was the actor (i.e., provocateur), rather than the target, in an aggressive situation. Findings are discussed in terms of (a) the importance of considering context in understanding how mothers intervene in their children's peer relationships and (b) the need to examine moderators of cross-contextual consistency in mothers' interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)