April Fallon

Body image, attitudes to weight, and misperceptions of figure preferences of the opposite sex: a comparison of men and women in two generations.

This study explores some possible causes of the recent increase in dieting and eating disorders among American women. Measures on body image, attitudes to eating and weight, and eating behaviors were collected from male (sons) and female (daughters) college students and their biological parents. All groups but the sons considered their current body shape to be heavier than their ideal. Mothers and daughters believed that men (of their own generation) prefer much thinner women than these men actually prefer. Mothers and daughters both showed great concern about weight and eating. Although fathers resembled mothers and daughters in their perception of being overweight, they were more similar to their sons in being relatively unconcerned about weight and eating. Hence, the major factor in concern about weight is sex rather than generation or discrepancy between perception of current and ideal body shape.

The relationship between personality psychopathology and aggressive behavior in research volunteers

Theorists and clinicians have long believed that personality psychopathology is a risk factor for aggressive behavior. Previous investigations in this area, however, have provided mixed results. In this study, the relationship between personality psychopathology and aggressive behavior was examined in 137 research volunteers. The influences of gender and coexisting major mental disorders were statistically controlled. Aggressive behavior was associated with criteria for 7 of the 11 personality disorders listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., rev.). Except for schizoid criteria, all relationships with aggressive behavior were in the positive direction. When all personality disorders were considered simultaneously, paranoid and passive-aggressive criteria were significant predictors of aggressive behavior.

Models of inpatient group psychotherapy

Introduction to inpatient group psychotherapy features of the setting educative model interpersonal model objection relations model developmental model cognitive-behavioural model problem-solving model behavioural model an integration.

The Child's Conception of Food: The Development of Categories of Acceptable and Rejected Substances

Abstract Children ranging in age from 3 years and 6 months to 12 years and 5 months and young adults sorted 23 pictures of a variety of edible and inedible items (e.g., milk, aspirin, sand, and grasshopper) according to 13 different attributes (e.g., “tastes good,” “will help you grow”). These results were used to determine the degree to which the children understood adult motivations for acceptance and rejection of food. Four-year-olds made most of the same edible-inedible distinctions that adults made. However, younger children believed that: 1) if something is edible, it can be safely consumed in any amount and will support growth; 2) if 2 foods are acceptable (e.g., spaghetti and banana), then the combination is acceptable; and 3) contact of an acceptable food with a disgusting (e.g., grasshopper) or dangerous (e.g., paint) substance does not render the acceptable food inedible (lack of contamination sensitivity).

Assessment of behavioral and cognitive impulsivity: development and validation of the Lifetime History of Impulsive Behaviors Interview

The construction and initial psychometric evaluation of an interview assessment of clinically significant impulsivity (Lifetime History of Impulsive Behaviors; LHIB) is presented. Personality-disordered and control subjects participated by completing self-report measures of depression, anxiety and social desirability, along with self-report and laboratory analogue measures of impulsivity, and finally the LHIB. The LHIB demonstrated good to excellent internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Supporting concurrent construct validity, scores on the LHIB correlated with other self-report measures of impulsivity. Diagnostic group differences were obtained and the LHIB evidenced concurrent validity in its ability to classify subjects by scores. No relationship was obtained between the LHIB and laboratory analogue measures. While evidence of discriminant validity was mixed, these data suggest that the LHIB may be a useful instrument for the assessment of impulsive behavior.

Informed Consent in the Practice of Group Psychotherapy

Abstract Endorsed as part of ethical practice in group psychotherapy by professional organizations, informed consent is a process of communicating essential information about group treatment to patients so that they can make rational decisions about treatment-whether to enter and how to participate. Its benefits as well as necessary precautions are discussed. The design and implementation of the informed consent process for group is discussed in terms of who should obtain it, when it should occur, how it should be communicated, and what information should be considered for inclusion. Specific suggestions are included as well as a discussion of some potential ethical dilemmas.

International Medical Graduates in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: Adaptation, Training, and Contributions

This article reviews, consolidates, and enhances current knowledge about the issues and problems child and adolescent psychiatry international medical graduates face. Their training, work force issues, and establishment and advancement of professional identity are presented. Acculturation and immigration dynamics include facing prejudice and discrimination, social mirroring, and difficulties with language. Treatment issues are discussed with a special focus on therapeutic alliance, resistance, transference, countertransference, and child rearing practices. Recommendations for training and future goals are considered.

Ethical Hot Spots of Combined Individual and Group Therapy: Applying Four Ethical Systems

Abstract Combined therapy presents ethical quandaries that occur in individual psychotherapy and group psychotherapy, and dilemmas specifically associated with their integration. This paper examines two types of ethical frameworks (a classical principle-based framework and a set of context-based frameworks) for addressing the ethical hot spots of combined therapy: self-referral, transfer of information, and termination. The principle-based approach enables the practitioner to see what core values may be served or violated by different courses of action in combined therapy dilemmas. Yet, the therapist is more likely to do justice to the complexity and richness of the combined therapy situation by supplementing a principle analysis with three additional ethical frameworks. These approaches are: virtue ethics, feminist ethics, and casuistry. An analysis of three vignettes illustrates how these contrasting ethical models not only expand the range of features to which the therapist attends but also the array of solutions the therapist generates.

Identity Development for International Medical Graduate Physicians: A Perspective

Unlike their peers who were born in the USA, international medical graduate physicians face the challenge of having to develop a professional identity as a physician in a new and unfamiliar culture. Successfully developing a strong, bicultural identity can provide the IMG physician with a sense of belonging and heightened self-esteem while allowing for the maintenance of a valuable connection with the culture in which he or she was raised. As IMG physicians comprise 30 % of the United States’ physician work force, it is crucial for them to establish a physician identity that is professionally and personally gratifying, congruent with the clinical services they provide, and authentic to those they teach and train. This chapter provides an overview of the myriad of ways in which a physician’s identity impacts his or her daily life, and offers practical strategies to encourage international graduates to actively develop their own identities in ways which will benefit themselves both personally and professionally, allowing them to provide the best care possible to their patients.

Theoretical history of group development in its application to psychotherapy groups.

The history of thinking on group development is a complicated and fragmented one because both research and theory construction occurred in two distinctly different intellectual traditions: academic and clinical. These traditions were at times independent and at other times mutually influential. One originated in the group dynamics academic arena and often entailed the study of work groups occurring in both natural and laboratory settings. Social psychology took the lead in this effort, later followed by education and political science (MacKenzie, 1994a). The second major tradition was clinical; it involved a focus on the psychotherapy group and was connected to disciplines that address psychological difficulties such as clinical psychology, psychiatry, and social work. Certain group explorations borrowed from both branches. For example, the sensitivity group movement, which sprung up in the 1960s, drew on elements of both group dynamics and psychotherapy groups (Yalom, 1995). In this chapter we describe the history of scholarly thinking on group development, a history that serves as a foundation for examining the developmental characteristics of psychotherapy groups.