Barry A. Schneider

Postconcussion syndrome following sports-related head injury: expectation as etiology.

Mild head trauma is often complicated by a persistent set of symptoms known as postconcussion syndrome (PCS). Past research has suggested that an expectancy-guided, retrospective-recall bias may account for much of the variance in PCS symptom reporting. The present study examined the influence of symptom expectations on mild head trauma symptom reports among participants in contact sports. Head-injured athletes reported symptom rates that did not differ from those of uninjured athletes but consistently underestimated the preinjury incidence of symptoms. Athletes with no head trauma history overestimated the expected degree of pre- to postinjury change in symptom status. Results suggest that individuals with mild head injury tend to overestimate postconcussion symptom change in a manner consistent with their symptom expectations. A cognitive-behavioral model that explains the persistence of PCS is proposed.

The Sport–clinical Intake Protocol: A Comprehensive Interviewing Instrument for Applied Sport Psychology

The Sport–Clinical Intake Protocol (SCIP) was developed to provide clinical professionals with extensive information about the athletic clients life within and outside of sport. The SCIP is divided into 7 sections that represent important areas of an athletes life that the professional must assess

CELL PHONE USE AND VISUAL ATTENTION

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate how much cell phones and just speaking (similar to speaking to someone in the car vs a hands-free cell phone task) interfere with visual attention skills as might be required in a driving situation. Influence of cell phones on attention has been noted but little research has been completed. Licensed adult drivers were divided into three groups (ns = 15) with all subjects taking the Connors Continuous Performance Test II. Group 1 performed without any distractions; those in Group 2 performed with someone in the same room talking to them; Group 3 engaged in a cell phone conversation during the task. Overall, there were substantial differences among groups on all variables, but primarily between the control group and the two experimental groups. While the cell phone group had lower mean scores than the talking group overall, the differences were not significant. Thus, while cell phones were distracting to visual attention functions on the Connors task, they were not more distracting than a similarly active conversation without a cell phone.

The Short-Term Treatment of a Long-Term Interpersonal Avoidance

This case study presents the 21-session cognitive-behavioral treatment of a young adult female diagnosed with Generalized Social Phobia (GSP) and Avoidant Personality Disorder (APD). Therapy utilized Beck’s modified cognitive therapy of personality disorders in addition to behavioral skills training. Therapist observation, client self-report, and objective measurements were used to assess behavioral change. Postintervention administrations of the Beck Depression Inventory–II (BDI-II), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and Minnesota Multiphasic Inventory–2 (MMPI-2) evinced a clinically significant reduction of symptoms. The results indicate that a short-term cognitive-behavioral approach may prove efficacious when treating APD.

Pattern of Memory Compromise in Chronic Geriatric Schizophrenia, Frontotemporal Dementia, and Normal Geriatric Controls.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore whether memory deficits in schizophrenia are attributable to poor organisation/encoding during initial learning vs. memory decay. Methods: Subjects included geriatric schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorders [SSD; n = 37; age = 59.92 (55–74); education = 11.70 (7–18)]; frontotemporal dementia [FTD; n = 41; age = 76.59 (64–83); education = 14.61 (12–20)] and geriatric controls [n = 107; age = 70.97 (55–93); education = 13.76 (6–20)]. Subjects were administered the Wechsler Memory Scale, Third Edition and discrepancy scores between immediate and delayed subtests/indices were used to explore possible differences between groups in pattern of impairment. Results: Significant differences were found between groups on age/education and these variables were related to several outcome measures. Gender was not related to diagnostic group and there were no gender differences on study variables. There were differences between the SSD subjects on several variables, with the schizoaffective subjects performing worse despite equivalence on global cognitive function, living status and chronicity. Seven one-way between-subjects ANCOVAs compared groups on discrepancy scores. Results failed to suggest differences between groups on immediate-delayed memory discrepancy scores (p> 0.05). Subsequent analyses revealed differences in percentage retention scores between SSD and FTD on the faces subtest (p = 0.040), with SSD retaining greater information over time. Conclusion: Results failed to show distinctions between groups on pattern of memory impairment when using discrepancy comparisons. However, an analysis examining percentage retention scores revealed better maintenance of non-contextual visual information over time in SSD. Findings may suggest deficits in immediate encoding rather than memory decay for some types of memory ability among geriatric SSD. Our failure to document group differences when using discrepancy comparisons may be attributable to relative similarity in pattern between groups or the limited sensitivity of this technique.

Ann A Case Study

Aaron Beck’s cognitive therapy model has been used repeatedly to treat depression and anxiety. The case presented here is a 34-year-old female law student with an adjustment disorder with mixed anxiety and depressed mood. It is presented to illustrate a successful treatment outcome using cognitive interventions. Sessions by session summaries are offered to further demonstrate the specific treatment plan implemented and to serve as a learning tool for clinicians and students.Aaron Beck’s cognitive therapy model has been used repeatedly to treat depression and anxiety. The case presented here is a 34-year-old female law student with an adjustment disorder with mixed anxiety and depressed mood. It is presented to illustrate a successful treatment outcome using cognitive interventions. Sessions by session summaries are offered to further demonstrate the specific treatment plan implemented and to serve as a learning tool for clinicians and students.

Corollary-and discrepancy-based approaches for examining the appropriateness of premorbid cognitive estimation in geriatric schizophrenia.

Objective: This article addresses whether measures for assessing premorbid intellectual functioning are adequate for geriatric schizophrenia. Method: We included geriatric schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (SSD; n = 37), frontotemporal dementia (FTD; n = 41), and geriatric controls (n = 107), and employed measures of verbal ability. Results: Pearsons correlations and ANOVAs for discrepancy comparisons showed unique patterns of spared function in SSD when compared to FTD and controls. Conclusions: Findings lend support to the specificity of cognitive processes in SSD, even when accounting for processes common to the theoretically similar FTD. SSD showed a distinct pattern of spared ability which supports clinical utilization of discrepant measures of premorbid intellectual estimation for SSD.

Rorschach Inkblot Technique

“What might this be?” With these few words a person is introduced to one of the most fascinating techniques in all of psychological assessment, the Rorschach. Developed by a Swiss psychiatrist, Hermann Rorschach (1884–1922), the test consists of ten abstract inkblots that are shown one at a time to the subject, who reports what is seen. The task may seem rather innocuous, but in the hands of a trained clinician, it can yield a veritable gold mine of information about personality style and structure, quality of thinking and affect, diagnostic issues, and can also facilitate in treatment planning and evaluation. In brief, what at first blush may seem to be a parlor game that hinges on imagination is actually a very sophisticated and complex way to examine the psychological world of patients and others deemed appropriate for evaluation.