Geoffrey L. Thorpe

Contributions of overt instructional rehearsal and “specific insight” to the effectiveness of self-instructional training: A preliminary study

Thirty-two high school students participated in five sessions of group self-instructional training (SIT) aimed at reducing public speaking fears. Subjects met in four matched groups of eight, each of which received a variant of SIT. The roles of instructional rehearsal (of productive self-statements) and of specific insight into unproductive cognitions were examined by comparing the following treatments: general insight (in the form of Rational-Emotive Therapy, RET); specific insight; instructional rehearsal ; and insight plus rehearsal . Self-report measures revealed a general superiority of the groups not receiving instructional rehearsal, i.e. RET and specific insight. The group differences were maintained at least up to three months after the end of treatment, as measured by a battery of selected self-report measures. It was concluded that “insight” into unproductive thinking is a more important ingredient of SIT than the overt rehearsal of statements evidencing productive thinking, at least in brief, analog treatment.

Agoraphobia 8 years after behavioral treatment: A follow-up study with interview, self-report, and behavioral data.

Twenty agoraphobics who had been treated in a controlled trial of behavior therapy in Rochdale, England, in 1974 were reassessed eight years later by means of interviews self-report questionnaires, and a repeat of the behavioral test used in the original trial. The behavioral test and questionnaire measures indicated clearly that gains had been maintained since the one-year follow-up assessment, but no differences emerged that could be attributed to original treatment-group membership. Those clients who took part in the 1982 follow-up study had shown greater improvement than nonattenders on some ancillary measures at the one-year follow-up assessment. Clients reported continued improvement in general, but few felt completely relieved of handicap. Several clients reported favorable alterations in life-style since treatment (e.g., vacations abroad, new jobs). Temporary setbacks that had been experienced since treatment were apparently precipitated by bereavements or general stressors rather than by obvious conditioning events. The results encourage some confidence in the long-term effectiveness of problem-oriented behavior therapy for agoraphobia, but clear conclusions are hampered by the self-selection of clients in the study and by the unknown contribution of medication to long-term outcome in several participants.

Thoughts and feelings: Correlations in two clinical and two nonclinical samples

Research into correlations of thoughts and feelings was extended by asking psychiatric inpatients and outpatients, hospital paraprofessionals, and college students to complete the Situational Self-Statement and Affective State Inventory, which elicits responses to five classes of self-statements and their matching emotional reactions in the context of imagined frustrations. Correlations between “depressed” and “rational” thoughts with their presumed corresponding and noncorresponding feelings were most consistent with prediction, results for “anxious” thoughts least so. Apart from a tendency for paraprofessional subjects to show stronger correlations between “rational” thoughts and noncorresponding feelings than other subjects, there was no systematic group difference in the strength of the ideational/affective correlations, suggesting that research results from students have some generality to clients and patients.

Brief report: dimensions of burnout in professionals working with sex offenders.

This report describes a brief questionnaire to investigate burnout potential in professionals working with sex offenders in clinical, forensic, and human services settings. The Professional Impact Questionnaire, a 31-item inventory with subscales assessing professional performance, coping strategies, and emotional reactions was tested initially with 17 clinicians who provide sex offender evaluations. In an altered format, the questionnaire was administered to 70 clinicians, jurists, and frontline caseworkers and their supervisors. The satisfactory psychometric properties of the original questionnaire were retained in the modified version with this new sample of respondents. Caseworkers reported significantly greater emotional distress than attorneys and judges. For all participants, negative emotional reactions were associated with a sense of impaired work performance. Using positive coping strategies was correlated with reporting relatively few adverse effects on professional functioning.

Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS)

Premenstrual syndrome is marked by a variety of emotional, physical, and behavioral symptoms that occur during the late luteal phase of the menstrual cycle and remit shortly after menstrual bleeding begins. Premenstrual dysphoric disorder is a severe form of premenstrual syndrome that causes significant distress and interferes with normal functioning. A biopsychosocial perspective explains the physical, psychological, and cultural factors that play a role in the development and maintenance of the two syndromes. Establishing the diagnosis for both syndromes requires prospective monitoring of symptoms for two menstrual cycles. Moderate success has been demonstrated for medications, dietary changes, and psychological treatment.

The common beliefs survey-III and the situational self-statement and affective state inventory : Test-retest reliability, internal consistency, and further psychometric considerations

The Common Beliefs Survey-III (CBS-III), a factored measure of general irrational beliefs, has satisfactory convergent and discriminant validity. The Situational Self-Statement and Affective State Inventory (SSSASI), also with acceptable basic psychometric properties, assesses specific thoughts and feelings in response to vignettes describing frustrating events. Both inventories are potentially useful in assessing dimensions important to REBT, but information on test-retest reliability is needed. The CBS-III and the SSSASI were administered to 101 undergraduate students on two occasions, two or three weeks apart. Satisfactory test-retest reliability coefficients were obtained on all subscales of both inventories, but in the case of the SSSASI reliabilities were generally stronger when the same form of the test was used on both occasions (Form 1 presented the thoughts before the feelings, whereas Form 2 presented the feelings before the thoughts). Further exploration showed that responding to the thoughts before the feelings significantly attenuated scores on the feelings, but responding to the feelings before the thoughts had no effect on scores on the thoughts. This unexpected finding also held true in a previously unexamined data set obtained with a different sample of students several years earlier. Taking careful stock of ones emotional reactions before embarking on cognitive modification interventions seems essential to REBT, and it follows that asking questionnaire respondents to rate their affective states before they rate their self-statements could be desirable conceptually. These results provide empirical support for that strategy.

A SHORT FORM OF THE COMMON BELIEFS SURVEY III

Previous studies have shown that the Common Beliefs Survey III (CBS III) is an irrational beliefs inventory with satisfactory psychometric properties. We extended research on the CBS by examining this 54-item inventory for redundant material, and substantially abbreviated it without compormising its reliability or validity. This article describes the development of the new, 19-item short form (CBS19), convenient for clinical use, that preserves the psychometric properties of the original.

The Common Beliefs Survey-III, The Situational Self-Statement, and Affective State Inventory and Their Relationship to Authoritarianism and Social Dominance Orientation

The concept of irrational beliefs is central to rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT). These beliefs are defined by their absolutist and dogmatic qualities. The terms absolutist and dogmatic are also characteristic of some personality constructs, right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) being foremost among these. A relatively new personality construct, social dominance orientation (SDO) is similar to RWA in that both are excellent predictors of prejudice. As these two constructs are independent of each other, it has been suggested that they have different etiological underpinnings. The present study examined the relationship between the presence of irrational beliefs in people scoring high in RWA and SDO. Results suggest that high RWAs are more likely than high SDOs to endorse irrational beliefs. These findings add to the growing literature examining the relationship between these two personality constructs as well as suggesting possible implications for the use of REBT with clients scoring high on these personality dimensions.

Anger and irrational thought: Questionnaire and interview ratings

From an initial pool of 96 students, 36 subjects were selected based on Novaco Anger Scale scores to form high-, moderate-, and low-anger groups (n=12). They completed self-report questionnaires and participated in a structured interview designed to elicit cognitive and affective responses to hypothetical situations involving interpersonal conflict. High- and moderate-anger groups scored significantly higher than low-anger subjects on a questionnaire measure of irrational thinking. High-anger subjects scored higher than low-anger subjects on general anxiety, suspiciousness, fear of negative evaluation, hostility, and criticism of themselves and others. Interview ratings showed that there were no group differences in self-reports of anger or ability to cope with conflict, yet raters judged high-anger subjects to display more anger than low-anger subjects in their stated response actions. Estimates of coping ability varied inversely with reports of anger experienced. Generally, results support a relationship between irrational thinking patterns and anger in feeling and action. Implications for treatment are discussed.

Components of rational-emotive imagery: Two experiments with nonassertive students

Unassertive students took part in two experiments to assess the contributions of emotional and cognitive rehearsal procedures in rational-emotive imagery. In each study participants received analogue treatment in groups, which met twice for one and a half hours. In Experiment 1 behavior rehearsal (BR) was more effective than emotional rehearsal (ER, which involved tryping to attenuate unwanted feelings in fantasy) and cognitive rehearsal (CR, which involved examining negative, and rehearsing helpful, self-statements) as assessed by a self-report measure of assertiveness. In Experiment 2 combinations of Experiment 1 procedures were tested in a factorial design. On a behavioral test, BR proved more effective than the treatment combinations, but on questionnaire measures of social anxiety and irrational beliefs rational-emotive imagery (the combination of CR with ER) was superior to the other treatment conditions. Results are encouraging in that rational-emotive imagery was more successful than either component in isolation, even within the limits of a brief analogue study. Further clinical trials are needed.