Janet P. Wollersheim

Obsessive-compulsive neurosis: A cognitive-behavioral formulation and approach to treatment

Drawing upon the literature from cognitive and behavioral formulations as wall as psychoanalytic theory, a cognitive behavioral model for conceptualizing and treating obsessive-compulsive neurosis is presented. The proposed model is contrasted with traditional psychoanalytic and behavioral conceptualizations. A variety of cognitive and behavioral treatment techniques are described that attempt to help clients modify their unrealistic cognitive appraisals of threat, test the validity of their fears, and realize resources more effective than symptoms for coping with uncertainty and anxiety.

Behavior Therapy with Children and Adolescents: A Twenty-Year Overview

A twenty-year overview of behavior therapy with children and adolescents is presented. The various techniques and their application to relevant major DSM-III-R categories are critically discussed. It is concluded that behavior therapy has made great progress and has proven applications in child and adolescent disorders but that its precise roles, comparative efficacy, and complementarity to other forms of psychotherapy and other treatments remain to be demonstrated. Much uncertainty stems from the relatively poor state of research in other forms of psychotherapy.

Effect of Treatment Rationale and Problem Severity upon Therapeutic Preferences

Undergraduate men and women (n = 172) initially indicated their preferences for behavioral or psychoanalytic therapy. Participants then read a case description of either test anxiety or paranoid schizophrenia followed by a behavioral or psychoanalytic treatment rationale tailored to the problem. They rated the credibility of the treatment rationale and then once again indicated their preference so that changes in preferences could be assessed. Behavioral treatment rationales received significantly higher credibility ratings than psychoanalytic rationales. Behavioral rationales were seen as significantly more credible than psychoanalytic rationales for test anxiety, and the two rationales received similar credibility ratings for paranoid schizophrenia. Rationales significantly affected therapeutic preferences. Women were more internally oriented, gave higher credibility ratings, and were more willing to consider seeking psychological help than men. The modifiability of therapeutic preferences is discussed.

WISC PATTERNS AND OTHER CHARACTERISTICS OF READING DISABLED CHILDREN

Theoretical positions and significant factors associated with reading disability are noted. Review of WISC studies indicates that retarded readers as a group generally perform more poorly on Information, Arithmetic, Digit Span, and Coding and more highly on Picture Completion in comparison with nonretarded readers. These results are related to factorial studies of the WISC and methodological suggestions for future research are specified.

The influence of therapy rationales upon perceptions of clinical problems1

A 4 ×4 group design varied therapy rationale conditions (psychoanalytic, rational-emotive therapy, behavior therapy, and no rationale) by type of clinical problem (snake phobia, test anxiety, depression, and paranoid schizophrenia). Materials were presented in written format. Dependent measures consisted of 17 10-point Likert-type scales evaluating therapy, the client, the psychologist, and the clinical problem. Clear rationale effects were found for measures tapping confidence and faith in treatment and perception of the psychologist. The behavior therapy rationale attained the most favorable ratings with mixed differences among the three remaining rationale conditions across the measures. Both rationales and type of problem influenced judgements regarding client adjustment. The pattern of results indicated that subjects consistently responded favorably to client involvement in any form of psychological treatment.

Follow-up of behavioral group therapy for obesity

This study reports the differential weight loss of three obesity treatment groups at a 16-week follow-up period, a period 8 weeks later than the first follow-up reported in the original study by Wollersheim ( Journal of Abnormal Psychology 1970, 76 , 462–474). The differential weight losses from pretreatment for the three groups at this second follow-up reached a probability level of between .05 and .10. Speculative hypotheses concerning the differing trends of the three treatment groups are offered.

Social reinforcement: A treatment component in verbal self-instructional training

This study investigated the effects of noncontingent social reinforcement on social and academic behaviors in grade school children. Twenty-four children in the second through fifth grades were selected on the basis of teacher ratings of disruptive behavior. Subjects were divided into (a) a high social reinforcement verbal self-instructional (VSI) training group, (b) a low social reinforcement VSI group, and (c) a no-contact control group. Children in VSI groups were removed from their classrooms during four 40-minute periods and given VSI training. Significant between-groups differences on measures of social reinforcement were found indicating its successful manipulation. While none of the dependent measures indicated significant differences between experimental groups, a consistent pattern of difference scores emerged giving limited support to the hypothesis that noncontingent social reinforcement contributed to behavioral gains. Results are discussed in terms of the need for future research on the effects of rapport on treatment outcome.

Effects of Rationales for Therapy on Perceptions of Clinical Depression

The present study assessed the effects of rationales for therapy on perceptions of a problem of clinical depression by 46 male and 38 female college students who were randomly assigned to one of three experimental groups varied as to the therapeutic rationale presented for a problem of severe non-reactive depression in a middle-aged woman. One rationale was in accord with classical psychoanalysis with the cause of the depression described in terms of unresolved unconscious conflicts and the recommended treatment involving insight. The second rationale was tailored according to rationalemotive therapy depicting long-standing habits of faulry thinking as the cause of the problem and describing the necessity of learning more reasonable interpretations of events as the recommended treaunent. The third experimental group was exposed to a norationale condition. All subjects listened to an audio recording of the case hiscoty and a simulated intake interview between the client and the treating psychologist (JPW). Neither rationale was labeled as psychoanalysis or rational-emotive therapy in the audio recordings or in subsequent rating scales although each had been reviewed and modified by a licensed clinical psychologist of that orientation. Following these taped presentations, subjects completed 28 Likert-type rating scales pertaining to the clients problems and adjustment and in the two therapeutic groups nine additional ratings concerning the rationales and treating psychologist. In a posttest-only control-group design data were analyzed via one-way analyses of variance and Newman-Keuls tests for significant differences, among means. A considerable number of significant resulrs emerged (all ps < .05 or .01). In scoring the questionnaires, various ratings pertaining to similar areas were combined. In all, of a total of 27 comparisons made, 14 attained statistical significance. In general subjects exposed to a treaunent rationale tended to view the clients problem as more understandable than subjects hearing no rationale. While both treatments were perceived favorably, subjects hearing the rationale of rational-emotive therapy indicated more faith in ueatment, saw the client as more likely to improve and likely to improve in a significantly shorter time period than did subjects hearing a psychoanalytic rationale. While clients undergoing actual ueatment might perceive these rationales differently, these results are consistent with others (1, 2) which demonstrate that rationales for therapy influence credibility and expectanq regarding treatment.

A Comparison of the Test Performance of Average and below Average Readers on the Mccarthy Scales of Children's Abilities

The MSCA was used to compare the pattern of tests results for below average readers distinct from a matched group of average readers. Two groups of 24 second-grade boys were selected and differentiated on the basis of their reading achievement scores. The two groups were carefully matched according to age level, IQ and socioeconomic status. Each S was individually administered the MSCA and a comparison of mean scale scores between the groups on each of the six MSCA scales was attempted. Analyses revealed non-significant differences between groups on all scales. The possible influence of methodological factors on the present results as well as the implications for diagnostic usefulness of the MSCA with reading disabled subjects were discussed.