P. Scott Lawrence

Social Reinforcement of Activity and Problem-Solving Training in the Treatment of Depressed Institutionalized Elderly Patients

Thirty-six depressed nursing-home patients over 60 were divided into two experimental groups to test the relative effectiveness of two approaches to reduce geriatric depression. Twelve subjects received social reinforcement (SR)for their participation in an activity, 12 received problem-solving training (PS),and 12 served as a waiting list control condition (WLC).During the 2nd treatment week, the subjects were randomly divided into the following conditions: PS-PS, PS-SR, SR-SR, SR-PS, WLC-WLC, and WLC-IC. The BDI, a self-rating scale (SRS),and the HAS were administered to the subjects. After the initial treatment week, the two experimental conditions showed significantly lower BDI and SRS scores than the WLC group. After the random division of the groups (treatment week 2),when compared with the waiting list controls, only those groups that received problem-solving training significantly reduced their scores on the BDI.

The reduction of Test, State, and Trait Anxiety by test-specific and generalized stress inoculation training

Forty-eight highly test-anxious students in an introductory psychology class were randomly assigned to one of four treatment conditions. Two experimental conditions, a test-specific stress inoculation training and a generalized stress inoculation training condition were compared with two control conditions, a discussion control and a waiting-list control. The test-specific group received coping statements with test referents while the generalized group was trained with non-situation specific coping statements. Subjects were administered the Test Anxiety Scale, State-Trait Anxiety Inventories, and the Fear Survey Schedule prior to treatment, immediately following the three treatment sessions, and at the 3-week and 8-month follow-ups. Two verbal rating scales were administered after treatment to assess subjective feelings of test anxiousness and psychology test scores were recorded to assess performance changes before and after treatment. Testspecific training reduced test and trait anxiety relative to the two control groups and the generalized training reduced test anxiety relative to the waiting-list group. On both verbal rating scales the test-specific group showed greater test anxiety reductions over both controls while the generalized group showed anxiety reduction only over the waiting-list group on the first scale. These gains on the Test Anxiety Scale and State Trait Anxiety Inventories were maintained for both follow-ups.

Complementing CBT for depressed adolescents with Learning through In Vivo Experience (LIVE): Conceptual analysis, treatment description, and feasibility study.

Based on a behavior-analytic interpretation of the skills acquisition process, a rationale is presented for augmenting a currently available cognitive-behavioral treatment (The Adolescent Coping With Depression course: CWD-A) with a newly developed therapy focusing on the interpersonal interactions and learning occurring in-session (Learning through In-Vivo Experience: LIVE). A description of the practice of LIVE is offered and the results from an initial feasibility study are presented. Using a single-subject methodology, two groups each consisting of 5 adolescents with significant symptoms of depression received the treatment. The intervention consisted of 16 2-hour group sessions occurring over an 8-week period. The first 1-hour of each meeting was taken directly from the CWD-A manual. The second hour was based on the LIVE manual. The adolescents who completed the treatment ( n = 8) improved from pretreatment to posttreatment and those who discontinued treatment ( n = 2) did not. Improvements were maintained at 3 months follow-up. The treatment produced strong group cohesion and both adolescents and their guardians rated the intervention positively. These results provide initial evidence of the efficacy of complementing CWD-A with LIVE.

Measuring homework compliance in cognitive-behavioral therapy for adolescent depression : Review, preliminary findings, and implications for theory and practice

Despite the importance placed on completion of extra-session homework in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), a review of the available literature suggests there is much about the nature of homework compliance that remains to be empirically evaluated. This is especially true among youth receiving CBT. The present study begins to address how best to measure homework compliance and offers a fine-grained, single-case analysis of homework compliance during acute treatment with depressed adolescents. The results demonstrate that 56% of homework assignments were completed. Also observed was substantial within-subject temporal variability in homework compliance and a tendency for compliance to decrease during the course of treatment. These data call into question the adequacy of any static aggregate measure of homework compliance and have implications for both researchers and clinicians.

Factors of Stress among Police Officers

Three major areas of stress, Physical/Psychological Threat, Evaluation Systems, and Lack of Support were identified in police officers via factor analysis. These were related to bureau, age, years on the job, and race. Results were discussed in terms of an expanded model of police stress, incorporating role with the variable of time.

Within-subject analysis of autogenic training and cognitive coping training in the treatment of tension headache pain.

Abstract Previous research on muscle-contraction headache pain suggests that relaxation training or cognitive coping training may be effectively used as alternatives to traditional medical interventions. Although each has been shown to be beneficial, a combination of the two procedures may facilitate the effects attained when one is used alone. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the separate and combined effects of relaxation training and cognitive coping training in the treatment of muscle-contraction headache pain, using single-subject methodology. This methodology provides a better opportunity to examine the day-to-day variability encountered in headache treatment, which is not usually evidenced with group designs. In addition, single-subject designs offer the practicing clinician an empirical method of evaluating treatment procedures. Fourteen muscle-contraction headache sufferers were asked to self-monitor their headache frequency, intensity, and duration for either 1 or 2 weeks. Following this baseline period, subjects received three sessions of cognitive coping training or relaxation training, followed by both treatments combined. Six additional subjects received six sessions of either coping, relaxation, or coping plus relaxation. Results showed that both coping and relaxation used alone were effective in reducing headache pain. It also appeared that in some instances, the combined effects of both treatments facilitated this reduction.

Impact of sign language interpreter and therapist moods on deaf recipient mood

This study questions how the mood and affective reactions of the interpreter and the therapist affect the therapeutic process. Professional sign language interpreters are trained to be impartial conduits who neither add nor subtract from the primary dyadic relationship. This study revealed that despondent interpreter mood caused significant negative mood changes in the deaf participant even when the therapist mood was neutral/cheerful. Practicing psychologists need to consider the susceptibility of deaf clients to the nonverbal mood presentation of sign language interpreters and its implications on the therapeutic alliance.

Sequelae to smoking cessation: A review

Abstract In 1979, the Surgeon Generals report on smoking drew attention to the lack of scientific information on the sequelae to cessation of cigarette smoking. Although withdrawal symptoms are frequently cited as reasons for relapse, it is difficult to assess their true impact without this information. In addition, the research that is available is widely scattered in the literature of many professional disciplines. This paper is a consolidation of the available research on the sequelae to smoking cessation with critique and directions for further investigations. It appears that the weight of the evidence does not support a view that unpleasant physical and psychological effects necessarily follow abstinence from smoking. The occurrence of weight gain, craving for cigarettes, and other physical and psychological sequelae to smoking cessation is highly idiosyncratic with little known about the causal mechanisms.

Zone Planning for Accelerating Adaptive Behavior in the Retarded

In an effort to develop an efficient, practical program to serve a heterogeneous population of mentally retarded children excluded from other treatment programs, an innovative teaching environment was developed. A period of individual therapy designed to increase attending behaviors and decrease self destructive, aggressive, or other interfering responses is followed by programing each child into a therapy zone plan of treatment. The zones of special education, self help, language skills, socialization, and motor skills are used. Children move from one prescribed zone to another upon completing daily goals, thereby avoiding the interfering stimuli of other zones and the distracting social stimuli of large groups. The zone approach is discussed as a viable community based model.

Dysphoric mood and preference for immediate versus delayed monetary reinforcement

It has been proposed that depression is the product of deficits in self-management skills: self-monitoring, self-evaluation, and self-reinforcement. While interventions based on this theory have shown promise, some of the basic tenets upon which the theory is based lack empirical support. The present experiment tested one such tenet—the claim that depressed individuals select smaller more immediate reinforcers (an impulsive choice) at the expense of larger more delayed reinforcers (a self-control choice). Currently, empirical support for this notion is sparse and contradictory. This study addressed several methodological problems in earlier studies by creating divergent groups based on Beck Depression Inventory scores, employing a task requiring multiple responses and applying a quantitative model to determine reinforcer value. Analyses indicated no systematic difference between participants in the dysphoric and nondysphoric groups in ability to delay reinforcement. Thus, the current results provide no support for the hypothesis that the 36 dysphoric individuals were unable to delay reinforcement relative to the 21 nondysphoric individuals. Because respondents across the sample as a whole showed a self-control preference, however, the data are consistent with findings in the experimental study of choice responding with adult human subjects. Interpretations in terms of sensitivity and pseudosensitivity to the experimental contingencies are explored.