Abnormal Psychology

Although advances in neonatal care over the past century have resulted in increased rates of survival among at-risk births, including infants with low birth weight, we have much to learn about the psychological outcomes in this population. In particular, although it appears that there is growing evidence that low birth weight may be associated with an increased risk for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) symptoms in childhood, few studies have examined birth weight as a risk factor for disruptive disorders that commonly co-occur with ADHD [e.g. Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) or Conduct Disorder (CD)]. In addition, the etiology of the relation between birth weight and these disorders is unknown. The current investigation aimed to better understand the putative role of birth weight in disruptive behavior disorders in the context of potentially confounding genetic and environmental influences by examining phenotypic associations between birth weight and disruptive disorder symptoms across families (using generalized linear models with generalized estimating equations) as well as within families (using linear regression) in two independent twin samples (Sample 1: N = 1676 individuals; Sample 2: N = 4038 individuals). We found negative associations between birth weight and several childhood disruptive disorder symptom dimensions, including inattentive, hyperactive-impulsive, and broad externalizing symptoms in both samples. Nonetheless, the overall magnitude of these associations was very small, contributing to less than 1% of the variance in these symptom dimensions. Within-family associations between birth weight and disruptive disorder symptoms did not differ for monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs, suggesting that nonshared environmental influences rather than common genetic influences are responsible for these associations. These consistent albeit weak associations between birth weight and disruptive disorder symptoms suggest that, at least in the general population, low birth weight does not represent a major risk factor in the development of these symptoms.

The reliability and validity of traditional taxonomies are limited by arbitrary boundaries between psychopathology and normality, often unclear boundaries between disorders, frequent disorder co-occurrence, heterogeneity within disorders, and diagnostic instability. These taxonomies went beyond evidence available on the structure of psychopathology and were shaped by a variety of other considerations, which may explain the aforementioned shortcomings. The Hierarchical Taxonomy Of Psychopathology (HiTOP) model has emerged as a research effort to address these problems. It constructs psychopathological syndromes and their components/subtypes based on the observed covariation of symptoms, grouping related symptoms together and thus reducing heterogeneity. It also combines co-occurring syndromes into spectra, thereby mapping out comorbidity. Moreover, it characterizes these phenomena dimensionally, which addresses boundary problems and diagnostic instability. Here, we review the development of the HiTOP and the relevant evidence. The new classification already covers most forms of psychopathology. Dimensional measures have been developed to assess many of the identified components, syndromes, and spectra. Several domains of this model are ready for clinical and research applications. The HiTOP promises to improve research and clinical practice by addressing the aforementioned shortcomings of traditional nosologies. It also provides an effective way to summarize and convey information on risk factors, etiology, pathophysiology, phenomenology, illness course, and treatment response. This can greatly improve the utility of the diagnosis of mental disorders. The new classification remains a work in progress. However, it is developing rapidly and is poised to advance mental health research and care significantly as the relevant science matures.

An adequate understanding of specialized terminology is a prerequisite for the mastery of core concepts across all scientific disciplines, including psychological science. In a previous article , we presented an annotated list of 50 widely used psychological terms that should generally be avoided, or at best used judiciously and with qualifications in select cases. Herein, we offer a "sequel" by presenting a list of 50 term pairs in psychology and allied fields (e.g., psychiatry, cultural anthropology, and statistics) that are commonly confused in academic writing, popular writing, or both. We draw these terms from multiple domains of psychology, including Sensation, Perception, Learning, and Memory; Social and Cultural Bases of Behavior; Personality Psychology; Psychopathology; and Research Methodology and Statistics. Many of these terms are frequently confused not merely by beginning psychology students but also by advanced psychology students, psychology instructors, and science journalists. Our list of commonly confused psychological term pairs should hopefully be a modest contribution toward enhancing psychological literacy and critical thinking in psychology more broadly.

Mounting evidence suggests that genetic risks for mental disorders often interact with the social environment, but most studies still ignore environmental moderation of genetic influences. We tested interactions between maternal parenting and the variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) polymorphism in the 3′ untranslated region (UTR) of the dopamine transporter gene in the child to increase understanding of gene-environment interactions involving early parenting. Participants were part of a 9-year longitudinal study of 4-6-year-old children who met criteria for attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and demographically matched controls. Maternal parenting was observed during standard mother-child interactions in wave 1. The child's conduct disorder (CD) symptoms 5-8 years later were measured using separate structured diagnostic interviews of the mother and youth. Controlling for ADHD symptoms and child disruptive behavior during the mother-child interaction, there was a significant inverse relation between levels of both positive and negative parenting at 4-6 years and the number of later CD symptoms, but primarily among children with two copies of the 9-repeat allele of the VNTR. The significant interaction with negative parenting was replicated in parent and youth reports of CD symptoms separately.

Genetic discovery in psychiatry is hindered by suboptimal phenotypic definitions. We argue that the hierarchical, dimensional, and data-driven classification system proposed by the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) consortium provides a more effective approach to identifying genes that underlie mental disorders, and studying psychiatric etiology, than current diagnostic categories. Specifically, genes are expected to operate at different levels of the HiTOP hierarchy, with some highly pleiotropic genes influencing higher-order psychopathology (e.g. the general factor), whereas other genes confer specific risk for individual spectra (e.g. internalizing), subfactors (e.g. fear disorders), or narrow symptoms (e.g. mood instability). We demonstrate that the HiTOP model aligns well with the current understanding of the higher-order genetic structure of psychopathology that emerged from a large body of family and twin studies. We discuss the convergence between the HiTOP mo...

Previous research indicates that individuals with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) evidence low distress tolerance, which signifies impaired ability to persist in goal-directed behavior during an aversive situation, and is associated with a variety of poor interpersonal and drug use outcomes. Based on theory and research indicating that psychopathic traits are associated with hyporeactivity in emotional responding, a unique hypothesis emerges where psychopathic traits should have the opposite effect of ASPD and be related to high levels of distress tolerance. In a sample of 107 substance-dependent patients in an inner-city substance use residential treatment facility, this hypothesis was supported. ASPD was related to lower distress tolerance, while psychopathic traits were related to higher distress tolerance, with each contributing unique variance. Findings are discussed in relation to different presentations of distress tolerance as a function of psychopathic traits among those with an ASPD diagnosis. antisocial; psychopath; distress tolerance; substance use treatment Although much is known about the behavioral correlates and negative outcomes associated with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), little is known about the mechanisms underlying this disorder. The limited data available suggest that conduct problems in youth, particularly aggressive behavior, is largely attributable to the combination of self-regulation deficits and the propensity to respond poorly to distressing emotions

Many of the major neuropsychiatric illnesses, including schizophrenia, have a typical age of onset in late adolescence. Late adolescence may reflect a critical period in brain development making it particularly vulnerable for the onset of psychopathology. Neuroimaging studies that focus on this age range may provide unique insights into the onset and course of psychosis. In this review, we examine the evidence from 2 unique longitudinal cohorts that span the ages from early childhood through young adulthood; a study of childhood-onset schizophrenia where patients and siblings are followed from ages 6 through to their early twenties, and an ultra-high risk study where subjects (mean age of 19 years) are studied before and after the onset of psychosis. From the available evidence, we make an argument that subtle, regionally specific, and genetically influenced alterations during developmental age windows influence the course of psychosis and the resultant brain phenotype. The importance of examining trajectories of development and the need for future combined approaches, using multimodal imaging together with molecular studies is discussed.

The overarching goal of the present study was to determine whether a behavioral economic framework of demand analysis is applicable to texting while driving. To this end, we developed a novel hypothetical task designed to quantify the intensity and elasticity of the demand for social interaction from texting while driving. This task involved a scenario in which participants receive a text message while driving, and they rated the likelihood of replying to a text message immediately versus waiting to reply until arriving at a destination when the amounts of a fine for texting while driving ranged from $1 to $300. To assess the construct validity of the task, the scenario presented two delays to a destination (15 min and 60 min). The demand for social interaction from texting was more intense (greater at the lowest amount of the fine) and less elastic (less sensitive to the increase in the amounts of the fine) for drivers who self-reported a higher frequency of texting while driving than for those who self-reported a lower frequency of texting while driving. Demand was also more intense and less elastic under the 60-min delay condition than under the 15-min condition. The results of this proof-of-concept study suggest that behavioral economic demand analyses are potentially useful for understanding and predicting texting while driving.

This study investigated the relationship between self-appraisals of performance, symptom severity and post-event rumination in social phobia, and evaluated the effect of treatment on these variables. A socially phobic group and a nonanxious control group performed an impromptu speech and were told that their performance would be evaluated. Participants appraised their performance immediately after the speech and 1 week later, and the frequency of post-event rumination during the week following the speech was assessed. The socially phobic group maintained the negative appraisals of their speech over the week, whereas the nonclinical group showed increased positivity about their performance. The socially phobic group also engaged in more negative rumination than controls. Treatment improved perceptions of performance and reduced negative rumination. These results are discussed in the light of cognitive models of social phobia.

When Jennifer Thompson picked Ronald Cotton—suspect number five—from a line-up, she was “absolutely certain” she had identified the man who raped her in July 1984. She said she knew that she was right because, during the rape, she had studied his eyes, his voice, his height, and even the shape of his ears. She was determined to identify him later if she survived. Thompson’s repeated strong and confident identification of Cotton during pretrial proceedings and at trial led to his 1985 conviction and sentence of life imprisonment plus 50 years. In 1995, DNA evidence proved Thompson’s identification to be wrong. She erred because her memory of the rapist was skewed by suggestive pretrial identification procedures: working with police on a composite sketch of the suspect inclined her to identify Cotton’s mug shot, which bore a resemblance to her assailant; selecting his mug shot primed her to pick him out of a line-up; and picking him out of the line-up led her to identify him with abso...

The phenomenon of bullet embolization has been documented in various organs or major organ systems. A case report of a gunshot wound injury to the left hemithorax with penetration of the esophagus and embolization to the stomach is presented. Diagnostic evaluation and therapy are discussed.

Symptoms of schizophrenia have been explained as a failure to appropriately apply past environmental regularities to the interpretation of incoming sensory information, thus leading to abnormal perceptions and beliefs. Here we use the visual system as a test bed for investigating how prior experience shapes perception in individuals with schizophrenia. Specifically, we use visual aftereffects, illusory percepts resulting from prior exposure to visual input, to measure the influence of prior events on current processing. At a neural level, visual aftereffects arise due to attenuation in the responses of neurons that code the features of the prior stimulus (neuronal adaptation) and subsequent disinhibition of neurons signaling activity at the opposite end of the feature dimension. In the current study, we measured tilt aftereffects and negative afterimages, two types of aftereffects that reflect, respectively, adaptation of cortical orientation-coding neurons and adaptation of subcort...

This study prospectively examined a social interactional model of husband marital aggression. \bung couples were assessed at the time of their 1st marriage with respect to marital conflict styles, alcohol consumption, hostility, gender identity, perceived power inequity, and history of family violence. Couples were reassessed at their 1-year anniversary, and information concerning marital aggression was collected. Most of the constructs were prospectively related to husband aggression, but these relationships were largely mediated through marital conflict styles and husband alcohol consumption, which in turn were influenced by husband's hostility, gender identity, and perceived power inequity. Research over the past 20 years has documented that the prevalence of marital aggression, considered both in terms of lifetime and in a 1-year period, is far more common than previously believed. For example, Straus, Gelles, and Steinmetz (1980) used data collected from the 1975 National Violence Survey and reported that the lifetime prevalence of marital aggression was approximately 30%, with 15% reporting aggression in the preceding year. Among general population samples, the 1-year prevalence of husband-to-wife violence has been estimated between 11% (Kennedy & Dutton, 1987) and 22% (Meredith, Abbott, & Adams, 1986). Although the overall prevalence of marital aggression is high, the rates among younger, newly married adults may be several times as large. For example, Cazenave and Straus (1990) reported that 14% of husbands between 18 and 29 years old had slapped their spouses in the preceding year; the rate was only 2% in husbands over 55 years old. O'Leary, Barling, Arias, and Rosenbaum (1989) found that 27% of husbands reported husband-to-wife marital aggression at 18 months after marriage. Integrating husband and wife reports led to estimates approximately 10% higher. We found that 35% of couples reported husband-to-wife aggression before marriage in a more diverse sample of newlyweds (McLaughlin, Leonard, & Senchak, 1992). These rates among newlywed couples are much higher than estimates among general population samples. In a considerable amount of research, the correlates of husband-to-wife aggres

Fifteen depressed and 72 nondepressed middle-aged persons were repeatedly assessed over a 1-year period with respect to the thoughts and actions they used in coping in specific stressful episodes. Depressed persons tended to appraise situations as requiring more information in order for them to act, but they were less likely to appraise situations as requiring their acceptance. Overall, the coping of depressed persons was characterized by the seeking of emotional and informational support and by wishful thinking, but they did not differ from nondepressed persons in amount of problem-focused coping or self-blame. Results were generally inconsistent with the learned helplessness model of depression and highlight the need to examine interpersonal aspects of depression.

Schizophrenic patients have higher smoking rates than the general population. Studies show that smoking may be a form of self-medication in an attempt to alleviate cognitive deficits in schizophrenic patients of European background. This study examined the relationships between smoking and cognitive deficits in Chinese schizophrenic patients, which have previously received little systemic study. We recruited 580 male chronic patients meeting DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia and 175 male control subjects who were matched on age and education. The subjects completed a detailed cigarette smoking questionnaire, the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND), and the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS). Patients also were rated on the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS), the Simpson and Angus Extrapyramidal Symptom Rating Scale (SAES), and the Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS). All five RBANS subscales except for the Visuospatial/Constructional index showed significantly lower cognitive performance for schizophrenics than normal controls. The schizophrenic smokers scored lower than the schizophrenic nonsmokers on the RBANS total score and the Visuospatial/Constructional and Immediate Memory indices. Similarly, the control smokers scored lower than the control non-smokers on the RBANS total score and the Immediate Memory index. Also, the schizophrenic smokers consistently performed the poorest on the cognitive domains of the RBANS. Among the schizophrenic patients, smokers displayed significantly fewer negative symptoms than non-smokers. Using multivariate regression analysis the following variables were independently associated with the RBANS total score: years of education, PANSS negative symptom score, age at schizophrenia onset, and number of hospitalizations. Our results show that smoking is associated with significant cognitive impairment in both schizophrenic patients and normal controls, but the smokers with schizophrenia had a reduced level of negative symptoms, suggesting that the benefits of smoking for those with schizophrenia may be limited to certain aspects of a given clinical phenotype.

Schizophrenic patients have higher smoking rates than the general population. Studies show that smoking may be a form of self-medication in an attempt to alleviate cognitive deficits in schizophrenic patients of European background. This study examined the relationships between smoking and cognitive deficits in Chinese schizophrenic patients, which have previously received little systemic study. We recruited 580 male chronic patients meeting DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia and 175 male control subjects who were matched on age and education. The subjects completed a detailed cigarette smoking questionnaire, the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND), and the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS). Patients also were rated on the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS), the Simpson and Angus Extrapyramidal Symptom Rating Scale (SAES), and the Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS). All five RBANS subscales except for the Visuospati...

The present study examined the predictive validity of psychometrically assessed positive and negative schizotypy in the Chapmans' 10-year longitudinal data set. Schizotypy provides a useful construct for understanding the etiology and development of schizophrenia and related disorders. Schizotypy and schizophrenia share a common multidimensional structure that includes positive and negative symptom dimensions. Recent cross-sectional studies have supported the validity of psychometric positive and negative schizotypy; however, the present study is the first to examine the predictive validity of these dimensions. The Chapmans' longitudinal data provided an ideal opportunity because of the large sample size, high reassessment rate, and extended interval between assessments. A total of 534 psychometric highrisk and control participants were initially assessed, and 95% of this sample was reinterviewed 10 years later. As hypothesized, positive and negative schizotypy uniquely predicted the development of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. At the reassessment, both positive and negative schizotypy predicted psychotic-like, schizotypal, and paranoid symptoms, as well as poorer adjustment. The positive dimension was associated with mood and substance use disorders and mental health treatment. Negative schizotypy was associated with schizoid symptoms and social impairment at the follow-up. The results extend the growing validity findings for psychometrically assessed positive and negative schizotypy by demonstrating that they are associated with the development of differential patterns of symptoms and impairment.

The current study prospectively examined the impact of social support on symptom severity and recovery from episodes in bipolar disorder, both as a direct influence and as a buffer of life events. Fifty-nine individuals with Bipolar I disorder were followed longitudinally with monthly symptom severity interviews. Social support was measured by the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List and the Interview Schedule for Social Interaction, and life events were assessed using the Life Events and Difficulties Schedule. Individuals with low social support took longer to recover from episodes and were more symptomatic across a 6-month follow-up. Results suggest a polarity-specific effect, in that social support influences depression but not mania. Discussion focuses on theoretical implications of a series of polarity-specific findings within the field. We gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Dena Rosenberg, Randy Fingerhut, Ruben Perczek, and Julie Dykstra for their help in rating and interviewing.

In previous research, therapists' A-B status has predicted differential therapist effectiveness with schizoid versus neurotic patients, but patients' A-B status has not been studied. This study related the A-B scores of 60 male college clinic patients (As, controls, and Bs) to therapist ratings of presenting symptoms and patients' own complaints and role expectancies. As exhibited turning against the self, intropunitive symptoms, whereas Bs showed extrapunitive tendencies. Role expectancy data suggested, surprisingly, that As enter therapy expecting to unburden themselves in an active, productive manner, whereas Bs appear to seek rational guidance and correctives. With respect to these adjustive modes and role expectancies, therapist-patient complementarity, rather than similarity, may partially mediate the effectiveness of therapy interactions. Recent research on therapist variables related to the outcome of psychotherapy points to the critical nature of the so-called A-B variable (see the review by Carson, 1967). On the basis of their scores on a small number of items taken from the Strong Vocational Interest Blank (the A-B scale), therapists categorized as "As" have been shown to achieve significantly better outcomes than "Bs" with schizophrenic patients (see reviews by Betz, 1962, 1967), whereas B therapists have performed better with neurotic outpatients (McNair, Callahan, & Lorr, 1962). Since the content of the A-B scale ostensibly involves varying degrees of interest in selected activities of a manual, technical, or mechanical nature (As dislike these activities, Bs like them), the A-B variable, despite its promise, it little understood. Therapists' A-B status was initially reported to denote differences in "clinical style" in the treatment of schizophrenic patients in the Whitehorn-Betz studies (reviewed by Betz, 1967), where the As ap

To help explain the recurrent nature of major depressive disorder, we tested the hypothesis that depressive episodes and/or the duration of depressive symptoms may give rise to persistent dysfunctional implicit and/or more explicit self-associations, which in turn may place people at risk for the recurrence of symptoms. We therefore examined, in the context of the Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety, whether the strength of self-depressed associations at baseline was related to the number of past episodes (retrospective analysis; n ϭ 666), and whether the duration of symptoms between baseline and follow-up predicted self-depressed associations at 2-year follow-up (prospective analysis; n ϭ 726). The lifetime Composite International Diagnostic Interviews and Life Chart Interview were used to index the number of depressive episodes; the Implicit Association Test and its explicit equivalent were used to index self-associations. Consistent with the hypothesis that self-depressed associations strengthen following prolonged activation of negative self-associations during depressive episodes, individuals' implicit and explicit self-depressed associations correlated positively both with the number of prior depressive episodes at baseline and with the duration of depressive symptoms between baseline and 2-year follow-up. There was evidence that these relationships held, particularly in the prospective study, even when controlling for neuroticism and current depressive symptoms, whereas the retrospective relationship between number of episodes and implicit self-associations fell just short of significance.

Behavioral disinhibition has been characterized as a generalized vulnerability to externalizing disorders. Despite increasing evidence for its validity and heritability, the structural stability of behavioral disinhibition across adolescence and the strength and etiology of its relation to executive functions have not been studied. In this multivariate twin study, the authors assessed behavioral disinhibition using measures tapping substance use, conduct disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and novelty seeking at ages 12 and 17. Executive functions were assessed with laboratory-based cognitive tasks at age 17. Results indicated that, at age 12, behavioral disinhibition was dominated by ADHD and conduct problems and was highly heritable. At age 17, the contributions of the 4 components were more balanced, and the proportion of variance attributable to genetic factors was somewhat smaller, with additional variance due to shared environmental influences. At both ages, behavioral disinhibition was more closely related to response inhibition than other executive functions (working memory updating and task-set shifting), and this relationship was primarily genetic in origin. These results highlight the dynamic nature of behavioral disinhibition across adolescence and suggest that response inhibition may be an important mechanism underlying vulnerability to disinhibitory psychopathology.

Schizophrenia is associated with an impairment of prospective memory (PM) which refers to the ability to remember to carry out an intended action in the future. However, most of these studies were limited to chronic samples. The current study examined the event-based PM and time-based PM using a dual-task paradigm in 22 drug-naïve, first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients and 23 healthy controls. Results indicated that FEP patients performed significantly poorer than healthy controls in both event-based and time-based PM. However, the significant difference in time-based PM disappeared after controlling for working memory. Correlation analysis indicated that both types of PM did not correlate with positive symptoms or negative symptoms, duration of illness, or duration of untreated psychosis. However, time-based PM was correlated with the general psychopathology subscale of the PANSS. Taken together, these findings suggest that PM deficits are present in drug-naïve FEP patients; impairment of event-based PM appears to occur independently, whereas time-based PM impairment may be, in part, a secondary consequence of a working memory deficit.

Abstract
The focus of this paper is on the menace of drug abuse among secondary school students.
It discussed the reasons of drug abuse, drugs commonly abused, the theories of drug abuse
and the effects of drug abuse on students. Youths are exposed early in life by their
environment to drinking, smoking and substance abuse. This negative exposure influences
them to get involved in drug without understanding its consequences. The involvement of
youths in drug is a global threat and is cancerous to national development. They can stay
free from drugs and live a happy live if they are educated on the adverse effect of drugs
on their wellbeing and on the nation. The paper concluded that as a matter of urgency, all
should work as a team to redeem the secondary school students who are trading their
future for the destructive pleasure of drugs and drowning in the sea of drug abuse.
Recommended among others is the need for teachers to be trained on identifying students
using drug, having withdrawal syndrome and how best to manage them.

Objective: Resistance is a therapeutic process variable that can play an important role in treatment. The present study examined whether observer-rated parental resistance during parent-only sessions of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxious youth predicted the number of parent-reported between-session exposures completed, posttreatment outcome, and 36-week follow-up. Method: Participants (N = 272) were parents or adult caregivers of youth (age 7 to 17 years old) who received CBT for an anxiety disorder as participants in the Child/Adolescent Anxiety Multimodal study (CAMS). Parent-only therapy sessions were rated for resistance by observers. Measures of anxiety and overall symptom severity were completed at posttreatment and 36-week follow-up. Mediation analyses examined the indirect effect of the number of parent-reported exposures completed on the relationship between parent in-session resistance and therapy outcomes at posttreatment and 36-week follow-up. Additionally, resistance levels in participants in the CBT-only condition of CAMS were compared with resistance levels for participants in the CBT plus sertraline condition. Results: Analyses demonstrated that there was no significant difference in mean resistance scores between the CBT-only group and the CBT plus sertraline group. None of the 12 mediation tests found statistically significant indirect effects of the number of parent-reported exposures completed on the relationship between parent in-session resistance and therapy outcomes at posttreatment and 36-week follow-up. A significant relationship was found, however, between number of exposures completed and posttreatment Pediatric Anxiety Rating Scale (PARS) total scores, indicating a significant relationship between number of parent-reported exposures and posttreatment therapy outcomes. Conclusions: Parental resistance is not associated with iii outcomes for youth receiving CBT for anxiety. Number of exposures was significantly associated with one measure of posttreatment therapy outcomes. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Although I will not be able to sufficiently thank all of those who are deserving and merit mention, I am deeply grateful for so many who have supported me throughout not only the completion of this dissertation, but the entire course of graduate school. I am grateful for the mentorship of Phil Kendall throughout graduate school and throughout the duration of this project. I would like to thank my core dissertation committee members, Rob Fauber and especially Rick Heimberg for his thoughtful guidance on this project. I would also like to thank my dissertation committee members, Tania Giovannetti, Lauren Alloy, and Michael McCloskey. Thank you to my cohort mates and my fellow Child and Adolescent Anxiety Disorders Clinic (CAADC) lab mates. You are all a wonderful group of people and I am lucky to have learned alongside you. Thank you to Elizabeth Gosch for her excellent supervision during my time in the CAADC.

Attentional and perceptual differences between women with high and low levels of bulimic symptoms were studied with techniques adapted from cognitive science. Stimuli were pictures of young women varying in body size and facial affect. A multidimensional scaling analysis showed that the highsymptom women were significantly more attentive to information about body size and significantly less attentive to information about affect. In prototype classification tasks, the high-symptom women used significantly more information about body size and significantly less information about affect. There were strong associations between individual differences in attention in the similarity task and decision making in the classification tasks. The study shows the potential utility of cognitive science methods for the study of cognitive factors in psychopathology.

The present study investigated the relationship between standard setting and judgments of self-efficacy in the domain of interpersonal functioning for depressed and nondepressed subjects. Consistent with a self-control model of depression, a large discrepancy between personal standards arid judgments of personal efficacy for performance was postulated to be related to depression. Students who scored above 13 on two administrations of the Beck Depression Inventory composed the depressed group. Thirty-nine depressed and 39 nondepressed students rated their minimal standards for adequate interpersonal performance, its importance to them, and their judgments of self-efficacy for the same tasks. Depressed subjects showed a larger discrepancy between strength of interpersonal standards and strength of self-efficacy than did the normal subjects. Depressed subjects expressed a lower strength of self-efficacy than did nondepressed subjects, but they did not differ on their interpersonal standards. Importance and the strength for standards correlated positively for both depressed and normal subjects. The present findings are consistent with recent extensions of Lewinsohn's model of depression, which suggest that disruptions in self-evaluation are related to lowered judgments of self-efficacy for depressed subjects. Research on different aspects of depression has dramatically increased in the past decade (Lewinsohn & Hoberman, 1982). One issue of particular current interest concerns the relative "realism" of the depressed and nondepressed in their self-evaluation (e.g., Alloy & Abramson, 1979; Lewinsohn, Mischel, and Chaplin, & Barton, 1980). This issue is of interest for both applied and theoretical reasons. The way in which depressed persons perceive and evaluate themselves has important treatment implications. In addition, the major theoretical models of depression postulated by Beck (1967, 1976), Lewinsohn This research is based on a doctoral dissertation submitted by Ruth Kanfer in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a doctorate degree. We would like to thank dissertation committee members George Chartier, Robert Cialdini, Manuel Barrera, and Richard Lanyon for their assistance throughout the study. Special thanks are extended to Albert Bandura, Frederick Kanfer, and anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions on earlier versions of the article. We would also like to thank Patrick Stubblebine for his assistance in data collection.

The present study investigated the relationship between standard setting and judgments of self-efficacy in the domain of interpersonal functioning for depressed and nondepressed subjects. Consistent with a self-control model of depression, a large discrepancy between personal standards arid judgments of personal efficacy for performance was postulated to be related to depression. Students who scored above 13 on two administrations of the Beck Depression Inventory composed the depressed group. Thirty-nine depressed and 39 nondepressed students rated their minimal standards for adequate interpersonal performance, its importance to them, and their judgments of self-efficacy for the same tasks. Depressed subjects showed a larger discrepancy between strength of interpersonal standards and strength of self-efficacy than did the normal subjects. Depressed subjects expressed a lower strength of self-efficacy than did nondepressed subjects, but they did not differ on their interpersonal standards. Importance and the strength for standards correlated positively for both depressed and normal subjects. The present findings are consistent with recent extensions of Lewinsohn's model of depression, which suggest that disruptions in self-evaluation are related to lowered judgments of self-efficacy for depressed subjects. Research on different aspects of depression has dramatically increased in the past decade (Lewinsohn & Hoberman, 1982). One issue of particular current interest concerns the relative "realism" of the depressed and nondepressed in their self-evaluation (e.g., Alloy & Abramson, 1979; Lewinsohn, Mischel, and Chaplin, & Barton, 1980). This issue is of interest for both applied and theoretical reasons. The way in which depressed persons perceive and evaluate themselves has important treatment implications. In addition, the major theoretical models of depression postulated by Beck (1967, 1976), Lewinsohn This research is based on a doctoral dissertation submitted by Ruth Kanfer in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a doctorate degree. We would like to thank dissertation committee members George Chartier, Robert Cialdini, Manuel Barrera, and Richard Lanyon for their assistance throughout the study. Special thanks are extended to Albert Bandura, Frederick Kanfer, and anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions on earlier versions of the article. We would also like to thank Patrick Stubblebine for his assistance in data collection.

Rumination has been consistently implicated in the onset and maintenance of depression. Less work has examined rumination in the context of bipolar disorder, especially rumination about positive emotion. The present study examined rumination about negative and positive emotion in interepisode bipolar disorder (BD; n ϭ 39) and healthy controls (CTL; n ϭ 34). Trait rumination about positive and negative emotion, as well as experiential and physiological responses to a rumination induction, was measured. Illness course was also assessed for the BD group. Results indicated that the BD group reported greater trait rumination about positive and negative emotion compared with the CTL group, though no group differences emerged during the rumination induction. For the BD group, trait rumination about positive and negative emotion, as well as increased cardiovascular arousal (i.e., heart rate), was associated with greater lifetime depression frequency; trait rumination about positive emotion was associated with greater lifetime mania frequency. These findings suggest that interepisode BD is associated with greater rumination about positive and negative emotion, which in turn is associated with illness course.

In this study, the authors examined the nature of emotion perception in schizophrenia. Two samples of people with schizophrenia, one receiving acute care for a recent exacerbation of symptoms and the other receiving extended care, were compared with a nonclinical control group on emotion perception and general perception measures. The nonclinical control group obtained the highest scores on all of the study measures, and the acutely ill group obtained the lowest scores. Furthermore, the acutely ill sample had a specific deficit in emotion perception that remained present after controlling for performance on the general perception tasks. Conversely, the deficits in emotion discrimination in the extended-care sample reflected generalized poor performance. Differences in performance on the emotion identification task between the 2 clinical groups were reduced when controlling for active symptoms. Individuals with schizophrenia are impaired in their ability to recognize the facial affect of others (Mandal, Pandey, & Prasad, 1998). This deficit may be more pronounced during acute than remitted stages of the illness (Gessler,. Cutting, Frith, & Weinman, 1989), although there is some evidence for stable deficits across phases of the disorder (Addington & Addington, 1998). Finally, this impairment may reflect generalized poor performance rather than a specific deficit in emotion perception (Penn, Corrigan, Bentall, Racenstein, & Newman, 1997). A number of extensions can be made on previous research in this area. First, the majority of studies investigating the gen

Väitekirja elektrooniline versioon ei sisalda publikatsiooneMissugused isiksusejooned iseloomustavad paanikahäirega (PH) patsienti? Millise mõõdikuga võiks selliste patsientide isiksuseomadusi mõõta? Need küsimused viisid meid põhiküsimuseni – kuidas on seotud isiksusejooned ja paanikahäire farmakoloogiline ravi? Kasutasime isiksuse hindamiseks Rootsi ülikoolide isiksuseskaalat (SSP), mis toetuvad kolmele tegurile: neurootilisus, ekstravertsus ja agressiivsus. Kontrollisime SSP eestikeelse variandi usaldusväärsust ja kehtivust ning hindasime PH-patsientide ja tervete inimeste isiksusejoonte erinevusi. Leidsime, et SSP kolmefaktoriline struktuur (neurootilisus, agressiivsus ja ekstravertsus) oli sarnane Rootsis saadud tulemustega. Teiseks vaatlesime PH-patsientide ja tervete inimeste isiksuseomadusi. Leidsime, et SSP faktorid neurootilisus ja agressiivsus, samuti somaatilise ärevuse alaskaala väärtused olid PH grupis oluliselt kõrgemad. Uuringus leidsime isiksusejooni kirjeldava SSP ...

Genetic factors are important for the association between parental negativity and child problem behavior, but it is not clear whether this is dueto passive or evocative genotype-environment correlation (rGE). In this study we applied the extended children-of-twins model to directly examine the presence of passive and evocative rGE as well as direct environmental effects in the association between parental criticism and adolescent externalizing problem behavior. The crosssectional data come from the Twin and Offspring Study in Sweden (TOSS) (N=909 pairs of adult twins) and from the Twin study of CHild and Adolescent Development (TCHAD) (N=915 pairs of twin children). The results revealed that maternal criticism was primarily due to evocative rGE emanating from their adolescent's externalizing behavior. On the other hand, fathers' critical remarks tended to affect adolescent problem behavior in a direct environmental way. This suggests that previously reported differences in caretaking between mothers and fathers also are reflected in differences in why parenting is associated with externalizing behavior in offspring.

Recent reviews of research on child and adolescent psychopathology have highlighted the consistently high rates of co-occurring dimensions of psychopathology, particularly between internalizing and externalizing disorders, and have suggested that further research examining the causes of co-occurring syndromes is needed. The authors examined this question in a national sample of 720 same-sex adolescent siblings between 10 and 18 years of age consisting of monozygotic and dizygotic twins, full siblings, half siblings, and unrelated siblings. Composite measures of adolescent and parent reports and observational measures of depressive symptoms and antisocial behavior were subjected to behavioral genetic models that examine the genetic and environmental influences on individual differences in each dimension as well as in the co-occurrence between dimensions. Results indicated that approximately hah" of the variability in depressive symptoms and antisocial behavior is attributed to genetic factors; shared and nonshared environmental influences were also significant. The cooccurrence of depressive and antisocial symptoms was explained by genetic and shared and nonshared environmental influences. Specifically, approximately 45% of the observed covariation between depressive and antisocial symptoms could be explained by a common genetic liability. Results are interpreted in light of contribution of genetic studies to debates on child and adolescent psychopathology.

Severe emotional disturbances such as anxiety and depression have been closely related to aberrant attentional processing of emotional stimuli. However, this has been little studied in schizophrenia, which is also characterized by marked emotional impairments such as heightened negative affect and anhedonia. In the current study, we investigated temporal dynamics of motivated attention to emotional stimuli in schizophrenia. For this purpose, we tracked eye movements of 22 individuals with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (ISZs) and 19 healthy controls (HCs) to emotional (i.e., happy, sad, angry) and neutral face pairs presented either for 500 ms or 1,500 ms. Initial fixation direction and viewing time at 3 successive intervals (0-500, 500-1,000, 1,000-1,500 ms) were calculated. The results showed that both ISZs and HCs were more likely to orient initial fixations and exhibited longer viewing times to emotional than neutral faces. However, compared with HCs, ISZs allocated less attention to overall faces during the late stage (1,000-1,500 ms) when one of the paired faces displayed negative emotions. Furthermore, positive symptoms were highly associated with initial fixation avoidance to angry faces while depressive symptoms were related to later avoidance of angry faces. Both social amotivation and poor interpersonal functioning were closely related to diminished sustained attention to happy faces. This suggests that early attentional capture of emotional salience may be relatively preserved in schizophrenia, but the people with this disorder display an atypical late attentional process characterized by generalized attentional avoidance of negative stimuli. Of note, aberrant attentional processes of social threat and reward were closely associated with major symptoms and functioning in this disorder. General Scientific Summary People with schizophrenia showed relatively intact early attentional capture by emotional salience but exhibited an atypical late attentional process characterized by generalized attentional avoidance of negative stimuli. Aberrant attentional processes of social threat and reward were closely associated with major symptoms and functioning in this disorder.

Ruminative coping has been associated with negative outcomes in bereavement. Rather than assuming it to be a problematic confrontation process, researchers have recently suggested rumination to be maladaptive through its links with avoidance processes. The main aim of this study was to examine, for the first time, whether the relationship between ruminative coping and symptoms of complicated grief and depression is mediated by avoidance processes (suppression, memory/experiential avoidance, behavioral avoidance, loss-reality avoidance). A sample of 282 adults (88% female, 12% male), bereaved on average 18 months previously, filled out three questionnaires at 6-month intervals. We assessed symptom levels, grief rumination, and trait rumination at baseline; avoidance processes after 6 months; and symptom levels after 12 months. When controlling for initial symptom levels, experiential avoidance mediated the link between grief rumination and complicated grief, and experiential avoidance and behavioral avoidance mediated the link between grief rumination and depression. Post hoc analyses showed suppression may also mediate the link between grief rumination and symptoms of complicated grief, but not depression. Loss-reality avoidance was no significant mediator of these relationships. This study provides initial evidence that rumination during bereavement increases and perpetuates symptoms of psychopathology, because it is linked with specific avoidance processes. Bereaved individuals with problematic grief and (chronic) rumination may benefit from therapy focused on countering avoidance tendencies.

Kajian ini adalah untuk mengenal pasti keberkesanan program rehabilitasi pulmonari di hospital (PRPH) berbanding program rehabilitasi pulmonari yang dijalankan di rumah (PRPR) dalam aspek kualiti hidup di kalangan pesakit yang mengalami penyakit obstruksi pulmonari kronik (COPD). Sejumlah 35 pesakit yang memenuhi kriteria pemilihan yang dirujuk oleh pakar perubatan respiratori dipilih secara rawak untuk dimasukkan ke dalam kumpulan program rehabilitasi, sama ada kumpulan PRPH atau PRPR. Kumpulan PRPH dikehendaki hadir dua kali seminggu selama lapan minggu di Jabatan Fisioterapi, Pusat Perubatan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (PPUKM). Manakala, kumpulan PRPR pula dikehendaki hadir dua kali sebelum dibenarkan melakukan senaman sendiri di rumah. Sebuah diari diberikan untuk mencatat aktiviti yang dilakukan dan panggilan telefon dibuat dua minggu sekali bagi memastikan kepatuhan pesakit terhadap program senaman. Soal selidik SF-36 dan Skala Geriatric Depression digunakan untuk menilai status pesakit sebelum dan selepas lapan minggu menjalani program rehabilitasi. Seramai 17 (48.6%) subjek telah melengkapkan PRPH dan 15 (43%) telah menyempurnakan PRPR. Keputusan kajian bagi kumpulan PRPH mendapati beberapa domain yang mencatatkan perubahan yang signifikan iaitu, peranan fizikal (p = 0.012), sakit badan (p = 0.040), kesihatan keseluruhan (p = 0.008) dan peranan emosi (p = 0.012). Min Skala Geriatric Depression bagi kumpulan PRPR ialah 1.8 ± 0.41 pada penilaian pertama dan 1.69 ± 0.48 setelah menjalani intervensi manakala (p > 0.05), bagi kumpulan PRPH, min skala Geriatric Depression ialah 1.87 ± 0.35 pada Bab 4 New.pmd 23/12/2009, 14:40 47 48 penilaian pertama dan 1.53 ± 0.52 pada penilaian berikutnya (p < 0.05). Kesimpulannya, kajian menunjukkan bahawa program rehabilitasi pulmonari di hospital lebih berkesan berbanding program rehabilitasi pulmonari di rumah di dalam meningkatkan kualiti hidup dan mengurangkan kemurungan di kalangan pesakit COPD.

Narcissism is a term that frequently pops up in discussions about personality disorders, but what exactly does it mean? In this article, we'll explore the complex world of a narcissist's life, shedding light on their behaviors, motivations, and the impact they have on those around them. Understanding narcissism can help individuals recognize these traits in themselves or others, leading to healthier relationships and better self-awareness. Defining Narcissism At its core, narcissism is characterized by an excessive sense of self-importance, an insatiable need for admiration, and a lack of empathy for others. People who exhibit narcissistic traits often have an inflated view of their accomplishments and a strong desire to be recognized as superior. This personality type can range from mild narcissistic traits to Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), a more severe and pervasive condition. Narcissists tend to focus primarily on their own needs and feelings, often disregarding the emotions and needs of those around them. This self-centered approach can lead to challenges in personal and professional relationships.

The definition of disorder as a harmful dysfunction (J. C. Wakefield, 1999) is a useful concept, anchored in the recognition that the evolved human architecture consists of a collection of functional mechanisms that may potentially be impaired and whose impairment may be harmful. Because natural selection organized each mechanism to solve a distinct adaptive problem under ancestral conditions, the criteria for whether a mechanism is dysfunctional are supplied by whether the mechanism has become impaired in performing its ancestral function. Because evolutionary function and dysfunction diverge markedly from normal human standards of value, many dysfunctions are beneficial, whereas various mechanisms that are performing their evolved function may cause disturbing outcomes. For this reason, many conditions in addition to disorders may require treatment, and the authors attempt to sketch an evolutionary taxonomy of treatable conditions. Abnormal psychology has two distinct but related identities: (a) as an essentially medical discipline concerned with the study, diagnosis, and treatment of psychological conditions that may invite treatment, and (b) as the scientific study of psychological phenomena that fall outside the range of normal mental functioning, including but not limited to those that ensue when the psychological or neural architecture is damaged in some respect. At present both parent disciplines, psychology and medicine, are being gradually transformed through their emerging integration with modem evolutionary biology (Nesse & Williams, 1994; Tooby & Cosmides, 1992), and it seems likely that abnormal psychology will eventually follow the same course (see, e.g., Baron-Cohen, 1995, 1997). Although the transformation is already well underway in many subfields of psychology, medicine is beginning to catch up, by using cutting-edge theories from evolutionary biology and evolutionary psychology to understand diseases, disorders, syndromes, and, more generally, conditions that cause pain and discomfort to those that have them (Ewald, 1993; Nesse & Williams, 1994; Toft, Aeschlimann, & Bolis, 1991; Williams & Nesse, 1991). This approach, called Darwinian medicine, is changing not only how conditions are conceptualized, investigated, and classified, but also how they are treated. For example, in the past, iron supplements were routinely given to those diagnosed with anemia. But new evidence indicates that many types of infectious bacteria are rate

Narcissism is a term that frequently pops up in discussions about personality disorders, but what exactly does it mean? In this article, we'll explore the complex world of a narcissist's life, shedding light on their behaviors, motivations, and the impact they have on those around them. Understanding narcissism can help individuals recognize these traits in themselves or others, leading to healthier relationships and better self-awareness. Defining Narcissism At its core, narcissism is characterized by an excessive sense of self-importance, an insatiable need for admiration, and a lack of empathy for others. People who exhibit narcissistic traits often have an inflated view of their accomplishments and a strong desire to be recognized as superior. This personality type can range from mild narcissistic traits to Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), a more severe and pervasive condition. Narcissists tend to focus primarily on their own needs and feelings, often disregarding the emotions and needs of those around them. This self-centered approach can lead to challenges in personal and professional relationships.

En este trabajo nos proponemos analizar el espiritismo, sus orígenes y la forma que fue
adoptando, focalizándonos particularmente en el espiritismo kardeciano, en tanto expresión
religiosa histórica – periférica y heterodoxa – en nuestro país.
El campo espírita argentino es heterogéneo, un espacio social habitado por instituciones
vinculadas directa o indirectamente a la obra de Kardec, y, a lo largo de su historia, fue
dando origen a una notable multiplicidad de expresiones socioreligiosas tanto al interior del
movimiento kardeciano como hacia afuera.

Individuals with bulimia nervosa (BN) engage in episodes of binge eating, marked by loss of control and eating despite fullness. Does altered reward and metabolic state contribute to BN pathophysiology? Normally, hunger increases (and satiety decreases) reward salience to regulate eating. We investigated whether BN is associated with an abnormal response in a neural circuit involved in translating taste signals into motivated behavior, when hungry and fed. Twenty-six women remitted from BN (RBN) and 22 control women (CW) were administered water and sucrose during two counterbalanced fMRI visits, following a 16-hour fast or a standardized breakfast. Significant Group x Condition interactions were found in the left putamen, insula, and amygdala. Post-hoc analyses revealed CW were significantly more responsive to taste stimuli when hungry versus fed in the left putamen and amygdala. In contrast, RBN response did not differ between conditions. Further, RBN had greater activation in the left amygdala compared to CW when fed. Findings suggest that RBN neural response to rewarding stimuli may not be modulated by metabolic state. Data raise the possibility that disinhibited eating in BN could result from a failure to devalue food reward when fed, resulting in an exaggerated response.

All of us psychopathologists, psychotraumatologists, and psychotherapists have dreamt since our professional childhood of a general theory of brain and mind that would help us understand the complex relations between different psychiatric disorders.

One of the fields that remain "ununderstandable", in the Jaspersian and Schneiderian sense of the term, is that of psychotic disorders. We lack a comprehensive model of psychophysiological functioning that permits a holistic approach to the patient. By holistic I mean a way of communication that is based on a full understanding from the perspectives of the clinician and the therapist about what is going on in the patient’s mind and body before and during the psychotic disorder. Most problematic is the inability to reintegrate the patient’s psychotic state into her/his past, impeding an integrative approach in which life can be seen as a continuum.

BackgroundInterest in the neuro-cognitive profile of patients with schizophrenia and co-morbid obsessive compulsive disorder (schizo-OCD) is rising in response to reports of high co-morbidity rates. Whereas schizophrenia has been associated with global impairment in a wide range of neuro-cognitive domains, OCD is associated with specific deficits featuring impaired performance on tasks of motor and cognitive inhibition involving frontostriatal neuro-circuitry.MethodWe compared cognitive function using the CANTAB battery in patients with schizo-OCD (n=12) and a schizophrenia group without OCD symptoms (n=16). The groups were matched for IQ, gender, age, medication, and duration of illness.ResultsThe schizo-OCD patients made significantly more errors on a task of attentional set-shifting (ID-ED set-shift task). By contrast, no significant differences emerged on the Stockings of Cambridge task, the Cambridge Gamble Task or the Affective Go/NoGo tasks. No correlation emerged between ID-...

In Experiment I the thumbsucking of S Ss aged 90-180 days was measured at 0, 2.5, S, 7.5, and 10 hr. after feeding. In Experiment II these same Ss, now between ages 180 and 270 days, were observed at intervals of 0, 37.5, 75, 112.5, 250 min., and 10 hr. after feeding. In Experiment III 6 additional monkeys 90-180 days of age were observed at the 1st S intervals of Experiment II. In all experiments thumbsucking increased with hunger. In Experiment II there was no significant increase in sucking during the intervals between 0 and 250 min. Experiment III results showed a significant increase during this period suggesting that the effectiveness of specific deprivation intervals decreases with age.

We used the Structural Analysis of Social Behavior (SASB) to compare the social perceptions of borderline, unipolar, and bipolar-depressed inpatients. As predicted, borderline subjects differed from bipolar-depressed and unipolar subjects in their social perceptions. Borderline subjects viewed their relationships to their mother, hospital staff, and other patients as more hostile and autonomous than did mood disordered subjects. The results are discussed in terms of an integrative theory of borderline personality that considers the psychobiology of interpersonal relationships and attachment disruptions.