The study attempted to reduce endometriotic dysmenorrhea through the adaptation of Longo, Clum, and Yaeger's psychosocial treatment regimen for genital herpes symptoms. Thirteen women were assigned to the psychosocial treatment group or a social support control group and followed through 6 weeks each of baseline, intervention, and follow-up. Treatment consisted of training in respiratory relief therapy and suggestive imagery, provision of information about endometriosis, and group discussions of maladaptive and adaptive adjustments, emotional aspects, and sexual intercourse. The social support control group received the same with the exception of respiratory relief therapy and suggestive imagery. A MANOVA of the pre-post-follow-up data for aggregate pain, aggregate distress, aggregate negative affect and hassles measures yielded equivocal results. Data from participants with reported pain above the mean were analyzed separately. Results partially replicated Longo, Clum, and Yaeger's findings, with an important reduction from pre to post and follow-up scores in aggregate pain for the psychosocial but not the social support group. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.)

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Therapist empathy has long been recognized as an important therapeutic factor across different psychotherapies. However, despite its widely accepted clinical importance, empathy is conceptually complex, and its relation to other psychotherapy constructs and to therapy outcomes remains empirically unclear. The current study examined the association between empathy and the therapeutic alliance, as well as their respective and potentially interactive associations with treatment outcome. Using confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and path analysis, these relations were examined in the context of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), a condition for which little research exists on treatment process and relationship variables. Although not all path analyses could be interpreted because of the relatively small sample size (N = 69), the results indicated, as predicted, a distinction between therapist empathy and the global therapeutic alliance, as well as therapist empathy and the alliance components (viz., bond, tasks, and goals). Empathy and the therapeutic alliance differentially predicted outcome as measured by global anxiety symptomatology level. In addition, a model where early empathy’s relationship to outcome was mediated by the middle alliance was a significant improvement over a model without the mediation.

Survivors Healing from Abuse: Recovery through Exposure (SHARE) is an eight-week therapy group for incarcerated women who have experienced sexual violence victimization. SHARE requires each member to complete an imaginal exposure and to listen when others share their experiences of victimization. While trauma-focused group interventions including SHARE are associated with reductions in internalizing symptoms, little work has examined how group characteristics predict symptom decreases. The purpose of this study was to examine whether group size was associated with symptom changes pre- to posttreatment. Participants (n = 140 across 29 groups) completed self-report measures of posttraumatic stress symptoms before and after completing SHARE. Multilevel modeling revealed the majority of the variance in posttreatment symptoms was attributed to individual factors rather than group factors. Symptom change was comparable for groups of two to eight women; declines in symptom improvement were observed at a group size of 10 participants.

Self-injurious behavior (SIB) is a disorder that is typically associated with clinical syndromes, genetic diseases, or mental retardation. However, recent studies indicate that SIB can develop in the general population and may be more prevalent than previously reported. The purpose of this dissertation was to identify psychological, experiential and physiological correlates of SIB in university undergraduate students. Prior to formal data collection, we prescreened potential participants by collecting information on self-injurious behavior from a large number of undergraduate students enrolled in psychology classes. The prescreening revealed that 16% of the students had engaged in self-inflicted wounding at some point in their lives. Men were more likely to burn themselves whereas women preferred cutting. These findings were replicated in a second screening. Subsequent research was focused on a subset of the prescreen population. In Study 1, a questionnaire was used to gathered baseline information on mental health and life histories of undergraduates who engaged in SIB (n = 24) as well as non-injuring undergraduate controls (n = 25). The stress hormone, cortisol, was also examined by collecting saliva samples under baseline conditions and assaying for cortisol levels. Our findings revealed that undergraduates with a history of SIB had significantly more psychological problems (e.g. depression, anxiety, emotional problems, and traumatic experiences) than controls. Preliminary evidence suggested that cortisol level might be a significant predictor of SIB status. In Study 2, a similar questionnaire was administered to 91 undergraduate participants as phase I of the study. In phase 2, a subset of undergraduates was exposed to a modified Trier Stress Test (i.e. public speaking and mental arithmetic tasks) to examine the stress response system. Questionnaire results from Study 2 confirmed our previous findings. Participants who engaged in SIB were significantly more depressed and anxious, and had experienced more emotional problems, and traumatic experiences than controls. However, SIB status was unrelated to baseline cortisol, and there were no group differences in reaction to the stress test. These findings indicate that self-injurious behavior is present at significant levels in college students and is strongly associated with psychological problems.

This study was conducted to explore how the identity processes of assimilation and accommodation work together to enable older adults to adjust to age-related physical and cognitive change. The study introduces of the concept of micro and macro levels of identity processes to Whitbourne's identity model as a means of further understanding the concept of a identity balance, an approach to identity that employs both assimilation and accommodation, and is theorized to be the optimal approach to maintaining well-being and positive self-esteem in later life. A sample of 50 community-dwelling adults between the age of 50 and 93 (M = 72.42) completed a structured interview that included measures of identity and self-esteem. It was hypothesized that participants would use identity assimilation in response to the impact of age on overall sense of self (macro identity), and identity accommodation in response to most salient physical or cognitive changes (micro identity). The results indicate that identity assimilation was used most at the macro level, but was not positively correlated with self-esteem. Identity assimilation was also used most at the micro level; however, it was not clear whether the structured interview accurately assessed assimilation and accommodation at the micro level due to a contradiction in reporting by a substantial percentage of the identity assimilators. The results suggest that a balanced approach to overall identity, as well as engaging in behavior to manage physical or cognitive change, are most effective in maintaining positive self-esteem in later life. The relationship of engaging in behavior to identity at both the micro and macro levels of identity was explored, and a model based on the findings was proposed for understanding how identity at both levels can be employed in order to maintain a high self-esteem and a balanced sense of self.

The stability and change of adult personality is one of the most enduring questions in psychology. This study utilized longitudinal data on three cohorts of men and women spanning 34 years to examine Erikson's (1963) eight-stage theory of personality using the Inventory of Psychosocial Development (IPD), an 80-item Likert-type self-report measure. Cohort 1 (N = 106) was first tested in 1966 at age 20 and has been re-tested in 1977, 1988, and 2000 at the ages of 31, 42, and 54, respectively. Cohort 2 (N = 73) was first tested in 1977 at age 20 and has been re-tested in 1988 and 2000 at the ages of 31 and 42, respectively. Cohort 3 ( N = 55) was first tested in 1988 at age 20 and has been re-tested in 2000 at age 31. Joining a substantial body of trait personality research, mean-level and rank-order stability estimates suggest personality goes through significant age-related changes in the decade of the 20s, fewer changes in the decade of 30s, and virtually no change in the decade of the 40s, providing convincing evidence that personality stabilizes in middle adulthood. It is concluded that researchers should transcend the historically polarized stability versus change debate to examine the stability and change of adult personality.

In this study, the author investigated the hypothesis that an animal visitation program could alleviate depressed behaviors among a group of elderly subjects residing in a nursing facility. The program consisted of twice weekly visits of volunteers accompanying their dogs. The effect of the visits upon the patients was evaluated regularly using two behavioral monitoring devices (the Geriatric Rating Scale, and the Social Interaction Rating Scale) and two self-report questionnaires (the Geriatric Depression Scale, and the Profile of Mood States). Twenty-five subjects participated in the treatment. The performance of this group was compared with that of a matched no-treatment group. At the conclusion of the twelve week treatment, experimental subjects reported less depression, anxiety, anger, fatigue, and confusion. There were significant reductions in apathetic, withdrawn behaviors and significant increases in prosocial behavior. Control subjects were unchanged. The Pet Attitude and Experience Questionnaire (PAEQ) provided a quantitative representation of the quality of the subject's past experiences with and current attitudes toward pet animals. Grouping subjects by PAEQ scores revealed that experimental subjects who reported strongly positive experiences and attitudes improved significantly over control subjects, while experiments subjects with less positive attitudes and experiences failed to show significant improvement on the dependent measures. The role of pet-facilitated therapy as a behavioral treatment for depression in institutionalized elderly is discussed.