Many intimate relationships do not survive the process of working through issues to do with incest. However, some relationships do well despite these upheavals. Therefore the focus of the current study was on how lasting marriages manage to construct emotional safety in order to maintain emotional intimacy. The relationship issues of marriages where one partner is a survivor of incest have not been widely researched. Yet it is in the survivor's relationship where many issues arising from the incest may be played out. Literature in the survivor area focuses on the need for safety and support. Therefore, models of couple counselling may need to include these issues in their notions of healing within the process of counselling. This study was conducted using qualitative research methods. Focus groups were a primary source of data. The study examined the construction of safety in longterm intact marriages of incest survivors. This examination looked at the three-stage model of counselling for trauma proposed by Judith Herman, and the relationship between these three stages of healing and the construction of safety. The research participants included female incest survivors and husbands of survivors of incest. Participants were asked to individually make written constructions of safety related to each of the three stages of healing. A group construction process followed these individual constructions and differences within the written materials were also highlighted. Segregated groups met three times, each time concentrating on a particular stage of healing. A single validating group of the combined women and men's groups met later to do an overall construction of the notion of safety. Results indicate that emotional safety is indeed an important issue for both partners in relationships where the wife is a survivor of incest. There are differences between survivors and partners about the significance of the three stages. A model of the retrospective construction of safety has been developed. This model includes the important elements of the experience of emotional safety that arose. These elements were knowledge, negotiated control, negotiated trust, communication, how anger is managed and directed, and managing the difficult times and issues such as the times of the disclosure of incest.

The emotion hypothesis of startle eyeblink modification posits that potentiated eyeblinks are observed in response to fear/disgust (aversive) pictures and eyeblink inhibition occurs in response to pleasant (appetitive) pictures due to the degree to which the stimuli match with the aversive startle probe. Stimuli high in arousal elicit exaggerated responses. Four studies sought to investigate the effect of angering pictures on the startle eyeblink response. Three potential hypotheses were posed: 1) given anger's high levels of arousal and negativity, eyeblinks will be potentiated like those to fear/disgust pictures; 2) given anger's arousing and appetitive qualities, eyeblinks will be inhibited like those to pleasant pictures; 3) anger's arousal, negativity, and approach qualities will balance each other out causing eyeblinks resembling those in response to neutral pictures. Study 1 supported the third hypothesis in that eyeblinks to angering and neutral pictures did not differ, despite angering pictures being rated higher on arousal and anger and lower in valence. These results replicated in Study 2 with a different set of angering pictures. Also, Study 2 demonstrated that dysphoric participants exhibited potentiated eyeblinks during angering pictures much like eyeblinks during fear/disgust stimuli, whereas non-dysphoric participants did not. Ratings of pictures on arousal, valence, and anger did not differ between groups. Constructive patriotism related to inhibited eyeblinks during angering pictures. Study 3 found that dysphoric participants rated angering pictures higher in fear than did non-dysophoric participants, suggesting that the potentiated eyeblinks observed in Study 2 were a result of greater perceived fear. Study 4 again showed that eyeblinks during angering and neutral pictures did not differ, and that constructive patriotism related to inhibited eyeblinks. Taken together, results are consistent with the third hypothesis and suggest that angering stimuli elicit eyeblinks much like those to neutral stimuli due to the competing influences of arousal, valence, and motivation on the startle eyeblink reflex.

Deliberate self harm as defined pathologically as well as socially is becoming an increasing phenomenon within forensic psychiatry. Nurses working with patients who have self harm behaviour and are confined to forensic psychiatry face different challenges which affect their feelings and attitudes in different ways, in their nursing practice. Purpose: To explore nurses’ experiences of caring for patients who suffer from deliberate self harm behaviour and are confined to forensic psychiatry. Method: Qualitative semi- structured interview s from eight nurses working within the forensic psychiatric clinic. Interviews were analysed by using a qualitative content analysis. Results: They worked strategically and emphasized the importance of teamwork, good communication and urged for the need to get necessary education, staff focused tutoring and patient focused therapy. Conclusion: Need for necessary education, patient focused therapy and staff focused tutor is needed to empower staff working with patients who are confined within forensic psychiatry and suffer from deliberate self harm behaviour. / Introduktion: Självskadebeteende beskrivs vanligtvis utifrån ett patologiskt perspektiv och är allt vanligare inom rättspsykiatrisk vård. Beteendet anses ofta vara socialt oacceptabelt i samhället. Sjuksköterskor ställs ofta inför olika emotioner och synsätt i mötet med patienter med självskadebeteende. Dessa känslor och attityder påverkar både sjuksköterskan och patienter på olika sätt. Syfte: Examensarbetets syfte var att belysa sjuksköterskors erfarenheter av att vårda patienter med självskadebeteende, som vårdas inom rättspsykiatrisk vård i Sverige. Metod: Studien har genomförts med hjälp av kvalitativa semi-strukturerade intervjuer, som analyserats med innehållsanalys. Åtta sjuksköterskor deltog i studien. Resultat: Från intervjuerna framkom det att sjuksköterskorna upplevde olika känslor och reaktioner gentemot patienter med självskadebeteende. Känslorna var av frustration, hjälplöshet, ilska, ångest och rädsla. Sjuksköterskorna betonade vikten i att ha en god kommunikation i omvårdnaden med sina kollegor, samt efterlyste behovet av utbildning och handledning till personalen samt patientfokuserad terapi. Slutsats: För att stärka sjuksköterskorna i deras omvårdnadsarbete och professionella roll gentemot patienter med självskadebeteende, som vistas inom den svenska rättspsykiatriska vården, krävs det faktabaserade utbildning och handledning för att kunna ge en god vård. Deliberate self harm as defined pathologically as well as socially is becoming an increasing phenomenon within forensic psychiatry. Nurses working with patients who have self harm behaviour and are confined to forensic psychiatry face different challenges which affect their feelings and attitudes in different ways, in their nursing practice.

Theoretical positions (Sloman & Gilbert, 2000), current research (Robbins & Tanck, 1997) and clinical observations (APA, 1994) have generally concluded that depressed populations tend to demonstrate an elevated level of hostility. Based on the premises of the Social Rank Theory (SRT; Sloman & Gilbert, 2000), the current study explores the purported etiological underpinnings of the co-occurrence between depression and hostility. The SRT regards depression as a state of inferiority resulting from a drop in social rank and hostility as stemming from a sense of injustice over this inferiority. To test this idea, measures of perceived social rank, depression, trait anger, anger expression and perceived injustice were administered to 97 university students at two time points, one month apart. Long-term rank change was measured retrospectively at Time 1 and short-term rank change was measured prospectively by sampling at Time 1 and Time 2. Three hypotheses were advanced: 1) social rank would be negatively associated with depression; 2) unfavourable rank change would predict greater levels of depression; and 3) unfavourable rank change from an initially superior rank would predict greater levels of anger and perceived injustice. Results were partially supportive of the hypotheses. As expected, social rank was negatively associated with depression. As well, a long-term change in social rank predicted greater levels of anger suppression. Results were discussed with respect to their consistency with the SRT. Potential weaknesses of the methodology and future directions of this line of inquiry were also presented.

Theoretical positions (Sloman & Gilbert, 2000), current research (Robbins & Tanck, 1997) and clinical observations (APA, 1994) have generally concluded that depressed populations tend to demonstrate an elevated level of hostility. Based on the premises of the Social Rank Theory (SRT; Sloman & Gilbert, 2000), the current study explores the purported etiological underpinnings of the co-occurrence between depression and hostility. The SRT regards depression as a state of inferiority resulting from a drop in social rank and hostility as stemming from a sense of injustice over this inferiority. To test this idea, measures of perceived social rank, depression, trait anger, anger expression and perceived injustice were administered to 97 university students at two time points, one month apart. Long-term rank change was measured retrospectively at Time 1 and short-term rank change was measured prospectively by sampling at Time 1 and Time 2. Three hypotheses were advanced: 1) social rank would be negatively associated with depression; 2) unfavourable rank change would predict greater levels of depression; and 3) unfavourable rank change from an initially superior rank would predict greater levels of anger and perceived injustice. Results were partially supportive of the hypotheses. As expected, social rank was negatively associated with depression. As well, a long-term change in social rank predicted greater levels of anger suppression. Results were discussed with respect to their consistency with the SRT. Potential weaknesses of the methodology and future directions of this line of inquiry were also presented.

Ostracism arouses negative affect. However, little is known about variables that influence the intensity of these negative affective responses. Two studies seek to fill this void by incorporating work on approach- and withdrawal-related emotional states and their associated cortical activations. Study 1 found that following ostracism, anger related directly to relative left frontal cortical activation. Study 2 used unilateral hand contractions to manipulate frontal cortical activity prior to an ostracizing event. Righthand contractions, compared to left-hand contractions, caused greater relative left frontal cortical activation during the hand contractions as well as during ostracism. Also, righthand contractions caused more self-reported anger in response to being ostracized. Within-condition correlations revealed patterns of associations between ostracisminduced frontal asymmetry and emotive responses to ostracism consistent with Study 1. Taken together, these results suggest that asymmetrical frontal cortical activity affects angry responses to ostracism, with greater relative left frontal cortical activity being associated with increased anger.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [106]-130). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 2002. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 84 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 63-69).

Thesis (Psy.D.)--Rutgers University, 2009. / "Graduate Program in Clinical Psychology." Includes bibliographical references (p. 132-136).

Female adolescents are increasingly being charged with crimes of violence, and the literature is lacking as to how best to reduce their aggressive tendencies. In the past, girls represented a small portion of all youths involved in criminal justice systems, and studies involving effective treatment options for them were rarely conducted. Aggression Replacement Training® is a 10-week, evidence-based, group treatment intervention designed to advance moral reasoning, improve social skills, and manage angry feelings. Numerous outcome studies of Aggression Replacement Training® with both offending and non-offending male adolescents and with male and female adolescents together have yielded mixed results. The question remains whether or not positive results can be obtained when Aggression Replacement Training® is provided to only female adolescents in a group setting. This quasi-experimental study examined if there were significant decreases in aggressive tendencies and increases in pro-social behaviors among female juvenile offenders in a residential commitment program in the state of Florida who participated in an Aggression Replacement Training® group intervention versus those who did not participate. Due to the exceptionally high degree of exposure to traumatic life events commonly reported by this population, this study also hoped to ascertain whether or not the level of traumatic distress mattered as to the efficacy of the intervention for the girls who participated. The results of repeated measures 2 X 2 (time X group) ANOVA tests indicated no significant mean differences in rule-breaking or aggressive behaviors pre- to posttest between the 30 experimental and 30 comparison group members in this quasi-experimental study, although only a large anticipated effect could have been observed with a sample this size. The degree of trauma (covariate), also, had no significant impact on intervention efficacy for those girls who participated in the Aggression Replacement Training® group treatment. Mean negative behaviors were reduced for all study participants during the 12-week study time frame while in the commitment program, however, and both groups exhibited a mean increase in positive behaviors. Additional studies with larger samples may reveal a clearer picture of the benefits this intervention may provide to girls in juvenile justice commitment settings.