Cette recherche s'interesse aux etudes qui ont ete faites sur les tueurs en serie. Nous avons limite notre recherche sur les tueurs en serie masculins americains a partir des annees 1960. Nous avons analyse la theorie du FBI. Deux auteurs ont ete utilises pour cette partie soit Robert K. Ressler et John Douglas, Par la suite, nous avons etudie des theories differentes afin de demontrer que la theorie du FBI, qui est d'approche psychologique, ne peut pas, a elle seule, expliquer les comportements et les motivations des tueurs en serie. Les approches sociales de Eliott Leyton qui traite des inegalites sociales, feministes de Jane Caputi et de Cameron et Frazer qui portent sur la perception des femmes comme victimes et historiques de Philip Jenkins qui s'interesse aux transformations sociales, nous ont permis de demontrer que plusieurs facteurs doivent etre pris en consideration afin de pouvoir expliquer les comportements et les motivations d'un sujet de plus en plus important dans la societe.

To determine what it is like for therapists and their clients to go through sessions of couples therapy together, the subjective impressions of four couples and two therapists were explored as they engaged in emotion focused (EFT) and narrative approaches to couples work. An open-ended interview procedure called Interpersonal Process Recall (IPR) was used to gather the subjective impressions of partners and their therapists following sessions they chose as being especially meaningful or significant. This involved replaying entire videotapes of their selected sessions to gain an account of their perceptions of their meetings. Participants each engaged in three separate IPR interviews. The first followed their initial meeting while the remaining two occurred towards the middle and latter stages of their work. Interviews were also conducted with the couples both before and after their completed course of therapy Results for the partners indicated that their therapy was a highly emotional experience. The couples also highlighted the importance of feeling safe in therapy; the "feeling work" that it entails; the process of exploring and naming experience in therapy; their search for "depth of feeling;" and their view of therapy as not only an "out-of-the-ordinary" experience, but as a space in which to present one's self to the therapist and to one's partner. Results for the therapists indicated that feelings were also central to their experience, although these were used to help them get a "feel" for their couples. Evident as well in their reviews was the privilege they gave to the expression of emotion, which they used to get to "know" the couples, along with the ongoing tension this desire created in them when certain partners appeared to withhold their feelings. Results indicated more similarity than difference in the experiences of couples going through EFT and narrative sessions of therapy. How males and females saw their sessions also revealed similarities, although men seemed generally to find couples therapy a more uncomfortable setting than did their female counterparts. The study served to generate a "theory" or a way of looking at couples therapy that emerged out of what participants said about their experience. Their research interviews suggested that the heart of the change process in couples therapy is the relationship therapists and clients collaborate to create. This takes place as partners begin to open up to the therapist, who identifies with or internalizes each of them and in so doing enters their experiential world. This occurs when partners feel understood by the therapist on an emotional level, which in turn leads them to feel safe to "tune in" to each other's experience as well. In the process, they become engaged in identifying with their partner and in allowing their partner to identify with them as well. Partners leave therapy with a more genuine appreciation of what it is like to "be" the other. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

The primary objective of the present study was to investigate the relationship between psychological, physiological and offence variables and recidivism in a sample of 588 sexual offenders assessed at the Sexual Behaviours Clinic (SBC) of the Royal Ottawa Hospital between the years 1983 and 1992, and who were convicted of a contact sexual offence. The 588 sexual offenders in the study were categorized four groups: (1) Incest group consisted of 251 subjects who had sexually assaulted a related male or female child; (2) Child Molester (CM) group was composed of 192 subjects who had sexually assaulted an unrelated male or female child; (3) Rapist group was composed of 86 individuals who had perpetrated a sexual assault against an unrelated female 16 years of age or older; and (4) a Mixed group composed of 59 individuals. There were significant differences between the four groups on the majority of variables investigated, including demographic characteristics, criminal history, psychiatric history, alcohol and drug abuse, degree of psychopathy, degree of violence used in committing the index offence, and the degree of sexual assault of the index offence. Overall, Rapists were the most extreme group. More Rapists used excessive violence in committing the index offence, were more likely to have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol when the index offence was committed, had more extensive criminal histories, and were more psychopathic, than the other offender groups. A significant discriminant function for the Incest group, composed of age, degree of psychopathy, and a self-reported history of violence, was able to correctly classify 91.6% of non-recidivists and 45.6% of recidivists. For the CM group, degree of psychopathy and previous convictions for non-violent offences was able to correctly classify 77.9% of non-recidivists and 55.1% of recidivists. However, degree of psychopathy alone was able to improve correct classification of CM non-recidivists to 78.8%, and of recidivists to 58.3%. For the Mixed group, deviant sexual arousal scores were able to correctly predict 57.1% of non-recidivists and 69.6% of recidivists. Overall, classification was improved from 10% to 22% in the various sub-groups of offenders. No variables were able to improve prediction of recidivism beyond chance levels for the Rapist group. An exploratory aspect of the study considered the impact of victim gender on recidivism in offenders who had sexually assaulted children. Incest and CM offenders were reclassified to form a group of 310 heterosexual offenders, and 113 homosexual offenders, based upon victim gender. Statistical tests revealed few differences between the heterosexual and homosexual groups. However, the groups were distinguished by variables that were correlated with recidivism. For the heterosexual offenders, discriminant function, composed of deviant sexual arousal score, previous non-violent convictions, degree of psychopathy, and self-reported history of violence improved classification of non-recidivists by 22.6%, and of recidivists by 23.4%. For the homosexual group, discriminant function composed of the score for anger and hostility, degree of psychopathy, and family violence in childhood improved classification of non-recidivists by 16.4%, and of recidivists by 16.5%. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

L'approche de l'imagerie bipolaire de Ashen (1978) a laquelle furent integres des elements de l'approche de Gendlin (1984) et de Grinder et Bandler (1982), est proposee comme traitement pour resoudre la polarite percue par un ensemble de chercheurs comme constituante de la resistance intrapsychique. L'experience a ete prealablement tentee par deux therapeutes, maitrisant cette approche, aupres de trois sujets ages de 40 a 65 ans. La methode phenomenologique a permis de recuperer la subjectivite du processus vecu et d'analyser le phenomene de maniere a en saisir la structure essentielle. Les resultats indiquent une resolution efficace de la resistance intrapsychique particuliere eprouvee par chacun des sujets ainsi qu'un acces durable a une plus grande autonomie. De plus, bien que chaque experience ait ete distincte, les resultats laissent entrevoir des themes recurrents dans les divers processus: reference kinesthesique persistante; emergence d'interdits parentaux ou d'enjeux de controle; decouverte de sens nouveaux quant au monde interieur du sujet et a son mode relationnel. L'etude se termine par une discussion de ces resultats et une reflexion pastorale en lien avec les conclusions de l'analyse effectuee. De l'exploration de ces resultats decoule l'espoir qu'une theorie psychologique de l'imagerie mentale soutienne une pratique transformante qui rendra l'intervention therapeutique plus profondement satisfaisante et pour le client et pour le therapeute.

Les recherches sur les reves presentent des resultats contradictoires quant a l'impact du stress de l'eveil sur l'imagerie onirique et la fonction adaptative des reves. L'etude compare le contenu des reves survenus au cours d'une periode de stress et d'une periode controle. Trente-cinq femmes agees de 19 a 21 ans ont note leurs reves pendant une periode de preparation d'un ou plusieurs examens et une periode sans examen. L'analyse des reves comportait six mesures: l'incorporation du stresseur, le niveau de stress, les emotions negatives, les strategies d'adaptation, le succes et l'echec. Les resultats n'ont revele aucune difference significative entre les reves de la periode d'examens et ceux de la periode controle; les reves qui incorporent l'examen ne sont pas significativement differents de ceux qui ne l'incorporent pas. Toutefois, les participantes qui ont eu des reves d'incorporation different de celles qui n'en ont pas eu quant aux strategies d'adaptation de l'eveil. De plus, une relation positive a ete observee entre la strategie d'adaptation recadrage positif de l'eveil et les strategies d'adaptation dans les reves d'incorporation. Aucune relation n'a ete constatee entre le niveau de stress du matin et le contenu des reves. Les resultats sont discutes dans le cadre des perspectives de la continuite et de la mai trise.

<p> Hispanic immigrant parents are a growing yet understudied population. Few studies have addressed the relationship between Hispanic immigrant parents and the acculturation process. The purpose of this study was to determine how acculturative stress, racism, language proficiency, poor coping style, and low levels of social support affect the psychological adjustment of Hispanic immigrant parents. Using the framework of acculturation theory, this quantitative study examined 92 immigrant Hispanic parents from an urban northeast school in the United States. Several established instruments that measured racism, coping style, language proficiency, social support, and psychological distress were used. The results of the multiple regression analysis showed that as Spanish competencies pressure increased, depressive symptoms increased. In addition, as interpersonal support increased, depressive symptoms decreased. Contrary to recent literature, racism, coping style, and language proficiency were not predictive of psychological distress. This study contributes to positive social change by understanding how Spanish competencies pressure can cause psychological distress, thereby giving therapists the sapience to better treat this population with effective therapies such as social support, and thus improving the quality of life of this population.</p>

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the role of motivation in the treatment of individuals hospitalized for severe OCD, specifically, the extent to which an individual’s motivation for treatment and motivational orientation (intrinsic or extrinsic motivation) predict OCD treatment response. The sample consisted of 142 individuals diagnosed with severe treatment-refractory OCD participating in an intensive treatment program. Patients completed a measure assessing overall motivation and motivational orientation at admission (TSRQ), and measures assessing depressive severity ( BDI) and OCD symptom severity (Y-BOCS) at admission and discharge. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were performed in which admission levels of overall motivation, intrinsic motivation, and extrinsic motivation were examined as predictors of OCD treatment response when controlling for length of treatment and baseline levels of OCD and depressive symptoms. Results indicate that a high initial level of extrinsic motivation was associated with poorer treatment outcome when controlling for other variables. Furthermore, findings suggest intrinsic motivation appears to have an interactive effect with OCD symptom severity, such that a high level of intrinsic motivation at the outset of treatment may predict positive treatment outcome when OCD symptoms are more severe. Overall initial level of motivation was not found to be a significant predictor of OCD treatment outcome. Treatment implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

The quality of the patient-therapist relationship, or therapeutic alliance, is widely viewed as an important element of the psychotherapeutic process. Empirically, the therapeutic alliance is a well-established and robust predictor of therapeutic change. With its clear impact on therapeutic success, researchers have increasingly examined factors that contribute to alliance development, including patient psychological characteristics. This study examined the relationship between patients’ object relations (i.e., mental representations of self and others) and alliance quality, and whether timing of the alliance rating and the rater perspective (patient vs. therapist) moderated this relationship. Participants were 73 patients and 23 therapists from two outpatient mental health clinics. Patients completed the Bell Object Relations Inventory at baseline, and both patients and therapists completed the Working Alliance Inventory across multiple therapy sessions. On average, patients perceived the alliance more positively than their therapists, and there was a small, but statistically significant, correlation between their perspectives. Patients’ general object relations deficits, as well as greater alienation and insecure attachment, were associated with more negative patient-rated alliance quality. On the other hand, patients’ greater egocentricity was associated with a more positive patient-rated alliance perception. Patients’ object relations did not significantly predict therapist-rated alliance, but symptom severity did. Less severe patient symptomatology was associated with more positive therapist alliance perception. Symptom severity did not predict patient-rated alliance. The number of sessions in which patients engaged was positively associated with therapist-rated alliance, while patient-rated alliance remained stable across sessions. Time of the alliance assessment did not moderate the relationship between object relations and either patient- or therapist-rated alliance. The results suggest that it may be important to consider patients’ presenting quality of object relations for treatment planning and for negotiating the therapeutic alliance.

The current study investigated the effects of supervisee race and the match between supervisors’ and supervisees’ colorblind racial attitudes on supervisees’ perceptions of the supervisory bond and overall alliance early in supervision and over two months. Self-report measures of racial attitudes were administered to 50 supervisory dyads composed of all White supervisors, 33 White supervisees, and 17 Supervisees of Color. Discrepancy and average racial attitudes scores for each supervisory dyad were created using HLM software which allowed researchers to account for the shared variance in supervisors’ and supervisees’ colorblind racial attitudes scores. The most noteworthy findings revealed that supervisee race did not influence the supervisory alliance and bond over time. Furthermore, supervisees’ perceived decreases in the supervisory bond over time when supervisors possessed significantly more advanced racial attitudes than supervisees and the dyad had an overall low average of racial attitudes. Findings point to importance of infusing multicultural training of future

The client-therapist relationship has long been recognized as an important element in psychotherapy, and research has demonstrated its robust association with positive outcomes. This study examined the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of training therapists in strategies for improving therapeutic relationships with clients. The strategies were compiled from the empirical literature, drawing on the work of Hilsenroth and Cromer (2007), Castonguay (1996), and Safran and Muran (2000). The study employed a manipulated training design that has the benefit of addressing naturalistic effectiveness questions, while adhering to the rigorous scientific standards of controlled efficacy research (Hayes, 2002). Participants were 57 therapists working at five community mental health clinics who were randomly assigned to the brief alliance training workshop (in which they participated prior to starting treatment with a new client) or to a delayed-training control condition. Outcomes assessed included therapists' self-reported use of alliance strategies in session 1, therapist-rated alliance quality after session 1, and early client engagement. Engagement was operationalized in several ways: number of sessions attended in the first four weeks, planned session frequency (e.g., weekly, monthly), attendance rate (i.e., percent of scheduled sessions attended), and treatment status at the end of four weeks (e.g., therapist and client had next session scheduled, client had terminated unilaterally). Counter to hypotheses, one-way ANOVAs and chi-square analyses revealed no statistically significant differences between the training and the delayed-training conditions on the primary outcomes. However, effect size estimates suggested that clinicians in the training condition reported better alliances with their clients than clinicians who had yet to receive the training (d = 0.40, 95% CI [-0.13, 0.93], small to medium effect). Furthermore, therapists' use of alliance strategies taught in the workshop was significantly correlated with alliance quality. In addition to the preliminary efficacy findings, the study generated important information about the feasibility of conducting psychotherapy research in naturalistic settings, as well as recommendations for future studies. The manipulated training design holds promise for collaborations between researchers and clinicians seeking to bridge science and practice.