<p> By highlighting the profound link between Greenspan and Wieder&rsquo;s (2006) DIR/Floortime and Fonagy et al.&rsquo;s (2002) mentalization theory, this comprehensive literature review makes more evident: 1) the wider applicability of DIR/Floortime to a range of conditions, not limited to Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD); 2) that parents are the primary mutative agent in their child&rsquo;s life; 3) that ASD symptomology creates obstacles to the parents&rsquo; capacity to construct optimal social-emotional learning environments, which undermines parents&rsquo; unique growth promoting role; 4) parental trauma functions as a barrier to the implementation of DIR/Floortime; and lastly 5) the cultivation of parental mentalization, through attachment-based interventions, must be a central component of DIR/Floortime treatment. Additionally, this dissertation includes a summary of findings from interviews with five professionals with expertise in DIR/Floortime or mentalization-based therapy and who carefully utilize parent work in their clinical practice with children. </p>

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This is a meta-analytic review of controlled clinical trials investigating adaptations of motivational interviewing (AMIs), a promising approach to treating problem behaviors. For each study, descriptive characteristics were coded and individual effect sizes (Cohen's d) were computed. In order to evaluate comparative efficacy, combined effect sizes for AMIs were calculated, separated by comparison group and problem area. To test for sustained efficacy, post-treatment & follow-up effect sizes for AMIs were compared. Additional data were compiled to evaluate the clinical impact of AMIs. Finally, potential moderators were analyzed to test five specific hypotheses related to the effects of AMIs. Thirty clinical trials were included in this review, representing a wide variety of studies. AMIs were equivalent to other active treatments and yielded moderate effects (ranging from .25 to .57) compared to no-treatment or placebo controls for problems involving alcohol, drugs, and diet & exercise. These effects were sustained through an average of 67 weeks of follow-up and for as long as 4 years post-treatment. Based on four studies, there was weak evidence for AMIs in the areas of smoking cessation and HIV-risk behaviors. Overall, AMIs demonstrated considerable clinical impact, with 51% improvement rates, a mean within-group effect size of .82, a 56% reduction in client drinking, and moderate effects on social impact measures (d = .47) such as days of work lost due to substance use. Each of the five specific hypotheses in this meta-analysis was at least partially confirmed. Miller's lab (the founder of motivational interviewing) produced the best outcomes for AMIs, while AMI treatments were most efficacious for severe client samples. AMIs generated the best results when used as preludes to further clinical services rather than as stand-alone treatments. Studies of low methodological quality yielded better outcomes for AMIs than did high quality studies, although the overall picture with regards to quality was unclear. Finally. AMIs showed a significant dose-effect relationship, with higher treatment doses resulting in better study outcomes. Additional analyses provided evidence that the conclusions of this meta-analysis are reasonably immune to the effects of client attrition as well as to publication bias.

The relationship between frontal EEG asymmetry and emotional reactivity is well established in the literature and there is some evidence of a causal link between the two variables (e.g., Allen et al., 2001). EEG biofeedback has been shown to improve depressive symptoms in clinical populations (e.g., Baehr et al., 1997 and Earnest 1999), however concurrent participation in other forms of treatment limits their conclusions. The present study was a double-blind clinical trial of a noninvasive alternative treatment for depression using EEG biofeedback of frontal alpha asymmetry and, of the 19 right-handed participants who were randomly assigned to receive contingent or noncontingent biofeedback, only seven completed three sessions per week for 12 weeks. Since only one participant in the noncontingent group completed all 36 sessions, group comparisons were not conducted. Although self-reported depression as determined by HRSD and BDI scores improved over time, this was independent of biofeedback training, because EEG biofeedback did not produce significant changes in frontal alpha asymmetry. In addition, there were no significant within-subjects correlations between asymmetry and BDI score or target value and BDI score.

Forty participants from an introductory Psychology course were recruited based upon their self-reported beliefs in ESP (High, Medium, Low). Participants answered a packet of self report questionnaires, then underwent electroencephalographic (EEG) recording during eyes open and eyes closed resting baseline. Participants then completed "traditional" and "novelty enhanced" formats, of a multimodal biofield detection battery and a computerized forced-choice precognition task. Results showed no evidence of precognition for any belief level group, or either task format. Biofield detection accuracy was significantly above chance expectation for 2 of the 6 modalities tested, and correlated with self reported "energy sensitivity". Belief in ESP was found to be psychologically related to higher levels of belief in other "spiritual experiences", lower levels of cynicism and rigidity, and increased sense of coherence. EEG findings indicated that strong belief and strong skepticism of ESP were associated with increased frontal asymmetry scores, and that moderate degrees of belief were associated with negative frontal asymmetry scores during eyes open baseline recording. Suggestions for future research are provided.

Protective buffering (PB; Coyne & Smith, 1991), which involves hiding worries and concerns from one's partner, was examined in a sample of 60 congestive-heart-failure (CHF) patients and their spouses. Earlier studies suggest that PB is ironically associated with increased distress for the person who protects (actor effect) and perhaps also for the "protected" spouse (partner effect), though evidence for the latter is mixed (Suls, Green, Rose, Lounsbury, & Gorden, 1997). This study reexamined the PB-distress link, taking into account methodological variations and ambiguities in previous research, including (a) the source of PB ratings (self vs. other), (b) ratings of PB in general vs. a specific stressful situation, and (c) the actor's intentions to protect self vs. partner. In separate interviews, patients and spouses described their own and their partner's PB using Suls et al.'s revision of Coyne and Smith's PB scale; participants also completed the same 25-item HSCL distress measure used in those studies and, for the specific stressful situation, the PANAS negative affect scale. Although PB scores showed rank-order consistency across the general and specific measurement contexts, participants reported higher mean levels of spouse-directed PB in general then in the specific stressful situation. Strikingly, perceptions of one's partner's PB correlated more highly with the respondent's own PB than with PB reported by the partner (suggesting a possible projective process). As in previous studies, data from both patients and spouses revealed intrapersonal associations between PB and distress (actor effects) when these constructs were assessed in general. A somewhat different picture emerged, however, for the recalled specific situation, where partner effects of both PB behavior and protective intentions were implicated more clearly in participant distress. Exploratory analyses also identified marital quality as a potential moderator of links between spouse PB and patient distress: Among couples reporting lower marital quality, for example, patient distress was ironically elevated when spouses intended to protect the patient more than themselves. Overall, the results highlighted the importance of measurement specificity in studying PB and its association with psychological distress.

Clinically it is well known that negative affect influences the quality of human social, romantic, and sexual relationships. Conversely, it is well accepted that the quality of these relationships influences both positive and negative affect in humans. Few studies, however, have attempted to formally characterize--or to examine the clinical implications--of this phenomenon. Hence, the present study used a Structural Equations Model (SEM) approach to examine relations among self-reported Negative Affect, Mate Values, and Mate Retention Behaviors. Multiple measures of these latent constructs were taken from 238 undergraduates males (N=99) and females (N=139). An extant model (Kirsner, Figueredo, & Jacobs, 2003) was used to generate a priori predictions upon which an initial SEM was based. The fit of the initial model to the data was compared to that of seven alternative theory-driven models using Chi-squared difference tests and practical indices of fit. These comparisons were used to eliminate the least parsimonious of the models. Among the models eliminated were the original model, which claimed both indirect (Kirsner et al., 2003) and direct effects of negative affect (e.g., anxiety and depression) on mate retention behaviors, those claiming only indirect effects among the latent variables, and those claiming that negative affect have a 'general suppressive effect' on the outcome variables (e.g., Beck, 1967). The model that explained the data pattern most parsimoniously claimed that negative affect directly increases mate retention behaviors, decreases personal mate value, and indirectly, by way of personal mate value, decreases partner mate values. This model is useful at two levels. Theoretically, the model provides a basis for an ultimate (functional) explanation for causal relations between negative affect and reproductive behavior in humans. Clinically, the model predicts the occurrence of a rich pattern of specific mate retention behaviors, including retention behaviors that may disrupt ongoing social function, in response to spontaneous or clinically induced changes in negative affect.

The purpose of this paper is to examine questions about the role of the hippocampal formation in spatial cognition and spatial navigation. Specifically, Study 1 and Study 2 show that patients with unilateral language nondominant anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL) show impairments on tasks assessing cognitive mapping. Study 3 shows that the ability of these patients to navigate a virtual environment (VE) by means of cognitive maps is disrupted. Study 4 shows that, under normal circumstances, healthy adults have a choice of at least two spatial navigation strategies (navigation by means of heading vectors, or navigation by means of cognitive mapping), and that they will likely choose the optimal strategy for task solution. Study 5 suggests that patients with unilateral language nondominant ATL are able to successfully navigate by means of heading vectors. The data from these studies are generally consistent with predictions derived from cognitive mapping theory (O'Keefe & Nadel, 1978). The data are also consistent with other empirical and theoretical work in pointing to the hippocampal formation of the language nondominant hemisphere as the neural substrate of a cognitive mapping system.

The relationship between childhood maltreatment, depression, anxiety, and neuropsychological performance was assessed in a two-part study of healthy college students. The primary hypotheses predicted that more severe self-reported histories of childhood maltreatment in this population would be correlated with: (a) increased current symptoms of anxiety and depression; (b) poorer attentional performance; and (c) that anxiety and depression would moderate the relationship between maltreatment and attentional performance. Phase 1: In the first college student study (n = 202), moderate associations were found between self-reported childhood maltreatment and current depression symptoms (r = .348, p < .001), as well as current anxiety symptoms (r = .286, p < .001). Performance on the Digit Symbol test, used here as a measure of sustained attention, was significantly correlated with sexual abuse (r = -.157, p = .013), but was not correlated with total maltreatment, punishment, or neglect scores. Depression and anxiety symptoms neither moderated nor mediated the relationship between sexual maltreatment and Digit Symbol test performance. Phase II: In the second college student study (n = 71), multiple measures of attention and other domains of neuropsychological function were added to better understand the potential relationship between maltreatment, attention, and depression and anxiety symptoms. Total self-reported childhood maltreatment was found to significantly correlate with depression (r = .315, p = .004), and anxiety (r = .271, p = .011) symptoms. Scores on neglect/negative home environment and punishment subscales also significantly correlated with depression and anxiety symptoms. Surprisingly, sexual abuse did not. No maltreatment scores significantly correlated with performance on neuropsychological measures in this sample. However, the multiplicative interaction of anxiety and sexual abuse significantly correlated with a factor-determined index of verbal fluency. No other of the multiplicative interactions of abuse scales and depression or anxiety symptoms were correlated with any other factor-derived indices of attention or cognitive functioning (total of 40 correlations examined). These findings highlight the relationship between childhood maltreatment and anxiety and depression in an otherwise healthy, high-functioning sample. Within such a sample, however, there is little evidence for significant effects of maltreatment on attentional or other aspects of cognitive executive functioning. These results are discussed in relationship to previously reported research and the methodological limitations of the present study.

<p> This study researched the subjective somatic experience of sensory awareness-trained therapists' interactions with their parents when encountering an issue that first arose during the therapist's childhood. It explored whether and how the therapists are aware of, sense, and identify their own body consciousness, and whether and how they utilize various somatic psychological practices to address present-day familial issues with their parent or parents. In addition to the usual verbal narrative, somatic psychology considers bodily states of consciousness, physical reactions, muscular patterning, chronic tension, speech patterns, breath, skin color and tone, and the use of bodily space in the therapy process. Thus, somatic psychology provides an integrated approach to exploring and healing the complex relationship between the mind and body. Such an approach is appropriate in adult child-parent relationship issues. Sensory awareness is a specific therapeutic technique used to identify feelings and sensations that occur in the present moment.</p>