Bipolar disorder is associated with significant social and occupational impairments, as well as increased risk for substance abuse and suicide. More research is needed to identify potential mechanisms associated with vulnerability to the disorder. Previous research has identified altered processing of emotional information in bipolar and bipolar-prone individuals, including attentional biases which appear to differ based on the current affective state of the individual. The current study applied a sensitive measure of attention (i.e., eye-tracking) to assess whether vulnerability to bipolar disorder, as indexed by hypomanic personality traits, would be correlated with biases in attention to emotional facial stimuli, independent of mood state. Hypomanic personality traits were hypothesized to be associated with greater attention to happy and angry faces, as indexed by faster initial orientation, more frequent gazes, and longer gaze duration for these stimuli. Participants completed self-report measures assessing current mood symptoms, positive and negative affect, and hypomanic personality traits. They then completed two tasks assessing attention for emotional faces. The first was an eye-tracking task, which measured latency to first fixation, total gaze duration and total number of gazes for each emotional face category. The second was a spatial cueing task which assessed both attentional engagement with emotional faces, and ability to disengage attention from this material. Hypomanic personality traits were significantly negatively correlated with latency to orient attention to happy faces. A trend toward decreased latency to orient to angry faces with higher hypomanic personality traits was also demonstrated. Hypomanic traits were not correlated with attention to sad faces. Furthermore, hypomanic traits were associated only with differences in initial orientation of attention, not with continued engagement or disengagement. The results of this study suggest that individuals with higher levels of hypomanic personality traits, who are hypothesized to be at greater risk of developing bipolar disorder, are characterized by differences in their initial orientation of attention to positive emotional stimuli, independent of their current mood state. This finding is indicative of biased information processing in individuals with vulnerability to bipolar disorder. Such a bias may have important clinical implications for individuals with a vulnerability to bipolar disorder, as it may represent a mechanism by which vulnerability leads to increased, and at times problematic, engagement with rewarding stimuli.

The purpose of this study was to functionally define and empirically test a model of psychological distress for mothers of children diagnosed with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). This model delineates characteristics of the child, the parent, and the environment that may affect mothers' psychological symptomatology.

Clinicians’ attitudes and behaviors toward patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) are affected by the label’s stigma. Complex posttraumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) was proposed as a comprehensive and less stigmatizing diagnostic category for clients with BPD and a history of complex trauma. Given considerable similarities across both disorders’ diagnostic criteria, the CPTSD framework holds promise as a means to improve therapists’ attitudes towards clients with BPD and a history of complex trauma. However, this quality of CPTSD had not yet been examined empirically. Using vignettes in a between-subjects experimental design, this study investigated whether CPTSD is a less stigmatizing label than BPD for trauma survivors. Participants were 322 practicing psychotherapists. Evidence of BPD stigma was found, as was an affinity for CPTSD. Results generally supported CPTSD as a less stigmatizing label than BPD; therapists presented with a CPTSD-labeled vignette were somewhat less likely to blame the client for her symptomatic behavior and expected slightly stronger working alliance with the client than therapists presented with the BPD-labeled vignette. However, therapists’ agreement with the BPD diagnosis and theoretical orientation were found to be more salient than diagnostic label in affecting concepts related to the stigmatization of BPD clients. Additionally, familiarity with CPTSD was related to more favorable attitudes toward the client and her course of treatment. Regardless of CPTSD’s recognition as a formal diagnosis, education about the construct is widely recommended for therapists.

A dissertation presented in partial compliance with the requirements for the Master's Degree in Technology: Chiropractic, Durban Institute of Technology, 2003. / The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of Chiropractic Manipulative Therapy in the management of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in children. / M

Traditional conceptualizations of psychopathy highlight the importance of affective features of the syndrome in perpetuating social deviance. However, little research has directly investigated the callousness that psychopathic offenders display toward society and their victims. The current study investigated the roles of empathy and alexithymia in psychopathy among male and female incarcerated offenders, particularly in distinguishing psychopathy from antisocial personality disorder. Gender differences were also investigated. Regarding empathy, as predicted, group differences were largest between psychopathic and non-psychopathic offenders; no reliable differences emerged between psychopathic and APD-only offenders. In contrast, alexithymia robustly distinguished between offenders with prominent psychopathic traits, those with only APD, and those with neither condition. Psychopathic females unexpectedly exhibited slightly higher levels of alexithymia than their male counterparts, while empathic deficits were relatively consistent across genders. These findings are discussed in terms of improving assessment methods for the accurate identification and treatment of offenders with prominent psychopathic features.

This collection of poems explores themes of time and space, energy, entropy and decay, and the frames we use to resist the inevitable trend toward disorder that defines a human experience of the observable universe.

L’objet de la thèse vise à étudier l’impact du type d’attachement et de la maltraitance sur les troubles de la personnalité d’une population de patients toxicomanes et recevant un traitement de substitution. Notre échantillon est constitué de 140 patients dépendants de drogues toxiques et placés sous traitement de substitution : dans cet échantillon, 70 femmes représentent le groupe expérimental et 70 hommes représentent le groupe témoin.Nous avons utilisé le CASRS (Child Abuse Self Report Scale) pour évaluer les événements traumatiques subis au cours de l’enfance, le MCMI (Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory) pour l’évaluation des troubles de la personnalité et l’ASQ (Attachement Scale Questionnaire) pour mesurer le type d’attachement. Nos résultats révèlent qu’il existe des spécificités en fonction des genres. Plus de maltraitance dans l’enfance, davantage d’attachement insécure, plus de troubles de la personnalité ainsi qu’un contexte social-familial particulier chez les femmes ont une importance étiologique. Ces différences épidémiologiques ont un impact sur la gravité de la toxicomanie (surtout en matière de violence psychologique et physique).Ces résultats devraient sans doute nous inciter à revoir nos stratégies de soins pour tenir davan-tage compte d’approches plus spécifiques. / The subject of our work was to study the influence of type of attachment and maltreatment on personality disorders in a population of patients addicted to drugs who receive replacement therapy. Our sample consisted of 140 patients with a diagnosis of toxic drug addiction substitu-tion treatment, including 70 women who represent the experimental group and 70 men who represent the control group. To evaluate the traumatic events in childhood, we used the CASRS (Child Abuse Self Report Scale), for assessing personality disorder we used MCMI (Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory) and finally the ASQ (Attachment Scale questionnaire) to meas-ure the type of attachment. Our results show that there are significant differences between males and females. A higher occurrence of abuse during childhood, demonstrates insecure at-tachment, more comorbid personality disorder and a socio-familial especially among women, which may have etiological significance. These epidemiological differences have an impact on the severity of substance abuse (more importantly the emotional and physical abuse). There-fore, these results encourage us to rethink our strategies of care for more specific approaches while handling such patients.

Early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) is currently the most studied and most practiced intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder. There has been increasing evidence supporting the use of EIBI, but there have been limited evaluations of the effectiveness of EIBI intensity. The current study addressed this gap using data obtained from St.Amant Autism Program and comparing children receiving an average of 22 and 30 hours per week for a period of one year. Significant main effects of time were found for standardized measures of cognitive functioning, adaptive functioning, and autism severity. Future research should aim to address this research question with a larger sample size and a low-intensity control group. / May 2016

M.A. / This study is an exploratory pilot study that investigates the relationship between a childhood diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and adult substance use disorders. The existing literature suggests four links in this relationship, namely: self – medication, the priming effect of psycho – stimulants, adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and psychiatric comorbidity. This study found that the relationship is not as linear as what the literature suggests. The full impact of the relationship between a childhood attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and adult substance use disorders should be investigated in terms of the lifelong development of ADHD. A deve-lopmental approach to psychopathology should be adopted. This study also identified a number of risk and protective factors in the development of psychopathology. These risk and protective factors are another area for further research.

D.Phil. / Please refer to full text to view abstract