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This paper consists of a discussion of Neil Altman's ‘Psychoanalysis and war’, which was conducted online through PsyBC in the fall of 2006. Discussants were a group of psychoanalytically oriented thinkers chosen by the author and Nancy Hollander, the author of the other paper included in the discussion. The paper represents the full discussion with only minor edits to correct typographical errors and improve clarity. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Doi's paper has successfully spelled out several important points on amae: (1) Amae is an interpersonal process; (2) the origin of amae probably lies in the infant-mother relationship: (3) the concept of amae provides no absolute standard to classify a behavior in terms of amae;, (4) amae is best understood as a combination of patterns of behaviors; and (5) amae is g very broad concept. Implicit, but insufficiently recognized in Doi's paper, is the concept that amae is an interpersonal process of negotiation that is continuously revised throughout life. it is not just a motivational factor embedded in. an individual: underneath the surface phenomenon of amae, an amaeru-ing person usually allows the other to feel needed, valued, and respected. Operationalizing the concept of amae for international research requires that the term be defined in relation to a combination or patterns of behaviors observable in the infant/child-mother dyad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper of the Change Process Study Group of Boston addresses an unsolved conceptual problem: How does one codify intersubjective states? The transfer of concepts from infant research to the adult therapeutic dyad is more than an analogy in that certain primitive aspects of mind appear in infancy, but persist throughout life. The regulation of consciousness is one salient example. The adult therapeutic dyad and the mother–infant dyad can be viewed as self-regulating dynamic systems that are also self-reparative. The concept of implicit relational knowledge is offered as an alternative way of thinking about internal object relations. © 1998 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Implementation science (IS) offers methods to systematically achieve the Ending the HIV Epidemic goals in the United States, as well as the global UNAIDS targets. Federal funders such as the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) have invested in implementation research to achieve these goals, including supporting the AIDS Research Centres (ARCs), which focus on high‐impact science in HIV and mental health (MH). To facilitate capacity building for the HIV/MH research workforce in IS, "grey areas," or areas of IS that are confusing, particularly for new investigators, should be addressed in the context of HIV/MH research. Discussion: A group of IS experts affiliated with NIMH‐funded ARCs convened to identify common and challenging grey areas. The group generated a preliminary list of 19 grey areas in HIV/MH‐related IS. From the list, the authors developed a survey which was distributed to all ARCs to prioritize grey areas to address in this paper. ARC members across the United States (N = 60) identified priority grey areas requiring clarification. This commentary discusses topics with 40% or more endorsement. The top grey areas that ARC members identified were: (1) Differentiating implementation strategies from interventions; (2) Determining when an intervention has sufficient evidence for adaptation; (3) Integrating recipient perspectives into HIV/MH implementation research; (4) Evaluating whether an implementation strategy is evidence‐based; (5) Identifying rigorous approaches for evaluating the impact of implementation strategies in the absence of a control group or randomization; and (6) Addressing innovation in HIV/MH IS grants. The commentary addresses each grey area by drawing from the existing literature (when available), providing expert guidance on addressing each in the context of HIV/MH research, and providing domestic and global HIV and HIV/MH case examples that address these grey areas. Conclusions: HIV/MH IS is key to achieving domestic and international goals for ending HIV transmission and mitigating its impact. Guidance offered in this paper can help to overcome challenges to rigorous and high‐impact HIV/MH implementation research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Topic: Early‐life experiences, the transmission of health and disease within families, and the influence of cumulative risks as well as protective factors throughout life shape the trajectory of health, including mental health. Long‐term health trajectories established early in life are influenced by biologic, social, and environmental factors. Negative trajectories may be more salient if exposures to adversity occur during critical developmental periods. Purpose: The purpose of this brief is to (a) review pediatric health disparities related to depression and the intergenerational transmission of pediatric depression using a Life Course Health Development (LCHD) model and (b) provide recommendations for pediatric mental health research. Sources: Peer‐reviewed papers available for PubMed, CINAL, and Medline. Other sources include published books, papers, and gray materials. Conclusions: The LCHD model is a perspective to guide and foster new scientific inquiry about the development of mental health outcomes over the life course. The model enables synthesis of mental health, nursing, and public health, linking mental health prevention, risk reduction, and treatment in children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comments on the commitment to publishing both interdisciplinary and international research and clinical papers in the field of infant mental health for the September 1992 issue of the "Infant Mental Health Journal" in the U.S. Theoretical papers included among the articles published in the issue; inclusion of the different disciplinary concerns as part of the editorial process; Illustration of how the editorial process has been handled.

Counselling and psychotherapy are not common professions that are considered alongside the work of sporting institutions, such as football academies. This paper therefore provides a brief reflection upon the existing research considering the way that such institutions currently engage with the mental health and well‐being of those that they support. In doing so, the world of elite sport engagement is considered before focusing more specifically upon research that has explored how football academies make use of psychological theory and therapy. This paper concludes that counselling and psychotherapy have an important role to play in supporting those at all stages of their football careers. However, delineation with clear roles and boundaries from other professions, such as sport psychology, proves vitally important, and further systematic exploration of this growing area of work is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advances in knowledge about personality will be fostered by improved research methods, but corresponding improvements in our theories will be needed also, better methods will not be enough. Theory itself can have methodological functions, and some methods provide strong impetus toward greater theoretical clarity and rigor. Distinctions between methodological developments in research design, measurement, and analysis need to be maintained, and we badly need more research directed specifically toward improving methodologies. Some papers in this volume point quite clearly to the need for all aspects of our research to be better rationalized and deliberate, casual and opportunistic decisions about how to carry out research simply will not do. These papers indicate, for example, that the trait vs situation controversy would likely never have occurred had the issues been addressed with greater methodological, and logical, rigor. This volume is not complete in its coverage of the potentially useful methods for personality research, and attention should ultimately be devoted to such methods as life histories and case studies and cross-cultural comparisons. In general, however, the papers in this volume offer an opportunity to raise the level of research in personality to a new plane of sophistication and revealingness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite their negative effects on the emotional, physical, and social wellbeing of students, weight stigma and anti‐fat attitudes are rarely systematically addressed in schools or within school psychology. Weight‐based oppression is regarded differently than other domains of prejudice. Therefore, implicit and explicit bias continue unimpeded, even when practitioners are attentive to other areas of social injustice. Mental health providers serving schools must acknowledge the prevalence of weight stigma and fatphobia to reduce their deleterious and oppressive effects. This conceptual paper outlines the underpinnings of weight stigma, overviews the necessity of addressing it and body image in educational settings, incorporates interdisciplinary perspectives, and proposes a justice‐oriented shift in the conceptualization of weight status within school psychological service delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we discuss several largely undisputed claims about mathematics anxiety (MA) and propose where MA research should focus, including theoretical clarifications on what MA is and what constitutes its opposite pole; discussion of construct validity, specifically relations between self‐descriptive, neurophysiological, and cognitive measures; exploration of the discrepancy between state and trait MA and theoretical and practical consequences; discussion of the prevalence of MA and the need for establishing external criteria for estimating prevalence and a proposal for such criteria; exploration of the effects of MA in different groups, such as highly anxious and high math–performing individuals; classroom and policy applications of MA knowledge; the effects of MA outside educational settings; and the consequences of MA on mental health and well‐being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How might our expanding knowledge of gender contribute to a deeper understanding of personality? This paper offers a personological perspective for considering the import of contemporary work, and focuses on the ten substantive papers included in this issue of the Journal of Personality. An agenda for our future inquiry is proposed that includes (a) revising our ideology of science in a postpositivist era, (b) recognizing the complexity of personality as a domain distinguished from "human being theory," (c) developing richer and more comprehensive personality theory, and (d) studying persons over time. The papers reported in this issue contribute in various ways to the enrichment of personological understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To systematically review the literature concerning the psychosocial factors associated with repeat diabetic ketoacidosis for people living with type 1 diabetes. Methods: PsycInfo, Web of Science, CINAHL, PubMed and ASSIA were searched according to a registered study protocol (PROSPERO CRD42020167381). Data were extracted into a coding spreadsheet, and findings were synthesised narratively. Included papers were also subject to a quality assessment. Results: The search yielded 548 unique articles, of which 22 met inclusion criteria for this review. There was considerable variance across studies with regard to design, quality and outcome measured. Nevertheless, there was relatively consistent evidence to suggest that repeat diabetic ketoacidosis in type 1 diabetes is associated with female gender, adolescent to young adult age range, lower socio‐economic status and poor mental health. Some evidence was also observed for the role of ethnicity and, for children and young people at least, family, social and behavioural issues. However, this was limited by issues of methodological rigour and scant investigation. Conclusions: The review identified four psychosocial factors that appear to play a key role in the cycle of repeat diabetic ketoacidosis. Individuals with these factors present may benefit from targeted support and interventions by specialist healthcare professionals. Knowledge and understanding in this area would be considerably enhanced via increased use of prospective study designs and greater consistency in the operationalisation of variables across studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The post-earthquake psychopathological investigation (PEPSI) was designed to probe the short-and long-term effects of the earthquake in northern Armenia on 7 December 1988 on survivors' mental and physical health. Four phases of this study have been conducted to date, and, overall, more than 80 per cent of a sub-sample of 1,773 drawn from an initial cohort of 32,743 was successfully followed during 2012. This paper describes the methodology employed in the evaluation, summarises previous findings, details the current objectives, and examines the general characteristics of the sample based on the most recent follow-up phase outcomes. Despite a significant decrease in psychopathology rates between 1990 and 2012, prevalence rates of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression among study participants in 2012 were greater than 15 and 26 per cent, respectively. The paper also notes the strengths and limitations of the study vis-à-vis future research and highlights the importance and potential practical implications of similar assessments and their outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates the effect of an individual's number of friends on own health outcomes. The identification strategy exploits the panel structure of the friendship data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to estimate individual fixed effects in the likelihood of friendship formation and then uses the fixed effect estimates as a control function in a model relating health outcomes to number of friends. Empirical results show that having a larger number of friends improves physical and mental health and also lowers the frequency of smoking cigarettes. Specifically, making one more friend increases an individual's general health measure by 6.6% of a standard deviation. This suggests that accumulating social capital through friendship interactions is beneficial to health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

What emotional experience settles a disturbed state of mind? In this paper I use the work of three psychoanalytic clinicians (John Steiner, Eric Brenman and Henri Rey) to describe the negative state of mind of a patient and draw on clinical material to illustrate my efforts to settle deep emotional disturbance. Recognizing the size of the emotional task by conceptualizing the depth and breadth of the pathological organization, along with thinking carefully about the ingredients of a ‘strengthening introject’ and locating an ‘introjective site’, taking into account the developmental disparity between therapist and patient are all seen as essential counter‐transference processes required to facilitate movement from a bad to a good state of mind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary writing is a useful instructional tool for learning. However, summary writing is a challenge to many students. This mixed‐method study examined the potential of the Student Mental Model Analyzer for Research and Teaching (SMART) system to help students produce summaries that reflect key concepts and relations in a text. SMART uses the students' summary to generate a multi‐dimensional 3S (surface, structure, semantic) evaluation of the students' mental model. This model is then used to drive feedback to help students revise their summary. The current study is an initial investigation examining whether writing and revising in SMART improves students' summary quality. Students (n = 38) in a graduate‐level online course used SMART for seven reading assignments. The 38 students submitted a total of 357 summaries in response to the seven readings. In 47 cases, students produced both an initial draft and a modified revision. These 47 cases were selected for analysis. In the quantitative phase, MANOVA results indicated that students' summaries improved along the 3S dimensions from initial draft to revision. In the qualitative phase, inspection of exemplar cases revealed how students' mental models changed towards more robust and cohesive knowledge structure for texts. Lay Description: Lay DescriptionWhat is already known about this topicTexts are the main means of acquiring new information.Writing a summary is frequently used as a tool for learning from text.Even proficient readers often struggle to learn from text due to insufficient support.Automated summary evaluation (ASE) can help students revise their summaries.What this paper addsWe introduce the Student Mental Model Analyzer for Research and Teaching (SMART) system.SMART uses a written summary to evaluate the quality of the learner's mental models.SMART analyses a student's mental model in surface, structural and semantic dimensions.SMART helps students improve content‐coverage and overall quality of their summaries.Implications for practiceSMART can be a supplement in classrooms to help students learn from complex texts.Teachers can use SMART to provide real‐time, personalized, formative feedback at a scale.Students can use SMART to comprehend the text to prepare for meaningful class discussion.Scholars can use SMART to investigate expertise development in summary via instruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A new diagnosis of complex post‐traumatic stress disorder, CPTSD, has been agreed by the World Health Organization, WHO, and evidence is needed for what psychological treatment might be effective, particularly from those with experience of the disorder. We used a novel participatory approach to explore patient views and simultaneously studied the impact on the patient researchers of the research process itself. In this paper, we report on the latter section of the study how the involvement in research of patients with CPTSD affected their mental health. Symptoms of CPTSD may include emotional dysregulation, feelings of self‐worthlessness and difficulties in relationships. Objective: The aim of this study section was to explore whether patients' mental health could be promoted through empowering them to participate in research on CPTSD. Design: The study had a qualitative, participatory design. The clinician who led the research (first author) held group meetings with patient researchers to explore the impact of the research process. The clinician also kept notes on the process in a reflective log. Setting and participants: Six patient researchers participated in research with other patients with lived experience of CPTSD in an NHS outpatient unit in a London hospital. Intervention studied: The research process itself was analysed in group meetings with researchers which the clinician recorded and transcribed. Findings: Participation in research may promote increased self‐confidence and social inclusion for those with CPTSD. Conclusion: Involvement in research may be seen as an empowering intervention because patients felt it contributed to recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the manipulation of mental representations, particularly in relation to the psychoanalytic concepts of conscious or unconscious fantasy. A distinction is made between the unconscious phenomenal (experiential) aspect of representations and the nonexperiential, quasi-structural aspect. The concept of the representational world is described and elaborated, and its development is seen as a consequence of the infant's interaction with itself and The external world, Processes such as identification and projection can be seen in terms of changes in self and object representations, and the same is true for all the mechanisms of defense. The content of unconscious wishes is transformed, by use of such mechanisms, into representations that are acceptable to consciousness, Major transformations of unconscious representational content occur in the process of creating unconscious (preconscious) fantasy, and further transformations are frequently needed before such (preconscious) fantasies are permitted access to consciousness. The concept of projective identification is considered in the light of the ideas put forward in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‐2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) that has caused the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic represents the greatest international biopsychosocial emergency the world has faced for a century, and psychological science has an integral role to offer in helping societies recover. The aim of this paper is to set out the shorter‐ and longer‐term priorities for research in psychological science that will (a) frame the breadth and scope of potential contributions from across the discipline; (b) enable researchers to focus their resources on gaps in knowledge; and (c) help funders and policymakers make informed decisions about future research priorities in order to best meet the needs of societies as they emerge from the acute phase of the pandemic. The research priorities were informed by an expert panel convened by the British Psychological Society that reflects the breadth of the discipline; a wider advisory panel with international input; and a survey of 539 psychological scientists conducted early in May 2020. The most pressing need is to research the negative biopsychosocial impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic to facilitate immediate and longer‐term recovery, not only in relation to mental health, but also in relation to behaviour change and adherence, work, education, children and families, physical health and the brain, and social cohesion and connectedness. We call on psychological scientists to work collaboratively with other scientists and stakeholders, establish consortia, and develop innovative research methods while maintaining high‐quality, open, and rigorous research standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As we recognize how taxing our profession can be, therapist's self-care has become a salient topic in mental health. However, we are still discerning how to promote self-care in our practice and in training. In this paper, we present a study on the personal gains that MFT students experienced after participating in the Person-of-the-Therapist Training (POTT). We propose that the reported changes (better understanding of self, change to self, relational changes, and change as a process) constitute improvements in the trainees' well-being, and can therefore be considered self-caring behaviors and practices. We state that models like POTT, that focus on embracing our vulnerability, can help clinicians be more caring toward ourselves. We conclude this paper by presenting clinical and training recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In China, nursing is a profession with considerable stress, which may cause both physiological and psychological problems. The present study conducted a cross‐temporal meta‐analysis of 244 papers using the Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL‐90) to investigate the changes in the mental health level of Chinese nurses (N = 71,286) from 1998 to 2016. Results showed that (a) relationships between scores of all nine types of mental problems in the SCL‐90 and year were significantly positive, indicating that the mental health level of nurses decreased steadily in the past 19 years; (b) relationships between three social indicators (patient‐to‐nurse ratio, unemployment rate, and divorce rate) and scores of all nine types of mental problems in the SCL‐90 were significantly positive, suggesting that the increase in these social indicators may be responsible for the decrease in Chinese nurses' mental health level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research indicates that there is a high level of trust in health professionals but also a high level of non-disclosure of mental health issues to general practitioners (GPs). This paper explores the issue of patients’ willingness to disclose mental health problems to GPs through interviews with 33 patients from the lower half of the North Island of New Zealand. Patients’ willingness to disclose related to a range of factors but this paper focuses on fear and sense of control as these issues have received little attention in the extant literature and provide important discussion points for the conduct of consultations. Fear of the consequences of consultation warrants attention if general practice is to be promoted as the preferred point of contact for mental health consultations. The research reported here suggests that trust in a range of institutions and agencies, not just in the individual practitioner, would need to be achieved for the GP to be the preferred point of contact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schemas are one of the key concepts of modern psychotherapy. However, there remains much confusion regarding the nature of this concept. For example, it is sometimes confused with related concepts (e.g. core beliefs) and often used incorrectly to describe specific forms of cognition (e.g. self-referent beliefs). The present paper suggests that core beliefs and self-referent beliefs are sub-components of schemas, and thus should not be used synonymously with the parent concept. For many clinicians, these distinctions may appear rather pedantic or academic, but we would argue that correct differentiation is essential if one intends to deliver good therapy. It is suggested that a more appropriate understanding of the concept of schemas would draw clinicians' attention to many of the information processing mechanisms and biases that both hinder and facilitate therapeutic change. This paper also makes suggestions about how one could clarify the nature of schemas in terms of specific dimensions, which may provide better precision with respect to their use and function within clinical settings. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the findings of a systematic review of the current evidence for the effectiveness of stress management interventions for those working in the mental health field. Research articles from 1966 to 2000 which reported studies undertaken in the United Kingdom and which specifically identified participants as mental health workers were included in the review. Studies from other European countries and from the USA were examined as potential models of good practice. The review demonstrated that a great deal is known about the sources of stress at work, about how to measure them and about their interaction and impact on a range of outcome indicators. What was found to be lacking was a translation of these results into practice, into research that assessed the impact of interventions that attempted to moderate, minimize or eliminate some of these stressors. Three papers were retrieved which reported intervention strategies for workers classified as working within the mental health arena. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interviews with survivors of intimate partner violence were conducted to gain information on the transition from violent relationships to new non‐violent relationships. A subset of this data was re‐analysed using Social Relational Theory to gain further insight into the roles of children and important others who were identified as impacting this transition for mothers who had exited violent relationships. This paper reviews two major themes discovered during the SRT analysis that were inherent in the women's experiences: (i) agency of children, family, peers and community and (ii) power. In addition, this paper suggests implications for research, intervention and psychotherapeutic practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is taken for granted that disclosure can be beneficial to both the victims of extreme traumatic events and to their next of kin on the assumption that the past traumatic events must be the main cause of any current dysfunction. There is a danger that other sources of dysfunction, whether or not related to the original trauma, will thereby be neglected. This paper argues for a careful evaluation of the source of dysfunction and for the usefulness of structured writing assignments in the process of therapy. Two case studies of families including survivors of the Holocaust are presented to illustrate the technique of structured writing assignments and its theoretical underpinning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fragmentation of processes and interventions plague the psychotherapies (Gilbert & Kirby,). Part of the problem is that we have not agreed on a framework that could be the basis for integrating knowledge and the scientific enquiry of processes and interventions. This paper outlines an approach that brings together a variety of different disciplines in the service of consilience (Wilson, , Consilience: The unity of knowledge, Vintage, New York, NY; Siegel,). It presents the importance of an evolutionary framework for understanding the proclivities and dispositions for mental suffering and antisocial behaviour, and how they are choreographed in different sociodevelopmental contexts. Building on earlier models (Gilbert, , Human nature and suffering, Routledge, London, UK; Gilbert, , Clin. Psychol. Psychother., 2, 135; Gilbert, , Br. J. Med. Psychol., 71, 353; Gilbert, , Case formulation in cognitive behaviour therapy: The treatment of challenging cases, Wiley, Chichester, UK, pp. 50–89) the call is for an integrative, evolutionary, contextual, biopsychosocial approach to psychology and psychotherapy. Practitioner points: Evolutionary functional analysis is part of an evolutionary, contextual, biopsychosocial approach to mental health that can serve as a scientific platform for the future developments of psychotherapy.Therapist skills and training will increasing need to focus on the multidimensional textures of mental states especially the context‐social‐body linkages.Therapies of the future will also focus more on the moral aspects of therapy and address the need to promote prosocial and ethical behaviour to self and others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: There is considerable evidence that early parenting has profound effects on a range of physiological and psychological maturation processes. Furthermore, psychotherapy often addresses some of the distortions and developmental difficulties that have arisen from early childhood. While research has focused on obvious candidates such as abuse and neglect, this paper reviews some of the core themes related to a less investigated area, specifically parental shame on child development. Role shame sensitive parenting styles will be explored against an evolutionary background that contrasts early human and modern human rearing contexts. We also outline a study examining the role of shame in psychological controlling and dysfunctional parenting styles, its relationship to different dimensions of shame and fears of compassion. Design: An online survey was conducted containing self‐report measures of dysfunctional parenting styles, three dimensions of shame (external, internal, and reflected), fears of compassion, mental health indices, and a measure of psychological flexibility. Methods: An online survey was accessed by 333 parents (306 being female) with a child between the ages of 3–9 years. Results: Two hierarchical multiple regressions indicated support for our two primary hypotheses, with shame explaining significant variance in both psychological controlling and dysfunctional parenting styles over and above that explained by psychological inflexibility, parental mental health, and fears of compassion. Additionally, results from standard multiple regressions indicated that fears of compassion account for significant variance in external shame, as well as internal and reflected shame. Conclusions: Recommendations for future research include focusing on parental motivation in order to help support parents and children are provided. Practitioner points: Shame is a major factor for how parents engage in parenting practices and respond to their childrenPractitioners need to be sensitive to the shame parents can experience and asses for itAssessing shame‐threat in parenting and shifting to compassionate motivation can lead to more responsive and positive parenting [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of such complex issues as mind functioning and mental health requires a multilevel approach. The general system theory elaborated by Ludwig von Bertalanffy in the first half of the twentieth century can still be viewed as a landmark contribution to address these issues scientifically. His seminal work represents an incomparable conceptual framework for understanding how biological, psychological and social dimensions are causally interrelated. The biopsychosocial approach informed by this theory should allow, at least in principle, to interpret mental and physical aspects as integral features of a multilayered interplay between genetic constraints, developmental trajectories and life contexts. In spite of this potentiality, however, most of modern interpretations of biological and psychological processes are still relying almost exclusively on reductionist theories. This entails reducing the complexity of many developmental processes to the laws of interactions and to their sustaining mechanisms, rather than considering them as parts of larger wholes worth of being approached trans‐disciplinarily as emergent relationships. In this paper, we aim at reexamining the general system theory in relation to the biological issues that have provided the conceptual foundations for a variety of psychological constructs and, secondly, to show how several of von Bertalanffy's original ideas may still be further elaborated to yield more advanced theories of mind and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Family Process is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Black youth account for the largest number of new HIV infections among heterosexual youth. Mental illness and difficulties in emotion regulation contribute to increased reports of HIV/sexually transmitted infection (STI) risk‐related sexual behaviors in this group. Yet limited interventions exist to address this affective component of the sexual decision‐making process. The purpose of this paper was to describe the trial design, research challenges, and baseline characteristics from a study designed to fill this gap. Project GOLD was a pilot randomized controlled trial of a psychoeducational HIV/STI prevention intervention designed to address the role of mental illness and emotion regulation in HIV/STI risk among heterosexually‐active Black youth aged 14 to 17 (N = 108). Challenges encountered in the research process warrant further attention in future research (e.g., disagreement among the regulatory bodies on parental permission requirements). The most common mental health diagnoses were Recurrent Major Depressive Disorder (15.7%) and current substance abuse (7.4%). Participants reported higher levels of emotional suppression, and adaptive methods of emotion management, than culturally inappropriate expressions of anger or sadness. They also reported a mean age of 13.6 at first vaginal sex, used condoms 66% of the time for vaginal sex, and had an average of three sexual partners in the past 6 months. More than one‐quarter (26.9%) had sex with more than one person in the same day. These findings indicate intervention is crucial for this population. The forthcoming trial evaluation will indicate the promise of such interventions in reducing HIV/STI infections in this key population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The authors of this paper recognize the paradox of identifying with the body of work of D. W. Winnicott as it was essential to his view that each analyst has to become the analyst s/he is or can be. This is to avoid the dead hand of conformity and falsity. Nevertheless his work continues to inspire creative use with its concern with health and those conditions for its development. Both authors find themselves committed to history taking, to needing and taking time, to a willingness to wait before interpreting, to a recognition that the self derives originally from a bodily state of unintegration, that the body remains significant for the expression of self-states, to an understanding of aggression as not primarily associated with destructiveness, to attending to the state of mind in the analyst that encourages the establishment and maintenance of the analytic setting. Clinically their intention is to maintain a continuity within which psychic change can be facilitated, through an attention to the ongoing exchanges between both parties of the analytic relation. Several clinical examples are given from different settings to illustrate the presence of these tenets in their work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the experiences of 75 university-based human and physical geographers who define themselves as disabled. We explore how diverse disabilities intersect with academic careers, lifestyles and workplaces, focusing on some common disciplinary and institutional spaces of human and physical geography. We identify two self-selecting groups of geographers who participated in our research. First, we discuss the experiences of those geographers who are active and politicised in relation to their disabilities, and have worked to effect inclusionary change in their institutional and disciplinary spaces. Second, we highlight the less 'hopeful' experiences of geographers with mental health conditions that are undisclosed in workplace contexts. We suggest that these data should prompt reflection on the institutional and disciplinary spaces we inhabit and constitute: especially how (to quote one respondent) spaces of academia may be 'conducive to poor mental health ... [i]t is practically the norm to be sleep-deprived, working until the early hours, behind with deadlines, underpaid, on short contracts, full of caffeine and alcohol'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper by Zacaron et al2 tested laying on of hands as an adjunctive complementary therapy to a kinesiotherapy program in the treatment of older women with osteoarthritis of the knee. Replication of findings is indeed a problem in the psycho-behavioral sciences12 and many useful therapy manuals gather dust (or in this age disappear into computer "ether") for lack of replication and dissemination. Spiritist psychiatric hospitals in Brazil: integration of conventional psychiatric treatment and spiritual complementary therapy. [Extracted from the article]

Abstract: It is often held that in imagining experiences we exploit a special imagistic way of representing mentality—one that enables us to think about mental states in terms of what it is like to have them. According to some, when this way of thinking about the mind is paired with more objective means, an explanatory gap between the phenomenal and physical features of mental states arises. This paper advances a view along those lines, but with a twist. What many take for a special imagistic way of thinking about experiences is instead a special way of misconstruing them. It is this tendency to misrepresent experiences through the use of imagery that gives rise to the appearance of an explanatory gap. The pervasiveness and tenacity of this misrepresentational reflex can be traced to its roots in a particular heuristic for monitoring and remembering the mental states of others. The arguments together amount to a new path for defending the transparency of perceptual experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Background: Online psychotherapy has been successfully used as supportive treatment in many chronic illnesses. However, there is a lack of evidence on its role in the management of gastrointestinal (GI) diseases. Aims: To examine whether online psychological interventions improve mental and physical outcomes in gastrointestinal diseases. Methods: We searched CINAHL Plus, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Health Management Information Consortium, PsycINFO, British Nursing Index, Cochrane Library, a specialised register of the IBD/FBD Cochrane Group, MEDLINE (PubMed) WHO International Clinical Trial Registry, ClinicalTrials.gov, and reference lists of all papers included in the review. The Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool was used to assess internal validity. Where possible, data were pooled using random‐effects meta‐analysis. Results: We identified 11 publications (encompassing nine studies) meeting inclusion criteria. One study had a high risk of selection bias (allocation concealment), all studies had a high risk of performance and detection bias. Eight studies were included in the meta‐analyses (6 on irritable bowel syndrome [IBS] and two on inflammatory bowel disease [IBD]). Online cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) was shown to significantly improve gastrointestinal symptom‐specific anxiety (MD: −8.51, 95% CI −12.99 to −4.04, P = 0.0002) and lessen symptom‐induced disability (MD: −2.78, 95% CI −5.43 to −0.12, P = 0.04) in IBS post intervention. There was no significant effect of online CBT on any other outcomes in IBS. No significant effect of online psychotherapy was demonstrated in IBD. Conclusion: There is insufficient evidence to demonstrate the effectiveness of online CBT to manage mental and physical outcomes in gastrointestinal diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract: This paper explores the contribution of social identity change to international students' health and well‐being. International students typically face a range of challenges from the time they leave their home country, including the need to adapt both to a new culture and norms and to a new educational landscape. Previous research informed by the Social Identity Model of Identity Change (SIMIC) suggests that during such life transitions, an individual's group memberships and associated social identities can provide a buffer against the threats to well‐being that such transitions present. To examine the relevance of SIMIC for the transitions that international students' experience, semistructured interviews were conducted with 15 international students attending an Australian university. Thematic analysis provided support for the relevance of SIMIC's social identity gain and social identity maintenance pathways in the transition and revealed a number of associated factors that acted as either facilitators (e.g., a host family that supported community integration) or barriers (e.g., experiencing culture shock) to social identity change. These findings present the first qualitative support for SIMIC within an international student population and help to flesh out the specific ways in which social identity processes contribute to both positive and negative health and well‐being outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract: With increasing rates of obesity in the United States, attention to life chances and psychological consequences associated with weight stigma and weight‐based discrimination has also intensified. While research has demonstrated the negative effects of weight‐based discrimination on mental health, little is known about whether different social groups are disproportionately vulnerable to these experiences. Drawing on the modified labelling theory, the focus of this paper is to investigate the psychological correlates of body weight and self‐perceived weight‐based discrimination among American women at the intersection of race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status (SES). Analyses use data from the National Health Measurement Study (NHMS), a national multi‐stage probability sample of non‐institutional, English‐speaking adults, ages 35 to 89 in 2005–2006. Our findings demonstrate that the effect of weight‐based discrimination on psychological well‐being is highly contingent on social status. Specifically, the psychological consequences of discrimination on Hispanic women and women in the lowest household income group is significantly greater relative to White women and women with higher household income, controlling for obesity status and self‐rated health. These results suggest that higher social status has a buffering effect of weight stigma on psychological well‐being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper reports on the first phase of a larger study aimed at investigating factors hindering family work and exploring ways to improve the amount and quality of family contact within a community aged mental health service in Melbourne, Australia. During the first phase of the project, 28 mental health professionals were interviewed about their views and experiences. Interviews were transcribed, coded, and analysed in terms of repeating themes. The range of attitudes, beliefs and feelings about family work is summarised in this paper. Polarities emerged around questions of whether or not to engage family members, and if so, what function family work fulfils. The interviews also provided useful information on clinicians' beliefs about what would increase the possibility of family work. The paper concludes with a discussion about how to recognize and value family work in this area and target sustainable interventions during the second phase of the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessible summary · This article looks at the richness inherent in our life experience and engages on a journey to examine this richness in the light of two experiences (or epiphanies) on a clinical training course. It demonstrates how, as a result of continued refection and reflexive analysis, my understanding of these experiences transformed over a period of time. · The field of inquiry was a training in psychoanalytic counselling. My ongoing analysis of the experiences provided an evaluation of some key features of that culture and the nature of clinical training, particularly in psychoanalytic milieu. · The article concludes with a discussion about the academic culture in which I am now working and the way in which it influences my writing style (in, for example, this article). It concludes that the discourse of this culture prevents us from reaching our creative spiritual core and examines how we can overcome this limitation. In this paper I will argue that investigating our professional experiences can enrich our understanding, widen our perspective, transform our inner lives and create an endless source of discovery about ourselves, society and the professional discursive systems that we inhabit. I will call such events, after Denzin's work in 1989, epiphanies. In order to develop the theme I will give an account of my own experience of two such epiphanies on a psychoanalytic training course in counselling. I will then present my reflexive analysis of these events over the years, including my reflections on the peer review comments for this paper, and finish with some questions arising out of the study relating to the current status of nursing as an academic profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children in the protection and care system are highly vulnerable and need more than protection and physical care. This paper outlines elements of an innovative therapeutic programme, Take Two, which combines trauma and attachment-informed practice with a clinical outcomes focus. An important feature was the embedding of a research and evaluation partnership between the programme and a university. The paper discusses the challenges of implementing a research approach into a highly sensitive ‘messy’ or non-routine environment. The paper portrays the value of a trauma and attachment perspective within a developmental and ecological framework to guide understanding and intervention with these children and their network. A description of the client group is followed by analysis of outcome measures: the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children and the Social Network Map. Findings include the significant reduction of trauma-related symptoms, an increase in the percentage of friends identified and an increase, albeit not significant, in the percentage of people described as very close. The results point to the importance of family in the lives of these children. This study explores this type of research in situ and its value in building knowledge and strengthening practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the paper is to reflect on value dilemmas in mental health consumer-run organizations and to discuss implications for research, policy, and practice. We review the roots of consumer-run organizations in the self-help movement and the psychiatric survivor liberation movement, focusing on the distinctive values espoused by consumer-run organizations. We also discuss evidence-based and value-based approaches to mental health policy formulation and mental health reform, noting the particular importance of value-based approaches and the role that consumer-run organizations can play in mental health reform. Based on our experiences conducting a participatory action research study of four mental health consumer-run organizations, we identify and examine several value dilemmas, discuss the lessons that we learned about these value dilemmas, and note their implications for future directions in research, policy, and practice [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]