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Hamburg, an experienced and expert therapist, presents two successful psychotherapy cases. In both cases he viewed success as being the product of his use of metaphor, the patients' successful surmounting of a high difficulty task, hypnosis, and nonspecific factors. One of the cases involves a medically unexplained chronic and disabling pain. With a couple of brief vignettes of my own, I suggest careful screening, as using hypnosis to control medically unexplained, chronic pain may cause problems for some patients with major psychopathology (e.g., paranoid schizophrenia). Next, I note that clinical data will reflect back to us the a priori assumptions and interests we bring to it. As an example of how often and misleadingly this can happen, I discuss the autobiographical nature of clinical personality theories. Finally, I agree with Hamburg about the importance of ubiquitous nonspecific effects and note my difficulty accepting that they may be more important than the specific things we do deliberately in psychotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

12 subjects from an experiment on relaxation therapy for asthma were given the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility, Form A. Full scale hypnotic susceptibility scores were positively correlated, at a borderline significance, with improvement in the methacholine challenge test, a measure of asthma severity. Performance on the amnesia item of the Harvard Group Scale was correlated with improvement in self-reported symptoms of asthma.

Gravity-flow deposits recovered in a suite of sediment cores in Lake Tahoe were examined to determine if the event deposits were triggered by strong shaking from earthquakes on active faults within and in close proximity to the Lake Tahoe Basin. The acoustic character and distribution of individual lacustrine deposits as well as potential source regions were constrained by high-resolution seismic Chirp reflection and multibeam bathymetric data. Between 14 and 17 Holocene event deposits have been identified in Lake Tahoe, and examination of their source areas suggests they originated from different initiation points along the steep margin, with some being synchronous around the basin, as opposed to flood-related deposits. Lithologic characteristics, magnetic susceptibility, carbon and nitrogen isotopic signatures, opal content, and 14C dating indicate that these event deposits are reworked lacustrine material. Radiocarbon dates indicate that the emplacement of these event deposit sediments correlates well with the late Holocene paleoseismic earthquake record developed for the Tahoe Basin. When taken alone, the causality of these events may appear ambiguous, but when the evidence is examined comprehensively, it suggests that strong shaking may likely have been the primary trigger for many of the event deposits observed in the lake throughout the Holocene. For example, four event deposits are assigned to Tahoe Basin faults. The most recent earthquakes occurred on the Incline Village fault (between 630 and 120 cal. yr B.P.); the southern segment of the West Tahoe fault (between 4510 and 4070 cal. yr B.P.); on the central and northern segments of the West Tahoe fault (5600-5330 cal. yr B.P.); and on the West Tahoe fault (between 7890 and 7190 cal. yr B.P.). The oldest of the four associated Tahoe Basin events coincides with the beginning of an extended period when Lake Tahoe was likely not spilling or spilling intermittently, and this suggests that active faulting and footwall uplift cut off the outlet at this time, exaggerating drought conditions downstream. Likewise, the event between 5600 and 5330 cal. yr B.P. on the West Tahoe fault may have exaggerated a smaller drought reflected downstream in Pyramid Lake. This event may also be the most recent event (MRE) on the largest segment of the West Tahoe fault. If correct, the period since the last rupture is approximately twice the estimated average recurrence interval for the Rubicon segment of the West Tahoe fault. A more complete Holocene record of strong shaking greatly extends the paleoseismic record in the region and indicates a combined recurrence interval of between 750 and 800 yr for all faults in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-resolution seismic compressed high intensity Radar pulse (CHIRP) data and piston cores acquired in Fallen Leaf Lake (FLL) and Lake Tahoe provide new paleoseismic constraints on the West Tahoe-Dollar Point fault (WTDPF), the westernmost normal fault in the Lake Tahoe Basin, California. Paleoearthquake records along three sections of the WTDPF are investigated to determine the magnitude and recency of coseismic slip. CHIRP profiles image vertically offset and folded strata along the southern and central sections that record deformation associated with the most recent event (MRE) on the WTDPE Three faults are imaged beneath FLL, and the maximum vertical offset observed across the primary trace of the WTDPF is ~3.7 m. Coregistered piston cores in FLL recovered sediment and organic material above and below the MRE horizon. Radiocarbon dating of organic material constrained the age of the MRE to be between 3.6 and 4.9 k.y.B.P., with a preferred age of 4.1-4.5 k.y.B.P. In Lake Tahoe near Rubicon Point, approximately 2.0 m of vertical offset is observed across the WTDPF. Based on nearby core data, the timing of this offset occurred between ~3-10 k.y.B.P., which is consistent with the MRE age in FLL. Offset of Tioga-aged glacial deposits provides a long-term record of vertical deformation on the WTDPF since ~13-14 k.y.B.P., yielding a slip rate of 0.4-0.8 mm/yr. In summary, the slip rate and earthquake potential along the WTDPF is comparable to the nearby Genoa fault, making it the most active and potentially hazardous fault in the Lake Tahoe Basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A follow-up study of students who, during their freshman year, were either placed two to a room or three to a room in a room designed for two persons was conducted two years later. In comparison to their performance during their sophomore and junior years, grade point averages of tripled students, but not of doubled students, were significantly depressed during their freshman year. Additionally, tripled students were less satisfied and more unhappy with their living conditions as freshmen than were doubled students. During their later college careers, all students, regardless of their freshman room assignment, were equally well adjusted to college, equally satisfied with college and performed equally well in their courses. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Two criminal cases are briefly described. In these cases, hypnosis was used to “refresh the recollection” of the victim. In each case, the victim's unsupported identification of a perpetrator, produced through hypnosis, was the sole evidentiary basis of the prosecution. There was considerable evidence that both identifications were based on confabulation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]