The theory and practice of group psychotherapy

The relationship between social connectedness and anxiety, self-esteem, and social identity.

Abstract: Social connectedness and its relationship with anxiety, self-esteem, and social identity was explored in the lives of women. Social connectedness was negatively related to trait anxiety and made a larger unique contribution to trait anxiety than social support or collective self-esteem. Women with high connectedness also reported greater social identification in high, as compared with low, cohesion conditions. Women with low connectedness exhibited no difference in either condition. Social connectedness was also positively related to state self-esteem across both conditions but did not have an effect on state anxiety. Future research in gender and cultural differences, self-evaluation process, and intervention strategies are discussed in light of the findings.

Psychological Interventions for Cancer Patients to Enhance the Quality of Life

Abstract: Although the thrust of the nation’s cancer objectives for the year 2000 is prevention and screening, each year approximately 1 million Americans are diagnosed and must cope with the disease and treatments. They do so with the aid of family, friends, and the health care system, but accumulating data suggest that psychological interventions may be important for reducing emotional distress, enhancing coping, and improving “adjustment.” Experimental and quasi-experimental studies of psychological interventions are reviewed, and discussion of treatment components and mechanism is offered. A final section discusses future research directions and challenges to scientific advance.

Culturally adapted psychotherapy and the legitimacy of myth: a direct-comparison meta-analysis.

Abstract: Psychotherapy is a culturally encapsulated healing practice that is created from and dedicated to specific cultural contexts (Frank & Frank, 1993; Wampold, 2007; Wrenn, 1962). Consequently, conventional psychotherapy is a practice most suitable for dominant cultural groups within North America and Western Europe but may be culturally incongruent with the values and worldviews of ethnic and racial minority groups (e.g., D. W. Sue, Arredondo, & McDavis, 1992). Culturally adapted psychotherapy has been reported in a previous meta-analysis as more effective for ethnic and racial minorities than a set of heterogeneous control conditions (Griner & Smith, 2006), but the relative efficacy of culturally adapted psychotherapy versus unadapted, bona fide psychotherapy remains unestablished. Furthermore, one particular form of adaptation involving the explanation of illness-known in an anthropological context as the illness myth of universal healing practices (Frank & Frank, 1993)-may be responsible for the differences in outcomes between adapted and unadapted treatments for ethnic and racial minority clients. The present multilevel-model, direct-comparison meta-analysis of published and unpublished studies confirms that culturally adapted psychotherapy is more effective than unadapted, bona fide psychotherapy by d = 0.32 for primary measures of psychological functioning. Adaptation of the illness myth was the sole moderator of superior outcomes via culturally adapted psychotherapy (d = 0.21). Implications of myth adaptation in culturally adapted psychotherapy for future research, training, and practice are discussed.

The Technique and Practice of Psychoanalysis

Abstract: Psychoanalytic Techniques: A Handbook for the Practicing Psychoanalyst,edited by Benjamin B. Wolman, 596 pp, $15, New York and London: Basic Books, Inc., 1967. Psychotherapeutic techniques depend on the way the therapist understands the personality of each patient and what changes both patient and therapist strive for. The personality makeup of man may be simple in its broad essentials but is certainly complex in its details, and full of surprises. Freud opened up our understanding of it—he did not close it. Certainly no single school has all the answers, although this is the tone of much orthodox psychoanalytic writing as distinct from contributions that are free inquiries using all available knowledge. Dr. Greenson's book is based primarily on the theory of dammed-up libido, correct in itself but not expanded and enriched by the last 40 years of study which have seen such revolutionary progress in every other clinical and scientific

Psychopathy, Treatment Behavior, and Sex Offender Recidivism

Abstract: Consistent with findings in other areas of clinical practice, it was predicted that good treatment behavior (in terms of in-session behavior, homework quality, and global ratings of motivation and change achieved) would be associated with parole success and lower recidivism in a sample of 283 sex offenders This prediction was not supported: Good treatment behavior was unrelated to parole failure or general recidivism, and it was associated with higher serious recidivism (a new violent or sexual offense) after an average time at risk of 32 months Further exploration revealed that men who scored higher in psychopathy and better in treatment behavior were the most likely to reoffend These results could have important implications for risk management and treatment planning