Psychology Commons^™

The Role Of Melancholia In Prostate Cancer Patients' Depression, Christopher Sharpley, Vicki Bitsika, David Christie

Vicki Bitsika

Background: Although it is well established that prostate cancer (PCa) patients are more likely to experience clinical depression than their age-matched non-prostate cancer peers, and that such depression can have negative effects upon survival, little is known about the underlying nature of the depressive symptomatology that these men experience. In particular, the incidence of melancholic symptoms of depression, which are signs of increased risk of suicide and resistance to treatment, has not previously been reported in PCa patients. The present study aimed to measure the incidence and nature of Melancholia in PCa depression.

Method: A sample of 507 …

Explainer: Anorexia And Bulimia, Peta Stapleton

Peta B. Stapleton

Eating disorders are an increasing problem in children and adolescents. Recent Australian studies have indicated eating disorder behaviour has increased twofold in Australia in the last five years and 9% (men and women) will suffer from one at some point in their lives.

An analysis by the American Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality shows that hospitalisations for eating disorders increased most sharply (119%) for children aged 12 and younger between 1999 to 2006.

Iatrogenic Symptoms In Psychotherapy , Charles Boisvert, David Faust

Charles M Boisvert

Although the mental health professions are effective in ameliorating personal distress, treatment can sometimes have negative consequences. The authors explore causal mechanisms for iatrogenic symptoms in therapy by discussing the process by which clients may be socialized into therapy and the potential impact that psychiatric labels and language may have in influencing clients' self-perceptions. The authors review research that has examined possible negative effects of psychiatric labels and then examine other forms of language, categorization, and conceptualizations that may contribute to negative effects in therapy. Iatrogenic symptoms may originate through the overreliance on a belief system within which therapists interpret, …

Leading Researchers’ Consensus On Psychotherapy Research Findings, Charles Boisvert, David Faust

Charles M Boisvert

We examined leading international psychotherapy researchers’ views on psychotherapy outcome research. Participants completed a questionnaire on which they rated level of research evidence for or against various assertions about psychotherapy processes and outcomes. Participants rated how confident they were that the assertions were supported by psychotherapy research. Strong, or relatively strong, consensus was achieved on several of the questionnaire items. Areas for which relative uniformity of opinion does or does not exist have potential implications for the teaching and conduct of psychotherapy and for the science–practice interface in psychotherapy. Additionally, consensus about psychotherapy findings can be used as a yardstick …

Utility Of The Mmpi-2-Rf In Detecting Non-Credible Somatic Complaints, Martin Sellbom, Dustin Wygant, Michael Bagby

Dustin B. Wygant

We examined the utility of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) validity scales (infrequent responses (F-r), infrequent psychopathology responses (Fp-r), infrequent somatic responses (Fs), symptom validity (FBS-r), and response bias (RBS)) in differentiating individuals who were asked to feign physical health problems from a group of somatoform disorder patients and genuine medical patients with no history of mental health problems. A large group of undergraduate students were instructed to feign physical health problems as if they were participating in a disability evaluation for a work-related injury. Comparison groups were drawn from archival databases and consisted of non-litigating medical patients …