E-Prime refers to a linguistic tool developed from the General Semantics framework in order to increase the clarity of thoughts and communication. Compared to E-Standard (i.e., standard and/or classic English), E-Prime argues that the verb "to be"- in the forms of "is" of identity and "is" of predication - has structural problems, confusing the "map" (e.g., mental representations) and "territory" (i.e., physical and/or psychological environment). Therefore, compared to E-Standard (i.e., E-Classic), E-Prime eliminates all the forms of the verb "to be". R-Prime incorporates the same philosophy, but it refers to Romanian (R), rather than English (E). In this study we investigated the role of R-Prime versus R-Standard (i.e., R-Classic) in inducing anger, in the context of the binary model of distress: functional negative (i.e., annoyance) versus dysfunctional negative (anger) feelings. R-Prime condition displayed a higher level of annoyance at post-test as compared to the R-Standard condition. The level of anger increased (from baseline to post-test) similarly in both R-Prime and R-Standard conditions. Thus, R-Prime induced (from baseline to post-test) both functional (annoyance) and dysfunctional negative feelings (anger), while R-Standard induced (from baseline to post-test) only dysfunctional negative feelings (anger). In the end, we discuss implications for theory, practice, and future developments.
Unconditional acceptance (i.e., of self, others, and/or life) represents the rational counterpart of the irrational belief of global evaluation, a key construct of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT). As relating the "self", the concept of self-esteem can refer to global self-esteem (i.e., global evaluation of the self-like "I am a worthless person.") and/or to specific self-esteem relating specific domain evaluation of the self (e.g., "I am a bad mother."). In this study, we propose a new delineation between philosophical unconditional acceptance and psychological unconditional acceptance. While philosophical self-acceptance represents a counterpart to global self-esteem, psychological self-acceptance represents the rational variant of specific self-esteem. However, up to now this distinction has not been made explicit and studied accordingly. We addressed this problem by reporting the initial development and psychometric properties of the Unconditional Acceptance Questionnaire (UAQ), a scale measuring unconditional acceptance of the self, others, and life and differentiating between psychological acceptance and philosophical acceptance. The UAQ emerged as a valid candidate for measuring unconditional acceptance as a rational secondary appraisal mechanism. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed along with suggestions for future studies to develop and test the new proposed constructs and the new questionnaire.
Objectives: Most studies comparing face-to-face to computer-based interventions focused on their overall efficacy, neglecting to explore the difference between common and specific factors that compose such interventions. Our study is exploratory, designed to focus on these basic therapeutic factors by comparing the performance of an internet-based software which simulates therapeutic interventions with a trained human therapist. Method: Two client-therapist interactions, one with a real therapist and one with a computer agent (the “Eliza program”), were both rated by 138 real-life professionals by use of a survey. The survey tapped into aspects relating to both performance and the quality of the therapeutic relationship. Results and conclusions: The perceived difference between the “Eliza” program and the human therapist seemed to lie in the quality of the performances, and not in some intrinsic features of either of the two. The evaluators predominantly found the human therapist to perform better on all the dimensions taken into account. Interestingly enough, what seemed to have a selective impact was the form of therapy they declared to practice. In this regard, the therapists that considered themselves CBT practitioners discriminated more clearly the internet-based program from the trained human therapist on dimensions related to specific factors (e.g., correct approach of the problem) and the overall performance, but not on dimensions related to common factors (e.g., empathy).
Data are scarce on how to accurately screen for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among survivors of motor vehicle accidents, work related accidents or burns. Authors assessed the utility of the Short PTSD Rating Interview (SPRINT) and PTSD Checklist - Civil Version (PCL-C) as screening tools in a clinical setting. The study included 45 participants of both sexes, treated in the Clinical Rehabilitation Hospital Cluj-Napoca, with a history of accidents threatening physical integrity or generating horror, fear, helplessness. Internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's alpha and Receiver Operatig Characteristic curves were analyzed for SPRINT and PCL-C. The Clinician-Administered Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Scale (CAPS) was used as putative golden standard. The Romanian version of SPRINT exhibited good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.903). A cutoff score of 18, with very good sensitivity and specificity and an optimal sensitivity - specificity balance, provides support for SPRINT as screening instrument in clinical settings for patients with severe trauma, ensuring effective identification and referral of positive cases for appropriate interventions. On the other hand, PCL-C exhibited insufficient diagnostic accuracy and efficiency as screening tool in the studied group, despite data reported by other studies for similar trauma populations.
The effects of cancer and its treatment on reproduction and fertility are well-documented, yet knowledge of the psychosocial and behavioral implications of these outcomes for young adult survivors of cancer is limited. The present study aimed to investigate the associations among quality of life determinants on a sample of female patients of reproductive age (102 patients and 102 healthy controls), surgically treated (conisation) for pre-invasive and invasive pathology (cervix dysplasia and microinvasive carcinoma). Our goal was to obtain a structural model, based on previously validated measures, though confirmatory factor analysis. We chose three scales that have been validated on other populations and assessed their construct validity in case of the specific population we were interested in. The mean age of the patients included in the study was 31.8 years, while the mean age of the control group was 32.31 years. Of the 102 patients, 7% reported post-surgery complications, 40% used contraceptive methods, 25% wanted to become pregnant and 17 patients managed to get pregnant, 13 of which managed to deliver liveborns. The FSFI model presented in this paper can be used for assessing four domains of women's sexual functioning and women's overall sexual functioning. The quality of life model based on the EORTC OLQ-C30 allows the assessment of functioning at physical, emotional, and social levels, and defining specific symptoms scales for the target population.
Prior research has demonstrated a link between deficits in executive functioning (EF) and depression symptoms in both clinical and non-clinical samples. However, questions remain about the unique contribution of EF deficits as a construct in the prediction of depression symptoms as well as whether they predict depression symptoms prospectively. The present study examined associations of self-reported EF deficits with depression symptoms in two samples of college students. EF deficits were associated with depression symptoms above and beyond other widely-studied individual differences including Big Five traits, BIS/BAS temperaments, and anxiety symptoms. EF deficits (especially deficits in self-organization and emotion regulation) prospectively predicted depression symptoms among those with initially low depression symptoms. Results are discussed in terms of implications for assessment of EF in research screening and prevention efforts in college settings and in cognitive-behavioral treatment for depression.
Anxiety sensitivity (AS) is most often described in its multidimensional and hierarchical form, consisting of three lower order factors: fear of physical symptoms, fear of publically observable symptoms, and fear of cognitive dyscontrol. The lower order factors of AS have been shown to be differentially predictive of panic disorder, social anxiety, generalized anxiety disorder, and depression. However, there is limited research exploring sex differences in these relationships. The present study examined three specific anxiety symptom clusters (i.e., physiological hyperarousal, worry, and social anxiety symptoms) and depressive symptoms and their relationship with measures of the three lower order factors of AS (i.e., physical concerns, social concerns, and mental incapacitation) in men and women. Sex differences were observed in the unique associations between the lower order factors and physiological hyperarousal and social anxiety symptoms; similar relationships between men and women, which were also consistent with the hierarchical structure of AS, were observed with worry and depressive symptoms.
The present study was designed to analyze the psychometric properties (validity and reliability) and dimensionality of the Children's Automatic Thoughts Scale (CATS; Schniering & Rapee, 2002) in Turkish children. The subjects were 710 students (368 female; 342 male) aged from 8-17 years with a mean age of 12.33 (SD=2.27) years. The result of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) has shown that a four factor model fit the data. Cronbach alpha for the overall CATS was .93. In addition test-re test reliability was .86 across 8 weeks. To asses convergent and divergent validity, CATS was administered together Spielberger State Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children-trait subscale (STAIC-trait) and for Adult-trait subscale (STAI-trait), Children's Depression Inventory (CDT) and Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory (CSI). The CATS was positively correlated with the STAIC-trait, STAI-trait, CDI and negatively correlated with the CSI. The findings suggest that CATS is a psychometrically sound tool to asses negative automatic thoughts among children and adolescents in Turkish culture.
Reality television shows are very popular and often contain content about sexual behavior. We study the watching of reality television dating shows and sexual relationship shows with sexual behavior of one-night stands. College students (n=578) were surveyed about their reality television watching habits and also their connection and interest with media characters. Those who watched reality television sexual relationship shows as compared to those who did not had greater odds to engage in one-night stands (OR:2.16, 95% CI:1.21, 3.83, p=0.01). However, there was no significant difference for engaging in one-night stands among those who did or did not watch reality television dating shows. Also, there was an overall pattern for those who watched reality television sexual relationship shows to have greater identification with media characters portrayed on these shows. In addition to moral considerations, one-night stands can place individuals at greater risk for sexually transmitted infections. As television can have a strong influence on young adults, we suggest that psychology and public health organizations consider advocating for reality television shows of such genre to limit viewer exposure to sexual insinuations during these shows.
This study examines mediator role of rational beliefs about studying in relation to academic procrastination, academic life satisfaction and academic achievement. Two hundred and ninety undergraduate students participated in this study. Findings showed that academic procrastination was negatively related to rational beliefs about studying, academic life satisfaction, and academic achievement. In contrast, rational beliefs about studying were positively related to academic life satisfaction and academic achievement. The results of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analyses showed that rational beliefs about studying mediated relationships between academic procrastination, academic life satisfaction and academic achievement. The SEM analyses also showed that academic life satisfaction mediated the relationships between academic procrastination and academic achievement, and rational beliefs about studying and academic achievement. Implications of these finding were discussed in detail.
The current study aims to compare two psychological counseling delivery types face-to-face versus videoconferencing - in terms of efficacy (i.e., reducing distress and the level of irrational beliefs) and perceived quality of the working alliance Participants (N = 56) were offered a 50-minute counseling session following the guidelines of Rational and Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT). They were randomly assigned into the two experimental conditions: face-to-face counseling and online counseling conducted through an advanced video-conference system, namely the EON Holopodium(TM), which had not been previously tested in therapeutic settings. Results show that no significant differences emerged between the two conditions, suggesting that face-to-face and videoconference counseling are equally effective in reducing distress and irrational beliefs, and that counseling delivery type does not significantly impact the perceived quality of the working alliance.
Cognitive impairments in schizophrenia have been largely documented and there is increasing evidence that these deficits could be considered as rate-limiting factors for recovery. Research has shown that cognitive training is effective to treat cognitive impairments in patients with schizophrenia, with implications on symptoms. Out of 22 patients selected for this study, 15 were evaluated at baseline. Patients were recruited from Second Psychiatric Clinic from Cluj-Napoca and met ICD-10 and DSM-IV-TR criteria for schizophrenia. The primary outcome measure was participants' cognitive function level as evaluated by neuropsychological tests that assess attention, memory and executive function. The group of 15 patients completed 40 daily cognitive remediation therapy (CRT) sessions. Participants were assessed again after completing the CRT program and at six months follow up. Results showed that CRT produced an overall improvement on neurocognition, particularly in verbal memory and executive function. The positive results were still evident at 6 months follow up neuropsychological assessment, meaning that these gains are still present after therapy cessation. CRT showed positive treatment effect on psychopathology. The overall results of this first study on CRT in schizophrenia on Romanian patients produce encouraging results. Further, there is need to verify if these gains persist in time, and also the effects of improving cognitive functioning on other domains such as quality of life and functioning, in patients with schizophrenia.
The central tenet of the Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) is that rational beliefs trigger functional emotions, while irrational beliefs trigger dysfunctional emotions. However, both rational/irrational beliefs and functional/dysfunctional emotions turned out to be difficult to assess. With respect to functional and dysfunctional emotions, there are currently no available instruments that make the distinction according to the REBT theory. We developed a new instrument designed to assess functional and dysfunctional emotions with the aim of empirically verifying the theoretical relationship between these constructs. The newly-developed instrument proved adequate psychometrical properties and seemed to better reflect the theoretically relationship between the constructs. Strengths and limitations of the present research, as well as future research directions and implications for clinical practice are discussed.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is considered the golden standard of psychotherapy for various child psychological problems. However, less is currently known about the best format to deliver CBT to children. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the efficacy of two formats of delivering a specific form of CBT (namely rational emotive behavioral therapy; REBT/CBT) in reducing externalizing and internalizing problems of elementary school children. Our sample consisted of 32 children presenting externalizing and internalizing problems, who were assigned either to the RETMAN rational stories group (15 children) or to a short Rational Parenting Program (sRPP) group (17 children). Results support the efficacy of both types of REBT interventions in reducing externalizing and internalizing problems of children. Better results were observed in the RETMAN group compared to the sRPP for teacher-reported externalizing syndromes, child-reported anger experienced in school, and irrational demands for fairness. In turn, the sRPP had better outcomes for the laxness and verbosity dimensions of parenting. Implications of the current research are discussed for choosing the most adequate treatment for child psychopathology.
Our study examined the associations between callous-unemotional traits (eg., absence of guilt and remorse, reduced empathy, toughness towards others), peer aggression and psychopathic traits in a sample of 125 adolescent boys, aged between 14 and 19 years, from two detention centers. The results confirmed the association between callousness and antisocial behavior, while unemotional traits were associated with impulsivity. We found a strong association between callous-unemotional traits and both proactive and reactive aggression, as well as between callousness and psychopathic traits, such as depression/anxiety, irritability, somatic complaints and thought disturbance. Our investigation of callous-unemotional traits confirms evidence from other studies showing the relevance of the traits for antisocial behavior and psychopathology.
The present study, based on three longitudinal case studies, investigated the relationship between language developmental stage and challenging behaviors exhibited by children with autism with the purpose of expressing refusal. Participants received an intervention based on language and communication stimulation addressed to children with autism spectrum disorder (LCSMA, Dascal Crisan, 2012). Results confirm the correlation between language developmental stage and the presence of challenging behaviors, respectively the lack of functional communication skills determines a more frequent display of maladaptive behaviors. Our results also prove the efficiency of the method in the case of the 3 participants included in the study. They acquired functional communication skills to express refusal, an acquisitions that facilitated a significant reduction in the frequency of challenging behaviors.
We assessed the capacity of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) 1.5-5 DSM-oriented scales to discriminate children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) from children with other clinical disorders: attention deficit and/or hyperkinesia disorder (ADHD), developmental delay. Data were collected from 233 children aged 1.5-5 years divided into 4 groups (ASD, ADHD, developmental delay, healthy control subjects). The CBCL 1.5-5 was completed by the caregivers. We used analysis of variance (ANOVA), Scheffe posthoc, and multiple logistic regression to test performance differences in the five scales between the four groups of subjects included in the study. Scores on the pervasive developmental problems scale differentiate the ASD group from the ADHD group, and the control group, but there are no significant performance differences for this scale between the ASD group and the developmental delay group. The pervasive developmental problems scale demonstrated a significantly better discriminative performance than a random test, with a sensitivity range between 67.96 and 96.12 and specificity range between 67.65 and 88.57. Consistent with previous research, the results confirm the scale effectiveness as a screening tool for the various emotional and behavioral problems associated with ASD, ADHD or developmental delay diagnosis.
Shame is a self-conscious emotion that was recently acknowledged as having a unique contribution to psychopathology, different from that of guilt. Several investigations have pointed out the roles that this emotion may play in the development and/or the maintenance of psychological problems. This article discusses the implications of shame for psychopathology research by focusing on four directions: shame as a predictor, shame as a diagnostic criterion, shame as a mechanism of change, and shame as outcome. We also argue for the relevance of shame in therapeutic practice, and we highlight some particular features which may have a significant impact on successful interventions, by discussing shame assessment and conceptualization, shame and disclosure in therapeutic alliance and ways of tackling shame. Starting from the existing evidence, we point out the gaps in the literature, and offer some future directions and recommendations in order to clarify the role of shame and improve treatment outcome.
The intergenerational transmission of anxiety is thought to be a main contributor to the high prevalence of anxiety disorder in both children and adults. Cognitive factors are assumed to play a key role in the intergenerational transmission of anxiety, but it is not fully clear how they act. This study was aimed to investigate maternal and children negative interpretation biases as mediators between maternal social anxiety and anxious symptoms in children. We used a cross-sectional design. Four hundred and twenty-three mothers (M age = 39.46, SD = 6.58) and their children (M age = 11.69, SD = 3.63; 54.1% girls) were recruited. Multiple mediation analysis showed that both maternal and children negative interpretation biases acted as significant mediators between maternal social anxiety and children's anxious symptoms, indirect effect = 0.008, SE = 0.004, 95% CI = [0.002; 0.021]. Results highlight the complexity of the relationship between distal and proximal cognitive factors involved in generating child anxiety and point to the importance of addressing both maternal and child cognitive distortions when addressing child anxiety in a clinical context.
A protective association between spirituality and depression is wellestablished, but the processes driving this association, as well as its clinical implications, remain unclear. We postulate that one mechanism driving this relationship is frequency of spiritual behaviors, and propose framing this process in the context of value-driven behavioral activation (BA). To clarify the extent to which spiritual behaviors function in a value-driven BA framework, we examined whether intrinsic religiosity (value of religion) moderates the effect of spiritual behaviors on depression in a crosssectional community sample. Results of a hierarchical linear regression indicate that for those with high intrinsic religiosity, greater engagement in spiritual behaviors was related to decreased depressive symptomatology, while for those low on intrinsic religiosity, greater spiritual behaviors was associated with higher depression. For those individuals at mean levels of intrinsic religiosity, spiritual behavior appeared to have little relationship with depression. Results of a logistic regression demonstrated that intrinsically-motivated spiritual behaviors predict clinical depression as well as depressive symptomatology. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed, including the utility of integrating spirituality into the value-driven behavioral treatment of depression.
