Science and pseudoscience in the development of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing: implications for clinical psychology.

The enormous popularity recently achieved by Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) as a treatment for anxiety disorders appears to have greatly outstripped the evidence for its efficacy from controlled research studies. The disparity raises disturbing questions concerning EMDR's aggressive commercial promotion and its rapid acceptance among practitioners. In this article, we: (1) summarize the evidence concerning EMDR's efficacy; (2) describe the dissemination and promotion of EMDR; (3) delineate the features of pseudoscience and explicate their relevance to EMDR; (4) describe the pseudoscientific marketing practices used to promote EMDR; (5) analyze factors contributing to the acceptance of EMDR by professional psychologists; and (6) discuss practical considerations for professional psychologists regarding the adoption of EMDR into professional practice. We argue that EMDR provides an excellent vehicle for illustrating the differences between scientific and pseudoscientific therapeutic techniques. Such distinctions are of critical importance for clinical psychologists who intend to base their practice on the best available research.

Psychotherapy for male sexual dysfunction: a review.

There are nine major diagnostic categories of male sexual dysfunction in the DSM-IV. Psychotherapy outcome studies focusing on these problems are reviewed. Currently, there appears to be little evidence that effective psychological interventions exist for these problems. Reasons for this include numerous methodological problems of existing research, effect sizes that are not clearly clinically significant, lack of compelling follow-up data indicating durability of treatment gains, and lack of treatment manuals that allow replication. Also, some disorders have been ignored by researchers. Guidelines for sample selection and description, assessment and diagnosis, and research design are provided.

Epistemological barriers to radical behaviorism.

The historian and philosopher of science Gaston Bachelard proposed the concept of epistemological barriers to describe the intellectual challenges encountered by scientists in their work. In order to embrace novel ways of approaching a problem in science, scientists must overcome barriers or obstacles posed by their prior views. For example, Einsteinian physics presents scientists with claims that space is curved and that time and space are on the same continuum. We utilize Bachelard's concept of epistemological barriers to describe the differences between the intellectual journeys students pursuing advanced studies face when attempting to accept cognitive psychology or radical behaviorism. We contend that the folk psychological beliefs that students typically hold when entering these studies pose less challenge to cognitive psychology than to radical behaviorism. We also suggest that these barriers may also partly be involved in the problematic exegesis that has plagued radical behaviorism. In close, we offer some suggestions for dealing with these epistemological barriers.

The effects of anxiety and distraction on sexual arousal in a nonclinical sample of heterosexual women.

The effects of anxiety and distraction on sexual arousal in a nonclinical sample of heterosexual women between the ages of 19 and 35 were studied. Using a dichotic listening paradigm, the study extended Geer and Fuhr's (1976) research by examining the effects of distraction on sexual arousal in women. Results indicated that both vaginal pulse amplitude and subjective measures of sexual arousal vary as a function of distraction level, with increased distraction leading to decreased arousal. However, the data failed to support Masters and Johnson's (1970) assertion that anxiety decreases sexual arousal. Although no significant effect for anxiety emerged using a physiological measure of sexual arousal, a significant Anxiety x Distraction interaction was observed using a subjective measure of sexual arousal. Several competing interpretations of this interaction are discussed.

Perceived credibility of children's sexual abuse allegations: effects of gender and sexual attitudes.

We investigated whether sex role stereotyping, adversarial sexual beliefs, acceptance of interpersonal violence, sex of the subject, characteristics of the child (age, sex), and characteristics of the alleged perpetrator (stranger, father) affect judgments of the credibility of children's reports that they have been sexually abused. Two hundred and fifty-five college students in a 3 x 2 x 2 factorial arrangement were given the Burt (1980) scales and asked to read a short vignette in which a child alleged that he/she was sexually abused and the accused male denied the abuse. Although the vast majority of subjects indicated that they believed the child was telling the truth, females rated the child's credibility significantly higher than males F(1, 253) = 6.29, p = .01226. No other significant relationships were found. The results imply that the vast majority of individuals in a college sample tended to believe children's sexual abuse allegations and that this credibility assessment is not influenced by characteristics of the child or perpetrator examined in this study. Implications of the truncated range of the dependent variable and of the Burt scales are discussed.

Behavior therapy and the elderly: a conceptual and ethical analysis.

This article examines several dimensions of the conceptual framework of the behavioral approach to the treatment of the elderly's problems in living that require emphasis. These dimensions are: 1) Within the behavioral approach behavior is viewed as not being a function of discontinuous, developmental stages each with a unique set of psychological processes; chronological age therefore is considered not to be a causal variable in psychological development, but rather a pure index of only certain physical events; 2) The level of analysis of the behavioral approach to the problems of the elderly is that of molar behavior, and therefore explanations which appeal to other levels of observation, described in different terms and measured in different dimensions, are not considered to be part of this approach; 3) The molar behavior of the elderly is viewed as a function of the contingencies of reinforcement, and behavior that is labeled abnormal is viewed as not quantitatively nor qualitatively different in its development and maintenance from other learned behavior; and 4) Behavior therapy, like all therapies, is a value-laden enterprise in which ends as well as means can be explicated and critically examined. Behavior therapy, in which the involvement of the elderly in the determination of treatment goals is maximized and in which the ability of the elderly to influence and design their environments is enhanced, is advocated.

The habituation of sexual arousal.

The effects of two levels of stimulus intensity (medium and high) and two levels of stimulus variability (varied stimuli and constant stimuli) on the habituation of subjective and physiological sexual arousal were investigated in a 2 X 2 factorial design. Forty male volunteers served as subjects. It was hypothesized that, as compared to constant stimuli, varied stimuli would produce higher rates of response attenuation on indices of sexual arousal. This hypothesis was confirmed for both penile response and a subjective measure of sexual arousal. Second, it was hypothesized that stimuli of medium intensity would produce higher rates of response of attenuation on subjective and physiological indices of sexual arousal than would stimuli of high intensity. This hypothesis was partially confirmed for subjective arousal but was not confirmed for the physiological measure of sexual arousal. These results were interpreted as supporting the notions that sexual arousal to erotic stimuli decreases with repeated stimulus presentations and, since the experimental design properly controlled for physiological fatigue, that a habituation process is involved in this observed decrement. The implications of habituation for sex research are discussed.

Toward the explication of the value contexts of the community psychologies.

Value issues are inseparable from any scientific pursuit and they become particularly influential in the applied scientific areas of community and behavioral community psychology. The explication of value positions is one way of dealing positively with the ubiquity of value issues. The role of values in community mental health, community psychology, and behavioral community psychology are contrasted. Implicit value positions are entrenched in the terminology of community psychology and community mental health theory while theory in behavioral community psychology, because of its functional rather than structural orientation, does not contain the same level of value positions. Traditionally, value positions have been concerned with the quality of life, i.e., what makes up the "good life." However, the worldwide crises of starvation, nuclear armament, and pollution necessitates an orientation to a more fundamental type of value, i.e., survival of the species or the opportunity for life. Through the explication of quality-of-life values, the public and psychologists designing community helping programs can evaluate the compatibility of quality-of-life and opportunity-for-life values.

Community psychologies and values: the importance of being urnless.

This paper is a response to the Rappaport (1984) and Attneave (1984) commentaries on the O'Donohue, Hanley, and Krasner (1984) article on the value contexts of the community psychologies. We have focused on similarities and differences between our positions and those of Rappaport and Attneave. We are all in agreement that behavioral community psychology is not value free, a point which is emphasized in our earlier paper. One of our goals was to foster the discussion of value explication and its implications for the community psychologies. The Rappaport and Attneave commentaries, in effect, have accomplished this in an excellent and exciting manner.