Behavioral Self-Blame in PTSD-Etiology, Risk Factors, and Proposed Interventions.

BACKGROUND: Feeling out of control during a traumatic event may evoke behavioral self-blame (BSB) to avoid feeling helpless following trauma by restoring one's sense of control. BSB is a common, persistent, and treatment-resistant post-traumatic stress symptom. The present study investigates the etiology and risk factors of BSB following a traumatic event and the reasons for its persistence over time. METHOD: Subjects were a group of 546 Israeli ex-combat soldiers (M age = 24.93 ± 5.657) registered in an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) combat reaction clinic. All completed the Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire (PDEQ), the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), and the PTSD Checklist for the DSM-5 (PCL-5). Item 10 of the PCL-5 served to measure BSB. The PDEQ and BSI measured distress and feeling out of control during the event. We used descriptive analyses of the data, t-test, and linear regression analysis to reveal the relationship between the research variables. RESULTS: Feeling out of control during a traumatic event often increases BSB and post-traumatic stress symptoms. A significant correlation emerged between continuing distress characterizing individuals who experience a persistent lack of control and BSB. Female combat soldiers were at a higher risk of BSB than their male counterparts. CONCLUSION: Loss of control experienced during a traumatic event may result in persistent long-term feelings of lack of control over one's behavior.

Possible Involvement of Avoidant Attachment Style in the Relations Between Adult IBS and Reported Separation Anxiety in Childhood.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in adults as well as separation anxiety disorder (SAD) and recurrent abdominal pain (RAP) in childhood are associated with anxiety and somatization. Our aim was to examine possible associations between IBS in adulthood and SAD in childhood. Patients with IBS and healthy subjects completed a demographic questionnaire, the Separation Anxiety Symptom Inventory (SASI), the Somatization Subscale of Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R), the Attachment Style Questionnaire, and a retrospective self-report questionnaire regarding RAP. Compared with controls, patients with IBS were characterized by an avoidant attachment style and scored higher on the SCL-90-R scale regarding the tendency to somatization (25.35 ± 7.47 versus16.50 ± 4.40, p < 0.001). More patients with IBS (25% versus 7.5%) reported RAP in childhood, but contrary to prediction, also had significantly lower SASI scores. Adults with IBS were characterized by somatization, insecure attachment style and recalled higher rates of RAP and surprisingly less symptoms of SAD in childhood. Based on these results, an etiological model for IBS is suggested, in which an avoidant attachment style and a tendency to somatization play an important role in the development of IBS. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Group Therapy Graduate Seminar: A Developmental Perspective.

Teaching group therapy is an essential aspect of graduate studies within the helping professions. Existing models discuss four basic elements required for such training: experience, observation, supervised practice, and theory. The present paper offers a model for a group therapy seminar based on these four elements and organized along developmental concepts. Clinical observations of 120 psychology students who participated in the seminar were gathered over a five-year period. Teaching techniques included supervised observation, fish-bowl, one-way mirror, and a final paper integrating theory and practice. The seminar enabled students to practice and to theorize about group processes, both as participants and as co-leaders. Seminar outcomes and conclusions are discussed.

Clozapine-induced potentiation of latent inhibition is due to its action in the conditioning stage: implications for the mechanism of action of antipsychotic drugs.

Latent inhibition (LI) refers to retarded conditioning to a stimulus as a consequence of its non-reinforced pre- exposure. LI is impaired in some subsets of schizophrenic patients and in rats treated with amphetamine. Antipsychotic drugs (APDs) potentiate LI under conditions that are insufficient to produce LI in control animals, namely, low number of pre-exposures or high number of conditioning trials. The present experiments tested the proposition that LI potentiation under both conditions stems from the action of APDs in the conditioning stage. Experiments 1-3 used 10 pre-exposures and 2 conditioning trials, and tested the effects of 2.5, 5, and 10 mg/kg clozapine, respectively. Experiments 4-6 used 40 pre-exposures and 5 conditioning trials, with clozapine doses as above. Clozapine was administered in either the pre-exposure, the conditioning stage, or in both. In all the experiments, vehicle controls did not show LI. Overall, clozapine administration in conditioning, irrespective of drug condition in pre-exposure, produced LI. The implications of these results for the mechanism of action of antipsychotic drugs are discussed.