A systematic review of psychodynamic theories in community psychology: Discovering the unconscious in community work.

The aim of this systematic review is to provide a narrative synthesis of the peer-reviewed literature regarding the role of psychodynamics in community psychology. The authors screened 301 records on the topic, found in major citation databases (Scopus and Web of Science) without time or language restrictions. Ten articles addressing the review question were identified, showing the contributions of interpersonal psychoanalysis, Adlerian psychology, the Tavistock psychodynamic model, and Lacanian psychoanalysis. Several points of synergy between community psychology and psychodynamics were outlined mainly concerning empowerment theory, preventative and ecological perspective, power, and social order. Besides, the view on the community life, the role of emotion, and the conceptualization of the unconscious domain are discussed. Implications for community interventions are highlighted, regarding clients' demands, the role of community practitioners, and the use of transference/countertransference in consultative work. Limitations and future directions are also considered.

Convergence between Rorschach and self-report: A new look at some old questions.

OBJECTIVE: This study presents an examination of the influence of response format on convergence between performance-based and self-report assessments of similar mental health constructs, to determine if such method variance might account for prior findings of lack of relationship. METHODS: An online sample of 455 participants (57% male; average age, 35.5) completed a multiple-choice version of the Rorschach and two self-report instruments, the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) and the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) representation of the domain traits of the five-factor model (FFM). RESULTS: Several significant interrelationships emerged between the Rorschach Amplified Multiple Choice Test and the PAI and IPIP five-factor scales. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that the Rorschach can correlate meaningfully with similar constructs assessed using self-report methodology when comparable response formats are utilized.

[Facets of Body Image Disorder: A Differential Analysis of the TEK-KJ (Test for the Detection of Body Disorder in Children and Adolescents) for the Direct Measurement of Haptic-Perceptual Parts]. / Facetten der Körperbildstörung: eine differenzielle Analyse des TEK-KJ (Test zur Erfassung der Körperbildstörung bei Kindern und Jugendlichen) zur direkten Messung haptisch-perzeptiver Anteile.

There is presently a lack of instruments that measure the haptic-perceptive component of body-image distortion ­ a central criterion for the eating disorders anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. We present a differential analysis for the Test for Body Image Distortion in Children and Adolescents (BID-CA, German: TEK-KJ) using a large child and adolescents sample, including for the first time male participants. We analyze convergent validity with the Contour Drawing Rating Scale (CDRS) as well as differences between children and adolescents from different type of schools and different BMI percentile groups. The sample size was N = 1,654 pupils (873 females and 781 males) with an average age of 13.35 years (SD = 0.76). We calculated a substantial convergent validity with the CDRS. Significant differences between children and adolescents from different type of schools and different BMI percentile groups were detected, with increased values for children and adolescents attending high school and underweight participants. The TEK-KJ seems to be an appropriate additional instrument for detecting the haptic-perceptive component of body-image distortion. The normative data presented improves the standardization of this instrument.

Current Patterns of Training in Personality Assessment During Internship.

OBJECTIVE: Training in broad-based objective and projective personality assessments has been a mainstay of applied psychology. Stedman (2007) and Piotrowski (2015) have documented a decline in projective training during internship. This study investigated internship directors' current expectations regarding graduate school training with objective and projective instruments, their ratings of the importance of that training, and current training patterns with objective and projective instruments during internship. METHOD: Participants were 355 psychology internship programs, representing 46.1% of the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers. RESULTS: Results indicated the following current internship training patterns: Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (68% to 51%), Personality Assessment Inventory (59% to 25%), Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (51% to 34%), Rorschach (35 to 26%), story telling (41% to 19%), sentence completion (41% to 18%), and drawings (36% to 9%). Adult program directors reported higher percentages for objective tests; child program directors reported higher percentages for projective tests. CONCLUSION: A decreased valuation of projective techniques is now typical of current internship training programs.

Assessment of the need for psychosomatic care in patients with suspected cardiac disease.

OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to assess the subjectively perceived need for additional general disease-oriented and psychotherapeutic care in patients with suspected cardiac disease and to investigate if the request for additional care is consistent with impairment of generic quality of life and the presence of psychosomatic risk factors. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Patients referred for cardiac stress testing because of suspected cardiac disease completed the assessment of the demand for additional psychological treatment (ADAPT) questionnaire, an assessment tool for counselling demand in patients with chronic illness, the SF-36 quality of life and the hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) questionnaires. RESULTS: The questionnaires were administered to 233 patients (age: 54.5 ± 13.4, 57.5 % male). Exclusive demand for disease-oriented counselling was indicated by 45.1 %, demand for psychotherapeutic counselling (exclusive or combined with disease-oriented demand) by 33.9 %. Almost all patients with psychotherapeutic demand (96.3 %) expressed also request for disease-oriented counselling. Patients with exclusive demand for disease-oriented counselling showed significantly lower scores in the emotional and physical functioning and role domains of the SF-36 than the norm population. Patients demanding psychotherapeutic counselling reported significantly lower scores in all SF-36 domains than the norm population. Psychotherapeutic demand was strongly associated with positive indicators for mental distress: SF-36 MH (OR: 4.1), SF-36 MCS (OR: 5.9), HADS anxiety (OR: 3.9), and HADS depression (OR: 3.0). CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that the patients' request for additional care reflects impairment of generic health status and psychological risk load. This indicates that the assessment of subjectively perceived demand allows to screen for patients who are in need of psychosomatic care and motivated to participate in additional counselling and therapy.

[Reliability and construct validity of the OPD-CA axes: structure and prerequisites for treatment]. / Reliabilität und Konstruktvalidität der OPD-KJ Achsen: Struktur und Behandlungsvoraussetzungen ­ Vergleich OPD-KJ mit OPD-KJ-2.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to compare the Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnostics (OPD-CA) for children and adolescents with the modified version (OPD-CA-2) focusing on the mainly unchanged treatment conditions and the redesigned structure axis. METHODS: The patient sample consisted 371 inpatient children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders from 3 to 18 years. OPD-CA and OPD-CA-2 diagnostics were routinely performed by OPD-experienced raters. Statistical calculation included Cronbach's alpha (internal consistency) and confirmatory factor analysis. RESULTS: The OPD-CA-2 structure axis showed very good internal consistency (reliability) compared to the OPD-CA. We found satisfactorily good values for the treatment conditions with slightly higher average scores in the OPD-CA-2. Confirmatory factor analysis resulted in two models where the items on the OPD-CA-2 structure axis were stronger correlated than those of the OPD-CA. CONCLUSION: The OPD-CA-2 is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing treatment conditions and psychic structure in children and adolescents. The reorganization of the structure axis and the treatment conditions in the OPD-CA-2 resulted in a measurable improvement.

[The Relationship Between Attachment Representations of Foster Parents and Foster Children and the Role of the Child's Sex]. / Der Zusammenhang von Bindungsrepräsentationen zwischen Pflegeeltern und Pflegekindern unter Berücksichtigung von Geschlechterunterschieden.

Children who have been placed in foster care after having experienced difficult family situations need to experience secure relationships. The development of a secure attachment model is regarded as a key protective factor for a healthy development. The present study examines predictors of attachment representations in a sample of 37 foster children aged three to eight years. Children's attachment representations were assessed using the Attachment Story Completion Task, and foster parents' attachment representations with the Adult Attachment Interview. Female foster children scored higher in secure attachment representations than males. Attachment representations of male foster children were positively influenced by a secure attachment representation of their primary foster parent and slightly by the duration of placement in the foster family as well as their age of placement but differently than expected. These results suggest that male foster children may be more vulnerable in their development of attachment representations and that foster parents' state of mind regarding attachment as well as the duration of the placement seem to have an impact on the development of attachment patterns in their foster children. This should be considered in the choice and counseling of foster parents.

[Attachment and child development in a residential institution in Kinshasa]. / Attachement et développement des enfants abandonnés vivant en institution résidentielle à Kinshasa.

UNLABELLED: Attachment proves the child's need for a presence as well as physical and psychological protection. It contributes to the development of social and emotional skills. However, the relation between attachment, cognitive development, and physical development remains to be established. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of the quality of attachment on the cognitive and physical development of children placed in institutions for abandoned children in Kinshasa through a first study of this kind in the Democratic Republic of Congo. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighty-four participants, aged 4-7 years, 42 abandoned children placed in residential institutions and 42 children living in families. The evaluation focused on the quality of attachment, cognitive performance, and physical development of these children. INSTRUMENTS: attachment story completion task (ASCT), Raven's colored progressive matrices (CPM) and growth vision. The Student t-test was used to compare the children's quality of attachment, cognitive performance, and physical development. RESULTS: For the ASCT, secure attachment was more frequently found among children living in families (66.7%) than in institutions (33.3%). The CPM showed obtained a higher mean value (19.3) for children living in a family than for children living in institutions (13.3). Moreover, for children with secure attachment, the mean CPM value and height-for-age ratio were, respectively, 83.7% in family situations and 73.1% in institutions. The mean values for children with insecure attachment were lower than for those with secure attachment in families (80.7%) and institutions (70.9%). However, despite the quality of attachment, the mean values obtained in families were higher than those obtained in institutions. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that the child's development, both cognitive and physical, depends on the quality of attachment. Life in the family gives better potentialities than life in an institution regardless of the quality of attachment.

Restoring psychic containers of identity after a suicide attempt in adolescence.

Suicidal acts during adolescence reveal narcissistic vulnerabilities. The author's observation concerns the quality of ego boundaries, as well as their evolution. Longitudinal studies were conducted on the basis of interviews and projective tests performed within 15 days after the suicide attempt and once again the following year. The quantitative analyses of Fisher and Cleveland's Barrier/Penetration scores on the Rorschach show the evolution of identity mechanisms. The results underscore the importance of restoring psychic containers of identity.

[Assessment of sociocognitive functions in neurological patients Presentation of a French adaptation of two tools and implementation in frontal dementia]. / Présentation d'une batterie d'évaluation des fonctions sociocognitives chez des patients atteints d'affections neurologiques Application dans la démence frontale.

This paper presents a French battery designed to assess emotional and sociocognitive abilities in neurological patients in clinical practice. The first part of this battery includes subtests assessing emotions: a recognition task of primary facial emotions, a discrimination task of facial emotions, a task of expressive intensity judgment, a task of gender identification, a recognition task of musical emotions. The second part intends to assess some sociocognitive abilities, that is mainly theory of mind (attribution tasks of mental states to others: false believe tasks of first and second order, faux-pas task) and social norms (moral/conventional distinction task, social situations task) but also abstract language and humour. We present a general description of the battery with special attention to specific methodological constraints for the assessment of neurological patients. After a brief introduction to moral and conventional judgments (definition and current theoretical basis), the French version of the social norm task from RJR Blair (Blair and Cipolotti, 2000) is developed. The relevance of these tasks in frontal variant of frontotemporal dementia (fvFTD is illustrated by the report of the results of a study conducted in 18 patients by the Cambridge group and by the personal study of a patient with early stage of vfFTD. The relevance of the diagnostic of sociocognitive impairment in neurological patients is discussed.

Levels of Emotional Awareness: a model for conceptualizing and measuring emotion-centered structural change.

The need to establish the efficacy of psychoanalytic long-term treatments has promoted efforts to operationalize psychic structure and structural change as key elements of psychoanalytic treatments and their outcomes. Current, promising measures of structural change, however, require extensive interviews and rater training. The purpose of this paper is to present the theory and measurement of Levels of Emotional Awareness (LEA) and to illustrate its use based on clinical case vignettes. The LEA model lays out a developmental trajectory of affective processing, akin to Piaget's theory of sensory-cognitive development, from implicit to explicit processing. Unlike other current assessments of psychic structure (Scales of Psychological Capacities, Reflective Functioning, Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnostics) requiring intensive rater and interviewer training, it is easily assessed based on a self-report performance test. The LEA model conceptualizes a basic psychological capacity, affect processing. As we will illustrate using two case vignettes, by operationalizing implicit and explicit modes of affect processing, it provides a clinical measure of emotional awareness that is highly pertinent to the ongoing psychoanalytic debate on the nature and mechanisms of structural change.

[Application of story stems to the diagnosis of the axis "structure" of OPD-CA]. / Verwendung von Geschichtenergänzungsaufgaben zur OPD-KJ-Strukturdiagnostik.

The continued play of story stems, introduced by a diagnostician, can add to the diagnostic of the axis "structure" of the OPD-CA in a useful way. Story stems (e.g., the MacArthur Story Stem Battery (MSSB) or the Attachment Story Completion Task (ASCT)) are already used in different research fields and in the clinical context. In this article we propose the administration of story stems, which are supposed to represent certain mental skills. A case study will demonstrate the possibility to complement the evaluation of the axis "structure" by symbolic play with story stems.

Experimental measurement of the regulation of anger and aggression in women with anorexia nervosa.

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is associated with difficulties in emotion regulation and this study aimed to examine emotion regulation experimentally in this group compared to healthy controls (HCs). Sixty-six women took part: 22 with AN and 44 HCs. Both groups completed the Rosenzweig Picture Frustration Study in which participants' responses to socially frustrating situations are scored regarding the direction of aggression/anger (outwardly/inwardly or neutralized) and type of aggression/anger (focused on the people or the obstacles in the situation, or solution-focused). Individuals with AN provided significantly fewer solution-focused responses and focused aggression on the people in the situation more often than HCs. There was also a trend for the AN group to neutralize aggression less compared to HCs. The findings support models of AN which suggest that difficulties with emotional processing, particularly around anger are associated with AN. Future work could explore these initial findings in a larger sample.

The Computerised Manchester Child Attachment Story Task: a novel medium for assessing attachment patterns.

The Manchester Child Attachment Story Task (MCAST) is a representational technique for assessing attachment patterns of young school-age children. We have developed a computerised version (the CMCAST) in which story stems are represented on the computer by the movement of simple screen 'dolls'. This paper reports on a preliminary validation study of the CMCAST method against the MCAST. Fifty-five children completed the MCAST and CMCAST six weeks apart in random order. It proved possible to rate the CMCAST if a simplified form of the MCAST coding system was used. Inter-rater reliability was achieved for both versions (kappa = 0.93 for MCAST and kappa = 0.91 for CMCAST). Agreement between the MCAST and CMCAST ratings of attachment security was kappa = 0.67. Costs for the MCAST and CMCAST were comparable. A school-based feasibility study of 86 children suggested that the CMCAST was acceptable and could be administered with up to five children simultaneously. This preliminary study suggests that the CMCAST can reliably reproduce a simplified form of MCAST coding. The computer format may be well adapted to some uses such as screening for large-scale epidemiological research.

The effects of the 1999 Turkish earthquake on young children: analyzing traumatized children's completion of short stories.

The purpose of this exploratory study was to determine whether projective techniques could identify long-term consequences among children stemming from exposure to a traumatic event. The first group of children (n = 53; 26 female, 27 male) experienced 2 major earthquakes at age 7, 3 months apart, in Turkey, while a similarly matched control group (n = 50; 25 female, 25 male) did not. Both groups of children (current age: 9) completed a series of short stories related to disastrous events. Results indicated that the traumatized group evinced a range of trauma-related symptoms 2 years after experiencing the earthquakes.

Chilean experimental version of the State-Trait Depression Questionnaire (ST-DEP): State subscale (S-DEP).

Depression is the most prevalent mental disorder and one of the most important health problems in Chile. The current study shows data for validity and reliability of the State subscale (S-DEP) of the Chilean experimental version of the State-Trait Depression Questionnaire (ST-DEP). The procedure conducted with the original version of the questionnaire was replicated on a sample of 300 university students. The utilized measures were the State Depression Questionnaire, Beck Depression Inventory, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and neutral depressive, mild depressive, and moderate depressive vignettes. Results indicated that the factor structure was replicable, the internal consistency was good, and the situations were ranked as expected. The scale distinguishes intensities of depression. Clinicians and researchers in Chile are provided with a new measure for state depression.

Indicadores de comprometimento emocional avaliados pelo DFHem crianças contaminadas e não contaminadas por chumbo / HFDT-evaluated indicators of emotional impairment in lead-contaminatedand noncontaminated children

Uma fábrica de baterias chumbo-ácidas contaminou bairros populares em Bauru - Estado de São Paulo, afetando 314 crianças, conforme inquérito epidemiológico. Nesse estudo, foram avaliadas 50 crianças contaminadas por chumbo, com índices sanguíneos superiores a 10 μgPb/dl sangue e 50 crianças com níveis inferiores ao do grupo exposto (d” 0,5 μgPb/dl sangue), de ambos os sexos, de 6 a 12 anos e 11 meses de idade, por meio do Teste da Figura Humana (DFH) de Koppitz, que avalia os conflitos e motivações subjetivas dos indicadores emocionais infantis, fornecendo dados objetivos e subjetivos. Por meio do teste estatístico Qui-quadrado, não se encontrou diferenças significativas entre os dois grupos na freqüência de indicadores de comprometimento emocional, ou na análise intra-grupos, quanto aos índices de contaminação, indicadores emocionais, sexo e faixa etária. Porém, o indicador 7, um dos critérios de prognóstico de problemática emocional, capaz de diferenciar grupos clínicos e controles quando acima de 16%, apareceu em 18% no grupo de crianças contaminadas, sugerindo sinais de conflitos nesse grupo. Indica-se a realização de pesquisas transversais com o uso do DFH, outros instrumentos e maior controle de outras variáveis, além de estudos longitudinais com crianças contaminadas por chumbo com utilização de instrumentos diagnósticos complementares.

Some years ago, certain popular suburban areas in the city of Bauru, SP (Brazil) were contaminated by a leakage from a lead battery factory. According to data from an epidemiological inquiry, the incident affected 314 children. In this study, two groups of children were evaluated: 50 lead-contaminated children with blood indices above 10 μgPb/dl, and 50 children with indices below the exposed group (d” 0.5 μgPb/dl). They were both male and female, ranging from 6 to 12 years old and 11 months old. The evaluation was performed by the Koppitz’s Human Figure Drawing Test (HFDT), which assesses the subjective conflicts and motivations of the infant emotional indicators, thus providing objective and subjective data as well. According to the Chi-square test, there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups regarding the frequency of the emotional impairment indicators. Also, there were no significant differences in the intragroup analysis, regarding the contamination indices, emotional indicators, sex and age range. However, the indicator 7 - one of the emotional prognostic criteria which differs clinic from control groups when higher than 16% - appearedin 18% of the contaminated children group, suggesting conflict signs herein. Cross-sectional research using HFDT, other instruments, a greater control on other variables – in addition to longitudinal research with lead-contaminated children and the utilization of complementary diagnostic instruments – are all further indicated practices.

The defense mechanism test-separation theme in two anxiety disorders.

Two groups of 26 age- and sex-matched outpatients, with DSM-IV diagnoses of obsessive-compulsive disorder and panic disorder with agoraphobia, were compared on the Defense Mechanism Test-Separation Theme. A stimulus portraying a mother figure who is leaving a room where a baby lies alone on the floor was presented 22 times at increasing exposure durations in a single-view tachistoscope. Participants were asked to describe what they perceived at each step, according to the method of the Defense Mechanism Test. As predicted, reports of the mother seen as an inanimate object (phobic repression) were statistically significantly associated with agoraphobia, while reports of the mother entering the room or doing something other than leaving the baby (reaction formation) and reports of the baby as an angel (intellectualization) were associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder.