How does FDAC succeed with parents with substance misuse problems?:Exploring relational practices within the English Family Drug Alcohol Court

Parental substance misuse is a significant risk factor for child maltreatment and is frequently involved in care proceedings. Outcomes are often poor and family reunification is prone to breakdown. In this article, the contribution of the English Family Drug and Alcohol Court (FDAC) is examined. Adapted from the US family drug treatment court model, FDAC offers a radically different approach to ordinary care proceedings by treating parents as well as adjudicating. The article draws on a mixed‐methods evaluation of FDAC which reports better recovery and reunification rates than ordinary court. It presents findings from interviews with 42 parents and 154 court observations of 89 cases, focusing on FDAC's relational practices. The article concludes that these relational practices offer hope to substance‐misusing parents and that the approach merits wider attention because of its therapeutic potential and distinctive approach to justice. Key Practitioner Messages FDAC is a helpful approach to care proceedings for substance‐misusing parents. Parents value clear, consistent and honest messages about their progress when delivered in the context of trusted relationships and intensive support. Parents need holistic help that takes into account damaging early‐life experiences

Preliminary phytochemical screening and In vitro antioxidant activities of the aqueous extract of Helichrysum longifolium DC

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Many oxidative stress related diseases are as a result of accumulation of free radicals in the body. A lot of researches are going on worldwide directed towards finding natural antioxidants of plants origins. The aims of this study were to evaluate <it>in vitro </it>antioxidant activities and to screen for phytochemical constituents of <it>Helichrysum longifolium </it>DC. [Family Asteraceae] aqueous crude extract.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We assessed the antioxidant potential and phytochemical constituents of crude aqueous extract of <it>Helichrysum longifolium </it>using tests involving inhibition of superoxide anions, DPPH, H₂O₂, NO and ABTS. The flavonoid, proanthocyanidin and phenolic contents of the extract were also determined using standard phytochemical reaction methods.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Phytochemical analyses revealed the presence of tannins, flavonoids, steroids and saponins. The total phenolic content of the aqueous leaf extract was 0.499 mg gallic acid equivalent/g of extract powder. The total flavonoid and proanthocyanidin contents of the plant were 0.705 and 0.005 mg gallic acid equivalent/g of extract powder respectively. The percentage inhibition of lipid peroxide at the initial stage of oxidation showed antioxidant activity of 87% compared to those of BHT (84.6%) and gallic acid (96%). Also, the percentage inhibition of malondialdehyde by the extract showed percentage inhibition of 78% comparable to those of BHT (72.24%) and Gallic (94.82%).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our findings provide evidence that the crude aqueous extract of <it>H. longifolium </it>is a potential source of natural antioxidants, and this justified its uses in folkloric medicines.</p

The Roots of Virtue: A Cross-Cultural Lexical Analysis

Although the notion of virtue is increasingly prominent in psychology, the way it has been studied and conceptualised has been relatively Western-centric, and does not fully account for variations in how it has been understood cross-culturally. As such, an enquiry was conducted into ideas relating to virtue found across the world’s cultures, focusing specifically on so-called untranslatable words. Through a quasi-systematic search of academic and grey literature, together with conceptual snowballing and crowd-sourced suggestions, over 200 relevant terms were located. An adapted grounded theory analysis identified five themes which together provide an insight into the “roots” of virtue (i.e., the main sources from which it appears to spring): virtue itself (the concept of it); considerateness (caring about it); wisdom (knowing what it consists of); agency (managing to be/do it); and skill (mastery of the preceding elements). The results help shed further light on the potential dynamics of this important phenomenon

The fear of being laughed at as additional diagnostic criterion in social anxiety disorder and avoidant personality disorder?

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is the most common anxiety disorder and has considerable negative impact on social functioning, quality of life, and career progression of those affected. Gelotophobia (the fear of being laughed at) shares many similarities and has therefore been proposed as a subtype of SAD. This hypothesis has, however, never been tested in a clinical sample. Thus, the relationship between gelotophobia, SAD and avoidant personality disorder (APD) was investigated by examining a sample of 133 participants (64 psychiatric patients and 69 healthy controls matched for age and sex) using the Structured Clinical Interview for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th edition) and an established rating instrument for gelotophobia (GELOPH). As expected, gelotophobia scores and the number of gelotophobic individuals were significantly higher among patients with SAD (n = 22) and APD (n = 12) compared to healthy controls and other psychiatric patients. Furthermore, gelotophobia scores were highest in patients suffering from both SAD and APD. In fact, all patients suffering from both disorders were also suffering from gelotophobia. As explained in the discussion, the observed data did not suggest that gelotophobia is a subtype of SAD. The findings rather imply that the fear of being laughed at is a symptom characteristic for both SAD and APD. Based on that, gelotophobia may prove to be a valuable additional diagnostic criterion for SAD and APD and the present results also contribute to the ongoing debate on the relationship between SAD and APD