More than meets the eye: Taking a look at EMDR in trauma-focused therapy

An abundance of research in trauma-focused therapy has been conducted and continues in the ongoing effort to increase evidence-based approaches to counseling practice. While the therapeutic intervention of Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) has existed for decades and is now widely accepted as an effective treatment method for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), it continues to be surrounded by controversy and criticism as the utility of the eye-movements and its theoretical basis are still not well understood. In this paper, I have discussed theories of trauma and the impact on mind and body, the evolution of EMDR along with its process, procedure, and proposed theoretical basis, evaluations of its therapeutic effectiveness, criticisms from the psychological community, and recommendations for clinical use and integration

Scale Analysis Suggests Frequent Skipping of Second Reproductive Season in Atlantic Herring

A common assumption in fish studies is that iteroparous fish, once mature, normally reproduce in all consecutive seasons. Analysis of scales from Norwegian spring-spawning herring collected between 1935-1973 revealed strong under-representation (47% of expected) of second-time spawners on the spawning grounds. This reduction is not explained satisfactorily by possible errors in scale-reading, suggesting that the second reproductive season is frequently skipped. Skipping a season may relate to trade-offs between growth, current and future reproduction, and survival, which are likely to be particularly strong for young adult herring

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the evidence for unaware fear conditioning

Whether fear conditioning can take place without contingency awareness is a topic of continuing debate and conflicting findings have been reported in the literature. This systematic review provides a critical assessment of the available evidence. Specifically, a search was conducted to identify articles reporting fear conditioning studies in which the contingency between conditioned stimuli (CS) and the unconditioned stimulus (US) was masked, and in which CS-US contingency awareness was assessed. A systematic assessment of the methodological quality of the included studies (k = 41) indicated that most studies suffered from methodological limitations (i.e., poor masking procedures, poor awareness measures, researcher degrees of freedom, and trial-order effects), and that higher quality predicted lower odds of studies concluding in favor of contingency unaware fear conditioning. Furthermore, meta-analytic moderation analyses indicated no evidence for a specific set of conditions under which contingency unaware fear conditioning can be observed. Finally, funnel plot asymmetry and p-curve analysis indicated evidence for publication bias. We conclude that there is no convincing evidence for contingency unaware fear conditioning

A review on mental imagery in fear conditioning research 100 years since the 'Little Albert' study

Since the seminal 'Little Albert' study by Watson and Rayner (1920), fear conditioning has become one of the most commonly used paradigms for studying the etiology of anxiety-related disorders. In a fear conditioning procedure, a (neutral) conditioned stimulus (CS) is paired with an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US), resulting in fear-related conditioned responses (CRs) to the CS. Whereas fear conditioning research initially focused on observable elements in the environment (i.e., CSs, USs, and their contingency) and their effects (i.e., CRs), subsequent research indicated that attention should also be given to unobservable mental events (e.g., intrusive memories of aversive outcomes) to more fully account for the symptomatology of anxiety disorders. In this paper, we review the research relating to four major research questions on the relationship between mental imagery and fear conditioning: (1) Can mental imagery substitute for actual stimulus administration? (2) Can mental imagery inflate CRs? (3) Can fear conditioning result in the installment of mental images as CRs (Le., intrusions)? (4) Can mental imagery-based interventions reduce CRs? For all these research questions, tentative confirmatory evidence has been found and these findings corroborate contemporary conditioning theories. Nonetheless, we point to several open questions and methodological issues that require further research

Future oriented imagery rescripting facilitates conducting behavioral experiments in social anxiety

Distressing mental images are common in anxiety disorders and can make it difficult for patients to confront feared situations. This study examined whether imagery rescripting focused on a feared social situation prepares participants to engage in a feared situation. Sixty healthy individuals were asked to formulate a behavioral experiment to test negative beliefs about a social situation they feared. They were assigned to one of two groups: imagery rescripting focused on the feared outcome of the behavioral experiment or no imagery rescripting (i.e., a break). All participants were then asked to complete ratings scales and to conduct the behavioral experiment. Before the behavioral experiment, the imagery rescripting condition, compared to the control condition, showed reduced anticipated probability and severity of the feared outcome, lower anxiety and helplessness levels, and increased willingness to conduct the behavioral experiment. Imagery-based interventions focused on feared outcomes seem promising to prepare anxious individuals to engage in treatment

Форми минулого часу в пам’ятках Середньої Наддніпрянщини

У статті розглянуто роль говірок північного та південно-західного наріч в історії формування середньонаддніпрянського говору. На матеріалі пам’яток староукраїнської мови кінця XVII − початку XVIII ст. з території Середньонаддніпрянщини досліджено форми минулого особового часу в зіставленні з такими ж формами давньоукраїнської мови та з сучасним діалектним матеріалом.В статье рассмотрена роль говоров северного и юго-западного наречий в истории формирования среднеподнепровского диалекта. На материале письменных памятников староукраинского языка конца XVII и начала XVIII вв. из территории Среднего Поднепровья исследованы формы прошедшего личного времени в сопоставлении с такими же формами древнеукраинского языка и современного диалектного материала.The article deals with the role of dialects of the northern and the south-western narich in the history of forming of the middlenaddnipryanskyi manner of speaking. The forms of the past tense in comparison with the same forms of modern language were investigated on the material of pam’yatok of staroukrainian language of the end of the XVII to the beginning of the XVIII centuries