The Rain Forests of Home: an Atlas of People and Place

pdf contains 31 page

The effect of a short course in cognitive and behavioural therapy (CBT) on knowledge acquisition in non-specialist CBT practitioners

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a published work that appeared in final form in Advances in Psychology Research. To access the final edited and published work see https://www.novapublishers.com.In this study, we investigate the effects of training on knowledge acquisition in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). Knowledge acquisition is assessed through the Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Knowledge Questionnaire (CBT-KQ; Myles, Latham, Ricketts, 2002). The CBT-KQ contains 26 multiple-choice questions from five conceptual topics: general CBT issues, theoretical underpinnings of behavioural approaches, theoretical underpinnings of cognitive approaches, practice of behavioural therapy, and practice of cognitive therapy. Thirty eight students attended weekly 3 hour sessions and were tested at weeks 1 and 15 in a before and after study. Improvements in the CBT-KQ were modest but showed significant changes in three conceptual topics; general CBT issues, theoretical underpinnings of cognitive approaches and practice of cognitive therapy. These findings may have important implications for structuring CBT training, so that both the cognitive and behavioural components are shown in the knowledge acquisition and practice applications. Recent evidence suggests that the behavioural components of treatment for some conditions, such as depression, may be more important than the cognitive components. In addition, recent evidence indicates that the behavioural components might be more suitable for delivery by non-specialist CBT practitioners

Autobiographical memory response to a negative mood in those with/without a history of depression

Research ArticleThis document is the final version of a published work that appeared in Studia Psychologica here http://psychologia.sav.sk/sp/index.php?id=home.In this study, we investigated the accessibility of overgeneral autobiographical memories (OGM) and specific memories by observing the effects of induced negative mood state on the characteristics of memory recall in those with and without a previous history of a depression. The Sentence Completion for Events from the Past Test (SCEPT) was used to assess OGM. The effects of previous history of depression (without history or with previous history of depression) and self-reported mood (pre or post negative mood induction) on autobiographical recall was shown in a mixed factor design. A significant interaction was observed between time and group in their effects on general memories (F(1, 32) = 5.06, p = .03) and specific memory (F(1, 32) = 4.88, p = .03), such that the previous history of depression group experienced a larger increase in general memory and a larger reduction in specific memory from pre to post manipulation

Phenomenological characteristics of autobiographical memories: responsiveness to an induced negative mood state in those with and without a previous history of depression.

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a published work that appeared in final form in Advances in Cognitive Psychology. To access the final edited and published work see http://dx.doi.org/10.5709/acp-0190-8.In this study we investigated the relative accessibility of phenomenological characteristics in autobiographical memories of 104 students with and without a previous history of a depression. Participants recalled personal events that were elicited with cue words and then asked to rate these personal events for a number of phenomenological characteristics. The characteristics were typicality, rumination, valence, importance of others, expectancy, desirability, and personal importance. The effects of previous history of depression (without history or with previous history of depression) and self-reported mood (pre- and post-negative mood induction) on autobiographical recall was examined by employing a mixed factor design. Self-reported mood was measured as a manipulation check, before and after Mood Induction Procedure. Typicality, rumination and personal importance showed significant interaction effects in those with a history of depression. Ordinal regression supported the finding that those with a history of depression had a higher chance of typicality and personal importance than those without a history of depression. The results indicate that recall of autobiographical characteristics is in part dependent on induced negative mood state and on previous history of depression. The findings may prompt future research into targeted interventions that reduce individual tendencies for heightened cognitive reactivity in negative mood states for those with a history of depression

The responsiveness of negative cognitive content to an induced negative mood state in those with and without a previous history of depression in a student sample

This study investigates the responsiveness of cognitions to an induced negative mood state in those with and without a previous history of depression in a non-clinical student sample (n = 101). The Automatic Thought Questionnaire (ATQ-30) was used to observe the negative cognitive content. The negative mood state was induced in small groups utilising the Velten Negative Mood Induction Procedure (VNMIP). Self-reported mood was measured using the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology (UWIST) Mood Adjective Checklist (UMACL) before and after VNMIP. The effects of previous history of depression (without history or with previous history of depression) and self-reported mood (pre or post negative mood induction) on cognitive content was shown in a 2 x 2 ANOVA with time (pre-test vs. post-test) as a within subjects factor and history of depression (with a history of depression vs. without a history of depression) as a between subjects factor. The results indicate no significant interaction between time and group in their effects on negative cognitive content. Also, there was no significant main effect for time on negative cognitive content. However, there was a significant main effect for previous history of depression on negative cognitive content. Findings are discussed on the basis of the literature and possible applications for practice

The effectiveness of a short cognitive behavioural training course on awareness, knowledge and transferability of competencies in clinical practice.

Research articleThis is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Mitchell, A. E. P. (2015). The Effectiveness of a short cognitive behavioral training course on awareness, knowledge, and transferability of competencies in clinical practice. Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, 53(2), 87-94, which has been published in final form at DOI: 10.1111/ppc.12140. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-ArchivingPURPOSE: In this study we investigated the effects of training on knowledge acquisition and core competencies in CBT. DESIGN AND METHODS: Forty three students attended 15 half day, weekly sessions and were tested with the Cognitive Therapy Awareness Scale (CTAS) at weeks 1 and 15 in a before and after study. The students case studies were assessed with competencies items 7-12 on the Cognitive Rating Scale – Revised (CTS-R). FINDINGS: Improvements in the CTAS were modest. Key competencies on the CTS-R subscales at week 15 were also observed. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: CBT knowledge acquisition might improve patients’ outcomes through impact on competencies

Rare mental health conditions showing cultural concepts of distress

Scholarly definitionIt is important to note that certain mental health disorders are classified as rare conditions, and they have their own ‘cultural concepts of distress’ as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM5). Cultural concepts of distress are a recent attempt to understand psychological distress influenced by culture, separate from biomedical diagnoses that require equal attention and support for individuals and their families, both physically and emotionally

A space division multiplexed free-space-optical communication system that can auto-locate and fully self align with a remote transceiver

Free-Space Optical (FSO) systems offer the ability to distribute high speed digital links into remote and rural communities where terrain, installation cost or infrastructure security pose critical hurdles to deployment. A challenge in any point-to-point FSO system is initiating and maintaining optical alignment from the sender to the receiver. In this paper we propose and demonstrate a low-complexity self-aligning FSO prototype that can completely self-align with no requirement for initial manual positioning and could therefore form the opto-mechanical basis for a mesh network of optical transceivers. The prototype utilises off-the-shelf consumer electrical components and a bespoke alignment algorithm. We demonstrate an eight fibre spatially multiplexed link with a loss of 15 dB over 210 m

Universal low-temperature crossover in two-channel Kondo models

An exact expression is derived for the electron Green function in two-channel Kondo models with one and two impurities, describing the crossover from non-Fermi liquid (NFL) behavior at intermediate temperatures to standard Fermi liquid (FL) physics at low temperatures. Symmetry-breaking perturbations generically present in experiment ensure the standard low-energy FL description, but the full crossover is wholly characteristic of the unstable NFL state. Distinctive conductance lineshapes in quantum dot devices should result. We exploit a connection between this crossover and one occurring in a classical boundary Ising model to calculate real-space electron densities at finite temperature. The single universal finite-temperature Green function is then extracted by inverting the integral transformation relating these Friedel oscillations to the t matrix. Excellent agreement is demonstrated between exact results and full numerical renormalization group calculations.Comment: 26 pages, 14 figures: updated version including new a section and figure comparing exact results to finite-temperature numerical renormalization group calculation

The effects of induced negative mood state on recalled autobiographical content and memory

Autobiographical memory has been theorized to serve as an adaptive function in coping with negative mood state. To gain a better understanding of whether autobiographical memory changes with negative mood state, a number of experiments examined the relative accessibility of cognitive content and ability to recall specific event memories in those who had a previous history of depression or showed some aspects of current depressive symptoms. Five separate studies involved 288 participants and examined the effects of negative mood components on autobiographical recall. Studies 1 – 4 examined the autobiographical content by cueing content using a cue word technique to evoke autobiographical memories by means of a modified version of the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT; Williams & Broadbent, 1986). Negative mood state was induced by Velten mood induction technique, and self-reported mood was measured using University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology Mood Adjective Checklist (UWIST-MACL; Matthews, Jones & Chamberlain, 1990) before and after mood induction. The ability to recall specific event memories was measured in Study 5 by the Sentence Completion for Events from the Past Test (SCEPT; Raes, Hermans, Williams, & Eelen, 2007). The results indicate that negative mood does influence autobiographical recall in terms of content and memory. These results indicate that autobiographical memory is a phenomenon that is in part dependent on negative mood state and in part dependent on current depressive symptoms and history of depression. Increased rumination was particularly responsive to induced negative mood state in those with current depressive symptoms. Reduced levels of activity, alertness, loss of interest and diminished pleasure are aspects of negative mood that seem to be particularly important components of mood state at the time of recall. To gain further insights into mood state effects in autobiographical recall, future directions in mood research should focus on and differentiate between the separate mood state components that are more important in bringing about changes in recalled content, especially in those with either a history of depression or showing current depressive symptoms