PEOPLE

Twice this year, the United Nations has called on psychologist Harvey Langholtz, PhD, to speak to U.N. officials about his areas of expertise: the psychology of peacekeeping and the training of U.N. peacekeepers.

Langholtz, an assistant professor of psychology at the College of William and Mary, addressed representatives of 64 nations at a May meeting on the training and selection of peacekeepers from African nations. Langholtz identified some of the skills African peacekeepers need to serve on U.N. peacekeeping missions?such as organization, command, intercultural diplomacy and violence containment?and ways the United Nations could teach those skills.

In June, Langholtz addressed a United Nations International Children?s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) meeting about the necessity for U.N. peacekeepers to recognize the needs of women and children in times of war?such as safe passage, shelter, nutrition, health care and personal dignity. His talk prompted group discussion on the issues of rape, land-mine victims, war orphans and child warriors?and on the overall problem of how to incorporate these war victims back into society. The participants? concern went beyond what happens during war to solving the chaos that war creates, such as lawlessness, anarchy, refugees and a breakdown of indigenous government. Having children out of school and people not working sends a blow to the country?s overall progress, says Langholtz.

'It?s a lost opportunity for a nation to invest in its own future stability, ' he says. Langholtz and other participants explored ways to help African nations recover after a war, such as immediately getting children into vocational or academic education.

Because of his training in peacekeeping, diplomacy and international affairs, the United Nations requests Langholtz?s expertise often. Before becoming a psychologist, Langholtz had a full career as an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard, where his final assignment was working at the State Department for Madeleine Albright, then the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. He worked as a member of the U.S. Delegation to the United Nations for two years before earning his PhD and accepting a position at William and Mary.

Langholtz has continued his work with the United Nations, compiling written training manuals for peacekeepers and lecturing on the psychology of peacekeeping, which is a rapidly growing area of interest in the United Nations. His U.N. work has taken him to Argentina, Austria, Ireland and Singapore. He has recently completed an edited volume, 'The Psychology of Peacekeeping' (Praeger Publishers, 1998). His research has been funded by several grants from the U.S. Institute of Peace, the United Nations and the Institute of World Affairs.

Thanks to the work of psychologist Gerald C. Davison, PhD, the books, papers and tapes of the late psychiatrist Joseph Wolpe are now housed at the University of Southern California (USC) as a special collection in the university?s Doheny Memorial Library.

When Davison, a professor of psychology at USC, heard that Wolpe?s widow was looking for a home for her husband?s materials, he convinced USC administrators to pursue the collection. The materials are now available to scholars and researchers by special appointment.

Wolpe, a South African?born psychiatrist and one of behavior therapy?s pioneers, died of lung cancer on Dec. 4, 1997. He was a professor at the University of Virginia and Temple University, where he spent most of his career. In retirement, he was distinguished professor in the Graduate School of Education and Psychology at Pepperdine University.

Wolpe is probably best known for originating systematic desensitization?the treatment that helps people overcome their phobias by incrementally exposing them to images of their fears, coupled with deep muscle relaxation.

Wolpe is also well known for urging his colleagues to view psychotherapy as an applied science in which treatment effectiveness is evaluated through controlled experiments. He developed two measuring systems still in use today?the Subjective Anxiety Scale and the Fear Survey Schedule. He also established the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy and founded the Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry.

'Today it?s hard to appreciate the kind of intellectual courage that Wolpe displayed by going against the Zeitgeist of 1950s psychiatry and clinical psychology,' Davison says. 'Editors of top-tier clinical journals now adhere to the kind of hard-headed empiricism that Wolpe urged on his peers more than 40 years ago.'

The Wolpe archives consist of 25 boxes of correspondence, research files, copies of Wolpe?s books in their multiple translations, video- and audiotapes of his lectures and sessions with clients who agreed in advance to disclosure.

Highlights of the collection include:

? Wolpe?s reports on his systematic desensitization studies with cats.

? Audiotapes of a successful 16-session treatment with a client who was socially paralyzed by a fear of fainting in public.

? Wolpe?s correspondence with B.F. Skinner.

? Videotapes of a 1994 interview with Wolpe conducted by Davison.

Patricia Pitta, PhD, has been named 'Family Therapist of the Year' by the Long Island Association of Marriage and Family Therapy. Pitta has been a private practitioner in Manhasset, Long Island, for more than 20 years. She works to educate her community about family relationships by speaking at local churches, libraries, schools and civic groups. Pitta also regularly appears on television and radio programs to discuss topics such as marital conflict and holiday depression. She is a clinical professor in St. John?s University Graduate Psychology Program and chair of the continuing education program in the university?s psychology department.

Three psychologists will help guide the creation of advertisements for the 'National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign,' a five-year, multimillion-dollar federal project piloted by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).

In September, ONDCP Director General Barry McCaffrey selected as members of the Behavioral Change Expert Panel:

? Connie Pechmann, PhD, professor of marketing at the University of California, Irvine.

? Anthony Biglan, PhD, research scientist at the Oregon Research Institute in Eugene.

? June A. Flora, PhD, associate director of the Stanford Center for Research in Disease Prevention.

Their job is to oversee the development and placement of the campaign?s antidrug advertising messages. They will use their expertise to ensure that the messages are consistent with the campaign?s goal of decreasing drug use among youth and reflect the latest thinking in behavior change theory.

Along with panel chair John Worden, PhD, and three other behavioral and marketing research experts, they will meet several times a year with representatives of Porter Novelli, the advertising firm coordinating the media campaign. The first meeting was in Washington, D.C., in October.

These psychologists were selected for their expertise in advertising, marketing and behavior change, and prevention interventions. Pechmann has conducted several studies on the effectiveness of various antismoking advertising campaigns, including a recently completed project that tested the effectiveness of eight antismoking messages on 8,000 children.

Biglan is an expert on community-based interventions to prevent psychological and behavioral problems in children, including adolescent drug use and smoking. Recently he?s been investigating peer and parental influences on youth problem behavior.

Flora has investigated which strategies work best in communicating health messages to adolescents and adults.

?Compiled by Jamie Chamberlin