1: The therapeutic relationship in cognitive-behavioral therapy: Essential features and common challenges
Okamoto, A., et al.
The relationship between therapist and patient provides the context within which cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) interventions occur and is itself a critical aspect of treatment. This article in Practice Innovations (Vol. 4, No. 2) provides guidelines to help practitioners develop effective therapeutic relationships and overcome challenges. It offers recommendations about common elements of effective relationships, such as expressed empathy and active listening, as well as more specific elements, such as collaboration, empiricism and Socratic dialogue. In addition, the article offers suggestions for adapting CBT-specific practices to a patient’s unique presentation. These tips cover challenges related to sticking to a session agenda, maintaining session focus, managing between-session interventions (homework), incorporating patients’ cultural beliefs and preferences, addressing relationship ruptures, effectively ending sessions and concluding the therapy relationship. DOI: 10.1037/pri0000088opens in new window
2: Therapeutic strategies and techniques in early cognitive-behavioral therapy
King, B.R., & Boswell, J.F.
Patients whose symptoms improve early on in CBT are known to have better outcomes than patients who improve more gradually. This article, in a special section of Psychotherapy (Vol. 56, No. 1) focused on “Beginning Psychotherapy,” lays out three strategies to follow in the crucial early stages of CBT: agreeing on the purpose and goals of the treatment, developing a collaborative therapeutic relationship and initiating the objective self-monitoring of behaviors and experiences. Along with each strategy, the authors present case study examples of exchanges between individual therapists and patients, as well as supporting research findings. The authors also provide practical tips for each strategy. DOI: 10.1037/pst0000202opens in new window
3: The development of goal setting theory: A half century retrospective
Locke, E.A., & Latham, G.P.
In this review article in Motivation Science (Vol. 5, No. 2), the two creators of goal setting theory summarize more than 50 years of research on the importance of setting goals for improving team and individual performance. They highlight numerous aspects of their theory, including setting specific and challenging goals and receiving regular feedback to increase motivation and productivity. They also point to findings that have expanded and bolstered the theory: the importance of setting learning rather than performance goals, setting both short-term and long-term goals, and using theory principles in arenas outside of work, such as in sports and creative endeavors. DOI: 10.1037/mot0000127opens in new window
4: Child-centered play therapy for healing children exposed to domestic violence
Hall, J.G.
More than 8 million U.S. children were exposed to some form of domestic violence last year, experiences that can have long-lasting impacts if left untreated. This review article in the International Journal of Play Therapy (Vol. 28, No. 2) explores research on the use of child-centered play therapy (CCPT) as a means of healing children exposed to domestic violence. Play, the author writes, is the natural language of children and allows for deep, meaningful expression of emotions associated with trauma that may otherwise go unspoken. CCPT is not only an effective, developmentally appropriate approach to helping children exposed to such violence process their emotions, heal from trauma, and feel safe, supported and understood within the therapeutic environment; it also demonstrates a model for healthy relationships, the author concludes. DOI: 10.1037/pla0000097opens in new window
5: Sex differences in serial killers
Harrison, M.A., et al.
This article in Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences (Vol. 13, No. 4) examines the differences in the behaviors and crimes of male and female serial killers. Researchers reviewed archival data on 55 male and 55 female serial killers in the United States from 1865 to 2009 through the lens of a “hunter-gatherer” model. They found that male serial killers hunt, stalking unfamiliar victims in dispersed areas, often with a sexual motivation, whereas female serial killers gather victims, killing relatives and vulnerable others close to them, often for monetary gain. Men’s and women’s differing patterns of killing may reflect maladaptive versions of strategies for ensuring reproductive success, in which males seek more mates and females seek to secure resources to support offspring, according to the authors. DOI: 10.1037/ebs0000157opens in new window
6: Risk factors for child sexual abuse victimization: A meta-analytic review
Assink, M., et al.
This article in Psychological Bulletin (Vol. 145, No. 5) takes a quantitative meta-analytic approach to synthesizing research on associations between risk factors and child sexual abuse (CSA) victimization. The researchers extracted a total of 765 risk factors from 72 studies and classified them into 35 risk domains. A series of meta-analyses identified a significant mean effect for 23 of the 35 risk domains. The strongest effects were reported for prior CSA victimization of the child and/or his or her siblings, prior victimization of the child other than sexual abuse, and having a parent who had been a victim of CSA. Some of the other risks identified included living in a family with a non-nuclear structure, having a parent who experienced intimate partner violence, having a chronic physical or mental health condition, and being female. DOI: 10.1037/bul0000188opens in new window
7: Early interventions in CBT for depression: Contrasting a low-adherent and a highly adherent case
Don, F.J., et al.
While early-session protocol adherence is key for successful CBT outcomes, there are ways to get therapy back on track if disruptions occur in the first sessions. This article in Psychotherapy (Vol. 56, No. 1)—a second article from the issue that made the top 10—looks at the role a therapist’s adherence to protocol plays in CBT’s efficacy in two case studies. The therapist stuck closely to protocol with her first patient. However, she diverged significantly from protocol in the early sessions with her second patient because a computer crash interrupted the first session and in the fourth session, the patient experienced a painful memory of childhood sexual assault that left him unable to focus. Despite those deviations, both patients had comparable end results in terms of symptom decrease and therapeutic alliance scores. DOI: 10.1037/pst0000219opens in new window
8: Emerging behavior problems: Bidirectional relationship between parenting style and infant temperament
Wittig, S.M.O., & Rodriguez, C.M.
Parenting style and child temperament influence one another, and both contribute to children’s behavior problems, according to this study in Developmental Psychology (Vol. 55, No. 6). Researchers conducted a longitudinal study of 201 mothers and 151 fathers and their children. They found that mothers with a more authoritative parenting style had infants with greater capacity to regulate their behavior at 6 months, and mothers with a more permissive parenting style had infants with less capacity to regulate their behavior. In turn, higher infant regulatory capacity and negative affect at 6 months predicted greater maternal permissive parenting style at 18 months. Further, several parenting styles and infant temperament types at 6 months predicted toddlers’ externalizing and internalizing problem behaviors at 18 months. DOI: 10.1037/dev0000707opens in new window
9: Early childhood depression, emotion regulation, episodic memory and hippocampal development
Barch, D.M., et al.
Children and adolescents with depression also experience problems with episodic memory, and those problems are related to stress, adversity, emotion regulation and hippocampal volume, suggests this study in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology (Vol. 128, No. 1). Researchers measured cognitive function in 164 children and adolescents (ages 13 to 19) who had first displayed elevated symptoms of depression in preschool and were enrolled in a prospective longitudinal study. Youth with either current or past depression exhibited episodic memory deficits, but not deficits in other cognitive domains such as working memory or executive function. Episodic memory deficits were predicted by depression severity, emotion dysregulation, life stress, adversity and slower hippocampal growth over time (as measured by one to four waves of MRI scans, the first of which occurred when the children were between 6 and 12 years old and the last seven years later). The findings suggest episodic memory as a new target for early intervention for youth with depression. DOI: 10.1037/abn0000392opens in new window
10: Culture interacts with other elements of an organization to drive success
Hartnell, C.A., et al.
An organization’s culture—defined as its shared social beliefs, values and norms—is interdependent with other aspects of its system such as its structure, leadership and high-performance work practices, and that interdependence has implications for organizational success, suggests this study in the Journal of Applied Psychology (Vol. 104, No. 6). Researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 148 studies that included a total of 26,196 organizations—both for-profit companies and nonprofit organizations. They found that an organization’s culture has a moderately strong relationship with other important elements of the organization’s system. This means that when planning to change its culture, an organization should also make changes to other system elements to avoid confusing or contradictory signals that could hurt organizational performance. The researchers also found that maximizing different outcomes requires focusing on specific elements. For example, maximizing employee performance requires a focus on culture, while maximizing innovation requires a focus on leadership and high-performance work practices. DOI: 10.1037/apl0000380opens in new window
