Reflective functioning: A review

Reflective functioning offers an empirically grounded framework for the assessment of mentalization. This article briefly outlines the theory of mentalization and the development of the Reflective Functioning (RF) scale (Fonagy, Target, Steele, & Steele, 1998). It then offers a review and discussion of empirical studies of parental RF regarding the role of RF in linking adult and child attachment and parental RF in the context of psychopathology. Furthermore, empirical studies on RF in relation to different psychiatric populations and to the role of RF in psychotherapy process and outcome are reviewed and discussed. Although research on RF is still relatively limited, evidence seems to support the relevance of RF as an empirical measure in the fields of attachment, psychopathology and psychotherapy research. However, the RF scale has certain limitations due to the extensiveness of the measure, which future research should take into account.     

佛教思想对心理治疗观的影响

心理治疗的主要目的是减轻人们的心理痛苦。佛教如同任何宗教一样都有帮助人们减轻精神痛苦的作用。心理治疗源自西方的相对科学的体系,其理念重在以不同的方式帮助人们更好地适应环境,或更好地满足自己的需要。佛教中的理念引导人们应对心理痛苦的方式是接受放下,是一种人生态度。在心理治疗中渗入这一理念,会更有效地帮助来访者,至少在受佛教思想影响的中国文化背景下。本文将以心理治疗实践中的案例为例具体阐述佛教思想对心理治疗观的影响,并与心理动力学治疗和其他的心理治疗方法的一些理念进行比较。     

The burden of relatives of psychiatric patients: Comparisons between parents,spouses, and grown-up children of voluntarily and compulsorily admitted psychiatric patients

As part of an ongoing study of the quality of the mental health services in two Swedish county councils, relatives of both voluntarily and compulsorily admitted patients were interviewed with regard to family burden. The aims of this part of the study were to investigate differences in burden between subgroups of relatives, differences in family burden between 1986 and 1991, and differences between relatives of voluntarily and compulsorily admitted patients. The relatives investigated consisted of 79 spouses, 118 parents, and 31 grown-up children. The results showed that relatives of severely mentally ill persons have a considerable amount of burden, of both an external and a psychologic internal nature. Subjective burden was generally more pronounced than objective external burden. Spouses had to a greater extent external burdens. Relatives experienced more internal burden in 1986 and more external burden in 1991. There were no differences between relatives of voluntarily and compulsorily admitted patients. It is concluded that the psychiatric services in their work with relatives have to consider the specific burden of different subgroups of relatives.     

病毒性心肌炎心理和药物康复治疗

目的：探索病毒性心肌炎（VMC）心理和药物康复治疗作用。方法：在心理疗法和辅酶Q10、VitC治疗的基础上，对93例VMC随机分组，加用黄芪（治疗组）或GIK极化液（对照组），疗程共3月。结果：治疗组（n＝50）和对照组（n＝43）共72．1％的患者有不同程度的心理障碍，经心理疗法后均恢复正常；治疗组各种心律失常较减少对照明显（P＜0．05）；治疗组治疗后LVEDd缩小、LVEF增加非常明显（P＜0．01），而对照组治疗后LVEDd缩小、LVEF增加明显（P＜0．05），治疗组治疗后CK、CK—MB、cTNT降低非常明显（P＜0．01），而对照治疗后降低明显（P＜0．05）；治疗组和对照组总有效率分别为84％和79％，两组间比较有显著性差异（P＜0．05）。结论：心理疗法和中西药物干预相结合的治疗方案对于VMC是有心肌保护和康复作用的有效疗法之一。     

Cognitive-behavioral therapy versus other therapies: Redux

Despite the evidence suggesting that all treatments intended to be therapeutic are equally efficacious, the conjecture that one form of treatment, namely cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), is superior to all other treatment persists. The purpose of the current study was to (a) reanalyze the clinical trials from an earlier meta-analysis that compared CBT to ‘other therapies’ for depression and anxiety (viz., Tolin, 2010) and (b) conduct a methodologically rigorous and comprehensive meta-analysis to determine the relative efficacy of CBT and bona fide non-CBT treatments for adult anxiety disorders. Although the reanalysis was consistent with the earlier meta-analysis' findings of small to medium effect sizes for disorder-specific symptom measures, the reanalysis revealed no evidence for the superiority of CBT for depression and anxiety for outcomes that were not disorder-specific. Following the reanalysis, a comprehensive anxiety meta-analysis that utilized a survey of 91 CBT experts from the Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapists (ABCT) to consensually identify CBT treatments was conducted. Thirteen clinical trials met the inclusion criteria. There were no differences between CBT treatments and bona fide non-CBT treatments across disorder-specific and non-disorder specific symptom measures. These analyses, in combination with previous meta-analytic findings, fail to provide corroborative evidence for the conjecture that CBT is superior to bona fide non-CBT treatments.