Although motivation has long been regarded as essential for behavior, very little research has been done on its role in behavior change. This paper focuses on this issue by examining motivations for eating and dieting in obese and anorexic patients. Measuring the commitment to eating and the commitment to dieting, the study finds that motivations…

"Attitude" is an oreintation organized through experiences which respond consistently to an object, person, or situation. Attitude Therapy is aimed at modifying a patient's patterns of behavior which is viewed as a group of symptoms, rather than one specific symptom. Five attitude prescriptions employed in Attitude Therapy are: (1) kind firmness;…

The phenomenon of pain is still very puzzling. It is not a purely physical phenomenon. Overwhelming research evidence suggests various psychological variables affecting the pain experience. The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of some promising cognitive-behavioral approaches to the control of pain. Anxiety clearly plays a role in…

Three areas of research have supported the conceptual relevance of Reduced Environmental Stimulation (RES) techniques in the management of psychological dependencies. First, preliminary studies through the late l960's indicated that relatively short periods of RES had a facilitative effect on the type of subject who might be most vulnerable to…

Cognitive change in the elderly can be due to several etiological factors which are empirically difficult to separate and clinically problematic to differentiate. Normal aging is accompanied by behavioral slowing. The slowing down of psycho-motor processes results in a lowered intelligence quotient, but cannot be taken as unequivocal evidence for…