This introduction to several articles on punishment in treating persons with mental retardation notes the ethical dilemmas involved and offers the editor's view that research on the side effects and relative efficacy of various treatments for reducing self-injurious behaviors should continue, and clinical practice should be guided by research…

Taking an ecological perspective of individuals within their social and physical environments, a diagnostic framework is employed in reviewing the literature on factors associated with drinking and driving injuries and on interventions to prevent injuries due to drinking and driving. (JOW)

Treated obesity by very low calorie diet, behavior therapy, and combination. Mean weight loss for three conditions was 14.09, 14.26, and 19.25 kilograms, respectively. Three years later, and correcting for additional therapy in interim, mean weight losses for 45 of original 50 subjects declined to 2.20, 3.54, and 5.11 kilograms, respectively.…

The ways in which the mind creates new worlds, new contexts, and possible alternate realities are described. It is proposed that with this information, facility in devising new worlds and realities may be enhanced and imaginative reach expanded. (MSE)

A guest editorial comments on the acrimonious rhetoric and arguments exhibited in the debate over the use of aversives with individuals with mental retardation. The editorial urges members of the field to refocus their framing of the issues around respect for persons, beneficence, and justice. (JDD)

Evaluated exposure plus response-prevention treatment of bulimia nervosa among 47 women. Subjects were assigned to either exposure plus response-prevention in one setting, exposure plus response-prevention in multiple settings, cognitive-behavioral therapy, or waiting-list control conditions. Found three treatment groups improved significantly on…

Forty clients received eight psychodynamic treatment (exploratory) sessions and eight cognitive/behavioral treatment (prescriptive) sessions in crossover design. Counselors and external raters rated exploratory sessions as deeper and more powerful; counselors, external raters, and clients rated prescriptive sessions as smoother and easier.…

Examination of the effectiveness of a behavioral parent training package with three mothers of autistic children found that, although all parents increased their correct use of behavior modification skills following the introduction of intervention in two home settings, only one parent generalized these skills to a third home setting. (Author/DB)

Randomly assigned 72 social phobics to behavioral (flooding) or drug treatment with atenolol or placebo. Found that flooding consistently was superior to placebo, whereas atenolol was not. Flooding also was superior to atenolol on behavioral measures and composite indexes. Subjects who improved during treatment maintained gains at six-month…

To identify the most potent reinforcers for 10 young children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, the relative treatment utility of a verbal forced-choice questionnaire, child nomination, and direct observation was evaluated. Results demonstrated that all three methods were more likely to disagree than agree and that a forced-choice…

Conducted single-subject, experimental research to examine efficacy of treating severe, long-term selective mutism in nine-year-old male using shaping, multiple reinforcers, natural consequences, stimulus fading, and mild aversives. Implemented different treatment regimens in home and school environments. Home intervention resulted in increase in…

A survey administered to 91 supported employment job coaches and 86 supervisors revealed that confusion exists over what constitutes an aversive intervention versus a nonaversive intervention for persons with disabilities. When asked to rate 20 vignettes describing interventions, respondents' ratings ranged from nonaversive to severely aversive on…

Used Comprehensive Process Analysis to analyze six client-identified significant insight events in two treatments. Psychodynamic-interpersonal therapy event documented existence of two-part significant events and value of key words. Cognitive-behavioral therapy event illustrated role of context in transforming small therapy events into significant…

Assigned college students (n=48) to anger reduction for cognitive-relaxation coping skills counseling group; time-limited, anger-focused, process-oriented counseling group; or uncounseled control group. Found that both counseling groups led to significant reductions on trait, state, and person-specific measures of anger and on nontargeted general…

Because controlled drinking is achievable by younger people with fewer alcohol-related problems, moderation rather than abstinence is realistic goal for most young offenders. Behavioral self-control training is one type of intervention which can effectively encourage moderate drinking. Studying effects young offenders expect alcohol to have under…