Teaching group treatment in doctoral programs for counseling psychology.

We surveyed the 71 doctoral programs in counseling psychology approved by the American Psychological Association to examine whether and how group counseling or therapy was taught. Responses from 31 programs listed at least one graduate course in group counseling; over half offered more than one. In most cases the introductory course was required. Analysis also indicated that introductory courses often included an in-class or an out-of-class experiential component, focused either primarily or exclusively on outpatient therapy and used Yalom's interpersonal approach. Discussion focused on the importance of courses in group interventions in doctoral programs in counseling psychology and the differences and similarities in academic training of group interventions in programs in counseling and clinical psychology.

Academic training in group psychotherapy in clinical psychology doctoral programs.

We surveyed 185 clinical psychology doctoral programs accredited by the American Psychological Association to examine whether and how group psychotherapy was taught. While respondents of all Psy.D: programs to the survey offered a course in group psychotherapy, less than one-third of Ph.D. programs offered one. Among programs that offered a course in group psychotherapy, less than half required that students take it. Most instructors had an in-class experiential component, focused either primarily or exclusively on outpatient therapy and used Yalom's interpersonal approach. Discussion focused on the importance of making group psychotherapy a higher priority and the suggestion that courses include a variety of theoretical approaches and important specialty groups such as psychiatric inpatients.

Intellectual functioning of inpatients with dissociative identity disorder and dissociative disorder not otherwise specified. Cognitive and neuropsychological aspects.

The intellectual functioning of 105 inpatients with multiple personality disorder and dissociative disorder not otherwise specified was assessed using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised as part of a comprehensive research protocol. There were no significant intellectual differences between the groups on any major intelligence quotient summary score or any of the age-adjusted empirical factor scores. The anecdotal but widely accepted hypotheses that dissociative patients either have above average premorbid intelligence or that their current intellectual functioning is deleteriously affected by their fluctuant psychiatric disorder were not supported in this sample. A significant subsample of the multiple personality disorder group manifested abnormal interest scatter on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised verbal subtests, and this variability was attributed to subtle neuropsychological deficits on the Memory/Distractibility factor. We speculate that dissociative patients might need to be evaluated for attention deficit disorder in addition to the range of dissociative symptoms in a comprehensive evaluation.

Temporal consistency and stability of three scales for measuring stress in adults.

We investigated the 30-min. temporal consistency and temporal stability of three focal scales for measuring stress: the Cognitive Anxiety Scale-State, the Focusing Inventory Scale-State, and the Somatic Symptom Scale-State. These scales are applicable for individually measured reduction in stress in research on outcome with older adolescents and adults. All possess excellent internal consistency. All manifested significant temporal consistency and good to excellent temporal stability over 30 min. in a nonclinical sample of 60 undergraduates. Small significant differences in means on the Cognitive Anxiety Scale-State and the Somatic Symptom Scale-State were noted. The phenomenological states associated with stress were stable and consistent over 30 min., the optimal time interval used in research on stress.

Retrospective self-reported symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: reliability of the Wender Utah Rating Scale.

We measured the internal consistency and four-week temporal consistency and temporal stability of the Wender Utah Rating Scale and its 25-item short form. The Wender scale is a rationally constructed retrospective self-report rating scale for symptoms of Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Both scales manifested excellent internal consistency. Over one month, both versions manifested significant temporal consistency and good temporal stability in the nonclinical sample of 83 successful young adults most likely to be referred for an evaluation of suspected Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. The collegiate group had a considerably higher Wender score than the original normative group, calling into question the adequacy of the limited normative data. However, both forms of the scale are reliable and comprehensive validation research is advocated.

The Trail Making Test A and B: a technical note on structural nonequivalence.

The major structural aspect of the Trail Making Test, length of drawn lines needed to complete the tests, was measured and compared for the adult and school-aged child versions. Trail Making B is a markedly longer test than Trail Making A, 32% for adults and 27% for school-aged children. The interpretive assumptions that Trail Making B differs from Trail Making A only in terms of the cognitive skills needed to complete the test and the implicit interpretive bias toward minimizing the motor component of the tests were challenged in this technical note.

The Bender-Gestalt psychopathology scale: failure to infer validity in a school-aged sample.

The concurrent validity of Hutt's (1977) empirical psychopathology scale of the Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test was evaluated among three groups of younger school-aged children within the 7-to-10- year age range (M = 109.1): adjustment disordered, conduct disordered, and nonclinical controls (n = 40/group). Excellent interscorer reliability was achieved with approximately 2 hr of self-study of the scoring manual. Although the conduct-disordered group was significantly more immature on Koppitz' Developmental Scoring System, there were no significant differences among groups on the psychopathology scale when visual-motor development was covaried (M = 50.5). This was an unexpected result, given Hutt's initial validation study among school-aged children. The psychopathology scale was not inferred to be valid among adolescents in the only known concurrent validation study. Pending supportive validation research, the psychopathology scale should not be employed in the clinical assessment of younger school-aged children.

Temporal consistency of the WAIS-R Memory/Freedom from Distractibility factor in a nonclinical sample.

The temporal consistency of the WAIS-R Memory/Freedom from Distractibility factor and its intrafactorial components were measured over a 4-wk. period in a nonclinical sample of 22 undergraduates. A modest but significant consistency coefficient of .49 was obtained for Memory/Freedom from Distractibility. Neither intrafactorial component manifested significant temporal consistency over four weeks. Significant retest improvements were expected and observed on Memory/Freedom from Distractibility and Advanced Computation. These retest improvements were interpreted in terms of task familiarity rather than specific content recall. The reported temporal consistency coefficients appear to represent the lowest consistency for these neuropsychological constructs. The routine use of Memory/Freedom from Distractibility was questioned pending more comprehensive measurement of reliability.

The validity of the Bender-Gestalt emotional indicators.

We evaluated the concurrent validity of the revised Bender-Gestalt emotional indicators (Koppitz, 1975) among three groups of children in the 7- to 10-year age range: adjustment disorder, behavior disorder, and normal control. The concurrent validity of the emotional indicators total score was demonstrated. Notably, with the developmental level controlled, both clinical groups produced significantly more emotional indicators than the control group, although the two clinical groups could not be differentiated. Nominal-data analyses of the 13 individual emotional indicators indicated that three specific indicators (confused order, large size, boxed figures) possessed validity as pathognomonic signs. We discuss issues concerning the use of the emotional indicators in clinical practice.

WISC-R factor reliability at 11 age levels.

The reliability coefficients of the normative WISC-R factors (Verbal Comprehension, Perceptual Organization, Freedom from Distractibility) were computed for each age level of the standardization sample from a formula provided by Tellengen and Briggs (1967). Results indicated that the Verbal Comprehension and Perceptual Organization factors possess generally equivalent reliability to their analogous intelligence quotients. Freedom from Distractibility possesses adequate reliability for routine clinical interpretation. Criticisms of the reliability of the third factor (Distractibility) as being too low for individual assessment appear unwarranted. A table of reliability coefficients is presented for each age level in the standardization sample.