Habitual visualizer/verbalizer cognitive style: the impact of anxiety and depression

Imagery and verbal cognitive abilities appear to be differentially affected by psychopathology, yet research has failed to consider Paivio's proposition that people have habitual cognitive styles. The aim of this study was to establish habitual cognitive style (verbalizer/visualizer) among depressed, anxious, and control respondents and compare these to their imagery and verbal abilities in the state mode. A comparison of these groups confirmed that there were no differences in preferred habitual cognitive style. In the state mode, the anxious group demonstrated the highest imagery vividness and the depressed group the lowest. Both clinical groups demonstrated attenuated verbal reasoning and high levels of confusion. Within-groups comparison confirmed the attenuation of verbal ability for both clinical groups while the control group remained stable. All three groups demonstrated enhanced state imagery ability over habitual visual preference. This change was greatest for the anxious group followed by the control and then the depressed groups. The therapeutic implications of these findings are discussed .

Cognitive functioning in chronic fatigue syndrome and the role of depression, anxiety and fatigue

Objective: This study was designed to investigate the role of depression, anxiety, and fatigue in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) sufferers' objective and subjective cognitive performance. Methods: Twenty-three CFS sufferers and 23 healthy control participants were compared on objective and subjective assessments of cognitive performance. Depression, anxiety, and fatigue were also evaluated. Results: CFS sufferers did not demonstrate any impairment in objective cognitive functioning compared to the control group, and objective performance was not related to their higher levels of depression or their level of fatigue. Depression scores only accounted for a small amount of the variance in CFS sufferers' lower subjective assessment of their cognitive performance compared to control participants. There were no differences between the groups on anxiety scores. Conclusion: The results are discussed in terms of the heterogeneity of the CFS population and the complex interaction of symptomatological factors that characterise CFS.

Who gets the cats...you or me? Analyzing contact and residence issues regarding pets upon divorce or separation

Mills and Akers outline the statistical incidence of pet ownership and people's need for domestic pets, discuss ownership or property rights in domestic pets, outline the criteria used by the courts when ruling on implied contact and residence rights regarding domestic pets upon the irretrievable breakdown between the "owners" of the particular pets, and highlight both the shortcomings in the existing law and possible means of overcoming those shortcomings.

The psychological impact of a cancer diagnosis on families: the influence of family functioning and patients' illness characteristics on depression and anxiety

A diagnosis of cancer is a very stressful event for the patients and their families. Patients, partners and other family members can suffer from clinical levels of depression and severe levels of anxiety and stress reactions. The similarity in levels of distress between patients and partners and patients and offspring suggests that there are common factors that impact on families' distress levels. The current study examined levels of depression and anxiety in newly diagnosed adult patients (n = 48) and their adult relatives (n = 99). Family functioning and patients' illness characteristics were identified as factors that might impact on families' depression and anxiety. Results from multilevel models indicated that family functioning was important. Families that were able to act openly, express feelings directly, and solve problems effectively had lower levels of depression. Direct communication of information within the family was associated with lower levels of anxiety. Aside from differences anxiety due to cancer type, patients' illness characteristics appear to be risk factors in patients' but not relatives' depression and anxiety. The results from the current study suggest that researchers and clinicians need to be family-focused as cancer affects the whole family, not just the patient.

Australia, Asia and cultural anxiety : inaugural AHA Anniversary Public Lecture, given at the Grand Hotel, Mildura on 29 September (2003).

My theme tonight is the recurrent idea that Australia could be expected to have an Asian future. From the 1880s there developed a speculative literature around the notion that Asia ('generic Asia' as I prefer to call it) would exert an increasing influence, possibly a determining influence, on the development and settlement of the Australian continent. There is a certain pathos about this story of a young, newly formed community on the threshold of nationhood finding Asia blocking its path. Would the ensuing contest be the making of white Australia; would the young nation define its national purpose and assert its right to exist or would it succumb to a force more powerful? Would white Australia become nothing more than a faint historical memory, a failed experiment in the complex and uncertain business of nation building? In short, would white Australia fail?

Peer groups, power and pedagogy : the limits of an educational paradigm of separation

In contrast to the plethora of literature that suggests that the increasing gulf between teachers and young people is due to the shifting interests and expectations of young people, the focus of this paper is on the roles teachers play in this relationship. Provoking interest is a concern that some of the assumptions that underpin 'mainstream' pedagogic theory and practice might actually contribute, albeit unwittingly, to hardening rather than softening the communication divide. Drawing on an incident that took place between a group of 7–8 year old males in a primary school setting, the authors reveal the limits of a teaching paradigm that encourages teachers to adopt authoritative positions from which to separate and individualise student behaviour. In theoretical terms, they argue that the application of this paradigm asserts an exaggerated notion of agency to individuals in the construction of identity. In practical terms it promotes processes that individualise behaviour as a way of dealing with miscreance. Together these manifest themselves as a 'pedagogy of separation'. The process of building more productive pedagogic relationships, it is concluded, needs to begin with teachers better recognising and engaging with the collective investments of young people.

A new second-order method for blind signal separation from dynamic mixtures

This paper presents a new approach to separate colored stationary signals mixed by convolutive channels. A cost function is proposed by employing linear constraint to the demixing vectors. The linear constraint is shown to be sufficient for avoiding trivial solution. The minimization of the cost function is performed using the Lagrangian method. Simulation results demonstrate the performance of the algorithm.

Blind source separation based on phase and frequency redundancy of cyclostationary signals

This paper presents a new method for blind source separation by exploiting phase and frequency redundancy of cyclostationary signals in a complementary way. It requires a weaker separation condition than those methods which only exploit the phase diversity or the frequency diversity of the source signals. The separation criterion is to diagonalize a polynomial matrix whose coefficient matrices consist of the correlation and cyclic correlation matrices, at time delay .TAU. = 0, of multiple measurements. An algorithm is proposed to perform the blind source separation. Computer simulation results illustrate the performance of the new algorithm in comparison with the existing ones.

The role of performance anxiety in the development and maintenance of sexual dysfunction in men and women

The current study evaluated the association between attitudes toward sex, stress, relationship quality, performance anxiety, and sexual dysfunction among 157 men (114 dysfunctional, 43 functional) and 186 women (84 dysfunctional, 102 functional). The results demonstrate that the main factors related to all types of sexual dysfunction among men were attitudes toward sex, conflict in their relationship, and performance anxiety. For women, the main factors related to all types of sexual dysfunction were attitudes toward sex, relationship quality, and performance anxiety. These results demonstrate the central role of performance anxiety in either the development or maintenance of sexual dysfunction among both men and women. Clearly, this is an area that has to be considered in any treatment program for sexual dysfunction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserve

The separation of ownership and control under a happiness-based theory of the corporation

Explores the happiness-based theory of the corporation, suggesting that there is no conflict between the pursuance of economic and social objectives on the basis that their interplay is required to facilitate shareholder happiness. Considers: (1) the Berle-Means hypothesis and the separation of ownership and control, the dominant governance structure for large companies; (2) a happiness-based perspective on the separation; and (3) law reform applicable to a happiness-based theory. Argues that the separation of ownership and control is not in shareholders' best interests because the structure is not conducive to the happiness of individual shareholders and should be reformed.

The psychological impact of extended temporary protection

Against the background of the recent international trend of a greater reliance on deterrence measures in managing the flow of asylum seekers, this paper discusses the implementation of the temporary protection visa (TPV) in Australia. It focuses on the psychological impact of the TPV policy on individual asylum seekers and how this unlimited temporary status affects the overall process of settlement. This study is based on personal narratives constructed by individual asylum seekers during one-on-one interviews aimed at sketching the mental and psychological manifestations of stressful events in their lives as TPV holders. What is particularly revealing among many of these TPV holders is the fact that their pre-migration traumatic experiences are compounded by a post-migration condition of being in indefinite "temporary" protection. This is further exacerbated by a prevalence of racialized discourses and exclusionary policies advocated by the host government. Past trauma and persecution, combined with present family separation and social exclusion, and further compounded by uncertainty about the future, had resulted in almost chronic states of anxiety and depression among a significant number of TPV holders.

Women`s satisfaction with life following marital separation : coping resources and adjustment of lone-parent women

This questionnaire study examined the adjustment of 245 lone-parenting women following marital separation. A composite model included intrapsychic variables as intervening between demographic and contextual variables and adjustment (life satisfaction). Regression analyses showed that the demographic and contextual variables were partially mediated by the intrapsychic variables. The path model indicated that the intrapsychic variables (sense of coherence, control, depression, and grief) had a direct impact on life satisfaction and that there was an indirect path for depression through sense of coherence (SOC) and control. It was concluded that the intrapsychic variables had a more powerful relationship with women's post-separation life satisfaction than did the demographic/contextual variables. Social implications and recommendations for future policy are considered.

Assessing adult adjustment to relationship separation : the Psychological Adjustment to Separation Test (PAST)

Relationship separation is associated with substantial adult adjustment problems. The Psychological Adjustment to Separation Test (PAST) was developed as a self-report measure of 3 key dimensions of separation adjustment problems: lonely negativity, ex-partner attachment and coparenting conflict. Two independent samples (n = 219 and n = 169, respectively) of recently separated adults, 60% of whom had children, completed the PAST and other measures of general adjustment. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated a replicable 3-factor structure, with each factor showing satisfactory test–retest and internal reliability and good convergent and discriminant validity. The PAST meets initial criteria for a potentially useful new measure of adult separation adjustment.