The future of cognitive and behavioral therapies in the prevention and early management of psychosis: Opportunities and risks

Behavioral and cognitive interventions for people with psychosis have a long and distinguished history, although the evidence for their application to young people remains limited. We anticipate that the next decades will show substantial research into psychological intervention for this population. Important targets will include the management of environmental stressors, reduction of substance misuse, and promotion of early treatment. Psychological management of positive symptoms, depression, and suicidal behavior will continue to be critical objectives. Important secondary prevention goals will be the retention of cognitive functioning, vocational options, social skills, and social network support, including appropriate family support. We expect primary prevention to include both universal programs and interventions for adolescents at particularly high risk. Technical innovations will include increasing use of Internet-based intervention and behavior cueing devices. Pressures for intervention brevity will continue, as will problems with the systematic delivery of effective procedures.

Client resistance in outreaching social work in Hong Kong

This paper reports the survey findings of a study on the outreaching social workers' perceptions of client resistance. In light of their social work practice 10th youth-at-risk in Hong Kong, resistance is generally recognised as a natural phenomenon in the counselling process and to a certain extent, is an obstacle to engaging in purposeful worker-client relationship as well as effecting behavioural changes. On Pipes and Davenport's (1990) classification, the respondents were more likely to classify client resistance as innocuous behaviours like missing appointments and refusing to discuss problems than disarming and proactive behaviours. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Scoring occupational categories for social research: A review of current practice, with Australian examples

The scoring of occupational categories has along history. After reviewing the historical background, we develop and discuss the properties of two new Australian scales based on current theorising in stratification research. The first is based on the operation of the labour market and scores occupations to reflect their central role in converting educational credentials into market income. The second is based on patterns of social interaction and scores occupations to reflect the choices that people make in marriage markets. While these two scales are not theoretically or empirically equivalent, they are closely related and provide equally valid, but alternative, ways of measuring the underlying stratification order of modern societies.

Loss as a universal concept: Review of the literature to identify common aspects of loss in diverse situations

It has long been recognized that loss and its associated grief are important elements of many adverse life events that affect the entire global population: death, disability, traumatic events, abuse., terminal and chronic illness, aging, addiction, unemployment, relationship breakdown, war, migration, and educational failure. While there is significant empirical evidence of the potential deleterious effects of specific situations of loss across the global community, systematic discussion concerning the common elements of loss that are associated with adverse life situations in general has been limited. This review of the theoretical and empirical literature concerning various losses and the recommendations for care of those affected by such losses identifies common aspects of situations of loss and common recommendations in the care of those confronted by such losses. These common themes of loss are described by simple summary statements that can be communicated to a broad audience, hence enhancing community education and, potentially, community-wide mental health promotion.

Promotion of motoneuron survival and branching in rapsyn-deficient mice

Inhibition of programmed cell death of motoneurons during embryonic development requires the presence of their target muscle and coincides with the initial stages of synaptogenesis. To evaluate the role of synapse formation on motoneuron survival during embryonic development, we counted the number of motoneurons in rapsyn-deficient mice. RaDsyn is a 43 kDa protein needed for the formation of postsynaptic specialisations at vertebrate neuromuscular synapses. Here we show that the rapsyn-deficient mice have a significant increase in the number of motoneurons in the brachial lateral motor column during the period of naturally occurring programmed cell death compared to their wild-type littermates. In addition, we observed an increase in intramuscular axonal branching in the rapsyn-deficient diaphragms compared to their wild-type littermates at embryonic day 18.5. These results suggest that deficits in the formation of the postsynaptic specialisation at the neuromuscular synapse, brought about by the absence of rapsyn, are sufficient to induce increases in both axonal branching and the survival of the innervating motoneuron. Moreover, these results support the idea that skeletal muscle activity through effective synaptic transmission and intramuscular axonal branching are major mechanisms that regulate motoneuron survival during development. (C) 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.