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Biomedical subjects

H Omer

Publications and source records attributed to H Omer.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Helping parents deal with children's acute disciplinary problems without escalation: the principle of nonviolent resistance.

There are two kinds of escalation between parents and children with acute discipline problems: (a) complementary escalation, in which parental giving-in leads to a progressive increase in the child's demands, and (b) reciprocal escalation, in which hostility begets hostility. Extant programs for helping parents deal with children with such problems focus mainly on one kind of escalation to the neglect of the other. The systematic use of Gandhi's principle of "nonviolent resistance" allows for a parental attitude that counters both kinds of escalation. An intervention is described, which allows parents to put this principle into practice.

Behavior Therapy↗
PubMed2001

What would you say to the person on the roof? A suicide prevention text.

This anti-suicide text provides potential helpers (professional and lay) with clear guidelines for communicating with a declared suicidal person, particularly in real-time situations, when time is crucial and the act cannot be physically prevented. The text also may have a preventative effect when diffused to the public as an anonymous address to potential suicides.

Communication↗
PubMed2000

Troubles in the therapeutic relationship: a pluralistic perspective.

From a pluralist perspective, there is no universally correct therapeutic attitude and no set way to deal with troubled therapeutic relationships. A three-factor model of therapeutic impasse is presented in terms of hopeless narratives, failing strategies, and ineffective interactions. This triple mapping allows for the development of a working hypothesis and a critical intervention in order to set therapy back on track. Although a one-shot event, the critical intervention is not a single-session magical cure, but an attempt to restore a productive therapeutic routine based on a better working alliance. This article illustrates this approach in three separate cases.

Attitude↗
PubMed1996

High prevalence of personality disorders among circadian rhythm sleep disorders (CRSD) patients.

The purpose of this study was to examine systematically our previous clinical impression regarding the prevalence of personality disorders in patients suffering from circadian rhythm sleep disorders (CRSD). We hypothesized that, in a group of patients suffering from CRSD, there would be a higher frequency of personality disorders than in a group of healthy controls. The experimental group consisted of CRSD patients diagnosed according to a clinical interview and actigraphic recordings. The control group consisted of healthy volunteers in whom CRSD had been ruled out by means of a self-administered questionnaire. Both groups were assessed for personality disorders using the MCMI, a diagnostic tool based on Millon's biopsychosocial theory of personality and the PRQ-R, a diagnostic tool based on the DMS-III-R. Both tests provided clear and significant support for the hypothesis that individuals suffering from CRSD are characterized to a greater extent by personality disorders than a control group. No specific characteristic pattern or profile of personality disorders was clearly detected. Correct early diagnosis and treatment of CRSD may improve afflicted individuals' adaptive capabilities and perhaps even prevent the development of a personality disorder. This suggests how important a greater awareness of CRSD on the part of the professional community may be.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

The continuity principle: a unified approach to disaster and trauma.

The continuity principle stipulates that through all stages of disaster, management and treatment should aim at preserving and restoring functional, historical, and interpersonal continuities, at the individual, family, organization, and community levels. Two misconceptions work against this principle and lead to decisional errors: the "abnormalcy bias" which results in underestimating victims' ability to cope with disaster, and the "normalcy bias" which results in underestimating the probability or extent of expected disruption. This article clarifies these biases and details the potential contributions of the continuity principle at the different stages of the disaster.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1994

Misuse of statistical test in three decades of psychotherapy research.

This article reviews the misuse of statistical tests in psychotherapy research studies published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology in the years 1967-1968, 1977-1978, and 1987-1988. It focuses on 3 major problems in statistical practice: inappropriate uses of null hypothesis tests and p values, neglect of effect size, and inflation of Type I error rate. The impressive frequency of these problems is documented, and changes in statistical practices over the past 3 decades are interpreted in light of trends in psychotherapy research. The article concludes with practical suggestions for rational application of statistical tests.

Humans↗
PubMed1993

The integrative focus: coordinating symptom- and person-oriented perspectives in therapy.

The issue of choosing between a symptomatic and a personal emphasis in psychotherapy has always been one of the major bones of contention between adherents of different approaches in the field. As it becomes increasingly clear that none of the major schools will achieve supremacy, the drive to incorporate whatever is best in any orientation becomes more pronounced. Therapists often find that the therapeutic alliance may be damaged if they neglect either their patients' symptomatic complaints or pressing developmental tasks. The integrative focus is an attempt to coordinate these two elements in therapy so that they may enhance each other instead of competing with each other. The focus is so designed as to help unify the treatment, increase motivation for therapy, and register deeply in the patient's mind. Though only a technical aid, the integrative focus may show one of the ways by which integration does not diffuse, but rather steadies and enriches the therapeutic beam.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Changing trends in three decades of psychotherapy research: the flight from theory into pragmatics.

This article reviews 252 empirical studies of psychotherapy published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology in the years 1967/1968, 1977/1978, and 1987/1988. Articles were rated on variables related to theoretical relevance, clinical validity and methodology. It is shown that the main trend over this period of time has been a decline in theory-guided and a rise in pragmatic, clinically oriented research. Related changes in specific norms and practices in this area are illustrated. The disadvantages of a purely empirical approach to psychotherapy research are discussed, and recommendations are made in light of the distinction between the different aims of pragmatic and theoretical research.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy↗
PubMed1992

Pluralistic criteria for psychotherapy: an alternative to sectarianism, anarchy, and utopian integration.

A pluralist revolution has taken place in psychotherapy, discarding the assumptions that only one theory can be true and that there exists only one method for finding it. Rejecting the anarchistic attitude of "anything goes" as professionally nihilistic, we propose that in the present pluralistic era it is necessary to recognize a multiplicity of perspectives for determining the rightness of therapeutic constructs. A construct or intervention is right to the extent that it fits demands for coherence and pragmatic value from a variety of perspectives, such as the patient's, the clinical community's, the academic community's, and the general public's. Within the clinical and academic communities, the greater the variety of acceptance (by different schools, theories, and methodologies), the greater the construct's cumulative rightness. The difference between this variety rule and a majority one is made explicit. Coherence and pragmatic value are widely accepted criteria and they define the universe of rational discourse in psychotherapy. Adding to these the requirement of multiple acceptability is the necessary step for creating rational dialogue in the new pluralistic world.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1991

Doctor Iago's treatment of Othello.

The article presents Shakespeare's Iago as Hell's master therapist. Illustrated with excerpts from the play, the reader is shown how with consummate psychological skills, Iago bends his victims to his will. Step by step he awakens Othello's jealousy, and makes use of the hero's basic insecurity on account of his blackness. Once Othello has determined to take revenge, Iago makes sure to prevent a "relapse", by slyly administering small doses of doubt and pity. Predictably, Othello violently rejects these suggestions, thus becoming even more rigidly bent on his plan.

Drama↗
PubMed1990

Enhancing the impact of therapeutic interventions.

A therapeutic intervention has impact if it reaches the patient's mind and remains available for times of need. Impact is the overcoming of attention, neglect and forgetfulness. Therapists enhance impact by: (a) building up patients' positive attention; (b) creating unusual and discrepant events; (c) strengthening the therapeutic message or the way it is conveyed; (d) drawing out patients' readiness for commitment and hard work; (e) creating bridges between therapy and the problem situation; (f) protecting the therapeutic message from trivializing and levelling events. These principles are nonspecific and are here illustrated by examples from widely different therapeutic approaches. Impact is not a substitute for the inherent value of a therapeutic message, but its lack can doom even our greatest inspirations.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1989

Specifics and nonspecifics in psychotherapy.

The specifics/nonspecifics issue in psychotherapy has given rise consecutively to three major positions: (a) The systems' position, in which each specific approach to therapy views itself alone as embodying true theory and rightful practice, while rivaling approaches are seen as superficial or unscientific. (b) The nonspecifics' position in which the latter are seen as sole carriers of therapeutic effects. (c) The recent integrative position in which instead of the systems' self-immured isolation or the nonspecifics' paralyzing equivalence of all therapies, a synthesis of specific approaches within a larger nonspecific theory or practical strategy is attempted.

Humans↗
PubMed1989

Signal and noise in psychotherapy. The role and control of non-specific factors.

Four major categories of non-specific or common factors are systematically analysed: relationship, expectancy, reorganising, and impact factors. The placebo control method should be discarded in psychotherapy research for two reasons: (a) sham treatment controls are unworkable because common factors in treatment are manifest only when real treatment is administered; and (b) the very events which were once thought of as 'non-specific' noise are now recognised as active therapeutic factors common to many schools.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1988

Psychological factors in preterm labor: critical review and theoretical synthesis.

Cumulative or chronic environmental stress and high scores on psychopathology scales have been consistently linked to preterm labor. In the laboratory, psychological stimuli have also been shown to affect uterine activity. Clinical studies suggest that interventions which reduce tension and anxiety can prevent or inhibit preterm labor. A model is proposed that links preterm labor to a disorder of arousal manifested physiologically as a hyperreactivity of the limbic circuitry and its efferent components. Autonomic hyperreactivity has been found repeatedly in women who experience preterm labor. This central hyperreactivity could unleash a cascade of psychophysiological reactions that could cause uterine excitation and facilitate preterm labor.

Arousal↗
PubMed1986

Psychological variables and premature labour: a possible solution for some methodological problems.

Two studies on the relationship of psychological variables and premature labour were conducted. The first was a retrospective comparison of psychopathological tendencies, attitudes towards pregnancy, physical complaints during pregnancy and perceived marital and social support, between a group of women who had premature labour and a group of women with term deliveries without premature contractions. Data were collected a few months after deliveries to neutralize bias caused by anxiety for newborns' condition and by proximity in time to the trauma of premature delivery. The second study was a prospective one in which the target category included not only women who delivered prematurely but also women who developed premature contractions but delivered at term. In this study we examined trait and state anxiety, mothers' attitudes towards pregnancy and physical complaints during pregnancy. Results showed that psychopathological tendencies were linked to premature labour and premature contractions. No differences were found concerning perceived social support or mothers' attitudes towards pregnancy.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1986

Evaluating treatments for preterm labor: possible solutions for some methodological problems.

The usual evaluation procedures for labor-inhibiting therapies are criticized and a new measure is proposed. This measure (rate of pregnancy prolongation) is shown to fulfil the criteria of high sensitivity to treatment effects and of unbiasedness for the gestational age of patients. The use of analysis of covariance is proposed as a solution for the problem of confounding background variables. The advantages of the new evaluation procedure are illustrated by the analysis of a clinical trial of labor inhibition by hypnotic relaxation.

Female↗