Biomedical subjects

J Stuart Ablon

Publications and source records attributed to J Stuart Ablon.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Innovations: child & adolescent psychiatry: use of collaborative problem solving to reduce seclusion and restraint in child and adolescent inpatient units.

The authors describe "collaborative problem solving," a cognitive-behavioral approach for working with aggressive children and adolescents. The model conceptualizes aggressive behavior as the byproduct of lagging cognitive skills in the domains of flexibility, frustration tolerance, and problem solving. The goal is to train staff to assess specific cognitive skills that may be contributing to challenging behavior and to teach children new skills through collaborative problem solving. The authors present results from an inpatient unit that dramatically reduced rates of seclusion and restraint.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

On analytic process.

An innovative methodology is presented for identifying and assessing change process in psychoanalytic treatments. Using the Psychotherapy Process Q-set (PQS), a panel of experienced psychoanalysts developed a prototype of an ideal psychoanalytic hour. This prototype was then applied to verbatim transcripts of three archived treatment samples: psychoanalyses, long-term analytic therapies, and brief psychodynamic therapies. The degree to which these treatments fostered an analytic process as represented by the prototype was measured quantitatively. Analytic process was significantly more present in psychoanalyses than in the long-term analytic therapies, which, in turn fostered significantly more analytic process than did brief psychodynamic therapies. The study demonstrates that, given descriptive language that does not represent a particular theoretical perspective, analysts can agree on a definition of analytic process, and that analytic process can be operationalized and quantitatively assessed. A second study demonstrates that despite consensus on its definition, there is not just one proper analytic process; rather, there are change processes unique to each dyad. Two quantitative case studies illustrate how each analytic pair has a unique interaction pattern linked to treatment progress. These dyad-unique "interaction structures" are recurrent, mutually influencing patterns of interaction, the experience, recognition, and comprehension of which appear to be a fundamental component of therapeutic action. A bipersonal model is described that attempts to bridge theories of therapeutic action that focus on insight and self-understanding and those that emphasize the patient's experience of the therapist.

Humans↗

PubMed2004

Effectiveness of collaborative problem solving in affectively dysregulated children with oppositional-defiant disorder: initial findings.

Oppositional-defiant disorder (ODD) refers to a recurrent pattern of negativistic, defiant, disobedient, and hostile behavior toward authority figures. Research has shown that children with ODD and comorbid mood disorders may be at particular risk for long-term adverse outcomes, including conduct disorder. In this study, the authors examined the effectiveness of a cognitive-behavioral model of intervention--called collaborative problem solving (CPS)--in comparison with parent training (PT) in 47 affectively dysregulated children with ODD. Results indicate that CPS produced significant improvements across multiple domains of functioning at posttreatment and at 4-month follow-up. These improvements were in all instances equivalent, and in many instances superior, to the improvements produced by PT. Implications of these findings for further research on and treatment selection in children with ODD are discussed.

Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorder↗

PubMed2004

Psychotherapy process: the missing link: comment on Westen, Novotny, and Thompson-Brenner (2004).

In this comment, J. S. Ablon and C. Marci argue that focusing on the empirical validation of manualized treatment packages misses important information about what is efficacious about a given treatment. Psychotherapy process has demonstrated that treatments may promote change in ways other than their underlying theories claim. Manualized therapies may appear distinct despite important similarities in dyadic interaction. These functional similarities in the emergent transactional process between therapist and patient may help explain the difficulty demonstrating differential outcomes across brands of brief therapy. Rather than focus on treatment packages targeting patient symptomatology, the authors recommend a shift in focus to the empirical validation of change processes coconstructed by therapist and patient in naturalistic settings.

Humans↗

PubMed2003

A transactional model of oppositional behavior: underpinnings of the Collaborative Problem Solving approach.

Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) refers to a recurrent pattern of developmentally inappropriate levels of negativistic, defiant, disobedient, and hostile behavior toward authority figures. ODD is one of the most common (and debilitating) comorbid disorders within Tourette's disorder (TD). Diverse psychosocial treatment approaches have been applied to children's ODD-related behaviors. In this paper, the authors articulate a transactional developmental conceptualization of oppositional behavior and describe a cognitive-behavioral model of intervention-called collaborative problem solving (CPS)-emanating from this conceptualization. The specific goals of the CPS approach are to help adults (1). understand the specific adult and child characteristics contributing to the development of a child's oppositional behavior; (2). become cognizant of three basic strategies for handling unmet expectations, including (a). imposition of adult will, (b). CPS, and (c). removing the expectation; (3). recognize the impact of each of these three approaches on parent-child interactions; and (4). become proficient, along with their children, at CPS as a means of resolving disagreements and defusing potentially conflictual situations so as to reduce oppositional episodes and improve parent-child compatibility. Summary data from an initial study documenting the effectiveness of the CPS approach (in comparison to the standard of care) are also presented.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Validity of controlled clinical trials of psychotherapy: findings from the NIMH Treatment of Depression Collaborative Research Program.

OBJECTIVE: This research extends a series of studies that have examined the process of psychotherapy. The authors hypothesized that manual regimens of psychotherapy compared in a controlled clinical trial would overlap considerably in process and technique and that intervention strategies common to both treatments would be responsible for promoting patient change. METHOD: Expert therapists developed prototypes of the ideal regimens of brief interpersonal psychotherapy and cognitive behavior therapy using the Psychotherapy Process Q-Set, an instrument designed to provide a standard language for describing treatment processes. A separate set of clinical judges then used the Psychotherapy Process Q-Set to score the actual transcripts of interpersonal psychotherapy and cognitive behavior therapy sessions conducted as part of the NIMH Treatment of Depression Collaborative Research Program. The expert prototypes were then compared with actual therapy administered in order to determine the extent to which each form of therapy conformed to its ideal prototype. RESULTS: Both the interpersonal psychotherapy and cognitive behavior therapy sessions adhered most strongly to the ideal prototype of cognitive behavior therapy. In addition, adherence to the cognitive behavior therapy prototype yielded more positive correlations with outcome measures across both types of treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Relying on brand names of therapy can be misleading. These findings suggest that the basic premise of controlled clinical trials (i.e., that the compared interventions represent separate and distinct treatments) may not have been met in the NIMH Treatment of Depression Collaborative Research Program. The implications of these findings for using controlled clinical trials to study psychotherapy are discussed.

Adult↗