Terms Of Thoughts Research Articles

Sleep complaints among adolescent outpatients with major depressive disorder

The objective of our study was to examine the prevalence rates of different sleep complaints among adolescent outpatients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Further, we examined whether depressed adolescents with and without different sleep disturbances differ in terms of severity of depression, the presence of comorbid psychiatric disorders, and the symptom profile of depression. A total of 166 Finnish adolescent psychiatric outpatients (age 13-19; mean 16.5 years old; 17.5% boys) diagnosed with unipolar MDD (as defined by DSM-IV criteria) were included in the study. Their sleep complaints were assessed with self-rating scales and clinical research interviews. The prevalence rate of subjective sleep complaints in adolescents with MDD was high: 83% of the adolescents experienced significantly disturbed sleep. The most common types of sleep complaints were nonrestorative sleep (69%) and insomnia (51%). The presence of sleep disturbances was associated with severity of depression: Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) total sum scores were highest in adolescents with multiple sleep disturbances and lowest in adolescents with no sleep problems. Adolescents with multiple sleep disturbances differed most from adolescents with no or minor sleep disturbances in terms of thoughts about death, suicidal thoughts, and anhedonia. These findings suggest a close link between sleep disturbances and the severity of depression in adolescent outpatients with MDD. In particular, the link between sleep disturbances and thoughts about death and suicidal thoughts calls for attention to sleep problems among depressed adolescents in clinical settings.

Perfectionistic Automatic Thoughts and Psychological Distress in Adolescents: An Analysis of the Perfectionism Cognitions Inventory

The present paper examines a measure of perfectionistic automatic thoughts in terms of its psychometric properties and association with depression in adolescents. The Perfectionism Cognitions Inventory (PCI) was administered to two samples of adolescents. The first sample of adolescents (N = 250) also completed measures of trait perfectionism and depression. The second sample of adolescents (N = 105) completed these same measures as well as measures of negative automatic thoughts, positive automatic thoughts, self-criticism, and dependency. Psychometric analyses established that the PCI consists of one large factor with a high level of internal consistency. As expected, the PCI in adolescents was correlated significantly with trait measures of perfectionism, self-criticism, dependency, as well as general measures of automatic thoughts. Most importantly, a series of hierarchical regressions established that the PCI accounted for a significant degree of unique variance in depression, over and above the variance attributable to trait personality measures and negative automatic thoughts in general. Overall, the findings suggest perfectionistic automatic thoughts can be assessed in a reliable and valid manner in adolescents and that the experience of frequent, perfectionistic thoughts contributes uniquely to increased levels of psychological distress.

Singular thoughts and singular propositions

A singular thought about an object o is one that is directly about o in a characteristic way—grasp of that thought requires having some special epistemic relation to the object o, and the thought is ontologically dependent on o. One account of the nature of singular thought exploits a Russellian Structured Account of Propositions, according to which contents are represented by means of structured n-tuples of objects, properties, and functions. A proposition is singular, according to this framework, if and only if it contains an object as a constituent. One advantage of the framework of Russellian Structured propositions is that it promises to provide a metaphysical basis for the notion of a singular thought about an object, grounding it in terms of constituency. In this paper, we argue that the attempt to ground the peculiar features of singular thoughts in terms of metaphysical constituency fails, and draw some consequences of our discussion for other debates.

Can Electronic Reverse-Auctions Destroy Business Relationships?

The fast-paced world of business in the early twenty-first century has created ever decreasing time periods between the waves of cycles. This phenomenon can lead to dramatic changes in prevailing practices in very short periods of time. In fact, it almost appears that management thought leaders are in direct conflict in some situations. Such a shift has occurred in recent years in terms of thoughts about the relationships between business buyers and sellers. Japanese businesses lead the movement towards trust-based relationships becoming sole-source arrangements in the 1980s. Management gurus worldwide were applauding this practice. By the late 1990s the antithesis was occurring as thought leaders began advocating not only the avoidance of sole-sourcing but the use of what could be viewed as a practice that made long-term relationships between buyers and sellers impossible. This was the dawning of the era of the electronic reverse auction. Is this a good thing or a curse?

Musings on Managing for the Long Term

This article represents the juxtaposition of two vintage articles that originally appeared in The Zweig Letter: The Voice of Reason for Architecture, Engineering, & Environmental Consulting Firms. Though they were published several years apart, the articles complement each other in terms of thoughts on building A/E practices to endure for the long term. The essays are presented here back-to-back, and reprinted with permission from ZweigWhite Information Services, LLC. The first article, by Mark Zweig, is a whimsical observation regarding Frank Lloyd Wright, who despite the enormous legacy he left as an architect, was never terribly successful at building a real firm. The second article by Sam Liao presents some equally whimsical thoughts on the Zen of projects, and how they create the links that sustain and define a firm from day to day, week to week, year to year, and perhaps even century to century.

Architectural Space from Modernism to Deconstruction: A Critical Overview

The research dilemma of this paper lies in the arguable differences on the directions of deconstruction theory in architecture. The primary inquiry of this study focuses on these differences in addition to identifying the contributions of deconstruction on architectural spaces. However difficult, the paper provides an attempt through a comparison between the architectural theories of modernism and deconstruction (represented by Mies Van Der Rohe and Frank Owen Gehry respectively), in terms of thoughts and works in relation to architectural spaces. The research methodology adopts a critical view by conducting a comparative analysis study for architectural spaces in modernism and deconstruction. Some of the important results of this study include asserting that architectural spaces are principally different in deconstruction compared to modernism in their boundaries, status, and the architectural character of buildings enclosing these spaces. The substantial change of the architectural spaces in deconstruction has come out through the variances of space boundaries, their architectural status internally and externally, and examining new shapes that are not bounded to familiar rules. This is in addition to stimulating the observer’s view and attracting the attention while navigating the space wherein exquisite and natural views are utilized.

Thinking Through Networks and Their Spatiality: A Critique of the US (Public) War on Terrorism and its Geographic Discourse

Conventional thinking about war is encumbered by an inappropriate geographic paradigm that conceptualizes “targets” in terms of fixed latitudinal/longitudinal locations. This paper reconceptualizes terms such as “war” and “targets” to recognize intangible problems and develop appropriate counter‐terrorist strategies. This requires geographic inquiry focused on spatiality, not on location. We frame our discussion about terrorist networks (Al‐Qaeda in particular) in terms of understanding a network's sense of place and sense of space. The former “places” a network's meeting and recruiting grounds; the latter clarifies the operational dynamics of a network across space, at different scales, from the body to the neighborhood, to the region, and across nations. We argue that the roots of terrorism lie in conditions of disenfranchisement in particular types of places, understanding, however, that the socio‐cultural fabric of a terrorist network such as Al‐Qaeda evolves across space as well as time. Counter‐terrorist strategies should target neither people nor places but rather the conditions that give rise to terrorism; further, “intelligence” should focus on network dynamics, beyond particular people in particular places. We draw from network theories (specifically actor network theory and network approaches in economic sociology) to unravel network dynamics, and we draw from the literature on spatiality to interpret such dynamics in space, over time. We advocate a non‐military engagement with terrorism on both moral and strategic grounds; here we focus on the strategic dimension, the value of which has received scant attention.

Self-Esteem (3rd ed.)

Self-Esteem (3rd ed.) Matthew McKay and Patrick Fanning. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications (www.newharbinger.com). 2000,316pp., $15.95 (softcover). McKay and Fanning's third edition of their popular volume, Self-Esteem, provides a nice tonic to the typical fare of self-help books on self-esteem. Rather than trivializing the concept, the authors present a self-help manual that helps lay readers to understand the host of factors that influence self-esteem. This is accomplished without dumbing down the topic or oversimplifying the complexity of self-esteem. The book is firmly grounded in the cognitive-behavioral model, asserting that one's thoughts and interpretations mediate external circumstances and play a primary role in the development of a sense of self-esteem. From the outset this book differs from most self-help books in that the authors state that each reader need not read it cover to cover. The book is organized into 16 chapters, each addressing a particular aspect of self-esteem, replete with skillbuilding exercises related to the chapter's particular theme. The topics are organized with the most important and universal concepts contained in the first three chapters and subsequent chapters addressing more specific subject matters that may not be applicable to all readers. Case illustrations and demonstrations of exercises are presented throughout the chapters to reinforce the various principles and techniques. Chapter 1 reviews the nature of self-esteem and sets forth the basic premise of the book that negative thoughts erode one's sense of self-worth. This compromised sense of self-worth, in turn, results in problematic emotional and behavioral tendencies. The latter part of chapter 1 is written for therapists and outlines some basic cognitivebehavioral interventions for identifying and modifying distorted thoughts. The interventions presented are elementary for experienced cognitive-behavioral therapists but will help clients get a better idea of what cognitive-behavior therapy entails. The next two chapters introduce the notion of negative thoughts using the metaphor of the "pathological critic" as well as methods for "disarming the critic." The reader is introduced to negative thoughts in terms of how they are manifested in self-talk, the developmental origins of "the critic," and how negative thoughts are maintained through various forms of reinforcement. Chapter 2 ends with exercises to help the reader better identify and functionally assess negative cognitions. Chapter 3 follows with techniques for modifying negative thoughts. The authors provide a three-step approach in which the reader identifies the function of the thought, refutes the validity of the thought, and identifies healthier ways to meet personal needs. Identifying the function of the negative thoughts allows the reader to use the chart at the end of the chapter to determine the most salient chapters for developing more adaptive ways for fulfilling those same needs. For example, the reader whose negative thoughts involve the "need to do right" is directed to chapters on "Shoulds" and "Handling Mistakes." Chapter 4 addresses the importance of accurate self-assessment. The reader is asked to perform an objective self-concept evaluation that incorporates both personal strengths and weaknesses. Once the list of weaknesses is revised to ensure that the descriptions are specific, accurate, and non-pejorative, a brief selfdescription narrative is constructed that serves as an integrative reminder of personal strengths and qualities that the individual wishes to modify. Chapter 5 introduces a list of specific cognitive distortions that undermine selfesteem. Readers are taught to use the three-column technique to identify the negative thought, label the distortion, and to develop a rebuttal statement. Chapter 6 deals with the notion of compassion, both toward self and others. This chapter, among others, represents the authors' attention to the multifaceted nature of self-esteem that is not present in other self-help books. …

The manipulation of responsibility in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

It has been suggested that appraisal of intrusive thoughts in terms of responsibility for harm lies at the core of obsessional complaints. Clinical observation, psychometric data and the effects of manipulating responsibility for threat in compulsive checkers and normal samples have supported this formulation. The purpose of the present study was to manipulate responsibility in 36 obsessional participants with varied phenomenology. Responsibility was manipulated indirectly by varying the presence/absence of the experimenter during a behavioural task. The manipulation was successful in influencing reports of perceived responsibility for threat. In the high responsibility condition; estimates of the urge to neutralize, discomfort and probability of threat were all significantly higher than in the low responsibility condition; estimates of responsibility for thoughts and the control over the threat did not change significantly between the conditions. There was no significant interaction between the responsibility manipulation and the type of compulsion. The results are interpreted as providing support for a cognitive-behavioural formulation which emphasizes the role of responsibility appraisal in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Inflated responsibility in obsessive compulsive disorder: Validation of an operational definition

An excessive sense of responsibility has been identified in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) where patients evaluate their thoughts in terms of the harm they could cause to themselves or others. In a new definition, responsibility was defined as the belief that one possesses pivotal power to provoke or prevent subjective crucial negative outcomes. In order to empirically test the validity of this definition, two studies used a semi-idiographic design to evaluate responsibility across ambiguous situations related to major OCD themes like contamination, verification, somatic concerns, loss of control, making errors, sexuality and magical thinking. In the first study, 397 volunteer adults participated in the experiment. For each situation, subjects briefly described a possible negative outcome and then rated this outcome on four dimensions: (1) probability; (2) severity; (3) influence; and (4) pivotal influence, using a 9-point Likert scale. Finally Ss rated perceived responsibility and personal relevance. Highly relevant situations were retained for the final analysis. Regression analysis suggested that influence and pivotal influence were better predictors of responsibility ratings than probability and severity. The second study examined the effect of the order of the questions on the responsibility ratings. A first group of Ss ( n = 85) answered the Responsibility Questionnaire (RQ) in the original order, while a second group ( n = 53) rated responsibility before the other ratings. Regression analysis showed that although proportion of variance explained diminished when the order was reversed, pivotal influence was still the best predictor of responsibility. Results are discussed in terms of current models of OCD and implications for future research and cognitive treatment are identified.

Defining emotion concepts

This article demonstrates that emotion concepts—including the so-called basic ones, such as anger or sadness—can be defined in terms of universal semantic primitives such as ‘good’, ‘bad’, ‘do’, ‘happen’, ‘know’, and ‘want’, in terms of which all areas of meaning, in all languages, can be rigorously and revealingly portrayed. The definitions proposed here take the form of certain prototypical scripts or scenarios, formulated in terms of thoughts, wants, and feelings. These scripts, however, can be seen as formulas providing rigorous specifications of necessary and sufficient conditions (not for emotions as such, but for emotion concepts), and they do not support the idea that boundaries between emotion concepts are “fuzzy.” On the contrary, the small set of universal semantic primitives employed here (which has emerged from two decades of empirical investigations by the author and colleagues) demonstrates that even apparent synonyms such as sad and unhappy embody different—and fully specifiable—conceptual structures.

Defining Emotion Concepts

This article demonstrates that emotion concepts—including the so‐called basic ones, such as anger or sadness—can be defined in terms of universal semantic primitives such as “good”, “bad”, “do”, “happen”, “know”, and “want”, in terms of which all areas of meaning, in all languages, can be rigorously and revealingly portrayed.The definitions proposed here take the form of certain prototypical scripts or scenarios, formulated in terms of thoughts, wants, and feelings. These scripts, however, can be seen as formulas providing rigorous specifications of necessary and sufficient conditions (not for emotions as such, but for emotion concepts), and they do not support the idea that boundaries between emotion concepts are “fuzzy.” On the contrary, the small set of universal semantic primitives employed here (which has emerged from two decades of empirical investigations by the author and colleagues) demonstrates that even apparent synonyms such as sad and unhappy embody different—and fully specifiable—conceptual structures.

Depressive, anxious and intrusive thoughts in psychiatric inpatients and outpatients

A revised form of the Distressing Thoughts Questionnaire as well as standardized self-report measures of depression, anxiety and obsessionality were administered to a large sample of psychiatric inpatients, outpatients and non-clinical controls. A subsample of the clinical subjects completed the questionnaire battery after 3 months. Factor analysis identified three distinct dimensions of negative thinking which corresponded to anxious, depressive and intrusive thoughts. Further analysis revealed that the intrusive thoughts differed from the anxious and depressive negative automatic thoughts in terms of their reduced association with psychopathology, increased temporal stability and nonspecific association with negative affect in general. These findings suggest that by adopting a more specific focus on obsessivelike ego-dystonic intrusive thoughts, researchers will be in a better position to investigate the role of this phenomena in the development of clinical obsessions.

Irrelevant thoughts, emotional mood states, and cognitive task performance

In two experiments, we investigated the relationship shared by irrelevant thoughts, emotional mood states, and cognitive task performance. At an empirical level, irrelevant thoughts were defined as thoughts that did not facilitate successful task performance. We used the same general procedure for both experiments: three groups of college students received happy-, neutral-(control), or sad-mood inductions and performed a memory task. The procedure for obtaining thoughts varied between experiments. The subjects in Experiment 1 listed their thoughts after the memory recall task. In Experiment 2, the subjects were tape-recorded while performing a memory task and producing concurrent verbal protocols. The subjects in both experiments then judged their thoughts in terms of frequency, intensity, and irrelevance. We found a similar pattern of results in both experiments: (1) The proportions of irrelevant thoughts and recall performance were negatively related, and (2) happy and sad students produced reliably greater proportions of irrelevant thoughts than did neutral (control) students.

The Role of the Humanities in Environmental Education

I T IS PROBABLY PRESUMPTUOUS for one trained in the biological sciences to discuss the role of the humanities in environmental education, but chances are it would be at least as presumptuous for a humanist to discuss the role of the environment in humanistic education. Be that as it may, I take some courage from the fact that what efforts have been made in the past to merge the scientific and humanistic aspects of man's endeavors, and with which I am familiar, are those that have been made by biological scientists: Julian Huxley (1964) has put his thoughts in terms of an evolutionary humanism, Rene Dubos (1965) has advanced the cause of humanistic biology, Van R. Potter (1971) speaks of bioethics, while Dobzhansky (1967) describes what he calls the biology of ultimate concern. The books and articles of Garrett Hardin are also threaded throughout with ethical and social implications, while the ethological writings of Lorenz, Tinbergen, and von Fritsch are gradually being interpreted in broader contexts, with the behavioral characteristics and idiosyncracies of gulls, fish, greylag geese, and bees being carried over into the realm of man, sometimes within a meaningful context, sometimes with unfounded enthusiasm and accompanying distortion. The insights of these writers, sharing commonalities within their individualistic presentations, do not offer any ultimate view of man, but we can today ignore their implications only to our own detriment. I will not attempt to emulate these biologists, nor will I attempt to coin a well-turned phrase to describe what it is that I want to say; rather I would point out that just as there is a web of life in the biological realm, with every strand in the web connected directly or indirectly with every other strand and through which a flow of energy passes, so, too, is there a web of thought, experience, and action which, at any given point in time, is a reflection of the intellectual temper and accomplishments of that age, and which also determines man's relation to his environment and, consequently, his behavior and his outlook. Man, the value-forming and value-guided animal, is the central element in this web; the web changes with each age, as new discoveries, new ideas, new technology, and new ways of apprehending reality make their appearance and exert their effect. Through and along the strands of this web the intellectual, emotional, and societal energies ebb and flow, to mix and blend and emerge in new shapes, to be converted into other forms, and to produce new and often surprising effects. It is by being aware of, understanding, and making use of these energies that we can reassess and reshape the past in order to make better use of it in the present, and-hopefully-to mold the future to our needs as human beings.

Kinetics and dynamics of response to haloperidol in acute schizophrenia—A longitudinal study of the therapeutic process

The nature of the therapeutic process was studied during a double-blind, multidimensional study of treatment with haloperidol in a group of acute schizophrenics. The data indicated that changes in social avoidance behavior might be a primary indicator of neuroleptic action. The use of an anticholinergic anti-Parkinsonism agent seemed to adversely affect these changes. It was noted that cognitive dysfunctions probably consisted of a “primary” drug-resistant element, originating perhaps in developmental defects of cognitive structure, and a “secondary” drug-sensitive element, which seemed to be a reflection of the superadded psychotic processes of decompensation. The drug-sensitive aspects of social and cognitive-integrative dysfunctions and indicators of arousal disturbance such as sleeplessness seemed to be fundamentally related and suggested a neurobiological hypothesis of neuroleptic action centered around cholinergic suppressor mechanisms in the brainstem and limbic system. Other findings of interest included the observations that patients reacting with dysphoric mood to neuroleptic treatment showed a less favorable pattern of therapeutic response and that overt aggression showed a diurnal variation which seemed internally determined. An analysis of the residual deficits after six months of treatment suggested that the patients had considerable problems in initiating and structuring social relations and organizing thoughts in terms of abstract principles. A developmental hypothesis was proposed to explain these observations.

Some notes on research on the role of models in the natural and social sciences

Men have tended to order their thoughts in terms of pictorial models since the beginnings of organized thought. The model itself was usually drawn from something in their immediate experience, available from their technology, and acceptable to their society and culture. Once adopted, it served, more or less efficiently, to order and correlate the experiences which men had, and the habits they had learned, and perhaps to suggest a selection of new guesses and behavior patterns for new or unfamiliar situations. Thus men used the image of their own society (where men influence one another's behavior by talking to each other) as a model for physical nature. Nature was pictured as a society of animated objects which could be magically influenced by talking to them through the right kind of incantations, that is, through the language socially accepted in that imaginary society of things. The inefficiency of this sort of model is considerable, since it permits very little analysis and only very poor predictions. Later models were drawn by men from workof their hands, tha* is, from processes and things which they themselves could bring into existence, put together or take to pieces, and' which they therefore could analyze and elaborate more adequately in their parts and interrelations. There is the simple model of the artisan who makes things with his hands, particularly the potter who shapes clay. Once men have ceased to think of trees as of a society of animated beings to be talked to, they may think of them as a collection of green pots made by some invisible potter. After having assumed that things have minds and either existed forever or were born and died like men, it is now assumed, on the second model, that things have neither will nor mind but are so many inert products made by the invisible craftsman. Here

XIX. Experiments and observations made with the doubler of electricity, with a view to determine its real utility, in the in­vestigation of the electricity of atmospheric air, in different degrees of purity

It is scarcely necessary to observe, that having removed the uncertainty respecting the electrical action of this curious instrument, by demonstrating (after much care and pains, as is particularly expressed in my tract on Spontaneous Electri­city) that the electricity of the doubler is alone derived from the common electrified aqueous vapour suspended in the air; I shall, without any further explanation, beg leave here to express my thoughts in terms according to that demonstra­tion. When I employ the doubler to investigate atmospheric electricity, I use it with its revolving plate uninsulated, when opposite to that fixed plate which is insulated; because, with respect to insulation, that position of the doubler exactly corresponds to the insulated and uninsulated parts of my high pointed rod, and of course their electrical accumulation will always be of the same kind in all weak electrifications of the atmosphere. To avoid repetition, permit me here also to mention, that care has been always taken to clear the doubler of its former electric charge , before I proceeded to accumulate another.