Summer 1995 Issue


In this Issue

  1. 1995 APA Convention Highlights
  2. Awards
  3. Division 12 Hospitality
  4. Presidential Perspectives
  5. News of Members
  6. SSCP Internship Directory
  7. Notice from the Secretary
  8. 1995 Membership Dues
  9. Manuals List for Empirically Validated Treatments
  10. Award Nominations
  11. Continuing Ed Proposals
  12. Letters to the Editor

1995 APA Convention Highlights

SSCP Sponsored Events

Saturday, August 12

9:00 - 10:50 Invited Symposium: Cognitive Vulnerabilities, Stress and Depression

Constance Hammen,

Interpersonal vulnerability and the generation of stress.

Clive J. Robins,

Life stress and personality in depression. Interactive and reciprocal influences.

David A. Clark,

Selfhood processes in sociotropy and autonomy: Understanding individual differences in the appraisal of stressful life experiences.

Gerald I. Metalsky,

Cognitive vulnerability: A test of the hopelessness theory of depression.

Lyn Abramson, Lauren B. Alloy, M. E. Hogan, & W. Whitehouse,

Cognitive vulnerability to depression: The Temple-Wisconsin Project.

3:00 - 4:50 Section 3 Awards Presentations and Business Meeting

Distinguished Scientist Award Andrew Mathews,

Anxiety and the encoding of emotional events.

Dissertation Award Drew Erhardt

5:00 - 7:00 Student Poster Session and Section III Social Hour

(Sheraton Exhibition Hall)

Sunday, August 13

10:00 - 11:50 Invited Symposium: Emotion Excesses and Deficits in Psychopathology

Peter Lang,

Emotion and motivational priming.

John Neale,

Emotion in shizophrenia.

Chris J. Patrick,

Emotion and temperament in psychopathy.

Gregory A. Miller, Patricia J. Deldin, & Jennifer Keller,

Emotional processing in depression.

Don C. Fowles,

Emotional deficits in psychopathy as reflected in the electrodermal response.


Awards

Division 12 will be honoring Judy Garber, Ph.D. and Herbert C. Quay, Ph.D. at this convention. Garber will receive the 1995 David Shakow Early Career Award. The ceremony will be at 10:00 am on Friday, August 11 in the New York Hilton's Trianon Ballroom. The title of her address is "Risk for Depression in Adolescents." Quay will receive the 1995 Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Clinical Psychology. This award will be presented at 9:00 am on Sunday, August 13 in Sutton Parlor South at the New York Hilton. Dr. Quay will speak on "Behavioral Inhibition and Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder."


Division 12 Hospitality

The Div. 12 hospitality suite will be in the Sheraton New York Hotel. It will be open Fri.-Sun., 8/11-13. The room number will be posted in the lobby.


Presidential Perspectives

Susan Mineka

As you may recall at last summer's business meeting at the APA convention in Los Angeles, we voted to affiliate with APS. Some members later expressed puzzlement as to why we would do this and we noted that there were several advantages to this affiliation. These include: 1) allowing clinical science to become a larger part of APS, including the possibility of a one day add-on meeting to the annual APS convention, as Division 8 currently does; 2) the opportunity to appeal to a wider membership who share the concerns and goals of SSCP but perhaps not APA; and 3) allowing the impact of SSCP to be broadened by having two national organizations (APA and APS) both seeking to support clinical science. I'm happy to report (in case you missed it on the SSCPnet) that this affiliation already seems to have paid off in a big way! Specifically, it got Alan Kraut, Executive Director of APS and a brilliant advocate for the science of psychology, to work with NSF regarding their policy of not allowing clinical students to apply for NSF graduate fellowships, no matter how basic their research was. Alan argued persuasively that many clinical students do research which is as "basic" (the buzz word at NSF) as is that of many social or cognitive or psychobiology graduate students. Although it was an uphill battle, especially given NSF's long-standing tradition on this matter, Alan succeeded! This means that clinical students will no longer automatically be excluded from applying for a NSF graduate fellowship, as long as their research can be considered to be "basic" research on, for example, psychopathology. Given that many of such students are undoubtedly working with SSCP members, I think we should be extremely pleased with the outcome of Alan's efforts. I can't say for certain that he wouldn't have fought this battle without our having affiliated with APS, but I think that's likely. Now we just need to support his and others' tremendous efforts to make sure that the Social, Behavioral and Economic Directorate at NSF is not abolished entirely.

As for the upcoming convention, we owe many thanks to Michelle Craske (UCLA) for having put together an excellent program for the convention in New York. There will be two invited symposia: "Cognitive vulnerabilities, stress, and depression" (with speakers Constance Hammen, Clive Robins, David A. Clark, Lyn Abramson, and Gerald Metalsky) and "Emotion excesses and deficits in psychopathology" (with speakers Peter Lang, John Neale, Chris Patrick, Gregory Miller and Don Fowles). Also, block Saturday afternoon starting at 3 and early Saturday evening off for SSCP activities. From 3-5 PM in Nassau Suite A of the Hilton, there will be the Distinguished Scientist Award Address by Andrew Mathews (from the MRC Applied Psychology Unit in Cambridge, England), followed by the SSCP business meeting. Mathews is an excellent speaker and I am hoping there will be an excellent turn-out for his talk -- especially given the great distance he is traveling to receive the award. Please honor him by your presence at his talk. Following the business meeting, we will have the annual SSCP social hour/student poster session in the Sheraton Exhibition Center from 5-7 PM. This year Sections 1 and V will also be having their social hour in the same place at the same time, but the Exhibition Center is very large and we will be set up at a distance from the other sections, with our own cash bar and snacks. Please do attend. Finally, the Division 12 social hour is also Saturday from 6-8 PM in the Sheraton Imperial Ballroom B.

I look forward to seeing many of you in New York.

Susan Mineka, President.


News of Members

Columbus, Ohio (OSU News Services). An Ohio State University psychology professor was one of 50 women scientists from across the country invited to a special briefing sponsored by the White House. Barbara L. Andersen attended the Women's Leadership Briefing on women in science and technology, held in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, March 9. The meeting, sponsored by the White House Office of Science and Technology Plicy, involved discussions of the Clinton administrations new and continuing initiatives in science and technology and the role of women in those efforts. Speakers included First Lady Hillary Clinton; Neal Lane, director of the National Science Foundation; John Gibbons, assistant to the President for science and technology; France Cordova, NASA chief scientist; and Eileen Collins, astronaut and shuttle pilot. Andersen's research specialty is the psychological aspects of cancer. Recent publications of include: Andersen, B.L., Kiecolt-Glaser, J.K., & Glaser, R. (1994). A biobehavioral model of cancer stress and disease course. American Psychologist, 49, 389-404. Andersen, B.L. (1992). Psychological interventions for cancer patients to enhance the quality of life. Special Issue: Behavioral medicine: An update for the 1990s. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 60, 552-568.


SSCP Internship Directory

Just a reminder that he SSCP Internship Directory (published in the fall of 1994) is a great resource for identifying programs that best meet a students training goals. Information on each of the 155 internship programs in the Directory includes data on 1) where past interns have come from (i.e., clinical, counseling or school psychology programs and the accreditation status of graduate programs), 2) a listing of training provided for 25 empirically validated treatments, 3) a description of the research activities of internship faculty, 4) the research productivity of past interns (the number of conference presentations and publications authored by interns over the past four years), 5) facilities,, and support provided to interns (e.g., whether computers are available or if interns have secretarial support), and 6) the job placements of interns over the past four years (e.g., the. number of interns taking positions that were primarily clinical/service, academic/research faculty appointments, or postdoctoral fellowships). To order SSCP's Directory of Research Opportunities for Clinical Psychology Interns send $15.00 plus $3.50 shipping and handling ($18.50 total) to: Graywind Publications Incorporated, Stuyvesant Plaza, Executive Park Drive, Albany, NY 12203 (Phone: 518-438- 3231).


Notice from the Secretary

Jack Blanchard

As of the printing of this newsletter, SSCP Secretary/Treasurer Jack Blanchard has moved. Questions regarding membership or dues and notices of change of address should be sent to him at the following address:

Jack J. Blanchard, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, Logan Hall, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-1161. PHONE: (505) 277-0635 E-MAIL: BLANCHAR@UNM.EDU


NOTICE: 1995 MEMBERSHIP DUE

Please note that SSCP membership fees for 1995 were due last December. Late notices were mailed in the spring. Please be sure to renew your membership in SSCP. If 1995 dues are not paid this will be the last newsletter received and access to SSCPnet will be discontinued. If you have lost your dues form and wish to renew your membership, simply mail a check (made out to SSCP) in the appropriate amount ($25 for members, $5 for students) with your mailing address to SSCP Secretary/Treasurer Jack Blanchard. If you are uncertain about whether you have paid your 1995 dues you can contact Jack via e-mail (the address is listed above).


Manuals List for Empirically Validated Treatments

William C. Sanderson

As members of the Division 12 Task Force on Psychological Interventions, Sheila Woody and I have put together a "Manuals List for Empirically Validated Treatments." To compile this resource listing of manuals, we wrote to leading investigators in the respective areas of treatment research, particularly those whose work formed the basis for judging a particular treatment to be efficacious. These investigators provided citations for those published manuals. Many of them offered to provide copies of unpublished manuals to other clinicians. The list also contains information about training opportunities in empirically validated interventions. The list is available through the Division 12 Central Office, PO Box 22727, Oklahoma City, OK 73123. If you would like a copy send a stamped, self-addressed envelope and $1.50 for handling.


Call for Nominations

Nominations are being accepted for Division 12's two 1996 Distinguished Contribution Awards; the Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Clinical Psychology, and the Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Clinical Psychology Please send the nominee's name, recent vita, and a concise (1-2 page) typewritten summary of his/her achievements and contributions to the address listed below: A call for nominations has also been placed for the 1996 David Shakow Early Career Award. The recipient will be a psychologist who has received the doctoral degree in 1988 or later and who has made noteworthy contributions both to the science and to the practice of Clinical Psychology. Letters of nomination should include the nominee's vita and a summary of his/her contributions. Send nominations for the Division 12 Awards and the Shakow award, by November 15, 1995, to: Gerald P. Koocher, Ph.D. 1996 Awards Committee Chair c/o Division 12 Central Office PO Box 22727 Oklahoma City, OK 73123-1727 The awards will be presented at the 1996 APA Convention in Toronto.


Call for Proposals

The APA Division of Clinical Psychology (12) requests proposals for continuing education workshops to be presented on August 8-9, 1996, immediately prior to the APA Convention in Toronto, Ontario. Interested presenters should submit the following information: 1) Workshop Topic, 2) Workshop Title, and 3) Brief description of the workshop. Send to: Michael A. Goldberg, Ph.D. Division of Clinical Psychology PDI Chairman c/o Children's Hospital Department of Psychiatry 300 Longwood Avenue Boston MA 02115 Deadline: October 1, 1995


Letters to the Editor

John N. Marquis, Ph.D.

I applaud the keen observations of William R. Miller and Robert Meyers (Beyond Generic Compliance, Clinical Science, Spring 1995) on the Prego method of protocol compliance. However, I feel strongly that the last paragraph leaves some unfortunate impressions about eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. I was a candidate for the first board of section III and go back to the early 70's with Bill Miller when we both worked on moderate drinking training (an amazing omission from Chambless' task force's list of empirically validated treatment). (Task Force, 1995) Francine Shapiro started trainings in EMDR after a controlled study which showed effect sizes and persistence of improvement far above those expected of placebo effects. (Shapiro, 1989) Its major shortcoming was a lack of independent evaluation of variables as unequivocal as 0-10 suds rating or the presence or absence of PTSD symptoms.

Far from being a fad, at this point EMDR has more controlled studies than any other treatment of PTSD including drugs. It has long met the standards for probably efficacious treatments and at this point should qualify for the list of empirically validated treatments with publication of currently completed studies. Studies such as Wilson, Decker and Tinker (in press) and Carlson, Chemtob, Rusnak, & Hedlund (in press) should move EMDR to the highest criminal standard: beyond reasonable doubt. The unreasonable will continue doubting the "too good to be true" effect sizes and speeds. Efficacy of EMDR Research and Publication s is available from EMDR Institute, PO Box 51010, Pacific Grove, CA 93950-6010

. Far from an entrepreneurial practice, the EMDR Institute has been a public service labor for Dr. Shapiro and those of us who have helped her. The training is expensive because of rich staffing with facilitators to ensure the safety of practicum exercises. Dr. Shapiro draws a reasonable salary and the extra money produced by training has largely gone into the EMDR network which has provided reprints, tapes, and conferences for alumni of the training. In addition the Institute has provided free or reduced rate trainings for research teams (including Dr. Miller's) and disaster areas such as Miami, Zagrev, and Oklahoma City. With the publication of Dr. Shapiro's book (Shapiro 1995) an independent professional organization (EMDR International Association, 3900 East Camelback Road, Suite 200, Phoenix, AZ. 85018-2684) will set standards for training, hold conventions, and publish a journal. In the future any profits from EMDR Institute trainings will go largely for humanitarian efforts to make EMDR available to a traumatized world.

Once at an AABT meeting, Joseph Cautela described to Francine Shapiro and me how he had repeatedly demonstrated the efficacy of his covert conditioning methods in his own lab only to have untrained persons fail to replicate his results. Joe said that if he could do it over, he would, like Francine, give careful trainings with rich practice sessions so that his methods could be confirmed and disseminated. Francine has succeeded with this course of action, the only one available to her without a University affiliation.

John N. Marquis, Ph.D.

References

Carlson, J.G., Chemtob, C.M., Rusnak, K., & Hedlund, N.L. (in press). Eye movement desensitization reprocessing as an exposure intervention in combat-related PTSD. Journal of Vietnam Veterans Institute.

Miller, W.R. & Meyers, R.J. (1995, Spring). Beyond generic compliance: Reflections on life after clinical science wins. Clinical Science, 4-6.

Shapiro, F. (1989). Efficacy of the eye movement desensitization procedure in the treatment of traumatic memories. Journal of Traumatice Stress Studies, 2., 99-123.

Task Force on Promotion and Dissemination of Psychological Procedures, Division of Clinical Psychology, American Psychological Association (1995, Winter) . Training in and dissemination of emprirically-validated psychological treatments: Report and recommendations. The Clinical Psychologist, 48, 3-23.

Wilson, S.A., Becker, L.A., & Tinker, R.H. (in press). Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) treatment for psychologically traumatized individuals. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.


William R. Miller, Ph.D.

John Marquis, one of my internship mentors and a long friend and colleague, kindly sent me a copy of his response to our letter in the last issue of Clinical Science (Miller & Meyers, 1995). He maintains that EMD/R was an ill-chosen example of the point we wished to make: that treatment methods often are broadly disseminated and practiced before there is reasonable scientific evidence f their efficacy. Indeed, for some widely- used therapeutic methods, evidence of efficacy is never provided, and some treatments even persist in spite of persuasive evidence for their lack of beneficial effect. I am not exempt from such criticism. Gerald Rosen once chided me for the release of our self-help volume (Miller & Munoz, 1976) prior to the publication of two controlled trials that we had completed, supporting its efficacy. The publication by psychologists of unproven self-help materials is a similar concern to the use and teaching of unsubstantiated therapies (Rosen, 1976).

To the case in point, however, the evidence of the efficacy of EMD/R in 1989, when training began, was slim indeed. One small-sample study (Shapiro, 1989) reported encouraging improvements, on subjective units of stress and semantic differential ratings of cognitions, among 22 experimentally treated and waiting-list control clients with various post- traumatic conditions. Shapiro (1991) later reported, without publishing supporting data, that "Follow- up interviews three years after treatment indicate that a positive effects of EMD/R are maintained" (p. 135) and described her technique as effective in producing "dramatic psychological effects" (p. 134). In the same year, Marquis (1991) published an uncontrolled report of 78 cases treated with EMD/R, an appropriate precursor to clinical trials, suggesting problem areas where the technique seemed to be less or more helpful. Jensen (1994) published a controlled PTSD trial with 25 Vietnam combat veterans, which showed no evidence of specific efficacy for EMD/R, and concluded that "a lack of supportive results in future studies would ... indicate insufficient justification for continued clinical use of the technique" (p. 323). An earlier controlled trial similarly showed unimpressive psychological effects (Boudewyns, Stwertka, Hyer, Albrecht, & Sperr, 1993). This was the extent of the published controlled literature of which we were aware when we wrote our letter, by which time thousands of clinicians had already been trained in this approach. If the two in-press studies cited by Marquis (1995) will provide more positive evidence for the efficacy of EMD/R, then the picture changes to a more hopeful one of mixed findings. The evidence may grow to be still more persuasive with further studies.

I hope that the example we chose did not detract from our main point, that "standard practice" and even training in clinical psychology too often rely upon treatment methods without proven effectiveness, despite the availability of well-tested alternatives. The principal hope for reversing this is in the training of future psychologists to practice scientific skepticism, and to rely in their clinical work on treatment methods with sound evidence of efficacy. I am grateful for my own training, including my tutelage from John Marquis, that planted in me this impassioned perspective.

William R. Miller, Ph.D.

Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry

The University of New Mexico

References

Boudewyns, P.A., Stwertka, S.A., Hyer, L.A., Albrecht, J.W., & Sperr, E.V. (1993). Eye movement desensitization for PTSD of combat: A treatment outcome pilot study. the Behavior Therapist, 16, 29-33.

Jensen, J.A., (1994). An investigation of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMD/R) as a treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms of Vietnam combat veterans. Behavior Therapy, 25, 311-325.

Marquis, J.N. (1995, Summer). Letter to the editor. Clinical Science, 4-5.

Miller, W.R. & Meyers, R.J. (1995, Spring). Beyond generic compliance: Reflections on life after clinical science wins. Clinical Science, 4-6.

Miller, W.R. & Munoz, R.F. (1976). How to control your drinking. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.

Rosen, G.M. (1976). The development and use of nonprescription behavior therapies. American Psychologist, 31, 139-141.

Shapiro, F (1989). Efficacy of the eye movement desensitization procedure in the treatment of traumatic memories. Journal of Traumatic Stress Studies, 2, 199-223.

Shapiro, F. (1991). Eye movement desensitization & reprocessing procedure: From EMD to EMD/R - a new treatment model for anxiety and related trauma. the Behaviour Therapist, 14, 133-135, 128.