Adverse childhood experiences and insecure attachment: The indirect effects of dissociation and emotion regulation difficulties.

Objective: Difficulties with dissociation and emotion regulation are well-documented reactions to early adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Although findings identify dissociation and emotion dysregulation as explaining the relationship between various forms of ACEs and adult psychopathology, less is known about their combined effect in the relationship between ACEs and insecure attachment in adulthood. This study examined the indirect effects of dissociation and emotion regulation difficulties in the relationship between early adverse experiences and insecure attachment traits.

The emotional impact of self-criticism on self-reflection and rumination.

Objectives: The goals of this study were to determine whether self-reflection is a beneficial exercise for highly self-critical individuals and to examine the effects of self-focused thought including reflection and rumination on mood. This was investigated by measuring the levels of self-criticism, as well as mood before and after exposure to a reflective prompt or a ruminative prompt.

Design: Experimental design with random assignment to reflection, rumination or control groups.

The Bright and Dark Aspects of Grit in the Pursuit of Success.

Grit, defined as passion and perseverance for long-term goals, predicts success in a number of social domains. The present two studies examined grit and its subscales, and how these relate to both adaptive and maladaptive personality traits pertaining to success. For Study 1, based on data from 249 participants, results indicated that grit was correlated positively with proactive personality, personal growth initiative, and competitiveness, and the perseverance subscale also was correlated positively with self- and other-oriented perfectionism.

Nonpathologizing trauma interventions in abnormal psychology courses.

Because abnormal psychology courses presuppose a focus on pathological human functioning, nonpathologizing interventions within these classes are particularly powerful and can reach survivors, bystanders, and perpetrators. Interventions are needed to improve the social response to trauma on college campuses. By applying psychodynamic and feminist multicultural theory, instructors can deliver nonpathologizing interventions about trauma and trauma response within these classes.

Maintaining boundaries in psychotherapy: Covert narcissistic personality characteristics and psychotherapists.

The psychological literature to date has identified more than one form of narcissism: the more well-known grandiose form, and the less familiar and recognized covert form. Although the distinction between these two narcissistic types has been identified with regard to better conceptualizing client dynamics, there has been much less written about how covert narcissistic tendencies and traits may affect psychotherapists and psychotherapy. This paper uses psychodynamic theory to highlight the role that covert narcissistic characteristics may have on the psychotherapists' ability to maintain boundaries, potentially leading to boundary transgressions (existing along a continuum from therapeutically useful to maladaptive and anti-therapeutic).