The art and science behind socratic questioning and guided discovery: a research review.

Unlabelled: Socratic questioning is used to enhance the process of guided discovery in psychotherapy sessions.

Objective: Socratic questioning and guided discovery are defined, and assorted clinical examples are provided.

Methods: The limited research on the impact of Socratic questioning is reviewed and integrated with 30 + years of clinical experience.

The 5th Annual : celebrating excellence in scholarship.

The were developed to recognize the best journal articles published during the previous year. Each award confronts a specific topic within the field of mental health care, identifying articles that integrate the science and practice of psychology. For the current awards, 161 journals were screened, and 223 relevant articles were identified.

The 4th Annual "Psyche" Awards for Valuable Contributions to Psychotherapy: Encouraging the Integration of Science and Practice.

Psychotherapy relies on a strong integration of theory, empirical research, and clinical experience. Furthermore, publishing journal articles on the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness requires creativity, persistence and a scientific approach. The present article examines recent publications on assessment and diagnosis, case conceptualization and treatment planning and generic issues related to the therapeutic alliance.

Struggling with perfectionism: When good enough is not good enough.

Perfectionism includes a tendency for high standards for self and others with a clear goal of successful performance in a variety of areas. A perfectionist often reacts with critical evaluations whenever performance falls below these standards. Moreover, perfectionists emphasize personal goals to gauge their worth, neglecting intimate bonds or openness to new experience.

Roll Out the Red Carpet: The 3rd Annual Awards for the Most Valuable Contributions to Psychotherapy.

Every spring, media coverage emphasizes the "award season", highlighting contributions made by musicians, actors, and professional athletes. Unfortunately, psychologists are not included in these gala celebrations. It seems appropriate to take time to praise the hard work and dedication that is required to publish in an academic journal.

A Systematic Review of Interventions for Hope/Hopelessness in Older Adults.

: Hope/hopelessness is an important determinant of health and death, and is a modifiable risk factor for older adults. The present review aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions on hope among older populations. : PsychINFO and PubMed were systematically searched.

Neurasthenia: Modern Malady or Historical Relic?

Neurasthenia was a popular diagnosis from 1869 through 1930. Despite being discarded, the core symptoms of neurasthenia can still be found throughout modern society. The present article reviews the symptoms, common course, proposed causes, and common treatments for neurasthenia.

Genome-wide DNA methylomic differences between dorsolateral prefrontal and temporal pole cortices of bipolar disorder.

Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and temporal pole (TP) are brain regions that display abnormalities in bipolar disorder (BD) patients. DNA methylation - an epigenetic mechanism both heritable and sensitive to the environment - may be involved in the pathophysiology of BD. To study BD-associated DNA methylomic differences in these brain regions, we extracted genomic DNA from the postmortem tissues of Brodmann Area (BA) 9 (DLPFC) and BA38 (TP) gray matter from 20 BD, ten major depression (MDD), and ten control age-and-sex-matched subjects.

Altered neuro-inflammatory gene expression in hippocampus in major depressive disorder.

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a common psychiatric disorder for which available medications are often not effective. The high prevalence of MDD and modest response to existing therapies compels efforts to better understand and treat the disorder. Decreased hippocampal volume with increasing duration of depression suggests altered gene expression or even a decrease in neurogenesis.

Basolateral amygdala volume and cell numbers in major depressive disorder: a postmortem stereological study.

Functional imaging studies consistently report abnormal amygdala activity in major depressive disorder (MDD). Neuroanatomical correlates are less clear: imaging studies have produced mixed results on amygdala volume, and postmortem neuroanatomic studies have only examined cell densities in portions of the amygdala or its subregions in MDD. Here, we present a stereological analysis of the volume of, and the total number of, neurons, glia, and neurovascular (pericyte and endothelial) cells in the basolateral amygdala in MDD.

Refining the assessment of hopelessness: an improved way to look to the future.

Despite its high sensitivity, the Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS) has demonstrated low specificity, has an ambiguous factor structure, and includes inadequate items. The current study examined the psychometric properties of a modified BHS (mBHS) using a Likert scale format that would allow for improved reliability, validity, and clinical utility. Measures of hopelessness and depression were administered to 116 undergraduates.

Morphometric analysis of vascular pathology in the orbitofrontal cortex of older subjects with major depression.

Objective: Late-life depression has been associated with risk for cerebrovascular pathology, as demonstrated in neuroimaging studies of older depressed patients, as well as mood disorder following cerebrovascular accidents. However, more research is needed on neuroanatomical changes in late-life depression, where there has been no clearly documented link to brain injury. Such studies should examine morphological changes in medium and small sized vessels that supply the cortical gray and white matter.