The "gift of love" as a candidate mechanism of psychopathology and change in interpersonal reconstructive therapy for patients with high-acuity clinical needs.

A key mechanism of psychopathology and change proposed by the theory of interpersonal reconstructive therapy (IRT; Benjamin, 2003, 2018) is termed the "gift of love" (GOL). The GOL hypothesis is that wishes to receive love and acceptance from specific internalized attachment figures shape and maintain problem patterns and their associated symptoms for many patients across a wide range of psychopathology. According to IRT theory, optimal intervention is defined by therapist alignment, or "adherence," to a core algorithm of principles that are tailored individually and bring awareness to (a) attachment-based yearnings for love and acceptance from internalized figures and (b) how those yearnings shape and motivate current problems and symptoms.

An Interpersonal and Meta-analytic Approach to Parenting Behaviors and Adolescent Sleep.

Two dimensions of parenting behaviors-affiliative/non-affiliative and autonomy/control- are each consistently linked to adolescent sleep health. Parenting behaviors that facilitate good sleep likely involve affiliation (i.e.

Affiliative interpersonal behaviors during stress are associated with sleep quality and presleep arousal in young, healthy adults.

Objectives: This study examined the association between stress-related interpersonal behaviors, presleep arousal (PSA), and sleep quality.

Methods: Sixty-four participants (53% female) described a recent stressful interpersonal event that was coded for overall degree of affiliation (warmth vs hostility) and autonomy (independence vs interdependence). Cognitive and somatic PSA and sleep quality were examined using regression with affiliation and autonomy scores as predictors.

Beholder and Beheld: A Multilevel Model of Perceived Sexual Appeal.

When individuals (observers) assess how appealing they find sexual stimuli (targets), which factors matter and to whom? The present study examined how observer and target characteristics interact and impact perceived sexual appeal. Participants were 302 men (206 heterosexual, 96 gay) and 289 women (196 heterosexual, 93 lesbian) between the ages of 18 and 67 years, who viewed 34 photographs of targets of their preferred gender and rated each target for sexual appeal, masculinity-femininity, and estimated age. Participants also rated their own masculinity-femininity.

Ethnic Differences in Personality Disorder Patterns among Women Veterans Diagnosed with PTSD.

Personality Disorders (PDs) impair the ability to function socially and occupationally. PD prevalence rates among veterans who have also been diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) range from 45%-79%. This study examined ethnic differences in PDs assessed with the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III in 260 non-Hispanic white (64%), Hispanic (27%), and African American (9%), mostly single, women veterans in treatment for PTSD.

Assessing Sexual Interest in Adolescents Who Have Sexually Offended.

Adolescents who have sexually offended have unique treatment needs. For mental health professionals to adequately address these unique needs, further research is necessary. To that end, we explored the assessment of sexual interest (which may play an integral role in understanding potential for sexual reoffending) in a sample of 103 male adolescents who have sexually offended.

The impact of parenting on gay male couples' relationships, sexuality, and HIV risk.

Parenthood changes couples' relationships across multiple domains, generally decreasing relationship quality, sexual satisfaction, and sexual frequency. Emerging research suggests that gay couples who are parenting might experience similar challenges. However, such changes might have even more profound implications for gay couples' health, and in particular their HIV risk, given the somewhat different ways in which they negotiate and tolerate sexual behaviors with outside partners.

The latent structure of Multiphasic Sex Inventory-assessed pedophilic interest.

The Multiphasic Sex Inventory (MSI; Nichols & Molinder, 1984) is a self-report measure frequently used in the assessment of sex offenders. Scores on the MSI are often used to assess levels of pedophilic interest. However, the question of whether men with pedophilia represent a unique group distinguished by their sexual interests, or whether they are high-scorers on a continuum of sexual interest in children among men who sexually offend against children remains unanswered.

Echocardiographic findings in the PANDAS subgroup.

Background: Sydenham's chorea is the neurologic manifestation of rheumatic fever and is a diagnosis of exclusion requiring only the presence of frank chorea in the absence of another neurologic disorder. Two thirds of children with Sydenham's chorea also have rheumatic carditis (pathologic mitral valve regurgitation). Although there are similar neuropsychiatric symptoms and preceding group A beta-hemolytic streptococcal infection associated with both Sydenham's chorea and the PANDAS (pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorders associated with streptococcal infections) subgroup, it is unknown whether patients in the PANDAS subgroup have any cardiac involvement.