Psicologia Clinica

Almost 30 years ago, Hamachek (1978) suggested that two forms of perfectionism be distinguished, a positive form labeled „normal perfectionism” and a negative form labeled „neurotic perfectionism.” Focusing on the positive, we present an overview of the different empirical conceptions of the two forms of perfectionism and present a common framework for the two basic approaches: the dimensional approach differentiating two dimensions of perfectionism (perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns) and the group-based approach differentiating two groups of perfectionists (healthy perfectionists and unhealthy perfectionists). Moreover, we review the evidence demonstrating that (a) perfectionistic strivings are associated with positive characteristics and (b) healthy perfectionists show higher levels of positive characteristics compared to unhealthy perfectionists and nonperfectionists. While questions on core facets, positive effects, and developmental antecedents of positive forms of perfectionism remain, our findings suggest that self-oriented perfectionistic strivings are positive, if perfectionists are not overly concerned about mistakes and negative evaluations by others.

Four studies investigating the convergent validity, discriminant validity, and relationship with age of the Social Desirability Scale-17 (SDS-17) are presented. Where convergent validity is concerned, SDS-17 scores showed correlations between .52 and .85 with other measures of social desirability (Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Lie Scale, Sets of Four Scale, Marlowe-Crowne Scale). Moreover, scores were highly sensitive to social-desirability provoking instructions (job-application instruction). Finally, with respect to the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding, SDS-17 scores showed a unique correlation with impression management, but not with self-deception. Where discriminant validity is concerned, SDS-17 scores showed nonsignificant correlations with neuroticism, extraversion, psychoticism, and openness to experience, whereas there was some overlap with agreeableness and conscientiousness. With respect to relationship with age, the SDS-17 was administered in a sample stratified for age, with age ranging from 18 to 89 years. In all but the oldest age group, the SDS-17 showed substantial correlations with the Marlowe-Crowne Scale. The influence of age (cohort) on mean scores, however, was significantly smaller for the SDS-17 than for the Marlowe-Crowne Scale. In sum, results indicate that the SDS-17 is a reliable and valid measure of social desirability, suitable for adults of 18 to 80 years of age.

This study investigates features that differentiate worry from somatic anxiety and depression. Theoretical models of the worry process suggest that worry is closely related to procrastination. In addition, research on worry and elevated evidence requirements proposes a relationship between worry and perfectionism. Perfectionism, however, is multidimensional in nature. Moreover, previous research has linked procrastination and perfectionism mainly to anxiety and depression. Therefore, the relationship between worry, procrastination, and dimensions of perfectionism was investigated in a sample of 180 students, while controlling for anxiety and depression. Results show that worry had substantial correlations with procrastination and perfectionism, particularly with perfectionist concern over mistakes and doubts. Moreover, worry was related to parental criticism and expectations, but unrelated to excessively high personal standards. Instead, high-worriers reported to lower standards under stress. Partial correlations indicated that these correlations were specific for amount of worry, thus differentiating amount of worry, pathological worry, anxiety, and depression.

Perfectionists have been described as people who want to be perfect in all domains of their lives. Few studies to date, however, have investigated what domains people are perfectionistic in. Using two samples (109 university students, 289 Internet users), the present study investigated how being perfectionistic in 22 domains of life was related to perfectionism, age, gender, and satisfaction with life. Across samples, work and studies were the domains that most participants reported being perfectionistic in, followed by bodily hygiene, spelling, and presentation of documents. Whereas age, gender, and satisfaction with life showed significant relationships with selected domains of life, perfectionism showed significant positive correlations with the overall score (number of domains affected by perfectionism) and with being perfectionistic in individual domains. Further analyses showed that self-oriented perfectionism, rather than socially prescribed perfectionism, was responsible for these correlations. The findings indicate that, in most domains, being perfectionistic is internally motivated and not externally motivated. Moreover, they show that, while some perfectionists may be perfectionistic across domains, most perfectionists are perfectionistic only in selected domains.

Positive conceptions of perfectionism (Stoeber & Otto, 2006) suggest that striving for perfection is associated with positive characteristics and adaptive outcomes. To investigate whether this also holds for adolescent school students, a sample of 121 ninth-graders completed measures of perfectionism at school (striving for perfection, negative reactions to imperfection), perceived parental pressure to be perfect, motivation, school achievement, and well-being. Results showed that negative reactions to imperfection were related to fear of failure, somatic complaints, and depressive symptoms; and perceived parental pressure was related to somatic complaints. In contrast, striving for perfection was related to hope of success, motivation for school, and school achievement. Moreover, striving for perfection showed a negative correlation with depressive symptoms, once the influence of negative reactions to imperfection was partialled out. The findings show that striving for perfection in adolescent school students is associated with positive characteristics and adaptive outcomes and thus may form part of a healthy pursuit of excellence. Negative reactions to imperfection and perceived parental pressure to be perfect, however, are associated with negative characteristics and maladaptive outcomes and thus may undermine adolescents’ motivation and well-being.

A sample of clients diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) provided descriptions of the two major problems they worried about and of potential negative consequences associated with these problems, once before and once after they received cognitive-behavioral therapy. When descriptions were rated for concreteness and compared to those of normal controls, results showed that untreated GAD clients provided less concrete descriptions of their major worries relative to controls. After successful therapy, problem descriptions of GAD clients showed the same level of concreteness as those of controls. These findings add further support to the reduced-concreteness theory of worry. Moreover, they indicate that concretization of worries may play a prominent role in the reduction of pathological worry.

Findings from cross-sectional studies on the relationship between perfectionism and the Big Five personality traits demonstrate that conscientiousness shows significant positive correlations with self-oriented perfectionism, and neuroticism with socially prescribed perfectionism. The question is whether conscientiousness and neuroticism also predict longitudinal changes in self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism. A sample of 214 adolescents aged 14-19 years completed measures of the Big Five and perfectionism twice over a period of 5 to 8 months. As was expected, conscientiousness predicted longitudinal increases in self-oriented perfectionism. Neuroticism, however, did not predict any longitudinal increases in perfectionism—neither in self-oriented nor in socially prescribed perfectionism. Providing support for McCrae and Costa’s dynamic personality theory (McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T., Jr. [1999]. A five-factor theory of personality. In L. A. Pervin & O. P. John [Eds.], Handbook of personality [2nd ed., pp. 139-153]. New York: Guilford) which holds that broad personality traits play a part in the development of lower-level personality characteristics, the findings suggest that conscientiousness is a trait that plays a role in the development of self-oriented perfectionism.

Many musicians experience anxiety and distress when performing, which has been related to perfectionism. Recent findings, however, show that only some facets of perfectionism are associated with anxiety and distress, whereas other facets are associated with positive characteristics and outcomes such as motivation and achievement. To investigate how different facets of perfectionism are related to motivation, effort, achievement, and distress in musicians, 146 young musicians completed measures of perfectionism (striving for perfection, negative reactions to imperfection, and perceived pressure to be perfect), intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, effort, achievement, and distress. Results showed that striving for perfection was associated with intrinsic motivation (intrinsic/identified reasons), higher effort, and higher achievement. Whereas perceived pressure from music teachers was also associated with intrinsic motivation (identified reasons only), negative reactions to imperfection were associated with extrinsic motivation and higher distress. The findings demonstrate that perfectionism in musicians has both positive and negative sides. While negative reactions to imperfection are clearly unhealthy, striving for perfection may be regarded as a healthy pursuit of excellence.

Despite over 15 years of research on multidimensional perfectionism, it is still unclear how different forms of perfectionism are related to self-efficacy, aspiration level, and reactions to success and failure in performance situations. Differentiating between positive striving perfectionism and self-critical perfectionism, the present study investigated in N = 100 undergraduate students how perfectionistic striving and self-criticism were related to self-efficacy, aspiration level, and performance and how manipulated success and failure feedback affected these relationships. Results showed that perfectionistic striving was positively correlated with self-efficacy and aspiration level prior to manipulated feedback. Moreover, perfectionistic striving predicted increases in aspiration level following success feedback. In contrast, self-criticism was negatively correlated with self-efficacy prior to feedback and predicted decreases in self-efficacy following failure feedback. The findings corroborate the view that perfectionism has both adaptive and maladaptive aspects: whereas self-criticism is associated with low self-efficacy and makes perfectionists lose confidence after failure, perfectionistic striving is associated with higher aspiration levels and makes perfectionists reach for higher aims after success.

According to the two-factor theory of perfectionism (Stoeber & Otto, 2006), perfectionism comprises two superordinate dimensions—perfectionistic strivings (PS) and perfectionistic concerns (PC)—that show different, and often opposite, relations with psychological adjustment and maladjustment, particularly when their overlap is partialled out. Recently, Hill (2014) raised concerns about the interpretation of the relations that PS show after partialling. The present article aims to alleviate these concerns. First, we address the concern that partialling changes the conceptual meaning of PS. Second, we explain how the relations of residual PS (i.e., PS with PC partialled out) differ from those of PS, and how to interpret these differences. In this, we also discuss suppressor effects and how mutual suppression affects the relations of both PS and PC with outcomes. Furthermore, we provide recommendations of how to report and interpret findings of analyses partialling out the effects of PS and PC. We conclude that, if properly understood and reported, there is nothing to be concerned about when partialling PS and PC. On the contrary, partialling is essential if we want to understand the shared, unique, combined, and interactive relations of the different dimensions of perfectionism.

El desarrollo cognitivo, psicoafectivo y del juego han sido considerados como factores que influyen dentro del proceso de aprendizaje. En esta investigación se pretende describir el desarrollo cognitivo, psicoafectivo y del juego en seis niños que presentan dificultades de aprendizaje y que cursan primero, tercero y cuarto de primaria en los departamentos del Valle del Cauca, Cauca y Meta en Colombia. Cabe resaltar que Elkonin será el principal autor, puesto que es el referente desde la neuropsicología histórico-cultural para estudiar el desarrollo del juego por etapas y en su propuesta teórica plantea que el juego favorece procesos atencionales, de regulación de la conducta y el desarrollo de las neoformaciones psicológicas en el niño, necesarias para la escolarización y el aprendizaje de la lectura, la escritura y el cálculo. Como idea central, Elkonin y diversos exponentes han demostrado la relación entre el desarrollo del juego temático de roles y el desarrollo de la actividad voluntaria en el niño, crucial para la adaptación a la escuela primaria. En la investigación se utilizó un estudio de caso múltiple de corte no experimental con diseño transaccional, enfoque mixto donde el alcance de la investigación es descriptivo. Los instrumentos utilizados son la Batería Psicopedagógica Evalúa de García y González (2002), específicamente el Evalúa 0, 3 y 4, el Test del dibujo de la familia de Louis Corman. Se diseñó para la evaluación de las etapas del juego un protocolo de exploración, un formato de entrevista y encuestas con padres y docentes. Los datos arrojan que los participantes presentan un desempeño bajo en cuanto al desarrollo cognitivo y las habilidades escolares, lo que contrasta significativamente con el adecuado desarrollo del juego. Los niños más pequeños y con mayores dificultades en la realización de las tareas del Evalúa, aún no alcanzan la etapa del juego temático de roles. A nivel emocional, se encontró que los niños presentan inseguridad y baja autoestima, que influyen en los niveles de adaptación.

Numerous studies have demonstrated that perfectionistic strivings are associated with higher performance. Few studies, however, have investigated how perfectionistic strivings lead to higher performance. The present study investigated whether invested time (time on task) can explain the relationship between perfectionistic strivings and task performance. A sample of 100 university students performed a simple letter-detection task. Afterwards they rated their subjective effort regarding speed and accuracy. Results showed that (a) perfectionistic strivings showed positive correlations with time on task and with task performance and (b) that time on task fully mediated the relationship between perfectionistic strivings and task performance. Regarding subjective effort, students high in perfectionistic strivings indicated that they put more effort in accuracy than in speed compared to students low in perfectionistic strivings. The findings indicate that invested time may explain how perfectionistic strivings lead to higher performance in simple self-paced tasks. Moreover, they indicate that, for people high in perfectionistic strivings, accuracy of task performance is more important than speed.

The Worry Domains Questionnaire (WDQ) (Tallis, Eysenck, & Mathews, 1992) is an instrument widely used to assess the amount of worry across five domains of everyday concern: relationships, lack of confidence, aimless future, work, and financial issues. With 25 items, however, the WDQ is somewhat lengthy. The aim of the present study was therefore to construct a 10-item short form (WDQ-SF). A sample of 1,080 university students completed the 25 items of the WDQ. One half of the sample was used to construct the WDQ-SF by selecting two appropriate items from each of the five WDQ domain subscales. The other half of the sample was used to cross-validate the factorial structure of the WDQ-SF by means of confirmatory factor analysis. Like the WDQ, the WDQ-SF displayed high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = .88) and a clear five-factor structure. Moreover, the WDQ-SF showed a near-perfect correlation with the WDQ long form (r = .97). Thus, the WDQ-SF represents a reliable and economical alternative to the full 25-item scale.

Shaun Gallagher has actively looked into the possibility that psychopathologies involving “thought insertion” might supply a counterexample to the Cartesian principle according to which one can always recognize one’s own thoughts as one’s own. Animated by a general distrust of a priori demonstrations, Gallagher is convinced that pitting clinical cases against philosophical arguments is a worthwhile endeavor. There is no doubt that, if true, a falsification of the immunity to error through misidentification would entail drastic revisions in how we conceive the boundary between self and other. However, I argue that (1) the idea of unearthing an exception to the Cartesian thesis is, on further reflection, not a realistic prospect and that (2) this casts doubt on the attempt to conjoin first-person phenomenology and third-person cognitive science in the service of philosophical debates.

Hewitt and Flett’s 45-item Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS; Hewitt & Flett, 1991, 2004) is a widely-used instrument to assess self-oriented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed perfectionism. With 45 items, it is not overly lengthy, but there are situations where a short form is useful. Analyzing data from 4 samples, this article compares 2 frequently used 15-item short forms of the MPS—Cox et al.’s (2002) and Hewitt et al.’s (2008)—by examining to what degree their scores replicate the original version’s correlations with various personality characteristics (e.g., traits, social goals, personal/interpersonal orientations). Regarding self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism, both short forms performed well. Regarding other-oriented perfectionism, however, Cox et al.’s short form (exclusively comprised of negatively worded items) performed less well than Hewitt et al.’s (which contains no negatively worded items). It is recommended that researchers use Hewitt et al.’s short form to assess other-oriented perfectionism rather than Cox et al.’s.

The Multidimensional Perfectionism Cognitions Inventory (MPCI; Kobori & Tanno, 2004) is a promising new instrument developed in Japan to assess perfectionism cognitions regarding
personal standards, pursuit of perfection, and concern over mistakes. The present study examined reliability and validity of the English version of the MPCI, the MPCI-E (Kobori, 2006), in a
sample of 371 native English speakers. A confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the MPCI-E’s three-factorial oblique structure. Moreover, correlations with measures of dispositional perfectionism and past-week positive and negative affect provided first evidence of the MPCI-E’s convergent and differential validity. Finally, hierarchical multiple regressions indicated that the MPCI-E showed incremental validity in explaining variance in positive and negative affect above
variance explained by dispositional perfectionism. Overall, the findings provide first evidence for the reliability and validity of the MPCI-E as a multidimensional measure of perfectionism cognitions that has the potential to further our understanding of positive and negative cognitions in perfectionism.

The present study investigates the specificity of the six somatic symptoms that are associated with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) according to DSM-IV. A nonclinical sample of 183 students provided severity ratings for (1) restlessness, (2) easily fatigued, (3) difficulty concentrating, (4) irritability, (5) muscle tension, and (6) sleep disturbance. In addition, they responded to questionnaires assessing pathological worry and depression symptoms. Partial correlations and multiple regression analyses indicated that only muscle tension showed a unique relation to pathological worry. In contrast, difficulty concentrating was exclusively related to depression symptoms. The present findings corroborate psychophysiological findings that elevated muscle tension is a specific characteristic of pathological worriers. Moreover, they suggest that the problem of unclear boundaries between GAD and major depression may be reduced if future revisions of the somatic symptom list for GAD emphasize muscle tension while de-emphasizing difficulty concentrating.

Self-pity is a frequent response to stressful events. So far, however, empirical research has paid only scant attention to this subject. The present article aims at exploring personality characteristics associated with individual differences in feeling sorry for oneself. Two studies with N = 141 and N = 161 university students were conducted, employing multidimensional measures of personality, control beliefs, anger, loneliness, and adult attachment. With respect to personality, results showed strong associations of self-pity with neuroticism, particularly with the depression facet. With respect to control beliefs, individuals high in self-pity showed generalized externality beliefs, seeing themselves as con¬trolled by both chance and powerful others. With respect to anger expression, self-pity was primarily related to anger-in. Strong connections with anger rumination were also found. Further¬more, individuals high in self-pity reported emotional loneliness and ambivalent-worrisome attachments. Finally, in both studies, a strong correlation with gender was found, with women reporting more self-pity reactions to stress than men. Findings are discussed with respect to how they support, extend, and qualify the previous literature on self-pity, and directions for future empirical research are pointed out.

Investigating problem-solving performance, Ishida (2005) found high levels of perfectionism were associated with lower efficiency. Aiming to replicate and further explore this finding, the present study investigated how two dimensions of perfectionism (high standards, discrepancy between expectations and performance) predicted efficiency in proof-reading performance. N = 96 students completed a proof-reading task involving the detection of spelling, grammar, and format errors. When error-detection performance was subjected to signal detection analysis, high standards correlated positively with the number of incorrectly detected errors (false alarms). Moreover, when task-completion time was taken into account, high standards were negatively correlated with efficiency (accuracy/time). In comparison, discrepancy correlated negatively with the number of correctly detected errors (hits) and positively with a conservative response bias. The findings show that perfectionistic standards are associated with reduced efficiency demonstrating the importance of considering invested time, errors, and response bias when investigating the relationship between perfectionism and performance.

Background and Objectives: Although perfectionism has been proposed to be a risk factor for the development of anxiety, research on perfectionism and anxiety symptoms in adolescents is scarce and inconclusive. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the two higher-order dimensions of perfectionism—perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns—predict the development and maintenance of anxiety symptoms. An additional aim of the present study was to examine potential reciprocal effects of anxiety symptoms predicting increases in perfectionism. Design: The study used a longitudinal design with three waves spaced 4-5 months apart. Methods: A non-clinical sample of 489 adolescents aged 12-19 years completed a paper-and-pencil questionnaire. Results: As expected, results showed a positive effect from perfectionistic concerns to anxiety symptoms, but the effect was restricted to middle-to-late adolescents (16-19 years old): Perfectionistic concerns predicted longitudinal increases in adolescents’ anxiety symptoms whereas perfectionistic strivings did not. Furthermore, anxiety symptoms did not predict increases in perfectionism. Conclusions: Implications for the understanding of the relationship between perfectionism and anxiety symptoms are discussed.

Three studies investigating differences in people's appraisals of worry and anxiety situations are presented. First, data from a study by Reisenzein and Spielhofer (1994) were reanalyzed. Second, two further studies were conducted to replicate the findings of the reanalysis and to explore whether any additional appraisal dimensions were relevant for a differentiation of worry and anxiety situations. In sum, results showed that appraisals associated with situations in which worry and anxiety were experienced differed on eight appraisal dimensions. Compared to experiences of anxiety, experiences of worry were more often associated with positive self-evaluation, positive social-relationship evaluation, feelings of closeness, and sentiments of importance, and less often associated with feelings of inferiority. Moreover, in worry experiences, focus was often not on the self, but on other persons. Finally, with respect to temporal dimensions, worry situations were less often associated with notions of suddenness and momentariness than anxiety situations. Implications of these findings are discussed with respect to models of emotional appraisal and research on worry and generalized anxiety disorder.

Research on multidimensional sexual perfectionism differentiates four forms of sexual perfectionism: self-oriented, partner-oriented, partner-prescribed, and socially prescribed. Self-oriented sexual perfectionism reflects perfectionistic standards people apply to themselves as sexual partners; partner-oriented sexual perfectionism reflects perfectionistic standards people apply to their sexual partner; partner-prescribed sexual perfectionism reflects people’s beliefs that their sexual partner imposes perfectionistic standards on them; and socially prescribed sexual perfectionism reflects people’s beliefs that society imposes such standards on them. Previous studies found partner-prescribed and socially prescribed sexual perfectionism to be maladaptive forms of sexual perfectionism associated with a negative sexual self-concept and problematic sexual behaviors, but only examined cross-sectional relationships. The present article presents the first longitudinal study examining whether multidimensional sexual perfectionism predicts changes in sexual self-concept and sexual function over time. A total of 366 women aged 17-69 years completed measures of multidimensional sexual perfectionism, sexual esteem, sexual anxiety, sexual problem self-blame, and female sexual function (cross-sectional data). Three to six months later, 164 of the women completed the same measures again (longitudinal data). Across analyses, partner-prescribed sexual perfectionism emerged as the most maladaptive form of sexual perfectionism. In the cross-sectional data, partner-prescribed sexual perfectionism showed positive relationships with sexual anxiety, sexual problem self-blame, and intercourse pain and negative relationships with sexual esteem, desire, arousal, lubrication, and orgasmic function. In the longitudinal data, partner-prescribed sexual perfectionism predicted increases in sexual anxiety and decreases in sexual esteem, arousal, and lubrication over time. The findings suggest that partner-prescribed sexual perfectionism contributes to women’s negative sexual self-concept and female sexual dysfunction.

Pathological Gambling is a disorder with a significant impact on society, causing social, financial and emotional injuries to individuals. In this paper, we conducted a review of scientific literature on Pathological Gambling, focusing on aspects related to this disorder, and its therapeutic possibilities, especially the motivational aspect as an essential factor to treatment. Considering motivation to change as an important issue to be considered in order to develop treatment strategies and interventions for this disorder, this review related Pathological Gambling to motivation to change. The following databases were consulted: Pschynfo, Web of Science, Medline and Lilacs; using the keywords pathological gambling, gamblers, treatment, stages of change, motivational interviewing and readiness to change, between 1990 and 2008. We also examined books and articles that were not in the references of the indexed sources. From the scientific literature searched, it was observed that most studies suggest the need for more research with controlled trials to treat this condition; and the motivation of the patient appears to be crucial as a predictive factor in any therapeutic modality.

This milestone text provides a comprehensive and state-of-the art overview of perfectionism theory, research, and treatment from the past 25 years, with contributions from the leading researchers in the field. The book examines new theories and perspectives including the social disconnection model of perfectionism and the 2 × 2 model of perfectionism. It also reviews empirical findings, with a special focus on stress, vulnerability, and resilience, and examines perfectionism in specific populations. Finally, it considers how perfectionism relates to physical health and psychophysiological processes and introduces new approaches to effective prevention and treatment. By increasing our understanding of perfectionism as a complex personality disposition and providing a framework for future explorations, this landmark publication aims to promote further research in this field. It will be invaluable reading for academics, students, and professionals in personality psychology, clinical and counselling psychology, applied psychology and related disciplines.

O objetivo deste artigo é apresentar uma revisão da literatura científica que aborda os relacionamentos pais-filhos no contexto das transições familiares relacionadas à separação e/ou divórcio parental, enfocando reações, experiências, concepções e sentimentos dos filhos, especialmente os adolescentes. Primeiramente, é apresentada uma revisão geral dos estudos do divórcio, seguida de pesquisas que especificamente associam adolescência e transições familiares. A maioria dos estudos destaca a importância da qualidade da parentalidade e manutenção dos relacionamentos entre pais e filhos após a separação. As repercussões que as continuidades e rupturas têm sobre os relacionamentos entre pais e filhos são discutidas.

The perfectionism social disconnection model (PSDM; Hewitt, Flett, Sherry, & Caelian, 2006) makes an important contribution to perfectionism research explaining why perfectionism is associated with social disconnection and interpersonal hostility. Moreover, recent expansions of the PSDM suggest that the model applies to all forms of perfectionism. The present research challenges this suggestion. Three university student samples (Ns = 318, 417, and 398) completed measures of self-oriented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed perfectionism together with measures of trust, empathy, and hostility including aggression, anger, and spitefulness. In line with previous studies examining unique relationships of the three forms of perfectionism, only other-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism showed a consistent pattern of unique relationships indicative of social disconnection and hostility. In contrast, self-oriented perfectionism showed unique relationships indicative of social connection (and low hostility regarding physical aggression and spitefulness). The present findings indicate that the PSDM may not apply to all forms of perfectionism. Not all perfectionists feel socially disconnected and hostile towards others. Self-oriented perfectionists may feel socially connected and show no higher hostility than non-perfectionists, particularly when they are low in other-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism.

La presente investigación tuvo como objetivo principal identificar cómo los imaginarios sociales, culturales y familiares influyen en la elección de pareja. Para el desarrollo de esta se tuvieron en cuenta tres categorías: patrones comportamentales, dinámicas familiares y elección de pareja. La metodología que se utilizó fue la investigación cualitativa, desde un enfoque metodológico hermenéutico, con la modalidad del estado del arte, lo que permitió hacer un rastreo principal de bibliografía relacionada con el tema a tratar. Se obtienen importantes resultados sobre cómo los individuos eligen su pareja sentimental, con influencias de diversos factores. Asimismo, se encuentra que la familia es el primer agente socializador y potencializador del desarrollo de la personalidad del individuo, además de ser la base del aprendizaje y repetición de patrones comportamentales que se den dentro de las dinámicas familiares. Igualmente, se observa que la cultura y la sociedad determinan imaginarios sociales a la hora de elegir pareja y de relacionarse con el otro, que se espera sean cumplidos por el individuo, como la conformación de una familia, estabilidad económica y sentimental y el matrimonio, además de establecer las creencias, normas y reglas. Por otra parte, se hallan influencias biológicas y de personalidad que establecen una preferencia, tanto física como de compatibilidad emocional, en el momento en el que el individuo elige pareja. De esta manera, se concluye el artículo con una mirada integral de los factores que intervienen en la elección de pareja, resaltando que dichos factores no actúan por separado, pues todos influyen al mismo tiempo en el individuo.

Purpose: Numerous studies have found perfectionism to show positive relations with eating disorder symptoms, but so far no study has examined whether perfectionistic self-presentation can explain these relations or whether the relations are the same for different eating disorder symptom groups. Methods: A sample of 393 female university students completed self-report measures of perfectionism (self-oriented perfectionism, socially prescribed perfectionism), perfectionistic self-presentation (perfectionistic self-promotion, nondisplay of imperfection, nondisclosure of imperfection), and three eating disorder symptom groups (dieting, bulimia, oral control). In addition, students reported their weight and height so their body mass index (BMI) could be computed. Results: Results of multiple regression analyses controlling for BMI indicated that socially prescribed perfectionism positively predicted all three symptom groups, whereas self-oriented perfectionism positively predicted dieting only. Moreover, perfectionistic self-presentation explained the positive relations that perfectionism showed with dieting and oral control, but not with bulimia. Further analyses indicated that all three aspects of perfectionistic self-presentation positively predicted dieting, whereas only nondisclosure of imperfection positively predicted bulimia and oral control. Overall, perfectionistic self-presentation explained 10.4-23.5% of variance in eating disorder symptoms, whereas perfectionism explained 7.9-12.1%. Conclusions: The findings suggest that perfectionistic self-presentation explains why perfectionistic women show higher levels of eating disorder symptoms, particularly dieting. Thus perfectionistic self-presentation appears to play a central role in the relations of perfectionism and disordered eating and may warrant closer attention in theory, research, and treatment of eating and weight disorders.

ABSTRACT.  The evidences of the effectiveness of any psychological intervention requires the demonstration of its internal and external validity, what is usually made by inferential statistical methods. An alternative, more recently explored, especially in the realm of the psychotherapeutic processes, is based on indexes of reliability and clinical signicance of the changes. Among the methods used to produce these indexes, it is highlighted that one developed by Jacobson and Truax (1991), known as “JT Method”, still rare in the Brazilian psychological research. This study briefly presents the rational and some methodological and practical issues concerned with this method, exemplifying its use in the data analysis of a fictitious intervention.
Keywords: JT Method; internal validity; external validity; psychotherapy; psychoeducational intervention.

RESUMO. As evidências da efetividade de qualquer intervenção psicológica baseiam-se na demonstração de sua validade interna e externa, usualmente efetuadas por meio de estatística inferencial. Uma alternativa mais recentemente explorada, especialmente no âmbito da pesquisa em psicoterapia, é a demonstração da confiabilidade e significância clínica das mudanças. Dentre os métodos utilizados na produção desses indicadores, destaca-se o desenvolvido por Jacobson e Truax (1991), mais conhecido como “Método JT”, ainda com limitada divulgação em nosso meio. Este estudo apresenta, resumidamente, a racional
desse método e algumas questões metodológicas e práticas pertinentes ao uso desse método, exemplificando sua aplicabilidade no tratamento de dados de uma intervenção fictícia. Palavras-chave: Método JT; validade interna; validade externa; psicoterapia; intervenção psicoeducacional

INTRODUÇÃO: A inclusão de intervenções focadas na família, através da terapia unifamiliar, ou da terapia multifamiliar (TGMF) vem crescendo como uma forma de enfrentar um problema tão grave e complexo como é a dependência química. OBJETIVOS: Investigar e avaliar fatores associados à adesão ao tratamento multifamiliar no tratamento de dependentes químicos hospitalizados. MÉTODO: A pesquisa é um estudo transversal retrospectivo, com uma amostra de 672 famílias participantes da TGMF durante o período de seis anos (de março 1997 a julho de 2003). Foi realizado um estudo dos fatores sociodemográficos como idade, sexo, tempo de uso da substância e quanto ao tipo de droga mais prevalente e investigada a associação entre o grau de parentesco do familiar participante do programa e a adesão ao tratamento multifamiliar. Foram pesquisados 672 prontuários de sujeitos que estiveram internados e ingressaram no programa de tratamento multifamiliar e os relatos das sessões descritos pelo terapeuta c...

Este texto é parte integrante de uma investigação em busca do sentido da psicanálise, ou dos sentidos que ela possa apresentar. Busca-se justificar e apreender o sentido originário e fundamental da psicanálise. Enfoca-se a compreensão freudiana que a entende inicialmente como uma intencionalidade puramente terapêutica, mostrando-se que, antes de constituir-se como conhecimento, a psicanálise é assumida como ato, isto é, trabalho de tratamento da neurose. "Psicanálise" foi o nome dado por Freud a esse trabalho. Em conclusão, discute-se o sentido desse trabalho, cujo nome permite circunscrever, apontando-se o seu método e o seu objeto.

O presente artigo é o resultado da experiência da autora no chamado "Polo Surdez" do Centro Hospitalar Sainte-Anne (Paris, França), serviço hospitalar de saúde mental que oferece acompanhamento psicológico para pacientes psiquiátricos surdos adultos. Alguns desses pacientes, sem história psiquiátrica anterior, chegam ao Polo apresentando uma descompensação psicótica que intervém após a implantação de uma prótese coclear, o que suscita a questão da relação entre o implante e o desencadeamento da psicose. A autora discute a hipótese segundo a qual a idealização médica da "cura" da deficiência auditiva não leva muitas vezes em consideração o fato de que a própria surdez possa representar a base identitária estabilizadora de um sujeito cuja estrutura subjetiva seria psicótica. Nesse caso, o implante coclear, extraindo o sujeito do universo e da cultura próprios aos surdos, poderia transformar-se no fator que faz vacilar o ego de suplência do sujeito, levando ao desen...

RESUMO Este artigo apresenta a análise das manifestações da crise adolescência na correlação que estas mantêm com o funcionamento social contemporâneo como indicador privilegi-ado para pensar a operação da ciência e seus efeitos no campo do sujeito. A análise parte ...

Através do referencial teórico da Filosofia da Diferença buscamos problematizar alguns conceitos como os de civilização, barbárie, direitos, humano, evolução e progresso, dentre outros. Para tanto, historicizamos a gênese dos Direitos Humanos no contexto da Declaração de 1948, em plena Guerra Fria, e no Brasil, com a emergência dos novos movimentos sociais a partir de 1975. Esses acontecimentos históricos, apesar de sua importância, produziram efeitos naturalizadores e essencialistas, esvaziando e capturando, muitas vezes, a luta pelos Direitos Humanos. Ao afirmarmos um direito e uma humanidade positivados enquanto processos, trazemos a discussão de uma ética da imanência.