The American Psychological Association (APA) compiled a list of the 10 most downloaded scientific articles in 2019. The APA has 89 indexed journals and published 4,500 articles during this year. The list includes clinical research articles, meta-analytic reviews and monographic articles, and offers an overview of the general interest of the community of psychologists around the world. In each of the articles we include the bibliographic reference and direct links so that you can read and download them in full.
1 – The therapeutic relationship in cognitive behavioral therapy: Essential characteristics and common challenges (Okamoto et al. 2019)
The relationship between therapist and patient provides the context within which cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) interventions occur and is itself a critical aspect of treatment. This article in Practice Innovations (Vol. 4, No. 2) provides guidelines to help professionals develop effective therapeutic relationships and overcome challenges. It offers recommendations on common elements of effective relationships, such as expressed empathy and active listening, as well as more specific elements, such as collaboration, empiricism, and Socratic dialogue. Additionally, the article offers suggestions for tailoring specific CBT practices to a patient’s unique presentation. These tips cover challenges related to sticking to a session agenda, maintaining session focus, managing interventions between sessions (homework), incorporating clients’ cultural beliefs and preferences, addressing relationship breakdowns, effectively ending sessions and conclude the therapeutic relationship.
Bibliographic reference: Okamoto, A., Dattilio, FM, Dobson, KS, & Kazantzis, N. (2019). The therapeutic relationship in cognitive–behavioral therapy: Essential features and common challenges. Practice Innovations, Vol. 4, pp. 112-123.
2 – Therapeutic strategies and techniques in early cognitive behavioral therapy (King and Boswell 2019)
Patients whose symptoms improve early in CBT are known to have better outcomes than patients who improve more gradually. This article, in a special section of Psychotherapy (Vol. 56, No. 1) focused on “Initial Psychotherapy,” presents three strategies to follow in the crucial initial stages of CBT: agreeing on the purpose and goals of treatment, developing a collaborative therapeutic relationship and initiating objective self-control of behaviors and experiences. Along with each strategy, the authors present case study examples of exchanges between individual therapists and patients, as well as support research findings. The authors also provide practical advice for each strategy.
Bibliographic reference: King, B.R., & Boswell, J.F. (2019). Therapeutic strategies and techniques in early cognitive-behavioral therapy. Psychotherapy, 56(1), 35-40.
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3 – The development of goal setting theory: a half-century retrospective (Locke and Latham 2019)
In this review article in Motivation Science (Vol. 5, No. 2), the two creators of goal-setting theory summarize more than 50 years of research on the importance of goal setting to improve individual and team performance. They highlight numerous aspects of their theory, including setting specific, challenging goals and receiving regular feedback to increase motivation and productivity. They also point to findings that have expanded and strengthened the theory: the importance of setting learning goals rather than performance goals, setting short- and long-term goals, and using principles from the theory in settings outside of work, such as in sports and education. creativity. efforts.
Bibliographic reference: Locke, E., & Latham, G.P. (2019). Reply to comments on «The development of goal setting theory: A half century retrospective». Motivation Science, Vol. 5, pp. 114-115.
4 – Child-centered play therapy to heal children exposed to domestic violence (Hall 2019)
Last year, more than 8 million American children were exposed to some form of domestic violence, experiences that can have lasting impacts if left untreated. This review article in the International Journal of Play Therapy (Vol. 28, No. 2) explores research on the use of child-centered play therapy (CCPT) as a means to heal children exposed to violence domestic. Play, the author writes, is children’s natural language and allows for deep and meaningful expression of emotions associated with trauma that might otherwise go unnoticed. CCPT is not only an effective and developmentally appropriate approach to help children exposed to such violence process their emotions, heal from trauma, and feel safe, supported, and understood within the therapeutic environment; It also demonstrates a model for healthy relationships, the author concludes.
Bibliographic reference: Hall, J. G. (2019). Child-centered play therapy as a means of healing children exposed to domestic violence. International Journal of Play Therapy, Vol. 28, pp. 98-106.
5 – Sex differences in serial killers (Harrison et al. 2019)
This article in Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences (Vol. 13, No. 4) examines differences in the behaviors and crimes of male and female serial killers. Researchers reviewed archival data on 55 male and 55 female serial killers in the United States from 1865 to 2009 through the lens of a “hunter-gatherer” model. They found that male serial killers hunt, stalking unknown victims in scattered areas, often with a sexual motivation, while female serial killers gather victims, killing family members and other vulnerable people close to them, often for monetary gain. . The different killing patterns of men and women may reflect maladaptive versions of strategies to ensure reproductive success, in which males seek more mates and females seek to obtain resources to support offspring, according to the authors.
Bibliographic reference: Harrison, M.A., Hughes, S.M., & Gott, A.J. (2019). Sex differences in serial killers. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, Vol. 13, pp. 295-310.
6 – Risk factors for child sexual abuse victimization: a meta-analytic review (Assink et al. 2019)
This article in Psychological Bulletin (Vol. 145, No. 5) takes a quantitative meta-analytic approach to synthesize research on associations between risk factors and child sexual abuse (CSA) victimization. The researchers extracted a total of 765 risk factors from 72 studies and classified them into 35 risk domains. A series of meta-analyses identified a significant medium effect for 23 of the 35 risk domains. The strongest effects were reported for the child’s and/or her siblings’ prior CSA victimization, the child’s prior victimization other than sexual abuse, and having a parent who had been a victim of CSA. Some of the other risks identified include living in a family with a non-nuclear structure, having a parent who experienced intimate partner violence, having a chronic physical or mental health condition, and being female.
Bibliographic reference: Assink, M., van der Put, CE, Meeuwsen, MWCM, de Jong, NM, Oort, FJ, Stams, GJJM, & Hoeve, M. (2019). Risk factors for child sexual abuse victimization: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 145(5), 459-489.
7 – Early interventions in CBT for depression: contrast of a low adherent and highly adherent case (Don et al. 2019)
While early compliance with session protocol is key to successful CBT results, there are ways to get therapy back on track if interruptions occur in the first few sessions. This article in Psychotherapy (Vol. 56, No. 1)—a second article on the topic that made the top 10—analyzes the role a therapist’s adherence to protocol plays in the effectiveness of CBT in two case studies. . The therapist adhered closely to protocol with her first patient. However, she deviated significantly from the protocol in the first few sessions with her second patient because a computer crash interrupted the first session and in the fourth session, the patient experienced a painful memory of childhood sexual assault that left him unable to concentrate. Despite these deviations, both patients had comparable final results in terms of symptom reduction and therapeutic alliance scores.
Bibliographic reference: Don, F.J., Driessen, E., Molenaar, P.J., Spijker, J., & Dekker, J.J.M. (2019). Early interventions in cognitive behavioral therapy for depression: A study contrasting a low-adherent and a highly adherent case. Psychotherapy, 56(1), 48-54.
8 – Emerging behavior problems: bidirectional relationship between parenting style and child temperament (Wittig and Rodriguez 2019)
Parenting style and child temperament influence each other, and both contribute to children’s behavior problems, according to this study in Developmental Psychology (Vol. 55, No. 6). The researchers conducted a longitudinal study of 201 mothers and 151 fathers and their children. They found that mothers with a more authoritarian parenting style had babies with a greater ability to regulate their behavior at 6 months, and mothers with a more permissive parenting style had babies with less ability to regulate their behavior. In turn, greater infant regulatory capacity and negative affect at 6 months predicted greater maternal permissive parenting style at 18 months. Furthermore, various parenting styles and types of child temperament at 6 months predicted toddlers’ externalizing and internalizing problem behaviors at 18 months.
Bibliographic reference: Wittig, SMO, & Rodriguez, CM (2019). Emerging behavior problems: Bidirectional relations between maternal and paternal parenting styles with infant temperament. Developmental Psychology, 55(6), 1199-1210.
9 – Early childhood depression, emotion regulation, episodic memory and hippocampal development (Barch et al. 2019)
Children and adolescents with depression also experience problems with episodic memory, and those problems are related to stress, adversity, emotion regulation, and hippocampal volume, this study suggests in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology (Vol. 128 , No. 1). The researchers measured cognitive function…