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W O'Donohue

Publications and source records attributed to W O'Donohue.

18 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Problems with the DSM-IV diagnosis of pedophilia.

This paper examines the taxonomic adequacy of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 4th ed., DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) diagnostic category of pedophilia. This diagnosis, as well as the other sexual disorders, have been ignored in DSM field trials. There is no empirical information about the reliability or validity of this diagnosis. Moreover, because the vagueness of the diagnostic criteria, clinicians would need to make inferences that would likely lead to reliability problems in diagnosis. Further, the DSM diagnostic criteria include constructs that are not intersubjectively verifiable and for which there are no valid measures. This can also lead to lack of diagnostic reliability and accuracy. Most problematical however, there are aspects of the diagnostic criteria, most notably the presence of an "ego dystonic sexual attraction to children," that are incorrect exclusion criteria. Suggestions for improvement are provided.

Humans↗
PubMed2000

Characteristics of empirically supported treatments.

This study presents a survey of general characteristics of empirically supported treatments (ESTs) identified by the American Psychological Association Division 12 Task Force on the Promotion and Dissemination of Psychological Procedures. Results indicate that the ESTs share the following characteristics: they involve skill building, have a specific problem focus, incorporate continuous assessment of client progress, and involve brief treatment contact, requiring 20 or fewer sessions. Traditional assessment methods, such as intelligence testing, projectives, and objective personality tests such as the MMPI-2, are rarely used in these treatments. Although it is recognized that these findings are in part an artifact of sociological factors present in contemporary psychotherapy development and research, the findings may also serve as a heuristic aid in the development of therapies.

Behavior Therapy↗
PubMed2000

Sexual harassment.

We review the current state of sexual harassment theory, research, treatment, and prevention. Definitional problems and implications are discussed. An examination of the epidemiology of sexual harassment is presented, highlighting correlates that include characteristics of the organizational environment, the perpetrator, and the recipient of unwanted sexual behavior. Normative responses to sexual harassment and consequences are discussed. Descriptions of the most prevalent models of sexual harassment are offered and the empirical evidence for them is briefly reviewed. From there, the effect of model development and evaluation on the prevention and treatment of sexual harassment is considered. We comment on the steps that would need to be taken to develop viable prevention and treatment programs. Suggestions for fruitful avenues of research and theory development are offered.

Female↗
PubMed1999

Sexual assault prevention programs: current issues, future directions, and the potential efficacy of interventions with women.

Current problems facing the primary prevention of sexual assault are reviewed. Effective sexual assault prevention programs for both males and females have been slow to develop due to the fact that the etiologies of sexual assault have not been identified. Although dissemination of prevention programs has become increasingly popular in recent years, few programs have evaluated the extent to which the constructs identified in the interventions are effective at decreasing rates of sexual assault. This article discusses previous studies in sexual assault prevention programs, methodological and conceptual problems that currently exist in the field, pragmatic difficulties regarding program implementation and evaluation, and recommendations for future research with an emphasis on interventions with female participants.

Female↗
PubMed1999

What is a delusion? Epistemological dimensions.

Although the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) clearly indicates delusions have an epistemic dimension, it fails to accurately identify the epistemic properties of delusions. The authors explicate the regulative causes of belief revision for rational agents and argue that delusions are unresponsive to these. They argue that delusions are (a) protected beliefs made unfalsifiable either in principle or because the agent refuses to admit anything as a potential falsifier; (b) the protected belief is not typically considered a "properly basic" belief; (c) the belief is not of the variety of protected scientific beliefs; (d) in response to an apparent falsification, the subject posits not a simple, testable explanation for the inconsistency but one that is more complicated, less testable, and provides no new corroborations; (e) the subject has a strong emotional attachment to the belief; and (f) the belief is typically supported by (or originates from) trivial occurrences that are interpreted by the subject as highly unusual, significant, having personal reference, or some combination of these.

Delusions↗
PubMed1998

Sexual harassment: identifying risk factors.

A new model of the etiology of sexual harassment, the four-factor model, is presented and compared with several models of sexual harassment including the biological model, the organizational model, the sociocultural model, and the sex role spillover model. A number of risk factors associated with sexually harassing behavior are examined within the framework of the four-factor model of sexual harassment. These include characteristics of the work environment (e.g., sexist attitudes among co-workers, unprofessional work environment, skewed sex ratios in the workplace, knowledge of grievance procedures for sexual harassment incidents) as well as personal characteristics of the subject (e.g., physical attractiveness, job status, sex-role). Subjects were 266 university female faculty, staff, and students who completed the Sexual Experience Questionnaire to assess the experience of sexual harassment and a questionnaire designed to assess the risk factors stated above. Results indicated that the four-factor model is a better predictor of sexual harassment than the alternative models. The risk factors most strongly associated with sexual harassment were an unprofessional environment in the workplace, sexist atmosphere, and lack of knowledge about the organization's formal grievance procedures.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Psychotherapy for female sexual dysfunction: a review.

The increasing recognition of the significant incidence of female sexual dysfunction as well as the increasing acceptance of sex therapy as the preferred option for addressing problems in sexual functioning give rise to questions as to effectiveness of psychotherapy for female sexual dysfunction. This article presents a review of empirical studies of the treatment of female sexual dysfunction that meet minimal methodological criteria. Because of the variety and seriousness of methodological problems in the studies reviewed, guidelines for sample selection and description, research design, assessment and classification, and data analysis are provided. In addition, the 21 studies reviewed are examined for information they give about the treatment of female sexual dysfunction.

Female↗
PubMed1997

Classical conditioning of female sexual arousal.

The classical conditioning of subjective and physiological aspects of female sexual arousal was examined. Experimental subjects were run in a delayed conditioning design, where an amber light was paired with excerpts from erotic videos. Control subjects received presentations of the same amber light and videos, but these presentations did not overlap with one another. Dependent variables included subjective ratings of arousal to the light and the videos as well as change in vaginal pulse amplitude assessed during exposure to the different stimuli. Experimental subjects evidenced increased arousal to the light over conditioning trials, as assessed by subjective ratings of sexual arousal. This finding is suggestive of a learned effect. However, results failed to indicate significant differences between experimental control groups. Therefore, the increased arousal to the light evidenced by experimental subjects may not be due to classical conditioning. Suggestions regarding these findings, clinical implications, and future research are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Rape prevention with high-risk males: short-term outcome of two interventions.

Two model-based interventions designed to reduce the amount of date rape attempted by male college students were developed and evaluated. The Rape Supportive Cognitions (RSC) intervention targeted commonly held false beliefs that promote or condone coercive sexual behavior. The Victim Empathy/Outcome Expectancies (VE/OE) intervention targeted poor victim empathy and problematic rape outcome expectancies. Seventy-four high-risk subjects as determined by scores on the Attraction to Sexual Aggression scale (ASA) (Malamuth, 1989) were randomly assigned to one of the treatment groups (RSC or VE/OE) or to a no-treatment control group. Treatment effects were assessed using subjects' pre- and posttreatment scores on the ASA, the Rape Myth Acceptance, the Acceptance of Interpersonal Violence, and the Adversarial Sexual Beliefs scales (Burt, 1980), as well as subjects' posttreatment scores on the Rape Conformity Assessment (Schewe and O'Donohue, 1995). Results indicated that both treatments were significantly more effective than no treatment. The RSC group showed clinically significant changes on three of the five dependent measures, while the VE/OE group evidenced clinically significant changes on only one measure. This is the first well-controlled rape prevention study to demonstrate clear improvements in treated high-risk males over control group subjects.

Humans↗
PubMed1995

Fear of Spiders Questionnaire.

The Fear of Spiders Questionnaire (FSQ), an 18-item self-report questionnaire assessing spider phobia, was developed in an attempt to complement the information provided by the Spider Phobia Questionnaire (SPQ). Data obtained from 338 undergraduates revealed that the FSQ was able to discriminate phobics from nonphobics, and indicated decrements in phobic responding from pretest to posttest following cognitive therapy. Test-retest data, obtained from non-treatment control groups, indicated that scores on the FSQ are stable over a one month period. The FSQ also demonstrated adequate convergent validity due to its significant correlations with the SPQ and a behavioral avoidance test. Finally, a factor analysis revealed two factors accounting for 55% of the variance. It is argued that, compared to the SPQ, items on the FSQ are more explicit regarding the time period to be assessed, and may be more sensitive to differences between phobics and nonphobics and decrements in phobic responding following treatment.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

The conditioning of human sexual arousal.

Although most theories of human sexual behavior claim that much normal sexual behavior is learned, and theories of the etiology and modification of paraphilic and dysfunctional sexual behavior also claim that abnormal sexual behavior is learned and can be counterconditioned, there is no systematic review examining the relationship between conditioning and human sexual behavior. We review research addressing whether habituation, sensitization, classical conditioning, and operant conditioning processes are involved in human sexual behavior. We conclude that, due to the methodological problems of extant studies, the basis for asserting the existence of relationships between habituation, sensitization, classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and sexual behavior is tenuous.

Arousal↗
PubMed1993

Problems in the case for psychotherapeutic integration.

The arguments in favor of therapeutic integration are summarized and evaluated. Weaknesses of the position are: (1) the false claim that all therapies are equally effective; (2) the lack of a clear and accurate specification of what makes a school of therapy "legitimate"; (3) the lack of a clear case for an accurate and comprehensive list of common elements across therapies; (4) a lack of clarity concerning "clinical strategy"; (5) the incorrect claim that cognitive therapy provides a useful and neutral meta-language; (6) inadequate evidence of trends toward integration; (7) fallacious reasoning based on these alleged trends; and (8) a misunderstanding of the history and philosophy of science.

Behavior Therapy↗
PubMed1993

Sexual abuse prevention with high-risk males: the roles of victim empathy and rape myths.

The outcome of two sexual abuse prevention programs, one emphasizing victim empathy and the other stressing modifying rape myths, was evaluated with high-risk males. Sixty-eight high-risk males, as determined by self-reported likelihood of committing sexual abuse, were randomly assigned to an empathy-treatment, a facts-treatment, or a no-treatment control group. Treatment effects were assessed using subjects' pre- and post-treatment scores on the Likelihood of Sexually Abusing scale, the Rape Empathy Scale, the Acceptance of Interpersonal Violence scale, the Adversarial Sexual Beliefs Scale, and a test of self-reported sexual arousal to forced versus consenting sex. In addition, posttest scores on an Asch-type conformity measure were obtained. Results of validity checks indicated that high-risk subjects differed from low-risk subjects on a number of rape-related variables, that the victim-empathy condition increased subjects' empathy, and that subjects found both treatments to be credible and helpful. Comparisons between the empathy-, facts-, and no-treatment group contraindicated the practice of dispelling rape myths as a method of preventing rape among high-risk males.

Arousal↗
PubMed1992

The possible function of positive reinforcement in home-bound agoraphobia: a case study.

We conducted an uncontrolled case study (ABA design) based upon the hypothesis that the behavior of a home-bound agoraphobic is at least partially maintained by positive reinforcement in the home and that a disruption of access to home-based reinforcement would lead to an increased frequency of out-of-the-home behavior. Data concerning the types and amounts of behavior engaged in by the subject within the confines of her home and yard were gathered during a 30-day base line period. In addition, potential reinforcers in the home were identified by a survey schedule and by self-report of time allocation. During an 18-day intervention period the subject agreed only to engage in certain reinforcing activities outside her home (e.g., only watching television at a neighbor's house). Postintervention results indicated that for the first time in over 7 years the subject began engaging in out-of-home activities, including walking to other parts of the street, visiting several neighbors' homes, and attending parties at neighbors' homes. Moreover, data suggested a positive trend in time spent outside the yard during both 2 and 18 month follow-up periods. However, significant restrictions in the range of mobility were still observed.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1991

The long-term habituation of sexual arousal in the human male.

Long-term habituation of male sexual arousal occurs when (a) short-term (intrasession) habituation occurs; (b) habituated arousal spontaneously recovers; (c) the magnitude of spontaneous remission decreases across habituation sessions; and (d) the number of trials to habituation decreases across sessions. Five undergraduate volunteers each had six sessions at one week intervals of 15 presentations of erotic audiotapes. For three weeks, the same audiotape was presented, and for each of the other three sessions a different audiotape was presented at every stimulus trial. As indicated by penile plethysmography and self-report, in the constant stimulus conditions the criteria for long-term habituation generally were met. By contrast, responses to variable stimuli remained consistently high. Theoretical and clinical implications of the habituation process are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

The (even) bolder model. The clinical psychologist as metaphysician-scientist-practitioner.

Is the clinical psychologist best characterized as a scientist-practitioner? Or does the practice of science and psychotherapy involve metaphysics to such an extent that the clinical psychologist ought to be considered a metaphysician-scientist-practitioner? To answer these questions, the roles, if any, of metaphysics in science and psychotherapy are examined. This article investigates this question by examining the views of the logical positivists, Karl Popper and Imre Lakatos, and concludes that the practice of science and psychotherapy involves metaphysics in (a) problem choice, (b) research and therapy design, (c) observation statements, (d) resolving the Duhemian problem, and (e) modifying hypotheses to encompass anomalous results.

Humans↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A brief group treatment for the modification of denial in child sexual abusers: outcome and follow-up.

We investigated whether brief structured group treatment could produce a reduction of denial of sexual offenses in males convicted of sexually offending against children. Such denial can additionally harm victims and often precludes admission into sex offender treatment programs, thus ruling out an opportunity to decrease the potential of reoffending. The group treatment contained elements of victim empathy, cognitive restructuring, sex education, assertiveness and social skills, education about sex offender therapy, and a discussion of the possible consequences of continued denial. Seventeen child sexual offenders in denial were run in two groups. Despite an average length of denial of nearly two years, by post-treatment the majority of offenders had come out of denial. Moreover, follow-up denial data indicated continued admission, and above-average compliance with subsequent sex offender therapy. Although the lack of an experimental design precludes causal inference, these results are suggestive of an effective method for modifying denial in sex offenders against children.

Adolescent↗