Over the last year, Spanish psychological journals have published many interesting articles in Clinical Psychology. It is not easy to make a selection.

In this difficult task I have benefited from the collaboration of my colleagues. I will try to present a short collection of some papers appeared in recent dates.

G. Buela-Casal, J.C. Sierra & J.A. Carrobles in Revista Latinoamericana de Psicología (1995, 27, 25-40) present a review of Clinical and Health Psychology in Spain from its beginning up until now (1953-1990s). Emphasis is made on institutional aspects such as the creation of chairs in universities, training programs for students, the foundation of specialized journals and associations and information; the most common theoretical frames are also included.

J.J. Miguel-Tobal & A. Cano-Vindel published in Ansiedad y Estrés (1995, 1,37-60) an article about different patterns of anxiety disorders that were found with an Inventory of Situations and Responses of Anxiety (ISRA), created by them. Three response systems (cognitive, physiological and motor) are responsible of differential response profiles in each of the five anxiety disorders studied: phobia, social phobia, agoraphobia, generalized anxiety and obssesive-compulsive disorder.

P. Corral, E. Echeburua, I. Zubizarreta & B. Sarasua compare in the journal Análisis y Modificación de Conducta (1995, 21, 455-482) the effectiveness of two modalities of therapeutic intervention (cognitive restructuring vs. relaxation) applied to victims of sexual agression. According to the authors, better results are obtained with the former one.

S. Sandin, P. Chorot, M.A. Santed, P. Jimenez & M. Romero in the Revista de Psicología General y Aplicada (1994, 47, 313-320) examine cognitive and somatic dimensions of anxiety. They suggest that a more complex picture appears from their data, including elements of worry and sensitivity in cognitive anxiety and autonomic activity and muscular tension in somatics aspects of anxiety.

E.F.L. Ochoa in the journal Clínica y Salud (1995, 6, 3) deals with Alzheimers disease and its differential diagnosis offering a critical exposition of the different ways to get an accurate diagnosis.

In the Revista Latinoamericana de Psocología (1995, 27, 471-496) C. Morenoy V. del Barrio study the differential relationship between state/trait anxiety and life events in a group of Spanish adolescents. While negative Life Events correlate positively both to State and Trait Anxiety, by the contrary positive. Life Events only show a negative correlation with Anxiety Trait. Such results do not support a simple situational conception of anxiety.

C. Bragado, I Carrasco, M.L. Sanchez-Bernardos, R.M. Bersabé, A. Lóriga= & T. Montsalve in Clínica y Salud (1995, 6, 67-82) present prevalence of childrens disorders in a Spanish clinical sample. Behavioral disorders (34.7%) are at the top of the list, followed by anxiety disorders (26.7) and elimination disorders (13.6%). while the two first disorders increase with age, the last one seems to decline.

D. Saldaña, J. Jimenez y A. Oliva in the journal Infancia y Aprendizaje (1995,71, 59-68) present data about child abuse in Spain. The authors estimate 8.565 children had been abused and that represents an annual average of 0.44%. Different proportions of abuse can be found: neglect 79%, emotional abuse 42.5% and physical abuse 30%.

Domenech, J. Aliaga, M.J. Comellas, M. Mitjavila, J. Obiols & M. E. Gras in Revista de la Real Academia de Medicina de Catalunya (1995, 10, 37-44) study suicide conceptualization in a sample of adolescents, finding that 11.30% thought to kill themselves and 7.20% planned the way to do it.

In the context of the environmental specificity model of abstinence heroin syndrome, H.M. Trujillo, E.I. de la Fuente & J. Vila in Psicothema (1995, 7, 499-511) present the results of an experimental work that shows as the detoxified people have a temporal and specific conditioning of the abstinence.

Back to Contents Newsletter Spring 1996

Last modified: March 29th, 1996