Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a serious and sometimes debilitating mental disorder. Yet only about one in ten people who are exposed to significant traumatic events develop PTSD. Since its inclusion in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) in 1980, the definition of PTSD has been controversial. Various changes made to the criteria have gradually widened the diagnostic criteria, which now include experiences that may not involve direct exposure to trauma, which in turn has led to PTSD to be over-diagnosed: clinicians may be tempted to seize on traumatic events in a history as an explanation of mental disorders, while patients may automatically receive the diagnosis if they experienced major trauma in the past. Myths of Trauma is a timely and important book that probes the sensitive, emotional, and often controversial subject of trauma, the difficulties associated with its diagnosis, and the over-diagnosis of PTSD. Trauma has become a catch-all for many kinds of adverse experiences, when in reality, people are significantly resilient to traumatic events. The book also explores how responses to trauma develop in the context of multiple interwoven risk factors, ranging from genetic vulnerability effecting sensitivity to the environment, as well as past adversities; how trauma has become a political issue that interferes with unbiased scientific study of its effects; and how trauma narratives can have a darker side when patients use them to justify feelings of victimhood that interfere with their own agency. Integrating and analysing the vast quantities of scientific literature on the topic, Myths of Trauma teaches us not to think about trauma in isolation or as one thing rather than many different things. The experiences of trauma deserve a place in clinical practice, and it is time for PTSD to be viewed through a more complex and multidimensional lens within the broader biopsychosocial context.

El objetivo del libro es proporcionar a los lectores las herramientas necesarias para evaluar la calidad psicome trica de las medidas educativas y psicolo gicas, asi como de encuestas y cuestionarios. Cada capi tulo aborda un tema relativo a la pra ctica psicome trica y de la medida, con e nfasis en la aplicacio n. Los temas sera n tratados brevemente desde una perspectiva teo rica/te cnica con el fin de proporcionar al lector los antecedentes necesarios para utilizar e interpretar correctamente los ana lisis estadi sticos que se presentara n con posteriormente. Este libro esta dirigido a investigadores, profesionales y estudiantes de posgrado (Ma ster y Doctorado) que buscan una gui a para realizar ana lisis psicome tricos de diferentes instrumentos de evaluacio n. Asumimos un nivel ba sico de conocimientos estadi sticos, pero estos conceptos se ira n repasando a lo largo de los diferentes capi tulos. Nos imaginamos que este texto (a) esperara pacientemente en algunos despachos implorando ser entregado, como recurso, a un estudiante, (b) tendra un lugar fijo en las mesas de los despachos donde continuamente, y debido a su uso diario, sera el primero del monto n, (c) estara en las mochilas de los estudiantes de postgrado, y los acompan ara felizmente desde casa al trabajo o a las clases y vuelta, (d) aparecera orgullosamente como un texto de referencia en los programas y guia s de estudio, y finalmente (e) como ocasional posavasos mientras se reflexiona profundamente acerca de co mo resolver los problemas de medida. Esperamos que a trave s de estos usos, sobre todo el u ltimo, aportar algu n conocimiento y ayuda que permita a los lectores aplicar adecuadamente las te cnicas y los conceptos abordados en este manual. The goal of the book is to provide readers with the tools necessary for assessing the psychometric qualities of educational and psychological measures as well as surveys and questionnaires. Each chapter will cover an issue pertinent to psychometric and measurement practice, with an emphasis on application. Topics will be briefly discussed from a theoretical/technical perspective in order to provide the reader with the background necessary to correctly use and interpret the statistical analyses that will be presented subsequently. The anticipated audience for this book includes researchers, practitioners, and graduate students searching for a guide to perform common psychometric analyses on various assessments, as discussed in many psychometric texts. We envision that this text will (a) patiently wait on some office shelves begging to be handed to a student as a resource, (b) have a permanent home on desks where it continually rises to the top of the stacks for daily use of the applied researcher, (c) be happily carried in bags to and from work and class by the graduate student learning techniques, (d) be listed proudly as a reference text on syllabi, and finally (e) as an occasional drink coaster while deep thoughts are pondered about how to solve measurement problems. We hope that through such uses, particularly the latter, that we have provided some insight and assistance to the user in appropriately applying the techniques and concepts discussed.

This volume of Rorschachiana illustrates the diversity of ideas and applications that projective methods offer. In a general section, we see how active researchers are in exploring the Rorschach method: in looking at teaching the Rorschach Comprehensive System, in testing how reliably examiners score Form Quality, in examining the concurrent validity of the Sixty-Second Drawing Test when assessing high schooler's relationship and depression, as well as researching the specific features of postnatal mothers scores on the Rorschach method, and the development of the Rorschach Test in China. In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the publication of Psychodiagnostics by Hermann Rorschach, a special section looks at the scientific literature produced on the reliability and validity of the Rorschach Test as a personality assessment tool since the White Paper from the Society of Personality Assessment published in 2005. The topics addressed show the wide application of the test: trauma, neurophysiological functioning during administration of the test, a case study of attempted manslaughter, eating disorders, evaluating change in psychotherapy, and disordered thinking and communication. To broaden the discussion and reach out to the wider psychological community, each chapter is commented on by a specialist on the topic. Much food for thought is generated for future research.

Ivan P. Pavlov was a pioneering Russian physiologist whose influence on Russian psychology was politically emphasized in 1930s to 1950s. He was a brilliant experimenter who received 1904 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the digestive system. Less is known about his epistemology of generalization that made it possible to study one individual for the sake of obtaining generalized knowledge. In this volume we analyze the major contributions of Pavlov from the standpoint of idiographic science, and demonstrate how generalizations in science are possible from single specimens.