IBS Newsletter
December 1999
Institute of Behavioral Science
University of Colorado
This proposed conference will bring together for the first time many leading practitioners of spatial analysis applied to political subjects and will build significantly on the existing reputation of the University of Colorado at Boulder as a center for training and research in this comparatively new field. The stimulus for the conference lies in the tentative and sporadic attempts by geographers and political methodologists to engage each other in the common problem of how to analyze political phenomena that are spatially arranged, like electoral results on the basis of precinct counts or the geographic distribution of wars or coups d'état. The conference, organized by O'Loughlin and Michael Ward (University of Washington, formerly of IBS) will be held at the University of Colorado on the weekend of March 10-12, 2000, and will feature research presentations, demonstrations, and commentaries by CU faculty, statistical consultants, and graduate students. Four of the presenters received their Ph.D.s from CU Geography or Political Science in the past 5 years, and the conference will extend this reputation by engaging a new generation of graduate students in the spatial analysis of political phenomena.
The conference is supported by CU's Council on Research and Creative Work, the Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science (NSF), and the Institute of Behavioral Science. For information, see http://www.colorado.edu/IBS/PEC/spatialconf.html
Thomas F. Mayer delivered a series of lectures on his research about class dynamics at the Havens Center of the Department of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, on November 8-11. He lectured on Principles of Class Dynamics which featured an interpretation of the phenomenon of class polarization, and lectured on Applications of Class Dynamics which focused on a class dynamics interpretation of the collapse of Soviet Communism. The series culminated with a seminar on Conceptual and Methodological Problems of Dynamic Theory. Mayer was also interviewed on a local Madison radio station on the relevance of Marxist theory for understanding current political and economic problems.
In attendance were an international group of experts from Canada, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, and the United States. The purpose of the meeting was to make recommendations regarding formulation of FAO/UN policy regarding fisheries and food security.
McGoodwin has been invited to join the Advisory Board of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) in London. The MSC is a "third party" advisor to the United Nations regarding international fisheries treaties and policies. Its main role is to advise the UN on all matters associated with the certification of fisheries utilization, especially accreditation schemes for achieving sustainable fisheries.
Comfort, L., B. Wisner, S. Cutter, R. Pulwarty, K. Hewitt, A. Oliver-Smith, J. Wiener, M. Fordham, W. Peacock and F. Krimgold, 1999. "Reframing disaster policy the global evolution of vulnerable communities." Environmental Hazards 1(1)39-44. This "policy forum" article in the first issue of the new journal is one result from a panel discussion organized by John Wiener, for the Natural Hazards Research Applications and Information Center's 1997 Annual Workshop.
Mileti also presented a speech to the State of the Planet Conference on November 16. The conference was held at Columbia University in New York City to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. His speech was titled "Assessment of Natural Hazards in the U.S." and was part of his and the Natural Hazards Center's effort to disseminate the findings of the Second Assessment. Recommendations were made to integrate physical, natural, social, and behavioral science approaches to work on problems and to provide interdisciplinary educational programs.
The Natural Hazards Research and Application Information Center has joined forces with the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) to co-sponsor a new journal titled the Natural Hazards Review. The journal is the first one of its kind to bring together all fields of knowledge and research applicable to natural hazards mitigation. The Co-Editors-In-Chief for the publication are Dennis Mileti and James Beavers of the Mid-America Earthquake Engineering Center at the University of Illinois; the Associate Co-Editor-in-Chief is Lori Peek, who is a graduate research assistant with IBS's Natural Hazards Center, and enrolled in the CU's Department of Sociology.
Sharon Mihalic presented at the Massachusetts Coalition for Juvenile Firesetter Programs in Westford, Massachusetts "Blueprints: A Violence Prevention Initiative - 10 Model Programs that Really Work" on November 12.
Jane Grady, Jennifer Carroll, Holly Bell, and Tiffany Shaw participated in the meeting of the State School Safety Centers, November 16 and 17, in Portland, Oregon. The meeting was hosted by the National Resource Center for Safe Schools of the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. The meeting facilitated communication among the different state centers and created a network of school safety resources, experts, and best practices.
Shaw and Carroll presented "Safe Communities-Safe Schools" to an audience of parents and school representatives at the 30th Annual Families, Schools and Communities Conference, sponsored by the Colorado Department of Education. The conference was held on November 5 in Denver, Colorado.
Landa Heys hosted an exhibit at the 1999 Healthy Communities, Healthy Youth Conference in Denver, Colorado on November 11-12. The conference was hosted by the Search Institute and focused on helping communities, practitioners, and organizations to develop the Assets Building model in their initiatives.
Pampel, Fred. 1999. Sociological Lives and Ideas: An Introduction to the Classical Theorists. New York: Worth Publishers. This book covers complex topics and ideas in a way that undergraduate students can understand and appreciate, by emphasizing the biographies of five (Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Simmel, and Mead) of the classical theorists and founders of sociology. The author uses personal and historical background to help explain the problems and issues the theorists selected for study and the logical progression of their thought. The work of each of these theorists helped transform the social philosophy of earlier centuries into the modern discipline of sociology and continues to directly influence researchers and scholars today.
David J. Miklowitz received his
Bachelor's degree from Brandeis University in 1979 and his doctorate
from UCLA in 1985. From 1985-99, he was a postdoctoral fellow at UCLA,
where he received a Young Investigator Award from the National Alliance
for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression. In 1989, he came to CU as
an assistant professor. He specializes in bipolar affective disorder,
with an emphasis on treatment/outcome research. His recent book with
Michael Goldstein, "Bipolar Disorder: A Family-Focused Treatment
Approach" (Guilford Press, 1997) won an Outstanding Research
Publication Award from the American Association of Marital and Family
Therapy.
Bipolar disorder (manic-depressive illness) has long been recognized as a significant and debilitating psychiatric disorder. It is characterized by wide mood swings from the highest of highs (mania) to the lowest of lows (depression). During mania, patients experience euphoria, irritability, a decreased need for sleep, grandiose thinking, increased activity, and racing thoughts, and behave impulsively. When depressed, they are slowed down, lose interest in things, feel sad, worthless, and suicidal, have difficulty sleeping, and have trouble concentrating. Bipolar disorder affects about 1.5% of the population and is usually manifested by late adolescence.
Most people with bipolar disorder are successfully treated with
mood-stabilizing medications like lithium carbonate, divalproex sodium
(Depakote), or carbamazepine (Tegretol). But many have recurrences even
when they stick with their drug regimes. One goal of psychological
research is to try to determine why some bipolar people have
recurrences earlier than others, even when they do take medication. If
social stress factors that provoke episodes can be identified, then one
can design psychological treatments-delivered in combination with
medications-to modify these provoking agents.
My work has focused on adult bipolar patients who live with their parents or spouse. My colleagues and I have found that bipolar patients who return, following an episode of mania or depression, to a conflictual family or marital environment are at greater risk for recurrences than those who return to low-key, low-conflict family environments. This does not mean that families cause patients to relapse. In fact, we've found that patients often verbally or nonverbally provoke their parents or spouses and contribute to the overall level of stress in the household. Our research proceeds with the assumption that modifying disturbances in the family or marital environment during the phases after an active period of illness may improve the course of the patient's disorder.
Our intervention method, family-focused treatment (FFT), is nine months long and consists of three phases: education for the patient and family about bipolar disorder, communication enhancement training, and training in problem-solving. We tested its effects in two separate, randomized clinical trials, one at CU and the other at UCLA. Both compared medication plus FFT to a comparison condition consisting of medication and individually-oriented psychotherapy (UCLA) or medication and individually-oriented crisis intervention (CU). Both studies found that patients in FFT had fewer recurrences and longer periods of wellness than patients in the comparison treatments. The CU study also found that FFT improved the emotional tone of the family's communication over nine months of treatment, above what was observed in the comparison treatment.
My most recent work has focused on three interrelated areas: treatment of high-risk adult bipolar patients through an intervention model that combines family and individual therapy; the application of family intervention methods to adolescents coping with bipolar disorder; and methods for training community clinicians in family intervention methods.
Application Deadline (Monthly Meeting)
For further information please contact Sheryl Jensen at (303) 492-7099 in the Graduate School or visit our web site @ http://www.Colorado.EDU/GraduateSchool/HRC
There is an online listing of upcoming and recent colloquia.
(303) 492-8147
IBS@Colorado.EDU
