To enhance psychological adjustment, Vipassana meditation assists individuals to perceive the transitory nature of the self. Beeauae the consequences of this potentially troubling insight are not well understood, changes in self-concept and ego defense mechanisms of two cohorts (N1= 222, N2 = 216) of young (M = 18.03 years) Thai participants who attended separate seven-day Vipassana meditation retreats and a nontreated control group (N= 281) were compared. Multivariate statistical analysis revealed positive gains in all areas of self-representation among meditators relative to controls @ < .001). Ego defense mechanisms of the meditation participants also underwent significant change (p < .0001) with coping becoming characterized by e a t e r maturity and tolerance of common stressors. Increases in Buddhist beliefs were significantly correlated with heightened self-esteem and less impulsiveness (ps < ,001). Theoretical and applied implications of the findings are discussed. Interest regarding the effects of meditation based on traditional Buddhist principles remains high (Goldstein 1993; Kabat-Zinn 1994; Shapiro 1992a; Tart 1990). Vipassana, which is one of the oldest forms of Buddhist meditative practice, was developed within the Theravada tradition and consists of the mindful observation of whatever arises in con-scio&ness. It is believed the sustained awareness of cognitive and sensory phenomena will lead to the realization that unnecessary suffering results when attempts are made to attach to a n y h n g within the impermanent flux of human experience (Bucknell and Stuart-Fox 1993: ch. 4; Janakabhivamsa 1995; Nyanaponika 1988; SolB-Lens 1986). Other terms for Vipassana practice include "insight meditation" or simply "mindfulness" (Gunaratana 1993). This form of meditation is gaining increased recognition, and several studies have shown positive outcome following the application of interventions based on insight meditation procedures (e.g.

Although Mandarin is the world's most commonly spoken native language, normative data on neuropsychological tests for this population are limited. Therefore, samples of young (n=142, M age=35.77 years), middle-aged (n=71, M age=52.65), and elderly (n=111, M age=69.27) Mandarin speaking adults living in Beijing, China were given a battery of neuropsychological measures. The instruments selected for use were easily administered and had been validly used in other cultural settings (e.g., Trails A, Five Digit Test, Fuld Object-Memory Evaluation, Symbol Digit Modality Test (SDMT)). As expected, age and education where significantly related to neuropsychological performance. Gender, however, was a moderating variable only for the elderly group. In addition to their clinical applicability, findings are used to exemplify a particular multicultural assessment strategy.

Purpose: Chinese people generally lack knowledge of mental illness. Such phenomenon may lead to a delay in seeking psychiatric treatments. This study evaluated the effectiveness of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) program in improving mental health knowledge of the general public in Hong Kong. Methods: A quasi-experimental design was adopted whereby 138 participants received MHFA training and 139 partook in seminars on general health, respectively. All participants filled out a standardized questionnaire before, at the end, and 6-month after the training. Results: Findings demonstrated that MHFA training might be effective in enhancing participants’ knowledge of mental disorders, reducing stigma, and improving perceived confidence in providing help to people with mental illness. Effect size statistics revealed mostly modest to moderate improvements in major variables in the experimental group. Conclusion: It is recommended that culturally attuned MHFA program can be used as prevention strategy to promote good mental health in Chinese communities.

This study was designed to compare the fear-reducing efficacy of procedures based on three major theories that have been proposed to account for the success of systematic desensitization therapy: (a) cognitive information storage and retrieval, (6) cognitive expectancy, and (c) counterconditioning. Predictions were confirmed in that the outcome measures of the high-expectancy placebo group and the two cognitive-coping groups were significantly superior to those of the counterconditioning and no-treatment groups. Thus, this experiment supports the supposition that changes in human avoidant behavior may be attributed to demand and expectancy variables rather than the conditioning of "antagonistic responses" as has been previously suggested.

Those committed to the multicultural transformation of the psychology profession must become familiar with ways to initiate and maintain this challenging process. The efforts of a graduate training program to sustain its multicultural evolution are presented along with longitudinal outcome data. Over time, diversity interventions were seen as more effective while differences in the success ratings among students of color and their White peers decreased. Reports of having heard about, seen, or experienced prejudicial behavior, however, remained unchanged. The institutionalization of multicultural change procedures, the revision of assessment instruments for long-term use, and the potential benefits of comparative diversity research are discussed. CHRISTOPHER D. TORI received his PhD from the University of Kentucky in 1971. He is a clinical psychologist and a professor at the California School of Professional Psychology-San Francisco Bay, Alliant International University. His research activities center on cross-cultural and psychometric inquiries. DALIA G. DUCKER received her PhD in social psychology from the City University of New York in 1974. She is a professor at the California School of Professional Psychology-San Francisco Bay, Alliant International University. Her professional interests include research on employed women and evaluation of social programs.