Battered women have been identified as being at risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This study further articulated the nature of the relationship between the trauma of battery and PTSD. One hundred seventy-nine battered women and 48 nonbattered but verbally abused women were recruited from several sources (shelters, support groups, therapist referrals, community). Battered women with and without PTSD were compared with the finding that battered women with PTSD had experienced more physical abuse, more verbal abuse, more injuries, a greater sense of threat, and more forced sex than battered women without PTSD. Eighty-one percent of the physically abused group met the criteria for the PTSD diagnosis, although 63% of the verbally abused group met the criteria. In multiple regression analyses in the battered sample, the strongest predictors of extent of PTSD were (in order of variance explained) the use of disengagement coping strategies to handle the battery, experiencing of negative life events, the battery experience, and lack of perceived social support. The diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder is important to consider when a woman has experienced a physically abusive relationship, but also when the experience has been of a verbally abusive relationship. It also is important to assess coping strategies, social support, and stressors to evaluate the potential psychological impact of the abuse.

Should the average psychologist receive specific training on lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) concerns? On the basis of a random sample of practicing psychologists, LGB clients are present in most caseloads. Respondents rated the most important therapeutic issues with LGB clients and identified training that would improve their work with LGB clients (including the topics of coming out, estrangement from family, support system development, and internalized homophobia). In addition, participants reported on the types of training that they are getting (most frequently reading articles, supervision, and continuing education). The implications for training programs and private practitioners are considered. JULIE A. MURPHY received her MA in clinical psychology in 1999 from the University of Cincinnati. EDNA I. RAWLINGS received her PhD in clinical psychology in 1966 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is a professor emeritus at the

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The factor structure, reliability, and validity of a 49-item scale designed to measure Stockholm Syndrome (also referred to as “traumatic bonding” and “terror bonding”), that is, bonding with an abusive partner, were assessed for college women in heterosexual dating relationships. Factor analysis identified three major factors: Core Stockholm Syndrome, characterized by cognitive distortions and other strategies for coping with abuse; Psychological Damage, marked by depression, low self-esteem, and loss of sense of self; and Love-Dependence, typified by the feeling that one cannot survive without one’s partner’s love. The scale and factors had excellent internal consistency and good test-retest reliabilities. They correlated negatively with the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability scale and positively with Horowitz, Wilner, & Alvarez’ (1979) Impact of Event Scale, Hyler and Rieder’s (1987) Borderline Personality Disorder Scale, Hatfield and Sprecher’s (1986) Passionate Love Scale, and Straus’ (1979) Verbal Aggression and Violence scales of the Conflict Tactics Scales.

As a test of the possibility that recently-angered people can "purge" their anger through viewing filmed scenes of aggression, 160 college men and women were shown a 7-minute prize fight scene after having been either deliberately insulted or treated in a neutral fashion by a male graduate student. Just before the Ss saw the movie, E, a female graduate student, provided them with 1 of 2 synopses of the movie plot. In l /z of the cases E told the Ss the film protagonist (who took a bad beating in the fight) was a downright scoundrel. The fantasy aggression witnessed by this group was presumably regarded as justified. The remaining Ss were told that the protagonist was not really bad, and they presumably came to regard the filmed aggression as less justified. All Ss rated the male graduate student after seeing the movie. In opposition to the thesis of vicarious hostility reduction, the authors had predicted that the justified fantasy aggression would produce heightened overt hostility toward the insulting male graduate student by lowering inhibitions against aggression. The questionnaire ratings support the prediction.