Whether erotic films made by women are more arousing for women than erotic films made by men was studied. Forty-seven subjects were exposed to both a woman-made, female-initiated, and female centered, erotic film excerpt. Photoplethysmographic vaginal pulse amplitude was recorded continuously. Self-report ratings of sexual arousal and affective reactions were collected after each stimulus presentation. Contrary to expectation, genital arousal did not differ between films, although genital response to both films was substantial. Subjective experience of sexual arousal was significantly higher during the woman-made film. The man-made film evoked more feelings of shame, guilt, and aversion. Correlations between subjective experience of sexual arousal and photoplethysmographic measures of sexual arousal were nonsignificant. The largest contribution to female sexual excitement might result from the processing of stimulus-content and stimulus-meaning and not from peripheral vasocongestive feedback.

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Background: Traumatic events may result in a variety of physical and psychological health problems. Self-confrontation with traumatic memories, by putting painful emotions and thoughts into (verbal) words, is associated with psychophysiological benefits. Self-confrontation may be invoked during sessions and enhanced by structural assignments, which the client carries out between the sessions. In this context, writing assignments could be a useful tool in reprocessing traumatic events. The effects of writing assignments have been demonstrated in several case studies and in a number of experimental studies. However, the experimental studies have several limitations, for example the effects of writing on the impact of trauma are not examined. Furthermore, the psychological mechanisms that mediate the effects of trauma on health are less clear. These two issues are the main issues of the current study. Methods: A group of 26 participants were instructed to write about their negative events during five 45-min sessions over a period of 2 weeks. They were compared at pre-treatment, post-treatment and at 6-week follow-up to a waiting-list control group (n = 22). Results: The trauma-writing groups experienced fewer intrusions and showed less avoidance behavior from pre-treatment to follow-up, whereas the waiting-list control group did not change significantly. Similar results were found on depressive symptoms. No effects on mood measures were found. Conclusions: Implications for future research and clinical practice are discussed.

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Two methods of assessing cognition in high, moderate, and low test-anxious children, thought listing and self-statement questionnaire approaches, were investigated under naturalistic test-taking conditions. The amount of cognition, its content, and its relation to level of anxiety and task performance were examined. States of mind (SOM) analyses were performed. Furthermore, the comparability of findings from both methods was examined. Results showed that, relative to the questionnaire method, the thought-listing procedure underestimated positive and coping cognition. The benefits of the questionnaire approach were seen in the power of its scores to predict task performance. Implications for cognitive assessment and treatment of anxious children are discussed.