Simon Jencius | Northern Illinois University (original) (raw)

Address: Dekalb, Illinois, United States

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Papers by Simon Jencius

Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 2009

Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 2010

Researchers postulate that both shame and guilt are emotions important to anxiety disorders. Exta... more Researchers postulate that both shame and guilt are emotions important to anxiety disorders. Extant data, however, indicate that guilt-proneness shares non-significant relationships with psychopathology symptoms after controlling for shame-proneness. To further investigate the relevance of shame and guilt to the anxiety disorders domain, the current study examined associations between shame-and guilt-proneness and anxiety disorder symptoms using data from patients (N = 124) with primary anxiety disorder diagnoses. Results indicated that only symptoms of social anxiety disorder (SAD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) shared significant relations with shame-proneness after controlling for other types of anxiety disorder symptoms, depression symptoms, and guilt-proneness. Further, changes in shame-proneness during treatment were found to share significant relations with changes in obsessivecompulsive disorder, SAD, and GAD symptoms. The current results indicate that shame is more relevant to symptoms of the anxiety disorders domain than is guilt. The implications of these results for the conceptualization and treatment of anxiety disorders are discussed.

Personality and Social Psychology Review, 2001

This article presents a social-cognitive theory of personality assessment. We articulate the impl... more This article presents a social-cognitive theory of personality assessment. We articulate the implications of social-cognitive theories of personality for the question of what constitutes an assessment of personality structure and behavioral dispositions. The theory consists of 5 social-cognitive principles of assessment. Personality assessments should (a) distin - guish the task of assessing internal personality structures and dynamics from that of

Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 2009

Controlled studies have shown that motivational incentives reduce drug use, but community impleme... more Controlled studies have shown that motivational incentives reduce drug use, but community implementation has been limited. This observational study examines the effect of a contingency management (CM) program on urine, attendance, and cost measures in a community substance abuse treatment program for adolescents. Treatment included elements of 12-step facilitation, cognitive behavioral therapy, and motivational enhancement. All urine tests included cannabinoids, opioids, benzodiazepines, cocaine, and amphetamines. Patients with negative urines or perfect attendance earned chances to draw weekly from a bag for prizes of varying value, and the number of draws increased with each consecutive negative urine test. Data were collected for those patients (age 12-18) treated immediately before (n = 83) and after (n = 264) the CM program was introduced to the treatment center, and positive urine rates were compared using chi-square tests. Patients treated with the CM program had lower rates of urines positive for opioids (p < 0.005) and cocaine (p < 0.05), and non-significantly but consistently lower rates of urines positive for all other drug classes. Altogether, the proportion of urines positive for any drug decreased from 33.3% to 23.4% (p < 0.01). Pre-and post-CM comparisons of attendance reveal lower daily attendance rates but longer retention in treatment. Expenses were minimal at $0.39 per patient per day. These data yield additional evidence for the feasibility and effectiveness of CM methods in community adolescent treatment programs.