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Adult female sexual abuse survivors (N = 148) participated in year-long therapy groups. Demographic, abuse history, initial symptomatology, and group process variables were examined in relationship to group completion and improvement over time. Survivors who had previously been psychiatrically hospitalized were less likely to complete group treatment. Among group completers, significant pretreatment-posttreatment changes were found on measures of locus of control, sexual problems, self-esteem, trauma-related symptomatology (TSC-33), and general psychological distress (SCL-90-R). Greater changes on the SCL-90-R were found among Caucasian women, women with more initial trauma-related symptomatology, women whose abuse included intercourse, members of groups with similar abuse histories, and women with previous psychotherapy experience.

Postdoctoral training for psychologists has increased. This article provides an overview of postdoctoral fellowships, including information regarding training opportunities and requirements for licensure and employment. A developmental perspective on the postdoctoral training experience is offered, focusing on negotiating the tasks of individuation and self-definition. Special attention is paid to personal issues. As the postdoctoral fellow's professional identity solidifies, he or she develops expertise in focused areas of interest, experiences a deepening commitment to the work, develops an increasing sense of self-efficacy and self-acceptance as a psychologist, and gains respect from others as a competent professional. This enables the postdoctoral fellow to develop more collegial relationships with former mentors, teachers, and supervisors and shift toward the practice of professional psychology and the teaching of more junior professionals.Postdoctoral clinical, counseling, and clinical research experiences have become popular and increasingly necessary for obtaining licensure and employment (Follette & Klesges, 1988). The most recent National Conference on Internship Training in Psychology (Belar, Bieliauskas, Larsen, & Mensh, 1987) recommended that internship training be 2 years in length, 1 year predoctoral and 1 year postdoctoral. As can be NADINE KASLOW received her PhD from the University of Houston in 1983. She is currently an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and the

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Statistically, postpartum depression can be ranked from high to low as Native Americans, Whites, African Americans and Hispanics (Hispanics have remarkably lower depression rates). This information is critically important to clinicians, researchers, agency administrators and social workers who work with these populations.

This paper presents results from an empirical study of four key psychodynamic concepts (self-directed aggression, object loss, ego functioning disturbance, pathological object relations) of suicidal behavior. The sample consists of hospitalized psychiatric patients following a suicide attempt (attempters: n = 52) and demographically similar hospitalized psychiatric patients with no history of suicidal behavior (controls: n = 47). The study was designed to ascertain whether attempters differed from matched psychiatric control patients on the four psychodynamic constructs hypothesized to be associated with suicide. It was predicted that attempters would manifest higher levels of depression and self-targeted anger, a more significant history of loss, less adaptive defenses, and more primitive object representations. Results strongly supported an object-relational view of suicidal behavior. In addition, support for the loss hypothesis was found in the identification of one specific constellation of losses. Namely, attempters were significantly more likely to report a history of childhood loss combined with a recent loss in adulthood than were their nonattempter counterparts. Limited support was provided for the other two hypotheses in differentiating suicidal from nonsuicidal severely ill psychiatric patients. This unexpected finding is examined and suggestions are made for the refinement and greater specification of psychodynamic theories regarding the etiology of suicidal behavior, with the aim of differentiating individuals prone to such action from those with similar psychopathology and dynamic issues who do not actually attempt suicide. Limitations of the study are discussed and implications of the findings for the theory and treatment of suicidal behavior are offered.