The ability to think about risks and benefits of psychotherapy is an important component of the information processing basic to the ability to give informed consent. Minors aged 10 to 20 from a population with learning and behavior problems, with and without prior therapy experience, were asked to list potential risks and benefits ojentering therapy. A relationship was found between age and experience and the tendency to discuss therapy in more abstract ways. However, even young minors and those with no therapy experience were able to identify relevant and practical concerns that were appropriate to their situations and their developmental needs.

For a majority of the women who kill, the victim is a family member; the most frequent is a spouse, and the woman is very frequently a battered woman. Clinical reports on battered women suggest a set of psychological symptoms that develops out of spousal abuse (i.e., pervasive anxiety, hyperalertness, impaired memory and concentration, a narrowed focus on signs of danger, constricted affect, development of chronic psychophysiological illnesses, and pervasive feelings of hopelessness and helplessness). Psychological tests have not been systematically used to assess or document these psychological symptoms. The present study employed the Rorschach to assess the psychological functioning of 28 battered women who killed their battering spouses. The Rorschach records displayed cognitive constriction, a lack of internal resources for problem solving, an ambitensive and passive problem-solving style, intense and poorly modulated affect, poor scanning of the stimulus field, and unconventional reality testing. The Rorschach protocols of this group showed strong similarities to those of veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder. Common psychological effects of the experience of inescapable violence are suggested.

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A brief review of literature regarding children's involvement in decision making is presented to illustrate the need for research exploring children's perspectives on their participation in treatment planning. A study is reported in which statements about participation in psychoeducational decision making were elicited from 32 students enrolled in a full-day school program for remediation of learning and behavior problems. As part of regular program planning for the next year, these students were able to choose to be involved, over a period of 3-4 weeks, in up to six planning and decision-making steps. Findings from preand postquestionnaires indicate that a high proportion of the students are interested in participating in the decision-making process, perceive themselves as competent to do so, and do not expect negative effects; in addition, the students were found to follow through on a high proportion of their choices, to judge their involvement as effective, and only three students indicated experiencing any negative effects. The presentation concludes with a discussion of implications for research and practice.

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