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ordinal variable

a variable whose possible values have a clear rank order. For example, attitude is an ordinal variable as it may be denoted with ordered points indicating increasing or decreasing values, such as 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = agree, and 4 = strongly agree. Values on an ordinal variable indicate that one data point is higher or lower than another but do not define the extent of the difference between them. Compare interval variable.

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Psychology term of the day

January 30th 2025

trauma management therapy

trauma management therapy

a treatment program intended to alleviate the anxiety and fear, manage the anger, and enhance the interpersonal functioning of combat veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It is a sequential multicomponent approach that combines (a) education, in which the client is informed about the symptom chronicity, skill deficits, and extreme social maladjustment associated with PTSD; (b) exposure therapy, in which the client reexperiences—in imagination or through virtual reality—his or her specific traumatic event during individually administered weekly sessions; (c) programmed practice, in which the client performs exposure-related homework assigned by the therapist; and (d) socioemotional rehabilitation, in which the client participates in structured, group-administered social and emotional skills training sessions. [developed in 1996 by clinical psychologists B. Christopher Frueh (1963–  ), Samuel M. Turner (1944–2005), Deborah C. Beidel, and Robert F. Mirabella and health administrator and political scientist Walter J. Jones]