Psychology Commons^™

A Natural Remedy: Nbccpt Approach In School For Adhd Diagnosed, Kiran Patel

Capstone Showcase

Nature-based child centered play therapy (NBCCPT) is a non-directive approach that can be practiced by the counselor in a natural environment consisting of natural tools. The approach allows a child to lead a therapy session without the counselor’s input. Such an approach can be beneficial for children with Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), especially in a school setting. Therapy in school can aid families that cannot afford outpatient therapy as well as allow counselors to track the child’s therapy progress. In school, counselors can utilize an outdoor garden to conduct NBCCPT with the help of five stages, planning, preparing, planting, …

The Effect Of Deep Pressure Therapy On The Health Of Individuals With Developmental Disorders, Kaitlin Faulcon

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Many individuals with Autism (ASD), Anxiety, and other disabilities seek out tactile input, in the form of Deep Pressure Therapy, to calm themselves during stressful situations. First developed in Eastern culture and massage, Deep Pressure Therapy evolved into a mainstream technique used by various populations, including neurotypicals. Weighted blankets, compression vests, and other materials are useful in treatment but have their limitations as well. These garments and tools provide tactile input that positively impacts the individuals' biological functions, self-reported anxiety, and other essential factors. Other sensory treatments like exercise and swaddling provide similar effects but not specific to the deep …

Therapist Self-Disclosure And Recall Of Therapy Content, Shivani Mansharamani, Steven Robbins

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SHIVANI MANSHARAMANI

Therapist Self-Disclosure and Recall of Therapy Content

Research Mentor: Dr. Steven Robbins

Patients’ faulty memory of what they learned in therapy is often associated with poor outcomes. One way to improve therapeutic outcome is to improve patients’ memory of therapy content. Therapist Self-Disclosure (TSD) refers to a therapist’s disclosure of personal information to facilitate the client-therapist relationship. It has been employed as a tool to improve alliance and overall treatment outcome, and has often been used to prime more client disclosure. Past research on a memory support system has been unsuccessful at significantly improving client memory. In this …

The Effect Of Emphasizing Strengths On Readiness To Change, Taylor Dunn

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TAYLOR DUNN

The Effect of Emphasizing Strengths on Readiness to Change

Research Mentor: Dr. Steven Robbins

Researchers have called for the examination of what kind of discussion in therapy is the most beneficial. Although past literature calls for an emphasis on restructuring a client’s negative thoughts and behaviors, there has been an increasing amount of research on the benefits of using positive psychology interventions. “Strength-based approaches” in particular have shown to lead to an attainment of various clinical outcomes. This study attempts to analyze how an emphasis on character strengths influences a person’s readiness to change in comparison to a …

The Effects Of Virtual Reality In The Treatment Of Stroke Patients, Melissa Schoettle

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The Effects of Virtual Reality in the Treatment of Stroke Patients

Stroke patients face many challenges on their road to recovery. Patients may lose motor function, speech abilities, and other important cognitive functions. They go through various forms of therapy to help rehabilitate them and improve their cognition, including physical, occupational, and speech therapy. Physical therapy helps improve motor function and muscle control, occupational therapy improves those skills needed for success in work and life, and speech therapy helps patients recover the ability to speak and the cognitive processes to think and form words and sentences. While these therapies are …

"It's All In Your Head": Diagnostic Overshadowing And Mental Illness, Katya Monarski

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Diagnostic overshadowing in mentally ill patients is the misattribution of physical illness to a preexisting mental health condition. This phenomenon contributes to the fact that patients with mental illness to receive diagnoses later, receive less treatment, and live with untreated chronic conditions. The societal attitudes on mental illness associate sufferers with negativity, danger, fear, and strangeness. This stigma could affect the formation of a realistic schema for mentally ill patients, even in a medical context. Doctors who view mental illness with the misinformed stereotypes may only see the patient for that stereotype and not as a whole. A detriment to …

Adapting Implicit Stereotype Expectation Through Perspective Distancing, Cheyenne Perez

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Investigated within this study is how stereotype expectations might be affected when violated or reinforced, and how distancing the self from the expectation via a different perspective can allow for recognition that it can be wrong and even changed. This research is motivated by an interest in how stereotype expectations develop throughout life and experiences, and how the tendency to defend them when challenged can hinder understanding of other views. In a real world setting, placing a person in a distanced perspective could allow for change in their personal expectations and become less prejudiced/more accepting. Within the lab setting, this …

The Fear Of Reinjury And Motivational Influences Contributing To An Athlete's Return To Sport, Erica Moyer

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ERICA MOYER

The Fear of Reinjury and Motivational Influences Contributing to an Athlete’s Return to Sport

Recovery from injury can be a difficult and lengthy process both physically and psychologically. Research that exists on the subject on injury recovery and return to sport mainly focuses on the importance of physical recovery, while discounting the psychological side. Fear of reinjury and motivation are two psychological concepts that contribute to an injured athlete’s decision of whether or not to return to sport. These factors are prominent during the recovery phase, up until and including a return to athletic competition. Self-determination theory provides …

Effective Interventions In Reducing Caregiver Burnout In Parents Of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Jenissa Rodriguez

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With the increasing number of children being diagnosed with autism there is also an increasing number of parents experiencing caregiver burnout because of this diagnosis. Experiencing burnout while caring for an individual who depends on you for quality care can have serious negative effects on the parent but also the individual who needs support. In the following literature effective interventions to reduce caregiver burnout in parents of children with autism spectrum disorder were analyzed. First, caregiver burnout in parents of children with autism was examined. Following, effective interventions such as different social support, education training, and mind-body interventions were analyzed …

Comprehensive Elderly Care: Moving Towards A Person Centered Care Model Of Dementia Care, Evan Cerebe

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Person Centered Care, or PCC is a framework of care which emphasizes the importance of individuality and individually based needs. This framework takes into account all aspects of the human being, such as their personality and personal history. This stands in stark contrast to the traditional model of care, the medical model, which focuses on the disease and its treatment, rather than the psychosocial needs of the individual. Proper care in the psychosocial realm is a necessity within elderly populations with Dementia. This is because Dementia manifests itself differently depending on the person. This, along with the incredible rate of …

Weight Stigma In Different Aspects Of Life, Emanuel Noyola

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Weight stigma is discrimination or bias against any individual who is perceived to be overweight or obese. It has recently been recorded that the effects of weight discrimination have an influence on three major areas of life which include schools, the workplace, and personal relationships. This is important as weight discrimination was found to mostly have negative effects in all these areas but was also found to be sometimes beneficial in others, such as retail. Past research has also shown that the effects of weight discrimination are 37 times worse among obese females compared to obese males. One alarming setting …

Adhd: Not Overdiagnosed, Misdiagnosed, Krista Graham

Capstone Showcase

There has been much debate surrounding the over- or under- diagnoses of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). One reason for this debate is that ADHD is a commonly misdiagnosed disorder. This leads to negative consequences for those who have been misdiagnosed and receive stimulant medication management. Misdiagnosis of ADHD is likely due to the interaction of four main factors. First, the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) has a lower validity for ADHD diagnosis than previous editions. Second, primary care physicians (PCPs) are responsible for the vast majority of ADHD diagnoses but have a …