Psychology Commons^™

Outcomes Of Religious And Spiritual Adaptations To Psychotherapy: A Meta-Analytic Review, Timothy B. Smith, Jeremy Bartz, P. Scott Richards

Faculty Publications

The use of spiritually oriented psychotherapies has increased dramatically during the past decade. This article reports a meta-analysis of 31 outcome studies of spiritual therapies conducted from 1984 to 2005 with clients suffering from a variety of psychological problems. Across the 31 studies, the random-effects weighted average effect size was 0.56. This finding provides some empirical evidence that spiritually oriented psychotherapy approaches may be beneficial to individuals with certain psychological problems (e.g., depression, anxiety, stress, eating disorders). Recommendations for future research in this domain are offered.

The Association Of Racial Attitudes And Spiritual Beliefs In Post-Apartheid South Africa, Timothy B. Smith, Christopher R. Stones, Christopher E. Peck, Anthony V. Naidoo

Faculty Publications

Previous research has investigated the complex association between religious beliefs and racism. Many studies have found that fundamentalist religious beliefs are positively associated with racial prejudice among European and European American populations. However, few studies have examined whether this association is found in other cultures or whether the association also characterizes spiritual beliefs. Data from 493 South African university students from three racial backgrounds revealed significant differences among the groups. A positive association between fundamentalism and racial prejudice was found among participants, but general spiritual beliefs were negatively associated with racist attitudes. The results emphasize the need to address contextual …

Spiritual Interventions In Psychotherapy: Evaluations By Highly Religious Clients, Jennifer S. Martinez, Timothy B. Smith, Sally H. Barlow

Faculty Publications

Spiritual and religious interventions in psychotherapy have increasingly received research attention, particularly with highly religious clients. This study examined client opinions about and experiences with religious interventions in psychotherapy. A sample of 152 clients at a counseling center of a university sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) completed a survey with ratings of specific religious interventions with regards to appropriateness, helpfulness, and prevalence. Out-of-session religious interventions were considered more appropriate by clients than in-session religious interventions, but in-session interventions were rated as more helpful. Specific interventions considered both appropriate and helpful by the LDS participants …

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder And Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms Following Critical Illness In Medical Intensive Care Unit Patients: Assessing The Magnitude Of The Problem, Ramona O. Hopkins, James C. Jacson, Robert P. Hart, Sharon M. Gordon, Timothy D. Girard, E. Wesley Ely

Faculty Publications

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a potentially serious psychiatric disorder that has traditionally been associated with traumatic stressors such as participation in combat, violent assault, and survival of natural disasters. Recently, investigators have reported that the experience of critical illness can also lead to PTSD, although details of the association between critical illness and PTSD remain unclear. Methods We conducted keyword searches of MEDLINE and Psych Info and investigations of secondary references for all articles pertaining to PTSD in medical intensive care unit (ICU) survivors. Results: From 78 screened papers, 16 studies (representing 15 cohorts) and approximately 920 medical ICU …

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder And Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms Following Critical Illness In Medical Intensive Care Unit Patients: Assessing The Magnitude Of The Problem, James C. Jackson, Robert P. Hart, Sharon N. Gordon, Ramona O. Hopkins, Timothy D. Girard, E. Wesly Ely

Faculty Publications

Introduction Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a potentially serious psychiatric disorder that has traditionally been associated with traumatic stressors such as participation in combat, violent assault, and survival of natural disasters. Recently, investigators have reported that the experience of critical illness can also lead to PTSD, although details of the association between critical illness and PTSD remain unclear.

Methods We conducted keyword searches of MEDLINE and Psych Info and investigations of secondary references for all articles pertaining to PTSD in medical intensive care unit (ICU) survivors. Results From 78 screened papers, 16 studies (representing 15 cohorts) and approximately 920 medical …

Conditional Discrimination And Reversal In Amnesia Subsequent To Hypoxic Brain Injury Or Anterior Communicating Artery Aneurysm Rupture, C. E. Myers, J. Deluca, Ramona O. Hopkins, M. A. Gluck

Faculty Publications

Human anterograde amnesia can develop following bilateral damage to the hippocampus and medial temporal lobes, as in hypoxic brain injury, or following damage to the basal forebrain, as following anterior communicating artery (ACoA) aneurysm rupture. In both cases, the mnestic deficit may be similar when assessed by standard neuropsychological measures. However, animal and computational models suggest that there are qualitative differences in the pattern of impaired and spared memory abilities following damage to hippocampus versus basal forebrain. Here, we show such a dissociation in human amnesia using a single two-stage task, involving conditional discrimination and reversal. Consistent with a prior …

Brain Integrity And Cerebral Atrophy In Vietnam Combat Veterans With And Without Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Bruce L. Brown, Dawson W. Hedges, G. William Thatcher, Pamela J. Bennett, Shabnam Sood, David Paulson, Sarah Creem-Regehr, Steven Allen, Jamie Johnson, Brooke Froelich, Erin D. Bigler

Faculty Publications

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with decreased hippocampal volume, but the relationship between trauma and brain morphology in the absence of PTSD is less clear. In this study, measures of brain integrity were determined by estimating gray and white matter regional brain volumes using structural magnetic resonance imaging in six patients with PTSD and in five controls with comparable trauma exposure but without clinical evidence of PTSD. The only statistically significant volume difference between groups was observed multivariately in the white matter of the right temporal lobe (superior temporal gyrus, fusiform gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus, white-matter stem, middle temporal gyrus, …