Social Work Commons^™

Love On The Brain: The Science Of Relationships And Trauma, Josephine M. Arens

2021 Academic Exhibition

This project draws together research from multiple sources to create an educational presentation on the impact our positive and negative experiences can have on our brains, bodies, thought processes, and social interactions. Additional focus is given to the applicability of this information across various professions and in improving our personal wellbeing.

The Resulting Mental Health Pandemic From Covid-19: Research And Resources For Social Workers, Ami Lynch

Social Work Student Works

The COVID-19 pandemic will have long-lasting mental health impacts on hundreds of millions more worldwide than the contagion itself. Social workers are seeing increases in depression, anxiety, suicidality, and post-traumatic stress disorder and other negative mental health impacts. Because of this, social workers in all environments and modalities of practice need to be well-trained, agile, and energized while facing the pandemic themselves. This report compiles the impacts and concerns for a variety of social workers and their clients into a single, digestible source, supplemented by the “COVID-19 Resource Compendium for Social Workers and Their Clients”. Social workers must practice self-care, …

The Effects Of Childhood Adversity, Juvenile Arrest, And Self-Regulation On Adults With Delinquency Histories, Michelle Ann Rhoden

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous studies reported that childhood adversity has debilitating effects on adult well-being. A high prevalence of youths with delinquency histories experience childhood adversity and are at high risk for lasting negative outcomes. Research identifies that the disruption in self-regulation (SR) development explains the effects of childhood adversity on well-being outcomes.

Using data from Add Health, a national study, this dissertation (1) developed a valid and reliable measure of adult SR deficiency, (2) assessed the mediating effects of adult SR deficiency on the association between childhood adversity (i.e., child maltreatment [CM], violent victimization [VV], and economic hardship [EH]) and adult well-being …

Social Work Trauma Interventions: Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Kassie Baumann

Senior Honors Theses

According to Lynne Weilart (2013), in her article on the reasons why people seek out therapy, trauma is the number one reason people attend counseling. Many different trauma-informed approaches are designed specifically to address the consequences of trauma and to facilitate healing. Some of these approaches are as follows: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT); Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT);Mentalization Based Therapy (MBT); Trauma Systems Therapy (TST); Trauma Assessment Pathway (TAP); and Attachment, Self-Regulation, and Competency (ARC) (de Arellano, Danielson, Ko, & Sprauge, 2008). The effectiveness of each trauma intervention will be examined. DBT is one of these trauma interventions that is growing …

Trauma-Focused Interventions: A Clinical Practice Analysis, Jose Carbajal

Faculty Publications

This paper presents a systematic review of trauma-treatment interventions, which have different theoretical perspectives on trauma etiology and its application. The empirical findings of these trauma treatment therapies are presented. The extant literature identifies five therapies as the most-effective treatment modalities for PTSD: cognitive therapy (CT), cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), cognitive processing therapy (CPT), prolonged exposure (PE) therapy, and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. They are all validated with some nuances on treatment approach and effectiveness. However, to use these five interventions, practitioners need to consider and apply the research findings that indicate which intervention is best for which …

Trigger Warnings: From Panic To Data, Francesca Laguardia, Venezia Michalsen, Holly Rider-Milkovich

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Following a practice that originated online, university faculty and staff have increasingly used “trigger warnings” to alert students to the possibility that they might be affected or even harmed by potentially traumatic material. This practice has led to a passionate debate about whether such warnings stifle or encourage student expression and academic freedom, and whether they are beneficial or detrimental to learning. In this article, we illustrate the history and current state of this debate and examine the scientific support for the arguments for and against the use of such warnings. Specifically, we question the scientific basis for the suggestion …

Narratives Of Illness, Difference, And Personhood, John P. Mctighe

School of Social Work Faculty Publications

Using narrative theory, the chapter examines how ideas and attitudes about mental disorder are shaped by cultural values and stereotypes, and how the experience of trauma can shatter the narrative of self and world. Placing the question of illness, differentness, and personhood within a social justice perspective, it challenges clinicians to consider how the vocabulary of illness is used to frame experience and, in many cases, to minimize, marginalize, or discount the individual's own lived experience.

Responding To Trauma: Help-Seeking Behavior And Posttraumatic Growth In A College Sample, Aaron J. Burrick

Honors Scholar Theses

Research indicates that traumatic experiences can impact college students’ mental health, academic abilities, and relationships with peers. Trauma and associated symptoms of PTSD can lower students’ well-being and increase the risk of withdrawing from the university. Research also emphasizes the importance of psychological help-seeking as a way to experience posttraumatic growth. This study examines traumatic experiences, help-seeking attitudes, barriers, and behaviors, and posttraumatic growth in a sample of 168 undergraduate college students. Results indicated an overwhelming preference for informal help-seeking resources and the importance of traumatic severity in the decision to seek help. Additionally, female participants reported greater traumatic severity …

The Self Of The Field And The Work Of Donnel Stern, Daniel Masler

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

No study has taken an updated and comprehensive review of Donnel Stern’s writings. An investigation of his philosophical assumptions, locating Stern’s work socioculturally and historically, along with an elucidation of Stern’s background in traditional psychoanalytic literature and clinical practice, brings out the meanings and enigmas present in his theories of dissociation, enactment, unformulated experience, multiple self-states, and reflection. Stern has offered one of the best-integrated theoretical models in relational psychoanalytic theory. An examination of his theories within the theoretical traditions to which he makes claim (psychoanalytic, interpersonal, hermeneutic, postmodern, and democratic) helps elucidate the challenge posed by relational psychoanalysis to …

Attachment: The Antidote To Trauma, Joshua Straub

Faculty Publications and Presentations

Trauma and loss in life are inevitable. And all too often the traumatic experience itself can be enough to paralyze the mental, emotional, and spiritual state of any given person. Unable to interpret the traumatic experience, many instead are left defined by it. Helping clients discern the objective experience and their subjective reactions to it will help free them from the emotions and beliefs that subsequently control their lives. Based on the most relevant attachment theory research and clinical techniques, this workshop teaches the attentional strategies necessary to helping clients overcome trauma.