Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Finding Solutions To Institutional Corruption: Lessons From Cognitive Dissonance Theory, Lisa Cosgrove, Robert Whitaker

Counseling and School Psychology Faculty Publication Series

The American Psychiatric Association and academic psychiatry in the United States have two conflicts of interest that may affect their assessment of psychiatric drugs and their development of diagnostic and clinical care guidelines: payments from pharmaceutical companies and guild interests. Until recently, the proposed solution to industry-academic relationships has been transparency. However, cognitive dissonance research reveals that disclosure is not a solution because cognitive biases are commonplace and difficult to eradicate. Indeed, bias is most often manifest in subtle ways unbeknownst to the researcher or clinician, and thus is usually implicit and unintentional. Also, recent studies suggest that disclosure of …

Diagnostic Interaction: First-Person Patient Narratives On Hacking's Looping Effects And The Normative Status Of Psychiatric Nosology, Corinne Jager

Honors College Theses

What is the interaction between a psychiatric patient and their diagnosis? How do they respond to being classified? A number of philosophical theories attempt to explain the interaction between the diagnosed patient and their classification. Ian Hacking develops an account of interaction which holds that objects of human science classification are influenced by the awareness of the classification in a way that changes both the classification and its object. Hacking thinks that psychiatric patients are “interactive kinds” whose awareness of their classification causes changes in the individuals' experience of themselves, and thus changes in their classification. Hacking claims that these …

Tamziq, Scattered And Connected: A Conversation In Art By Middle Eastern And American Artists, Paul Atwood, William Joiner Center For The Study Of War And Social Consequences, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The number of Iraqi refugees resettled in the United States has grown from only 202 in 2006 to approximately 17,000 in 2009. Since 2007, 58,810 Iraqi refugees have arrived in the United States. This group now forms the largest refugee population in the state of Massachusetts. At the same time, a large number of veterans are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

This project recognizes the increasing need for dialogue and exchange with and within these communities and a further need to broaden understanding of the cultural influences on our changing communities.

Predictors Of Accessing Substance Abuse Services Among Individuals With Mental Disorders Released From Correctional Custody, Stephanie Hartwell, Xiaogang Deng, William Fisher, Julianne Siegfriedt, Kristen Roy-Bujnowski, Craig Johnson, Carl Fulwiler

Sociology Faculty Publication Series

Objective

In the context of an increasing correctional population and corresponding rates of mental illness and substance abuse among this population, this study focuses on describing the predictors of substance abuse service utilization for ex-inmates with dual disorders. Our aim is to assess the likelihood and characteristics of ex-inmates with mental disorders who access substance abuse treatment services within two years of correctional release.

Methods

Using merged administrative data on all ex-inmates with open mental health cases released from Massachusetts Department of Corrections and two County Houses of Corrections from 2007 to 2009 (N=2,280) and substance abuse treatment outcome data …

The Impact Of Exercise On Suicide Risk: Examining Pathways Through Depression, Ptsd, And Sleep In An Inpatient Sample Of Veterans, Collin L. Davidson, Kimberly A. Babson, Marcel O. Bonn-Miller, Tasha Souter, Steven D. Vannoy

Steven D Vannoy

Suicide has a large public health impact. Although effective interventions exist, the many people at risk for suicide cannot access these interventions. Exercise interventions hold promise in terms of reducing suicide because of their ease of implementation. While exercise reduces depression, and reductions in depressive symptoms are linked to reduced suicidal ideation, no studies have directly linked exercise and suicide risk. The current study examined this associ- ation, including potential mediators (i.e., sleep disturbance, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and depression), in a sample of Veterans. SEM analyses revealed that exercise was directly and indirectly associated with suicide risk. Additionally, exercise was …

Data Note: People Served In Community Mental Health Programs And Employment, Stephanie Wallace, Frank A. Smith

Data Note Series, Institute for Community Inclusion

State mental health agencies provide a wide range of supports, including rehabilitation services and vocational and pre-vocational training, as well as supported and competitive employment supports. This Data Note explores how states vary in number and percentage of individuals who are employed among those served in Community Mental Health Programs (CMHPs), i.e., programs with all services provided in the community, rather than in an inpatient setting. It also explores national trends that occurred from 2002 to 2011.