Mental and Social Health Commons^™

Therapeutic Potential Of Psychedelic Drugs, Specifically Magic Mushrooms, Marijuana, And Mdma With Veterans Who Suffer From Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Ptsd), Misty Schutterle

Counselor Education Capstones

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a stress-based condition that a person develops after being exposed to an overwhelmingly traumatic event. Military troops frequently experience stress and trauma, making them highly susceptible to psychopathology. This paper evaluates nine clinical trials that used either magic mushrooms, marijuana, or MDMA as an adjunct to traditional psychotherapy to treat veterans who suffer from anxiety, depression, PTSD, suicidality, and other psychopathologies. Multiple scholarly journals and articles were read and analyzed, which show support for the therapeutic potential of psychedelic drugs in treating veterans with PTSD. After receiving psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, the research showed participants experienced a …

Online Social Networking Among Clinically Depressed Young People: Scoping Review Of Potentially Supportive Or Harmful Behaviors, Carolyn L. Elias, Kevin M. Gorey

Social Work Publications

Online social networking sites are ubiquitous and prevalently used by young people. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the potential for such sites to bring isolated people together to support their mental health. Virtual communications, however, are not without risks. Substantial knowledge exists on attendant risks and protections among the general population, but much less seems known about their effects among clinical populations. This scoping review mapped the novel knowledge and knowledge gaps related to online social networking experiences and perceptions of depressed young people, adolescents to emergent adults. It also explored moderators of their social networking supports versus harms. A broad …

The Erasure Of Monosexism: An Exploration Of Identity Development In Bisexual Women, Emma M. Leonard

MSU Graduate Theses

Research has shown that bisexual individuals experience poorer mental health outcomes, resulting in depression, anxiety, substance use, and suicidal ideation, than their gay or straight counterparts (Calzo, Antonucci, Mays, & Cochran, 2011; Ross, Dobinson, & Eady, 2010; Taylor, Power, & Smith, 2020). These poor mental health outcomes suggest bisexual individuals may be experiencing hardships these other groups are not. This qualitative study sought to gain an understanding of the lived experiences of bisexual women aged 18-25. The researcher sought to gain an understanding of self-identified resiliency factors by the women as it pertains to their sexual/affectional orientation. Detailed interviews were …

Feel And Touch: A Haptic Mobile Game To Assess Tactile Processing, Ivonne Monarca, Monica Tentori, Franceli L. Cibrian

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Haptic interfaces have great potential for assessing the tactile processing of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), an area that has been under-explored due to the lack of tools to assess it. Until now, haptic interfaces for children have mostly been used as a teaching or therapeutic tool, so there are still open questions about how they could be used to assess tactile processing of children with ASD. This article presents the design process that led to the development of Feel and Touch, a mobile game augmented with vibrotactile stimuli to assess tactile processing. Our feasibility evaluation, with 5 children …

Desire For Control Moderates The Relationship Between Perceived Control And Depressive Symptomology, Liam Alexander Mackenzie Myles, Emanuele Maria Merlo, Antonia Obele

Journal of Mind and Medical Sciences

Background. The prevalence of psychological difficulties is rising at an alarming rate, with an increasing number of individuals reporting symptoms of depression. A decline in both perceived control and desire for control has previously been associated with the onset of depression. However, previous research has failed to examine whether perceived control and desire for control interact in their relationship with depressive symptomology. Methods. A sample of 350 participants completed the Spheres of Control Scale, the Desirability of Control Scale and Beck’s Depression Inventory. Process Macro was used to examine whether desire for control moderated the relationship between perceived …

Effect Of Presence And Absence Of Parents On The Emotional Maturity And Perceived Loneliness In Adolescents, Sana Fatima, Momal Bashir, Kainat Khan, Sheeza Farooq, Sidra Shoaib, Sheeba Farhan

Journal of Mind and Medical Sciences

The present study was conducted to examine the Emotional Maturity and Perceived Loneliness of adolescents with respect to the presence and absence of parents. It was hypothesized that the absence or presence of parents of adolescents would affect the level of emotional maturity and perceived loneliness among adolescents. The adolescent participants N=250 (males n=125 and females n=125; age range= 13-18; M=16.63; SD=0.87) were approached through purposive convenient sampling technique. Measures included the Emotional Maturity Scale and the UCLA loneliness scale V-III. Results indicated that adolescent who lived with their guardians had greater perceived loneliness than those who lived with their …

Role Of Emotional Intelligence In Job Performance Of Healthcare Providers Working In Public Sector Hospitals Of Pakistan, Nimra Zaman, Khalida Naz Memon, Faryal Zaman, Komal Zaman Khan, Shazia Rahman Shaikh

Journal of Mind and Medical Sciences

Objective. To determine the association between emotional intelligence (EI) and job performance (JP) of health care providers (HCPs). Methods. Healthcare professionals from various hospitals were chosen for a cross-sectional study. The survey was conducted using a three-part questionnaire including the demographic profile, Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence (EI) Scale, and an individual work performance (JP) questionnaire. The relationship of predictor variables on JP was sought by applying Chi-square test and multiple regression analysis. Results. About 43.3% of the 50.8% of participants who scored well on the EI scale also scored high on the JP scales. The remaining …

Teachers’ Views On Preparation For Employment Of Young Autistic People, Biranavan Thavapalan, Emanuele Maria Merlo

Journal of Mind and Medical Sciences

Background. Contemporary literature indicates that there is significant support and assistance provided by schools for young autistic people, which has had a positive impact on the accessibility of jobs. Nevertheless, the employment rate of autistic people is unacceptably low in the UK. The current study investigated teachers’ views on the preparation for employment of young autistic people in the UK. Methods. Interviews were conducted with individuals from the educational field and thematic analysis was used to explore the teachers’ views regarding the factors that have an impact on the preparation for employment of young autistic people. Results. …

Bharatanatyam, An Effective Psychotherapeutic Intervention In Dance/Movement Therapy, Maanasa Marghashayam Bharath

Dance/Movement Therapy Theses

Dance/movement therapy is a psychotherapeutic modality that acknowledges the human body as a window to the human mind and spirit. Through creative and dynamic interventions, it fosters a healthy unification of the mind and body to enhance an individual's holistic health. This research focuses on the traditional dance form of India, Bharatanatyam, and its influence on the body and mind of the practitioner. Journeying through the history of the dance form to its relevance in the field of dance/movement therapy, the thesis explores how Bharatanatyam can be useful as an alternate method, in a therapeutic session to facilitate navigation through …

Creating A Common Language: How Solution Focused Brief Therapy Reflects Current Principles Of Change And Common Factors, Beverley Kort, Adam Froerer, Cecil Walker

Journal of Solution Focused Practices

The common factors and mechanisms of change have been investigated across many disciplines and in many fields. This study applies the common factors to Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) through a modified content analysis of the BRIEFER Practice Manual. Seven common factors themes are identified and applied to SFBT. The study concludes with a consideration of how this common factors approach broadens the evidence-base of SFBT and provides suggestions for implementation and application of this common factors approach.

Making Room: Addressing The Counter-Therapeutic Nature Of Psychiatric Hospitalization Through Containment- Based Group Expressive Therapy, Max Sandor Copans

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The process of hospitalization and the environment of a typical psychiatric hospital is often counter-therapeutic. To challenge this problem, clinicians may introduce the concept of psychological containment. To elaborate, being hospitalized anywhere can be disorienting, frightening and even traumatic. This problem is only further exacerbated in psychiatric hospitals where patients may be disorganized, manic, or struggling with psychosis. Furthermore, psychological containment is essentially the ability for psychiatric patients to prevent their intense emotions from effecting others negatively, and to act with resiliency when other patients are unable to contain their own disruptive behaviors. This paper utilizes both an initial literature …

Language As The Medium: A Literature Review. Harnessing The Prolific Power Of Dramatic Language As A Therapeutic Tool In Drama Therapy, Edward Freeman

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Language in and of the theatre, with its palate of variegated writing styles and playwrights from throughout time, has the potential to be harnessed, focused, and systematized for use as a therapeutic tool within drama therapy – the field’s artistic medium. Drama therapy could benefit from having a specific medium germane to its artform which has the potential to provide practitioners with a common resource and means of communication, assessment, diagnosis, and treatment planning, as well as align the field with other creative arts therapies. Language encompasses all forms of human communication – speaking, writing, signing, gesturing, expressing facially – …

Exploring The Therapeutic Relationship As A Central Focus Through Expressive Arts Therapy In Oncology, Akshata Parekh

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The treatment for cancer can be physically, mentally, emotionally and socially challenging. These treatments have side effects like physical body pain, hair loss, changes in weight, energy, nausea and more. These physical changes impact the social, mental and emotional well-being of the patient and makes this journey of the life-threating prognosis of cancer very tough to confront. Expressive arts therapy provides a safe space for the patients to address their mental health concerns as a result of this treatment. The Capstone Thesis Project explored expressive arts therapy interventions with 95 patients through single or multiple sessions while going through their …

Through The Back Door: Utilizing Dream Work For Insight During Psychotherapy, Jake Clemen

Professional Impact Project: Implementation of Evidence Based Practices by Clinical Mental Health Counseling Graduate Students

This poster reviews the outcome of utilizing dream work as an intervention in psychotherapy.

Dance/Movement Therapy In Response To Continuous Race-Based Trauma, Aliesha Bryan

Dance/Movement Therapy Theses

Trauma is concomitant with a lack of safety; as such, where there is a threat to safety, there is likely to be trauma. Afrodescendants living in the United States, through an ongoing lack of human regard, are often powerless to ensure their safety, and are regularly subjected to continuous, race-based trauma. Racism is deeply embedded in the nation’s institutions as well as in every relationship, and this deeply pervasive and penetrating ideology influences strongly how individuals of any race interact with others. Race-based aggression, from micro- to macro-, has a profound and continuously traumatizing effect on Afrodescendants, with similarly profound …

Treatment Access For Dual Diagnosis Substance Use And Mental Health Disorders, Pedro Banuelos

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

In 2018, of 1.3 million Latinx adults in the United States facing concurrent issues with substance use disorders (SUD) and mental health disorders (MHD) 93% remained untreated for either diagnosis. This is concerning since Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) data reveals that this population is at greater risk for suicidal thoughts, plans, and attempts. They also face structural barriers such as employment, housing, legal involvement, and insurability that further impede access to treatment.

This study’s purpose was to examine barriers to accessing treatment for Latinx populations confronting co-occurring SUDs and MHDs. This study used a qualitative design …

Levels Of Engagement In Mental Health Services Regarding Minorities, Karla Salazar Rendon

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study focuses on analyzing if the level of engagement when receiving mental health services affects how many mental health providers an individual has. Although mental health impacts everyone, minorities encounter barriers such as language, transportation, and residential segregation. Obstacles such as these discourage individuals in regards to pursuing mental health services. Minorities make up a significant amount of the U.S. population: however, they are underrepresented in the mental health field. The challenges they encounter need to be addressed to provide efficient services. This study includes male and female participants over the age of 18 in San Bernardino County. The …

Caesarean Section Versus Vaginal Birth In The Perception Of Woman Who Gave Birth By Both Methods, Octavian Gabriel Olaru, Anca Daniela Stanescu, Cristina Raduta, Liana Ples, Adriana Vasilache, Nicolae Bacalbasa, Andrei Vasilache, Oana Denisa Balalau

Journal of Mind and Medical Sciences

The increase in the number of births by Caesarean section is a phenomenon whose global expansion is generated by numerous factors and especially by the contemporary perceptions of women regarding childbirth meeting the interests of the professionals in the field. However, the opinion of many women towards the benefits of Caesarean delivery is often not based on the experience or information from reliable sources. This study aimed at sharing the experience of women who gave birth both vaginally and by Caesarean section, focusing on their perception of these events. The study included 26 women and the conclusion of the vast …

Representations And Narratives Of F To M Gender Dysphoric Subjects: Self, Body And Psycho-Traumatology In Comparison With M To F Transsexualism, Emanuele Maria Merlo

Journal of Mind and Medical Sciences

The present study was aimed at extending the method previously used with M to F gender dysphoric patients, to F to M individuals. In particular, the aim of the study was to highlight global and particular representations of the subjects. The study involved 10 gender dysphoric subjects in F to M transition, aged between 18 to 26 years old. Rorschach and the Thematic Apperception Test were administered with particular attention to the detection of psycho-traumatic indexes. The data reached through the extension of the method to F to M subjects revealed a continuity between the two groups. Referring to Self-representation, …

Alexithymia And Physical Outcomes In Psychosomatic Subjects: A Cross-Sectional Study, Liam Alexander Mackenzie Myles, Emanuele Maria Merlo

Journal of Mind and Medical Sciences

Backgrounds. Alexithymia is a relevant phenomenon, occurring transversally to healthy subjects and individuals affected by several conditions. Its role is considerable, according to current state of the art several conditions emerged as influenced, maintained and worsened by alexithymic structures and figures. The present study was aimed at highlighting the existing relations, the differences and the directions assumed by alexithymic factors and health status in patients affected by psychosomatic conditions. Methods. The sample consisted of 150 participants, 42 males (28.0%) and 108 females (72.0%), aged 26 to 78 years old with a mean of 42.24 years old (SD = 12.39). Subjects …

Support For Family Members Who Are Caregivers To Relatives With Acquired Brain Injury, Janet Walker, Lourens Schlebusch, Bernhard Gaede

Journal of Mind and Medical Sciences

Objectives. Family members caring for a patient with acquired brain injury (ABI) are coping with inordinate levels of stress partially due to their lack of understanding of the neuropsychological effects of acquired brain injury in the patient. The objective of this research is to show that as the caregivers’ stress levels increase, there is an increase in suicidal ideation. This highlights the causal relationship between unhealthy stress and reduced psychological well-being in these caregivers. In addition, qualitative research evidence regarding the caregivers’ views of their main sources of stress are presented. Methods. The participants were a random sample of 80 …

A Tour Of Gender Critical Literature: A Review Of Transgender Body Politics By Heather Brunskell-Evans, Az Hakeem

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Beyond The Competency Model Of Therapist Trainings - Developing Expertise Through Deliberate Practice, Daryl Mahon Ba, Ma

Counseling and Family Therapy Scholarship Review

The purpose of the present paper is to describe how Deliberate Practice (DP) can be used to assist individual therapists develop expertise and improve their ability to effect change in their clients' psychotherapy outcomes. The author provides a targeted review of this literature and articulates a method of training therapists based on this relatively new and exciting concept. The initial training of psychotherapists represents an important milestone in an often lifelong career and one that is marked with a continuous professional development trajectory. While it is particularly important to achieve competency in many foundational skills and techniques during training, this …

Using Ambiguous Loss To Address Perceived Control During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Rosemary A. Leone

Counseling and Family Therapy Scholarship Review

The concepts of ambiguous loss and perceived control will be used to explore ways to embrace the unknown during COVID-19. By defining COVID-19 as an ambiguous loss, effective therapeutic interventions emerge that can guide clinicians in creating lasting change amidst widespread uncertainty. Four ambiguous loss interventions will be proposed to alleviate the distress of living in fearful semi-isolation for an unknown period of time. In paradoxically embracing uncertainty, clients can create new hope in the context of a global pandemic. New hope is the ideal outcome when coping with ambiguous loss. In literature on ambiguous loss, the concept of new …

An Essay Concerning The Substance Of Counseling, Lance Kair

Counseling and Family Therapy Scholarship Review

Our modern world appears to lack a way to find truth. Philosophically, this problem is formulated in a manner of knowing which never gets beyond the subject of the universe; even objectivity in the universe is arguable. The effort called empirical science then gives us conclusions that regularly perpetuate an unstable world. Due to this real subjective empirical constraint, the usual approach to therapeutic Counseling offers methods focused on the individual obtaining skills and conceptions that function to mitigate the apparent and ubiquitous problem of modernity. Empirical science, whether it be physical, biological or phenomenal, has left us with only …

Clash Of Values: Workplace Bullying And Moral Injury, Jarl B. Anderson Ma, Mftc

Counseling and Family Therapy Scholarship Review

Moral injury is a psychological construct developed in military context, and although it has been expanded to include specific occupational fields outside of the military, it has not yet been proposed as an outcome of workplace bullying. Employees may experience moral injury when their personal values and the legitimate values of the workplace clash with unacknowledged shadow values during incidents of workplace bullying. Workplace bullying could be considered a potentially morally injurious event (PMIE) because it is transgressive, it is asymmetric, and it involves high stakes: livelihood and identity are at risk. Regarding counseling considerations, the use of ritual has …

Observations On The Relationship Between Resilience And Mindfulness, Jason N. Linder Psy. D., Jay A. Mancini

Counseling and Family Therapy Scholarship Review

In the last three decades, mindfulness and resilience have received extensive scholarly attention. Research has burgeoned and they have both become “buzz words” in the social sciences and mental health fields. That said, they are often presented as unrelated qualities, skills, or states, and few studies and texts have examined their linkages and/or how they complement each other. Masten’s (2001, 2009) seminal papers and subsequent book (2014) that presented resilience as “ordinary magic” have had large impacts on resilience scholarship, bringing forth that resilience is much more of a common human occurrence and proclivity than previously considered. In this paper, …

The Experiences Of Iraqi Refugees In Canada: A Life History Study Of War And Resilience In The Aftermath Of Migration, Nada Nessan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis reports on a life history narrative on the experiences of Iraqi refugees who resettled in Canada after living through war. The aim of this study is to help change the narrow perspectives on the mental health of war affected populations to a broader perception shaped by cultural and social aspects and to inform the development of meaningful and cultural relevant programs and policies with a particular attention to the concept of resilience.

The first part of the study presents the chronological narratives, or profiles. of eight participants. The second part of the study is a thematic discussion of …

Divine Narcissism: Raising A Secure Middle-Aged Adult, Rachel Sachs Riverwood

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

Utilizing an arts-based feminist autoethnographic stance and method, this dissertation is an evocative exploration of the process and experience of attempting to develop a cohesive identity and build a secure attachment to the self. The author uses countercultural methods—prioritizing and centralizing her experience and uncovering and acting in defiance of oppressive norms—to identify and experience their impact on her identity and intra- and inter- personal relationships. Various tensions are explored, including the suppression of self and desire, self-objectification, fearful-avoidant attachment, and shame; and their influence on engaging in emotional and sexual intimacy is examined. Critique on the role of female …

The Strategically Broken System: A Grounded Theory Study Of The Clinical Implications Of Immigration Law, Policy, And Practice, Kelle Agassiz

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

The majority of clinicians do not receive education pertaining to the legal aspects of immigration in their curriculum, training, or continuing education. In addition, the process of navigating the immigration system has been exacerbated in recent years due to rapid policy changes under the Trump administration, which has contributed to a hostile political climate, particularly for immigrants from Central America and Mexico. Using a classic grounded theory research approach, this study explored the relationship between the psychological implications of immigration and the legal challenges that immigrants face today, with a specific focus on immigration from Central America and Mexico. Through …