Psychiatric and Mental Health Commons^™

The Predictors Of Juvenile Recidivism: Testimonies Of Adult Students 18 Years And Older Exiting From Alternative Education, La Toshia Palmer

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this descriptive, qualitative study was to identify and describe the importance of the predictors of juvenile recidivism and the effectiveness of efforts to prevent/avoid juvenile recidivism as perceived by previously detained, arrested, convicted, and/or incarcerated adult students 18 years of age and older exiting from alternative education in Northern California. A second purpose was to explore the types of support provided by alternative schools and the perceived importance of the support to avoid recidivism according to adult students 18 years of age and older exiting from alternative education.

Methodology: This qualitative, descriptive research design identified …

Reintegration Among Combat Veterans Suffering From Psychological Conditions, Virginia Falck

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Active duty personnel as well as combat veterans of the United States often engage in military operations during their service that require deployments to participate in missions, which may lead to extended periods away from home. When active duty men and women are appointed to combat zones, they may return with psychological burdens such as post traumatic stress disorder, which can complicate their reintegration into civilian life. This study explored the experiences of combat veterans who faced challenges when returning home from a war zone, along with the experiences of their family members. The study involved 26 combat veterans, spouses, …

Length Of Pretrial Detainment For Inmates With Mental Illness, Maria Pereira-Sosa

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There has been an increase in the number of individuals with mental illness being housed in correctional facilities over the last 50 years. In this study, the length of pretrial detention was compared for inmates who have a mental illness and are compliant with psychiatric medications, inmates who have a mental illness and are noncompliant or not prescribed psychiatric medication, and inmates with no mental illness. I also examined if inmates who have a mental illness have less severe charges and if there was a difference in the classification of mental health diagnoses for inmates who are and are not …

Mental Health In U.S. Prisons: How Our System Is Set Up For Failure, Katherine Daifotis

CMC Senior Theses

During the past 60 years, United States prisons have become one of the primary institutions caring for mentally ill individuals. Factors such as privatization of mental health care with a focus on profit-maximization, ineffective jail diversion programs, and unsuccessful mental health courts have contributed to prisons having an increased population of mentally ill inmates. In fact, about 20% of people who are currently incarcerated suffer from a major mental illness (Mason, 2007). Other elements outside of the justice system such as a lack of mental health awareness and a lack of resources have led to damaging interactions between the mentally …

A Meta-Analysis Of Video Based Interventions In Adult Mental Health, Lauretta Kaye Montes

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Symptoms of mental illness such as anxiety and depression diminish functioning, cause distress, and create an economic burden to individuals and society. This meta-analysis was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of video based interventions (VBIs) for the treatment of adults in mental health settings. VBIs comprise four different ways of using video in mental health therapy, including video modeling, video exposure, video feedback, and videos used for psychoeducation. Bandura's social learning theory, Beck's cognitive theory, and Dowrick's theory of feedforward learning form the theoretical framework for understanding how VBIs work. The research questions were: (a) what is the range of …

Veterans Court: Examining The Effectiveness Of Veteran-Specific Rehabilitation, Rochelle Sundeen Diconti

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Due to the growing percentage of mental health illnesses related to combat trauma and traumatic brain injuries, the rates of incarceration, suicide, and substance use disorders are skyrocketing in the returning veteran population. The Veterans Court program directs veterans with certain criminal issues into a program designed to treat veterans in need, as opposed to incarcerating them. The purpose of this study is to conduct an initial examination of the effectiveness of this program by measuring four specific factors directly linked to veteran trauma and mental health. I included measures of problematic-anger, shame, thriving, and veteran-specific reintegration issues. Data was …

Cortical Thickness Abnormalities Within The Salience And Reward Networks In Older Depressed Adults With Apathy, Monique A. Pimontel

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Background and Significance: Apathy is a common comorbidity in late-life depression. Among older depressed adults, apathy is associated with a number of adverse outcomes, including increased disability, comorbid illness, and mortality. The etiological substrates of apathy in late-life depression nonetheless remain poorly understood, and little is known about its optimal treatment. To this end, the aim of the current study was to examine cortical abnormalities within the salience (SN) and reward networks (RN), two brain systems involved in the processing of incentive salience that may underlie the syndrome of apathy in older depressed adults.

Methods: We examined the association between …

Testing An Integrated Model Of Help Seeking With Ethnically Diverse Primary Care Patients, Bianca Teresa Villalobos

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Structural and attitudinal barriers prevent many individuals from accessing professional mental health services and often times lead to the premature termination of treatment. Although research findings suggest that the integration of mental health services in primary care can increase access to services and reduce stigma for typically underserved populations, dropout occurs at high rates. The current study aims to: (1) identify correlates of attitudinal and structural barriers in a primary care setting, and (2) test the ability of the Integrated Model of Seeking Help (IMoSH) to predict follow-up for behavioral health visits. In particular, it was hypothesized that attitudinal barriers …

Exploring A Multifactorial, Clinical Model Of Thought Disorder : Application Of A Dimensional, Transdiagnostic Approach., Mara Ann Hart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: Bleuler saw thought disorder as the core defining feature of psychotic phenomena, reflective of the “splitting of the psychic functions” that occurred when, in the process of thinking, one’s ideas and feelings disconnect, becoming fragmented and competing functions. Unfortunately, interest in thought disorder as the conceptual core of psychosis was lost with rise of the modern DSM system, paralleling the shift towards a more simplistic, categorical way of defining psychiatric disorders. Aims: This study examined thought disorder from a dimensional perspective, with the aim of disentangling qualitative heterogeneity and diverse sources of influence. Analyses were based on …

Clinical Social Workers’ Perspectives On Illicit Drug Use And The Development Of Psychotic Disorders, Asma Naseer

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This purpose of this study was to explore social workers’ perspectives of drug-induced psychosis. More specifically, it sought to determine how knowledgeable clinical social workers are on the impact illicit drug use on the development of psychotic disorders. The study also aimed to discover clinical social workers’ perspectives regarding the influence of illicit drug use on the development of psychotic illnesses. This study used mixed methods approach in attempt to solve the research question. The quantitative portion of the research, an anonymous survey, allowed for the assessment of social workers’ knowledge of drug-induced psychosis. The qualitative portion of the research, …

Reconnecting The Mind And Body: A Pilot Study Of Developing Compassion For Persistent Pain, Sarah L. Parry Dr, Zoey Malpus Dr

Patient Experience Journal

As an alternative to the more typical cognitive behavioural approach to pain management, a novel pain management group based on the principles of compassionate mind training was developed for a particular sub-group of patients. Participants were patients of a community pain clinic, who were invited to participate in this alternative approach to pain management. The eight-week Compassion in Pain Groups included psychoeducation around persistent pain, the underlying principles of compassionate mind training, practical exercises such as diaphragmatic breathing, followed by a series of compassionate imagery exercises and group discussions. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were undertaken to gain further insights …

Does What You Think You Feel, Impact What You Actually Eat? : An Examination Of Alexithymia, Interoceptive Awareness, And Loss Of Control Eating In Young Women, Lisa Marie Anderson

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Affect regulation theories posit that loss of control (LOC) and binge eating are maintained via an emotion regulation process, through which eating relieves negative affect and aversive mood states. LOC has been identified as a key binge eating characteristic associated with psychopathology and poor psychological outcomes. As such, maladaptive emotion regulation has been identified as a central risk factor for binge eating, as theories posit that individuals binge eat in response to negative mood states. However, empirical studies testing the link between induced negative mood and subsequent food intake in people with LOC and binge eating have yielded inconsistent findings. …

A Brief Motivational Intervention For Marijuana Use In College Students, Vivian S. Hwang

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The prevalence of marijuana use has risen among young adults, and marijuana is

The Perceived Invalidation Of Emotion Scale (Pies): Development And Psychometric Properties, Melissa Jean Zielinski

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite the decades that have passed since invalidation was first theorized to causally influence the development of psychopathology (Linehan, 1993), no measures have been designed and statistically validated to index current emotion invalidation. Research on invalidation has thus grown slowly and often used measures that were designed to assess other constructs (e.g., criticism, abuse) or that retrospectively assess childhood invalidation. This series of five studies describes the development and psychometric evaluation of the Perceived Invalidation of Emotion Scale (PIES), a novel measure of emotion invalidation. Items for the PIES were developed using themes from a qualitative investigation of adults’ experiences …

The Associations Among Expressed Emotion, Relationship Satisfaction, Ptsd Symptoms, Alcohol Use, And Depression: A Longitudinal Investigation With A Military Sample, Laci Lee Zawilinski

Dissertations

PTSD in military personnel is highly prevalent and accompanied by elevated rates of additional issues such as depression, problematic alcohol use, and interpersonal relationship problems. Family members and spouses of military personnel have also been shown to be negatively impacted by PTSD symptoms. Previous research has indicated that family members and spouses’ expressed emotion regarding the PTSD patients’ symptoms negatively impacts treatment outcome in civilian populations. However, studies have yet to investigate the effect of expressed emotion on the course of PTSD symptoms and associated problems in military personnel. Therefore, the purpose of the present investigation was to examine the …

Facing Our Demons: Psychiatric Perspectives On Exorcism Rituals, Joel R. Sanford

The Hilltop Review

Belief in possession by malevolent spirits exists in many cultures and religions throughout the world, and such beliefs often serve as explanations for a variety of psychological and emotional afflictions. Traditional remedies in these cases often involve exorcism rituals, which are believed to expel spirits from a person's mind and/or body. Some of the cases commonly attributed to involuntary spirit possession are diagnosed within the psychiatric community as schizophrenia or some sort of dissociative disorder and treated with psychotherapy and/or medicine. For some in the psychiatric community, exorcisms and their use by patients are viewed as problematic due to their …

Comparative Organizational Assessments And Partenship Potential For Sekou Pou Nanm-Yo And Asirans Community Counseling Center, Lauren M. Mawe

Sustainability and Social Justice

This paper assesses the organizational capacity of two small Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Port-Au-Prince Haiti. Each NGO has a staff of under 15 members. At the time of the assessment, they were both in early stages of their development, with one in its first year of operations, and the other in its fifth year. Both embody grassroots, community organizations because of their connections to the communities in which they work, their willingness to travel to those communities, and their predominantly Haitian staff. The fieldwork included interviews, focus groups, and three months of participant observation and work with these organizations. In …

Symptom Patterns Of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Among Deaf Trauma Survivors, Melissa L. Anderson, Amanda Sortwell, Kelly S. Wolf Craig, Douglas M. Ziedonis

JADARA

Details about Deaf people’s pattern of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms remain relatively unknown due to inaccessible methods used in most epidemiological research. We conducted semi-structured American Sign Language interviews with 16 trauma-exposed Deaf individuals to explore their PTSD symptom patterns. Half met criteria for current PTSD, a rate higher than the general population. Underlying this disparity may be heightened rates of dissociation and psychogenic amnesia reported by many Deaf trauma survivors. Future research with large samples of Deaf survivors is needed to clarify this hypothesis, and to inform interventions that more accurately target Deaf people’s pattern of trauma symptoms.

Evaluating The Implications Of Parental Mental Illness For Children Using An Ecological Perspective, Jessica Elizabeth-Rose Carroll

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have extensively studied the experiences and potential consequences of being a child whose parent has a mental illness (COPMI). However, there is no consensus on the best way to support these children, in general or in schools. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the effects of parental mental illness on children by using an ecological approach. Researchers have used ecological theory to illustrate the importance of internal characteristics, skills, and supports for children to enhance resiliency. This study looked at whether COPMI differed significantly from the children of parents of parents with no current or past …

Perceptions Of Female Sexual Pathology: The Role Of Racial Biases In Clinical Decision Making, Jerusha Sanjeevi

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Diversity issues such as multicultural competence and sexual health competence have received increased but separate academic attention in recent years. Although empirical support has been found for the presence of racial biases in the diagnoses of mental health disorders, there is no evidence to date regarding the role of racial biases in the diagnoses of female sexual pathology. In the present study, 101 pre-doctoral psychology interns across the United States assessed the symptom severity of a fictional client via online vignettes in which client race was experimentally manipulated. Participants did not report significantly different symptom severity ratings between the vignettes …

A Qualitative Analysis Of Clinician Attitudes And Experiences Learning And Implementing Transdiagnostic Evidence-Based Practices For Eating Disorders, Jennifer Marie Oswald

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Clinician experiences with the implementation of new practices are important factors in facilitating the use of new treatment models and evidence-based practices (EBPs). As such, they provide crucial information to behavioral health dissemination and implementation research. Qualitative interviewing allows researchers to learn from clinician experiences with greater depth and nuance. The present study qualitatively analyzed 8 clinicians’ experiences with the implementation of a new transdiagnostic treatment model for eating disorders (ED) at an intensive residential treatment center. Participating clinicians completed a semi-structured interview based on constructs from the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR), an organizing framework with demonstrated utility …

Perceptions And Attitudes Of A Sample Of Primary Care Patients Receiving Psychological Care From Their Pcp, Nadine Henzes Gowarty

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

With millions of Americans suffering from a mental health disorder and slightly more than half receiving treatment, the demand for psychological services far outweighs the number of practitioners available to provide direct care. Therefore, the majority of all primary-care visits are based on psychosocial factors; one third of a PCP’s caseloads consist of patients with mental-health problems. Given the fact that PCPs provide comprehensive psychosocial care, it is important to determine the beliefs and perceptions of their patients. Results from this study identified numerous factors that influence the relationship between patients receiving mental health care from their PCP. Specifically, if …

The Effects Of A Trauma-Informed Care Training Program On Mental Health Professionals Knowledge, Skills, And Attitudes With The Smi, Angelina Pelletier

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Trauma has been found to be highly prevalent among individuals diagnosed with SMIs. Mental health professionals have been reported to misdiagnose or avoid addressing trauma in this population. There is a need to provide information about trauma and to foster awareness among mental health professionals who are treating individuals diagnosed with SMIs. With a TIC approach, operating from a recovery-oriented philosophy, there have been interventions created to address trauma and SMIs with the aim of developing awareness about trauma and the impact it may have on someone’s life. With these factors in mind, mental health professionals should be competent in …

Impact Of Distance, Diagnosis, And Demographics On Attendance For Rural Outpatient Treatment, Trey Howard Jensen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Missed psychotherapy appointments inhibit mental health treatment, limit the availability of treatment to those waiting for care, and reduce clinician revenue. Previous research has revealed that the factors that predict missed appointments vary depending on the geographic location in which that research is conducted. There is not a complete understanding of the characteristics of people who miss appointments in a rural context. This study used information from 281 client records to examine the predictive relationships among missed appointments and the distance traveled to the clinic, mental health diagnosis, age, and gender at a rural outpatient mental health clinic. The purpose …

Chronic Pain Causal Attributions In An Interdisciplinary Primary Care Clinic: Patient-Provider And Provider-Provider Discrepancies, Bryan Jensen

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the influence of pain causal attributions on patient pain-related functioning, treatment engagement, and clinical outcomes. Additionally, the impact of discordant pain causal attributions between patients and their providers as well as between interdisciplinary providers was examined. Patients rated their pain functioning and causal pain attributions during a regular clinic visit. Following the patient’s visit both the behavioral medicine provider and internal medicine resident provided ratings of similar pain-related functioning domains and causal attributions. Follow-up data were collected from the electronic medical record three months following that clinic visit. Overall, results revealed …

Association Between Depression And Aggression In Rural Women, Laetitia Meyrueix, Gabriel Durham, Jasmine Miller, K. Bryant Smalley Phd, Psyd, Jacob C. Warren Phd

Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice

Rural women represent approximately 20% of women living in the United States, yet research on the specific mental health needs of rural women is limited. Given the well-recognized gender-linked disparity in depression, its correlated symptoms in women still need much investigation. While emerging notions of depression in men embrace potential symptoms related to irritability and aggression, less research has focused on the potential role of aggression in depressed women. This connection may be particularly relevant for rural women who face unique mental health stressors in comparison to their urban counterparts. The purpose of this study was to examine if aggression …

The Effects Of Parent-Adolescent Communication And Parenting Style On The Physical Activity And Dietary Behaviors Of Latino Adolescents, Dianna Mary Boone

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The obesity epidemic among children and adolescents has been growing rapidly over the past 10 years, particularly in Latino children. Multiple researchers have found support for positive associations between parent-child communication and healthy nutrition and exercise behaviors. The present study examined the relations between parent-adolescent communication and parenting style and the dietary and exercise behaviors of Latino adolescents. The study included 79 adolescents between the ages of 13 and 18 years and their parents (100% are Latino). Correlation and hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to determine which parenting style and communication variables are significantly associated with adolescents’ dietary and physical …

Clinical Psychology Students’ Perceived Training In Working With Transgender Clients: An Exploratory Study, Vanessa Zimmerman

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

Literature on appropriate psychological care for the transgender population has been sparse (American Psychological Association [APA], 2009; Carroll, Gilroy, & Ryan, 2002; Israel, Gorcheva, Walther, Sulzner, & Cohen, 2008; Korell & Lorah, 2007; Maguen, Shipherd, Harris, & Welch, 2007; Walker & Prince, 2010). Historically, the focus of research has been on medical care for transgender individuals, and this literature has tended to pathologize the population (APA, 2009). More recently, individuals who identify as transgender have been included under the umbrella of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) studies, where their unique needs are often overlooked or ignored (APA, 2009; Carroll …

Examining The Role Of Antisocial Personality Disorder In Intimate Partner Violence Among Substance Use Disorder Treatment Seekers With Clinically Significant Trauma Histories, Rita E. Dykstra, Julie A. Schumacher, Natalie Mota, Scott F. Coffey

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

This study examined the associations among posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity, antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) diagnosis, and intimate partner violence (IPV) in a sample of 145 substance abuse treatment-seeking men and women with positive trauma histories; sex was examined as a moderator. ASPD diagnosis significantly predicted both verbal and physical aggression; sex moderated the association between ASPD diagnosis and physical violence. PTSD symptom severity significantly predicted engaging in verbal, but not physical, aggression. Overall, these results suggest that an ASPD diagnosis may be an important risk factor for engaging in IPV among women seeking treatment for a substance use …

The Importance Of Treatment For Foster Youth, Lyl T. Cartagena

Creative Activity and Research Day - CARD

This presentation provides an overview of mental health interventions including highlights of their outcomes.The summary of the extant findings helps identify the strengths and deficits of what has been done, and supports a call for further research in order to change current methods of care provided along with developing an improved method of treatment for foster care youth.