Psychology Commons^™

Socioemotional Selectivity And Mental Health Among Trauma Survivors In Old Age, Derek M. Isaacowitz, Timothy B. Smith, Laura L. Carstensen

Faculty Publications

Empirical tests of socioemotional selectivity theory support the contention that the developmental trend in adulthood to focus increasingly on fewer, but emotionally significant, social partners is associated positively with psychological well-being. Tenets of the theory, however, also suggest conditions in which selectivity could instead lead to an increase in negative emotional experiences. In particular, if the socioemotional world of the individual includes emotional distress, selective focus on emotions and close relationships may detract from rather than enhance well-being. In the current study, we examined selectivity and associated well-being in Holocaust survivors, Japanese-American internment camp survivors, and comparably-aged people who lived …

The Impact Of Spirituality And Trauma On Appraisals Of Psychotic-Like Experiences, Kathleen Isaac

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Background: A substantial portion of the general population (2.5% to 31.4% internationally) reports psychotic-like experiences, which are paranormal, psychic or bizarre perceptual experiences such as voice hearing, or holding strong beliefs (i.e. superstitions) that are neither experienced as pathological nor indicative of a psychotic disorder. Cognitive models of psychosis suggest that the cognitive appraisal (i.e. personal interpretation) of the experience may help distinguish non-clinical psychotic-like experiences from clinical psychotic symptoms. This dissertation attempted to add to cognitive models by assessing whether cultural and personal factors such as spirituality and trauma inform the appraisals of anomalous experiences. This study used a …

Restorative Justice: A Look At Victim Offender Mediation Programs, Katie L. Moran

21st Century Social Justice

This report conceptualizes the effectiveness and benefits of utilizing the restorative justice model of Victim Offender Mediation (VOM) within the criminal and juvenile justice systems to serve the rights of victims, offenders, and society more justly. Victim Offender Mediation is discussed as a possible alternative justice model which reframes the victim-offender relationship to foster and respect the dignity and worth of each participant. This restorative justice model combats victims’ feelings of helplessness by giving them back their voice, while having the potential to specifically offer relief to those secondarily victimized by the legal system in cases of simple rape. Offenders …

General And Emotion-Specific Alterations To Cognitive Control In Women With A History Of Childhood Abuse, Kristen L. Mackiewicz Seghete, Roselinde H. Kaiser, Anne P. Deprince, Marie T. Banich

Psychology: Faculty Scholarship

Background

Although limited, the literature suggests alterations in activation of cognitive control regions in adults and adolescents with a history of childhood abuse. The current study examined whether such alterations are increased in the face of emotionally-distracting as compared to emotionally neutral information, and whether such alterations occur in brain regions that exert cognitive control in a more top-down sustained manner or a more bottom-up transient manner.

Methods

Participants were young adult women (ages 23–30): one group with a history of childhood physical or sexual abuse (N = 15) and one with no trauma exposure (N = 17), as assessed …

Early Childhood Adversity And Chronic Illness: An Examination Of A High Risk- Forensic Inpatient Population, Courtney L. Cook

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Individuals exposed adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are at increased risk of developing chronic illnesses in adulthood including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and chronic pain. A relationship between ACEs and health risk factors contributing to chronic disease such as smoking, obesity, and sedentary lifestyle has also been established in prior literature. There is evidence that higher that individuals in forensic inpatient mental health samples are disproportionally exposed to ACEs, which may increase odds of chronic disease development. Despite this evidence, little research has examined the prevalence of ACEs and relationships between ACEs and chronic health conditions and risky health behaviors in …

Posttraumatic Reactions To Psychosis: A Qualitative Analysis, Weili Lu, Kim T. Mueser, Stanley D. Rosenberg, Philip T. Yanos, Neisrein Mahmoud

Publications and Research

The current study aimed to evaluate the potentially traumatic aspects of psychotic symptoms and psychiatric treatment of psychosis using qualitative methods. Participants included 63 people with first episode psychosis or multiple psychotic episodes recruited from an inpatient psychiatric unit and an urban state psychiatric hospital in the North East region of the United States. Quasi-structured interviews were used to explore those aspects of symptoms and treatment that were perceived as traumatic Emotional reactions to the most traumatic aspect of symptoms and treatment, during and after the event, were also examined. Participants described a number of traumatogenic aspects of psychotic symptoms, …

Two Questions, The Same Answer: The Role Of Demand In Prostitution And Sex Trafficking, Shamere Mckenzie

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

After-Action Reviews: The Good Behavior, The Bad Behavior, And Why We Should Care, John Crowe, Joseph A. Allen, Cliff Scott, Mackenzie Harms, Michael Yoerger

Psychology Faculty Publications

After action reviews have been a common learning and reliability intervention in organizations for decades, and though they have attracted the interest of scholars in recent years, researchers have yet to consider practitioner views of what makes these meetings more or less effective and to check their association with desired outcomes. The current multi-study begins by investigating what makes for good and bad after-action reviews (AARs) using an inductive approach and analyzing responses to open-ended questions about AAR attendee behaviors perceived as more or less effective by participants. Building upon Study 1, Study 2 focuses on the effects of good …

Breaking The Silence: A Phenomenological Exploration Of Secondary Traumatic Stress In U.S. College Student Affairs Professionals, Robert Jason Lynch

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Breaking the Silence: A Phenomenological Exploration of Secondary Traumatic Stress in U.S. College Student Affairs Professionals is a qualitative-intensive mixed methods study using phenomenology and art-based research techniques to uncover the essence of secondary traumatic stress in U.S. college student affairs professionals. Researchers in the fields of psychology, counseling, social work and other helping professions suggest that repeated exposure to individuals experiencing trauma, or hearing repeated details of an individual’s trauma, have negative outcomes on professional helpers. Coined secondary traumatic stress, this phenomenon may be defined as “the stress resulting from helping or wanting to help a traumatized or suffering …

Trauma Therapy For Very Young Children Living In Poverty: A Randomized Controlled Trial, Joanna Ruth Love

Dissertations (1934 -)

This study used a randomized control design with immediate treatment and wait list control conditions to evaluate the efficacy of the New Hope program, a home-based, parent-and-child therapy program that has been developed for very young children living in poverty who experienced one or more potentially traumatizing events. Within a three-phase model of treatment, the New Hope program is designed to establish safety, build the caregiver child relationship, create a nurturing environment, teach coping skills, address trauma-related thoughts and feelings, and develop prosocial skills. Training in this program included discussions regarding the cultural implications of providing therapy services in the …

The Relationship Between Trauma And Well-Being: Moral Emotions In Sex-Trafficked Women, Gina M. Scarsella

Clinical Psychology Dissertations

Cognitive models of PTSD implicate attention to threat, negative social cognition, and behavioral avoidance in perpetuating symptoms. In contrast, moral elevation and gratitude are positive socio-moral emotions theorized to facilitate attention to positive features of one’s social context and prosocial approach behavior. No research has examined the relevance of positive moral emotions in the well-being of sex-trafficked women, who may be prone to PTSD symptoms and low positive socio-moral emotions. I tested trait gratitude, elevation, and moral purity as predictors of well-being and moderators of PTSD symptoms on well-being. Participants included sex-trafficked (n = 16) and college (n …

Black, Woman And Alive: Black Women’S Practices Of Nontraditional Healing And Freedom, Hythia Phifer

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This thesis explores the implications of nontraditional healing methods on Black women’s psychological and holistic health. It includes a critical literature review of existing research by Black Feminist theorists and other Black women scholars on Black women who use nontraditional healing methods, particularly to overcome the violent and pervasive experience of gendered racism and misogynoir. A brief autoethnographic analysis of my own art-based practice is included, with ties to the effectiveness of Literature and Poetry as a nontraditional healing method used by Black women. This thesis is my attempt to create space for myself in academia, in social science, in …

Examining The Relationship Between Traumatic Experiences And Posttraumatic Growth Among Counselors-In-Training, John A. Conteh, Mary J. Huber, Huma A. Bashir

Human Services Faculty Publications

The present study explored the relationship between experience of trauma and posttraumatic growth (PTG) among 86 graduate level counselors-in-training (CIT). Results indicated that the most frequent trauma endorsed was witnessed or learned about violence to a loved one and the higher the rating of the most severe trauma experienced related to a higher reported level of personal growth. Overall, 67% of the CIT received support for their trauma by participating in personal counseling. Implications for counselor educators includes an understanding of the potential for trauma impacting students as well as different responses to trauma based on gender and the number …

Engaging In Effective Behavioral Health Treatment Methods: The Importance Of Building Trust And Relationships With High And Proven Risk Men With A History Of Childhood Trauma(S), Tracie Sullivan

Sustainability and Social Justice

Nearly 60% of youth involved in the juvenile justice system in the United States have a diagnosable mental illness (Buffington, 2010; SAMHSA, 2012). These high and proven risk youth have fallen through the cracks in the behavioral health system, with a lack of prevention, intervention, and effective treatment methods being provided to them prior to incarceration. This paper presents connections between childhood trauma, undiagnosed and untreated mental illnesses, and delinquency in adulthood for high and proven-risk young men. It also investigates barriers to engaging high and proven risk young men in treatment with the concepts of stigma, and hyper-masculinity introduced. …

(Re)Painting Self: Art Therapy And Ontological Security In Refugee Children, Domonique Jimerson

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

To be a refugee is to know loss intimately. The refugee experience can be characterized by the multidimensional loss the loss of loved ones, support networks, economic security, culture, safety, and home.^{1 2} The compounding of traumatic experience can have a profound effect on belief systems and identity. This paper will explore the relationship between trauma and ontological state in resettled refugee children. The philosophical concept of ontological security considers the ability create consistent expectations about the way the world operates to a stable mental state.³ The three states of ontology security and shock will be useful in …

Relations Between Adverse Childhood Experiences And Current Maladaptive Beliefs In A College Sample, Ilana Starr Berman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cumulative childhood trauma has been associated with both symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. However, few studies have examined these relations with normative young adult populations nor have they explored the relation between childhood adversities and cognitive distortions as an outcome variable. The current study aimed to: 1) replicate and extend research on the relations between cumulative adversity, using a broad measure of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs; Felitti et al., 1998), which assesses both maltreatment (e.g., physical, sexual, emotional abuse and neglect) and exposure to elements of household dysfunction (e.g., caregiver substance use, witnessing maternal abuse), and mental health …

Modeling The Trauma-Antisociality Relationship As Mediated By World Assumptions: Associations With Gender And Drinking Outcomes, Kathryn Fokas

Psychology ETDs

Previous research has established links between traumatic experiences and externalizing pathology including substance use and antisocial behavior, but little is known about potential mechanisms linking these phenomena. This study proposed a novel conceptual model linking these phenomena via the cognitive mechanism of negative world assumptions, or beliefs about the inherent dangerousness and unpredictability of life and others. Given previous mixed findings, this study also sought to explore potential interactions between gender and these phenomena. It was hypothesized that, within a sample of adults seeking alcohol treatment, world assumptions would mediate and gender would moderate the trauma-antisociality association. It also was …

Bisous, Elay E. Echavarria

Student Publications

A short piece exploring the cynical relationship between a boy and the environment he was raised in. This piece provides a quick glance into how personality traits are created in those who were raised by abusive parents.

Exploring The Relationship Between Depression And Resilience In Survivors Of Childhood Trauma, Marquis A. Norton

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

Although experiences of trauma are common, reactions vary due to a host of biopsychosocial and cultural factors that influence the individual reaction to the trauma (Nakai et al., 2015). One such factor is resiliency, the capability to adapt in adverse environmental circumstances (Basim & Cetin, 2011). This study used hierarchical multiple regression to examine the relationships between childhood trauma, recent experiences of depression, and resilience in adult university students. This study also examined the possible moderating effects on depression by resilience. Participants completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Connor-Davidson Resilience scale, and PROMIS Depression survey. Small significant relationships were found for …

Profiles Of Emotion Regulation: Understanding Regulatory Patterns And The Implications For Posttraumatic Stress, Samantha Chesney, Nakia S. Gordon

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Trauma survivors often experience posttraumatic stress (PTS) and report concurrent difficulties with emotion regulation (ER). Although individuals typically use multiple regulatory strategies to manage emotion, no studies yet examine the influence of a constellation of strategies on PTS in a community sample. We assessed six ER strategies and investigated whether specific profiles of ER (i.e. the typical pattern of regulation, determined by how often each strategy is used) were related to PTS. A hierarchical cluster analysis indicated that four distinct profiles were present: Adaptive Regulation, Active Regulation, Detached Regulation, and Maladaptive Regulation. Further analyses revealed that an individual's profile …

Cognitive Functioning During Conflict In Intimate Partner Relationships Between Traumatized And Non-Traumatized Samples, Kylie N. Coleman

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Significant differences have been found in neural connectivity of the brain in frontal, central, temporal, and parietal areas of individuals who experienced childhood trauma compared to those who had not (Cook, Ciorciari, Varker, & Devilly, 2009). This study investigated the relationship between the number of distressing and traumatic life experiences and participants’ neural responses to observing simulated conflict in intimate relationship. Graduate students (n = 11) answered conflict resolution and emotional activation questions while watching a simulated, escalating marital conflict. The participants’ neural responses were recorded via EEG mean power data from frontal and temporal brain regions. Heart rate (bpm) …

More Than This: A Creative Space For Healing And Community, Stormy Saint-Val

Community of Scholars Day—Posters

This project explores the outcomes of utilizing creative expression as a tool to enhance critical thought within communities on the attitudes towards sexual abuse and its victims. The ability for survivors of sexual abuse to share their complex stories of experiencing sexual violence and the aftermath invites survivors to cultivate understanding, healing, and resilience. It invites individuals to gain perspective on sexual trauma while illustrating to survivors that their community supports them.

Refinement And Preliminary Testing Of An Imagery-Based Program To Improve Coping And Performance And Prevent Trauma Among Urban Police Officers, Eamonn Arble, Mark A. Lumley, Nnamdi Pole, James Blessman, Bengt B. Arnetz

Psychology: Faculty Publications

Police officers are regularly exposed to traumatic critical incidents. The substantial mental, behavioral, and social costs of police trauma indicate a substantial need for prevention. We have refined and enhanced a previously tested Swedish program to the harsh conditions of U.S. inner cities. The program was designed to strengthen resilience during stressful encounters and teach methods of coping after exposure, thereby preventing the emergence of maladaptive symptoms and behaviors with adverse effects on professionalism. In an uncontrolled demonstration project, junior officers were trained by senior officers to engage in imaginal rehearsal of specific dangerous situations while incorporating optimal police tactics …

A Visit To The Doctor: Preparation For Activism, Simone Watson

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Persistent Amygdala Novelty Response Is Associated With Less Anterior Cingulum Integrity In Trauma-Exposed Women, Seungyeon A. Yoon, Mariann R. Weierich

Publications and Research

Objectives: We investigated the potential role of cingulum and uncinate fasciculus integrity in trauma-related neural hypervigilance, indexed by less discrimination between amygdala activation to novel and familiar affective images.

Participants: 22 women (mean age 21.7 ± 3.9 years) with a history of trauma, and 20 no-trauma controls (mean age 21.9 ± 4.8 years).

Measures: Trauma exposure and trauma-related symptoms were assessed during structured clinical interview. White matter integrity in the anterior cingulum, parahippocampal cingulum, and uncinate fasciculus was measured using diffusion weighted imaging. Amygdala response to novel and familiar affective scenes was measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Results: Trauma-exposed …

Experiences Of Community Leaders Following An Enhanced Fujita 5 Tornado, Thomas Edward Orr

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many U.S. communities experience tornadoes each year, causing a significant number of deaths and injuries. Proper community preparation and response can help reduce human suffering and psychological trauma that occur following a tornado. However, according to the National Institute of Standards and Technology most U.S. communities in tornado-prone areas are unprepared for a violent tornado, and there are few national, state, or local tornado-related definitions, standard or code to guide preparations. Social constructionism was the underlying theory of this qualitative study. The purpose of this study was to improve tornado preparations by examining the experiences of community leaders following a …

The Role Of Media-Induced Secondary Traumatic Stress On Perceptions Of Distress, Casey Comstock, Judith Platania

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

The occurrence of Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) is well documented among helping professionals working with trauma clients. These individuals, such as nurses, social workers, rescue workers and mental health counselors, are at risk to succumb to STS after repeatedly hearing or learning of others’ traumas. The primary risk factor for STS is exposure to others’ traumas. Empirical studies have confirmed the presence of STS in the helping professions. However, few researchers have examined whether STS can also occur in laypersons exposed to secondary trauma by media coverage. In the current study, we used a modified version of the Secondary Traumatic …

A Theory Of Veteran Identity, Travis L. Martin

Theses and Dissertations--English

More than 2.6 million troops have deployed in support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Still, surveys reveal that more than half feel “disconnected” from their civilian counterparts, and this feeling persists despite ongoing efforts, in the academy and elsewhere, to help returning veterans overcome physical and mental wounds, seek an education, and find meaningful ways to contribute to society after taking off the uniform. This dissertation argues that Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans struggle with reassimilation because they lack healthy, complete models of veteran identity to draw upon in their postwar lives, a problem they’re working through collectively …

The Effects Of Trauma On Adjustment To College For Children Of Missionaries, Melissa J. Winfield

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Missionary Kids (MKs) encounter challenges in adjusting to college due to cross-cultural transitions and unique experiences related to missionary life. Though trauma is more common among missionaries than for the general American population, little is known regarding the impact of past trauma on missionary kids as they adjust to college. This study compared adjustment to college and psychological well-being of missionary kids and students who are not children of missionaries. The extent to which students have experienced trauma was used as a covariate in the study. MK students were recruited through college organizations and missions’ agencies. They were asked to …

How Eye Movement Desensitization And Reprocessing (Emdr) Trained Therapists Stabilize Clients Prior To Reprocessing With Emdr Therapy, Edward H. Brendler

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Helping clients develop resources and stability required to tolerate reprocessing memories can be a considerable part of psychotherapy, particularly with clients who are suffering symptoms related to complex developmental trauma or cumulative multiple-event trauma. There is a paucity of research regarding how experienced EMDR Therapy practitioners experience helping their clients to develop resources required to tolerate reprocessing of trauma memories. This dissertation is an in-depth study of five participants, each a licensed mental health practitioner in the State of Washington, who are trained in EMDR and experienced working with clients who are suffering symptoms of trauma. Each participant was interviewed …