Clinical Psychology Commons^™

You Are Resilient: Trauma-Informed, Strengths-Based Treatment For Low-Ses, Urban Youth, Courtney Molina

Dissertations

The focus in this review was to explore the benefits and optimal use of trauma-informed, strengths-based care for the therapeutic treatment of low-socioeconomic status (SES), urban youth. Specific focus was given to evidence-based research on the treatment of emotional and behavioral dysregulation among low-SES, urban youth. The review was guided by the following research questions: How can emotional and behavioral dysregulation be symptoms of trauma among low-SES, urban youth; What makes trauma-informed and strengths-based care optimal for the treatment of low-SES, urban youth with dysregulation; and What are clear guidelines for providing trauma-informed, strengths-based care to low-SES, urban youth with …

Rejection Sensitivity And Social Support As Predictors Of Peer Victimization Among Youth With Psychiatric Illness, Katherine C. Hyde

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this study, I examined whether rejection sensitivity and perceptions of social support predicted concurrent peer victimization in a sample of adolescents with psychiatric illness. Participants included 43 adolescents, aged 12-18 with diverse psychiatric diagnoses, who were recruited from a summer residential treatment program. Participants completed measures of peer victimization, perceptions of social support, and rejection sensitivity. Participants also completed the global victimization item in the Revised Olweus Bully/Victim Questionnaire, which allowed for comparison of rates of peer victimization across studies (Solberg & Olweus, 2003). Results replicate and extend previous research that indicates adolescents with psychiatric illness experience high rates …

Reward-Related Predictors Of Relapse In Smokers, Elena Molokotos

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Quitting smoking remains an on-going challenging for many cigarette smokers. Numerous individualized characteristics have been suggested as predictors for successful smoking abstinence. One such factor requiring further investigation is reward responsivity, given that individuals with addiction show behavioral and neurobiological alterations in reward function.This study used previously collected data from 122 daily smokers to investigate whether individuals willing to abstain from smoking in exchange for money would display increased reward responsivity during a baseline, non-abstinent visit, relative to individuals who smoked immediately. Participants Probabilistic Reward Task (PRT) performance was used to measure reward responsivity to monetary rewards and a laboratory-based …

Body Image Role On Non-Suicidal Self-Injury, Maria Ceja, Stephani Aguiar-Vasquez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study explores the association between adolescents body image concerns and self-injurious behaviors among students enrolled in kindergarten through 12th grade. The study is exploratory in nature and uses a quantitative design. The study collected archival data from counseling services provided through alocal school district’s counseling program. More specifically, the archival data was retrieved from initial assessments gathered from students participating in the local school district’s counseling program. Additionally, this research is a call for action that seeks to examine and support the further development of programs geared towards students. This study seeks to expand on the research that guides …

Moving Through Depression: Development Of A Dance/Movement Therapy Method In Psychiatric Inpatient Care, Melissa Olmedo

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Short-term psychiatric hospitalization is a challenging health care model due to its short duration of care, treating the highest risk psychiatric population. Priority care within a short-term psychiatric hospitalization involves monitoring a patient’s safety for stabilization by decreasing acute mental health symptoms. Holistic psychotherapy treatment options are needed to meet the severity of patients’ symptoms for effective stabilization within a short-term model of care. This paper investigates the first implementation of a dance/movement therapy (DMT) method within two short-term units in a notable Boston hospital. The DMT group called Mindful Movement was facilitated weekly as single sessions to adults ranging …

An Experimental Test Of The Effects Of Sleep Deprivation On Approach Behavior, Rebecca L. Campbell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Emotion regulation and sleep have been identified as mechanisms that may be involved in the development and maintenance of many mental health disorders. However, there has been little research into the relation between sleep and emotion regulation. To address this gap in knowledge, a novel study was conducted. We hypothesized that sleep deprived individuals would demonstrate less approach behavior toward a negatively valenced stimulus, as well as increased self-reported avoidance, compared to a control group. To test this, a randomized controlled experiment using a behavioral measure of approach and a self-report measure of avoidance was conducted. Fifty-two healthy individuals ages …

An Examination Of The Neural Basis Of Self-Reflectivity In Schizophrenia, Britan M. Heavrin

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Metacognition is a term that refers to the act of thinking about thinking. The self-reflective aspect of metacognition specifically, has been shown to be impaired in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. The Default Mode Network (DMN) is a set of cortical regions that demonstrate coordinated activation during the resting state of the brain. The DMN has been linked with various aspects of self-awareness and has been hypothesized as a possible source of dysfunction in patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. The current study bridged these findings by using electrophysiological measures to investigate the neural basis of self-reflectivity in a psychiatric group. A Repeated …

Mechanisms Of Value-Biased Prioritization In Fast Sensorimotor Decision Making, Kivilcim Afacan-Seref

Dissertations and Theses

In dynamic environments, split-second sensorimotor decisions must be prioritized according to potential payoffs to maximize overall rewards. The impact of relative value on deliberative perceptual judgments has been examined extensively, but relatively little is known about value-biasing mechanisms in the common situation where physical evidence is strong but the time to act is severely limited. This research examines the behavioral and electrophysiological indices of how value biases split-second perceptual decisions and the possible mechanisms underlying the process. In prominent decision models, a noisy but statistically stationary representation of sensory evidence is integrated over time to an action-triggering bound, and value-biases …

Recording System That Dramatically Increases Intellectual Productivity, Yoshihiko Ariizumi

Learning, Teaching, & Researching Optimization

この記事は、録音システムを使う利点、それが具体的にはどのような活動であり、なぜそのような効果が出るのかについて説明されている。私たちの知性にはまだ多くの研究されていない潜在的な能力があり、この録音システムを使うことによって、そのように眠っている能力を知的生産性のために利用することができる。

知的生産性を飛躍させる録音システム, Yoshihiko Ariizumi

Learning, Teaching, & Researching Optimization

This article explains the benefits of using a recording system, what it is, and why it works. Our intelligence has many unexplored potentials, and by using this recording system, such latent abilities can be utilized for intellectual productivity.

Internal And External Attention In Autism Spectrum Disorder, Tehila Eilam-Stock

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a pervasive neurodevelopmental condition affecting individuals throughout the lifespan. Sensory hypersensitivity and superior perceptual acuity are well documented in individuals with ASD, and may indicate heightened orientation of attention to external stimuli, as attention can augment sensory perception. Recent evidence from mind-wandering research suggests that the ability to disengage attention from the external environment and direct it internally to self-generated mentation is crucial for adaptive cognition and behavior, as it allows for incorporation of past knowledge and experience in the interpretation of novel situations. We hypothesized that ASD is related to an imbalance between externally …

Behavioral Hypervigilance In A Normative Population, Karly Weinreb

Theses and Dissertations

Hypervigilance is conceptualized as a symptom of trauma-related disorders, however it can also occur in a normative population. To distinguish normative hypervigilance from trauma-related hypervigilance, 372 participants (123 trauma-exposed and 249 non-trauma-exposed) completed a questionnaire assessing hypervigilance in contexts. Trauma-exposed participants reported greater levels of hypervigilance in 3 contexts.

Bound By Silence: Psychological Effects Of The Traditional Oath Ceremony Used In The Sex Trafficking Of Nigerian Women And Girls, Jennifer Millett-Barrett

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Nigerian women and children have been trafficked to Italy over the last 30 years for commercial sexual exploitation with an alarming increase in the past three years. The Central Mediterranean Route that runs from West African countries to Italy is rife with organized crime gangs that have created a highly successful trafficking operation. As part of the recruitment process, the Nigerian mafia and its operatives exploit victims by subjecting them to a traditional religious juju oath ceremony, which is an extremely effective control mechanism to silence victims and trap them in debt bondage. This study explores the psychological effects of …

Pain-Related Fear: Metacognitive And Health Belief Predictors Of Cogniphobia, Maddison Miles

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Individuals who have an unreasonable fear of headache pain or painful re-injury during cognitive exertion are said to suffer from a pain-related fear referred to as cogniphobia. Specifically, individuals high in cogniphobia avoid cognitive tasks in an attempt to reduce the risk of initiating or exacerbating headache-related pain. While health beliefs concerning pain-related fear have been examined through the concept of kinesiophobia, defined as the unreasonable fear of pain or painful re-injury during physical movement, little research has been done through a cognitive framework. The health anxiety beliefs, metacognitive factors, and negative thinking patterns related to cogniphobia remain unclear. This …

Comparing Suicide Risk, Acquired Capability, Distress Tolerance, And Reasons For Living In Those With Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Or Disordered Eating, Brooke Beck

Student/Alumni Personal Papers

Acquired Capability has been a longstanding measure used to predict the likelihood that one may attempt suicide. However, does it hold true in every scenario? Are there other measures that would prove more accurate? This research evaluated these questions, examining archival data of two identified risk groups: those participating in Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) and Disordered Eating (DE).

When measured using the Acquired Capability for Suicide Scale (ACSS), both groups have similar results in survey data as well as when measuring Distress Tolerance. This would imply that both are at the same risk of attempting suicide. However, when the groups were …

Illusory Boundaries And Perceived Access To Rural Mental Health Care, Caitlin M. Shelby

Honors College Theses

This study examined the potential effects of illusory boundaries (in the form of county lines on a map) on distance judgments, specifically distance to mental health care (therapy) and perceived accessibility to said mental health care. 47 undergraduate psychology students completed our study through SONA on Qualtrics. Participants were presented with a series of 10 maps. Each map had two pins, one labelled “you are here” and the other labelled “therapy location” with a key on the bottom for reference (however, participants were instructed to not use their fingers as a measurement tool to keep the distance judgment a perceived …

Redefining Burnout: Exploring Common Conceptualizations And The Neurophysiology Of Chronic Stress To Establish An Integrated Allostatic Model, Danny A. Guzzi

Dissertations

Burnout is a widely researched stress-related phenomenon associated with numerous adverse outcomes for employees and organizations. Unfortunately, burnout is not well understood and research to this point has been flawed due to a lack of consensus on the definition, dimensionality, and context of the construct. Prevalent conceptualizations of burnout have been criticized for being arbitrarily developed without solid theoretical foundation and for failing to clearly distinguish burnout from depression or other work-related conditions such as compassion fatigue, secondary traumatization, and vicarious traumatization. The current project first examines relevant literature to identify commonalities among prevalent burnout conceptualizations. Then relevant stress research …

Painting Intimacy: Art-Based Research Of Intimacy, Michal Lev

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

This art-based research explores whether — and, if so, how — the process of painting, together with witnessing and reflection on the process and imagery, further an understanding of intimacy. The research also examines the conditions that favor intimacy, the obstacles to intimacy, and the particular features of artistic media, processes and reflection, through the editing of video footage, that can further the intimate experience. The participants in the study were five adults (including the researcher) between the ages of thirty and eighty who were familiar with the creation of visual art. Among them were three women and two men …

Perceptions Of Female Defendants As A Function Of Pregnancy Status, Rachel A. Silverthorn

2019 Symposium

Given the impact pregnancy has in other areas of life it makes sense that when a woman is brought into the criminal justice system pregnancy will play a role in how others perceive her. While research exists on the implications of pregnancy on incarceration, there is a gap regarding the trial phase and the effects of pregnancy on the adjudication process.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether pregnancy status impacts jury perception of female defendants. It was hypothesized that a pregnant defendant would evoke sympathy in a trial situation and consequently a pregnant woman would be judged …

Oneness In Everyday Life: Nonduality, Wholeness And Human Life After Awakening, Gibbons, Tom

CONSCIOUSNESS: Ideas and Research for the Twenty-First Century

In Advaita Vedanta a distinction is made between an experience of oneness and permanent awakening. The author argues that a nondual philosophy such as Advaita - as opposed to a direct experience of oneness – contains significant theoretical difficulties, which in turn are reflected in problems with actualizing nonduality in everyday human life. Alternative spiritual conceptions that might be more helpful in guiding the nondual aspirant in her spiritual life are examined, including the concept of “wholeness.” In the place of a reliance on an exclusive doctrine of nonduality, Jorge Ferrar’s concept of “Participatory Spirituality” and A. H. Almaas’s idea …

Categorical Modelling Of Conscious States, Baruss, Imants

CONSCIOUSNESS: Ideas and Research for the Twenty-First Century

In the last several decades, there has been an explosion of research concerning consciousness with some efforts at mathematical modelling. The purpose of this paper is to model conscious states using categorical constructions. In particular, this modelling captures temporality, the intentional structure of consciousness, and meaning fields, which provide the templates for occurrent events. The architecture of conscious states naturally lends itself to applications of category theory, more specifically to sheaf-like constructions in which the stacks over a site are topoi whose germs are the objects of the topoi. Each topos represents the potential experiential content of an individual where …

Psychotherapy In The Dream: A Phenomenological Exploration, Bustos, Nick

CONSCIOUSNESS: Ideas and Research for the Twenty-First Century

Post-materialist ontologies offer a transformed worldview whose implications point toward the illusory nature of the separate self, or ego. Aligned with the literature of mysticism and perennialist spiritual models, this portends a significantly altered backdrop for the practice and discipline of psychotherapy, the underlying premises of which assume a strict existential dichotomy between patient and therapist. Kenneth Wapnick, preeminent scholar of the twentieth-century spiritual document of A Course in Miracles, provides a relevant model toward integrating spiritually-based, ego-negative states within psychotherapy practice. The author studied the lived experiences of eight psychotherapists, both practicing and retired, who practice according to this …

Ecopedagogy: Learning How To Participate In Ecological Consciousness, Peterson, Eric

CONSCIOUSNESS: Ideas and Research for the Twenty-First Century

This paper is the result of an inquiry into ecological consciousness through a participatory paradigm. The dialectical relationship between institutionalized education and consciousness is central to this inquiry’s focus. This exploration into ecological consciousness has lead to the following question: How can institutionalized education be designed, delivered, and experienced in a way that nurtures ecological intelligence, ecological consciousness, and more importantly, ecological activism? The ‘sense of self ‘is a central theme within the paper, and led to the conception of intraearthal and interearthal relationships as a way of communicating our need to identify as being in Earth. The author utilizes …

Gender And Ethnic Differences In Sound Tolerance, Nicole Concepcion, Rachel Wallace Ms, Scott Vrana Phd, Lcp

IRBEH/Spit for Science Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Enhancing The Emotional Impact Of Prospections Via Personal Values, Bethany Grace Gorter

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Prospection involves imagining future events using mental representations. When people engage in positive, vivid, prospections they report “boosts” of mood, and higher rates of well-being. This study sought to cultivate positive affect in response to prospections by incorporating values into future imagery. Two groups imagined everyday future events in detail. One group additionally learned about values and linked these values to the everyday future events. We hypothesized that the values-based prospection would result in greater increases in mood, and that this increase would be mediated by additional access to details and phenomenological features. Contrary to hypotheses, there was no positive …

Effects Of A Tactile Safeness Intervention On Experiences Of Shame And Compassion, Jamie L. Baum

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Previous research has shown that tactile attachment interventions are able to mitigate experiences of social threat and facilitate compassionate and altruistic responding. Building off of those findings, this study examines the effects of touching an inanimate object - a teddy bear- upon experiences of shame, compassion, and different emotions after the induction of a shame memory. Eighty-one participants recruited from Eastern Washington University participated in this study. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions, in which they held either a teddy bear or water bottle. Participants were then prompted to think of a time they have experienced shame …

Examining The Effects Of Energy Drinks On Academic Performance, Alyssa P. Roberson

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Reports of energy drink (ED) consumption have grown among the United States population. Research suggests reasons for consumption vary across populations, including increased attention and enhanced endurance performance. However, ED consumers could suffer from negative effects of ED, including health problems, caffeine overdose, and death. Energy drink consumption is also linked to substance use. Despite risks of consuming ED, heavy use of EDs remains among college students, often to help with academic performance; however, research has not examined effects of ED consumption on perceived and actual academic performance. This study evaluated relationships among ED consumption, self-efficacy, and academic performance in …

The Electromagnetic Brain A Review Of Em Theories On The Nature Of Consciousness By Shelli Joye, Pryzdia, Michael, Radin, Dean

Journal of Conscious Evolution

No abstract provided.

Validation Of The Barkley Deficits Of Executive Functioning Scale-Short Form, Brian Sheble

Dissertations

The Barkley Deficits of Executive Functioning-Short Form (BDEFS-SF) is a short rating scale measuring executive functioning in adults. The BDEFS-SF was developed using the 5 highest loading questions from the BDEFS-LF. Consequently, the psychometric qualities of the BDEFS-SF were not investigated using formal methods. In this study, the psychometric attributes of the BDEFS-SF were examined using two separate but similar groups. The first group of 264 men and women aged 18-35 years old completed the BDEFS-SF via an internet survey. The second group of 36 men and women aged 18-35 years old completed the BDEFS-SF and individualized assessments of executive …

Never Again! Surviving Liberalized Prostitution In Germany, Sandra Norak, Ingeborg Kraus

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

This article, co-authored by a six-year survivor of the sex trade industry in Germany (Sandra Norak) and a psychologist and trauma therapist (Ingeborg Kraus), provides perspectives on the difficulty of withstanding the coercion of traffickers and the difficulties of exiting prostitution in a country in which prostitution has been legalized, normalized and made “a job like any other.” This normalization persuades survivors to believe their traffickers that it is a legitimate occupation and encourages them to endure the violence. Liberalization also has prevented the development of needed trauma services to those seeking to exit the sex trade industry.