Clinical Psychology Commons^™

Patient-Targeted Googling: A Mixed-Methods Examination Of Psychologists’ Perceptions And Practices, Emily L. Putnam

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Patient-targeted Googling (PTG) refers to a healthcare professional searching their patient’s name or other identifying information on the Internet. Existing research is inconclusive regarding the prevalence and perceptions of PTG among psychologists, and the American Psychological Association (APA) Ethics Code lacks guidance on the topic. The present study used a mixed-methods approach with two arms of data collection (online survey, N = 94; and virtual focus groups, N = 36) to clarify PTG practices, explore PTG attitudes, and understand training and ethical guidance needs of psychologists and psychology trainees. Results revealed that 47.9% of psychologists and trainees reported having engaged …

Factors Associated With Racial And Ethnic Minority Youths' Mental Health Help-Seeking At School, Sam Allouche

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Despite the high prevalence and associated consequences of mental health problems in youth, adolescents with these problems are often left untreated. This service gap is even greater in racial and ethnic minority youth who not only engage in treatment less frequently, but also experience far greater discrimination and systemic inequality than non-ethnic or racial minority students; factors further contributing to a need for service. Schools may provide an ideal location to treat mental health problems in youth, in part because schools eliminate structural barriers, but also because school staff have an opportunity to observe students across a range of functioning. …

She’S Just Not That Into Me: Sexual Self-Concept Among Heterosexual Men Who Identify As Involuntary Celibates, Kyle J. Justin, Dustin K. Shepler, Joseph R. Kinel

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

Emerging adult men experiencing involuntary celibacy are increasingly self-identifying as “incels.” Popular culture has painted a negative view of incel men. Nonetheless, almost no research has addressed the experiences of incels or systematically compared incels to their peers to identify whether actual differences exist in psychological functioning. In this study, we surveyed a total of 129 emerging adult men (75 incels and 54 non-incels) to determine if and how incels differ from their non-incel peers. MANOVA results indicated that incels disproportionately struggled with low self-esteem, social anxiety, difficulty approaching women, and optimism about partnered sexual experiences compared to their non-incel …

Differences In Attachment, Resilience, And Negative Affect In Non-Treatment-Seeking And Treatment-Seeking Ems Professionals, Jose Carbajal, Warren Ponder, Lauren Malthaner, Kathryn Shahan, Katelyn Jetelina, Jeanine Galusha, Donna Schuman

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

Emergency medical service (EMS) professionals have a stressful vocation, inarguably worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, which affects their mental health and makes them a vulnerable population warranting further study. However, to date, no published research has compared non-treatment and treatment-seeking EMS professionals in the same greater metropolitan area. In this study, we examined differences and similarities among the non-treatment-seeking EMS professionals (n = 57) from a local EMS agency and treatment-seeking EMS personnel (n = 53) from a non-profit community treatment center on six assessment instruments that measure attachment avoidance, attachment anxiety, resilience, depression, generalized anxiety, posttraumatic stress …

The Draw Of The Wild: How To Easily Integrate Nature Into Clinical Practice, Jason T. Duffy

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

For thousands of years many societies and people have intuitively recognized the wellness-enhancing power of the natural world as well as its ability to assist people in the construction of a sense of purpose and meaning. More recently, research emanating from the field of ecotherapy as well as other fields has begun to build empirical support for the efficacy of the natural world in promoting mental and physical health. This conceptual manuscript provides the rationale for integrating nature into clinical practice and describes flexible, concise, and easy ways for counselors to utilize ecotherapy in their work with clients, including, ironically, …

The Language-Dream Relationship In Multilinguals, Brittany Dishaun Burkes

Dissertations

According to the United States Census Bureau, the United States alone is host to around 350 languages. When it comes to investigating languages in dreams by multilinguals, some studies have focused heavily on only two languages—Spanish and English. The purpose of this study was to add to the understanding of how language use relates to the dream content of multilinguals. This study recruited the assistance of nine polylingual individuals. The participants were instructed to record their dreams in the languages in which they occurred for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks, the participants translated their dreams into English in order for …

Applying Expressive Arts Therapy Interventions With Chinese Adolescents With Academic Maladjustment, Huaxin Wang

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This thesis first explores the relationship between several concepts related to academic stress (academic burnout, academic weariness or school weariness, and school refusal) and their influencing factors, which are collectively referred to as academic maladjustment. It then reviews the empirical intervention research on academic maladjustment among Chinese adolescents. Study review has found that effective talk therapy interventions for Chinese adolescents with academic maladjustment often adopt a systematic perspective of family therapy and related techniques. Researchers worked with adolescents on their personal factors that contribute to academic maladjustment and work on the interpersonal level and obtained the cooperation of parents and …

Toward Holistic Mental Wellness: A Literature Review Of Mindfulness-Based And Focusing-Oriented Art Therapies, Lesley Vernon

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Modern day living, for all its benefits, is synonymous with record levels of stress. The mental health clinician’s role is to assist clients in accessing the skills and tools necessary to reduce and alleviate the symptoms of stress-induced anxiety. Mindfulness is emerging as a potent and effective tool to restore one’s state of well-being. Likewise, engaging in art therapy has been shown to reduce stress and foster resilience. Grounded in humanistic and existential theories, this literature review aimed to assess the impact and effectiveness of two intermodal holistic therapies, specifically mindfulness-based art therapy (MBAT) and focusing-oriented art therapy (FOAT). A …

Creative And Expressive Arts Therapy In Motivational Interviewing, Mary Hunt

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

The practices of Creative Arts Therapies (CATs), Expressive Arts Therapy (EATs), and Motivational Interviewing (MI) are regarded as profoundly impactful for use in mental health professions. While there is extensive literature supporting the benefits of the practices individually, research to date on combining CATs or EATs with MI is limited. This Capstone investigates the combination of the fields, including research linking MI to the fields under the CATs umbrella of art, dance/movement, drama, and music therapies. The key elements of each practice are defined, and their overlapping similarities are identified, examples of complementary CATs interventions to the practice of MI …

Combining Non-Traditional Therapeutic Competencies With Dance/Movement Therapy In Response To Client Reactivity: The Development Of A Method, Nicole Koontz

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Individuals with reactive attachment disorder present as guarded towards therapeutic care and respond passively to treatment or become combative and aggressive. Previous body-based interventions for individuals with reactive attachment disorder included dangerous and unethical approaches that led to traumatization, distrust, and even death. Historical attachment therapies focused on making the client feel powerless and hopeless to accept care rather than practitioners adjusting to individualized client-centered care. A dance/movement therapy-informed method was developed to provide a nonthreatening therapeutic space to foster genuine participation for clients who present with reactivity towards treatment. The method was implemented over the course of seven weeks …

How Geek Therapy Plays Into Expressive Arts Therapy: A Literature Review, Caroline Bryan

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Within this paper, I explore how geek therapy plays well with the methods of expressive arts therapy. The combination of geek therapy and expressive arts therapy can assist clinicians in immediately connecting with their clients and identifying strength-oriented narratives that honor the client’s preferences, modes of expression, and pop culture affinities. This engagement with expressive approaches utilizing affinity-based interventions can lead to a deeper sense of understanding of the client’s intra-, inter-, and extra-personal relationships. Through this literature review of expressive arts therapy and geek therapy, primarily focusing on video games in therapy, clinicians from all walks of life can …

Fear Of Failure, Mindfulness, And Procrastination, Jose M. Parlade

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

Procrastination is a complex behavior with often negative consequences. Prior studies have found a positive correlation between procrastination and various negative emotional states, such as fear of failure. Conversely, specific mindfulness techniques, have been negatively associated with procrastination in prior research. The current study set out to examine the correlations of fear of failure and procrastination as well as those of mindfulness and procrastination. A sample of university students (n=310) were assessed using three scales: the Performance Failure Appraisal Inventory (PFAI), the Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills (KIMS), and the Pure Procrastination Scale (PPS). Results indicated a significant positive correlation …

Trauma Healing With The Neurosequential Model Of Therapy And Bal-A-Vis-X, Becky Johnston

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Stigma related to childhood trauma is shifting with the help of advancements in the understanding of neurobiology and interventions that are proving to be effective for healing. There are immense costs and consequences for survivors of childhood trauma and their loved ones that were not so long ago considered irrelevant and the notion that kids bounce back from adversity was previously popular in the psychological community (Perry & Szalavitz, 2017). The broad strokes of Dr. Bruce Perry’s clinical intervention model, The Neurosequential Model of Therapy (NMT) describes a trauma-sensitive, sequential approach to changing the stress response within mental health counseling. …

The Association Between Adolescent Dating Violence And Internalizing Symptoms: Insecure Attachment As A Moderator, Jasmine Blake

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study examines whether insecure attachment styles moderate the relationship between adolescent dating violence (ADV) victimization and internalizing symptoms. It was hypothesized that an insecure attachment style would strengthen the existing relation between ADV victimization and internalizing symptoms. It was also hypothesized that this association would be stronger for girls than boys. One hundred and fifty-two adolescents participated in this study (M age = 15.61 years, SD = 1.086, 74.3% girls) and were asked to complete a survey that assessed ADV victimization, internalizing symptoms, and attachment style. Bivariate correlations did not reveal a significant associations between ADV victimization and …

Improving Depression Screening And Follow-Up Care In Underserved Populations, Alicia D. Hankins

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing DNP Capstone Projects

Depression is a substantial source of financial, emotional, and physical burdens to patients and their families worldwide. It also disproportionately affects economically disadvantaged populations. To combat the depression crisis, The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) published guidelines to boost depression screenings of all patients presenting for healthcare services. A review of literature and the completed needs assessment confirmed low rates of depression screening in the rural primary care sector. This project took place in an outpatient primary care facility in rural Arkansas, where current depression screening tools were not being used. The goal was to increase the percentage …

The Protective Influence Of Mindfulness Facets On The Relationship Between Negative Core Beliefs And Social Media Addiction Among Latinx College Students, Mariany Gainza Perez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Social media use has continued to rise over the last decade. This behavioral addiction shares essential components with substance addictions (e.g., mood modification, withdrawal). Dysfunctional core beliefs have recently been investigated in relation to Internet addiction and problematic Facebook use, but not with social media addiction specifically. Similarly, mindfulness-based interventions have been developed for various types of technology-related behavioral addictions, yet the relationship between dispositional mindfulness and social media addiction remains unexplored. This study investigated the relationships between these constructs among Latinx undergraduates within the context of social cognitive theory. Participants (n=386; 80.3% female) completed an online survey that assessed …

The Necessity Of Trauma-Focused Curricula In Mental Health Graduate Programs: Advocating For Comprehensive Trauma Etiology And Treatment Education With Proposed Course Outline, Aaron S. Gillespie

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

During the past four decades, it has become increasingly clear how prevalent trauma, polytrauma and co-morbid trauma-related disorders are within our shared, global communities. A growing body of research continues to uncover the mind-boggling impact these overwhelming experiences have on individuals, their families, and the communities that support them, including mental health professionals. It behooves us as allied mental healthcare providers to learn what trauma is, how it may affect the individual across the lifespan, as well as how to effectively identify and treat the trauma-related symptoms our clients present with. However, despite a proliferation of research demonstrating the growing …

The Relationship Of Minority Stress With The Mental Health Of Lgbtq College Students On A Christian Campus With Non-Affirming Policies, Ethan Nicholas Smetana

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

One foundational concept of the Minority Stress Model (Meyer, 2003) is that the stress is based on persisting social processes and structures. Consequently, research to further the available pool of empirical evidence on how institutions based in the dominant culture affect minorities is needed and valuable. This study seeks to examine the effects of dimensions of minority stress on the mental health outcomes of LGBTQ students at a Christian university with a non-affirming school policy. Further, this study is interested in how gratitude affects the impact that minority stress has on mental health as a potential protective factor. Participants were …

Psilocybin Psychotherapy With Acceptance And Commitment Therapy: A Potential Treatment For Social Anxiety Disorder, Elliot Sandberg

Honors Scholars Collaborative Projects

Individuals diagnosed with social anxiety disorder (SAD) require effective therapeutic interventions. Due to the nature of SAD, individuals tend to not seek care for their treatment, leading to the continuation of avoidance behaviors that significantly impact their daily existence. Psilocybin psychotherapy has the potential to lead to significant changes in the personality structure of individuals as well as reducing anxious responses to their environment in a relatively short period of time. Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) can serve as the ideal therapeutic backing to psilocybin as it emphasizes mindfulness and psychological flexibility, both of which aid in the therapeutic mechanisms …

Borderline Personality Symptoms And Relationship Threat: The Moderating Role Of Perceived Parental Rejection, Elsa Baumgartner

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) often perceive relationship threats more intensely, resulting in increased emotional reactivity. However, this link has never been examined with physiological measures in “real time,” nor have reports of perceived parental rejection ever been investigated as a potential moderator of this link. To fill this gap, the present study induced romantic relationship threat, after which participants completed an emotional reactivity task while electroencephalography data were recorded. Results reveal that higher levels of BPD features were associated with increased emotional reactivity, indicated by larger late positive potential (LPP) amplitudes, to negative stimuli in the face of …

Understanding Factors Associated With Clinician Confidence To Identify And Treat Ptsd And Complex Ptsd, Parad Meier

Counseling and Psychology Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This dissertation explores mental health clinicians’ experiences and self-identified confidence to identify and treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and Complex PTSD. PTSD is a highly prevalent mental health condition that impacts an estimated 24.4 million individuals in the United States (PTSD United, 2019). Complex PTSD has just emerged for the first time with official diagnostic criteria in the publication of the ICD-11 in 2019 for use beginning in January 2022 (WHO, 2019). There is very little existing research that considers the experience or confidence of clinicians who work with clients who have PTSD and Complex PTSD, which is troubling …

Reformation Within The Nation: Adapting The Nordic Rehabilitation And Reintegration Model To Positively Recondition The United States Criminal Justice System, Jessica Cornell

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

An analytical and statistical based comparison of criminal sentencing, incarceration, rehabilitation and reintegration in the United States of America to those of the five countries which follows those of the Nordic Criminal Justice System.

Examining The Relationship Between Therapists’ Attachment-Related Characteristics And The Process And Outcome Of Psychotherapy, Char M. Houben

Dissertations

Although psychotherapy researchers have gleaned greater understanding about how client attachment classifications influence the outcome of psychotherapy, relatively few studies have investigated therapists’ effects and have yielded inconclusive results (Steel et al., 2018). In the current study, we investigated how therapist attachment affects changes in the working alliance and client psychological distress over a course of psychotherapy treatment. We evaluated attachment in a sample of 23 therapist trainees from a university-based training clinic in the U.S. with the recently validated, transcript-based Therapist Attunement Scales (TASc; Talia & Muzi, 2017), which measures attunement by moment-to-moment discursive markers from a single psychotherapy …

Pornography: Social, Emotional And Mental Implications Among Adolescents, William K. Canady

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

This presentation will explain the historical development of pornography. It will highlight four segments: 1- Porn’s impact on brain development of reward pathways, ultimately increasing the appetite for more porn. 2- Porn can be a false substitute for real intimacy, resulting in decreased sexual satisfaction with a real person and increased verbal and physical aggression. 3- Porn promotes sex trafficking, promotes multiple sex partners and reduced STD prevention. 4- A review of interventions available to assist clients in navigating a lifestyle away from pornography.

Therapeutic Processes In Clinical Interventions : A View Of Qualitative Methodological Approaches, Jennifer Denis, Marc Tocquet, François Guillemette, Stephan Hendrick

The Qualitative Report

This article examines several qualitative methods to capture and analyze processes in therapeutic and clinical interventions. The study of therapeutic processes provides an understanding of what leads to changes in clinical interventions. This is a goal of any therapeutic intervention. This interest should allow us to try to identify what the therapists do and think they are doing, how they do it, how they think about their interventions, and what happens during the session that might explain changes. These types of studies require that researchers provide clarifications about their epistemological and methodological choices. To meet that requirement, we propose to …

Testing Barriers To Non-Suicidal Self-Injury With College Students: Narcissistic Traits As Moderators, Philip Stoner

Dissertations

Research on non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) has produced mixed findings, resulting in a lack of clarity regarding these behaviors (Klonsky & Meuhlenkamp, 2007). To address this, Hooley and Franklin (2018) developed the Benefits and Barriers Model (BBM) to provide a comprehensive understanding of NSSI, in which they identified the barriers that commonly prevent people from engaging in these behaviors (e.g., self-esteem, shame, and peer-bonding motivations/social norms). They also identified adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) as a distal predictor of NSSI, which aids people in overcoming the barriers to engaging in these behaviors. Recent NSSI literature has shown that college women in the …

The Gender Freedom Model: A Framework For Helping Transgender, Non-Binary, And Gender Questioning Clients Transition With More Ease, Rae Mcdaniel, Laurel Meng

Journal of Counseling Sexology & Sexual Wellness: Research, Practice, and Education

Transgender/non-binary experiences and identities are often represented in academic literature through narratives of distress and are often pathologized through a medical lens. This holds implications for the field of psychotherapy, as interventions aimed to support transgender/nonbinary individuals often focus solely on risk mitigation. This article presents a therapeutic framework that rests on three pillars—Play, Pleasure, and Possibility—as the focal points for reimagining work with transgender/non-binary clients. This model aims to help this population explore gender transition with more ease through building practical skills, cultivating personal and collective pride, and centering pleasure equity.

Exploring The Intersections Of Stigma And Masculinity In The Illness Perceptions Of Men Living With Fibromyalgia: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, Christine L. Motzny

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fibromyalgia is a musculoskeletal condition characterized by widespread pain, fatigue and cognitive problems. While it affects between 2-7% percent of the population in the United States, the biopsychosocial impacts of the disease on the lives of those affected are so substantial that it is considered to have one of the highest cost burdens comparative to other chronic pain conditions. Fibromyalgia has historically been deemed a contested illness due to the complexity of its presentation and lack of clear etiology. As a result, people with fibromyalgia often feel misunderstood and stigmatized. Like other pain conditions, fibromyalgia is more commonly diagnosed in …

Are You My Nurse? The Effects Of Patient-Delivered Gender Microaggressions On Women Trainees’ Clinical Work In Integrated Primary Care, Julia Ratchford Kauffmann

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Gender microaggressions are a form of sexist discrimination that have detrimental effects on women’s psychological well-being. Unfortunately, these sexist occurrences are commonplace in the United States and can be experienced in a variety of ways. As such, there is a need to understand behavioral health providers’ experiences with patient-delivered gender microaggressions. In doing so, we may be able to better support women behavioral health trainees’ during their clinical development by potentially understanding the ways in which women trainees are affected by sexist patient encounters. Therefore, the present study sought to apply the Social Cognitive Model of Counselor Training and the …

Humanitarian Workers' Perspectives On Mental Health And Resilience Of Refugee Youth: Implications For School Psychology, Diana Maria Diaków

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Almost half of the 79.5 million forcibly displaced persons worldwide are youth under the age of 18, including refugees. Refugee youth face deliberate threats across all migration stages including violence, abuse, exploitation, poor living conditions, limited or no access to healthcare and education, interrupted family structure, and discrimination. Noteworthy, school psychologists who practice in host countries face new challenges as these diverse youth enroll in public schools. During the migration stage, humanitarian workers are a primary source of psychosocial and educational support for refugee youth and their families. Therefore, the aim of this research study was to inform school psychology …