Clinical Psychology Commons^™

Big Five Personality Traits, Pathological Personality Traits, And Psychological Dysregulation: Predicting Aggression And Antisocial Behaviors In Detained Adolescents, Katherine S. L. Lau

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This study tested the utility of three different models of personality, namely the social and personality model, the pathological personality traits model, and the psychological dysregulation model, in predicting overt aggression, relational aggression, and delinquency in a sample of detained boys (ages 12 to 18; M age = 15.31; SD = 1.16). Results indicated that the three personality approaches demonstrated different unique associations with aggression and delinquency. The psychological dysregulation approach, composed of behavioral dysregulation, emotional dysregulation, and cognitive dysregulation, emerged as the overall best predictor of overt aggression, relational aggression, and delinquency. After controlling for the Big Five personality …

The Effectiveness Of Educational Interventions In Reducing Negative Attitudes And Stigmatisation Toward Patients With Anorexia Nervosa, Amy Bannatyne, Peta Stapleton

Peta B. Stapleton

It is frequently reported that clinicians across a range of professional disciplines experience strong negative reactions toward patients with eating disorders, particularly anorexia nervosa (AN). As research consistently demonstrates fear of stigma is the most frequently cited reason explaining why individuals with mental illness do not seek treatment, the current study aimed to develop, evaluate and compare the effectiveness of two differing educational interventions, based on an etiological framing model, against a wait-list control. Participants were fourth-year medicine students randomly assigned to one of three conditions. A three-hour educational workshop was delivered to participants at the beginning of an eight-week …

Randomized Clinical Trial Examining Duration Of Voucher-Based Reinforcement Therapy For Cocaine Abstinence., Kimberly C Kirby, Carolyn M Carpenedo, Karen L Dugosh, Beth J Rosenwasser, Lois A Benishek, Alicia Janik, Rachel Keashen, Elena Bresani, Kenneth Silverman

Faculty Scholarship for the College of Science & Mathematics

BACKGROUND: This is the first study to systematically manipulate duration of voucher-based reinforcement therapy (VBRT) to see if extending the duration increases abstinence during and following VBRT.

METHODS: We randomized cocaine-dependent methadone-maintained adults to Standard (12 weeks; n=62) or Extended (36 weeks; n=68) VBRT and provided escalating voucher amounts contingent upon urinalysis verification of cocaine abstinence. Urinalysis was scheduled at least every 2 weeks during the 48-week study and more frequently during VBRT (3/week) and 12 weeks of Aftercare (2/week).

RESULTS: Extended VBRT produced longer durations of continuous cocaine abstinence during weeks 1-24 (5.7 vs 2.7 weeks; p=0.003) and proportionally …

Modeling The Influence Of Childhood Trauma On Rate Of Symptom Change Among Psychiatric Inpatients, Alessandro T. Piselli

Open Access Dissertations

Clinical wisdom suggests that adults with histories of childhood trauma will have difficulty engaging in psychotherapy. I examined the relationship between early childhood trauma and treatment response in the form of rate of symptom decline among a group of 202 adults recruited into the longitudinal Austen Riggs Center Follow-Along Study. Participants were recruited at admission to the hospital and provided extensive demographic and clinical data at baseline, including retrospective recall of childhood traumatic experiences using the Traumatic Antecedents Interview (TAI) and narrative responses to the Relationship Anecdote Paradigm (RAP) used to generate ratings on the Social Cognition and Object Relations …

16. Child Witnesses And Imagination: Lying, Hypothetical Reasoning, And Referential Ambiguity., Thomas D. Lyon

Thomas D. Lyon

The Effectiveness Of Gain- Versus Loss-Framed Advertisements To Minimize Hazardous Drinking Among University Students: A Test Of Regulatory Fit, Barlas Gunay

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

University binge drinking is a concern. Traditionally, social norms marketing campaigns have been employed. Regulatory focus theory – based on the premise that behavior is driven either by the motivation to maximize gains (promotion) or to minimize losses (prevention) – offers an alternative approach to crafting persuasive appeals in this population. This study investigated the effectiveness of gain-framed versus loss-framed advertisements in lowering drinking intentions in a university sample. It further explored whether the effects were moderated by regulatory focus – primed and dispositional – and trait reactance. Online surveys were completed by 208 Introductory Psychology students (51.7% female, mean …

Treatment Of Psychiatric Inpatients With Relationship Dysfunction Using A Short Term Cognitive Interpersonal Intervention: A Pilot Study, Tamra Rasberry

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Relationship conflict for the psychiatric patient can have significant detrimental effects. There are specific types of interactions that can increase conflict and predict the potential for relapse; these have been identified by research and designated as components of Expressed Emotion (EE). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Interpersonal Therapy (IPT) have been very effective when targeting specific psychiatric diagnoses, but less effective when addressing relationship conflict. The majority of studies addressing relationship conflict have taken place in an outpatient, long-term setting. There is limited research that utilizes an inpatient short-term intensive therapy with relationship conflict as its sole focus, targeting areas …

Cognitive, Affective And Social Processes Involved In Help-Negation After Critical Suicidal Thoughts, Coralie Wilson

Coralie J Wilson

Help-negation is defined as the process of help withdrawal or avoidance found among those currently experiencing clinical and subclinical levels of different forms of psychological distress, including low and critical levels of suicidal ideation (Wilson, Bushnell, Caputi, 2011). Understanding the determinants of help-negation in suicidal samples that have not yet come to treatment provides a potent opportunity to target prevention and early intervention strategies to facilitate appropriate and timely help-seeking. Over 20 help-negation studies have ruled out variables that might explain the withdrawal process associated with suicidal thoughts. These results now point to biological and neurological underpinnings working together with …

Preventing Help-Negation For Suicidal Ideation: Implications For Social Network Size And Frequency Of Social Interaction, Coralie J. Wilson

Coralie J Wilson

Help-negation is seen when the severity of an individual’s suicidal ideation increases and they become less likely to seek help as a result of their condition. Research has implicated distorted affect regulation and perceptual processes related to social support in the development of help-negation among suicidal individuals (Wilson et al., 2013). Future research needs to focus on psycho-social factors that can be linked to neurological processes that differentiate suicidal individuals from controls and are directly implicated in the help-negation processes associated with suicidal ideation. As suicidal individuals have interpersonal needs rejected they may cease to seek or accept help. The …

Role Of Assertiveness In Telephone Crisis Supporter Well-Being And Service Provision, Coralie J. Wilson

Coralie J Wilson

Help-negation (reluctance to seek help as distress levels increase) occurs among Telephone Crisis Supporters (TCSs) who are exposed to suicidal, depressed and anxious callers, and impacts both personal wellbeing and TCSs intention to use recommended skills with callers (Kitchingman, Wilson, Caputi, Woodward, 2013). Assertiveness is a key clinical skill that facilitates the capacity to effectively and confidently deliver telephone crisis support. Due to the highly specific nature of the telephone counselling context, TCSs face challenges in communicating assertively and establishing of boundaries which are important in effective service provision and the maintenance of counsellor-wellbeing. This paper presents results of two …

Help-Negation Among Telephone Crisis Support Workers: Impact On Personal Wellbeing And Worker Performance, Coralie J. Wilson

Coralie J Wilson

Telephone crisis supporters (TCSs) provide front line mental health support to callers in crisis. TCSs often support callers with suicidal thoughts, depression and anxiety, and the caller’s experience of the call will influence whether they will seek help from a crisis support service in the future. Despite their important role, little information on TCSs’ mental health and help-seeking behaviour exists – a structured literature search returned only 2 studies. This paper presents the results of the first study in a national research program that is aiming to inform the future training, preparation, supervision, and support of frontline health professionals who …

Emotion Socialization And Ethnicity: An Examination Of Practices And Outcomes In African American, Asian American, And Latin American Families, Diana M. Morelen, Kristel Thomassin

Diana M. Morelen

Motivational Interviewing Assessment And Behavior Therapy As A Stepped-Care Approach To The Treatment Of Adolescent Depression, Tanya N. Douleh

Dissertations

Depression is a significant public health concern with a lifetime prevalence of 24.01 for adolescents in grades 9-12 (Lewinsohn, Hops, Roberts, Seeley, & Andrews, 1993) and a point prevalence of 4-6% (Kessler, Avenevoli, & Ries, 2001). The risks associated with adolescent onset depression include comorbidity, depressive episodes continuing into adulthood, and suicidality. These risks make it imperative to develop effective treatments to address adolescent depression. Stepped care is an approach to treatment which involves treatment of illness using the least invasive measures first and moving toward more invasive treatment as indicated by ongoing assessment. Through a single-participant design, the current …

Does Emotion Invalidation Cause Emotion Dysregulation? Evidence From A Healthy Sample Of College Students And Implications For The Development Of Borderline Personality Disorder, Melissa Jean Zielinski

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Linehan's BioSocial theory is a widely accepted model of the development of borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, the tenet that experiences of invalidation causally influence the development of the emotion dysregulation that characterizes BPD has been subject to relatively little empirical attention. The purpose of this study thus was to experimentally investigate the effects of validation and invalidation on indices of emotion dysregulation including self-invalidation, distress tolerance, and Social problem solving. The current study used a laboratory-based emotion induction procedure in which ninety college students participated in validating or invalidating conversations about emotional events with a peer confederate. Contrary to …

Research Brief: "Combat Exposure And Suicide Risk In Two Samples Of Military Personnel", Institute For Veterans And Military Families At Syracuse University

Institute for Veterans and Military Families

This brief is about the relationship between suicide risk and combat exposure among veterans who are receiving mental health care and those not receiving mental health care. For policy and practice, veterans who are not receiving mental health care should be monitored for depression and PTSD; mental health professionals should understand the relationship between risk factors and suicide, and the VHA should encourage post-9/11 veterans to use their mental health care benefits provided to them by the VA. Suggestions for future research include using a more representative sample, analyzing the sample over time, and relying on methods other than self-reporting.

The Ticking Of The “Biological Clock”: Worry About Future Fertility In Nulliparous Women, Karen E. Kersting

Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Title: The Ticking of the “Biological Clock”: Worry about Future Fertility in Nulliparous Women

By: Karen Kersting, M.A., M.S.

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Virginia Commonwealth University, 2013.

Major Director: Kathleen M. Ingram, J.D., Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Psychology

Department of Psychology

Modern women are waiting until later in their lives to have children than women of previous generations, a trend influenced by a number of factors including financial stability, dating norms, and career goals and responsibilities. As women age, their fertility may decline …

A Brief Motivational Intervention For Heavy Alcohol Use In Dental Practice Settings: Rationale And Development, James A. Neff, Scott T. Walters, Abby L. Braitman, Michelle L. Kelley, Michele L. Darby, Margaret F. Lemaster

Psychology Faculty Publications

Although brief alcohol interventions have proven effective in a variety of health care settings, the present article describes the development of the first brief intervention for heavy drinkers in dental practice. Elements of motivational interviewing and personalized normative feedback were incorporated in a 3- to 5-minute intervention delivered by dental hygienists. The intervention is guided by a one-page feedback report providing personalized normative feedback regarding the patient's current oral health practices, their drinking in comparison to others, and oral cancer risk associated with current smoking and drinking. Future publications will present data regarding intervention effectiveness from an ongoing randomized trial.

My Journey From Physician To Psychologist: Relational Touch In Psychotherapy, Brita S. Reed

Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses

A physician's armamentarium includes the presence of the tool of touch which is used not only to diagnose and to heal, but also to reassure patients that they are safe and well cared for in the hands of the physician. The use of touch in the practice of psychology, however, is relatively proscribed. In this essay, I examine how we, as psychologists, can best "hold" our clients without the use of touch. In the first part of this essay, I explore some theoretical considerations on relational touch in psychotherapy. I define relational touch as touch that occurs between people and …

Expression Of Borderline Personality Disorder Symptoms Across The Ovulatory Cycle: A Multilevel Investigation, Tory A. Eisenlohr-Moul

Theses and Dissertations--Psychology

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a disabling condition characterized by chronic emotion dysregulation and behavioral impulsivity. Prospective studies that test proposed mechanisms of within-person change in BPD hold the key to improving symptom predictability and control in this disorder. A small body of evidence suggests that fluctuations in estradiol such as those occurring naturally at ovulation during the monthly female reproductive cycle may increase symptoms in women with BPD (DeSoto et al., 2003). Furthermore, there is preliminary evidence that both self-esteem and feelings of social rejection are highest at ovulation, when estradiol peaks (Durante and Hill, 2009; Eisenlohr-Moul et al., …

The Role Of Acquired Capability As A Differentially-Specific Risk Factor For Disordered Eating And Problematic Alcohol Use In Female College Students: A Measure Development And Validation Study, Christa D. Labouliere

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Traditional college students are members of an age bracket noted for high levels of risky behavior, and research has shown that certain risky behaviors, such as disordered eating and problematic alcohol use, are particularly common among undergraduates. It is well established that certain events in the learning history predispose vulnerable persons to engage in maladaptive risky behaviors. What is less clear is why some persons facing these events go on to develop maladaptive behavior while others do not, or why people facing similar events develop different varieties of maladaptive behaviors. Current research has focused extensively on risk factors that are …

28. Right And Righteous: Children's Incipient Understanding Of True And False Statements, Thomas D. Lyon, Jodi A. Quas, Nathalie Carrick

Thomas D. Lyon

6. Lyon, T. D. (2005). Ten Step Investigative Interview. [Spanish Version]., Thomas D. Lyon

Thomas D. Lyon

No abstract provided.