Clinical Psychology Commons^™

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.

Curb Your Heroism: How Larry David, An Old, Bald Misanthrope, Won The Hearts Of Millions, Scott T. Allison, James K. Beggan, Olivia Efthimiou

Heroism Science

For eleven television seasons, viewers of the series Curb Your Enthusiasm have been witness to a main character in Larry David who paradoxically displays attributes that are both endearing and revolting. This article offers an analysis of Larry David’s character with the goal of ascertaining his heroic nature, specifically focusing on whether he best meets the scientific criteria for a hero or for an antihero. Drawing from the literature of heroism science, we examine a large body of evidence from episodes of the series supporting arguments for both heroism and antiheroism in Larry’s character. Consistent with definitions of heroism, Larry …

Sexual Coercion, Unintended Pregnancy, And Poor Reproductive Health Among Adolescent Girls (Aged 13 - 19) In Mexico, Arun Kumar Acharya, Maria Luisa Martinez

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

In Mexico, nearly 23,000 adolescents between the ages of 12-17 years suffer sexual coercion every year. This group also has a high birth rate of 77/1,000 adolescents, which indicates that one in every five pregnant women is an adolescent. This study describes the sexual coercion of victims and their views regarding the experience based on data collected from 37 Mexican girls between the age of 13 to 19, selected purposively using the snowball method in Monterrey city, Mexico. Results indicate that sexual coercion among adolescents is a serious problem, where 70% of adolescents experienced vaginal sexual coercion, nearly 22% experienced …

Combined Effects Of Depression And Sport-Related Concussion On Neuropsychological Test Performance, Morgan Amanda Davies

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the ways in which the combination of depression and sport-related concussion (SRC) impact cognitive functioning and recovery time. Neuropsychological test-score differences between concussed athletes with and without pre-existing or post-concussive depression were examined. Participants included 2238 collegiate athletes who completed baseline testing between 2015 and 2019. Of those participants, 152 sustained concussions and were further investigated. The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) was used to screen for depression at both baseline and post-concussion. Total scores of 5 or greater on the PHQ-9 resulted in classification as depressed. Cognitive functioning …

Impact Of Covid-19 Pandemic On Women Interpersonal Violence Survivors, Melissa Fernandez

Theses and Dissertations

Women have a significant risk of experiencing interpersonal violence over the course of their lifetime. There has been some suggestion that this risk has been exacerbated by the isolation experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposed study will evaluate levels of stress associated with interpersonal violence during the COVID-19 pandemic. Depression, coronavirus anxiety, Posttraumatic symptoms, and COVID-19 stress levels will be evaluated. It is hypothesized that participants who experienced interpersonal violence (childhood abuse, physical assault, unwanted sexual experiences, and/or intimate partner violence) will endorse higher levels of COVID-19 stress, Posttraumatic symptoms, depression. These outcomes would be mediated by experiential avoidance. …

Differences In List Learning Performance On The Moca Wordlist And Shepherd Verbal Learning Test In Cognitively Normal, Mci, And Ad Individuals, Gabrielle Montgomery Gavitt

Theses and Dissertations

Title: Differences in List Learning Performance on the MoCA wordlist and Shepherd Verbal Learning Test in Cognitively Normal, MCI, and AD Individuals Author: Gabrielle Montgomery Gavitt, M.S. Major Advisor: Anthony LoGalbo, Ph.D. Objective: The present study examines performance on the MoCA wordlist and SVLT wordlist and their association with the outcomes of healthy, MCI, and AD in a memory disorder clinic sample and community sample. Method: Archival data form 125 Health First Memory Disorder Clinic patients was utilized. Data from a community sample of geriatric individuals was also utilized. Participants were included if they were administered both the MoCA and …

Comparison Of The Gad-7 And Impact Symptom Cluster Scores In Measuring Anxiety Among College Athletes, Robert Steven Cruz

Theses and Dissertations

Assessing the needs of mental health among college athletes is important given the prevalence rates, stigma, and complications that may arise after experiencing a concussion. Utilizing the General Anxiety Disorder- 7 (GAD-7) as an independent measure of anxiety at concussion baseline evaluation was explored among Division II collegiate athletes (n=568), which also included the Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing (ImPACT) symptom clusters. ImPACT symptom clusters can be divided into four cluster (affective, cognitive, physical/somatic, and sleep) encompassing a 22-item self-report questionnaire. Simple linear regressions revealed that GAD-7 total score was significantly predicted by all four ImPACT symptom clusters. The …

Marital Satisfaction, Parental Stress, & Perceived Social Support Of Mothers Of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders, Miriam Khiari Millan

Theses and Dissertations

The present study investigated the effects of both formal and informal social supports on mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder’s marital satisfaction and parental stress. To our knowledge, no other study has examined the relationship between various formal support types and marital satisfaction. This study aimed to fill this gap by examining the effects of both formal and informal social supports on mothers of children with ASD’s marital satisfaction and maternal stress. A sample of 151 mothers of children with ASD completed the online survey, assessing their use of formal and informal supports, their perceived effectiveness of said social …

A Case Report And Review: Charles Bonnet Syndrome Plus With Dementia, Sindhura Kompella, Shivani Kaushal, Sara A. Khan, Clara L. Alvarez Villalba

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

Introduction

Charles Bonnet Syndrome (CBS) refers to visual hallucinations in visually impaired patients without psychiatric illness who are typically aware that their hallucinations are not real. Rare cases in the literature describe patients with atypical CBS, or CBS plus, who experience hallucinations in the context of sensory deficits but do not meet all of the criteria of a CBS diagnosis. These cases may include hallucinations in more than one sensory modality, including auditory hallucinations, which are thought to arise by a similar pathophysiology to that of the visual hallucinations in CBS. Unfortunately, the clinical criteria for atypical CBS are ambiguous, …

Testing A Community Developed Training Protocol For An Evidence-Based Treatment, Lauren B. Quetsch, Amy D. Herschell, David Kolko, Brittany K. Liebsack, Regina A. Carroll

Psychological Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

The implementation of evidence-based treatments (EBTs) in community behavioral health settings is a recommended practice, yet training experienced by community-based clinicians may require novel and creative training methods. The current study focused on creating a training protocol for Alternative for Families: a Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy from both evidence-based foundations and community-based agency feedback to promote better EBT integration into agencies. Twenty-four clinicians from three agencies were trained using a community-informed training protocol. Outcomes for clinician-reports of organizational functioning, self-reports of skill and knowledge, and observational single-subject data of clinician skills were assessed. Minimal improvements were found for clinician skills across self-report …

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 …

Ethics In The Breakdown: Levinas, Winnicott, And Schizoid Phenomena, Matthew J. Devine

Middle Voices

This article addresses the common concern that Emmanuel Levinas’ ethics amounts to a life-denying, moral masochism. To the contrary, I demonstrate close resonances between Levinas’ project and that of the psychoanalyst D.W. Winnicott, for whom the purpose of therapy is to feel alive. In the first section, I trace the Levinasian subject’s coming to be out of the impersonal Il y a. Exploiting the object-relations undertones, I emphasize that the Levinasian subject comes to be as fastened, riveted, or bound to existence, and thereafter seeks to loosen its bond to its existence. In the second section, I discuss Winnicott’s …

Is Ego Strength A Trait That Contributes To Trauma Resilience?, Matt Hiltebrand,

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Given the ubiquitous experience of trauma among first responders, there is a critical need to understand the traits that contribute to resilience in experiencing traumatic events. Strength of identity is associated with resilience in several meaningful life events including negative peer review, adjustment to significant change, and recovering from depression or anxiety (Kim & Choi, 2013). There is a scarcity of research that has examined ego strength as a trait that contributes to trauma resilience. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between ego strength and the experience of trauma among veteran first responders (including, paramedics, firefighters, …

Post Traumatic Growth Amongst Australian Bravery Award Recipients, Tom Voigt, Joanne Williams, Catherine M. Bennett, Angela Dew, Susan Balandin

Heroism Science

This study explored aspects of Post Traumatic Growth (PTG) amongst Australian Bravery Award recipients exposed to serious or life-threatening trauma. PTG is the process whereby some people experience growth following traumatic experiences. Previous PTG research has focused on specific disasters, incidents or cohorts of survivors. We explored a range of incidents in both civilian and non-civilian award recipients. Sixty-five Australian Bravery Award recipients (37 civilian and 28 non-civilian) completed the Post Traumatic Growth Inventory and provided additional demographic information about their bravery incident. Results showed that civilians experienced significantly higher growth (mean PTG score = 49.7 than non-civilians (mean PTG …

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 …

Study Protocol: Cluster Randomized Trial Of Consultation Strategies For The Sustainment Of Mental Health Interventions In Under-Resourced Urban Schools: Rationale, Design, And Methods., Ricardo Eiraldi, Barry L. Mccurdy, Muniya S Khanna, Courtney Benjamin Wolk, Henry A Glick, Quinn A Rabenau-Mcdonnell, Rachel Comly, Laura E Rutherford, Jayme Banks, Steven A Rufe, Kristina M Popkin, Tara Wilson, Kathryn Henson, Abraham Wandersman, Abbas F Jawad

PCOM Scholarly Works

BACKGROUND: The school is a key setting for the provision of mental health services to children, particularly those underserved through traditional service delivery systems. School-wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a tiered approach to service delivery based on the public health model that schools use to implement universal (Tier 1) supports to improve school climate and safety. As our prior research has demonstrated, PBIS is a useful vehicle for implementing mental and behavioral health evidence-based practices (EBPs) at Tier 2 for children with, or at risk for, mental health disorders. Very little research has been conducted regarding the …

Mental Construal And Alterations In Emotional Memory, Olivia D. Beers

Dissertations

Psychological distancing refers to a shift from a psychologically immersed perspective that involves thinking about the details of an event (concretely) or stepping back from it and watching the event from an outside point of view (abstractly)––this can help individuals change how they feel about the experience. Investigating how construal levels affect emotional memories may provide more insight into how individuals may potentially alter the recall of their memories. The current study reflects a new examination of the effect of primed high and low construal levels on the recall of positive and negative arousing stimuli. This study included a pilot …

Reducing Fear Overgeneralization With Safety Learning: Attention Bias As A Moderator, Boyang Fan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent mental health condition and affect one out of nine individuals around the world. Fear generalization is a neurocognitive mechanism thought to maintain and exacerbate anxiety, and thus is an important target of therapeutic interventions. Yet, intervention research and practice place relatively little emphasis on its importance. Given that a significant proportion of individuals do not respond to extant treatments of anxiety disorders, a strengthened focus on fear generalization may inform the development and personalization of new treatment approaches. Recent notions have linked fear generalization to failures in distinguishing between signals that predict the occurrence …

"A Fallen Woman": The Use Of Metaphor In Psychoanalysis, Matthew Schneider

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study sought to understand the use of a central metaphor in a psychoanalytic treatment and its relationship to the process of change for the analysand. In linguistics, a metaphor is a word, phrase or idea that stands in for another idea. In psychoanalysis the relationship between conscious and unconscious conflictual material can share similar metaphorical connections as conscious thoughts or behavior often stands in for an unconscious wishes. The presence of a word or phrase that appears in speech in the context of particular affective moments in an analysand’s experience could be understood to be linked to unconscious processes …

Effects Of Cumulative Trauma, Discrimination, And Racial Trauma Among African Americans, Brittany Renee Clayton

Theses and Dissertations

In the current study, we examined the impact of cumulative trauma, racial trauma, and everyday discrimination experiences within the African American community on psychological outcomes. One hundred and nineteen participants completed a series of self-report measures that analyzed their experiences of lifetime stressors, racial trauma, frequency of everyday discrimination, current posttraumatic stress disorder, depressive symptoms, and experiential avoidance levels. It was hypothesized that increased exposure to lifetime stressors, racial trauma events or experiences, and everyday discrimination would be associated with increased psychological distress. Correlations were conducted to identify and examine these relationships. This hypothesis was supported for lifetime stressor exposure …