The Coronavirus (COVID-19) has markedly altered the landscape of mental health care in the United States. Since the start of the pandemic, a large proportion of therapeutic services have moved online, facilitating treatment at a time when in-person services are less accessible but mental health needs are growing, in no small part due to the widespread effects of the pandemic, …
Is discrimination a risk factor for eating disorders?
When we think of eating disorders, we often picture a very thin, white woman. Consistently, this is how eating disorders are often portrayed in the media. However, diverse groups of people experience eating disorders, and there is growing evidence that eating disorders and associated thoughts and behaviors might be more prominent in minoritized individuals—including racial and ethnic minorities, sexual and …
Being a Black Clinician During Dual Pandemics: A Trainee Perspective
To say that 2020 has been a “hard” year is almost facetious. The truth of the matter is, for many people 2020 has been a series of struggles at the hands of two pandemics, one that was novel and the other that was not. In being frank, 2020 was arguably disproportionately more difficult for Black people than any other group. …
What does it take to increase our resilience?
Whether striving for personal growth or seeking ways to overcome difficult challenges and adversities, resilience has become an ideological goal pursued by many. There is an abundance of research on what defines resilience (e.g., bouncing back from adversity to positive indicators of functioning; Southwick et al., 2014), the indicators of resilience (e.g., traits, characteristics, and resources; Luthar et al., 2000), …
Can Happiness Make Us Healthier? Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial
Being healthy is good for happiness, but does happiness also lead to better health? Correlational research shows that people with more positive emotional styles are three times less likely to develop symptoms of a cold or flu after deliberately being exposed to the rhino or influenza virus (Cohen, Alper, Doyle, Treanor, & Turner, 2006). And in a famous longitudinal study, …
Using Augmented Reality for the Treatment of Substance Use Disorders
When a patient is undergoing treatment for a substance use disorder (SUD), one of the greatest risks for relapse is encountering the drug itself, or, something that reminds the patient of using the drug (i.e., a “trigger” for use). For example, let’s say an individual who recently quit smoking cigarettes sits down at a table outside of a coffee shop …
Importance of Addressing Internalized Racism in Clinical Practice (SCP Diversity Committee)
Racism against Black Americans has a long history in the United States, but it is getting worldwide attention due to recent tragedies, including the death of George Floyd at the hands of the police. Psychologists, businesses, and the government have all responded to the current movement to address racism. The public responses have been focused on overt racism that is …
Reflecting on the Effectiveness of Reflective Practice
Self-knowledge is highly valued in contemporary society; one needs only to browse the psychology or self-help sections in any bookstore to be confronted with a gamut of books touting the need for self-reflection as a means of better understanding one’s thoughts and actions. Similarly, in modern clinical psychology, the importance of self-reflection is promulgated in an overarching approach to clinical …
How do we know when posttraumatic stress disorder is getting better?
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) causes a great deal of mental and physical distress, and can significantly reduce a person’s quality of life. There are a number of effective treatments for PTSD that are available, but many people do not make meaningful improvements and are left with residual symptoms that cause persisting problems (Koek et al., 2016; Larsen, Fleming, & Resick, …
What does Distress Tolerance have to do with Depression? A Review
Distress tolerance is often conceptualized as one’s ability to tolerate and withstand negative or uncomfortable emotional states. Distress tolerance was initially studied primarily in relation to risky or dangerous behaviors like smoking and nonsuicidal self-injury. However, with continued research, distress tolerance has emerged as a transdiagnostic risk factor for psychopathology (Leyro et al. 2010) and is being increasingly recognized for …
Why Reporting Harms Matters
What is the public health significance of this article? Clinical practice guidelines are increasingly important in healthcare. However, in order to maximize their use in informed decision making as part of care, it is critical to have an understanding of the potential harms and burdens of treatments in addition to the potential benefits. Currently, there is a paucity of data …
Loneliness and psychosis in clinical practice
In practice, clinical psychologists typically focus on diagnosing and treating specific mental health conditions. As a consequence, the social needs and priorities of clients have often been down-played or treated as secondary considerations. However, this approach is rapidly changing as accumulating evidence shows that loneliness—the distressing feeling that our social relationships are not meeting our needs – has substantial negative …
Internalized Racism and Mental Health
A recent article out now by Sosoo, Bernard, and Neblett (2019) titled “the influence of internalized racism on the relationship between discrimination and anxiety” shows that different types of race-related stress, particularly racial discrimination and internalized racism, may combine to adversely impact mental health over time. Specifically, in their study, Sosoo and colleagues found that Black participants who endorsed greater …
When patients overreport symptoms: More than just malingering
Every clinician is familiar with patients who describe their complaints in a way that raises concerns as to the plausibility of their symptom reports. In these patients, the frequency (‘I have panic attacks every hour’), intensity (‘my pain is always 10 on the 0-10 numerical pain rating scale’), and/or co-occurrence (‘I have panic attacks, experience pain, hear voices, and suffer …
Covid-19 Telehealth Publications
Covid-19 Psychology Resources: SCP is compiling a list of publications relevant to tele-psychology on a new page called Covid-19 Telehealth Pubs. Several entities are sharing resources relevant to this crisis and we decided that our contribution would be to compile recent publications on the application of tele-health to evidence-based psychotherapy. To continue to develop this list, we hope to crowdsource …
Training therapists in evidence-based mental health interventions: What works and what holds promise for the future?
“Jenna” was an adolescent who presented for treatment at a specialty clinic after having been in therapy for several years. During that time, she had been having several panic attacks per day and met criteria for multiple anxiety disorders. She had dropped out of school, had increasing depression symptoms, and had been hospitalized several times for suicidality. By the time …
When and How Video Games Can Be Good
It is commonly believed that video games are inherently unhealthy for individuals and for society as a whole. For example, a recent statement from the US President linked video gaming to extreme violence and mass shootings in the United States: “We must stop the glorification of violence in our society. This includes the gruesome and grisly video games that are …
Anxiety Treatments on Repetitive Negative Thinking
A client presents with problems of anxiety. Most distressing to the client is his excessive worry about a number of things that he finds difficult to control and is negatively affecting his life. Using current classification systems like the DSM, we may initially conclude that this presentation can best be described as generalised anxiety disorder (GAD). We know there is …
Technology and the future of cognitive-behavioral interventions
Our field has accumulated a lot of empirical support for the use of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in treating a wide range of mental and behavioral health problems. However, these gold-standard CBT treatments remain extremely difficult to access, leaving wide gaps between those who need psychological care and those who actually receive it (Wang et al., 2005). Technology offers exciting …
Ideological Bias in Social Sciences and Implications for Clinical Practice
Over the decades, the American Psychological Association (APA) and other professional psychology organizations have provided considerable leadership towards the advocacy of equality. This commitment has undergirded the call for multicultural competency and humility in professional clinical practice and research and across a range of individual and group differences. While clinical psychologists are called to multicultural competency and humility—via education, training, …
Prescriptive Authority for Clinical Psychologists
Prescriptive authority for psychologists has been hotly debated for decades, with literature identifying various stakeholder opinions, but minimal scholarship addressing training or outcomes (Heiby, 2010; Muse & McGrath, 2010; Robiner et al., 2003). Robiner, Tompkins, and Hathaway summarize training programs of various health professions that prescribe for mental health patients. Their study compares the training for psychologists to prescribe to …
Telehealth is Gaining Traction, but do Mental Health Providers Like It?
It is hard to ignore the growing interest in telemental health care provided via videoconferencing (TMH-V). Similar to Skype or Facetime, TMH-V allows providers to deliver psychotherapy, medication management, or assessment to clinics without on-site mental health services or directly to patients’ homes. TMH-V can increase access to mental health care for a wide variety of patients, including those who: …
Getting Better Outcomes from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Treatments
Several effective treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) exist, yet nearly half of patients continue to have significant symptomatology after receiving them (e.g., Foa et al., 2018). Augmentation is a way of improving outcomes from standard treatments by adding something before, during, or after standard treatment. Augmentation can work in lots of different ways, and might mean faster or greater …
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Youth Anxiety: An Overview and Future Directions
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), deemed a “well-established” intervention for the treatment of child and adolescent anxiety (Hollon & Beck, 2013), typically addresses anxiety using a two-pronged approach. In the first half of treatment, children and adolescents (referred to throughout as youth) are taught a series of coping skills to “fight the worry monster.” For example, during cognitive restructuring sessions, youth …
Making Meaning of Mixed Evidential Value for Research on Empirically Supported Treatments (ESTs)
During the 1970’s, psychological researchers began using randomized controlled trials–just like in medicine–in order to scientifically evaluate the effectiveness of different kinds of psychotherapies. Some time later, after a critical mass of controlled psychotherapy trials were published, a Task Force from APA Division 12 synthesized this literature. Division 12 produced a continually updated list of therapies that appeared to have …
Keeping Culture in Mind: Mentalizing from a Cross-Cultural Perspective
Mentalizing is the psychological capacity to reflect and understand behavior in terms of internal mental states, such as thoughts, feelings, and intentions (Fonagy, Gergely, Jurist, & Target, 2002). A rapidly growing body of empirical evidence supports the notion that deficient mentalizing is a psychological mechanism underlying various psychopathologies (Katznelson, 2014); likewise, the promotion of mentalizing is seen as a common …
Meta-analysis of Life Review Therapy RCTs for Treating Depressive Symptoms in Older Adults
Joyce is a woman of 63 years. Like almost one in five older adults, she struggles with feelings of depression. In her case, important life events seem to be related to these depressive feelings, as she recently retired and also lost her husband just two years ago. In her own words, she feels that life is meaningless: “I believe I …
Quantity of Teen Technology Use Not Harming Mental Health
Parents and the public are increasingly concerned that adolescents’ rapid adoption of the smartphone and other modern technologies is harming their mental health, and it is not uncommon for them to ask clinical psychologists and other mental health practitioners for guidance. Unfortunately, much of the research in this domain has yielded mixed results, which makes it difficult to offer concrete, …
The Significance of LGB-Affirmative Training and Supervision in Improving Clinical Outcomes of LGB Clients
It is becoming increasingly common for psychologists to have clients who identify as LGB. Murphy, Rawlings, and Howe (2002) found “Fifty-six percent of participants had seen at least one LGB client in the past week. Among these participants, the mean percentage of LGB clients was 12%” (p. 185). LGB affirmative practice is highly essential for clinicians due to health disparities …
Toward a Positive Psychology of Immigrants
For the past 60 years, psychological research as a whole has been dominated by the deficit model of psychopathology that centers on disorder, damage, and mental illness. Thus, the focus of psychology has been mostly on what goes wrongwith individuals rather than on what goes rightwith them, especially among minority populations such as immigrants. Indeed, the vast majority of immigration-focused …
We Asked, They Answered: Feedback on the Internship Application Process Directly from Internship Training Directors
This is a student blog piece written by Natalie Hong, a rising fourth year doctoral student in the Clinical Science Ph.D. program at Florida International University. The internship application, interview, and match process is arguably one of the most highly anticipated, dreaded, and exciting experiences of graduate school for students studying clinical psychology. As such, many resources are available to …
The Relationship between Gender Affirming Medical Interventions and Social Anxiety Among Transgender or Gender Non-Conforming Individuals
Gender affirming medical interventions (GAMI) are interventions that some, but not all, transgender or gender non-conforming (TGNC) individuals seek in order to bring their primary and secondary sex characteristics in line with their own affirmed gender. These interventions can include hormone treatments, genital surgery, chest surgery, hair removal, tracheal shave or speech therapy. There are a variety of reasons why …
Empathy in Computer-Mediated Interactions
Numerous studies support the effectiveness of online therapy (Backhaus et al., 2012; Bee et al., 2008), but little research has been conducted to determine whether computer-mediated communication (CMC) could impact crucial relational aspects of psychotherapy such as empathy (Terry & Cain, 2016). Empathy relates to our capacity to understand and, to some extent, feel what other individuals feel without experiencing …
Wearable devices as adjuncts in treating anxiety: Weighing up the benefits and risks
Technological developments in e-mental health represent an exciting new frontier for psychologists. While these developments bring opportunities, they also pose numerous challenges. The rise of mental health technologies targeted directly at consumers is at risk of becoming a growing pipeline of alternative treatments with little or no supporting evidence. In recent years, this issue has been well examined in relation …
Violent offender treatment effectiveness: What we know and where to from here?
This SCP Blog piece by Drs Papalia, Spivak, Daffern, and Ogloff discusses a recent meta-analytic review of psychological treatments for violent offenders published in Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice. Worldwide, violence is a significant public health problem in terms of its effects on victims, the quality of life for offenders, and the economic burden on correctional services, the health sector, …
Prioritizing Mental Health on College Campuses
Increasingly, there is greater awareness that college students have high levels of clinically significant emotional problems, and despite a broad consensus about the need to clarify the scope of the problem and develop actionable solutions, our understanding of college student mental health remains limited. Toward addressing this gap, the WHO World Mental Health International College Student Initiative(WMH-ICS) has sought to: …
Branching out: Religion-based mental health promotion
This student blog post by Bridgett R. Boxley from the College of Juvenile Justice and Psychology School, Prairie View A&M University addresses mental health promotion among faith communities. A variety of health disparities are evident in many communities. This includes general medical and mental health treatment underutilization and disproportionate rates of illness. Some of the variance seen is best explained by …
Realizing the Promise: Strategic Dissemination and Implementation of CBT in Public and Private Health Care Systems
Although considered the gold standard psychological treatment for many mental and behavioral health conditions, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) continues to be delivered at rates far below what research and expert recommendations suggest. Indeed, recent estimates suggest that as few as 5 percent of individuals with depression or anxiety receive CBT or other evidence-based psychotherapy (EBP). Despite the enduring under-use of …
Your Role in Addressing the Opioid Crisis
Opioid misuse has drastically increased in the U.S. since the late 1990s, resulting in a devastating public health impact on communities and families. Opioid overdose fatalities continue to rise, and almost 12 million people misused prescription or illicit opioids in 2016. Given its widespread impact, adequate response to the opioid crisis will require involvement of the entire health care community. …
It’s Time for a Change in How We Design, Develop, Test and Disseminate Empirically Supported Treatments
There is nothing short of a changing of the guard occurring in the United States healthcare system, writ large, including the mental health system. While resources for traditional mental health services have been shrinking steadily over the last three decades, resources for mental health services delivered in public health contexts, such as primary care, are expanding. The new, much heralded …
Identifying Mechanisms of Change in Clinical Supervision
This is a Section 10 Student Blog Post on identifying mechanisms of change in clinical supervision written by Lucas Zullo, a fourth year doctoral student in Clinical Psychology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and his clinical supervisor, Dr. Mona Robbins. When attending national academic conferences in psychology, it is hard not to hear mention of mechanisms of …
Mental health apps: The importance of evidence for publicly available apps
Search for “mental health”, “stress”, “depression” or “anxiety” on the iOS or Android app stores and you’re confronted with a bewildering array of choices. While many of the apps appear well made, trustworthy, and are supported by positive user reviews, the vast majority of these have not been scientifically tested. Some may use evidence-based techniques and models, often drawn from …
Secure Your Own Mask Before Assisting Others
This is a student blog piece written by Natalie Hong, a third year doctoral student in the Clinical Science Ph.D. program at Florida International University. Beginning and maintaining my graduate career in clinical psychology has challenged me in countless ways: I moved away from “home” for the first time, to a state where I knew no one; I began to receive …
The Impact of Immigration Policy on Latino Families: A Call to Action for Psychologists
Under the current administration, the past year has seen dramatic shifts in immigration policy, including increased immigration enforcement, travel bans targeting primarily Muslim countries, the termination of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, and the rescission of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Salvadorans, Haitians, and Nepalese (The White House, 2017). Although some of these policies are being litigated, …
Diversity in Mental Health Treatment: Section Student 10 Blog
This Section 10 Student Blog piece by Bridgett Boxley discusses the important issue of diversity in mental health treatment. It is a widely accepted concept in social and clinical psychology that self-identification begins with acceptance and exclamation of one’s chosen identity. How an individual arrives at this stage of wholeness is complex for multiple reasons. For example, the individual must …
SMALL ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN FREQUENT CANNABIS USE AND COGNITIVE DYSFUNCTION IN YOUTH APPEAR TO WANE AFTER BRIEF ABSTINENCE: RESULTS FROM A META-ANALYSIS
This SCP Blog by Dr. J. Cobb Scott discusses a recent meta-analysis published in JAMA Psychiatry that addressed the association between cannabis use and cognitive functioning in adolescents and young adults. The US has experienced substantial shifts in policy and perception regarding cannabis, or marijuana, use over the past decade.As of 2018, cannabis has been legalized for adult recreational use in 9 …
Emotional Support Animals: Considering the Ramifications
This SCP Student Blog post by Adam Duberstein discusses the role of emotional support animals in clinical psychology. Within days after receiving my master’s-level license to practice psychotherapy in Michigan, two acquaintances asked me to write them letters which they could use in order to obtain an emotional support animal (ESA). ESAs are quite different from service animals, which perform specific …
Dissemination before evidence? What are the driving forces behind the dissemination of mindfulness-based interventions?
During the past decades there has been a rapidly growing interest in mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) like MBSR or MBCT. Although a number of clinical trials on MBIs have been conducted, the evidence base for MBIs is promising but still limited. Nevertheless, a rapid dissemination of MBIs has taken place and it can be argued that, in the case of MBIs, …
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Outcomes in Anxiety: We’re Halfway There
This SCP Blog piece by Drs. Levy, Springer, and Tolin discuss a recent meta-analytic review of remission in CBT for anxiety disorders published in Clinical Psychology Review. The efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxiety disorders is well established, at least in terms of pre- to post-treatment reductions in anxiety severity. CBT generally outperforms waitlist controls, placebo controls, other psychological treatments …
Rethinking the sufficient dose needed for PTSD treatment
This SCP blog by Drs. Denise Sloan and Brian Marx discusses findings from a recent study published in JAMA Psychiatry that compares the effectiveness of a brief exposure-based therapy for PTSD with Cognitive Processing Therapy with implications for finding the ‘right treatment dose’ for reducing symptoms. Despite significant advances in the treatment of PTSD a number of challenges remain. One …
Q&A: Technology Use in Mental Health Practice and Research
This blog piece is a Q&A with Dr. Samuel Lustgarten on a recent article in Clinical Psychology: Science & Practice: “Technology use in mental health practice and research: Legal and ethical risks” (Lustgarten & Elhai, 2018) What legal and ethical risks do you think would be most surprising to the average psychologist in clinical practice? When I talk with other …
The Role of Lay Health Workers to Address Disparities in Access to Evidence-Based Practices Domestically and Globally
This SCP blog piece by Dr. Miya Barnett discusses a recent article published in the Annual Review of Clinical Psychology on the role of lay health workers in addressing disparities in access to evidence-based practices. Multiple evidence-based practices have been developed and shown to be effective for treating common mental health disorders, such as anxiety, depression, trauma, and disruptive behavior …
Five Tips for Psychology Graduate Students for Talking to Clients About Sex and Sexuality
This SCP Student Blog piece was written by Jessica Cowan, SCP/Section 10 Campus Representative, and Leja Wright from Antioch University in Seattle. Talking to clients about sex and sexuality in psychological interventions has been a sensitive topic throughout the history of our field. However, as we become increasingly aware of the complex interactions of biopsychosocial factors in the lives of …
Contemporary Issues in Understanding Immigrant Mental Health Needs and Challenges
This SCP Blog by Dr. Anu Asnaani is sponsored by the Diversity Committee of SCP and briefly explores contemporary issues in understanding immigrant mental health needs and challenges to detection and treatment of psychological distress in our global communities. One of our increasing challenges as mental health professionals domestically and internationally is ensuring we are meeting the needs of the …
Section 10 Graduate School Survival Guide and Tip Sheet
This SCP Student Blog piece by the SCP Section 10 Campus Reps is a useful resource to individuals who are preparing to apply to graduate schools in psychology. Applying to Graduate School? Determine what school, degree, focus you’re applying to based, not on what is interesting to you, but on what schools are most likely to connect you to the …
Why Gender Matters in the Study and Treatment of Substance Use Disorders
This SCP Blog by Dr. Kathryn McHugh discusses a recent article published in Clinical Psychology Review about why gender matters in the study and treatment of substance use disorders. For many years, knowledge on the nature and treatment of substance use disorders was based on research conducted in males. The vast majority of research on substance use in women has …
The Promise of Transdiagnostic Treatments for Anxiety Disorders
This SCP blog piece by Drs. David Barlow and Matthew Gallagher discusses a new article in JAMA Psychiatry pertaining to the Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders. Significant progress has been made in recent decades in identifying effective psychosocial treatments for anxiety and mood disorders. Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) treatment protocols for specific disorders such as panic disorder are …
A Survivor’s guide to Clinical Supervision
This student blog piece was written and submitted by Amanda R. Simmons, M.A., SCP, Section 10 Campus Representative, University of Denver In finishing up my second year of the doctoral program at the University of Denver’s Graduate School of Professional Psychology, I reflected on the number of times I heard that the success of supervision depends on the “fit” between …
Assertiveness Training: A Forgotten Evidence-Based Treatment
This SCP Blog post by Brittany Speed, Brandon Goldstein, and Dr. Marvin Goldfried discuss their recent publication in CP:SP addressing the role of assertiveness training in clinical psychology. Although psychotherapy has been in existence for over a century, the field has struggled to build upon research findings with consistent, accumulating evidence. One reason for this problem may be because we …
Reflective Practices for Graduate Students
This SCP Student blog post written by Lia Smith highlights some excellent pointers for graduate students in psychology. Many of us enter graduate school with the assumption that we are about to embark on a unique period of heavy workloads and extreme stress. We are so excited for the opportunity to pursue our long sought-after goals that we’re prepared to …
Treatment Considerations for Undocumented Patients
This SCP Blog is written by David Talavera, a Clinical Psychology PhD candidate at the University of Houston who is completing his predoctoral internship at Harvard Medical School/Cambridge Health Alliance. Let’s try a little exercise: Pretend you’re a patient waiting for your therapist for the first time. You’re in the waiting room. It’s quiet. You hear the air-conditioning humming. You …
Clinical Considerations When Clients Have Children
This SCP blog by Zalewski, Goodman, Cole, and McLaughlin corresponds with a new Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice article titled, “Clinical Considerations when Treating Adults who are Parents.” Flight attendants always instruct passengers to secure their own oxygen masks before assisting others. This simple practice reflects that parents can best help their children after ensuring their own well-being. This basic …
Can prisoners with mental health problems benefit from psychological therapy? Yes, but health and justice need to be closer friends.
This SCP blog by Karen Slade, Psy.D. correspondents with a new article in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology titled, “Outcomes of Psychological Therapies for Prisoners with Mental Health Problems: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. All over the world, people held in our jails and prisons experience far greater levels of mental illness than the general population including PTSD, major …
Navigating Supervision: Ten Tips for Psychology Graduate Students
by Jessica Cowan, SCP/ Section 10 Campus Representative For many of us, when we begin our graduate-program work the concept of clinical supervision is a mysterious concept. We hear about supervision experiences from students further along in their training, and it’s perhaps conceptually and briefly addressed in initial coursework, but other than knowing that we will one day be assigned …
What makes mental illness stigma so hard to change (and also to study)?
by Ava T. Casados about her recently published article in Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice Society holds negative attitudes about mental illness, and these attitudes form a stigma that impacts many individuals on both interpersonal levels (e.g., blaming, name-calling) and institutional levels (e.g., employment discrimination). The stigma experienced because of one’s mental illness can in turn exacerbate psychological symptoms and …
Medication, Behavioral Therapy, or Both? Examining Understudied Domains for Children with ADHD
by Brittany M. Merrill, MS, Amy R. Altszuler, MS, & William E. Pelham, PhD Children with ADHD experience problems in daily life functioning in school, with their family, and with peers. Rather than focusing on symptoms of ADHD, treatment providers should focus on these impairments in daily life functioning when making recommendations, as these problems are the reason parents and teachers …
Promising Advances in the Cultural Adaptation of Mental Health Evidence-based Interventions
by Joyce Chu, PhD & Amy E. Leino, PhD Equal rights to equal access and equal care. Few would disagree with the position that the racial and ethnic minorities of our nation deserve the right to receive the same quality of care for mental illness as White individuals. Yet, striving for equal treatment has proven to be a complicated endeavor. …
Can You Change Your Personality Traits?
by Brent W. Roberts, PhD Can you change your personality traits? We know from hundreds of observational studies that personality traits can and do change. The fact that personality traits are not “set in plaster” naturally leads to the question of volitional change—if someone or some institution sets about to change personality, can it be done? This question had long …
Making the Most of Summer
by Keri Kirk, SCP/ Section 10 Campus Representative As clinical psychology graduate students, we spend the academic year juggling many hats. We’re researchers, externs, teaching assistants, and so much more. We dedicate ourselves to becoming experts in providing service to others all while balancing our personal lives and individual obligations. By the start of summer, many of us just want …
SSCP Student Poster Winners
The SSCP student poster competition yielded great diversity in the content of the work, but was uniformly of high quality. This led to numerous difficult decisions for the judges. This year, SSCP was able to award prizes to 3 winners ($250 prize) and 5 Distinguished Contributions ($100 prize). The winners of the 2017 SSCP Student Poster Competition are: Ema …
Easing Mental Health Technologies into Practice: Considerations for a Smooth Transition
You have probably heard it a million times – there is a technology revolution and mental health services are not exempt. In both research and the private sector there is much buzz about the potential of technology to transform mental health service delivery (Jones, 2014; Kazdin & Blasé, 2011). Case in point, Dr. Tom Insel recently stepped down as the …
Behavioral Activation for Depression During Pregnancy: Results from a multi-site pragmatic randomized controlled effectiveness trial.
Behavioral Activation for Depression During Pregnancy: Results from a multi-site pragmatic randomized controlled effectiveness trial – an SCP blog piece by Drs. Hubley and Dimidjian For many, being pregnant is one of the most important and enjoyable moments in life. For others, life changes during pregnancy can become major challenges and 1 in 7 pregnant women become clinically depressed (Gavin …
Is “Abnormal Psychology” Really all that Abnormal?
Is “Abnormal Psychology” Really all that Abnormal – a blog post by Jonathan D. Schaefer, a doctoral student of Clinical Psychology at Duke University An assumption held by many—including many mental health professionals—is that people who suffer from one or more mental disorders constitute a small, troubled minority. This assumption is reflected in both the way we talk about mental …
Do Beliefs about Biology Matter for Mental Health?
Do Beliefs About Biology Matter for Mental Health? by Kate MacDuffie and Tim Strauman about their newly published article in Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice Imagine that you have just visited a mental health professional and received a diagnosis of depression. You have just been given a name for the distressing emotional state which, prior to your appointment, felt confusing and unpredictable. The …
SCP Clinical Psychology Graduate Student Summit RESCHEDULED
EVENT RESCHEDULED Due to limited enrollment, the Clinical Psychology Graduate Student Summit is being rescheduled for the Fall (early October). We are sorry for the inconvenience. We look forward to seeing you at the APA Convention in DC in August, and invite you specifically to attend our graduate student/early professional events, including the Speed Mentoring/Section 10 Social Hour hosted by …
Promoting Psychology in the Evolving Healthcare Landscape: Enhancing the Well-Being of Patients, Providers, and Populations
The Association of Psychologist in Academic Health Centers (APAHC) held its 8th National Conference at Detroit’s Westin Book Cadillac hotel on March 9-11th. It was the highest attended conference in the association’s history. Conference keynote speakers included APA leadership-Katherine Nordal, Ph.D., W. Douglas Tynan, Ph.D., ABPP, Jessica Henderson, Ph.D., ABPP. Dr. Nordal, Executive Director of the APA Practice Directorate, gave …
What can science tell us about suicide? (Answer: Not nearly enough… yet.)
By Joseph Franklin, PhD and Jessica Ribeiro, PhD Suicide. For most people, this word conjures up images of someone who is extremely sad. Someone so lonely, stressed, or defeated that they’ve decided that they’d be better off dead. Some clinicians might add to this picture related characteristics such as emotion dysregulation, substance abuse, or impulsivity. Some researchers may include a …
Use of Universal Screening Scores to Predict Distal Academic and Behavioral Outcomes Among School-Aged youth
Dr. Katie Eklund discusses the use of universal screening scores to predict distal academic and behavioral outcomes among school-aged youth. Research has well-documented poor school-related outcomes for students with behavioral and emotional concerns, including lower academic achievement, higher rates of suspension/expulsion, increased absenteeism, and lower graduation rates (e.g., Lane, Carter, Pierson, & Glaeser, 2006). As up to 20% of school-aged …
Clinicians and Clients Disagree: Implications for Evidence-Based Practice
This blog piece by Dr. Douglas Samuel from Purdue University discusses a recently published article in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology. It is well-established that the approaches to diagnosis differ substantially between clinical practice and research settings. Whereas the typical research study collects data using either a semi-structured interview administered by a research assistant or a self-report questionnaire completed by …
Increasing access to high-fidelity Cognitive Therapy for underserved populations
Guest blog author Dr. Torrey Creed discusses a recently published article in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology focused on implementing trans diagnostic cognitive therapy in diverse community settings with the Beck Community Initiative. Decades of research have led to evidence-based practices (EBPs) for a wide range of behavioral health concerns and populations (e.g., Hofmann et al., 2012), but …
The Angry Brain
APA Student Poster Award Winner Rachel Zachar shares her research at Nova Southeastern University, where she is a doctoral student. The Angry Brain As expected, behavioral outbursts are one major outcome expected to be seen from individuals who experience high levels of self-reported anger. Moreover, effects on cognition with regards to the presence of anger have not been as heavily considered as …
The Next Generation of Parenting Interventions: The role of Mindfulness and Compassion
The type of parenting a child receives can have profound impacts on the life trajectory of that child. For example, in contrast to punitive parenting we know positive parenting practices affords children many life advantages, including, building secure attachments, accelerated language development, greater readiness for school, reduced risk of antisocial behavior and substance abuse problems, improved physical health, and greater …
SCP at the APA Convention in Denver
The Society of Clinical Psychology had an impressive presence and very successful program this year at APA Convention in Denver. In addition to having a very well attended and positively received set of sessions this year that included “Cognitive Therapy for Suicide Prevention” by Dr. Gregory Brown and “Contemporary Problem-Solving Therapy: A Transdiagnostic Approach to Enhance Resilience” by Dr. Arthur Nezu, we …
Improving the clinical utility of mental disorder classifications
Classifications of mental disorders are a necessary evil. Without a comprehensive, consensual list of the kinds of problems human beings experience, the field of mental health would be continually swamped by the task of describing the nature of each person’s problem. Communication between professionals would break down. Selecting treatments and identifying conditions for research would be a free-for-all. Tracking the …
Do psychotherapists improve with time and experience?
Naturally, we all want to get better at the things that we do. Psychotherapists too may like to think that as they gain experience, they are continuing to develop their skills and improve the services they provide. Knowing that therapists contribute significantly to clients’ outcomes (explaining approximately 5% of variance in outcomes; Baldwin & Imel, 2013), therapists’ ability to improve …
SCP 2016 Award Winners
Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Clinical Psychology presented to Leslie C. Morey, Ph.D. for distinguished theoretical or empirical contributions to Clinical Psychology throughout their careers. Florence Halpern Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Clinical Psychology presented to J. Gayle Beck, Ph.D. for distinguished advances in psychology leading to the understanding or amelioration of important practical problems and outstanding contributions to the general profession …
Parental Military Deployment and Children: What Have We Learned from More than a Decade of War?
by Candice A. Alfano & Simon Lau, Department of Psychology, University of Houston A common saying in the military is that when one person joins the whole family serves. This phrase took on new meaning in the wake of the events of September 11, 2001. Subsequent combat operations required unprecedented rates of lengthy and repeated service member deployments. For many …
Social Comparison Feedback to Reduce Heavy Drinking among College Drinkers
Social influences are a primary contributor of heavy drinking among young adults (Neighbors, Lee, Lewis, Fossos, & Larimer, 2007). Social norms refer to a specific source of influence defined as typical behavior (descriptive norms) or typical level of approval (injunctive norms) in a given reference group. For the purposes of our discussion we will limit our focus to descriptive norms. …
What we know now about bridging the gap between research and practice
About two decades ago, psychologists who develop and study psychotherapy interventions began to recognize that publications on the efficacy of new psychotherapies were not sufficient to change practice. Shortly thereafter, research emerged that indicated that manuals and workshops alone were also not sufficient to change practice (see Herschell et al., 2010 for a summary). We are now at a point …
Increasing Global Access to Evidence-Based Assessment Resources
Division 12, in collaboration with Division 53, is embarking on a new initiative that will increase public knowledge of and accessibility to evidence-based assessment resources. The initiative is partially funded by the APA inter-divisional grant program. Evidence-based assessment (EBA) has advanced greatly in the past two decades. Current barriers to EBA include cost, accessibility, and lack of consumer knowledge about …
Section Updates 2016
Section Updates (published in TCP December 2015) Section 2: Society of Clinical Geropsychology By Michele J. Karel, PhD The Society of Clinical Geropsychology (SCG) has several updates, regarding our 2015 award winners, outgoing presidential initiative, incoming presidential initiative, and new diversity awards for our section. SCG Awards. At the APA convention in August, SCG recognized our three major awardees this …
Teaser Clip: Empirically Supported Treatment: Recommendations for a New Model (Feb. 17)
February 17, 2016 – 12:00p – 1:00p ET Empirically Supported Treatment: Recommendations for a New Model Presenter. Dr. Tolin, PhD is Past-President of the Society of Clinical Psychology (Division 12, American Psychological Association). He is the Founder and Director of the Anxiety Disorders Center and the Center for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy at the Institute of Living in Hartford, CT and an Adjunct …
Teaser Clip: Monitoring Progress in Psychotherapy (Jan. 27)
Teaser Clip for January 27 Webinar by Dr. Persons January 27, 2016 – 12:00p – 1:00p ET Monitoring Progress in Psychotherapy Presenter: Jacqueline B. Persons, PhD is Director of the Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Science Center, a group private practice in Oakland, California, where she provides psychotherapy to adults who have mood and anxiety disorders, trains clinicians in CBT, and conducts research. She is also …
Upcoming 2016 Webinar Topics
Our 2016 Webinar Series lineup is shaping up nicely with our first webinar of the new year presented by Dr. Jacqueline Persons, Director of the Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Science Center in Oakland California, who will be engaging us in a discussion about monitoring progress in psychotherapy. Jan. 27, 2016: Jacqueline B. Persons, “Monitoring Progress in Psychotherapy” Feb. 17, 2016: David …
Dropping Out of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has earned a position of high regard in the scheme of evidence-based treatment of psychological disorders. Yet, it shares some of the same difficulties faced by psychotherapy and medical practice in general. One such major problem is dropout. Dropout is the client’s discontinuation of treatment against the recommendations of the clinician. When this happens, many questions …
Teaser Clip for Nov. 4 Webinar by Dr. Harkness
Teaser Clip for Nov. 4 Webinar by Dr. Harkness November 4, 2015 – 2:00p – 3:00p ET Evaluation of Emotion, Personality, and Internal Models of External Reality: Implications for psychological Intervention Presenter: Allan Harkness, PhD – Dr. Harkness received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota (Clinical Psychology) in 1989. He is a Professor of Psychology and Director of the Institute for Biochemical and …
Writing Trauma Narratives Increases Temporal Organization & Habituation
Emotional processing theory posits that the therapeutic benefits of exposure include habituation to the distress triggered by trauma memories (Lang, 1977) as well as their reorganization (Foa, Molnar, & Cashman, 1995). Trauma narratives among people with PTSD have been observed to have greater sensory, perceptual, and emotional references and interrupted temporal, causal and logical connections (O’Kearney & Perrott, 2006). Habituation …
The anti-depressive effects of cognitive behavioral therapy are in decline: What is the next step forward for psychotherapy?
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), in its current format, was developed and implemented as an anti-depressive treatment in the 1970`s (Beck et al., 1979.). Ever since, the method has been in worldwide growth, gaining recognition and appraisal on its way to becoming the dominant force in the world of psychotherapy. Until recently, no thorough attempt had been made with regards to …
CP:SP Opt In Announcement
ANNOUNCEMENT The Division 12 Journal, Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice will be changing its access policy in January 2016. Historically the Journal has been dispersed via Hard Copy (i.e., paper copy) and Members could opt for online-access if they wished to do so when they initially join and/or renewed their Division 12 membership. Starting January 1, 2016, the Journal …
SCP Town Hall Discussion on Clinical Psychology and the Hoffman Report
This recorded webinar focused on the recent report by Hoffman that found collusion between APA, leading members, and staff and the Department of Defense in the support of psychologists’ involvement in interrogations during the course of the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Global War on Terrorism. The webinar focuses on the precise nature of the findings and the remedial actions taken …
Preventing Interpersonal Violence among Military Veterans: The Strength at Home Program
Intimate partner violence (IPV) represents a significant clinical problem among veterans and service members. Numerous studies indicate that veterans and service members with greater posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms are at particularly high risk for IPV use (Marshall, Panuzio, & Taft, 2005; Taft, Watkins, Stafford, Street, & Monson, 2011). With large numbers of returning U.S. military members, there is an increasing …
Conference Re-cap
by Dr. Terry Keane The APA meetings in Toronto are now a part of history. I would say that the Division activities were all outstanding. I would like to thank all of those involved in the preparation and the implementation of the many events for which we took the lead. Our Conference Chair, Denise Sloan, Ph.D. of VA Boston & …
Consumer Marketing of Psychological Treatments: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Direct-to-consumer marketing: The next wave of dissemination and implementation? Most Americans are familiar with the pharmaceutical advertisements that are featured in many forms of media. Many of these advertisements are for psychopharmaceutical interventions, which have recently been surpassing efficacious psychological treatments in outpatient mental health care (Olfson & Marcus, 2010). While traditional dissemination and implementation efforts (e.g., targeted at the …
Presidential Column: Dignity, Poise, and Restraint: One Response to Hoffman
Dignity, Poise, and Restraint: One Response to Hoffman By Terence M. Keane, Ph.D. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Choosing to be a clinical psychologist was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I’ve enjoyed immensely the opportunities for patient care, program development, teaching, supervising, and science. What a great profession clinical psychology is. The revelations of the past week do nothing to change …
CP:SP Special Series: Defining Competence when Working with Sexual and Gender Minority Populations
Be sure to read this SPECIAL SERIES in the June 2015 edition of CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY SCIENCE AND PRACTICE: Defining Competence when Working with Sexual and Gender Minority Populations: Training Models for Professional Development SEE TABLE OF CONTENTS AND LINKS BELOW Defining Competence when Working with Sexual and Gender Minority Populations: Training Models for Professional Development Jillian C. Shipherd – Guest Editor…………………………………………………………………………………………..101 …
Outcome monitoring and feedback: A transtheoretical, transdiagnostic evidence-based practice
This blog piece by Dr. James Boswell discusses a recent study published by his research team in Psychotherapy entitled, “Implementing routine outcome monitoring in clinical practice: Benefits, challenges, and solutions.” In their seminal paper, Howard, Moras, Brill, Martinovich, and Lutz (1996) suggested using standardized session-to-session measures of patient progress to evaluate and improve treatment outcome by using data-driven feedback. In doing …
Section 2: Later Life Sexual Expression
Sexual health is an important part of well-being in later life. However, misconceptions based on ageist stereotypes and lack of understanding has often led to avoidance of this topic. The result may be a missed opportunity to support an important aspect of successful aging. What is the “truth” about aging sexuality? First, sexual expression occurs across the lifespan and continues …
Increasing the Use of Effective Behavioral Treatments through Direct-to-Consumer Marketing
This piece by guest blogger, Dr. Sara Becker, summarizes ideas from her recent manuscript, Direct-to-Consumer Marketing: A Complementary Approach to Traditional Dissemination and Implementation Efforts for Mental Health and Substance Abuse Interventions, published in the March 2015 edition of Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice. Increasing the Use of Effective Behavioral Treatments through Direct-to-Consumer Marketing One of the greatest challenges facing …
2015 Award Recipients
Please join us in honoring the following 2015 award recipients – congratulations! Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Clinical Psychology presented to Jalie Tucker, Ph.D., M.P.H. for distinguished theoretical or empirical contributions to Clinical Psychology throughout their careers. Florence Halpern Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Clinical Psychology presented to Arthur Nezu, Ph.D., (Hon.) D.H.L., ABPP for distinguished advances in psychology leading to the …
What Is This Treatment and Will It Work For Me?
This is a blog piece by Damion Grasso, Ph.D. (Division 12 Web Editor) that explores how we communicate information about treatment effectiveness to our patients. It draws from recent articles that discuss methods for translating results from psychotherapy research into probabilistic information that aims to inform treatment consumers. David is a middle-aged man who just one year ago was assaulted and …
Winter Board Meeting in Boston
The Division 12 Board came together for a very productive meeting in a very snowy Boston on Feb 7-8. Much was discussed, including a number of exciting initiatives for Division 12. Among the activities this weekend was the changing of the guard. Dr. David Tolin, now Past President, received recognition for his great accomplishments this past year, which included active involvement in …
Fighting the Imposter Syndrome in Graduate School
Two months into the second semester of my clinical psychology Psy.D. program I opened my email like I would on any normal day. Only this time, there was an email from the community mental health center based at my university. The email said that after careful consideration, I had been assigned a client. I couldn’t believe it. I was finally …
Evidence-Based Treatments for Mental Health Among LGB Clients
This blog piece by guest blogger, Dr. John Pachankis, on behalf of Division 12’s Education and Training Committee, discusses recent efforts to establish evidence-based treatments for mental health and co-occurring psychosocial concerns (e.g., alcohol use, sexual compulsivity, sexual risk behavior) among lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) clients. John Pachankis is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology …
Dr. Edna Foa Receives the APA Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions
The APA Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions is awarded to psychologists who have made distinguished theoretical or empirical contributions to basic research in psychology. Past awardees included Dr. Carl Rogers in 1956, Dr. Harry Harlow in 1960, Dr. Albert Bandura in 1980, Dr. Naom Chomsky in 1984, and Dr. Peter Lang in 1993, among many other renown psychologists. This year …
Division 12 Response to NIMH Strategic Plan
Society of Clinical Psychology (Division 12, American Psychological Association) Response to NIMH Strategic Plan The Society of Clinical Psychology (Division 12, American Psychological Association) represents the interests of clinical psychologists in the United States. Its mission is to encourage and support the integration of psychological science and practice in education, research, application, advocacy and public policy. We thank NIMH for …
A Hearty Farewell to Lynn Peterson
Lynn Peterson has been the “heartbeat” of the Society of Clinical Psychology, Division 12 of APA, for 20 years. She has contributed in immeasurable ways to the success of the Society including the management of the “central office”, the transfer of the publisher of Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, help establishing the Division website and most of our online services, and the …
Preventing Suicide in Later Life: An Issue for All Psychologists
This blog piece by guest blogger, Dr. Kim Van Orden, on behalf of Section 2 addresses psychologists’ role in preventing suicide in older adults. Kim Van Orden is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester School of Medicine. She is a clinical psychologist and her research addresses the role of social connectedness in the …
What is Neurorehabilitation?
Neurorehabilitation and Modular-Based Psychotherapy for the Co-Management of Nervous System Injury and Comorbid Psychopathology – By Saritha Teralandur Saritha is a second year M.S. student at DePaul University. Her research interests include child and adolescent psychology and neuropsychology. This blog piece explores neurorehabilitation, a personalized, multidisciplinary treatment approach designed to concurrently address impairment caused by nervous system injury, as well …
Advances in Psychotherapy Series: Autism Spectrum Disorder and Headache
The latest editions of the Advances in Psychotherapy – Evidence-Based Practice Book Series (Hogrefe Publishing) include Autism Spectrum Disorder and Headache. Autism Spectrum Disorder (Vol. 29, 2015) by Joseph, Soorya, and thrum (ISBN 978-0-88937-404-1) is a straightforward yet authoritative guide to effective diagnosis and empirically supported treatments for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The book starts by reviewing DSM-5 and ICD-10 diagnostic …
Section 8 Update
What’s new with Section 8? The Association of Psychologists in Academic Health Centers (APAHC) is looking forward to their bi-annual conference in Atlanta, GA to take place February 5-7, 2015. The theme this year is, Academic Health Centers in the Era of Interproffessionalism: Multifaceted Contributions of Psychology. APAHC member and APA President Dr. Nadine Kaslow will open the conference with …
Examining the Role of Protective Factors in At-Risk, Urban Youth
This presentation examines the role of protective factors in guarding at-risk youth from the development of anxiety and depression that may manifest as a result of exposure to chronic violence. Future work on the role of protective factors can aid in the advancement of programs targeted to at-risk, urban youth. The presenter, Saritha Teralandur, is a second year M.S. student …
Client Preferences and Shared Decision Making in Clinical Care
In a new article in Clinical Psychology Review, Lindhiem and colleagues describe a meta-analysis on the importance of client preferences for treatment satisfaction, completion rates, and clinical outcome. As the number of treatment options for different mental health conditions increases and clients have more resources available to learn about varying treatments, the idea of shared decision making has come to …
Clinical Psychology Graduate Student Summit
The Graduate Student Summit on Oct. 4th at Boston University School of Medicine was a success. Participants included Clinical Psychology graduate students in various stages of their training. The program included clinical science lectures, expert panels on issues of professional development, and networking opportunities with leaders in the field. Prominent researchers, practitioners, and directors of clinical training representing Boston University, McLean Hospital, …
10 Tips to a Successful Clinically Oriented Career Rooted in Science
SSCP offers 10 tips from Dr. Enjey Lin on carving out a clinically-oriented career in psychology that is rooted in science. Dr. Enjey Lin is currently a Clinical Instructor (in transition to Assistant Clinical Professor) in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at UCLA, a Staff Psychologist and Attending Psychologist at the UCLA Child and Adult Neurodevelopmental Clinic, is …
Tips for the APPIC Process
A clinical psychology intern at the Institute of Living shares some helpful tips on the APPIC predoctoral internship application and interview process. By Shari Steinman, intern at the Institute of Living-CBT Track To those of you applying for internship this fall, I thought it might be helpful to share some tips I have about the application and interview process. I found the …
National Partnership to Improve Dementia Care in Nursing Homes: How Can Psychologists Get Involved?
The Society of Clinical Geropsychology (SCG) – Section 2 of the Society of Clinical Psychology (SCP) – has recently become involved in supporting the National Partnership to Improve Dementia Care in Nursing Homes, along with several other geropsychology organizations. The “National Partnership” is an initiative (starting in 2012) of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to improve dementia …
Training and Education in Clinical Psychology in the Context of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA; P. L. 111-148) is ushering in a new era for the training and education in clinical psychology. Yet, little is known about the potential impact of this healthcare reform on our field moving forward. In our article (Chor, Olin, & Hoagwood, 2014), we describe features of the ACA-funded Mental and …
Division 12’s New Webinar Series
Division 12 is excited to launch a new webinar series that begins this month, July 30th, with speaker Dr. Terry Keane who will present “Recent Advances in the Assessment and Treatment of PTSD“. The Division 12 Continuing Education Committee, chaired by Dr. Deborah Drabick, has developed a webinar program that will alternate between continuing education topics and early career programming. Upcoming webinars include …
Mental Health and Pediatric Primary Care
With increased attention paid to the high prevalence of unaddressed mental health problems among our youth, there is a growing demand for increased capacity of mental health care in pediatric primary care (PPC) practices . There are two good reasons why the PPC setting can make a large impact in detecting and managing child and adolescent mental health problems. First, almost all …
Ten Tips to a Successful Academic Career
An early career psychologist, Dr. Kate Wolitzky-Taylor, offers ten tips to a successful academic career: 1. Carve out research time and treat it like any other appointment you wouldn’t cancel. I am guilty of not doing this enough. It was easier during graduate school and post doc to set aside time to just sit in front of my computer analyzing …
SSCP Updates
The Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology (SSCP) is Section 3 of Division 12. SSCP strives to advance scientific inquiry and to foster the systematic application of the principles of behavioral and social processes derived from empirical research in the practice of clinical psychology towards furthering knowledge and human welfare. Below are several updates worth noting. International Outreach The SSCP …
APAHC Updates
The Association of Psychologists in Academic Health Centers (APAHC) is Section 8 of Division 12 with the mission to enhance the role of psychology and behavioral science in health care research, clinical care, and the education of medical students, graduate students, pre- and post-doctoral psychology interns, fellows, and resident physicians. Below are several recent updates. APA 2014 Convention Programming: Washington, DC: …
Dr. Linda Carter Sobell Receives Jellinek Memorial Award
Each year since 1968, the Jellinek Memorial Award has been given to the person considered to have made the greatest scientific contribution to problems relating to alcohol in the research area designated for that year.The awards are made in four annually rotating subject areas: (1) Biological and medical research; (2) Social cultural and policy studies; (3) Behavioral (Clinical and Experimental) …
Depression in Children: An Examination of Vulnerabilities Associated with Age and Gender Differences
This talk focuses on predictors of depression in children and adolescents. Dr. Julia Felton is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland whose research focuses broadly on gender differences in developmental psychopathology, including risk factors related to depression and substance use during adolescents and the role of stress and maladaptive coping styles. Dr. Felton received her PhD fro Vanderbilt …
The Promise of the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) Initiative
By now many of us are familiar with the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) 2009 launch of a new initiative called the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) project. RDoC continues to be a work-in-progress with the primary goal of developing a classification system for mental health disorders that is dimensional and that links to neurobiological systems. The proposed framework is …
Job Mentorship Resource
A job mentorship resource has been co-developed by the Society for the Science of Clinical Psychology (SSCP) and the Association for Psychological Science (APS) to support graduate students, post-doctoral and early career members. The program is designed to connect students and early career professionals with established psychological scientists working in a variety of clinical and/or research settings. The …
Mentors: Who Needs Them?
Mentors: who needs them? By Saritha Teralandur Graduate school applications: A time of wondering if all those years spent as a research assistant with a 4.0 G.P.A will finally pay off. Then, you get a letter of acceptance from a program that you were holdi ng out on other offers for! Once you start graduate school, you realize that you …
Cumulative Risk of Adverse Childhood Experiences Across Development
Research findings from an analysis of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network’s Core Data Set examining patterns of adverse childhood experiences across three developmental periods and risk for adolescent psychopathology and functional impairment. Authors are Damion Grasso, Ph.D., Carly Dierkhising, M.A., Chris Branson, Ph.D., Julian Ford, Ph.D., and Robert Lee, M.A. Versions of this talk have been presented at the …
Primary Prevention of Trauma-Related Problems Before Trauma
Risk of lifetime exposure to a potentially traumatic event (PTE) increases exponentially across the lifespan until non-exposed individuals are rare.1 Although a minority of individuals in the general population develop trauma-related emotional and behavioral problems,2 this is not true of multiply traumatized or poly-victimized individuals.3-5 These experiences can start to accumulate very early in life with potential to disrupt normal …
The Delaware Project on Clinical Science Training
Section 3 Supports the Delaware Project on Clinical Science Training: From Intervention Development to Implementation The Delaware Project was initiated in October of 2011 during a conference at the University of Delaware involving key individuals in the field, many of whom are active in Division 12’s Section 3 – Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology. The Delaware Project aims to …
Terence Keane Receives Division 12 Presidential Citation
Dr. Terence Keane received a Presidential citation from APA President Nadine Kaslow, Ph.D. during the Division Leadership Conference in Washington, DC January 25, 2014. The citation read as follows: Terence (Terry) M. Keane, Ph.D. — for his lifelong commitment to helping our nation’s Veterans. A tireless clinician, researcher, teacher, mentor, advocate, bureaucrat, psychometrician, spokesperson, administrator, board member, and leader, Dr. …
New Website On the Way!
Stay tuned as we prepare to roll out a website with a fresh new look!
The Summer TCP is now available!
Clinical Psychology in the Future – Mark Sobell, Ph.D. Ethics Column: Ethics, Self-Care and Infirmity I; Rituals to Develop Health-Enhancing Habits Student Column: Transdiagnostic Psychotherapy Trianing Federal Advocacy Column: How will practice take shape in the new healthcare environment? Nominations ballot now available for Division 12 elections
Teaching Evidence-Based Practice in Clinical Psychology (NEW MATERIAL)
Principles for Training in Evidence Based Psychology: Models for the Graduate Curricula in Clinical Psychology Prepared by the Division 12 Task Force on teaching evidence based practice in Clinical Psychology J. Gayle Beck, Chair, Louis G. Castonguay, Andrea Chronis-Tuscano, E. David Klonsky, Lata K. McGinn, and Eric A. Youngstrom Although the field has embraced an evidence-based approach to the practice of Clinical Psychology, it still remains …
The Clinical Psychologist – Spring
Download the The Clinical Psychologist (Spring) Go to our publications page. Enjoy!
APA 2013 Convention – Only 1-Month Away!!
Don’t Miss Us in Honolulu! See what Division 12 has to offer by downloading our convention brochure
A Meta-analysis of Treatment Dropout in Child and Adolescent Outpatient Care
A recent article in Clinical Psychology Review by de Haan, Boon, deJong, Hoeve, and Vermeiren, A meta-analtyic review on treatment dropout in child and adolescent outpatient mental health care, takes a comprehensive look at treatment dropout in child and adolescent outpatient mental health care using meta-analysis. As the authors point out, dropout in psychotherapy is very common. Among the studies they reviewed, …
Public Mental Health Intervention Following Disaster
Another mass tragedy calls upon mental health professionals to apply their skills and knowledge towards helping the public cope with trauma and loss. Since 2001, we have learned a great deal about this, and as a result, there are now evidence-informed guidelines and practices for (a) conducting needs assessments, (b) screening and identifying emerging trauma-related psychopathology, (c) raising public awareness, …
The Clinical Psychologist – Winter 2013
Dear Members, We are now up and running at near 100%! We will continue to make improvements and have some big plans for the near future – so stay tuned. Also, our apologies for the delay – but the Winter 2013 edition of The Clinical Psychologist is up and available for download. -Division 12
UPDATE: 1 April 2013
Dear Members and Prospective Members, Although we are making progress on the site, we are not back to 100%. We are fortunate to have a dedicated web developer who has quickly become familiar with our site and is working hard to pick up the pieces. The site crashed due to a poor infrastructure – the direct consequence of a disappointing …
IMPORTANT NOTICE ABOUT WEBSITE FUNCTIONALITY
Dear Members, Last week our website experienced a significant technical conundrum that caused it to crash. Importantly, no personal data were compromised. It is also important for you to know that no credit card information is stored on the site database. Since the crash, we have been working with a reputable web developer who is committed to restoring our site …
The Problem of Researcher Allegiance in Psychotherapy Research
A new meta-meta-analysis in Clinical Psychology Review entitled, Researcher Alliance in Psychotherapy Outcome Research: An Overview of Reviews, by Munder, Brutsch, Leonhart, Gerger, and Barth (in press) addresses the problem of researcher allegiance in increasing risk of bias in psychotherapy outcome research. The analysis included 30 meta-analyses of a variety of psychotherapies. The authors report a moderate effect size suggesting a …
Improving Psychiatric Diagnosis: Beyond Counting Symptoms
A new article in Psychological Assessment, “Quantifying Diagnostic Uncertainty Using Item Response Theory: The Posterior Probability of Diagnosis Index” by Oliver Lindhiem, David Kolko, and Lan Yu from the University of Pittsburg School of Medicine describes a novel method for helping the clinician to consider the degree of uncertainty associated with a psychiatric diagnosis in terms of probability. The Posterior Probability of …
SSCP Journal Club: First Reading
Members who are interested in becoming part of the SSCP Journal Club, the first reading is posted and commentary and discussion points will be provided on February 4. You must register (free) as a member of the journal club once you navigate to that page. Click HERE to go there now. The first reading will be Anger and Sadness in …
New in Toolkit: Guide to Assessing Violence Risk in General Practice
The Division 12 Section VII Working Group on Violence Risk Assessment (David Drummond, Phillip Kleespies, Marc Hillbrand, and Lisa Firestone) have prepared an excellent resource on assessing violence risk in general practice. It is intended as a quick reference for situations in which a clinician working in a non-forensic clinical setting may need to assess whether a patient poses a …
Division 12 Award Winners 2013
Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Clinical Psychology presented to Terence M. Keane, Ph.D. for distinguished theoretical or empirical contributions to Clinical Psychology throughout their careers. Florence Halpern Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Clinical Psychology presented to Edward A. Wise, Ph.D. for distinguished advances in psychology leading to the understanding or amelioration of important practical problems and outstanding contributions to the …
Self-Care and Professional Impairment Among Licensed Psychologists
Self-Care and Professional Impairment Among Licensed Psychologists By Andrea Lynn Coverman, M.A., LASAC Introduction: Until recently, much of the literature linking health care professionals (HCPs) with professional impairment and substance use has been limited to nurses, physicians, dentists, pharmacists, social workers, counselors, and a variety of other healthcare-related disciplines, but not psychologists (Brown, Goske, & Johnson, 2009). The intent of …
Do Graduate Programs Prepare Students for Professional Careers? An Exploratory Analysis
Do Graduate Programs Prepare Students for Professional Careers? An Exploratory Analysis Catherine A. Savvides, B.S., Douglas R. Polster, B.A., Sharnay Brown, M.S., Cristina Redante, M.S., Evan L. Smith, M.S. – Nova Southeastern University This pilot investigation questions whether the current curriculum of graduate psychology programs meets students expectations of the skill set necessary to achieve success as psychologists. In addition, …
What Can We do for Caregivers Dealing with the Death of their Child?
For the typical individual, grief following the death of a loved one from natural causes follows a process involving acceptance and yearning for their loved one, with a significant decline in negative emotions by about 6-months after the loss (Maciejewski, Zhang, Block, & Prigerson, 2007). When these negative emotions persist beyond 6-months and interfere with everyday functioning the grieving …
NCTSN Psychological First Aid Mobile App
The NCTSN Psychological First Aid Mobile App was designed to assist responders by reviewing the eight core PFA interventions, matching interventions to specific needs of victims, providing expert tips, allowing responders to self-assess their readiness, and assess and track survivor’s needs. the PFA App is free on iTunes for iPhone users. The PFA App development was funded by the U.S. …
6-Hour Online Psychological First Aid Course for Clinicians
The NCTSN 6-hour psychological First Aid course teaches clinicians the core goals and objectives of Psychological First Aid. It also features a learning community in which participants can share their experiences using this knowledge in the field, receive guidance from others, and access additional resources. [box] Contact Damion J. Grasso, Ph.D. (web editor) to suggest future postings or web material. …
Psychological First Aid Following a Disaster or Terrorism
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) and the National Center for PTSD offer a free-to-download Psychological First Aid Field Operations Guide (Brymer, Jacobs, Layne, Pynoos, Ruzek, Steinberg, Vernberg, Watson, 2006) and specific material pertaining to school-related crises to facilitate evidence-based responses to disasters and terrorism such as the tragic school shooting at the Newtown Elementary School in Connecticut this …
Review of: Sexual Dysfunction in Men by David Rowland
A Review of Sexual Dysfunction in Men by David L. Rowland Cambridge, MA Hogrefe, 2012 Reviewed by Ivan Kiryluk Putziger and Anita Clayton READ IT HERE
Review of: Understanding and Treatment Women’s Sexual Dysfunction: Where Are We Now?
A Review of Sexual Dysfunction in Women by Marta Meana Cambridge, MA: Hogrefe, 2012 Reviewed by Jena Groth and Anita Clayton READ IT HERE
40% Member Discount on Wiley Print Book Titles for the Holidays
Wiley publishers are offering Division 12 members a special discount of 40% on all print book titles. Find out more HERE
New Blog – Students, Showcase your Work
Student Members – we have added a new blog to the Div12 site to give you an opportunity to showcase your research efforts. The goal is to present the work of talented students focusing on recent qualitative or quantitative research findings and clinical implications. This is an excellent opportunity to become an active part of the Division 12 community, make …
Fall 2012 The Clinical Psychologist is Posted
The Fall 2012 issue of The Clinical Psychologist Vol 65, Issue 4 has been posted. Dr. Gayle Beck reflects on her term as it comes to a close. Other contents include, (1) Bridging the Gap Between Research and Practice in VA Psychotherapeutic Care, (2) Diversity Column: Subgroup Differences in Asian Americans, (3) History Column: Children, Adolescents, and Clinical Psychology Organizations: …
Antisocial Behavior and the Striatum
A newly published review in Biological Psychiatry entitled The Potential Role of the Striatum in Antisocial Behavior and Psychopathology by Andrea L. Glenn and Yaling Yang examines evidence of structural abnormalities in individuals with antisocial behavior and psychopathy. The striatum is a subcortical structure within the forebrain that plays a role in processing information having to do with reward. The authors review several …
New in Clinician’s Toolkit: Section VII Suicide Risk Assessment Materials
As one of the leading causes of death (www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/suicide), suicide demands special attention from health care providers, school personnel, counselors, and anyone who works with vulnerable populations (e.g., correctional settings, child welfare, etc.). Division 12’s Section on Clinical Emergencies and Crises (Section VII) has recently compiled a set of resources now available for download in the Clinician’s Toolkit area of …
Developmental Pathways and Accumulation of Risk During Adolescence
A newly published article in The Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, entitled The Tracking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS): Design, Current Status, and Selected Findings by Ormel, Oldehinkel, Sijtsema, van Oort, Raven, Veenstra, Vollebergh, and Verhulst presents recent findings from the prospective longitudinal project, which began in 2001. The project involves data collected from 2,230 …
Comprehensive Screening and Counseling for Behavioral Risks in Adolescent Primary Care
A new article in Pediatrics entitled, Improvement in Adolescent Screening and Counseling Rates for Risk Behaviors and Developmental Tasks by Duncan, Frankowski, Carey, Kallock, Delaney, Dixon, Garcia, and Shaw reports on a modified Breakthrough Series Collaborative in which eight primary care practices were trained to implement comprehensive screening and counseling for risk behaviors and developmental tasks/strengths and to increase the rate of brief …
Am J Geriatr Psychiatry – Course of Depression and Morality Among Older Primary Care Patients
A new article entitled, Course of Depression and Mortality Among Older Primary Care Patients in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry by Bogner, Morales, Reynolds, Cary, and Bruce presents a study examining the course of depression severity among older primary care patients and its association with mortality. Data were obtained from a large randomized controlled trial involving 20 primary care practices. …
J Pediatric Psychology – Trauma Exposure Associated with Stress Sensitivity in Young Children
A new article published in the Journal of Pediatric Psychology by Grasso, Ford, and Briggs-Gowan examined trauma exposure, current life stress, and internalizing and externalizing behavior problems in 213 children ages 2- to 4-years-old. The authors categorized the children into four groups based on trauma exposure and current life stress and conducted a multivariate analysis of variance to identify potential group differences …
Adm Policy Mental Health – Shifting the Treatment Model: Impact on Engagement in Outpatient Therapy
A new article published in Administration and Policy for Mental Health and Mental Health Research by Warnick, Bearss, Weersing, Scahill, and Woolston describes a study in which various treatment planning strategies designed to reduce early attrition were implemented in an outpatient clinic serving about 500-600 youth annually. Participants in the implementation group were compared to a historical control group. Implementation …
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