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Article abstracts (Vol. 1, no. 2 Fall 2018)
opioid crisis in america: one practitioner's point of view
Michael Teiger, M.D., F.C.C.P. Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Connecticut Health Center EXCERPT There is, you know, another point of view on the subject. In fact, there are several points of view when it comes to the opioid epidemic crisis that presently grips the United States. There is more to the story than what we are told by the news agencies, social media outlets, and the myriad of news sources, both in print and in electronic form. We in contemporary society depend upon the media to "inform us" correctly. But in the end, we know that there is always more it than what is presented in the bits and pieces of news headline snippets. These days, we rush to conclusions and then render judgment based frequently on limited information. Quick conclusions are easier when the data is given to us via rapid-fire electronic media. We scan information, rapidly digest, come to conclusions made with incomplete information, and move on. the "opioid crisis": a psychological perspective
Richard Boudreau, D.D.S., M.D., J.D., Ph.D. Marina Del Rey Hospital EXCERPT Are we throwing the baby out with the bathwater? We often do that when there is an event called a “crisis.” We attack symptoms. The government makes policies that are harmful to a large segment of the population and they just don't get it. Here are a few statements from respected journals: The truth about the US ‘opioid crisis’ – prescriptions aren’t the problem; Opioid Addiction Is a Huge Problem, but Pain Prescriptions Are Not the Cause; Cracking down on highly effective pain medications will make patients suffer for no good reason; overdosing on numerous drugs is an epidemic because millions live in a world without hope, certainty, and structure. Lewis, a neuroscientists and author on addiction, said that the overdose epidemic is real and, in fact, it is unmistakable across the globe. It is driven by the illicit or illegal use of drugs but if moral panic leads to many more people in severe pain, “that would be a disaster.” He points out that the current "opioid crisis" is not the same thing as an “overdose crisis.” Beyond Behaviorism and Psychoanalysis: A Tribute to Carl Rogers and the Coming oF Client-Centered Therapy
John H. Morgan, Ph.D., D.Sc., Psy.D. Senior Fellow in Behavioral Science (ret.), Foundation House/Oxford (UK) ABSTRACT No significantly recognized or clinically validated psychotherapeutic options to behaviorism or psychoanalysis existed before Carl Rogers introduced a paradigm shift to the professional world of counseling by suggesting that the interpersonal relationship between the therapist and client should focus upon the client rather than the therapist. This trajectory towards embracing the primacy of congruency within the therapeutic setting launched a re-direction of both understanding and training within psychotherapy based upon a humanistic approach to the field of psychology as a pivotal alternative to behaviorism (and its eventual off-spring of psychopharmacology), psychoanalysis, and eventually the emergence of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The coming of the Third Force following Watson and Freud has created a plethora of alternative modalities of psychotherapeutic treatments within the counseling profession and no one is more deserving of credit for this development than Carl Rogers himself. The Question of Innate Wisdom: A Personal Reflection on the Lifespan
Judith L. Newman, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Studies, Pennsylvania State University Abington ABSTRACT This personal reflection explores my increasingly strong conviction over a four-decade career that there is an early emerging wisdom to which we may spend much of our adult lives trying to return or reawaken. The little clues along the way to this conviction began in my undergraduate days when encountering classic notions such as ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny or Chomsky’s theory of language development. As a graduate student, my own research on the competence-performance distinction pushed me more towards this way of thinking. And through all these years of conducting cognitive-developmental research and teaching life-span developmental courses, I have begun to include more about nativist theories of gender identity and moral development, the intuitive or naïve theory (of biology) approach, Werner’s concept of co-existence, Maslow’s notion of self-actualization, and the U-shaped curve of happiness across the lifespan. The even more clear markers at the end of this personal journey include several recently published books on innate or early emerging wisdom, spirituality, and justice which will be discussed in the article. Humanistic Religion: The Prophetic Zeal of Erich Fromm
Michael Brock, LPC, Psy.D. Adjunct Professor, University of Dallas ABSTRACT This paper focuses on Erich Fromm, a humanistic psychologist whose writings on religion have well stood the test of time, addressing many of the specific issues of the current day—the interplay between politics and religion, the possibility of a nontheistic religion, the danger of inauthentic religion, the difference between the insights of the great mystics who preached the eternal values and the institutions that followed in their wake, to name a few. Humanistic psychology rose to prominence in America during the post-World War II years, reaching its zenith in the 1950s and 1960s and continuing to influence the national conversation—psychologically, spiritually, politically, and culturally—throughout the 1970s. During that time, it attracted a wide and popular following of psychologists, social scientists, “public intellectuals,” and political and religious leaders on the world stage, as well as among the general public. This paper is part of a larger project that examines the contributions of the humanistic psychologists Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, Erich Fromm, and Rollo May, as well as those of the English evolutionary biologist Julian Huxley, a contemporary who was doing much of the same work as the Americans. These five seminal thinkers had much in common, but they had much more that was unique to each. Fromm, as biographer Lawrence Friedman emphasizes in his title, The Lives of Erich Fromm: Love’s Prophet, was a many-faceted man: psychoanalyst, sociologist, humanist, teacher, counselor, nuclear disarmament spokesman, social reformer, and modern day prophet (and, many would say, contemporary prophet through the writings he left behind). Most relevant to this essay is Fromm’s unique approach to what he would call humanistic, or authentic, religion—a nontheistic religion that celebrates the person as the font of all the qualities and values that others might attribute to God. As this paper is part of a larger project, it begins in the middle of things, placing Fromm in the context of two who paved the way for what would soon be called humanistic psychology, Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers. In addition to May and Huxley, they are referenced throughout. Pastoral Logotherapy: From Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning
to Man’s Search for Ultimate Meaning Ann V. Graber Professor of Pastoral Logotherapy, Graduate Theological Foundation ABSTRACT In 2012 the Graduate Theological Foundation celebrated the 50th anniversary since it was formed in 1962, following the convening of Vatican II that encouraged dialogue with other religious denominations. The Foundation’s ecumenical and interreligious outreach as an institution of higher learning for ministry professionals had grown tremendously since its inception. A new initiative was launched to meet students’ needs: The Graduate Center for Pastoral Logotherapy (2012). It is intended to serve students looking for pastoral care and counseling approaches that include spirituality and is widely applicable with people of various faith traditions or with persons of a secular Weltanschauung. SPECIAL SECTION: FEATURED AUTHORS
Featured authors provide an introductory essay on the topic of their own recently released books. The Vicarious Brain, Creator of Worlds by Alain Berthoz Emeritus Professor, Collège de France; Founder and Director, Perception and Action Lab of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) The Vicarious Brain, Creator of Worlds (2017) by Alain Berthoz is published by Harvard University Press. EXCERPT: This book follows, and is a companion of, the book of Alain Berthoz “Simplexity” (Yale Univ. Press) which reviewed the remarkable property of living organisms which have found simplex principles ( modularity, redundance, inhibition, reduction of degrees of freedom, memory , anticipation etc..) to cope with the complexity of the world and even the brain. These principles are general and they include a principle of diversity called “vicariance.” This concept has been used by those in different disciplines such as paleontologists, psychologists, ethologists (like Von Uexküell). It has also been used in pedagogy. It basically says that a solution for a given problem can be reached by several processes and that the brain has this flexibility to choose one or the other given the context, goal, experience, sex, etc. Psychiatric Diagnosis Revisited: From DSM to Clinical Case Formation by Stijn Vanhuele Professor of Psychoanalysis and Chair of the Department of Psychoanalysis and Clinical Consulting, Ghent University (Belgium); Psychoanalyst in private practice Psychiatric Diagnosis Revisited: From DSM to Clinical Case Formation (2017) by Stijn Vanhuele is published by Palgrave Macmillan. EXCERPT: Worldwide an increasing number of people suffer from mental health problems. At the same time diverse scholars increasingly warn against a tendency towards overdiagnosis. This paradox points to the heart of all mental health-related professional action: diagnoses should accurately grasp the problems people suffer from, and should not or only minimally be influenced by the whims and fancies of third parties that might gain profit at the expense of potential patients. Indeed, the diagnoses that professionals give should be valid and reliable, such that adequate action can be taken. Yet, what kind of diagnosis should guide further action? and what criteria should we take into account when assessing the value and impact of our diagnoses? These questions are central to this book. My research has brought me to think critically about classificatory diagnosis and to appreciate clinical case formulations. |
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Article abstracts (Vol. 1, no. 1 Spring 2018)
INTERDISCIPLINARITY AS COGNITIVE INTEGRATION:
AUDITORY VERBAL HALLUCINATIONS AS A CASE STUDY Marco Bernini, Ph.D. Post-Doctoral Research Associate, Durham University (UK) Angela Woods, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Medical Humanities, Durham University (UK) ABSTRACT In this article, we advocate a bottom-up direction for the methodological modeling of interdisciplinary research based on concrete interactions among individuals within interdisciplinary projects. Drawing on our experience in Hearing the Voice (a cross-disciplinary project on auditory verbal hallucinations running at Durham University), we focus on the dynamic if also problematic integration of cognitive science (neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and of mind), phenomenology, and humanistic disciplines (literature, narratology, history, and theology). We propose a new model for disciplinary integration which brings to the fore an under-investigated dynamic of interdisciplinary projects, namely their being processes of distributed cognition and cognitive integration. WHO AM I CALLED TO BE?: A THERAPIST’S-EYE VIEW OF THE LIFE VOCATIONS DISCERNMENT PROCESS
Michael L. Brock, Psy.D., LPC Adjunct Professor, University of Dallas Psychotherapist in private practice ABSTRACT Of the various components of personal identity, career or life vocation looms large; for many, it takes center stage. Life vocations counseling consists of a discernment process that involves both the more surface issues regarding fit between personality and career and the deeper questions of meaning and purpose, a sense of calling, and energy and passion. Central to this discernment is the concept of soul, understood not in a religious sense but as an indicator of the deepest part of the self. The counselor’s role in this process is to engage the client in discussion related to both the surface questions and those that plumb the depths of the psyche, oftentimes beginning with the former and moving toward the latter. A familiar model distinguishes among job (which meets our basic needs), career (which addresses esteem), and calling (which involves one’s sense of contribution). It is the deeper questions that move the client toward contribution. THE CREATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE INTERPERSONAL-COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL TREATMENT SYSTEM (I-CBT)
Thomas A. Cordier, Ph.D. Founding Executive Director, The Cordier Institute for I-CBT and Psychiatry ABSTRACT The I-CBT treatment system for children, adolescents, adults and families was designed in order to address our nations struggling mental health system and the treatment gaps that deter the proper delivery of mental health treatment. The system was also developed in order to change the way mental health treatment is delivered in the United States and throughout the world. It is comprised of a number of effective treatment constituents the majority of them highly validated (i.e., structured cognitive-behavioral-therapy (CBT), solution focused talk therapy, emotional intelligence (EI) training, neurology, parent empowerment training (PET), individual therapy, various patient groups designed for an array of psychopathologies, visual and auditory educational methodologies, and psychopharmacology) for those patients that have a need for medication. The I-CBT treatment system works to provide above optimal treatment and training to patients and their families, providers as well as medical, mental health and academic institutions. In this article the author discusses the reasons behind developing the I-CBT system. How the system evolved as well as a brief description about how it works. He also identifies the obstacles that individuals can be confronted with when setting up their own clinical practice. GERIATRIC DEPRESSION MANAGEMENT: EVIDENCE- BASED NON-PHARMACOLOGICAL TREATMENTS IN REVIEW
John H. Morgan, Ph.D., D.Sc., Psy.D. Senior Fellow in Behavioral Science (ret.), Foundation House/Oxford (UK) ABSTRACT Neither psychotherapeutic nor biological psychiatry has made a name for itself in developing new approaches to the treatment of depression among the palliative care patient community. However, what is now being called palliative care psychiatry is on the rise as an emerging subspecialty where palliative medicine and psychiatry converge (Fairman & Irwin, 2013). The interfacing of palliative care medicine with psychiatry is being heralded throughout the medical community as a positive step forward in the development of modalities of treatment, both pharmacologically-linked and psychotherapeutic, which may be further researched and evidence-based tested for efficacy. The following is a review of the most current literature reporting on this newly emerging development in the palliative care of the elderly. METHODOLOGY OF MEANING-CENTRED EXISTENTIAL ANALYSIS
Péter Sárkány, Ph.D. Professor of Social Pedagogy, Eszterhazy Karoly University of Applied Sciences (Hungary) ABSTRACT Some of the methods often discussed in the literature of logotherapy and existential analysis are paradoxical intention, dereflection and attitude modulation (cf. Lukas 2006). Scholarly studies rarely discuss existential analysis, or the fact that existential analysis can be regarded as a step-by-step independent phenomenological procedure. The purpose of my paper is to sketch the phenomenological method of existential analysis. The train of thought is as follows: First, I reconstruct the meanings of existential analysis as formulated by Viktor Frankl, and lay out my statements about the subject. Then I sketch the methodological steps of the method called “meaning-centred existential analysis.” Finally, I compare the meaning-centred existential analysis with the concepts of Dasein-analysis and existential psychotherapy. NORMALITY, PATHOLOGICAL ORIENTATION, AND POWER: CAN BEHAVIOR ANALYTIC INTERVENTION FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH ASD QUALIFY AS HUMANISTIC?
Eric Shyman, Ed.D. Associate Professor of Child Study, St. Joseph’s College ABSTRACT This article is intended as a philosophical exploration of the nature of behavior analytic interventions as it concerns normality, pathological orientation, and power. More specifically, it is a critical examination as to whether behavior analysis could be considered a humanistic approach to intervention. The framework of the current argument is presented primarily as a position paper, with a goal to contribute to the critical discourse involving the examination of all interventions applied to human beings. It is especially important to closely examine those that are apt to be considered as dominant in both policy and practice, as is the case with behavior analysis, in order to secure the dignity of all individuals who receive such services. WHAT IS THE STATE OF THE MEDICAL PROFESSION TODAY?: A REFLECTION ON PHYSICIAN RESPONSIBILITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE FACE OF A RAPIDLY CHANGING HEALTHCARE LANDSCAPE
Michael Teiger, M.D. Associate Clinical Professor, University of Connecticut Health Center ABSTRACT The world of medical practice has changed dramatically over the past 10 years, not to mention over the past generation where the model of medical practice, which had been primarily entrepreneurial individual or small group practice, has morphed into an employed mega-group model with standards dictated by insurers, accountable care organizations (ACO) and hospitals. A physician who used to answer to his patient alone now has multiple overseers to respond to, and job satisfaction is directly affected by this changing paradigm. The following article discusses the issues of physician job satisfaction in the 21st century as well as the perceived responsibilities of the physician in his new role in health care delivery. THE ROLE OF CULTURAL CONGRUENCE IN PSYCHOTHERAPY EFFICACY: EVIDENCE FROM A NETWORK META-ANALYSIS IN CHINA
Hui Xu, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Counseling Psychology, Loyola University Chicago ABSTRACT Although there has been notable popularization of Western models of psychotherapy around the world, there has been little research examining the cross-cultural efficacy of psychotherapy. Based on the common factor model of psychotherapy, the present article discussed the importance of culture congruence and the cross-cultural issue of psychotherapy efficacy. The present article additionally reviewed a recent meta-analytic study examining the relation between cultural congruence and psychotherapy efficacy in China, which innovatively proposed a two-dimension model (i.e., experiential-analytic and subjective-objective) to operationalize culture congruence. The network meta-analysis supported a hypothesized ranked order of psychotherapy efficacy with indigenous therapy and humanistic/experiential therapy being more effective than cognitive behavioral therapy in China. The practical and theoretical implications of the results were discussed along with future suggestions. SPECIAL SECTION: DOCTORAL ABSTRACTS IN PSYCHOLOGY
“Exploratory Study of Counseling Professionals’ Attitudes Toward Distance Learning Clinical Supervision” (Brittani F. Munchel, Ph.D., University of South Florida, 2015) “A Phenomenological Study of the Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma in UK-based Ugandans from Parents who Lived in Uganda during Idi Amin’s Regime” (Michelle Nyangareka, D.Psych., City University, London, 2015) “Exploring the Lived Experiences of Felt Sense Among Beginning Counselors: A Phenomenological Study” (Perry Peace, Ph.D., University of Florida, 2015) “Understanding Attitude Towards Help Seeking in Predicting Preference for Psychotherapeutic Orientation” (Gregory Petronzi, Ph.D., Seton Hall University, 2016) |
