No description available.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a relationship exists between the scores subjects obtain on Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale and the type of therapy they prefer. Two hundred and fifty-four students in general psychology classes were given Rotter's Scale. Considering their upper- and lower-third scores, 54 were classified as " Internals," 53 as "Externals." Subjects also were given written descriptions of both psychoanalytic and behavioristic therapies. Each of these descriptions dealt with the goal and the specific therapeutic procedure of the respective therapies. Subjects were asked to identify which therapy they preferred and to provide a rationale for their choice.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship of clients' perception of choice in treatment planning and the clients' positive behavior changes made within the treatment setting, with the clients' successful return to the community after release from the residential treatment setting.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The mid-1900's saw a shift in thinking within the social sciences away from the then dominant Newtonian worldview of linear causality, towards thinking in terms of circular causality. With the development of the new systemic epistemology, and the subsequent shift towards second-order cybernetics and evolutionary theory, new concepts were created to elucidate the processes whereby man constructs reality. This study considers the relevance of second-order cybernetics and the evolutionary theory as descriptive metaphors for both the pragmatics and aesthetics of group psychotherapy. A recursive relationship between theory, description and intervention is conceptualized, and it is concluded that the theoretical constructs in question serve as complementary sides of a systemic coin in the description of group therapy processes and the application thereof to the group therapy context. / Psychology / M.A. (Clinical Psychology)

Most research on hypercholesterolemia concerns the association of cholesterol to stress, with very few references to psychotherapeutic interventions, which are on small and motivated samples. Especially in Greece, no research has been done either on the association of cholesterol to psychological factors or the treatment of cholesterol by psychological interventions. The present study examined the effectiveness of a brief psychological intervention in decreasing high or borderline cholesterol levels. Fifty-eight hypercholesterolemic individuals were recruited for the study. This sample was a part of a group of 6,000 Athenian adults used in a long-term prospective study of cardiovascular diseases and their risk factors. Participants were partially randomised for age, sex and cholesterol into an intervention and a control group. A brief group psychological intervention was used which focused on the realisation of sources of stress and the expression of "unacceptable" thoughts and feelings. The theoretical background was psychodynamic and systemic. Intervention groups met weekly for 1 /2 hour sessions, while the control groups were invited to come to the hospital once a month for the first 3 months. The treatment outcome was assessed using blood tests of cholesterol, high density lipoproteines (HDL), low density lipoproteines (LDL), psychological tests and a questionnaire evaluating the group intervention. Participants were followed up for 1 year and were assessed at 3- month, 6-month and 1-year intervals. A statistically significant difference was found in the intervention group between the first and the second measurements of cholesterol, HDL and LDL. Also, the intervention group was found to have significantly greater decrease in cholesterol and LDL than the control group when the change scores between the initial and first follow-up measurements were compared. Significant changes were found in cholesterol, HDL and LDL in the third follow-up in the control group, which is difficult to vii explain since no association was found with any psychological or lifestyle parameters examined. No significant differences between the intervention and the control group were found on the psychological measures used in the study. However, correlations were found between decrease in cholesterol at the 1" follow-up and patients' satisfaction with the group process. The group process was analysed as well as case studies of two group members who responded well to the intervention and two who did not. These analyses suggested that participants were confronting a struggle between strong moral, social and familial obligations and their own attitudes towards life, which created strong feelings of guilt, anger and tension. Their unfamiliarity with psychotherapy and their motivation to obtain symptom relief seemed to influence the outcome of the intervention. A combination of health education and brief group psychotherapy is suggested. However, further evidence is required to support the effectiveness of brief psychological intervention in the decrease in cholesterol as well as the finding of the significant decrease in cholesterol in the control group at the 1- year follow-up.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Social Work and Social Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

An extensive literature search reveals the profound lack of research on specialist professionals’ perspective on clinical work with asylum-seekers and refugees. This study explores the manner in which practitioners’ clinical experience with asylum-seekers and refugees informs the way they make sense of their professional identity. It is the first study undertaken in the UK that investigates the notion of professional identity among practitioners who work with this client population. Drawing on a social constructionist epistemology and a Foucauldian theoretical and methodological framework of power and discourse, I analyse extracts from semi-structured interviews that I conducted with eight specialist professionals who have provided therapeutic work to asylum-seekers and refugees. I explore how professional practices related to clinicians’ work, as well as legislative policies around asylum fall within a broader spectrum of regulatory discourses, interact and shape practitioners’ professional identity within a postmodern migration context. The findings of this study suggest that the notion of professional identity among these practitioners envelops a social and political activist stance and a deep sense of commitment towards helping and promoting social change within the wider community. Likewise, clinical work with refugees combines professional knowledge and values with a politicised involvement that fosters a psychosocial perspective on clients’ distress, takes into account the socio-political parameters of refugees’ trauma and allows practitioners to contextualise their distress and difficulties without pathologizing them. These findings are useful for professionals who work in the field of clinical practice and who conduct or consider conducting clinical work with refugees and clients that have multifaceted social and psychological needs and difficulties, as well as with clients from different socio-cultural backgrounds.