<p> Selective mutism is an anxiety disorder in which a student speaks in one setting but does not speak in another where speaking is expected, most often school. Most cases are noticed when the child starts school for the first time, however they often are not referred for treatment until 1-3 years later and often are referred to private agencies or therapists. The longer selective mutism continues, the more difficult it is to treat. School psychologists are in an ideal position to support school staff in the identification and intervention of selective mutism(SM), however, there have been no studies that specifically focus on the role of school psychologists in identifying and intervening on selective mutism. </p><p> This study surveyed working school psychologists to determine how many were aware of the condition of SM, how many had worked with students with SM, what types of assessments they used, the interventions implemented and the treatment outcomes. An online survey collected data from 165 participants regarding their experience, knowledge and perceptions as related to selective mutism. All of those surveyed were aware of selective mutism, 97% had had some contact with a student with SM, and 81% had worked directly with a student with SM. The majority of assessment methods included observations, interviews, and the BASC2 internalizing scales. Most of the respondents did not use specific scales that measured speaking. The services most provided were interviews with parents and teachers, followed up with suggestions, referrals to private therapists, and comprehensive special education assessment. The interventions used most frequently included one-to-one sessions, play therapy, and smallgroup. Systematic desensitization, behavior modification and cognitive behavior therapy, interventions most supported by the literature, were used only 20% of the time. The results of interventions varied with 42% of respondents indicating no progress with one or more students, more than 60% making "a little" progress, and 30% indicating they were very successful helping one or more students to became completely verbal. The results indicated a need and desire from school psychologists for training on selective mutism.</p>

<p> This qualitative phenomenological study explored the experiences of people with relational trauma in NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM), a somatically based psychotherapy. Utilizing an interdisciplinary approach of depth psychotherapy, neuroscience, attachment, and somatic therapy, the literature review examined the multifaceted impact of relational trauma and the mechanisms of implicit memory and somatic psychotherapy. The literature review also presented verbal and nonverbal therapeutic actions that theoretically support processes of change for the psychotherapy patient. Although much has been written theoretically about the psychotherapy patient&rsquo;s experience, there has been scant qualitative research from the perspective of the psychotherapy patient.</p><p> The researcher conducted interviews with six individuals who had been in NARM therapy to contribute to our understanding of the experience of the somatic, cognitive, emotional, and relational processes in the clinical dyad. The research participants included four females and two males, ranging in age from 30 to 63 years old. Using Giorgi&rsquo;s phenomenological method, interview transcripts were analyzed. Essential constituents were made explicit, and a refined structural description synthesizing the NARM patients&rsquo; common experience was developed.</p><p> The research identified 11 constituents that comprise the essential structure of the lived embodied experience of being in NARM therapy. They include (a) the patient connects to his inner experience of emotions, thoughts, and sensations; (b) the therapist finely attunes to the patient; (c) the therapy experience is present focused; (d) the body and its expressions and sensations are tracked and incorporated; (e) images facilitate the patient&rsquo;s process; (f) the patient&rsquo;s movements are enacted and processed; (g) the patient experiences a new embodied authentic sense of self; (h) the patient&rsquo;s personal resources are highlighted; (i) metaphor supports the patient&rsquo;s process; (j) the therapy experience is titrated; (k) relational patterns are explored.</p><p> The study suggests the value and efficacy of a resource oriented, integrative, psychobiological therapeutic approach which supports affect regulation for patients exploring implicit and explicit processes of self that were shaped by relational trauma. The research indicates that a holistic divergent discourse supports organization, integration and individuation</p><p> <i>Key words</i>: relational trauma, somatic psychotherapy, implicit memory, depth psychology</p>

<p> Extra-marital affairs are common in the US and frequently result in difficulties for individuals, families, and society as a whole. Empirical research on the topic is problematic. There is no universally accepted psychological definition of what behaviors or experiences constitute an affair; there are value-laden assumptions about marriage and affairs that are not usually questioned as part of the design or discussion of studies; and, there are non-trivial non-response biases in sampling on the topic. As a result there is a lack of meaningful psychological understanding of affairs and a dearth of evidence to support clear treatment directions for those who seek psychotherapy for this common issue. In an attempt to understand the essential psychological structure of the beginning of affairs, a descriptive phenomenological psychological study of the experiences from three adults who have had affairs (as they define them) and who had promised monogamy was undertaken. These interviews were transcribed, transformed and analyzed using Giorgi&rsquo;s (2009) descriptive phenomenological method for psychology. The resulting structure of the experience includes the following constituents: dissatisfaction with the marriage and hopelessness about it improving; a sense of the self and the spouse having a fixed character that does not change; a lack of curiosity for the spouse; a preference for passion and novelty; a sense of deserving sexual satisfaction; the experience of passion overriding judgment; and, a lack of real consideration of divorce as a solution to the dilemma prior to the affair. In addition, passive intentionality, (Husserl, 2001), is offered to explain how a series of interactions with another outside the marriage develops into an affair before it is grasped as such. This structure is potentially clinically meaningful as thus far it has not been articulated in a descriptive and complete manner. It offers direction for the future development of clinical interventions and provides entry points into: discussions of ethics, values, intimacy, passion and subjectivity; marriage reform; and, the socio-historical contexts in which the meaning of affairs is located. Keywords: Extra-marital affair, monogamy, non-monogamy, marriage, infidelity, couples&rsquo; counseling, Giorgi, phenomenological research methods, intentionality.</p>

<p> <i>Billboard</i> magazine&rsquo;s Top 40 songs from one&rsquo;s youth can impact one&rsquo;s psyche during midlife and instill the individuation process with depth and meaning, leading toward an enlarged sense of self that can take one on a path toward wholeness. The therapeutic healing nature of music is reviewed, focusing on its influence on adolescence from a Jungian perspective and its innate relationship to shamanism. Utilizing a heuristic research methodology and the ideas of archetypal psychology, this thesis incorporates the author&rsquo;s personal life experience with popular music and dreams in a brief memoir highlighting each 12-year Jupiter Return cycle, midlife, and the midlife crisis. Combining the language and concepts of depth psychology, a passion for Top 40 music, a series of dreams with pertinent synchronicities, and storytelling pave the way and inform the author&rsquo;s hero&rsquo;s journey, a spiritual quest unveiling an initiation of death and resurrection marking the birth of a shaman.</p>

<p> Human development involves numerous interactions between the individual and social typecasts, family values, cultural traditions, media stereotypes, and a variety of external sources placing normative values and expectations on human development. These interactions can provide strong gender role typecasting, especially in developing adolescents, and sets boundaries for social interaction, support, and peer group associations (Hall-Lande, Eisenberg, Christenson, &amp; Sztainer, 2007). One critical phase of development occurs between pre-pubescence and adolescence (Greenfield, Keller, Fuligni, &amp; Maynard, 2003). The focus of this study is on female adolescent development and the effects of social/parental stressors utilized to force conformity and describe appropriate gender expectations to achieve essentials for success. The presence of gender role stressors during development will be utilized to establish the existence and effects of gender role conflict. The manifestation of Gender Role Conflict (GRC) occurs when external perceptions, gained through parental or social influences, formalize within developing females and creates incongruence between individual goals and social forces pressures acting on the developmental process (Hoffman, 2006a). Female adolescence provides a challenge to individual awareness or submission to social compliance when forming developmental pathways to adulthood. All women do not necessarily experience gender role stress during adolescence development. However, for those who do, gender role related stress creates varied levels of dissonance between personal determination and social context (Fine, 2011). GRC is the resultant stresses which often mark the difference between successful developmental achievements or confounding socially prescribed developmental attitudes with unresolved conflict and elevated stress (Small &amp; Memmo, 2004). This study will examine gender role conflict as it develops from intra-familial stress, social structure, and regional cultural influences and the resultant negative effect in achieving individuation, positive sense of self, and attainment of life goals (Hertzman, 2002). Stress has the potential to develop positive or negative connotations during development. However, this study focuses on the negative aspects of stress related gender role conflict and the long term effects on development (Dickerson, 2004). The researcher will utilize qualitative comparative case study design to examine the development of, or effects from parental, social, and cultural influences on adolescent female development and goal achievement (Martin &amp; Fabes, 2009). The experiences of adult women who currently occupy gender variant career fields will be examined in order to identify the personal or social influences that affected career decisions. This research is not a study of career fields. Rather, it is a study of women who by career choice have broken career related social stereotypes and were more likely to have experienced gender role stress during development (Worell &amp; Goodheart, 2006). Social and familial developmental expectations are primarily predicated on gender role assignment as specified by birth sex (Fine, 2011). The resultant developmental gender role conflict emerges when external developmental influences are not congruent with individual values or goals (Allison &amp; Schultz, 2004). Gender role preconceptions, as determined by birth sex alone, have been framed without regard to individual differences or consideration of the developing female's self-expression or experience as she matures (Barnett, Biener, &amp; Baruch, 1997). As such, the adolescent female is unwittingly placed in narrowly defined categories formed by societal and familial influences without regard to her individual characteristics or her voice (Anthony, Holmes, &amp; Wood, 2007). The experiences of adult women as related to adolescent development, parental or social influences apparent, and/or existence of GRC prior to entering gender variant career fields will be obtained and discussed within this dissertation.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the supervisory alliance and trainee disclosure of clinically relevant events in supervision (events related to the supervisory functions of enhancing trainee competence and ensuring client welfare). Three hundred and six predoctoral psychology interns (N = 306; 79.1% female, 19.0% male; 79.7% white, 6.2% Asian/Pacific Islander, 3.9% African American/Black, 3.9% Hispanic/Latino, and 3.6% biracial/multiracial) completed a web-based self-report questionnaire assessing comfort with and likelihood of disclosure of clinically relevant events in supervision, supervisory alliance bond, and demographic items. A novel self-report questionnaire was created for the purposes of this investigation in order to assess the disclosure of clinical events related to functions of supervision. Analyses revealed statistically significant positive correlations between (a) the supervisory alliance and comfort with disclosure and (b) the supervisory alliance and likelihood of disclosure of clinically relevant events. These results build on past findings regarding the salience of the supervisory alliance and more explicitly connect disclosure in supervision to the dimension of bond. These results have implications for trainee competence and client care. Implications for clinical supervision practice and directions for future research are explored. </p>

<p> From a positive psychology perspective, humor can be viewed as an adaptive strength, an important aspect of holistic health, and a potentially beneficial coping mechanism in the face of stressful or traumatic events. Existing research generally supports the idea that individuals can manage threatening situations by turning them into something that can be laughed at, although the effectiveness of such humor use is dependent on contextual factors and the specific forms of humor that are used (e.g., aggressive versus benign humor). However, there is minimal research on how trauma survivors actually express humor in therapy, particularly in the context of difficult or traumatic subject matter.</p><p> Accordingly, the purpose of the current study was to qualitatively explore expressions of humor in therapy with trauma survivors. A sample of 5 client-participants from community counseling centers was selected, and videotaped therapy sessions involving trauma discussions for each client-participant were analyzed. A qualitative and deductive content analysis was employed, using a coding system that was created based on existing literature on humor and psychology, to examine verbal expressions of humor and laughter in psychotherapy sessions with trauma survivors. The results indicated that client-participants deliberately used and responded to humor both verbally and in the form of laughter in psychotherapy sessions, and most frequently in the context of serious, difficult, or traumatic topics. Client verbal expressions of humor (VEH) frequently consisted of different combinations of <i>Dark, Aggressive,</i> and/or <i>Self-Deprecatory Humor.</i> Client-participants were also found to laugh almost twice as often as they produced a VEH, and their therapists laughed along with them about half the time. Last, therapists often laughed inappropriately and outside the context of any identifiable humor (VEH or laughter) in their work with trauma survivors.</p><p> It is hoped that this study will raise awareness around the issue of client humor use in therapy, humor use in coping with stressful or traumatic events, and cultural variations in humor use. The findings have implications for clinical training and shed light on the use of potentially maladaptive forms of humor in therapy, an area of study that has been almost entirely neglected.</p>

<p> Current research supports the use of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD; Mendes, Mello, Ventura, Medeiros Passarela, &amp; Jesus Mari, 2008; Bradley, Green, Russ, Dutra, &amp; Westen, 2005). Art therapy (AT) has been used effectively with sexually abused children and adolescents (Deblinger &amp; Heflin, 1996; Cohen &amp; Cox, 1995; Pifalo, 2002), and integrated treatments show potential for enhanced PTSD symptom reduction (Bryant, Moulds, Guthrie, &amp; Nixon, 2005; Pifalo, 2007). However, no research on the use of an integrated CBT and AT approach has been studied on adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse with ongoing PTSD. </p><p> This dissertation examined the feasibility of an integrated CBT and AT group treatment for adult survivors (N=5). A relationship between participation in treatment and reduction of symptoms of PTSD, depression, dissociation, and anxiety was indicated. The results of this study provide initial support for this manual-based treatment and demonstrates the potential of integrated treatments.</p>

<p> Clinical terminology and definitions regarding trauma, retraumatization, and their residual symptoms are numerous and sometimes conflictual. This thesis uses a heuristic and hermeneutic methodology to explore the author&rsquo;s experiences of what he has termed <i>traumatic reactivation</i>, due to the inconsistency and inaccuracy of the available clinical terminology. These traumatic reactivations are examined through various psychological lenses. The techniques of association and amplification are used regarding the experiences to identify archetypal dynamics that may have been present. The experience of traumatic reactivation is also explored with C. G. Jung&rsquo;s theory of psychological types, as well as with specific connections between psyche and soma. The thesis eventually posits that these experiences, although initially shocking and overwhelming, have a purposive function and are in the service of healing, rather than a destructive reexperiencing of traumatic material. </p>

<p> This inquiry utilizes a qualitative heuristic design and methodology to explore the experience of psychotherapy in a home office setting, from the perspective of the psychotherapist. In addition to data collected through in-depth interviews with seven therapists who currently treat patients in their home offices, the study includes the experience and reflections of the primary researcher, who also practices in a home office. </p><p> By engaging with therapists who have direct knowledge of the home office, the study is privileged to share intimate perspectives of this rarely investigated phenomenon. The study explores the motivations of these therapists to establish a home practice, and presents their satisfaction and frustrations with this unique setting. The findings offer insight into ways a practitioner deals with self-disclosure, manipulates the therapeutic frame, and manages boundaries. The interviews and analysis explore different ways the setting &mdash; both natural and constructed &mdash; impacts the work. Participants in the study express confidence that working in a home office serves their patients well, matches their own strengths and personality, and is aligned with their theoretical beliefs about psychotherapy. </p><p> Deepening the research of home office practice beyond a study of setting and situation, the research reaches towards the symbolic in several ways. The primary researcher works with two dreams a patient shared about the home office. The literature review and data analysis includes reflections on the concrete and symbolic roles home plays in culture, in psychotherapeutic work, and in the personal life of the practitioner. Utilizing the ancient Greek goddess Hestia, the goddess of the hearth, the research employs a depth psychology insight into how the physical setting and psychological focusing combine to create a temenos. </p><p> The home office setting will continue to be an ideal setting for some practitioners for whom it makes practical sense. The implications of this study for the practice of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis point towards the importance for all practitioners to consider their conscious and unconscious motivations to practice in a particular setting, and how these choices affect their patients, the people they live with, and their own development. </p><p> Key words: home, home office, psychotherapy, setting, Hestia.</p>