<p> Meditation is increasingly integrated into therapeutic interventions. Metta (loving-kindness) meditation, which cultivates compassion, is relatively unstudied. Metta&rsquo;s emphasis on compassion has spurred speculation that metta meditation may benefit mental health professionals at risk for compassion fatigue, a condition characterized by depression-like symptoms that results from paying witness to others&rsquo; trauma. The current study employed psychological phenomenology&mdash;a qualitative research methodology which uncovers the essential meaning of an experience&mdash;to explore mental health professionals&rsquo; lived experiences of metta meditation. Moustakas&rsquo;s recommendations for phenomenology guided data collection and analysis. Semi-structured interviews with 17 mental health professionals, clinicians and clinical supervisors, yielded 58 invariant components clustered into eight themes regarding metta meditation experience. These themes were used to write textural descriptions for each participant, from which a textural composite was created. Structural mechanisms interwoven into the composite created the <i>essential</i> description of participants&rsquo; lived experience of metta meditation. Implications are discussed.</p>

<p> The current study examined the effects of gender, ethnicity, number of years enrolled in a current university, number of years in graduate school, number of years enrolled in a current graduate program, Conscientious Perfectionism, Self-Evaluative Perfectionism, and satisfaction with life on campus connectedness among a sample of 345 graduate students. The number of years enrolled in a current university, Self-Evaluative Perfectionism, and satisfaction with life were all significant predictors of campus connectedness. Interaction effects indicated that students with high satisfaction with life scores but low Self-Evaluative Perfectionism scores were more likely to experience greater campus connectedness and White students were more likely to experience greater campus connectedness when satisfaction with life scores were high. No significant differences in campus connectedness were found among Non-White students. Limitations, future directions, and implications for both counseling and graduate programs are discussed.</p>

<p> This research aims to provide evidence that will serve to better the quality of treatment in residential care settings for the at-risk adolescent population. Because of the various factors associated with iatrogenic effects in residential care settings and because of the impact that the developmental stage of adolescence has on later adulthood, attempts to increase this treatment quality type becomes salient. Contemporarily, dialectical behavioral therapy is utilized in residential care settings with the at-risk adolescent population and has research supporting its&rsquo; efficacy. Although dialectical behavioral therapy is utilized in this context and has demonstrated effective, it is often only provided in therapy and not in the milieu. Because of the quantity of time clients in residential care settings spend in the milieu with milieu staff, these experiences likely influence their overall therapy progress. Therefore, this research hypothesizes that dialectical behavioral therapy&rsquo;s use in the milieu in addition to therapy will increase overall therapy progress for the client population than if treatment as usual were to proceed. This research was conducted in a residential care setting for at-risk adolescents and collected data during a treatment as usual assessment period; provided the intervention of training milieu staff in dialectical behavioral therapy theory, strategies, and adolescent adaptations; and collected data during a dialectical behavioral therapy treatment assessment period. Concluding is a statistical analysis of the measurable changes between assessment periods, an interpretation of the results, a discussion regarding generalization of the findings, limitations, and future considerations.</p>

<p> There is little research available on Asian-Indians' attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. Further, little research is available that addresses theoretical approaches that may be effective in reducing the stigma associated with psychological help in working with this underserved population. Therefore, this study provides a preliminary means to provide marriage and family therapy to Asian Indians. A repeated-measures research method was used to examine participants' attitudes toward seeking psychological help and compare those attitudes before and after a skills-based workshop on marital communication and conflict resolution. Workshops were held in Malaysia, India, and the United States. A total of 135 Asian Indian participants, who were all married, completed surveys before participation in the workshop and again immediately afterward. The influence of attitudes on marital satisfaction was examined as well as the relationship between conflict style and attitudes and marital satisfaction. Lastly, the study looked at the type of marriage--arranged and choice--and the relationships with attitudes and marital adjustment. Analyses of the data indicated that a skills-based workshop approach was linked to improved attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. This study further examined the relationships between individual conflict styles and marital adjustment. Two conflict styles were found to have some association with marital adjustment. The results of this study have compelling implications for working with Asian Indians and other unique cultures that include an added dimension to multicultural counseling and education.</p>

<p> This production thesis examines home and homelessness through various psychological lenses including depth psychology, trauma theory, and art therapy. It explores how creating a personal shrine can help an individual process emotional homelessness. It offers an example of how one might experience a psychological transformation using the creation of a shrine as a safe container and transitional object to connect with unconscious aspects of one&rsquo;s personal story and examine some of the psychological elements therein. The author&rsquo;s investigation of emotional homelessness and its resolution includes his own experiences of engagement with the imaginal realm and he provides an example of a three-dimensional imaginal visual tool to advance understanding of home.</p>

<p> This production thesis investigates the unique and valuable role image creation can play in the exploration of inner psychological processes. The alchemical operations provide rich metaphors for particular psychological stages. Using artistic-creative and heuristic methodologies, specific alchemical operations are explored through research, amplification, and, ultimately, an experiential creative process. The importance of image as a natural expression of psyche and the particular benefits of working with images as a means to psychological insight are realized through image making. The entire production process is examined as a means to increased insight regarding the alchemical process, inner psychological experiences, and the natural bridges between psychological and creative processes. This first-hand exploration of psychological processes through image demonstrates that imaginal work can be a source for emergent meaning, evoke affect, access and embrace multiple meanings, provide perspective on both personal and archetypal levels, and ultimately serve as a vehicle for personal transformation.</p>

<p>The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the supervisory alliance and countertransference disclosure of social work trainees in direct practice. Eighty-six social work trainees in direct practice, receiving supervision in field placement, (<i>N</i> = 86; 89.5% female, 8.1% male; 73.3% White, 11.6% Hispanic\Latino; 5.8% Asian/Pacific Islander, 4.7% bi-racial; 3.5% African American/Black) completed Internet-administered self-report questionnaires assessing comfort with and likelihood of countertransference disclosure in supervision, supervisory alliance bond, and demographic items. Analyses revealed statistically significant positive correlations between the supervisory alliance and comfort with and likelihood of countertransference disclosure among trainees. These results build on past findings regarding the importance of the supervisory alliance in relation to trainee disclosure among various mental health practitioners. The results of this study have significance for clinical supervision practices in developing supervisee competencies and promoting client welfare. </p><p> <i>Keywords</i>: Supervisory Alliance, Countertransference Disclosure, Social Work, Use of Self </p>

<p> Alexithymia, masculine gender roles, public stigma, and attitudes toward help seeking for depression were examined in relation to men&rsquo;s willingness of seeking help for depression. Adult male participants (N= 190) recruited online (Amazon&rsquo;s Mechanical Turk) completed Normative Male Alexithymia Scale (NMAS), Male Role Norms Inventory (MRNI-SF), Perceptions of Stigmatization by Others for Seeking Psychological Help (PSOSH), Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help scales (ATSPPH-SF), and questions based on a vignette indicating level of willingness of seeking help for depression. Scores were analyzed to predict the likelihood of seeking help for depression among men. Data were analyzed using regression analysis. Results indicate that a greater likelihood of seeking help for depression was associated with more positive attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help, a decreased identification with male role norms, and with decreased alexithymia. Three of the predictors (NMAS, MRNI-SF, ATSPPH-SF) explained 49% of the variance, (3,167) = 52.573, <i>p</i> &lt; .000, <i>R</i>² = .486. ATSPPH was the strongest predictor of men&rsquo;s willingness of seeking help for depression. Limitations of this study and implications for practice and research are discussed.</p>

<p> Limited research exists on effective treatment modalities for early onset trauma-based psychosis during the latency period of childhood. This thesis reviews research on the benefits of using Jungian play therapy to treat trauma-based psychosis. Depth psychologists have theorized that the conscious reality of individuals experiencing psychosis is flooded by unconscious complexes, resulting in symptoms of psychosis and intolerance to emotions experienced. Using hermeneutic and heuristic methodologies, this thesis focuses on how, using Jungian play therapy, therapists can form therapeutic alliances with children experiencing psychosis, assist the child with integrating their unconscious experiences, affect, and thoughts into conscious reality thereby managing distressing emotions, contributing to healthy ego development, and reducing psychotic symptoms. Psychological literature and a friend of the author&rsquo;s experience of psychosis are examined to demonstrate how the integration of unconscious material leads to the potential to heal the fragmentation of the psyche caused by trauma and psychosis.</p>

<p> This quantitative survey questionnaires study compared the teacher-student interactions (TSI) and academic achievement of African-American and African immigrant undergraduate males. The academic achievement gap between different population groups provided the impetus for the study. While African Americans have been described as under-achievers in the literature, their African immigrant counterparts have at times been dubbed a model minority. However, studies on differences in TSI between the two groups are scant. Students&rsquo; perceptions of TSI were assessed using two existing instruments, the <i>Experience with Faculty Scale and Student-Professor Interaction Scale.</i> Grade Point Average (GPA) was used as proxy for academic achievement. Traditional (ages 18-24) undergraduate Black male students at an Upper-Midwestern university constituted the population for the study. With a sample size of sixty (n1=30, n2=30), hypothesis testing was done using Chi-Square, the Fisher Exact test with Freeman-Halton extension, and Ordered Logistic Regression. Although the study did not show statistically significant differences in TSI as well as academic achievement between the two groups, it revealed that there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups in how often students discussed their career plans and academic ambitions with faculty. Moreover, contrary to prior literature; African immigrants in this study did not significantly outperform African Americans on self-reported GPA&mdash;casting doubt on the depiction of African immigrants as a monolithic group and a hyper successful model minority. Two incidental and yet important findings also emerged from the study. First, among students reporting having positive TSI, African immigrants were twice as likely as African Americans to describe it as very strong. Second, only one-fourth of the participants hailed from non-college-educated households. The meaning of the findings and implications for higher education are discussed. </p>