<p>In recent years, there has been a shift in the field of psychology to consider a more holistic approach to therapy, with body-based therapies often classified as such. This study looked at relationships between participation in a trauma-informed, body-based, group therapy treatment (Sensorimotor Psychotherapy) and levels of overall symptoms, mindfulness, social connectedness, and post-traumatic growth. Participants were eight adult Caucasian women with a history of interpersonal trauma who participated in 20 weekly sessions of a Sensorimotor Psychotherapy-informed group intervention. They were assessed five times over 20 weeks plus at one month post-group. Results indicate that participants showed decreased levels of overall symptoms, increased levels of mindfulness, and increased social connectedness. This study adds to the limited research regarding Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and indicates that a group intervention based on the principles of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy may be effective for survivors of interpersonal trauma.

<p>The Health Managerial Appraisal (HMA) is a competency-based assessment that measures a test-taker?s ability to evaluate interpersonal effectiveness and decision-making capabilities in others. The instrument was developed for assessing managers in Health, Human, and Community Service (HHCS) organizations for skills that are essential to managing staff as they provide person-centered care. This study evaluated the construct validity of the HMA through a correlational method. HMA scores were correlated with the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal, California Psychological Inventory, and Behavioral Observations. The sample included 77 managerial job applicants in the HHCS industry. The results yielded convergent and discriminant evidence that the HMA as a valid measure of these necessary constructs for managing in the HHCS industry. The HMA has potential to be used to inform selection of HHCS managerial applicants as well as help current HHCS managers identify areas for professional development.

<p>The initial development and content validation of the Health Managerial Appraisal (HMA) is outlined in this study. The content of the HMA was developed based on a Health, Human, and Community Service (HHCS) Managerial Competency Model that was created by subject matter experts. In today?s HHCS organizations, managerial roles now include empowering direct support professionals. Empowerment requires that managers accurately evaluate staff?s interpersonal effectiveness and decision-making capability. The HMA measures a test-taker?s ability to evaluate these two skill sets. The HMA was first administered to initial job applicants across all job levels (N = 2,072). Based on these test-taker responses, the HMA was revised from six scenarios to four. The revised form was then administered to final candidates for managerial and executive level jobs (N = 77). These executive and managerial candidates performed better on the HMA than initial stage job applicants, suggesting that more qualified managerial candidates were more likely to perform well on the HMA. Additionally, internal consistency reliability of the HMA test scores was .735, suggesting that the HMA produced reliable test scores. The HMA has the potential to inform selection of HHCS managerial candidates as well as help current HHCS managers identify areas for professional development.

<p> This Art-Based Research (ABR) illuminates the power of creativity to inspire and heal people living in a maximum-security forensic psychiatric hospital. The study comprises: the individual and group artwork from the Collaborative Ceramic Art Therapy Studio with thirteen participants; a culminating thirteen-minute film found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PytlFZVvlig, <i> Conversations in Clay: Creativity, Collaboration, and Community</i>; an artistic inquiry and examination of the project footage; and a discussion of how the therapeutic filmmaking process helped capture the essential therapeutic elements of clay, filmmaking, and the art therapy studio environment.</p>

Evidence suggests that caregiver health affects patient health. Consistent with the Biopsychosocial Model, mental health (anxiety, depression, satisfaction with life, self-esteem), physical health (bodily pain, general health, performance in physical role, physical functioning), burden, and social support were examined in the present study to understand the relations between these variables and the overall health of 81 caregivers of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) in Mexico. The relation between mental health and physical health was significant. Canonical correlations revealed that depression and general health emerged as primary variables and these were entered into a series of analyses with burden and social support as potential moderating variables. No significant moderations were detected. Hierarchical multiple regressions showed significant relations between demographic and physical health variables, and three mental health outcomes: anxiety, depression, and self-esteem. Further research should consider the relations between mental health and physical health in the context of Latino culture.

Increasing rates of obesity across all race, ethnic, gender, and age groups over the past thirty years have generated significant public health concern. Black children face disproportionately higher risk for overweight and obesity compared with their White peers. Substantial evidence suggests that parent involvement improves pediatric obesity treatment outcomes. Moreover, churches are feasible and culturally congruent places to host health promotion interventions within the Black community. The current study examined the feasibility of disseminating an existing pediatric obesity intervention, NOURISH, in Black church communities. Twenty-five families participated in baseline assessment of the NOURISH-C. Five churches hosted the intervention and eight individuals were trained to lead the sessions. It was hypothesized that parent participation in NOURISH-C would be associated with improvements in child dietary intake, quality of life, and physical activity. Significant increases in quality of life were found, but no other hypotheses related to child health outcomes were supported. Nonetheless, this study offers a unique contribution to the pediatric obesity literature through its focus on implementing a community based intervention in a primarily Black sample. Outcomes from the primary aim, which assessed feasibility, provide important guidance for future research. Specifically, barriers to and facilitators of the implementation of NOURISH-C are reviewed to inform future church based health promotion interventions. Additionally, current findings provide a framework for future community based iterations of NOURISH.

Patience is among the most common colloquially known virtues, and yet its empirical attention is among the smallest of all virtues. In this dissertation, I focused on the conscientiousness-based virtue of patience in terms of theory and intervention. In my first study, I examined the effects of a preliminary intervention workbook designed to promote patience. In my second study, I examined a number of correlates informed by patience literature as potential antecedents, mechanisms, and outcomes of patience and, using structural equation modeling, present a theory of patience. Finally, in my third study, I beta tested the patience intervention workbook along with outcome measures posited in my proposed theory of patience in order to examine this theory under experimental and longitudinal design. In Study 1, the patience workbook did indeed produce higher patience outcomes at post-test relative to the control condition but was not significantly different from a positivity workbook condition. Participants in the patience workbook condition also improved in trait self-control, trait forgivingness, and trait negativity. In Study 2, familiarity with an identified stressor and perceived stress related to that stressor predicted state patience for that stressor, consistent with an ego-depletion model of patience. Additionally, patience predicted mental (resilience, anxiety, satisfaction with life, depression, positive affect, and negative affect), physical, relational (communicative competence and perceived social support), and spiritual (spiritual attitudes and involvement) health outcomes. Study 3 replicated the support for an ego-depletion model of patience, and those in the patience intervention workbook improved in trait and state patience, anxiety, and depression, extending and partially supporting the outcomes found in Study 2. The present studies support the use of a workbook intervention to promote patience and additional virtue and mental health outcomes. Implications of these results and future research directions are discussed.

<p> Therapeutic treatment facilities that support adolescents in the criminal justice system in reforming delinquent behaviors are being used across the country as an intervention alternative to more punitive correctional facilities. Cognitive behavioral therapeutic techniques are the current primary treatment method used in such facilities, which has left them void of any depth psychological or psychodynamic modalities. Although cognitive behavioral therapy provides useful tools in supporting a patient&rsquo;s emotional awareness and affect regulation, it falls short in tending to the whole of an individual&rsquo;s psychic needs and drives. Using hermeneutic and heuristic methodologies, this thesis focuses on how a combination of depth psychological tools and psychodynamic conceptualizations of the adolescent psyche could increase treatment efficacy and client engagement. Using depth psychological and psychodynamic literature as well as this author&rsquo;s own professional experience in the field, this thesis examines the benefits of depth psychological methods in adolescent court-mandated treatment facilities.</p>

<p> This paper explores trauma as a continuum and how various forms of trauma can be treated with mindfulness and somatic psychotherapy modalities. Ten modalities are discussed through hermeneutic, heuristic, and intuitive inquiry research methods: mindful breathing; mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR); emotional freedom techniques (EFT) and energy psychology; eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) and attachment focused EMDR; Hakomi mindfulness-centered psychotherapy; sensorimotor psychotherapy; somatic experiencing; acupuncture, Soma Neuromuscular Integration&reg; bodywork, and authentic movement. Unique to this thesis is the approach to somatically releasing trauma using an acronym framework created by the author, conceptualized as Safety, Trust, Acceptance, Belonging, Love, Earth, and Ecopsychology (STABLE&copy;). Adding a depth psychotherapy perspective, the myth of Inanna is offered as an allegory to enrich the practice of co-regulating patients as they work through their trauma narratives. Recognizing nature as an essential component to healing the wounds of the soul adds an ecopsychological and wilderness therapy perspective.</p>

<p> Jungian Psychological Type is the foundation of many modern theories of personality. Many aspects of the theory have yet to be explored with empirical research, one area in particular being the theory behind the hierarchy of preferences, which is important because the Types are classified by the order of their preferred functions. A latent class analysis technique was applied to the eight ranked function-attitude scores of 5,247 participants who took the Majors Personality Type IndicatorTM (PTI) and Majors Personality Type Elements&trade; (PTE) assessments. The superior, auxiliary, and tertiary preferences of the latent classes were examined so that the nature of the relationships amongst the three preferences could be observed. Results show that the superior/auxiliary preferences were consistently opposite in process (one rational and one irrational)&mdash;but not consistently in attitude. Not only did the superior/auxiliary/tertiary preferences exhibit complementary relationships to one another, the tertiary function was never antagonistic to the auxiliary or superior preference. Remarkably, the superior and inferior functions were antagonistic to one another in 46 out of the 47 classes that resulted from the analysis. Thus, the outcomes support Jung&rsquo;s theory but also present evidence against other popular Type theories. The resulting profiles support the hypothesis that there may be more than 8 or 16 Types, which holds implications for the practical application of the Type theory as well as the classification and assessment of Psychological Type. A model for a systemic conceptualization of the hierarchy is presented and suggestions for future research are proposed.</p>