<p> By 2030, older adults will comprise more than 20% of the population and include 80 million adults age 65 and older (U.S. Census, 2010). A corresponding increase is predicted in the number of older adults in need of mental health counseling (American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry, 2010). According to the Institute of Medicine, in 2012, nearly one in five older adults had one or more mental health and/or substance abuse conditions. There is an emerging demand for counselors who specialize in gerontological counseling to meet the mental health and substance abuse needs of older adults. Despite the anticipated demand to increase the workforce with counselors who specialize in gerocounseling, research has shown that students in the human service professions are not interested or prepared to work with older adults (Institute of Medicine, 2012). This lack of interest and preparedness does not bode well for meeting the future needs of this population. If there is a genuine lack of interest in counseling older adults among counseling students, particularly the youngest to enter the profession, then it is important to explore their perspectives to understand them and design training strategies to prepare them for meeting the mental health needs of older adults. </p><p> This exploratory study used qualitative description to capture the perspectives of eight millennial counselors-in-training (CITs). Data and findings were organized to construct analysis of the themes that emerged. The framework of critical gerontology was used to examine findings. Participants identified primarily with their own aging family members to describe their age-related perspectives. Findings suggest that CITs struggled with their own privileged status as younger adults as they described their perception of how older adults were devalued by society. Evidence revealed a tension as they realized that they will likely counsel older adults regardless of their area of specialization. Students wanted age-related foundational knowledge to help their own aging family members, to work with clients being raised by grandparents, and to assist families in accommodating their aging family members but experienced systemic and structural obstacles that might prevent them from acquiring this knowledge. This research has critical implications for the field of counselor education.</p>

<p> The purpose of this project was to write a grant proposal to fund educational workshops for members of multi-disciplinary teams of professionals who work with people who hoard. The overall goal of the workshops is to educate the members of multi-disciplinary teams on hoarding in Orange County, California as well as members of the community. An extensive literature review on hoarding was conducted to increase knowledge on hoarding behavior, hoarding disorder, engagement, assessment, interventions, members of agencies and organizations working as a multi-disciplinary team and community resources. After researching for funding, The California Wellness Foundation was selected for this submission of the grant proposal. The host group of the proposed program was the Orange County Task Force on Hoarding. The actual submission and/or the funding of this grant was not a requirement for the successful completion of this project. </p>

<p> The purpose of this grant proposal was to locate and identify potential funding sources, and write a grant to fund a program that would provide SFBT training to mental health professionals employed and/or interning at the Orange Coast College Student Health Center in Orange County, California. An extensive literature review was conducted, which increased knowledge about the special mental health needs of Community College students, particularly within the Orange Coast College student population. A search for potential funding sources via the Internet and a grant database resulted in the selection of the California Mental Health Services Authority's Community College Student Mental Health Program Grant as the best funding source for this project. Subsequently, a grant was written to support the implementation of the proposed SFBT Training seminar at Orange Coast College in California. The actual submission and/or funding of this grant was not a requirement for the successful completion of this project.</p>

<p> The purpose of this project was to develop and fund a combination of support groups and respite component for parents and caregivers who have children with Autism. The Host Agency that was able to best fit the criteria of this project was Piecing Together, a division of Autism Treatment Services in Tracy, California.</p><p> After an in-depth review of the literature on Autism, it was determined by the grant writer that there was a great need to provide more family support to supplement Applied Behavioral Analysis services. A thorough search for potential funding sources led to the California Wellness Foundation as the funding source for this project. A grant application was composed to support this project.</p><p> Actual submission and/or funding of the grant were not required for the successful completion of this project.</p>

<p> The purpose of this project was to design a program, identify potential funding sources and write a grant application to obtain funding for a Horticultural Therapy program at the consumer-operated, mental health self-help center in Santa Rosa, California, The Wellness and Advocacy Center. This program will provide urban dwelling adolescent, adult and senior consumers of mental health services with opportunities for healing, recovery and skill building through increased access to nature, gardening and outdoor activities. </p><p> A literature review was conducted in order to learn about the benefits of horticultural therapy for various populations including those who suffer from mental health issues. A search for potential funders was undertaken using the Internet and the Foundation Center's database. The Burpee Foundation was identified as the best fit for the program. Actual submission of this grant and/or funding for this program were not requirements for successful completion of this project.</p>

Persons suffering from chronic and severe mental illnesses often refuse psychiatric treatment. This poses the question whether we as a society have any obligation toward mentally ill persons who refuse care, and, if so, the nature of this obligation and the condition(s) under which it applies. The conclusion of this dissertation is that we, as a society, do have limited obligations toward severely mentally ill persons who refuse care. The principle of interpersonal reciprocity and an interpretation of justice based upon it form the philosophical basis of these obligations, which, however, apply only if the prospective patient is appropriately understood as "incompetent"--that is, he or she seems incapable of freely making decisions that will maintain or achieve a minimum standard of primary goods that all persons may be presumed to want (life, health, adequate nutrition, shelter, safety, clothing, etc.). Dangerousness to self or others may be partial grounds for establishing incompetency, but the potential for dangerous actions alone is insufficient to justify involuntary psychiatric treatment if the prospective patient appears competent. If no less-restrictive alternative means are possible, the condition of incompetency alone is morally sufficient to justify the compromise of the prospective patient' s physical liberty if doing so preserves a minimum standard of well being otherwise impossible. This interpretation of social justice, applied to the problem of the incompetent mentally ill, forms a standard and method of evaluating our social institutions--legal and medical. It is, however, inadequate to critique itself due to its parochial nature and the realization that systems of moral thought necessarily evolve in dialogue with particular cases. One theological source for critiquing our approximations of justice is the Christian notion of self-sacrificial love applied to the particular cases that this interpretation of social justice addresses. Appropriately addressing the needs of the chronic and severely mentally ill requires more than mere principles of justice, but a love that does more than justice. The hermeneutical circle of religiously-inspired love in conversation with moral philosophy and medicine will more adequately guard us against injustice than any one discipline alone can do.

<p> Throughout history, experiencing auditory hallucinations has been described as highly complex and personal. Although early research was conducted in attempts to understand the process and phenomenology of auditory hallucinations, in more recent years the ontological understanding of auditory hallucinations has evolved into inconclusive neural explanations, cognitive models of pathology and psychopharmacological treatments. Despite their importance, these avenues of inquiry attempt to ameliorate auditory hallucinations as a symptom rather than understand the experience for the hearer. In order to re-visit the experiential importance, this qualitative and phenomenological dissertation explored a deeper understanding of the lived experience of auditory hallucinations in the schizophrenic individual using a psychoanalytic (i.e. Lacanian) framework.</p>

The evaluation of drug effects acquires an increasing significance in psychiatric research due to the number of new compounds as well as the need for safety screening for side effects. The present study reports the results of the investigation of effects of buspirone in 57 primary chronic alcoholics, using a double blind method with a placebo control group. Buspirone was administered in doses of 20 mg/day after a two-week wash-out period during which patients in both groups received placebo capsules. After a further two weeks of the study, the buspirone dose was increased to 40 mg/day until completion of the investigation after twelve weeks. Five out of 36 subjects, who completed the study, became abstinent. Detailed characteristics of the study group were obtained, including socio-demographic data, alcohol consumption, Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (MAST), Alcohol-Use-Inventory (AUI), Drinking Behavior Interview (DBI), and psychometric assessment: Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAM-A) and Hopkins Symptoms Checklist 90-Revised (SCL-90-R). Statistical analysis of the results was carried out using multivariate analysis of covariance on repeated measures. The HAM-A scale results were improved significantly in patients receiving buspirone. Marked improvement was also observed in Interpersonal Sensitivity Scale (a subscale of SCL-90-R). MENTALIM subscale of AUI demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in the buspirone group, when compared to patients receiving placebo. The validity of self reports on alcohol consumption by patient was confirmed by a change in liver enzyme levels: Gamma-Glutamyl Transpeptidase (GGT), Alanine Aminotransferase (ALAT) and the results of the Edwards Hardship Scale. The scores on HAM-A and MADRS scales were higher among the drop-outs than in those who completed the study. The side effects of buspirone were minimal and a good tolerance of the drug was observed.

4 groups of subjects were followed for 18 months after an emergency department visit: subjects with delirium, dementia, neither, and both. Outcome variables were activities of daily living (ADL), change in ADL, and the status of living at home. / Covariates were initial age, sex, marital status, living situation, ADL, cognitive status, type and number of chronic medical conditions, and number of medications. All subjects were living at home prior to their emergency department visit. / Unadjusted analyses suggested a trend toward poorer ADL at 6 and 12 months and a significant difference at 18 months in the delirium group versus the non-delirium group of the non-dementia stratum only. Unadjusted analyses showed significantly fewer individuals living at home at 6, 12 and 18 months in the delirium versus the non-delirium group of the non-dementia stratum only. / Multivariable linear and logistic regression confirmed the interaction between delirium and dementia for both ADL and living at home. Linear regression adjusting for covariates in the non-dementia stratum suggested that initial ADL and several chronic medical conditions, but not delirium, were independent predictors of ADL outcome. Logistic regression in the non-dementia stratum suggested that several chronic medical conditions and other variables, including delirium, were independent predictors of loss of living at home.

A meaningful item, such as a word, object or face, that is unexpected in a given context, elicits the N400, an event-related potential (ERP) thought to index the amount of effort applied to integrate the item in its context. This N400 has repeatedly been found to be abnormal in schizophrenia (Sz) patients. Meanwhile, these patients are also deficient at maintaining context in mind, which, like the inability to integrate an item, can cause a comprehension deficit. The maintenance of context can be assessed by measuring another component of ERPs, the contingent negative variation (CNV). The CNV is evoked by a context stimulus that is presented just before a target stimulus. As yet, the N400 and the CNV have not been studied together in order to assess the respective roles of contextual integration and context maintenance in semantic performance. To this end, Sz subjects and normal controls were asked to perform semantic categorizations for word, face, and object targets in an experiment in which each categorization was specified by a context instruction stimulus presented just before each target stimulus. / The extent to which context maintenance and contextual integration impairments could be related to the thought-disorders (TD) of Sz patients was assessed. Therefore, high (n=15) and low (n=15) TD patients were compared to high (n=15) and low (n=15) TD normal controls. It is proposed that the excess of information extracted from instructions and targets, as indicated by larger than normal P600s to both types of stimuli in high TD patients, may actually be the root cause underlying thought disorder.