This paper looks at the correlation between creativity and the spiritual path by comparing contemplative practices to creative ones. By looking at sitting meditation as it’s practiced in the Buddhist lineage and paralleling it with creative writing practices, we can see how each cultivates a similar mental space. This paper explores key factors that differentiate each practice and its desired goal, while also looking at things that make them similar. Each practice uses certain parts of the brain resulting in corresponding experiences happening at varying stages. I discuss the lead into meditative states by incorporating both ancient and modern perspectives. The discussion around meditative and creative states is further contextualized with an analysis of flow states, and cultural impacts. Both practices transmute experience into something else. In creativity this takes the full scope of human emotion and experience and turns it into art. In meditation this is done through assessing and releasing karmic accretions. I also discuss the creative impulse and how it mirrors the meditator’s desire for liberation. By contextualizing both practices I argue, creativity is a spiritual process and spirituality in turn requires a certain level of creativity.

Engaging in physical activity can help older adults to take part in community activities, maintain relationships, and initiate new friendships, thus preventing loneliness and depression. The purpose of this quality improvement (QI) project was to evaluate whether participation in physical activity improved depressive symptoms in 15 older adults at a local senior center. Pender’s health promotion model was used to determine nursing and behavioral science views on components that affect health behavior. The Exercise Benefit/Barrier Scale (EBBS) survey was evaluated before implementation of the walking program to measure the benefits of and barriers to exercise. The EBBS results showed that participants perceived physical activity as beneficial with high percentages in the dimensions of physical performance (90%) and psychosocial aspects (76%). The leading barrier to exercise was fatigue (50%). The 15 elderly participants tracked physical activity by counting the number of steps a day over a 2-month period with a mean number of steps of 3,788/day. The Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2) was administered before and after implementation of physical activity tracking to measure changes in mood and sadness over the past 2 weeks. Forty-seven percent of the participants had depressive symptoms before the program, compared to 13% after the program. Using descriptive statistics via percent difference, results revealed a 34% decrease in depressive symptoms in the program participants. Therefore, this QI project was successful in improving depressive symptoms among older adults. This project paves the way for positive social change through improved quality of life and improved physical/mental health outcomes for older adults who participate in a physical walking activity by decreasing depressive symptoms.

This study of 24 therapists and 64 family members representing 109 adolescent residents of six residential treatment centers aimed to better understand therapists' and family members' points of view about family involvement in residential treatment for troubled adolescents. The study also provided the therapists' and family members' recommendations for family involvement in residential treatment. Findings from this mixed-methods study suggest that (a) the families from this study were involved in many different ways in their adolescents' treatment, including phone calls, visits to the treatment center, participation in therapy, and so forth; (b) there were areas in which therapists and family members agreed (e.g., whether families used phone calls as a form of contact) and areas in which they disagreed about how involved the families were in treatment and therapy (e.g., how often any family member was involved in therapy with the adolescent); and (c) the therapists and family members recommended that families should be involved in therapy but recommend some forms of involvement over others.

Human trafficking is prevalent globally, nationally and locally. In the state of Florida, there are many victims of domestic and international human trafficking. Therapists work in settings where they come in contact with victims of human trafficking while they are still in captivity. However, many therapists lack the training and resources to identify victims of human trafficking in the therapeutic setting, and so many of these victims go unidentified. While there are several human trafficking identification tools, none are designed exclusively for therapists to identify both international and domestic victims of sex trafficking. To address this need, I developed the Roberts Human Trafficking Tool (RHTT). This assessment used a collaborative approach for therapists to identify youths who are domestic and international victims of sex trafficking. This project utilized one action research cycle to obtain therapists’ feedback and suggestions for the improvement of the tool. To do this, I trained four stakeholders who were human trafficking therapists in South Florida on the assessment who utilized it among themselves and provided feedback for its advancement. This feedback was used to make changes to improve the tool. The findings indicate that the Roberts Human Trafficking Tool is a unique and interactive tool that helps break barriers in working with the human trafficking population. An important prerequisite for the effective utilization of the RHTT assessment is training therapists on human trafficking and on utilizing the tool.

The purpose of the study was to explore the inter-rater reliability of the Multi-Dimensional Outcome Measure (MDOM) in the following areas: overall reliability, differences in reliability between samples, differences in reliability between scales, and increasing reliability over time. The study was to assist mental health professionals by clarifying the technical properties of an evaluation tool which could be used to document program outcomes for policy makers and to develop more effective treatment methodologies. The MDOM was administered to two groups, a mentally and emotionally disturbed sample of thirty-five Subjects from an inpatient facility and a normal sample of thirty-three community college Subjects. The MDOM was given in back-to-back interviews by two interviewers alternating in first interviewer, second interviewer roles. The data indicated acceptable inter-rater reliability for the Multi-Dimensional Outcome Measure. For anyone sample, all twelve scales showed acceptable reliability according to the criterion of a .75 product moment correlation coefficient. However, four scales did not meet the .75 level: Productivity I (.55), Productivity II (.74), Interpersonal Isolation--Family (.71) when administered to the inpatient sample, and Drug Abuse (.74) when administered to the community college sample. Assessment of the differences in reliability between samples showed higher reliability for the community college sample than for the inpatient sample with the exception of the Drug Abuse scale. Exploration of the differences in reliability between scales showed some scales contained items which were more relevant for the college student than for the inpatient. Other scales included items which were ambiguous or worded in an awkward manner which may have contributed to their lower reliability. Reliability could be increased as a result of the increased skill and clarification of questionable items. Scales which demonstrated unacceptable reliability the first weeks of the study indicated an acceptable level the last week. The data suggested that interviewers should be trained to insure acceptable reliability. The MDOM was seen to be suitable for monitoring the functioning of a community based sample; however, consideration should be given to the inherent limitations before administering the instrument to an inpatient sample.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of nontreatable dementia, a syndrome which reflects a progressive and global impairment of memory, intellect, and other cognitive abilities. This devastating condition directly touches the lives of as many as 10 million Americans, including not only persons suffering from the disease but their primary caregivers and other family members as well. At present the course of AD cannot be halted or reversed, and no cure is known. The problem, then, is how to most effectively respond to the psychosocial needs of primary caregivers in order to help them provide the best possible care for a loved one with AD.

A project using parent seminars in aiding parents of children with seizure disorders was designed at the request of Dr. James R. Schimschock, pediatric neurologist and director of the Clinic for Neurologically Impaired Children, Good Samaritan Hospital and Medical Center. The clinic provides a diagnostic and educational therapy for neurologically impaired children. In addition to providing multidiscipline diagnostic evaluation, clinic services include operating classrooms for preschool and school-age children. The classrooms function for children with any type of neurologic impairment who are either excluded from school due to their delayed academic performance, their physical or developmental delay, emotional or behavior problems, or the severity of their condition. Having the classroom located in the Good Samaritan Hospital complex provides immediate access to medical assistance if it is required. Information derived from classroom observation is available to the child’s physician. This information is valuable in the medical management of these children and is particularly useful with children having intractable seizure disorders.

This study examines the concepts of psychodrama and dying, death and bereavement that effectively meet individual needs for working through grief. It is the premise of this thesis that the working through grief to foster acceptance, self-worth and dignity, in the final st.age of life, is facilitated by psychodramatic methods of "acting through" the problems of the situation.

The pattern of frequent discharges and readmissions which characterizes most psychiatric hospitalization in this country today was described, and it was argued that the costs of this “revolving door” outweigh such benefits as might be derived from it. An alternative stepwise progression model of aftercare was proposed. This model identified community tenure as the most appropriate goal for initial aftercare efforts. Attempts to identify correlates of the establishment of community tenure by mental hospital releasees were reviewed. It was found that the ex-patient's ability to remain in the community is not highly correlated with the extent to which he manifests deviant behavior. This finding was interpreted as an indication that environmental factors may play significant part in ex-patients’ avoidance of rehospitalization. Data were presented which indicated that a clear majority of mental hospital releasees take up residency immediately with family members. It was hypothesized, then, that measurable family variables are correlated with the ability of the ex-patient to achieve community tenure. An attempt was made to examine this hypothesis in the light of relevant research. Studies of the issue which contained substantive empirical support were categorized into four topic areas: family tolerance of the ex-patient's symptomatic behavior, kin role which the family affords to the ex-patient, familial expectations of the ex-patient's performance, and family attitudes and personality characteristics. After reviewing the studies of authors who attempted to assess the degree of correlation between the capacity of the ex-patient’s family to tolerate symptomatic behavior on the part of the ex-patient and the ex-patient’s ability to avoid rehospitalization, it was concluded that the linear correlation between the two variables which would be predicted logically may not exist. A review of studies of the relationship between the kin role which the ex-patient's family affords to him and the ex-patient's ability to achieve community tenure yielded a tentative conclusion that returning to the social biological role of “child” (son or daughter) as opposed to the kin role of spouse was positively correlated with remaining in the community. After examining studies which attempted to explore the relationship between familial expectations of instrumental performance on the part of the ex-patient and the ability of the ex-patient to avoid rehospitalization, it was concluded that little support was provided for the hypothesis that the two variables are related. A survey of attempts to identify family attitude and personality characteristic correlates of ex-patient achievement of community tenure resulted in arrival at the conclusion that such efforts, as a whole, have met with little success, although significant correlations between two general family attitudes toward mental illness and ex-patient avoidance of rehospitalization were found. Considering the findings which were reviewed as a whole, it was concluded that little support was provided for the hypothesis that measurable family variables are correlated with the ability of the ex-patient to achieve community tenure. The rather limited aftercare practice applications which could be drawn from the few correlations that have been discovered were described, and implications of the over-all finding for future research were discussed.

Common medications utilized in the treatment of psychosis include lithium carbonate and the major tranquilizers. The efficacy of lithium is well established in the treatment of manic-depressive patients exhibiting symptoms of mania. The major tranquilizers treat a broader range of psychotic disorders including schizophrenia. In the treatment of manic-depressive illness, lithium produces normalization of affect with few side effects. However, since the interval between therapeutic and toxic dosages is narrow, lithium treatment must be closely monitored to avoid severe physical problems and even death. When a schizophrenic is incorrectly diagnosed as manic-depressive, and is treated with lithium, the patient does not benefit from treatment; this also constitutes an inappropriate risk for lithium toxicity. Conversely, when a manic-depressive is incorrectly diagnosed as schizophrenic and treated with major tranquilizers, the patient benefits only from the sedative effects of these drugs while risking the often debilitating side effects associated with them. Due to the similarity of their associated symptoms, the diagnostic discrimination of mania and schizophrenia is often difficult. This presents a problem, as diagnoses play an important role in the determination of the treatment of functional psychosis. The difficulty in achieving satisfactory levels of accuracy in diagnosis and subsequent choices of treatment for these two conditions may be due to the subjective nature of behavioral observations and clinical judgments in diagnostic interviews. The hazards of clinical judgment can be reduced through the application of appropriate objective tests. This research developed a scale from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) item pool which is associated with therapeutic response to lithium carbonate.