<p> The posttest only experimental design study was conducted to examine if exposure to neutral or negative portrayals of mental illness in media influences viewers&rsquo; attitudes on mental illness. Participants were 22 self-selected students from a private, co-educational university in an urban area of the east south-central region of the United States. Two groups watched one of two movies that were pre-determined to be reflective of American culture and mental illness (i.e., <i>Lars and the Real Girl and Drive</i>). Data was collected by administering Community Attitudes Toward Mental Illness (CAMI) and a demographic questionnaire. An independent t-test was used to determine if CAMI subscales varied because of the movie presented. Participants who watched the movie portraying mental illness in a negative context were predicted to have higher social restrictiveness and authoritarianism subscale scores, and those who watched the movie portraying mental illness in a neutral context were predicted to have higher benevolence and CMHI subscale scores. However, there was not a significant difference on any subscales scores at <i> p</i> = .05 between the movies presented to each group. Implications are discussed.</p>

<p> Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent mental health concern in the United States. Yet, many who suffer from anxiety do not receive treatment or fail to respond to well-established cognitive and behavioral interventions. Mindfulness- and values-based strategies are possible alternatives for these individuals. However, values-based approaches have not been adequately studied in anxious populations and it is unclear how they may interact with mindfulness-based approaches. Moreover, little is understood about the mechanisms of action underlying behavioral changes resulting from mindfulness meditation (MM) practices. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is one approach that employs values clarification (VC) and mindfulness to bring about improvements in quality of life (QOL). ACT also provides a behavioral account of human vitality that may increase specificity of mediating and moderating variables that are critical for good outcomes following mindfulness-based treatment. The present investigation aimed to evaluate the effects of MM and VC on QOL and anxiety symptomology and to elucidate significant mediators and moderators of the relations between MM and VC and positive outcomes. In so doing, highly anxious participants (<i>N</i> = 120) were randomly assigned to a 10-min MM practice + control task or a 10-min MM practice + VC task. Pre, post, and daily diary assessments were employed over the course of 16 days and included several well-established process and outcome measures. Results suggest that 2-weeks of MM practice leads to decreases in anxiety symptom frequency and increases in QOL during the previous 24-hour cycle. VC did not significantly affect primary outcomes. Acceptance appears to be the most important mediator assessed herein of the daily effects of mindfulness on anxiety symptoms, though valued action was a numerically stronger mediator between mindfulness and QOL. Practice quality was related to daily reductions in anxiety symptoms and improvement in daily QOL. However, it did not moderate response to MM. Surprisingly, MM practice time, when controlling for average practice quality, was related to worse QOL outcomes for those who participated in VC. Results are discussed in terms of enhancing the impact of psychological treatments for the anxiety disorders, in addition to implications for personal mindfulness meditation practices.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Western Conservative Baptist Seminary, 1987. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 179-196).

<p> Throughout history, people suffering from a mental illness or emotional crisis have been treated quite differently. The accepted treatments of the day could be cruel, and sometimes deadly. Within these times, there have also been people who questioned treatment-as-usual, particularly when they viewed that treatment as either unhelpful or dangerous. Alternative treatment programs have been developed with varying success. CooperRiis is a therapeutic healing community in North Carolina that opened in 2003. It is providing an alternative to treatment-as-usual to inpatient psychiatric hospitalization. This case study aimed to investigate whether there was a flexibility within the organization that allowed it to adapt to the changing needs within its own community, as well as to continue operating within the larger mental health community, to remain operational. The findings resulted in different revelations. It was discovered that the process of how decisions are made impact the community differently. Also, whether a leader is connected or disconnected from the community has a significant impact on it. These aspects, in particular, can influence feelings of empowerment or disempowerment within the community. Recommendations are provided both for where CooperRiis could benefit from more focus, as well as aspects of the programming it is doing well. In many of the alternative programs that are developed, a common thread is the focus on connection, as well as finding the humanity within both the providers and recipients of help. CooperRiis is yet another example of how this community, connection, and humanity is the therapy that heals.</p><p>

<p> This study brings attention to the growing body of literature examining the role of culture and context in the study of generation-status differences in cross-cultural coping and physical well-being among immigrants to the United State. Prior literature on the unique challenges, stressors, coping strategies, and health outcomes for immigrants provides a basis for hypothesized generation status differences on cross-cultural coping (collectivistic, avoidance, and engagement) and physical well-being (health, safety, and environmental). A sample of 118 male and female first, 1.5, and second-generation immigrants of non-European backgrounds, between the ages of 18 and 35, were recruited from the local community to complete an online questionnaire. Results from the cross-sectional study did not yield support for the hypothesized generational status differences. However, exploratory analyses yielded several significant correlations including a positive relationship between collective coping and the safety dimension of physical well-being. Within-generation exploratory analyses yielded several significant correlations and differences on measures of coping strategies and physical well-being for demographic/contextual factors such as religiosity, age, SES, English fluency, connection to the U.S. culture, education, and ethnicity amongst 1.5 and second-generation immigrants. The empirical investigation of cross-cultural dimensions of coping and physical well-being among immigrants represents a new direction for research. This study also has potential implications for more nuanced understandings of the immigrant paradox, the socioecological perspective of acculturation, collective coping, and inclusion of both objective and subjective experiences of the environment. Implications for theory and practice, methodological limitations, and suggestions for future research are also discussed.</p><p>

<p> A workplace critical incident is any event which disrupts or impacts the functioning of a business, e.g., death of an employee, downsizing or robbery. Critical incident responders (CIRs) are specially trained licensed mental health professionals who respond to workplace critical incidents as support to both the employees and the business organization through applied crisis theory and as a business continuity resource. The goal of a workplace response is to return employees to their pre-crisis level of functioning. CIRs are required to become certified in a multi-component crisis intervention technique. Prior to this study, no data existed regarding how closely CIRs adhered to intervention models or what theoretical frameworks informed their practice. This study sought to understand, from the perspective of the workplace CIR, what practices they employ and why. The design was a two phased, sequential, mixed method explanatory design. Phase one was a quantitative internet based survey (n = 110) and phase two was a qualitative phone interview (n = 12) designed to enhance the understanding of phase one results and provide rich data on the experiences of workplace CIRs. The conceptual frameworks for this study were theories of crisis, crisis intervention and constructivism. The results found that CIRs demonstrate autonomy in deciding which interventions to apply during a response. Type and nature of the crisis as well as timing of response from the event influenced the CIRs&rsquo; approach. CIRs are informed by brief treatment modalities and even though CIRs have limited understanding of the phrase business continuity, they still provide the services. CIRs described modifying Mitchell&rsquo;s CISD Model to address the needs of civilians in the workplace. Primary activities are assessing, normalizing and educating. Results will further the understanding of critical incident response and enhance the current best practice models.</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of group supervision on counseling self-efficacy of master's-level counseling internship students. Larson's (1998a) Social Cognitive Model of Counselor Training (SCMCT) was used as the theoretical framework for the study. SCMCT addresses how counseling knowledge is transitioned to counseling action. The study was a quantitative, causal-comparative research design. The participants were 135 master's-level counseling internship students from a CACREP-accredited, private college in the southeast United States. Data was collected through the administration of online surveys: Counseling Self-Estimate Inventory (COSE; Larson et al., 1992), Group Supervision Impact Scale (GSIS; Getzelman, 2003), Supervisory Styles Inventory (SSI; Friedlander &amp; Ward, 1984), and a demographics survey. Group supervisor impact (r = .227, p = .008), peer supervisee impact (r = .240, p = .004), and group supervision environment impact (r = .358, p &lt; .001) were significantly correlated with counseling efficacy. Group supervision environment impact was the best predictor variable of counseling self-efficacy, b = .773, t(127) = 3.210, p = .002. There was no significant difference in counseling self-efficacy between participants with master's-level group supervisors and participants with doctorate-level group supervisors, t(133) = .586, p = .559. There was no significant difference in counseling self-efficacy between participants who had a group supervisor licensed in professional counseling and participants who had a group supervisor licensed in a different field, t(133) = .125, p = .901.</p>

<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>

<p> Physicians require discipline, determination, a tolerance for delayed gratification, and brainpower to navigate college, medical school, postgraduate education, and their personal and professional careers. A high degree of resilience is needed for this journey. Adding to research on the concept of resilience, this thesis recognizes two factors beyond one&rsquo;s control that influence one&rsquo;s capability for resilience: infant attachment pattern and adverse childhood experiences. Alchemical hermeneutic methodology was employed to examine the influence of these factors on the development of resilience and to explore the vulnerability of medical students and physicians to a failure of resilience. A heuristic approach taken to incorporate the author&rsquo;s experience and observations as a physician provides evidence of the pressures and potential pitfalls in physician lives. The author proposes changes in medical training and the structure of medical practice that take into account individuals&rsquo; strengths and limitations in regard to their capacity for resilience.</p>

<p> Religion and spirituality has become a widely researched topic within the field of psychology, however most research studies focus on the quantitative measures of religion used as a coping mechanism for individuals undergoing difficulties and struggles. The terms religion and spirituality are often misunderstood in the field of psychology and used interchangeably. Individuals who share their religious/spiritual experiences are often dismissed and not taken seriously therefore exacerbating the stigma and creating even more distance between the field of science and religion. The goal of this research is to capture the lived experience of prayer for individuals moving through psychosis without enframing the experience in a negative way by placing labels or categories on them or their experiences, but rather by letting the experience show itself in its own unique way. Thus 3 participants who have experienced psychosis were asked about their experience of praying during a time that is typically understood as a psychotic experience. The purpose of this approach is to better understand how the practice of prayer in religion/spirituality is more than just an instrumental coping mechanism, and is, rather, lived out as a way of being in the world. This study uses an existential-phenomenological method to understand participants' experiences of this phenomenon in light of common, existential givens shared by the participants. This study will close with implications for further research and clinical care.</p>