<p> This is a quantitative, cross-sectional study designed to examine the relationship between sexist microaggressions and mental health. <i>Sexist microaggressions</i> refer to subtle communications of hostility and discrimination toward women. Sexist microaggressions are often difficult to detect, but they have the potential for harmful mental health outcomes. Despite a strong theoretical argument for the relationship between sexist microaggressions and mental health, limited empirical research exists documenting this relationship, partly due to a lack of an adequate psychometrically developed, quantitative measure of sexist microaggressions. Therefore, for the purpose of the study, a theoretically based quantitative measure of sexist microaggressions, including a stress appraisal of these experiences, was developed. Based on survey data obtained from 699 women, the <i>Sexist Microaggressions Experiences and Stress Scale</i> (the Sexist MESS) may be conceptualized as composed of seven interrelated factors. Furthermore, the results support the reliability and validity of the Sexist MESS as a measure of sexist microaggressions among women. Even further, scores on the Sexist MESS correlated significantly with scores on the <i>Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionaire-Dutch-30</i> (MASQ-D30), indicating a positive relationship between sexist microaggressions and general distress, anhedonic depression, and anxious arousal. Additionally, hierarchical multiple regression analysis determined that sexist microaggressions account for a unique portion of variance in mental health outcomes, above and beyond other known predictors (e.g., self-esteem, perceived social support, feminist identity development) of women&rsquo;s mental health, suggesting that sexist microaggressions are an important factor to consider in the conceptualization and treatment of women&rsquo;s mental health. Other service implications and recommendations for future research are discussed throughout.</p>

<p> The twofold purpose of this study is to present the story of a Taiwanese Hakka family which had generational experiences of mother-child separation, and also to explore the impact of mother-child separation on second generation attachment representations. The mother-child separation of this Taiwan Hakka family is defined as having the experience of being either an &ldquo;adopted child&rdquo; or a &ldquo;little daughter-in-law&rdquo; in early childhood, which is generally termed tung-yang-xi (special characters omitted) in Chinese. Participants were recruited from a specific Hakka family with generational experiences of mother-child separation. In this research, the researcher uses the term <i>tung-yang-xi</i> to address both adopted child and little daughter-in-law. Three generations of <i>tung-yang-xi </i> participants were interviewed by the researcher to acquire their life stories. The second generation of <i>tung-yang-xi</i> were assessed for their attachment representations by the Adult Attachment Projective Picture System (AAP). All participants (28 participants) were classified as insecure. Six participants (21.4%) were classified as Preoccupied, eight participants (28.6%) were classified as Dismissing, and 14 participants (50.0%) were classified as Unresolved. There was no difference regarding the gender of participants nor the age when mother-child separation happened. The AAP revealed participants&rsquo; high tendency to adopt a &ldquo;deactivation&rdquo; strategy under emotional and relational dysregulation. The classification result and the analysis of defense process were consistent with the researcher&rsquo;s hypothesis on the intergenerational transmission of internal working models. The researcher discusses cultural factors in understanding the attachment phenomenon among the Taiwanese Hakka population.</p>

<p> Two of the hallmark symptoms for psychosis are hallucinations and delusions, indicating to mental health practitioners that the person is experiencing a form of nonconsensual reality. These patients are not given the same opportunities to collaborate in planning for their treatment as those who are being treated for other conditions. Psychosis is a condition with myriad and controversial theories of etiology and treatment, leading to great variation in treatment outcomes. This research offers a perspective on the subjective experience of people being treated for psychosis in the modern mental health system in the United States by documenting how they think and feel about the treatment they are receiving. The method of inquiry was an interpretative phenomenological analysis with six people responding to 15 questions in a semi-structured interview that included questions about what has been beneficial and not beneficial in accessing therapeutic support for their distressing experiences and what advice they would give to mental health workers.</p><p> All participants reported having a positive experience in the study, which indicates the value of asking people about their mental health treatment. Several of the participants explicitly stated that they had never shared, much less had been asked to share, their experiences of treatment throughout sometimes decades of having received treatment for a mental health diagnosis. Advice participants wished to give to mental health workers included being more compassionate and expressing authentic caring, encouraging recovery as opposed to dependency, and instilling hope. Some benefits of current treatments noted by participants included frequent contact with mental health workers in a range of capacities including the development of relaxation skills and activities of daily living (ADLs), family therapy, and individual psychotherapy. This research indicates the following areas for improvement in the treatment of psychosis: focusing on the development of the therapeutic relationship, including active listening and authentic concern; including the patient in the development of goal setting and treatment planning; and focusing on recovery with an attitude of hope.</p>

<p> Adolescents who sexually offend are highly diverse both in risk factors as well as inner resources. Utilizing the BERS-2-YRS, the AAQ, and the J-SOAP-II, 38 adjudicated adolescents convicted of a sexual offense in secure care were assessed to determine which protective factors are correlated with reduced sexual re-offense risk. This study also explored how adolescents who have only committed a sexual offense (sex-only) differ from adolescents who have committed a sexual offense in addition to other delinquent behavior (sex-plus). Results indicated that sex-only adolescents demonstrate a significantly lower sexual recidivism risk and have greater affective strength compared to sex-plus adolescents. The sex-only sub-group also demonstrated large correlations for reduced sexual recidivism risk along five protective factors found on the BERS-2-YRS.</p><p>

<p> This study compared empathy scores, as measured by the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) with participants&rsquo; ability to correctly identify Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). Participants were 114 American Muslims. Of the 114 participants 58 participants provided qualitative data in the form of comments that were coded. Female participants were found to be significantly different when compared to normative sample of females that have completed the IRI. The second analysis utilized a mixed-method approach where the comments section of the results was coded, and groups of data were formed based on this coding. Analysis of this data was done again using t-tests and comparing specific grouped populations with normative samples. t-test conducted on females that participated in the study showed a significant difference in their fantasy scale scores on the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) compared to those in the general population. Muslim American females appeared to have a significantly lower score on the fantasy scale of the IRI than the general population. Though no other t-tests were significant, a trend in comments and those that were able to identify unique aspects of intimate partner violence was recognized in the data. Specifically, a subgroup of the population was able to identify in-law abuse as a component of the scenario presented to them showing that this specific type of IPV warrants further research and investigation in the Muslim American population.</p><p>

<p> <b>Objective:</b> The primary goal of the current study was to characterize perceived social support (PSS) and isolation longitudinally among people with chronic pain (CP) who were and were not receiving group psychosocial interventions for CP. The second goal of the study was to describe how PSS and isolation variables are associated with quality-of-life (QOL) variables over time for those same participants. </p><p> <b>Background:</b> Previous research has demonstrated that positive social support can predict better outcomes for people with CP and negative social support can predict poorer outcomes. Furthermore, CP is associated with decreased social support and greater isolation. Despite the knowledge that PSS can be an important coping resource for people with CP, research on the longitudinal patterns of PSS and isolation and their relationships to QOL variables over time is lacking, especially among people with CP. </p><p> <b>Method:</b> Social health and QOL data from 290 participants from the Learning About My Pain study (Eyer &amp; Thorn, 2015) were used to examine longitudinal PSS and isolation with piecewise linear growth models using multilevel modeling. Participants were randomly assigned to participate in group cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), group pain psychoeducation (EDU), or medical treatment-as-usual (TAU) for 10 weeks followed by a 6-month post-treatment follow-up period. Participants were assessed pre-, mid-, and post-treatment, as well as at follow-up. </p><p> <b>Results:</b> PSS was relatively stable over the treatment and follow-up periods except for small decreases in emotional and informational support among TAU and social isolation among EDU during the follow-up period. Companionship was associated with decreasing pain interference, disability, and depression, and emotional support was associated with decreasing pain interference and depression, whereas instrumental support and isolation were associated with worsening QOL. The Buffering Hypothesis of PSS was not supported in the current sample. </p><p> <b>Conclusions:</b> A potential benefit of participating in psychosocial group treatments for CP appears to be the lack of deterioration of emotional and informational support for CBT and EDU and decreasing isolation for EDU participants. Social health was predictive of QOL. Future research and treatment of CP should account for PSS and isolation and the ways in which they interact with pain and QOL.</p><p>

<p> Global self-esteem is a central component of the self, and research has consistently demonstrated its influence on relationship quality. Literature has also shown that self-evaluations of one&rsquo;s perceived social acceptability and physical attractiveness are especially important to one&rsquo;s evaluation of oneself and one&rsquo;s relationships. Internalized homonegativity and body dissatisfaction&ndash;particularly evident among gay males&ndash;share many similarities with some domains of self-esteem and have also been linked with relationship quality. However, less is known about these two variables and how they influence the relationship quality of gay men. This study examined whether global self-esteem and the variables particularly relevant to gay men, internalized homonegativity and body dissatisfaction, were associated with the relationship quality among gay men, while controlling for three relationship-related demographic variables: cohabitation status (whether the couple is living together or apart), relationship status (whether the relationship is open or closed), and number of partners. The dependency regulation model and sociometer theory provided the theoretical context for this study. A sample of 147 gay male participants were recruited through online advertisements to complete anonymous surveys assessing relationship quality, global self-esteem, internalized homonegativity, and body dissatisfaction. Three hypotheses were tested using a hierarchical linear regression model. The results demonstrated that global self-esteem, internalized homonegativity, and body dissatisfaction each significantly predicted relationship quality; however, global self-esteem was nonsignificant when examined concurrently with internalized homonegativity. The clinical implications of this study were explored, and suggestions were made for future stories to explore this topic with a more diverse population sample (e.g., drawing from different ethnic groups, greater variation in age across the lifespan, and both rural and urban communities) as well as possibly using a relatively new measure, the Gay and Lesbian Relationship Satisfaction Scale (GLRSS), which has been developed specifically for the gay and lesbian populations. </p><p>

<p> Supervision is an essential component in the development of scientist-practitioner psychologists, and currently one of the primary ways that aspiring professional psychologists develop practical skills and receive training in their field. Although research has demonstrated that supervisors utilize diverse approaches, the literature has not yet identified different supervisor personal styles and the effects that these may have on supervision. This study contributes to the understanding of the personal styles of supervisors by adapting the psychotherapy construct known as the personal style of the therapist (PST) to the assessment of the personal style of the supervisor (PSS). The study focused on developing the scale, evaluating its psychometric properties, and identifying broad similarities and differences in supervisory styles. The result is a 34 item self-report scale that evaluates eight distinct dimensions of a supervisor's personal style. The psychometrics of the measure were evaluated, as well as general tendencies in supervisors' PSS and differences based on demographic characteristics. Findings indicate that supervisors sampled tended to: work within a flexible framework; bring themselves into supervision, either by self-disclosing or revealing their emotional states; think about supervisees in their personal time; be slightly more facilitative than didactic; have a slightly more active approach to managing conflict; and view multicultural issues as central to supervision. PSS differences were found based on supervisor's gender, ethnicity, licensure level, supervision model, psychotherapy model, and hours of supervision provided a week. A discussion of the implications of the findings and possible training uses of the PSS-Q as well as the limitations of the study is included.</p><p>

<p> The problem that was addressed by the study is whether teachers working in blighted schools experience higher levels of secondary traumatic stress due to indirect exposure to students&rsquo; trauma and higher rates of anxiety due to direct exposure to a blighted school building than teachers working in non-blighted schools. The purely quantitative study that utilized two validated instruments and an objective checklist was conducted via Qualtrics on the internet. Study results were based on an internet survey of 172 high school teachers who work directly with students. Scores on the SDI, the STSS and the STAI-AD were analyzed. Teachers were assigned to a group, blighted or un-blighted, based on his or her qualifying scores on the SDI. Those with scores of 4 or higher were assigned to the blighted group whereas those teachers with a score of less than 4 on the SDI were assigned to the non-blighted group. Final numbers of participants for each group were 84 for the un-blighted group and 88 for the blighted group. Composite scores for the STSS and the STAI-AD were calculated. Hypothesis 1 results indicated there is a significant difference in STS, as measured by the STSS, between high school teachers who work in blighted school buildings and a control group of high school teachers who work in non-blighted school buildings (t = -6.340, p &lt; .001, df = 170). Hypothesis 2 results also indicated there is a significant difference in state symptoms of anxiety occurring during exposure to school building disrepair, as measured by the State subscale of the STAI-AD, between high school teachers who work in blighted school buildings and a control group of high school teachers who work in non-blighted school buildings (t = -4.233, p &lt; .001, df = 132.757). The findings of the study are consistent with previous studies on the negative effects of community blight and STSS in the helping professions.</p><p>

<p> <i>Gestalt therapy</i> postulates psychological illness and health are interwoven with how a person gets in touch or interrupts <i> contact</i> with self, others, the environment, and the spiritual field (Brownell, 2018; Corey, 2005; Perls, 1969, 1973, 1942/1993; Perls, Hefferline, &amp; Goodman, 1951/1994; Perls, 1976; Polster &amp; Polster, 1973; Prosnick &amp; Woldt, 2014; Yontef, 1993, 1999). Preliminary research found support for psychological wellness and disturbance relative to Gestalt therapy <i> contact styles</i> between human organism and environment (Byrnes, 1975). The purpose of this study was to investigate <i>four predictor variables of therapist age, professional experience, theoretical orientation</i>, and <i>preferred theoretical orientation as a client vis-&agrave;-vis seven criterion variables</i> of Gestalt therapy <i>contact resistances </i>&mdash;or interruptions to contact. Essentially, this study hypothesized therapists with more <i>experience</i> (i.e., age, and professional practice) and Gestalt therapy <i>exposure</i> (i.e., practicing, and receiving Gestalt therapy as a client) would obtain lower scores on the seven Gestalt contact resistances: <i>Confluence, Desensitization, Introjection, Projection, Retroflection, Deflection</i>, and <i>Egotism</i>&mdash;as gauged by the <i>Gestalt Inventory of Resistance Loadings</i> (GIRL; Woldt &amp; Prosnick, 2014a). Archival datasets comprising 291 mental health trainees, professionals, and affiliates were utilized. Age and Gestalt therapy theoretical orientation were most supported suggesting Gestalt therapy coupled with aging process attenuate Gestalt contact resistances. Professional experience and Gestalt therapy preference as a client produced partial support indicating these two variables also aid in the diminution of Gestalt contact resistances. In sum, 13 out of 28 hypotheses (i.e., 46%; four more neared significance) were statistically significant cementing credence for the utility of Gestalt therapy modi in helping both psychotherapists and clients alike transcend obstacles precluding <i>growth, maturation, actualization, organismic self-regulation, authenticity</i>, and <i>wholeness </i>.</p><p>