Alcohol abuse and alcoholism: The psychologist's role in prevention, research, and treatment.

Outlines the extent of the problem of alcohol abuse in the US, factors involved in the diagnosis of alcohol dependence, the value of psychologically oriented treatment, and the use of clinical and physiological screening measures. The need for primary prevention efforts directed at adolescents, the children of alcoholic parents, and those in military service is stressed, and the value of intervention programs based in the workplace is noted. It is argued that psychologists can play an important role in establishing the sociobehavioral basis of alcohol abuse, developing techniques for identifying alcoholics, and devising prevention and intervention strategies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The psychologist's role in measuring and improving customer satisfaction.

482 customers completed a survey that measured their satisfaction with an organization, with each of its three units, and with processes performed by each of the units. Means and correlations were analyzed to determine the processes that had the greatest potential to improve customer satisfaction through the application of traditional psychological interventions. A framework for assessing and using customer satisfaction data is presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A social psychologist's perspective on school psychology reform.

Discusses social psychology's experimental approach to understanding social factors influencing human behavior. Social psychology research provides school psychologists with insights for understanding issues regarding professional roles in the face of current school psychology reform. Theory and research on social roles suggests that school psychologists' acquisition of additional educationally relevant roles with an overarching rationale will lead to better adjusted professionals and more useful outcomes. As a result of school psychology reform schools may emerge as experimenting societies, implementing and evaluating innovative social and educational practices. A focus on social and environmental influences, in addition to child-centered factors, can be useful to school psychology efforts to solve educational problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The case against suicide prevention.

Challenges the perspective that suicide is a mental health problem, that mental health practitioners and institutions have a professional duty to try to prevent it, and that it is a legitimate function of the state to empower such professionals and institutions (especially psychiatrists and psychiatric institutions) to impose coercive interventions on persons diagnosed as posing a suicidal risk. Hence, when an individual (formally identified as a patient or client) commits suicide while in the care of mental health clinicians or clinics, the latter may be sued for and found guilty of professional negligence for failing to prevent suicide. A different view of suicide as an act of a moral agent for which that agent himself or herself is ultimately responsible is presented. It is further argued that eschewing suicide prevention and rejecting it as a professional responsibility would not only protect the mental health clinician from being forced into internally conflicting and contradictory roles and the client of mental health services from coercion in the name of suicide prevention, but would also protect the nation from a mental health policy that needlessly undermines the ethic of self-responsibility. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The psychologist's role in the emergency room: A comparative study.

Compared evaluations by psychologists, psychiatrists, a psychiatric team, and psychiatric residents of 258 16–76 yr old patients in an inner-city hospital emergency room. Both patient presentation and medical and psychiatric evaluations did not vary over time. Other than the finding that psychologists initiated evaluations sooner and hospitalized fewer patients than did psychiatrists, there were no significant temporal or dispositional differences in decisions made between psychologists and the other evaluators. Results are consistent with previous findings that more extensive evaluations lead to fewer recommended hospitalizations. Results also suggest disposition decisions are affected by training, and psychologists tend to place more responsibility on the patient and/or the patient's family than do psychiatrists. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Training family physicians in behavioral aspects of primary care: The psychologist's role.

Describes a comprehensive system for training general practice residents to integrate behavioral science knowledge into all aspects of their work. This system provides guidelines for information gathering, goal-oriented assessment, and treatment planning. A program used to train residents in this system is outlined. Results of a study evaluating this training show that residents were able to incorporate only the diagnostic phase of the system. Implications are discussed for the psychologist faculty member's role in such training. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Homophobia and the psychologist's role in psychoanalytic training institutes.

In 1988, a settlement agreement in a federal antitrust suit secured for psychologists the right to apply for training with the American Psychoanalytic Association (the American). It is the premise of this article that this victory for psychologists also confronted them with an ethical dilemma because the American has a history of discrimination against gay men and lesbians. This article explores the ethical predicament facing psychologists who wish to train as psychoanalysts. It concludes that it is incumbent on them to be vigilant against future homophobia within the American and actively voice opposition to discriminatory attitudes or actions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The psychologist's most creative years.

According to 2 sources (Flügel and Hulin), the peak production rate of a psychologist is between the ages of 35-39. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A behavioral pain-management program: Expanding the psychologist's role in a medical setting.

Describes the development of a psychologist-operated pain management program carried out within the context of a pain control clinic in a general medical hospital. The techniques used by the program are presented along with some preliminary outcome data. Additionally, the normal clinical and research skills of most professional psychologists, which are of use in the pain clinic setting, are discussed, as are some of the unique training needs of psychologists working in such a setting. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The pediatric psychologist's role in differential diagnosis: vocal-cord dysfunction presenting as asthma

Presented the case of an 11-year-old boy with vocal-cord dysfunction (VCD) as an example of a rare clinical phenomenon that may result in clinical and systemic challenges for the pediatric psychologist. VCD presents as highly similar to asthma, yet is best treated with speech therapy and psychosocial intervention. The physical symptomatology of VCD and its conceptualization as a psychosomatic disorder are described. Difficulties inherent in integrating psychological factors into medical case formulation are discussed, and possible pitfalls and strategies are delineated.     

The case against preventing suicide prevention: Comments on Szasz.

Comments on the article by T. Szasz (see record 1986-27453-001) advocating against coercive suicide prevention. The present author emphasizes that people may feel differently about committing suicide after the passage of a suicidal crisis, that suicide cannot be reversed, and that it has traumatic implications for the survivors. The issue of professional liability and malpractice is also discussed. The present author maintains there are higher-order values to be considered and protected. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Randomized trial of a gatekeeper program for suicide prevention: 1-year impact on secondary school staff.

Gatekeeper-training programs, designed to increase identification and referral of suicidal individuals, are widespread but largely untested. A group-based randomized trial with 32 schools examined impact of Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) training on a stratified random sample of 249 staff with 1-year average follow-up. To test QPR impact, the authors introduced and contrasted 2 models of gatekeeper-training effects in a population: gatekeeper surveillance and gatekeeper communication. Intent-to-treat analyses showed that training increased self-reported knowledge (effect size [ES] = 0.41), appraisals of efficacy (ES = 1.22), and service access (ES = 1.07). Training effects varied dramatically. Appraisals increased most for staff with lowest baseline appraisals, and suicide identification behaviors increased most for staff already communicating with students about suicide and distress. Consistent with the communication model, increased knowledge and appraisals were not sufficient to increase suicide identification behaviors. Also consistent with the communication model were results from 2,059 8th and 10th graders surveyed showing that fewer students with prior suicide attempts endorsed talking to adults about distress. Skill training for staff serving as natural gatekeepers plus interventions that modify students' help-seeking behaviors are recommended to supplement universal gatekeeper training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comment on Szasz's view of suicide prevention.

Comments on the article by T. Szasz (see record 1986-27453-001) advocating against coercive suicide prevention. The present author denies the suicidal person's "right" to commit suicide, emphasizing the devastating effects of suicide on survivors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Primary prevention of school maladjustment.

Discusses 2 categories of programs for the primary prevention of maladjustment in elementary school children: (1) child-oriented interventions that seek to promote competency in schoolchildren directly and (2) ecological studies that attempt to influence students indirectly through environmental manipulations. Although several programs have promise, definite conclusions cannot be made regarding the immediate and long-term preventive impact of current programs. Research is needed to determine which competencies mediate school adjustment, to develop reliable methods of identifying students who are at risk for different problems, and to investigate important person–environment interactions occurring in school settings. Another research challenge is to isolate and define the active treatment ingredients of current programs in order to improve the power and efficiency of prevention-oriented services. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cultural considerations in adolescent suicide prevention and psychosocial treatment.

Ethnic groups differ in rates of suicidal behaviors among youths, the context within which suicidal behavior occurs (e.g., different precipitants, vulnerability and protective factors, and reactions to suicidal behaviors), and patterns of help-seeking. In this article, the authors discuss the cultural context of suicidal behavior among African American, American Indian and Alaska Native, Asian American and Pacific Islander, and Latino adolescents, and the implications of these contexts for suicide prevention and treatment. Several cross-cutting issues are discussed, including acculturative stress and protective factors within cultures; the roles of religion and spirituality and the family in culturally sensitive interventions; different manifestations and interpretations of distress in different cultures; and the impact of stigma and cultural distrust on help-seeking. The needs for culturally sensitive and community- based interventions are discussed, along with future opportunities for research in intervention development and evaluation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Determinism, choice, responsibility and the psychologist's role as an expert witness.

Discusses the legal precedent and need for the testimony of psychologists in courts of law. The problems of determinism vs. freedom of choice, inconsistencies in psychiatric concepts of human disturbances as illness, and the complexity of the issues of responsibility for behavior are considered with regard to the psychological trauma should be further developed, along with (1) the degree of external stress, (2) the degree to which a variety of effective responses are available to an individual, and (3) factors such as physiological state under stress, defense mechanisms, degree of anticipation of the precipitating stress, and past history. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Consultation as a means of veteran suicide prevention.

The development and implementation of a suicide consultation service being run by an interdisciplinary team in a metropolitan Veteran’s Administration (VA) medical center is described. This service is grounded in a collaborative theoretical framework. An overview of the consultation process and theoretical and empirical literature to support the framework used by the service are provided. Some of the interventions commonly recommended to referring clinicians to reduce client suicide risk are reviewed. Although there are many challenges to running a service such as this, the authors conclude that the model presented is flexible enough to be applied in a variety of settings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Project plan for studies on suicide, attempted suicide, and suicide prevention

Completed and attempted suicide are major public health problems in most western countries. The importance of suicidal behavior as a health problem, particularly among adolescents and young adults, has been emphasized by the European Union, the WHO (Europe), as well as the Finnish authorities. Due to the exceptionally high suicide mortality, suicide prevention has been one of the main targets of Finnish health policy since the late 1980s. However, to develop feasible strategies for suicide prevention, better knowledge of the phenomenon of self-destruction is necessary. The Department of Mental Health of the National Public Health Institute has been actively involved in suicide research and the development of suicide strategies both in Finland and western Europe since 1986. The success is based on a long tradition of suicide research in Finland, the representative and reliable suicide data, a highly motivated research group, and also the necessary economic support by both the National Public Health Institute and the Finnish Academy. This article outlines our groups research plan for the next few years.