The role and definition of community psychology.

Comments on L. D. Goodstein and I. Sandler's (see record 1979-22507-001) conceptual analysis of community psychology (CP), focusing on program evaluation, multidisciplinary knowledge, and the community mental health movement (CMHM). There are aspects of the CMHM that can prosper within CP, that are consonant with a CP orientation, and that can lead to mutually productive collaborative undertakings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Community psychology: Boundary problems, psychological perspectives, and an empirical overview of the field.

Argues that L. D. Goodstein and I. Sandler's (see record 1979-22507-001) conceptual analysis of the role of community psychology (CP) exacerbates the boundary problem between CP and allied fields and loses sight of the part of CP that is psychological in nature. A content analysis of published literature on CP reveals overlaps between CP and community mental health, as well as between CP and public policy, organizational, and applied psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

More on conceptualizing community psychology.

Responds to comments of D. S. Glenwick (1979) on L. D. Goodstein and I. Sandler's (see record 1979-22507-001) conceptual analysis of community psychology (CP). Topics covered include the role of program evaluation, multidisciplinary knowledge, and the drawing of boundaries between CP and related fields. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social planning and social action do involve psychological processes.

Responds to the comments of J. W. Lounsbury et al (1979) on L. D. Goodstein and I. Sandler's (see record 1979-22507-001) conceptual analysis of community psychology (CP). The conceptual analysis originally offered is defended in its role as a catalyst in the development of new fields such as CP. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What is an adequate knowledge base for clinical psychology?

Identifies some objectionable implications of L. D. Goodstein and I. Sandler's (see record 1979-22507-001) conceptual model for using psychology to alleviate human distress and promote human welfare. A transactional view of disordered behavior and a sociological view of deviance are presented and applied to specific examples to substantiate the premise that all intervention specialists must have a broad conceptual basis from which to work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hellop I'm a community psychologist and you're notp.

Argues that S. B. Sarason's (see record 1977-06620-001) article on community psychology (CP) states that membership in CP denotes the exclusion of clinical psychologists and all those involved in the community mental health movement. Limiting individuals from working in certain areas or excluding potential contributors is said to be counterproductive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a viable community health psychology: Caveats from the experiences of the community mental health movement.

Discusses opportunities and pitfalls in the development of a health psychology, with particular reference to the community mental health movement and community psychology. Health psychology in its preventive rather than curative aspects is stressed. Health psychology should adopt a community or public health perspective rather than an individual disease or individual treatment model. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Using psychology to promote human welfare: A conceptual analysis of the role of community psychology.

Analyzed according to a conceptually developed matrix the approaches by which psychology can be used to enhance human welfare. The approaches include clinical psychology, community mental health, community psychology, and public policy psychology. Each approach is examined in terms of the intended target, the content of the intervention, the process involved in the intervention approach, and the knowledge base necessary for attempting such interventions. The differences between community psychology and community mental health are emphasized, and it is concluded that community psychology should disengage itself from the community mental health movement to fulfill its most important functions of interfacing with the social systems of deviance control and of socialization and support. (51 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A third "trap."

Comments on B. E. Sandler's remarks (see record 1975-08484-001) on the potential dangers that can limit the success of behavioral scientists in exploiting the possibilities of industrial psychology (IP). Sandler fails to distinguish IP generally and those applications of it by practitioners working for industry in programs designed to further management goals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Social history, mental health, and community control": Comment.

Criticizes C. Hersch's (see record 1973-02889-001) article on social history, mental health, and community control. Hersch sees the mental health movement as being in a kinship relationship to the other movements of the 1960s, with the mental health movement having an environmental focus. Hersch's premise ignores the social unrest of the 1960s and contains other errors that derive from lack of recognition of the social and political realities of the era. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Applied social psychology: A partial response to Sarason's suggested divorce.

S. B. Sarason (see record 1977-06620-001) has recently called for a divorce of community psychology from clinical psychology and community mental health, and has proposed as an alternative a loose confederation among community psychology, ecological psychology, and the social sciences. Sarason's rejection of social psychology as having little to offer community psychology is countered by a call for the rejuvenation and full development of applied social psychology, involving a creative integration of theory, research, and practice at all levels of human social functioning. Examples of useful concepts, research, and practice skills are given for 8 levels of interaction, and the advantages of approaching the community from an applied social psychology perspective are made clear. (French summary) (44 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correction to Dennis (2011).

Reports an error in "Press coverage of the new psychology by the New York Times during the Progressive Era" by Paul M. Dennis (History of Psychology, 2011[May], Vol 14[2], 113-136). In Table 1, under the “General” column, the Total should have been 40. Additionally, on page 114, paragraph 3, line 3 should have read, “Between 1885 and 1919, they published 40 articles about the new experimental psychology, 100 stories reporting on applied psychology, 19 stories dealing with psychoanalysis, 38 accounts of psychology’s interest in spiritualism, and 25 articles on the Emmanuel movement (Table 1).” The online version of this article has been corrected. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2011-09245-001.) Press coverage of psychology by the New York Times was examined for the Progressive Era. Following a period in which psychology was associated with spiritualism, psychoanalysis, and the Emmanuel movement, the Times gave editorial preference to reports about psychology's applications. Reaching an audience that was both affluent and influential, the topics emphasized by the Times included the lie detector, psychological applications in the work place, mental tests, and child psychology. These areas reflected issues of social concern to Progressives, publicized the rise of the psychologist as expert, and aided psychology in its challenge to common sense. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Health psychology and the ashes of community psychology.

Suggests that while health psychology can have an impact on health behaviors, as noted by J. D. Matarazzo (see record 1982-25842-001), enthusiasm for this field should not overshadow the important contributions that can be made by community psychology in mobilizing people to fight for their political, economic, and health rights. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Community psychology, networks, and Mr. Everyman.

Proposes and defends the separation of community psychology from clinical psychology and community mental health. The proposal is not intended to assert the superiority of one field over another but rather to demonstrate that they require different conceptual rationales to achieve their different purposes. Clinical psychology and the community mental health movement rest on theories and practices that cannot provide an understanding of a community; indeed, they stand in the way of coming to grips with the complexity of a community. The need for a "divorce" is illustrated in several ways, with particular attention paid to the potential productiveness of the concept of a network as a way of looking at and studying a community. The characteristics of a community psychologist are defined, and their similarities to the "Mr. Everyman" of historian C. Becker (1935) are stressed. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Integrating mental health services within primary care. A Canadian program

The increasingly prominent role of the family physician in delivering mental health care can be enhanced if productive and collaborative relationships can be established with local mental health services. This paper describes a Canadian program that has achieved this by bringing mental health counselors and psychiatrists into the offices of 87 family physicians in 35 practices in a community in Southern Ontario. The paper describes the program, the activities of counselors and psychiatrists within the practices, and the administrative structures set up to coordinate these activities. Data is presented from the evaluation of the first year of the program's operation (13 practices and 45 family physicians) during which time 3085 referrals were received. The program made mental health care more available and accessible, increased continuity of care, provided additional support for the family physician, offered new opportunities for continuing education, and led to a reduced and more efficient use of other mental health services. The components of the program can be adapted to most communities.     

Outcome evaluation: Deja vu all over again.

The current interest in and call for use of outcome evaluation data are not new in the mental health field. This paper identifies barriers that have served to temper the outcome evaluation movement in the past. Barriers identified and discussed include economic, technical, scientific, and organizational issues. For the consultant assisting mental health organizations establish outcome evaluation processes, several aspects to consider in developing a productive consulting relationship are offered. These include entry and movement in the mental health system; qualities of the mental health consultant most likely to be congruent with the values of mental health administrators; roles the consultant might play; and potential targets for the consultant's interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neurobiological reductionism in psychiatry and psychology.

Comments on S. Peele's (see record 1982-06662-001) argument that biochemical treatments for mental illness illustrate primitive reductionist thinking in contemporary psychology. In agreeing with Peele, the author points out 4 methodological and substantive weaknesses in neurochemical and neurobiological approaches to the study of mental disorder that he views as threats to the foundations of biopsychiatry and as portents of a return to psychogenic theories of etiology. However, it is argued that, contrary to Peele, the psychopharmacological and psychosocial approaches to mental disorders are not dichotomous or mutually preclusive. (1 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Press coverage of the new psychology by the New York Times during the Progressive Era.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 14(3) of History of Psychology (see record 2011-16916-003). In Table 1, under the “General” column, the Total should have been 40. Additionally, on page 114, paragraph 3, line 3 should have read, “Between 1885 and 1919, they published 40 articles about the new experimental psychology, 100 stories reporting on applied psychology, 19 stories dealing with psychoanalysis, 38 accounts of psychology’s interest in spiritualism, and 25 articles on the Emmanuel movement (Table 1).” The online version of this article has been corrected.] Press coverage of psychology by the New York Times was examined for the Progressive Era. Following a period in which psychology was associated with spiritualism, psychoanalysis, and the Emmanuel movement, the Times gave editorial preference to reports about psychology's applications. Reaching an audience that was both affluent and influential, the topics emphasized by the Times included the lie detector, psychological applications in the work place, mental tests, and child psychology. These areas reflected issues of social concern to Progressives, publicized the rise of the psychologist as expert, and aided psychology in its challenge to common sense. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Al Riester comments on Al Fiester.

Comments on A. R. Fiester's (see record 1979-26797-001) analysis of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals standards for accreditation of community mental health centers (CMHCs) and addresses some additional issues, including the financial future of CMHCs and the influence of the Balanced Service System model on various aspects of accountability and responsibility. These standards may pose problems for psychiatric facilities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Community psychology in the Canadian psychological family.

Reviews the status of community psychology in the history of psychology in Canada, emphasizing the early precedents of applied mental health and community interventions. Findings are presented from inquiries into undergraduate and graduate training in community psychology in Canada. After assessing current problems in the subdiscipline, the author makes recommendations for future directions and discusses the potential usefulness of community psychology to professional psychology in meeting the challenges of public mental health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)