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Serving as a Handling Editor? Thirteen Simple Messages for Early-Career Editors
Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, Volume 45, Issue 5, Page 456-458, September 2023.
Opening Treatment Windows for Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia: Improving Emotion Regulation Strategies Using the Unified Protocol in a Case Study in Spain
Clinical Case Studies, Ahead of Print.
Approximately 30%-50% of people with schizophrenia worldwide have treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS). Currently available standard psychopharmacological and psychological treatments have proven insufficient to achieve full recovery in these patients. Alternative psychological interventions focused on improving emotion regulation, such as the Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders (UP), could potentially improve treatment outcomes in this difficult to treat population. The aim of the present case study is to demonstrate how the UP can be adapted for the treatment of TRS. We decided to use UP to treat this particular patient due to the presence of intense unpleasant emotions, aversive reactions, and emotional avoidance strategies. After completing the full treatment protocol, the patient showed significant decreases in scores on the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), including total and emotional rejection, life interference, and emotional lack of control. A significant reduction was also observed in anxiety (OASIS) and depressive symptoms (ODSIS). The intervention had a positive impact on auditory hallucinations, with decreased severity, less intense anxiety, and less interference in life. The treatment led to greater control over voices and the patient reported feeling more confident in her relationship with those voices. These results provide preliminary support for the use of UP for the treatment of TRS.
Approximately 30%-50% of people with schizophrenia worldwide have treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS). Currently available standard psychopharmacological and psychological treatments have proven insufficient to achieve full recovery in these patients. Alternative psychological interventions focused on improving emotion regulation, such as the Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders (UP), could potentially improve treatment outcomes in this difficult to treat population. The aim of the present case study is to demonstrate how the UP can be adapted for the treatment of TRS. We decided to use UP to treat this particular patient due to the presence of intense unpleasant emotions, aversive reactions, and emotional avoidance strategies. After completing the full treatment protocol, the patient showed significant decreases in scores on the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), including total and emotional rejection, life interference, and emotional lack of control. A significant reduction was also observed in anxiety (OASIS) and depressive symptoms (ODSIS). The intervention had a positive impact on auditory hallucinations, with decreased severity, less intense anxiety, and less interference in life. The treatment led to greater control over voices and the patient reported feeling more confident in her relationship with those voices. These results provide preliminary support for the use of UP for the treatment of TRS.
Cultural Humility, Cultural Comfort, and Supervision Processes and Outcomes for BIPOC Supervisees
The Counseling Psychologist, Volume 51, Issue 7, Page 1037-1058, October 2023.
Clinical supervision is a cornerstone of clinical training, and supervision experiences are associated with important outcomes (e.g., stronger working alliances and more trainee disclosures in supervision). Psychology has made strides in understanding how cultural processes unfold in supervision, with the multicultural orientation (MCO) model garnering increasing empirical support, but less is known about the dynamics that occur based on racial differences between supervisees and supervisors. Therefore, within cross-racial supervisory relationships, we examined the associations between cultural humility, cultural comfort, and supervisees’ satisfaction with supervision, disclosure in supervision, and the supervisory working alliance. Survey results from Black, Indigenous, and people of Color (BIPOC) trainees (N = 116) receiving supervision from White supervisors indicated that supervisees who rated their supervisors high in cultural humility and cultural comfort also reported higher supervision satisfaction and a stronger supervisory working alliance. Perceptions of supervisors’ cultural humility, but not cultural comfort, were related to a higher willingness to disclose in supervision.
Clinical supervision is a cornerstone of clinical training, and supervision experiences are associated with important outcomes (e.g., stronger working alliances and more trainee disclosures in supervision). Psychology has made strides in understanding how cultural processes unfold in supervision, with the multicultural orientation (MCO) model garnering increasing empirical support, but less is known about the dynamics that occur based on racial differences between supervisees and supervisors. Therefore, within cross-racial supervisory relationships, we examined the associations between cultural humility, cultural comfort, and supervisees’ satisfaction with supervision, disclosure in supervision, and the supervisory working alliance. Survey results from Black, Indigenous, and people of Color (BIPOC) trainees (N = 116) receiving supervision from White supervisors indicated that supervisees who rated their supervisors high in cultural humility and cultural comfort also reported higher supervision satisfaction and a stronger supervisory working alliance. Perceptions of supervisors’ cultural humility, but not cultural comfort, were related to a higher willingness to disclose in supervision.
Differential effect of music on memory depends on emotional valence: An experimental study about listening to music and music training
Inhibition on irrelevant negative information alleviates the mediating role of psychological distress in the association between trait rumination and symptoms of depression and anxiety
A Case Series of Memantine-responsive Catatonia Secondary to Stroke and Hyponatremia
Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, Ahead of Print.
Effectiveness of home-based interventions in improving loneliness and social connectedness among older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis
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The heterogeneous well-being effects of intergenerational mobility perceptions
Journal of Health Psychology, Ahead of Print.
Individuals make comparisons with their parents which determine their intergenerational mobility perceptions, yet very little is known about the areas used for intergenerational comparison and whether these matter for individuals’ well-being. In 2021 we commissioned a nationally representative survey in Georgia in which we explicitly asked 1159 individuals an open-ended question on the most important areas in their intergenerational comparisons. More than 170 types of answers were provided by respondents and many of these responses went beyond the standard indicators of intergenerational mobility. We show that the areas of intergenerational comparison significantly differ between those who perceive themselves as being downwardly and upwardly mobile or immobile using the measure of mobility previously validated in cross-national research. Using, among other statistical approaches, treatment effects estimators, we demonstrate that some areas of intergenerational comparison, particularly in terms of income attainment, are significantly and consistently associated with internationally validated measures of well-being.
Individuals make comparisons with their parents which determine their intergenerational mobility perceptions, yet very little is known about the areas used for intergenerational comparison and whether these matter for individuals’ well-being. In 2021 we commissioned a nationally representative survey in Georgia in which we explicitly asked 1159 individuals an open-ended question on the most important areas in their intergenerational comparisons. More than 170 types of answers were provided by respondents and many of these responses went beyond the standard indicators of intergenerational mobility. We show that the areas of intergenerational comparison significantly differ between those who perceive themselves as being downwardly and upwardly mobile or immobile using the measure of mobility previously validated in cross-national research. Using, among other statistical approaches, treatment effects estimators, we demonstrate that some areas of intergenerational comparison, particularly in terms of income attainment, are significantly and consistently associated with internationally validated measures of well-being.
Disentangling the Consequences of Systemic Racism and Clinical Paranoia to Promote Effectiveness of a Cognitive-Behavioral Intervention for Persecutory Delusions in Minoritized Individuals: A Case-Example
Clinical Case Studies, Ahead of Print.
While everyone experiences threats, some threats are culturally specific and not universally recognized or addressed by providers. A prominent example is threat-based worry and hypervigilance in Black Americans and other minoritized individuals, which is higher due to systemic racism and increases risk for psychopathology like clinically significant paranoia. To date, there have been no adaptations of cognitive-behavioral therapies for Black Americans with psychosis, despite the long-standing history of systemic racism in the United States, and its increasingly recognized contribution to psychotic experiences. Accordingly, we present the first step towards developing an adapted cognitive-behavioral intervention for Black and minoritized Americans with psychosis. This adaptation of an empirically supported worry-based treatment for persecutory delusions was accomplished by comprehensive conceptualization and integration of how systemic racism and minoritization drive the prevalence and perception of threats. This contrasts with conceptualizing racism-related hypervigilance and cognitions as worry or ignoring these critical experiences altogether, which is invalidating and neglects optimal identification and intervention on behavioral targets. Using a validating and normalizing approach, the individual was able to identify how frequent threats related to systemic racism resulted in increased worry, vigilance, and distress. By identifying and intervening on the perception of threat and associated worry, the individual engaged in more helpful responses to the threat, which in turn increased participation in more meaningful activities and reduced worry and clinical paranoia. This case illustrates how accurate conceptualization clarifies behavioral targets and increases patient engagement, which together enhance the effectiveness of the intervention for minoritized individuals.
While everyone experiences threats, some threats are culturally specific and not universally recognized or addressed by providers. A prominent example is threat-based worry and hypervigilance in Black Americans and other minoritized individuals, which is higher due to systemic racism and increases risk for psychopathology like clinically significant paranoia. To date, there have been no adaptations of cognitive-behavioral therapies for Black Americans with psychosis, despite the long-standing history of systemic racism in the United States, and its increasingly recognized contribution to psychotic experiences. Accordingly, we present the first step towards developing an adapted cognitive-behavioral intervention for Black and minoritized Americans with psychosis. This adaptation of an empirically supported worry-based treatment for persecutory delusions was accomplished by comprehensive conceptualization and integration of how systemic racism and minoritization drive the prevalence and perception of threats. This contrasts with conceptualizing racism-related hypervigilance and cognitions as worry or ignoring these critical experiences altogether, which is invalidating and neglects optimal identification and intervention on behavioral targets. Using a validating and normalizing approach, the individual was able to identify how frequent threats related to systemic racism resulted in increased worry, vigilance, and distress. By identifying and intervening on the perception of threat and associated worry, the individual engaged in more helpful responses to the threat, which in turn increased participation in more meaningful activities and reduced worry and clinical paranoia. This case illustrates how accurate conceptualization clarifies behavioral targets and increases patient engagement, which together enhance the effectiveness of the intervention for minoritized individuals.