Utilizing Creative Expressive Techniques and Group Counseling to Improve Adolescents of Divorce Social-Relational Capabilities

Adolescents of divorce present challenges for mental health counselors unfamiliar with issues this population encounters. Problems such as negative societal perceptions and low behavioral self-efficacy can combine, causing long-lasting problems. Specifically, adolescents of divorce appear to be at risk for developing inadequate social/relational capabilities. To improve adolescents’ relational and social competencies, the authors advocate for a creative combination of expressive techniques and group counseling. This brief, six-week intervention may be a viable, creative tool for counselors working with this distinct client population.     

Techniques for Group Family Enrichment

This article introduces a creative approach to family enrichment. The program emphasizes educational skill-building techniques using nontherapuetic approaches that enable families to resolve difficulties of family members. The meetings, which employ coaching and videotape feedback, enable parents and children to practice communication, cooperation, and problem-solving skills. Evaluation results indicate that participants become successful in the home environment as a result of their involvement in the multiple-family, group-training sessions.     

Experimentation with Group Techniques with Ego-Disturbed Mothers

Abstract

Psycho–educational groups (PEGs) have been shown to be a particularly effective form of treatment for patients classified under the rubric of severely and persistently mentally ill (SPMI). However, recent surveys suggest that certain professionals, such as nurses and clinical psychologists, called on to conduct these groups may have limited to no training. This study tested three methods (self–instructional, workshop, and workshop plus clinical supervision) designed to provide on-the-job training to practicing clinicians. Specifically, training was based on two manuals; one that operationalized the basic knowledge and skills needed to run an effective PEG and the second being a commonly used PEG program for symptom management targeted at SPMI patients. Eight nurses from four adult units at a state psychiatric hospital initially received self–instructional or workshop training and then conducted a 12–session symptom management PEG composed of four to five SPMI patients (e.g., schizophrenia, schizoaffective or major depression disorders). In a second wave of additional training, nurses received workshop training or clinical supervision and then conducted a second PEG. Differences between training methods were assessed by nurse– and patient–completed measures that tapped the knowledge and skills emphasized in the symptom management and PEG (nurses only) manuals. Results indicated limited support for the superiority of the workshop method on the nurse measures alone. Implications for training working professionals in group treatments and assessing outcomes with chronic SPMI patients are discussed.     

Group Therapy with Individuals and Families Coping with Illness or Disability in Israel

This paper illustrates a group intervention with individuals and family caregivers coping with illness/disability, and focuses on the relationship between the process of group development and the process of coping with the illness/disability. People experiencing illness/disability cope with a great deal of pressure and stress that stem from the illness's biopsychosocial demands. A group can provide encouragement and support and reduce helplessness, isolation, and despair through cooperation and use of mutual resources. The design of the intervention was based on our clinical experience with numerous groups for ill/disabled individuals or their family. The process is described and analyzed using examples from three documented groups, and is presented in terms of four variables: group process, group atmosphere, group content, and group intervention.     

Gender Group Differences in Coping with Chronic Terror: The Israeli Scene

Gender group differences in terror–stress, cognitive appraisals, ways of coping with terror, and stress reactions were explored in a sample of Israeli adults following prolonged exposure to political violence. Data were gathered at the height of the Al-Aqsa Intifada uprising (May/July 2002) from a sample of 707 adult participants (60% women and 40% men) residing in Haifa and northern Israel. Israeli women reported that they were more distressed by political violence than the men did, and they also appraised the crisis situation as more threatening and less manageable. Women reported using more problem-focused as well as emotion-focused coping than men did; both men and women used a mixture of coping strategies. Compared to men, women reported that they experienced more somatic symptoms and more frequent posttraumatic stress symptoms than men did. Negative affectivity was found to mediate gender differences in appraisals, coping, and outcomes. Overall, the nexus of relations among key variables was found to be highly similar for men and women. These data suggest that women may be more reactive to chronic political violence situations than men are. The data are discussed and explicated in the context of stress and coping theory and prior research on political violence and community disasters.     

Offsetting Performance Losses Due to Cheating in Unproctored Internet‐based Testing by Increasing the Applicant Pool

A concern about unproctored Internet‐based testing (UIT) without follow‐up verification is that because applicants are able to cheat when completing tests, test validity decreases to an unknown extent. However, this view ignores a potential advantage to UIT: Should UIT increase applicant pool size, an organization with a fixed goal in terms of the number of candidates to advance to the next stage of the hiring process can increase the cutoff score and thus be more selective. In this study, a simulation was conducted to determine if this advantage outweighs the cheating disadvantage in the prediction of job performance. When the applicant pool is increased substantially through UIT, job performance outcomes are often higher even when many applicants increase their test scores through cheating.     

Partial Loss of Territory Due to Anthropogenic Climate Change: A Theory of Compensating for Losses in Political Self‐determination

The unique problem of lost territory poses one of the most important and complex challenges of compensating for loss and damage due to anthropogenic climate change. Anthropogenic climate change will cause a significant increase in the sea level for centuries to come. A rising sea level endangers many low‐lying coastal areas but also entire states. However, the inundation of an entire state will remain a rare event. Partial loss of territory will be far more pervasive. As measured by the number of states, the area of land, and, in particular, the number of people affected, the phenomenon of partial territorial loss is much more significant. I address this from the perspective of compensatory justice. In particular, I offer (i) background on basic concepts, (ii) an overview and critique of existing accounts, and propose (iii) a novel interpretation of territory as well as (iv) a corresponding criterion of a duty to compensate before (v) I flesh out the overall theory, (vi) take into consideration implications and details of application, and (vii) respond to potential objections.     

Coping with the exposure to torture

This paper describes approaches taken at the International Rehabilitation and Research Centre in Copenhagen to helping torture victims and their families cope with the exposure to and aftermath of torture.     

Problems in Integrating Traditional Group Therapies with New Group Forms

The authors describe a range of critical issues that are common within homogeneously composed groups for patients suffering from Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and AIDS Related Complex (ARC). They examine the need for these patients to understand their physical symptomatology, to reconsider life's priorities, and to confront their ethical and moral dilemmas. The authors also highlight special affects, unique group atmosphere and process, and the nature of the group contract that is essential for these patients.     

"Homogeneity" and Constitutional Democracy: Coping with Identity Conflicts through Group Rights

In this article I explore some ancient issues of political theory in the light of some contemporary social and cultural issues. After developing a check list of the virtues and vulnerabilities of constitutional democracy (Section I), I go on to discuss some types and symptoms of difference, conflict, fragmentation and heterogeneity (Section II). I then proceed to a critical review of a particular set of strategies and institutional solutions—political group rights—that are often thought promising devices for strengthening the virtues and overcoming the vulnerabilities of the constitutional democratic form of regime (Section III).
Much of the contemporary philosophical and political discussion of these issues is enchanted by the post-modern spirit of "multiculturalism,""diversity" and "identity." It tends to neglect issues of citizenship and social justice. It also tends to fixate on North American examples, neglecting some of the less benign West European and, in particular, Central East European varieties of identity politics. The discussion here, while mostly raising questions rather than claiming to provide definitive answers, nevertheless tries to overcome some of these biases.     

Using Psychodrama Techniques to Promote Counselor Identity Development in Group Supervision

Abstract

The authors briefly introduce the concepts, techniques, and theory of identity development associated with J. L. Moreno's (1946, 1969, 1993) Psychodrama. Based upon Loganbill, Hardy, and Delworth's (1982) model, counselor identity development is conceptualized as consisting of seven developmental themes or vectors (e.g., issues of awareness and effective use of emotions in counseling, issues of professional ethics in counseling practice, etc.). Development along these seven psychosocial vectors may be regarded as resembling the process of role repertoire expansion described in Moreno's (1993) identity development theory. The authors present four representative psychodrama activities that have been used with supervisees in group supervision.     

Coping with Stress, Coping with Violence: Links to Mental Health Outcomes Among At-risk Youth

Coping reactions to stressful events are important links between difficult experiences and the emergence of psychopathology. In this study we compared youths?? negative coping with stress in general to their negative coping with violence in particular, and utilized a person-centered analytic approach to examine how patterns of coping relate to various mental health outcomes. We utilized survey interview measures to collect data from a sample of 131 youth (ages 11?C14, 100?% ethnic minority) residing in an economically distressed metropolitan area of the northeast. We observed significant relations between youths?? tendencies to cope with stress and violence via externalized-internalized strategies (e.g., yelling to let off steam, crying) and their mental health symptoms. However, we generally did not observe relations between engagement in distancing coping strategies (e.g., making believe nothing happened) and any problematic outcomes. Negative coping does not appear be a monolithic construct uniformly associated with negative outcomes for youth. Distancing coping might represent an especially useful short-term coping response for youth living in socioeconomically distressed conditions from the standpoint of inhibiting symptom development.     

Group Therapy as an Ecological Bridge to New Community for Trauma Survivors

Abstract

Group therapy counteracts the isolating effects of interpersonal trauma and enables survivors to connect with sources of resilience within themselves and others. By providing an alternative relational experience in which the survivor and her safety are valued, groups empower members to establish self-affirming and supportive relationships in their outside lives. The current paper reviews the psychological impact of chronic interpersonal violence and the relevant literature regarding group therapy for trauma survivors. We describe an approach to group treatment for complexly traumatized patients developed at the Victims of Violence Program, and through a clinical vignette, illustrate some of the ways in which group therapy can expand the relational world of survivors.     

Coping with the Uncontrollable: The Use of General and Religious Coping by Caregivers to Spouses with Dementia

SUMMARY

Using a transactional model of stress and coping, we examined the general (i.e., Problem-Focused, Emotion-Focused) and religious (i.e., Self-Directing, Collaborative, Deferring) coping strategies used by 64 caregivers to spouses with dementia to cope with their most significant, albeit uncontrollable, caregiving hassle over a two-month period. With respect to general coping, we hypothesized that caregivers who used Emotion-Focused coping would demonstrate fewer Depressive Symptoms at Month 2 after controlling for Depressive Symptoms at Month 1. With respect to religious coping, we hypothesized that care-givers who used Deferring Coping would also demonstrate fewer Depressive Symptoms. Results revealed interesting patterns between caregivers' use of general and religious coping strategies. Contrary to our hypotheses, caregivers who used Emotion-Focused and Collaborative coping reported greater Depressive Symptoms. Implications for the empirical study of stress and coping and directions for future research are discussed.     

Collaborative Group Memory: Processes,Performance, and Techniques for Improvement

Groups are often asked to perform important tasks that require them to remember and report accurate information. A review of research on memory processes in groups suggests that collaboration enhances select performance outcomes. Collaboration allows group members to pool their memories and correct one another’s memory errors. Nonetheless, there are opportunities for improvement in the memory performance of collaborative groups. Collaborative groups typically do not recall as much information as the same number of individuals working alone and sometimes fail to correct the memory errors of their members. In this article, we integrate research findings to present an account of collaborative group memory processes and performance. We present a cognitive-social-motivational framework for viewing collaborative group memory processes, emphasize the value of collaboration on memory tasks, and suggest ways in which collaborative group memory performance may be improved.     

From Elites to Strangers: Employment Coping Styles of New Hong Kong Immigrants

This article discusses how highly skilled Hong Kong immigrants cope with the perceived loss of their elitist status in their adopted country.     

At-Risk for Diabetes: Coping with the News

This study assessed 37 children's and 38 adults', as well as their family members' (39 mothers and 26 spouses), coping responses to the news that they (or a loved one) were islet-cell antibody positive (ICA+) and at risk for type 1 diabetes. The Ways of Coping Checklist (WCC) was administered 4 months after ICA+ notification and at follow-up 10 months later. Participants' state anxiety was measured a few days after ICA+ notification and again 4 months later, at the time of the initial WCC administration. Children's coping strategies differed from those of adults, and mothers' coping strategies differed from spouses'. Initial state anxiety in response to ICA+ notification was related to how participants subsequently coped with the news. Coping, in turn, was related to maintenance of state anxiety over time.