Facilitating Mental Health Support for LGBT Forced Migrants: A Qualitative Inquiry

Evidence suggests that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals who flee their countries of origin may arrive in host countries with persecution‐related mental health problems. This qualitative study explored facilitators and barriers to mental health care in Canada for forced migrants who are LGBT through the perspectives of 22 service providers and 7 migrants. Using thematic analysis, the authors identified 4 themes: recognizing stigma and shame, accessing competent mental health providers, managing distress/manifesting resilience, and healing through community connections. The authors discuss implications for counseling.     

The Human Relation With Nature and Technological Nature

ABSTRACT— Two world trends are powerfully reshaping human existence: the degradation, if not destruction, of large parts of the natural world, and unprecedented technological development. At the nexus of these two trends lies technological nature—technologies that in various ways mediate, augment, or simulate the natural world. Current examples of technological nature include videos and live webcams of nature, robot animals, and immersive virtual environments. Does it matter for the physical and psychological well-being of the human species that actual nature is being replaced with technological nature? As the basis for our provisional answer (it is "yes"), we draw on evolutionary and cross-cultural developmental accounts of the human relation with nature and some recent psychological research on the effects of technological nature. Finally, we discuss the issue—and area for future research—of "environmental generational amnesia." The concern is that, by adapting gradually to the loss of actual nature and to the increase of technological nature, humans will lower the baseline across generations for what counts as a full measure of the human experience and of human flourishing.     

Memory: Between traumatic shock and psychic historicization

‘I want to erase him from my memory,’ she said, ‘his eyes, his eyes staring at me … they are there every night, his hand … every night it hits me again and again …’. On the basis of these few words taken from the therapeutic work with Keltoum, the author reflects theoretically and clinically on the place of memory in a traumatism: a fixed memory, a ‘frozen image’, the signs of a traumatic compulsion to repeat, are the expressions of a process of psychic disorganization but also of a ‘symbolized and symbolizing’ memory anticipating a possible historicization of this memory, of a path, therefore, towards a resolution of the trauma resulting from a process of psychic integration and reorganization.     

CHANGES IN STUDENTS' EXPLANATIONS FOR GENDER DIFFERENCES AFTER TAKING A PSYCHOLOGY OF WOMEN CLASS: MORE CONSTRUCTIONIST AND LESS ESSENTIALIST

We explored how students' endorsements of essential (biological and personality) and constructed (socialization and contextual) explanations for gender differences changed from the start to the end of Psychology of Women (POW) classes along with their feminist attitudes. Results from surveys of 120 POW students from three universities indicated that these students began class with more feminist awareness, immersion, and constructionist thinking than 228 general students, and that constructionist thinking was associated with perceptions that gender differences can be eliminated. Students' essentialism declined across their POW class, whereas their constructionist thinking increased and their feminist attitudes strengthened. End-of-semester feminist identification was associated with stronger endorsement of contextual explanations for gender differences above and beyond initial identification. We discuss implications for researchers, instructors, and activists.     

Facets of career decision-making difficulties

The present research investigated the relations among the measured and the expressed career decision-making difficulties in a sample of 299 young adults who intended to apply to college or university. As hypothesised, the correlations between career decision-making difficulties, as measured by the Career Decision-Making Difficulties Questionnaire (CDDQ), and the expressed difficulties were generally high (median = 0.64), but varied among the 10 difficulty categories (range 0.35-0.82). Both measured and expressed difficulties correlated negatively with the students' career decision-making self-efficacy (-0.63 and -0.65, respectively). The correlations between the CDDQ and both dimensions of the Vocational Decision Style Indicator were negative but low (-0.25 for the introvert vs. extrovert dimension and -0.35 for the thinking vs. feeling dimension). The correlations between the students' scholastic aptitude test scores and both measured and expressed difficulties were negligible (-0.03 and -0.08, respectively). Participants with more crystallised career plans reported lower career decision-making difficulties, higher career decision-making self-efficacy, and a higher 'thinking' (as opposed to 'feeling') vocational decision-making style. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.     

The predictive validity of a computer-assisted career decision-making system: A six-year follow-up

The present study tested the predictive validity of Making Better Career Decisions (MBCD), a computer-assisted career decision-making system. Seventy clients who had used MBCD six years earlier were interviewed by telephone about their present field of study or occupation and the degree of their satisfaction with their occupational choice. The participants were divided into two groups: one consisted of clients whose chosen occupation was on the list of occupations recommended by MBCD, whereas the other consisted of clients whose chosen occupation was not on the recommended list. In the first group, 84% were highly satisfied with their occupational choice and 16% were satisfied to a moderate extent. Among those whose chosen occupation was not on the recommended list, only 38% were highly satisfied with their chosen occupation, 44% were satisfied to a moderate extent, and 18% were dissatisfied with their choice. These findings support the predictive validity of MBCD. Implications for counseling and computer-assisted career guidance systems are discussed.     

To Hook Up or Date: Which Gender Benefits?

Hooking up on college campuses has become more frequent than dating in heterosexual sexual interaction. Analysis of the relative benefits and costs associated with dating and hooking up suggest that women benefit more from dating while men benefit more from hooking up. U.S students (150 women, 71 men) at a midsized southeastern university indicated preferences for dating and hooking up across a number of situations and indicated the perceived benefits and risks associated with each. As hypothesized, in most situations women more than men preferred dating and men more than women preferred hooking up. Both genders perceived similar benefits and risks to dating and hooking up; differences provided insight into the sexual motives of college women and men.     

A multi‐component approach to the treatment of chronic rumination

A multi‐component intervention was used to treat chronic rumination exhibited by an adult female diagnosed with a developmental disability. The intervention consisted of: (a) interruption of precursor behavior, (b) the alternation of 10‐min periods of continued instruction that involved walking and working with (c) 10‐min periods in which instructions were not delivered but a variable time 5‐s schedule of noncontingent attention was programmed, and (d) a 1‐min differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) schedule. During the intervention, rumination decreased by 82% relative to baseline. Next, components of the multi‐component intervention were systematically removed to evaluate their individual contribution. Results suggested that each individual component contributed to the overall treatment effects. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Intraindividual relations between the intensity and disclosure of daily emotional events: The moderating role of depressive symptoms

Individuals with high levels of depressive symptoms tend to engage in lower levels of emotional disclosure than individuals who are lower in depressive symptoms. However, little is known about how depressive symptoms relate to the intraindividual relation between daily disclosure and the intensity of the daily events. The authors addressed these relations using a daily diary methodology. College students (N = 239) completed a measure of depression symptoms. They then completed measures of the intensity of the day's most unpleasant event and their disclosure of that event each day for 7 days. Results indicated that depression moderated the intensity-disclosure relation such that depression symptoms were associated with diminished emotional disclosure for high-intensity events but not for low-intensity events. Individuals with relatively higher levels of depressive symptoms also experienced unpleasant daily events at a higher intensity level than did individuals with relatively fewer symptoms. Sex differences emerged such that men were less likely than women to disclose high-intensity negative events. These findings extend the use of the diary methodology to the study of emotional disclosure and also suggest possible interventions for counseling psychology practitioners.