Pet Bereavement Support Groups: A Guide for Mental Health Professionals

Companion animals are becoming increasingly important in society. Pets have been recognized for their vast contributions to human lives, including emotional support, social support, health benefits, and connection. However, society does not recognize the significant loss associated with losing a pet, which can contribute to bereaved pet owners feeling isolation and shame as they cope with the loss of their beloved companion. Mental health professionals must be aware of this disenfranchised grief and creatively expand their services to provide support and advocacy for bereaved pet owners. This article includes a framework for clinicians to establish a pet loss support group in their community.     

From Resistance to Buy-In: Experiences of Clinicians in Training Using Feedback-Informed Treatment

In this qualitative research study, the authors use grounded theory analysis to examine the experiences of clinicians in training and use client feedback to inform treatment. Twenty-six marriage and family therapy graduate students in their first or second semester of clinical practicum participated in this study. Participants were trained in eliciting and responding to client feedback at the end of every therapy session. At the end of the semester, participants reflected on their learning experience. Participant experiences reflected a developmental learning process beginning with significant challenges followed by positive clinical changes and positive clinician changes, culminating in overall buy-in regarding the importance of client feedback for nearly all clinicians. The results support the literature that client feedback directly informs the therapeutic process while suggesting important recommendations for training new clinicians in learning to use client feedback.     

Taking the Red Pill: Using The Matrix to Explore Transgender Identity Development

This article presents a plot analysis of The Matrix and comparisons to a transgender identity development model. Major scenes throughout the movie are discussed through the lens of Devor’s transgender identity development model. The main character’s evolution from Mr. Anderson to Neo is presented, as well as how his experiences align with multiple stages in transgender identity development. Stages of transgender identity development are discussed and emphasized, including identity confusion, discovery of transgenderism, identity acceptance, transition, and transgender pride. These stages and others are discussed and related to uses in counseling sessions with transgender individuals and their family members.     

Evaluating the Effects of Creative Journal Arts Therapy for Survivors of Domestic Violence

The authors implemented a small series (N = 3) single-case research design to assess the effectiveness of a 9-session creative arts therapy treatment program for adult survivors of domestic violence. Analysis of participants’ scores on the Outcome Questionnaire (OQ-45.2) and Brief Resilience Scale using the percentage of nonoverlapping data procedure yielded treatment effects indicating that a creative arts therapy treatment program may be effective for reducing mental health symptoms and improving resiliency. It is recommended that this body of research continue for other educational, work, and health settings.     

Using The Mirror Story to Understand Self

Research indicates self-esteem reflects many factors in a person’s life, such as relationships with parents or parent figures, attachment types, experiences of worth enhancement, ethnicity, generation, and cultural values. However, debate continues on whether self-esteem is simply a reflection of Western culture and may not be a universal factor of human nature. This research was undertaken to understand how four persons of diverse ethnic, gender, and age categories may each perceive the self from reading the same story. First, the authors offer a brief overview of how self-esteem is viewed and explore a few cultural, gender and age aspects of self-esteem. They then present our pilot study with the methodology, results, and discussion, and offer implications for mental health counselors.     

Overcoming Obstacles: Exploring the Use of Adventure Based Counseling in Youth Grief Camps

Bereavement can be confusing and complex for children and adolescents. Supporting youth in their grief may require interventions from helping professionals. Grief camps provide a supported environment designed to address the developmental needs of grieving children and adolescents. Adventure Based Counseling (ABC) provides structure and guidance for ropes course experiences and a theoretical basis for camps. This article explores how ABC on the ropes course addresses the unique needs of children and adolescents within the context of grief camps. An example plan provides guidance to camps hoping to incorporate the ABC framework into programming.     

Observed Attachment and Self-Report Affect Within Romantic Relationships

Adult attachment provides unique insights that help researchers and clinicians understand the complexities of individuals and relationships. In romantic relationships, individual attachment can explain partners' abilities for closeness and autonomy as well as how they experience affect within the relationship. These affective experiences during couple interactions have been shown to influence both proximal and distal relationship outcomes. Thus, the authors explore the impact of partners' observed attachment behaviors—coded using the AABQ—on continuous reports of their affective experiences during both difficult and positive marital conversations. Variables examining couple affective negativity and flexibility were developed using state space grids, and data were analyzed using GridWare. Results showed that observed female attachment behaviors significantly impacted a couple's affective experiences of negativity and flexibility during conversations, while there were no significant associations between male observed attachment behaviors and the couple affective experience. Clinical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

生命意义感获取的心理机制及其影响因素

生命意义感体验对个体身心健康有重要的影响,其相关研究也已开始受到心理学各个领域的广泛关注。生命意义感获得与维持的理论研究主要是包括意义感层次模型、意义感构建模型及意义感维持与流动模型。大五人格、心理模拟、积极/消极情绪和亲社会行为是影响个体生命意义感体验的主要因素。未来研究要进一步探讨生命意义感产生的影响因素,完善相关的理论模型,并要从时间序列的角度探讨意义感的产生过程,并对生命意义感获得及维持的跨文化差异进行探讨。     

Jus interruptus bellum: the ethics of truce-making

With his new book, A Theory of Truces, Nir Eisikovits has succeed in producing the most comprehensive and insightful book to exist on the nature and morality of truces during international military conflict. In it he plausibly argues that thought about such conflict should avoid binary terms such as long-lasting peace and all-out war, and instead must readily acknowledge conditions ‘in between’ them, such as cease-fires and agreements to limit belligerence to certain times. In this critical notice of Eisikovits’ book, I have two major aims, in light of the fact that in it he does not systematically engage with the contemporary literature on and positions in just war theory. One aim is to situate Eisikovits’ analysis of truces in that context, and to contend that he has implicitly founded a new field that would be aptly labelled jus interruptus bellum as distinct from jus in bello and jus ex bello. Another is to build on Eisikovits’ ethical appraisal of truces, by considering what principles of just war theory entail for them.     

Predicting Romantic Interest at Zero Acquaintance: Evidence of Sex Differences in Trait Perception but Not in Predictors of Interest

We evaluated five competing hypotheses about what predicts romantic interest. Through a half‐block quasi‐experimental design, a large sample of young adults (i.e. responders; n = 335) viewed videos of opposite‐sex persons (i.e. targets) talking about themselves, and responders rated the targets' traits and their romantic interest in the target. We tested whether similarity, dissimilarity or overall trait levels on mate value, physical attractiveness, life history strategy and the Big Five personality factors predicted romantic interest at zero acquaintance and whether sex acted as a moderator. We tested the responders' individual perception of the targets' traits, in addition to the targets' own self‐reported trait levels and a consensus rating of the targets made by the responders. We used polynomial regression with response surface analysis within multilevel modelling to test support for each of the hypotheses. Results suggest a large sex difference in trait perception; when women rated men, they agreed in their perception more often than when men rated women. However, as a predictor of romantic interest, there were no sex differences. Only the responders' perception of the targets' physical attractiveness predicted romantic interest; specifically, responders' who rated the targets' physical attractiveness as higher than themselves reported more romantic interest. Copyright © 2017 European Association of Personality Psychology