曼陀罗绘画疗法对负性情绪的调节效应

从使用结构曼陀罗和非结构曼陀罗的曼陀罗绘画疗法实证研究中,对绘画性质、结构、形状及绘画内容等因素对不同群体在负性情绪的效应进行对比分析,就曼陀罗绘画疗法对负性情绪的影响机制进行探讨,突出揭示了曼陀罗绘画疗法导致认知内部的深层变化,通过自我表达、自我发现和意义感来促进积极的心理效应,以及保护性、秩序感、整合性等治疗机制。未来需要确立统一规范的训练方法,通过更多的随机对照试验来验证不同形式曼陀罗绘画疗法在不同人群中的干预效果,减少研究中的混淆因素,以便更好地推动曼陀罗绘画疗法在情绪治疗中的发展。

     

音乐治疗在社会工作中的运用及其发展前景探析

音乐治疗以音乐的各种要素,即节奏、旋律、音色、音高等作为干预手段对人的心理、生理产生影响,是对音乐传统功能之外的拓展。社会工作在实务工作中可以吸纳音乐治疗方法,将之运用到儿童、妇女、老年人、移民等群体,结合社会工作专业的理论,改善服务对象心理行为问题,协助个体、群体解决具体困难,从而丰富社会工作实务方法。未来,社会工作专业应引入音乐治疗专业人才,在社工机构建立完整音乐治疗流程、体系,结合中国民众的特点以及中国传统音乐的特色,走中国特色音乐社会工作专业化道路。

     

我国传统心理治疗思想在哀伤辅导中的应用

我国传统心理治疗思想有自己独具的文化特色,它以“中和”为核心,即通过对事物协调,使之达到和谐有序,具有形神合一、天人合一的特点。我国传统心理治疗主张利用和谐的人际关系。提出集修心、修体、修德与修行于一体进行心理调适的方案,即以养神促进调养整个形体;心理治疗与德行修养相统一。这些思想与理念是对当前哀伤辅导工作的有益补充,对建构本土化的哀伤辅导理论和实践具有重大的指导意义。     

Skill Acquisition During Transdiagnostic Treatment With the Unified Protocol

The Unified Protocol (UP) for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders is an emotion-focused, cognitive-behavioral intervention developed to address the full range of anxiety, depressive, and related disorders. The UP consists of core therapeutic skills that, though unique in focus, are each designed to promote an approach-oriented stance toward emotional experiences. The goal of the present investigation was to characterize changes in these skills for patients that received a course of treatment with the UP, as well as to examine associations between skills and symptoms changes. Patients with principal anxiety disorders, assigned to receive treatment with the UP (N = 88) as part of a randomized controlled trial, were included in this study. They completed validated self-report measures of UP skills (Understanding Emotions, Mindful Emotion Awareness, Cognitive Flexibility, Countering Emotional Behaviors, and Interoceptive Awareness and Tolerance), as well as clinician-rated measures of psychological symptoms. Skill measures improved significantly over the course of 12 to 16 UP treatment sessions and changes in these skills measures were associated with improvements in anxiety symptoms. Determining whether improvement on all the skills learned during a course of treatment with UP is associated with symptom remission is critical to establishing the most streamlined and efficient interventions that may ultimately be best suited to widespread dissemination.     

Changes in Anxiety Control Beliefs Following a Brief CBT Treatment and Their Association With Anxiety Symptom Reduction

Anxiety control beliefs (i.e., beliefs regarding one’s ability to cope with external, fear-inducing threats and internal reactions to those perceived threats) have been found to negatively predict anxiety symptoms in children and adults and to be modifiable by cognitive-behavioral therapy for anxiety disorders. The current study examines whether changes in anxiety control beliefs were seen following a brief, intensive treatment for specific phobias, and whether those changes were associated with improvements in the targeted phobia and comorbid anxiety disorder symptoms. Participants were 135 children and adolescents (M age = 9.01 years, 49% male) who received one-session treatment (OST) with or without parental involvement for their primary specific phobia. Results indicated that self-reported anxiety control beliefs significantly increased following treatment and that these increases significantly predicted reductions in specific phobia severity and symptoms of comorbid anxiety disorders 6 months and 1 year following treatment. Findings illustrate that involvement in a single 3-hour OST was associated with changes in anxiety control beliefs and demonstrate the potential importance of targeting control beliefs in pediatric anxiety treatment.     

A Single-Session Workshop to Enhance Emotional Awareness and Emotion Regulation for Graduate Students: A Pilot Study

Emerging adults are at substantial risk for developing or worsening psychopathology and university students appear to be particularly vulnerable. Interventions targeted at these young adults that can mitigate transdiagnostic causal risk factors or burgeoning mental health problems have the potential to make a large impact. We aimed to develop and pilot test an accessible, single-session, transdiagnostic group intervention with the goals of enhancing emotion regulation skills and reducing risk for mental health problems in graduate students. The intervention included psychoeducation, skills instruction (e.g., mindful emotion awareness, cognitive flexibility, countering emotion-driven behaviors), group discussion, and supervised practice based on content from the Unified Protocol for Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders. The pilot program demonstrated strong feasibility and acceptability. Baseline, 1-month, and 3-month follow-up surveys also suggested benefits for reducing emotional avoidance and suppression, increasing use of cognitive reappraisal, and reducing symptoms of depression and neuroticism. Graduate students have seldom been the beneficiaries of university-based intervention and prevention research. Furthermore, most college and university mental health centers do not have the capacity to provide psychoeducation, preventative, or early intervention services to the many students who need or could benefit from them. Results suggest that future iterations of this intervention could address such barriers to meaningfully supporting emerging adults in graduate school.     

Conducting Prolonged Exposure for PTSD During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Considerations for Treatment

The unprecedented effects and duration of the COVID-19 crisis are likely to elevate the population’s level of anxiety due to psychological stress, economic hardship, and social isolation. This effect may be especially potent for individuals with preexisting mental health conditions, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Prolonged Exposure (PE) therapy is a highly effective treatment for PTSD across trauma-exposed populations, and has been implemented effectively via telehealth. Nevertheless, PE implementation via telehealth may require specific adaptations during the COVID-19 crisis due to public health mandates calling for sheltering in place and physical distancing. This paper discusses strategies for implementing PE for PTSD during the COVID-19 pandemic, which may also be applied to other situations in which physical distancing must be considered.