How is everyone doing? Baseline psychological distress and adaptive functioning among transgender, nonbinary, and cis youth presenting for intensive outpatient psychiatric services.
Psychological and psychosocial functioning of binary transgender and nonbinary youth has been understudied in settings treating individuals at risk for psychiatric hospitalization. Further, little is currently known about potential differences in baseline levels of psychiatric distress and adaptive functioning across gender-diverse youth and their psychiatrically distressed cisgender counterparts. Key differences may elucidate avenues for adapted treatment and protocols among youth presenting for psychiatric care. Archival data of 426 youth (Mage = 14.94, SD = 1.5 years) referred to a psychiatric Intensive Outpatient Progr...
Source: Psychological Services - July 22, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Decreases in psychiatric symptoms persist following exposure-based group therapy for sexual violence victimization among incarcerated women.
Survivors Healing from Abuse: Recovery through Exposure (SHARE) is a brief, exposure-based group treatment for incarcerated female survivors of sexual violence. Preliminary evaluations of SHARE showed declines in depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms from pre- to posttreatment. However, prior investigations have not included a longitudinal follow-up period and thus knowledge of whether therapeutic benefits persist following the termination of the group is lacking. Here, we examined data from 57 incarcerated women who completed SHARE and provided follow-up data while still incarcerated (M = 95 days po...
Source: Psychological Services - July 22, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Guys and dolls: Two case reports of spontaneous interactions with dolls in male veterans with dementia.
This study describes two cases of spontaneous doll interactions in male veterans who were participating in a research study of a gentle group movement program at an adult day center. A doll was present at the study site, and two participants chose to interact with it. Researchers analyzed class videos and thematically coded behavioral, emotional, and social responses to the doll. Mr. B was a 90-year-old World War II-era veteran with moderate Alzheimer’s disease. Behavioral responses (n = 83) toward the doll included gazing, holding, and caressing. Emotional responses (n = 46) included chuckles, smiles, and laughter. Soci...
Source: Psychological Services - July 1, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Identifying peaks in attrition after clients initiate mental health treatment in a university training clinic.
Mental health treatment noncompliance (preintake attrition, premature termination) has serious consequences both for mental health providers, as well as for individuals suffering from mental illness. However, prior work has examined preintake attrition and premature treatment termination separately, which limits our ability to determine when attrition is highest (before or after intake), and whether different factors predict attrition throughout the treatment process. Moreover, preintake attrition has been conceptualized as failing to attend a scheduled intake, thereby overlooking potential attrition that may occur earlier...
Source: Psychological Services - June 24, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Taking the next step: A qualitative study examining processes of change in a suicide prevention program incorporating peer-workers.
Suicide is a leading preventable cause of death (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018). Recent research identifies the time following hospital discharge after a suicide attempt as a critical window whereby suicide risk is heightened. As a result, suicide aftercare services that emphasize timely follow-up intervention are increasingly popular. There is a lack of research exploring the role of peer-workers in the context of suicide prevention aftercare. This is surprising given that peer-work has been hypothesized to promote belongingness, engagement, and hope; all factors theorized as critical to suicide ideatio...
Source: Psychological Services - June 17, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Career versus volunteer firefighters: Differences in perceived availability and barriers to behavioral health care.
This study examined perceived availability and barriers to behavioral health care services among 2,156 career and 227 volunteer firefighters. Volunteer firefighters were less likely to report availability of drug and alcohol or family and couple services, but more likely to report availability of a trained peer support system and follow-up care compared to career firefighters. Volunteer firefighters were over five times more likely to consider cost a barrier to accessing behavioral health services compared to career firefighters; however, they were less likely to report lack of support from leadership, fear of breach of co...
Source: Psychological Services - June 10, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Adapting stepped care: Changes to service delivery format in the context of high demand.
Given the ongoing dilemma for college counseling centers to meet steady increases in demand for services, this study outlines the implementation of an adapted stepped care model in a university counseling center. Our adapted model focused, as do other stepped care models, on treatment planning and lower-intensity interventions, with the addition of the intensive therapy option being provided on a weekly basis. We adopted our stepped care model across a large center and hypothesized that after implementation we would be able to serve a similar number of clients as our previous model and that treatment outcomes for these cli...
Source: Psychological Services - June 10, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Olmstead’s implementation: Differences in enforcement approaches.
Olmstead v. L.C. ex rel Zimring (1999) was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that unjustified segregation of people with disabilities is impermissible discrimination; specifically, if the clinician and client believe community integration to be appropriate, the state must have reasonable accommodations in place for the client to be in the community. Enforcement of the Olmstead decision for people with serious mental illness (SMI) has taken many shapes, from the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) settlement agreements requiring substantive development of community mental health services and aggressive communi...
Source: Psychological Services - June 10, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Mental health treatment utilization and relationship functioning among male and female OEF/OIF veterans.
This study examined whether romantic relationship functioning was associated with mental health treatment utilization in male and female veterans. Veterans (N = 760) enrolled in a longitudinal registry completed self-report measures and a diagnostic interview for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Mental health treatment utilization data procured from Veterans Affairs administrative records were analyzed over 12 months. For men with PTSD, greater romantic relationship dysfunction was associated with more total mental health visits, medication management visits, and group psychotherapy visits. For women with PTSD, romant...
Source: Psychological Services - June 3, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Access to timely mental health care treatment initiation among Veterans Health Administration patients with and without serious mental illness.
Timely care initiation is a priority within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Patients with serious mental illnesses (SMI) are a group that benefits from timely care initiation due to elevated risks of negative outcomes with delayed care. However, no evaluation has assessed whether VHA SMI patients disproportionately experience delays in mental health care initiation. VHA administrative care data were used to compare delays in mental health care initiation for VHA patients with and without SMI who had newly identified mental health needs. Analyses assessed rates of delayed initial mental health appointments within ...
Source: Psychological Services - June 3, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Mobile applications may be the future of veteran mental health support but do veterans know yet? A survey of app knowledge and use.
This study describes the proportion of veterans who are knowledgeable of and utilize the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) and Department of Defense (DoD) mental health apps. A cross-sectional survey of 140 veterans was conducted in primary care and outpatient mental health clinics at a large VA facility. Ninety-one percent of veterans (n = 127) reported smartphone ownership. Of these, 42.5% and 20.4% had heard of and used at least one of the 22 VA/DoD mental health apps, respectively. When veterans were asked to pick the individual VA/DoD apps they had previously used from a list, the proportion of participants who repor...
Source: Psychological Services - June 3, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Healthcare service utilization for formerly homeless veterans in permanent supportive housing: Do neighborhoods matter?
Neighborhood characteristics are associated with residents’ healthcare use. However, we understand less about these relationships among formerly homeless persons, who often have complex healthcare needs, including mental health and substance use disorders. Among formerly homeless Veterans, we examined: (a) how neighborhood characteristics are associated with Veteran Health Administration (VHA) healthcare use and, (b) if these relationships varied by Veterans’ level of healthcare need. We obtained data on our cohort of 711 Veterans housed through VHA’s permanent supportive housing program (HUD-VASH) in 2016–2017 fro...
Source: Psychological Services - June 3, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Discrepancies between electronic records and clinical interview diagnosis of PTSD: Differences in mental health care utilization.
In this study, we examined concordance between PTSD diagnoses in the Veterans Affairs (VA) EHR and PTSD diagnoses based on a semistructured diagnostic interview and mental health service use in a sample of veterans (N = 1,299) enrolled in VA healthcare. Results from negative binomial regressions showed that veterans with PTSD based on the diagnostic interview and the EHR (true positives) used the most mental health care services. There were no significant differences between those without PTSD based on the interview and the EHR (true negatives) and those with PTSD based on interview that was not recognized in the EHR (fals...
Source: Psychological Services - June 3, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
A psychologist's experience of the "clinician's illusion" in the face of familial mental illness.
This first-person account focuses on the experiences of a prosumer living through the challenges of familial mental illness and addiction. The “clinician’s illusion” is used to help explain feelings of shame, frustration, anger and hopelessness, particularly within the context of a broken mental health care system. Lessons learned and recommendations for other prosumers facing mental illness and addiction within their families are described. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: Psychological Services)
Source: Psychological Services - June 3, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
Transgender and gender diverse veterans’ access to gender-related health care services: The role of minority stress.
Although Veterans Affairs (VA) directives and initiatives have sought to ensure an affirmative environment for transgender and gender diverse (TGD) veterans, barriers to care persist, including enacted/anticipated stigma as well as providers’ lack of knowledge regarding specific health concerns of the TGD community. These barriers are significant in light of prior research, which has demonstrated a relationship between fears of transphobic discrimination and avoiding or delaying health care engagement. The present study seeks to explore the relationship between perceptions of providers’ competence with TGD patients, ve...
Source: Psychological Services - May 27, 2021 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research
