Author Archives: Susan

The Power of the Dog

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A Review

by Alvin G. Burstein, PhD

The Power of the Dog is a remarkable movie, dense, complex, and twisted, like the rawhide lariat one of its protagonists works to prepare as a gift. Filmed in New Zealand, the story is set in 1920’s Montana. The cinematography captures the sweep of plains, the towering mountains,  the thunder of cattle herds, and the ardors of a hard scrabble herding existence. The beauty of the equine creatures who play supporting roles is impressive.

There appear to be four main protagonists: brothers George and Phil Burbank, who run the ranch, widowed Rose Gordon, who works at an inn where the herders stop during a drive, and Rose’s teenage son Peter.  However, there is a fifth character, one who has died before the movie opens, Bronco Henry. He had served as a mentor to Phil, who treasures Bronco’s saddle as a memento. Another memento is a kerchief of Bronco’s that Phil uses while pleasuring himself.

The action opens with the herders flocking into Rose’s establishment, tired and hungry for food  and thirsty for entertainment. Rose scurries to get the drovers fed at tables adorned by paper flowers that her young son, Peter, has fashioned. Lank and grimy, Phil makes ongoing jibes at his “fatso” brother and at George’s preference for mufti—a fedora rather than a sombrero and eschewing chaps. Once at the inn, Phil jeers at Peter for his prissiness. When Phil sees that George is attracted to Rose, he sneers at her as a gold digger looking for an easy touch.

Despite Phil’s obdurate disapproval, George and Rosa marry. A crisis erupts in the new household of four when George invites the brothers’ parents for a celebratory meal. George, eager for social status, also invites the governor and his wife.  To entertain and impress his guests, he has purchased a fancy piano, on which Rose—having played piano at the local movie house—is to perform. Rose is terrified by the challenge. Phil tortures her by mocking her stumbling piano practice with a virtuoso rendition of her practice piece on his guitar. George, blind to the tension Rose is feeling, feels constrained to warn Phil that he should bathe before the dinner and dress appropriately.

When the guests gather around the piano, Rose’s stage fright overcomes her, requiring red- faced apologies. Phil shows up late, begrimed and work worn, declining to shake hands or socialize “because I stink.”

Although scruffy, dirty Phil had earned an honors degree at Yale, but he has transformed himself into someone who parades his dirtiness and mocks social convention and its niceties.  The ideal that shaped that transformation was Phil’s mentor, Bronco. This tension between social convention and a rejection of it is a central theme.

Phil decides to teach Peter to ride and lures him into explorations of the mountains. The counterpoint to this development is Rose’s slide into alcoholism fueled by her feelings of social inadequacy and fear of losing her son to Phil.

During one of their mountain excursions Phil tells Peter that Bronco saved his life in a bitter winter storm by warming his body with his own. Though Phil avoids the question of whether they were naked together, Peter has discovered a trove of male nude photos belonging to Bronco. Peter responds to Phil’s story by confession that as a young boy, he had discovered his father having hanged himself, and had to cut the body down.

Their mentoring relationship feeds Phil’s decision to fashion a braided rawhide lariat for Peter, who supplies him with rawhide for the project. Unknown to Phil, the hide came from a steer that had died of anthrax. Phil dies of the infection, suffering, the doctor tells the family, dreadful pain and convulsions at the end. We see Phil’s face being carefully shaved and his body dressed in a conventional suit for his burial, finally conforming to social convention.

Peter does not attend the funeral. He has acquired the lethal lariat. Carefully avoiding its touch, he hides it under his bed. He reads, aloud, Psalm 22:20: “Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.” The film closes with Peter looking through his window, watching his mother and stepfather embrace, leaving the audience to ponder his motivations and the meaning of his recitation.

Retirement Experiences of Psychologists

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Edited by Rodney R. Baker and
Patrick H. DeLeon
2021 Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Drs. Rodney Baker and Patrick DeLeon have put together a fascinating combination of stories  from the generation of psychologists who are currently retiring from active practice, service,  and teaching. The effort stems from a brain child of their symposia presented at the American  Psychological Association (APA) running from 2014 through 2019. Retirement Experiences of  Psychologists captures a patchwork of different perspectives from high-powered psychology  professionals. Contributors those of the various ethnic identities, persons of color, and gender,  each who are in a different phase of retirement, with a different career path and unique story.

Editors are Rodney Baker, PhD, retired as mental health director and chief of psychology at the  Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, and Patrick H.  DeLeon, Ph.D., MPH, JD, a well-known friend of many in the Louisiana psychology community.  Dr. DeLeon is a former president of the American Psychological Association (APA), member of  the National Academy of Medicine, and honorary fellow of several national nursing  associations.

The editors explain that clinical practice was primarily a post-World War II activity and so many  of the experiences of today’s retirees is a first experience event. Not only do retiring psychologists have very few, if any, role models for retirement, but the complexity and  variability of psychology practice creates a rich tapestry of experiences and choices that gives  the book its depth.

The writing and personal essays do not disappoint. The psychologists explain their career  journeys in candid, intimate and revealing ways. They share elements of their experience that  are enjoyable and insightful, providing the reader personal details and often profound  conclusions about the journey.

The book design includes sections on “Retirement Stories from Institutional Professional Activity (Non-Academic),” on “Retirement Stories from Academic Professional Activity,’ another on “Retirement Stories from Independent Private Practice,” and a fourth on “Retirement Stories from Psychology Organizations.”

Retirement Experiences of Psychologists brings together an interesting combination of  psychologists, including Merry Bullock, PhD, retired as international affairs director at the APA,  Ellen Cole, PhD, author of Older Women Who Work, and Thomas Grisso, PhD, emeritus  professor of at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, MA, where his research contributed to developmental and mental health policy and law in the juvenile and  criminal justice systems.

Contributors also include James M. Jones, PhD, who directed the Minority Fellowship Program  and served as executive director for Public Interest at the APA, Ronald F. Levant, EdD, MBA,  ABPP, another former president of the APA, and a key person responsible for creating the new  field of the psychology of men and masculinities, and Ruth Ullmann Paige, PhD, retired from independent practice and a past APA Recording Secretary and member of APA Board of Directors.

Gilbert O. Sanders, EdD, who served 37 years in the U.S. Air Force, Army, and Public Health  Service, Michael J Sullivan, PhD, APA’s “citizen psychologist,” and Melba J.T. Vasquez, PhD, ABPP,  another former APA president are also among the contributors.

The essays are full of tidbits of wisdom and humor and insights. Dr. Baker writes, “… I didn’t  want to die at my VA desk still worrying about performance standards, workload, budgets, and  the myriad of other things that always faced me in addition to the things I liked doing. There  must be something else to consider in my future.”

“My chief losses in retirement include loss of sleep deprivation—I really enjoy my afternoon nap …”

Dr. DeLeon writes, “From one perspective, there never is a good time to leave a position that allows one to advance a deeply held vision for bettering society—especially one that allows  regularly visiting the White House, Supreme Court, and Hawaii.”

“And yet, an appropriate analogy might be playing in the National Football League. The games  are exciting. If you survive, you know that you must be good. And yet, at some point, your knees simply can no longer take the daily pounding.”

Dr. Willis writes, “I realize that a part of my difficulty adjusting to retirement is that I have been  working since I was a child, and it is hard not to be busy all the time.” In, “I retired from my job  but not my profession,” Dr. Levant writes, “The move out of my second deanship was one of the
best choices that I have made in my life. It felt like unloading an 80-pound backpack, …”

In, “Retirement has an Existential Identity,” Dr. Jones tells us, “One thing keeps coming back to me…get things in order. I resist that to some degree because it feels too much like the end  game.” […] “The past is long and getting longer, the future is short getting shorter, and the  present is not an instant but the prolonged consciousness that fuses the two.”

A wistful theme from Dr. Baker emerges, “If I had a complaint about retirement it would be  what I vaguely remember as someone calling the lament of the elderly: ‘Now that I know all the  answers, no one asks me the questions.’”

And reflected from Dr. DeLeon, “And yet, somewhat embarrassingly, from time to time, as one  becomes more senior and reflects on the past, there is a subtle feeling that wouldn’t it be nice if only more people were aware of what one has accomplished …”

While a little hard to get hold of through Amazon, Retirement Experiences is available from the  publisher and well worth the price.

Stress Solutions

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Stress Can Increase Your Risk of Mortality

Researchers at King’s College London examined data on the effects of stress on mortality  (Hotopf, Henderson, & Kuh, 2008). The subjects self-reported their stress levels. The chilling finding was a strong association between higher levels of self-reported stress and all causes of  death. Stress can affect the body in so many different ways that finding the means by which  stress leads to death at earlier ages is complicated.

Nonetheless, one important connection needs to be examined. Research on telomeres may  hold an answer. Telomeres are distinctive structures at the ends of our chromosomes. They are  sections of DNA. The form like a cap, much like a plastic tip on shoelaces, that works to protect  the chromosome. The telomeres allow the chromosomes to be replicated in cell division. Every  time a cell carries out DNA replication, the telomeres are shortened. As we age, telomeres get  shorter. They play a major role in cancer as well as in aging.

Oxidative stress, such as diet, smoking, and stress, make telomeres shorter, too. Many studies  have now demonstrated links between chronic stress and higher oxidative stress. In addition,  the chronic stress is associated with lower telomerase activity and shorter telomere length.  Shorter telomere length is associated with advanced aging of the body. When a telomere gets  too short, after many replications and possibly increased oxidative stress, it reaches a ‘critical  length’ and can no longer be replicated, triggering the cell to die.

Newborn babies usually have long telomeres. Telomeres get shorter as we age. There are ways  that have been found to increase the length of existing telomeres or reduce the shortening  effects of stress. Obviously, avoiding chronic stress is one way to reduce or slow down the  shortening of the telomeres. However, one of the ways that many people choose to deal with  stress has been shown to be highly effective at actually lengthening telomeres. Aerobic exercise  lengthens telomeres and reduces stress according to several studies (Puterman et al,  2018). In the Puterman study, high stress caregivers completed 40 minutes of aerobic exercise  3-5 times a week for 24 weeks.

Aerobic exercise is an excellent way to reduce built-up muscle stiffness from sitting at your  computer all day working. “Working” may not seem like stress to some, but if working means  thinking, then it is definitely stress. At the end of each day, the built up stress should be reduced and aerobic exercise is a good way to do it. Apparently, there is an added benefit of  increasing your chances of living a longer, happier, and more productive life.

Dr. Matthew Holcomb Receives Majority in LSBEP Election

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Dr. Matthew Holcomb captured the majority of votes in a state psychology board election  conducted online by the Louisiana State Board of Examiners of Psychologists, reported at the  board’s long-range meeting last month. Holcomb received 152 votes of the 256 votes cast.  Eligible voters, those licensed under the state board as psychologists, total 820 individuals. Dr.  Jesse Lambert received 78 votes. Both names will be submitted to the governor by the  Louisiana Psychological Association, with their customary recommendation that the Governor appoint the individual with the most votes.

The Gov. may appoint any individual submitted on the list, however.

The individual who is appointed will fill the position to be vacated by Dr. Gina Gibson, currently  the chair and who will finish her service in June this year. Dr. Gibson filled the unexpired  position of Dr. Crouch when she had to unexpectedly relocate.

Dr. Holcomb is from New Orleans and was originally licensed in 2015. His specialty is clinical  neuropsychology and he works with the Jefferson Neurobehavioral group. he is also a  Consulting Clinical Psychologist Pine Grove Behavioral Health Assessment Clinic. He earned his  degree in 2012 from Ball State University in school psychology.

On his candidate statement he said, “The main function of our licensing board is to protect the  people of Louisiana from the “unqualified and improper application” of psychology. That’s a  broad mission statement, which often puts our board in a position to affect change within the  field of psychology. There can be no doubt that the next few years will see additional and potentially major changes in our field. Affecting change and having a voice when those changes  are discussed are a motivation for serving on the LSBEP.

“Nationally, organizations like ABPP often push agendas that may not benefit psychologists or  the public in Louisiana. Issues such as the EPPP-2 and PsyPACT could harm the practice of  psychology in Louisiana. LSBEP has a history of standing against efforts which would not benefit our state, and I wish to continue that legacy. Locally, our board faces financial issues and concerns of over-reach. I want to serve on the LSBEP to be a positive force for change.

“I have served on LPA’s legislative affairs committee for several years and am currently the  Treasurer of the Louisiana Psychological Association (LPA) and a member of the Executive Committee. […] I believe I am prepared to sit in the LSBEP.” 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Cherry Distinguished Speaker at Southwestern Psychological Assn to be Held in Baton Rouge

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The Southwestern Psychological Association will hold its annual convention in Baton Rouge,  April 8 through 10, at the Crown Plaza Hotel. Dr. Katie Cherry, the Emogene Pliner Distinguished Professor of Aging Studies at Louisiana State University, and the Director of Research and Community Outreach, LSU Life Course and Aging Center, is this year’s Psi Chi Distinguished  Speaker at the event.

Dr. Cherry will present, “Severe Weather Events and Psychosocial Well-Being: Variables that Matter after a Disaster.”

Dr. Cherry will discuss the impact of hurricanes and flooding on various health indicators across the adult lifespan. She will present findings from her research program on disaster stressors in connection with the 2016 flooding in south Louisiana, and outline suggestions for managing  post-disaster stress and strategies for long-term recovery after severe weather events.

Dr. Cherry, expert in the stress impact of natural disasters, has been at the center of research  about how people come through disasters. In her most recent book, The Other Side of Suffering: Finding a Path to Peace after Tragedy, published by Oxford University Press, she  builds on and extends her previous work with those who have been caught in natural disasters.

Dr. Cherry crafted The Other Side of Suffering to be helpful for the general public by sharing her academic and experiential knowledge gained from her multiple projects with Katrina and Rita survivors, and how they built back their lives, spirit, and resilience.

“Many perished after Katrina. Those who survived have a breadth of life experience that is  wider and possibly deeper than those who have yet to live through a disaster,” she writes. In  The Other Side of Suffering, Dr. Cherry explains the process of grieving, how recovering  routines may be of central importance to healing after disasters, and how traditions solidify a sense of “rightness with the world.” The Other Side is an insider’s view of life and suffering, and  the elements of the human journey back.

Dr. Cherry and her colleagues were in the third year of a multiyear project, funded by the  National Institute on Aging, to study the determinants of longevity and healthy aging, when the  2005 Atlantic hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit Louisiana and shattered lives.

“In the years after the Katrina disaster, ” she writes, “I wondered what had happened to the  displaced coastal residents … “. She knew that more than a million US Gulf Coast residents were displaced. “Knowing how disaster survivors were faring in the years after the 2005 Hurricanes  Katrina and Rita was important to me.” The Other Side of Suffering helps answer that question.

Dr. Cherry has also presented her work in, Traumatic Stress and Long-Term Recovery: Coping  with Disasters and Other Negative Life Events, and in her 2009 book, Lifespan Perspectives on  Natural Disasters: Coping with Katrina, Rita and other Storms.

She has studied coastal residents with severe property damage from the 2005 Hurricanes  Katrina and Rita, and those with exposure to the 2010 British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon oil  spill. Dr. Cherry and scholars from around the world have looked at the stresses from natural  and technological disasters, acts of terrorism, wars, and interpersonal violence, and how stress  and prolonged suffering threatens health and well-being. Dr. Cherry focuses on the long-term  effects of disaster exposure, the consequences for peoples’ daily lives, and the means for  recovery and healing.

According to organizers at the Southwestern Psychological Association, “Severe weather events  are happening with increasing frequency today. Hurricanes, floods, and other tragedies that  impact peoples’ lives are disruptive and stressful events that may threaten health and  well-being. Consequently, there is a great need for knowledge to understand the immediate and  long-term consequences of natural disasters and tragic events for people of all ages.”

At LSU, Dr. Cherry teaches undergraduate courses on adult development and aging, lifespan  human development, and a graduate seminar in developmental psychology. She is also an  adjunct professor at Tulane University School of Medicine where she teaches advanced research methods and design to PhD students affiliated with the Tulane Center for Aging.

Dr. Cherry is actively involved in research with middle-aged and older adults to understand  challenges to healthy aging after disaster. She has over 185 publications including peer  reviewed journal articles, book chapters, three edited volumes, and one solo authored book.  Her work has  been funded by the National Institute on Aging, the Louisiana Board of Regents, the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative, and most recently by the National Science Foundation.

Other keynote speakers at the Southwestern Psychological Association convention include Dr.  Susan Clayton, who will present,” Psychology and climate change: Understanding and  responding.” Dr. Clayton has authored or edited five books, including the Oxford Handbook of Environmental and Conservation Psychology.

Dr. Tanecia Blue will deliver the Inaugural Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Keynote Address –  “Psychology’s role in the race construct.” Dr. Blue is the current Diversity and Inclusion Officer  for Society for Health Psychology and her primary initiative is educating health psychologists  about the role of psychology in improving health equity.

Dr. Susan Raiford will deliver the Woodcock Institute Keynote Address, “Pandemic Impact on  Performance-Based Psychological Assessment of Children: What We’ve Learned and How We  Can Respond.” Dr. Raiford is a senior research director at The Psychological  Corporation/Pearson. She has been a primary developer of the Wechsler Intelligence scales.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Thomas Takes Top Position at Louisiana Tech

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Dr. Donna Thomas has been appointed Chief Academic Director for Partnerships at Louisiana  Tech University, reporting to the Provost, Dr. Terry McConathy.

Dr. Thomas has served as chair of the Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Department at LaTech for almost 10 years and is the George and Jean Baldwin Endowed Professor.

In the announcement, Dr. McConathy said, “Dr. Thomas will be responsible for the oversight  and direction of development and implementation of academic programs that support Louisiana Tech University’s mission, vision, and strategic objectives. “As Chief Academic Director for Partnerships, Dr. Thomas will manage academic partnerships with external stakeholders  and funding efforts for academic partnerships and curricula design; enhance and implement non-traditional student engagement opportunities; organize and support faculty expertise for  curricular delivery in emerging program areas; and organize programmatic approvals and accreditation of transdisciplinary programs,” Dr. McConathy said.

“The Chief Academic Director for Partnerships will collaborate with division leaders, deans,  associate deans, unit heads, and faculty to identify extension, dual enrollment, online and  remote programs, and academic pathways that explore, develop, implement, and integrate  programs supporting the University’s mission,” he said.

Dr. Thomas has served as the Department Chair of the Psychology and Behavioral Sciences  from 2012. In this position, she managed and coordinated all the activities of the department  including instruction, research, services, and administrative activities. She was also the Director  of Training for the counseling psychology doctoral program from 2006 to 2012. She has chaired  and participated as a committee member for numerous dissertations, and has taught psychology at the undergraduate and graduate level.

Since 2014 she has also served as the NCAA Faculty Athletics Representative. In this position  she represented Louisiana Tech University and its faculty in the relationship between the  National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), Conference USA (CUSA), and the campus. She  represents LaTech as the voting delegate to NCAA and C-USA meetings and serves on NCAA councils, cabinets, and committees as appointed. She has assisted with interpretation of NCAA  and C-USA legislation and policies.

In this role, Dr. Thomas reports to the faculty and administration on the academic well-being of  student- athletes. And she ensures, either directly or indirectly, that student-athletes meet all  NCAA, conference, and LaTech requirements for eligibility to practice, financial aid, and  intercollegiate competition.

Dr. Thomas also monitors the student-athlete experience and is involved in the personal and  academic welfare of the student-athletes. She works with the athletic director and senior staff  to educate student-athletes about NCAA rules, and devise and implement compliance  programs within the athletics department. She meets regularly with the Director of Athletics  and serves as the Senior Faculty Advisor on athletics to the university president. She is a liaison  between the faculty and administration and the intercollegiate athletics program. She also provides periodic reports to the President’s Athletics Council relating to matters of academic  integrity, performance of student-athletes, rules compliance or violations, and other matters  related to the athletics program.

Dr. Thomas meets with the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and serves as Dr.  Donna Thomas Takes Top Position, Chief Academic Director for Partnerships, at Louisiana Tech  continued chair of the President’s Athletics Council. She was a member of the council beginning  in 2007. The Council reviews intercollegiate athletic programs and activities and makes recommendations to the President for his consideration. Athletics Council members are  appointed by the President. She has also served on the Student Athlete Welfare Committee.

In her duties for the psychology department, Dr. Thomas has participated in funding and grants including Increasing Diversity in the Doctoral Student Populations at Louisiana Tech University, BoR/SREB Doctoral Fellowships to Promote Diversity, and Third Judicial District Drug Court Treatment.

Her collaborative publications include, “Psychological effects of intensive and comprehensive  training centers on blind and visually impaired adults. Journal of Blindness Innovation and  Research, “Facebook and Romantic Relationships: Intimacy and Couple Satisfaction Associated  with Online Social Network Use,” Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking,  Measuring students’ perceptions of faculty competence in professional psychology: Development of the  Perceived Faculty Competence Inventory. Training and Education in Professional Psychology.”

Dr. Thomas’s professional service includes serving as Member of Editorial Board for the Journal  of Rural Mental Health, published by the American Psychological Association; Regional Advisory  Committee member for MacArthur Models for Change (Louisiana) grant; Ad hoc reviewer for Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking; Reviewer, proposals for annual convention,  American Psychological Association, Division 17; Executive Board Member, Council of Counseling Psychology Training Programs; LaTech College of Education Administrative Council,  Special Initiatives Committee, Committee on Recruitment, Diversity, and Global Issues.

She has been affiliated with the American Psychological Association, Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology, Council of Counseling Psychology Training Programs, Louisiana Psychological Association, Louisiana Counseling Association APA Division 17–Counseling  Psychology.

She has received the Outstanding Service Award, College of Education, and the Outstanding  Service Award, Department of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences numerous times, including  the Special Award of Merit for Outstanding Service.

In the past, Dr. Thomas also served as clinical associate for the Counseling and Psychology  Clinic in Monroe, and as administrator and owner for Rehabilitation Services of Louisiana LLC. 

Dr. Thomas earned her master’s degree in experimental psychology from the University of  Louisiana Monroe, and her doctorate in counseling psychology from Louisiana Tech.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Governor’s Budget Includes Help for Higher Education

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On Jan. 24, Gov. Edwards announced his budget priorities for the next fiscal year, which include  new, recurring investments in education at every level, from funding better opportunities for  Louisiana’s youngest learners to increasing salaries for K-12 teachers, support staff and higher education faculty.

In higher education, the Governor’s proposal dedicates $31.7 million for higher education  faculty pay raises, in addition to an increase of $97.2 million in other funding increases. The  Governor’s budget proposal includes an increase of $5 million for Title IX offices across the  state, $15 million increase in GO Grants, $25 million into the Higher Education Initiatives fund. The proposal also includes depositing $10.5 million into the MJ Foster Promise Program Fund,  which provides financial support for non-traditional students to earn credentials from  community and technical colleges that align to high-demand jobs in growing industry sectors  across Louisiana.

The budget proposal includes $148.4 million for K-12 teacher and staff pay raises. The proposed teacher pay raise of $1500 is significantly higher than the raise teachers received in the current  year, and the fifth proposed by the Edwards administration. In addition, the Governor supports  using additional revenues recognized by the Revenue Estimating Conference later this spring to  increase these proposed raises for teachers and staff.

“Louisiana’s educators have always  deserved more pay … but the coronavirus pandemic has further highlighted the need for high  quality, well-teachers at every level of education in Louisiana,” Gov. Edwards said.

For early childhood education, the Governor is proposing a $43.4 million increase, which includes more than a $17 million increase for the LA-4 Early Childhood program. In addition, the Governor will be recommending a significant investment into the Early Childhood Education  Fund.

The Governor’s budget proposal also includes more than $1.1 billion in funding for critical  infrastructure, including $500 million for a new Mississippi River Bridge in Baton Rouge, $100  million for I-10 Calcasieu River Bridge in Lake Charles, $100 million for the I-49 Lafayette  Connector, and $500 million for water and sewer improvements statewide.

The Governor’s  budget proposal also dedicates $550 million in federal American Rescue Plan funding to  replenish Louisiana’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, which had a historically high fund balance prior to the global coronavirus pandemic. If the fund is not restored to a balance of  $750 million by September of this year, taxes will automatically be raised on businesses to  replenish the fund.

“This is a budget I am proud of, this is a budget the Louisiana people can be proud of, and this  is a budget I believe the Legislature can proudly support,” Gov. Edwards said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tulane’s Dr. Courtney Baker Leads Project DIRECT in New Orleans

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Dr. Courtney Baker and her team members are partnering with 13 New Orleans childcares, Head Starts, and pre-K/K classrooms within charter schools, which serve low-income children, in a program named Project DIRECT, a community-engaged approach, aimed to reduce disparities in mental health and academic achievement.

Baker and her team are reaching children who live in poverty, racial and ethnic minority children, and children who have experienced trauma. The efforts created by Dr. Baker and her team are designed to deliver high-quality evidence-based prevention and improve intervention programs for real-life applications, especially for children who are vulnerable to poor outcomes.

Dr. Baker, Project DIRECT Team Leader and Principal Investigator, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Tulane University. She is a licensed clinical psychologist with a specialty in child clinical psychology and directs the APA-Accredited School Psychology doctoral program. She also co-directs the Tulane University Psychology Clinic for Children and Adolescents.

Dr. Baker notes that her career is committed to bridging the gap between research and practice, with a particular focus on understanding and facilitating the translation of evidence-based programs into school and community settings that serve children, youth, and families at risk for poor outcomes.

Following the best practices for working with marginalized communities, Baker and her group use a community-engaged research approach, to create high-quality, community-based mental health programs. They work to bridge the gap between research and practice and to ensure the results deliver effective prevention and interventions.

In order to achieve these essential and complex goals, Dr. Baker focuses on three interrelated objectives:

1) understanding developmental contexts that are central to disparities in the health and academic outcomes of vulnerable populations;

2) elucidating the barriers and facilitators of high-fidelity implementation; and

3) developing and testing system-level interventions that boost implementation quality, thus improving programs’ effectiveness.

Dr. Baker hopes to increase understanding and facilitate effective programs into community settings that serve children. One of the foundations of her work and scientific plan is the community-engaged research approach––to make sure all efforts are “relevant, culturally competent, and with a partnership focus and commitment to capacity building.”

She and her team use a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach, where community partners are “equitably involved in identifying and evaluating relevant research questions.”

The programs activities are monitored by a Community Advisory Board, composed of individuals who are local educators, administrators, mental health professionals, and parents.

What are some of the most significant accomplishments so far in her community based projects?

“Community-based research strives to center the voices and needs of the community within projects,” Dr. Baker said, “that also use best practices in terms of research methods and study design. The rationale is that we can work as a team to create programs or tools that are effective, relevant, and useful. The process in and of itself is incredibly gratifying,” she said.

“However, a few accomplishments, in particular, come to mind when you ask this question,” she said. “First, we worked closely with pre-kindergarten teachers, administrators, and parents of preschoolers to create a flexible, easy-to-use classroom curriculum called PreK TIPS. The goal of PreK TIPS is to help children learn the social and emotional skills they need to be successful in school,” she said.

“Our randomized controlled trial of PreK TIPS happened to be ongoing when the tornado struck New Orleans East in 2017, including directly affecting one of our partner schools. One of the teachers we were working with at the time let us know afterward that the children were using our PreK TIPS coping and calming strategies to get through that extremely stressful and scary moment. I could not be more grateful that our teacher partner and his students had these tools and were able to use them to get through that crisis,” Dr. Baker said.

Project DIRECT involves a strong goal of information and skill transfer. The team “Trains the next generation.” The program provides advanced training and professional development in child development, mental health, and early education. Activities include hands-on training opportunities for Tulane students and development to community members.

“The consultation model we use in our clinical and research efforts builds teacher skills, contributes to the sustainability of evidence-based practices in preschools and schools, and increases site capacity.”

The Project DIRECT team provides training on a variety of topics, including:

Creating Safe and Supportive Schools

Expectations for Behavior through a Developmental Lens

Social-Emotional Learning in Preschool

Understanding Preschooler Development: Self-Awareness, Self-Control, and Delay of Gratification Creating Trauma-Informed Schools: Rationale and School Wide Approach

Working with Children who have Challenging Behavior Behavioral Assessment and Intervention in Schools

De-escalating Upset Children (and Angry Parents, too)

School-Related Anxiety

Understanding Normal (and Abnormal) Behavior in the Preschool Setting

 

The team also provides workshops for parents as a service to our community partners. Recent topics have included:

Discipline without Tears

Getting your Preschooler to Do What You Ask: Giving Effective Commands.”

Additionally, the team actively recruits partners for its ongoing research projects. These include: Project Pre-K TIPS, funded by the Louisiana Board of Regents; Safe Schools NOLA, funded by the National Institute of Justice; and Trauma-Informed Schools Demonstration Project, funded by the Department of Justice and United Way through the City of New Orleans Health Department.

Efforts to measure, evaluate, and study the implementation of trauma informed care, is conducted in partnership with Steve Brown and Pat Wilcox at the Traumatic Stress Institute. This includes developing the “Attitudes Related to Trauma Informed Care Scale.”

The team also provides clinical services in their efforts help each child get the healthiest start possible. To support this effort, additional services can be provided in Tulane’s Psychology Clinic for Children and Adolescents. This clinic is evidence[1]based practice, uses a sliding fee scale, and is co-directed by Drs. Baker and Sarah Gray.

Training Tulane students in community[1]based research includes engaging undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral students in developing competencies related to research and practice with children and their families. Undergraduates provide on-site classroom support to teachers, graduate students serve as clinicians-in-training, and both assist with ongoing research projects. Dr. Baker also trains one or two school psychology predoctoral interns in the context of their LAS*PIC Summer Rotation.

“My greatest privilege as the team leader has been to train my students,” Dr. Baker said. “I have an incredible group of ten to fifteen students each year, ranging from undergraduates to postdoctoral fellows. Their contributions to our team, our community-based research, and my own continued growth and development as a psychologist are considerable. Although I’m always sad to see them go, they move on to do truly amazing things, from attending top graduate and professional programs to working in world-renowned research labs to developing their own independent research and practice careers,” she said.

Dr. Baker’s research program is guided by the fields of dissemination and implementation science and prevention science. She strives to bridge the gap between research and practice.

Implementation science addresses the use of strategies to integrate evidence-based interventions and change practice patterns within specific settings. The approach involves taking a multilevel approach and understanding the context into which the intervention is to be implemented. Adapting interventions when needed to address contextual factors, while preserving the essential core elements of the interventions, is one goal.

Dissemination involves the distribution of an intervention or innovation to a specific audience. One of Dr. Baker’s main research goals is to disseminate findings nationally via conference presentations, invited presentations, and publications in academic journals and books. Project DIRECT’s undergraduate and graduate students are actively involved in this effort.

Some of publications are:

Baker, C. N., Peele, H., Daniels, M., Saybe, M., Whalen, K., Overstreet, S., & the New Orleans Trauma-Informed Schools Learning Collaborative. (in press). The experience of COVID-19 and its impact on teachers’ mental health, coping, and teaching. School Psychology Review;

Baker, C. N., Brown, S. M., Overstreet, S., Wilcox, P. D., and the New Orleans Trauma-Informed Schools Learning Collaborative. (in press). Validation of the Attitudes Related to Trauma-Informed Care (ARTIC) Scale. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy;

Robey, N., Margolies, S., Sutherland, L., Rupp, C., Black, C., Hill, T., & Baker, C. N. (in press). Understanding staff- and system[1]level contextual factors relevant to trauma[1]informed care implementation. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy;

Wagner, A. C., Bartsch, A. A., Manganaro, M., Monson, C. M., Baker, C. N., & Brown, S. M. (in press). Trauma-informed care training with HIV and related community service workers: Short and long term effects on attitudes. Psychological Services;

and Wittich, C., Rupp, C., Overstreet, S., Baker, C. N., & the New Orleans Trauma-Informed Schools Learning Collaborative. (2020). Barriers and facilitators of the implementation of trauma-informed schools. Research and Practice in the Schools, 7, 33- 48.

She also has earned funding from numerous sources, including:

  • Center for Supportive and Compassionate Schools (Category II Center) – SAHMSA, National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative, Co-PI, $3,000,000;
  • An Efficacy Trial of Pre-K TIPS in Preschools Serving Low-Income Children (Initial Efficacy) – U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, PI, $3,796,673; and
  • Development and Pilot Testing of PD Camp: An Experiential Classroom Behavior Management Training (Development and Innovation) – U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, PI, $1,950,797.

What are some of the challenges she and her team have faced?

“My two greatest challenges as a community-based researcher are funding and time,” said Dr. Baker. “Though we’ve been lucky in terms of funding, it is increasingly difficult to win federal grants. In addition, although the need for community[1]based research is clear, funding mechanisms generally continue to favor biologically-focused projects. Efforts at increasing translational science, including not only ‘bench to bedside,’ but also ‘bedside to best-practices,’ are laudable but have yet to swing the pendulum in any meaningful way toward community-based research. This is true even as it becomes increasingly clear how critically important it is to consider the social determinants of health, which is another word for the contextual and social factors that shape each individual’s exposure to risk and resilience.”

What plans does she have for future efforts and activities?

“We always have a number of things in the pipeline, of course! We’d love to get our large randomized controlled trial of the PreK TIPS program I mentioned above funded. That would solidify the evidence that the program works and open the doors for it to become available nationally (and for free!).

“We are also invested in developing and testing best practices for systems like schools and hospitals that aim to reduce the impact of trauma, stress, and adversity on children and families,” she said. “This intervention is called trauma-informed care, and it is really understudied. We are doing our best to move the needle on this lack-of[1]evidence problem by developing validated instruments, exploring the “black box” of how trauma-informed care works, and determining the effectiveness of the intervention.

“I would love for our future work to bring together trauma-informed care, which sprung from the experiences of individuals who came up through systems they found harmful rather than healing, with best practices in measurement, research, and evaluation.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Father

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A Review

by Alvin G. Burstein, PhD

Aristotle, in The Poetics, defined tragedy as a medium that arouses pity and fear in the audience, a kind of catharsis. Florian Zeller, in his debut as a film director, adapts his play, Le Pere, to the screen in a remarkable reminder of a fate that is soul-shaking and threatens us all.  Some, the fortunate, escape it, but those who are caught in its grip suffer a grievous loss that they did not deserve, one which robs them of their essential self.

Anthony Hopkins plays the protagonist in a performance that won him the Best Actor award at  the 93rd Academy. The film was released in the United States in February 2021 and is available  on Hulu and Amazon Prime.

The film opens with the father, Anthony, alone in his London apartment. His daughter, Anne,  played by Olivia Coleman, comes to visit him. She needs to deal with her father’s having driven  away his most recent caretaker, a crisis because, as she finally tells him, she plans to move to Paris with a lover. Anthony is taken aback by the news of her impending departure, but stoutly  maintains his ability to manage on his own. He insists, further, that the caretaker was a thief  who had purloined his wristwatch. Anne suspects that her father might have hidden the watch  in a repository he has in his bathroom. She finds it there and returns it to him. The implication is clear. Anthony is becoming increasingly forgetful.

As the film unfolds, fractured timelines, unannounced flashbacks and duplicated characters invoke in the minds of the audience a replica of Anthony’s growing dementia.

Contributing to the weight of Anthony’s loss is Anne’s dilemma. Her focus on caring for her father has led to a breakup in her marriage. Her father’s ongoing idealization of Lucy, her younger sister, and her father’s insistent and invidious preference for Lucy galls her in ways she cannot express. And she is further burdened by having to sacrifice her own needs in order to care for her father, whose memory loss shields him from even recognizing that Lucy has died in an earlier auto accident.

Anthony’s on-going fixation on his watch suggests an emphasis on the issue of time. Paul  Ricoeur, in Time and Narrative, argues that the human experience of time is tied to the human  capacity to organize experience into narrative episodes in which time is embedded. In a sense, our identities are defined by the role we are playing in the story that we construct about our  lives. As Anthony becomes increasingly confused, his ability to recognize, not just the people  around him, but who he, himself is, also dissipates.

As the film ends, Anthony is a tragic figure, stripped of his dignity, lost, in tears, begging for his mother.

Pity and fear: strong stuff.

New Findings in Dr. Walczyk’s Deception Theory

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Louisiana Tech’s Dr. Jeffery Walczyk and his co-author Natalie Cockrell have published  new findings on Walczyk’s popular theory of deception, the ActivationDecision- Construction Action Theory.

This most recent article, “To err is human but not deceptive,” was published in Memory  and Cognition, one of the top journals in the field of cognitive psychology. This addition  to Walczyk’s theory explores what there is to deception beyond simply answering a question incorrectly.

Jeffrey Walczyk, PhD is the Mary Robin Dorsett Endowed Professor in the Department of  Psychology at Louisiana Tech University. He is currently working on a chapter for the edited scholarly text Morality and Creativity and has served as Guest editor for special  edition of Frontiers in Psychology on “Deception, honesty, and cognitive load: Is lying  always more effortful than truth telling?”

The Activation-Decision-Construction-Action theory, the ADCAT, is regarded as one of the  leading cognitive theories of deception in psychology. Based on citation data, it is having  an impact in terms of inspiring research and application.

Natalie Cockrell, now attending graduate school in clinical mental health, served as  research assistant to Walczyk while an undergraduate psychology major at LaTech.

Walczyk ‘s work in lie detection has been ongoing but gained significant exposure in 2014 when he proposed refinements in his comprehensive cognitive theory of deception. He  included four stages of mental processes that individuals engage in when telling “high  stakes” lies, those situations with significant consequences.

His model explains that when an important answer is solicited by a questioner, such as  during a job interview when the employer asks––“Have you ever stolen anything from the workplace?”––several factors come into play.

Walczyk and his co-authors explain that the question will cause the interviewee or  respondent to search for truth and activate long-term memory, and then transfer to the  working memory. Based on the information that has been activated, and the social  context, the respondent may decide whether or not to lie and how to lie.

Lying becomes more likely in those situations when telling the truth would interfere with  the individual reaching his or her goal, such as getting a job.

Next, the lie is embellished if needed in order to go undetected and achieve the  respondent’s goal. This is the construction component. Individuals who lie will modify  truths as much as possible to make their lies plausible.

Finally, the lie is delivered to the receiver during the action component.

“An obvious and important application of the theory pertains to lie detection,” said Dr.  Walczyk. “The polygraph, the most commonly used method of lie detection, was not  based on a theory. It was based on the questionable assumption that people exhibit  more anxiety when lying than when truth telling. This assumption has been discredited,”  he explained.

“ADCAT is an attempt to understand deception as a cognitive rather than an emotional event,” Dr. Walczyk said. “The more we understand deception from different  perspectives, the more likely new cues to deception will emerge. For instance, my research suggests that lying takes about 250 milliseconds longer than truth telling. More  cognitive cues may emerge as our understanding of deception deepens.”

In “To err is human but not deceptive,” Walczyk and Cockrell wanted to increase  researchers’ understanding of the cognition of deception regarding what lying entails beyond simply erring.

“Guided by ADCAT, we hypothesized that, unlike intentionally erring, an intention to lie  activates ToM [theory of mind] inferences and other social-cognitive processes needed to deceive plausibly when communicating with another. This intention also entails higher  levels of proactive interference of honest responding with lying,” the authors noted.

Their findings regarding response-time data suggest important processing differences  between truth telling, intentionally erring, and deceiving. There are implications for those who study deception in the laboratory. “Specifically, in order to capture authentic deceit,  mental processes hypothesized by ADCAT (e.g., ToM inferences) must be activated in  research participants by instructing them to communicate deceptively with another or  imagine doing so,” authors noted. They concluded that research in which participants are instructed to intentionally err capture important parts of deception, but may ignore other aspects that are crucial.

What does Dr. Walczyk think are the most important findings from this recent publication and research?

“The most important finding is that when people decide to lie, they are not just  intentionally erring,” Dr. Walczyk said. “Rather, they are considering what other people  would find believable in generating a deceptive response. They are also thinking about  how to solve social goals. Also, implausible deceptions are strongly inhibited.”

Dr. Walczyk explained his theory in his 2014 paper, “A social-cognitive framework for  understanding serious lies: Activation-decision-construction-action theory.”

The publication laid out highlights of his work and included: The theory was the first  cognitive account of high-stakes lying; It underscored the pervasive roles of cognitive load
and theory of mind; It detailed mathematically how decisions to lie are made; the roles of motivation, emotion, and social cognition were central to the theory; and The theory  contained implications for lie detection The ADCAT theory elaborated on the
roles of executive processes, theory of mind, emotions, motivation, and specified  cognitive processing, and considered the rehearsal of lies. 

Dr. Walczyk’s and co-authors, in the 2014 article, gave the four processing components:  (a) activation of the truth, the (b) decision whether and how to alter deceptively the  information shared, (c) construction of a deception, and (d) action––acting sincere while delivering a lie.

Walczyk and colleagues addressed core constructs of “theory of mind” and cognitive  resources. “Specifically,” they write, “throughout serious deception, individuals are  inferring the current or potential mental states of targets and taking steps to minimize  the allocation of cognitive resources during delivery to appear honest and lie well.”

Dr. Walczyk’s efforts are aimed at addressing the need for a cognitive theory of serious  deception, he writes. Deception “… comes in many forms, including falsification (lies), equivocation (evasion, ambiguity), omission (withholding important information),  exaggeration, and understatement […]

“The cognition of deception is poorly understood. We present a cognitive theoretical  framework for understanding serious deceptions, including those that are fundamentally perceived as threats, transgressions and betrayals that result specifically in relationship problems; that endanger people’s reputations and that are forbidden by organized  religion and indictable by law. […]

“Scientists studying lying have often postulated that it is more cognitively demanding  than truth telling, an intuitively appealing notion that is not always so,” authors explain.  “A theory can illuminate when lying draws more on attention and working memory.”

Walczyk and others have noted that one of the major criticisms of the Control Question  Technique (CQT) of the polygraph as a lie detector is its lack of a valid theoretical foundation. A well-specified cognitive theory of deception can advance cognitive based lie detection efforts that overcome this limitation, the authors note.

The four components are believed to be initiated during most instances of serious  deception. The sequence is usually in the order described, but not always occurring  closely in time.

Although components are presented sequentially, write the authors, “… they often  execute automatically, unconsciously, seamlessly, and in parallel. Moreover, they draw  on modules of the mind providing output to WM whose processing occurs beneath conscious awareness.”

One caveat Walczyk and co-authors note is that, unknown to respondents, “truths” may  be unavailable or inaccurate due to “memory distortions, especially with long intervals  between encoding and retrieval. Essential to deception is respondents’ intent to deceive,  not the accuracy of what they believe is true.”

In his earlier work, Walczyk assumed that lies were constructed and truths retrieved. However, the ADCAT notes that rehearsed deception entails retrieved lies, and truths sometimes are constructed. “The theory advances understanding of when lying is more  cognitively demanding than truth telling, vice versa, and informs when indices of cognitive load signal deception.”

Some examples of Dr. Walczyk’s other research includes:

Walczyk,J.J., & Newman, D. (2020). Understanding reactions to deceit. New Ideas in
Psychology, 59.

Walczyk, J.J., & Fargerson, C. (2019). A cognitive framework for understanding development of the ability to deceive. New Ideas in Psychology, 54, 82-92.

Walczyk, J.J., Sewell, N., & DiBenedetto, M.B. (2018). A review of approaches to detecting  malingering in forensic contexts and promising cognitive load-reducing lie detection  techniques. Frontiers in Psychiatry.

Walczyk, J. J., Tcholakian, T., Newman, D. N., & Duck, T. (2016). Impromptu decisions to  deceive. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 30, 934-945.

Walczyk, J. J., Harris, L. L., Duck, T. K., & Mulay, D. (2014). A social- cognitive framework for  understanding serious lies: Activation- Decision-Construction -Action Theory. New Ideas  in Psychology. 34, 22–36.

Walczyk, J. J., Griffith, D. A., Yates, R., Visconte, S., & Simoneaux, B. (2013). Eye movements and other cognitive cues to rehearsed and unrehearsed deception when interrogated  about a mock crime. Applied Psychology in Criminal Justice, 9, 1–23.

Walczyk, J. J., Igou, F. P., Dixon, A. P., & Tcholakian, T. (2013). Advancing lie detection by  inducing cognitive load on liars: a review of relevant theories and techniques guided by  lessons from polygraph-based approaches. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 1–13.

Walczyk, J. J., Griffith, D. A., Yates, R., Visconte, S. R., Simoneaux, B., & Harris, L. L. (2012).  Lie detection by inducing cognitive load: eye movements and other cues to the false  answers of “witnesses” to crimes. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 39, 887–909.

How did Dr. Walczyk first get into this area of research?

“I have always instinctively been a cognitive psychologist. I got interested in the cognition  behind deception when watching a politician on television lie. I thought that this might be a interesting, new area of inquiry and it has been,” he said.

Dr. Walczyk earned his PhD in Educational Psychology, with Concentrations in  Measurement, Statistics, & Cognitive Psychology, from Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY,  in 1988.

He studied in New York for both his masters and undergraduate. He came to LaTech in  1996.

How does he like it at Louisiana Tech?

“Louisiana Tech is a great school. It is large enough to offer a variety of majors but small  enough so that you can be part of the Tech family. I have enjoyed working here and  interacting with our students,” Dr. Walczyk said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slalom

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A Review

by Alvin G. Burstein

Five years in the making, Charlène Favier’s debut 2020 film, Slalom, reflects contemporary “Me, Too” concerns. Brought into higher relief by the recent Senate testimony of several Olympic women gymnasts, and the concern about the uncertain fate of Chinese tennis champion, Peng Shuai, the movie is unsettlingly relevant.

Watching the story of a fiercely ambitious teenage woman’s pursuit of Olympic glory, we squirm as she is groomed by her coach in the course of her training, and as we anticipate what lies ahead in the unfolding of their relationship.

Noèe Abita, in the role of Lyz Lopez, the young skier, brings wide-eyed vulnerability to her virtuoso performance of a woman teetering between a childhood hungry for parenting and a woman hungry for recognition and excited by the possibility of her sexuality. Her coach, Fred, played by Jérémie Rentier, twice Lyz’s age, increasingly dependent on Lyz to restore his lost status in world of competitive skiing, uses every motivational device to drive her to hone her athletic skills, only to find himself unable to resist the temptation to use Lyz to as a prop for his masculine status.

Three elements of suspense dominate the film. The first is whether Lyz will be successful in her attempt to win the French national championship. The second is how she will deal with her sense of abandonment by her divorced parents, whose absence becomes achingly painful to  Lyz.

Another is how she will deal with her growing awareness that her trainer’s basic interest in her  is, at its base, contingent on her winning awards that bolster his professional reputation.

The “Me, Too” movement has focused on power/status inequities between the (usually) male predator and (usually) female victim, especially in workplace settings. It is important to keep in mind that there may be other settings that seem vulnerable to invasion by inappropriate sexual entanglements. A medical colleague of mine, a transplant surgeon, has told me that he has been struck by the degree of blind trust that his patients tend to extend, and how often they seek emotional support from him. Well-read in psychoanalytic matters, he thinks of this dependence as a reflection of what Freud called positive transference, the re-creation of a child’s emotionally charged relation with its parent.

Any relationship in which one puts oneself, or finds oneself, in another’s hands has the  potential to simulate that regressive transference. We find classical confirmation of that  possibility in the relationship between Socrates and Alcibiades. It was evoked, too, during medieval times, in the relationship between Heloise and her mentor Abelard.

That mentor/mentee relationships have the potential to stimulate sexual interests, doesn’t legitimate them. Rather, it emphasizes a parental responsibly to control them.

In returning to the outcome of Slalom, I want to avoid a spoiler. So, I will say only that the outcome captures the complexity of Lyz’s sixteen-year-old coming of age with stunning effect.  You can find the film on Amazon Prime and Netflix.

Drs. Holcomb and Lambert Offer to Serve on Psych Bd

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Dr. Matthew Holcomb and Dr. Jesse Lambert will be running for a July 2022 opening on  the Louisiana State Board of Examiners of Psychologists. The election will be held  December 15 to January 15, conducted online by the Board of Examiners. Votes are to be  cast by Louisiana licensed psychologists.

Dr. Holcomb is from New Orleans and was originally licensed in 2015. His specialty is clinical neuropsychology and he works with the Jefferson Neurobehavioral group. he is also a Consulting Clinical Psychologist Pine Grove Behavioral Health Assessment Clinic. He earned his degree in 2012 from Ball State University in school psychology.

On his candidate statement Dr. Holcomb said, “The main function of our licensing board  is to protect the people of Louisiana from the “unqualified and improper application” of psychology.

“That’s a broad mission statement, which often puts our board in a position to affect  change within the field of psychology. There can be no doubt that the next few years will  see additional and potentially major changes in our field. Affecting change and having a  voice when those changes are discussed are a motivation for serving on the LSBEP.

“Nationally, organizations like ABPP often push agendas that may not benefit  psychologists or the public in Louisiana. Issues such as the EPPP-2 and PsyPACT could  harm the practice of psychology in Louisiana. LSBEP has a history of standing against  efforts which would not benefit our state, and I wish to continue that legacy. Locally, our board faces financial issues and concerns of over-reach. I want to serve on  the LSBEP to be a positive force for change.

“I have served on LPA’s legislative affairs committee for several years and am currently the Treasurer of the Louisiana Psychological Association (LPA) and a member of the  Executive Committee. I was heavily involved as a member of the ad-hoc committee which  met with the LSBEP and other stakeholders to craft House Bill 477. I believe I am  prepared to sit in the LSBEP.

“In my approximately 7 years in the state, I have taught and supervised future Louisiana  psychologists, maintained an active research lab, and built a busy clinical and forensic neuropsychological practice. In addition to my state involvement, I have also served in  national organizations such as the National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN). I believe I am well prepared to take on a role with LSBEP, and that I should serve at this time.”

Dr. Jesse Lambert is from Gonzales and originally licensed in 2009. His specialty is clinical. He is a medical psychologist as well. His current position is Clinical Lead, Rural Mental  and Behavioral Health Outreach at Our Lady of the Lake, and private practice. He earned  his degree from Argosy University in Dallas in clinical psychology.

Dr. Lambert previously served on the psychology board from August 2015 to September  2019.

In his statement he said, “Psychology is such a fabulous discipline and the contributions  we offer as clinicians, scientists, and to industry are on the same scale as chemistry,  physics, and medicine,”Dr. Lambert said.

“Yet, this gift is predicated on the tenant that such services be delivered in an ethical and  fair manner. In the absence of such, people will be damaged and the profession suffers a catastrophic lack of credibility. The consumers of our services are vulnerable and to truly  have an impact, the public must be protected from the improper and unethical practice of psychology.

Yet, this obligation is a two-pronged. “Psychologists are also consumers and discipline must be well investigated and fair, as the consequences of such can be far-reaching. If elected/appointed to the Board, I offer my solemn word that I will adhere to these scared duties,” Dr. Lambert said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Supervision Issue Resurfaces For Provisional Licenses

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At the November 12 meeting of the Louisiana State Board of Examiners of Psychologists
(LSBEP), the Board’s attorney provided an opinion that LSBEP could deny approval for a plan of supervision where supervision is to be conducted by medical psychologists who  do not hold a license as a “psychologist” under the state psychology board.

This is according to a report by Dr. Kim VanGeffen, Chair of Professional Affairs of the Louisiana Psychological Association.

Dr. Michelle Moore, chair of Supervision and Credentials at the LSBEP, had first  presented the problem in August. According to the August minutes, Moore “… had  reviewed supervised practice plans for applicants requesting a provisional license under  the jurisdiction of the LSBEP but whose supervisors were not licensed with the LSBEP, which she did not believe to be appropriate.”

“Dr. Moore further discussed that although the current regulations acknowledge that a Licensed Medical Psychologist could provide appropriate supervision, which is not disputed, for those Medical Psychologists that are not licensed with the LSBEP, as stated  in Opinion #12, it is clear that LSBEP does not have regulatory control over supervisors  not licensed with the LSBEP and therefore those supervisors have no accountability in  providing supervision according to LSBEP’s regulations; because the supervisor is legally  responsible for the practices of their supervisee, it does not appear to fall under the  purview of the LSBEP to have oversight over the relationship or issue a Provisional  License to an individual for which it could not effectively regulate; […]”

Dr. Gormanous moved that the members of the board seek the advice of their general legal counsel.

According to VanGeffen, “… the Board has been reviewing the issue of medical psychologists providing supervision of individuals who seek licensure under the Louisiana Board of Examiners of Psychologists. Currently, individuals seeking licensure  are required to submit to the Board a plan of supervised practice which would go toward  their supervision requirements,” she noted.

“Currently, candidates for licensure are allowed to be supervised by a medical psychologist whether or not they are licensed under LSBEP. The Board asked its attorney to review this issue,” VanGeffen said.

“The Board’s attorney provided an opinion that LSBEP could deny approval for a plan of supervision where supervision is to be conducted by a medical psychologist who is not  licensed under LSBEP as LSBEP would not have regulatory authority over the supervision  or supervisor unless the supervising psychologist is also licensed under LSBEP. The Board plans to continue to review this issue,” said VanGeffen.

The topic has a history. In 2009, Act 251 moved medical psychologists and their practice  of psychology from the psychology board to the medical board. Medical psychologists  would no longer be required to maintain their license under the psychology board.

In 2010, consistent with the how the law defines a “Psychologist,” members of the state  psychology board ruled, in Opinion #12, that only those licensed under the LSBEP could  supervise those seeking a license in psychology.

At that time, the then LSBEP Chair, Dr. Joseph Comaty, also a medical psychologist, said that the section in the psychology law clearly defines who may deliver supervision to  candidates seeking licensure.

Dr. Comaty said, “In RS 37, 2352, the licensing law for psychologists, it clearly defines  what a psychologist is. They [those who supervise] have to hold a license from the LSBEP  in order to supervise someone for licensure. MPs don’t meet this requirement.”

The ruling required medical psychologists, who wanted to provide supervision to interns,  to maintain a valid psychology license under LSBEP. “The remedy is to reapply to  reinstate their license,” said Dr. Comaty. “If you are currently lapsed, we’ll consider your  re- instatement retroactively.”

However, in May 2011, the board reversed its decision after being lobbied by Dr. Robert  Marier, Executive Director of the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners (LSBME),  and also by Dr. John Bolter, member of the Medical Psychology Advisory Committee at  the state medical board.

In their letters, Drs. Marier and Bolter asked the LSBEP to reconsider its 2010 ruling. They said that the intent of Act 251 was to transfer all aspects of psychology practice to  medicine. They said that this conclusion could be inferred from numerous references  throughout various laws.

Dr. Bolter noted references that listed the term medical psychologist along with the term  psychologist; three sections of mental health law and one in Workers Compensation law.  He said the term psychologist could also mean medical psychologist.

Dr. Rita Culross was the only nay vote against reversal. None of the three medical psychologists serving at that time recused themselves from the vote.

*****
[Editors note: For original news reports see Times Vol. 2, Numbers 2 and 11; Vol. 3, 
Numbers 1 & 3]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stress Solutions

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Healing the Healers: Stress Among Psychotherapists

Surely, there is no real argument that mental health providers have job stress. This topic has been explored in numerous countries, including Great Britain, India, Spain, and Japan, to name a few. The Japanese Occupational Health department even developed a Brief Job Stress Questionnaire. Unfortunately, it is only available in Japanese.

The British studies by the British Psychological Society (BPS) did a study by survey in 2015. The findings were that 46 percent of psychologists surveyed reported that they experienced a depressed mood and 70 percent said that they found their jobs stressful. Many listed over-work as a primary factor in their burnout.

A study from a state in midwestern USA published by Deutsch, CJ in Professional Psychology: Research and Practice (1984) surveyed 264 therapists about the amount and sources of their stress. The therapists completed a questionnaire on background
information, their beliefs, and a 36-item stress scale. What they found was that irrational beliefs and attitudes held by mental health providers lie at the center of their reported job stress.

The irrational beliefs uncovered are very interesting and can provide a basis for all psychologists and/or mental health providers to explore their own systems of beliefs. So, to that end, I list a few irrational beliefs for further contemplation.

  1. One should operate at peak efficiency and peak competence with all clients and at all times.
  2. If a client does not get better or terminates prematurely, it is the therapist’s fault for not doing a better job of engaging the client.
  3. A good psychotherapist is not likely to get “burnout” because a good therapist is emotionally well-balanced and can manage their own emotions and stress. So, if the therapist becomes “burned out,” it must mean that that person is not a good therapist and is not well adjusted after all.
  4. It is an embarrassment for a therapist to seek therapy for themselves.

As a mini-self-test, do you agree with any of the above beliefs? And, if you do agree with any of the beliefs, what are you going to do about it? Food for thought

Stress and Your Immune System During the Pandemic

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Keeping our immune system strong has always been important. However, it has become critical in this age of a 2-year pandemic. While this pandemic appears to be winding down, who knows what might be waiting in the wings.

When we are stressed, our immune system’s ability to fight off antigens is reduced making us more susceptible to infection. How does this happen? The stress hormone, corticosteroid, works to suppress the immune system by lowering the number of lymphocytes. Corticosteroid  can also increase active immunosuppressive mechanisms, like regulatory T cells. Chronic stress  dysregulates immune function by increasing proinflammatory responses.

There is a big difference between chronic stress and short-term stress. Short-term stress is the  fight-or-flight response lasting minutes to hours. It is a response to an immediate threat. The healthy nervous system will self-regulate by reducing the effects of the fight-or-flight response  as soon as the immediate threat is gone. Research has shown the value of short-term stress as  a way of mobilizing bodily resources and stimulating immune activity. One particular set of studies done at Stanford University School of Medicine by Dr. Firdaus Dhabhar tracked the paths of key immune cells in response to short-term stress in rats. The hormones that were  triggered enhanced the rats’ immune responsiveness during the fight-or-flight response. Their  findings paint a better picture of how our minds influence immune activity.

Chronic stress, or long-term stress, can suppress our immune system. People with weak  immune systems need to pay particular attention to their stress and to ways to systematically reduce it. Signs of a weak immune system include:
Frequent colds or infections
Digestive problems
Delayed wound healing
Skin infections
Fatigue
Blood Disorder or an autoimmune disease

Anxiety and its side-kick, chronic stress, are especially harmful to the immune system. If you  recognize that your nervous system reacts quickly with an anxiety or stress response, it is time  to pay attention to ways to reduce your stress. A busy mind that never stops or a busy schedule or chronic worry all can lead to chronic stress. One of the most effective ways to manage the  problem is to take frequent breaks during the day to stop the mental activity and consequent  cortisol production. As a great teacher once said when asked what is the best way to reduce  stress: “breathe!”