Author Archives: Susan

Dr. Dickson Honored for Distinguished Service

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Dr. Amy Dickson has been named recipient of the 2022 Award for Distinguished Service in  Psychology by the Louisiana Psychological Association, announced at the spring convention. Dr.  Dickson is Assistant Professor at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, (LSUHSC),  Department of Psychiatry, New Orleans, Louisiana. She is a license Clinical Psychologist, Infant Team Director, and Psychology Section Deputy Chief.

“This award is given to an individual who has made significant contributions to the professional  field of psychology in Louisiana and beyond by their professional service, particularly in the area of diversity, or demonstrated community involvement in support of less privileged or oppressed groups,” said Dr. Amanda Raines, spokesperson for the Association.

“Dr. Dickson works to support some of the most vulnerable populations in our community,”  said Dr. Raines. “She works with the Department of Child and Family Services where she provides services to families involved in the court due to suspected abuse and neglect of  children. In her previous role as Director of the Victims Assistance Program for the Department  of Psychiatry at LSUHSC, Dr. Dickson managed a crisis hot line to assist families in the New  Orleans area impacted by violence. In addition, she has worked as the co-director for the Harris  Infant Mental Health program at LSUHSC for the past 17 years where she has trained social work interns, psychiatry fellows, and psychology interns to have a deeper understanding for the mental health needs of young children,” said Dr. Raines.

Dr. Dickson is the Psychology Section Deputy Chief and the Child Coordinator of the Psychology  Internship Training Program at LSUHSC. She is a Child-Parent Psychotherapy trainer and she is  the Director of the Orleans Parish Infant Team which treats children ages 0-5 years in the foster  care system. She is part of a Safe Baby Court and trains around the country on infant mental  health and court team work.

Dr. Dickson also consults to local child protection agencies, and sees clients at the Behavioral  Sciences Center and at a federally qualified health clinic Dr. Dickson considers the training of others to be one of her important contributions. “Training the police to respond to incidents of  violence involving children was incredible work,” said Dr. Dickson. “I was able to ride along on shifts with police officers, often at night and attend their daily staffings. I got to know many  officers on a personal level and could hear the stress of their job and their helplessness, at  times, when confronted with various scenarios. The officers truly wanted to help the families  and often did not know how. Getting to work with these families, who would not have come to  the attention of mental health professionals, was immensely rewarding,” she said.

Dr, Dickson co-directs the Harris Infant Mental Health training with Dr. Joy Osofsky. According to their website, the LSUHSC Department of Psychiatry began the Harris Center for Infant Mental  Health over a decade ago. The Center offers training to predoctoral psychology interns (through an APA approved infant-child internship), child psychiatrists (as a required part of their  residency training program), post-doctoral psychologists, social workers, and other professionals seeking infant mental health specialization.

The officials note that the program is multidisciplinary and unique in fulfilling requirements for  psychology and child psychiatry training programs, being the first predoctoral internship in  infant mental health recognized and approved by both the American Psychological Association  (APA) and Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers (APPIC). The child  psychiatry rotation began as a six-month experience, explained officials. However after learning how much residents were benefitting from the rotation, the child psychiatry faculty at LSUHSC  made it a mandatory part of training. All trainees, from all disciplines, consistently rank their  experience in the Harris Center for Infant Mental Health a top part of their training, according to
officials.

Dr. Dickson noted her role after Hurricane Katrina. “The police reached out to our team as they  were so traumatized during and after the hurricane and they had built trust in us after working  together for so many years. They let us come and hear their stories and provide support. That is a tough group to get to open up and we all felt honored to join those brave individuals on their  healing journey,” she said.

For the Orleans Parish Permanency Infant and Preschool Program, Dr. Dickson has conducted  extensive relationship-based evaluations to assess whether parental rights should be  terminated, or children ages 0-5 years should be reunited with their biological parents as part  of a state funded multidisciplinary team. She also conducted out-patient relationship-based  family therapy with all available caregivers and their infants, individual therapy with the young  children and their parents, psychological evaluations with the caregivers, and/or developmental evaluations with the children if needed. Her services include providing court testimony as an  expert witness as needed and supervising the trainees. She presents to local child protection  agency staff on a variety of mental health topics. Dr. Dickson has been a provider to Zero to  Three funded Court Team since 2007. She has been the Program coordinator since July 2002 and Director since March 2004.

“I was able to provide evaluations when I saw undiagnosed learning disabilities or disorders,”  said Dr. Dickson, “work with the children’s teachers to help them understand that the child’s  response was often due to their trauma versus oppositional behavior, and helped change the  way each family functioned as they understood the impact of their life events on them and  could treat each other in a more compassionate and supportive manner. The program enabled  me to build connections with so many people who never would have connected to someone like me before.

Due to our grants, we were able to see people free of charge. I still keep in touch with some of  my earliest clients as they call to tell me about their own children now and they have referred friends and family members. It’s so wonderful to hear from them.”

In her work at the Harris Infant Mental Health Program, Dr. Dickson has been co-director since  2010. Her services include conducting out-patient family therapy with parents and their infants.  She assists in the coordination and teaching of a weekly didactic seminar on infant mental  health to a yearly group of fellows. She supervises trainees and has been part of the Harris Professional Development Network since 2008. She has also been part of the Child Welfare  Professional Development Network within the Harris network and the Fatherhood Engagement  Committee.

“I enjoy watching people make substantial, positive changes in their lives and seeing the ripple  effects of those changes as ensuing generations and family members and friends benefit from  the clients’ greater emotional health and positive functioning,” she said. “Learning from each  other, we all benefit.”

“My work in child protection is also immensely rewarding,” Dr. Dickson said. “These caregivers  rarely have a supportive person in their life and many later thank the team for all they have  learned. It is always hard to see a child injured, but it is also hard to see a parent who was not  protected themselves. Child abuse work is hard, and all the professionals who choose to work  in this area truly want to help. Building shared knowledge, learning from one another, and  providing emotional support not just to my team and the families- both biological and foster- but also my foster care caseworkers and the attorneys has made us all better at our jobs and  better able to find new ways to keep families together or connected to one another in healthier  ways.”

Her many accomplishments and recognitions include:

Featured Poster Presentation at the  Annual ISTSS

Conference: Childhood Maltreatment and Developmental Delay in Miami, Florida  November 6, 2014

One of New Orleans City Business’ Power Generation for 2003 YLC: Volunteer of the Year 2002

Project Leader of the Year 2001

Project (NRP) of the Year 2000

Commendation from Total Community Action for work with local Head Starts

Commendation from CASA for volunteer teaching to incoming classes

Commendation from NCTSN for work given on published materials

Dr. Dickson’s publications include:

Zeanah, P., Larrieu, J., Osofsky, J., Dickson, A., & Zeanah, C.H. (2021). Enhancing Developmental  Trajectories: The Critical Importance of Increasing & Supporting Evidence-Based Services for  Louisiana’s Most Vulnerable Citizens.

Hines, E.N., Thompson, S.L., Moore, M.B., Dickson, A.B., & Callahan, K.L. (2020). Parent-child  separation due to incarceration: Assessment, diagnosis, and treatment considerations. Zero to  Three, 40(4), 22-29.

Family Time Resources: A Series of Publications for Foster Care Workers, Foster Parents, CASAs,  Judges, Parents, and Attorneys- in collaboration with the Harris Professional Development  Network committee members, October 2020.

Hines, E., Thompson, S., Moore, M., Dickson, A. & Callahan, K. (2020) Parent-child separation  due to incarceration: Assessment, diagnosis & treatment considerations. Zero to Three Journal,  40 (4), 22-29.

Dr. Dickson said she is grateful to the many people who have trained her over the years, but  she is most thankful for Dr. Joy Osofsky.

“I have been taught by many fabulous people who are so good at what they do,” Dr. Dickson  said. “I have had the incredibly good fortune of being mentored by Dr. Joy Osofsky who has  exposed me to so many wonderful learning opportunities and provided the grants and vehicles  to be able to do such meaningful work. LSUHSC is involved in great community work, and I feel  so grateful to have landed here to be exposed to such wonderful opportunities and people who
keep the work challenging and interesting and relevant to society.”

Dr. Dickson believes you should never stop training. “Listen to the community members,” she  said. “Learn that despite your advanced training, we can always learn from others. Our team  has never entered a system thinking we know the answers. Even when called into help, we learn the most from listening and observing and then partnering with others to see what will be  beneficial. We co-create wonderful interventions together when we do this. I have definitely  learned more from my clients and colleagues than they have learned from me,” Dr. Dickson  said.

Dr. Dickson said, “I love going to work each day. My colleagues and trainees are awesome, and  you never know what will happen that day. Kids, in particular, are so unpredictable and can  bring such joy. I love to watch people heal from their traumas and fully engage again and find  joy, meaning and happiness. It is a humbling experience to be a part of someone’s journey and I feel grateful every day that I get to do the work I do.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

State Psychology Board Embarks on Major Overhaul of Rules & Regulations

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In their February minutes, posted on July 11, the state psychology board outlined major  changes and updates they intend to make to the regulatory law governing psychologists.

Central to these changes is the new section of administrative Rules on registration of assistants  to psychologists, including regulations on who may be an assistant, their credentials, how the  board will investigate complaints, and how to regulate supervision of the assistants.

According to the minutes, board members discussed numerous changes and additions to the  rules and regulations for psychologists. The following excerpts (Italicized) were included in the  reporting.

Chapter 11: Assistants to Psychologists (registration) –

Define “Assistant to a Psychologist” (ATAP), “General Professional Supervision”, “Continuous Professional Supervision”, “Supervisor” or “Supervising Psychologist”

Establish minimum criteria for an ATAP to qualify for registration (age, high school diploma, Criminal Background Check).

Establish titles that may be used when identifying ATAP’s. Clarify the boundaries that establish the  legal functional authority of the Supervising Psychologist, and the responsibility that the Supervising  Psychologist has for their clients.

Establish clear criteria to ensure that the Supervising Psychologist is responsible for ALL activities (administratively, clinically, ethically, functionally and legally) of the ATAP including registration,  renewal, directing the provision of psychological services, the outcome of work, the welfare of the  client, general communication and disclosures to clients, services delivered by ATAP’s, and  advertisement.

Define the minimum criteria of general professional supervision (direct, in person) to ensure the  welfare of the client, and the ethical and legal protection of the assistant.

Clarify that a registration is not a property right of the ATAP; shall not be construed to allow the ATAP to independently engage in the practice of psychology; or render any diagnosis; or sign any  evaluations or reports as the provider of record; or independently advertise psychological services; or assign or delegate psychological duties to others;

Define those activities an ATAP may perform with regard to psychological testing/scoring.

Outline the statutory authority of the board to conduct investigations in matters involving the ATAP  and/or their Supervisor; […]

The minutes also included discussion and possible changes in numerous other chapters of the rules  and regulations.

Chapter 3: Training Requirements –

Update language for identifying acceptable accrediting bodies for doctoral-level psychology programs. Update standards to ensure training equivalence in the nine profession-wide competencies equivalent to the current American Psychological Association (“APA”) Commission on Accreditation Implementing Regulations. The new APA training requirements include competence in  supervision prior to graduation, which allow the board to eliminate the hurdle of additional  experience post licensure prior to engaging in supervision.

Provide a clause in consideration of individuals trained prior to 2015, that they will be assessed  under the training standards in place at the time of their graduation.

Classify specialty designations into “Health Service Psychology” and “General Applied Psychology”.  Necessary to provide a fair and consistent review of individuals who are graduates of programs  without APA Accreditation; necessary to provide an alternate route to licensure for individuals not trained in a Health Service area of psychology; and necessary to make clear that individuals who  attend graduate programs without internship training do not meet the criteria for practice in a  Health Service area of psychology.

Clarify current training requirements for the registration of a Clinical Neuropsychology specialty consistent with Houston Conference Guidelines; also clarifies those overlapping areas that do not  require the registration of a Clinical Neuropsychology specialty.

Chapter 7: Supervision Requirements –

Provide a definition for “General Professional Supervision” to clarify that which is the direct, in person supervision required as part of training.

Provide a definition for “Continuing Professional Supervision” as ongoing supervision which  establishes the legal and functional responsibility of the licensed psychologist for the client and the services provided to a client by a supervisee.

Clarify that the Supervisor owns or is an employee of the entity employing the supervisee to quantify  legal functional responsibility of the licensed psychologist for the client and the services provided to a client by a supervisee.

Chapter NEW: Telepsychology and Telesupervision –

Facilitate the process for a Louisiana Licensed Psychologist to provide psychological services via  telecommunications.

Chapter 8: Continuing Professional Development –

Add a requirement that (2) of the 40 hours that are currently required must be within the area of multiculturalism or diversity.

Remove the categorical requirement in consideration of the least restrictive requirements for license  renewal.

Define activities that are “automatically approved” by the Board as Workshops, Conference Workshops/Training Activities that have Board approved sponsors.

Chapter 9: Licenses (Emeritus) –

Create a retired status for licensees: “Psychologist Emeritus: Retired”.

Create definitions, criteria and a procedure for requesting the status.

Create a procedure to return to practice.

Provide that “Psychologist Emeritus: Retired” are exempt from Continuing Education requirements.

Provide a procedure and requirements for renewal of a Psychologist Emeritus.

Chapter 15: Complaint Adjudication process – Draft changes were not ready for presentation.

Chapter 19: Public Information (petitions to the board) –

Dr. Gibson presented draft amendments to Chapter 19 which establish a procedure for any  interested person to petition the LSBEP to request the adoption, amendment, or repeal of a rule according to Title 49. Section 953.C(1).

Chapter 40: LSSP CPD Requirements –

Ms. Monic presented previously approved changes to Chapter 40 which will reduce the number of  continuing education hours required for the renewal of a license from 50 to 40 hours.

******
[Editor’s Note: Minutes are available at the board’s website which
include all notes on discussion of new rules.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stress Solutions

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Stress as a Trigger of Autoimmune Disease

Autoimmune diseases are a rare and poorly understood group of diseases, affecting  approximately 5% of Western population. Dr. Betty Diamond defined autoimmune disease in an article in the New England J. of Medicine (2001) as “a clinical syndrome caused by the activation  of T cells or B cells, or both, in the absence of an ongoing infection or other discernible cause.”  Almost all research papers on the topic of etiology start by saying that there is a multifactorial  group of causes, including genetic, hormonal, some environmental and immunological factors.  Despite the known causes, at least 50% of autoimmune diseases can be attributed to “unknown trigger factors.” And, that is where stress as a trigger fits in. Stress can affect immune function  in individual ways. Subjects of many retrospective studies have identified that they experienced  an unusual amount of emotional stress prior to onset of an autoimmune disease.

The bad news is that not only can stress trigger the onset of disease, the autoimmune disease  itself can then cause significant stress in the patient. This sets up a vicious cycle. As the stress  builds up, the major stress hormones are released, in particular, cortisol. The overproduction of cortisol and failure of the nervous system to regularly reduce it leads to immune dysregulation,  which ultimately results in autoimmune disease by the changing of cytokine production.

Cytokines are little proteins that help control the immune system and inflammation response.  Immune dysregulation is when your body can’t tell the difference between healthy cells and the  invaders that should be attacked. In most cases of immune dysregulation, the person is living  with an overactive immune system with joint pain and stiffness.

Since stress is so actively involved as both a trigger and a response to autoimmune disease,  effective treatment of autoimmune disease should thus include stress management and  behavioral intervention to prevent stress-related immune system imbalance. That brings us  back to some thoughts on the role cortisol plays in the autoimmune patient.

Cortisol is essential to the production of steroids. In fact, all steroids are initially derived from cortisol. And, since steroids are often prescribed in the treatment of autoimmune disease, high  levels of cortisol are helpful in reducing the symptoms of autoimmunity. When the levels are  low, however, it is likely to aggravate autoimmune disease symptoms. Addison’s disease is a  rare condition in which your adrenal glands do not produce enough cortisol.

Effective treatment of stress in the case of autoimmune disease requires a serious look at the  patient’s life situation in terms of what kind of stressors (psychological, physical, or emotional  stress), how the stress is affecting the body (overproduction or underproduction of stress  hormones), and how that person best reduces daily stress. Then set up a daily routine and  follow it slavishly.

Everything Everywhere All At Once

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A Review

by Alvin G. Burstein, PhD

Spring break at the University of Texas at Austin has become the occasion for a conglomeration  of presentations of interactive media, music and films called South by Southwest. Five films  were featured at the 2022 festival. One, Everything Everywhere All At Once, dominated the  awards, winning Best Picture, Best Director (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), Best Actress  (Michelle Yeoh), Best Supporting Actor (Ke Huy Quan), Best Screenplay (The “Daniels” again) and Best Indie Film.

I watched the film on Amazon Prime. It’s a wild, wild ride. Over two hours of special effects whipping the viewer through multiple alternate universes of the same set of characters and a complex set of realities threatened by possible total collapse of the entire multi-verse system  being sucked into the black hole of a cosmic everything bagel.

That blend of self-mockery and high style science fiction physics is a heady blend that kept me  engaged for the two-hours plus screening.

The film has three parts. In the first part we meet  Evelyn Wong, who with her husband,  Waymond, run a laundromat struggling with an IRS audit, cultural conflicts with their teenage  daughter, Joy, who wants them to accept her lesbian attachment to a non-oriental partner,  topped off by an impending visitor from China, Evelyn’s highly traditional and very critical father, Cong Gong.

While Waymond and Evelyn are meeting with the IRS auditor,cwho is irritated and impatient  with Evelyn’s disorganized stacks of papers, Waymond’s body is taken over by a visitor, Alpha Waymond, from another universe, called the Alphaverse. He tries to explain to a bewildered  Evelyn that the people of the Alpha universe have developed techniques to jump from one  universe to another. Alpha Evelyn’s daughter, Alpha Joy, driven to excessive verse-jumping by  her mother, now has a splintered mind. She has become Jobu Tupaki and can verse jump and  manipulate physical matter at will. She has also created the everything bagel that has the  potential to destroy the entire multiverse.

Alpha Waymond believes that Evelyn, the least impressive of the many Evelyns in the  multiverse, has the potential to defeat Jobu Tupaki. Alpha Cong Gong urges Evelyn to kill Joy in  order to disable Jobu Tupaki. Evelyn, however, decides that she must verse-jump in order to  acquire the ability to confront Jobu Tupaki directly. In a series of jumps Evelyn battles minions of both Jobu Tupaki and Alpha Cong. When Alpha Waymond is killed by Jobu Tupaki, Evelyn’s mind splinters.

In part 2, Evelyn discovers a variety of strange universes. She finally defeats the minions of both  Alpha Cong Gong and Jobu Tupaki, not with a display of her mastery of martial arts. Recalling an occasion on which Waymond had called for kindness and hope, she defeats her enemies by  empathic openness to the source of their pain, thereby offering them relief.

In part three, we revisit the family in their home universe and find them, not transformed, but  more content.

In one sense, this film feels like a revved up romantic comedy. The characters are more flawed than admirable, and boy loses girl, finds girl. It adds a dollop of L. Frank Baum.  Dorothy, too, wanders into the surreal wonderland of Oz, defeating evil witches, only to learn there’s no place like home

Gov. Edwards Issues Statement on Court Overturning Roe V. Wade

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In a June 24 press release, Gov. John Edwards issued a statement about the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling by the United States Supreme Court, which overturned  Roe v. Wade.

Gov. Edwards said, “I am and have always been unabashedly pro-life and opposed to abortion. However, I understand that people on both sides of this complex issue hold deeply personal  beliefs, and I respect that not everyone, including many in my own party, agrees with my position.

“While we are still reviewing the decision issued by the Court this morning, Louisiana has had a  trigger law in place since 2006 that would outlaw abortion, without exception for rape and  incest, should the United States Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade.

“I asked the Legislature to include exceptions for rape and incest in the legislation most recently passed. While the bill that passed expanded the exceptions from the 2006 law to include  instances of medical futility and treatment of ectopic pregnancies, these important exceptions  were not included.

“As I have said many times before, I believe women who are survivors of rape or incest should  be able determine whether to continue with a pregnancy that is the result of a criminal act.

“And, to be clear, the legislation I recently signed protects all forms of contraception, including emergency contraception, which remains fully legal and available in Louisiana.

“Being pro-life  means more than just being against abortion. It means providing the necessary resources and implementing policies that provide real options and not just lip service to the children, women,  and families we are blessed to serve. Now more than ever, it’s critical that Louisiana funds  services to support women, children, and families throughout their lives, which is why I have  expanded health care through our Medicaid program and lobbied for measures to make sure workers are paid better and more fairly. It’s also why I’ve supported better funding for  Louisiana’s public education system, including early childhood education. I believe all people  should have the opportunity to succeed and that starts with providing a strong foundation early in life.

“Make no mistake, there is much more that we can do to support women, children, and families, and I hope that my fellow pro-life public officials will join me in these efforts in the  coming months and years.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Legislative Auditors Review Strengths, Weaknesses of State Psychology Board

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A performance audit by the Louisiana Legislative Auditors Office has found problems in the  complaints process of the state Psychology Board. The audit, led by Ms. Emily Dixon, Performance Audit Manager, and begun in August 2021, examined the Board’s processes for  licensing, monitoring, and enforcement. The performance of the board was compared to the requirements set forth in the Psychology Practice Act, and found to be in compliance with “most best practices.”

However, the auditors found numerous problems with the complaints committee performance. They said that the average time for resolving a complaint was 338 days and that the Board had  no internal time frames for accomplishing its investigations. The auditors also stated that the  board had no “disciplinary matrix,” and no way to track the nature and outcomes of complaints  or to analyze the data. They also found numerous errors, inconsistencies, and lack of follow up.

The auditors sampled internal documents from fiscal years 2019 through 2021. During this  three year time, LSBEP received 71 complaints and closed 63 of these complaints. Eight, or 12.7%, resulted in a public, disciplinary action. There was one, non-public, impaired psychologist procedure and 11 Letters of Education, also nonpublic. According to this data, 43 of the cases  were dismissed with no action. A total of 85.7% were either dismissed or received a letter with  educational information.

The auditors found that the board required an average of 338 days to resolve a complaint. The  time ranged from eleven days to more than three years. Eight (12.7%) of the 63 complaints took more than two years to resolve, and an additional 13 (20.6%) of the complaints took more than  one year to resolve.

” […] LSBEP has not established internal timeframes for resolving complaints, and its process for tracking complaints does not record accurate and complete information. As a result, the Board  cannot ensure that it is investigating and resolving complaints in a timely manner,” they said.

The auditors found that LSBEP’s process for tracking complaints included inaccuracies and inconsistencies.

“LSBEP tracks complaint information in a spreadsheet, an investigation log, and a complaints  log. However, we compared these three documents to each other and to LSBEP’s paper  complaint files and Board meeting minutes that contain complaint outcomes, and found that  none of the tracking documents were accurate or complete. For instance, the spreadsheet did  not include all complaints, incorrectly listed some closed complaints as open, and did not  include all instances of disciplinary action.

“[…] we found that three Letters of Education were sent to the licensees more than five months  after the Board voted to send them.” And, “… we identified five complaints that LSBEP did not ensure were fully closed. These five complaints included one licensee who was never sent a Letter of Education that the Board voted to send in June 2019 about mandatory reporting of  abuse.” The auditors sound that four complaints were never presented to the Board for closure.”

The auditors also found that “LSBEP has not adopted a disciplinary matrix that aligns with  regulatory best practices to ensure that disciplinary actions are consistent and appropriately  escalated based on the number and/or severity of violations.”

 The auditors found the following categories and percentages of allegations. (See Audit Exhibit below.) The most frequent category of 25% came in from allegations of “Substandard Care,  Negligence, or Malpractice.” This was followed by 20% for “Unprofessional Conduct, Discrimination, or Rude Treatment.” Next was “Failure to Maintain or Provide Accurate Patient  Records” at 16%, “Multiple Relationships or Conflict of Interest,” and ‘Practice Without  License, Misrepresentation of Credentials, or Practice Outside of Scope,” both at 14% of allegations.

The auditors noted, “According to LSBEP, staff create separate spreadsheets to track the compliance of each disciplined licensee and use calendar reminders for monitoring specific  activities.

“However, these processes are not formalized in policy and staff have not followed them consistently. In addition, the Board does not have a process for systematically and periodically  monitoring whether all disciplined licensees have performed required corrective actions,  reimbursed disciplinary costs as ordered, and continue to comply with ongoing Board restrictions.”

The auditors noted that, “LSBEP did not report four (44.4%) of the nine adverse actions it issued during fiscal years 2019 through 2021 to the NPDB in accordance with federal law.”

The auditors recommended that the Psychology Board require all licensees to undergo a background check, Instead of just new licensees. And, they recommended that the Board query  the National Practitioner Data Base for enforcement information when making license decisions and for continuous monitoring.

The auditors also indicated that the Legislature may want to authorize the Psychology Board to  impose fines for discipline and administrative noncompliance.

In a response, the Board agreed with all the auditors’ recommendations. Specifically, they  agreed to “… establish a system where complaints are prioritized and investigated on a case-by- case basis considering risk to the public in accordance with the Audit, the Act, LAPA, and other  applicable law and oversight. This system will ensure complaints are processed within reasonable time periods, factoring in the complexity of the case. These procedures are  currently in practice, but not explicitly stated in policy. Additionally, the board has recently hired two full-time employees including in-house counsel whose primary focus is on the complaint  adjudication process. Timeframes for internal monitoring will be determined to ensure compliance.”

The Board agreed to “… establishing a process for tracking complaints that includes  documenting the status, nature, and outcome of all complaints; periodically reviewing open  complaints; and regularly analyzing complaint data to assess compliance with agency policy and identify opportunities for improvement. Over the past 3 years, the board has worked to  improve financial stability in order to employ staff who can develop these processes understanding that this is vital to operations and best practice.”

The 37-page report is available online at https://app.lla.state.la.us/publicreports.nsf/0/dd11af03beda7797862588540052a678/$file/0002f3.pdf?openelement&.7773098

 

 

 

 

 

Governor Announces “Internet for All” Initiative Jointly with NTIA

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Along with the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information  Administration (NTIA), Governor Edwards announced that Louisiana will participate in the  “Internet for All” initiative, a program designed to provide high-speed internet for all Americans at an affordable cost. The initiative, which will build internet infrastructure, provide pertinent  technology, and teach digital skills to community members, will invest $65 billion in the project  and will be funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

“Partnering with Commerce/NTIA will allow Louisiana to achieve what we thought was  impossible. We will now have the financial resources necessary to once and for all eliminate the  digital divide in Louisiana. We are grateful to both Secretary Raimondo and Assistant Secretary Davidson of NTIA for their leadership and partnership. Over the past several years, our Broadband Office (ConnectLa) has worked hard to align resources between federal, state, and  local officials to take full advantage of this historic broadband funding opportunity. We look forward to partnering with the people of Louisiana to make closing the divide a reality,” said  Gov. Edwards.

Louisiana plans to invest $5 million in planning funds, and each state will be awarded support  from dedicated NTIA staff to catalyze and complete the project. Each participating state will  receive at least $100 million in funds to help implement the scope of the project.

“Generations before us brought electricity to rural America and built the interstate highways,”  said Alan Davidson, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information. “Our generation’s task is to connect all Americans online. […]”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Lin Named 2022 Janet Matthews, PhD, Outstanding Psychology Mentor

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Dr. Hung-Chu Lin, Professor of Psychology at the University of Louisiana Lafayette, has been  named by the Louisiana Psychological Association as the 2022 Janet R. Matthews, PhD, Outstanding Psychology Mentor.

“This award recognizes and honors Dr. Janet R. Matthews for her lifetime of mentoring work  and the impact she had on psychologists in Louisiana,” said Dr. Amanda Raines, spokesperson  for the Louisiana Psychological Association, at the group’s spring convention.

Dr. Raines announced that the Association was honoring Dr. Lin for 2022. “Her dedication to  supporting, encouraging, and guiding undergraduate and master’s level psychology students is  truly remarkable,” said Dr. Raines.

“Each semester, she mentors an average of 15 undergraduate and graduate students in her  lab,” said Raines. “Students not only learn critical thinking skills but how to design sound  research studies, test hypotheses, and communicate findings. In the classroom, Dr. Lin creates  a space that is welcoming and accessible for those with learning disabilities and/or non- conforming identities. She further assists students who are facing financial hardships or  experiencing psychological distress. In summary, she provides essential, foundational  experiences, through her research and teaching, to facilitate the growth and development of  her students.”

As well as a professor at University of Louisiana Lafayette (ULL) Dr. Lin is also the Chair of the  Institutional Review Board and she holds the endowed SLEMCO/LEQSF Regents Professor in  Liberal Arts.

Her research focus includes the development of emotions, parenting, attachment relationships, and developmental disabilities. She runs the Developmental Science Laboratory (DSL), which  takes an interdisciplinary approach to examine the complexity of adjusted and maladjusted developmental processes.

She is a Sponsored Collaborator with The Developmental Risk and Cultural Resilience Laboratory at Pediatric Newborn Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical  School. Among her other collaborators are the Cecil J. Picard Center for Child Development and  Lifelong Learning, College of Behavioral, Social, and Health Sciences, Clemson University, and the Cognitive Science of Language & Education Lab, Department of Psychological Science, the  University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

Dr. Lin earned her doctorate in developmental psychology from the University of Connecticut  and it is a board certified specialist of academic pediatric dentistry in Taiwan and holds a DDS  degree from the school of dentistry in the national Taiwan University.

Also this year the ULL Graduate School selected Dr. Lin as the recipient of the 2022 Outstanding Master’s Mentor Award.

In ULL News, Dr. Amy Brown, department head for Psychology, said, “She is very supportive of  the professional development of her master’s students: encouraging them to apply for grants  and awards, and to present research at conferences. In interacting with graduate students, Dr.  Lin is warm and supportive, but also holds high standards—she expects hard work and improvement, and creates an environment where students feel empowered to work hard and succeed.”

Dr. Lin directs the Developmental Science Laboratory (DSL) where interested faculty and  students take an interdisciplinary approach to studying The complexity of adjusted and  maladjusted developmental processes. The DSL projects include:

•The long-term physical and mental sequelae of adverse childhood experiences.
•The relation between adverse childhood experiences and sexual self-esteem.
•Mindfulness and resilience as protective factors for individuals with childhood trauma.
•Social stigma (explicit and implicit) towards individuals with developmental disabilities/LGBTQ populations.
•Perceived parental behaviors, relational identity, and internal working models.
•The development of empathy and understanding of theory of mind.
•Using simulation paradigms to observe emotional responses and physiological arousal.
•Interpersonal problems, emotional regulation, and anxiety disorders.

Dr. Lin said to ULL News, “No words can express how rewarding and fulfilling it is to grow along  with my research children academically, professionally, and personally,” Lin said. “I’m grateful to play a role in these students’ lives as they pursue their academic and personal development.

“As a mentor, I constantly question and examine my preconceived assumptions and beliefs  about mentees and strive for bias-free mentoring. By actively listening and discerning, I convey  my unconditional respect and emphatic care with affirmation, understanding, and acceptance.”

What does she believe are the most important characteristics that have supported her in being  such a successful mentor?

“Being grateful to play a role in these students’ lives as they pursue their academic and  personal development,” said Dr. Lin. “Being unconditionally respectful to individual differences  in students’ competencies, learning styles, communication patterns, and personality qualities. Being clear when setting goals and expectations for their works while maintaining flexibility to tackle with unexpected events.”

What are some of the most enjoyable experiences she has had as a mentor to her students? “To grow academically and personally together with them,” Lin said.

Dr. Lin sets out her methods and philosophy in her Mentorship Statement, including:

“Unconditional respect for individual differences. Mentees come from various racial/ethnic and sociocultural backgrounds. Every one of them displays distinctive approaches to learning and  dispositional characteristics when tackling challenges or stressful situations. As a mentor, I constantly question and examine my preconceived assumptions and beliefs about mentees and strive for bias-free mentoring. By actively listening and discerning, I convey my unconditional  respect and empathic care with affirmation, understanding, and acceptance. At the core, each  mentee is a unique individual; thus, my mentoring is tailored to the uniqueness of the  individual’s needs to maximize the mentee’s academic progress and personal growth.

“Mentoring is like parenting. It was at the end of a departmental award ceremony a couple of  years ago when one of my mentees (who was recognized as the outstanding graduate for that  academic term) introduced me to her mother, ‘Mom, I’d like you to meet my research momma!’  Feeling tremendously touched and proud, I regarded this title of research momma beautifully  represented my relationships with my mentees.”

UUL News reported that Madeline Jones, master’s candidate in psychology, describes Dr. Lin as  “an amazing mentor” who “has given me strength and confidence throughout my time in this  program. I would describe my relationship with Dr. Lin as one filled with mutual respect,  kindness, communication, support, and positivity. I attribute my success as a graduate student to her qualities as a mentor, especially her resourcefulness, efficiency, and determination.”

Five of Dr. Lin’s researchers have been accepted to various doctoral programs around the  country. Madison Holmes has been accepted to the PsyD program at Mercer University.  Maddison Knott has been accepted to the doctoral program in clinical psychology at Southern  Mississippi University. Lindsey Held has been accepted to the doctoral program in experimental psychology with a concentration on developmental psychology at the University of Alabama.  Kylie Garger has been accepted to the doctoral program in developmental psychology at the  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Michelle Grisham has been accepted to the doctoral  program in developmental psychology at the Northern Illinois University.

Reviewed publications with student coauthors include:

Lin, H.-C., & Janice, J. (2020). Disengagement is as revealing as prosocial action for young children’s responding to strangers in distress: How personal distress and empathic concern come into play. International Journal of Behavioral Development;

Flynn, N. S., Harrington, J. H., Knott, K. M., & Lin, H.-C. (2020). Job satisfaction in direct support professionals: Associations with self-efficacy and perspective-taking. Societies;

Lin, H.-C., Bourque, J., Zeanah, P., & McFatter, R. (2018). Perceptions of stress and enrichment in  caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder: Implications for community support. Societies.;

Conference Presentations with Student Coauthors (All Peer Reviewed) include:

Lin, H.-C., Held, L., & Malley, K. The Associations between adverse childhood experiences,  emotion regulation, and adult distress symptoms. Poster proposal accepted to be presented at  the 2019 International Convention of Psychological Science, March, 7-9, 2019, Paris, France.

Lin, H.-C., McDermott, M., Zeanah, P., & Held, L. (2019, March). Posttraumatic stress disorder in the association between childhood trauma and somatic symptoms. Poster proposal accepted to
be presented at the 2019 SRCD Biennial Meeting, March 21-23, 2019, in Baltimore, Maryland,  USA.

Lin, H.-C., Knott, M., LaHaye, L., Flynn, S., Stringfellow, S. Latiolais, B., & Holmes, M. (2019, May).  Difficulty in emotion regulation exacerbates the association of adverse childhood experiences with depressive symptoms. Poster proposal accepted to the 31st Convention of the Association  for Psychological Science, May 23-26, 2019, Washington D.C., USA.

Lin, H.-C., Hughes, A., Held, L., Malley, K., Kinsland, M., & Barker, N. (2019, May). The role of  difficulty in emotion regulation in the association of adverse childhood experiences with  attachment insecurity. Poster proposal accepted to the 31st Convention of the Association for  Psychological Science, May 23-26, 2019, Washington D.C., USA.

How did she make the shift from dentistry to psychology?

“Indeed, I have a degree in Doctor of Dental science (DDS). My certified specialty is Pediatric  Dentistry. I had worked at the National Taiwan University Hospital for 10 years,” Dr. Lin said. “A  large part of my work as a pediatric dentist involved behavioral management to help my child  patients comply to and gain positive experiences from dental procedures. I also observed many teenagers suffering from myofascial pain dysfunction syndrome. I became increasingly  interested in behavioral sciences and the intricate connections between mind and body to an  extent that I made a big career change and came to the US to study developmental psychology.  I miss practicing in dentistry (I enjoyed it so much), but I also have been extremely happy with  what I am doing now as a researcher and a teacher. Psychology is such an exciting field that  keeps amazing me,” Dr. Lin said.

 

 

 

 

 

Stress Solutions

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Ever sit beneath a tin roof in the rain?

As I sat here listening to the rain hit the roof and trying to think of what to write about, I realized that I was feeling relaxed and peaceful. I love that sound. It is so calming. It is amazing that even imagining yourself sitting beneath a tin roof in the rain can have the same effect as physically  being there. Our imagination is that strong. It can take us on wonderful experiences. And, of  course, imagination is also largely responsible for our fears and anxiety. Let’s focus today on using imagination to create a relaxed, calm state of mind. Imagination can be the key to  becoming more conscious of when we are stressed and knowing  when and how to consciously change that state of mind.

Using your imagination to create a relaxed and focused state of mind is critical to learning how  to consciously reduce stress. This is also a good place to start if you are new to meditation. Our  imagination is extremely powerful and may be the most important of all our faculties. You can  literally sit in a closet and re-live a wonderful experience or imagine something you want to  create.

Why not gift yourself a few minutes of imagining you are sitting beneath a tin roof in the rain.  Or, choose another favorite experience or place and go there for a few minutes. Start by finding a comfortable seat or lying down. Remove unnecessary sounds or just screen those sounds out. Do something to signal to your subconscious mind that you are going to create a relaxed but  attentive state of mind. Once comfortable, close your eyes and focus on your breathing. It  should become a little slower and even. Notice your heartbeat. Don’t worry about trying to slow  it down if it seems fast. It will quieten down in a few moments.

Next, check your body for places where you feel muscle tension and consciously let that go. Take a deep breath and let it out slowly through pursed lips. Now, you are ready to imagine a  beautiful place in Nature. Maybe imagine one you know well but are not there now. Or let your  imagination make up one you have never seen. Choose a place where you feel safe and comfortable. Slowly add the details of color, time of day, sounds of Nature, the smells; the more detail you imagine, the more real the experience becomes. Remember, once you get there, you  do not have to DO anything. Just BE.

 

OBH Expanding Opioid Treatment Services to Shreveport, Hammond

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Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) Office of Behavioral Health (OBH) announced it is expanding opioid use disorder treatment in the Northwest and Northshore regions of  Louisiana. Accessible, evidence-based, 24/7 treatment is now available in Shreveport and is  coming to Hammond in June of this year. These areas were chosen because of their high rate of  opioid prescriptions and are available at Behavioral Health Group (BHG) Shreveport, 1303  Line Avel, Suite 600, by calling 844-535-7291. Between 4:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., services are  provided by calling 318-349-2451.

These new services are made possible by the expansion of funds earmarked to increase the workforce in these areas and come from the federal entity, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) through the Louisiana State Opioid Response (LaSOR) 2.0  Grant. The LDH has developed a business plan designed to combat opioid substance abuse by  providing outpatient treatment utilizing Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD), supplying  clients with effective, evidence-based treatments that allow them to live their daily lives.

Currently, almost all Opioid Treatment Programs only provide treatment during daytime hours.  This can be detrimental to individuals battling opioid addiction. “The road to recovery is  different for everyone, and for some that may require unconventional hours to accommodate  those with young children or who work on later shifts. We are proud to expand around-the- clock opioid treatment in Louisiana, meeting families where they are when they most need it,”  said LDH Secretary Dr. Courtney N. Phillips.

According to federal research done in 2019, only 1 in 20 Louisiana residents affected by opioid addiction received the help they needed that year. The national average is 1 in 9. “For those  seeking help for the first time, the need for care often strikes at night,” said Natashia Cheatham, regional director of operations for BHG. “Waiting for the nearest treatment center to open can  be a matter of life or death for people living with opioid use disorder (OUD). We are looking  forward to working with the Caddo Parish community to provide the full spectrum of opioid  treatment services.”

Authors from the Lancet’s, “Responding to the Opioid Crisis in North America and Beyond: Recommendations of the Stanford-Lancet Commission,” published in February, said that in the  USA and Canada, 2020 was the worst year on record for fatal opioid overdoses. The US overdoses rose 37%.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that provisional data analysis estimates for the 12 months ending in May 2021, there were 75,387 deaths from opioid  toxicity.

Opioids—mainly synthetic opioids (other than methadone)—are currently the main driver of  drug overdose deaths, said the CDC, with 72.9% of opioid-involved overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids. And, overdose deaths involving psychostimulants such as methamphetamine  are increasing with and without synthetic opioid involvement.

Also in February, Medscape reported a surge in the rate of Black Americans dying from a combination of opioids and cocaine, an increase of 575%. The rate for White Americans  increased by 184%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Constans Recognized for Contributions

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Dr. Joseph Constans, clinical psychologist and Senior Manager for Suicide Prevention within the Department of Veterans Affairs, has been recognized by the Louisiana Psychological Association for the 2022 Contributions in Psychological Science Award.

Presenting the award and spokesperson for the association, Dr. Amanda Raines explained that  this honor is given to those in the psychological community who have used their time and resources to expand and propagate the knowledge of psychological concepts through rigorous research and the publication of these findings.

“Dr. Constans was recently promoted to Senior Manager for Suicide Prevention within the Department of Veterans Affairs where he manages the suicide research portfolio for the Office  of Research and Development,” Dr. Raines said.

“Previously he served as the Associate Chief of Staff for Research at the Southeast Louisiana  Veterans Health Care System where he successfully led the activation of our state of-the-art  research program following the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Dr. Constans’ own  program of research involves understanding and modifying belief systems in trauma-exposed  individuals prone to either homicidal or suicidal violence,” she said.

“In his role as the Senior Manager for Suicide Prevention at the Department of Veteran Affairs,  Dr. Constans is instrumental to the Office of Research and Development, where he maintains  the suicide research portfolio,” said Dr. Raines.

She also explained that Dr. Constans has published over 50 peer-reviewed manuscripts and  book chapters, serves as an ad hoc reviewer for over 20 peer reviewed journals and has secured funding for over $12 million in grants.

“I’m truly honored,” Dr. Constans told the Times, “that my colleagues selected me as the  recipient for the Louisiana Psychological Association 2022 Contributions in Psychological  Science Award. The Boulder model served as the framework for my graduate education in  clinical psychology, and I continue to strongly support the scientist/practitioner approach.  Therefore, I am particularly grateful to have received this award.”

Dr. Constans is also Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Neurology at Tulane  University School of Medicine, and a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Louisiana State University School of Medicine.

He is a member of the Tulane University  Violence Prevention Institute (VPI), which focuses its research on violence both in the local  community and across the globe. The Violence Prevention Institute mission is to be “an equity- focused hub supporting communities to foster transformative research, training, and advocacy  to address systemic, structural, and interpersonal violence.” Local research has shown that the prevalence of sexual assault and domestic violence in the New Orleans area needs to be  addressed with research and community collaboration.

Dr. Constans is a member of both the Internal Advisory Committee at the Louisiana Clinical and  Translational Science Center, whose objective is to transform the clinical and translational  research efforts of our region away from the status quo, to a unified, comprehensive approach  targeting the theme of “prevention, care and research of chronic diseases in the underserved  population.”

He also serves on the Advisory Board at Louisiana Violent Death Reporting System in the  Louisiana Office of Public Health.

Dr. Contans is also the President of Louisiana Veterans Research and Education Corporation.  Dr. Constans’ evidence-based methods utilized to combat anxiety disorders are rooted in  Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for which he publicly advocates. He is passionate about  serving his clients and the psychological community through research and treatment. His  federally-funded research program is designed to understand and treat emotional disorders,  and his extensive training with some of the early pioneers of CBT, including Drs. Andrew Mathew and Edna Foa, grant him the expertise which catalyzes this research.

In addition to his boots-on-the-ground work, Dr. Constans has been able to gather the  Resources needed to fund research integral to his expertise. To facilitate his research surrounding trauma-exposed individuals, where he studies the thought process behind their  belief systems and strives to achieve modification in this area, Dr. Constans has procured over  $12 million in grants. This research is instrumental in preventing homicidal and suicidal  violence, and his commitment to this work is evidenced in the 50-plus peer-reviewed  manuscripts and book chapters he has published to date.

Working with the VA and Department of Defense, he has served as the Principal Investigator or  Co-Investigator on countless studies and has been an ad hoc reviewer for over 20 peer- reviewed journals. He also has reviewed various grants funded by both the federal government  and private entities.

Dr. Constans’ research includes the following major areas.

• Understanding attention, judgment, and memory bias in pathological anxiety:

Constans, J. I. & Mathews, A. M. (1993). Mood and the subjective risk of future events. Cognition  and Emotion, 7(6), 545-560.

Constans, J. I., Foa, E. B., Franklin, M. E., & Mathews, A. (1995). Memory for actual and imagined  events in OC checkers. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 33(6), 665-671.

Constans, J. I., Penn, D. L., Ihen, G. H., & Hope, D. A. (1999). Interpretive biases for ambiguous  stimuli in social anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 37(7), 643-651.

Peters, K., Constans, J. I., & Mathews, A. (2011). Experimental modification of attribution  processes. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 120(1), 168-173.

• Cognitive bias and neuropsychological deficits associated with PTSD:

Constans, J. I., Foa, E. B., Franklin, M. E., & Mathews, A. (1995). Memory for actual and imagined events in OC checkers. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 33(6), 665-671.

Constans, J. I., Penn, D. L., Ihen, G. H., & Hope, D. A. (1999). Interpretive biases for ambiguous  stimuli in social anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 37(7), 643-651.

Peters, K., Constans, J. I., & Mathews, A. (2011). Experimental modification of attribution  processes. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 120(1), 168-173.

• The prevention of death, including homicide and suicide:

Wamser-Nanney, R. A., Nanney, J. T,  & Constans, J. I. (2019). PTSD Symptoms and Attitudes Towards Guns. Journal of Interpersonal Violence.

Wamser-Nanney, R. A., Nanney, J. T., Conrad, E., & Constans, J. I. (2019). Childhood Trauma  Exposure Among Victims of Gun Violence. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, and Policy, 11(1), 99-106.

Wamser-Nanney, R., Nanney, J. T., & Constans, J. I. (2019). The Gun Behaviors and Beliefs Scale:  Development of a new measure of gun behaviors and beliefs. Psychology of Violence, 10(2),  72–181.

Wamser-Nanney, R.A., Nanney, J.T, & Constans, J.I. Trauma Exposure and Attitudes Towards  Guns. Psychology of Violence. Manuscript submitted for publication.

Dr. Constans told the Times, “When I began my professional career in the Veterans Health Administration 1993, I thought I’d last about 5 years in the organization. Now, almost 29 years  later, I’m still a VA employee. Reflecting on why my prediction was so inaccurate and why I have  stayed with this organization for so long, I can say that a primary reason is because of the  opportunities that the VA provided me in pursuing a career as a clinician scientist,” he said.

Dr. Constans specializes in the non-medical treatment of a variety of emotional disorders  including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Panic Disorder, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, mild to moderate depression, and stress- related emotional issues.

After completing his undergraduate studies in Psychology at Louisiana State University (LSU),  Dr. Constans went on to receive his M.S. at Colorado State University and a PhD in Clinical  Psychology from LSU. He then completed his internship at the Medical College of Pennsylvania.

What does he view to be his most important contributions? “There have been three phases in  my career as a clinician scientist,” Dr. Constans said. “For the first 15 years of my career, I  investigated how biases in judgment and attention served as causative or maintaining factors  for psychopathology, particularly posttraumatic stress disorder.

“In the second phase, beginning approximately 10 years ago, my focus evolved from studying  the sequelae of trauma to one that is concerned with prevention. My interests became and remain the prevention of suicide and homicide with a particular emphasis in understanding  how beliefs and behaviors surrounding firearms contributes to violent death,” he said.

“The third part of my career was and is as an administrator for scientific endeavors. I served as  the Associate Chief of Staff for Research at the New Orleans VAMC from approximately a year after Hurricane Katrina until October of 2021. In this administrative position, I was able to  advance and grow the scientific mission in our healthcare facility, and hopefully during this  time, I served as a particularly strong advocate for psychological science,” he said.

“Now, I working for Office of Research and Development in VA’s Central Office, developing and  managing the suicide prevention research portfolio, allowing me to assist in the advancement  of psychological science to address an important public health issue,” Dr. Constans said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Cohen’s Newest Research in Clinical Psychological Science

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Dr. Alex Cohen, clinical psychologist and professor at Louisiana State University (LSU), continues his efforts to adapt behavioral technologies for investigating a wide range of clinical issues,  including suicidality, depression, psychosis, mania, and anxiety. His newest publication is “High Predictive Accuracy of Negative Schizotypy with Acoustic Measures,” published recently in the  flagship clinical journal, Clinical Psychological Science. He is widely recognized for his work using automated computerized analysis of behavior and has been featured in top psychology and  psychiatry journals.

In an interview with the Times, Dr. Cohen said, “I think we are pushing the boundaries of what  clinical science can do in measuring symptoms of serious mental illness.

“Psychology has not sufficiently addressed many areas of human suffering, and innovation is  needed. I believe that Psychology can’t fulfill its potential alone, and will require cooperation between other academic disciplines, and also community partners, big tech, advocacy and political groups, business, government regulators, law enforcement and above all, people from  the communities we are serving,” he said.

“Finding ways to cooperate and overcome the inevitable ‘tower of babel’ problem between  these groups, in my opinion, is essential to solving many of the big problems that we face right  now. Who else is trained so effectively in bringing people together? I think psychology can  occupy a central role in coordinating these efforts.”

What does he think are the major and most important findings of this new study? “We were  trying to use objective vocal data to predict personality traits associated with psychosis risk,” Dr. Cohen said. “Given the nature of our data, we used supervised machine learning. Our models  were highly accurate, generally 85% or so in classifying people with versus without the traits.

“More importantly, we were exploring how this kind of model building should be done, and this  problem extends well beyond psychosis risk research. Our models didn’t actually predict  personality traits or psychosis risk, but rather, people’s report on ‘gold-standard’ self-report  scales. Predicting psychosis risk and predicting scores from a gold-standard measure are not the same, and our secondary analyses speak to this.

“Generally speaking, ‘gold standard’ measures are good enough for many purposes in  psychology. If the goal is highly accurate prediction using objective data however, our measures are often inadequate. This is an unrecognized obstacle to implementing predictive analytics into psychology,” Dr. Cohen said.

This most recent work was a collaboration with the LSU Department of Psychology, the LSU  Center for Computation and Technology, the Department of Psychiatry at University of Utah,  and Department of Psychology at University of Central Florida.

Dr. Cohen worked with Dr.  Christopher Cox on this project, an Assistant Professor of Psychology at LSU. Dr. Cox is involved in various research endeavors, including focusing on experimental machine learning tools, exploring the context sensitivity of semantic knowledge, building computational models of reading.

What was it like collaborating with Dr. Cox? “Dr. Cox is one of the most thoughtful people I have  had the pleasure to work with,” said Dr. Cohen. “He is extremely bright and methodical, and  cares deeply about students and learning. He seems to operate on a higher level of consciousness than most, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he sees the world in streams of binary  data like Neo from the Matrix movies.”

Dr. Cohen is also an adjunct professor at Pennington Biomedical Research Center and LSU  Health Sciences, where he manages a team of doctoral students and graduate assistants. His  current research projects focus on understanding and helping those with severe mental illness,  notably schizophrenia, and those at risk of developing various psychotic-spectrum disorders.

Dr. Cohen’s current research projects are multi-tiered. He is currently working on a project that  involves adapting biobehavioral technologies for use in assessing mental well-being. This  project involves a highly constructed collaboration between industry and academia and uses  “Big Data” methods to measure and predict cognitive, affective, and behavioral states in those with serious mental illness.

A few years ago, LSU helped Dr. Cohen and some of his colleagues to commercialize his  technologies for “digital phenotyping.”

“Digital phenotyping involves quantifying aspects of mental health using complex, objective  data streams,” he said. “In our case, these data are from automated language, facial, vocal,  location and movement analysis from a smart phone. Since then, we have created an app using  these technologies to support clinical trials. We are starting to explore digital phenotyping to  support clinical management of patients with serious mental illness, and I am proud to have community partners in Baton Rouge for this. The methods used in our clinical psychological science paper were central in advancing these technologies.”

Dr. Cohen is in collaboration with an international consortium involved in researching the links  between disturbances in natural speech and symptoms of mental illness and genomics. Pattern recognition and advanced machine learning are being utilized in this research. In addition to  these projects, he facilitates research investigating how emotion, cognition, motivation, and  social functions in those predisposed for developing serious mental illness and those already combating serious mental illness. This project uses “small data” and basic psychological science  methods are used, including self-report, behavioral and electrophysiological measures, and performance measures.

Dr. Cohen has been working for nearly 20 years on these innovations, and explains that with  the help of many colleagues, “… we are getting closer – though this process has been anything  but time efficient.”

“What I have found is that digital data and symptoms ratings rarely agree,” he said. “Using  machine learning, one can engineer solutions that show impressive agreement in one setting,  but they don’t generalize. What is considered flat and unresponsive speech in one setting by  one group of people is considered unremarkable in another setting for other people. That is one major thing we found in the CPS paper, and have replicated in a number of other studies.”

“Why don’t they agree? Are clinicians wrong? Are digital technologies missing a critical human  element? The answer is, of course, both. So we are trying to develop methods for optimizing and evaluating these digital technologies. This field is huge right now, but I am afraid many of  the solutions being proposed are superficial and will fade quickly. I think my colleagues and I  are in a unique position to advance this field.”

Some of Dr. Cohen’s recent work helps to explain these complexities. • Cohen, A. S., Rodriguez,  Zachary Warren, K. K., Cowan, T. M., Masucci, M. M., Granrud, Ole Edvard Holmlund, Terje B  Chandler, C., Foltz, P. W., & Strauss, Gregory, P. (2022). Natural Language Processing and  Psychosis: On The Need for Comprehensive Psychometric Evaluation. Schizophrenia Bulletin, In Press.

“Evaluation of digital measures falls far short of what is expected of most psychological tests,” Dr. Cohen said. “This is part of a themed issue Brita Elvevåg and I are finalizing for the journal  Schizophrenia Bulletin.”

• Cohen, A. S., Cox, C. R., Tucker, R. P., Mitchell, K. R., Schwartz, E. K., Le, T. P., Foltz, P. W., Holmlund, T. B., & Elvevåg, B. (2021). Validating Biobehavioral Technologies for Use in Clinical Psychiatry. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.503323

“In this paper,” he said, “we compare evaluation of objective measures in other areas of science (e.g., physics, computer sciences, engineering) to that of psychology. There are some critical differences, particularly surrounding how ‘resolution’ is handled. The upshot is that psychology  should do a better job of defining exactly when, where and how a phenomenon is occurring. . . at least with respect to validating objective measures.”

• Cohen, A. S., Schwartz, E., Le, T. P., Cowan, T., Kirkpatrick, B., Raugh, I. M., & Strauss, G. P.  (2021). Digital phenotyping of negative symptoms: the relationship to clinician ratings. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 47(1), 44-53. https://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbaa065

“In this paper, we demonstrate how objective technologies often disagree with what a clinician  says. We attempt to unpack why that is – with the idea that neither is inherently wrong. Rather,  they are looking a different phenomenon,” he said.

• Cohen, A. S., Cowan, T., Le, T. P., Schwartz, E. K., Kirkpatrick, B., Raugh, I. M., Chapman, H. C., &  Strauss, G. P. (2020). Ambulatory digital phenotyping of blunted affect and alogia using objective facial and vocal analysis: Proof of concept. Schizophrenia Research, 220, 141–146.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.schres.2020.03.043

“In this paper, we evaluate a method of evaluating aspects of psychosis using smart phone  technologies. We are currently trying to implement these technologies with Capitol Area Human Services District ––though, in early stages.”

Besides pushing the boundaries of what clinical science can do in measuring symptoms of serious mental illness, what was the most enjoyable thing for about the work for Dr. Cohen?

“This is a necessarily multidisciplinary endeavor, and I really enjoy being challenged by my students and colleagues. When trying to objectify aspects of mental illness, we need to be very  mindful of the role that demographics, culture and other individual differences play. I am blessed to have a network of colleagues from a variety of walks of life that can help challenge us to create culturally appropriate, and ultimately better, measures.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stress Solutions

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Can Stress Affect the Fetus?

Some stress during pregnancy is normal, just as it is during other times of life. But if stress  becomes constant, the effects on a mother and her unborn baby could be lasting.

When you’re stressed, your body goes into “fight or flight” mode, sending out a burst of cortisol  and other stress hormones. If you can quickly reduce your stress and move on once the source  of the stress reaction has passed, your stress response will recede, and your body will go back  into balance. But the kind of stress that is really damaging is the kind that doesn’t let up. Sadly,  most people struggling with chronic, unrelieved stress do not recognize what is happening to  them. This is the stress that comes from within – from chronic high levels of anxiety and fear, the type  that keeps one awake at night.

In fact, constant stress alters your body’s stress management system, causing it to overreact  and trigger an inflammatory response. For most of us, this may ultimately lead to chronic  inflammatory-based disease. But, in a pregnant woman, the consequences of chronic and unrelieved stress are much more immediate and permanent. This was the main message of my  book, Stress Solutions for Pregnant Moms: How Breaking Free From Stress Can Boost Your  Baby’s Potential.

Inflammation during a pregnancy has been linked to poorer pregnancy health, too early  delivery, and subsequent developmental problems in the babies as they mature. There is data  that links that higher chronic stress during pregnancy, particularly in women with poor coping  skills, with lower birth weight and premature delivery. The bad news does not stop there. Often  such moms have babies that are fussy, hard to comfort once they are upset and crying, and  some infants even fail to thrive.

A primary reason that stress reduction during pregnancy was the key point of my book was to  call attention to the dangers of chronic stress on the fetal brain and the ensuing behavioral and  emotional problems of childhood that last into adulthood. The fetal brain responds to maternal  chronic stress by making subtle changes in the development of the brain. These subtle changes  lead to behavioral issues as the baby grows, such as ADD/ADHD, high levels of anxiety, learning differences, and even autism.

Research in this area may still be considered early; however, it has been quietly stacking up in  the background. Why is it still not a major message the OB/GYN talks about to the young  pregnant woman? This is an important way we can help the children of tomorrow. Psychologists and other mental health providers can contribute to the reduction of behavioral issues in children by spreading the word and teaching good coping strategies, particularly to young  women.

Top Gun: Maverick

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A Review

by Alvin G. Burstein, PhD

As a youngster, going to a movie was a special experience for me. Omaha could swelter in the  summer heat and in the nineteen thirties and forties the marquees of the theatres promised  twenty degrees cooler inside” which added to the attraction of the exotic decor and the magic  of the silver screen.The exigencies of covid made me bid farewell to considerable delights, but I  came to relish the world of streaming movies which included actors who were strangers to me  and writers and directors who were not denizens of Hollywood.

But when the movie rating aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported a film showing only in theaters Paramount’s Top Gun: Maverick—critic ratings of 97%, audience approval ratings even higher and blockbuster  earnings of over 913 million dollars in its first weeks– fully vaccinated and boosted, I decided to  on a mask and take the risk..

Before I tell you about the film, I must disclose two personal biases: the first is that I found the  half hour or more of advertisements of all kinds followed by the glare and blare of coming  “attractions” beyond annoying. Then, too, the film’s star, Tom Cruise, playing Pete “Maverick”  Mitchell, has been a highly visible public advocate for Dianetics. Dianetics was founded by L.  Ron Hubbard. His first description of this approach to self-improvement was published in the  May, 1950 edition of the pulp magazine Astounding Science Fiction. Later, Hubbard was quoted  as saying “You don’t get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion.”  As a psychologist and psychoanalyst, I regard Dianetics as having evolved into a cult, an  exploitative one.

That said, I enjoyed the film. It is a confection of familiar devices that provide excitement, if not  suspense.

Its center is an attack on a site at which an unnamed foreign nation is about to  develop an atomic weapon. The details of the attack echo the raids on the death star in Star  Wars that involve the running of a perilous gantlet. The emotional tone of the film is an echo of  that in Independence Day, a triumphant patriotic exceptionalism that teeters on the edge of  jingoism. The film features a sexy woman bartender who echoes Marion in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

To me the most interesting aspect of the film was its exploration of the interaction between  human and mechanical factors at the extremes. The attack teams in this film must fly at speeds  that subject them to 10 g forces and at speeds where there is no time to think, where, as one of  the characters puts it, the question of “What were you thinking?” doesn’t make any sense.

That,  too, is an echo. In Ford v Ferrari, the race driver says, “There’s a point at 7,000 rpm where  verything fades. The machine becomes weightless. It just disappears. All that’s left, a body moving through space and time…7,000 RPM…that’s where you meet it. You feel it coming. It  creeps up near you, and it asks you a question. The only question that really matters. Who are  you?”

To say that these devices are familiar is not to diminish their very artful deployment in this film.  Top Gun: Maverick is like an ice cream sundae—no surprises maybe, but a thoroughly enjoyable
confection.

Cyrano

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A Review

by Alvin G. Burstein, PhD

The heroic comedy Cyrano de Bergerac, written by Edmond Rostand in 1897, has had a  remarkable impact. Coquelin starred in the original 1897 stage version at Theatre de la Port  Saint-Martin in Paris. His performance was a triumph; the audience applauded for over an hour  after the final curtain. The enthusiasm led to a yearlong run for the play, and then beginning in 1900, ten subsequent movie versions, the first of which also starred Coquelin.

Anna Freud has  been quoted as saying that, because of its focus on altruism, selfless devotion to others, the  play was her favorite drama. I don’t have any knowledge of her father’s view of Rostand’s play,  but the phenomenon of altruism got its first formal study in psychoanalytic circles in a 1912  paper by Sabina Spielrein, one of the first women psychoanalysts; her view was that love of another, because it is not self-centered, has a masochistic element. Freud acknowledged that  Spielrein’s paper led him to a major revision of his theories: the introduction of a death instinct  in balance with the life instinct of Eros.

The most recent version of Rostand’s play is the 2021  musical romantic drama film, Cyrano, directed by Joe Wright and adapted from Rostand’s play  by Erica Schmidt. Cyrano is played by Peter Drinklage and his beloved Roxanne by Haley  Bennett.

The basic plot echoes its original. The beautiful Roxanne is loved from afar by a Cyrano who is a gifted author and a swordsman to be feared but who sees himself as too ugly to be  loveable. Roxanne falls in love with Christian de Neuvillette, handsome but inarticulate, on the  eve of his joining Cyrano’s troop of musketeers. Roxanne, who has known Cyrano from childhood, begs Cyrano to be Christian’s mentor and protector.

Cyrano stage manages  Christian’s courtship, arranging a hasty marriage that frustrates the effort of the regiment’s  commander to win Roxanne. The enraged commander orders his men to the front in an  ongoing war. On the eve of a final battle, Cyrano ghost-writes a farewell to Roxanne. When  Christian dies in the battle, Cyrano leaves the letter on his compatriot’s body and it finds its way  to his widow, Roxanne. Grief stricken, she consigns herself to a convent, where for three years,  Cyrano pays her a weekly visit. Fatally injured in an assassination attempt, Cyrano makes a final  visit to Roxanne, reminding her of her promise to let him read the farewell purportedly written by Christian. When as night falls, he continues to read the letter aloud in darkness, Roxanne  realizes he, not Christian is its author, and, as Cyrano dies, she announces her love for him: “I have loved but one man in my life, and I have lost him twice.”

This latest revision of the story is  recast as a musical, complete with intricate and complex song and dance scenes. Though they  provide a gauzy, surreal element, they also blunt the intensity of the story’s tragic elements. The film also seems to be a response to the movie industry’s current concerns about lack of  inclusivenesss. The members of Cyrano’s troop are racially diverse. And two of the central characters, Christian and Le Bret, Cyrano’s boon companion, are persons of color. Drinklage,  who plays Cyrano, is a dwarf. His achondroplasia replaces the focus on the large nose sported  by Cyrano’s real life original and represented, sometimes exaggerated, in all the preceding  versions of Rostand’s play. I found myself wondering whether Anna Freud’s focus on altruism  might be blurred by a secondary focus on wokeness.

Previous versions focused on Cyrano’s  white plume. In Rostand’s original French, the word for white plume is panache. Panache has  multiple meanings in French: in addition to referring to a feathered adornment, it can mean style, referring to clothing or modes of behavior. So in his dying words in earlier versions,  Cyrano’s focus on his white plume can be a reference to the role he chose to play. Drinklage’s dying Cyrano talks about pride, not about his white plume.

Nevertheless, in those final moments, as Cyrano died and Roxanne’s loss was doubled, tears came to my eyes.