Originally published: . Volume 1, No. 5. Source pages: 10.
LPA’s 62nd Annual Convention will be held April 22-24 in Baton Rouge.
A request for papers, proposals for CE workshops and symposia/panel, and research proposals was sent. While the deadline for submissions of CE workshops and Symposia has passed (January 1st) interested persons may still contact Dr. Kelly Ray, Dr. Phil Griffin, or Dr. Tony Young as the final deadline for submitting details is January 22nd. The deadline for submitting scientific research proposals is February 10th. Members are also invited to make nominations for awards to be presented at the Annual Convention. These include Distinguished Psychologist Award, Early Career Award, Graduate Research Award, and Undergraduate Research Award.
To submit an application for awards, please contact Dr. Kelly Ray.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 1, No. 5. Source pages: 11.
Dr. Roberta Alysoun Bell Laventhal, a clinical and neuropsychologist in Metairie, focuses her busy practice on patients of all ages, helping them with their cognitive, emotional or physical diagnoses. Psychological and neuropsychological assessment makes up a large part of her services, and she is supported in efforts by her part-time psychometrists and office managers.
Her professional duties also include her position on the editorial staff of Rehab-in-Review: The Surveillance Journal for Rehabilitation Professionals, a publication from the medical schools of Harvard, LSU and Emory University. Roberta assists in collapsing technical articles from 70 distinguished journals into a concise, readable and efficient format for busy clinicians. She said to PT, “With Rehab-in- Review, I've been copy editing since its onset in 1993. I see my role in the journal as helping make the words ‘sing,’” a contribution that is apparent in this interesting and immensely readable journal. Rehab is part of Roberta’s adjunct assistant professor role at Emory. There, she is also available for other duties, such as being a guest lecturer or helping with research.
But there is another side to Dr. Bell. She not only has an alias, as in nom de plume, but I believe she might also have an alter ego, so creative are her activities when she is not assisting others professionally. Over the years, she has worked as a public relations coordinator, licensed private investigator, “terrified” flight student and volunteer radio announcer.
Currently, she writes with a group of creative women that, once you learn about them, gives you the feeling that others are having a lot more fun in their lives than you are having in yours, causing you to wonder why someone didn’t send you an invitation.
Roberta is a member of “Six Southern Gals,” who have combined their creative and literary talents to produce a “serendipitous collection of holiday stories,” called Open Before Christmas: Holiday Tales from Six Southern Gals. The authors draw on their childhood experiences, blending and expanding the stories with imagination and originality. Roberta writes under her pen name, Alysoun Alysoun– a doubling up of her middle name. She joins her efforts with her creative co-authors, two freelance writers, a retired speech/language pathologist, and a writer/artist/poet.
Website: “Six Southern Women or Gals,” as we like to refer to ourselves, have found a connection with the Christmas stories and poems that have been portrayed in this book. During our evolution, we also found we had another connection . . . FOOD!…” … Roberta has completed one novel, a murder mystery titled Rain, which she is reworking. She wrote it right after Katrina in the popular writers contest named NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). “That fun program requires only that the writer complete a novel of 50,000 or more words within the month of November…” But she found that writing that fast didn’t help her plot and felt some parts were in a “mess.” So, when she has some rare extra moments, she’s reworking it into a new mystery.
Dr. Roberta (Alysoun Alysoun) Bell Laventhal lives in Metarie with her husband, Nahum, step-son, Dylan, and cat, Whispurr.
Open Before Christmas is just as good if you open it after Christmas. Either way, don’t miss it. Available at www.sixsoutherngals.com.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 1, No. 5. Source pages: 14.
Two sleeping boys Like angels in repose An hour from now Exuberance will explode Running and wrestling Shoving and shouting Teasing and taunting But just now I absorb Peace and contentment They exude
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 1, No. 5. Source pages: 14.
This month I promised to give you tips to help you find your place in the media. You may be wondering why you would even want a place in the media. Your first concern may be whether using the media to promote your practice is appropriate or ethical.
Traditionally, psychologists build their practices by providing excellent care to clients who then refer their friends and family members, and by successfully handling cases from other health care specialists who then recommend their services to colleagues.
However, promotion of psychological services through the media is acceptable. The Louisiana Licensing Law for Psychologists states only that “The board is authorized to promulgate regulations to prohibit deceptive advertisements and representations.”
Just as we are obligated to present ourselves honestly to individuals who seek our help in our offices, we also must be sure to portray ourselves accurately in the public forum. Adhering to this standard in a setting often associated with entertainment requires vigilance.
Although advertising representatives, with their focus on grabbing the attention of an audience, may entice you to pump up your message beyond your comfort level, you can avoid such drama. The right layout can amplify a cautiously worded print ad, and the right delivery can sell a safely worded radio spot.
So my first tip for helping you find your place in the media is to encourage you to relax about the very idea of being involved with the media. You can present yourself to the public in ways that maintain your professional integrity and convey that you are available to help.
Next month I will offer tips for dealing with one of the biggest problems psychologists have, the tendency to speak in scientific jargon, instead of simple sentences, when we communicate with the public.
Please send comments to MediaServices@DrSusanDard ard.com, or call 225-635-4555.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
The LPA EC passed a resolution to create a bylaws revision committee, open to any LPA member with voting privileges. The first meeting of the committee will be held on January 9th, at the Baton Rouge Marriott. Chair of the committee is Dr. Phil Griffin. A message from Dr.Griffin and Gail Lowe, Executive Director, noted, “All LPA members who are eligible to vote and who are interested in how the organization operates are invited to serve on this committee.” To be a member of the committee, individuals must attend the first meeting, or be approved by the committee.
The meeting is scheduled to begin at 8 am and adjourn at 4:30. A continental breakfast will be served and coffee provided.
In the original draft of the resolution, changes created by the committee may be offered for action by the membership at the 2010 annual meeting or at a special meeting called for considering any proposed changes.
A group of LPA members, and members of Grassroots, had requested that the EC create a bylaws revision committee, in order to study and improve the bylaws of the association.
LPA has retained the services of Mr. Alan Jennings, professional parliamentarian, to assist the organization to resolve its problems. (See related story, Parliamentarian, this issue.)
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Dr. Amy Copeland, Associate Professor at LSU, Director of the LSU Psychological Services Center, and Adjunct Associate Professor at Pennington, leads a team of researchers and clinicians to help people stop smoking. In combination with her research efforts to discover the cues for relapse, she and her team use empirically supported counseling techniques, a combination of behavioral and pharmacological therapies, to produce best possible outcomes. She collaborates with Dr. Bob Matthews and Dr. Sean Lane from the LSU cognitive area, as well as Dr. Paula Geiselman from the biological area, to help identify variables in this dangerous habit.
She said to PT, “Now we know that nicotine is every bit, if not more, addictive as other substances, and how destructive and costly cigarette smoking is.”
Dr. Copeland’s interest in substance use, and her personal goal of public service, crystallized in her early career. While working at the Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC) and University of California at San Diego, it impressed her that, “The population who needs treatment the most can’t afford it.” She continued, “And so I knew that I wanted to focus in public service in some way or another.” As an undergraduate, Amy worked for three years in research at VAMC. “We were looking at the relationship between depression, stressful life events, and relapse in alcoholic patients. It all fascinated me…Especially the Viet Nam Vets who had very little, but just seemed to have such resilience, for what they had been through. Their persistence and strong desire to change, to improve their health and lives in general, was so compelling. I wanted to understand more about the process of health behavior change.”
Amy’s team is looking at heavy smokers who are not necessarily interested in quitting smoking. “We are using motivational interviewing strategies by providing health-related feedback on breath carbon monoxide, pulmonary lung functioning and blood pressure. We call it a health screen for smokers.” She explained, “Most smokers want to quit, on some level. If they are not particularly motivated at the time, then the more tailored the information is to their specific needs, as far as health feedback, the more meaningful it is to the patient. Identifying concerns for the smoker can be key to motivating smokers to quit.” One of her current manuscripts addresses this area, “Personalized health feedback to heavy smokers as a brief motivation interviewing strategy.” Amy’s hope is that this type of brief intervention can ultimately be delivered in a primary care setting by health professionals. She explained that the literature indicates that when physicians or psychologists spend just five minutes talking to patients about quitting smoking, it can make a “huge difference.”
“When they are ready, encourage the combination of behavioral counseling, cognitive behavioral, and some sort of pharmacotherapy. These make withdrawal a lot easier for people. It still takes work, but these certainly take the edge off of withdrawal symptoms.” Amy suggested, “It is best for the smoker to set a specific quit date in advance and to prepare cognitively, emotionally, and behaviorally for the day.” Amy stated that there are many resources online, making good information and advice available to smokers who cannot, or opt not to, participate in face-to-face programs. However, she said, “I still think the group setting is best for people. You can see the camaraderie develop among group members as they go through withdrawal together.” She noted that then they can support each other and implement the tools they’ve learned, the cognitive and behavioral coping responses, to get through the urges. “Once people understand the associative nature of urges and cravings, and that laying down new memories and forming new associations will work, it’s going to get a lot easier.”
She remarked on how addictive nicotine is, and how people who have tried to quit many times are discouraged. “As clinicians, we need to address smokers’ level of confidence in successfully quitting. Heavy smokers who have attempted to quit many times and relapsed are discouraged. They have low self-efficacy for cessation. So you really need to emphasize, just like you would with a condition such as depression, that nicotine dependence is a very treatable disorder. There are efficacious therapies and pharmacotherapies, to give the person a lot of support.”
“Let them know also that they are going to go through mood changes, while in withdrawal,” she said. And, “There should be an educational component to it. Then of course, in relapse prevention, make people aware of their high-risk situations.” She explained that when faced with urges, smokers must implement behavioral and/or cognitive skills. She also recommends stress management and rewards. “It’s really important,” she said, “in pure operant terms, that they should reinforce or reward themselves, for making it through even 24 hours without smoking. Don’t think about forever right now, just think about getting through the next few hours without smoking and take it a little bit at a time.”
She also recommends discussing weight. Some of her past research has uncovered that women fear the weight gain associated with quitting, “Even though smoking a pack of cigarettes per day puts more stress on your heart than being one hundred pounds overweight.”
While Amy has published extensively in addiction, cognitive therapy, and health, another primary research interest of hers includes the relationship among weight, eating-related variables and stimulant use (nicotine is a mild stimulant). Amy explained that many women report smoking exclusively to control appetite and weight. While they don’t necessarily suffer from clinically significant eating disorders, they do show high levels of “dietary restraint” or “weight concern,” both associated with cigarette smoking and difficulty with cessation efforts. “I see this in many college women who say to me, ‘But Dr. Copeland, I don’t intend to smoke when I’m your age.’ They don’t realize that nobody does! However, they become nicotine dependent just like anyone else who smokes regularly. Perhaps the most disconcerting is the finding that these attitudes exist in very young children, especially girls. The belief that smoking is related to controlled appetite and weight is predictive of later smoking behavior in adolescents.”
Amy’s research efforts in this area presently focus on college student smokers and whether extreme dieting attitudes associated with smoking can be modified to produce healthier beliefs regarding diet and substance use, including smoking and drinking.
Dr. Copeland can be reached at copelan@lsu.edu for further information about her research, services, and technical questions.
Her lab’s webpage is http://www.lsu.edu/psychology/faculty/DrCopelan d.htm
L to R: Dr. Amy Copeland, Magda Kulesza, Claire Adams, Meredith Terlecki, abd Diana Stewart, viewing the pulmonary lung functioning feedback for smokers. Dr. Amy Copeland’s team at the lab: Left to right: Diana Stewart, M.A., Magdalena Kulesza, M.A.; 2nd row: Megan Apperson, M.A., Claire Adams, M.A., Dr. Copeland, Ning Ding, Meredith Terlecki, M.A., Lauren Baillie, M.A.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Application materials for medical psychologists are now posted on the State Medical Board’s webpage. Materials include a list of qualifications for licensure as a medical psychologist (MP) and for the Certificate of Advanced Practice.
The instructions noted that MPs need a license in psychology issued by LSBEP, a post-doctoral master’s degree in clinical psychopharmacology, and to have passed a national exam in psychopharmacology approved by the board.
Also noted was “Each applicant must pass the Psychopharmacology Examination for Psychologists (PEP) offered through the American Psychological Association's College of Professional Psychology.”
For the Certificate of Advanced Practice, recommendations of collaborating physicians are required. “The recommendation of two collaborating physicians”…“who are familiar with your competence to practice medical psychology is required for a certificate of advanced practice.” MPs with three years from the issuance of the original Certificate of Prescriptive Authority from the psychology Board, may qualify for Advanced Practice.
A listing of the key provisions of the Medical Psychology Practice Act was given beginning with the introduction, “Act 251 (2009) provides for the regulation of medical psychologists by Board of Medical Examiners and for further development of medical psychologists as a profession.”
Also mentioned on the site was the first meeting of the Medical Psychology Advisory Committee, held on September 16, 2009 in Baton Rouge at the Office of the Louisiana State Medical Society at 6767 Perkins Road.
This and other information can be found at http://www.lsbme.louisiana.gov/index.html.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 1, No. 4. Source pages: 2.
While raising our three teenagers in the ‘90s, a favorite of both generations in our household was American humorist and writer, Jack Handy, famous for his SNL “Deep Thoughts.” One in particular has always been a useful tool.
Handy begins the story with a person walking past a “river of molten lava.” We used it so much that we jumbled it to “You’re walking along the edge of a volcano…” But the next part of the story is the same for everyone. You drop your keys in. Everyone knows about dropping keys. Almost always you are going to do whatever is needed to fish them out of anywhere they’ve escaped, but molten lava is the line.
Handy set the image so absurdly, thinking of someone reaching down into molten lava to retrieve their keys, that we’d all bust out laughing and chime in to the last part of the story, “Let it go, ‘cause man it’s gone,” about whatever was the loss du jour.
It’s that way with Prescriptive Authority for some of us, those of us who felt this was a feather in the cap for psychology, and had been worth fighting for. Ten plus years of work, over .5 million dollars of other people’s money and maybe that much home grown, the creation of training, testing, and standards, models and legislative support. All for psychology to become an entry level position to something else, and to have a mini-board under medicine.
After hearing the rationale, seeing the new forms on the Medical website, learning that the Advisory Committee met at the Medical Society, I think the best approach is to review Handy’s punch line. Because man, it’s gone.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 1, No. 4. Source pages: 2.
A critique of last month’s PT editorial appeared in a letter to LPA Listserv (11/4). An alternative explanation for the apparently crude comments referenced in the editorial is that they were a joke referring to the picture of the rocking horse in PT No. 1, not the Editor. So, any resulting rumors about the Editor may be due to what the writer noted as tunnel vision of those opposed to Act 251.
PT checked with the author of Rumors in the Marketplace, Professor Emeritus of Social Psychology at Tulane University, Dr. Fredrick Koenig, who noted that this is part of in-group, out- group dynamics, where any derogatory comments serve to distract from real issues.
In this case the real issue would be the impact of Act 251 on psychology in Louisiana.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 1, No. 4. Source pages: 3.
A meeting for interested LPA members and others will be held on Sunday, December 13th.
Previously Dr. Levy announced a special meeting to “Discuss constructive ways for LPA to move forward, given the controversies of the last several months.” The meeting was tentatively set for November 21st. However, this date did not allow the thirty days advance notice required for conducting business, as directed in the bylaws.
Dr. Levy posted a second announcement on Listserv on November 16th, indicating a new meeting date of December 13th. She wrote that this meeting is for member input. Members may speak on any subject for up to three minutes, and again if time permits. The memo said a parliamentarian would be present to help all concerned. It is not clear if questions or discussion will be allowed. This notice was also short of the 30 days required for conducting formal business.
According to a letter from Dr. John Simoneaux, the meeting is to be held at the Baton Rouge Marriot (Beauregard Room) at 1:30 pm. In his letter, he encouraged all those interested to attend and participate and said it was his understanding that non- member psychologists may attend. Dr. Simoneaux is the recently appointed LPA Chair of Professional Affairs.
Dr. Michael Chafetz, President of Grassroots, said that although the meeting would not be official, a delegation from the Grassroots’ Executive Committee would be attending.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 1, No. 4. Source pages: 4.
Based on the Treasurer’s report for 2008, and 2009 (January through September), the association spent $153.00 and $81.00, respectively, on Public Education Campaigns.
For 2008, $57,000 from grants and $15,000 from other sources was spent on lobbying. In the last decade, $527,000 in grants from APA was spent for what Dr. Tom Hannie called, “…to create a new profession.”
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 1, No. 4. Source pages: 5.
A group of LPA members have requested the LPA EC to create a bylaw revision committee to study and improve the bylaws of the association, for action by the membership at the 2010 annual meeting or at a special meeting. The request included the option that membership on this committee could be open to any interested member with voting rights that attends the first meeting or is approved by the bylaws revision committee.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 1, No. 4. Source pages: 5.
Ms. Tara O’Leary has joined Grassroots as a student member, under the direction of Dr. Susan Dardard’s Media Services, and will also work as a campus reporter for Psychology Times. Tara will assist in contacting potential members for Grassroots and investigating news leads from state campuses, while applying her background in journalism from high school and her career interest in psychology. Currently she is an undergraduate psychology major at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, and plans to enter a graduate program in counseling psychology in the fall of 2011.