Blog posts with the tag "Clinical Skills"

Staff Perspective: Means Safety – Does It Make a Difference?

By Sharon Birman  on 12.09.2018 8:45 am
Sharon Birman, Psy.D.

In 2015, the National Center for Health Statistics found that in the U.S. alone, 9.8 million adults endorsed having serious suicidal thoughts, and 1.3 million adults reported a suicide attempt during the past year (World Health Organization). Suicide experts advocate for restricting access to lethal means as an effective strategy to reduce suicide rates. In this blog, I plan to review the efficacy of reducing access to various lethal means.

Staff Perspective: CPT Group for Military-Connected Patients: Applying Research to Clinical Practice

By Carin Lefkowitz  on 19.06.2018 3:05 pm
Carin Lefkowitz, Psy.D.

Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) is one of the gold-standard treatments available to adults with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and remains a first-line recommended treatment in the latest VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of PTSD and Acute Stress Disorder (DVA & DoD, 2017).  CPT is a robust and flexible treatment in that it can be delivered with or without a written trauma account, in person or via tele-health, and individually or in group format.  Dozens of randomized control trials and effectiveness trials demonstrate that CPT is one of the most effective treatments for PTSD in both civilian and military-connected populations.

Staff Perspective: Getting Trained in Sleep Disorder Assessment and Treatment

By Timothy Rogers  on 04.04.2018 10:31 am
Timothy Rogers, Ph.D.

The lack of training pertaining to the assessment and treatment of sleep disorders is not uncommon amongst behavioral healthcare providers.  When I am conducting trainings for CDP, few attendees endorse receiving any formal training pertaining to the assessment and treatment of sleep disorders.   However, when asked about the patients that they work with, most attendees indicate the vast majority of their patients have sleep problems.  This critical knowledge gap between training and clinical needs of patients underscores the importance of training in the assessment and treatment of sleep disorders.  In particular, I want to highlight some key points I have taken from my training in this area and have found to be very helpful in my clinical practice, supervision and training.

Staff Perspective: Classical Conditioning and Other Excuses for Talking About My Dog

By Kelly Chrestman  on 21.03.2018 11:40 am
Kelly Chrestman, Ph.D.

I recently received some feedback on training materials I put together, about how PTSD develops after a combat trauma. I had mentioned that classical conditioning explains how stimuli that occur in close proximity can become associated, resulting in conditioned responses. Of course, I mentioned Pavlov, because, dogs! Right? I might also have mentioned that our family dog salivates and does a little happy dance right on cue every morning when I grind the coffee, just before I walk over and scoop her food into the dish.

Staff Perspective: Who Makes the Decisions Around Here?

By Sharon Birman  on 31.01.2018 9:53 am
Sharon Birman, Psy.D.

Various theories of psychotherapy have long highlighted the importance of developing individualized treatment plans developed to meet the idiographic needs of the individual person. Decades of research have also supported the positive impact of patient-provider collaboration, which has yielded benefits to include increased sense of empowerment, autonomy, and satisfaction with treatment (Slade, 2017). Collaboration in treatment has led to improved treatment compliance and engagement, thereby producing enhanced treatment outcomes (Patel et al., 2008).

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