Blog posts with the tag "Staff Perspective"

Staff Perspective: Can Good People Do Bad Things?

By Sharon Birman  on 14.08.2019 9:35 am
Sharon Birman, Psy.D.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among Service members and Veterans receives a lot of well-deserved attention. That said, it was not until 1992, that the term Moral Injury was coined by Dr. Jonathan Shay to describe the devastating impacts of an event or experience that violates one’s personal ideals, ethics, moral expectations, conscience, or attachments. Since moral expectations are at the core of who we are as humans, moral injury describes a fracture to one’s deepest sense of being. The result of this moral violation can lead to guilt, existential crisis, and loss of trust (Jinkerson, 2016).  

Staff Perspective: Changing Attitudes Towards Mental Health Stigma

By Regina Shillinglaw  on 31.07.2019 12:46 pm

In the U.S., awareness of mental health problems as a common public health challenge has grown. An important example of societal support and awareness of the need for access to mental health services is reflected in the Mental Health Parity Act (MHPA) of 1996 and the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) of 2008. 

Staff Perspective: Four Questions to Ask About Complementary and Alternative Interventions for Mental Health Conditions

By Carin Lefkowitz  on 24.07.2019 10:04 am
Carin Lefkowitz, Psy.D.

Yoga, meditation, weighted blankets, herbal remedies....while interest in complementary and alternative interventions has grown, the science behind them is still cloudy.  Rather than try to formulate a one-size-fits-all recommendation, I find it more helpful to consider the ways that the complementary intervention augments or contradicts the evidence-based psychotherapy for that condition.  There are four questions that help me critically evaluate the suitability of these interventions for patients.

Staff Perspective: A (Northern) Exposure Story - Why the Devil is in the Details During In Vivo Exposure

By Jenna Ermold  on 17.07.2019 11:00 am
Dr. Jenna Ermold, Ph.D.

Two exposure therapists take a hike in the woods in Alaska... It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, right? Bad joke as it might be, my intention is to use this hiking event to demonstrate how situational factors, purposely manipulated or accidentally occurring, can greatly impact the distress experienced during an in vivo exposure exercise.

Staff Perspective: Storytelling May Strengthen Patient-Provider Relationships and Reduce Stigma

By Paula Domenici  on 03.07.2019 10:30 am

A creative program at the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin called My Life, My Story caught my attention recently. This unique initiative invites Veterans to share their life stories with an interviewer who takes notes. Subsequently, the interviewer writes up the Veteran’s story in a one-page first-person account and reviews it with the patient, who can add more details or correct mistakes. The thousand-word biographies are then attached to the patients’ medical records for clinicians to read.

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