Blog posts with the tag "Staff Perspective"

Staff Perspective: Evidence-Based Care: Why Are Providers So Resistant to Treatments We Don’t Know?

Debra Nofziger, Psy.D.

While every provider may experience some initial discomfort with implementing an unfamiliar treatment, I am often surprised with how resistant many mental health providers are toward learning and implementing evidence-based treatments.  An article on this topic by Scott Lilienfeld and colleagues demonstrates this resistance, reasons for it, and potential ways to work through it.  I believe providers on all sides of this issue should read this article as a way to both consider another perspective and to clarify their own opinions.

Staff Perspective: Symptom Exacerbation When Using Evidence-Based Psychotherapies

When I was starting out with practicing EBPs, there was a part of me that was a little frightened by the prospect of guiding my clients toward their worst fears, and I was more than a little concerned that I wouldn’t be able to tolerate seeing them in distress. I had visions of my clients “falling apart”. Luckily, the training and supervision I received (and a decision to have faith in the data) helped me. I’ve gone on to learn, practice, and teach EBPs for a variety of issues, including both Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE) and Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) for PTSD.

Staff Perspective: Old Wounds, New Insight - Helping our Vietnam Veterans Heal Now

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Vietnam War. Although more than 40 years has passed since the end of that war, it has become evident that long-term psychological repercussions still linger, impacting both those who served and the nation that sent them. Collectively, the experiences of those who fought have touched our country and been well documented in postwar art, literature and film, yet questions still remain about the specific impact of that war on the individual warrior today.

Staff Perspective: Don’t we all just want to be safe?

If you would ask any stranger on the street if they like to feel safe, it is likely that they respond “Yes”.  This is nothing new or surprising.  In fact, most young children can articulate this concept.  It is clear that the need for safety is innate. It makes sense then that we all yearn for a sense of safety.  Every one of us has people, places, or things that contribute to our sense of safety. We see the need for safety all around us. We see it in the infant reaching out to his caretaker when feeling scared.  As early as infancy, safety signals can include a “blanky,” a stuffed animal, or any other transitional object.  In other words, we give ordinary objects, extraordinary power!

Staff Perspective: Suicide and Stigma: A Review of the Literature and Personal Reflections

Having recently participated in a local suicide prevention event in my local community, this article about suicide and stigma caught my eye.  I was invited by a group of individuals to help with a suicide awareness and prevention walk sponsored by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and to help with a community educational meeting about suicide about two weeks after the walk.  Most of the individuals who are a part of this group have had personal experience with suicide, losing one or more family members in this way.

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