Military children experience unique psychological needs due to the challenges associated with their parent's service. While some challenges are universal (peer pressure, academic performance, family stressors), some challenges are unique to military families.
Even die-hard proponents of evidence-based psychotherapy (EBP) such as myself acknowledge that it comes with challenges. Of course, there are some patients who are uninterested in EBPs for a variety of reasons. But even motivated and engaged patients don’t always complete treatment or gain significant benefit. Research has long focused on how we can improve outcomes and completion rates for “non responders” and “dropouts.”
Ok, I admit it. I am not an eating disorders therapist. That is not my specialty. I am grateful that there are therapists who specialize and are expert in treating eating disorders. I’m just not one of them. And that’s ok! In preparing for our discussion with Dr. Deborah Glasofer, our guest on this week’s episode of Practical For Your Practice, I found myself reflecting on the reasons that perhaps I have hesitated to engage with treating eating disorders. Perhaps some of these are familiar to some of our listeners, while perhaps other listeners are passionate about treating these disorders.
Back in June of 2023, I attended the Psych Congress Elevate conference. I haven’t attended this conference in the past, but the topics and speakers looked interesting, and I needed some CEs. Plus, it was in Las Vegas, so extra bonus! I soon found that while psychologists were certainly welcomed and encouraged to attend, most of the presentations focused on pharmacological interventions for mental health issues. Fair enough, as I very much respect the important role pharmacology and prescribers play in addressing these conditions. Even though I felt like I was crashing someone else’s party, I value learning new things, especially if it helps me explain or present ideas to my clients that can be beneficial, even if I would not be the one prescribing or managing their medications.
One of the issues that all providers are faced with in their clinical practice is deciding what treatment options might fit best with a client who has PTSD. While our brains often go to the first line treatments like PE, CPT and EMDR, sometimes a 10 - 12 session protocol isn't the best fit for the client in front of us who can’t commit to that treatment length or has other reasons that drive a different approach. To truly provide patient-driven care, we, as clinicians, need to have other EBP options at-the-ready to meet our clients where they are. In this episode of Practical for your Practice, CDP’s own Dr. Paula Domenici joins us to talk about her experience with using Written Exposure Therapy (WET) and how it has enhanced her clinical practice.