This book provides school personnel with information on how concussion (mild traumatic brain injury) can affect learning, mental health, and social-emotional functioning, skills in developing and leading a school-based concussion support team, tools for school-based concussion assessment, and information on a safe, gradual process of returning to the academic environment. It explains what happens to the brain at the moment of impact, terminology, prevalence rates, causes, risk factors, and issues related to underreporting of concussions. Educators will learn about developmental effects, how concussions can affect students of different ages, as well as difficulties that can result from concussions such as postconcussion syndrome and second impact syndrome. This book presents a school-based concussion team model, including the specific responsibilities of the concussion team leader (CTL), and a discussion of maintaining student privacy through regulations like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. Readers are familiarized with checklists that can be used within the school and assessment tools such as Acute Concussion Evaluation (ACE) and neuropsychological assessment. Readers are also familiarized with how physical and cognitive rest can be balanced with a return to activity during the recovery period. This book also book gives concussion team members guidance on the selection of appropriate strategies, as well as decision making during a student’s return to academics, and discusses concussion prevention information by providing guidance on how readers might train others on concussion recognition and response. Case studies are integrated throughout the chapters.

Creativity must represent something different, new, or innovative. It has to be different and also be appropriate to the task at hand. The first chapter of the book deals with the Four-Criterion Construct of Creativity, which attempts to integrate both Western and Eastern conceptions of creativity. This is followed by a chapter which addresses how creativity operates on individual and social/environmental levels, and the effects and outcomes of the creative mind. Chapter 3 discusses the structure of creativity. A key work on creative domains is that of Carson, Peterson, and Higgins, who devised the creativity achievement questionnaire (CAQ) to assess 10 domains. The fourth chapter discusses measures of creativity and divergent thinking tests, Torrance Tests, Evaluation of Potential Creativity (EPOC) and Finke Creative Invention Task. Some popular personality measures use different theories, such as Eysenck’s Personality Questionnaire, which looks at extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism. Chapter 6 focuses on a key issue, intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation and their relationship to creativity. While the seventh chapter deals with the relationship between creativity and intelligence, the eighth chapter describes three ’classic’ studies of creativity and mental illness which focus on the connection between bipolar disorder and creativity, usage of structured interviews and utilization of historiometric technique. One school admissions area that already uses creativity is gifted admissions—which students are chosen to enter gifted classes, programs, or after-school activities. The book also talks about creative perceptions and dwells upon the question whether creativity is good or bad.

This book provides the foundations and training that social workers need to master cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). CBT is based on several principles namely cognitions affect behavior and emotion; certain experiences can evoke cognitions, explanation, and attributions about that situation; cognitions may be made aware, monitored, and altered; desired emotional and behavioral change can be achieved through cognitive change. CBT employs a number of distinct and unique therapeutic strategies in its practice. As the human services increasingly develop robust evidence regarding the effectiveness of various psychosocial treatments for various clinical disorders and life problems, it becomes increasingly incumbent upon individual practitioners to become proficient in, and to provide, as first choice treatments, these various forms of evidence-based practice. It is also increasingly evident that CBT and practice represents a strongly supported approach to social work education and practice. The book covers the most common disorders encountered when working with adults, children, families, and couples including: anxiety disorders, depression, personality disorder, sexual and physical abuse, substance misuse, grief and bereavement, and eating disorders. Clinical social workers have an opportunity to position themselves at the forefront of historic, philosophical change in 21st-century medicine. While studies using the most advanced medical technology show the impact of emotional suffering on physical disease, other studies using the same technology are demonstrating CBT’s effectiveness in relieving not just emotional suffering but physical suffering among medically ill patients.

Understanding a student’s ethnic identity process coupled with the student’s sexual identity and psychosocial identity can provide a much more useful and informative portrait of his or her circumstances than merely knowing the student as a “19-year-old sophomore”. This book was developed with both the student affairs professional and the student affairs graduate student in mind. After a brief introduction, it discusses various human development theories such as Schlossberg’s transition theory, Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development, Perry’s theory of moral development, and Kolb’s theory of experiential learning as well as personality types based on the Myers–Briggs type indicator. In the subsequent section of the book, the focus is on identity development in college students, with chapters covering Chickering’s Theory and the seven vectors of development, Black and biracial identity development theories, White identity development, and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) identity development as well as disability and identity development. and career development theories. The final section of the book describes the factors that impact the selection of careers with chapters discussing the Holland’s theory of career development and Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, among other issues. Theory-based chapters open with a vignette in which the reader is presented with specific details of a case study for consideration. At the end of the chapter, the case is revisited and considered using a theoretical framework. Each case vignette provides the reader with immersion into a diverse perspective, and the chapter authors provide a clear discussion of their conceptualization of the student.

The purpose of this book is to dispel many of the myths about the gifted, define the term in a nonelitist manner, explore how it manifests in individuals, describe why it is important, consider its origins, examine its psychological implications, and provide guidelines for its recognition, assessment, and development. It provides a cohesive conception of the psychology and development of a group with special needs. This perspective was shaped through 50 years of concentrated study and is informed by the author’s experience as a teacher of gifted elementary students, a counselor of gifted adolescents, a teacher educator of graduate students in gifted education, a psychologist specializing in the assessment of giftedness, a clinician with gifted clients, the creator of a refereed psychological journal on adult giftedness, and a researcher. In humanistic psychology, optimal development has been conceptualized differently. Self-realization can be understood in terms of Maslow’s self-actualization, Dabrowski’s secondary integration, Jung’s individuation, or other theoretical perspectives of human development. Families, educators, and psychologists can support inner development or they can act as agents of socialization, exhorting the gifted to "work harder" to attain external trappings of success.

This book draws on in-depth research of couples in different situations and cultures to identify educational and therapeutic interventions that will help couples become conscious of and move beyond gendered power in their relationships so they can expand their options and well-being. Sharing family and outside work more equitably is a part of the gender-equality story. The book is divided into five parts. Part I of the book lays out the theoretical and methodological issues of gender equality that frame the book’s research projects and practice concerns. Chapters in this section frame the concept of gender equality and its role in promoting mutually supportive relationships. The second part examines the relational processes involved in equality between intimate partners. Traditional couples need help in defining the meaning of relational equality for themselves within external definitions of male and female roles. A chapter in this section is about same-sex couples and explores what happens when gender does not organize relationships. In Part III, two chapters look at how gender legacies and power influence mothering and fathering among parents of young children with a third showing how idealized notions of motherhood heighten and maintain postpartum depression after childbirth. The fourth part shows both similarities and cultural variation in power issues in different cultural settings. While one chapter considers how racial experience increases the complexities of gender and power in couple life, another discovers the considerable diversity in Iran by showing how couples work within a male-dominant legal and social structure that also includes a long cultural tradition of respect for and equality of women. Part V draws on the previous chapters to offer a guide for mental health professionals.

This book serves as a practice resource for social workers by making accessible the vast territory covered by the social, cognitive, and affective neurosciences over the past 20 years, helping the reader actively apply scientific findings to practice settings, populations, and cases. It features contributions from social work experts in four key areas of practice: generalist social work practice; social work in the schools and the child welfare system; in health and mental health; and in the criminal justice system. Each of the chapters is organized around practice, policy, and research implications, and includes case studies to enhance practice application. The impact the environment has on neural mechanisms and human life course trajectories is of particular focus. It is divided into four sections. Section A includes chapters devoted to social-cognitive neuroscience conceptualization of empathy, mirror neurons, complex childhood trauma, the impact of trauma and its treatment through discussion of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Section B covers child maltreatment and brain development, transition of youth from foster care, social work practices in schools for children with disabilities, and managing violence and aggression in school settings. Section C deals with several issues such as substance abuse, toxic stress and brain development in young homeless children and traumatic brain injuries. Neuroscientific implications for the juvenile justice and adult criminal justice systems are explained in Section D.

This book is intended for school and clinical psychologists who work with children and adolescents, as well as for graduate students who are taking advanced courses in psychological assessment or the assessment of culturally and linguistically diverse children and adolescents. The strategies described in the book are based on up-to-date research on typical cognitive, language, emotional, and social development of culturally and linguistically diverse children and adolescents, including those who are studying in their second language; cultural differences and acculturation; culturally based perspectives on disabilities and disorders; and disorders that might develop due to the challenges experienced by some immigrants and refugees. It discusses demographic, socioeconomic, policy-related, and educational contexts of cultural and linguistic diversity that pertain to the academic achievement of children of immigrants and refugees and other marginalized groups in countries that have high levels of immigration. The book addresses research on the typical developmental trajectory of language and literacy of children and adolescents who must learn in a language that is not the language of their home. It describes methods for assessing children and adolescents’ oral language proficiency (OLP) in their first and second languages, and discusses the issues involved and methods for assessing intelligence, academic achievement, and behavioral, social, and emotional functioning. Strategies for communicating assessment results to culturally and linguistically diverse children and adolescents and to their parents, teachers, physicians, and other professionals who work with them as well as consultation, advocacy, and report writing issues are also described.

This book is a guide to understanding core restorative justice values and practices and what we have learned from research on the impact of this emerging social movement in the global community. The first three chapters provide an overview of the restorative justice movement and its connection with core social work values and spirituality (not religion). Restorative justice dialogue and its most widespread applications are then presented in Chapters four through eight. Each chapter on a specific application of restorative justice dialogue includes a thorough description of the process, including case examples, followed by a review of empirical research that is available. These chapters describe the most widely used applications, namely victim-offender mediation (VOM), family group conferencing (FGC), peacemaking circles, and victim-offender dialogue (VOD) in crimes of severe violence. The concluding three chapters, nine through eleven, focus on broader issues related to restorative justice dialogue. The crucial role of the facilitator in restorative justice dialogue is highlighted, followed by identifying the dimensions of culture in the restorative justice movement and the very real possibility of unintended negative consequences if we are not mindful of these dimensions. Finally, emerging areas of practice that go beyond the juvenile and criminal justice system are addressed.

This book is about all the exciting aspects that have been investigated in the science of positive psychology. One of the reasons that the interest in positive psychology has increased so much in recent years is that people are interested in happiness, and they’re interested in enhancing their well-being. All conceptions of positive psychology involve something to do with the “positive side of life”, which is clearly contrasted with the negative side of life. The positive side of life seems to go by many names, such as happiness, flourishing, thriving, a worthwhile life, a meaningful life, a fulfilling life, or “what goes right in life”. The study of positive subjective states involves two related but distinct areas of study: positive emotions and subjective well-being (SWB). Positive psychologists often refer to two types of happiness: hedonic and eudaimonic. Any treatments of the history of happiness spend little time on ancient Jewish contributions to our understanding of well-being. From the early Christian tradition, writers encouraged enduring suffering now in the light of future happiness in the afterlife. The book focuses on two theories that are both representative and helpful to the field of positive psychology: the Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and the Hedonic Adaptation Prevention (HAP) model. Gratitude and compassion are very important to the good life; however, when we also emphasize strengths such as prudence, humility, self-control, and integrity, we are much more likely to flourish. The issue of Internet relationships also brings up an alternative form of relationships: Our relationships with our pets. The book attempts to describe the cognitive characteristics of happy people.