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.

Grief counseling refers to the interventions counselors make with people recent to a death loss to help facilitate them with the various tasks of mourning. These are people with no apparent bereavement complications. Grief therapy, on the other hand, refers to those techniques and interventions that a professional makes with persons experiencing one of the complications to the mourning process that keeps grief from progressing to an adequate adaptation for the mourner. New information is presented throughout the book and previous information is updated when possible. The world has changed since 1982; there are more traumatic events, drills for school shootings, and faraway events that may cause a child’s current trauma. There is also the emergence of social media and online resources, all easily accessible by smart phones at any time. Bereavement research and services have tried to keep up with these changes. The book presents current information for mental health professionals to be most effective in their interventions with bereaved children, adults, and families. The book is divided into ten chapters. Chapter one discusses attachment, loss, and the experience of grief. The next two chapters delve on mourning process and mediators of mourning. Chapter four describes grief counseling. Chapter five explores abnormal grief reactions. Chapter six discusses grief therapy. Chapter seven deals with grieving for special types of losses including suicide, violent deaths, sudden infant death syndrome, miscarriages, stillbirths and abortion. Chapter eight discusses how family dynamics can hinder adequate grieving. Chapter nine explores the counselor’s own grief. The concluding chapter presents training for grief counseling.

The therapeutic community (TC) for addictions descends from historical prototypes found in all forms of communal healing. A hybrid, spawned from the union of self-help and public support, the TC is an experiment in progress, reconfiguring the vital healing and teaching ingredients of self-help communities into a systematic methodology for transforming lives. Part I of this book outlines the current issues in the evolution of the TC that compel the need for a comprehensive formulation of its perspective and approach. It traces the essential elements of the TC and organizes these into the social and psychological framework, detailed throughout the volume as theory, model, and method. Part II discusses the TC treatment approach, which is grounded in an explicit perspective that consists of four interrelated views: the drug use disorder, the person, recovery, and right living. The view of right living emphasizes explicit beliefs and values essential to recovery. Part III details how the physical, social organizational, and work components foster a culture of therapeutic change. It also outlines how the program stages convey the process of change in terms of individual movement within the organizational structure and planned activities of the model. Part IV talks about community enhancement activities, therapeutic-educational activities, privileges and sanctions, and surveillance. The groups that are TC-oriented, such as encounters, probes, and marathons, retain distinctive self-help elements of the TC approach. Part V depicts how individuals change through their interaction with the community, provides an integrative social and psychological framework of the TC treatment process, and outlines how the basic theory, method, and model can be adapted to retain the unique identity of contemporary TCs.

This book provides a multidisciplinary compendium of research pertaining to aging among diverse racial and ethnic populations in the United States. It focuses on paramount public health, social, behavioral, and biological concerns as they relate to the needs of older minorities. The book is divided into four parts covering psychology, public health/biology, social work, and sociology of minority gang. The book focuses on the needs of four major race and ethnic groups: Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, black/African American, and Native American. It also includes both inter- and intra-race and ethnic group research for insights regarding minority aging. The chapters focus on an array of subject areas that are recognized as being critical to understanding the well-being of minority elders. These include psychology (cognition, stress, mental health, personality, sexuality, religion, neuroscience, discrimination); medicine/nursing/public health (mortality and morbidity, disability, health disparities, long-term care, genetics, nutritional status, health interventions, physical functioning); social work (aging, caregiving, housing, social services, end-of-life care); and sociology (Medicare, socioeconomic status (SES), work and retirement, social networks, context/neighborhood, ethnography, gender, demographics).

This book enables the reader to learn information about psychosis and related illnesses, and develop an understanding of the benefits of early intervention in psychosis and skills for a successful interaction with a person with psychosis. It also helps the reader to learn strategies to support a young adult with psychosis in accessing treatment. The first chapter talks about schizophrenia spectrum disorders and its treatment options. Group therapy has shown to be highly effective in addressing symptoms and stressors associated with psychotic disorders. Chapter 2 introduces the different symptoms characteristic of a psychotic episode: positive symptoms, negative symptoms, disorganized symptoms, affective symptoms, and cognitive symptoms. Two associated symptom categories associated are abnormal motor behavior and level of insight. The third chapter provides knowledge that will be helpful in identifying if psychiatric symptoms are present and assisting when there may be concern about psychiatric stability. Chapter 4 builds on the knowledge and the skills that one has acquired and speaks specifically about assessment of safety and intervention strategies. There are a number of potential outcomes that can occur from helping a young adult with psychosis. The individual may require hospitalization in order to ensure safety and allow for the opportunity to reduce symptoms. The final chapter of the book provides a list of resources offering information on variety of mental health conditions and psychology.

This book helps social workers ensure they maintain the highest professional standards by raising awareness of both the strengths and challenges of the immigrant community. The book first explores the changing demographics of immigrant newcomers and legal classifications of immigrants. It seeks to help social workers better understand the legal meaning of terms such as nonimmigrant, immigrant, Green Card holder, and citizen. Then, the book explores theories of cultural competency and social work practice and describes the intersection of immigration and health, mental health, criminal justice issues, and employment. Issues of particular interest to immigrant communities, such as the exploitation of immigrant workers (and appropriate legal remedies), immigrant access to health services and public benefits, the triple mental health trauma many refugees and asylees face, and the issue of newcomers as victims of crime as well as the immigration consequences of criminal conviction are discussed. The book also deals with family groups, which, although inherently strong, are made vulnerable because of their immigrant status in the United States. It concludes by urging practitioners to expand their strategies and advocate not only for individual clients (at the micro level), but to advocate as well for change at the organizational/agency level (mezzo level), and at the federal, state, and local levels (macro level).

This book provides useful empirical information about male juvenile delinquents and serves as a model training manual for new programs and people working in existing rehabilitation programs. It also provides guidelines for developing policy on the rehabilitation of juvenile delinquents. The book can be used as a resource for academicians and others who teach courses on juvenile delinquency and assigned as a supplementary textbook for students learning about juvenile delinquency, juvenile justice, and mental health. The authors of the book take a multidisciplinary approach that will appeal to everyone who thinks about juvenile delinquency: politicians, judges, police, teachers, clinicians, social workers, educators, and students of criminology, criminal justice, juvenile delinquency, family violence, sociology, psychology, and counseling. This approach appeals to undergraduate students in liberal arts programs that require them to take courses in multiple disciplines, and to graduate students in the mental health fields whose undergraduate training varies. The book also consists of six case histories of boys who resided at Ocean Tides. The information was culled from their files, the clinical consultant’s interviews with the boys when they were in residence, and aftercare information. These cases were selected to provide a sampling of the Ocean Tides boys; their backgrounds, personal, and psychological hurdles; and the outcome of their experience at Ocean Tides.

This book deals with evidence-based mental health and learning interventions for children and adolescents, and provides guidance on implementation in practice. It is a compendium of proven treatment strategies for resolving more than 40 of the most pressing and prevalent issues facing young people, and provides immediate guidance and uniform step-by-step instructions for resolving issues ranging from psychopathological disorders to academic problems, and is of relevance for both school-based and clinically-based practice. Issues covered include crisis interventions and response, social and emotional issues, academic/learning issues, psychopathological disorders, neuropsychological disorders, and the behavioral management of childhood health issues. The book covers several fields of study including applied settings, school crises, natural disasters, school violence, suicidal behavior, childhood grief, reading disabilities, math disabilities, written-language disorders, homework compliance, anger and aggression, bullying, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Each chapter follows a consistent format including a brief description of the problem and associated characteristics, etiology and contributing factors, and three evidence-based, step-by-step sets of instructions for implementation. Additionally, each chapter provides several websites offering further information about the topic.

This book can be used by social work professionals both as a textbook and as a clinical resource. Considering that most social workers receive limited training in medication during their social work program, it provides an excellent practice resource for clinicians in the field. The book provides general information that will prepare social workers to address the needs of clients taking medication. The use of medication is viewed as part of social work practice, and strategies for understanding its use are highlighted. Each chapter focuses on the basic information a social worker should know, from understanding the human brain, to tips for helping the client to terminate use, to how to support the medical team with tips for taking a medication history. The book explains the difference between generic and brand names, presented along with medical terminology used in prescribing medications. It provides the basic rules for monitoring medication and compliance, along with tips for treatment planning and documentation. The book also outlines prescription and nonprescription medications, including herbal preparations, and includes a section on special populations. It addresses specific mental health conditions such as schizophrenia, mood disorders, depression, bipolar disorders, and specific anxiety disorders.

This book offers suggestions regarding how pastoral counselors can navigate the changing landscape of mental health care in our current context to maintain unity amid our diversity. Pastoral counseling continues to evolve from its origins as a specialized ministry to an approach to mental health care offered in a wide array of contexts, including both religious and secular settings. The book first offers an introduction to the discipline of pastoral counseling by outlining a brief history of pastoral counseling as well as an understanding of how the discipline maintains unity amid the vast diversity of practices and practitioners. Then, it details pastoral counseling theory and practice according to three precepts: a way of being, a way of understanding, and a way of intervening. Next, the book reflects the religious diversity present among pastoral counselors and those they serve. It further illustrates special issues in pastoral counseling. These special issues further exemplify the distinctiveness of pastoral counseling as evidenced by the functions of referral, consultation, and collaboration, the education and supervision of pastoral counselors, and the use of both qualitative and quantitative research methods. In recognition of our increased technological abilities, as well as the dearth of mental health resources available in some geographic regions, the book guides the reader in understanding distance counseling and how to engage in an ethical distance counseling practice. Finally, the book builds on the theory and practice of pastoral counseling by offering a prophetic call for the future of the discipline.