This chapter explores how practicum training may be enhanced through effective collaboration between trainers and field supervisors. Successful practicum training requires strong collaboration between the trainee’s university or institution and the supervising field psychologist. Successful collaboration between the university and field site includes consideration of site development and maintenance, effective communication, and training and support across settings. Field placement and coordination play a critical role in the training of school psychologists. The individual fulfilling this role may be recognized with a variety of formal titles, such as field placement coordinator, clinical professor, or director of clinical training (DCT). One of the primary responsibilities of the DCT is the coordination and supervision of practica-related activities, including the placement of candidates in appropriate training sites. The chapter focuses on how supervisors can address trainee problems of professional competence, develop and use remediation plans successfully, and help trainees balance fieldwork with coursework.

This chapter addresses the key principles of sport, exercise, and performance psychology. It reflects the broadening of sport psychology studies to encompass more widespread human performance research. The topic of decision making has been covered in psychology, economics, and motor learning but addressed very sparsely in sport, exercise, and performance psychology. Rational decision making requires defining the problem, identifying criteria, weighing those criteria, generating alternative solutions, and ultimately computing the optimal decision. The chapter introduces the literature on decision making and provides examples of factors that influence the choices people make. The decision to act, move, or what move to make is decided in the response selection stage, and the final stage is when one’s brain and muscles are organized to make the actual move. The key to improve the decision-making over time is to increase personal awareness of own limitations and keep learning and collecting information from reliable sources.

This chapter presents an illustration of the complexities involved in studying ethnic and racial influences on psychosocial processes and how they are intimately tied to physical outcomes in later life. It focuses on psychology as a discipline, minority aging research during the last several decades has revealed the need for multidisciplinary and intersectional conceptual and research approaches. The chapter also focuses on the age, gender, socioeconomic, cultural, and racial and ethnic graded influences on life course development that eventuate in unequal burdens of psychological and physical health morbidity and mortality for certain groups in late life. No section on psychology could be complete without a discussion of religion and spirituality among racial and ethnic minorities. Generational processes are clearly implicated in ideas about the cyclical nature of poverty and health behaviors that are intricately linked with environmental factors and social influence.

This chapter examines the cultural and relational contexts of postpartum depression. Postpartum depression (PPD) is a debilitating, multidimensional mental health problem that affects 10"-15” of new mothers and has serious consequences for women, children, families, and marriages. Although women’s experience of postpartum depression has been the subject of considerable recent study, nearly all of this work has been interpreted within a medical or psychological frame. The chapter looks at a social constructionist lens to this body of research through a meta-data-analysis of recent qualitative studies of PPD. Though hormonal changes as a result of childbirth are related to depressive symptoms after childbirth, biological explanations alone cannot explain postpartum depression. A social constructionist approach to postpartum depression focuses on how the condition arises in the context of ongoing interpersonal and societal interaction. Climbing out of postpartum depression is an interpersonal experience that requires reconnection with others.

This chapter presents an integrative approach to the psychological study of minority populations and the reduction of health disparities through positive nonmaterial resources. It provides a brief introduction to positive psychology and to the concept of early life origins of disease, highlighting the value of integrating these seemingly disparate literatures as a lens for studying health and broader aging processes among minority populations. Minority status whether based on ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status (SES), citizenship, religion, or other factors is a robust determinant of health, well-being, and success across the life span and intergenerationally. Positive psychology is relevant to health and development particularly physiological and psychological adaptation to stress across the life span, and even across multiple generations among humans in general and among minority populations in particular. Health inequalities are the result of unique challenges to successful psychological and physiological adaptation faced by minority group members.

This chapter presents a case study on performance dysfunction in the case of a 21-year-old African American female basketball player entering her senior year at a major Division I-level university. She described regret about not working out harder during the off-season, which she blamed for a poor start to her current season. In addition, she also reported feeling a great deal of worry over the possibility that she may have a poor season and ruin her chance to be drafted in the first round of the WNBA entry draft. According to the case formulation model, there are 10 elements that are necessary to consider prior to making an intervention decision contextual performance demands; skill level; situational demands; transitional and developmental issues; psychological characteristics/performance and nonperformance schemas; attentional focus; cognitive responses; affective responses; behavioral responses; and readiness for change and level of reactance.

This chapter and the intervention protocol that follows seek to better understand and ultimately influence human performance through understanding how internal processes interact with external demands. Many factors determine the effectiveness of human performance. The myriad of factors contributing to functional as well as dysfunctional human performance can be summarized as follows: instrumental competencies, environmental stimuli and performance demands, dispositional characteristics, and behavioral self-regulation. The chapter presents the model of functional and dysfunctional human performance that involves three broad yet interactive phases, namely performance phase, postperformance response, and competitive performance. The professional literature in both clinical and cognitive psychology suggests that individuals develop an interactive pattern of self and other mental schemas. The accumulated empirical evidence has led to similar findings in studies across many forms of human performance. Chronic performance dysfunction is much more likely to be associated with an avoidant coping style.

This chapter provides selective review of research on religion and spirituality across three groups of racial and ethnic minority older adults African American, Asian American, and Hispanic/Latino. It discusses major denomination and faith traditions, as well as information about types and patterns of participation and their sociodemographic correlates. The chapter examines informal social support provisions within faith communities and the types of assistance exchanged. It also examines associations between religion, spirituality and physical/mental health, and psychological well-being. Religion and spirituality, through a variety of psychosocial mechanisms and pathways are thought to have largely beneficial impacts on physical and mental hea.

This chapter presents the most salient psychological theories of personality. Personality is a core determinant of individual differences in everyday behaviors. The chapter discusses the difference between what psychologists broadly refer to as normal and what they regard as abnormal or clinical/mental illness. If one looks for an Elvis among personality psychologists, Sigmund Freud would be the one. During the mid-20th century, behaviorism emerged as a dominant paradigm for understanding human behavior, including personality. Although the social cognitive theory of personality has its origins in the radical behaviorist tradition, it emerged in clear opposition to it. According to the lexical hypothesis, historically, the most important and socially relevant behaviors that people display will eventually become encoded into language. Indeed, personality disorders are defined as long-standing, pervasive, and inflexible patterns of behavior and inner experience that deviate from the expectations of a person’s culture.

So here the authors are, caught between two worldviews. In one camp, they have educators and academics, attempting to overthrow the “old guard”—those of them who define giftedness through the narrow lens of IQ tests. They are hoping to establish a raison d’etre for gifted education—a field with a wobbly foundation. In the other camp, the authors have parents and the psychologists who specialize in working with the gifted, railing against the externalizing of giftedness. They want the inner world of the gifted to be recognized and appreciated. Controversy has dogged the study of giftedness since its inception, and is likely to continue into the foreseeable future. Multiple views will somehow have to learn to coexist. The psychology of giftedness is a fledgling. An impressive number of people think they know more about the gifted than one does and they are delighted to share their opinions.

This chapter presents a case study on performance development with the case of a man who reported that he had been “ultra successful” in every facet of his business life and was happily married and living with his wife of three years in a large suburban home. He described himself as “feeling stuck”, which he described as the belief that he had gone as far as he could go without improving in fundamental areas in his life. The consequences of the avoidant behaviors led him to feel quite overwhelmed. Preintervention psychological functioning was assessed with a standard semi-structured interview and three self-report measures selected based on specific processes that appeared most likely to be relevant to the performer’s referral issue. The measures utilized included the Young Schema Questionnaire-Short Form, the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-Revised, and the Profile of Mood States.

Improved nutritional status is an important component of efforts to improve the health of older adults, whose ability to consume a healthy diet is affected by comorbidities and behavioral, cognitive, and psychological factors. In addition to genetics and nutrition intake, nutritional status of the elderly could be affected by socioeconomic factors, such as education and income levels, and environmental factors, such as proximity to stores and transportation, that can affect food variety and availability. Nutrition and aging are connected inseparably because eating patterns affect progress of many chronic and degenerative diseases associated with aging. Anthropometric measurements are often used for nutritional assessment of older adults and are reliable across ethnicities. The Mini-Nutritional Assessment (MNA) tool was developed to evaluate the risk of malnutrition among frail older adults. Dietary patterns may better capture the multifaceted effects of diet on body composition than individual nutrients or foods.

This chapter offers a brief and focused review of human development, with specific emphasis on cognition and emotion. It is essential that the reader distinguishes between cognitive development, cognitive psychology, and cognitive therapy. Both short-term and long-term memory improve, partly as a result of other cognitive developments such as learning strategies. Adolescents have the cognitive ability to develop hypotheses, or guesses, about how to solve problems. The pattern of cognitive decline varies widely and the differences can be related to environmental factors, lifestyle factors, and heredity. Wisdom is a hypothesized cognitive characteristic of older adults that includes accumulated knowledge and the ability to apply that knowledge to practical problems of living. Cognitive style and format make the mysterious understandable for the individual. Equally, an understanding of an individual’s cognitive style and content help the clinician better understand the client and structure therapeutic experiences that have the greatest likelihood of success.

This chapter suggests some new directions that personality research is, or should be, taking as well as the future agenda of this research. In contrast, personality psychology provides us with a solid evidence base that people can lean on when searching for answers about human nature. Personality refers to the stable and consistent patterns we observe in how people behave, feel, and think. Associations between personality and intelligence have been found on the measurement level and hypothesized at a conceptual level. It is supposedly human nature not to trust humankind to provide the unselfish responses in questionnaires, or to possess an adequate level of self-awareness. Admittedly, this trend has been changing. An increasing number of organizations are using self-report personality measures and even laypeople seem to accept the notion of questionnaires more kindly than before.

Over the past 25 years there has been a growing recognition of the importance of working with families of persons with severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and treatment-refractory depression. Family intervention can be provided by a wide range of professionals, including social workers, psychologists, nurses, psychiatrists, and counselors. This chapter provides an overview of two empirically supported family intervention models for major mental illness: behavioral family therapy (BFT) and multifamily groups (MFGs), both of which employ a combination of education and cognitive behavior techniques such as problem solving training. Some families have excellent communication skills and need only a brief review, as provided in the psychoeductional stage in the handout “Keys to Good Communication”. One of the main goals of BFT is to teach families a systematic method of solving their own problems.

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is the third leading cause of dementia in large pathological series but tends to have an earlier age of onset than Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Lewy body dementia, the most frequent and second most frequent forms of dementia. Semantic dementia (SD) includes impairment in the understanding of the meanings of words and difficulty in identifying objects. Semantic primary progressive aphasia, also known as SD, includes difficulties with naming and single-word comprehension although grammar and fluency are often spared. SD is a disorder that involves loss of semantic memory, anomia, receptive aphasia, and an actual loss of word meaning. The chapter presents some assessment tools that are those conducted by a psychologist or a neuropsychologist. Such an evaluation should include a clinical interview and neuropsychological examination. SD has been associated with ubiquitin-positive, TAR-DNA-binding protein-43 (TDP-43)-positive, tau-negative inclusions.

The ideas of Aristotle, Socrates, and Plato all contribute to the foundation of our understanding of the nature of human intelligence. Their ideas on topics as diverse as the origin of ability, the mind-body relationship, and general inquiry methods continued to inspire thinkers centuries later and influenced those who shaped modern psychology and intelligence theory. This chapter provides an overview of recent research on how people’s beliefs about intelligence impact their behaviors, a body of research that has significant implications for education. The emergence of reliable genetic and neurological research methodologies is creating a new area of study in which environmental, biological, and psychological facets of intelligence are studied simultaneously. Structure of Intellect (SOI) model represents a very different approach to theories of intelligence. Recent technological advances have encouraged explorations into the relationship between brain function and specific types of cognitive functioning.

This chapter focuses on a snapshot of current immigration patterns and a profile of the US immigrant population. It discusses the impetus behind immigration. Immigration is not only a current national issue. Given the great diversity and myriad needs of the growing immigrant population, it is essential that social workers understand the legal and political as well as psychological and social issues surrounding immigration. Chain migration is a process of movement from immigrants’ homelands that builds on networks of familiar social relationships to construct neighborhoods or communities within the places of habitation, which reflect the cultural norms and societal expectations of the homelands. Social workers who work with immigrants need to understand the personal immigration history of their clients in order to best help them. At many schools of social work, students have learned to view immigrant issues through a human rights lens.

This chapter gives an overview of the conditions and child vulnerabilities that can disrupt relationship building. In the context of parenting and/or adult-to-child caregiving, theoretical understanding of the importance of human relationships, connections, and alliances has been guided by major models, including evolutionary psychology, attachment theory, social learning, social cognition theory, social development theory, and social control theory, bioecological systems theory and human behavioral genetics theory. Relationship formation is critical in positioning caregivers to serve in a “curative” role in assisting children to make gains and recover from the experiences of not having normal parental experiences. Kinship caregivers are in a unique position to help children develop relational competence. Relational competence is a person’s ability to appropriately interact with others and to develop meaningful relationships and connections. The caregiver can help the child reconnect or restore broken relationships.

This chapter provides basic and fundamental knowledge that will be helpful in identifying if psychiatric symptoms are present and assisting when there may be concern about psychiatric stability. It discusses what one can expect from individuals who are being approached with concern about their current mental health status. The chapter facilitates connection to a treatment provider who can evaluate the signs and symptoms of distress. Paranoia can elicit denial if auditory hallucinations are present that threaten safety if any information is revealed. Negative symptoms and disorganization can also impair reality-based thinking through difficulty engaging with the environment. The chapter provides the idea of some important considerations and expectations after one have made the decision to approach someone about concern for psychotic symptoms. Empathy is critical to the practice of psychology and psychological intervention, but it is also very helpful to use in everyday life and conversation.

This chapter addresses supervision related to trainee knowledge and skills required for the provision of special education services in the schools, including eligibility determination and service delivery. While school psychologists engage in any number of activities to support regular education, a primary focus is still special education and related services. As such, practicum trainees need to understand the link between case study evaluations and the provision of special education services. Supervisees may best understand district procedures for compliance with federal and state special education rules and regulations by reviewing relevant district resources and participating in staff orientation and other relevant professional development. Supervisors may provide instruction with the following school procedures: the student referral process, evaluation assignment and procedures, the meaning and implementation of obtaining informed consent from parents, requirements and practices for parent involvement, summarizing results, determining eligibility, and individualized education program (IEP) development and implementation.

This chapter helps trainees to develop a broader understanding of the different types of systems school psychologists interact with and how to develop meaningful trainee experiences. Practicum candidates will benefit from a basic introduction to site-specific prevention and intervention activities early in the training. This may include a review of the basic processes and structures the site has in place to support student academic and behavioral achievement, as well as the school psychologist’s role in these processes. Most school professionals recognize that students respond uniquely to instruction and have accepted that academic instruction must be differentiated for each learner. To accomplish this, school professionals often design a system of instruction following the multitiered systems of support (MTSS) framework for academic achievement. As part of the multitiered process, decisions about how students are achieving are made using data. Screening practices support the appropriate delivery of different instruction and/or interventions.

Supervision activities in the early stages are likely to be highly structured and prescriptive and require close monitoring of skill development, as supervisees are more likely to be anxious and more dependent on their supervisors. Supervisors can help trainees to explore new school psychological roles, focus on professional behaviors that will help them gain independence, and develop a repertoire of self-care strategies. Supervisors may also support trainee role expansion by assigning new activities and responsibilities, particularly in National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) domain areas that are underrepresented in current practice. Supervisors can also assist supervisees in becoming more independent by encouraging them to take risks and maintain a healthy perspective about their work in the field. Practicum supervisors can support trainee self-care with two key activities: monitoring and modeling their own professional self-care, and encouraging supervisees to develop their own set of self-care strategies.

This chapter explores supervision activities to help the school psychology practicum candidate develop skills in case conceptualization across three main roles of school psychology: assessment, consultation, and counseling. Supervisors should expect to temper this enthusiasm by teaching their supervisees to follow a structured approach to client casework. Supervisors should assist their trainees in understanding the link between assessment and intervention. Supervisors can help trainees improve their clinical judgment by providing an explicit framework for evaluating their hypotheses with the data they have collected through case study evaluation. First and foremost, supervisors should carefully select counseling cases for practicum candidates by identifying students who have relatively mild social, behavioral, or emotional difficulties. That is, supervisors should assign the easiest cases to trainees and refer students who have more significant and persistent mental health concerns to seasoned school-based mental health practitioners or outside service providers.

Stigma is the foundation that distorts the many social constructs affecting how social workers view older adults. Many socially constructed optics produced by stigma can bias social workers’ views of older people. It is important for a social worker to understand that race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation are social constructs that bias clinical care. Additionally, stigma associated with race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation produce psychosocial stressors that converge on older clients, which exacerbate their physical and psychological health statuses. The stigma of mental illness serves to increase the suffering of older people struggling with psychological problems while increasing the suffering of family members, loved ones, and caregivers who experience courtesy stigma. The stigma of suffering from mental illness may also prevent an older person from seeking treatment for his or her psychological problems. Older adults suffering from dementia also suffer from the negative reactions to them because of their diagnosis.

The start of the practicum for the school psychologist-in-training is an incredibly exciting time in professional development. In many training programs, the practicum is the first formal training candidates receive under the supervision of a credentialed school psychologist. Whether in an educational specialist (EdS) or doctoral program, it can be assumed that a candidate has completed at least 1 year of formal coursework in the foundations of school psychology and assessment practice. This chapter proposes that supervisors consider structuring their sessions so that they are goal oriented, addresses opportunities for supervisee growth and advancement, and offers feedback about performance. A developmental model of supervision is particularly useful in conceptualizing how the school psychologist-in-training experiences growth in clinical skills and professional identity over time. Supervisors are encouraged to find a formal system for providing feedback.

This chapter considers the major paradigm shifts that have occurred in geropsychology as it has progressed over the course of the 20th century. It also considers the consequences of increased interdisciplinarity for studies of aging within the discipline of psychology. The chapter describes the recent interest in research-based psychological interventions in the aging process, and of the more recent influence of advances in neuroscience. The study of aging, however, was early on recognized in the context of American psychology, and the division of adulthood and aging was one of the first 20 substantive divisions of the American Psychological Association (APA). The development of structural and functional Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has had a revolutionary enhancement of neuroscience, allowing for the first time the conduct of direct tests of the relationship between age changes in behavior and brain changes during normal and pathological aging.

This chapter discusses how pastoral counselors are different from other counseling professions. Pastoral counseling exists in a substantial community of related disciplines and professions. The two theoretical bodies of knowledge that combined to create pastoral counseling were the disciplines of psychology and theology. A review of pastoral counseling’s professional heritage sets the stage for the discipline’s contemporary identity dilemma. The formative nature of pastoral counseling training shapes the pastoral counselor’s self and is the rudiment from which the distinctive interventions of pastoral counselors organically emerge. Among the elements of training and formation most salient to shaping pastoral counseling interventions are clinical integration, pastoral formation, and the development of a spiritual orientation. The unique training and formation of pastoral counselors lays the groundwork for the development of interventions. Pastoral counselors share distinctive interventions that are born out of particular ways of being and a particular set of goals and objectives.

This chapter presents common research methods, both qualitative and quantitative, including how the researcher influences what is being measured, challenges and opportunities in measuring religion and spirituality, and cultural implications of the measurement of religion and spirituality. When reading reports of research on the impact of religion and spirituality on psychological constructs, pastoral counselors must consider what the researcher intended to capture, as this may be different from the pastoral counselor’s personal definitions of religion or spirituality. Pastoral counseling falls in the broad category of the social sciences. There are two general categories of social science research: quantitative research and qualitative research. Research in religion and spirituality must consider the cultures of those who devise the research and the cultures of those who participate. Pastoral counseling research is complex because it crosses multiple disciplines and encompasses concepts that are difficult to define and conceptualize: religion and spirituality.

This chapter explores the diversity of professionals engaged in pastoral counseling, the characteristics of those professionals within the ever-expanding landscape of mental health care, and the settings in which pastoral counseling most often occurs. It describes the plurality present within the discipline, summarizes the discipline’s use of the adjective pastoral, and offers a broad, fluid understanding of pastoral counseling. Pastoral counselors at the center of practice in the 1950s to 1970s may have claimed to speak in a singular tongue and envisioned a monolithic tower representing the theory and practice of the discipline. Pastoral counseling is an approach to mental health care that draws on the wisdom of psychology and the behavioral sciences alongside spirituality/religion/theology. Pastoral counselors are bicultural because they have graduate training in both religious/spiritual/theological education and a mental health discipline. Religiously endorsed pastoral counselors are, like all pastoral counselors, bilingual and bicultural.

Anxiety is often a normal reaction to stress, and there will always be situations that create stress and discomfort. In social work practice, recognition of the primary types of anxiety-related mental health disorders and the medications used to treat these disorders is an essential first step for comprehensive treatment. When medication alone is not enough, psychosocial interventions can assist the client in controlling anxious feelings. This chapter emphasizes the importance of being familiar with the medications and supplemental psychosocial interventions that can be effective in treating these disorders. Social work professionals often provide key services, including assessment and diagnostic and treatment services, to those who suffer from anxiety conditions. In terms of direct intervention efforts, many of the techniques described in the chapter can be used to help clients suffering from depression because the symptoms of anxiety and depression frequently overlap.

This chapter comes from an integrative/holistic approach to play therapy. Although the foundation is influenced by the work of Carl G. Jung, it is integrative because it focuses on practices from many other schools of psychotherapy as well. The chapter concentrates on directive approaches of using trays of sand and small figures as a therapeutic tool in the play therapy room. Jung’s psychology, also known as analytical or depth psychology, is not a tool, methodology, or even a group of techniques, but a way to gain insights that can influence psychic healing. The child’s psyche leads the process in Sandtray-Worldplay. Symbolic images become concrete as they bring powerful insights into consciousness. The builder and the witness travel together through four stages in Sandtray-Worldplay: building and observing, experiencing and reflecting, joint experiencing, and photographing. The sandtray process is led by the builder and facilitated by the witness/therapist.

This chapter examines the relationships between pastoral counseling and spiritual direction with an eye to how the related disciplines can work together to provide holistic care for clients facing the complex problems of modern life. It explores the common ancestor of spiritual direction and psychotherapy in the care for the soul in Western philosophical and religious traditions, tracing their separation in the past century. The chapter considers ideas from an interfaith and contextual perspective and raises questions for the future of pastoral counseling based on cultural differences and emerging social trends. Positive psychology has provided helpful distinctions that are useful in describing how counseling, pastoral counseling, and spiritual direction are both similar and different. Many counselors both pastoral and clinical mental health are interested in promoting cognitive, psychosocial, and faith development, and these concepts also inform spiritual direction; both relationships would cover ideas such as images of God.

This chapter focuses on Buddhist approaches to the work of pastoral counseling and the role of the counselor. It explores the topics of Buddhism and pastoral counseling as separate entities, looks at how they can be joined, and presents unique elements of working with Buddhist and non-Buddhist clients. The chapter introduces the notion of the Buddhist pastoral counselor as the kalamitra, or spiritual friend. In Mahayana Buddhism, the teacher is often termed kalamitra, Sanskrit for spiritual friend. The kalamitra as counselor is one who has worked with his or her own mind and therefore knows the workings of the mind and how the mind creates suffering. Similar to all counseling, the Buddhist pastoral counselor will rely on the relationship with the client as the main process and intervention of counseling. Buddhism and mindfulness will continue to influence psychology, and therefore Buddhist pastoral counseling as a discipline will continue to grow.

Childhood bereavement support is provided by a variety of professionals including chaplains, social workers, mental health counselors, psychologists, child life specialists, nurses, school counselors, thanatologists, and educators. This chapter discusses the issue of professional accountability and ethical considerations when working with bereaved children and their families in order to offer a framework for standards for this important type of support. It is not enough to solely provide orientation training to volunteers, it is also important to offer continued training for both new and existing volunteers. Organizations that provide support to bereaved children should establish written, agreed upon standards of practice to which program staff and volunteers are held accountable. The parent or legal guardian of children attending individual support, peer support groups, or grief camps should be provided a clear description of services being provided. Services provided should fit within the mission, vision, and values of the organization.

Social isolation and loneliness are distinct concepts with a research history that evolved separately over many decades in the disciplines of sociology, psychology, psychiatry, and epidemiology. This chapter provides a historical overview of highlights from the research on social isolation, loneliness, and social support, and considers the implications of that research on current practice. It also explains the diversity of perspectives in the way one analyze human social engagement and allows for more personalized assessment of social needs and more targeted delivery of social programs and services. Researchers continue in their efforts to find effective interventions for social isolation and loneliness and for effective delivery of social support, and while one await further guidance, one can use the concepts and theories developed over decades to inform our practice. Awareness of the long research history will result in more targeted and effective help for individuals who need it.

This chapter discusses the problems found in research that focuses on African American populations. It focuses specifically on the problems with theories developed without the inclusion of African Americans, the introduction of biases into the research, the problems with comparative studies, and the practice of studying African Americans as if they are a homogenous group. The chapter then addresses future needs to improve research concerning African Americans including increasing the number of African American psychologists, improving training to include an African-centered perspective, and increasing the number of African Americans who participate in research. It also addresses theories that are relevant to African Americans, focusing on the African worldview, African-centered theories, and Critical Race Theory. It provides an overview of the Black psychology and describes the studies of African-centered psychologists. The chapter concludes with an examination of García Coll and colleague’s Integrative Model to understand the development of children of color.

Treatment outcome studies in the discipline of social work, psychology, and psychiatry have demonstrated the efficacy and effectiveness of differential psychotherapy approaches in addressing the psychological needs of individuals across the life span. Throughout the last four decades, scholar-practitioners have engaged in a professional quest to find evidence to support the efficacy of psychotherapy in ameliorating an array of clinical symptoms and levels of distress in identified patient or client populations. This chapter presents an overview of evidence-based practice with ethnically diverse clients. Predicated on an integrative understanding of evidence-based practice and cultural competency in mental health and clinical care settings, and on the importance of intersectionality as the guiding theoretical perspective for effective delivery of patient-centered services, it presents selected conceptual frameworks for the cultural adaptation of evidence-based treatments. The chapter highlights culturally adapted cognitive-behavioral therapy as an exemplar of evidence-based treatment for ethnic and racially diverse patient populations.

This chapter introduces some of the challenges currently faced by African Americans in the United States. It discusses the problems with the deficit perspective in understanding African Americans and the role of African American psychologists in the 1960s to attempt to move us away from this perspective. The chapter then points out key aspects of African-centered psychology. It discusses individuals who were instrumental in the early days of Black psychology, helping us to understand their roles in addressing issues important to Blacks throughout the 20th century. The chapter then discusses the rise of positive psychology and how it can uniquely help us to better understand African American psychology through its focus on strengths and not deficits. It describes several empirical studies examining resilience along with interventions designed to increase resilience. Finally, the chapter discusses the complexity of resilience and possible negative outcomes to resilience behavior.

Despite the growing attention in the literature addressing the experiences of lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender (LBGT) youth and family acceptance, few researchers are examining these experiences in the relational context of being a grandchild or how grandparent–grandchild relationships enhance or hinder LGBT grandchildren’s experiences, especially when grandchildren disclose their sexual orientation to grandparents. This chapter discusses the important theoretical lenses used to understand and aids the study of LGB grandparenthood and reviews the literature on LGB grandparenthood and when grandchildren identify as lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgender, and queer (LBGTQ). Perhaps more importantly to the advancement of the literature on LGB grandparenting, the chapter provides recommendations for future research on grandparenthood in the context of sexual orientation, and hopes that discussion is a call to action for family scientists, gerontologists, psychologists, and sociologists to closely examine grandparenthood when grandparents, grandchildren, or grandchildren’s parents identify as LGBTQ.

This chapter explains two essential elements form Sleep Therapy, which are based on sleep science and psychology principles. Many people find this background intriguing. What’s more, it is always easier to carry out techniques when one understands how they work. The elements of Sleep Therapy are: uncovering one’s natural sleep processes and associating one’s bed with sleep. By understanding how sleep comes and goes in the natural state one can see more clearly how to restore healthy sleep. Good sleep comes when our biological sleep processes can operate without interference. Associating one’s bed with sleep element of Sleep Therapy is based on something called “conditioning” or “learned associations”. These are connections one make in their mind (automatically) between two things that occur together on several occasions.

Psychological factors involve internal experiences that an individual has. In this context, these internal experiences will revolve around one's perception about body weight, shape, and size; other mental health issues in addition to an eating disorder; personality characteristics; and the degree to which an individual has control over his or her emotions and behaviors. There are a multitude of psychological factors that can affect the development of, maintenance of, or recovery from an eating disorder. Personality disorders have often been associated with eating disorders and are believed to be the most commonly occurring comorbid diagnosis. Although many people think eating disorders are purely about food, the myriad psychological factors associated with eating disorders indicate that there is much going on within a person with such a diagnosis to state that eating disorders reflect an issue with one particular thing.

Students and professionals in the field of psychology are encouraged to understand diverse populations. Life scripts are formed in childhood, and feelings of alienation seeded in their early years can haunt the gifted throughout their lifespan. Gifted individuals need professionals who understand their striving, their search for meaning, their yearning for connection, and their complexity, sensitivity, and intensity. They need professionals alert to the issues of giftedness—who use this template to help their clients develop greater self-awareness. Those who are interested in success equate giftedness with eminence. The Great Divide in the field of gifted education and psychology stems, in part, from polarized perceptions of IQ testing. Gifted behavior occurs when there is an interaction among three basic clusters of human traits: above-average general and/or specific abilities, high levels of task commitment, and high levels of creativity.

This chapter discusses the effects of personality with respect to the other, that of getting ahead. The literature examining the impact of personality on career-related outcomes is vast and stretches back to the beginnings of psychology. The chapter reviews the most important research and paradigms concerning the areas of: academic achievement, work performance, leadership and entrepreneurship. Early reviews of the relationship between personality and job performance seemed to suggest that personality was a trivial or insignificant predictor of job performance. Psychological theories focusing on leaders’ personality or traits were influenced by Carlyle’s ‘Great Man‘ theory of leadership, which posited that ‘the history of the world was the biography of great men’. Over the past 20 years, an increasing amount of attention has been given to the area of bad leadership. The literature on personality and leadership suggests that a leader’s personality has a substantial influence on how the group performs.

Positive psychology has received a lot of popular press and media attention in the past several years. A core assumption of positive psychology is that people want to live lives of meaning and purpose, beyond simply avoiding hassles or correcting problems. Positive psychology arose from within the context of the mental health profession, having been heavily influenced by the medical model and the corresponding emphases on pathology, illnesses, and weaknesses, with “scant knowledge of what makes life worth living”. One of the goals of positive psychology was “to begin to catalyze a change in the focus of psychology from preoccupation only with repairing the worst things in life to also building positive qualities”. Much of psychology has been built upon the premise that improving deficits will help us lead fuller and more productive lives. The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions illustrates the adaptive value of positive affect.

It is time for a psychology of giftedness—time to recognize the developmental differences, personality traits, lifespan development, particular issues and struggles of the gifted, as well as the consequences of not being acceptable. The focus on eminence ignores the exceptionally gifted, the twice exceptional, underachievers, gifted preschoolers, women who chose parenting as the main expression of their gifts, gifted teachers, gifted elders, self-actualizing volunteers—the gifted whose names shall never be known. Gifted babies tend to be responsive infants, sometimes smiling early, which elicits the best from their parents. As the concept of mental age has been abandoned in psychology, there is little awareness that gifted children’s friendship patterns and social conceptions are more related to their mental age than their chronological age. Acceleration and home-schooling can ameliorate the social alienation of exceptionally gifted children. And gifted children demonstrate higher intrinsic than extrinsic motivation.

This chapter provides an overview of forensic psychology in family court. It highlights the changing modern family and child custody issues. Two areas that might be considered only collateral to family issues are domestic violence and suicide. Suicide was included in this chapter for several reasons: There is an upsurge of teen suicides, which includes children still living with their family of origin; suicide is a major research area for forensic psychologists; and forensic psychologists are in a particularly good position to conduct psychological autopsies when the circumstances require them. Domestic violence was included because even though it is not necessarily limited to family members, it is a problem that does occur in families. Forensic psychologists may be called in to evaluate domestic violence either as a collateral issue to child custody issues or for direct evaluation and testimony.

This chapter distinguishes the roles of the attorney and the forensic psychologist by following their contributions from the pretrial stage through the course of a trial and to the post-trial proceedings. Also, it clarifies their roles and explains the ethical considerations of the forensic psychologist in regard to the question, “Who is the client?” The similarities and differences in the attorney’s and the forensic psychologist’s ethical codes, duties, and relationships are explored. Taking a cue from one of the attorneys interviewed for this chapter, an example of how each role is applied in the case of one legal construct is explored. This construct is “diminished capacity”, which is no longer a defense in California and other states. The case that is recognized as the reason for the abolition of this defense, although over 30 years old, provides an excellent method for explaining the change.

Aside from guidance in the case of a neglected, abused, or abandoned child or an offending juvenile, the forensic psychologist plays an important role in advocating for special needs children and advocating, on their behalf, enforcement of the antidiscrimination laws that apply to the educational system. This chapter is all about children of all ages. It discusses all aspects of children and the law through laws, psychology, and cases. The approach was chronological, in that the first part of the chapter addresses abused, neglected, and abandoned children (usually the youngest), then considers education, and ends with the main forensic psychology topic of juveniles in the justice system—that is, delinquents; their behavior, rights, and punishment; and the laws that affect them. Research into the adolescent brain was cited, as were several topical cases that illustrate the still fluctuating thinking about juvenile justice.

As cultural diversity increases in the United States, school social workers and psychologists are on the front lines of empowering children and families to deal effectively with a public school system that has the power to influence the lives of children and families in positive and negative ways. The development of bilingual, bicultural, and culturally competent social workers is critical for a positive interaction and healthy relationship among the child, the family, and the school systems, especially when a child demonstrates some form of learning difficulty. Culturally competent school clinicians play a central role in appreciating and dealing with the power, powerlessness, and unequal power relationships that are inherent in these systems. Empowering diverse families will result in vast numbers of children experiencing more satisfying and productive relationships with the educational system and will help them reconcile the various cultural challenges presented by the home, the community, and the school.

This chapter explores sexting behavior among youth, including various typologies and strategies for assessment and prevention. Sexting is defined as youth-produced sexually explicit images/videos, which are transmitted among others who are also younger than 18 years. The main goals of assessing youth engaged in sexting behavior are to determine whether they best fit into the aggravated or experimental group, and to identify any underlying mental health issues that should be addressed. The chapter discusses two aspects of a comprehensive assessment: psychosocial–sexual assessment and psychological testing and standardized questionnaires. It also discusses some common tests and questionnaires such as Internet Sex Screening Test–Adolescent, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–Adolescent, Desistence for Adolescents who Sexually Harm (DASH-13), and Jesness Inventory–Revised (JI-RTM). The chapter further addresses four topic areas of primary prevention: motivation for sexting, psychology of the Internet, psychological and long term consequences, and sexuality and relationship education.

This chapter shows some opening remarks for mental health professionals (MHPs) and trainees who are new to doing cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and positive psychology (PP) treatments with kids suffering from an internalizing disorder. It reviews the parental lunacy concept and presents some overview comments regarding positive ethics and multiculturalism. MHPs need to know how to heal pain as well as how to promote joy and meaning in kids, teens, and their families. Ethics should focus not only on how a few psychologists harm patients but also on how all psychologists can do better at helping them. This view of ethics is called positive or active ethics. Kid clinicians operating predominantly from a perspective of maximizing understanding, healing, and happiness can be filled with a sense of purpose, flow, and self-efficacy. Minority youth are treated differently than Caucasian youth when interacting both with traditional mental health systems.

This chapter presents the student as an effective learner who is mentored in the use of academic and self-regulatory tools that can be found in mindfulness and yoga practices. These tools facilitate the learner’s ability to construct his or her own meaning and cultural impact. The chapter offers a brief history of the goals and values of education in the United States. It explores connections to social emotional learning (SEL), service learning (SL), and contemplative education (CE). It reviews the Mindful and Yogic Self as Effective Learner (MY-SEL) model, as well as the theoretical underpinnings and empirical support underlying the development of a mindful and yoga-based approach to embodied self-regulation, based on the attuned self-representational model (ARMS). The chapter also emphasizes the concept of teacher as learner and practitioner. The effective learner has the psychosocial tools and skills needed to present as intentional and reflective while engaged with others.

Behavioral activation (BA) and physiological calming (PC) are primarily behavioral interventions, though PC involves clearing one’s mind and BA calls for a kid to overcome thoughts promoting lethargy. Additional commentary is one of the staples of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) interventions. However, there are certain positive psychology (PP) interventions that kids can do, within the context of CBT that appear to be helpful. The first of these is to focus on gratitude. As the author go through these techniques, it is noted that they are similar to the coping/happy thoughts intervention. The placement of commentary module in the sequence of interventions varies considerably based on: how a kid has done with other cognitive interventions, the progress of the work, and the characteristics of the kid, his family, and the context. A crisis module can be helpful when an older kid or teen is trying to find perspective regarding painful events.

This chapter explores the interventions employed within pastoral counseling that resonate with other mental health professions. Although interventions differ by definition and discipline, the chapter intends to elucidate the common ground shared across professions that serve to promote mental well-being. The actual interventions employed by different allied health professions similarly share a common ground. Most of the interventions used by pastoral counselors stem from a psychotherapeutic perspective informed by psychological theories and the historical, collective experience of the mental health disciplines. Pastoral counselors and other allied professionals are equally likely to draw from the shared pool of therapeutic interventions. The allied professions find common ground in psychodynamic interventions given the historical roots and cultural breadth of that paradigm. The humanistic and existential paradigms of psychotherapeutic intervention serve as another common ground for pastoral counselors and the allied professions.

Membership in a profession offers an individual status and responsibility. Law and medicine, both considered models of professionalism, are founded on a body of knowledge, technique, and practice. This chapter describes the mental health professions and outlines types of degrees, degree requirements, licensure requirements, board certifications associated with a profession, and the scope of practice of the professions. The chapter helps the reader distinguish counseling from psychology and the other mental health professions. Psychiatrists are licensed physicians who hold either the MD or DO degree. Psychologists treat individuals with psychotherapy and counseling, and assess individuals with IQ, aptitude, personality, and interest tests. Psychiatric nurses are master’s-degree–trained nurses with specialized coursework in psychotherapeutic approaches. Marriage and family therapists focus on relationship concerns experienced by couples or families. Social workers generally specialize in public policy or clinical social work.

There are positive and negative aspects of life at every age throughout the life span, and aging is no exception. This chapter presents a more balanced view of older adults’ mental health and cognitive abilities, one that moves away from the stereotypes. It focuses on mental health and cognitive abilities as people age, with a presentation of the many positive characteristics of older adults’ psychological and emotional well-being as well as difficulties some may face, such as depression and dementia. The chapter also describes how personality changes over the life span and how the creative arts can positively impact the lives of older adults. Finally, it discusses factors that can positively and negatively affect older adults’ mental and cognitive abilities. The Practical Application presented at the end of the chapter focuses on unique challenges faced by individuals currently around 80 and above due to mental health stereotypes and stigmas.

Mindfulness and meditation were embedded within their religious and cultural roots, and as such they were rarely used by psychologists as interventions in a secular therapy context. In recent years there has been an emerging body of empirical research supporting both mindfulness and hypnosis interventions. Mindfulness and hypnosis have been shown to be of benefit for similar problems (i.e., stress, anxiety, pain, depression, irritable bowel syndrome), and in other research hypnosis may offer some advantages of brevity and effect on symptoms (i.e., acute and procedural pain, hot flashes, dermatological symptoms, sleep quality, habits). However, the mechanisms by which they achieve benefit may be similar in some regards (i.e., relaxation, focus of attention, awareness) and different in other aspects (i.e., hypnotizability, hypnotic state, expectancy, goal-directed suggestions). Also, studies provide substantive evidence that when hypnotherapy is integrated into standard cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT), therapeutic gains tend to be superior to CBT alone.

This chapter explores the utility of applying the unified theory of crime with theory of developmental trajectories of childhood aggression to predict possible neuroscience-informed policy and practice strategies for improved outcomes in the management of violence and aggression in schools. Contributions of neurobiological factors to violence and aggression have received less attention in the social work literature than psychosocial factors, as is true of many behaviors that are a focus of social work practice. Specific research into violence in the schools has focused less on neurological contributors to youth aggression in the school setting, and more on hypothesized trigger behaviors or events such as bullying, and social rejection. When examining neurological underpinnings to violence in schools, the role of health disparities and related educational status disproportionalities emerge in the policy context. Enacting schoolwide screening policies for behavioral risk factors has shown promise as a violence prevention step for some time.

This chapter focuses on one particular type of eyewitness memory the memory of an eyewitness for the face of the perpetrator. Eyewitness identifications are crucial evidence in upward of 80,000 criminal cases per year. Accurate eyewitness memory can help police catch criminals and can help prosecutors bring solid cases against those criminals. The person accused of a crime also deserves to have justice done to not be falsely accused or wrongfully imprisoned. To understand eyewitness memory, one has to understand perceptual psychology, cognitive psychology, social psychology, motivation, emotion, reasoning, personality just about every kind of psychology we can imagine. Mistaken identifications are a memory problem. They involve a person retrieving details from memory but being mistaken in the recollection of those details. The good news is that cognitive and social psychologists have been hard at work in developing science-based approaches that can reduce the problem.

One of the best known psychologists of the 20th century was Jean Piaget. The memory he described was from when he was about 2 years old, a kidnapping attempt in which his nurse tried to protect him. According to the storehouse metaphor, memory is kind of a warehouse. When one remembers an event from one’s life, one looks through this warehouse. Remembering a past event is also a kind of simulation, a simulation of what happened in the past, rather than a veridical reproduction of the past. In fact, our best understanding is that brains are massively parallel simulation devices. Constructive theories deal with filling in gaps at encoding as the event transpires, whereas reconstructive theories deal with filling in gaps at retrieval as one tries to remember the event. When thinking about memory illusions it is important to make a similar distinction.

This chapter helps reader to effectively delineate the core components of comprehensive case reports and identify school-based report-writing strategies that facilitate problem-solving decisions. It discusses different types of comprehensive case reports to illustrate the key components essential to producing effective psychoeducational summaries that help inform schools, parents, and mental health professionals of an individual’s needs. Report writing is a core skill competency area for the practice of school psychology and multiple writing exercises are often intertwined into the practica requirements. The overarching goal of psychological and psychoeducational report writing is to succinctly, accurately, and respectfully communicate the needs of an individual. Astute parents and teachers generally know the referral concerns and low areas of performance prior to reading psychoeducational reports. Any school psychologist who can consistently deliver insight on academic and behavioral needs with solutions will be highly respected and sought out.

This chapter helps the reader to describe the ethical standards related to practicing within one’s competencies. The school psychology internship represents the culminating, comprehensive, supervised field experience prior to engaging in full-time employment. Internship offers an opportunity to integrate and apply the range of skills acquired through course work and practica while learning new skills as well. Often, professional organizations and agencies for a variety of disciplines offer specific guidelines and standards related to ethical behavior. Within school psychology, the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) as well as the American Psychological Association (APA) offers the primary guidelines for professional ethics. All school psychology interns should remember that while they possess professional skills, the intent of the internship is to provide a structured supervised training experience. Taking on a role as a professional, while appealing, can create practical and ethical challenges.

This chapter helps the reader to be familiar with the concept of an advanced specialization practicum. The overarching goal is to learn core competencies for assessment, intervention, consultation, and systems-level pedagogical supports. There is an increasing need for school psychologists with expertize in high school transition and postsecondary evaluations as well as dual enrollment collaborative evaluations. Clinic-based examples of specialized practica might include forensics evaluation through a law clinic or adjudicated youth programs, inpatient or outpatient hospital units, community mental health agencies, and private practice. The chapter describes important considerations for pursuing a variety of advanced practicum experiences, including coordinating postsecondary transition services, conducting forensic evaluations, and working within settings that utilize a medical model. To secure disability services at the college level, eligible students are required to submit acceptable documentation.

This chapter helps the reader to demonstrate an understanding of the benefits of peer supervision and gain knowledge of supervision models. Peer mentoring and peer supervision are vital components of the postsecondary educational experience for all degree tracks that can promote retention, acclimation to graduate studies, and a sense of community within programs. Generally, both peer supervisors and peer mentors provide encouragement, socialization to the graduate school program, networking connections, and informal advice. The peer supervision elements may include teaching by modeling skills and preliminary review of assignments. Some programs may formally match advanced students with incoming students across the program based on common specialization interests or degree tracks, whereas other programs may consider matching based on the logistics of practica placement or joint participation in a research team project. Peer supervisors may discuss numerous aspects of the supervisee’s experience in the school psychology program.

This chapter helps the reader to acquire knowledge of the portfolio approach to demonstrating competencies. School psychology programs are typically approved and/or accredited by state departments of education, the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), and the American Psychological Association (APA) depending on the scope of the training and the degree track. Proximal data focus on changes that occur in the acquisition of graduate students’ skills, knowledge, and professional behaviors. Faculties also understand that students can be at different levels of skill acquisition across domains depending on the sequence of curricula and the length of practice with specific skills. Through the evaluation process, graduate students may be asked to sign consent for release of information form acknowledging the exchange of performance data between the practica site supervisor and the school psychology program.

This chapter helps the reader to develop a professional internship curriculum vita (CV). Given the role of internship in graduate preparation and finding employment after graduation, internship is among the most important decisions in graduate school. Regardless of the anticipated internship setting, all school psychology graduate students should prepare an effective and updated CV. Both are designed to outline the education and professional experiences. The professional experiences include practica or internship experiences, volunteer experiences, graduate assistantships, leadership experiences, editorial work, or other related work experiences. Selecting an internship site presents an exciting yet potentially stressful opportunity. Some districts allow interns the opportunity to participate in brief “rotations” in specialized centers or settings within the district to help create a broad and diverse learning experience. Some doctoral school psychology students may plan to pursue internship settings that either blend school and clinical settings, or are almost exclusively clinical in nature.

This chapter provides practical and procedural information for students beginning practicum and the journey toward entry-level professional competency. The practice of school psychology is a complex and challenging career that offers tremendous opportunity to affect positive outcomes for children and youth. Practica provides the initial experiences into this profession and a glimpse of the many possible career choices within the field. A review of professional demeanor and appearance characteristics noted the impact of these nonverbal cues that can define professional identity from the very first day of practicum. Site supervisors and faculty can also be an important resource in advising on organizational and time-management techniques that ease the stress of multiple time demands. In preparation for entry into public school systems or restrictive clinical sites, background checks and identification documents are important and are common practices in preparing for practica work.

Few guides exist that outline the use of contextual therapy theory as a supervision model for training systemic therapists. This chapter presents an overview of contextual therapy theory and its application to supervision, the role of the supervisor and supervisee, and the application of this supervision model to the given case example. The contextual therapy approach assumes an integrative, intergenerational stance, positing that both individual and relational realities constitute human existence. In order to examine both individual and relational realities in the supervision relationship, the contextual supervisor should incorporate the four basic tenets of the contextual therapy model into the supervision approach: existential facts/biology, individual psychology, transactional relational patterns, and relational ethics. The supervision relationship should also incorporate specific components related to ethics, such as fairness, trust, loyalty, and entitlement. The goals for training a contextual therapist mirror the goals put forth for the therapeutic relationship.

This chapter investigates the genetic makeup of happy people, and draws some conclusions about biological contributions to happiness. It discusses the behavioral characteristics of those who are happy. The chapter delves into an important area of research in positive psychology: looking at the personality traits that predict happiness. It shows that happy people are active in their work and leisure life, and extends this to a more general conclusion: Happy people tend to be active people. Contrary to the stereotype of happiness producing “contented cows”, happy people appear to be actively engaged in life. Religious and spiritual people tend to be happier than those who are not. A healthy humility may have an important role to play in our happiness. Humility helps us accept who we really are, so we can get past ourselves to focus on others and the beauty all around us.

This chapter explores the definition of mental health as a culturally prescribed concept with special emphasis on the topic of strength-based and resiliency-focused assessment. It discusses the complexities of psychological assessment with new immigrants as well as the determination of appropriate levels of intervention, including specialized treatment options. Culturally and linguistically appropriate therapeutic services and models will increase the effectiveness and efficaciousness of mental health treatment. A major mental health vulnerability in new immigrant populations is often the variety of traumatic experiences that has forced these individuals into the role of immigrants. Personal crisis, including any psychological/addictive symptoms experienced, should be addressed immediately by the mental health professional. The primary relationship between immigrant clients and mental health practitioners should be created and maintained. In initiating mental health interventions with immigrant children, it is ideal to engage the caretakers and complete family system in order to ensure treatment compliance and success.

This chapter helps the reader to learn happiness matters. Happiness is not simply a nice consequence of a successful life. Indeed, happiness itself is consequential. Research has shown that there are a number of beneficial by-products to experiencing positive emotions frequently: better relationships, better health, and better occupational success. Lyubomirsky’s theory highlights the importance of the intentionality of positive activities and this brings up an important point about happy people’s pursuits. As positive psychology and the study of happiness come more and more into the public eye, the author increasingly see the need for science to be at the heart of positive psychology. The positive psychology movement has identified six primary virtues that are essential to the good life: wisdom, courage, love, justice, temperance, and transcendence. Although these virtues vary somewhat in their relationships to subjective well-being (SWB), they all may be seen as critical to the life well lived.

This chapter explores positive psychology’s attempt to identify significant human virtues. Early in the positive psychology movement it was recognized that in order to advance research on human excellence, there was a need to develop a classification system complete with measurable strengths that would be meaningful to the good life. The chapter describes and defines the six core virtues, and also explores some of the more specific human strengths thought to be clustered with each virtue. The author believe that the most significant achievement of the Values in Action (VIA) project was to identify virtues and strengths that appear to transcend time and culture. Finally the chapter emphasizes and recommends two other attempts to identify transcendent virtues that come from outside of psychology. To emphasize one virtue without the others is bound to result in an imbalanced life.

This chapter shows that how positive psychology is in fact important to psychology as a whole. It attempts to explain the foundations of positive psychology. It looks at basic conceptions of happiness and subjective well-being (SWB) including all the debates therein, it explores the history of happiness, it debates the criticisms of positive psychology, it examines important theories of SWB and positive emotion, and finally it gives a taste of research in positive psychology. The chapter demonstrates the importance of the study of happiness and SWB. Moreover, as Fredrickson’s theory has shown, positive emotions are crucial, in that they broaden the authors’ momentary thought/action readiness and build essential personal resources for the future. Happiness and joy are consequential, as Helen Keller affirmed, “Joy is the holy fire that keeps our purpose warm and our intelligence aglow”.

This chapter describes the interacting forces, understanding the self, identity and emotions. It examines adolescent self and identity, which will serve as a basis for understanding much about the social and emotional world of adolescents. The adolescent years bring with them the long process of departing childhood and emerging into adulthood. Similar to many aspects of development during adolescence that proceed somewhat differently based on gender, males and females differ in the process of self-exploration and identity formation as well. Sexual experimentation is common during adolescence as part of this gender identity struggle. An inability to develop a mature ethnic identity may entail denying one’s culture of origin, whereas a healthy identity process may result in adolescents who are proud of both their culture of origin and the culture they find themselves in currently.

Any discussion of medications in today's practice environment should include an introduction to complementary and alternative or integrative medicine (CAM) and other herbal treatments and remedies, with an emphasis on using this information to complement traditional treatment strategy. CAM can include the therapeutic use of animals and animal parts, but most often is defined as involving plants. Social workers are in a unique position to aid clients in their use of complementary and alternative medicine. Homeopathic medicine involves the whole person; it considers the emotional, mental, and physical symptoms and matches them to the needs of a particular client. Social workers can assist comprehensive care by providing stress management strategies, relaxation techniques, and psychosocial interventions that can be incorporated into alternative therapies. Keeping abreast of all forms of treatment is important to provide the best possible care.

Older adults experiencing cognitive decline and any of the dementias are suffering in ever increasing numbers. With the aging of the baby-boom generation, the incidence of cognitive decline and dementia will exponentially escalate over the coming years. With this coming tsunami of dementia, older adults experiencing dementia, as well as their family members and caregivers, will need the services of psychologists. Psychologists are needed to help families recognize the importance of end-of-life planning for an older adult when first diagnosed with a dementia. When an older adult understands that he or she has responsibility for and choice in the decision to abuse a psychoactive substance, there is a greater probability of successful treatment and recovery from a substance abuse problem. Psychologists are in a unique position to assess whether older abuse is occurring and, when discovered, to intervene with advocacy initiatives.

This chapter examines medical trauma using the ecological lens to explore how a patient’s unique traits, characteristics, and history contribute to his or her interpretation of a medical experience. It also examines risk factors of the patient. The risk factors include personality, coping skills, past trauma history, preexisting mental health issues, previous medical experiences, lifestyle factors, life stressors, support system, and existential factors. Although much has been written regarding potential risk factors for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), there still remains no definitive way to determine who will experience trauma and recover with or without PTSD symptoms. Anxiety and depression are known to be risk factors for PTSD symptoms, and they can predispose individuals to negative evaluations of life events. Personality traits of neuroticism, inflexibility, high judgment, and a careless attitude are the very dispositions that can influence a person to have a traumatic stress response.

An indicator of the growth of research in the field of psychology and spirituality can be seen by examining the increase in the number of citations found over the past several decades in the PsycINFO database, which is the premier resource of the American Psychological Association (APA) that provides abstracts of peer-reviewed literature in the behavioral sciences and mental health. In addition to the field of psychology, data on the relevance of religion and spirituality is being generated by disciplines in the humanities and the physical and other social sciences to which spiritually oriented psychologists and other mental health therapists need to pay attention. One area that blends the psychological and the spiritual and offers an opportunity for collaboration between psychology and pastoral counseling is that of mindfulness-based therapies. The challenges for the world’s religions and spiritual traditions are the challenges for psychology and its allied professions, including pastoral counseling.

The medical model of psychopathology currently guides psychiatrists and many psychologists who are treating older adults experiencing psychological problems. Use of this model causes contradictions and distortions for the treating clinician and limits the effectiveness of treatment for older adults experiencing psychological problems. There are three areas of concern that illustrate these contradictions and distortions. The first area of concern is the fact that only two classes of psychiatric diagnoses meet the characteristics of a disease. The second area of concern is how the current use of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) continues a tradition among psychiatry, managed-care companies, and insurance companies that puts pressure on psychiatrists, psychologists, hospitals, and psychiatric rehabilitation facilities to treat in the most cost-effective and short-term manner. The third area of concern is the relationship that has occurred between psychiatry and pharmaceutical marketing forces.

The focus of career counseling has been on helping individuals successfully enter the world of work. This chapter provides a description of the career counseling specialty, defining the roles and functions, employment settings, and clients of career counselors. It provides a brief history of the professional specialty, with information on historic and current credentialing. The chapter outlines professional credentialing and licensure matters for career counselors. It describes ethical and legal issues specific to the practice of career counseling and explains diversity issues and ethical decision making. It differentiates the roles and functions of practitioners of career counseling from those of practitioners of other counseling specialties. The chapter reviews the assessment issues of career counseling. Career counselors practice in a variety of settings and render services to diverse individuals, corporations, and organizations. They must have sufficient knowledge and training to assess clients and administer tests.

This chapter brings together topics discussed throughout the book to examine ways we might be able to increase happiness. It first discusses the effectiveness of using positive psychology to increase individual happiness. The chapter then examines some Positive Psychology interventions (PPIs) directed toward institutions such as schools or workplaces. It also examines socio-structural approaches that drive toward the intersection of economics, government, public policy, psychology, and other social sciences. The chapter explores institutional-level approaches to increasing happiness by changing institutions with the hope that these changes will have widespread effects for individuals. The PPIs offer effective ways we can improve our own happiness by changing the way we think about events and the goals we choose to pursue. Rethinking social policies regarding taxes, social welfare systems, family and work balance, and so on, offers the opportunity to improve the happiness of our society as a whole.

This introductory chapter provides a brief about the book and explains the themes of the chapters involved in the book. The book tells the story of the scientific study of what makes us feel happy, content, joyous, and satisfied with our lives. It explores factors that affect our happiness. The psychology of happiness, perhaps even more than other areas of psychology, has important political implications. The scientific study of the psychology of happiness is not really new. Positive psychology’s emphasis on human strengths and the factors that create happiness is not really new. Although positive psychology did bring these emphases more to the forefront of psychology, they have always been there. Although there is no consensus on how to define happiness or well-being, there are well- established schools of thought that most researchers choose between. The two most prominent of these are the hedonic and the eudaimonic traditions.