This chapter aims to help clinicians learn stabilization interventions for use in the Preparation Phase of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) treatment. Using these interventions will aid clients in developing readiness for processing trauma, learning how to manage symptoms of dissociation, dealing with affect regulation, and developing the necessary internal cohesion and resources to utilize the EMDR trauma-processing phase. Earlier negative experiences stored dysfunctionally increase vulnerability to anxiety disorders, depression, and other diagnoses. When assessing a client with a complex trauma history, clinicians need to view current symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or depression as reflections of the earlier traumas. The chapter outlines the strategies dealing with dissociative symptoms, ego state work, and internal stability that help clinicians to develop an individualized treatment plan to successfully guide the client through the EMDR phases of treatment.

This chapter discusses the social psychology of humor, starting with a walk through how the presence of other people can make things seem funnier. It shows how humor can have a positive or a negative tone and it can focus on ourselves or on those around us. Self-enhancing humor makes stress tolerable. It can keep folks from viewing minor annoyances as unbearable disasters. The chapter sketches how humor can function to maintain the status quo. People who report using self-enhancing humor show less anxiety, neuroticism, and depression; better psychological well-being and self-esteem, and more extraversion, optimism, and openness to experience. When it comes to hierarchies, getting a feel for who’s cracking jokes and laughing can communicate who’s top dog. The chapter finally focuses on gender differences, and then sees how humor contributes to developing friendships, finding a date, and maintaining an intimate relationship.

This chapter presents the therapy manual detailing the specific treatment guidelines encompassing problem-solving therapy (PST). It is important during the initial sessions with a new client to develop a positive therapeutic relationship. Upon obtaining a brief version of the client’s story, it becomes important early in treatment to provide an overview of PST that includes a rationale for why it is relevant to, and potentially effective for, this individual. Problem solving can be thought of as a set of skills or tools that people use to handle, cope with, or resolve difficult situations encountered in daily living. Research has demonstrated that social problem solving is comprised of two major components. The first is called problem orientation. The second major component is one’s problem-solving style. The chapter also presents the case of a 27-year-old woman suffering from multiple concerns, including anxiety, depression, fears of “going crazy”, and prior alcohol abuse.

When Charles, a 46-year-old divorced male with an extensive psychiatric history of depression, substance abuse, and disordered eating resulting in a suicide attempt, erratic employment, and two failed marriages, began treatment with a clinical social worker trained in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), he was an angry, dysphoric individual beginning yet another cycle of destructive behavior. This chapter provides the reader with an overview of the standard DBT model as developed by Linehan. Dialectical behavior therapy, which engages vulnerable individuals early in its treatment cycle by acknowledging suffering and the intensity of the biosocial forces to be overcome and then attending to resulting symptoms, appears to be the model most congruent with and responsive to the cumulative scientific and theoretical research indicating the need for the development of self-regulatory abilities prior to discussions of traumatic material or deeply held schema.

This chapter covers major depression and discusses the syndrome of depression as defined by criteria in the various versions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manuals (DSMs) issued before the newly minted DSM-5. It considers the prevalence in time and across national boundaries. The chapter discusses the role of events and genetics in bringing on depression. It provides the link between depressive behaviors and systemic inflammation, and reviews the efficacy, and side effects for various treatments. There has been speculation that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) might play a causal role in creating symptoms of depression. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), which involves external application of an electrode, is a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved treatment for major depression. In the clinical literature, exercise has demonstrated efficacy in ameliorating major depression. Cognitive behavioral therapy is as effective as antidepressants, although it may be slower to achieve results.

This chapter describes family, friends and enemies, dating and love, tv and media, technology and cyberbullying. Children with close family relationships during middle childhood are more likely to have closeness in these relationships during adolescence than those with detached family relationships during middle childhood. Studies indicate that adolescents with high levels of parental monitoring are less likely to engage in problem behaviors than those with little or no parental monitoring. Many adolescents have little or no conflict, and those with elevated levels of conflict are often experiencing other difficulties in their lives such as substance abuse or depression. The way in which adolescents engage in victimization shifts from primarily physical aggression, which is more common during middle childhood, to social or relational bullying. An additional aspect of the reorganization of an adolescent’s social network discussed earlier involves a shakeup of the peer group to include more cross-sex interactions.

The adolescent stage of life does not occur in isolation from other developmental stages. When an adolescent is experiencing difficulties with parents and friends leading to feelings of sadness, studies of average adolescents and their natural propensity toward difficulties during the adolescent years can help us assess whether this particular adolescent’s problems go beyond the norm. Understanding normative adolescent development can help clarify for professionals working with teens if the issue they encounter with a client is clinical or developmental. The majority of the time, when a teen is experiencing sadness it is an expression of a normal part of the adolescent experience. Understanding normal adolescent development can help in making the types of determinations thoughtfully, without jumping to conclusions and over diagnosing adolescents with major depression when all they are experiencing is a normal developmental process.

Medical problems challenge older adults’ abilities to cope with illness, and at times they experience co-occurring psychological disorders. Therefore, social workers must provide services to assist older adults who are experiencing acute or chronic medical conditions. Older adults experiencing arthritic pain often experience a co-occurring depression. The major cancers experienced by older adults are breast cancer; chronic lymphocytic leukemia; lymphocytic lymphoma; colorectal cancer; lung cancer; mouth, head, and neck cancers; multiple myeloma; prostate cancer; skin cancers; and vulvae cancer. Those older adults suffering from diabetes have a greater chance of co-occurring vascular and cardiovascular conditions and a greater rate of institutionalization and subsequent mortality. Coordination with family members and caregivers about self-care issues, medicine compliance, safety issues, health socialization, and exercise is important because social workers often overlook psychoeducation with medically ill clients.