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. It provides Dr. Sachs’s honest and open remarks along with interspersed additions from the authors to introduce the field and its accompanying issues. In explaining his career trajectory, Dr. Sachs recalls earning his undergraduate degree in psychology and then applying to graduate programs in applied behavioral analysis. Dr. Sachs’s somewhat zigzagged trajectory in the field demonstrates the important sport and exercise psychology principle that explains the benefits of focusing on the process rather than the outcome when setting goals. Dr. Sachs added that the United States leads the way in research and writing with regard to sport and exercise psychology, while other countries may be more advanced in the application of that knowledge at the professional levels.

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.

One of the most important findings from the original battered woman syndrome (BWS) research was the existence of a three-phase cycle of violence that could be described and measured through careful questioning of the battered woman. This chapter describes the cycle, updates it by adding information from the courtship period, and divides the third phase into several different sections where appropriate so that there may not be any loving contrition or even respites from the abuse at times during the relationship. Teaching the woman how her perception of tension and danger rises to an acute battering incident after which she experiences feelings of relief and then gets seduced back into the relationship by the batterer’s loving behavior, often similar to what she experienced during the courtship period, has been found to be helpful in breaking the cycle of violence that keeps the woman in the relationship.

This chapter demonstrates how social work ethics apply to ethical and legal decision making in forensic social work practice. It discusses the context of social work practice in legal systems. The chapter also details the basic structures of the United States (U.S.) civil and criminal legal systems. It lays the foundation for the criminal and civil court processes in the United States and introduces basic terminology and a description of associated activities and progression through these systems. The chapter focuses on providing an introductory, and overarching, picture of both civil and criminal law in the U.S. and introduces the roles social workers play in these systems. It focuses on the ETHICA model of ethical decision making as a resource and tool that can be used to help forensic social workers process difficult and complex situations across multiple systems.

This chapter explains the theoretical basis for motivational interviewing (MI). It reviews the empirical evidence for the use of MI with diverse populations in forensic settings. MI involves attention to the language of change, and is designed to strengthen personal motivation and commitment to a specific goal by eliciting and exploring the person’s own reasons for change within an atmosphere of acceptance and compassion. It is now internationally recognized as an evidence-based practice intervention for alcohol and drug problems. MI involves an underlying spirit made up of partnership, acceptance, compassion, and evocation. The chapter discusses four key processes involved in MI: engaging, focusing, evoking, and planning. It also describes five key communication microskills used throughout MI: asking open-ended questions, providing affirmations, offering summarizing statements, providing information and advice with permission, and reflective statements.

As everyone knows, true creativity comes from simple formulas and the memorization of data. This chapter focuses on divergent thinking tests, which are still the most common way that creativity is measured. Guilford derived the core ideas behind divergent thinking as well as many popular measures. The people who score the Torrance Tests are specifically trained to distinguish responses that are truly original from those that are just bizarre. There are other tests that measure creativity, but most are either a variation on divergent thinking or use some type of raters. For example, the Evaluation of Potential Creativity (EPOC) has begun to be used in some studies and may be promising, but is still largely rooted in a mix of divergent thinking scoring and raters. Another test is the Finke Creative Invention Task, which is clever but also requires raters for scoring.

The Big Five, which this chapter discusses in more detail, are extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience. Each of these five factors represents a continuum of behavior, traits, and inclinations. There are some popular personality measures that use different theories, such as Eysenck’s Personality Questionnaire, which looks at extraversion and neuroticism as well as psychoticism. The personality factor most associated with creativity is openness to experience. Indeed, one way that researchers study creativity is by giving creative personality tests. Being open to new experiences may also help creative people be more productive. King found that people who were creative and high on openness to experience were more likely to report creative accomplishments. DeYoung and S. B. Kaufman, of course, are not the only people to blend or split different factors of personality to present new models. Fürst, Ghisletta, and Lubart suggest three factors: plasticity, divergence, and convergence.

This chapter explores three ’classic’ studies of creativity and mental illness. The first is Jamison whose focus is on the connection between bipolar disorder and creativity. The second is Andreasen, who used structured interviews to analyze 30 creative writers, 30 matched controls, and first-degree relatives of each group. The writers had a higher rate of mental illness, with a particular tendency toward bipolar and other affective disorders. The third major work is Ludwig, who utilized the historiometric technique. All three studies have come under serious criticism. Many of the studies of Big-C creators are historiometric, akin to Ludwig’s work. Some such studies claim that eminent creators show higher rates of mental illness. A much more common approach is to look at everyday people and give them measures of creativity and mental health. Typically, researchers look at what are called subclinical disorders—in other words, they’re not clinically significant.

One school admissions area that already uses creativity is gifted admissions—which students are chosen to enter gifted classes, programs, or after-school activities. Both education and business play great lip service to creativity. Puccio and Cabra review the literature on creativity and organizations and do a nice job of highlighting how every couple of years, a new report from industry emphasizes the importance of creativity. It is important to note that there is a large inconsistency between gender differences on creativity tests and actual creative accomplishment. Although gender differences on creativity tests are minor or nonexistent, differences in real-world creative accomplishment are large and significant. This chapter shows how creativity can play a role in admissions and hiring. Hiring measures tend to have better validity, even the general mental ability (GMA) measures; even if minorities score lower, the accuracy of prediction is consistent by ethnicity.

Creative people are also often seen as being outsiders and eccentric. Sen and Sharma’s examination of creativity beliefs in India tested beliefs about the Four P’s and found that creativity was more likely to be described as a holistic essence of an individual, and less likely to be focused on the product or process. Romo and Alfonso studied Spanish painters and found that one of the implicit theories that the painters held about creativity involved the role of psychological disorders. Plucker and Dana found that past histories of alcohol, marijuana, and tobacco usage were not correlated with creative achievements; familial drug and alcohol use also was not significantly associated with creative accomplishments or creative personality attributes. Humphrey, McKay, Primi, and Kaufman did find that illegal drug use predicted self-reported creative behaviors even when openness to experience was controlled.

This chapter aims to give the behavioral health specialist (BHS) a basic understanding of pain, knowledge about how to effectively evaluate chronic pain, and a description of effective pain management techniques. Knowledge of the biological and psychological basis of pain is important to understanding the experience of chronic pain. A biopsychosocial assessment is the foundation for providing behavioral health treatment to the chronic pain patient. Chronic pain is less responsive to treatments commonly used for acute pain such as opioid analgesia and avoiding physical activity. A multidisciplinary team approach can substantially improve outcomes in chronic pain treatment. Whatever the format of service provision, utilizing multiple interventions such as physical therapy/exercise, emotional management, pacing, and medication, rather than a single modality can substantially improve outcomes for chronic pain. Providing psychoeducation about chronic pain can be an important strategy.

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 focuses on an area that has been at the center of the debate between the approaches: processing ambiguous words and sentences. Interestingly, an important factor for ambiguity resolution appears to be the frequency of the different meanings of the ambiguous words. Subordinate- bias effect is as follows: in a neutral, nonbiasing context, words that are balanced cause longer reading times than words that are either unbalanced or unambiguous. Different languages impose different rules about how grammatical categories may be combined. In the garden path model, sentence processing happens in two stages: an initial structure building stage in which the only information that is used is syntactic, and then a second stage in which the structure is checked against semantic and pragmatic information. Constraint-based models take a very different approach to how sentences are initially parsed and how mistakes are sometimes made.

This chapter shows the importance, for older persons, of support groups. In spite of the changes that have occurred in the American family, and all the negative things that fill the popular press concerning family relationships, the family is still the backbone of support for most older people. To some extent, the type of family support older people obtain depends on whether they are living in the community or in an institutional setting such as a group home, retirement village, or nursing facility. Whether a person is married, has great impact on that person’s support within a family setting including emotional, financial, and physical support, particularly in times of illness or infirmity. The success of a second marriage depends to a considerable extent on the reaction of the adult children of the elderly couple. Older grandparents, no matter how motivated, can find caring for grandchildren to be very tiring.

This chapter shows how the United States and the world are experiencing an aging evolution we are growing older. America is going through a revolution. As a whole, Americans are becoming older, and there are many more older people among people than ever before in our history. Obviously all cohorts of the population youth, young adults, middle-aged, young-old, oldest-old are heterogeneous. When some people think about the elderly as a whole, they picture frail, weak, dependent persons, some in nursing homes and many confined to their homes. The chapter demonstrates the differences the various age categories have in relation to selected chronic health conditions that cause limitations of activity. Widowhood is much more common for elderly American women than for older men. The aging of Baby Boomers will solidify the shift America is experiencing with the aging of its population. Centenarians make up a small percentage of the total U.S. population.

The primary purpose of Module 3 of the MAC program is the understanding and exploration of values as a central orienting concept. In the context of understanding the important role of values in enhanced performance and quality of life, the functional and dysfunctional role of emotions is also considered. This chapter suggests to clients that their personal values will be the anchor point for all behavioral decisions that need to be made in the course of enhancing performance and achieving goals. The concepts of mindful awareness, mindful attention, and cognitive fusion and cognitive defusion become integrated with the concept of values-directed versus emotion-directed behavior. The Relevant Mindful Activity Exercise is intended to connect the mindfulness concept to a relevant performance situation in the client’s life. The question of personal values is particularly salient when confronted by the variety of emotions and internal rules that client confronts on a daily basis.

The researchers were specifically interested in whether they would get more incorrect responses depending on the type of sentence. From a certain perspective, passive sentences are more complicated than active sentences and so perhaps it is the case that passives are more difficult simply because they are more complicated. It appears that the important difference between subject cleft and actives on one hand, and passives on the other, is that the order of the roles is reversed between them: in active sentences, the agent comes first. Indeed, there is a growing body of evidence that languages allow English speakers to structure their utterances in a way that can flag certain parts of the sentence as particularly important or worthy of special attention. Recently, psycholinguists have been interested, too, in how information structure influences language processing.

The study of the properties of language can be divided up into roughly five, somewhat overlapping categories: sound system, word structure, sentence structure, meaning, and real-world use. In spoken languages, segments are sounds—each language has a set of sounds that are produced by changing the positions of various parts of the vocal tract. The sound system of language is actually studied in two main parts: phonetics, phonology. Phonemes can be combined to make words, and words themselves have an internal structure and can even be ambiguous based on this structure. Syntax is the study of how sentences are formed. There are two noun phrases (NPs) in the sentence—the artist and a paintbrush. The field of semantics is concerned with meaning in language and can be divided into two major parts: lexical and propositional.

The long-term use of benzodiazepines causes severe cognitive and neurological impairments, atrophy of the brain, and dementia, and the newer sleep aids should be considered a potential but unproven risk in this regard. Some of the most severe cases of chronic brain impairment (CBI) occur after years of exposure to benzodiazepines. This chapter examines the risk of increased mortality associated with benzodiazepines and closely-related sleep aids when given in relatively small doses for short periods of time in the treatment of insomnia. All of the benzodiazepines and the more common prescribed sleep aids are addictive. Opiate and opioid withdrawal tends to be more predictable than psychiatric drug withdrawal. Like the abuse of stimulants and benzodiazepines, abuse of opiates and opioids can result in unlawful acts. The chapter addresses legally used opioids, involving mild-to-moderate abuse or dependence as found in patients who can often be safely withdrawn in an outpatient setting.

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.

Coverage of obesity in the popular press has reached a fever pitch in recent years. By far, the most common definition of obesity uses the body mass index (BMI) to determine who is overweight or obese. A person's BMI is a ratio of his or her weight to height. Many times BMI is criticized for the false positives, where very muscular people are deemed to be obese despite ultralow body fat levels. Waist circumference or waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) measures something called “abdominal or central obesity”, a condition that is closely related to negative health outcomes such as cardiovascular disease. The costs to society of obesity and related health issues are tremendous. Women, ethnic and racial subgroups, and those of low socioeconomic status (SES) all display higher rates of obesity than the overall population. Obesity is much more common in certain racial and ethnic subpopulations, as compared with Caucasian Americans.

The idea of the mad genius persisted all the way to modern times and was even promulgated in scientific circles. Not only was genius mad, but it was associated with criminality and genetic degeneration. The empirical research relevant to the mad-genius issue uses three major methods: the historiometric, the psychometric and the psychiatric. The historical record is replete with putative exemplars of mad genius. The mental illness adopts a more subtle but still pernicious guise-alcoholism. In fact, it sometimes appears that alcoholism is one of the necessities of literary genius. Psychopathology can be found in other forms of genius besides creative genius. Of the available pathologies, depression seems to be the most frequent, along with its correlates of suicide and alcoholism or drug abuse. Family lineages that have higher than average rates of psychopathology will also feature higher than average rates of genius.

This chapter talks about questions related to how speakers and hearers influence each other. It looks at research on dialogue, and especially how a dialogue context influences speakers. Speakers have an impact on their listeners. The goal of a dialogue is successful communication and so it would make sense that a speaker would pay careful attention to the needs of a listener and do things like avoid ambiguity and package information in a way that flags particular information as important or new to the listener. Ambiguity may be avoided depending on the speaker’s choice of words and so a natural question is whether, and when, speakers appear to avoid ambiguous language. In terms of pronunciation, speakers reduce articulation and intelligibility over the course of a dialogue. There are some constraints and preferences on how to interpret pronouns and other coreferring expressions that appear to be structural or syntactic in nature.

This chapter presents the theoretical and empirical rationale for the development of an innovative intervention for the enhancement of performance. The mindfulness-acceptance-commitment (MAC) approach to performance enhancement is based on an integration of mindfulness and acceptance-based approaches and is specifically tailored for high-performing clientele. The predominant psychological approaches have emphasized the development of self-control of internal states such as thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations and have been commonly referred to as psychological skills training (PST) procedures. The self-regulatory PST procedures most often discussed are goal-setting, imagery/mental rehearsal, arousal control, self-talk modification, and precompetitive routines. The efficacy of psychological skills training techniques and procedures for performance enhancement has been most carefully evaluated within the context of athletic performance enhancement. Mindfulness can be seen as the process that promotes greater awareness of internal experiences and the defusion of one’s thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations.

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 describes a systematic approach to intervention planning in performance psychology. It presents a case formulation method for a comprehensive understanding of the client, and an appropriate multilevel classification system for sport psychology (MCS-SP) classification that subsequently either guides the proper delivery of the mindfulness-acceptance-commitment (MAC) program or leads to the determination that the performer’s needs are beyond the scope of the MAC program. The MCS-SP categorizes the issues and barriers facing the performer into four classifications: performance development (PD), performance dysfunction (Pdy), performance impairment (PI), and performance termination (PT). In the case formulation method suggested in the chapter, the practitioner’s first goal is to conceptualize performance needs and barriers based on the information systematically collected during the assessment process.

Beginning with Module 5 of the mindfulness-acceptance-commitment (MAC) protocol, this chapter seeks to enhance the client’s commitment to attaining performance-related values through the activation of specific values-directed behaviors. In this portion of MAC, the intent is to help clients distinguish between goals and values and explicate specific behaviors that will optimize what really matters to them in their individual performance domain. The chapter reviews the role that emotion plays as a barrier against necessary performance behaviors and, conversely, the concept of poise as a necessary ingredient in optimal performance. It identifies specific behaviors that, if engaged in regularly and consistently, are likely to result in enhanced performance. In Module 5, the consultant continues to help the client move ever closer to mindful engagement in competition by focusing more heavily on mindfulness practice.

This chapter differentiates intelligence and related constructs such as creativity and intellectual giftedness, which helps people to better understand each construct. Sternberg proposed a way to classify the various approaches to studying the intelligence-creativity relationship. Guilford’s Structure of the Intellect (SOI) model is probably the most explicit, with divergent thinking specifically identified as one of his five cognitive operations. The relationship between intelligence and giftedness has also received substantial attention. Every gifted education program has a formal assessment procedure to identify potential participants, and creativity assessments are often included in the battery of measures in these identification systems. The Marland Definition suggests that giftedness and talent are manifest in six areas: general intellectual ability, specific academic aptitude, creative or productive thinking, leadership ability, visual and performing arts, and psychomotor ability. It has been extremely influential and is still used by many school districts in their identification of talented students.

This chapter presents an overview of the issues and challenges that confront the consultant when utilizing the mindfulness-acceptance-commitment (MAC) in a group or team setting, and how these issues were reflected with the lacrosse team. The stated goal of the MAC program was to promote enhanced performance through the development of greater poise and concentration. One of the challenges to engaging in an experientially intensive program like the MAC is ensuring that all participants are both completing and receiving maximum benefit from their between-session forms and exercises. Given the central place of mindfulness exercises in the MAC program, it is particularly important that sufficient time is allotted for in-session mindfulness practice. Prior to beginning the group program, the consultant can recommend to clients with performance dysfunction (Pdy) that they not join the group, but instead engage only in individual sessions.

This chapter shows an overview of the techniques that are used to measure language processing. It shows at the things psycholinguists do when designing experiments in order to ensure that their results are valid. Online measures include any measure considered to give information about language processing as it happens. The prototypical off-line measure is the questionnaire—literally asking people for their judgments about what they’ve just encountered. In fact, all kinds of data can be collected from questionnaire studies. The button press task is perhaps the most versatile of all the things that people can do to collect data involving response times. The conscious responses discussed about here are vocal response. Like eye-tracking, event-related brain potentials (ERPs) help to understand the technique if people know a bit about the response measured—in this case, the brain. In many ways, functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) can be considered the complement to ERPs.

The genetic causes of obesity are often separated into to two types: monogenic and polygenic. Monogenic obesity refers to forms of obesity that result from very rare mutations in single genes. In the case of polygenic obesity, any single gene susceptibility would have a very small effect, but taken together, the cumulative effect of several susceptibilities leads to a substantially increased risk of obesity. There are many other pieces of compelling evidence for the environmental causes of obesity. The prevalence of obesity in the United States has been the highest in the world, though the prevalence of obesity is rising in both developed and developing nations around the globe as they adopt “Western” lifestyles of decreased physical activity and higher consumption of cheap, calorie-dense foods. There is another theory that “genetic drift” and “predation release” caused obesity to simply become neutral to our ancestors, as opposed to detrimental.

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.

Psycholinguist is someone who studies phenomena in the intersection of linguistics and psychology. The whole endeavor of psycholinguistics often finds a home in the broader research field of cognitive science—an interdisciplinary field that addresses the difficult question of how animals, people, and even computers think. The centrality of language in the daily lives means that any disruption to the ability to use it may be keenly felt—the worse the disruption, the more devastating the impact. From the beginning of psychology, there has been an interest in language. In psychology, behaviorism was a movement in which the study of mental states was more or less rejected, and the idea that one could account for human behavior in terms of mental states or representation was discounted. This book covers a number of topics that are very much relevant in current psycholinguistics, including child language acquisition, sign language, language perception, and grammatical structure.

Most school-based interventions aimed at preventing obesity have focused on a few key areas: improving the food offered in school, increasing opportunities for physical activity, health and nutrition education curricula, and screening youth for overweight and obesity. Positive effects on physical activity are encouraging because developing good habits early may help prevent obesity later in life. Many obesity prevention programs have looked at adding health, nutrition, and physical education courses to the school day. One initiative that has been proposed is to screen children and teens for obesity in schools, similar to the hearing and vision screenings that already take place. Some schools also collect body mass index (BMI) data on students for surveillance purposes, where information is anonymous and used to track whether certain school policies are effective in reducing rates of obesity for the school, district, or state as a whole.

To truly understand how important and central memory is to us, it is important to understand what life is like for people who experience memory loss, or amnesia. This chapter examines the amnestic syndrome, which has been widely studied and the knowledge of which has significantly influenced theories of memory. The abilities and nonabilities of those with amnestic syndrome demonstrate that there are multiple independent systems of memory. The chapter also examines two controversial diagnoses, the main feature of which is memory loss dissociative identity disorder (DID) and psychogenic or dissociative amnesia. It discusses a form of memory loss that does not fit the technical definition of amnesia because it eventually affects not just memory but all cognition: Alzheimer’s disease (AD). AD is common among older adults and demonstrates how a worsening loss of memory and cognition can lead to a complete disruption of everyday life.

In our success-oriented culture, optimal development of giftedness often is construed as fulfilling one’s potential for greatness. In humanistic psychology, optimal development has been conceptualized differently. Self-realization can be understood in terms of Maslow’s self-actualization, Dabrowski’s secondary integration, Jung’s individuation, or other theoretical perspectives of human development. The goals of inner development involve deepening the personality, overcoming conflicts, and actualizing one’s potential for becoming one’s best self. Many parents of the gifted complain that their children are the ones exerting the pressure. Their speed of learning and quest for knowledge often exceed their parents’ comfort level. The purpose of parent guidance is to foster “optimal development” through early intervention and prevention of social and emotional problems. Assessment can act as a prelude to family therapy. Family therapy usually involves a commitment to several successive sessions to deal with family interactions.

The primary purpose of Module 4 of the MAC protocol is the development of an understanding of the costs associated with experiential avoidance. This chapter highlights the contrasting benefits of experiential acceptance in pursuing performance desires within the context of a values-based life. The essential goal of the MAC program is to convey the idea that emotions are not the enemy of effective performance, but rather it is the things that people do to eliminate or otherwise control emotions that are counterproductive to high-level performance states. A consultant and client explore the workability of the client’s past efforts to control negative thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations. Mindfulness exercises should be used as a means of enhancing the capacity to observe and describe internal processes and external events. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the issue of the consultant’s comfort with and understanding of the basic acceptance model.

The primary intent of mindfulness-acceptance-commitment (MAC) Module 2 is an expanded introduction to the importance of mindful awareness and mindful attention in promoting behavior change in general and enhanced performance in particular. This chapter suggests that Module 2 and all subsequent modules begin with the ‘Brief Centering Exercise’. During Module 2, the practitioner describes mindfulness as a process and points out that mindfulness exercises are a means to develop specific skills of self-regulated attention, cognitive defusion, and personal awareness. The primary means of promoting self-awareness throughout the MAC program is the during- and between-session use of a variety of mindfulness exercises intended to enhance awareness of internal and external events and enhance the self-regulation of attention. One of the key elements to the successful completion of the MAC protocol is adherence to the between-session exercises.

Intelligence is a hypothesized quality whose ontology, etiology, and scale must be inferred through indirect means. Personal definitions of intelligence are not the same as constructs of intelligence. Psychological constructs are highly technical, painstakingly crafted, and subjected to rigorous theoretical examination and empirical testing. Intellectual abilities are organized at a general level into two general intelligences, viz., fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence. Intelligence is the sum total of all cognitive processes. It entails planning, coding of information and attention, as well as arousal. Given his personal history and society’s attitudes toward heredity, that Galton concluded that the development of genius, must be understood in terms of hereditary processes. The chapter concludes with two tables presenting definitions of intelligence provided by several prominent historical and living intelligence theorists. They convince readers that human intelligence is a fascinating and complex subject, and to provide a foreshadowing of many of the essential issues.

By the final mindfulness-acceptance-commitment (MAC) module, clients should be regularly engaged in exercises to promote MAC skills that are central to optimal human performance. These skills include: mindfulness, acceptance and commitment. The overarching purpose of Module 7 is to prepare the client for the completion of the MAC program by stressing the lifelong nature of these skills and exercises. When reviewing the entire MAC program, this chapter suggests that the consultant begin with a review of the initial stated purpose for the client’s participation in the program, including a discussion of the performance-related issues and goals that existed at the time the MAC program was initiated. The chapter presents the relationship between the formal consultant-guided MAC program and the less formal, self-guided MAC program. Prior to the completion of the MAC protocol, the chapter also suggests that the consultant discuss the unbreakable link between self-reflection and self-correction.

In theory, the construction of an autobiographical memory begins with a retrieval model being generated in the brain. This retrieval model activates general knowledge about the self, which is used to retrieve episodic memory details consistent with the desired memory. Autobiographical memory is a complicated skill that results from the union of episodic memory and an abstract concept of self laid out over time. This transformation of episodic into autobiographical memories results in forgetting of some incidents, and mashups the details from two or more separate incidents into a single memory that feels like it happened to the self at a particular point in time. Autobiographical memory is said to serve at least three important functions: identity, directive, and social. Autobiographical memories also serve as guides for future behavior. A function of autobiographical memory is to create and strengthen bonds between people.

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.

The syndrome of chronic brain impairment (CBI) can be caused by any trauma to the brain, including months or years of exposure to one or more psychiatric medications. Although all psychiatric drugs have specific initial biochemical effects, over time other neurotransmitter systems then react to the initial drug effects and, as a result, broader changes begin to take place in the brain and in mental functioning. Psychiatric drug CBI, like all CBI, is associated with generalized brain dysfunction and/or damage, and therefore manifests itself in an overall compromise of mental function. The concept of CBI also resembles the concept of organic brain syndrome (OBS). The only effective treatment for CBI is a carefully conducted withdrawal from all psychiatric drugs, as well as all other psychoactive substances. A variety of stressors and trauma can cause chronic brain impairment or CBI. Long-term exposure to psychiatric drugs frequently results in CBI.

This chapter talks about the representation of language in the brain— including what parts of the brain are known to be involved in language. It talks about how multiple languages are represented and interact in bilingual speakers. The most important lobes for language are the temporal lobe and the frontal lobe. In terms of language, in right-handed people it is the left hemisphere that supports the majority of language function. There are two areas in particular that appear to be especially important for language: an area toward the front of the brain in the frontal lobe that includes Broca’s area and an area more or less beneath and behind the ear toward the back of the temporal lobe called Wernicke’s area. Broca’s aphasia is characterized by difficulty with language production—with effortful, slow speech, and the striking absence of function words like prepositions, determiners, conjunctions, and grammatical inflections.

Research on both sign language and how it is processed has been growing quickly over the last decade, with researchers from a number of different fields increasingly interested in it. This chapter addresses two common misconceptions about sign language to understand exactly what sign language is. French sign language is just a version of spoken French, British Sign Language (BSL) is just a version of English, and so on. Variations in hand shape and other differences can differentiate dialects of sign language. Sound symbolism shows that there are cases in spoken language when sounds are linked in a nonarbitrary way to meaning. Further, there are phonotactic rules that differ from language to language about how signs may be formed. Speech errors are mistakes that speakers make when they intend to say one thing but something else comes out instead.

As with all structured psychological interventions, particularly those developed out of the cognitive-behavioral tradition, the first session of the mindfulness-acceptance-commitment (MAC) intervention is psychoeducational in nature. This chapter outlines the components of Module 1. It discusses the common obstacles faced during this critical module and addresses considerations for working with clients experiencing performance dysfunction. Performance is improved by learning to practice and train more efficiently and consistently and from the enhancement of psychological skills such as task-focused attention and poise. It is important to stress that a fundamental goal of MAC is to remove the effects of excessive cognitive activity from performance. Some clients may have been overtly or subtly coerced by family, coach, management, staff, or teammates/coworkers to seek out sport or performance psychology as a means of enhancing their performance. There are many possible psychological barriers to performance that do not reach clinical levels.

This chapter identifies how psychological frameworks can be integrated into a cohesive, multigenerational intervention to connect children with their incarcerated parents. It describes scenarios through which televisiting develops resiliency in children. The chapter delineates how geographic, financial, temporal, and intergenerational barriers can be reduced or removed via televisiting. It describes supportive televisiting services as an innovative, psychologist-directed, multidisciplinary program that connects children and teenagers with their incarcerated parents via secure, live, interactive video teleconferencing. The chapter also discusses the seven main pillars that make up the theoretical foundation of the televisiting program: child-focused; the attachment theory; trauma-informed care; resilience and strengths-based perspective; mental health challenges; the developmental, life-span, and intergenerational approach; and yellow flag not red flag policy.

This chapter introduces the theoretical basis for restorative justice (RJ). It assesses the empirical evidence for RJ programs, and explores the challenges and opportunities associated with applying core competencies. The chapter describes competencies of specific interest which include: engaging diversity and difference in practice, and engaging with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. It also discusses skills essential to the success of RJ which include supporting processes that value the experiences of people associated with a crime or harm. The chapter suggests the importance of practical and context-specific knowledge and skills relevant when individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities find themselves in conflict and require support. Programs that rely upon restorative principles have been used at a variety of points in the criminal justice process. The chapter discusses a practice, a family group conference, which was first developed in New Zealand involving social workers considerably.

The term genius is peculiar. It can be applied to a diversity of phenomena or confined to just one or two. The tremendous range in usage reflects the fact that genius is both a humanistic concept with a long history and a scientific concept with a much shorter history. The word genius goes way, way back to the time of the ancient Romans. Roman mythology included the idea of a guardian spirit or tutelary deity. This spiritual entity was assigned to a particular person or place. Expressed differently, geniuses exert influence over others. They have an impact on both contemporaries and posterity. The exemplars of intelligence have a feature in common: They are called as exceptional creators. The favored definition is that creativity satisfies few separate requirements. First, to be creative is to be original. In main, genius in the leadership domain of achievement appears to fall into several groups.

This chapter discusses the concepts, underlying principles, benefits, and challenges of using “whole-family” approaches in social work. It articulates the theory and skills associated with family engagement as part of a human rights and social justice framework for social work practice in forensic settings. The chapter describes the ethical imperatives and evidence base supporting the use of family group decision making (FGDM) in regulatory settings. It engages whole families as partners in the use of FGDM in child protection and youth justice. The chapter also describes the theory, empirical support, and skills in use of FGDM, or family group conferencing (FGC). It concluded with an example of how alert forensic social workers must be to the potential for their best intentions to collide with the tenants of responsive practice and a quote from a child protection social worker who worked closely with the author on a pilot project using FGC.

This chapter presents ways in which forensic social workers respond flexibly, collaboratively, and effectively to situations of domestic violence. It describes ways to engage men who abuse in becoming better fathers and partners. The chapter examines how social workers can foster culturally respectful partnerships with and around families that safeguard all family members. Few services are available for men who abuse to learn how to become responsible parents, and evaluations of these programs are even more limited. Two exceptions are a Canadian program called Caring Dads and a North Carolina program called Strong Fathers. These responsible fatherhood programs seek to raise the men’s awareness of the deleterious impact of children’s exposure to domestic violence and to enhance the men’s skills in communicating and parenting.

This chapter emphasizes the importance of improving health literacy. It describes the incorporation of cultural competence standards in forensic social work practice perspectives. The chapter also explains how to promote engagement of informal support networks in promoting health and well-being among diverse groups. Disadvantaged racial and ethnic minorities in the United States have long been overrepresented in the criminal justice systems. The elimination of health care disparities and ensuring the health care delivery system is responsive to minority groups is a social justice issue. The roles and function of forensic social workers that provide services to persons with these cultural norms can be expanded using a broader ecological framework and the applied social care model to develop intervention strategies and care plans with incarceration persons. Identifying and incorporating culturally appropriate practice approaches are challenging, yet necessary undertakings for forensic social workers.

This chapter considers addiction generally without reference to the specific chemical to which an addiction develops. It discusses the neuroscience of addiction. The chapter presents the story on how addictive chemicals change the brain. Research on brain changes with addiction does provide useful information on when recovering persons are more susceptible to relapse. The chapter discusses the understanding based on animal work, and considers the heterogeneity of addictive patterns in people. It explores some of the findings on genetic variations associated with the risk of addiction to drugs of abuse. The chapter then provides specific information on how to screen and initiate treatment. In the United States, opiate agonists like buprenorphine and methadone are legal and considered to be treatment. Mandated treatment is as effective as voluntary treatment, probably because alcoholics often get convinced of the wisdom of change in the course of treatment.

This chapter focuses on genes and epigenetics of physiology. It discusses some of the major neurotransmitters, and explains how neurons function and how they communicate with each other through neurotransmitters. The chapter offers information about the immune system, which interacts with the nervous system to influence mood and behavior. It then focuses on three circuits that are relevant to styles of behavior: the appetitive or approach system, the regulatory control system, and the learned helplessness system. The chapter explores two additional circuits, the behavioral activation system (BAS) and the behavioral inhibition system (BIS). It then covers the physiological systems supporting emotional behavior: the autonomic nervous system and hormones, and considers how social connections influence the brain and its physiology. The chapter reviews cortisol because it is released in response to stress. Additionally, oxytocin is considered because it can affect mood and behavior associated with mood disorders.

Substance abuse is a significant problem among persons who are homeless. This chapter explores the application of addiction recovery management (ARM) principles for developing practice skills in the recovery process among vulnerable populations. It examines demographic and social action factors that may impede or foster successful completion of this long-term recovery for persons who are experiencing home insecurity. The chapter offers insight for forensic social workers about how to engage diversity and differences in practice, as well as advance human rights and social, economic, and environmental justice. Analytic concepts in forensic social work can enhance the capacity of educators to prepare practitioners to be effective in closing the gap that exists for racial disparities in treatment approaches and programs. Critical race theory can be used to develop guiding principles for competency-based education and outcomes that address the gaps in existing systems of care.

This chapter describes how forensic social workers can develop their expert witness testimony skills. It explains how to advocate on behalf of vulnerable racial and ethnic populations generally underrepresented in American legal system, to increase advocacy from a human rights perspective. The chapter explores how to use expert testimony to highlight a range of social justice issues including human trafficking, death, and persecution. It introduces forensic social workers to integrating narrative methods with evidence-based trends that can best support any legal claim for hardship. Expert witness testimony comprises core mitigation components: client interviews; collateral interviewing; obtaining institutional records; identifying core themes of hardship that have directly impacted the individual or family; identifying intergenerational patterns of illness and/or systemic traumas that impact family; identifying environmental and country conditions; writing a report; and preparing for direct testimony and cross-examination.

This chapter aims to disseminate theoretical and practical knowledge of practice using an empowerment and feminist perspective specifically when working with marginalized and oppressed forensic populations and in forensic settings. Forensic social work focuses on both victims and offenders, and strives to integrate the skills and knowledge of empowerment and feminist theory and practice with principles of social justice and human rights. The chapter discusses empowerment and feminist theories and their relevance to practice with forensic populations. It highlights a case example of group work with women, who were sexually abused, that was first presented in the 1990s and told from a strengths-based approach, but could very much be considered both a feminist and empowerment process of working. The chapter also highlights applying an empowerment approach to working with female and male prisoners in London.

This chapter describes the life course pathways of cumulative health and justice disparities experienced by historical and emerging diverse groups, which is often found among forensic populations. It helps readers articulate a life course systems power analysis strategy for use with forensic populations and in forensic settings. The chapter demonstrates how a data-driven and evidence-based assessment and intervention plan can be used to address clinical and legal issues using case examples of an aging prison population. It uses older people in prison to illustrate the complex life course of health and social structural barriers and needs of incarcerated people who have histories of victimization and criminal convictions. Information about trauma and justice, especially related to the trauma of incarceration, which in itself is often a form of abuse, especially when frail elders are involved and they are at increased risk for victimization, medical neglect, and “resource” exploitation is presented.

This chapter defines restorative justice and discusses the various forms that this approach to wrongdoing and offending may take. It reveals the relevance of restorative interventions to social work practice. The chapter recognizes pioneers in the field of restorative justice with special emphasis on social work theorists. It describes the various forms of restorative justice from micro level victim-offender conferencing to community-level healing circles to macro level reparative justice. The chapter argues for greater social work involvement in shaping policies that include restorative justice options in situations of wrongdoing and social work involvement in facilitating victim–offender and anti bullying conferencing. The chapter also describes aspects of restorative justice that address competencies related to advocacy for human rights and issues of spirituality.

This chapter illustrates how factors outside of families affect lives of people within families. It examines the potential impact that two major issues—work-family conflict and mass incarceration—can have on the lives of family members. The chapter describes ways in which laws governing systems external to families, particularly work and criminal justice, can disrupt families in ways that may lead them to use social workers. It aims at providing necessary understanding of how social workers can help support such families, keeping in mind that family needs often develop from the social and economic context in which each family is situated. The chapter discusses the relevant ethical, legal, and policy issues facing work-family conflict and mass incarceration. It encourages social workers to look beyond the individual—to the systems in which individuals are situated, to better understand the behaviors, decisions, and mental health of individual clients.

This chapter aims to provide social workers with a historical and contemporary understanding of mass incarceration in the United States. The goal is to facilitate informed forensic social work practice and advocacy with individuals, families, and communities impacted by this destructive phenomenon. The chapter examines the prevalence of jails and prisons, as well as an overview of the people who inhabit them. It discusses the core roles and functions of forensic social work. Restorative justice is often hailed as a prevention, and/or intervention, in justice settings. High levels of suspensions have seen schools become feeders not for college, but for the juvenile, and adult criminal justice systems. This phenomenon has been titled the school to prison pipeline; its impact can be felt predominantly among poor students of color. Research has demonstrated the effectiveness of restorative justice in both juvenile justice and school settings.

This chapter discusses in detail the scope of the problem of child maltreatment, and current evidence-based assessment and interventions in the child welfare system. It covers the history of child protection legislation, and describes the foster care crisis in the United States, including the foster care to prison pipeline, the impact of parental incarceration, and current policies such as reforms in the juvenile jurisdiction system. Additionally, trauma-informed care and the juvenile jurisdiction system is examined in light of recent trends to more closely align systems of care with neuroscience research and best practices for serving children and adolescents. The chapter reviews the relevant theoretical and practical approaches, including the application of neuroscience research, trauma-informed care, father engagement, and addressing secondary trauma among child welfare professionals. It also presents a case study and challenges of working with incarcerated fathers who may have children in the child welfare system.

This chapter provides an orientation to the critical issues, history, trends, policies, programs, and intervention strategies of the juvenile justice system. It reviews the types, functions, and legal responsibilities of the various juvenile justice agencies and institutions. The chapter describes the case flow within the juvenile justice system. It also discusses systems of care in juvenile justice, and specialized assessment and treatment issues with adolescents, including sexually abusive youth. It explores the foundation and groundwork for the study of juvenile delinquency and juvenile justice system while delineating the legal definitions of juvenile status offenses and juvenile delinquency, examining the nine steps in the juvenile justice case-flow process. The chapter also gives attention to systems of care, the link between trauma and delinquency, as well as the assessment and treatment considerations for forensic social workers when addressing the specialized needs of juveniles in the justice system.

This chapter covers psychiatric diagnoses that might be applied to children seen in primary care: pediatric bipolar disorder, major depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It discusses the diagnoses of the context in the neuroscience explaining the disorder. The chapter reviews the efficacy of current pharmacological treatments along with explanations regarding how they impact physiology, and considers side effects. It also provides alternatives to drugs administered for distress in the children themselves. The profile of adults with bipolar I differs dramatically from the behavioral pattern of children being diagnosed as having pediatric bipolar disorder. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved fluoxetine/Prozac for the treatment of depression in children. Antidepressants carry an FDA black-box warning for suicidal ideation in children and adolescents. Stimulant drugs are the mainstay of treatment for ADHD. The number of children in foster care receiving antipsychotic drugs is particularly notable.

This chapter describes a forensic practice framework using a human rights and social justice systems approach. It articulates the definition and theme-based strategies that distinguish forensic social work from social work practice as usual. The chapter then proposes an integrated theoretical perspective that the authors refer to as a human rights and social justice systems (HR-SJS) approach. This approach helps to visualize forensic social work practice in any practice setting. The chapter also reviews the history of forensic social work using the United States as the case example to illustrate how a two-pronged approached to practice was integrated throughout this specialized arena of practice. A review of forensic social work history shows that well over 100 years ago, social workers understood that government, as author and institutor of policy, can and should be an arena for reform.

This chapter promotes understanding of the intersection of social work case level practice skills and social welfare programs and policy. It describes the social work advocacy process, and explores how social and political values impact accessibility to social welfare programs. It assists social workers in developing competence in policy practice and in case and policy advocacy. The chapter also helps social workers recognize when social welfare and economic policies are not fairly distributed, and to become skilled in taking action at the micro-, mezzo, and/or macro level. It discusses the interaction of direct practice with case advocacy to underscore the critical need to understand and interpret policy to achieve social justice. The chapter further highlights the importance of social workers engaging in case and policy advocacy to achieve a socially just outcome for any individual or group, especially those impacted by involvement in the criminal justice system.

This chapter enhances the understanding of the multifaceted challenges that individuals, especially older adults, seeking housing with a criminal background face. It reviews the ways in which individuals, especially older adults, can be vulnerable in terms of safety and security in their housing settings. Older adults may be particularly concerned about security and safety at home because their homes have been shown to be places where they can be victimized, either by telephone scams, door-to-door solicitation, bullying in age-congregate settings, and witnessing other crimes occurring in their residences. The chapter discusses ways in which forensic practitioners can support vulnerable populations, including older adults. It also discusses the complexities of affordable and safe housing using case examples and descriptions focusing on the older adult population. The chapter provides further recommendations on other areas of assessment and intervention that forensic social workers can conduct.

This chapter explains the paths and obstacles that immigrants face when they navigate the justice system in an attempt to stay in the United States. It provides an overview of what happens to an immigrant who seeks to enter the country “legally”, as well as the challenges for an immigrant who enters the country without authorization. The chapter also discusses paths to authorized immigration, including application for resident visas using the family- or merit-based immigration systems. It provides an insight into why 11.9 million immigrants have entered the United States without authorization rather than attempt legal means to immigrate. The chapter primarily focuses on those who either crossed the border without authorization or who remained here despite the expiration of their visas. It further explores how social workers can support immigrants who are involved in the immigration justice system.

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 examines the significance for vulnerable groups of social welfare policies and advocacy to meet basic human needs. It identifies key policies and programs established to meet needs of income, food, and shelter. The chapter encourages students to begin using research and statistical data to assess needs and adequacy of programs. It also identifies social work’s role and skills in addressing needs of vulnerable groups. The chapter focuses on the key role of social work professionals in establishing, maintaining, and improving programs needed to ensure a basic level of income for families with children (i.e., income security), access to adequate nutrition (i.e., food security), and access to adequate shelter (i.e., housing security). It also discusses the challenges faced by social workers who serve populations with the basic human needs, including offenders and victims of crime.

This chapter deals with interviewing techniques that have been empirically found to elicit the most detailed and accurate information when conducting a forensic interview. It describes three evidence-based best practices for forensic interviewing. The chapter also delineates the ways in which interviewer beliefs and expectations can bias the interview. It describes forensic interview as the first step in the investigation, when an allegation of child sexual abuse is referred to Child Protective Services. Although there are a number of forensic interviewing models, all consist of sequential phases or stages and include the following: rapport building, substantive phase, and closure. Forensic interviews should be video- or audio-recorded, so that a clear record of the interview is preserved. The chapter also discusses some of the main points in the NICHD protocol and the Michigan protocol for best practices.

This chapter describes how mental health and substance use interact with criminal justice involvement. It examines the common assessment and intervention strategies for co morbid mental health and substance abuse in forensic population and settings. The chapter gives a brief review of how substance use disorders co-occur with psychiatric disorders. The chapter describes prevalence of co-occurring disorders such as anxiety/depression, bipolar disorders, psychotic disorders, personality disorders, and posttraumatic stress disorder in general. It then discusses prevalence of psychiatric disorders in the prison/jail systems. The chapter also describes medication-assisted therapies for opioid use disorders and, treatment and aftercare services. It explores two of the most common types of treatments for those in the CJS, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and 12-Step groups. The chapter further reviews two CBT programs, aggression replacement training and strategies for self-improvement and change.

This chapter covers information about psychopharmacology for the behavioral health clinician. It offers some basic information about drugs: how drugs enter the system, how they are cleared from the body, and how they are distributed. The chapter explains the concepts of tolerance and withdrawal. It provides the background necessary for understanding what might be read in the Physicians’ Desk Reference (PDR), a manual issued annually by pharmaceutical houses in collaboration with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and published by PDR Network providing information regarding side effects, FDA-approved indications, and half-lives of each drug currently available in the market. The chapter then covers the major categories of psychotropic agents available in the United States. It provides information regarding how drugs are discovered and how the FDA evaluates them. The chapter reviews the distinction between practicing medicine and offering information.

This chapter discusses the history of forensic research atrocities. It promotes the use of National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics as a foundation for forensic research. The NASW Code of Ethics purports that social workers should promote and facilitate evaluation and research to contribute to the development of knowledge. This underscores both an ethical and a human rights obligation for the need for more prevention and intervention studies with incarcerated individuals. The chapter describes national and international responses to historic forensic research, and aims to build awareness of the need for new research to serve forensic populations and to increase familiarity with forensic research methodologies. The National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects identifies three categories of research in prison settings: convenience research, prison-oriented research, and treatment-oriented research.

The largest category of psychotic disorders is schizophrenia. In categorizing the classic signs of schizophrenia, symptoms are organized into the categories of positive and negative signs. The risk factors for schizophrenia do influence the development of the fast-spiking gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) interneurons. Many of the genetic risk factors for schizophrenia code for proteins involved in the function of the N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor. Antipsychotic drugs are the current mainstay treatment for psychosis. It occupies the D2 receptors. Sarcosine achieved significant reductions in positive and negative symptoms in those with schizophrenia. Nitta et al. conducted a meta-analysis of the studies examining the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories as an adjunct in the treatment of schizophrenia. As the developments in the understanding of the neurological and biochemical mechanisms of schizophrenia have accelerated, philosophic change has also impacted the world of clinical treatment.

This chapter articulates a basic understanding of human rights and how they relate to social work. It describes some of the changes that are needed in social work practice in the United States in order to adhere to human rights principles. The chapter then addresses the implication of human rights for social workers. It offers some background on the concept of human rights, with emphasis on the relationship between human rights and social work and human rights and the law. The chapter further discussed the implication of human rights for social work education and social work practice, with a focus on building community. It discusses obstacles to social work practice from a human rights perspective, and concludes with a discussion on how social work needs to change to have consistency between discourse and action.

This chapter focuses on the role that Adult Protective Services (APS) and related service systems play in protecting vulnerable older adults and adults with disabilities from abuse, neglect, and exploitation. It articulates policy issues connected to elder justice. The chapter also explores human rights issues related to elder abuse, aging, and disabilities, particularly how to balance rights to self-determination and safety when working with abused, neglected, and exploited older adults. APS operate within a continuum of services that challenge social workers in their efforts to respond effectively to elder abuse. In addition to knowledge of aging, disabilities, the dynamics of family violence and care giving, and community resources and skills in capacity assessment, working in multidisciplinary teams, advocacy, and systems navigation, social workers need commitment to values of self-determination and empowerment to guide their work in this system.

This chapter describes the importance and need for interdisciplinary collaboration in forensic settings. It discusses how the evidence-based principles of risk, need, and responsivity (RNR) model can guide interdisciplinary collaboration with justice-involved individuals. The chapter highlights a treatment program for high-risk justice-involved males demonstrating interdisciplinary collaboration and specifically the role of the forensic social worker. Interdisciplinary collaboration is an essential core skill in evidence-based forensic social work practice. Interdisciplinary collaboration can be multidimensional, interactional, and developmental, and the following strategies have been identified as most important in achieving a best practice: preplanning, commitment, communication, strong leadership, understanding the cultures of collaborating agencies, and structural supports and adequate resources for collaboration.

This chapter begins by asking why the rates of mental health diagnoses are so high in the modern Western world. It considers whether current diagnostic practices have served us well and looks at an alternative focus for delivering mental health services. It then suggests a paradigm shift. The chapter focuses on happiness and optimal functioning. The case is made for focusing on flourishing and increasing the frequency of the positive moods and positive experiences of the population. The chapter asks about those behaviors that promote flourishing and well-being. It examines the behavior of the resilient, that is, those who maintain a positive focus during stressful periods. It then reviews those activities and behaviors that are correlated with maintenance of positive moods. Topics include cultivating social support, experiencing gratitude, meditating, enjoying music, and laughing. The chapter finally considers the new use of behavioral health specialists in primary care.

This chapter helps forensic social workers (FSWs) understand how to incorporate research into their practices. It clarifies the terms associated with evidence-based practice (EBP), and demonstrates three different approaches that FSWs can use in their practice settings. The chapter focuses on clinical interventions within forensic settings. It provides a brief summary and overview of some of the intervention models used in forensic settings with established empirical support, along with a discussion of their strengths and limitations. The chapter highlights commonly used forensic intervention models such as risk-needs-responsivity models, motivational interviewing, trauma-informed care, trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, schema-focused therapy, and dialectical behavioral therapy. It concludes with a case example to illustrate how to use EBP in order to ensure that FSWs are providing interventions that are the best combination of art and science.

This chapter aims to enhance understanding of the justice-involved veteran population including the extent of involvement, risk, and protective factors associated with offending, and the impact of criminal justice involvement on the veteran and the veteran’s family system. It discusses the targeted programs and services for justice-involved veterans, how social workers assist this population, and the specific skill set required for effective intervention. The chapter also deals with health and mental health of incarcerated veterans, causes and consequences of arrest among veterans, and the use of trauma-informed care models and other interventions designed to address trauma that are critical for addressing the complex needs of justice-involved veterans. It further discusses jail-diversion programs, and jail and prison-based programs and services.

This chapter describes how forensic social workers can use the knowledge and skills of intervention development to design or evaluate existing interventions with forensic populations or settings, and about funding for their cause. It articulates the language of program and proposal development to prepare forensic social workers to be the creators of programs needed for forensic populations. The chapter enables preparing forensic social workers to possess basic competencies for understanding the language and practice of program development and evaluation of forensic social work interventions. The chapter provides an overview of the different parts of the logic model and how it can be linked to program development and evaluation. It provides questions related to the common types of evaluation, which include a needs assessment and process, outcome, or efficiency evaluations. The chapter also reviews forensic intervention development using a human rights and social justice systems approach.

This chapter focuses on anxiety disorders and deals with a discussion of the physiology of anxiety, including the major structures involved in the creation of a fear memory. It considers the mechanisms for extinction of conditioned anxiety. The chapter discusses the basic physiology of fear conditioning, specific anxiety disorders namely generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and explains treatments. It then reviews the literature about how clients can talk about their fears to minimize them and how relabeling or reappraising of past events can be helpful. There is evidence suggesting that the basal ganglia, structures associated with the control of movement, are involved in the expression of OCD behaviors in subsets of those with OCD. Cognitive behavioral therapy is effective in the treatment of generalized anxiety. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are also used in the treatment of anxiety disorders.

Working with justice-involved youth and employment-related services requires a wide range of social work and systems knowledge, skills, and expertise. This chapter enhances understanding of the role employment services play in forensic social work with youth. It presents relevant findings from recent research on employment services for justice-involved youth and their effects on recidivism. The chapter discusses the targeted programs and services for justice-involved youth, providing case examples and discussion of how social workers assist this population, and the skills required for effective intervention. It also provides a basic understanding for how employment services fit within the system. The chapter aims to connect research with real-life examples. It outlines two of the ways inequality and oppression impact juvenile justice and employment. The chapter also discusses two evidence-based employment intervention strategies that are available to justice-involved youth in New York.

This chapter discusses the complexity of the role of the school social worker. It describes how to respond collaboratively and effectively to the variety of issues presented within public schools. The chapter provides a brief history of social work services in schools. It addresses recent demographics and trends and the scope of the problems in this specialty area. Specific legal and ethical issues of concern in the practice of school social work, and issues of assessment, prevention, and intervention are also discussed. The chapter describes the types of services provided through social work in schools, ranging from traditional child study team work to reentry services for students returning from correctional and/or treatment facilities. The chapter further examines the origin and development of school social work services in the United States.

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book identifies physiological factors associated with the presentation of behavioral syndromes. In recent times, especially with the publication of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), the role that the American Psychiatric Association has played in setting the agenda has been challenged. The book focuses on the evolution of psychiatry and offers an explanation of why the earlier prevailing paradigm is being challenged. It reviews the ways in which diet, social support, meditation, yoga, and exercise can alter physiology. The book considers various ways of intervening to ameliorate distress. The practice of labeling and treating common behavioral syndromes results in better outcomes. The book reviews the physiology and environmental stressors giving rise to particular behavioral syndromes in the DSM. It discusses the efficacy and side effects of pharmacological interventions.

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 highlights that the realm of hypnosis is full of startling, counterintuitive, and even “magical” experiences and phenomena and devotes some attention to the potential advantages of trying to cage such phenomena within the framework of rigorous research design. It outlines major features of effective research design, which apply as fully to hypnosis as to any other domain, by referring to some classic experiments in the history of science. The chapter distinguishes among three major types of hypnosis research, intrinsic, neurophysiological and instrumental hypnosis researches, which require somewhat different handling of these basic design issues. Qualitative reviews and meta-analytic studies consistently document the potential of hypnosis to play a role in the treatment of a wide variety of psychological and medical conditions, ranging from acute and chronic pain to obesity. Neurophysiological research is one of the most intriguing and active areas of hypnosis-related inquiry.

This chapter deals with major health care issues that social workers need to be familiar with in working with immigrants. It provides an introduction to the many complex, interconnected issues that social workers and their immigrant clients face as they navigate the US health care system in an attempt to obtain quality health care. The chapter focuses on some of the implications for social work practice that arise from public health issues and provides discussion questions and several case studies. Social workers can and should be vigilant in advocating for increased translator and interpreter services at their agency or medical setting, not just for the convenience of the patient, but for his or her safety and improved health. Social workers in the field of health care must actively address the issues of language, culture, and income/health insurance status as well as legal status when working with immigrants.