American Psychological Association Division Research Articles

Clinical psychologists in the 2010s: 50 years of the APA division of clinical psychology.

The American Psychological Association's Division of Clinical Psychology constitutes one of the oldest, largest, and most active organizations of clinical psychologists in the world. For 50 years, beginning with E. Lowell Kelly in 1960, researchers have chronicled the evolution of its membership and the transformation of clinical psychology in the United States. In this article, we highlight the continuity and change in clinical psychologists’ demographics, educations, theories, employment, activities, and satisfactions over a 50-year span. Results from the most recent, 2010 study (N = 588, 46% return rate) are summarized in both contemporary and historical contexts. Among the prominent trends are steady increases in the proportion of female and ethnic minority psychologists, the rise of Psy.D. graduates, the domination of the cognitive orientation, a relative decline in psychological assessment in general and projective testing in particular, the ascendancy of independent practice, and a pattern of high career satisfaction.

Characteristics of American Psychological Association Division 40 (Clinical Neuropsychology) Fellows

Fellow status is an honor bestowed on American Psychological Association (APA) members who have made unusual and outstanding contributions to the field of psychology that have had a national impact. Thus far no studies have examined the characteristics of the individuals who have received this honor. This study examined publicly available data for 157 Division 40 Fellows. Fellows comprise 3.7% of the 4273 members of the division compared to 5.7% of the entire APA membership. Fellows are predominantly male (73%). All but two fellows had earned a Ph.D. with the average time since granting of the doctoral degree of 17.1 ± 6 years (median = 16 years) with a range of 7–40 years post-degree. Slightly over half of the fellows hold board certification (53%) in the American Board of Professional Psychology. The largest group of fellows reports their primary employment currently as a university-affiliated medical setting (48%). These data serve to characterize current Division 40 Fellows for the field of neuropsychology and may provide useful information to assist prospective fellow applicants.

The Interpersonal Tradition and its Impact on Contemporary Psychoanalysis: The Shifting Field

The Interpersonal field, which arose out of the radical humanism of Sullivan and his followers, has long been fertile ground for relational experimentation, pushing the bounds of therapeutic egalitarianism, intersubjective knowing, and psychosexuality. These articles, originally presented at the 2011 spring meeting of the American Psychological Association's Division of Psychoanalysis, examine some of the key, sometimes conflicting, ideas that shape analytic consciousness today.

Psychologist suicide: Incidence, impact, and suggestions for prevention, intervention, and postvention.

Psychologist practitioners are not immune to some mental health problems, including suicidality, for which they provide services. In the aftermath of two recent psychologist suicides, the American Psychological Association's Advisory Committee on Colleague Assistance (ACCA) initiated the formation of a conjoint ad hoc committee consisting of members from ACCA, the American Psychological Association (APA) Practice Directorate, and the Section on Clinical Emergencies and Crises (Section VII of APA's Division 12) to investigate the incidence of psychologist suicide and its impact on colleagues, students or interns, patients or clients, and the profession. The committee reviewed the extant empirical literature on suicide rates for psychologists, evaluated unpublished data on psychologist suicide provided by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), interviewed colleague survivors, reviewed published case reports of the impact of therapist suicides, and linked their findings to the literature on professional distress, impairment, and self-care. The committee concluded that there is evidence suggestive of an elevated risk of suicide for psychologists in past decades. It further concluded that there is a need for further research to confirm if there is a heightened risk of suicide for psychologists in the present day, and to determine factors that might contribute to such risk. Accounts from colleague-survivors suggest that the impact of a psychologist's suicide can affect many people including family, colleagues, students, and patients or clients. This article offers suggestions for possible preventive approaches, for intervention with potentially at-risk colleagues, and for postvention efforts in the wake of a colleague suicide.

Evidence-Based Review of Subjective Pediatric Sleep Measures

This manuscript provides an evidence-based psychometric review of parent and child-report pediatric sleep measures using criteria developed by the American Psychological Association (APA) Division 54 Evidence-Based Assessment (EBA) Task Force. Twenty-one measures were reviewed: four measures of daytime sleepiness, four measures of sleep habits/hygiene, two measures assessing sleep-related attitudes/cognitions, five measures of sleep initiation/maintenance, and six multidimensional sleep measures. Six of the 21 measures met "well-established" evidence-based assessment criteria. An additional eight measures were rated as "approaching well-established" and seven were rated as "promising." Overall, the multidimensional sleep measures received the highest ratings. Strengths and weaknesses of the measures are described. Recommendations for future pediatric sleep assessment are presented including further validation of measures, use of multiple informants, and stability of sleep measures over time.

A Quality-Based Review of Randomized Controlled Trials of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

The Ad Hoc Subcommittee for Evaluation of the Evidence Base for Psychodynamic Psychotherapy of the APA Committee on Research on Psychiatric Treatments developed the Randomized Controlled Trial Psychotherapy Quality Rating Scale (RCT-PQRS). The authors report results from application of the RCT-PQRS to 94 randomized controlled trials of psychodynamic psycho-therapy published between 1974 and May 2010. Five psychotherapy researchers from a range of therapeutic orientations rated a single published paper from each study. The RCT-PQRS had good interrater reliability and internal consistency. The mean total quality score was 25.1 (SD=8.8). More recent studies had higher total quality scores. Sixty-three of 103 comparisons between psychodynamic psychotherapy and a nondynamic comparator were of "adequate" quality. Of 39 comparisons of a psychodynamic treatment and an "active" comparator, six showed dynamic treatment to be superior, five showed dynamic treatment to be inferior, and 28 showed no difference (few of which were powered for equivalence). Of 24 adequate comparisons of psychodynamic psychotherapy with an "inactive" comparator, 18 found dynamic treatment to be superior. Existing randomized controlled trials of psychodynamic psychotherapy are promising but mostly show superiority of psychodynamic psychotherapy to an inactive comparator. This would be sufficient to make psychodynamic psychotherapy an "empirically validated" treatment (per American Psychological Association Division 12 standards) only if further randomized controlled trials of adequate quality and sample size replicated findings of existing positive trials for specific disorders. We do not yet know what will emerge when other psychotherapies are subjected to this form of quality-based review.

Focus on Authors

Focus on Authors

Editorial: Introduction to Special Section on Evidence-Based Practices for Persons With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Editorial: Introduction to Special Section on Evidence-Based Practices for Persons With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Karl Spencer Lashley (1890-1958)

Donald A. Dewsbury is Professor emeritus of Psychology at the University of Florida. He worked as a comparative psychologist and is also an expert on the history of Psychology. He has served as President of the Animal Behavior Society and three American Psychological Association divisions. He is the author or editor of 16 book volumes and more than 350 articles and chapters. Karl Lashley was one of the preeminent psychologists of the 20th century; he is especially known for work in physiological and comparative psychology. Early in his life, Lashley developed an affinity for nature study. Although his education was mainly in departments of zoology, he spent most of his career in departments of psychology. doi : 10.5214/ans.0972.7531.2009.160408

Changing psychology: History and legacy of the Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues.

The history and legacy of the Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues (American Psychological Association Division 45) for its first 20 years are reviewed. The legitimization of the ethnic minority scholarship within organized psychology is chronicled, highlighting the central role of advocacy and activism. Multiculturalism is presented as a paradigm for the globalization of the United States. It is concluded that ethnic minority psychology has changed the field and equips us for the challenges of the internationalization of the world.

Academic Affiliation and Career Satisfaction Among Private Practitioners

Little is known about academic affiliation of or desire for enhanced association with universities by private ractitioners. A brief survey was sent to a sample of American Psychological Association Division 42 members regarding these topics. This survey also included indices of career satisfaction, personal assessment of maintaining knowledge of ongoing advances in psychotherapy and psychology, and a measure of desire for enhanced contact with students. Approximately one-half of private practitioners maintained an academic affiliation, although a large portion of this group had little or no contact with psychology students. Results further indicated that higher student contact was associated with greater career satisfaction, feelings of mastery of present psychotherapy and other literature, and in other positive sentiments relevant to private practice. Both high and low contact private practitioners desired increased student contact and felt they could offer unique opportunities to graduate students. Weak...

Brewster Smith: Conscience of psychology.

Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology and the Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict, and Violence (American Psychological Association's Division 48) are privileged to present this issu...

The Teacher of Teachers Talks about Learning to Learn: An Interview with Wilbert (Bill) J. McKeachie

Wilbert J. McKeachie has been the president of the American Psychological Association (APA), the American Association of Higher Education, the American Psychological Foundation, the Division of Educational and School Psychology of the International Association of Applied Psychology, and APA's Divisions 2 and 15. He received his PhD at the University of Michigan in 1949 and is former Director of the University of Michigan Center for Research on Learning and Teaching. He also served as Chair of the Psychology Department at the University of Michigan from 1961 to 1971. Professor McKeachie has received eight honorary degrees, the American Psychological Foundation Gold Medal for Lifetime Contributions to Psychology, and the American Psychological Association Presidential Citation for exemplary service to the academic and scientific community. His classic book, Teaching Tips, is now in its 12th edition (McKeachie & Svinicki, 2006). Héfer Bembenutty is an Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology at Queens College of The City University of New York in the Department of Secondary and Youth Services. He received his BA in psychology from the University of Michigan, an MS in psychology from Eastern Michigan University, and an MA and PhD in educational psychology from The City University of New York. He maintains an active research agenda in students' and teachers' self-regulation of learning, the effects of test anxiety on learning, homework self-regulation, self-efficacy beliefs, multicultural education, and academic delay of gratification. He teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in educational psychology, cognition, instruction and technology, human development and learning, classroom management, and multicultural education.

Commentary: Evidence-based Assessment of Pediatric Pain

Commentary: Evidence-based Assessment of Pediatric Pain

What Is Mental Retardation? Ideas for an Evolving Disability in the 21st Century (Rev.), byH. N. Switzky and S. Greenspan, Editors

What Is Mental Retardation? Ideas for an Evolving Disability in the 21st Century (Rev.), byH. N. Switzky and S. Greenspan, Editors

Official Position of the Military TBI Task Force on the Role of Neuropsychology and Rehabilitation Psychology in the Evaluation, Management, and Research of Military Veterans with Traumatic Brain Injury1

This Position Statement is a summary of the literature and learning regarding current issues raised by the occurrence, treatment, and study of traumatic brain injury in military service members and veterans. The Report has been approved by the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology (AACN), Divisions 40 (Neuropsychology) and 22 (Rehabilitation Psychology) of the American Psychological Association (APA), and the National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN), with the goal of providing information of relevance on an important public policy matter within their respective areas of expertise. The Report is not intended to establish guidelines or standards for the professional practice of psychology, nor has it been adopted as official policy by the American Psychological Association or any other division or subunit of APA.

Towards an understanding of evidence-based practice.

The past two decades have seen a rise in use of term practice' and a simultaneous increase in variations in its definition and evaluation. Some of variability may be attributed to differing, but related, conceptualizations of what constitutes an evidence-based practice across disciplines. Review of literature reveals that a wide variety of professions and professional organizations are wrestling with this topic area. Such disciplines include, but are not limited to, medicine, clinical psychology, school psychology, counseling, behavior analysis, education, and nursing (Kazdin, 2006). Using our backgrounds as an example, it is clear that we--like many of readers of Journal of Early Intensive Behavior Intervention--have training and experience that involves numerous disciplines. Specifically, we both received training in experimental psychology before entering a school psychology doctoral program where we were intertwined in both regular and special education. We were fortunate to receive additional training in a clinical psychology internship and have worked in early intervention settings, school-aged programs, and with adults receiving residential services. In addition, we are also Board Certified Behavior Analysts. Thus, for demonstration purposes, we focused our attention to our governing organizations for insight and clarification regarding evidence-based practices. The National Association of School Psychologists' (NASP) Professional Conduct Manual states that school psychologists are expected to engage in services which are delivered following completion of a strategic planning process based on needs of consumers and an empirically supported program evaluation model (NASP, 2000, pg. 51). Moreover, federal regulations now mandate use of based in selection and design of instructional strategies (Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004; No Child Left Behind Act of 2001). The American Psychological Association (APA) Presidential Task Force on Evidence-Based Practice--which evolved from an APA Division 12 (Clinical Psychology) Task Force--defines evidence-based practice in its position paper as the integration of best available research with clinical expertise in context of patient characteristics, culture, and preferences (APA, 2006, p. 273). Finally, as Board Certified Behavior Analysts, we operate under Behavior Analyst Certification Board Guidelines for Responsible Conduct for Behavior Analysts which explicitly states that a behavior analyst responsibility to recommend scientifically supported most effective treatment procedures. Effective treatment procedures have been validated as having both long-term and short-term benefits to clients and society (BACB, 2004, Section 2.09a). Although these guidelines may imply a united front across disciplines with regards to an interest in utilizing treatments that work, implementation is a challenge since these terms are too vague to actually prescribe criteria to one's practice. Within broader scope of psychology and education, various other groups are attempting to delineate evidence-based practices further. For instance, both Divisions 17 (Society of Counseling Psychology) and 29 (Psychotherapy) of APA have established task forces to arrive at standards of evidence-based practice (APA, 2006). The Society for Behavioral Medicine has also established similar criteria (Davidson, Trudeau, Ockene, Orleans, & Kaplan, 2003). In addition, Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) called upon its Professional Standards & Practice Committee, as well as its Division for Research, to make proposals for evidence-based practice criteria (CEC, 2006). Finally, Association for Behavior Analysis International recently launched Evidence-Based Practices Special Interest Group (EBP SIG) aimed at translating behavioral research to practice in an effort to provide evidence-based practices to general public. …

Application of the competency model to clinical health psychology.

In response to the growing emphasis on defining professional competence within applied psychology (e.g.,clinical, neuropsychology, counseling, school), in 2007 American Psychological Association Division 38(Health Psychology) sponsored a summit meeting with a specific focus on revisiting the standards of graduatecurricula and training in clinical health psychology. Using the cube model of core competency domains ofprofessional psychology as a framework, summit participants were charged with identifying the foundationaland functional competencies expected of a well-trained, entry-level clinical health psychologist. As a productof these discussions, the present article is presented as an initial effort to identify the competencies and beginthe discussion in clinical health psychology. As such it is likely to be of interest to a wide audience, includingclinical training programs with an existing or planned emphasis in clinical health psychology, practitionersinterested in acquiring the competencies required to practice as a clinical health psychologist, and studentsevaluating potential graduate and postgraduate training options in clinical health psychology.Keywords: clinical, health psychology, competencyC

Behavioral treatment of Tourette syndrome: Past, present, and future.

Cook and Blacher (2007) provide the most comprehensive review to date of psychosocial treatments for patients with tic disorders and are to be congratulated for their fine effort. The authors’ conclusion that habit reversal treatment warrants designation as well established based on the American Psychological Association's Division 12 Task Force criteria should spur increased clinical and research interest in this treatment. However, to fully realize the promise of Cook and Blacher's findings, it is first necessary to understand the broad historical context surrounding the conceptualization and treatment of Tourette syndrome (TS), including fluctuating perceptions within the TS community about the efficacy and utility of psychosocial interventions. In related fashion, this commentary also addresses several barriers, some methodological and others based on historical misconceptions about psychological treatments, that have constrained greater acceptance of such interventions in the past. Finally, we present a model approach for the development and dissemination of evidence-based psychosocial treatments designed to facilitate maximal understanding and acceptance of these interventions by the TS treatment community.

An Interview with Bonnie J.F. Meyer

Bonnie J.F. Meyer is Professor of Educational Psychology in the Department of Educational and School Psychology and Special Education at The Pennsylvania State University. She has authored over 85 publications in such areas as reading comprehension, discourse analysis and processing, and learning, memory, and decision-making across the life span. Her 1974 dissertation, which was published as a 1975 North-Holland book, entitled The Organization of Prose on Its Effects on Memory, has been cited 501 times in the Social Science Citation Index. Dr. Meyer has over 1,330 records cited in the Web of Science Citation Index. She has served as Principal Investigator on National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Aging, and Institute of Education Sciences grants (external funding: $2,522,478). She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Society and Divisions 3, 15, and 20 of the American Psychological Association (APA). She has served the APA Division 15— Educational Psychology as treasurer, newsletter editor, twice as member-at-large, and APA council representative and the American Educational Research Association as Division C Secretary and Convention Program Chair. She also has served on editorial boards for Discourse Processes, the Journal of Educational Psychology, the Reading Research Quarterly, Cognition and Instruction, the Educational Psychologist, and the Journal of Literacy Research.