PsyD Research Articles

Understanding the Mental Health of Doctoral Students

Doctoral degrees include Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and other professional doctorates such as Engineering Doctorate (EngD), Doctor of Education (EdD) or Doctor of Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy). Unlike undergraduate or postgraduate taught students, doctoral students focus upon a single, autonomous piece of research. Research indicates a high occurrence of mental health problems, mental distress, and symptoms of anxiety or depression in doctoral students. Additionally, there is concern that they may be less likely to disclose existing mental health problems or access support services than undergraduate or postgraduate taught students. This entry explores the known factors that contribute to the mental health of doctoral students studying in the United Kingdom.

Проект «Дерево культурно-исторической психологии»: интервью с Б.Д. Элькониным

<p>As part of the project “The Tree of Cultural-Historical Psychology” an interview with Boris Danilovich Elkonin is presented — Doctor of Psychology, Professor, Head of the Laboratory “Psychology of the Junior Schoolchild” of the Psychological Institute of the Russian Academy of Education, editor-in-chief of the journal “Cultural-Historical Psychology”.</p>

Comprehensive and qualifying examinations: A qualitative review of APA-accredited doctoral psychology programs.

Comprehensive and qualifying examinations: A qualitative review of APA-accredited doctoral psychology programs.

П.Я. Шлаен в воспоминаниях и впечатлениях (к 100-летию со дня рождения)

The paper highlights the main milestones of Petr Yakovlevich Shlaen’s (06.06.1923-25.04.2009) scientific path, who is Doctor of Technical and Doctor of Psychology, a well-known scientist, veteran of the Great Patriotic War, one of the founders of military ergonomics. The article is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of P.Ya. Shlaen’s birth and is based both on students’ and his scientific school successors’ memoirs and impressions, and on fragments from the scientist’s autobiographical book “The Days of My Life”, reflecting the origin and development of domestic military ergonomics. The scientist’s role in organising a number of authoritative structures is shown, such as: the International Academy of Human Factor Problems (IAP HF), the Interregional Ergonomic Association (IEA), the Interregional Branch Centre for Ergonomic Research and Development (Ergocentre), co-organised by the Institute of Psychology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the International Humanitarian Academy “Europe-Asia”, the International Academy of Psychological Sciences (IAPS). P.Ya. Shlaen was the initiator of International and All-Russian scientific conferences, a member of dissertation councils, and a member of the editorial board of a number of scientific journals.

Making psychology ‘just’? The challenges and opportunities of delivering human rights based pedagogical & experiential teaching to trainee clinical psychologists

There is a long history of human rights violations in healthcare and those perpetrating such human rights violations have included healthcare professionals, including clinical psychologists (Soldz, 2008; Balfe, 2016). Furthermore, individuals who have been subject to human rights violations which can include torture, discrimination, war, genocide, abuse, and trauma to name a few, are more likely to come into contact with mental health services and as a result, with clinical psychologists. Therefore, clinical psychologists have an ethical responsibility to critically engage with and examine issues pertaining to human rights, as well as their own positionality in respect of this (Patel, 2003). To support this examination, Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy) training programmes should include opportunities for exploration and engagement with Human Rights violations as part of the training of clinical psychologists, however this is not currently consistently the case.In this paper the authors outline and examine the delivery of Human Rights Based teaching to trainee clinical psychologists using pedagogical, participatory and experiential learning techniques. The authors offer qualitative and quantitative feedback from four cohorts of trainee clinical psychologists on the impact of the Human Rights based teaching on their sense of self, their sense of others, their practice, and their ability to critically reflect on clinical psychology as an oppressive structure. The authors present some of the challenges and opportunities of embedding a Human Rights based framework in the teaching and education of trainee clinical psychologists and the implications of this on the practice of clinical psychology. The authors make a case that training institutions which embody principles and values connected to human rights and just psychology are likely to foster a psychological workforce that is attuned with ethics, justice and privilege.

Virtual interviews for doctoral psychology internships: Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Virtual interviews for doctoral psychology internships: Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Correction: Interprofessional Education in Psychology Doctoral Programs, Internships, and Postdoctoral Training: A Survey of Training Directors

Correction: Interprofessional Education in Psychology Doctoral Programs, Internships, and Postdoctoral Training: A Survey of Training Directors

Experiences of Black Male Doctoral Students in Psychology: A Focus on Protective Factors

Black male doctoral students in psychology face unique challenges that impact their learning environment and experience, especially with issues like race-related stress. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand their lived experience as well as the specific sociocultural factors that helped to foster their resiliency. It suggests a strengths-focused approach to understanding proactive measures that can positively impact Black male students’ success in doctoral psychology programs and their subsequent positive consequences for the profession. A phenomenological study was conducted, interviewing five Black men in clinical and counseling psychology doctoral programs. A thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) was utilized to analyze the interview responses. The findings suggest a community of support (family, mentors, peers, faculty, and relationships at professional conferences) helps, to foster awareness (educational, self-awareness, and contextual awareness) which, in turn, leads to the students engaging in meaningful action (representation, giving back, and self-care), returning to serve as members who make up the community of support for others within their community.

Interprofessional Education in Psychology Doctoral Programs, Internships, and Postdoctoral Training: A Survey of Training Directors.

Interprofessional Education (IPE) is intended to prepare health professionals for teambased care. Little is known about IPE offerings for psychology trainees. The article reports on a survey of training directors (263) from graduate school, internship, and fellowship programs about IPE in a 39-item survey. Most programs have IPE activities across 17 types (e.g., classroom didactics, IP team care, Grand Rounds, simulations, etc.), though 34% reported no or poorly coordinated IPE. Barriers included limited funding/protected time and conflicting student schedules. Resources needed for implementing IPE included incorporating IPE into clinical settings, curricular materials, and evaluation tools. Only 15% felt institutional leadership considered IPE a high priority. Training directors need leadership engagement and support, protected time, and administrative support as well as faculty development for event design and facilitation skills. This study is an exploratory first step, more granular investigation of quality and quantity of IPE from training directors' perspectives is needed.

Increasing research output and impact through publication of DClinPsy research activity at the University of Hertfordshire

This exploratory study considers research published by staff and trainee clinical psychologists from the University of Hertfordshire (UH) Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (DClinPsy) programme. This was done to reflect on which group is most often the first author, where the work is published, and the impact potential of this research output.The study employed both quantitative and qualitative enquiry. The quantitative aspect of the study provided descriptive information regarding known publications between January 2015 and October 2022. The qualitative aspect of the study used a questionnaire to find out about dissemination experiences of alumni. The programme prodnced 166 publications during the time period evaluated, an average of 20.8 publications per year. ‘Original Articles’ were the most popular type of publication, with a mean jonenal impact factor of 2.322. Trainee clinical psychologists were most often the first author on publications.The findings show production of research output via publications within journals that, on average, have an impact factor in line with the top 40–60 per cent of psychology journals. The level of output should continue to grow as a result of the increase in commissioned training places. However, there is more that the programme can do to support quality academic dissemination and recommendations for programme development are made. Trainee’s experiences and recommendations for future aspiring publishers are considered as well as a critique of the study itself.

A national survey of doctoral psychology education and training in suicide risk and violence risk assessment and management.

When, in the judgment of a mental health professional, patient suicide risk and/or patient violence risk are considered imminent, they have been referred to as behavioral emergencies. Past surveys have suggested that education and training with these emergency situations have been inadequate. The present study was undertaken to obtain more current information on the training that psychologists receive in these areas of practice. All directors of APA-accredited graduate psychology programs and all directors of APA-accredited predoctoral psychology internship programs were asked to complete an online survey inquiring about such training provided in their programs. Results indicated that both sets of directors rated such doctoral training in suicide risk assessment and management as very important. Internship directors, however, were significantly more likely than graduate program directors to state that psychologists should be required to complete continuing education courses on other-directed violence risk. Serious gaps in training were identified; that is, only 59.2% of psychology graduate directors reported that their program offered training in safety planning for suicide risk and only 25.4% reported that their program offered training in safety planning for violence risk. Given that serious injury and even death can occur from patient suicidal behavior and/or a patient violent behavior, the implications of these findings are discussed.

Selections from Thomas Verner Moore's “Religious Values in Mental Hygiene” (1933)

Thomas Verner Moore (1877-1969) was one of the most prominent Catholic psychologists and psychiatrists of the first half of the 20th century. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, to a Presbyterian father and a Catholic mother, and raised as a Catholic, he entered the Congregation of the Missionary Priests of St. Paul the Apostle—the order called the “Paulists”—in 1896 and was ordained in 1901. The Paulist novitiate, located on the campus of the Catholic University of America, founded in 1887, provided Moore with the opportunity to study the “new psychology,” that is, experimental psychology, with Edward Aloysius Pace (1861-1938), who was a priest, a psychologist, and a Thomistic philosopher of renown. After Moore earned a doctorate in psychology in 1903 under Pace, he studied with Wilhelm Wundt, a leading light in experimental psychology, in Leipzig. Moore began teaching at the Catholic University in 1910. He met with the psychologist Lightner Witmer to discern how to establish a child clinic. To do so, he needed an MD, and he returned to Germany to study with Emil Kraepelin, the “grandfather” of the DSM. He also studied with Oswald Külpe, another leading experimentalist. The outbreak of World War I cut his stay short. Upon his return to Washington, he completed an MD under Adolf Meyer, at Johns Hopkins University. Moore then opened a clinic at Providence Hospital, Washington, in 1916. He served in the Armed Forces in World War I as a psychiatrist. In the 1920s, he left the Paulists and established a Benedictine Abbey, St. Anselm's, in Washington. He was a friend of Charles Spearman, who developed factor analysis, and Moore did statistical studies, including those investigating psychiatric categories. He taught several generations of graduate students, many of whom went on to establish psychology departments at Catholic colleges. When he retired from teaching, he entered the Carthusian order. He died in Spain in 1969.

Unsettling the ‘master’s house’

Psychology and psychotherapy have long been regarded as a Eurocentric and largely homogenous field primarily dominated by white, socioeconomically privileged/middle-class women. This lack of racial/ethnic diversity and inclusion within the field has become an area of increased focus of discussion within psychological professions due to its significant impact on the care, experience, and outcomes of service users. Individuals from racially minoritised backgrounds face multiple systemic barriers when accessing the profession during their training and as qualified psychological professionals. Extensive research indicates that clinical psychologists from racially minoritised backgrounds experience racism in clinical psychology and this has persisted over the years. Similarly, in the psychotherapy literature, there has been an emphasis on addressing the lack of acknowledgement of racial disparities in psychotherapy training. As a result, it feels imperative that there is a radical shift in psychology and psychotherapy which involves acknowledging its role in creating and perpetuating racism and discrimination, as well as an urgent need to adopt a decolonised, socio-constructionist approach.
 Despite this, there has been little focus or momentum on clinical psychology training programmes to actively address issues of racism and to develop anti-racist practice. The Newcastle University Clinical Psychology Doctorate Programme recently made an active stance to adopt anti-racist practice and implement an approach that supports collective responsibility and accountability. In this article, the authors engage in a critical, radical, and collective dialogue around their experiences, and share their reflections on developing a clinical psychology anti-racism strategy, attending to power, discomfort, and the role of systemic oppression. The diverse voices of trainers, trainees, and aspiring clinical psychologists presented suggest that collective action, solidarity, as well as attending to power and relationality, had a profound impact on the development of the anti-racism strategy, as well as on relationships, trust, and relational safety. The authors offer critical reflections on how these experiences can be helpful in further understanding the complexity and multi-faceted nature of anti-racist praxis in clinical psychology and psychotherapy.

“Being human”: A grounded theory approach to exploring how trainers on clinical psychology doctorate programmes decide whether or not to disclose personal experiences of psychological distress to clinical psychology doctorate trainees

AbstractObjectiveRecent research and guidelines recommend that trainers on clinical psychology doctorate training programmes consider disclosing personal experiences of psychological distress to trainees. Disclosure is thought to promote cultures of openness, validate and normalise trainee distress, encourage trainee disclosure and help‐seeking and challenge stigmatising narratives. However, little is known about how trainers decide whether, what or how to disclose. This study aims to address that gap by exploring the processes and factors involved in trainers deciding whether or not to disclose personal experiences of psychological distress to trainees, generating findings of relevance across counselling, psychotherapy and psychology training courses.MethodsIn‐depth interviews were conducted with nine trainers on UK clinical psychology doctorate programmes from around the country and analysed in accordance with constructivist grounded theory methods.ResultsFindings indicated that participants valued disclosure personally and professionally but were wary of the dangers of disclosure. Disclosure decisions were made by judging the context against internally held criteria. If criteria were not met, then disclosures were not made. Outcomes, whether positive or negative, served to reinforce the value of disclosure and the importance of managing risks, creating a positive feedback loop.ConclusionsThe findings of this study suggest factors that are important for trainers to consider when deciding whether or not to disclose. The six‐factor framework developed may be useful for trainers to consider within reflective practice, supervision or during guided self‐reflection in order to make safe, helpful and ethical decisions.

Remembering Robert W. Resnick, PhD: From NYC Taxi Driver to APA Award Winner

Remembering Robert W. Resnick, PhD: From NYC Taxi Driver to APA Award Winner

Scientific Report: Features of the Neuropsychologist Remote Work

The article presents a scientific report Features of the Neuropsychologist Remote Work, which was delivered on November 17, 2022 at the round-table discussion Neuropsychology’s Responses to the Challenges of Digital Transformation organized by the Lurian Journal staff within the framework of the International Congress L. S. Vygotsky and A. R. Luria: Cultural-Historical Psychology and Issues of Digitalization of Social Practices (Novosibirsk). It was dedicated to the memory of Doctor of Psychology, Professor Janna Markovna Glozman.

Alexander D. Karnyshev: To the 75th Anniversary of the Scientist and Teacher

The article is dedicated to the anniversary of the famous scientist and teacher Doctor of Psychology, Professor A.D. Karnyshev. Based on the tools and approaches developed by the historical discipline of biography, the main milestones of his scientific and pedagogical activity are analyzed. The contribution to the creation of a new branch of psychology - economic ethnopsychology is assessed. This branch of scientific knowledge has been expanded and deepened through research on economical ecology and economic patriotism. The contribution of the scientist to the preparation of amendments to the law on Baikal, on local self-government, on youth and national policy is noted. Particular attention is paid to the period of work of A.D. Karnyshev at the Baikal State University.

Supplemental Material for The Invisible Work of Persisting: BIWOC Students in School Psychology Doctoral Programs

Supplemental Material for The Invisible Work of Persisting: BIWOC Students in School Psychology Doctoral Programs

Supplemental Material for Psychology Doctoral Students’ Satisfaction With Virtual Supervision During COVID-19

Supplemental Material for Psychology Doctoral Students’ Satisfaction With Virtual Supervision During COVID-19

The Fierce Life of Grace Holmes Carlson: Catholic Socialist Feminist by Donna Haverty-Stacke

Reviewed by: The Fierce Life of Grace Holmes Carlson: Catholic Socialist Feminist by Donna Haverty-Stacke Janine Giordano Drake The Fierce Life of Grace Holmes Carlson: Catholic Socialist Feminist. By Donna Haverty-Stacke. New York: New York University Press, 2021. 312 pp. $50.00. In the Cold War-era narratives of U.S. history that predominated the twentieth century, radical socialism and Christianity were inherently opposed to one another. In this framework, Dorothy Day's [End Page 79] Catholic Worker Movement appeared as an exception to the rule. And yet, Donna Haverty-Stacke's well-written biography of Grace Holmes Carlson, the Catholic Trotsykist, psychology professor, political candidate, outlaw, and Catholic university reformer, reminds us that Dorothy Day is no exception. Carlson, too, had a foot in both the political left and the churches as she sought to change both Christian definitions of social justice and patriotic definitions of American democracy. Grace was raised in Catholic schools under the leadership of Archbishop John Ireland, a fierce Progressive-Era advocate for labor justice. She excelled academically and went on to pursue a doctorate in Psychology at the University of Minnesota, where she also met her husband, Gilbert. For her, it felt like a seamless transition from supporting union struggles during the Depression to carrying on this work within the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) of the 1940s. Within the SWP orbit, Grace and her sister Dorothy found their voices as political leaders. Grace ran for public office and, after she was forced to resign her teaching position due to her socialist leanings, she worked for the party. This decision took a strain on both her marriage and her faith, and for a period she stopped calling herself a Catholic and had a relationship with another man. Yet, less than a decade later and after a brief detention in prison for her political beliefs, Grace decided to leave the party and return to both her husband and what she described as the Catholic Church. In Grace's telling of the story, her return to Catholicism was not a rejection of socialism but an affirmation of a part of her that had always been there. She made a "personal" decision stemming from the death of her father to return to her more spiritual roots. Contrary to some of our presumptions about patriarchy and anti-socialism pervading Catholicism in 1950s, Roman Catholic sisters in Minneapolis gave the former felon sanctuary and respected her expertise and sense of "mission." At St. Mary's Junior College, Grace took on leadership roles in campus ministry. She was also invited to help design a general education curriculum that prepared students for the challenge of committing oneself to social justice, ethics, and truth [End Page 80] while also following a secular vocation. As Haverty-Stacke tells the story, Grace's mature support for a "modern, engaged Catholic activism" was more of a fulfillment of her lifetime of political experiences than a rejection of the Trotyskyist politics of her young adulthood. Moreover, her invitation to Catholic leadership was also a fulfillment of Roman Catholic social and political goals. Grace also traveled and spoke broadly on the value of a Catholic liberal arts education which nurtured Catholics' sense of justice and respect for human beings, and which integrated this with their vocational mission of redeeming and transforming society. One wonders to what extent her ideas inspired Catholic vocational work in other institutions. When, in 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson officially pardoned Grace's felony and restored her voting rights, one wonders who really proved victorious in the culture war between Leftists and American Catholics. In many respects, the interests of the Left and the Roman Catholic Left had become indivisible by 1965. Indeed, perhaps the most significant scholarly contribution of the book is its spotlight on the intimate relationship between Roman Catholicism and left-wing labor politics in the twentieth century. The book leads us to wonder how many Americans who ended up supporting the Socialist Workers' Party were similarly steeped in Catholic labor support throughout the 1910s–1930s, and how many of them also quietly declared victory through the significant shifts in the meaning of "Catholicism" in the 1960s. If Grace...