The role of social support in moderating the impact of childhood sexual abuse on adult psychological adjustment was examined. Women were drawn from three clinical samples (women in treatment for alcoholism, for being battered, or for mental health treatment) and two nonclinical sources (women arrested for driving while intoxicated and a random…

The topic of caregiving was investigated with respect to the burden experienced by primary caregivers of older persons who had recently suffered a myocardial infarction. Structured interviews were completed with 104 primary care providers who were part of a larger National Institute on Aging funded survey. The caregivers were of both sexes and…

The national survey focused on whether there is a standard set of practices with regard to establishing the psychological and social/emotional fitness of teacher candidates. Another focus of the study was to assess whether there are differences between National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and non-NCATE approved…

Over the past two decades, the chronic mentally ill elderly have begun to receive care in residential health care facilities (RHCF) such as domiciliary care, intermediate care, and skilled nursing facilities. While there is justification for this increase, as the mentally ill elderly also present with significant physical illnesses, there are…

The physically disabled are at high risk for psychological problems, yet these issues are not adequately addressed in the professional literature. To assess disabled persons' perceptions of the types of problems they experience, and their need for psychological services, 145 severly disabled persons responded to mailed surveys. Subjects completed…

The Community Aging Program is a demonstration outpatient, mental health program designed to study and treat elderly individuals. The individual's skills relevant to living independently are assessed and those individuals with deficits enter an appropriate treatment program. Two of the treatment programs or modules help the individual adjust to…

Dialogics as a philosophical principle is, like the dialectics predominant at present in all industrialized countries, based on the duality of life and thought. Dialogics postulates that two thoughts, or two aspirations, or two concepts together make up a whole, simultaneously, each being of equal importance. Play is a dialogic of doing and…

Rural areas have fewer health services and are proportionally underrepresented in practicing mental health professionals. For community psychology to meet the needs of rural populations, new training approaches for community psychologists will need to be developed. New areas of prevention and intervention will require roles and functions different…

Schofield (1964) described the young attractive, verbal, intelligent, and successful person (YAVIS) as the client preferred by therapists. To determine the relationship between the sex of client the variables often associated with the preferred client, and selection as client by male and female therapists, doctoral candidates in Clinical…

Many research efforts have demonstrated relationships between the experience of mental health volunteers and their attitudes toward mental illness. Questionnaire surveys were completed by adult volunteers in psychiatric and nonpsychiatric programs in order to assess general attitudes toward mental patients and to control for the potential effects…

This symposium explores the general roles and functions of a college counseling center and of the professional staff within it. Contributors to the symposium discussed the role of the director, the counseling psychologist, the clinical psychologist, the psychiatrist, and the sociologist in fostering positive mental health on college campuses. The…

A variety of psychotherapeutic methodologies has proliferated as a consequence of rapid growth in the need for mental health services. The effectiveness of many of these methods is questionable. Although each psychotherapeutic technique advances claims for its continued use based on clinical effectiveness, few offer adequate scientific evidence to…

The concept of bibliotherapy covers both the normal activity of librarians in suggesting books to readers, and the therapeutic adjuvant in medicine and psychiatry where reading is used in diagnosis or other specific phases of therapy. Mental hospitals have been the prime locale for the practice of bibliotherapy in the United States and Europe, but…

This speech discusses client advocacy, a paraprofessional service offered in many community mental health centers to help bridge the gap between therapist and client. While having an advocate on the mental health team is an attractive idea, these client advocates are quite susceptible to "corruption." The author discusses two major causes of this…

This article is concerned with the aged and looks briefly at the history of federal involvement in mental health care, discusses current trends, and examines the future of mental health care in the United States. (CMG)