Innovative Approaches in Assessment, Treatment, and Residential Care (3 x 30 minute sessions) - The Utility of Psychological Assessment in Detecting Psychosis: A Case Illustration - Connor Adams, PsyD
- EMDR and Psychosis: Nudging the United States Into the Modern Age of Trauma Treatment - Chris Perry, MS, MA, LMFT
- Creating an effective natural team based on the Windhorse approach - Eric Friedland-Kays, MA Victoria Yoshen
The Utility of Psychological Assessment in Detecting Psychosis: A Case Illustration - Connor Adams, PsyDThis presentation with utilize a clinical case to illustrate the utility of psychological assessment when detecting psychosis and creating an individualized treatment plan. The case will feature Mr. G, who was referred for psychological assessment by his therapist to better understand what factors were contributing to Mr. G feeling “stuck” in both life and therapy. Mr. G initially sought therapy due to feeling he was experiencing a “failure to launch” as a young adult. Specifically, he reported starting and stopping graduate school several times, finding it difficult to maintain friendships and romantic relationships, and struggling to engage in daily self-care activities such as personal hygiene and meal prep, despite having previously been successful in all these domains. After approximately one year of therapy both he and his therapist felt their work was not progressing and sought a psychological assessment to gain a deeper understanding of any cognitive difficulties, behavioral patterns, or intrapsychic conflicts that might contribute to his “stuckness.” Mr. G completed a multimethod psychological assessment. Multimethod assessment procedures included a thorough record review, a clinical interview, the Bender-Gestalt, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF), Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS), Projective Drawings, Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank (RISB), Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), Woodcock-Johnson IV Achievement (WJ IV ACH), and Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-IV). This case presentation will highlight the role of psychological assessment in bringing to light previously unrecognized disordered thinking that notably contributed to Mr. G’s difficulty getting “unstuck” in his life. Moreover, the assessment provided information regarding the conditions under which Mr. G’s thinking was more vulnerable to becoming disorganized, such as during instances of emotional flooding. This presentation will provide an orientation to the utility of psychological assessment, in particular for individuals experiencing psychosis, emphasizing the utility of this intervention in addition to psychotherapy.
EMDR and Psychosis: Nudging the United States Into the Modern Age of Trauma Treatment - Chris Perry, MS, MA, LMFTThe most cursory glance at the literature regarding trauma and psychosis demonstrates a strong correlation between the two. Given this, it would seem axiomatic that a trauma-informed system of care would make evidence-based therapies for posttraumatic sequelae readily available to people who have experienced both trauma and psychosis. In the United States, however, the opposite is true: psychosis is often considered an exclusionary criterion for the exact modalities of trauma treatment that have the strongest evidence base.
This presentation will focus on Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR) as a specific example of an evidence-based treatment for trauma that is systematically denied to people who have had experiences of psychosis and are seeking care in the United States. This reality contrasts sharply with the literature and with clinical practice in other parts of the world. There is a robust literature demonstrating that EMDR is both safe and effective for individuals with past and present experiences of psychosis. A review of this literature identifies clear geographic delineations: of all the available published works on this topic, only a few have been written by authors based in the United States, and none of these are systematic reviews or based on new research. In fact, almost all are cautionary tales about the use of EMDR in the context of psychosis.
This divide in the literature is reflected in clinical training and practice in the United States, which rests on unsubstantiated beliefs about the risk-benefit ratio for this practice and excludes individuals who have experienced psychosis from receiving EMDR treatment. This presentation will present a review of the literature about this practice and a case study of the process of introducing EMDR as a clinical tool in an early psychosis program at UCSF.
Creating an effective natural team based on the Windhorse approach - Eric Friedland-Kays, MA, Victoria YoshenImagine someone you love needs support because they experience extreme states of mind that make it difficult to cope with their life in an independent, functional way. Their mind makes it difficult to navigate basic tasks, and causes difficulty in relationships with friends, family, and at their job. You find them a well-meaning outpatient therapist who may not have the skill or time to engage with your loved one sufficiently. This situation becomes increasingly isolating and chaotic. What might you do to establish an effective therapeutic environment for your loved one outside of sending them to a hospital or residential program?
Now imagine creating a comprehensive mental health support system in the community for your loved one so that they can continue to engage with their life as it is. This support system consists of providers who establish one-on-one safety with this person, coach them in the real world, and all communicate weekly. This team consists of a therapeutic housemate,a skilled and humble facilitator, therapeutic mentors, and can include a psychiatrist and family members. The team is cohesive and the conflicts that arise within it are held in a therapeutic context. These relationships are consistent and flexible enough so that your loved one has enough support in the world to continue to lead a functional life with a trajectory of healing and growth.
This presentation from Windhorse Integrative Mental Health explores the unique elements of a community-based Windhorse team for individuals in psychiatric distress. For over forty years, our approach has been utilized at sites in North America and Europe with impressive results. This presentation will describe the key elements of a Windhorse team, explore its usefulness, and will cultivate dialogue about its applicability in home and community settings independent of enrolling in a Windhorse program.
