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| Expanding the Clinical Behavioral Realm: Behavioral Practices in Non-Behavioral Settings |
| Sunday, May 27, 2007 |
| 10:30 AM–11:50 AM |
| Edward C |
| Area: CBM/CSE; Domain: Applied Research |
| Chair: Kenneth R. Huntley (Chapman University) |
| Discussant: Donald A. Jackson Jackson (Nevada Mental Health & Developmental Services) |
| Abstract: Behavior analysis has a long history of being interested in and improving the human condition along with offering a effective alternative to more mainstream psychological interventions. Only lately, however, has it started venturing into a range of topics that have historically been considered primarily clinical in nature. Clinical behavior analysis has started the process of utilizing behavioral principles with a range of clinical issues, including anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Functional Analytic Therapy are just two examples of how behavior analysts are taking their skills and artfully applying them in clinical settings. The purpose of the present symposium is to present the way behaviorists continue to expand the behavioral realm by taking a functional approach to a diverse range of clinical issues. In doing so, these papers show both the effectiveness and utility of a behavioral approach across the gamut of clinical conditions. |
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| The Role of Behavior Analysis in Emergency Response to National Disasters. |
| GINA M. PALLOTTA (California State University, Stanislaus) |
| Abstract: The American Red Cross, a volunteer humanitarian organization, is a primary provider of emergency aid to victims of national disasters and acts of terrorism. The American Red Cross coordinated over 219,500 volunteers and provided over 800,000 mental health service contacts in response to the 2005 United States hurricane season. The current author established a children’s crisis counseling center within an American Red Cross service center in Mississippi. The service center provided emergency financial aid, food, clothing, medical care and crisis counseling to approximately 500 – 700 families a day in the weeks following Hurricane Katrina. This paper will review the National Center for PTSD’s Psychological First Aid treatment model for disaster survivors and offer training guidelines for behavioral interventions and the overall role of behavior analysis in emergency response to national disasters. |
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| Mental Illness and the Measurement of Private Events: A Behavioral Perspective. |
| CRIS T. CLAY (University of the Pacific) |
| Abstract: This presentation will focus on the description of common behaviors that characterize the various symptoms exhibited by individuals who experience a major mental illness. Specific attention will be directed at those individuals who are diagnosed as experiencing bi-polar and or schizophrenic disease. The most common symptoms exhibited by individuals diagnosed with these two disorders of adaptation will be reviewed from a behavioral perspective. Specific attention will be focused on the description, definition and measurement of many behaviors identified as private events that appear to be precursors to problems of adaptation within the normalized community within this population. Further attention will focus on the medical model and clinicians who provide services to the mentally disabled in an effort to show how historical and current practices and beliefs continue to promote a failure to effectively treat those individuals with major mental health diagnoses. |
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| A Behavioral Examination of Working with Suicidal Patients. |
| KENNETH R. HUNTLEY (Chapman University) |
| Abstract: Suicidal behavior is perhaps the most difficult issue for psychologists and therapists to intervene in, both professionally and personally. A major reason for this is that suicide is one of the few fatal consequences of psychiatric illness. In one way or another, behavior analysts in clinical settings will have contact with patients who are thinking about and or have attempted suicide in some manner. Moreover, many of the practices and assumptions held by the mental health community are in conflict with research findings in the field of suicidology. The purpose of the current presentation is to highlight some critical clinical considerations in assessing suicide risk with an eye towards a more complete assessment and intervention with individuals who are suicidal. The conceptual relevance of these issues to the field of clinical behavior analysis will also be discussed along with implications for further research. |
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