Buffalo Renaissance: The Northern Plains Tribes\u27 Path to Self-Determination

This long-form journalistic story and photo essay is about the Blackfoot Tribes in the United States and Canada and their efforts to restore bison to their land, their diet, and their culture. In 2014, ten tribes from the United States and Canada came together at Blackfeet Nation in Browning, Montana to sign the Buffalo Treaty, a commitment to bringing wild buffalo back to parts of their historical range. The Treaty signing marked the first time in more than 150 years that a diverse group of tribes, some historical enemies, came together in the name of restoring the animal they evolved with for millennia. In Blackfeet country, bison are at the heart of a movement that has manifested from this Treaty, in which Tribes are beginning to assert power and sovereignty over their landscapes, culture and communities. The return of bison is helping the Blackfoot people emerge from a dark past, and begin to heal traumas that have plagued tribes for more than two centuries. Since the 1990s, Ervin Carlson, a sixty-year-old Blackfeet native, has been in charge of the Blackfeet Tribe’s herd of roughly 400 buffalo. But since the signing of the Buffalo Treaty in 2014, this buffalo herd has played a more integral role in the culture and society of the Tribe. On the Blackfeet Reservation buffalo are promoting economic development, restoring a nutritional food source, rekindling cultural identity and revitalizing native spirit for Blackfoot Tribes. But Carlson and the Blackfoot Confederacy Tribes in northern Montana and southern Alberta have united with tribes from across the Rocky Mountain West around a grander vision, a movement that has emerged from the Buffalo Treaty: for buffalo to be wild and free roaming on fragments of their historical range, rather than fenced in on a reservation. The near extinction of wild buffalo in the late 19th century was an integral piece of the orchestrated genocide of Native people. The slaughter removed this keystone species – which is fundamental to the health of the vast grasslands of the Northern Great Plains – and compromised the spiritual heart of the Native people. My project, as a photographic essay, illuminates the efforts of Carlson, and others, to bring buffalo back to the wild, an animal whose tragic story, as Carlson says, is emblematic of the Native American struggle

Understanding unusual sensory experiences: a randomised experimental study of a school-based intervention for adolescents

Background: One in ten young people experience unusual sensory experiences (USE), such as hallucinations. From a cognitive perspective, the appraisal of USE determines the impact of these experiences. Negative appraisal, as well as other psychological processes (e.g. thinking flexibility, maladaptive schemas, anxiety/depression), is associated with more distress. Our aim was to (a) develop a universal single-session school-based intervention on USE for adolescents and (b) evaluate the effect of the intervention on appraisals of and help seeking intentions for USE. Methods: A randomised controlled experimental design with a one-month follow-up was used to test the effectiveness of the intervention in one school. Students (n = 223) aged 12–13 were randomised by class to a single-session intervention on USE or a control intervention (generic mental wellbeing). Participants completed measures of appraisals of and help-seeking intentions for USE at pre- and postintervention and at one-month follow-up. They also completed measures of schemas, thinking flexibility and anxiety/depression at preintervention. Results: Overall, 190 adolescents completed the main outcome measures at all three points. The intervention on USE led to a significant (p < .05) increase of positive appraisals of USE compared with the control, with effects sustained at one-month follow-up. The intervention on USE did not lead to significantly greater help-seeking intentions for USE (p = .26). Adolescents' schemas were associated with appraisals and slow thinking and anxiety/depressive symptoms with help-seeking behaviour for USE. Conclusions: A single-session universal school-based intervention shows promise by improving appraisals of USE. Further research is required across different school populations

Cognitive behavioural therapy for psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) in an adult with a learning disability: a case study

Background Psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) are attacks that often look like epileptic seizures (ES). Unlike ES, PNES are not triggered by underlying neurological factors. PNES are relatively rare in the general population; however, their prevalence in people with learning disabilities is much higher—up to 10%. Individuals with PNES and learning disabilities often have psychiatric comorbidities, such as anxiety disorders, depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. There are currently no treatment guidelines for PNES in people with or without learning disabilities. However, talking therapies, such as cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), are recommended. This study explores the effectiveness of CBT for the treatment of PNES in a woman (Susan) with PNES and learning disabilities. Methods We used a single-case experimental design (SCED) to investigate the effectiveness of CBT intervention. Specifically, the withdrawal (also known as ABA) design was applied. The patient's average PNES frequency, as well as idiosyncratic mood measure and standardised outcome measures for people with learning disabilities (Glasgow Anxiety Scale for People with an Intellectual Disability and Mini-Maslow Assessment of Needs Scale-Learning Disabilities), were used to assess the effectiveness of treatment. Findings Results show that Susan's monthly PNES frequency reduced from phase A1 (assessment phase) to phase B (treatment phase), and this persisted to the follow-up phase (phase A2). However, the reduction was not statistically significant. The intervention was associated with improvements in Susan's mood, anxiety and quality of life. Reduction of Susan's anxiety was clinically significant. Conclusions This SCED study demonstrates that CBT might be associated with reduction of PNES frequency and improvements in general functioning in people with PNES and learning disabilities; however, further research, especially around confounding variables is needed

Field guide to common saltmarsh plants of Queensland

The Field guide to common saltmarsh plants of Queensland has identification keys for the 32 most widespread saltmarsh species in Queensland's coastal zone. This unique, user-friendly publication is ideal for students, teachers, researchers, community groups, fishers, and others with an interest in Queensland's coastal environment. The field guide provides descriptions, colour photographs, flowering periods, drawings and Queensland distribution maps for succulent plants, grasses, rushes, sedges and other saltmarsh plants

The needs and experiences of parents with psychosis: a qualitative interview study

Over a third of individuals diagnosed with a psychotic disorder are also a parent. The symptoms of psychosis and side effects of antipsychotic medication can impact on parents’ awareness of the needs of their children and, at times, the parent may be emotionally and practically unavailable to their child. This study assessed the expressed emotion of parents with psychosis and used qualitative methods to investigate their needs and experience in order to identify how best to support this parent group. Twelve parents with a diagnosed psychotic disorder and with a child aged between 3 and 11 years took part in semi-structured interviews. The majority of parents displayed high levels of warmth and low levels of negativity towards their child. Four themes were generated using reflexive thematic analysis: (1) the impact of psychosis on parenting, (2) the need to protect their child, (3) the need to feel normal, and (4) the impact of parenting stress on psychosis. These results showed how parents want to protect their children and feel normal despite experiencing psychosis. They also highlighted the cyclical relationship between parenting stress and psychotic symptoms, whereby psychotic symptoms can impact on a parent’s capacity to care for their child and parenting stress can exacerbate psychotic symptoms

Parenting and psychosis: an experience sampling methodology study investigating the inter-relationship between stress from parenting and positive psychotic symptoms

Objectives There is a strong association between stress and psychotic symptoms, and this study examined the bidirectional nature of this relationship in parents with psychosis, with negative affect as a mediator and a range of other psychosocial factors included as covariates. It also examined whether stress from parenting had a larger impact on psychosis than non-parenting stress. Design The study used a within-participants repeated measures design, using experience sampling methodology (ESM). ESM is a self-report surveying technique completed over an intensive longitudinal period. Participants completed six surveys a day, for 10 days. Methods Thirty-five participants with psychosis who were a parent to a child between the ages of 2 and 16 took part. Study phones alerted participants to complete surveys by beeping at semi-random intervals over 10 days. Multi-level modelling was used with surveys at Level-1 and participants at Level-2. Predictor variables were time-lagged in order to infer directionality. Results Parenting stress was found to predict psychotic symptoms, and this relationship was mediated by negative affect. The reverse direction was also confirmed. Few of the additional psychosocial factors were found to have a significant impact on the models' estimations. Parenting stress was not found to have a larger impact on psychosis than other sources of stress. Conclusions This study provides further evidence of the bidirectional relationship between stress and psychosis in the context of parenting. Further research should explore if parenting stress plays a unique role in predicting psychotic symptoms by comparing parents and non-parents with psychosis

A family perspective on parental psychosis: An interpretative phenomenological analysis study

Objectives: While one third of people with a psychotic disorder are a parent, there has been little research to date examining the consequences of this from a whole family perspective. This study investigates families where a parent has experienced an episode of psychosis and compares and contrasts the family members' perspectives. Design: This study was rooted in phenomenology and data were derived from in-depth semi-structured interviews. Methods: Parents with a psychotic disorder who had a child aged between 3 and 11 in a UK NHS Trust were invited to take part in the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with these parents, with their child (if they were between the ages of 8 and 11), and with their partner or another close family member. Data were analysed using multiperspectival interpretive phenomenological analysis (m-IPA). Results: Thirteen participants took part comprising of five parents, four children, three partners and one grandmother. Four themes were developed using m-IPA: (1) Parental psychosis impacts the whole family, (2) Psychosis and my role as a parent, (3) Secrecy and concealment surrounding parental psychosis, and (4) Pressures and vulnerabilities within the family system. Conclusion: Psychosis had a negative impact on all family members and secrecy existed between family members. The children in particular only had partial information about their parent's mental illness, which left them worried and confused. More work is needed to support these families to explain psychosis to the children