MASTER’S PROJECT: CHALLENGING STRUCTURAL RACISM IN PHILANTHROPY THROUGH CREATIVE EXPRESSION AND DEEP LISTENING

This capstone project is an account of a personal transformation journey that started in March of 2017. It follows my deep and personal exploration of challenging systemic racism as I spoke with many leaders in the philanthropic and artistic communities. In addition, I created artwork to help incorporate and synthesize my emotions around white supremacy and process what I was learning. The qualitative information that was gathered was abundant and the supporting art journaling technique was useful in the translation of that information

Beneficial Effects of Role Reversal in Comparison to role-playing on negative cognitions about Other’s Judgments for Social Anxiety Disorder

Background and objectives: Negative beliefs about other’s judgments play an important role in the development and maintenance of social anxiety disorder. The present experiment examined the effects of role-playing followed by role reversal compared to role-playing twice on altering these negative cognitions. Methods: Thirty-six adult social anxiety patients were randomized into two conditions: a role-playing condition in which 18 participants role-played an anxiety-provoking social situation twice, or a role reversal condition in which 18 participants role-played an anxiety-provoking social situation followed by enacting the same situation using role reversal. Before the start of the experiment, patients were asked to report their negative cognitions about the other’s judgments. Next, they were asked to rate the believability of these negative cognitions, as well as the probability and cost estimates of negative judgments by the other person, at three time-points: before the first block of role-playing, after the first block of role-playing, and after the second block of the experiment. Results: Results demonstrated that role-playing followed by role reversal had a stronger effect on the most negative cognitions than role-playing twice. Limitations: The most important limitation of the present study is that there was no control group to assess the effects of role-playing alone. Moreover, the second block of the experiment was repetitive in role-playing, however, it was a new task in role reversal. Conclusions: The results support the hypothesis that role reversal is an effective technique that can be used to correct negative cognitions about other’s judgments in SAD

Attachment as a framework to facilitate empowerment for people with severe mental illness

Objectives:  Recovery and empowerment have evolved into key objectives in the treatment and care of people with severe mental illness (SMI), and interest has grown in the role of social relationships in recovery. This study is the first to explore whether attachment styles are related to levels of empowerment, and secondly, whether attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance are associated with lower empowerment levels, independently of quality and frequency of social contact.  Design:  We used a cross-sectional design. Methods: In a sample of 157 participants with SMI in outpatient care, associations between attachment (Revised Adult Attachment Scale), self-reported social functioning, and empowerment (Netherlands Empowerment List) were assessed.  Results:  Attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance were both associated with lower levels of empowerment. A stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that the prediction of empowerment was significantly improved by adding attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance to quality and frequency of social contact. Attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, and quality of social contact were significant predictors; frequency of social contact was not.  Conclusions:  Although our design does not allow causal conclusions, our results highlight the importance of interpersonal processes and behaviours as routes to improving empowerment for people with SMI. A promising approach might thus consist of securing attachment bonds with significant others so that the self and the other are perceived as reliable resources. Our findings also feature the importance of reciprocity and equality in social relationships. Taken together, our study emphasizes the value of social, contextualized interventions in recovery work for people with SMI.  Practitioner points:  Working towards attachment safety in interpersonal relations may be important in recovery-oriented treatment and care for people with severe mental illness (SMI). Helping people with SMI to recognize and change how they tend to relate themselves to others may promote engagement and effectiveness of recovery-oriented treatment and care. Reciprocity and equality in social relationships as vital complements to the more one-sided nature of ‘standing alongside’ and offering support may be important requisites for empowerment

Early maladaptive schemas and borderline personality disorder features in a nonclinical sample : a network analysis

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a challenging problem. Early maladaptive schemas (EMSs) are considered as important vulnerability factors for the development and maintenance of BPD. Literature suggests a complex relationship between BPD and EMSs. The current study employed network analysis to model the complex associations between central BPD features (i.e., affective instability, identity problems, negative relations, and self-harm) and EMSs in 706 undergraduate students. The severity of BPD symptoms was assessed using the Personality Assessment Inventory-Borderline subscale; the Young Schema Questionnaire-Short Form was used to assess EMSs. Results suggest that specific EMSs show unique associations with different BPD features. Interestingly, affective instability showed no unique associations with EMSs. Identity problems were uniquely associated with abandonment, insufficient self-control, dependence/incompetence, and vulnerability to harm/illness schemas. Negative relations in BPD showed unique connections with mistrust/abuse and abandonment. Finally, BPD self-harm was connected to emotional deprivation and failure. These findings indicate potential pathways between EMSs and specific BPD features that could improve our understanding of BPD theoretically and clinically

Sublittoral soft bottom communities and diversity of Mejillones Bay in northern Chile (Humboldt Current upwelling system)

The macrozoobenthos of Mejillones Bay (23°S; Humboldt Current) was quantitatively investigated over a 7-year period from austral summer 1995/1996 to winter 2002. About 78 van Veen grab samples taken at six stations (5, 10, 20 m depth) provided the basis for the analysis of the distribution of 60 species and 28 families of benthic invertebrates, as well as of their abundance and biomass. Mean abundance (2,119 individuals m-2) was in the same order compared to a previous investigation; mean biomass (966 g formalin wet mass m-2), however, exceeded prior estimations mainly due to the dominance of the bivalve Aulacomya ater. About 43% of the taxa inhabited the complete depth range. Mean taxonomic Shannon diversity (H', Log e) was 1.54 ± 0.58 with a maximum at 20 m (1.95 ± 0.33); evenness increased with depth. The fauna was numerically dominated by carnivorous gastropods, polychaetes and crustaceans (48%). About 15% of the species were suspensivorous, 13% sedimentivorous, 11% detritivorous, 7% omnivorous and 6% herbivorous. Cluster analyses showed a significant difference between the shallow and the deeper stations. Gammarid amphipods and the polychaete family Nephtyidae characterized the 5-mzone, the molluscs Aulacomya ater, Mitrella unifasciata and gammarids the intermediate zone, while the gastropod Nassarius gayi and the polychaete family Nereidae were most prominent at the deeper stations. The communities of the three depth zones did not appear to be limited by hypoxia during non-El Niño conditions. Therefore, no typical change in community structure occurred during El Niño 1997–1998, in contrast to what was observed for deeper faunal assemblages and hypoxic bays elsewhere in the coastal Humboldt Current system

Group schema therapy for cluster-C personality disorders:A multicentre open pilot study

BackgroundGroup schema therapy (GST) is increasingly popular as a treatment for personality disorders (PDs), including Cluster-C PDs. Individual ST has proven to be effective for Cluster-C PD patients, while the evidence for GST is limited. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of GST for Cluster-C PD. Moreover, differ- ences between the specific Cluster-C PDs (avoidant PD, dependent PD and obsessive-compulsive PD) were explored.MethodsA multicentre open trial was conducted, including 137 patients with a Cluster-C PD (avoidant PD: n = 107, dependent PD: n = 11 and obsessive- compulsive PD: n = 19). Patients received 30 weekly GST sessions with a maximum of 180 min of individual ST and five optional monthly booster sessions. Outcome measures including Cluster-C PD severity, general psychopathological symptoms, quality of life, functional impairment, happiness, PD-related beliefs, self-esteem, self- ideal discrepancy, schemas and schema modes were assessed at baseline until 2-year follow-up with semi-structured interviews and self-report measures. Change over time and differences between the specific Cluster-C PDs were analysed with mixed regression analyses.ResultsThe outcome measures showed significant improvements for all Cluster-C PDs, with medium to large effect sizes after 2 years. A treatment dropout rate of 11.7% was found. There were some indications for differences between the Cluster-C PDs in severity at baseline, change trajectories and effectiveness of GST. ConclusionsThis study demonstrated that GST is a promising treatment for Cluster-C PDs. The following step is a randomized controlled trial to further document the (cost-)effectiveness of GST. <br/