Psychodrama

The past two years have been marked by among many social factors, the “great resignation.”  This phenomenon has extended to academia and it is a surprise because many refer to it as “the best job in the world.” An occupation that allowed individuals to pursue their own interests, and provided significant autonomy, and for those in tenure track, the possibility of a very stable, protected employment virtually unavailable in any other industry or setting. However, the great resignation has arrived to academia as well.  In the next 2-3 episodes we are attempting to do a brief series that captures various voices of individuals leaving academia for other pursuits. Given our expertise, our guests are psychologists. We are aware that this may seem to narrow the topic significantly. However, we hope that the diverse background of our guests and the fact that they are psychologists, may help provide a special insight into their own motivations and a unique view into the great resignation as they explain why they decided to leave “the best job in the world.”

Our first guest in our “Leaving las Academia” series is Dr. Nelson Zounlome who actually posted his resignation from a counseling psychology position at the University of Kentucky on twitter, and that is how we first contacted him.  As you will hear, Dr. Zounlome is a first-generation college student, child of immigrants, and native of South Bend, IN. He earned Bachelor's degrees in Psychology & Sociology, and a Master's degree in Learning Science-Educational Psychology Track, and a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Indiana University. He is a former McNair Scholar, Ford Foundation Fellow, Herman B. Wells Graduate Fellow, and until recently an assistant professor in the counseling psychology department at the university of Kentucky. He published the book “Letters to My Sisters & Brothers: Practical Advice to Successfully Navigate Academia as a Student of Color” and he has channeled his passion for studying “academic persistence and mental wellness to promote holistic healing among Black, Indigenous, and People of Color” in his new enterprise, Liberate the Block or LTB as he calls it to in his words “help BIPOC communities liberate themselves and achieve their wildest dreams.”

We hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we did recording it.

For this episode, we are very pleased to have Dr. Hal Herzog back to our show to talk to us about his research area in human-animal interactions(anthrozoology).  Hal has published a second edition of his fascinating book “Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat- Why It’s So Hard to Think Straight About Animals.”  His research has been published in journals such as Science, The American Psychologist, The Journal of the Royal Society, The American Scholar, New Scientist, Anthrozoös, BioScience, The Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, and Animal Behavior. His work has been covered by Newsweek, Slate, Salon, National Public Radio, Scientific American, USA Today, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune and many other newspapers.  In 2013, he was given the Distinguished Scholar Award by the International Society for Anthrozoology.

In this episode, we focused on “The Pet Effect” -the idea that pets improve the well-being of humans.  Hal goes over the data in this regard, and discusses how the “pet effect” may be at least overstated, if not  non-existent, and the reasons why this perception of “animals as miracle workers” remains.  Including how much he loves his cat Tilly, and how he thinks Tilly helps his well-being despite her bird-icidal ways and countless examples of people whose lives are decidedly worse or made more difficult by pets.

We delve deeper in the topic by examining the effectiveness of  animals in animal assisted therapy (AAT), for example the use of dogs for the treatment of PTSD with veterans, and question whether the investment required to train the dogs (up to $35,000 per dog) is worth the small effect and the very mixed (at best) data on it.  

We conclude by talking about the ethics and morality of keeping animals as pets, and draw some interesting parallels between meat-eating and pet-ownership. Hal also talks about whether it is better to not spay and neuter pets (the answer may surprise you!) and how his daughter Katie Herzog, a journalist, arrived at the decision for her dog “Moose” by digging into the data.  We finished by talking about the issue of personhood for animals including upcoming court cases in the US, like the one of “Happy” the elephant at the Bronx zoo, arguing that some animals may be considered persons, and thus, may not be kept in captivity.  A very fun, interesting episode, and thought provoking episode. We hope you enjoy it!

(This episode was NOT brought to you by Purina because boy, they may not like what we have to say).

Research and Articles in Episode:

Link to Hal’s Website and Book

National Academy of Sciences review of VA study on potential therapeutic effect of emotional support dogs on Veterans with PTSD

Happy is an Elephant. Is He Also a Person? Jill Lepore, The Atlantic Magazine.

Moose Nuggets: A journey through one dog’s testicles. By Katie Herzog. Substack

Dogs are born with ears and tails. They should get to keep them. By Karin Brulliard. Washington Post.

We talked to Dr. David Ley, a world-renowned clinical psychologist who has written prolifically in both academic and popular culture outlets about sexuality and mental health. He is a member of the board of the Sexual Health Alliance and is recognized as an international expert on issues related to psychology, pornography, and sexuality. Dr. Ley is regularly interviewed for television (e.g., Anderson Cooper, Katie Couric, Dr. Phil) and by the press (e.g., the New York Times, the Washington Post) and is exceptional at sharing scientific research and clinical expertise with the public in an accessible manner. He is the author of three books: Insatiable Wives: Women Who Stray and the Men Who Love Them, The Myth of Sex Addiction, and Ethical Porn for Dicks. We talked to Dr. Ley about how partners can increase sexual satisfaction through communication, sociocultural factors that influence attitudes toward sexuality, his books and research, the importance of competence in these areas for mental health professionals, and more. For additional information about his important contributions to the field, check out Dr. Ley’s website and follow him on Twitter.

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

Professional Organizations & Resources

Sexual Health Alliance

American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors, and Therapists

Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers

APA Division 44 Consensual Non-Monogamy Task Force

Dr. Ley’s Psychology Today Blog

3 Ways to Meet Your Partner’s Sexual Ideals and Why You Should

Dr. Ley’s YouTube Channel

On Katie Couric’s Show

Other Research & Books

Magnificent Sex: Lessons from Extraordinary Lovers by Kleinplatz & Menard

Tell Me What You Want: The Science of Sexual Desire and How It Can Help Improve Your Sex Life by Lehmiller

Sexual Addiction 25 Years On: A Systematic and Methodological Review of Empirical Literature and an Agenda for Future Research by Grubbs et al.

The Prevalence of Paraphilic Interests and Behaviors in the General Population: A Provincial Survey by Joyal & Carpentier

Concordance and Discordance between Paraphilic Interests and Behaviors: A Follow-Up Study by Joyal & Carpentier

Moral Incongruence and Pornography Use: A Critical Review & Integration by Grubbs & Perry

Past Psychodrama Podcast episode with Dr. Joshua Grubbs (Will Pandemic Porn Use Lead to Addiction?)

Transgender and gender diverse people appear to be at higher risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors than cisgender people. In this episode, Dr. Raymond Tucker shared what he has learned about this topic from his research with transgender and gender diverse veterans and civilians.  Importantly, he highlighted the limitations of the current literature by pointing to methodological challenges in the field. Dr. Tucker shared the psychological mediation framework to describe how external stressors (e.g., discrimination) influence internal experiences (e.g., shame) to impact mental health. He also described factors that seem to protect against suicide risk (e.g., chosen family, social support, equitable policies) and a transgender-affirming cognitive behavioral therapy adaptation for clinicians. We learned a lot from Dr. Tucker, and we hope you enjoy the episode. Thanks for listening!

 

Dr. Raymond Tucker is a licensed clinical psychologist and assistant professor of psychology at Louisiana State University. His research and clinical work focus on the prevention of suicide, particularly in underserved communities. For more information about his important contributions to the field, check out his lab website and follow him on Twitter.

 

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

Trans Lifeline

National Center for Transgender Equality

World Professional Association for Transgender Health

American Psychological Association Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Transgender and Gender

        Nonconforming People

Suicide Prevention Information & Resources

Fact-Checking 5 Suicide-Related Statements from a Viral Ben Shapiro Video

The Suicidal Thoughts Workbook

10 Tips for Writing

We are back!  And we are very happy to bring this very interesting season 3 episode with Dr. Laura Edwards-Leeper.  

Dr. Edwards-Leeper was the founding psychologist in the first youth transgender clinic in the United States — the first one to prescribe puberty blockers to transgender youth.

Dr. Edwards-Leeper is Professor Emerita at Pacific University and is currently the chair of the Child and Adolescent Committee for the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). She is heavily involved in the revision of the WPATH Standards of Care and served on the American Psychological Association subcommittee that developed guidelines for working with transgender individuals and on a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) committee that created a consensus statement about the harm in using conversion therapy for LGBT youth.

She has a private practice outside of Portland, OR where she works with transgender and gender diverse children, adolescents, and adults for therapy and assessment. She also provides consultation and training to providers and clinics around the country and internationally. She has multiple publications is often a go-to source for media outlets, including The New York Times, The Atlantic, the Washington Post, the BBC, and most recently, 60 Minutes.

 

OTHER ARTICLES MENTIONED IN SHOW

Individuals Treated for Gender Dysphoria with Medical and/or Surgical Transition Who Subsequently Detransitioned: A Survey of 100 Detransitioners. Littman L. (2021). Archives of Sexual Behavior. [link to paper].

The Use of Methodologies in Littman (2018) Is Consistent with the Use of Methodologies in Other Studies Contributing to the Field of Gender Dysphoria Research: Response to Restar (2019). Littman L. (2020). Archives of Sexual Behavior. [link to paper]

Restar A. J. (2020). Methodological Critique of Littman's (2018) Parental-Respondents Accounts of "Rapid-Onset Gender Dysphoria". Archives of sexual behavior, 49(1), 61–66. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-019-1453-2 [link to paper]

Correction: Parent reports of adolescents and young adults perceived to show signs of a rapid onset of gender dysphoria. Littman L. (2019). PLOS ONE. [link to paper]

Parent reports of adolescents and young adults perceived to show signs of a rapid onset of gender dysphoria. Littman L. (2018). PLOS ONE. [link to paper]

We interviewed an expert guest, Dr. Sarah Victor, about the important topic of lived mental illness experience in the fields of clinical, counseling, and school psychology. Dr. Victor and her collaborators found that 82% of clinical, counseling, and school psychology faculty and trainees in their sample reported having lifetime mental health difficulties, while 48% reported that they had been formally diagnosed with a mental health condition in their lifetime. The empirical study was accompanied by a commentary paper that points to the importance of improving inclusivity in these fields through specific recommendations for change. Our discussion focused on barriers and reasons that stigma and prejudice persist even in fields that are supposed to know and do better. We concluded with Dr. Victor’s hopes for future directions in the field with regard to recognition and acceptance of lived mental illness experiences in clinical, counseling, and school psychology.

About Our Expert Guest

Dr. Sarah Victor (she/her) is an Assistant Professor of Psychological Sciences at Texas Tech University. Dr. Victor completed her undergraduate training in psychology at Stanford University (BA 2008) and her doctoral training in clinical psychology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver (MA 2010, PhD 2017). Dr. Victor completed her doctoral internship and postdoctoral training in psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine (Western Psychiatric Hospital) prior to her faculty position.

Dr. Victor is a clinical psychologist whose research and clinical work is focused on understanding and addressing non-suicidal self-injury and suicide. In her research, she uses ecological momentary assessment to examine real world predictors of self-injurious thoughts and behaviors as they occur in daily life. Her work is particularly focused on understanding these experiences in high-risk and marginalized groups, such as people leaving inpatient psychiatric treatment and transgender and gender diverse individuals. In addition, she conducts research and advocacy on psychologists and trainees with mental health difficulties, in the hopes of creating a more inclusive field with respect to these common and often stigmatized experiences.

Links

Follow Dr. Victor on Twitter and check out her website!

The papers we discussed are:

1) Only Human: Mental Health Difficulties among Clinical, Counseling, and School Psychology Faculty and Trainees

2) Leveraging the Strengths of Psychologists with Lived Experience of Mental Illness

Mental Health Resources

Expert on Mental Illness Reveals Her Own Fight

I’m excited to share that my book, The Suicidal Thoughts Workbook: Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Skills to Reduce Emotional Pain, Increase Hope, and Prevent Suicide, was officially published on July 1, 2021! I’m honored that my former graduate school mentor, Dr. Thomas Joiner, wrote the foreword.

One of my driving passions is sharing science-guided, helpful mental health information directly with the people who most need it. I took what I learned from years of research, therapy, and other life experiences and channeled all of that into the creation of The Suicidal Thoughts Workbook. My deepest hope is that readers will feel supported and empowered with strategies for coping with suicidal thoughts. I also hope that the workbook will help people to better understand how to support loved ones who struggle with suicidal thoughts. For therapists and crisis workers, I hope that the workbook will strengthen your confidence and expand your tools for helping people with suicidal thoughts. The book chapters were structured around a leading theory of suicide that was developed by Dr. David Klonsky (the Three-Step Theory). I was also thrilled to collaborate with a brilliant artist, Alyse Ruriani, MAATC, to create two illustrations for the book (stickers and other items with these illustrations are available here).

You can order The Suicidal Thoughts Workbook wherever books are sold (e.g., Amazon, BookShop, and Book Depository for free international shipping), and the first chapter is previewed on Amazon. If you’re thinking about ordering my book or already have, thank you so much for the support! If you find my book useful, please consider leaving a review on Amazon or Goodreads and telling your friends about it. For books like this, word-of-mouth recommendations and social media posts about the book make a big impact!

Thank you for listening to info about my book!

With gratitude and wishes for good mental health,

Katie

Multiple reality TV shows like “Fear Factor” and “Survivor” have become enduring franchises based on a simple premise: Disgusting participants and audience alike by subjecting participants to challenges involving unusual foods, or slimy, and creepy crawly creatures. Despite their revulsive nature, millions of people tune in week after week. Moreover, for some people, “gross” things are not only appealing but fascinating, and can even become an object of desire. In addition, for humans, disgust is such an important, organizing emotion that some prominent researchers have proposed it underlies our sense of morality.

To help us answer what is so intensely compelling about the repulsive, and give us insight into the role of disgust in human behavior, we have invited Dr. Thomas Armstrong to Psychodrama. Tom is an associate professor of psychology at Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA. He is the director of the Palouse Emotion and Experimental Psychopathology (PEEP) Laboratory [http://www.peep-lab.org/]. He completed his PhD at Vanderbilt University in Clinical Psychology, and his research focuses on improving the measurement and treatment of disgust in anxiety-related disorders, and more recently, sexual dysfunctions. Professor Armstrong is also interested in making eye tracking methodology more accessible, and he recently co-created an online alternative to eye tracking: MouseView.js [https://mouseview-docs.netlify.app/]. 

We had a lot of fun and learned a lot in our free ranging discussion with Tom about the things we find disgusting (frogs for Katie, and very little for Leo), and what these individual differences may mean for various aspects of life. Yet another episode in which we surely lost more potential endorsements. Nutella, we hardly knew ye. 

LISTENER WARNING: As may be expected, the episode discusses explicitly topics related to disgusting stimuli and ranges from phobic stimuli (like the feared tree frogs and octopus!) to the taboo incest and very unusual paraphilias.  Listener discretion is very much advised. Enjoy!

Dear Psychodrama Listeners: We hope that this Spring 2021 is treating you all well. As we emerge from the pandemic and aspects of normal life return, unfortunately, in the USA, this means a return to elevated number of mass shootings which had decreased in 2020 as the US went into lockdown. Indeed, on the weekend we recorded this episode, there was a mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado that left 7 people dead including the shooter who killed himself during the incident. That shooting marked the 13th mass killing in the US and the second one in Colorado for 2021. 

Noting the relationship between suicidal behavior among many mass shooters, in this episode we decided to delve into the the relationship between suicide and mass shootings as we capitalize in our respective expertise areas. Katie discusses her blog post from Psychology Today noting a decrease in reported suicides in 2020, despite increased gun sales and suicidal ideation in the past year. We contextualize these paradoxical data within Thomas Joiner’s Interpersonal Theory of Suicide. Then, we talk about a review that Leo conducted of the very interesting book “The Myth of Martyrdom” by Adam Lankford which discusses the role of psychological disorders on suicidal terrorism and we draw parallels to mass murder-suicide in the US. Then, Katie discusses Joiner’s book, “The Perversion of Virtue” which further explores the topic of murder-suicide, and we highlight the need to better understand what separates individual suicide, murder-suicide of people the perpetrator knows (e.g., family members), and mass-murder suicide of people unknown to the perpetrator. We then talk about the suicide contagion effect and how its opposite, the Papageno effect may also be harnessed to reduce mass-suicide shootings in the US as summarized in this proposal by Leo.

This is an especially complex, multifaceted phenomenon that, understandably, elicits strong, emotional and intellectual responses.  We could have talked about it for much longer and tried to do our best to give it the nuanced treatment it deserves in the limited time for the podcast.  We will likely revisit parts of it, especially as Katie’s book: The Suicidal Thoughts Workbook: CBT Skills to Reduce Emotional Pain, Increase Hope, and Prevent Suicide comes out in July 1st and we’ll have our live Psychodrama-o-Rama talking about it. We hope you find it interesting and look forward to your comments.

If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, there is hope and help available. Please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, or the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741

 

Links

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255

Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741741

Mass Shootings in Public Spaces Had Become Less Frequent During the Pandemic

Why Did U.S. Suicides Decrease in 2020?

The Interpersonal Theory of Suicide

The Perversion of Virtue: Understanding Murder-Suicide by Thomas Joiner

The Myth of Martyrdom: What Really Drives Suicide Bombers, Rampage Shooters, and Other Self-Destructive Killers by Adam Lankford

Changing Media Reporting Practices to Mass Shootings in the U.S. by Leonardo Bobadilla

The Suicidal Thoughts Workbook by Katie Gordon

Dangerous Words? An Experimental Investigation of the Impact of Detailed Reporting about Suicide Risk

American Association of Suicidology Media Reporting Recommendations

Treating Mental Illness Won’t Prevent Mass Shootings

Taking Guns Away From the Mentally Ill Won’t Eliminate Mass Shootings

Newspaper Adherence to Media Reporting Guidelines for the Suicide Deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain

Association between Suicide Reporting in the Media and Suicide: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Was There a Suicide Epidemic After Goethe’s Werther?

We enjoyed this fascinating interview with Dr. Jonathan Stea about the nuance needed in discussions about addiction and drug decriminalization. He shared his pathway into clinical psychology and then debunked some misconceptions about addiction. Drawing on his expertise, clinical experience, and data, Dr. Stea talked about his views on effective strategies for curtailing the opioid epidemic. He highlighted conditions under which cannabis use could potentially harm mental health and his science communication through efforts such as #ScienceUpFirst. We concluded by hearing Dr. Stea's helpful tips for managing internet trolls and online harassment. We enjoyed making this episode and hope you enjoy listening to it!

 

Expert Guest Bio: 

Jonathan N. Stea, Ph.D., R. Psych., is a registered and practicing clinical psychologist and Adjunct Assistant Professor. Clinically, he works in a tertiary care outpatient clinic that specializes in the assessment and treatment of concurrent addictive and psychiatric disorders. He is interested in topics related to science communication and health misinformation in popular media, especially with respect to addiction and mental health. He is a coalition member of #ScienceUpFirst (www.ScienceUpFirst.com), which is a Canadian-wide awareness and engagement initiative that creates, distributes and amplifies best-in-class, science-informed content surrounding COVID-19 and the COVID-19 vaccine.

Links:

Follow Dr. Stea and #ScienceUpFirst on Twitter.

Read Dr. Stea's work in Psychology Today and Scientific American.

Drug Addiction vs. Drug Dependence

Is Cannabis Helpful or Harmful for Mental Health?

When Promoting Knowledge Makes You a Target

The Potential Fatal Flaw in Andrew Yang's Opioid Policy

The Psychology of Online Trolling

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New music by Leo Borx!