clinical psychology Archives | Research & Innovation

Two 91��ɫ psychology profs listed in top 11

fmaquito — Tue, 15 May 2012 08:00:00 +0000

91��ɫ psychology professors Jane Irvine and Debra Pepler of 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Health have recently been named two of the most published women in the field of clinical psychology in Canada, according to an article in the Canadian Psychology journal.

“Assessing the Publication Productivity of Clinical Psychology Professors in Canadian Psychological Association-Accredited Canadian Psychology Departments,” looked at publication and citation counts for 255 professors in CPA-accredited Canadian clinical psychology programs. Irvine and Pepler were listed among the top 11 women.

“Research productivity data helps one get a sense of how productive one is relative to one’s peers. Moreover, it also speaks to the research environment of one’s host institution,” says Irvine. “Of the top 11 female professors mentioned, two of us are at 91��ɫ.”

Debra Pepler

As Pepler, a Distinguished Research Professor at 91��ɫ, notes, “Research is an important aspect of our work in clinical programs because it informs both our teaching and our practice. At the same time our experience of working with clinical populations highlights critical questions for research.” Pepler is known for her research on bullying and co-leads , (Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence Network), a collaborative and interdisciplinary initiative that brings together 62 researchers from 27 Canadian universities and 49 national organizations.

The authors of the journal paper didn’t just use isolated publication and citation counts – they adjusted for normative data and included ceiling reference points. “This is the first time that normative data for clinical psychologists within academic programs has been summarized from across Canada,” says Irvine.

Usually, she says, professors typically don’t “know how productive one's research is relative to one's peers. Without normative data, such as collected by this study, it is very hard to gauge one's productivity.”

Jane Irvine

Irvine cautions that, as the article points out, it is important to keep in mind that the research productivity data only speaks to one part of the multiple components that comprise academic work. “They do not take into consideration professors teaching impact or service work. Nor do they reflect the full extent of our research productivity because they don’t take into account all of the means by which our research impacts the fields of science and practice.”

All the same, she is thrilled and pleased that 91��ɫ as an institution is obviously providing the right environment for professors to conduct research. Irvine was a clinical psychologist at the Toronto General Hospital for 17 years before joining 91��ɫ. She has conducted research into stress and the cardiovascular disease, modifying cardiovascular behavioural and psychosocial risk factors, optimizing adherence to medical and behavioural therapies, and enhancing adaptation to medical technologies, such as an implantable cardioverter defibrillator for prevention of sudden cardiac death.

Pepler, former director of the LaMarsh Centre for Child and Youth Research, has previously received the Contribution to Knowledge Award from the Psychology Foundation of Canada, the Educator of the Year Award from Phi Delta Kappa (Toronto), the University of Waterloo Arts in Academia Award, and the Canadian Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Contributions to Public or Community Service.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Psychology students show off fourth-year research projects

fmaquito — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 08:00:00 +0000

Students Angela Deotto and Lilly Solomon recognized for poster projects

If you were wandering through Vari Hall last Wednesday afternoon, you could have stopped and chatted with fourth-year psychology students about some pretty esoteric subjects.

The rotunda was a maze of posters featuring the thesis projects of 78 students ready to explain whether eating disturbances are symptoms of depression, how to measure prejudice, the relationship between exercise and forgiveness, how sound affects perception of space. Their research projects, supervised by faculty members, spanned all areas of psychology – cognitive, social, developmental, quantitative, history and theory, neuroscience, and clinical.

The end-of-year event has become so big that the Department of Psychology moved it to Vari Hall last year from the crowded halls of the Behavioural Science Building.

The poster projects are worth five per cent of students’ final mark and judged by roving graduate students based on clarity, design and the students’ ability to explain their research in a comprehensive manner. Many will go on to present their research at a variety of national and international conferences.

“Whether you are speaking to your supervisor, other professors or fellow students, it is important to know how to present and communicate your results to different audiences,” says psychology Professor Susan Murtha, who has organized the event for the past three years.

And the students who go on to graduate studies will have to defend their research to external examiners who don’t know much about their field. “It is really important to be able to understand how to communicate.”

Left: Poster winners Angela Deotto (top) and Lilly Solomon. Photos by Brett Thompson

By 4pm, judges had selected two who did it best: Angela Deotto (supervised by Christine Till) for her poster "Mathematical impairment in pediatric-onset multiple sclerosis: Relationship with white matter integrity"; and Lilly Solomon (supervised by Jennifer Steeves) for her poster "MS to the ‘occipital face area’ affects face recognition but not categorization". They won $50 gift certificates to the 91��ɫ Bookstore.

Both Steeves and Till are members of the .

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Professor Robert Muller publishes psychology book for clients who resist therapy

fmaquito — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 08:00:00 +0000

A new book by 91��ɫ psychology Professor ��ǲ��ѳܱ�� offers help for therapists dealing with patients who resist treatment.

, to be officially released this week by W.W. Norton & Company, offers practical guidance for treating clients who withdraw into themselves or avoid disclosing painful past experiences.

Right: Robert Muller

“Trauma therapy is difficult to begin with, but when patients reject help it becomes that much more challenging,” says Muller, a professor of clinical psychology in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Health. “Unfortunately, a large segment of people needing therapy fall into this category. Rather than simply labelling them as resistant to treatment, it’s important to try and devise alternative means of offering them help,” he says.

In his book, Muller, who specializes in treating trauma within families, explains the defensive and interpersonal patterns seen among avoidant individuals and lays out a game plan for effective treatment. Through detailed case examples and practical clinical instruction, readers will learn how to build trust with clients, help them connect with and commit to the treatment process, and facilitate mourning to face the loss associated with trauma.

The theoretical framework driving Muller’s approach is that of attachment theory, pioneered in the 1970s by psychiatrist John Bowlby. He posited that humans form attachments as a survival mechanism to seek protection from real or perceived threats. Even when a protector’s caregiving skills are lacking, the developing child does what’s necessary to maintain the relationship; this shapes negative patterns of defence and affect, carrying over into adulthood.

Muller offers practical advice on how to address the “I’m-no-victim” identity often adopted by such clients, who tend to see people as either strong or weak and have difficulty understanding that there are shades of grey.

“These types of clients split their life stories in two in order to keep the two worlds of strength and vulnerability compartmentalized,” Muller says. “Despite their personal histories of trauma, they will maintain a defensive veneer so that they’re viewed as and feel strong, independent, self-reliant and normal.”

This can be resolved, he writes, by gently and tactfully pointing out narrative discrepancies, bringing the focus back to the original attachment and using the client’s symptoms as motivators.

Muller also offers candid advice based on his personal experience dealing with counter-transference – a phenomenon in which the therapist’s personal issues can sometimes get in the way of therapy.

In addition to his role at 91��ɫ, Muller is a supervising psychologist at the , specializing in the areas of trauma, attachment and psychotherapy. He is lead investigator in a multi-site program to treat intra-familial trauma and has over 20 years of clinical experience in the field.

Muller’s lab is funded by the at the .

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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