Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention - current issue

Brief and Intermittent Approaches to Practice: The State of Practice

Dziegielewski, S. F. — 2008-05-01

This article is written to provide an overview of the past and present use of two common types of time-limited therapy. Brief (also known as ‘short term’) and intermittent therapies are explored. Using these time-limited frameworks, a structure and procedural review for conducting evidence-based intervention strategy is presented. Several popular methodologies that use a time-limited focus are reviewed. Recommendations, practice guidelines, and strategy for use of these methods are presented.

A Naturalistic Study of Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy Trial Therapy

Abbass, A. A., Joffres, M. R., Ogrodniczuk, J. S. — 2008-05-01

The objective is to study the effectiveness of Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) trial therapies. In a tertiary psychotherapy service, Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP) medication use, and need for further treatment were evaluated before versus 1-month post trial therapy in a sequential series of 30 clients. Trial therapies were interviews with active focus on emotions and how they are experienced. The interviews resulted in statistically significant improvements on all BSI subscales and one of the IIP subscales. One-third of clients required no further treatment, seven stopped medications, and two returned to work following trial therapy. The ISTDP trial therapy appeared to be clinically effective and cost effective. Future research directions are discussed.

Correlates of Crime and Violence among Persons with Mental Disorder: An Evidence-Based Review

Sirotich, F. — 2008-05-01

The issue of crime and violence among persons with mental disorder is a subject of longstanding clinical and policy importance. Over the past 15 years, much research has been conducted on the relationship between mental disorder and crime and violence. This article is a review of the research literature on the correlates of crime and violence among persons with mental disorder. To facilitate this review, the literature is organized into 4 sections that encompass research on variables that fall into one of the following four domains: demographic variables, historical variables, clinical variables, and contextual variables. It summarizes current knowledge on the sources of criminal and violent behavior and attempts to reconcile disparities across studies by taking into account methodological differences and by considering the potential role of confounding factors that require attention in future research.

Gender Differences in Coping with Victimization

Green, D. L., Diaz, N. — 2008-05-01

Individuals who are victims of crimes cope differently to reduce, tolerate, or master the victimization and ensuing emotional distress. It is unclear whether there are gender differences in regard to the stress and coping process among victims of crime. The current study examines gender differences in victimization experiences. This article examines gender differences in coping strategies, levels of depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, anger, anxiety, social support, and well-being of victims of violent and nonviolent crimes. A community sample of 175 victims of different types of crimes were recruited and interviewed face-to-face. The findings suggest different relationships between types of coping strategies and well-being by gender.

The Role of Religion in the Generation of Suicide Bombers

Kassim, S. H. — 2008-05-01

Suicide terrorism is an international problem that endangers the well-being of whole populations. Standard explanations suggest that religious fanaticism is a primary driving force in the generation of suicide bombers. A growing body of empirically based scholarship, however, indicates that suicide terrorism is a multifactorial phenomenon that cannot easily be explained away as an outcome of religious fanaticism. Religion in general, Islam in particular, plays a minimal direct role in the generation of suicide bombers. This brief article will summarize recent studies regarding the root causes of suicide terrorism as they pertain to the fields of behavioral health, violence, and violence prevention.

When You Look Like the Enemy

Akiyama, C. — 2008-05-01

After the horrific attacks of September 11, 2001, the U.S. Congress' response to the attacks was the approval of the USA. Patriot Act. This broad legislative policy gave the government investigative powers to fight against terrorism and subsequently targeted those in the Arab, Muslim, and South Asian communities with not just prejudices against these communities, but blatant racism toward innocent people, just because they appear to look like they "identify" with those who have made terrorist threats. The government acted similarly against a group of people in this country that had a supposed connection with a terrorist threat. On Sunday, December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and killed over 2,500 Americans. Seventy-three days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the government responded by retaliating against those of Japanese ancestry living in the United States. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 to authorize the military to construct and run 10 internment camps that imprisoned over 120,000 Japanese Americans living on the West Coast in California, Oregon, and Washington. This entire ethnic community living on the West Coast was sent to internment camps in California, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, and Arkansas. Two-thirds of those Japanese Americans who were sent to camp were U.S. citizens. The Japanese Americans were removed by the military, and thousands were questioned and detained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) under the charge of "military necessity" and denied due process, despite the fact that there was no record of sabotage or spying, and their loyalty had been attested to by the FBI and Naval Intelligence.

Fast forward the clock to September 11, 2001, as many persons of Arab, Muslim, and South Asian descent were-and continue to be-rounded up, just like the Japanese Americans were in 1942.

If we are to learn anything, we need to learn from Executive Order 9066 and September 11, 2001, and how we as a country treat our citizens in time of paranoia and crisis. We must never forget what happened to the Japanese Americans in 1942 and what continues to happen to the Arab, Muslim, and South Asian Americans, which is hatred toward those that "look like the enemy."