Initial Evaluation of Active Minds: A Student Organization Dedicated to Reducing the Stigma of Mental Illness

This study examined whether a new student organization, Active Minds, aimed at increasing awareness of “mental illness” and reducing stigma had an impact on students' stigma and willingness to seek psychological help. Three classes were recruited to become involved in the organization. In a pretest/posttest design, stigma and willingness to seek psychological help were compared between students who became involved in Active Minds and students who did not. Students involved in the organization showed a significant reduction in stigma if they had a history of mental illness in their families. However, willingness to seek psychological help was unaffected. The program's partial success is viewed in terms of empowerment and recovery. The peer support provided through Active Minds may help change people's negative attitudes about mental illness and encourage students to help one another in coping with their diagnoses.     

Commentary on "Between Cordelia and Guido:

This commentary addresses several of the administrative issues raised in the preceding paper, and comments on the three case examples. The issues include the importance of developing ongoing collegial relationships with deans, delineation of different areas of responsibility for mental health services and the deans, confidentiality issues in campus "crisis" situations, required evaluations and treatment, and learning the mental health service consultant's role.     

Facing Bipolar: The Young Adult's Guide to Dealing with Bipolar Disorder,by Russell Federman and J. Anderson Thomson,Jr.

Comprehensive—yet cost-effective—provision of psychological care is a timely concern for most college counseling centers. The current review summarizes the components of a program designed to meet such seemingly discordant demands. The Counselor-in-Residence program places live-in, doctoral students in clinical psychology/counselor education, in residence halls in order to provide on-site, easily accessible, and professionally supervised mental health support services for residents and residence life staff. The process of program development and implementation of the Counselor-in-Residence program at a medium-sized Midwestern university is discussed.     

Some Ethical Considerations:

This commentary addresses some of the ethical considerations that arise when the college consultant attempts to strike a balance between the parsimony of Shakespeare's Cordelia and the "can-do" posture of Pirandello's Guido. Particular emphasis is given to the ethical implications of mandatory psychotherapy. As well, the author's clinical examples are analyzed and alternative approaches to those that were used in the vignettes are recommended.     

Depression and Its Treatments

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to gather information within a specific college population about the general prevalence of anti-depressant use and psychotherapy for depression, which treatments people tend to prefer, people's perceptions of the helpfulness of treatments, and if this information was consistent with the research and the current status of the managed health care system. The results demonstrate a high prevalence rate, that people tend to prefer psychotherapy, and that the managed health care system is not providing the best or equal coverage of treatments for depression.     

From the Editor: A Blueprint for Communicating Your Research

Results of a survey of serial use by psychology faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign are compared with an Americal Psychological Association report published in 1963 and with data extracted from "SSCI Journal Citation Reports," 1978. The article profiles the relationship between the three and evaluates their usefulness in collection development.     

团体辅导对流动儿童孤独感的干预研究

评价团体辅导对流动儿童孤独感的改善作用,为流动儿童心理健康教育提供参考依据。方法对17名流动儿童进行8次孤独感团体辅导干预,并与对照组进行比较。结果经过团体辅导干预后,实验组的孤独感水平显著降低,领悟社会支持显著提高。结论团体心理辅导的方式的确有利于改善流动儿童的孤独状况,有助于提高流动儿童的社会支持感,是提高流动儿童心理健康水平的好方法,值得进一步推广。     

Multiple influences on curriculum decisions in a supercomplex world

This article extends currently reported theory and practice in the use of learning goals or targets with students in secondary and further education. Goal-setting and action-planning constructs are employed in personal development plans (PDPs) and personal learning plans (PLPs) and are advocated as practice within the English national policy agenda with its focus on personalisation. The article argues that frameworks widely used for goal setting and action planning by UK educational practitioners, in particular SMART targets or goals, have yet to be rigorously examined in the light of relevant theory and practice. Doing so is important given contemporary emphasis on the dimensions of the learner experience regarded by ‘learning to learn’ practitioners as underpinning effective learning in the modern classroom. The article draws from social cognitive theory and achievement goal theory, including Zimmerman's criteria for appropriate goals, to suggest an alternative framework for goal or target setting – ‘well-formed outcomes’, a construct from the field of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). In comparison with SMART targets, the authors argue that well-formed outcomes offer a more rigorous and holistic approach, by taking greater account of the learner's identity, affective dimensions (feelings and emotions), social relations and values, as well as encouraging mental rehearsal.     

What builds student capacity in an alternative high school setting?

Good mental health is a learning enabler for adolescents, demonstrating a reciprocal relationship between mental health and learning outcomes. This article describes a Canadian participatory action research partnership between students, staff and a nurse researcher working together to explore student capacity-building experiences at an alternative high school. Fourteen themes including the importance of supportive healthy relationships within the school environment demonstrated what was happening that built capacity in students. We found that when students’ voices were nurtured and they participated in school decision-making processes, a sense of capability resulted; often extending into long-term positive effects. Research outcomes were shared with key decision-makers including the Board of Education Trustees.