This article explores research on clay manipulation art therapy for individuals with a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease (PD). An overview of 3 phases of the authors' previous research includes (a) comparison of people living with PD to control in a single individual setting, (b) investigation of negative psychological symptoms in a single…

Although self-harming behavior is a common and costly problem for psychiatric inpatients released from the hospital, standardized tools that assess patients' risk for self-harm are rarely used in clinical settings. In this study of dually diagnosed psychiatric inpatients (N = 147), we assessed the utility of patients' self-perceptions of risk in…

Objectives: The Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) is widely used in juvenile justice settings; however, little is known regarding its factor structure in antisocial youth. The authors evaluated the BSI factor structure in a state residential treatment population. Methods: 707 adolescents completed the BSI. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses…

Objective: Clinicians commonly "drift" away from using proven therapeutic techniques. This study examined the degree to which such drift occurs among cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) clinicians working with a specific clinical population--adults with eating disorders. Method: The study used a correlational design. The participants were…

Background: Diagnostics and care for people with intellectual disabilities (ID) and psychiatric disorders need to be improved. This can be done by using assessment instruments to routinely measure the nature and severity of psychiatric symptoms. Up until now, in the Netherlands, assessment measures are seldom used in the psychiatric care for this…

The psychometric structure of the Brief Symptom Inventory-18 (BSI-18; Derogatis, 2001) was investigated using Mokken scaling and parametric item response theory. Data of 487 outpatients, 266 students, and 207 prisoners were analyzed. Results of the Mokken analysis indicated that the BSI-18 formed a strong Mokken scale for outpatients and…

The construct of psychological flexibility (PF) is a central concept in acceptance and commitment therapy. It is defined as the process of contacting the present moment fully as a conscious human being and persisting in or changing behavior in the service of chosen values. PF is hypothesized to be an important aspect of healthy psychological…

The focus of this outcome study was on art therapy as a support for medical treatment and palliative care. A total of 41 patients were placed in 2 matched groups: 22 patients with Parkinson's disease and 19 patients without Parkinson's disease. Each participant completed the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) (Derogatis, 1993) pre- and post-session,…

Given the availability of violence risk assessment tools, clinicians are now better able to identify high-risk patients. Once these patients have been identified, clinicians must monitor risk state and intervene when necessary to prevent harm. Clinical practice is dominated by the assumption that increases in psychiatric symptoms elevate risk of…