Students across all years of the clinical psychology program are actively engaged in research and contributing to various fields, ranging from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), understanding risk factors for suicide, and better characterizing the deficits evidenced in neurodevelopmental disorders.
Kathy Benhamou
First year student, Kathy Benhamou, who is advised by Dr. Norah Feeny has recently both had published articles and poster presentations in regards to her work in better understanding PTSD and suicidal ideation.
Papers:
Brown, L. A., Contractor, A., & Benhamou, K. (2018). Posttraumatic stress disorder clusters and suicidal ideation.Psychiatry Research, 270, 238-245. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2018.09.030
Brown, L. A., Gallagher, T., Petersen, J., Benhamou, K., Foa, E. B., & Asnaani, A. (2018). Does CBT for anxiety disorders exacerbate suicidal ideation? Findings from a naturalistic sample.Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 59, 10-16.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2018.08.001
Presentations:
Benhamou, K., McLean, C. P., Zandberg, L. J., Brown, L., Zang, Y., Dondanville, K. A., Yarvis, J. S., Litz, B. T., Mintz, J., Young-McCaughan, S., Peterson, A. L., Foa, E. B., for the STRONG STAR Consortium. (2018, November). Guilt in the treatment of PTSD among active duty military personnel. Poster presented at the 2018 International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) Annual Conference, Washington, D.C.
Benhamou, K., Brown, L. A., Contractor, A. (2018, November). Associations between posttraumatic stress disorder symptom clusters and suicidal ideation. Poster presented at the 2018 International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) Annual Conference, Washington, D.C.
Ellen Doernberg
Second year student, Ellen Doernberg, advised by Dr. Sandra Russ and Dr. Anastasia Dimitropoulos, was involved in writing a chapter on play and creativity (Russ, S. & Doernberg, E. (in press) Play and Creativity. In R. Sternberg & J. Kaufman (Eds.) Cambridge Handbook of Creativity. Cambridge University Press.) and also presenting her work at the American Psychological Association conference earlier this year:
Doernberg, E., Russ., S.W., Dimitropoulos, A. Imagination in Play in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. To be presented at the American Psychological Association Annual Convention: San Francisco, CA. August, 2018.
Doernberg, E., Russ., S.W., Dimitropoulos, A. A Play Intervention to Foster Emotional Expression for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. To be presented at the American Psychological Association Annual Convention: San Francisco, CA. August, 2018.
Allison Baier
Third year student, Allison Baier, recently wrote a paper with her colleagues and adviser, Dr. Norah Feeny, proposing a new way to think about dropout in psychotherapy which recently was published (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30079755). Further, Allison received an honorable mention from the APA Ethics Committee for a paper she submitted to their competition: https://www.apa.org/ethics/activities/index.aspx. At the committee’s recommendation, Allison then submitted it to Ethics and Behavior and the paper is now in press: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10508422.2018.1516148. Lastly, she also recently received he Abraham W. Wolf Endowed Fund for Psychotherapy Research Grant to support her master’s research investigating potential mechanisms of change in prolonged exposure and Allison will presenting her work at ISTSS next week and at ICPS in Paris in March.
Jessica Kusina
Fourth year student, Jessica Kusina, who is advised by Dr. Julie Exline, presented as part of a symposium in Hamar, Norway for the International Association of Psychology of Religion late August 2017, as well as for the Society of Psychology of Religion and Spirituality in Riverside, California March 2018. She also won the Master’s Research Excellence award through the Department of Psychological Sciences at CWRU.
Alison Athey
Fifth year student, Alison Athey, who is advised by Dr. James Overholser, has recently both published and presented on her work in suicide risk factors, prevention, and its relationship to depression.
Publications
Athey, A., Overholser, J., Bagge, C., Dieter, L., Vallender, E., Stockmeier, C.A. (in press) Risk-taking behaviors and stressors differentially predict suicidal preparation, non-fatal suicide attempts, and suicide deaths. Psychiatry Research.
Holleran, L. & Athey, A. (in press) Suicide prevention in primary care settings. APAHC Grand Rounds.
Perez, J., Overholser, J., Athey, A., Ornan, G., Stockmeier, C.A., Lehmann, J., Dieter, L. (in press) A Deadly combination: Depression and suicide in the presence of cancer. Journal of Psychological Disorders.
Athey, A. & Overholser, J. (2018). A systematic review of suicide risk in veterans: Depression is a more powerful predictor than comorbid psychiatric disorders. Military Behavioral Health, 1-10.
Presentations
Athey, A., Overholser, J., Beale, E., Bagge, C., Stockmeier, C.A. Deaths of despair: Number of prior suicide attempts does not differentiate death by suicide from accidental overdose among opiate users. Poster accepted for presentation at the 2019 International Convention of Psychological Science (ICPS).
Varman, L., Athey, A., Overholser, J., Lavacot*, J., L., Stockmeier, C.A. Understanding suicide risk: Personality disorders among adults who died by suicide versus natural causes. Poster accepted for presentation at the 2019 International Convention of Psychological Science (ICPS).
Further, Alison has also recently received awards in funding her travel to and training at various conferences, such as the Abraham W. Wolf, Ph.D. Endowed Fund for Psychotherapy Research Recipient and the Military Suicide Research Consortium Pre-Conference Training Day Travel Award Recipient.