The Value of Nature During Psychotherapy: A Qualitative Study of Client Experiences

Nature is considered to have restorative qualities that can potentially improve psychotherapy success. However, little is known about how clients experience nature during psychotherapy. The research aim of this phenomenological qualitative study was to study how clients experience nature during individual outpatient psychotherapy that took place while walking in nature. More specifically we were interested in clients’ inner world experiences. All participants (N = 12) received treatment through licensed therapists for a DSM-5 classified disorder. Semi-structured interviews were conducted. To uncover true lived experiences during these interviews, participants were asked to close their eyes and envision themselves during a psychotherapy session in nature. The verbatim transcripts were coded by means of inductive thematic analysis and the results were member checked. Results showed that nature brings clients closer to their inner worlds. How nature brings this about is unfolded in a conceptual model of lived experience. We argue that psychotherapy can be enriched by considering nature as a supportive environment because bringing clients closer to their inner worlds is of essential value in facilitating successful treatment interventions.

Clinical psychology in palliative care

Clinical psychologists with specialist knowledge and skills in palliative care can be described as palliative psychologists. Whether as core members of a palliative care team or as consultants, palliative psychologists can become involved soon after a diagnosis of serious illness and continue to provide care during treatment, transitions of care, during the dying process, and in bereavement. The distress patients and family caregivers may experience is on a continuum and may involve both psychological and spiritual factors. When the patient and family coping strategies become depleted or are inadequate to face the challenges imposed by illness, suffering can ensue. The palliative psychologist may offer assessment and management of anxiety, depression, and other types of psychological distress. Grief reactions should always receive special and ongoing attention to determine whether the distress is manageable or whether psychological or psychiatric intervention is warranted. Because of the ongoing interplay of psychological and spiritual concerns, palliative psychologists can effectively use spiritual screening and the spiritual history to understand spiritual and existential needs, and help integrate spiritual care into the psychotherapy session. This offers the opportunity to collaborate with spiritual care providers in the psychospiritual care of the patient and the family. Maintaining professional self-care is also a mandate for palliative psychologists and includes the timely recognition of risk factors for professional distress, protective factors, and meaningful interventions.

Hypnotic Metaphor аs a Discursive Mechanism of Speech Influence (a Case Study of Psychological Trainings by Natalia Grace)

The article deals with the concept of hypnotic metaphor in psychiatry and linguistics and explores its application in the situation of public teaching discourse. The right-hemisphere mechanisms of perception are considered in order to detect sensory images, represented in the universal object code, since the processes of mastering the facts, which are based on similarity, adjacency, imagery, take place in the right hemisphere. The connection of mirror neurons with metaphorical thinking is assumed. The classification of metaphor types in psychotherapeutic literature is given. The article analyzes the performance of modern speaker-coaches, given as lectures, trainings, conversations and designed to effectively change the emotional mood and categorical constructs of listeners. Otherwise, listeners simply will not buy tickets for these events. It is concluded that modern lecture trainings are a kind of group psychotherapy session. Information is fed in a ‘live stream’ of right-hemisphere mechanisms involving mirror neurons. Coach rhetoric is a system of metaphors that are archetypes of consciousness and are part of the basic layer of the conceptual framework.

The Role Of Closed-Circuit Training in Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy Teaching

Closed-circuit training is a unique setting developed by Habib Davanloo, the founder of intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy. The purpose of this setting is to achieve therapeutic benefits for the patient while providing valuable educational opportunities to the trainee. In this article, the authors present an intensive short-term dynamic psychotherapy session that was conducted in a closed-circuit setting at McGill University Health Center. The primary goal of the article is to highlight several aspects of Davanloo's metapsychological principles and the application of their corresponding technical interventions. Another goal is to convey the trainee's reflection on his experience and perception of the closed-circuit training. The authors propose that closed-circuit training could be considered a potential alternative, or at least a complementary method, to the traditional settings of psychotherapy training and supervision.

Synchronous Group Cybersupervision

The professional literature on the use of synchronous group cybersupervision is almost nonexistent. This poster presentation aimed to partially address this dearth by examining the use of a full-spectrum version of synchronous group cybersupervision. Full-spectrum was defined as the use of a real-time combination of (1) text-chat, (2) VoIP audio, (3) webcam video streaming, and (4) psychotherapy session video and audio playback. Adobe Connect 7.5 was the online environment employed. Supervisee assessment of the usefulness, telepresence, and barriers of full-spectrum synchronous group cybersupervision was conducted and results were presented. Keywords: Clinical Supervision, Cybersupervision, Synchronous Web, Telepresence, Group Supervision