Psychotherapy Brown Bag

PBB Returns!

by Michael D. Anestis, M.S.

Greeting, folks!  Over the past two plus weeks, PBB has been on hiatus.  The reason for our absence is a wonderful one: early in the morning on February 24, Joye and I welcomed our first child to the world.  Since then, we have been basking in the wonder of parenthood, enjoying every moment with our little one and discovering just how little a person can sleep over an extended period of time.  All this being said, our plan is to return to PBB on this coming Monday (March 15). 

In addition to our new arrival, Joye and I also learned that, beginning in July, I will be spending my internship year working as a resident at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson.  I am absolutely thrilled by the prospect of becoming a part of this prestigious program and am certain that it will help me develop further both as a clinician and a researcher.

Obviously, given all of these changes in our lives, Joye and I will have to adjust PBB to fit new life demands.  Over the coming months, the timing and frequency of PBB posts will be more fluid than they have been in the past.  At times, we'll post multiple articles in a day.  At other times, we'll go a couple days between postings.  Similarly, while I will continue to publish comments as they come in, sometime our replies will be a bit delayed (and other times they'll be obsessively quick). That being said, our vision for PBB over the next year and beyond is one of expansion.  We have lined up a number of incredible guest authors and are in contact with many others in hopes of securing future contributions.  We also have a number of plans to ensure that PBB extends its reach and we look forward to unveiling those ideas to you as they come to fruition. 

As we move forward with the site, remember that we are always looking to work with guest authors.  If you are interested in writing for the site, send me or Joye an email and we will fill you in on what that entails.

One final point: we regret that our absence coincided with the one year anniversary of the launch of PBB.  Last year, on March 1, we posted our first article.  In the 12 months since that date, we have been thrilled with the development of the site, the contributions of our guest authors and readers, and the conversations that have taken place.  We have become friends with folks we previously only knew as incredible researchers and therapists and we have learned an incredible amount of new information by delving into the literature each day.  We are hopeful that 2010 will bring great things to the site.

In the meantime, thanks for your patience as we have been away.  We look forward to sparking our conversations back up again and diving back into this site. 

Psychotherapy Brown Bag's YouTube Channel

by Michael D. Anestis, M.S.

Just a quick heads up: our YouTube channel is almost finalized.  We have not yet uploaded any of our own videos, but will begin doing so soon.  For now, we have simply begun accumulating a number of links to scientifically-based mental health videos.  In the meantime, we would greatly appreciate any suggestions you have for other videos we might link to as well as general comments and suggestions about the site.  We're looking forward to expanding PBB into the world of video and hope this will be a useful resource for you and others.

Click here to view the site.

ABCT and Thanksgiving

Just a quick note to let everyone know that the next week and a half will be a bit chaotic on PBB.  Tomorrow morning, we head to the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) 43rd annual convention.  We will post periodic short updates from the conference and would love to hear about the experiences of anyone else attending the conference (or questions from those who are not).

Also, next week we will be taking a vacation to celebrate Thanksgiving.  We will return to our regular daily posts on Monday November 30th.  In the meantime, we will still publish comments as they come in and respond to them as often as we can.

We hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving holiday.  This year, Joye and I are thankful for many things, one of which is wonderful interactions we have enjoyed with readers.

Some press for PBB and a welcome to new readers

by Michael D. Anestis, M.S.

*UPDATE -- The October issue of the Behavior Therapist is now available online at the following link*

Joye and I were thrilled yesterday when we opened our mailbox to find our copies of the October issue of The Behavior Therapist.  We enjoy reading this journal in general - eight complementary copies are released each year - but this one was a little different.  An article we wrote about the experience of Psychotherapy Brown Bag and our view of the utility of social media tools in clinical psychology appears in this issue as the first of a number of articles on the topic of using technology to advance the public's knowledge of mental illness and the various treatments available.

Any time we see one of our articles appear in a journal it is a thrill, but this one is a bit different, as it marks the first time PBB has been the subject of work evaluated by peers.  This site is a true passion of ours and, whether or not we fully accomplish our goals with it, we believe wholeheartedly in the cause it represents.  We have several desired outcomes with respect to this article, but two of the most central are:

1. To help increase the degree to which scientifically-minded clinical psychologists think about and utilize technology in an effort to spread the word about research.  As much as nerds like us want research to be an inherently interesting topic that people seek out on their own, that simply is not the case.  We have to create a market for it and publicize it in as many ways as possible in order to connect those in need with the information most likely to help them find effective care and better understand whatever mental illnesses might be impacting their lives or those of their loved ones.
2. To introduce more people to PBB.  If you browse our site and are interested in it, we want to hear from you.  If you want to write guest articles on your research or the work of others, we want to hear from you.  If you think our site is in some way misrepresenting something, we want to hear from you on that too. Ultimately, this project is about expanding the conversation on topics that are generally only discussed within the halls of academia.  Let's take this opportunity to bring more people into the fold and discuss things in a way that helps everyone better understand what is going on.

Before signing off on this topic, Joye and I would like to extend a warm welcome to readers who might stumble upon our site after reading the article.  To catch you up on what has happened on PBB in its first seven (nearly eight) months:

• Every weekday, we post a new article (other than holidays and the occasional vacation).  Some of these articles discuss a single study.  Other articles cover broader topics and reference a number of studies.  All of our articles are based upon empirical research and, although we certainly have opinions and biases, our goal is to present the evidence as it is rather than painting one-sided pictures of issues.  We want readers to be able to digest all of the relevant information and make informed choices.  Comments that present evidence that contradicts the findings we report are more than welcome.
• On the first weekday of each month, we publish a featured article by a prominent professional from the field (clinicians, researchers, etc...).  Prior featured authors include Robert Leahy, Jill Holm-Denoma, Katie Gordon, Sarah Fischer, Craig Bryan, and many others.  For the upcoming months, we have secured contributions from several exciting authors.
• Our "EST clinics" page is a registry of clinics and clinicians nationwide who provide empirically supported treatments for mental illness.  We are always looking to expand the list further, but we hold off on adding new resources until representatives of that location give us approval.  If you have suggestions for additions, please let us know.
• Our "Assessment tools" page is a list and description of psychometrically sound assessment tools for a number of diagnoses, conditions, traits, etc...We include references to help readers obtain copies of the measures.
• Any time you see a word or phrase in blue, you can click on it and be redirected to other articles we have written on that particular topic.

When PBB is at its best, readers engage with the articles through the comment section and conversations emerge.  Those conversations then lead to follow-up articles and the conversation expands from there.  We hope that you find the site compelling, share your thoughts, subscribe to the feed, join us on Facebook or Twitter, and let us know what might be improved.  Although we can not guarantee publication to individuals interested in contributing guest articles, we are always excited to hear from people who think they might like to write something for the site.  If you think this applies to you, feel free to email us at:

mikeanestis@psychotherapybrownbag.com

and

joyeanestis@psychotherapybrownbag.com

PBB is certain to evolve as time goes on and our circumstances change.  As we move forward, we hope to provide you with informative and, at least on occasion, entertaining material that keeps you wanting to come back for more.  In the meantime, we again welcome you to our site and we look forward to hearing from you.

Mike Anestis is a doctoral candidate in the clinical psychology department at Florida State University

Welcome New Readers

Just wanted to add a quick note to welcome new readers to PBB.  Yesterday, I sent an email out to directors of clinical training and department chairs for the vast majority of the APA accredited clinical psychology departments in the United States and Canada.  Since then, we have seen a surge in traffic and I wanted to thank you for your time and make sure that new readers feel comfortable navigating the site. 

If you have any questions regarding the format, goals, or content of PBB, please feel free to contact either me (mikeanestis@psychotherapybrownbag.com) or Joye (joyeanestis@psychotherapybrownbag.com).  We will gladly answer your questions.  To receive updates regarding new material on the site, you can subscribe to the RSS feed (see right hand column), subscribe by email, become a "fan" on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter (@PsychBrownBag). 

Additionally, if you enjoy PBB and think you might be interested in contributing a guest article, we are always thrilled to feature the work of others, so please do not hesitate to let us know.  We have featured work by professors, graduate students, and practicing clinicians, all of whom have made wonderful contributions to the site.

We look forward to hearing from you and expanding the conversation on the use of science in clinical psychology and hope that you find PBB both useful and enjoyable.

The Psychotherapy Brown Bag Experience - Navigating a New Site

    Welcome to the official launch of Psychotherapy Brown Bag.  Although we envision the site evolving over time to meet the changing needs of our readers, we already have several components available for your use.  

    In the main column on the left side of the screen, we will post articles and blog posts.  We intend to post around lunch time on weekdays with occasional weekend posts as well.  If you are interested in contributing an article or blog post, please feel free to contact Mike (mikeanestis@psychotherapybrownbag.com) or Joye (joyeanestis@psychotherapybrownbag.com).  Our hope is that this site will serve as a location for conversation regarding topics related to science in clinical psychology.  To facilitate this, we have enabled readers to comment on articles and blog posts. To do so, you must register with Typepad, but this is a free service.  In addition to blog posts and articles, we have a variety of other tools in the side panels.  Under “Uncle George’s Pancakes,” a reference to Paul Meehl’s (1973) commentary on common errors in non-scientific approaches to clinical pathology, you will see several links.

The first link, “Assessment Tools,” provides a list of well-tested assessment tools for a variety of purposes, as well as references to articles through which readers can find actual copies of the measures.  The assessment tools are broken down by category, so if you’re looking for a diagnostic interview, a measure of depressive symptoms, or a measure of non-suicidal self-injury, just look for the appropriate category.  If you think a measure is missing from our list, and without question many are, feel free to let us know.  We’ll look into your suggestion and, if it seems like an appropriate addition, we’ll amend our list.

The second link, “EST Clinics,” is a list of treatment centers that have registered with our site as locations at which individuals can receive empirically supported treatments (ESTs).  One of the driving purposes of this site is the desire to educate the general public about ESTs and to help them find locations capable of providing such services.  This list will grow as we continue to contact other clinics.  If you wish to register with our site or know of a location that may be interested in doing so, again, please feel free to let us know or to put them in touch with us and we will investigate the matter further. 

The third link, "Links," is a list of websites that we believe may be of interest to our readers.  These sites include homepages for a variety of organizations devoted to causes similar to that of Psychotherapy Brown Bag, as well as publications that aim to disseminate information regarding ESTs and the science of clinical psychology.  Here again, if you believe other sites belong on this list, please feel free to let us know and we will follow-up on your suggestion.

The fourth link, "References," is a list of all journal articles mentioned in blog posts and articles on our site.  We hope that our articles are informative for our readers, but we also hope that they serve as motivation for readers to follow-up on the information we provide by reading articles published in scientific journals.  To access these journals, readers either need to subscribe themselves or use a computer at a library or university that has an online subscription.  Also, for any graduate students reading this page, this link can serve as a way to find references to assist in research projects.

In addition to these tools, we have several other services on the site.  In the first side panel, you will see links to archived articles listed by month of publication and category of topic.  Below this, you will see several tools for subscribing to our feed.  Doing so will allow you to receive alerts regarding newly posted material, either by email or through a variety of RSS feed services (e.g., Google Reader).  Additionally, you will see a link that will take you to our Facebook group.  In our efforts to reach as wide an audience as possible, we hope websites like Facebook will cast a wide net.  Please feel free to inform people you know about its existence, regardless of whether or not they are actively involved in clinical psychology.  Below that, you will see a link to the website for 1-800-273-TALK.  This free, anonymous, 24/7 service provides crisis intervention from trained specialists and is a good resource for anybody in need of immediate care.  Psychotherapy Brown Bag does not provide therapeutic interventions, but we fully support the efforts of 1-800-273-TALK in doing so.  Finally, in the second side panel, you will see a link to the Academy of Cognitive Therapy.  This organization provides wonderful educational materials about cognitive therapy as well as an international registry of cognitive therapists.  Clicking on their logo will take you to their home page.

Welcome to our site!
Mike and Joye Anestis

Welcome to Psychotherapy Brown Bag

Psychotherapy Brown Bag – Launch Date March 1, 2009

Psychotherapy Brown Bag is a multifaceted website intended to serve a variety of purposes while reaching a broad audience.  The central purposes of this website are to facilitate communication between researchers, clinicians, and other individuals interested in clinical psychology and to provide clear information regarding the use of science in the field.  This will be accomplished in a variety of fashions:

Interactive online magazine – Articles will be published by prominent members of the field, both those in academia and in clinical practice.  Readers will have the opportunity, once registered as users, to comment on these articles.  The goal of this format is to facilitate communication between individuals and to let the community drive future content by demonstrating interests in particular areas.  Additional articles will be written by highly active graduate students in an effort to publicize more current research and foster communication between individuals who may not otherwise have a chance to interact.

List of commonly used assessment tools – A list will be developed describing the most commonly used psychometrically sound assessment tools for a variety of purposes.  Information about these tools and how to obtain them will be listed as well.  Actual copies of the tools will require accessing journals and/or the authors of each particular measure.

List of articles referenced on the site – In an effort to provide readers with an extensive list of empirical studies, a library will be kept on the site listing any articles referenced in prior articles.

List of locations that have registered as providing empirically supported treatments (ESTs) – We hope to provide readers in need of help with an extensive list of locations at which ESTs are provided.  In doing so, we hope to increase awareness of individuals regarding the availability of scientifically supported treatment while also encouraging clinicians to interact with the site.

This site will evolve as we receive feedback and further solidify our ideas.  Our aim is to provide accurate, empirically supported information regarding clinical psychology to as wide an audience as possible.  Suggestions are welcome.

 

Mike and Joye Anestis

mikeanestis@psychotherapybrownbag.com

joyeanestis@psychotherapybrownbag.com