Interviews
Do psychologists have unique role in helping country heal?
By Catherine Robertson Souter
With the near-universal hardships and losses of the pandemic that have affected us all in some way, Americans are feeling stress and anxiety across the board. Yet, rather than reach out and support each other, some are losing their ability to come together because of political and social differences. These issues have destroyed friendships and decimated family bonds. A lot of conversations online and in the media center on how to mend relationships. It’s an area where psychologists may have special ability to use their skills and create new pathways for dealing with opposing viewpoints, said Jennie M. Kuckertz, Ph.D, [More]
Non-profit aids immigrants with evaluations, counseling
By Catherine Robertson Souter
Looking for a new way of life, thousands of people travel each year to the United States hoping to become American citizens. Yet, escaping what they left behind, war, torture, famine and poverty, is only the first step in carving out a new future. Often, the trauma of what they experienced leaves scars both physically and emotionally that can impede their moving forward with their lives and even, at times, with their legal cases for asylum. The De Novo Center for Justice and Healing, a Cambridge-based non-profit that provides legal and counseling services for low-income people, works with immigrants, representing [More]
Walker Schools’ President Gene Takahashi living his career goal
By Catherine Robertson Souter
During this past spring, when schools were shuttered for months only recently to re-open, residential schools working with the neediest of children did not have that luxury. For programs like the Massachusetts-based Walker schools in Watertown and Needham, providing a safe, supportive academic environment was not something they could put on hold. Working with children with complex emotional, behavioral and learning challenges, the administration at Walker (and other residential schools) was faced with both providing services and keeping students and staff safe. New England Psychologist’s Catherine Robertson Souter spoke with Walker president and CEO Gene Takahashi, Ph.D, LICSW, about the schools’ pandemic [More]
Research on implicit bias is core of John Dovidio’s work
By Catherine Robertson Souter
Most Americans would reject being labelled racist. Yet, study after study, and incident after incident, show how deeply racism is ingrained in our society, from far higher rates of COVID-19 deaths and fatal police shootings to lower overall college graduation rates for Blacks as compared to whites in this country. At the Yale University Intergroup Relations Lab, a team of researchers led by director John Dovidio, Ph.D, the Hovland professor of psychology and public health at Yale, has been looking at the idea of implicit bias over the past several decades. Starting from the premise that everyone does have some [More]
Psychologist focuses on treating adversity in children
By Catherine Robertson Souter
The first years of a person’s life form the foundation for everything to follow. Those years of early childhood development can set the stage for later mental health and well-being or, unfortunately, the opposite. For clinical psychologist Jenessa Deleault Psy.D., working with children is more than a career, it is a calling, one that spoke to her from an early age when she worked for her mother’s daycare center. Trained in empirically-supported Child Parent Psychology (CPP), she currently works with Counseling Associates of MA and NH in their Bedford, NH, office where she specializes in children from birth to age [More]
Craig Malkin, Ph.D discusses narcissism, Goldwater Rule
By Catherine Robertson Souter
First released in 2017, the book “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump” (Thomas Dunne Books, 2019) has recently been re-issued with nearly 100 additional pages of essays. The book, which was a New York Times best seller, features 37 mental health experts offering their professional opinions on the state of national politics and the current administration. New England Psychologist’s Catherine Robertson Souter spoke with Craig Malkin, Ph.D, a Cambridge-based clinician and a lecturer in psychology at Harvard Medical School. They discussed his contribution to the book, his work with narcissism and his thoughts on why a revision is needed of [More]
Psychologist disseminates autism research, best practices
By Catherine Robertson Souter
According to the Centers for Disease Control, one in 59 children will be diagnosed with autism, many by age four. This number has grown over the past few decades, perhaps because of greater recognition or to changes made in the diagnostic criteria. And, right along with the increase in prevalence, the amount of research being done on the disorder has expanded. But, as is typical with research in many fields, the path from the laboratory to the clinician’s office is not always a straight line. Getting that information out to organizations, schools, and practitioners is key, said Cynthia M. Anderson, [More]
Q&A with Robert Jamison, PhD
By Catherine Robertson Souter
With the crusade against the over-prescription of opioids, medical professionals are finding it difficult to ascertain if and when they should ever prescribe the medications to clients. The chief psychologist at the Pain Management Center of Chestnut Hill, Mass., Robert Jamison,Ph.D has worked with pain management for close to 30 years and has witnessed the rise and fall of opioids as the go-to medication for treatment. As his team realized how detrimental the drugs could be to some patients, they began to search for a way to predict just who may be at risk for abusing opioids and to see [More]