Area three is the research core. Three courses in statistics and research methodology prepare students for understanding the role of research in clinical practice and two independent courses are designed to help the student complete a doctoral dissertation. Area four is a series of six seminars which focus on issues of professional development, including learning about clinical psychology in the public interest, professional socialization, clinical supervision and the "psychological life of mental health organizations". The fifth area is a series of two courses where the student receives beginning level training in the application of his or her clinical knowledge and skills to specific client populations and their problems. The three elective concentrations are family violence, developmental disabilities and serious and persistent mental illness. In addition, students may choose to take elective courses, such as marital therapy or family therapy (usually offered during summer sessions).

The clinical externships in the second, third and fourth years are critical to the training of every candidate. Sixteen hours per week are required in the second, third and fourth years of training. Students receive a total of fourteen credits for externship work. The second year placement is fulfilled on campus at the Psychological Services Center. Externship sites are available in the three elective concentration areas, as well as in more general clinical areas. The program is currently affiliated with more than 50 externship sites in a variety of settings, including inpatient, outpatient, and community mental health facilities.

David Roll, Ph.D.,
Coordinator of Developmental Disabilities Concentration

"Developmental disabilities are a variety of conditions that become apparent during childhood and cause mental or physical limitation. These conditions include pervasive developmental disorders such as autism, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, mental retardation, and other neurological impairments" (New York State Office of Developmental Disabilities, 1999). There are many causes of developmental disabilities that can occur before, during or after birth. Those occurring before birth include genetic problems, poor prenatal care, or exposure of the fetus to toxins including drugs and alcohol. Difficulties during birth, such as restricted oxygen supply to the infant, or accidents after birth can also cause traumatic brain injury resulting in developmental disabilities. Longer-term postnatal causes include malnutrition and social deprivation.

The primary purpose of the Developmental Disabilities elective concentration in the C. W. Post Doctoral Program is to prepare students with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to provide effective clinical services for people with developmental disabilities, their families, and their caretakers. Throughout the United States there has been a dramatic and exciting shift in the lives of people with developmental disabilities. As institutions have emptied, more community-oriented service systems have developed. Supports are growing for people with disabilities so that they may remain more connected to their families of origin. While these changes generally allow people with developmental disabilities to enjoy more freedom and a wider range of opportunities, they also present challenges, complexities, and stresses of life in the family and the community at large. The impact of early intensive behavioral intervention for children with autism has also dramatically improved the lives of many children and their families, yet there is a severe shortage of competent professionals with sufficient expertise in behavior analysis and developmental disabilities.

People who have developmental disabilities are increasingly seeking help for mental health problems from psychologists in the community. In the past, this would be the domain of behavior specialists and psychologists working within developmental disabilities services systems. What we have found, however, is that many psychologists outside the developmental disabilities service system lack specific knowledge and skills to help people in this population. Conversely, many professionals in the service systems have a specialized knowledge of the population and a limited range of interventions, but do not have the more general skills of a clinical psychologist. Students in the C. W. Post Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program are trained to reconcile these differences and become proficient in both domains; i.e., as clinical psychologists and as experts on the unique strengths and challenges presented by the different disabilities.

The curriculum of the Developmental Disabilities Elective Concentration allows students to fulfill the academic requirements for Certification in Behavior Analysis. Students with particular interests can develop more individualized experiences in related areas of learning disabilities and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Ultimately, we hope to make a broader range of clinical services available to people with developmental disabilities, as well as to their families and caretakers.

The academic objectives for the students are to learn:

1. the history of social developments in the treatment of people with developmental disabilities;

2. etiologies and classifications and developmental patterns in the different developmental disabilities;

3. theories of intelligence;

4. assessment of intelligence, adaptive behavior, maladaptive behavior, and educational progress;

5. prevention of developmental disabilities;

6. research strategies specific to the understanding of developmental disabilities and clinical interventions with people who have developmental disabilities;

7. application of behavior analysis in the education of people with developmental disabilities;

8. other empirically validated treatment approaches.

The Developmental Disabilities Concentration consists of two content courses, supervised clinical experience with people who have developmental disabilities, and completion of a doctoral research project in an area relevant to this population. The content courses are:

Psy 848: Theory and Research in Developmental Disabilities

This course is designed to provide a solid background in history, theory, assessment, and research in the field of developmental disabilities. Topics include a social history of the treatment of people with mental retardation, the rights of people with disabilities (e.g., Americans with Disabilities Act, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), the concept of intelligence as a social construct and the ramifications of various models on the treatment of people with mental retardation, definitions, classifications, etiology, and epidemiology of the various developmental disabilities, diagnostic procedures, strategies for research and research outcome in developmental disabilities. Normal and abnormal development of cognitive abilities, language, attention, emotion, motivation, personality, and social abilities are reviewed. Students are able to focus on a particular area of interest (e.g., autism, ADHD, Down Syndrome, Fragile X) for readings and the final paper. The final paper is a literature review on basic research relevant to the each student's dissertation interest. This task provides an opportunity to begin generating dissertation ideas and formulating research questions. It is also good preparation for the second course which is:

Psy 858: Clinical Applications in Developmental Disabilities

This is a rigorous course focusing on application of behavior analysis in education and intervention strategies with people who have developmental disabilities The emphasis is on the relationship between applied research and treatment. The in depth study of applied behavior analysis is helpful for clinical application with a wide range of people and problems. Students in this course are required to develop are very detailed, single-subject design research proposal in an area of interest. For many students the proposal for this course has become their dissertation proposal.

Training also includes a wealth of supervised practical experience in schools, community mental health centers, developmental disabilities specialty clinics and hospitals in the New York metropolitan area. Students have the opportunity to learn while providing needed services such as early behavioral intervention for children with autism, interventions for families and children with ADHD and related disorders, social skills groups and parent training for children with a wide range of difficulties including Asperger's and other autism spectrum disorder, and individual as well as group therapy for adults and children with developmental disabilities and psychiatric disabilities. Students in the Developmental Disabilities concentration typically select a third year externship such as community mental health centers or the psychiatry departments of medical centers to gain experience with a broad array of client populations and clinical problems. This assures a good foundation for internship training and for later independent practice as a clinical psychologist. It also allows our students to bring what they learn from other settings to services for people with disabilities. The fourth year internship is typically in a setting more focused on serving people with disabilities. A wide variety of other placements have been selected by people in this concentration, often providing the opportunity for work with children who have emotional and psychiatric disorders. Students interested in working with adults who are dually diagnosed with mental illness and developmental disabilities typically seek training in a psychiatric hospital for one of their externships.

Since the ability to learn is a fundamental deficit for most people with developmental disabilities, the science of learning and the application of behavior analysis are ubiquitous in the field. Therefore, clinical application and research are related parts of the same enterprise. Most of the students in this concentration undertake dissertations that are clinical interventions evaluated by single subject experimental designs. Dissertations using this approach and contributing to our understanding of therapeutic interventions for people with disabilities have been completed by students enrolled in all three concentrations.

This is a dynamic field with a wide range of career opportunities for clinical psychologists who have sufficient training in developmental psychology, learning, behavior analysis, and developmental disabilities. Graduates of the program and the concentration are succeeding in clinical and administrative positions and several are building successful private practices. Several graduates from the other concentrations are also happily working in the field of developmental disabilities. Future developments will be influenced strongly by students in the program. New avenues for exploration include enhancing the range of offerings to the community through the Psychological Services Center, increasing efforts in prevention, and enhancing our understanding of and services to the families of people with developmental disabilities.

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Jill Rathus, Ph.D.,
Coordinator of Family Violence Concentration

All of the concentration areas provide students with an area of expertise above and beyond, but not in place of, their traditional broad training in clinical psychology. This concentration teaches the theoretical basis, the relevant empirical research, and the assessment and treatment of family violence. Specifically, the two elective courses cover the areas of child sexual abuse, child physical abuse, child emotional abuse, child neglect, perpetrators of physical and sexual abuse, marital violence, child witnesses to marital violence, adult survivors of sexual abuse; systems involved in treating, advocating for, protecting, prosecuting, or otherwise working with the involved individuals. Other specific topics are included on a flexible basis, according to students' interest. These have included such topics as sibling abuse, vicarious traumatization, elder abuse, gang violence, school/youth violence, dating violence, rape, divorce and child custody issues, and terrorism. Broad related topics that have also been touched upon include child psychotherapy, family therapy, marital therapy, and parent training.

One nice aspect of this concentration is that the topic area overlaps substantially with the program's other concentration areas and with a range of areas within clinical psychology. For example, relevant SPMI issues that arise in the coursework and practical work in Family Violence include PTSD/trauma, borderline personality disorder, and other persistent Axis I and Axis II disorders. Relevant (DD) issues include the high prevalence of family violence in (DD) populations and the violence risk status associated with being a (DD) child. General clinical psychology issues that arise include discussion of assessment, ethics, orientation differences, psychopathology, interviewing, case conceptualization, child treatment, adult treatment, family & marital treatment, and group treatment, to name a few.

Students may select clinical training sites where they can specialize in family violence populations, and they typically do dissertations in this area. While many students have conducted studies on direct issues of family violence (e.g., evaluating a treatment program for batterers), many others have conducted research on related topics such as sibling relationships, disruptive behavior disorders in children, impact of trauma, and so on.

Types of Clinical Training and Coursework

As a minimum, the concentration involves taking 2 consecutive electives pertaining to family violence: (1) Theory and Research; and (2) Clinical Applications. In addition to the two elective courses, the monthly concentration meeting gives students an opportunity to discuss current clinical, research, systemic, or political issues in the field; to hear presentations from guest speakers working in the field; and to discuss dissertation projects related to the concentration area.

Beyond these courses and the concentration meetings, students specializing in the family violence concentration may select externships or internships that offer further specialization in one or more of these areas (e.g., at domestic violence service agencies, hospital settings with programs for sexual offenders, etc.), that offer closely related work (foster care agencies, group homes, substance abuse settings, etc.) or that offer more general training (e.g., adolescent inpatient units, child outpatient clinics, adult day treatment settings). Even these latter more general settings will inevitably offer exposure to family violence as well as to issues related to working in the field of family violence (e.g., working in a multi-disciplinary setting; conducting family or group sessions, etc).

Training and Coursework That Prepare Students for Future Work

The training in a concentration area can prepare students to work in as broad or focused way as one wishes. The coursework and clinical training in family violence prepares students to be highly competitive in jobs within settings that deal specifically with family violence, as well as more general settings. Students graduating from the program within this concentration can offer their broad clinical psychology training as well as unique skills in the assessment and treatment of family violence. Such skills should be in high demand because of the pervasiveness of family violence: one encounters it as a primary clinical presentation, or often as an important secondary or contextual issue in clients presenting with a range of other problems. There are a variety of possible career directions for family violence students (some may require additional training and experience):

1. Working as a psychologist in a hospital, clinic, agency, or private practice setting with adults, adolescents, children, families, and couples. The concentration enhances students' general training in the assessment and treatment of these populations.

2. Working in a setting that specifically focuses on treating perpetrators or victims of family violence, such as a specialized inpatient unit (e.g., for survivors of sexual abuse) a specialized outpatient or day program (e.g., for individuals with borderline personality disorder, for treatment of sexual offenders), or a domestic violence agency or shelter.

3. Working in a setting that emphasizes interdisciplinary contact or communication with the various systems involved in the family violence field (e.g., health, social services, victims services, substance abuse services, legal/justice systems).

4. Working as a consultant in a variety of contexts including work as an expert trainer in family violence issues (e.g. conducting trainings in hospital settings on the detection of domestic violence; in school settings on dating violence), as a program evaluator (e.g., evaluating effectiveness of a program for spouse abuse), as a family violence expert on federal or private grants, as an evaluator for the court (e.g., evaluating dangerousness; suitability for custody), as an expert witness (e.g., in testimony regarding divorce/child custody, battering cases, violent crimes).

5. Working in a variety of additional areas including, but not limited to, prevention, research, teaching/academia/supervision, program development, serving as a reviewer or editor for one of the many family violence journals, writing specialty books, grant writing.

The field offers virtually limitless possibilities, based on students' skills and interests.

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Danielle Knafo, Ph.D.
Coordinator of Serious and Persistent Mental Illness Concentration

Serious and Persistent Mental Illness Elective Danielle Knafo, Ph.D., Coordinator In this era of psychopharmocology and managed care, we rarely encounter an approach to severe psychopathology involving empathic understanding and intensive psychotherapeutic intervention. We are a unique clinical psychology program that offers specialization training in work with this group. In addition to teaching the genetic and neuropsychological aspects to these conditions, we emphasize the discoveries, since Freud’s time, that have deepened the understanding of the psyche, allowing the attribution of meaning to symptomology, and permitting human encounters that initiate profound change through insight and communication. The program’s appeal and excitement derives from the wondrous inner journeys made possible by only such encounters and the fact that this kind of work takes us to the frontiers of human experience.

The Serious and Persistent Mental Illness concentration (SPMI) at Long Island University, C. W. Post campus, is one of three concentrations within the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program that address the needs of underserved, high-risk clinical populations. Serious and persistent mental illnesses have been defined in various ways. Students in the doctoral program who select the SPMI concentration are interested in developing an expertise in understanding and treating severe psychopathology which include thought disorders such as schizophrenia, mood disorders such as bipolar disorder, and severe personality disorders such as borderline and antisocial personality disorders. Also included are addictions and trauma (e.g., abuse, war trauma and terror-related trauma). perversions and eating disorders. Exposure to patients who exhibit these forms of psychopathology is available through a wide array of externship opportunities offered by the program.

Students who select the SPMI concentration will attain the following objectives:

• Gain a thorough understanding of etiology, symptomotology, theories of psychopathology, and varied approaches to the treatment of severe psychopathology.

• Become familiarized with the most up-to-date and cutting edge research in the field, including psychosocial, neuropsychological, and phenomenological.

• Develop a humane, nonjudgmental approach to those who suffer from severe chronic mental illness.

• Be encouraged to engage in research and education that will promote advanced understanding of SPMI populations.

• Facilitate integration of psychological work with that of other disciplines, both in research and practice.

• Prepare students to develop an expertise in the field of severe pathology that can be applied to education, research or practice, in hospitals, courts, clinics, and/or private practice.

The core elective courses within the SPMI concentration are as follows: Theory and Research in Serious and Persistent Mental Illness (PSY 847) and Clinical Applications in Serious and Persistent Mental Illness (PSY 857). The Theory and Research course covers the most up-to-date literature reflecting our contemporary understanding of the nature of serious and persistent mental illness, its genetic, neuropsychological, familial, social, and cultural components, empirical treatment evaluation and outcomes, and public policy initiatives. The Clinical Applications course is a hands-on training for students to become familiar with the phenomenology and treatment approaches relevant to working with those who suffer from severe pathology.  Drug approaches will be reviewed and intense focus on the significance of psychotherapeutic methods of treatment will be emphasized. The psychologist's role and contribution within the current mental-health delivery system are discussed.

Monthly concentration meetings invite experts in the field to address additional issues not covered in the courses. SPMI patients are also invited to these meetings to discuss their experiences of living and the treatment they have received. Sample recent topics are: Psychotherapy with Schizophrenia, Harm Reduction Therapy with Addiction, Violence against the Therapist, A Psychoanalyst in Prison, Working with Deeply Distressed Couples, Sexualized Violence against Women and Children, Severe Depression and Creativity, Multicultural Perspectives in Psychopathology and Treatment, Neuropsychology and Psychosis, Bipolar Disorder in Childhood. Student participation in leading these meetings is encouraged. Sensitivity and awareness of cross cultural and gender perspectives to these pathologies is addressed.

The clinical training within the SPMI concentration consists of completing two externships in the third and fourth years that expose students to patients suffering from thought disorders, mood disorders, and severe personality disorders. Students conduct individual and group psychotherapy and social-skills groups with patients on hospital inpatient psychiatric units, day-treatment programs and partial hospitalization programs, and specialty outpatient clinics. Students’ treatment is supervised by experienced on-site clinical supervisors who offer their mentorship and expertise with these kinds of severe psychopathology. Typical externship placements include the North Shore Veterans Administration Hospital, North Shore Hospital and Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Downstate Medical Center, and the HOPE Program in Brooklyn. The experiences acquired from these settings thoroughly prepare students for clinical psychology internship opportunities by the fifth year, when students take full-time positions at internship sites to further develop their clinical skills in specialty areas. SPMI students (as well as students from the other two concentrations) have an excellent track record of acceptance to selective internship programs, in part because of the superb training provided through their externship placements. The clinical psychology internship experience in turn prepares students for their first applications for landing a job in the real world, ideally working with patients diagnosed with serious and persistent mental illness.

In spite of powerful managed-care forces, the realities of the current job market, and the success of cognitive behaviorists in demonstrating treatment efficacy for a wide range of illness, the SPMI concentration would like to continue to foster opportunities for students to learn and to master psychodynamic approaches to serious and persistent mental illness. Students from most other clinical psychology programs never receive the opportunity to learn or practice this method of working with patients, emphasizing the patient's relationship to the therapist and the personal meaning of the patient's symptoms not only for the patient but also for the therapeutic relationship. Many people in the field and out consider these patients untreateable, but for those of us willing to rise to the challenge and do this amazing work, we will find that not only is the growth of the patient fostered but our own is as well.

Theory and Research in Serious and Persistent Mental Illness

This course will address current neuroscience and psychosocial research in severe mental illness, particularly in the schizophrenias and bipolar disorders. A serious problem in the field has been our reliance on biogenetic reductionistic models  to the exclusion of psychological and sociological factors. A comprehensive, translational-integrative, approach to severe mental illness will be the subject of this course, using the'trilingual' approach of brain, mind and culture. This will involve the careful and in-depth study of, but not be limited to, the following subjects: epidemiological research; phenomenology, neurophenomenology and subjective first-person accounts of these disorders; the role of genetics and the emergent field of epigenetics; biological research on the transgenerational transmission of trauma; neuroplasticity, neurobiology and 'relational' neurobiology; neurodevelopmental models; neuroimaging research, including sMRI, fMRI, PET, SPECT, and newer imaging techniques such a diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and magnetization transfer imaging (MTI) of white matter tracts; neuroimaging research on specific psychotic symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations; the role of mirror neuron systems in symptomatology; developmental psychobiology, particularly focusing on the effects of separations and traumatic disruptions of attachments; the role of the limbic-hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (LHPA) in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression; psychophysiological and neurocognitive research; the significant role of psychological and social traumas, chronic and profound stress/fear/anxiety, as well as social isolation and social defeat on CNS structure and function; sociocultural factors (e.g., social fragmentation, urban living, migration, racism, high expressed emotion, poverty, social isolation, etc.) identified in research to be  instrumental in the initiation, course and outcome of these disorders; cognitive-behavioral and psychodynamic/psychoanalytic models of symptom formation; recovery research, including all of the major international studies demonstrating that persons with severe mental illness can recover.

SPMI (Serious and Persistent Mental Illness) Clinical Applications

The aim of this course is to familiarize students with psychotherapeutic understanding and techniques for the treatment of serious and persistent mental illness. The course is divided into two sections in addition to an introduction that explores the controversial, and sometimes misleading, terminology of sanity and madness. The first part of the course addresses key concepts -- e.g., projective identification, attacks on linking, psychic retreats and autism, and regression – in the treatment of primitive or regressed states of mind, regardless of diagnostic category. Section one of the course also carefully examines the importance of appreciation and use of countertransference in these treatments. Part two of the course addresses psychotherapy techniques that are designed to treat specific diagnostic categories – including: narcissistic, schizoid, and borderline personality disorders, psychosis, trauma and addiction, severe depression, and perversions. Part two also includes discussions of specific issues and techniques related to inpatient work and the use of medication. Considerable clinical case material will supplement basic readings.

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The Safe Zone Project

The Safe Zone Project is a diversity training program that was adapted by the C.W. Post Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program to increase the doctoral students’ sensitivity, awareness and knowledge of important issues that concern lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals. In an effort to provide clinical doctoral students with training that will help foster LGBT-affirmative attitudes and engender LGBT-sensitive psychologists, the C.W. Post Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program provides a Safe Zone training that is mandatory for all entering students enrolled in the program. By bearing some of the responsibility of training individuals to competently and ethically work with LGBT individuals and related issues, the Safe Zone Project is an integral part of the program’s effort to respond to the American Psychological Association’s call to clinical training programs for the promotion of knowledge and training in human diversity. Although the Safe Zone Project does not provide comprehensive clinical training for treating those with LGBT-specific problems, or sexual and gender identity/orientation issues, the training does prepare a new generation of students to be more informed, sensitive, and ultimately better clinicians to the LGBT community.  The Safe Zone Project offers the opportunity for a dialogue about diversity and endorses the program’s provision of an atmosphere that respects all individuals, regardless of sexual orientation, ethnic background, age, ability, and gender. 

The Safe Zone Project is comprised of three training sessions, two that occur during the fall semester, and the third during the spring. Attendance at both sessions is mandatory for all entering students.  For more information about similar safe zone programs at other universities, see:  http://www.lgbtcampus.org/faq/safe_zone.html

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Annual Teen Speakout

Teen Speakout is an event that is co-hosted by the Long Island University, C. W. Post Campus, Clinical Psychology Doctorate Program and the Elmont Memorial High School Peer Helpers. This violence-prevention program was created 11 years ago by Dr. Eva Feindler, Director of the Psychological Services Center, for the purpose of educating teens about teen dating violence, including sexual assault, psychological and physical abuse. It has been the aspirational hope of Dr. Feindler that by improving teen relationships and by educating teenagers about the roles that power and control can play in these relationships, teen violence can be prevented or reduced. The program is an interactive exchange between local high school students and the teen actors on the stage. The teen actors role play relational dramas encountered in the life of a teen, ranging from gay/lesbian discrimination, date rape, what love is and isn't, sex, pregnancy, STDs, teen dating violence and battering. After the Teen Speakout Program, high school youths gather in "break-out" rooms with the Program's first and second-year students to discuss and process any concerns and questions that they have. Experts and professionals are on hand to aid the teens with their concerns and experiences.

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Email: Doctoral.Psychology@cwpost.liu.edu

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