Description
Presenter: Lauren M. Sippel, PhD
Overview.
Individuals are embedded within social networks—most immediately within families and intimate relationships. These relationships are central to quality of life, well-being, and physical health (Holt-Lunstad et al., 2018, 2022). Yet, psychiatry and psychology typically operate at the level of the individual, in terms of how we think about the development and maintenance of psychiatric disorders and of course how we treat them—with individual psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy. There has been increasing national attention to poor social connection and loneliness as public health crises (e.g., Murthy et al., 2023) and recognition of the important role that relationships play in recovery from psychiatric illness (e.g., Liebman et al., 2022). In this presentation, Dr. Sippel will present the rationale for involving family members in mental health treatment and in which ways, the current evidence base for involving families in treatment for conditions including depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, substance use, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder (Barbato et al., 2018; Sijercic et al., 2022), limitations of this literature with proposals for future directions (Reuman et al. 2022), and recommendations for assessment and clinical practice.
Objectives.Â
- describe the reasons why involving family in mental health care can be helpful for patients
- compare strength of research evidence for family-involved care for various psychiatric conditionsÂ
- apply recommendations for assessment and treatment to clinical practice
About the Presenter.
Dr. Sippel is a licensed clinical psychologist, an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, and an Associate Director at the Department of Veterans Affairs Northeast Program Evaluation Center. Dr. Sippel’s research program involves (1) evaluating the effectiveness of mental health interventions for improving psychiatric symptoms and psychosocial functioning, (2) examining cognitive, affective, and neurobiological mechanisms of trauma recovery and interpersonal problems experienced by trauma-exposed individuals and (3) developing novel treatments that target these shared mechanisms in an effort to improve interpersonal functioning. Dr. Sippel has been conducting research on PTSD and relationships for over 10 years. She currently has funding from the Department of Veterans Affairs to augment brief couple therapy for PTSD with the neuroheuromone intranasal oxytocin. She is also certified in delivery of Cognitive Behavioral Conjoint Therapy for PTSD. Her work in VA involves national monitoring and evaluation of team-based care in general mental health and provision of implementation support toward evidence-based practices.Â
CE Information
1 hour of CE
Cost
FREE for MEMBERS
$40.00 for Non-Members
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