What was your doctoral dissertation about?

Therapulse.ai - The AI Scribe for Mental Health
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
M

msc545

Clinical Psychologist & Neuropsychologist
7+ Year Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2017
Messages
428
Reaction score
349
Mine was about attempting to predict who was more likely to abuse children. I'll write more if anyone cares.
Members don't see this ad.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I used an esoteric stat model to first examine sources of variance (rater, measure, occasion) in screening rating scales for students who are at-risk for mental/behavioral issues and then used that data predict more efficient data collection procedures.
 
Sanman said:
We should have a thread on does your dissertation have anything to do with your current job.
Click to expand...
I definitely work with a different age group, but there are a lot of similarities. I still do a lot of training of third parties (parents instead of nurses) in how to deal with behaivoral difficulties of clients who are largely non-verbal and not interested in what I have to say (kiddos with ASD instead of adults with Alzheimers).
 
ClinicalABA said:
I definitely work with a different age group, but there are a lot of similarities. I still do a lot of training of third parties (parents instead of nurses) in how to deal with behaivoral difficulties of clients who are largely non-verbal and not interested in what I have to say (kiddos with ASD instead of adults with Alzheimers).
Click to expand...

Oh, agreed. My old company used to hire those with young peds experience for this reason if we couldn't find a geropsych.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Neurocognitive effects of nicotine

Roughly 7 years later...I'm in the final year of a federal grant on the same general topic that is a direct offshoot of that project and will be submitting another grant to follow up on this sometime in 2023 as we move the basic work towards clinical interventions. So I'll be the first to give a clear and resounding "yes" to whether it has anything to do with my current job.
 
Ollie123 said:
Neurocognitive effects of nicotine

Roughly 7 years later...I'm in the final year of a federal grant on the same general topic that is a direct offshoot of that project and will be submitting another grant to follow up on this sometime in 2023 as we move the basic work towards clinical interventions. So I'll be the first to give a clear and resounding "yes" to whether it has anything to do with my current job.
Click to expand...
Should I give up the occasional dip? I find I tend to reach for it in about two settings - when i've had more than three beers and when the kid has kept me up all night and the vyvanse needs little help for me to finish a report.

Anecdotally, I've never done it daily. But, I am also a huge a-hole a couple of days after I've binge dipped.
 
I did an ethnographic study of 12 step groups and their interaction and perspectives on professional treatment providers. Observation and focus groups and qualitative data. I actually wanted to do something quantitative because I love statistics, but my area of interest didn’t lead that way and I ended up being led down a path of approaxhing it from a cultural and diversity standpoint. As far as subsequent work, I have never worked specifically in addiction treatment, but have always dealt with it in all of my jobs, of course, and also have interacted with patients involved in 12 step groups so the information I gathered has been helpful. It has been also helpful to guide other clinicians on how to work with patients who are involved in 12 step recovery and support that process. I learned that understanding the culture of the groups was more important than trying to impose our paradigm as psychologists. Members of these groups all drew a clear distinction between treatment (what we do, short term, professional) and “recovery” which to them is a way of life or what we could best understand as a culture.
 
borne_before said:
Should I give up the occasional dip? I find I tend to reach for it in about two settings - when i've had more than three beers and when the kid has kept me up all night and the vyvanse needs little help for me to finish a report.

Anecdotally, I've never done it daily. But, I am also a huge a-hole a couple of days after I've binge dipped.
Click to expand...

On the record, yes.

Off the record, just don't switch to cigarettes or escalate beyond true occasional use (i.e. < weekly). Binging may pose additional health risks beyond low-volume occasions, I don't actually think we know that at this point. Few people make optimal health choices every day. The decision to grab a chai latte from Starbucks on my drive in because I also have baby-exhaustion, too much reflux to drink coffee (as much as I love it) and a meeting with the associate dean in a few hours was certainly not made with my health in mind. Public health messaging is wonky and accuracy takes a back seat to effectiveness. If you haven't tried snus, you should as it is (likely) marginally safer. Intended as harm reduction for smokers. Almost no one here uses it, but the transition from dip would likely be easier.

Weirdly, I have research projects/pubs related to all three of your stated motivations (alcohol, sleep, adhd). So sorry to break the news, but you aren't special😉

All of the above is to be considered friendly banter between scientists and not medical advice. IANYD (I am not your doctor)
 
Last edited:
Ollie123 said:
On the record, yes.

Off the record, just don't switch to cigarettes or escalate beyond true occasional use (i.e. < weekly). Binging may pose additional health risks beyond low-volume occasions, I don't actually think we know that at this point. Few people make optimal health choices every day. The decision to grab a chai latte from Starbucks on my drive in because I also have baby-exhaustion, too much reflux to drink coffee (as much as I love it) and a meeting with the associate dean in a few hours was certainly not made with my health in mind. Public health messaging is wonky and accuracy takes a back seat to effectiveness. If you haven't tried snus, you should as it is (likely) marginally safer. Intended as harm reduction for smokers. Almost no one here uses it, but the transition from dip would likely be easier.

Weirdly, I have research projects/pubs related to all three of your stated motivations (alcohol, sleep, adhd). So sorry to break the news, but you aren't special😉

All of the above is to be considered friendly banter between scientists and not medical advice. IANYD (I am not your doctor)
Click to expand...
Word. Thanks for the reply. Lately I've ben using Zyn. I've done snus - my sweedish brother in law (dude's got an MD/PhD in genetics)'s brother (he's a psychiatrist over there) uses snus all day, every day. Also, he only has to see like three patients a day and gets like 120 days off per year.
 
Disability and suicidality, specifically looking at how disability contributes to suicidality risk in the context of other risk and protective factors. Did a three-article dissertation and published all three articles and a methods article from it, FWIW.
 
Broadly—lifetime chronic interpersonal discrimination and traumatic stress symptoms, esp. hyper vigilance and vigilance coping for racial minorities.

(I say this somewhat hesitantly because I’ve seen the PTSD discourse on SDN 😉 In my manuscript I quickly summarized main arguments on both sides and then side-stepped. Central argument of my diss was, regardless of DSM criteria, people are still experiencing these things and that’s what’s most important. And discrimination does not need to be codified by The System™ to gain legitimacy.)
 
Doctor Eliza said:
Very broadly, identity development in women and psychopathology. The best decision I made was to ask a question that could be answered with a college sample. Lol.
Click to expand...
As someone who has worked with a lot of young women with identity issues and psychopathology, this one sounds very interesting to me. It has actually become an area of specialty of mine. Not sure how or why as I didn’t set out to do that when I got into the field, but I also thought I would never want to work with adolescents and that has been most of the work that I have done.
 
borne_before said:
Word. Thanks for the reply. Lately I've ben using Zyn. I've done snus - my sweedish brother in law (dude's got an MD/PhD in genetics)'s brother (he's a psychiatrist over there) uses snus all day, every day. Also, he only has to see like three patients a day and gets like 120 days off per year.
Click to expand...
Well if you're already using Zyn, so much the better. Don't switch to snus. When I hear dip, I assume traditional chewing tobacco.

Uptake of these things in the US is near non-existent so I'm genuinely surprised when people have done so.
 
WisNeuro said:
Chewing tobacco has got to be one of the grossest things that one can view. I have no problem working on spinal cord units and seeing decubitus ulcers. But seeing that gross spit bottle makes me want to puke.
Click to expand...
That is another plus for something like a Zyn or snus. It might just be the redneck and me but there’s a bit of a ritual to dipping. But again, I’ve never really been addicted to it.
 
borne_before said:
That is another plus for something like a Zyn or snus. It might just be the redneck and me but there’s a bit of a ritual to dipping. But again, I’ve never really been addicted to it.
Click to expand...

As someone who has partaken after imbibing a few....i get it. Completely. Dopamine hit on par with other good stuffs haha. The money the all day dippers have to spend though is mind boggling to me. We have nurses at our facility who go all day (at least since mask requirements were put in place and they can hide it now). The one thing about covid they were happy about i think.
 
WisNeuro said:
Chewing tobacco has got to be one of the grossest things that one can view. I have no problem working on spinal cord units and seeing decubitus ulcers. But seeing that gross spit bottle makes me want to puke.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I get the tobacco part but never understood the appeal of dip. For me, a nice cigar or even hookah in a lounge is about it. However, that is more about sitting with friends in a relaxing atmosphere and getting a buzz going than it is interest in tobacco. I can do the same thing with a few cocktails.
 
Sanman said:
Agreed. I get the tobacco part but never understood the appeal of dip. For me, a nice cigar or even hookah in a lounge is about it. However, that is more about sitting with friends in a relaxing atmosphere and getting a buzz going than it is interest in tobacco. I can do the same thing with a few cocktails.
Click to expand...
Hookah lounges are such a great vibe. I can't wait until I'm old enough to have a house with a library, large plush leather chair, and fireplace where I can sip whiskey and smoke a cigar.
 
This discussion has taken an amusing turn. As a former nicotine addict, I’ll just add that I quit one week before I went on internship. Not sure if that was the best time to quit, but it was a non-smoking campus and I didn’t want to lose my career because I would get caught sneaking cigarettes. A month later when I was crying in my clinical supervisors office, I realized just what a powerful coping tool nicotine is and how much I had relied on it. I’ll just stick with love of caffeine for now. 😁
 
smalltownpsych said:
This discussion has taken an amusing turn. As a former nicotine addict, I’ll just add that I quit one week before I went on internship. Not sure if that was the best time to quit, but it was a non-smoking campus and I didn’t want to lose my career because I would get caught sneaking cigarettes. A month later when I was crying in my clinical supervisors office, I realized just what a powerful coping tool nicotine is and how much I had relied on it. I’ll just stick with love of caffeine for now. 😁
Click to expand...

Glad that internship caused a positive change. Grad school and internship were a net negative for me. I was an undergrad with a two time a day workout habit and did not even drink caffeine. Grad school encouraged caffeine (a prof took me down to Starbucks once because she thought I needed a caffeine boost) and internship eating less lean. Could not even recognize that guy now and I do love my caffeine!
 
Sanman said:
Agreed. I get the tobacco part but never understood the appeal of dip. For me, a nice cigar or even hookah in a lounge is about it. However, that is more about sitting with friends in a relaxing atmosphere and getting a buzz going than it is interest in tobacco. I can do the same thing with a few cocktails.
Click to expand...
I don’t want to romanticize it or advocate for it - but there’s a huge dip community out there.

You’re at a wedding or something and you see someone bust out a tin out by the barn.

These thoughts generally come to mind:
  1. **** yes, I just found the dude I’m get along great with.
  2. You immediately start judging the person of how they pack their dip. Do they do two or three taps with their index finger.
  3. What brand is it? Is it cope - that’s expensive they prolly got some money or are just pretentious. Maybe it’s grizz - they either dip a lot or are just frugal. Is it skoal? Eww.
  4. Is snuff or long cut? Snuff is some hillbilly **** that gets right into every gap of your teeth. Long cut is much more agreeable and tidy. Or maybe it’s a pouch? That means we’ve got a ninja dipper who might need to ditch their chaw when their partner comes over. Or maybe it’s a zyn - which means they generally work in an office (no spitting required), trying to quit, or grew up more urban. I must confess zyn has ruined the traditional dip for me.
  5. Are they a wintergreen, mint, spearmint, or something else.

It’s also inherently irreverent and silly. Dippers are constantly joking about it. There’s stupid songs about it, slang, satire, etc. check out zyntok for examples.

Unlike cigars, which smokers can seem so serious, we know dipping is silly and blue collar.

But the delivery mechanism of dip is truly efficient and as an (bad) endurance athlete - dip doesn’t mess up your lungs.

Unlike hookah, dip you can dip anywhere if you’re sneaky enough. (I’ve never heard of nurses using zyn but the thought of that cracks me up for some reason).

Finally, dip will pushes the nicotine straight into the blood stream. You can get violently sick from it in like ten minutes if you’ve never done it before. I encourage new dippers to only do like 5 min at time.

I’m done with this lol.
 
borne_before said:
I don’t want to romanticize it or advocate for it - but there’s a huge dip community out there.

You’re at a wedding or something and you see someone bust out a tin out by the barn.

These thoughts generally come to mind:
  1. **** yes, I just found the dude I’m get along great with.
  2. You immediately start judging the person of how they pack their dip. Do they do two or three taps with their index finger.
  3. What brand is it? Is it cope - that’s expensive they prolly got some money or are just pretentious. Maybe it’s grizz - they either dip a lot or are just frugal. Is it skoal? Eww.
  4. Is snuff or long cut? Snuff is some hillbilly **** that gets right into every gap of your teeth. Long cut is much more agreeable and tidy. Or maybe it’s a pouch? That means we’ve got a ninja dipper who might need to ditch their chaw when their partner comes over. Or maybe it’s a zyn - which means they generally work in an office (no spitting required), trying to quit, or grew up more urban. I must confess zyn has ruined the traditional dip for me.
  5. Are they a wintergreen, mint, spearmint, or something else.

It’s also inherently irreverent and silly. Dippers are constantly joking about it. There’s stupid songs about it, slang, satire, etc. check out zyntok for examples.

Unlike cigars, which smokers can seem so serious, we know dipping is silly and blue collar.

But the delivery mechanism of dip is truly efficient and as an (bad) endurance athlete - dip doesn’t mess up your lungs.

Unlike hookah, dip you can dip anywhere if you’re sneaky enough. (I’ve never heard of nurses using zyn but the thought of that cracks me up for some reason).

Finally, dip will pushes the nicotine straight into the blood stream. You can get violently sick from it in like ten minutes if you’ve never done it before. I encourage new dippers to only do like 5 min at time.

I’m done with this lol.
Click to expand...

Oh, I am sure there is and you summarized it better than I ever could. I have a few older clients who do it out in the country. However, not being white or from the country, this is a culture that is very much not my own. Certainly, it makes more sense in farm culture than office culture. There is a similar pecking order for both cigars and hookah. Given that I smoke (anything) about once a year or less now, doing it anywhere is hardly a draw. Thanks for the education though. It will certainly help me chatting with my rural clients.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B
Dissertation before internship: licensure difference?
Replies
3
Views
922
Sanman
Sanman
Psycho Bunny
Questions about the doctoral thesis in a PHD/PsyD program?
Replies
18
Views
1K
Doctor Eliza
Doctor Eliza
DynamicDidactic
Skipping new doctoral cohorts
Replies
8
Views
2K
futureapppsy2
futureapppsy2
R
Clinical Doctoral Program Admissions 2016-2024
Replies
22
Views
1K
R. Matey
R. Matey
ClinicalABA
Dissertation Committee Responsibilities/Involvement- Your Experiences
Replies
7
Views
2K
Dazen
Dazen
Top