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In this argumentative literature review, we advocate an existentially-informed clinical psychology. Many of today’s challenging societal issues would benefit from the lens of existentialism, and our field has seen an emergence of interest lately in topics such as death anxiety as a transdiagnostic construct. We see this context as opportune for an existential-psychological confluence of ideas and praxes. To that end, we identify and review here four relevant ongoing streams of literature (core existentialism philosophy, existentially-oriented psychotherapy, death anxiety psychometrics, and terror management theory) and argue in favor of their increasingly intertwined integration with one another and with the broader field of clinical psychology. We propose methods for both academics and practitioners alike to more fully embrace an existentially-informed mindset, culminating in a set of ten recommendations for clinical psychology across applied clinical work, research/scholarship, and pedagogy/supervision. Examples include increased use of qualitative data via case study and mixed-method approaches in our science, enhanced incorporation of existential themes (including but not limited to death anxiety) into psychotherapy, and adoption of a student-focused freedom-enhancing existential mindset in teaching. Our field has made great strides in deepening the understanding of how life’s ultimate concerns inform mental health and functioning in recent years, and we support an even more robust endorsement of existential frameworks in clinical psychology to continue such progress.

Suicide prevention campaigns commonly employ brief informational materials aimed at emerging adults. Are such programs helpful, and do design characteristics yield differences in user outcomes? Literature is reviewed from the interpersonal theory of suicide, escape theory, and terror management theory, to inform our experimental design.Participants (n = 977 MTurk emerging adults) reported demographics and suicide histories and were randomized to one of nine experimental cells with varying video and journaling conditions to approximate suicide prevention materials. Participants were surveyed on perceptions of the materials' risk reduction effectiveness, indicated their suicidality risk factors (e.g., hopelessness, depressiveness, purposelessness, and non-belongingness), and conducted an implicit association test of suicidality.Suicide risk factors did not differ between experimental and control conditions, but certain conditions were rated as more effective (i.e., essay conditions prompting reflection, and the video condition featuring a personal/affective narrative). While there was no actual comparative reduction of risk, there was a perception that certain designs were more helpful.Real-world suicide prevention campaigns often feel justified despite lacking impact. Effective suicide risk reduction requires greater time investment and deeper personal connection than brief campaigns can offer, as well as systemic changes from a public health policy perspective.

College and university counseling centers are facing increasing demand for services, increasing severity of psychopathology, and decreasing funding – thus college counseling is a strained system. Group psychotherapy is a flexible and impactful treatment format which addresses these challenges and suits the population well. We review literature on group counseling in higher education and present four studies examining its appropriateness. Study 1 is a mathematical proof showing group therapy is efficient. Studies 2 and 3 are archival survey data analyses of client feedback and student interest, showing group therapy is effective and enticing. Study 4 is an analysis of clinic staffing data showing group therapy is essential. Three recommendations are offered to counseling center staff and directors: design groups with a focus on ethics and appealing structure, promote groups both to prospective clients and within staff (i.e., “why not group?”), and apply affective process-dimension clinical skills in group delivery.

Rape myths play a role in rape denialism, in which individuals deny the prevalence and severity of sexual assault. This project aimed to address two common rape myths: that rape is uncommon and its effects are exaggerated. To test these claims, we explored two archival samples consisting of undergraduate women. Study 1, a 5-year chart review of university counseling center intake forms ( n = 883), demonstrated that 30.2% of clients had experienced “sexual violence,” “sexual contact without consent,” or both. Study 2, a re-analysis of an emerging adulthood resilience survey dataset ( n = 359), demonstrated that 20.6% of subjects had a history of sexual assault, and that those women reported lower life satisfaction and more severe psychological symptoms than those who did not. These findings are in line with previous literature debunking harmful rape myths that contribute to the perpetuation of rape culture. Our data help validate these rape notions as mythical; rape is indeed common and devastating.

Background: Existing literature establishes several patterns regarding exposure to severe stressors—most people experience one or more traumatic events, most people are resilient following such events, and people are more likely to develop posttraumatic symptomatology if experiencing repeated traumas. However, questions about protective factors remain as researchers work to clarify mechanisms of resilience. Here, we argue the developmental assets framework is an apt model for conceptualizing resilience in emerging adults in college/university settings, a high risk population for both trauma exposure and subsequent distress. We hypothesized that asset-richness (i.e., total scores on the developmental assets inventory) would moderate the link between trauma exposure frequency and severity of posttrauma symptomatology. Methods: We surveyed a convenience sample of emerging adults at a private religiously-affiliated university in the Midwestern United States (n = 526) regarding trauma exposure (THQ), perceived developmental assets (CAMPUS), and experience of posttrauma symptoms (PCL-S). We ran correlations, linear regression, and moderator analysis using the PROCESS “Model 1” macro and the CAHOST Johnson-Neyman region visualizer. Results: We found that posttraumatic symptom severity was positively correlated with frequency of trauma exposure (r = .30, p < .001) and negatively correlated with asset-richess (r = -.26, p < .001), and that asset-richness statistically significantly moderated the link between trauma exposure and posttrauma symptoms (F(3, 522) = 31.87, p < .001, R2 = .16). Discussion: The developmental assets framework appears to be an effective model of resilience for emerging adults in college/university settings, and we encourage future research to further clarify these connections.

This paper is an overview of the intake process for mental health helping professions. We intend for this piece to serve as a teaching resource, useful as an intake primer for novice clinicians in psychology, social work, counseling, or psychiatry, but perhaps also as a helpful review for experienced clinicians as well. We define and describe the clinical interviewing intake, discuss its history, and conceptualize it as an endeavor toward building rapport and collecting data. Specific topics we explore include: adopting an appropriate clinical attitude, engaging in cultural humility, considering practical factors about conducting the intake, viewing interviewing as an art, evaluating tools of data collection, discussing psychometric considerations in intakes (e.g., reliability, validity, standardization, and sources of data), and identifying topics to assess in-session and how to explore them. The paper closes with some summary thoughts and overall advice to those soon to embark on their first clinical interviewing intake.

This brief article consists of an attempt to broadly and inclusively define psychotherapy, as well as to provide a description of several basic skillsets for entry-level clinical interviewers, psychotherapists, counselors, and social workers. The paper overviews four crucial points about therapy, namely that interviewers should engage in active listening, scanning-and-focusing, open-minded curiosity, and the avoidance of advice-giving. The paper concludes with a concise summary and encouragement for budding therapists.

We begin with a review of death anxiety in emerging adults and then report on a descriptive survey study using the Revised Livingston-Zimet Death Anxiety Scale (RLZDAS). Research questions dealt with the RLZDAS' factor structure, demographic patterns, and hypothesized correlations with distress and religiosity/spirituality. We surveyed university-enrolled emerging adults (n = 706). Findings included a 3-factor solution on the RLZDAS (cognitive, repressive, and affective) and no appreciable relationships with demographic factors. Clinical symptomatology was correlated with death anxiety (r = .40), particularly cognitive death anxiety (r = .45), especially in non-believers (r = .58). Religiosity/spirituality did not buffer death anxiety, and some components were actually positively correlated. We argue that death anxiety in emerging adults is multidimensional, clinically relevant, and relatively universal and that broad notions of worldview/belief are not necessarily protective factors.

Racism, and particularly the oppression of Black citizens, remains a significant problem in the United States. This manuscript reports on an experiment studying the effects of mortality salience and active perspective-taking empathy on racial bias. Specifically, social empathy was hypothesized to counteract the increased in-group preferential bias typical of those primed with mortality salience. The sample consisted of n = 111 White emerging adults affiliated with a small Midwest American university. Death anxiety and active perspective-taking were experimentally manipulated, and the dependent variables were implicit bias change scores (pre-test versus post-test on the Race-Related Implicit Association Test using White/Black faces) and explicit racial prejudice (self-report scores on the Quick Discrimination Inventory and Scale of Ethnocultural Empathy). The four experimental groups did not differ on implicit bias change scores or explicit discrimination scores—neither main effects nor interaction effects were statistically significant. However, the QDI and SEE were correlated (r = .76, p > .001), thus supporting their construct validity, and the pre-scores on the Race IAT across the whole sample were statistically significantly higher than the post-scores, with a moderate effect size (t(110) = 3.13, p = .002, eta-squared = .08). Findings appear to indicate that engaging in active perspective-taking, regardless of the race of the target and regardless of the presence of mortality salience, leads to decreased implicit racial prejudice. Empathy training in various clinical and educational settings could lead to a reduction in prejudiced attitudes, and ultimately aid in the dismantling of American racism.

This study sought to determine whether measures of religion and spirituality could discriminate between emerging adult males who self-identified as both religious and spiritual (B), religious only (R), spiritual only (S), or neither (N). Two religion measures and three spirituality measures were employed to assess the constructs. It was predicted that those who self-identify as religious only would score significantly higher on the religion measures than those who identified as spiritual only, and those that identified as spiritual only would score significantly higher on the spirituality measures than those who identified as religious only. Results supported the first hypothesis, but not the second. The relationship between spirituality and religion measures indicated substantial overlap and the possibility of differential relationships between emerging male and female adults.

In this article, we evaluate the appropriateness of the developmental assets model for college emerging adults and introduce the Young Adult Developmental Assets Survey (YADAS). Constructed as communication tools for adolescent resiliency, Search Institute’s developmental assets are reformulated here as 40 characteristics of university lifestyles promoting success and buffering risk for emerging adults. We investigated the YADAS’ reliability (via temporal consistency and internal consistency) and validity (via construct convergence and clinical criterions), and generally found evidence of strong psychometrics. The YADAS’ global assets score had a test-retest coefficient of r = .89 and a coefficient alpha of α = .90, and was also statistically significantly correlated to the majority of the thriving indicators (e.g., positive emotionality and spiritual wellbeing) and risk indicators (e.g., substance abuse and anti-social behavior) studied here. The global assets score also displayed meaningful links to mental health, with a coefficient of r = .50 with life satisfaction and r = −.35 with symptomatology. We conclude by discussing support for the use of the developmental assets model with this age range and life context, describing the YADAS’ strengths and limitations, and proposing strategies for utilizing the assets model in university contexts.

In this article, we draw on the theoretical and empirical literature to name what appear to be core dimensions of successful young adult development. We also describe some possible indicators and measures of those dimensions and sketch the kinds of developmental relationships and opportunities young people need in adolescence to effectively transition to a successful young adulthood, as well as the developmental relationships and opportunities young adults need for continued well-being. We name eight social, psychological, behavioral, educational, occupational, health, ethical, and civic dimensions of successful young adult development, and suggest that only a minority of adolescents are well-prepared to make a transition to successful young adulthood. The goal of the article is twofold: to contribute to the articulation of and consensus on the dimensions of successful young adult development, and to lay the groundwork for subsequent research to empirically validate both those core dimensions, as well as developmental indicators of progress toward attainment of these proposed dimensions of well-being.

The sample consisted of 1,306 college students from four universities in the Midwestern United States. Participants’ reported counseling status (never been in treatment or currently in treatment) was used to designate individuals as “well” or “ill” in calculating sensitivity and specificity. Results revealed that a Langner Symptom Survey (LSS) cutoff score of 5 was optimal regarding both sensitivity (0.76) and specificity (0.70) in identifying distressed individuals, rather than a score of 4, as established in adolescents and adults. The LSS' reliability was supported, with an internal consistency of 0.76 as measured by Kuder-Richardson 20. Additionally, those with no child abuse history scored significantly below those with a child abuse history. Further, those without an abuse history scored below the cutoff score of 5, while those with an abuse history scored above the cutoff, lending additional support for the use of 5 as the new cutoff score with the college population.

According to previous literature, levels of religiousness decrease among emerging adults, but similar research has not been done regarding levels of spirituality. The current study examined the responses of college students to measures of religiousness and spirituality. The participants in the study were from a private, religiously affiliated university in the Midwest, between ages 18 and 24. Participants completed the Personal Religious Inventory (PRI), the Duke Religion Index (DUREL), the Spiritual Transcendence Scale (STS), the Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale (DSES) and the Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs Scale (SIBS). Significant differences were found between first-year and upper-class participants on religious attendance, non-religious attendance, and the Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale. Based on these results, it is suggested that multi-dimensional measures provide a more accurate view of religiousness than one-dimensional measures.

The psychometric structure of the Perfectionism Inventory was re-examined, and the relationships among perfectionism traits and broad personality traits were examined in a college sample (N = 390). Results supported the psychometric structure reported by Hill et al. (2004) . Additionally, the Self-Evaluative Perfectionism component was moderately correlated with Neuroticism, and the Conscientious Perfectionism component was strongly correlated with Conscientiousness. However, the most accurate picture of perfectionism’s relationship with broad personality traits was found when examining the perfectionism subscales and personality facets. Findings suggest that the instrument’s composite score and component scores are not as meaningful as subscale scores. Implications for future iterations of the DSM and conceptualization of OCPD are discussed.

As the application process to Clinical Psychology graduate programs becomes increasingly competitive, applicants and advisors have a need to know what to expect. The aim of this article is to provide a brief overview of the application process, an examination of characteristics of admission committees’ criteria and selection policies, and an analysis of differences among and between programs of different types. Programs offering doctoral degrees in clinical psychology (n = 59) were surveyed regarding their admissions procedures and criteria, and the results are discussed in light of what impacts applicants. Findings suggest that policies and procedures are mixed, that important differences exist between Ph.D. programs and Psy.D. programs, and that programs generally follow an assessment model in their selection decisions.