Dr. Carolyn Attneave’s Historical Contributions to Psychology and Psychotherapy

Dr. Carolyn Attneave was born in El Paso, Texas, the daughter of Delaware and Scandinavian immigrants. Attneave is an American psychologist and psychotherapist most recognized for her work with cross-cultural subjects in her studies and for creating network therapy. Her numerous contributions to psychology and psychotherapy include the establishment of organizations such as the Network of Indian Psychologists, which was later renamed the Society of Indian Psychologists. Another significant contribution of Dr. Carolyn Attneave is her identification of warning indicators that patients should see a psychotherapist if they experience psychological issues while receiving treatment. Dr. Carolyn Attneave made another major historical contribution to psychology and psychotherapy by coming up with solutions that disregarded the sole use of medicine in treating mental illness. Instead, she advocated for the combination of medicine and other non-medical remedies in psychology and psychotherapy. In some mental illness cases, Dr. Carolyn Attneave ruled out the use of medicine in treatment. An example of such mental case is depression. She also engineered the idea that people suffering from mental situations should be open and able to manage changes that arise within them.

Keywords: Psychology, Psychotherapy, Depression, Mental Illness, Non-Medical Remedies, Family Therapy, Network Therapy.

Historical Contributions of Dr. Carolyn Attneave to Psychology and Psychotherapy

Introduction

Dr. Carolyn Attneave’s as a psychologist and psychotherapist dates back to the year 1962 when she relocated to Oklahoma where she worked for the Oklahoma State Department of Health (Teresa & Joseph, 1996). In Oklahoma State Department of Health, Dr. Carolyn Attneave offered her expertise in Psychology and Psychotherapy for the Native American tribes who sought mental health services in the area (Attneave, 1974). Through the services offered by the Oklahoma State Department of Health by Attneave, it influenced her later efforts in providing Native American-specific mental health treatment. The main concern was her contributions to Psychology and Psychotherapy that was ascertained by the formation of the Carolyn Attneave Diversity Awards, which is held every year by the American Psychological Association, and it recognizes the promotion of diversity in the family psychology (Wampold & Imel, 2015). The paper discusses the historical contributions of Dr. Carolyn Attneave to psychology and psychotherapy.

Contributions of Dr. Carolyn Attneave to Psychology and Psychotherapy

Dr. Carolyn Attneave advises that people should be free to share their feelings, particularly depression to close family member. Though a feeling of worry from time to time is a standard human response to situations that are stressful, some have persistent anxiety that interrupts the healthy relationship between an individual and other family members (Campbell & Hale, 1991). According to the references, Dr. Carolyn Attneave works it out that treatments takes a lot of time and become overwhelmed. She presented the change of lifestyle as a very simple thing but very potent in treating cases of depression.

In the year 1968, Dr. Carolyn Attneave moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where she worked at the Child Guidance Clinic. At this clinic, Dr. Carolyn Attneave began to focus on the network therapy, which served as an alternative to hospitalization, whereby the clients would focus on their personal networks that could include their neighborhood communities and families (Attneave, 1979). Dr. Carolyn Attneave described a change of lifestyle and the social network as a medicine for depression because it helps a person to lower and contain the effects brought about by depression from advancing (Attneave, 1979).

Dr. Carolyn Attneave sought more understanding of the cultural contexts of her clients by relocating to a primarily Black-Americans area of Philadelphia (Teresa & Joseph, 1996). Her efforts bore fruits, as she was able to gain an understanding of the different therapy networks. At Harvard School of Public Health, in the department of behavioral sciences, Dr. Carolyn Attneave produced a nine-volume document on matters of utilization patterns, service networks, and mental health needs for the Indian Health service (Attneave, 1974). The document served as a major contribution to the psychology and psychotherapy for the trivial reasons that the social network of the clients, as well as the lifestyle, are being considered to date as essential components in the family therapy.

Another major contribution of Dr. Carolyn Attneave to psychology and psychotherapy concerns in the identification of signs that people needed to visit a psychotherapist once they develop them along with the treatment. Amongst the signs that she identified included people suffering from a prolonged sense of sadness, helplessness, and challenging problems that cannot be solved by a family (Attneave, 1974). Additional signs included lack of concentration on work and failure to complete assignments, excessive intake of liquor and usage of drugs (June et al., 2016).

Dr. Carolyn Attneave’s also considered various factors before offering treatments that work best for a situation. Dr. Carolyn Attneave made use of the cognitive behavior and practical approaches to solving psychological situations and complete the treatment. For instance, she would present questions to the identified persons with mental illness that were to be answered by these people. According to Cooper et al., (2016), these questions were designed in a manner that would help the victim to recover from the mental condition. In one of her practical, she could request the victims to gather information as well as some reading assignment as a healing process. At some point, Dr. Carolyn Attneave applied some methods known as humanistic and psychoanalytic approaches, which were more focused on talking that involved the victim (Attneave, 1979). Dr. Carolyn Attneave could have the patient relax and wait for treatments without asking for an explanation from the victim. In doing so, she would gain a better understanding of the primary cause of the mental condition. Psychologists heavily borrow her application of these methods and styles of healing the mental conditions in their psychotherapy (Wampold & Imel, 2015).

Dr. Carolyn Attneave also made a major historical contribution to psychology and psychotherapy by coming up with solutions that disregarded the sole use of medicine in treating mental illness. Instead, she advocated for the combination of medicine and other non-medical remedies in psychology and psychotherapy (Attneave, 1974). The results of Carolyn’s advocacy in the treatment process of mental illness had great impact. The advocacy was considered as good to be incorporated as a treatment necessity for the mental illness. Through the combination of medicine and other non-medical remedies in psychology and psychotherapy, Dr. Carolyn Attneave successfully treated severe cases of anxiety in individuals (Beiser, & Attneave, 1984). An example of an anxiety disorder is the panic disorder where Individuals struggled with recurrent panic. In such a situation, Dr. Carolyn Attneave could use symptoms such as sweating, a rapid heartbeat, and the feeling of fear (Beiser, & Attneave, 1984). She found out that people with such features nature developed the fear of the uncertainty. In a similar manner, Dr. Carolyn Attneave was able to deal with the phobia successfully. The solution Attneave gave was a big contribution to the psychology and psychotherapy field. Nevertheless, the success of her solution to combine medicine and other non-medical remedies in psychology and psychotherapy encouraged her to explore the treatment of people with obsessive - compulsive disorders that are characterized by thoughts and uncontrollable feelings (Beiser, & Attneave, 1984).

In some mental illness cases, Dr. Carolyn Attneave ruled out the use of medicine in treatment. An example of such mental case is depression. Without any use of medicine, Dr. Carolyn Attneave successfully helped out people with depression from committing suicides and consequently, a decline in suicidal cases were realized at the time (Williams & Pollock, 2001). Dr. Carolyn Attneave never entertained trials and errors in assisting a patient as she expressed her concern that people with mental illness such as depression should be freed from medicinal consumption (Beiser, & Attneave, 1984). She engineered the idea that people suffering from such mental situations should be open and handle changes that arise within them (Wampold & Imel, 2015). She believed that a majority of the psychologists could be wrong if they advised people with mental illness to rely on medicine in various cultures. Her perspective concerning the disregard, or absolute disregard in some cases, of sole use of medicine in the treatment of mental illness, had a historical contribution to psychology and psychotherapy for the trivial reasons that some mental situations are treated with an absolute exemption of medicine. For instance, depression is mainly treated through advising the patient to share their feelings with the relatives or close friends in addition to a change of the patient’s lifestyle (Attneave, 1990). The treatment is attributed to her treatment techniques where she encouraged the application of exercise, change of lifestyle and sharing of feeling as actions that would help moderate the depression. To many psychologists, exercise is a very powerful tool that fights depression and other mental illness. Dr. Carolyn Attneave also, found out that exercise promoted many changes in the brain such as reduced inflammation as well as helping the body to release a chemical substance which energizes one’s spirit making the patient feel good (Attneave, 1990). Nevertheless, physical exercise helps the mental illness patient to have quiet moments that mark a break out of the cycle of any negative thoughts that contributes to the high levels of depression (Wampold & Imel, 2015).

Dr. Carolyn Attneave also made a major historical contribution to psychology and psychotherapy through her extensive research and discoveries. Most of the scientific findings that she applied have taken part in the treatment of mental illness across the globe. Through her writing such as family network proposing cognitive behavior, among interpersonal and talk therapy as an analytical solution to family challenges. Dr. Carolyn Attneave has achieved fast impact in psychology and psychotherapy. In solving the mental illness problems, Dr. Carolyn Attneave established a personal relationship with the affected people. This method has since been used in psychology and psychotherapy for the reasons that it provides a stable and supportive environment to win the confidence of a patient who has mental illness (Cooper et al., 2016). What is more, Dr. Carolyn Attneave’s extensive research in the cross-cultural field became one of the major historical contributions to psychology and psychotherapy. According to Cooper et al. (2016), Dr. Carolyn Attneave’s iconic career in the topics that concerned cross-cultural, as well as psychotherapy and counseling contributed largely to the manner in which psychology and psychotherapy services are offered today. Her research is said to have enabled her to serve seven Native Americans with mental problems successfully (Attneave, 1974).

Conclusion

Dr. Carolyn Attneave made some historical contributions to psychology and psychotherapy. These historical contributions include her pioneering work that extended family therapy to the social welfare of the identified client in addition to identifying signs she suggested that people needed to visit a psychotherapist once they develop them besides describing the treatment. Additional historical contribution by Dr. Carolyn Attneave to psychology and psychotherapy are the solutions she brought that disregarded the sole use of medicine in treating mental illness. As an alternative, Dr. Carolyn Attneave advocated for the combination of medicine and other non-medical remedies in psychology and psychotherapy. What is more, Dr. Carolyn Attneave, in some mental illness cases such as depression, ruled out the use of medicine in treatment. She also engineered the idea that people suffering from mental situations should be open and accept the changes that arise within them. Dr. Carolyn Attneave also made a major historical contribution to psychology and psychotherapy through her extensive research and discoveries. Most of the scientific findings that she applied have taken part in the treatment of mental illness across the globe. Through her writing such as family network proposing cognitive behavior, among interpersonal and talk therapy as an analytical solution to family challenges Furthermore, Dr. Carolyn Attneave founded some associations such as the Network of Indian Psychologists, which later rephrased to the Society of Indian Psychologists. Her historical contributions to psychology and psychotherapy are evidenced by the commemoration of her outstanding work through the formation of Carolyn Attneave Diversity Awards after her demise. The Carolyn Attneave Diversity Awards, which is held every year by the American Psychological Association, recognizes the promotion of diversity in the family psychology, which was a major work of Dr. Carolyn Attneave.

References

Attneave, C. L. (1974). Medicine men and psychiatrists in the Indian health service. Psychiatric Annals, 4(11), 49-55.

Attneave, C. L. (1979). Therapeutic effectiveness of social network interventions compared to groups of “intimate strangers.” Group Psychotherapy, Psychodrama & Sociometry, 32, 173-177.

Attneave, C. L. (1990). Core network intervention: An emerging paradigm. Journal of Strategic & Systemic Therapies, 9(1), 3-10.

Beiser, M., & Attneave, C. L. (1984). Mental health services for American Indians: Neither feast nor famine. White Cloud Journal of American Indian/Alaska Native Mental Health, 1(2), 3-10.

Campbell, D., & Hale, R. (1991). Suicidal acts. Textbook of psychotherapy in psychiatric practice, 287-306.

Cooper, Z., Allen, E., Bailey-Straebler, S., Basden, S., Murphy, R., O’Connor, M. E., & Fairburn, C. G. (2016). Predictors and moderators of response to enhanced cognitive behavior therapy and interpersonal psychotherapy for the treatment of eating disorders. Behavior research and therapy, 84, 9-13.

June, F., Zipfel, S., Wild, B., Martus, P., Giel, K., Resmark, G. & Herpertz, S. (2016). The relationship of body image with symptoms of depression and anxiety in patients with anorexia nervosa during outpatient psychotherapy: Results of the ANTOP study. Psychotherapy, 53(2), 141.

Teresa D. La Fromboise & Joseph E. Trimble (1996). Obituary of Carolyn Lewis Attneave (1920-1992). American Psychologist®, 51, 549.

Wampold, B. E., & Imel, Z. E. (2015). The great psychotherapy debate: The evidence for what makes psychotherapy work. Routledge.

Williams, J. M. G., & Pollock, L. R. (2001). Psychological aspects of the suicidal process. Understanding suicidal behavior, 76-93.