Not much time to fully elaborate, but will just toss this into the mix: When
I worked for John Bradshaw at his national treatment center in LA, we wanted
to show insurance companies that it made good financial sense to treat
emotional/psychological problems. Our hypothesis was this: If a person's
psychological problems were resolved or even addressed, their subsequent use
of medical services would diminish. We had 2 groups: 1. those desiring
in-patient treatment who were actually admitted, and 2. those desiring
in-patient treatment who were not admitted (usually due to insurance denials
or other financial considerations). There was a questionnaire given to
those admitted and to those not admitted, with follow-ups done 3/6/12 months
thereafter, regarding changes in the acuity of their problem and their use
of medical servicesduring those periods. The large insurance company
BlueCross/BlueShield was funding the study which was being done by grad
students in sociology from a local university (Pepperdine).
I would love to create a happier ending, but the truth is, when the study
was 3/4 completed, the hospital went bankrupt and the study ended abruptly
without anything getting published. However, I think it is still a good
design. am with you, Dan. sheila
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<DIV><EM><STRONG><FONT color=#9900cc>Sheila Saunders, RN, MFT
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<DIV><STRONG><FONT color=#9900cc><EM>Systemic Family Solutions</EM>
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<DIV><FONT color=#3333cc><STRONG><A
href="mailto:sheila@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx";>sheila@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx</A>
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<DIV><A href="http://www.systemicfamilysolutions.com/";><STRONG><FONT
color=#9900cc>www.systemicfamilysolutions.com</FONT></STRONG></A></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT color=#0000ff>Great Smokies Medical Center of
Asheville</FONT></STRONG></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT color=#0000ff></FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT color=#0000ff>1312 Patton Ave.
</FONT></STRONG><STRONG><FONT color=#0000ff>Asheville, NC. 28806
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<DIV><FONT color=#9900cc>828-273-5015</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT color=#0000ff></FONT></STRONG
>From: "Chris Walsh" <chrisjwalsh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Reply-To: ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>To: <ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Subject: Re: [ConstellationTalk] Research Project - Preliminary Proposal
Abstract
>Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 07:08:04 +1100
>
>Hi Dan,
> It is great that you are persevering with this project. It
is extremely worthwhile. I was thinking of looking at people who have a
family member who have a substance use problem. They could be recruited by
approaching people at alanon meetings etc. or through treatment agencies.
>
>I don't know what outcome measuring instruments you are thinking of
using. It sounds like you have been thinking of measuring outcomes in the
index client i.e.the one with the identified problem. I think systemic
outcome measures are important i.e. The level of distress in the family or
the communication style of the family. I understand there are measures of
these sorts of things available. However, I don't know how well validated
they are.
>
>Another point worth considering is that the first forays into research
in a particular area are usually pilot studies. The purpose of these is to
test the water. So you don't need to be too obsessive about getting it right
at this stage.
>
>Hope this is helpful
>
>hasta la vista
>Chris Walsh
>
>An Australian Constellation Website:
>www.constellationflow.com
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Dan Booth Cohen
> To: ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Sent: Tuesday, 14 December 2004 3:59 AM
> Subject: RE: [ConstellationTalk] Research Project - Preliminary
Proposal Abstract
>
>
> Thanks to those of you who respond to my message below. From the
comments I received it became clear that what I put forward is not going to
work. So, I am moving it to the recycling bin and starting over.
>
>
>
> The question I want to address is whether clients benefit from
participating in a Constellation. I recognize the inherent difficulty in
finding an answer, and in the deep sense the impossibility of truly knowing.
However, as I have pointed out in past postings, the history of the
healing and helping professions is littered with remedies that eventually
were recognized to be useless or harmful. Thus, I feel a personal
responsibility to somehow test whether what it is that I am doing with
clients does them any good or not.
>
>
>
> The part of proposed protocol that I envision keeping is to design a
way for a number of practitioners to participate with a minimum amount of
extra effort. The part I am eliminating is limiting the presenting issue to
grief.
>
>
>
> The components are:
>
>
>
> · We need a straightforward and lost-cost way to gather a
cohort of research subjects.
>
>
>
> · We need a baseline to test against.
>
>
>
> · The subjects sit as the client in a group Constellation
session.
>
>
>
> · We need to test the outcome against the baseline and
compare the results to a control group. The test needs to be credible.
>
>
>
> The problem with grief is it is too limiting in terms of recruiting
clients and the outcome measurements are too restrictive.
>
>
>
> Here are a couple of other scenarios for your consideration:
>
>
>
> We advertise for parents of school children with
behavioral/discipline issues to participate in a research study. Half of
the respondents are wait-listed as a control group. The other half
participates in a Constellation workshop. Both groups grant permission for
us to submit questionnaires to the school administration. We collect
baseline data and outcome date a year later for both groups. The school
administrators are not privy to which parents were in the control group or
treated group. We then compare the results to see if there are discernable
differences in outcome.
>
>
>
> Another scenario along the same lines would be to draw subjects from
a clinic treating pediatric asthma or from therapists who are not
psychotherapists, but who treat chronic conditions. This could be
cranial-sacral therapists, massage therapists, etc. We divide the subjects
as above and collect the baseline and outcome data. As an example, a body
therapist might have two clients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. One would
setup a Constellation; the other would be wait-listed as a control. Six
months afterwards the therapist would complete a questionnaire documenting
whether there has been any change or improvement in the symptomology of
these two clients.
>
>
>
> In considering these scenarios ask yourself whether it is something
you would participate in. If not, consider what structure of research might
be attractive? Or what kind of research would you do if you have the time
and resources to pursue it?
>
>
>
> Thanks again to everyone who responded and even to those who
didnât. Your silence also spoke to me.
>
>
>
> Dan
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dan Booth Cohen [mailto:danbcohen@xxxxxxx]
> Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 2004 8:46 PM
> To: 'ConstellationTalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx'
> Subject: RE: [ConstellationTalk] Research Project - Preliminary
Proposal Abstract
>
>
>
> Constellation Talk Friends and Colleagues -
>
>
>
> The document below is my preliminary research project proposal
abstract. It should be self explanatory.
>
>
>
> I am soliciting pairs of researchers from Constellation Talk to
participate. One member will serve as an evaluator to administer the test
instruments. The other will serve as the Constellation facilitator. The
team will jointly recruit a cohort of subjects to participate in the study.
These will be individuals who are dealing with pathological grief.
>
>
>
> In terms of level of effort, the steps involved are:
>
>
>
> · Recruit a group of individuals to participate in the
study.
>
> · Administer the test instruments to establish a baseline.
>
> · Have ½ of them participate in a Constellation workshop.
The other ½ will serve as a control group and can be given generic material
on grief.
>
> · Re-administer the test instruments in six months.
>
>
>
> I acknowledge the comments from those who feel that attempts to fit
the Constellation process within the confines of scientific psychology will
bastardize the process to the detriment of the clients. Outweighing those
concerns for me is the need to establish a minimum amount of credibility
within the broader professional community. This study will not achieve that
goal in itself, but it has the potential to demonstrate the efficacy of the
process according to generally accepted standards.
>
>
>
> This is a preliminary document and I am open to suggestions and
modifications.
>
>
>
> There are several of you who have indicated your interest in
participating. I will contact you directly.
>
>
>
> Ideally, I would like to begin collecting data in September 2005 and
complete the longitudinal outcome tests by June of 2006. To accomplish
this, we will need to identify the teams, finalize the protocol and schedule
the workshops in the next 6-8 months.
>
>
>
> The budget for this effort is â¬Â£Â¥â£$ 0.00. If this becomes a
limiting constraint, I will have to reevaluate. My expectation is that the
level of effort will not be prohibitive and our community of facilitators
will mutually benefit from having a published study on the benefits of the
Constellation process. I will be generous with acknowledgements and
co-authorship citations.
>
>
>
> The more I am immersed in this work, the more I value its worth.
(There were two teen suicides in our town the past two weeks. I attended a
counseling session for concerned parents at a school auditorium last night.
The insights on suicide gained from the Constellation field were wholly
absent from the presentation. I went home to my own children feeling
particularly grateful.)
>
>
>
> 5 degrees (c) and raining in Boston,
>
>
>
> Dan
>
> (On-line at www.HiddenSolution.com/abstract.htm)
>
>
>
>
>
> Preliminary Abstract
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> A LONGITUDINAL OUTCOME STUDY OF THE SYSTEMIC CONSTELLATION METHOD FOR
TREATING ACUTE GRIEF
>
>
>
>
>
> Dan Booth Cohen
>
>
>
> Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> The purpose of this study is to measure longitudinal outcomes of a
single session existentially-oriented therapeutic intervention, known as a
Systemic Constellation, on a pathologically grieved adult population.
>
> The Systemic Constellation method was first developed by the German
philosopher/psychotherapist Bert Hellinger. Though it has roots in European
depth psychology and Gestalt therapy, and the American branch of family
systems therapy associated with Moreno, Satir and Boszormenyi-Nagy, it
differs from conventional psychotherapy in four radical respects: first, the
client hardly speaks; second, the process is a singular intervention that is
not repeated; third, critical information that serves to reveal hidden
entanglements and possible solutions within the system is supplied by
surrogates who have no actual knowledge about the family; and fourth, the
clientâs parents are not blamed for anything.
>
> There are several thousand practitioners of the method worldwide, but
no English language research has been conducted to assess the efficacy of
the treatment. This study aims to be among the first to fill the gap.
>
> The lead investigator proposes to recruit several teams of English
speaking researchers in different regions of the world to execute the
research protocol.
>
> The teams will recruit a cohort of subjects who have experienced the
death of a spouse or adult child and who are struggling to cope with the
aftermath more than one year later. One member of the team will administer
the Inventory of Complicated Grief, the Wahler Physical Symptoms Inventory
and the Impact of Event Scale at the outset of the study and, again, six
months following the subjectâs experience of the Systemic Constellation
intervention. The other team member will facilitate a Systemic
Constellation with a randomly assigned group of subjects. A control group
of subjects will not receive treatment.
>
> The data will be analyzed to determine if significant differences can
be seen between the two groups.
>
> The study will serve as a starting point for research into the
efficacy of Systemic Constellations.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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