Yes, it's indeed odd... I would note, though, that Seligman had previously published work on explanatory styles in U.S. presidential candidates and other politicians, so her dissertation isn't entirely outside of Seligman's area of interest, e.g.:
Zullow, H., Oettingen, G., Peterson, C., and Seligman, M.E.P. (1988). Pessimistic explanatory style in the historical record: Caving LBJ, Presidential candidates and East versus West Berlin. American Psychologist, 43, 673-682. (BTW, "Caving" refers to "CAVE," the "content analysis of verbal explanations," developed, I believe, by Peterson, Seligman, and others). But I agree with Mike that this is hardly a traditional dissertation topic in clinical psychology. It's indeed possible that her Ph.D. was in an area other than clinical psychology, and that she only received formal or informal clinical training (e.g., as a postdoc) later. Not sure. ....Scott ________________________________________ From: Michael Palij [[email protected]] Sent: Sunday, August 12, 2012 11:24 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Cc: Michael Palij Subject: Re: [tips] Another step forward / backward for Clinical Psychology Training? A few points to place some things into context: (1) Lisa Friedman Miller's dissertation with Marty Seligman is the following: (NOTE: On here Columbia faculty webpage, she uses Lisa Jane Miller; see: http://www.tc.columbia.edu/academics/?facid=lfm14 Beliefs about initiative and change in the 1992 presidential election Miller, L. F. (1994). Beliefs about initiative and change in the 1992 presidential election. University of Pennsylvania). ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, , 69 p. Abstract |Bill Clinton, George Bush, and Ross Perot during the 1992 Presidential |election voiced distinct beliefs about human initiative and change. Their |supporters had corresponding beliefs. Study 1 measured the beliefs |about the sources of initiative and the course of change of the three |constituencies through the questionnaire responses of 527 adult |travelers at the Philadelphia airport. Study 2 blindly content analyzed |campaign speeches and interviews of the candidates themselves and |found parallel beliefs. We manipulated the rhetoric about initiative without |changing the substance of candidate speeches in Study 3 and changed |voter preferences. This suggests that candidates' beliefs about initiative |and change directly attract voters with the corresponding beliefs. Subject: Educational psychology; Political science; Sociology Classification: 0525: Educational psychology, 0615: Political science, 0626: Sociology Identifier / keyword: Social sciences, Education, Clinton, Bill, Bush, George, Perot, Ross, social change Advisor: Seligman, Martin E P Now, it could just be me but it is my impression that Miller did not do a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, otherwise U of P was accepting some strange topics for their clinical Ph.D. It also seems strange to me that Seligman is the advisor for this dissertation since this does not appear to be an area that he was expert in. It all seems odd to me. (2) Since Miller's dissertation is classified as being in educational psychology, there is a question of where and how did she get her clinical training. Did she get it at U of P or did she "retread" elsewhere? (3) Another odd thing is that Miller uses "Lisa Friedman Miller" as her name for her dissertation but not as an author; at least in PsycInfo. Indeed, there are a variety of "Lisa Millers" who are researchers and it is difficult to isolate "our" Lisa Miller from others. Nor are there any publications with the name "Lisa Jane Miller". It is unclear what she was doing during 1992-1998 but it looks like she spent some time in Columbia's department of psychiatry at the New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI or simply PI; NOTE: I worked for a brief period of time at PI in the 1980s). She is co-author on the following publications where her affiliation is Columbia U, Coll of Physicians & Surgeons, Dept of Psychiatry, Div of Clinical & Genetic Epidemiology, New York, NY, US (NOTE: this is located at PI). Miller, L., Kramer, R., Warner, V., & Wickramaratne, P. (1997). Intergenerational transmission of parental bonding among women. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 36(8), 1134-1139. doi: 10.1097/00004583-199708000-00022 Miller, L., Warner, V., Wickramaratne, P., & Weissman, M. (1997). Religiosity and depression: Ten-year follow-up of depressed mothers and offspring. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 36(10), 1416-1425. doi: 10.1097/00004583-199710000-00024 Above, co-author Myrna Weissman is significant because she is a major researcher at PI. Miller would co-author a few more papers with Weissman in subsequent years. Miller provides a list of her publications on her faculty website. (4) In 1998 Miller joined the clinical psychology faculty at Teacher's College-Columbia, as noted in this article in "Inside TC": http://www.tc.columbia.edu/news.htm?articleId=2027 Oddly, the article states that she received a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from U of P. I find it hard to believe that the dissertation I cite above is a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. I double-checked by searching for "Lisa Miller" and "Martin Seligman" in Dissertation Abstracts and only the dissertation cited above is found. (5) Since Scott Lilienfeld mentioned George Bonanno, it is worth noting that he was appointed in 1999, as mentioned in "Inside TC"; see: http://www.tc.columbia.edu/news.htm?articleId=2368 I simply note that Bonanno got his Ph.D. in clinical psychology at Yale in 1991, was on the faculty at the Catholic University of America, and entered TC a year later than Miller. He is a full professor while Miller is an associate professor. It seems to me that Bonanno has been far more porductive and influential than Miller but that just me. (6) So, some strange things seem to be going on at TC but hopefully it can be contained. -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] On Sat, 11 Aug 2012 11:22:40 -0700, Jim Clark wrote: Hi Unfortunately, the person quoted in the piece appears to be the new guard, not the old. See http://www.tc.columbia.edu/ccp/clinical/index.asp?Id=Faculty&Info=Full%2DTime+Faculty#Faculty Her brief bio indicates she was a student of Seligman and positive psychology. Here's a piece on an A&E program that asserts she does believe in the reality of psychic experiences. http://www.tc.columbia.edu/news.htm?articleId=6623 Perhaps we have to wait another generation or two? Take care Jim >>> Paul Brandon <[email protected]> 11-Aug-12 12:17 pm >>> Something about paradigm shifts requiring people to die. It may take a while for the 'old regime' to be replaced. On Aug 11, 2012, at 11:43 AM, Lilienfeld, Scott O wrote: > Annette et al.: > > From what I know of its history, the Columbia clinical psychology program has always been something of an anomaly. It's not in the psychology department (a rarity for clinical psychology programs, although not for counseling psychology programs), and has little or no formal affiliation with it (although there is certainly some collaboration here and there). Traditionally, the program has been very psychodynamic and not especially research-oriented. The contrast with the Columbia psychology department has been strark. > > In relatively recent years, however, the Columbia clinical program has racheted up its standards considerably and made some excellent hires, including my friend George Bonanno, and several other outstanding clinical scientists who value evidence-based practice and research. I gave a talk there several years ago, and was under the impression that the program was still struggling a bit with its identity, but that it was gradually moving more to a clinical scientist or at least a scientist-practitioner model of training. > > So I was surprised and disheartened by this news story, which seems to imply a major step backwards. I'm certainly not opposed to rigorous research on the efficacy of meditation or mindfulness in psychotherapy. But the comments of several of the participants imply a disconcerting elevation of clinical intuition as equal to controlled research as a source of evidence. Very troubling. I don't know more about this new emphasis within the clinical program, but it does make me wonder just how committed the program is to a scientific approach to clinical practice. > > ...Scott > > > ________________________________________ > From: Annette Taylor [[email protected]] > Sent: Saturday, August 11, 2012 9:38 AM > To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) > Subject: Re:[tips] Another step forward / backward for Clinical Psychology Training? > > This quote makes it one step backwards: > *If you tell me you know something in your gut, I say that*s hard data,* said Dr. Miller, > > I call on clinical folks to inform me whether the Columbia program is generally well-respected. > > What I wonder is this, if it is well-respected then what does this say about the state of clinical training? > > Sigh. > > Annette > > Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D. > Professor, Psychological Sciences > University of San Diego > 5998 Alcala Park > San Diego, CA 92110 > [email protected] > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > Subject: Another step forward / backward for Clinical Psychology Training? > From: "Jim Clark" <[email protected]> > Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2012 08:06:45 -0500 > X-Message-Number: 1 > Hi > A NY Times article on Columbia's clinical psychology program and its > addition of spirituality (mysticism?) to training. > http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/10/education/columbia-program-merges-therapy-and-spirituality.html?pagewanted=1&src=recg > I especially noted the following for several points: > --------------------------------------------- > Lisa J. Miller, the professor who leads the concentration, said she was > training *spiritual psychologists,* who put nonmaterial concepts > like love and connection at the core of their efforts to heal. > *If you tell me you know something in your gut, I say that*s hard > data,* said Dr. Miller, who co-hosted a cable television series on > psychic children in 2008. Science, like intuition, she said, is > *another arrow in our quiver.* > --------------------------------------------- > One is emphasis on intuition as "hard data" and the other is the link > in this person's background to "psychic children." And what sort of > psychologist thinks that "love and connection" are elements that have > been ignored by either academic or clinical psychologists, necessitating > the introduction of mysticism to take into account such "nonmaterial > concepts"? > Take care > Jim --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. 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