Practice Briefs

Sexual assault of children can include fondling, masturbation, intercourse, oral or anal sex, prostitution, pornography, and any other sexual conduct that is harmful to a child’s mental, emotional, or physical welfare...

Alcohol use disorder occurs, “when the recurrent use of alcohol…causes clinically significant impairment, including health problems, disability, and failure to meet major responsibilities at work, school, or home”

Essential features of anorexia nervosa (AN) include energy intake restriction, significantly low weight, intense fear of becoming fat, and emotional disturbance related to body weight or shape (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013).

ADHD is a neurobiological disorder that is characterized -in adults- by inattentiveness and executive functioning difficulties (i.e., organization, planning, and impulsiveness; Wadsworth & Harper, 2007)

Regardless of practice setting, counselors are likely to work with an individual or family affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Ongoing research efforts are providing an increasing base of information about causes, interventions...

Binge eating episodes are characterized by individuals eating more rapidly than normal, eating until discomfort is experienced, and eating when not hungry.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a mental health disorder defined in the DSM-5 (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013) as a pervasive pattern of instability in interpersonal relationships, self-image...

Cannabis use disorder is diagnosed when a problematic pattern of cannabis use results in significant impairment. Problematic and significant impairment is defined as meeting at least two of 11 Diagnostic and Statistical...

Pain is commonly defined as being caused by physical and/or mental distress and is further classified into two separate groups.The first classification, acute pain, is characterized as being temporary and directly...

Clinical depression, also known as recurrent depression, major depressive disorder, or unipolar depression, is a disorder characterized by repeated episodes of depression without any history of independent episodes of mood...