Publications by authors named "Shirley Serfaty"

To investigate which factors and processes facilitated disengagement from mental health services (MHS). The study adapted the narrative approach to the life stories method. We interviewed 13 women and 10 men who were diagnosed with a serious mental illness (SMI) for which they were hospitalized and used medication in the past but disengaged from MHS and were no longer engaged in any mental health treatment for at least a year.

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The psychological flexibility model (PFM) provides a framework for understanding and treating behavioural dysregulation in addictions. Rather than modulating the intensity of subjective experience, interventions based on, or consistent with, the PFM (PFM interventions) seek to alter the individual's relationship to internal states, such as craving, negative affect and drug-related thoughts, using mindfulness, acceptance and related strategies. Experimental (non-clinical) studies in smokers have examined the effects of specific isolated strategies informed by or consistent with the PFM (PFM strategies).

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Background: Like other complex psychosocial interventions, mindfulness-based treatments comprise various modality-specific components as well as nonspecific therapeutic ingredients that collectively contribute to efficacy. Consequently, the isolated effects of mindfulness strategies per se remain unclear.

Methods: Using a randomized double-blind design, we compared the isolated effects of 11-minutes of "supervised" mindfulness instruction against a closely matched active control (relaxation) on subjective, physiological, and behavioral indices of maladaptive alcohol responding in drinkers at risk of harm from alcohol use (n = 68).

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