The March meeting was hosted at the home Dr. Matt Holcomb, and our guest speaker was Dr. Mark Skellie. He is a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice with Crescent City Psychological Services, and specializes in psychotherapy and psychological assessment of adults. He received his doctorate from the Georgia School of Professional Psychology in 2010, and is experienced treating a wide range of clinical problems.

Dr. Skellie presented on MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy (MAP). MDMA is one of several “psychedelic” drugs; the name was proposed by a psychiatrist in the 1950s, and means “mind manifesting.” These drugs appear to have unique effects on human consciousness. When used with an intentional mind set and in conjunction with psychotherapy, they can foster profound and lasting changes. When this class of substances was officially outlawed in 1968, the legal use of these substances ended in both research and intervention for mood disorders, anxiety, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), interpersonal challenges, and end of life crises.

However, MDMA has again been approved for study. Dr. Skellie is currently a therapist in an FDA-approved, multi-site, randomized, double-blind study of MAP to treat PTSD. This treatment has been labeled a “breakthrough therapy” by the FDA because it has been shown to be more effective (compared to other psychiatric interventions) for mood disorders, anxiety, and PTSD that do not respond to the most common treatments.

Dr. Skellie discussed the nature of the intervention and why it is thought to work. He also reviewed some of the evidence to date on the efficacy and safety of MAP (learn more). Lori Tipton, a participant in the MAP study who has spoken publicly about her experiences, shared her perspectives as well (learn more). The study is on-going (see below to learn more or refer a client).

Dr. Skellie also discussed an upcoming study utilizing psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression. This study is currently recruiting participants. This study is also an FDA-approved study (learn more).

Handouts from Dr. Skellie:

The March meeting was hosted at the home Dr. Kim VanGeffen, and our guest speaker was Dr. Michael Chafetz, who presented on the NFL Concussion Settlement Fund.

The NFL Concussion Settlement Fund provides for the development of the Baseline Assessment Program (BAP) and the Monetary Award Fund (MAF) programs. These programs evaluate retired NFL football players to determine whether they meet criteria for monetary awards for occupational exposure to brain damage based on findings of well-defined impairment. Dr. Chafetz discussed issues of concussion (with some coverage of the CTE controversy), the structure of the assessments, and sanitized/blinded cases he evaluated as part of both programs.

Dr. Chafetz is a board certified clinical neuropsychologist who runs a clinical and forensic group practice in New Orleans, LA. His research program has involved validity assessment in low functioning children, as well as adults being assessed for Social Security Disability, state rehabilitation, and child protection. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles on these topics, and wrote Intellectual Disability: Criminal and Civil Forensic Issues. Dr. Chafetz has consulted for a United States Senator on Social Security policy against validity assessment, testified at hearings at the Institute of Medicine, and consulted for the Office of the Inspector General on these issues. He has enjoyed conducting examinations for public and private disability, Louisiana rehabilitation, licensing board investigations, civil and criminal litigation, Federal Aviation Authority (pilot, air traffic controller) fitness-for-duty issues, safety-sensitive private fitness-for-duty issues, and NFL concussion settlement issues.

The January meeting was hosted at the home Dr. John Fanning, and our guest speaker was Dr. Richard Niolon, who presented on The Things We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About ADHD.

Presentations on ADHD seem to generally focus on children, questions about the effectiveness of medication, and alternative treatments. However, conversations about ADHD seldom include discussion of the problems with the MTA study of treatment outcomes for ADHD, and the final results after the eight-year follow-up data was analyzed. Conversations about ADHD seldom include discussions about ADHD and driving, and the links between ADHD treatment for children and life satisfaction and health outcomes for adults. Often conversations about ADHD include discussions of fish oil, essential oils, a healthy diet, exercise… but fail to include the research, which indicates they have very little, if any, effect on the symptoms of ADHD.

Handouts from Dr. Niolon:

Our annual holiday gathering was held at the home of Dr. Carolyn Weyand. The night included socializing and interesting conversation, as well as a feast including a spinach ravioli lasagna by Dr. Kim VanGeffen, a rosemary crusted lamb by Dr. Gail Gillespie, a chicken broccoli rice casserole by Dr. Georganna Leavesley, and a roast pork stuffed with wild rice and sausage by Dr. Carolyn Weyand.

We held a brief business meeting, and thanked Dr. Georganna Leavesley for her service as past president. We also welcomed Dr. Elaine Salzer who will now will serve as past president. Dr. Gail Gillespie assumed her duties as the new CCAPS president, and Dr. John Fanning was confirmed as president-elect.

The September meeting was hosted at the home of Dr. Elaine Salzer, and featured guest speaker Dr. Paula Zeanah, who presented on the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study, commonly referred to as the ACES study.

The ACES study was conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Kaiser Permanente between 1995 and 1997, and included over 17,000 adults from around the United States. Dr. Zeneah reviewed the links they found between adverse childhood experiences and several major medical and mental health conditions in later adulthood. She also discussed the various ACE educational and research activities in Louisiana. Dr. Zeanah also discussed general health outcome data as well as adolescent and adult sexual health outcome data for Louisiana.

Handouts from Dr. Zeanah:

The January meeting was hosted at the home of Dr. Kim VanGeffen. The evening included some networking, and then a peer consultation and group discussion of several topics, including

• ways to streamline our practice and billing work, including practice management software and office sharing,
• technology challenges, including use of smartphones and secure cloud services, as well as assuring HIPAA compliance, and
• planning ahead and preparing a professional will to provide coverage for clients and confidential records in the event of the psychologist’s death.

The May meeting was moved from 5/18 to 5/25 to avoid conflict with LPA.

Our May meeting was held at the home of Dr. Georgianna Leavesley, and the guest presenter was Dr. Suzanne Chabaud. Dr. Chabaud earned a degree in clinical and developmental psychology from Vanderbilt University, and has been treating OCD and Hoarding Disorder for over seven years. She has also been an expert on almost 40 episodes of the A&E show Hoarders, as well as a special feature on the ABC show 20/20. Over the years, her focus expanded from people with Hoarding Disorder to the effects of hoarding on the children. She also discussed the work being done at the OCD Institute of Greater New Orleans.

Our March meeting was held at Andreas in Metairie, and Dr. Gail Gillespie presented on the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) also known as “tapping.” Dr. Gillespie has been using EFT in her practice for nearly ten years. She reviewed the history of the technique, research from peer reviewed journals, and offered a demonstration of it to the group. EFT is an acupressure stimulation technique that helps treat overwhelming negative emotions and physical pain. EFT is being utilized by both mental health and medical professionals, and provides efficacious treatment for anxiety, phobias, grief, PTSD, anger, and physical pain.

Handouts on EFT

The January meeting was hosted at Five Happiness Restaurant in New Orleans. Our speaker was Dr. Jennifer McCarroll who presented on becoming a prescribing psychologist.

Dr. McCarroll discussed some of her experiences training in psychopharmacology to become a prescribing psychologist in Louisiana, as well as her views on how prescribing psychologists may affect our practice and profession.