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Amy Knight, Ph.D., ABPP  received the CJ Rosencrans Psychology Training Award for outstanding mentorship and teaching in the field of clinical psychology by the UAB-Birmingham VA Psychology Internship Consortium.

CJ “Rosie” Rosecrans, Ph.D., established the UAB Clinical Psychology Doctoral Internship during the 1960s. Later, the training program expanded to include the Birmingham VA Medical Center (BVAMC) and trainees in the Sparks Clinics.

In addition to establishing the training program, Rosecrans was instrumental in crafting legislation regarding the licensing of psychologists in Alabama and was one of the first psychologists to be licensed in the state. Active with both American Psychological Association (APA) and Alabama Psychological Association (aPA), he was a strong advocate for psychology at local and national levels.

Rosecrans was board certified in clinical psychology and a fellow of the APA. He was a valued mentor, teacher, and colleague who embodied what it means to be a psychologist.

This prestigious award has gone to psychology faculty in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation for the past seven consecutive years. 

Clinical psychology intern for the UAB-BVAMC consortium, Jordan Kennon, M.A., a current trainee in the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Psychology Training program shares kind words about her time training under Knight.

"Dr. Knight brilliantly combines scientific knowledge and kindness, and this combination permeates through all of her interactions,” said Kennon. “Whether she is supervising a student, consulting a colleague, or interacting with a patient, it is abundantly clear how much she cares. She is one of the fiercest advocates for patients and trainees alike, always going above and beyond. Dr. Knight is inspiring and has provided the template for my future career as a fellow, supervisor and eventual licensed clinical psychologist." 

Kennon is eager to begin her fellowship in rehabilitation psychology in August.

The department congratulates Knight on this prestigious accomplishment.

Pictured: Sarah Banasiewicz stocks the SRC refrigerator

After a year-long hiatus due to COVID-19, we are excited to announce the return of our two wellness refrigerators. 

Every month, our department stocks two refrigerators with healthy snacks for all physical medicine & rehabilitation faculty, staff, and trainees. This effort is to ensure that even on busy days, we have healthy options onsite to help fuel our team. This shared experience has certianly been missed. "It feels like one more peice of what the pandemic took away from us is finally being restored", said Dr. Casey Azuero.

Dr. Megan Hays, clinical psychologist in the UAB Office of Wellness, shares a few evidence-based tips that the wellness refrigerators help facilitate:

• Stimulus Control: Studies show that visible and reachable food items are often cues for unplanned eating. For those hoping to lose weight, this means that keeping junk food at eye level and within easy reach can impede weight management progress. The wellness fridge is set up for stimulus control because everything in the refrigerator is generally a whole food with nutritional value. Although donuts have their place in life, we do not keep junk food items in the wellness fridge for this reason. 

• Habit Research: If you have read the popular book Atomic Habits by James Clear, you may be familiar with the Four Laws of Behavior Change that we can utilize to build better habits. Our PM&R wellness fridge fits right in with those guidelines, which are: 1) make it obvious - the wellness fridge is front and center in the SRC breakroom!, 2) make it attractive - the fridge content sure looks nice when fully stocked and organized, 3) make it easy - I mean, the fridge couldn't be more convenient when at work, and every option is a healthy one, and 4) make it satisfying - the food tastes good and is also more filling than junk food. 

• Eliminating Shopping Temptation: One barrier to weight management can be what I call "shopping while hangry." The PM&R wellness fridge eliminates this barrier since the shopping is done online and already completed for employees, so the decision to choose only nutritious and filling snacks and drinks is already made for us before the food even arrives.

• Nurturing Social Relationships: Social relationships are important for both mental well-being as well as physical health. Research has demonstrated that those with close friends and family are healthier and live much longer than those who do not. We have noticed that the PM&R wellness fridge really brings people together and strikes up conversations between employees who may not otherwise have the opportunity to interact frequently.

Thirty-one years ago, on July 26, 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act established the prohibition of discrimination against people with disabilities. In that same year, Boston held the first Disability Pride Day. While these historic events show remarkable progress, we as a community need to continue to partner, collaborate, advocate and educate.

With our colleagues and friends across the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the UAB Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation would like to recognize the month of July as Disability Pride Month. The month-long observance celebrates and encourages taking pride in one’s whole self, which can include disabilities. For individuals with disabilities, the month can bring support from the community and in turn acceptance and pride for self-identity and unique differences. For allies and the community, the month provides education on disability services and a platform to support important causes.

I encourage you to explore the resources listed below and continue to be an active partner in supporting equal access for individuals with disabilities.

• Disability Pride Month Q&A

• ADA Training Opportunities

• UAB Disability Support Services

• Guidelines for writing about people with disabilities

Thank you, and happy Disability Pride Month!

Danielle K. Powell, MD MSPH
Interim Chair, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

“I already messed up my plan by eating a piece of cake, so I might as well start my diet over again on Monday!” “I have a really bad headache. Could this be a brain tumor?!” “My coworker never says hello when I pass her in the hallway. She must hate me!”

What do all of these thoughts have in common? They are good examples of cognitive distortions – aka “thinking traps” – that we all fall into at times. You may notice that the thoughts above are not very rational, but irrational or not, our thoughts affect how we feel and how we ultimately behave. We have a tendency believe that our thoughts are completely rational and true in the moment, when in reality they are just thoughts. Even when a thought is inaccurate, unhelpful, and downright mean, we can act like the most aggressive of defense attorneys when it comes to believing our automatic negative thoughts (e.g., “See – I knew I was worthless. I can’t do anything right!”).

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), first introduced by psychologist Aaron Beck in the 1960s, is a type of psychotherapy that has a robust evidence base for helping people with a broad range of mental health concerns, including depression, anxiety, and insomnia, among others. Cognitive-behavioral theory posits that our mood and the way we feel is impacted by our thoughts and behaviors. CBT therefore involves efforts to change thinking patterns, and one of the strategies for doing this is identifying cognitive distortions and replacing them with new, more helpful thoughts. Check out the five common thinking traps below to help you identify potential traps in your own thoughts, as well as what you might think instead. 

All-Or-Nothing Thinking

This thinking style is often termed as black and white or dichotomous thinking and is one of the most common thinking traps. All-or-nothing thinking involves thinking in extremes. The presentation was either a total success or a complete failure. You are either great at your job or you are “horrible.” The antidote to this thinking trap is looking for the shades of gray or being more flexible in your interpretation of situations.

• Example: “I only have 20 minutes to exercise today, so I just won’t work out at all since I don’t have my usual hour.”
• Replace this with: “Something is always better than nothing. It is better to exercise for 20 minutes than 0 minutes.”

Catastrophizing

This thinking trap involves focusing on the worst possible outcome of a situation, and not on the most likely or probable outcome. What’s the solution for catastrophizing? DE-catastrophizing! Once you’ve assessed the worst-case scenario, ask yourself what the realistic odds are that your worst fear will come true. Then, take a look at other possible outcomes, and consider how you would cope even if the worst happened. We tend to underestimate our ability to handle even the most challenging of situations!

• Example: “I haven’t heard from my partner in 3 hours – he could be dead!”
• Replace this with: “He is probably just busy at work. There have been many times in the past that I worried when I didn’t hear from him, but nothing horrible ever happened.”

Emotional Reasoning

This thinking error involves seeing our feelings or emotions as evidence for the “truth,” regardless of the objective evidence. But just because you feel useless/like an imposter/stupid at times, does not mean that you really are those things. So how do we break free of emotional reasoning? We must always remember that feelings are not facts and tap into our logical reasoning skills by examining the objective evidence for and against our automatic negative thoughts.

• Example: “I feel really anxious on this plane ride, so I think something bad is about to happen.”
• Replace this with: “Feelings are not facts. I have been on many plane rides in the past and nothing bad has ever happened. The odds of being in a plane crash are less than one in 10 million. I can accept my feelings of anxiety without believing something awful will happen.”

Mind Reading

Ever jumped to the conclusion that someone just doesn’t like you? Mind reading is assuming that someone is thinking something negative about you without having any definitive evidence, which often leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy when the other person picks up on your odd behavior (after all, you have been acting like they didn’t like you!). What can we do once we recognize this thinking trap? Realize that no one can read minds and we can never really know what others are thinking unless they tell us.

• Example: “My boss hasn’t responded to my second email requesting information. She must think I am so annoying! I am probably her least favorite employee.”
• Replace this with: “She has been especially busy lately and is probably having to prioritize all of the items on her to-do list. I can think of many examples of times when my boss was very responsive to me in the past, and there is no reason to believe that she does not like me.”

Overgeneralization

When we encounter difficult situations, we can fall victim to overgeneralizing when we assume that it’s going to happen again every time, or that a single negative event is actually part of a series of unending negative events. If you find yourself thinking “Why does this always happen to me?” or “How typical – I’m just an unlucky person,” you may be caught up in the thinking trap of overgeneralization. We can overcome this error by catching ourselves using terms like “always,” “never,” “everybody,” and “nobody” and purposefully looking for any exceptions to the statement.

• Example: “That date was horrible! I am a terrible dater who will never find love.”
• Replace this with: “I am probably overgeneralizing. I’ve been on some fun dates, so this doesn’t happen every single time, and it’s very possible that it won’t happen next time either.”

The UAB Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation strives to provide all of our trainees with educational exeperiences to increase knowledge, enhance skills, and better serve your professional career goals.

Our three-year residency program includes rotations at Spain Rehabilitation Center, The Workplace at UAB Highlands, UAB Health System, Birmingham VA Medical Center, Andrews Sports Medicine & Orthopaedic Center, and Children's Hospital of Alabama.

Thanks to our program directors, Conley Carr, M.D., and Danielle Powell, M.D., our residents get to experience excellent training!

Hello

Daniel McBride, M.D.

Nelson Santos-Agosto, D.O.

Natalie Dean, D.O.

Sarah Lopes, D.O.

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• Daniel McBride, M.D.

  Undergraduate: LSU Shreveport

  Medical School: LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans

  Internship: LSU School of Medicine in Baton Rouge

  Career Interests: Stroke, SCI, Pediatric Rehab, Cancer Rehab, General Rehab, Medical Informatics.

• Nelson Santos-Agosto, D.O.

  Undergraduate: University of Central Florida

  Medical School: Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine

  Internship: Brookwood Baptist Health

  Career Interests: Sports Medicine, Diagnostic/Interventional Sports Medicine Ultrasound, MSK, Orthobiologics, Performance Nutrition, Exercise Physiology, Exercise Biomechanics, General Rehab, Interventional Spin

• Natalie Dean, D.O.

  Undergraduate: Westmont College in Santa Barbara

  Medical School: Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine

  Internship: Brookwood Baptist Health

  Career Interests: Pediatric rehab, Spinal cord injury rehab

• Sarah Lopes, D.O.

  Undergraduate: Mississippi State University

  Medical School: William Carey College of Osteopathic Medicine

  Internship: Brookwood Baptist Health

  Career Interests: Inpatient Rehab

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Goodbye

Mona Amad, M.D.

Joy DeShazo, M.D.

Ryan Dill, M.D.

Pierre Galea, M.D.

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• Mona Amad, M.D.

  Undergraduate: Georgia Institute of Technology

  Medical School: New York Medical College

  Internship: Brookwood Baptist Health Systems

  Next steps: Interventional Spine & Musculoskeletal Fellowship with OrthoAlabama Spine and Sport in Birmingham, AL

• Joy DeShazo, M.D.

  Undergraduate: Auburn University

  Medical School: UAB

  Internship: Brookwood Baptist Health

  Next steps: Private Practice Physician at Encompass Inpatient Rehab in Huntsville, AL

• Ryan Dill, M.D.

  Undergraduate: Indiana University

  Medical School: Indiana University

  Internship: Brookwood Baptist Health

  Next steps: Interventional Spine Fellowship at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI

• Pierre Galea, M.D.

  Undergraduate: University of Malta

  Medical School: The University of Vermont 

  Internship: Brookwood Baptist Health

  Next Steps: Private Practice Inpatient Physician at Brooks Rehab in Jacksonville, FL

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We are delighted to welcome Phillip Stinson as psychometrist in the department of neuropsychology located in Spain Rehab Center. Stinson will work alongside Amy Knight, Ph.D., ABPP where he will administer psychological assessments to patients suffering from a variety of behavioral and neurological disorders.

Stinson received his B.S. in psychology and political science from Tuskegee University and his M.S. in Clinical Psychology from Alabama A&M University. His career began in West Neuropsychology at Princeton Hospital, where he worked for nearly ten years.

Stinson’s reason for pursuing a career in the field of psychology is due to his natural curiosity of the human mind. “I feel it is my job here at Spain Rehabilitation to help educate the public in the care of our most important organ. Mental health needs to be a top priority, especially in this day and age,” said Stinson.

Welcome to UAB, Phillip! 

Jennifer (Jenny) Marwitz, M.A., Director of TBI Research, will join the Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation as an instructor, effective June 1.