- Tallahassee, Florida, United States
Tomi Gomory
Florida State University, Social Work, Faculty Member
- Child and adolescent mental health, Mental Health, Critical Thinking, Coercion in psychiatry, Social Work, Philosophy, and 26 morePsychology, Languages and Linguistics, Cognitive Science, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Science, Philosophy Of Language, Philosophy of Psychology, Applied Philosophy, Social Work Education and Practice, Philosophical Psychology, Community Development, Sociology of Religion, Psychotherapy and Counseling, Social Psychology, Psychiatry, Psychopathology, Philosophy of Psychiatry, Mental Models, Constructivism, Social Work Education, Evidence Based Nursing, Evidence Based Practice, Social Constructionism, History of Psychiatry, Coercion, and History Of Madness And Psychiatryedit
- I have worked as a social work clinician and academic in the fields of mental health and homelessness for over 30 yea... moreI have worked as a social work clinician and academic in the fields of mental health and homelessness for over 30 years. In 2013 I published with two colleagues Stuart Kirk and David Cohen, "Mad Science: Psychiatric Coercion, Diagnosis, and Drugs" a book that closely reviews psychiatry historically and critiques its efforts at addressing Madness through the Psychiatric Medical Model and offers some suggestions for moving forward without it.
I am currently involved with developing models of social service delivery using decision making under uncertainty along with examining the conventionally accepted use of coercion in social services. My most recent work finds that such coercive approaches at best are as good as voluntary services but never better with the added problem of teaching involuntary users/sufferers of social services that professionals who have power over them are to be obeyed and followed. I argue that this employment of force in the name of helping is convenient and useful for the authorities so empowered to exert social control but is antithetical to any meaningful ethical credo of the "helping" professions.edit
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This article argues that Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) is fundamentally and historically based on the uncritical, but societally well-accepted view, that medically justified coercion (punishment or unwanted treatment) is... more
This article argues that Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) is fundamentally and historically based on the uncritical, but societally well-accepted view, that medically justified coercion (punishment or unwanted treatment) is therapeutic. It documents this claim by reviewing the early professional history and the resultant publications of the inventors of ACT (originally known as Training in Community Living), consisting of psychiatrists, social workers, and psychologists who trained and worked during the 1960s through the 1980s, at Mendota State Hospital (eventually renamed Mendota Mental Health Institute) in Wisconsin.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Psychology, Community-Based Mental Health Services, Evidence Based Medicine, Medicine, Humans, and 9 moreBehavior Therapy, Assertive Community Treatment, Hospitalization, Psychological Intervention, Psychosocial, Assertiveness, Public health systems and services research, Cost Benefit Analysis, and Psychiatric Services
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Point/Counterpoint between Bruce Thyer and myself on the role of theory in the research of social work practice is welcomed. She makes many constructive comments, most of which either expand on individual points of agree ment between... more
Point/Counterpoint between Bruce Thyer and myself on the role of theory in the research of social work practice is welcomed. She makes many constructive comments, most of which either expand on individual points of agree ment between Thyer and myself or selectively support some elements of our differing posi tions, and makes some arguments for the legitimacy of "intuitive reasoning" in social work practice. Finally and most importantly, she uses the oft-preferred approach of social work, consensus seeking, in an attempt to reconcile two alternate approaches, in this instance two irreconcilable logical proce dures, induction and deduction. I will concentrate on her discussion of
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Routledge and Mad Science
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
For agencies providing housing and other services to CSEC, there is limited information on promising practices. We present findings from surveys completed with 16 programs serving CSEC, including common program components, promising... more
For agencies providing housing and other services to CSEC, there is limited information on promising practices. We present findings from surveys completed with 16 programs serving CSEC, including common program components, promising practices, and recommendations for future housing program
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: History, Criminology, Psychology, Psychiatry, Mental Health, and 3 moreCoercion, Harm, and Springer Ebooks
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Social work is perhaps most distinctive for its clear and outspoken commitment toward improving the well-being of society’s vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, while still emphasizing the importance of respecting and defending personal... more
Social work is perhaps most distinctive for its clear and outspoken commitment toward improving the well-being of society’s vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, while still emphasizing the importance of respecting and defending personal rights and freedoms. Though there is a fundamental necessity for coercion, or its threat, for eliciting civil social behavior in a well-functioning society, it is professionally and ethically imperative that social workers make explicit our rationales for, justifications of, and the evidence used to support or reject coercive practices in our work. Social work’s engagement with coercion inevitably entails the ethical and social policy arguments for and against its use, as shown in a review of the empirical evidence regarding its impact on the professions’ clients, exemplified by three domains: (1) child welfare, (2) mental health, and (3) addictions. Recommendations for future improvements involve balancing the potential for harm against the benefits of coercive actions.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Routledge and Mad Science
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Roughly speaking there are at least 1.5 million and possibly over 2 million social workers in the world, many of whom work with individuals. This article focuses on one type of evaluation of social work practice, the evaluation of the... more
Roughly speaking there are at least 1.5 million and possibly over 2 million social workers in the world, many of whom work with individuals. This article focuses on one type of evaluation of social work practice, the evaluation of the outcome of help seeking for personal problems that is called clinical practice usually provided by social work case managers and therapists. The article primarily discusses Feedback Informed Treatment (FIT) developed in the early 2000s. It is a formal structured approach utilizing two validated very brief measures employed during every client session that can be graphed and is designed to evaluate the client’s wellbeing and the worker’s intervention throughout the course of treatment. The article argues that this is the best way for social workers to assess whether or not the client is benefitting from their work as well as evaluating the approach of the helping professional even though this well studied and effective approach is almost nonexistent in ...
Research Interests:
Children who have been commercially sexually exploited are a vulnerable population, often in need of housing services. However, little is known about housing services for this population. To address this gap, the current study aims to... more
Children who have been commercially sexually exploited are a vulnerable population, often in need of housing services. However, little is known about housing services for this population. To address this gap, the current study aims to further the understanding and knowledge about housing services for children who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) in the U.S. Through a structured online search and review of the research literature, we identified 56 programs thought to be serving children who have experienced CSE in the United States. Agencies were asked to complete a brief semi-structured survey on their services for youth who have been commercially sexually exploited. Of the 56 programs, 43 programs were still active and targeted for recruitment. 16 programs completed the surveys (37% response rate). Findings from the survey included variations across programs in lengths of stays and type of housing services offered, few formal protocols for data collection and e...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The present article outlines the major limitations of evidence-based medicine (EBM) and through a close review demonstrates that the three component EBM process model is a pseudoscientific tool. Its “objective” component is the... more
The present article outlines the major limitations of evidence-based medicine (EBM) and through a close review demonstrates that the three component EBM process model is a pseudoscientific tool. Its “objective” component is the collection, systematic analysis, and listing of “effective” treatments applying a research hierarchy from most rigorous (systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials [RCTs]) to least rigorous (expert opinion). Its two subjective components are the clinical judgment of helping professionals about which “evidence-based” treatment to select and the specific and unique relevant personal preferences of the potential recipients regarding treatment. This procedural mishmash provides no more rigor in choosing “best practice” than has been provided by good clinical practitioners in the past because both turn out to be subjective and authority based. The article also discusses EBM’s further methodological dilution in the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The level of sexual prejudice on university campuses has implications for the health and well-being of gay and lesbian students, and research on sexual prejudice in the Eastern Caribbean is extremely limited. This study assesses the... more
The level of sexual prejudice on university campuses has implications for the health and well-being of gay and lesbian students, and research on sexual prejudice in the Eastern Caribbean is extremely limited. This study assesses the individual attitudes of 251 Barbadian students toward lesbian and gay people using two psychometric inventories. It also examines differences in attitudes as a function of demographic variables including gender, religiosity, and personal acquaintance with lesbian or gay people. The Barbadian students evidenced diverse attitudes, with the average student displaying a moderate amount of sexual prejudice toward lesbian and gay people. Religiosity predicted more negative attitudes toward both lesbians and gay men. Being male predicted more sexual prejudice against gay men, but not against lesbians. Finally, personal acquaintance with a gay or lesbian person did not have a statistically significant relationship with sexual prejudice. This study is among the first of its kind and may serve as a guide to other researchers seeking to further explore attitudes toward lesbian and gay people among Eastern Caribbean students or among Barbadians in general.
Research Interests:
In this pilot study, concept mapping, a methodological approach combining qualitative and quantitative analytic strategies, was used to identify the therapist qualities, competencies, and skills necessary for effective play therapy... more
In this pilot study, concept mapping, a methodological approach combining qualitative and quantitative analytic strategies, was used to identify the therapist qualities, competencies, and skills necessary for effective play therapy outcomes as perceived by a sub-sample of 28 experienced play ...