Dr. Tracy McDonough has taken over the position of Chairperson for the Psychology Department at MSJ for the 2022-2023 academic school year. In addition to being the Chairperson and a professor in the Psychology Department, Dr. Tracy McDonough also has had her extensive research on schizophrenia featured on PSYCOM.net twice in the past month!
Dr. Tracy McDonough’s Biography:
Dr. McDonough is a Professor of Psychology and clinical psychologist specializing in the areas of human sexuality, domestic violence and chronic mental illness and the Chairperson of the Department of Psychology. She earned her Ph.D. from Bowling Green State University and has been teaching at MSJ since 2003. Dr. McDonough is a past president of the Cincinnati Academy of Professional Psychology (CAPP), and has been awarded MSJ’s Clifford Award for Excellence in Teaching and twice won Ohio Magazine’s Excellence in Education Award. In 2011, Dr. McDonough co-founded The Schizophrenia Oral History Project (TSOHP), an archive of life stories of persons with schizophrenia. The Project has been featured in The Oral History Review, the American Psychological Association’s Monitor on Psychology, The New York Times, and U.S. News and World Report in addition to proceedings in Canada and China. MSJ students can get involved in the Project through a practicum that builds on leadership strengths while challenging stigma toward mental illness.
Dr. Tracy McDonough’s PSYCOM.net features:
According to PSYCOM, schizophrenia is a brain disorder. If you have a relative with the diagnosis, you may want to know if you’re at greater risk of developing it.
Dr. Tracy McDonough shares with PSYCOM that, “people with first-degree relatives (i.e., parents or siblings) who have schizophrenia run about a 10% risk of having schizophrenia themselves, while those with second-degree relatives (i.e., grandparents, aunts, and uncles) run a 3% risk.”
Dr. Tracy McDonough also emphasizes that “early intervention is absolutely essential.”
To read more about the possibility of inheriting schizophrenia, view the entire article:
https://www.psycom.net/schizophrenia/schizophrenia-signs-causes/is-schizophrenia-genetic
PSYCOM: What is Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder?
According to PSYCOM, in 2013, the American Psychiatric Association adjusted the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-V) to reflect the growing consensus that schizophrenia exists on a spectrum of psychotic disorders. Schizophrenia symptoms can be expressed in different ways and in varying degrees.
Dr. Tracy McDonough explains to PSYCOM that, “this speaks to the fundamental shift in thinking about diagnosis in mental illness in DSM-V.”
Dr. Tracy McDonough also states, “the change represents an acknowledgment that people at the lower end of the schizophrenia spectrum may experience milder forms of the disorder, while those at the higher end often have their daily functioning impacted.”
To read more about Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder, view the entire article: