Bio
Dr. Elliot Benjamin is a psychologist who earned a Ph.D. in Psychology from Saybrook University and is affiliated with Capella University.
Educational Journey
Saybrook University
Ph.D. in Psychology • Psychology
Experience
Research
The Creative Artists Support Group: A Therapeutic Environment to Promote Creativity and Mental Health
In this article, a variety of what the author refers to as creative artists support groups are described. The descriptions illustrate a great deal of divergence in terms of structure and range of group leadership or facilitation, ranging from virtually leaderless groups modeled along the lines of the structure of 12-step support groups, to groups led by a trained psychotherapist who directs the group with a series of structured therapeutic techniques, to a Rogerian person-centered facilitator who gently guides the group with little or no structure whatsoever. Furthermore, person-centered group facilitators of creative artists support groups may adhere to the basic ingredients of Rogerian person-centered psychotherapy by relating to the essence of the person, but may do so in a flexible way that allows for occasional active interventions. Utilizing auto ethnographic research, inclusive of a description of the author's motivation in writing this article, illustrations are given of some therapeutic interactions from the author's own creative artists support group to demonstrate this kind of flexibility in the facilitation of a person-centered creative artists support group. It is concluded that a common foundational ingredient in all the creative artists support groups described in this article is the dual focus on creativity and mental health.
A College Psychology Teachers Experience of Cell Phone Addiction in the Classroom: Autoethnographic Reflections
This article describes the author's auto ethnographic reflections of his experiences with college students' excessive and inappropriate use of cell phones in the classroom, from his perspective as a college psychology instructor. The article's focus is upon a combination of personal relevant experience in the context of the qualitative research method of autoethnography, its interplay with performance in the context of giving a presentation about cell phone addiction in the college classroom at a humanistic psychology conference, exposure of the negative consequences of the excessive and inappropriate use of cell phones in college classrooms, and what the author refers to as “humanistic antidotes†to offset these negative consequences. The thrust of the article is based upon the author's personal relevant experiential reflections during his Spring, 2016 college psychology teaching, and his subsequent preparation and delivery of his related conference talk.
