the Psychology Spot

BBC Panorama Adoption

2011-12-23T04:53:00.000-08:00

Since The Narey Report early this year, adoption has been of high priority within politics and has received a great deal of media attention including BBC’s Panorama programme “The Truth about Adoption”.
The programme begins with some shocking statistics, 65,000 children a year are put into care, a 40% rise since the tragic death of Baby P. Even more shocking is that only 5% of those 65,000 children will be successfully adopted this year.
Panorama followed six children’s adoption progress that clearly demonstrated just how distressing the process can be for all parties involved. Overall the longwinded and sometimes unsuccessful process left the children anxious and remaining within long term foster care.
Examples of the kind of distress children in care go through are shown frequently throughout this programme. Six year old Katie talks about her sisters being separated “Our sister was separated and we might have to be separated. I want me and Sophie and Chloe to live together, because sisters live together” and within seconds asks for “the next question please” clearly an emotional subject for Katie. Also, ten year old Kieran who was reduced to tears when asked how many placements he has had in his life.

Fortunately, the government is hoping to dramatically alter the adoption process, reducing the time it takes to get a child adopted to 12 months, with a much smoother process and more responsibility to social workers.

Gavin Poole, executive director of the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) has issued the following statement about Panorama: The Truth about Adoption.
“This powerful documentary underscores the realities of our failing adoption culture and the heartbreaking impact it has on young children.
We need a streamlined adoption system that is not unduly risk-averse or overly bureaucratised, and follows the changes called for by Professor Eileen Munro in regards to the wider child protection system.
Faster and more concurrent fostering and adoption would shift the balance of risk away from vulnerable children and to where it should belong - onto the adults.
Far too often children are held in limbo, ferried from one set of parents to another, harbouring deep-seated anxieties about rejection and loss.
A reformed adoption process would act with speed, sensitivity of support and put the welfare of children at its heart.
We welcome recent announcements from the prime minister to simplify and speed up the adoption process. An inability to get a grip on this problem will transfer a social and economic failure from one generation to another.”

Additionally, BBC news education and family reporter Hannah Richardson recently commented on plans to “shake-up” the child protection system. Whilst consistently referring to Professor Munro’s review, Richardson sheds light on the government’s plans to invest eighty million pounds into these important changes and to develop social worker’s expertise that will hopefully result in many more children across the country being successfully adopted.

Written By Abbie Andrew

The Narey Report on Adoptions

2011-07-22T08:44:00.000-07:00

Psychologists working in Children in Care and Adoption services will be aware that the Narey Report (Martin Narey) has raised the profile of Adoption Services and how the working practice within statutory services for children who are unable to remain with their birth families could be improved. The Times have published the report, which was written exclusively for them. It is suggested that this will be the blueprint for a radical overhaul of adoption services.

Martin Narey has made 20 recommendations to improve services. The ones relevant to Psychologists working in these services include:

"I recommend that the Children's Minister ensures that where the best interests of the child are clear and adoption seems to offer the best prospects of permenancy that it should not be delayed by the assessment of family and friend carers where there is clear evidence of unsuitability".

"I recommend that the Children's Minister looks at how pre-court processes might be shortened, with particular reference to removing the duplication with the work of the courts".

"I recommend that the Children's Minister ensures that the evidence of the success of adoption - particularly early adoption - (including low breakdown rates) can be communicated to local authorities, the voluntary sector, the press, the courts and the public".

I would encourage people to read the report as it is likely that this report will be influential in the decision making, the timeliness of services and the resource allocation where children need alternative care. Consider this report alongside the report by Eileen Munroe; we should anticipate changes that should mean improved services for the children.

Maxine Tostevin

Dan Hughes Training

2011-07-07T01:12:00.000-07:00

As most of you know we were lucky enough to have Dan Hughes with us for the whole week. Feedback about his training was excellent and we are already looking at booking level two training next year. It is really exciting to think about developing DDP across the life span.
Sue Pennington will be asking people who attended level one if they want to join a DDP special interest group data base. It may be that people who are in the practice who have done DDP training previously would also like to join, if so please let Sue know. As well as finding out about DDP training this will allow us to be part of building the evidence base for this approach.

Kelly Camilleri.

The Munro Review of Child Protection, Interim Report: The Child's Journey. Professor Eileen Munro

2011-03-30T06:39:00.000-07:00

The review of child protection is part of a national drive to improve the quality of child protection services. The aim of this report was to set out for discussion the struction of an effective child protection system, and the reforms that might help create this. To encourage the change, the review has been working with five authorities who have requested greater flexibility when assessing the needs of children and young people, with the aim of delivering improved outcomes and more fixed interventions. The Secretary of State for Education is considering using his powers to allow them to model the responsible improvement this review wants to encourage. These local authorities will be granted temporary suspension from certain requirements in statutory guidance for a six month period (subject to their agreement with Ministers to the conditions of the trial). The review highlights the crucuial role that inspection can play in improving services for children, and we will be working with Ofsted to develop an inspection process that drives child-centred practice, focuses on the effectiveness of help provided and assesses the quality of learning across local organisations, rather than compliance with process. Serious Case Reviews (SCR's) have failed to identify or explain the factors that have contributed to poor practice. The review is therefore considering adopting the systems approach used in the health sector, which explores these factors and therefore offers the potential for deeper lessons and improved learning. Early identification and provision of help is in the childs best interests and multiagency services which give support for families are important in promoting childrens well-being. The review looks at the efforts to improve family support services in the community such as Sure Start Childrens Centres. All who come into contact with families have a part to play in identifying those children whose needs are not being met. Some of these needs can be helped by early intervention services, while others may need more specialist services, including children's social care. Evidence submitted to the review shows strong support for the current policy where, with the family's agreement, an assessment is made, using a system common to all local agencies, that can be shared with other professionals. It is imporant to minimise dependency and empower families, giving them ownership of their own assessment. This review is taking place at a time of major reform in all of the relevant public services, where there are financial contraints being applied and with major workforce issues particularly in the field of social work. It is essential that the protection of children still remains the priority within these reforms. It is in this context that the review is seeking the help of each profession within the sector to develop the reforms proposed in this report and work with a range of groups to develop its thinking before producing a final report and recommendations to the Government in April. To see the full report please visit this link: http://www.education.gov.uk/munroreview/downloads/Munrointerimreport.pdf

MP Graham Allen Highlights the Importance of Early Years Intervention

2011-03-09T01:19:00.000-08:00

The government- commissioned report recommends regular assessments of pre-school children which focus on their social and emotional development. This type of early intervention will improve the lives of vulnerable children, which will help break the cycle of "dysfunction and under-achievement". It also calls for a national parenting programme in the UK. Previous interventions have been too late and major social problems have become worse not better. MP Graham Allen was asked to assess how children who are from disadvantaged backgrounds could be given the best start in life.

His report highlights that success or failure in early childhood has "profound economic consequences", and calls for more private money to be channelled into early intervention schemes to help set children on the right path in life.

Society is failing to equip young children with the social and emotional skills they need in life, he says. "If we continue to fail, we will only perpetuate the cycle of wasted potential, low achievement, drink and drug misuse, unintended teenage pregnancy, low work aspirations, anti-social behaviour and lifetimes on benefits, which now typifies millions of lives and is repeated through succeeding generations".

Mr Allen's report details the impact of poor parenting and says very few parents-to-be understand how to build the social and emotional capability of a baby or small child. All parents need to know how to "recognise and respond to a baby's cues, attune with infants and stimulate them from the very start, and how to foster empathy", it says. The report highlights American research that shows the early years are the greatest period of growth in the human brain. This is why Mr Allen is stressing the importance to intervene in the early years, rather than later when the basic architecture, or wiring, of the brain is formed for life.

To read the full article and listen to Mr Allen on Radio 4 view the link below

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-12216967

An interesting development in a Criminal Law case.

2011-01-25T08:54:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd like to share this interesting piece of Law I came across recently during a trial, in which I was instructed by the Crown Prosecution Service in a Murder case to do an assessment of personality. It may be of interest to psychologists who get involved in criminal work.

Here's the scenario: First an expert (psychiatrist) produced a report for the defense, suggesting that the defendant did not have a personality disorder but did have "abnormal personality traits," (histronic) which he claimed could have influenced the defendant's decision making during the week of the alleged murder of his wife. The psychiatrist did not use any psychometrics.

In my report, I also suggest that there's not a personality disorder but agree there are some personality traits (though not histronic) but say it is unclear what relevance they have, if any. I based my conclusions on my review of the evidence, clinical interviews, STAXI-2, MCMI-III, PAI, WTAR and WASI.

At trial, the question that was raised was: should the jury judge even hear and consider the experts' evidence re personality traits if there is no disorder? A Voir Dire was held to consider this question. It was decided that they should not. This judgement was based on the following pieces of Law: R V Turner (1975): "where no mental abnormality is involved, such matters are within the 'common knowledge and experience' and can be understood by a jury. An Expert's opinion is only admissible to furnish the court with scientific information which is likely outside the experience and knowledge of judge/jury." This decision was upheld in Weightman (1991) and Cole (1995). That is, unless there's an Abnormality of Mind (which translates into a Mental Disorder), the jury can be confused by hearing scientific jargon that seeks to explain a defendants behaviour. They were considered to be perfectly capable of understanding that people with different personality styles will act differently and there can be more than one explanation for someone's behaviour under duress, without resorting to experts.

The judge pronounced the defense psychiatrist's evidence in this case "superfluous, and it trespasses upon matters which are within the jury's normal experience." Consequently, therefore, none of the expert psychiatric or psychological evidence was admissible and the general feeling was the defense psychiatrist should have just concluded No PD, full stop.

The outcome was that the defendant was found Guilty and given a 19 year sentence.

The barrister became aware of this piece of Law only at the very last moment (the night before we were due to testify). It has been very interesting to think how things might have progressed if the experts' testimony had been allowed. The whole area is a fascinating one: for example, in future, will there be less distinction made in Criminal law between Abnormality of Mind (i.e., when a serious disorder is present) and less serious mental/emotional conditions? Is it really within the jury's experience to understand how personality features (though not personality disorder) can account for inappropriate behaviour? Should there be different standards in Criminal v other proceedings? Don't we talk about significant personality feature and their impact on behaviour all the time in child & family work?

Please let us hear your thoughts on this?

Posted on Behalf of Dr Susan Jones by Gareth Nightingale

Meditation Training Promotes Positive Psychology and Better Cellular Health

2011-01-07T03:41:00.000-08:00

Researchers at the University of California, Davis, and the University of California, San Francisco have discovered links between the positive psychological changes that occur from meditation and greater Telomerase activity. Telemerase is an enzyme which is important for cellular health and helps rebuild and lengthen telomeres.

Participants in the study also had numerous psychological benefits from meditation training at the same time as decreasing negative emotionality. The effect is attributable to psychological changes that increase the ability for a person to deal with stress and maintain their feelings of well-being.
Clifford Saron an associate research scientist at the University of California, Davis centre for Mind and Brain said "We have found that meditation promotes positive psychological changes and that meditators showing the greatest improvement on various psychological measures had the highest levels of telemerase". The research findings are not suggesting that meditation directly increases telomerase activity and therefore a persons health. But rather that mediation improves a person's psychological well-being and that these changes are connected to telomerase activity in immune cells, which then has the potential to endorse longevity in those cells. Activities that increase a person's sense of well-being will have a huge effect on the most primary aspects of their physiology.

To read the article in full visit: http://clinicallypsyched.com/meditation-positive-psychology-improved-cellular-health-research/

Intensive care diaries

2010-12-21T02:34:00.000-08:00

Intensive care patients are particularly vulnerable to one of the key risk factors for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); failing to fully process a traumatic experience, this is due to the sedation, sleep deprivation and delirium.

One in ten patients who are in intensive care for longer than 48 hours later develop PTSD according to a recent estimate. A new study has suggested that an effective way to reduce this risk could be through the use of a daily text and photo diary. This diary would be kept by the patients nurse and family. Christina Jones at the University of Liverpool and her colleagues recruited 352 intensive care patients. They were randomly allocated to receive the diary one month after discharge (a doctor or nurse explained its contents but not how to use it), or in the control group.

PTSD symptoms were recorded at the one month stage and two months, the controls also at this point received their diaries. The main findings were that 5% of patients in the diary group developed PTSD between one and three months after their discharge compared with 13% of patients in the control group. The comments of the patients were also very positive.

When compared with providing formal therapy to all patients struggling to cope with what they have experienced, diaries are likely to be cost-effective at the same time as being effective in helping intensive care patients. However two new studies by Dr Alex Mitchell, a consultant psycho oncologist at Leicestershire Partnership Trust, suggest that nurses involved with patient care struggle very often to detect depression in patients. Most receive very little training in mental health, therefore it may be unrealistic to expect nurses to remember complex criteria to enable them to detect depression and apply lengthy screening tools.

To read more this article can be found in The Psychologist, November 2010 issue. Vol 23 no 11.

Commitment to Psychological Therapies in the Spending Review 2010

2010-11-04T08:21:00.001-07:00

The Spending Review 2010 Presented to Parliament by the Chancellor of the Exchequer (see this link for full review) states that despite vast cuts across other departments the Department of Health settlement includes a commitment by the government to “expanding access to psychological therapies”. George Osborne speaking in the House of Commons stated “We will expand access to psychological therapies for the young, elderly and those with mental illness."

This commitment has been welcomed by many including Professor Peter Kinderman, a Clinical Psychologist and Member of the British Psychological Society; the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the mental health charities, Mind, Rethink and Young Minds, particularly because previous expansion of psychological therapies via the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies Programme, has focussed on working age adults with difficulties that could be classified as mild to moderate depression or anxiety.

At this stage no further information has been provided on the form this expansion will take, or the timescale for the changes, but the Spending Review highlights the Government’s position “that while it should continue to fund important services, it does not have to be the default provider. This stifles competition and innovation and crowds out civil society”. Therefore the Spending Review announces that to address this and create new opportunities for non-state providers “the Government will pay and tender for more services by results”. Again, at this stage, there is no further information about how results will be measured and therefore how services will tender for mental health or psychological therapies contracts, but this is likely to be an important time for innovation and development within the private sector.

Psychoanalysis: The Unconscious in Everyday Life

2010-10-14T06:34:00.001-07:00

A new exhibition entitled Psychoanalysis: The Unconscious in Everyday Life opened yesterday, 13th October 2010, at the Science Museum in London. The exhibition uses historical artefacts and contemporary artworks to explore the workings of the unconscious and its influence on everyday life. The exhibition is free and open until 2nd April 2011.

See www.sciencemuseum.org.uk for further information and the exhibition catalogue.

Psychology in the media - “Please don’t take our child”, Panorama, BBC

2010-09-07T03:15:00.001-07:00

On Monday 23^rd August 2010 the BBC broadcast a Panorama programme entitled “Please don’t take our child”. This programme portrayed the story of the Ward family, who had been investigated by police and social services when they were unable to explain serious injuries to their three month old son. After two years the family were cleared of causing non accidental injuries to their son and the programme focussed on the family’s fight to be able to speak openly about their case, including identifying the names of the expert medical witnesses who they believe made significant errors in their provision of evidence. A bill was passed in the final week of the last Parliament which rubber stamped the Ward ruling that paid expert witnesses could be identified.

As one of Psychology Associates’ expert witnesses in child and family cases I was interested to read the comments on the BBC blog following the programme. I wondered how the programme would influence the public’s perception of expert witnesses. However, very few respondents appeared to pick up on the key theme in the programme about changing the rules regarding identifying expert witnesses. Instead the majority of the comments were criticisms of the Local Authority, or narratives about the bloggers’ own experiences of being investigated by the Local Authority. There were in addition some comments which supported Social Workers and the necessity of investigating cases of unexplained injuries in children.

The Panorama programme, in reporting one family’s story, was explicitly one sided. I reflected (as did some of the BBC blog respondents) on the response of the media and the general public to cases where a family has been cleared, in comparison to cases where a family has been found guilty, or where a child has been harmed or killed. I wondered if there is a psychological task in relation to providing psychoeducation around managing the media and emotional response to issues which are hugely publicly important and emotive?

Psychology in the media - Be a better parent – and improve your child's mental health, The Guardian

2010-08-24T06:19:00.001-07:00

An article in the the Guardian newspaper on 24th August 2010 reports on a pilot project called “Empowering Parents, Empowering Communities”, in Southwark, South London, which offers courses on ‘Being a parent’ and provides training to parents who have completed the course who then wish to go on to become facilitators of the group in order to share their learning within their local community.

The Southwark Council website indicates that Empowering Parents, Empowering Communities is an 8 week course for parents and carers, of children aged two to 11 years old, to “learn practical communication skills for everyday life and develop their abilities to bring up confident, happy and co-operative children”.

The programme is funded as a two year outcome study and is being evaluated by Dr Crispin Day, Clinical Psychologist at the Centre for Parent and Child Support, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service Research Unit, at the Institute of Psychiatry. He is quoted in the Guardian as saying that “about half the children whose parents are on the course have difficulties which would be equivalent to a diagnosed disorder, but the parents who go to the group are reporting that their children are showing a significant reduction in the severity of their behaviour problems”.

The Guardian article lists some “lessons to learn from the course” which include thinking positively about yourself as a parent; thinking about your own experiences of being a child and trying to act from this awareness; being specific when praising and stating what you want your child to do, rather than what you do not want them to do; explaining your own behaviour and trying to understand your child’s motivation for behaving as they are; and using star charts to reward good behaviour and discourage bad behaviour.

Further findings should be published as the study continues.

Psychology in the media – Between Ourselves, Radio 4

2010-05-20T06:55:00.001-07:00

A recent Radio 4 programme “Between Ourselves” interviewed Clinical Psychologist Oliver James and Educational Psychologist Laverne Antrobus about parenting.

When asked what a child needs more than anything else Oliver James replied “all they really need is responsive, sensitive care from the same person” and Laverne Antrobus replied “a very reliable adult who is really prepared to think of them, and have their mind available to them”.

Oliver James said that he believes it is really important for one parent to stay with the child until three years of age. He said that parents can become focussed on parenting methods, whereas the needs of children under three are very simple. He said that the most difficult task as a parent is “actually getting your head into the right place”, and he recommends that for mothers especially, (because mothers still tend to be the primary caregivers), there are three things they need to consider in depth about themselves in order to be able to get into the right frame of mind to parent effectively. He said these are:

· their own childhood and how that impacts on how they behave as a parent

· the conflict between their identity as a mother and their identity as a worker

· their relationship with their partner and how that can be modified to the maximum advantage of each partner and the child/children

He suggested that it is important for mothers to make arrangements that really suit them and enable them to meet the needs of their under threes, or to employ another individual, such as a child minder, to fulfil this.

Laverne Antrobus agreed and said that in our consumer driven society some parents perceive children as “an accessory” to their lives, and this creates problems because parents may not be prepared for instances when the child inevitably does not fit in with their plans. She said that she is concerned that people do not seem to think seriously enough about having children before they become parents.

Oliver James described three trends in parenting in the Western world that have grown in the last ten years that he considers to be concerning. The first trend is day-care. He suggests that parents have been persuaded by the idea that children need stimulation and the company of other children, but there is no evidence for this, whereas there is a lot of evidence that what they need is the attention of one adult who is familiar to them. The second trend is ‘positive psychology’ which encourages the accentuation of the positive and the elimination of the negative. He said this again is not well supported by the evidence and in contrast attempting to boost children’s self esteem regardless of good or bad behaviour has been shown to encourage antisocial behaviour. The third trend is for strict behavioural routines, as taught by proponents of such things as the naughty step and time out. He gave a caveat that such strategies may be important where parental management of a child’s behaviour has completely broken down, as a first step to regaining some consistency.

Laverne Antrobus disagreed with this third point and said that she had used time out with her children because this would allow her some cooling off time if she felt an interaction with them had become difficult. Oliver James agreed that time out would be preferable to a parent losing their temper with their child.

When asked by the interviewer about “monster children” who assault or kill other children, Oliver James said that we know that extreme maltreatment in childhood produces such behaviour and it is nothing to do with their genes, so they should not be described as evil. Laverne Antrobus said that as a society it can be unbearable for us to accept our responsibility in allowing such extreme maltreatment to occur and that is why she thinks it is reported as it is in the media. Oliver James pointed to evidence that abuse in childhood affects brain development, and both interviewees raised their concern that there are some children for whom the abuse and maltreatment they have experienced has been so severe that no intervention is going to be able to repair this damage.

In conclusion Laverne Antrobus and Oliver James agreed that in ordinary circumstances ‘good enough’ parenting is sufficient, and what all parents should aim for, and the most important elements of this are love and empathy.

Therapy

2010-04-20T02:37:00.001-07:00

Psychological therapy, psychotherapy, talking therapy, psychoanalysis, cognitive behaviour therapy, counselling, there are lots of different words used to describe interventions which aim to help people with difficulties with how they are feeling psychologically or emotionally. So what do all these different terms mean and how do you work out which kind of intervention might work for you?

All these talking treatments share the understanding that the experiences you have in your life affect you and potentially those around you. Some focus on how your early or childhood experiences shape the way you see yourself, others and the world, and shape the ways you learn to cope with stress or upset, while others focus on how difficulties at any point in your life may cause you distress or disruption.

Counselling is a term often used in everyday language to describe any intervention where an individual talks to a professional about something that is troubling them. There are many different types of counselling. Counsellors are trained to listen to people with empathy and counselling is usually recommended to help an individual talk through their feelings about a specific, and usually recent, event, such as a bereavement, the end of a relationship, or being made redundant.

In comparison psychological therapy, also referred to as psychotherapy or therapy, has the aim of helping people not just to speak about events but to do so in a way that enables them to make changes in their behaviours, relationships, or feelings about themselves and the world.

Psychoanalysis is the oldest of the psychological therapies and was developed by Freud in the early part of the twentieth century, although a number of different schools of psychoanalysis have developed in the intervening years. One of the most important tenets of psychoanalysis is that we are affected not only by experiences in the external world, but also by experiences in our internal worlds - in the unconscious. Because of this, psychoanalysis, and the psychoanalytic and psychodynamic therapies that derive from it, aim to help individuals explore their internal worlds (or make elements of the unconscious conscious), in order that the effects can be understood and modified. Psychoanalysis and the psychoanalytic psychotherapies tend to be long term and intensive therapies, meaning people may have sessions twice or more a week, and over many months or years.

Most other therapies, draw on psychoanalysis to some extent and share the emphasis on exploring experience so that its effects can be understood and modified, but they may not share the emphasis on the unconscious. They may focus instead on the here-and-now of people’s experience in order to try to reduce the amount of therapy someone may need in order to make change. Perhaps the most well known of these therapies is cognitive behavioural therapy or CBT, which aims to help people to understand how their thoughts, feelings and behaviours connect to each other, in both helpful and unhelpful ways.

There are also a number of integrative therapies for example Cognitive Analytic Therapy which combines elements of cognitive behavioural and psychoanalytic models; and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy which combines elements of cognitive behavioural therapy and techniques of Buddhist meditation.

To make matters even more confusing some therapies are recommended for specific difficulties. This occurs particularly within the NHS, which is a huge organisation and has to attempt to make access to different treatments fair nationwide. There are some good reasons for this, but it can also be overly simplistic, and can lead to people being categorised in ways that they might find unhelpful. You may have heard of the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies or IAPT programme. This is a national government funded programme which aims to increase the amount of psychological therapy available on the NHS. This is a fantastic idea but unfortunately at the moment the funding is specifically directed towards people who fit into the categories of having mild to moderate depression and anxiety. In most parts of the country IAPT provides guided self help (which is when a worker meets a person, or speaks to them on the telephone and suggests either computer programmes or books that they can use to help them identify helpful or unhelpful patterns of thinking or behaviour), and one-to-one short term CBT.

Other therapies may be available via the NHS in your area – ask your GP or check your local NHS Trust website to find out more.

In order to see what therapies are available via Psychology Associates go to www.psychologyassociates.org.uk

What is Clinical/Counselling Psychology and what do Clinical/Counselling Psychologists do?

2010-03-23T05:24:00.001-07:00

Most people will have heard of, or seen a Clinical or Counselling Psychologist, these days they appear quite frequently on television programmes or in the newspapers, commenting on a range of human behaviours and dilemmas. So where has this fascination with psychology come from and what do Clinical and Counselling Psychologists do? Clinical Psychology and Counselling Psychology are professions which apply psychological knowledge and understanding, gained from research and observation, to real life problems. UK Registered Clinical and Counselling Psychologists have an undergraduate degree in Psychology and (if they trained in recent years) a doctorate in Clinical or Counselling Psychology. This qualifies them to work with all sorts of different groups of people: adults; children; people with mental or physical health problems; people who have committed crimes; people who have learning disabilities or brain injuries; to name just a few, to help them find psychological solutions to their difficulties in their life, their work, their relationships, their parenting.

Contemporary TV is full of reality shows, documentaries and docu-dramas, while contemporary non fiction is full of self-help and pop psychology. It appears that people’s interest in themselves and other people is at an all time high. Clinical and Counselling Psychology are disciplines that are called upon to share their understandings with the public via the media. This blog is an example of that. All blogs on the Psychology Spot will be added by Registered Clinical or Counselling Psychologists. So…check back regularly to see what’s new…

Psychology Associates new blog

2010-03-15T04:02:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the blog of Saltash based company Psychology Associates. This first post is from the web designers and developers, Tim & Jake of The Drawing Board. We hope the Psychology Spot will develop into an informative and fun read that those in the profession visit regularly.