Tavistock and Portman E-Prints Online
Not a member yet
2774 research outputs found
Sort by
Does psychoanalysis have a valuable place in modern mental health services? Yes
No full textPsychoanalysis is under greater attack than ever before. An unprecedented decommissioning of psychoanalytic services has taken place across the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (for example, Forest House NHS Psychotherapy Clinic), justified by cost savings. What are the reasons for this attack and what can be said in psychoanalysis’s defence?
It has been claimed, perhaps fairly, that psychoanalysis and psychodynamic psychotherapies have failed to promote a culture of systematic evaluation and that the outcomes are difficult to measure and demonstrate. Relative to the number of studies on the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy, few adequate studies are available of psychodynamic therapy outcomes. A growing body of studies, however, report that psychodynamic therapy is effective in the treatment of both mild and complex mental health problems
On the nature and standing of psychoanalytic psychotherapy
No full textIn this paper the author considers how the therapist might listen to the characters talked about by his or her patients. In psychoanalytic therapy the emphasis is on listening to the patient's characters as though they are located in psychic reality and as representatives of the transference relationship, whereas in interpersonal therapy (IPT) the patient's characters are taken as inhabiting the realm of external reality. It is argued that clinical thinking in IPT would be enhanced by taking more account of psychic reality, which will make clearer the quality of external reality in which the patient's characters are located. It is also argued that both therapies share an interest in enabling the patient to find characters which can serve as holograms of previously unexpressed affective experience
Chronic and recurrent depression in primary care: Socio-demographic features, morbidity, and costs
No full textBackground: Major depression is often chronic or recurrent and is usually treated within primary care. Little is known about the associated morbidity and costs. Objectives. To determine socio-demographic characteristics of people with chronic or recurrent depression in primary care and associated morbidity, service use, and costs. Method. 558 participants were recruited from 42 GP practices in the UK. All participants had a history of chronic major depression, recurrent major depression, or dysthymia. Participants completed questionnaires including the BDI-II, Work and Social Adjustment Scale, Euroquol, and Client Service Receipt Inventory documenting use of primary care, mental health, and other services. Results. The sample was characterised by high levels of depression, functional impairment, and high service use and costs. The majority (74%) had been treated with an antidepressant, while few had seen a counsellor (15%) or a psychologist (3%) in the preceding three months. The group with chronic major depression was most depressed and impaired with highest service use, whilst those with dysthymia were least depressed, impaired, and costly to support but still had high morbidity and associated costs. Conclusion. This is a patient group with very significant morbidity and high costs. Effective interventions to reduce both are required
Formen auf der schwelle: Meilensteine der entwicklung von kindern, die aus dem autismus auftauchen [Shapes on the threshold: Some milestones in the treatment of children emerging from autistic states]
No full text
How do teachers deal with uncertainty in relation to working with children with autism in the context of the introduction of a new technology tool?
No full textThis study is an exploration of how teachers deal with uncertainty in the classroom. The particular context of the European Commission funded HANDS project, which developed a mobile technology tool to help children with autism to develop social and life skills.
The first prototype of the HANDS tool, running on smartphones, was tested at four special schools across Europe in the 2009/10 academic year. The context of teachers working with children with autism combined with the introduction of a technology innovation is viewed as a fertile crucible for exploring teacher uncertainty. The concept of uncertainty is developed via an integration of Donald Schön‘s idea of reflection in action and Wilfred Bion‘s epistemology.
In tandem, a psycho-social interpretivist approach to understanding the teachers‘ work in the classroom, based on infant observation, is developed and applied to a detailed consideration of the work of five teachers at the UK school using HANDS.
Several areas of potential uncertainty are identified, including uncertainty relating to areas of practice including diagnosis, the relationship between expert knowledge and practice, the implications of autism for autonomy and agency, and uncertainties in relation to the understanding of and use of new technologies per se. Conclusions are drawn about teacher identifications to new technology, the potentially productive role of uncertainty in the intersubjective relationship between teacher and child, and the relevance of a psycho-social approach to considering professional thinking
