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What’s up with WhatsApp?
No full textGoing app? Dr Gabrielle Pendlebury reveals what doctors should know about using WhatsApp and similar computer applications used at work to communicate with colleagues
Compassion, sadism, words and song: Development and breakdown in the intensive psychotherapy of an adopted boy.
No full textThis paper describes the intensive psychotherapy of a late-adopted boy who had been severely traumatised in his first five years of life. In describing the progress and then deterioration of his mental state and his psychotherapy, I examine the development of his compassion for the vulnerable side of himself, as part of a battle between identification with the vulnerable and sadistic aspects of his internal world. I trace how this compassion was reflected in his concern for others in his external world and fantasised others in his play. I also describe the use of sound and rhythm in enabling him to experience sufficient containment in his psychotherapy for his deepest preoccupations to begin to emerge. In so doing, I examine literature on music and musicality, and seek to demonstrate the relevance of Suzanne Maiello’s advocacy of listening with a ‘musical ear’ to psychotherapy with looked-after and traumatised children, whose life ‘rhythms’ have been so catastrophically disrupted
Words in pain: Letters on life and death
No full textFirst published posthumously in 1919, Words in Pain represents the collected letters of Olga Jacoby - writer, thinker and rationalist. Writing to her Christian doctor as she endures the emotional highs and lows of terminal illness, she challenges his beliefs and celebrates the power of science, nature and love: "Science is turning on the light, but at every step forward dogmatic religion attempts to turn it out." Her children appear in vivid colour: "I was greatly amused by my boy explaining to me ... that even should I die they would not lose me, as they would take my skeleton to keep in a corner of their nursery." As heart-breaking as they are erudite, Jacoby's letters reveal a progressive attitude to child-rearing and adoption, as well as a passionate commitment to moral logic and social justice. They show her to be as strong of mind as she was increasingly weak in body, and a woman both of and ahead of her time. Praised by the Times Literary Supplement of 1919 for its "clear-eyed and exalted spirit", Words in Pain now appears in a new centenary edition, with extensive supplementary notes on its many literary and socio-historical references and an afterword contextualising Jacoby's extraordinary life and the controversial circumstances of her death
Bev Thomas on Woman's Hour. Discusses her debut novel 'A Good Enough Mother'. 12 April 2018, BBC Radio 4 [Starts at 25:00]
No full textBev Thomas is a clinical psychologist. She's written her debut novel 'A Good Enough Mother' about a trauma therapist who is trying to treat a patient who bears a striking resemblance to her own missing child. She joins Jenni to discuss
Cutting ties with Pro-Ana: A narrative inquiry concerning the experiences of Pro-Ana disengagement from six former site users
No full textWebsites advocating the benefits of eating disorders (“Pro-Ana”) tend to reinforce and maintain restrictive eating and purging behaviors. Yet remarkably, no study has explored individual accounts of disengagement from these sites and the associated meanings. Using narrative inquiry, this study sought to address this gap. From the interviews of six women, two overarching storylines emerged. The first closely tied disengagement to recovery with varying positions of personal agency claimed: this ranged from enforced and unwelcomed breaks that ignited change, to a personal choice that became viable through the development of alternative social and personal identities. A strong counternarrative to “disengagement as recovery” also emerged. Here, disengagement from Pro-Ana was storied alongside a need to retain an ED lifestyle. With “recovery” being just one reason for withdrawal from Pro-Ana sites, clinicians must remain curious about the meanings individuals ascribe to this act, without assuming it represents a step toward recovery
Breaks and sibling figures in child psychotherapy
No full textThis chapter focuses on an unexpected windfall of the investigation: the linking of breaks to hostile sibling figures in a child’s mind. It explores core themes in child psychotherapy with children who have suffered early abuse and neglect. The chapter investigates possible links between breaks in the time structure of therapy and such core themes. The chapter examines development of a transparent and systematic methodology for the psychoanalytic case study by application of a rigorous qualitative research method. A main finding of the study was a characteristic pattern of subjective core themes running as a red thread through all Samantha’s relationships, not only inside the therapy, but also in early infancy and her daily life concurrent to therapy. The specific pattern of core themes probably reflects the fact that Samantha early in her life had suffered severe neglect and maltreatment
A picture is worth a thousand words: The strengths and limitations of Genograms in educational psychology practice
Get PDFGenograms are a graphic representation of the composition and structure of a person’s family members, relationships, systemic patterns and influences over at least three generations (McGoldrick, Gerson & Petry, 2008). Genograms can include objective family information such as births and deaths, as well as subjective information such as relational dynamics and family patterns, and use symbols to represent these (McGoldrick et al., 2008). The genogram is a tool, which is frequently used in systemic family therapy and has been gaining popularity in other professional fields since 1985, including psychology professions (McGoldrick et al., 2008). Training in the use of genograms is now included as part of many educational psychology professional doctorate training courses. However, there is currently very little published research literature in relation to the use of genograms in educational psychology practice. This research was a small-scale, qualitative study, which sought to explore educational psychologists’ perceived strengths and limitations of using genograms in their practice. Seven semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather the views of educational psychologists working for a traded service in an inner-London borough. Nine key themes were inductively identified using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006), in relation to the perceived strengths and limitations of using genograms in educational psychology practice including: engaging clients and building rapport; accessibility; information gathering and assessment; case formulation; using the genogram as a therapeutic tool; specific areas of need; ethical considerations; knowledge, training and experience; and, systemic considerations in current educational psychology professional context. The research also identified that educational psychologists were using genograms across many areas of their practice including; consultation, assessment, interventions, supervision, multi- professional work and critical incident response. Implications for educational psychology practice are discussed and future directions for research are outline
Mothers accused and abused: Addressing complex psychological needs
No full textMothers Accused and Abused: Addressing Complex Psychological Needs brings together stories about mothers who are accused of harming, and in some cases killing, their children, children who subsequently harm or kill others and the challenges to professionals who work with them.
Contributors consider the deeply rooted cycles of neglect and abuse manifested in the childhoods of mothers, who only come to our attention when their extreme distress is expressed through their actions. By recognising the long-standing, unmet dependency needs of abused and neglected women, the book argues that longer term engagement can prevent a seemingly endless repetition of court hearings and imprisonment, and thereby address cycles of neglect.
With sections on mothers in prison and interventions following child care proceedings, Mothers Accused and Abused will be a valuable resource to those working in the criminal and civil justice systems, social work and mental health as well as others who, in a professional or personal capacity, encounter troubled mothers and their children
Staff accused and abused. Managing anxiety, pain and distress in systems of care
No full textThis chapter explores the difficulties staff teams encounter when working with deprived, disturbed and often dangerous patients or clients (the term used is determined by the setting). Much has been written about the impact of forensic patients on those who care for them within group settings while little attention has been paid to the impact on fieldwork staff and the impact of the political climate – the culture of blame.
The duty of care requires professionals to look after those deemed to be at risk and risky and to protect others, including their children from harm. This dual responsibility can place staff in a sandwich of persecutory anxiety in which they are also likely to experience depressive and existential anxieties. When a patient or client does something particularly alarming we worry about how to manage the immediate clinical situation, how to manage our managers and the external system and about our own abilities and our survival.
While some degree of anxiety may be helpful as a motivator, too much is anxiety causes us to split and inhibits our ability to think clearly, hence the management of anxiety is crucial to good practice. I will examine cause and the nature of anxiety and its impact, highlighting the necessity for containing spaces within the working week for reflection and exploration