2021

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Processing pain whilst pushing for progress, back of the queue and frontline. CBT for African & Caribbean communities.

The December BABCP Article of the Month is from the Cognitive Behaviour Therapist and is entitled “Frontline yet at the back of the queue – improving access and adaptations to CBT for Black African and Caribbean communities” by Leila Lawton, Melissa McRae and Lorraine Gordon The thirst for us to write this paper extends beyond our professional roles having witnessed (and continuing to witness)  the devastating consequences of poor mental health within our Black African and Caribbean families and communities. The…

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Why Leaders Fail: Criteria for Evaluating Prospective Organizational Leaders that Likely Will Not Show Up in an Ad, Job Description, Resume, Cover Letter, or Interview Protocol

Leadership search and selection processes typically focus on positive experiences and accomplishments and on positive leadership dispositions. And yet, when leaders fail, it is usually because of negative behavior patterns that are associated with specific social, emotional and motivational deficits.

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Survivor guilt: A cognitive approach

The November BABCP Article of the Month is from the Cognitive Behaviour Therapist (tCBT) and is entitled “Survivor guilt: a cognitive approach” by Hannah Murray, Yasmin Pethania and Evelina Medin The first client I saw with survivor guilt was a military veteran who had swapped patrols with a fellow soldier, only for his friend to be killed in an explosion.…

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Socratic questioning put into clinical practice | Socratic dialogue in CBT

Socratic questioning is a core communication skill in the process and delivery of cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT). The mastery of this clinical skill requires enduring training, practice and supervision, which are intrinsically linked to therapists’ competence development and personal growth. Surprisingly, there are few practical and theoretical resources to assist clinicians’ and psychotherapy trainees’ learning, and little research has been conducted on the process and mechanisms of change underlying the use of Socratic questioning in CBT.

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“I don’t need to worry about anybody else and what they’re thinking… I’m not as paranoid”: Using compassionate imagery to overcome paranoia.

The October BABCP Article of the Month is from Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy (BCP) and is entitled “A compassionate imagery intervention for patients with persecutory delusions” by Ava Forkert, Poppy Brown, Daniel Freeman and Felicity Waite “I don’t feel quite so threatened as I did.…

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To Zoom or not to Zoom?

One thing is certain. Life will never be the same again after this devastating pandemic caused by Covid19. But in this new norm, not all is bad. Certainly, clinical psychiatry and the interaction of psychiatrists with patients and with colleagues has become significantly better despite the challenges of digital exclusion and digital poverty. For once there is real choice, for patients as well as for psychiatrists. A parallel pandemic of digital psychiatry has imploded across the globe, and so virtual consultations have become a reality

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Good news, everyone: Women feel more attractive before ovulation

Evolution has shaped women’s ovulatory cycles to be characterised by complex recurring physiological processes of changing hormones and organ tissue. However, these changes often bring about unwanted aspects – be it premenstrual symptoms such as mood swings, feeling bloated or anxious, menstrual pain, or – still way too often – menstrual shame.…

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Nature and Human Health

The RCPsych Article of the Month for August is ‘The need for biodiversity champions in psychiatry: the entwined crises of climate change and ecological collapse‘ and the blog is written by author Dr Jacob Krzanowski published in BJPsych Bulletin Scientists have shown that through the cumulative effects of habitat loss, climate change, and pollution, life on Earth is crossing into the sixth mass extinction event.…

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Mental Health and Children with Intellectual Disability: A Quadruple Inequality

Fortunately, we have moved on from a time when individuals with intellectual disability may have been considered incapable of experiencing mental health problems. However, in the context of current talk about mental health crises, the mental health of children and young people with intellectual disability is perhaps the biggest crisis of them all. Children with intellectual disability face a quadruple inequality in relation to their mental health.

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The barriers, benefits and training needs of clinicians delivering psychological therapy via video.

The May BABCP Article of the Month is from Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy and is entitled “The barriers, benefits and training needs of clinicians delivering psychological therapy via video” by Joshua Buckman, Rob Saunders, Judy Leibowitz and Rebecca Minton As lockdowns were announced in response to COVID-19, services had to radically change how psychological treatment was provided, moving from face-to-face to remote delivery.…

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Insights from Hikikomori (prolonged social withdrawal) for global psychiatry

Hikikomori is a Japanese term that refers to extreme social isolation. First introduced to the medical community by psychiatrist Tamaki Saito in a bestselling book in 1998, the condition has since seen much interest. In Japan, prevalence studies estimating it to occur in 1.2% of 20-49yr olds seemed to confirm anecdotal concerns from many parents worried about whether their children might suffer from the condition and attracted government attention.

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Can we improve outcomes for teenagers with social anxiety disorder treated in NHS CAMHS services?

The April BABCP Article of the Month is from Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy and is entitled “Delivering cognitive therapy for adolescent social anxiety disorder in NHS CAMHS: a clinical and cost analysis” by Eleanor Leigh, Cathy Creswell, Paul Stallard, Polly Waite, Mara Violato, Samantha Pearcey, Emma Brooks, Lucy Taylor, Emma Warnock-Parkes and David M.…

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“Talking is hard but not harder than the experience itself”: unaccompanied minors’ experience of narrative exposure therapy

The March 2021 British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) Article of the Month is from the Cognitive Behaviour Therapist and is entitled “Unaccompanied minors’ experiences of narrative exposure therapy” by Glorianne Said, Yaman Alqadri and Dorothy King We are aware that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a difficulty many unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors (UAM) experience (Fazel, Reed, Panter-Brick, & Stein, 2012; Huemer et al.,…

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Gender in Childhood Goes Beyond Pink or Blue

When people think about gender in children, the focus is often around differences between girls and boys. But most modern research on gender development highlights how this focus overlooks two important themes: boys and girls, at the group level, are much more similar to one another than they are different, and there is so much variation within gender groups that those comparisons are flawed to begin with.…

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Child Welfare, Protection, and Justice

I immensely enjoyed writing this booklet on universal conceptualisation of child welfare, protection, and justice. I am sure that the reader of this Element will find the conceptualisation very refreshing, no matter which part of the world he or she belongs to.…

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Looking at Pictures

The RCPsych Article of the Month for February is: ‘Mad agency’, reflections on Goya’s ‘The Madhouse’ by Jennifer Radden published in BJPsych Bulletin.

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Repairing the soul: Cognitive Therapy for Moral Injury after Trauma

The February BABCP Article of the Month is from the Cognitive Behaviour Therapist and is entitled “Cognitive Therapy for Moral Injury in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder” by Hannah Murray and Anke Ehlers Media images of healthcare professionals overwhelmed and exhausted by a relentless torrent of seriously ill and dying patients have filled our screens over recent weeks.…

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Rix’s Expert Psychiatric Evidence

This week at London’s Central Criminal Court, or the Old Bailey as it is known, I was asked by another expert why the judges all wear black robes instead of the colourful dress of other circuit judges and why they are addressed as ‘My Lord’ or ‘My Lady’ instead of ‘Your Honour’.…

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Preventing harm related to CBT supervision

The January 2021 British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) Article of the Month is from the Cognitive Behaviour Therapist and is entitled “Preventing harm related to CBT supervision: a theoretical review and preliminary framework” by Derek Milne Reflecting on this review paper, I feel like making a confession.…

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