{"title":"Integrating neuroscience into counselling psychology: Exploring the views and experiences of UK-based counselling psychologists","authors":"David Goss","doi":"10.53841/bpscpr.2017.32.4.4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53841/bpscpr.2017.32.4.4","url":null,"abstract":"Background: The last few decades have seen neuroscience rapidly progress as a discipline. Development of research techniques such as neuroimaging have been utilised to increase an understanding of our species. Counselling psychologists are trained to combine the world of humanistic and phenomenological philosophies with an ability to understand and undertake psychological research, leading to interventions which are theoretically and subjectively informed. This work is undertaken through the reflexive and scientist-practitioner models which underpin the identity of the discipline. As such, counselling psychologists would seem ideally placed to integrate neuroscience into their work, utilising their reflective and scientist practitioner identities to both utilise and add to neuroscience research, helping to increase the understanding and efficacy of interventions for our species’ mental health. However, it appears to be unknown as to whether this is something that counselling psychologists want, particularly in the UK. Aims and Method: The aim of this research was to explore UK based counselling psychologists’ views and experiences of integrating neuroscience into their work. An interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) was undertaken. Six participants were recruited into three different groups of interest/understanding in integrating neuroscience into counselling psychology. One hour semi-structured interviews were carried out with each participant to explore their views and experiences relating to the paradigm. Findings and Discussion: Six master themes emerged from the analysis; ‘The Dangers of neuroscience’, ‘Defining neuroscience’, ‘There are ways that neuroscience can help us’, ‘Methods of learning and the need for training’, ‘Integration: The opposition and the need – finding the balance’, and ‘My practitioner identity’. The themes presented various advantages, dangers and challenges to integration, some of which aligned with existing literature and some of which presented new thoughts and feelings on the paradigm. Conclusion: The six master themes highlighted that participants indicated an overall view that UK counselling psychologists are currently integrating neuroscience into their work, utilising neuroscience theory as a way to develop their understanding of clients, as well as to communicate with clients and multi-disciplinary colleagues. Participants provided a number of experiential advantages of integration and indicated that they want to integrate even more with neuroscience, incorporating neuroscience into doctorate and CPD training, though they acknowledged the importance of balanced integration.","PeriodicalId":36758,"journal":{"name":"Counselling Psychology Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42329251","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A thematic analysis of the experience of person-centred counselling for clients with multiple sclerosis: A pilot study","authors":"R. Lynass, Ewan Gillon","doi":"10.53841/bpscpr.2017.32.4.49","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53841/bpscpr.2017.32.4.49","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":36758,"journal":{"name":"Counselling Psychology Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45655741","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Book Review: Surviving Brain Damage After Assault – From Vegetative State to Meaningful Life","authors":"B. Wilson, S. Dhamapurkar, Anita Rose","doi":"10.53841/bpscpr.2017.32.4.78","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53841/bpscpr.2017.32.4.78","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":36758,"journal":{"name":"Counselling Psychology Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41848898","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Implications of providing psychotherapy to people with neurological conditions: An existential phenomenological investigation","authors":"J. Ashworth","doi":"10.53841/bpscpr.2017.32.4.70","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53841/bpscpr.2017.32.4.70","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":36758,"journal":{"name":"Counselling Psychology Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43214401","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The impact of in-session weighing in eating disorder services on the therapeutic relationship: A flexible, transparent and reflective approach","authors":"Charlotte Whiteley","doi":"10.53841/bpscpr.2017.32.3.39","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53841/bpscpr.2017.32.3.39","url":null,"abstract":"Enhanced cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT-E) is the most widely researched therapeutic modality recommended by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidelines for the treatment of eating disorders. According to CBT-E, in-session weighing, that is, weighing the client each week during therapy sessions, should be a ‘non-negotiable’ therapeutic intervention. Despite research supporting CBT-E, there is no research that supports in-session weighing as a ‘non-negotiable’ aspect of therapy. Furthermore, CBT-E posits that behavioural change precedes the therapeutic relationship, which is problematic for counselling psychologists who posit that an empathic, safe and trusting therapeutic relationship are key ingredients to therapeutic change. This paper critically reviews the ways in which ‘in-session weighing’ can impact on the therapeutic relationship.Searches were made for literature pertaining to in-session weighing; protocolled treatment for eating disorders; ethics in eating disorder treatment and the impact of non-negotiable therapeutic interventions on patients with an eating disorder diagnosis. Qualitative, quantitative and theoretical papers were included in the review.Based on the literature, this paper argues that in-session weighing, if carried out in an entirely protocolled-driven way, risks overlooking the therapeutic relationship and the individual differences of the clients we meet. However, the paper suggests that CBT-E can be synthesised with counselling psychology’s relational ethos by adopting a flexible, transparent and reflective use of in-session weighing.Such an approach takes into account the clinician’s own values and biases, the context of the client, the presenting difficulties and the clinic setting. Such an approach lends itself to the holistic underpinning of counselling psychology.","PeriodicalId":36758,"journal":{"name":"Counselling Psychology Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48170015","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Recovery Focused Care Transfer (ReFleCT) pathway: Fostering optimism and hope with clients prior to their discharge from secondary care","authors":"Coleen Mercer-Quinn, Hayley Wright","doi":"10.53841/bpscpr.2017.32.3.4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53841/bpscpr.2017.32.3.4","url":null,"abstract":"Recovery focused care in mental health services is now part of NHS England’s plan to personalise care that empowers service users to sustain a meaningful life. This service evaluation validates how service users with systemic dependency and enduring mental health problems (N = 10) experience the shift from clinical recovery to personal recovery on completion of a Recovery Focused Care Transfer pathway (ReFleCT) which was led by a senior counselling psychologist and a member of the multidisciplinary team (MDT). A mixed model design was adopted and quantitative results using a Paired t-test demonstrated significantly higher post-discharge QPR (process of recovery questionnaire) scores (t (6) = –2.931, p=. 026) for all service users attending the ReFleCT programme indicative of recovery, where 87 per cent of items showed improvements. Staff questionnaire responses also validated the benefit of the programme in terms of service user involvement, compassion, risk to resilience and support of others. Qualitative feedback from staff, service users, their families, carers and external agencies did confirm that post attendance on the programme offered sustained improvements.This pathway proved a valuable resource in the current economic climate with promising results which highlight its strengths prior to/at the point of and post-discharge. Participants with a mean average of ten years in secondary care became empowered in their shift from dependent to independent care in a client led timely, responsive and informed manner.","PeriodicalId":36758,"journal":{"name":"Counselling Psychology Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49383720","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A journey through the ‘rational mind’ and the ‘paradoxical logic of the unconscious’: Implications for treatment guidelines","authors":"A. Cucchi","doi":"10.53841/bpscpr.2017.32.3.47","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53841/bpscpr.2017.32.3.47","url":null,"abstract":"Current political and economic trends in psychology push for an evidence-based practice whereby interventions are chosen on the basis of relevant research findings. Although valuable and effective, the efficacy and the ecological validity of evidence-based interventions has often been questioned, as it can be argued that human beings are too complex presentations to be captured by the restraints of clinical trials only. In addition, the dangers of pressurising psychology services to strictly adhere to manualised guidelines means that specialist’s skills might be obscured. This paper and the case-study presented in it position itself in the midst of this debate by highlighting how clinical intuition and idiosyncratic formulations can be integrated and enrich research based practice. In addition, this paper also highlights how these fluid specialist skills are crucial to the vitality of the field and to the identity of counselling psychologists. This urge for a wider definition of what constitutes ‘evidence base’ when working with such complex presentations as human beings.","PeriodicalId":36758,"journal":{"name":"Counselling Psychology Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41878296","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
M. E. Hughes, Malcolm Bass, M. Bradley, Sarah Hirst-Winthrop
{"title":"A qualitative exploration of the experience of community mental health clinicians working with people with borderline personality disorder in the context of high risk of suicide or self-harm","authors":"M. E. Hughes, Malcolm Bass, M. Bradley, Sarah Hirst-Winthrop","doi":"10.53841/bpscpr.2017.32.3.14","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53841/bpscpr.2017.32.3.14","url":null,"abstract":"Working with people with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is often viewed as challenging, especially when there is a high risk of suicide or self-harm. This study aimed to provide insight into the lived experience of clinicians working with these service users within community mental health teams.Unstructured interviews were conducted with four participants from two multidisciplinary teams within the same NHS trust. Transcripts were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.Three superordinate themes were identified. (1) All participants emphasised the stressful nature of their role, describing its emotional impact and contributory factors, including organisational and relational issues. (2) Coping strategies were evident, which may not always have been within the participants’ awareness. (3) The task of balancing seemingly opposing possibilities was identified, paralleling the need for people with BPD to resolve dichotomous thinking.There is a role for counselling psychologists in helping clinicians working within multidisciplinary teams to develop a deeper understanding of their responses through training and supervision. This could in turn enhance the care provided.","PeriodicalId":36758,"journal":{"name":"Counselling Psychology Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43023423","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Punjabi Depression Inventory: A culturally sensitive measure for Punjabi-speaking migrants residing in the UK","authors":"R. Bhogal","doi":"10.15123/PUB.6338","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15123/PUB.6338","url":null,"abstract":"There is a lack of empirical research investigating the impact of culture on depressive symptoms within Punjabi-speaking individuals who reside in the UK, but originally migrated here from India. This study aims to develop and validate a new cultural measure of depression known as the Punjabi Depression Inventory (PDI). Therefore, the PDI is intrinsically linked to the Punjabi culture and language. The PDI is used to detect depression in Punjabi-speaking individuals which may be triggered as a result of their cultural experiences.In developing the new PDI measure, 191 participants were recruited to complete the questionnaire, which was analysed using Principle Components Analysis (PCA).Four subscales emerged from this data reduction analysis: (i) deflated; (ii) somatic; (iii) religion; and (iv) crying. On the whole, the early developments of the PDI demonstrated good factor structure and internal consistency for each of the four subscales.The PDI could possibly be used as an aid to provide training to help mental health professionals and to enhance their cultural knowledge of working with this class of individuals. Furthermore, the emerging PDI measure may introduce an interesting new scope for mental health professionals to broaden their methods of assessment, formulation and treatment plans. This includes the introduction of a new cultural assessment which can be utilised to identify, and specifically target, cultural depression experienced by such a cohort.","PeriodicalId":36758,"journal":{"name":"Counselling Psychology Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45099025","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}