Talking sh**! – are we doing enough?

This paper is a discursive piece on whether clinical psychologists and psychological practitioners are taking the time to consider bowel, urine and toileting issues sufficiently in their work. It draws on the disgust literature and the links to compassion in care giving. It seeks to explore experiences in direct therapy, in caregiver work, within teams and aims to encourage greater reflection on our relationships to these issues. The hope is to draw attention to the extraordinary work of those completing personal care tasks and the impact it has, with an attempt to position ourselves alongside people tolerating incontinence in order to grasp the psychological impact on self.