Psychoanalyst Elizabeth Meakins uses her popular columns from The Independent to explore the therapeutic process. Successful analysis, she argues, is less about following pre-formulated theory and ...more about being led by the experience of what is actually happening.
The number of disability related support services controlled and run by disabled people themselves has increased significantly in the UK and internationally over the past forty years. As a result, ...greater user involvement in service provision and delivery is a key priority for many western Governments. This book provides the first comprehensive review and analysis of these developments in the UK.
Drawing on evidence from a range of sources, including material from the first national study of user-controlled services, this book provides a critical evaluation of the development and organisation of user-controlled services in the UK and identifies the principal forces - economic, political and cultural - that influence and inhibit their further development. It summarises and discusses the policy implications for the future development of services and includes an up-to-date and comprehensive literature and research review.
"Independent futures" is essential reading for academics and students on a range of courses including: health and social care; social work; allied health professions, such as nursing, occupational therapy and speech therapy; social policy; sociology; and psychology. It will also be of interest to practitioners and policy makers who need a reliable overview of current policy and critical analysis of key issues affecting future policy and practice.
Self-Insight Dunning, David
2005, 20121012, 2005-02-17, 2012-10-12
eBook
People base thousands of choices across a lifetime on the views they hold of their skill and moral character, yet a growing body of research in psychology shows that such self-views are often ...misguided or misinformed. Anyone who has dealt with others in the classroom, in the workplace, in the medical office, or on the therapist's couch has probably experienced people whose opinions of themselves depart from the objectively possible.
This book outlines some of the common errors that people make when they evaluate themselves. It also describes the many psychological barriers - some that people build by their own hand - that prevent individuals from achieving self-insight about their ability and character.
The first section of the book focuses on mistaken views of competence, and explores why people often remain blissfully unaware of their incompetence and personality flaws. The second section focuses on faulty views of character, and explores why people tend to perceive they are more unique and special than they really are, why people tend to possess inflated opinions of their moral fiber that are not matched by their deeds, and why people fail to anticipate the impact that emotions have on their choices and actions.
The book will be of great interest to students and researchers in social, personality, and cognitive psychology, but, through the accessibility of its writing style, it will also appeal to those outside of academic psychology with an interest in the psychological processes that lead to our self-insight.
Objective
Self‐help interventions have been demonstrated to be effective in treating bulimic‐type eating disorders (EDs). In particular, computer‐based interventions have received increasing ...attention due to their potential to reach a wider population. This systematic review aimed to synthesize findings from qualitative studies on users' experiences of self‐help interventions for EDs and to develop an exploratory framework.
Method
A systematic review and meta‐synthesis on seven peer‐reviewed qualitative studies on structured computer and book‐based self‐help interventions for EDs was conducted using Noblit and Hare's (1988) 7‐phase meta‐ethnography. Four of the selected studies investigated computer‐based self‐help programs, and three of the studies investigated book‐based guided self‐help programs.
Results
Six concepts were synthesized. They included intervention‐related factors (anonymity and privacy; accessibility and flexibility; guidance) and user‐related factors (agency/autonomy; self‐motivation; and expectations/attitudes). The study revealed the “machine‐like” and relational properties of the computer; the expansion of treatment time and space in psychological interventions, the changing role of the medical health professional from a “therapist” to a “guide,” and a change from understanding interventions as a conclusive treatment plan to a starting point or stepping stone toward recovery.
Discussion
Computer‐based self‐help interventions should take advantage of the “machine‐like” properties of a computer (neutrality, availability, etc.) as well as its ability to facilitate human interactions. Users should also be facilitated to have a realistic understanding of the purpose of self‐help interventions and the place of self‐help interventions in their broader treatment plans to moderate expectations and attitudes.
Resumen
Objetivo
Las intervenciones de auto‐ayuda han demostrado ser efectivas para tratar trastornos de la conducta alimentaria (TCA) tipo bulímico. En particular, las intervenciones basadas en computadora han recibido una creciente atención debido al potencial de poder alcanzar una población más amplia. Esta revisión sistemática tuvo como objetivo el sintetizar los hallazgos de los estudios cualitativos de las experiencias de usuarios de intervenciones de auto‐ayuda para TCAs y para desarrollar un marco exploratorio.
Método
Se realize una revisión sistemática y meta‐síntesis de siete artículos de estudios cualitativos revisados por pares sobre intervenciones estructuradas de auto‐ayuda basadas en libro y en computadora para los TCAs utilizando la meta‐etnografía de 7 fases de Noblit y Hare (1988).
Cuatro de los estudios seleccionados investigaron programas de autoayuda basados en computadora, y tres de los estudios investigaron programas de autoayuda guiados basados en libros.
Resultados
Se sintetizaron seis conceptos. Incluían factores relacionados con la intervención (anonimato y privacidad; accesibilidad y flexibilidad; orientación) y factores relacionados con el usuario (agencia/autonomía; auto‐motivación; y expectativas/actitudes). El estudio reveló que la computadora poseía propiedades “similares a una máquina” y propiedades relacionales; la expansión del tiempo y el espacio de tratamiento en las intervenciones psicológicas, el rol cambiante del profesional médico de un “terapeuta” a un “guía”, y un cambio de la comprensión de las intervenciones como un plan de tratamiento concluyente a un punto de partida o paso hacia la recuperación.
Discusión
Las intervenciones de autoayuda basadas en computadora deben aprovechar las propiedades “similares a una máquina” de una computadora (neutralidad, disponibilidad, etc.) así como su capacidad para facilitar las interacciones humanas. Los usuarios también deben ser facilitados para tener una comprensión realista del propósito de las intervenciones de autoayuda y el lugar de las intervenciones de autoayuda en sus planes de tratamiento más amplios para moderar las expectativas y las actitudes.
Intimate partner violence (IPV) survivors often do not seek critically needed help. A good understanding of the relationship between the pattern of violence and help-seeking is critical to developing ...adequate services for the survivors, as well as for reaching out to those who do not seek help. This study used the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey to examine how IPV survivor’s help-seeking varies, depending on the characteristics of the survivors and the pattern of victimization. Logistic regression analyses were conducted, with the survivors’ help-seeking and use of formal or informal help as the dependent variables. The study results show that women are the primary victims of IPV, that the pattern of victimization is associated with both whether survivors seek help or not, and which help sources they utilize, if any. IPV consequences are also associated with survivors’ help-seeking, as are demographic factors such as age, gender, race, and immigration status.
Abstract The study explores adolescents' attitudes toward seeking help for emotional problems. The personal service gap is examined by asking adolescents about their willingness to refer themselves ...and others to formal (psychologists) and informal (friends) help sources, using a within-subjects design. The study included 662 Israeli adolescents in the 10th and 12th grades. The results indicate that adolescents refer peers more than themselves to a psychologist and to a friend. They are also more willing to refer themselves and peers to a friend rather than to a psychologist. Barriers to seeking psychological help are explored and significant correlations between perceptions of psychological benefit, problem severity and barriers to help seeking are described. Recommendations for increasing adolescents' awareness and use of help sources are suggested.
Objective
There is some evidence that men and women deal with stress in different ways; for example, a meta‐analysis found that women prefer to focus on emotions as a coping strategy more than men ...do. However, sex differences in preferences for therapy is a subject little explored.
Design
A cross‐sectional online survey.
Method
Participants (115 men and 232 women) were recruited via relevant websites and social media. The survey described therapies and asked participants how much they liked each. Their coping strategies and help‐seeking behaviour were assessed too.
Results
Survey data were analysed using multiple linear regression. After familywise adjustment of the alpha for multiple testing to p < .0125, and controlling for other relevant variables, men liked support groups more than women did (β = −.163, p < .010), used sex or pornography to cope with stress more than women did (ExpB = .280, p < .0002), and thought that there is a lack of male‐friendly options more than women did (ExpB = .264, p < .002). The majority of participants expressed no preference for the sex of their therapist, but of those who did, men were only slightly more likely to prefer a female therapist whereas women were much more likely to prefer females (p < .0004). Even after familywise adjustment, there were still more significant findings than would be expected by chance (p < .001, two‐tailed).
Conclusions
Although there are many similarities in the preferences of men and women regarding therapy, our findings support the hypothesis that men and women show statistically significant differences of relevance to clinical psychologists.
Practitioner points
Men are less inclined than women to seek help for psychological issues
This study demonstrates that men and women show significant differences in some aspects of therapy, coping behaviour, and help‐seeking
It is possible that men would be more inclined to seek help if therapies catered more for men's preferences
Practitioners can learn to improve the success of their practice by taking the gender of clients into account
Aging as a passage of discovery and engagement From bestselling author Parker J. Palmer comes a brave and beautiful book for all who want to age reflectively, seeking new insights and life-giving ...ways to engage in the world. “Age itself,” he says, “is no excuse to wade in the shallows. It's a reason to dive deep and take creative risks.” Looking back on eight decades of life—and on his work as a writer, teacher, and activist—Palmer explores what he's learning about self and world, inviting readers to explore their own experience. In prose and poetry—and three downloadable songs written for the book by the gifted Carrie Newcomer—he meditates on the meanings of life, past, present, and future. “The laws of nature that dictate sundown dictate our demise. But how we travel the arc toward the sunset of our lives is ours to choose: will it be denial, defiance, or collaboration?” With compassion and chutzpah, gravitas and levity, Palmer writes about cultivating a vital inner and outer life, finding meaning in suffering and joy, and forming friendships across the generations that bring new life to young and old alike.
Background
Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a world‐wide recovery mutual‐help organization that continues to arouse controversy. In large part, concerns persist because of AA's ostensibly ...quasi‐religious/spiritual orientation and emphasis. In 1990 the United States’ Institute of Medicine called for more studies on AA's effectiveness and its mechanisms of behavior change (MOBC) stimulating a flurry of federally funded research. This paper reviews the religious/spiritual origins of AA and its program and contrasts its theory with findings from this latest research.
Method
Literature review, summary and synthesis of studies examining AA's MOBC.
Results
While AA's original main text (‘the Big Book’, 1939) purports that recovery is achieved through quasi‐religious/spiritual means (‘spiritual awakening’), findings from studies on MOBC suggest this may be true only for a minority of participants with high addiction severity. AA's beneficial effects seem to be carried predominantly by social, cognitive and affective mechanisms. These mechanisms are more aligned with the experiences reported by AA's own larger and more diverse membership as detailed in its later social, cognitive and behaviorally oriented publications (e.g. Living Sober, 1975) written when AA membership numbered more than a million men and women.
Conclusions
Alcoholics Anonymous appears to be an effective clinical and public health ally that aids addiction recovery through its ability to mobilize therapeutic mechanisms similar to those mobilized in formal treatment, but is able to do this for free over the long term in the communities in which people live.
This study examined self‐stigma of seeking psychological help and mental health literacy as predictors of college students’ (N = 1,535) help‐seeking attitudes, with additional attention to ...psychological and demographic correlates. Results indicated that mental health literacy predicted help‐seeking attitudes above and beyond self‐stigma. Asian American race/ethnicity, male gender, current psychological distress, and help‐seeking history were also significant predictors. Implications for addressing mental health literacy and self‐stigma while attending to demographic and psychological variations in help seeking are discussed.
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