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To celebrate International Women’s Day, I want to focus on the myth in society that feminists are men-hating individuals. I flat out hate it whenever this myth pops up because feminists do not hate men in the slightest and it is often misogynistic men using the idea of misandry as a just cause to threaten and insult women that pelt this myth. Therefore, in this social psychology podcast episode, you’ll learn what is feminism, why feminists do not hate men and why sexist men push this awful and anti-feminist myth. If you enjoy learning about social psychology, social activism and more then this will be a great episode for you. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Social Psychology: A Guide To Social And Cultural Psychology . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. What is Feminism? Feminism is the strongly held belief that the patriarchy harms everyone, including men, and this is why I have always supported feminism. Feminism just means the equality between genders, so no one is better than the other regardless of your gender. As well as certain genders do not have a higher status than other genders. Also, feminists believe that everyone will benefit from the liberation from the patriarchy and the sexist oppression that it supports. Unfortunately, by some people, feminists are simply seen as little more than men-hating misandrists as well as extremists. What is Misandry? In case you’re brand-new to what misandry is, like I was up until last year, misandry refers to the discrimination, prejudice and hatred aimed at men that is rooted exclusively in their gender. Therefore, people who don’t like feminism and this includes men and women, believe that feminists are simply misandrists who only want to divide the world and create “gender wars” so they can further their agenda. Unfortunately, Hamel et al. (2016) and Barraso (2020) shows that almost 50% of men and women in the United States see feminism as an ideology that unfairly punishes men for women’s issues. Moreover, there is some debate about the existence of misandry, and even if it does, whether this is a positive or negative. Some feminists believe that anger as well as outrage towards men is useful because it helps keep pressure on the throat of the oppressive systems that stops women from being free of the patriarchy as supported by Morgan (2014) and Agostini and van Zomeren (2021). Whereas other feminists believe that misandry is a mechanism that is against the ethics of the feminism movement, because misandry makes it more difficult to invite and include allies in their work fighting the injustice that women face (Hooks, 2000). Personally, I am firmly in the second camp, I do not support misandry because no one should face discrimination, prejudice or hate because of their gender. For me and so many others, the entire point of feminism is that all genders are equal and no one faces discrimination and hate. Using misandry and men’s gender against them as a weapon is flat out wrong. Why Does The Myth of Feminists As Misandrists Matter? The recent why public perceptions about feminists as misandrists matter is because it has very stark real-world implications. For example, so-called Men’s Rights Activists are increasing in number because they name feminists as their oppressors (Pry and Valiente, 2013). As well as in the final year of my undergraduate degree, I had a lecture on incels and extremist misogyny and one of the reasons why these men want to kill, beat and rape women is because they believe women are a threat to male rights. Therefore, this has led many so-called Men’s Rights Activists to only increase their hate towards feminists in recent years. These men use digital and physical forms of violence to hurt, threaten and attack feminists. These men see it as a natural consequence of feminists’ men-hating behaviour (Beale et al., 2019; Diaz and Valji, 2019). Let’s see if there’s any truth behind this myth after all. Why Is Feminism As Misandry A Myth? My supervisor is actually part of the main study for this podcast episode, which is exciting. As a result, a study by Hopkins et al. (2024) found that misandry as a trait of feminism is a myth because they conducted 6 studies and recruited over 10,000 participants to study the traits of feminists and misandrists. Their first finding was that feminist women generally speaking did not hold any harsher opinions against men than non-feminist women or other men. As well as feminists tend to perceive men as fundamentally similar to women and the differences we see between men and women are actually a result of the patriarchy than the core difference in our nature. Therefore, men are not the issue in themselves, the issue is with the patriarchy and the sexist oppression that it supports. Moreover, feminists actually hold men in positive regard but this regard is moderated by how threatening or safe a man is perceived to be. Also, when it comes to what men think of misandry, feminist women in the study weren’t significantly more hostile towards men than non-feminist women, but feminist women were less benevolent towards men. This suggests that although feminists don’t hold hostile beliefs and attitudes towards men, feminists are less likely than non-feminists to coddle to men, to practice humility when correcting them or give them a pass for their intentional harms. Overall, this study shows that the reasons so-called Men's Rights Activists believe feminists to be misandrists is because of their refusal to capitulate to men and men see this refusal as a sign of misandry and hostility towards them. This is not an accurate interpretation of this refusal. Why Do Some Men View Feminists As Misandrists? The last section covered why feminists being misandrists is a myth. As a result of whilst it is true that some feminist women do identify as misandrists, it is important to note that these are a tiny minority and are not the norm amongst feminists. If there are anti-feminists who cannot understand that difference then it is the same as men who apply the “not all men” argument to every single discussion without fail about men’s harm towards women. Moreover, Downing and Rousch (1985) is part of a small evidence base suggesting that women become more likely to identify as misandrists after realising their own oppression. Then over time as the woman becomes more aware of the systems that underpin sexist oppression and sexism in the patriarchy, they start to disengage from hatred towards men and engaging with hating and wanting to challenge the system itself. This has led people to argue that if misandry exists at all then it appears to be a belief system that is short-lived in only a small number of feminists. On the other hand, when it comes to men who view feminists as misandrists then they might never ever be convinced otherwise. Due to these men see misandry as a “good” excuse or reason to threaten and abuse women. Yet it is critical that even though it is hard to convince these men otherwise, that we keep trying because this is about keeping women safe. It is critical all of us continue and realise that we need to fight the system because feminists have realised that it is better to fight the system than individual men, and feminists should always engage compassionately with people who haven’t gotten to the point of realising their patriarchal oppression yet. If these women who aren’t feminists yet then feminists should gently urge women to turn their anger and frustration towards dismantling the patriarchal systems in place instead of hating individual men. It is only by fighting the system that women will be free of oppression. Social Psychology Conclusion On the whole, when it comes to feminism, there will always be a place for anger because anger can drive us, motivate us and inspire us to take steps toward change. Yet anger must be reserved for dealing with the systems of power that oppress women, and part of dealing with these unjust systems will include engaging with individual men who do not support women’s liberation. When this happens, anger might be needed but only when absolutely necessary. As a result, when it comes to the future of feminism, we all need to make sure that our anger and outrage are applied to where they will have the most impact and be most useful in fighting the systems of power that oppress women instead of being applied to individuals. This will help keep feminists safe and it will help us avoid those ugly and ill-informed stereotypes that depict feminists as misandrists. Personally, I want to wrap up this psychology podcast episode by mentioning that I tried to remove gendered language as much as possible from this episode for two main reasons. Firstly, because both men and women can be anti-feminist so I wanted to avoid continuing the idea that it is men versus women, and I wanted to highlight that not all women are feminists and not all men are misogynists. Secondly, I wanted to highlight that all of human history, including the ancient Egyptians, the Byzantine empire and figures from the neolithic period have always had a third gender category. Therefore, I wanted to highlight that true feminism is about gender equality for all genders. Here are some questions to think about at the end of this podcast episode: ·       Do you identify as a feminist? How do you view feminism? ·       Is your opinion based on facts or what someone has told you? ·       If your opinion isn’t based on facts, could you do some research in support of feminism? ·       Finally, what could you do to help protect women today and going forward?   If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Social Psychology: A Guide To Social And Cultural Psychology . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Patreon for exclusive access and rewards Have a great day. Social Psychology References and Further Reading Agostini M., van Zomeren M. (2021). Toward a comprehensive and potentially cross-cultural model of why people engage in collective action: A quantitative research synthesis of four motivations and structural constraints. Psychological Bulletin, 147(7), 667–700. Hedges, T. (2024). Reclaiming misandry from misogynistic rhetoric. Feminist Review, 136(1), 84-99. Védie, L. (2021). Hating men will free you? Valerie Solanas in Paris or the discursive politics of misandry. European Journal of Women's Studies, 28(3), 305-319. Baele S, Brace L, Coan T (2019) From ‘Incel’ to ‘saint’: analyzing the violent worldview behind the 2018 Toronto attack. Terrorism and Political Violence. Díaz PC, Valji N (2019) Symbiosis of misogyny and violent extremism: new understandings and policy implications. Journal of International Affairs 72(2): 37–56. Downing N. E., Roush K. L. (1985). From passive acceptance to active commitment: A model of feminist identity development for women. The Counseling Psychologist, 13(4), 695–709. hooks B. (1984). Feminist theory: From margin to center. Taylor & Francis Group. Hopkins-Doyle, A., Petterson, A. L., Leach, S., et al. (2024). The Misandry Myth: An Inaccurate Stereotype About Feminists’ Attitudes Toward Men. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 48(1), 8-37. Morgan R. (2014). Going too far: The personal chronicle of a feminist. Open Road Media. Pry A, Valiente A (2013) Women battle online anti-women hate from the ‘manosphere’. ABC News, 16 October. Hamel L., Firth J., Clement S., Brodie M. (2016, January 28). Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation Feminism Survey. Kaiser Family Foundation. Barroso A. (2020, July 7). 61% of U.S. women say ‘feminist’ describes them well; many see feminism as empowering, polarizing. Pew Research Center. I truly hope that you’ve enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon  page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/connorwhiteley  for a one-time bit of support.

If you’ve been listening to The Psychology World Podcast for a while then you might have noticed that from time to time I report on research concerning the morality of infants. I’ve always found it is interesting and I like how research is starting to recognise that infants can be naturally moral. And yet this challenges a lot of traditional theories that have a lot of research support. Resulting in a rather large paradox for researchers. In this developmental psychology episode, you’ll learn are infants moral by learning about a range of social and developmental factors that help to make infants moral (and immoral too). If you like learning about morality, prosocial behaviour and child psychology then you’ll enjoy today’s episode. This podcast episode has been sponsored by Developmental Psychology: A Guide To Developmental and Child Psychology . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Are Infants Moral? When it comes to the topic of morality in children and more specifically infants, there are generally two schools of thought. Firstly, you have the more traditional school of thought that has a lot of research support and this is the idea that children learn their morality through their parents. There are a lot of references in the Reference section at the bottom of the podcast episode, but one piece of evidence for this theory is how morality varies from culture to culture. This supports the social explanation of morality, because if morality was innate then morality wouldn’t vary as much from culture to culture because our sense of morality would have evolved as part of our species. Then another school of thought that has a growing body of evidence comes from researchers like Yale Professor Karen Wyn. These researchers propose morality begins in infancy and this runs against the idea that morality is taught through parents. How can there be so much evidence for our theories? Could it be because they are both right? There are a few different reasons about why Wyn and her critics are both right about morality and how it develops. Firstly, they’re both right because the definition of morality varies slightly from study to study as does the level or measures of behaviour each study looks at. Since Wyn’s research refers to an infant’s innate propensity to be prosocial, whilst her critics focus on social conventions that differ from place to place. I know this little example is silly in the grand scheme of things, but it is very apt here. In the UK, it isn’t considered moral or immoral to put salt and pepper on your food, but in Portugal, it is considered rude and by extension, immoral to put extra salt and pepper on your food. Since you are implying the chef hasn’t seasoned their food right. As a result, it is possible that morality is an innate human trait that is universal in the human species but it is implemented and expressed differently between cultures and even from person to person. We only need to think about the different behaviours people think are moral within a single country or town, let alone an entire species. What Did Wyn’s Research Show? In addition, Wyn found through her series of experiments that infants look longer at helping puppets than puppets that stopped another puppet from opening a box. As well as different variations of the experiment found the exact same thing, so this suggests infants prefer people who help others compared to people who made things more difficult for other people. Of course, this research is only suggestive at this point in time, but what makes it interesting is that Wyn’s study is part of a growing body of research making the same point. Infants do offer help, they do comfort people in distress and they prefer people who do the same. Personally, I think this is actually a rather lovely and even heartwarming finding. Especially, because people like me who focus so much on clinical psychology, we read and focus on mental health conditions, mental health difficulties and the “darker” side of human behaviour from time to time. Therefore, this study is a pleasant reminder about the lighter side of human behaviour and how great psychology research can be. Can These Prosocial Tendencies Be Overwritten? Unfortunately, as you can probably guess, the innate sense of morality in an infant doesn’t stay with an infant unless a parent builds on these propensities. Yet this isn’t always just down to the parent, because these prosocial propensities can be overridden by peers and the larger culture as a whole if they convey very different values. What Did Wyn Find Out About Prejudice? An interesting finding of Wyn’s study is that she found another trait that impacted the infant’s judgements and this certainly isn’t positive if you really think about it. So Wyn found that infants preferred the puppets who liked the same food as the infant. On the surface, this is a very normal finding that I wouldn’t have cared less about, but Wyn makes a very interesting point that I can definitely understand. She implied that this could be the root adult of prejudice because infants show we might prefer people who are like us and dislike people who are not like us. Remember, the babies also liked the puppets that were like them in terms of they shared similar interests in food, and at first, I thought this sounded like a silly example. But how many conversations as adults have all of us started and bonded over because of food? A lot, so I think this food preference does hold ecological validity because it continues into adulthood. It was only a few days ago that me and a friend were having a conversation about nachos, and neither one of us are children. Wyn talks about this finding more with the following quote: "Babies and infants were far more likely to approve of the similar puppets being helped, while having the same positive reaction when the puppets that chose different foods were hindered," Wynn said. "This reaction seems to suggest the roots of the adult impulses toward xenophobia, prejudice and war." I think this is a very interesting point that will hopefully be researched more in the future. Developmental Psychology Conclusion Overall, at the end of this podcast episode, we know that infants have an innate sense of morality and what is morally right and wrong. Yet infants have a sense of “us and them” as well and this is important to realise when it comes to morality, because morality does account for in-group cohesion and this is something I’ll talk more about in the future. And yet, morality and “us and them” thinking accounts for the violence that is found in religion as well according to the Philosopher John Teehan. Therefore, I think the biggest takeaway from today’s episode is to foster that sense of love, compassion and morality in our infants. We need to raise them to be moral, be kind and to be compassionate to other people, because that will help to make the world a better and safer place for everyone. And isn’t that the world we want to live in?     If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Moral Psychology: An Introduction To The Social Psychology, Biological Psychology and Applied Psychology of Morality . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Patreon for exclusive access and rewards Have a great day. Social Psychology References Bloom, P. (2010). The moral life of babies. New York Times Magazine, 3, MM44. Bloom, P., & Wynn, K. (2016). What develops in moral development. Core knowledge and conceptual change, 347-364. Dahl, A. (2014). Definitions and Developmental Processes in Research on Infant MoralityCommentary on Tafreshi, Thompson, and Racine. Human Development, 57(4), 241-249. Hamlin, J. K. (2015). Does the infant possess a moral concept?. Hamlin, J. K., & Wynn, K. (2011). Young infants prefer prosocial to antisocial others. Cognitive development, 26(1), 30-39. Hamlin, J. K., Mahajan, N., Liberman, Z., & Wynn, K. (2013). Not like me= bad: Infants prefer those who harm dissimilar others. Psychological science, 24(4), 589-594. Hamlin, J. K., Wynn, K., Bloom, P., & Mahajan, N. (2011). How infants and toddlers react to antisocial others. Proceedings of the national academy of sciences, 108(50), 19931-19936. Marshall, J., Wynn, K., & Bloom, P. (2020). Do children and adults take social relationship into account when evaluating people’s actions?. Child Development, 91(5), e1082-e1100. Sheskin, M., Bloom, P., & Wynn, K. (2014). Anti-equality: Social comparison in young children. Cognition, 130(2), 152-156. Whiteley, C. (2022) Psychology of Relationships: The Social Psychology of Friendships, Romantic Relationships and More.  CGD Publishing. England. Wynn, K., & Bloom, P. (2014). The moral baby. In M. Killen & J. G. Smetana (Eds.), Handbook of moral development (2nd ed., pp. 435–453). Psychology Press. Wynn, K., Bloom, P., Jordan, A., Marshall, J., & Sheskin, M. (2018). Not noble savages after all: Limits to early altruism. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 27(1), 3-8. I truly hope that you’ve enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon  page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/connorwhiteley  for a one-time bit of support.

Last week at the time of writing, I was seriously ill for two main reasons. Firstly, I was really exhausted and ill because of malnourishment caused by my anorexia. Thankfully, I’m managing to get a handle on it and I’m finally starting to eat a little more. Secondly, I was really sick because I was my sleep schedule was so awful and inconsistent that my lack of eating and lack of sleep was causing me to get very ill. So much so that for the first time in my life I was actually needing to take naps because I was so fatigued and my headache was so bad. Therefore, in this clinical psychology podcast episode, you’ll going to learn how does a consistent sleep schedule improves our mental health, why does this happen and how can we improve our sleep schedule so we can improve our mental health. If you’re interested in clinical psychology, biological psychology and the importance of consistent sleep then this will be a brilliant episode for you. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Biological Psychology . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Why Is A Consistent Sleep Schedule Important? Having a consistent sleep schedule is flat out critical to our physical and mental health because when a person has regular bedtimes and wake times then this allows us to develop a consistent sleep routine. Of course, this is unique to each of us because we all need the right amount of high-quality sleep. Therefore, sleeping consistently helps us to avoid what is known as a “sleep debt” and this can help protect us against negative health outcomes. For instance, high blood sugar, high blood pressure as well as high cholesterol. Also, the reason why I’m talking about this on a psychology podcast besides the mental health impacts of not getting enough good quality sleep, is because sleep is a behaviour. As is our decision about when we go to sleep. These are all decisions we make and ultimately these decisions impact our health. You could argue that this podcast episode stretches across clinical psychology, biological, cognitive and health psychology amongst others. This is a critical topic for a lot of our subdisciplines. Moreover, consistent sleep helps us to protect our mental health too, especially our emotional well-being. Since if we don’t get consistent sleep then this has negative impacts on our emotional and mood regulation, as well as something I know from personal experience that a lot of therapists and medical doctors suggest having a good sleep routine is the cornerstone of improving your mental health. Personally, I completely agree with this but the relationship between sleep and poor mental health can be a vicious cycle. Such as I know someone who is basically nocturnal now because their sleep routine is so consistent but in the wrong direction, but they cannot get up because of their depression. Originally, their depression caused their sleep schedule to become chronically bad, but now their sleep schedule is maintaining their depression amongst other factors. Ultimately, by having a consistent sleep schedule you can stabilise your mood in the short term as well as in the long term protect yourself against mood disorders, like anxiety and depression. How Does Irregular Sleep Schedules Disrupt The Circadian Rhythms? Our circadian rhythms impact our mood and mental health in a number of different ways. For instance, the genes behind the circadian rhythms regulate our mood as well as our mood-related behaviours, like symptoms of anxiety, depression and bi-polar disorder. This allows our bodies to regulate our emotions around a daily, 24-hour internal “body clock”. And a lot of different neurochemicals and hormones that influence our mood and our stress responses have their own circadian rhythm. Such as, melatonin, serotonin, cortisol, dopamine as well as norepinephrine (McClung, 2013). As a result, when we disrupt our own circadian rhythms by giving ourselves inconsistent sleep then this messes with our mood and stress-regulating processes so their circadian rhythms are thrown out of order. Research suggests that the timings of our circadian rhythms are strongly linked to depression (Wirz-Justice, 2006), seasonal affective disorder, anxiety (Montange et al., 1981) and other mood disorders (McClung, 2007). Furthermore, the impact of disrupted circadian rhythms isn’t limited to our mental health either. Since having a disrupted circadian rhythm increases our risk of inflammation too, and there is research suggesting inflammation increases the risk of developing mood disorders. Also, inflammation itself can negatively impact our sleep too, so it becomes even more of a vicious cycle. Ultimately, having a consistent sleep schedule helps our bodies to effectively regulate our circadian rhythms, so our biological processes that impact the neurochemicals and hormones related to our stress responses and mood can occur in a healthy way. Yet when we disrupt our circadian rhythms by getting inconsistent sleep then we mess up these circadian rhythms and this has negative impacts on our mental health. Why Does Inconsistent Sleep Patterns Increase Risk Of Depression? Now I want to focus on some research that shows a person’s inconsistent sleep schedule can increase their risk of developing depression. Our first study comes from Fang et al. (2021) who looked at the impact of sleep routines on over 1,000 medical students’ day-to-day mood. Their results showed that irregular sleep routines were a big risk factor for developing depressive symptoms. Interestingly, this is even worse for medical students because they often experience an inconsistent work schedule so they can’t have a consistent sleep pattern, so the effects were easier to see in this population. In my experience, this is the problem I had and this is why my sleep routine just died. I have to wake up at 6 am on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays because I need to drive to work. I don’t need to wake up on Fridays that early anymore but still, I did for 5 weeks. Then on the other days I would wake up between 8 am and 8:30 am. That’s a 2-hour variation in when I wake up, as well as my bedtime would vary too from 10:30 pm to midnight because I would be very bad and go on my phone. That meant I could never get a good sleep schedule and combined that with lack of eating, I was very sick for two weeks. Overall, my example shows how inconsistent sleep patterns really can impact physical and mental health. On the whole, I’ll include more studies in the reference section near the bottom of the blog post but a lot of studies demonstrate how having an inconsistent sleep schedule can be just as damaging as not getting enough sleep to your physical and emotional health. Clinical Psychology Conclusion At the end of this psychology podcast episode, now we know that we need a consistent sleep schedule to help us regulate our circadian rhythms so the hormonal and neurochemical processes that regulate our stress and emotions can work at peak performance. Otherwise, if we disrupt these biological processes then there is an increased risk of developing depression, anxiety amongst other mood disorders. As well as we need a consistent sleep schedule because it is just as damaging to our physical and mental health as not getting enough sleep. Personally, after being sick for the past two weeks I am really happy that I am getting back to a good sleep schedule and I am eating more too. I feel better in myself and granted I have a cold as I write this, but I am no longer exhausted and suffering from constant fatigue. I’m looking for continuing this new sleep schedule and reaping the mental health benefits that I have started to notice too. Therefore, the takeaway message or question at the end of this episode is: Take a look at your sleep schedule. Is it consistent and if not, how can you make it more consistent so your mental health can benefit ?     I really hope you enjoyed today’s clinical psychology podcast episode. If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Biological Psychology . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Patreon for exclusive access and rewards Have a great day. Clinical Psychology References and Further Reading Chaput, J. P., Dutil, C., Featherstone, R., Ross, R., Giangregorio, L., Saunders, T. J., ... & Carrier, J. (2020). Sleep timing, sleep consistency, and health in adults: a systematic review. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, 45(10), S232-S247. Fang, Y., Forger, D. B., Frank, E., Sen, S., & Goldstein, C. (2021). Day-to-day variability in sleep parameters and depression risk: a prospective cohort study of training physicians. NPJ digital medicine, 4(1), 28. Irwin, M. R., Olmstead, R., & Carroll, J. E. (2016). Sleep disturbance, sleep duration, and inflammation: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies and experimental sleep deprivation. Biological psychiatry, 80(1), 40-52. Liu, Y. Z., Wang, Y. X., & Jiang, C. L. (2017). Inflammation: The Common Pathway of Stress-Related Diseases. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 11, 316. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00316 McClung C. A. (2007). Circadian genes, rhythms and the biology of mood disorders. Pharmacology & therapeutics, 114(2), 222–232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pharmthera.2007.02.003 McClung C. A. (2013). How might circadian rhythms control mood? Let me count the ways... Biological psychiatry, 74(4), 242–249. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2013.02.019 Milojevich, H. M., & Lukowski, A. F. (2016). Sleep and mental health in undergraduate students with generally healthy sleep habits. PloS one, 11(6), e0156372. MONTANGE, M. F., CAUTER, E. V., Refetoff, S., Désir, D., Tourniaire, J., & Copinschi, G. (1981). Effects of “jet lag” on hormonal patterns. II. Adaptation of melatonin circadian periodicity. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 52(4), 642-649. Wirz-Justice A. (2006). Biological rhythm disturbances in mood disorders. International clinical psychopharmacology, 21 Suppl 1, S11–S15. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.yic.0000195660.37267.cf truly hope that you’ve enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and getting lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon  page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/connorwhiteley  for a one-time bit of support.

In last week’s psychology podcast episode, we looked at What is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder  because I live with someone with OCD and I wanted to understand the condition more. In this week’s podcast episode, I wanted to take a step closer towards understanding how to help someone with OCD outside of the therapy room, because I know first-hand how distressing OCD can be on the person themselves and the people around them. Therefore, in this clinical psychology podcast episode, you’ll learn how obsessive-compulsive disorder impacts relationships, the people who live with the person with OCD and how can you support someone with OCD without reinforcing their maladaptive beliefs and coping mechanisms. If you enjoy learning about mental health, obsessive-compulsive disorder and more then this will be a great episode for you. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Introduction To Psychotherapies: A Clinical Psychology Introduction To Types of Psychotherapy . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Note: as always absolutely nothing on this podcast is ever any sort of official advice. How Can Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Impact Relationships? Before we can hope to understand how do we support our loved ones with OCD, we need to first understand why is this important. As well as we need to understand how does obsessive-compulsive disorder impacts the relationships around the person with the condition. Psychology students and professionals need to understand this so we can add these factors into our clinical formulations and treatment plans because this will add additional psychological distress to the individual, and people who love and/ or with a person with obsessive-compulsive disorder need to understand this aspect of the condition too. As a result, obsessive-compulsive disorder impacts relationships in a number of different ways. For example, friends and family might have a hard time whenever they see their loved one struggling and they simply don’t know how to help. Then this makes the friends and family members feel helpless as well as depressed, and compulsions are very time-consuming as I mentioned in last week’s episode. Therefore, compulsions can be very disruptive so family and friends could get frustrated when their loved ones ask for help in carrying out their compulsions, they need to wait for their loved one to finish a compulsion and/ or when they are asked repeatedly to reassure their loved one about an obsessive fear. Personally, I really understand this because it is frustrating. It is frustrating when you need to stop everything you are doing because the person with obsessive-compulsive disorder has to carry about their compulsions, or they get so anxious and distressed that I’d made a mistake that doesn’t align with their obsessive fears, and it’s frustrating when we are delayed and arrive late to fun things by an hour because of their distress. And it is even more annoying when everyone else in the house supports their obsessive fears and reassures them so much that it only reinforces their compulsions. I say this because I want you to also understand that yes, as an aspiring psychologist, I talk a lot about unconditional positive regard, active listening, being empathetic and non-judgemental. Yet I am human too. I am not perfect and it is okay to be frustrated and annoyed at mental health difficulties in your own personal life. As long as you learn and adapt your responses so they are more supportive in the future then that’s okay. Just because you study psychology doesn’t mean you have to be superhuman and emotionless. It's why I researched this week’s and last week’s podcast episode. I want to learn, I want to become more understanding and I want to be more supportive. In addition, obsessive-compulsive disorder can be very challenging for romantic partners because Kasalova et al. (2020) found that people with obsessive-compulsive disorder often struggle to communicate in relationships. This could be a result of the person needing to feel in control and them having a tendency to avoid uncomfortable emotions so their OCD symptoms can put stress on a romantic relationship. I do have personal stories about that finding but out of respect for my housemates I will not comment, but I do agree with those research findings. What Is Relationships Obsessive Compulsive Disorder? Building upon the last section, a person can have relationship obsessive-compulsive disorder, which is a type of OCD where their obsessions focus on the doubts about their relationships. For example, a person with relationship OCD repeatedly questions whether their partner is a good fit or actually loves them. These obsessions, like all obsessions, take up a lot of time and cause a lot of distress to the person, so this leads to compulsive behaviours like constantly seeking reassurance from their partner that they love them. Or the person with relationship OCD compares their partner constantly to other people. If a person has relationship OCD then they should see a couples therapist because a couples therapist can help a person set boundaries about what you will and what you won’t discuss about your relationship. This is useful because it helps you to avoid your partner’s OCD symptoms whilst taking care of your own mental health. Personally, I think this sounds a lot like Emotional Dependency, which I’ve spoken a lot about on the podcast before and something I used to struggle with tons. Then I still struggle with it from time to time but I am a lot better than I used to. How To Support Your Loved One with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder? Support Your Partner By Learning About OCD I know I always say this but I strongly believe because of my own abusive experiences that you cannot claim to fully love, support or appreciate someone with a mental health condition if you are not willing to research their condition. If my family had researched rape and how to support a rape survivor then my mental health would have been so much better. If my family had researched autism and how to support an autistic teenager then my adolescence would have been better and so on. As well as my friend’s parents researched a lot about depression, anxiety and so on to support them and it really did help them. Therefore, my point is please research obsessive-compulsive disorder, so you can better understand and empathise with your loved one about what they’re experiencing and how to help them. In the end your loved one will seriously appreciate it. Give Support Without Reinforcing OCD Behaviours The next two suggestions are actually what birthed the idea about the past two podcast episodes, because in my house, everyone was just accommodating my housemate’s OCD behaviours and me and another housemate could see how the OCD was getting worse as a result. Therefore, whilst it’s true that you cannot stop a person with obsessive-compulsive disorder from experiencing their obsessions, it’s a good idea to put boundaries in place so you do not assist them in their compulsions. This will be difficult, because your loved one is likely to experience more distress, but if you give in and help them carry out their compulsions, in the long term you are not helping them. You are only reinforcing their OCD. In addition, your loved one will probably be upset that you’re changing your behaviour and they likely be more anxious in the short term. Since it’s harder for them to carry out their compulsions, a behaviour that is meant to help temporarily relieve some of their anxiety caused by their obsession. However, it’s important that you put in those boundaries and you explain that setting boundaries is because you care and you want your loved one to get better. Then working with a therapist might be another good idea because a therapist might be able to help you stop accommodating the OCD. Resist Accommodating Your Loved One’s OCD Symptoms Personally, the best example from my own experience is cleaning. In my house, this housemate’s OCD made it very important that things had to be cleaned in a very, very specific way and if I cleaned anything it would make them extremely distressed. So I was banned from cleaning anyone else’s stuff in the house because it would cause so much distress to this particular housemate. I didn’t mind it that much because it meant I could just focus on my own things because it created a massive knock-on effect. It meant only two housemates could clean the person with OCD’s things, in addition to their own, but it put a lot of stress on the house. There was always a stupidly big pile of washing up to do, because washing up became a chore that needed to be done so carefully and so precisely. This is why you should not accommodate your loved one’s OCD. Anyway, accommodation happens when someone enables a person’s compulsions because accommodations can temporarily relieve your loved one’s anxiety. Yet in the long term it only reinforces their cycle of compulsive and obsessive behaviours. For instance, accommodations can include changing your routines to accommodate them, helping them avoid situations that trigger their anxiety, performing rituals that the person with OCD asks and habitually reassuring a loved one that their fears are unfounded. Moreover, whilst accommodations are very common, even more so in families with children with OCD, it is important that you recognise that you are doing it. Then after you realise it, you need to realise it is time to stop accommodating your loved one’s OCD. It will be hard on both of you, but it is best if you stop accommodating them. In the long run, it will be very good for the relationship and everyone else around you. Since my housemates decreased accommodating someone’s OCD behaviours, the house is a lot happier, calmer and there isn’t as much stress or tension in the house. And dinner time is more relaxing than it was too. Support Your Loved One by Being Flexible with Your Expectations Everyone, regardless of their mental health condition, improves at different rates. For example, some survivors of sexual trauma take years to heal enough to be able to function, I took 7 months. Therefore, it’s important that you remember that different people with OCD improve at different rates and symptoms can come back or intensify during periods of stress. With this in mind, you can support your loved one by celebrating their progress along the way and remind your loved one that it’s important to keep moving forward when they experience setbacks. And just remind yourself and your loved one that change takes time and setbacks are normal. This is something my best friend reminded me lots as I healed from my sexual trauma, and even now with my anorexia, it is something we need to keep reminding each other. Offer To Help Your Loved One Find Treatment For Their OCD I mentioned in last week’s podcast episode, What Is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, that there are a range of psychological treatments available for OCD. For instance, Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy. Yet some people with OCD might not want to get help and there are a lot of reasons for this, like they are scared of being judged. However, as a loved one, you can express your concerns about their mental health and you can offer to help them find a therapist or another form of mental health support. I know from my experience that it is a lot easier and digestible to do something mental health related with someone by your side. Like I need to actually create a meal plan for my anorexia again, because the last one just failed so this time my friend is going to look over it with me so I might stick to it and create one I enjoy and care about. Additionally, if you’re loved one resists to the idea of treatment then you can ask them why, and try to explain the benefits of getting help and offer to what you can to help make treatment more accessible to them. Like I’m driving a friend to their specialist counselling sessions in a few weeks to help make it more accessible for them. Finally, if your loved one still refuses to get treatment then tell them that you respect their decision and remind them that your offer still stands if they change their mind in the future. From my experience, the worst thing you can do is keep “harassing” or refusing to accept the person’s decision. For example, when I wasn’t bothering to get treatment for my anorexia, my friend out of love and care, kept arguing with me and it made me even more distressed, even less likely to eat and it strained our relationship. Now they are a lot better because they are respectful, they focus on supporting me and yes, we will “debate and negotiate” eating at times, but it doesn’t distress me as much as it did a few months ago. Clinical Psychology Conclusion As we come to the end of these psychology podcast episodes focusing on obsessive-compulsive disorder, I have to admit that these have been a lot of fun. We’ve learnt that OCD is a very distressing condition and I’ve found it useful to understand the differences between obsessions and compulsions and why people with OCD carry out their compulsions, and it has been good to understand that OCD is so much more than washing and cleaning. Also, I’ve found it useful to understand how I can be a good housemate to my friend and how I can gently suggest to the others how to support our loved one with OCD, so we can help them in the longer term. Just as a reminder, you can support a loved one with OCD by: ·       Learning about OCD ·       Give your loved one support without reinforcing their OCD behaviours ·       Resist accommodating their OCD symptoms ·       Be flexible with your expectations ·       Offer to help your loved one find OCD treatment Supporting a loved one with any mental health condition will be a challenge, but it is worth it, rewarding and it shows your loved one just how much you love them. And as someone who has received support from friends before, in the end, I am extremely grateful and it makes me love my friends even more. It can make friendships closer and stronger too. So please, support your loved one, look after yourself and just know that in the end, things get better. This too shall pass.   I really hope you enjoyed today’s clinical psychology podcast episode. If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Introduction To Psychotherapies: A Clinical Psychology Introduction To Types of Psychotherapy . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Patreon for exclusive access and rewards Have a great day. Clinical Psychology References and Further Reading Doron, G., et al. (2016). Relationship obsessive-compulsive disorder: Interference, symptoms, and maladaptive beliefs. Frontiers in Psychiatry. International OCD Foundation. (2016). Distinguishing information-seeking and reassurance seeking. Kasalova, P., et al. (2020). Marriage under control: Obsessive compulsive disorder and partnership. Neuroendocrinology Letters. National Institute of Mental Health. (n.d.). Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Pollard, H. J., et al. (n.d.). Someone I care about is not dealing with their OCD, what can I do about it? International OCD Foundation. Van Noppen, B., et al. (n.d.). Families: “What can I do to help?” International OCD Foundation. Van Noppen, B., et al. (n.d.). Living with someone who has OCD. Guidelines for family members. International OCD Foundation. https://www.goodrx.com/conditions/obsessive-compulsive-disorder/how-to-help-someone-with-ocd I truly hope that you’ve enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon  page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/connorwhiteley  for a one-time bit of support.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is unfortunately the type of mental health condition that laypeople abuse to some extent, as OCD is often used in a loose, cut-off-the-cuff way that decreases the severity of the condition in people’s minds. Yet OCD can be immensely distressing to the person with the condition as those around them. At the moment, I live with someone with OCD and before we started an intervention, their OCD was negatively impacting our lives in a number of ways. Therefore, in this clinical psychology podcast episode, you’re going to be learning what is OCD, what are the symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, how is OCD treated and more. If you enjoy learning about mental health conditions, clinical psychology and more then this is going to be a great episode for you. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Introduction To Psychotherapies: A Clinical Psychology Introduction To Types of Psychotherapy . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. What Is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder? Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a mental health condition where someone experiences repeated, unwanted thoughts, images, feelings and/ or sensations (obsessions) and they engage in mental acts or behaviours (compulsions) in response. It is typical for someone with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder to carry out their compulsions to temporarily eliminate or reduce the impact of their obsessions, as well as if a person does not perform these compulsions then this causes them additional distress. In addition, similar to other mental health conditions, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder varies in its severity but if a person doesn’t receive treatment for the condition then it can limit their ability to function at home, school or work. Some examples of compulsions and obsessions can distressing thoughts round the idea of food going back so the person seals the food in a very particular way and if there is a mistake then they believe they are going to die. Or if a person holds distressing beliefs round their family going to get hurt by someone breaking into their house then they might check that their doors are locked over and over. Leading them to be late to work. I didn’t use typical examples because I want you to understand that OCD is way more than handwashing and obsessions about being clean. Moreover, in the United States, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is estimated to impact around 2% of the population and it is often co-occurring with other mental health conditions. For instance, depression, anxiety disorders as well as eating disorders. With the condition typically manifesting for the first time in childhood, adolescence or early adulthood. As well as up to 30% of people with OCD have a tic disorder according to the DSM-5. Personally, as an aspiring clinical psychologist, I am always interested when mental health conditions tend to occur together because it raises important therapeutic questions. For example, is the OCD maintaining the eating disorder or could the anxiety disorders be causing the OCD or vice versa. These are important factors to think about when treating someone with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and another mental health condition. What Are The Symptoms Of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder? As much as I passionately dislike the DSM-5 for a whole host of reasons that I have explained in other places, when it comes to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, the diagnostic criteria says that compulsions and/ or obsessions have to be present. Firstly, the DSM-5 defines Obsessions as recurring urges, thoughts or images that are experienced as unwanted and intrusive, and for most people, they are distressing or induce anxiety. Then the person tries to suppress, ignore or neutralise them with a different action or thought. Secondly, the DSM-5 defines compulsions as repetitive mental acts or behaviours that a person feels compelled to do because of their obsession or strict rules around something. The idea behind these compulsions is to counter anxiety, distress or to prevent a feared situation or event. Even though the reality is these compulsions are not realistically connected to the outcome, or the compulsions are excessive. For example, it is reasonable to assume that milk that is two or three days past the Best Before date might  be off, so you need to check it. It is excessive to throw away milk the night before the Best Before day because you truly believe that you are going to die if you drink the milk tomorrow. In addition, the DSM-5 includes other information in the diagnostic criteria. For example, the obsessions or compulsions take up more than one hour a day, cause impairment for the person and/ or they cause clinically significant levels of distress. Then there is the typical DSM-5 caveat that Obsessive Compulsive Disorder needs to be the best explanation for what the client is experiencing and their symptoms cannot be better explained by another mental health or medical condition or a substance. When it comes to the obsessions themselves, the specific details of them can vary wildly between different people with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. They can include thoughts round contamination, a desire for order or they can be taboo thoughts around harm to themselves or others, sex and/ or religion. Again, OCD in the real world is so much more than washing hands. Furthermore, it is worth noting that compulsions aren’t always observable to other people. Like people with OCD might not always rearrange or count objects, check their concerns or wash things. In fact, some compulsions cannot be seen by others because the whole point of compulsions is they ideally offer someone temporary relief from their intense feelings caused by their obsession. People with the condition could avoid certain places, things or people that trigger their obsessions and compulsions. As well as they can often have dysfunctional beliefs that can include an intolerance of uncertainty, a heightened sense of responsibility, perfectionism or an exaggerated view of the importance of troubling thoughts. Personally, one of the many ways how OCD has impacted my life as someone with lives with a person with the condition is round cleaning, food preparation and whatnot. Since I am not allowed to do the cleaning in our kitchen, I am only allowed to clean my things because I do not clean in the very specific way that my housemate’s obsessions and compulsions allow. Even though after their OCD, relationship and other things came to a head last week, after I write this blog post, I’m going to help clean other people’s things. Also, it’s a very tragic thing to say but my housemate’s OCD was a core factor in why my anorexia has gotten this bad. Due to my housemate needing their food prepared in a very, very specific way, them getting extremely distressed round eating to the point where I was scared to go into the kitchen in case I made a mistake and the evening became so unpleasant for me. Granted, I was still dealing with rape trauma, PTSD and my own mental health at the time but I didn’t need the added stress of the OCD and getting scared to cause my friend so much intense distress. This is why OCD can definitely impact other people and if I take a systemic approach for a moment then I can see how the OCD has caused disruptions and negatively impacted our household unit. Going back to the content, people with OCD vary in their insight into their own condition. Some people with OCD have good insight because they recognise their OCD-related beliefs are not actually true. For instance, these people can understand that wrapping up opened ham in tin foil in a very specific way will not help them not die from contamination. Whereas other people with OCD do not have such good insight so they believe their compulsions and obsessions are true. Finally, like other mental health conditions, the severity of OCD symptoms can vary over time, but the condition can persist for years or decades if it is not treated. What Causes Obsessive Compulsive Disorder? Briefly, whilst the causes of OCD are not fully understood, we know there are both genetic and environmental factors. For example, people that have family members with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder are more likely to have it themselves, and twin studies show there is a genetic influence in the development of OCD. As well as sexual or physical violence and other forms of trauma are associated with greater risk. How Is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Treated? In the next week’s podcast episode, I’m going to be focusing more on how a person’s support system can support the individual with OCD but professionally Obsessive Compulsive Disorder can be treated in several ways. It can be treated using psychological or medical interventions, and sometimes these approaches are combined. For example, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy can be used in a very specific way in a programme called Exposure and Response Prevention. In Exposure and Response Prevention, a person with OCD is guided by a therapist and exposed to things, situations or thoughts that produce anxiety or lead to obsessions as well as compulsions. Then over time the person learns not to engage in these habitual compulsions. Ultimately, Exposure and Response Prevention aims to over time reduce the anxiety that these obsessions produce once triggered by certain people and situations. Then this allows the person to better manage their OCD symptoms. Medically, OCD can be treated using Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors or Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors. Like clomipramine and more recently developed drugs like fluoxetine, sertraline as well as fluvoxamine. This is believed to help treat OCD because it increases the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain and it is commonly used to treat depression and anxiety disorders. It typically takes 12 weeks to produce an improvement in symptoms when used to treat OCD. Yet I always recommend reading Read and Moncrieff (2022) because they show how useless anti-depressants are at treating depression and how there is no science behind them by modern standards. Personally, I think the idea of using SSRIs to treat OCD is ridiculous because compulsions and obsessions are psychological elements. There are no biological basis here. Obsessions and compulsions are not cancer cells that you can target, they are not a virus, they are inside a person’s head. Therefore, you need to target the person’s mind through psychological interventions. Also, if SSRIs work so well, why do they actually need 12 weeks to cause an improvement. Of course, psychological therapy can take 12 weeks but it can be done by that time and by the end of the 12 weeks, you can actually arm a client to have enough adaptive coping mechanisms that they are set for life. SSRIs you need to keep taking for life. Finally, one of my friends with OCD (not the one I live with), he’s going through CBT for OCD at the moment and he’s almost done. We were talking and I started to see improvements in him after 4 weeks. That is a lot shorter than 12 weeks. Just saying. Clinical Psychology Conclusion I know what it is like to live with someone with OCD. I hate seeing my friend so distressed, having so much anxiety and struggling with their functioning. Also, I was surprised how much OCD can impact the lives of other people, including friends, housemates and loved ones. Therefore, I am glad that I now have a deeper understanding of OCD because it helps me be more understanding and it helps me to learn and put myself in their shoes. I am far from perfect but I want to try and understand my friend. As a result, at the end of this psychology podcast episode, we understand that OCD is a mental health condition where someone experiences repeated, unwanted thoughts, images, feelings and/ or sensations (obsessions) and they engage in mental acts or behaviours (compulsions) in response. It is typical for someone with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder to carry out their compulsions to temporarily eliminate or reduce the impact of their obsessions, as well as if a person does not perform these compulsions then this causes them additional distress. Finally, if you are guilty of this then it is okay because you are human and we can all change. Yet please stop saying “you’re a little OCD” unless you actually have the condition. By saying these things, you are minimising the intense distress and anxiety that people with real OCD experience on a daily basis and if we continue to minimise it then people don’t treat OCD as the serious condition that it is and a condition that we need to treat. All so people with OCD can decrease their anxiety and psychological distress, improve their lives and develop more adaptive coping mechanisms. This is the lifeblood of clinical psychology and that is why we must stop minimising a terrifying condition that causes so much distress to people every day of their life.     I really hope you enjoyed today’s clinical psychology podcast episode. If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Introduction To Psychotherapies: A Clinical Psychology Introduction To Types of Psychotherapy . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Patreon for exclusive access and rewards Have a great day. Clinical Psychology References and Further Reading Chakraborty, A., & Karmakar, S. (2020). Impact of COVID-19 on obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Iranian journal of psychiatry, 15(3), 256. Del Casale, A., Sorice, S., Padovano, A., Simmaco, M., Ferracuti, S., Lamis, D. A., ... & Pompili, M. (2019). Psychopharmacological treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Current neuropharmacology, 17(8), 710-736. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/conditions/obsessive-compulsive-disorder Mahjani, B., Bey, K., Boberg, J., & Burton, C. (2021). Genetics of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Psychological Medicine, 51(13), 2247-2259. Robbins, T. W., Vaghi, M. M., & Banca, P. (2019). Obsessive-compulsive disorder: puzzles and prospects. Neuron, 102(1), 27-47. Spencer, S. D., Stiede, J. T., Wiese, A. D., Goodman, W. K., Guzick, A. G., & Storch, E. A. (2022). Cognitive-behavioral therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder. The Psychiatric clinics of North America, 46(1), 167. Stein, D. J., Costa, D. L., Lochner, C., Miguel, E. C., Reddy, Y. J., Shavitt, R. G., ... & Simpson, H. B. (2019). Obsessive–compulsive disorder. Nature reviews Disease primers, 5(1), 52. Uhre, C. F., Uhre, V. F., Lønfeldt, N. N., Pretzmann, L., Vangkilde, S., Plessen, K. J., ... & Pagsberg, A. K. (2020). Systematic review and meta-analysis: cognitive-behavioral therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder in children and adolescents. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 59(1), 64-77. I truly hope that you’ve enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon  page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/connorwhiteley  for a one-time bit of support.

If you’ve read my Clinical Psychology Reflections , then you might be aware that The Psychologist Magazine by the British Psychological Society is a major source of inspiration from time to time. Yet The Psychologist never normally inspires podcast episodes, but in December 2024, they mentioned financial psychotherapy. I had never heard of this type of psychotherapy before but it focuses on improving people’s relationship with money amongst other important behavioural and psychological processes. Therefore, in this clinical psychology podcast episode, you’ll deep dive into what is financial psychotherapy, what does a financial psychotherapist do and much more. If you enjoy learning about mental health, the psychology of money and more then you’ll greatly benefit from this episode. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Introduction To Psychotherapies: A Clinical Psychology Introduction To Types of Psychotherapy . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Note: as always absolutely nothing on this podcast is ever any sort of official relationship, financial or other form of advice. What Is Financial Psychotherapy? This form of psychological therapy combines financial coaching and behavioural therapy to help clients improve their feelings, thoughts and behaviours around money. Also, this therapy helps to address the very real gap between a person’s financial health and money and their emotional health, and this is a very new discipline which is why a lot of people haven’t heard of it. The Financial Therapy Association was only established in 2010 so it is very new. To help clients with their attitudes towards money, financial therapists help people to understand their fears and worries around money, so this guides the client towards a lightbulb moment. As well as the difference between a financial therapist and a financial advisor is that a therapist explores the beliefs and feelings that a client has behind their financial habits whereas a financial advisor focuses on helping a person reach their financial goals. In addition, to become a certified financial therapist, both financial and mental health professionals can become one by meeting specific requirements in financial planning, financial counselling, financial therapy as well as you need to have therapeutic competencies. Also, in the United States, this certification comes from the Financial Therapy Association. However, I must note here that a financial therapist is NOT a protected title so anyone can call themselves a financial therapist regardless of the amount of training that they have done. This is good because it means there are financial professionals who aren’t credentialled therapists but they can still help clients with their money. Therefore, whilst this is not always a problem because there are a few behavioural therapists that focus on finance and do not have financial qualifications, it can be a problem because people without behavioural therapy or financial qualifications can and do call themselves financial therapists. You need to be careful of that. How Does Financial Psychotherapy Help People? Typically, a client who wants financial therapy has limiting beliefs about money and this can stop them from reaching their financial goals. Yet there are other impacts too. For example, sometimes these limiting beliefs stop people from enjoying the fruits of their labour too because they have fears round spending money or buying non-essential items. As a result, a financial therapist can help a client to identify their limiting beliefs and their emotions. For instance, some people, especially individuals who grew up in marginalised communities, have certain money stories that they tell themselves that developed in their childhood. These stories can hold them back or push them towards their goals. Personally, because of my childhood trauma and my social environment telling me that if certain people found out I was gay then I would be beaten, killed or made homeless. I was always very careful with money because in my mind, I needed to save it as much as possible so I could survive once I was homeless. That summed up my childhood, and even now, I don’t really want to dip into my savings at all, just in case I need it to survive once more. Equally, I come from a very poor and deprived area and have a lot of friends at university, so our attitude towards money is we need to be careful. Money has always been something that must be used wisely, but money is a tool to get us closer to things and activities that we enjoy too. Money is a balance. As a result, financial therapy can help clients to focus on their money story to identify their limiting beliefs, emotions and whether or not these emotions and beliefs are pushing them towards or away from their financial goals and improved emotional health. Financial Therapy Helps Start Small and Considers Passive Investing A smaller aim of financial therapy is to help clients take small steps towards changing their financial habits. For example, within financial therapy, a client could do research into whatever is making them uncomfortable. Like, in the United States, if a client wanted to get information about a 401K or a Roth IRA then they could investigate those options and then decide what their goals are based on that information. This would allow the client to move forward in a way that feels right for them, their life and their financial goals. Additionally, financial therapy can help clients understand passive inventing, a long-term strategy for building wealth by buying securities that mirror stock market indexes for the long term. For clients, passive investing might be a great way to take the pressure off themselves, even more so if they’re struggling to understand the complexities of the finance world. Since it’s a hands-off form of investing that means clients do not have to learn complex processes or take high risks that naturally come from investing. Forms of passive investing can include index funds, mutual funds or ETFs. In other words, passive investing allows compound interest to do the work for clients, because if they put a small amount of money into a mutual fund then it can be very energising to see their money start to grow. This can enable the client to take another step forward in their financial plan. Financial Therapy Helps Clients To Envision Retirement Finally, other clients can be very stressed about retirement and other clients still might not be thinking about retirement, because it is decades away. In these sorts of situations, recurring expenses take priority and other clients prefer to use their money to help them live in the moment. Again, if we bring this back to helping clients focus on their financial goals, if they struggle to take steps towards their goals, it might be because they struggle to focus on the future. This is where financial therapy can help them. Typically, financial therapy stresses the importance of compound interest because this helps clients to grow their money, and whilst inflation reduces the spending power of their investment over time. The longer a client saves for retirement, the better. One strategy that financial therapists might use to help clients in this regard is getting a client to imagine a person who is at retirement age and how they’re currently living. This can help a client to connect to the future so the client can envision what they want for themselves as well as put a plan together so they can achieve that retirement goal. Equally, it can be helpful for clients to think about future generations too. For example, getting them to think about steps they could take now to help their children and grandchildren be set up for success in the future. Clinical Psychology Conclusion In the Further Reading section of the blog post at the bottom of the page, there’ll be references for you to read more about this, but there is a relationship between poverty and mental health. Of course, financial therapy is not about poverty, it is about helping people’s thoughts, feelings and behaviours round money to become more adaptive so the clients can reach their financial goals. Yet I am mentioning this poverty fact to stress that money does have a major impact on our mental health and emotional health. If a parent cannot feed their children, if they cannot afford to heat their homes, if they cannot afford to do fun things for their children when all the children’s friends can, that will negatively impact their mental health. That is only one example. I know from how bad Postgraduate Loans are in the United Kingdom that I am stressed and I am concerned about my ability to pay rent, food and my university’s tuition fees. Yet there is a reason I cannot mention publicly why I am stressed about the university. This is why I work a lot of Outreach work opportunities so I can get money to live on, because even though the business is going well thanks to you wonderful readers and listeners. I am still building the business so I really do not want to take money out of it for living at the moment. Money has a massive impact on our mental health. Therefore, at the end of this psychology podcast episode, I want to mention that financial psychotherapy, whilst it is something I would never focus on or want to be trained up in. I am glad there is a psychological intervention for people who are struggling with their cognitions and behaviours around money. As well as they can get help learning about passive investing, envisioning retirement, identifying their limiting beliefs and their emotions, and taking small steps towards their financial goals. I think the question I want to leave you with is, What are your thoughts about money? Are they pushing you towards or away from your financial goals?   I really hope you enjoyed today’s clinical psychology podcast episode. If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Introduction To Psychotherapies: A Clinical Psychology Introduction To Types of Psychotherapy . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Patreon for exclusive access and rewards Have a great day. Clinical Psychology References and Further Reading Archuleta, K. L., Mielitz, K. S., Jayne, D., & Le, V. (2020). Financial goal setting, financial anxiety, and solution-focused financial therapy (SFFT): A quasi-experimental outcome study. Contemporary Family Therapy, 42(1), 68-76. Blea, J., Wang, D. C., Kim, C. L., Lowe, G., Austad, J., Amponsah, M., & Johnston, N. (2021). The experience of financial well-being, shame, and mental health outcomes in seminary students. Pastoral psychology, 70(4), 299-314. Burns, J. K. (2015). Poverty, inequality and a political economy of mental health. Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences, 24(2), 107-113. Frankham, C., Richardson, T., & Maguire, N. (2020). Psychological factors associated with financial hardship and mental health: A systematic review. Clinical psychology review, 77, 101832. https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/investing/how-financial-therapist-shift-your-money-mindset Marbin, D., Gutwinski, S., Schreiter, S., & Heinz, A. (2022). Perspectives in poverty and mental health. Frontiers in Public Health, 10, 975482. Simonse, O., Van Dijk, W. W., Van Dillen, L. F., & Van Dijk, E. (2022). The role of financial stress in mental health changes during COVID-19. npj Mental Health Research, 1(1), 1-10. Smith, M. V., & Mazure, C. M. (2021). Mental health and wealth: depression, gender, poverty, and parenting. Annual review of clinical psychology, 17(1), 181-205. I truly hope that you’ve enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon  page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/connorwhiteley  for a one-time bit of support.

Normally as an aspiring clinical psychologist, I don't really focus too much on how our biological processes and the nervous system impacts our mental health. I should focus on this area a lot more than I do because our physical reactions to trauma, anxiety and depression are very important. Instead I tend to focus on the psychological processes that interact with our physical processes to produce behaviours. Yet as I deal with my sexual trauma more and more, I've realised I can no longer ignore the impact our nervous system and the role it plays in our mental health. Therefore, in this clinical psychology podcast episode, we'll be focusing on window of tolerance, hyperarousal and hypoarousal during psychological distress. And how importantly we can get back within our window of tolerance to improve our mental health. If you enjoy learning about clinical psychology, biological psychology and the nervous system then you'll love today's episode.  Today's psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Biological Psychology . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. What Is The Window of Tolerance? This is a topic that has been critical in my rape counselling and once I understood this psychological concept, things started to get a little easier. You or your clients understanding the window of tolerance isn’t a magic bullet that will suddenly make everything better but it can be immensely useful in healing from trauma, including sexual violence. Therefore, Window of Tolerance was a term coined by Daniel J. Siegel who was a clinical professor at the UCLA School of Medicine. He created Window of Tolerance to describe the optimal emotional “zone” that people can best exist in so they can thrive and function in their everyday lives. When someone is within their Window of Tolerance then they have a sense of groundedness, openness, curiosity, presence, flexibility, an ability to emotionally self-regulate and a capacity to tolerate any stressors that pop up in their everyday life. However, either side of the Window of Tolerance are two different states where we do not function and thrive in our daily lives. These states are called the hypoarousal and hyperarousal states. When someone is in hyperarousal then they are in an emotional state that we can characterise as panic, anger, high energy, anxiety, irritability, overwhelm, chaos, hypervigilance, startle responses and fight-or-flight instincts. For example, I know I’m in a hyperarousal state running my panic attacks, anxiety and my thoughts running a million miles an hour about how unsafe I am and how I need to escape or I am going to die or get raped again. On the other end of the spectrum is the hypoarousal state where someone effectively shuts down and experiences numbness, withdrawal, depressiveness, flat affect, disconnection, shame amongst others. For instance, when I’m in a hypoarousal state (like an hour before I started writing this post), I was severely depressed, shut down and I didn’t want to move. I effectively wanted to play dead so I couldn’t be hurt again like he did to me that night. Why Is The Window of Tolerance Important? If we are outside of our Window of Tolerance then we cannot function and thrive in our everyday lives. For example, when my mental health died in August and September (and probably October) 2024 because of my rape, most of the time I was too hypervigilance, anxious and terrified to function on most days. I was always in a state of hyperarousal, or I was too depressed and shut down to function (hypoarousal). Therefore, when we’re in our Window of Tolerance, we can access all the prefrontal cortex as well as executive functioning skills we need to be able to thrive. Like, our ability to organise, plan and prioritise complex tasks that we need to complete. Also, being within our Window of Tolerance means we can emotionally self-regulate, start projects and actions and focus on them and practice good time management. These executive functions are critical to our functioning because they allow us to work, problem-solve whatever issues and challenges we face and they allow us to be present and work in our relationships. This is a major problem I had during my mental health crisis. I was too anxious, terrified or depressed to do much work, problem-solve and I wasn’t able to have or maintain many social relationships. I wasn’t able to do much Outreach work at my university because a lot of it was brand-new students and staff that I had never worked with before, and the specific type of Outreach activities, because it was the school holidays, were so different to what I was used to. I couldn’t deal with it. Then it was even worse for my own business. I couldn’t write as much, I couldn’t do a fraction of the business tasks that I needed to do and I can see the impact it has on my bottom line and the podcast audience. This is why being within our Window of Tolerance is so important. Moreover, we lose access to these skills when we’re outside of our Window of Tolerance   because we lose access to the prefrontal cortex and our executive skills. Since instead of relying on these brain areas, we default to panic, action or a freeze response. Sometimes this can even manifest as self-sabotaging behaviours so we might gravitate towards choices and patterns that undermine or erode our relationship with ourselves, others and the world. Ultimately, it’s important that we try to stay within our Window of Tolerance so we can support ourselves, function and live in a healthy way. Yet there will always be times in our lives when we fall outside our Window of Tolerance and we end up in some non-ideal emotionally regulated way. Thankfully, this is just a part of human behaviour and it’s natural and normal. Therefore, the ultimate goal of this podcast episode isn’t to make sure we never ever fall outside of our Window of Tolerance. That is never going to happen, but instead I want to show you why it’s important to expand our Window of Tolerance. This allows a person to effectively bounce back quicker and be more resilient over time, so we can better deal with being outside our Window of Tolerance. In my opinion, this is a critical area of mental health and trauma work because as my Window of Tolerance has expanded I have been able to deal with more and more. For example, I used to have thousands of triggers (probably not a joke) but everything has been toned down recently in terms of my PTSD. Like a few months ago, if I even saw a reference of sex in a film or book, my mental health completely died and I would have major intrusive thoughts and flashbacks. Now I can tolerate sex references and even the odd light sex scene in a film or book and I only experience mild intrusive thoughts and flashbacks. It's still a little distressing but it is nowhere near as bad as in the past few months. How Do You Increase Your Window of Tolerance? Whilst there are several effective therapeutic techniques and activities that can over time increase your Window of Tolerance, everyone’s Window of Tolerance is rather different because of a range of biopsychosocial factors. For example, whether or not you have childhood trauma and social support can impact the size of your Window of Tolerance as well as your physiology, personal history and your temperament. All these factors and more interact with each other to make your Window of Tolerance, and no two Windows of Tolerance will ever be the same.  As a result, it’s important to mention that people, like me, who come from trauma backgrounds will have a smaller Window of Tolerance than people who have not experienced trauma. This shrinking of the Window of Tolerance isn’t unique to any type of trauma, like physical, childhood or sexual trauma, your Window of Tolerance doesn’t discriminate. Trauma is trauma and it is the unfortunate gift that keeps on giving. The reason why trauma shrinks your Window of Tolerance is because trauma gives you triggers that are more likely to rapidly and more frequently push you outside your Window of Tolerance and into hypoarousal or hyperarousal. Consequently, it’s important that as part of trauma work (even though anyone can benefit from this knowledge) is that we work to expand a client’s Window of Tolerance. This allows the client to practice resilience and bring themselves back into their Window of Tolerance when you’re in a hypoarousal or hyperarousal state. The only reasonable difference in this regard between people with and without trauma is that a person with relational trauma might need to work harder, longer and dedicate more time and effort into expanding their Window of Tolerance. Personally, I can relate to this because it is normal for a person’s Window of Tolerance to expand as they get older, experience more things and stressors, and they learn more techniques without realising it about to bring themselves back into their Window of Tolerance. However, ever since I was raped and up until 7 months later when I learnt how to feel safe in my own body. I just couldn’t bring myself back into my Window of Tolerance and it required a lot of therapeutic work, a lot of effort and a lot longer than I wanted to to be able to bring myself reliably back into my Window of Tolerance. There are still times I cannot achieve this but 90% of the time I thankfully can. In addition, there are two main ways how someone can recognise that their Windows of Tolerance are unique and how to expand it. Ultimately, we need to understand the foundational biopsychosocial elements that contribute to a healthy nervous system and that’s why I flat out love Healing Sexual Trauma Workbook  by Erika Shershun because it handles this topic very well. Also, we can give ourselves this knowledge by providing our minds with supportive experiences. This can include providing ourselves with good amounts of stimulation, focus and engagement whilst we balance this with good amounts of play, rest and spaciousness. This was a mistake I made this week at the time of writing because I overbooked myself with Outreach work at my university so I had plenty of stimulation, focus and I was really engaged with helping students change their lives, but I didn’t give myself enough rest time. Hence, I found myself very outside my Window of Tolerance on two occasions this week. Moreover, we need to provide our bodies with supportive self-care. For example, we need to get enough sleep, exercise, eat nutritious foods, attend to our medical needs and avoid substances that damage our health. Since if our bodies aren’t looked after then our nervous system won’t be healthy and it will be easier to go outside our Window of Tolerance. As well as we need to provide ourselves with supportive experiences like being in a connected relationship and being connected to something bigger than ourselves. I know this sounds like religion and I suppose some people find this helpful, but you can be connected to other things greater than yourself. For example, I connect to my Outreach work at my university because I’m helping to inspire and show young people that it doesn’t matter what background or area they come from, if they want to they can go to university and thrive. As well as I connect to my books and my podcast because I am providing people with a psychology education, entertainment and hopefully I’ll inspire some people to enjoy mental health and clinical psychology as much as I do. You can connect to anything that you are passionate about. Finally for this first part, you can tend to your physical environment to set yourself up for success. You can do this by working and living in places and ways that reduce your stressors instead of increasing them. As well as you can design an external environment that nourishes you instead of depletes you. I did this when I moved into my shared house with my best friend back in June because as one of our housemates wasn’t moving in for another 3 months, I made their room my office (with their permission) and that was great for me. It gave me a stress-free, non-triggering environment for me to do what I loved. Secondly, we need to work with ourselves to cultivate and use a wide range of tools to bring ourselves back inside our Window of Tolerance when we inevitably find ourselves outside. You can do this by developing tools, habits, practices and internalised and externalised resources that help you to self-soothe, self-regulate and ground yourself. I’m smiling as I write as I write this because these are aspects of Window of Tolerance that I’ve been reading about lately in Erika Shershun’s book, and it’s very helpful to learn about. Maybe I’ll dive into these aspects of Window of Tolerance in a future podcast episode. Clinical Psychology Conclusion I cannot stress enough the importance of Window of Tolerance in trauma work, because it actually did change my life. There are a lot of concepts in clinical psychology that are useful to some clients but not all, and there are certain concepts that are useful to the vast, vast majority of clients. Window of Tolerance is certainly one of the latter, because it is a very useful tool for psychoeducation and explaining to clients why their body is reacting in the ways that it is. It was a relief to understand why my body was doing all these extreme trauma responses and it was nice to put a name to the psychological framework. Therefore, it meant now I understood what I was dealing with it, I could research, read and practice how to expand my Window of Tolerance and how to reduce the volatility of my nervous system. If I didn’t know about Window of Tolerance, I certainly wouldn’t be as far along in my recovery as I am now. Ultimately, the Window of Tolerance might “only” be a psychoeducational concept but it is an extremely powerful tool to use in clinical trauma work. Therefore, I unofficially suggest to my fellow aspiring and qualified psychologists that you embody this Window of Tolerance in your own life and especially in your clinical trauma work. Your clients and yourself will openly find it more useful and life-changing than you ever thought possible. I know I did, and that’s one of the entire points of our profession. Clinical psychology is all about changing one life for the better at a time.     I really hope you enjoyed today’s forensic psychology podcast episode. If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Biological Psychology . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Patreon for exclusive access and rewards Have a great day. Clinical Psychology and Biological Psychology References and Further Reading Brown, S., Rodwin, A. H., & Munson, M. R. (2023). Multi-systemic trauma and regulation: Re-centering how to BE with clients. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 1-18. Corrigan, F. M., Fisher, J. J., & Nutt, D. J. (2011). Autonomic dysregulation and the window of tolerance model of the effects of complex emotional trauma. Journal of psychopharmacology, 25(1), 17-25. Craparo, G. (2014). The role of dissociation, affect dysregulation, and developmental trauma in sexual addiction. Clinical Neuropsychiatry, 11(2). Gunter, E., Sevier-Guy, L. J., & Heffernan, A. (2023). Top tips for supporting patients with a history of psychological trauma. British Dental Journal, 234(7), 490. Hershler, A. (2021). Window of tolerance. Looking at trauma: A tool kit for clinicians, 23, 25-28. https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/making-the-whole-beautiful/202205/what-is-the-window-of-tolerance-and-why-is-it-so-important Jenkins, S. (2018). Increasing tolerance for calm in clients with complex trauma and dissociation. In Equine-assisted mental health for healing trauma (pp. 44-53). Routledge. Luby, R. R. (2024). Sexual violence: a trauma-informed approach for mental health nurses supporting survivors. Mental Health Practice, 27(4). Siegel, D. J. (2010). The Mindful Therapist: A Clinician's Guide to Mindsight and Neural Integration (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology). WW Norton & Company. I truly hope that you’ve enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon  page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/connorwhiteley  for a one-time bit of support.

For the first time ever on The Psychology World Podcast, we are actually going to focus on business psychology and the great topic of job interviews. In the current job market, you simply cannot escape job interviews because a lot of people believe that they are good indicators of future job performance. Yet modern research published in 2024 shows how this is far from the case and more often than not, job interviews absolutely fail to predict a person’s ability to be an asset to the company, fit within the current team and how they’ll perform on the job. Therefore, in this business psychology podcast episode, you’ll learn how job interviews are failing us, the three main reasons why job interviews are not good indicators of future job performance and how can we improve the effectiveness of the recruitment process. A major purpose of business psychologists. If you enjoy learning about organisational psychology, the recruitment process and careers in psychology then this will be a great episode for you. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Applied Psychology: Applying Social Psychology, Cognitive Psychology and More to the Real World . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. How Are Job Interviews Failing Us? When we really start thinking about job interviews, we have to admit that they are really, really strange. For example, imagine you’re a world-famous singer being asked to judge a singing competition. The only catch is that you cannot listen to the singers actually sing, instead you can only interview them about their songs. That’s it. You cannot hear their singing performance, you can only talk to them about songs. It makes no sense, does it? That is effectively how job interviews have worked for the past 200 years. For some reason, employers believe that they can get to understand and predict future job performance by simply talking to someone about their skills. Or to use an example more relatable to the audience of this podcast, if we’re a mental health service looking for a new psychologist so we want to see how effective they are at delivering psychological therapies to clients, the only way to test their skills is to have them deliver a therapy to a client. Yet instead, our base level is to simply talk to them about what they might do and we’re only interviewing them about their skills. That doesn’t exactly give us much of a measurement of their actual skills in the real world, does it? Also, I should note here that I am not some jarred person who’s been rejected by interviews and failed them, so I don’t hate them. In fact, I get most of the interviews I’ve been for and I know how to sound good in an interview thanks to helping other students do interview preparation through my university’s Outreach work. Instead, I am just an aspiring clinical psychologist taking a look at the research behind job interviews. In addition, Wingate et al. (2024) published a meta-analysis with over 30,000 participants and found that job interviews do not predict future job performance. In other words, interviewing a future worker might not be a useful way to make better hiring decisions. Job Interviews Create The Myth of the Perfect Interview Question One of the main problems with the job interview is that a lot of people believe that if you simply ask the right questions then you will uncover the truth about a job candidate. This leads HR departments and bosses to create situational judgemental scenarios, behavioural questions as well as technical assessments that the employers believe reveal the perfect person for the job. In reality, the research tells a different story because whether or not you’re trying to assess a candidate’s behaviour, task-related skills or their interpersonal skills, interviews are still problematic. Since interviews show a low level of accuracy because structured as well as unstructured interviews don’t predict a candidate’s future performance. Moreover, you should know that job interviews are “okay” at best in terms of predicting broader contextual behaviours and task-specific skills. This suggests that the standard interview format might not be effective at best, or too blunt of a tool at worst, to capture the nuances that diverse jobs require. And I think if we apply this suggestion to our own profession of clinical psychology. The typical clinical psychologist never has two days the same, and they work with lots of different types of clients, some days are high-stress, other days low-stress. Some days a psychologist has to do lots of back-to-back sessions and other times they might be out of the office doing assessments or interventions in other settings. Also, some days they might be doing a lot of systemic work because of a particular client and another day they might be dealing with safeguarding issues. How can an interview possibly capture how a psychologist would handle all those different tasks? How could you possibly design interview questions to accurately understand how a psychology candidate would respond to each of these situations? Where is the measurement precision? On the whole, the problem with job interviews is that they are typically seen as a one-size-fits-all instrument for assessing a candidate’s capacity to do a job. Yet in reality, it isn’t possible to design interview questions that accurately demonstrate how a person will respond in the diverse situations that they will face in the job. Such as, what interview questions could you possibly create that would accurately measure how an engineer would investigate a Parcel Sorter failure or a sales representative’s client relationship skills? You cannot. Job Interviews Create An Illusion Of Accuracy Another important reason why job interviews fail people is because in a job interview, you sit across from a potential candidate for 60 minutes. Within these 60 minutes, you ask them a whole bunch of inaccurate questions designed to gauge their future performance and in reality, their job interview performance only accounts for 9% of variance in future job performance. That leaves 91% of variance uncounted for. In other words, job interviews fail to explain the other 91% of how well a candidate will do in a job in the future. This is completely overlooked by the interview process and you can compare it to trying to predict the outcome of a football game by watching the players talk in the locker room. As you can tell, I don’t know much about sports. Anyway, this failure to account for the vast, vast majority of the variance only goes to show that interviews are not valid ways to assess a candidate’s capabilities to do a job. As well as it is a complete and utter illusion that job interviews are accurate tools, and this can cost businesses dearly. Recently, me and a friend of mine were talking about his placement interviews and how they were going at the moment, and I learnt two things looking back. Firstly, I know he has the skills for a clinical psychology placement because he’s done audits, he’s worked with his mum at an IVF clinic and he has medical experience, at least a little. Also, we bonded over our love of clinical psychology so I know he has the skills, the passion and the potential to grow and benefit from a placement in an NHS mental health setting. Yet he hasn’t gotten a placement yet and he sent me some of the interview questions and they are just shockingly bad at gauging how he would respond in a real-world work environment. This is why interview questions are so inaccurate and bad indicators of how people would do in the real world. You only need to look around at your own workplace to see a few people who passed their interviews but are so, so bad at their jobs that you don’t understand how they’re working here. You know I’m right about that. Job Interviews Create A “Fit” Fallacy The main reason why I wanted to do this podcast episode was because my dad does a lot of interviewing as part of this engineering job. He is basically a manager in all but name and he tells me about his interviewing from time to time. Whenever he talks to me about “fit” and the person’s skills, I have to admit that I am always sceptical because I don’t understand how he can understand how people “fit” within his team when the candidate doesn’t always meet the other people. Sometimes my dad does take the candidate round the workshop, so that is slightly better. However, a final issue with job interviews is that there is a massive overemphasis within companies on a cultural fit. At first, this sounds like a very good idea because you want someone who aligns with your company values, believes in what you’re doing and fits the team dynamics so there is less conflict and people can focus on their work (and making the company money). Although, the issue with the idea of “fit” is that it leads to homogeneity instead of company diversity. Ultimately, this leads to the company workforce looking, thinking and acting alike whenever a company focuses on cultural fit. Again, this makes perfect sense because we are more comfortable round others who are like us in terms of similar backgrounds, interests as well as ways of working and thinking. On the other hand, this is a problem because it can certainly create an easy-going and harmonious workplace but just because someone fits into a company it doesn’t mean they should be working there. Cultural fit does not prove the candidate has the skills, abilities and experience to be working in the role they’re applying for. On the whole, whenever a company focuses on cultural fit, the company risks creating an echo chamber where new ideas and perspectives are very rare and this can make an organisation neglect the actual capacities required for an individual to perform, and for the organisation itself to grow and develop. A person’s true performance doesn’t rely on cultural fit alone, it actually relies on a mixture of cultural fit and most importantly, the candidate’s current skills and capacity to do the job well and their ability to grow in the future as they learn and develop their skills. For example, in my own experience, when it comes to other Student Ambassadors, every single one of them are near perfect cultural fit, but it certainly doesn’t make them good ambassadors. They might want to support students but they aren’t social, they don’t talk with the students and engage with them. Those are core aspects of the job. Most of the time ambassadors have to be pushed to engage with students or they just stand in the corner talking with their backs to the students. Thankfully, there are a lot more good ambassadors than bad ones, but still. If job interviews were so great then all these ambassadors who cannot do their jobs would not be getting in. Bringing this back to job interviews, this is only further proof that job interviews might be able to evaluate cultural fit, but they are very weak in predicting potential and future job performance. How Can We Improve The Job Recruitment Process? One of the main duties of a business psychologist is helping organisations with their recruitment processes, so I want to have a quick look at some ways to improve an organisation’s hiring processes to help overcome these issues. Firstly, an organisation can focus on past performance as a more accurate indicator of future job performance. An organisation can do this by digging and examining a candidate’s concrete accomplishments and how a candidate achieved these in the first place. This is drawing on real-world experience so you can see how a candidate has actually managed in the real-world workplace. Secondly, an organisation can use a diverse range of assessment tools in their recruitment process. For instance, they could use an assessment centre that uses a wide range of job stimulations, skills assessments and work sample tests to evaluate a candidate based on their actual job-related tasks. Also, the added benefit of doing this is that this method evaluates candidates on their job-related skills instead of their ability to perform well in an interview. Finally, organisations can focus on cultural contribution instead of exclusively on cultural fit. I mention this because an organisation could look for a candidate that fits their current organisational culture whilst making sure they can contribute positively and even go as far as enhance your organisational culture at the same time. Business Psychology Conclusion As much as I never look at business psychology, I have to admit that I think I will be investigating this subdiscipline of psychology over the course of the next year. I’ll be finishing my Masters in September and then I’ll be off into the world of work, hopefully a mental health job, and I love psychology because you can apply it to everyday life. Therefore, as much as I say I am not interested in organisational psychology, I actually think as I start moving into the working world and I can start to place some of the research findings into the world around me, I think my interest will only grow. For example, it’s been interesting learning about how job interviews are failing us because they create an illusion of accuracy, the myth of the perfect interview question and the focus on cultural fit. These are all problems that not only negatively impact job candidates, but the organisations themselves too. Thankfully, there are ways like focusing on past performance, focusing on cultural contribution instead of cultural fit and using a diverse range of assessment tools that can help organisations overcome these problems. And I think the most exciting thing about this topic is that jobs are meant to nurture a person’s potential, their skills and their experiences. As I try to gain more work experience in mental health settings, I am really looking forward to the future because I get to learn a lot, develop my skills and take another step closer to hopefully becoming a fully qualified clinical psychologist. Therefore, I’ll end this podcast episode by saying that all of us could be potential game-changing employees for a business as much as we might doubt it because of our current skills. Yet I want you to remember that always try to improve your interview skills because of the current state of the job market and recruitment processes, but just remember something for me. You, as the game-changing employee, might not interview the best, but your true potential is just waiting to be unlocked, developed and nurtured. You are probably so much better than you think, so keep applying to jobs, keep trying to become a psychologist and keep taking steps towards your dream career. It might seem impossible but you can get there. I believe in you, so please believe in yourself.   I really hope you enjoyed today’s clinical psychology podcast episode. If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Applied Psychology: Applying Social Psychology, Cognitive Psychology and More to the Real World . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Patreon for exclusive access and rewards Have a great day. Business Psychology References and Further Reading Basch, J. M., Melchers, K. G., Kurz, A., Krieger, M., & Miller, L. (2021). It takes more than a good camera: which factors contribute to differences between face-to-face interviews and videoconference interviews regarding performance ratings and interviewee perceptions?. Journal of business and psychology, 36, 921-940. Oh, I. S., Postlethwaite, B. E., Oh, F. S. I. S., Postlethwaite, B. E., & Schmidt, F. L. (2013). Rethinking the validity of interviews for employment decision making. Received wisdom, kernels truths, and boundary conditions in organizational studies. Sackett, P. R., Zhang, C., Berry, C. M., & Lievens, F. (2022). Revisiting meta-analytic estimates of validity in personnel selection: Addressing systematic overcorrection for restriction of range. Journal of Applied Psychology, 107(11), 2040. Tippins, N. T., Oswald, F. L., & McPhail, S. M. (2021). Scientific, legal, and ethical concerns about AI-based personnel selection tools: a call to action. Personnel Assessment and Decisions, 7(2), 1. Wingate, T. G., Bourdage, J. S., & Steel, P. (2024). Evaluating interview criterion‐related validity for distinct constructs: A meta‐analysis. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 33(1), e12494. Zhang, D. C., Highhouse, S., Brooks, M. E., & Zhang, Y. (2018). Communicating the validity of structured job interviews with graphical visual aids. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 26(2-4), 93-108. I truly hope that you’ve enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon  page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/connorwhiteley  for a one-time bit of support.

Dyspraxia is the last diagnosis that I received recently and it explains so much about my life, my “clumsiness” and a wide range of struggles in my life. Struggles that I was bullied for, judged and mocked for as a child and teenager. Yet even though I’ve done a little research into the condition before I got diagnosed, I don’t understand Dyspraxia at a deep level. Therefore, in this clinical psychology podcast, you’ll learn what is Dyspraxia, what are the symptoms and causes of Dyspraxia and how is it treated. If you enjoy learning about learning difficulties, clinical psychology and neurological conditions then this will be a great episode for you. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Cognitive Psychology: A Guide To Neuropsychology, Neuroscience and Cognitive Psychology. Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. What Is Dyspraxia? Dyspraxia is a neurological condition that impacts a person’s coordination and planning of their gross and fine motor skills. Although, it can impact perception, memory, information processing, judgement and other cognitive abilities too. As well as because the condition impacts so many different areas of the brain and body, Dyspraxia looks different in different people. Also, Dyspraxia is often used interchangeably with Developmental Coordination Disorder  because this is the most common type of Dyspraxia. Furthermore, Dyspraxia is typically recognised in early childhood when a child experiences delays in achieving “normal” motor milestones, like sitting up and crawling. Then the symptoms tend to last into adolescence and adulthood. For example, I needed extra lessons before school started to learn how to throw and catch, and as a teenager, I was mocked for being clumsy and having no coordination. In terms of coexisting with other conditions, Dyspraxia can exist by itself but it is often seen alongside conditions like dyslexia and autism, like I do, and ADHD too. And it’s important to note that Dyspraxia is not a learning disability but it can negatively impact a person’s ability to engage fully in social, professional and academic activities. For instance, Dyspraxia can impact a child’s working memory so they can experience a poorer performance in class. Therefore, it’s important for children with Dyspraxia to get a diagnosis so the school can provide specific and targeted accommodations so the child can succeed and thrive in education. In addition, according to the Dyspraxia Foundation, Dyspraxia is believed to affect anywhere between 6% and 10% of children to some extent with 2% of children being severely affected. As well as males are more likely than females to develop the condition. What Causes Dyspraxia? Overall, the cause of Dyspraxia isn’t known, but we do understand some of the risk factors. For example, according to the DSM-5, having a premature birth, low birth weight, exposure to drug or alcohol use during pregnancy and a family history of the condition all increase the likelihood of a person developing the condition. Also, if the client has another condition like ADHD, then this has a major impact on how Dyspraxia presents itself. What Are The Symptoms Of Dyspraxia? In terms of the symptoms of Dyspraxia, symptoms tend to appear early in life because babies with Dyspraxia can have problems with feeding and be overly irritable. Then when the babies reach toddlerhood, the child can continue to have problems with feeding and they can show other developmental delays. For example, people with Dyspraxia tend to have difficulties with toilet training, being unable to throw and catch a ball as well as they can refuse to play with toys or puzzles that require construction. For me, I flat out hated throwing and catching a ball because I was so bad at it. My primary school even required me to have extra lessons before school started because my coordination was so bad. Also, I was surprised that construction was a difficulty for people with Dyspraxia, because as a kid I loved Lego but I didn’t build it myself until I was about ten years old. For the first five years (or perhaps longer) of me playing with my Lego, my Dad had to build it all himself because I couldn’t understand how to do it. Furthermore, another set of symptoms for Dyspraxia is that children with the condition might frequently drop things and have difficulties that involve hand-eye coordination. This can lead to issues with managing zippers and buttons. Also, it isn’t uncommon for children with Dyspraxia to avoid physical activity because they don’t want to feel the shame and embarrassment associated with being “bad” at it, because their Dyspraxia can lead to a lack of muscle development that only compounds the difficulties they face with physical activity on top of their lack of coordination. Building upon this, the weak muscle tone associated with Dyspraxia doesn’t only impact a child’s ability to take part in sports and gym-based activities, it can even impact their ability to stand for any length of time. In my experience of Dyspraxia, my hand-eye coordination has always been difficult and it took me ages to learn how to tie my own shoelaces, get dressed and I definitely avoided physical activity. I think for a time I did enjoy sports but because I was so bad at it, people would make comments and point out how useless I was at sports, I just ended up hating and avoiding it. Also, I am not 100% sure that this is connected to Dyspraxia, but building upon the point about weak muscles, as a child, I had a very, very weak neck according to my parents. I couldn’t actually support the weight of my own head with my own neck muscles so I needed physiotherapy as a kid to strengthen them. Additionally, children with Dyspraxia tend to have writing and speech delays, lose things, forget things and they can have trouble picking up on nonverbal social cues. Also, Dyspraxia can cause issues with motor coordination, perception, memory, speech and language skills, emotional control and following directions. All these other symptoms can cause a lot of difficulties with concentration, organisation and planning as well as accuracy. Interestingly, the overall result of these symptoms is impulsive or erratic behaviour, or people with Dyspraxia avoid unpredictable or new situations or even scenarios that require teamwork. Ultimately, leading to a wide range of behavioural and emotional difficulties that can include anxiety, depression, stress, fears, phobias, addictions and low self-esteem. Personally, I can see why some people with Dyspraxia tend to get misdiagnosed with autism because there is an overlap here but autism has a lot of characteristic features that Dyspraxia does not. Like autism has the lack of eye contact, hyperfixations, repetitive behaviours amongst others that Dyspraxia lacks. Also, I would say that my lack of ability to follow directions, have good motor coordination and have good speech and language skills definitely has impacted my mental health over the years. Not because I have an issue with the symptoms I experience because of Dyspraxia, but because of other people being mean, making negative comments and judging me for not being perfect at these skills that everyone else takes for granted. How Is Dyspraxia Treated? Whilst there is no cure for Dyspraxia, it is still perfectly possible for people with the condition to live a good and full life where they can thrive and succeed in whatever they want. Although, there are some treatment options to help with some of the symptoms of the conditions and to help improve muscle tone and their coordination. I’ve already mentioned I received speech and language therapy and physiotherapy as a child to help me, but children with Dyspraxia can receive occupational therapy, other special services and accommodations through their school too. In the home, children with Dyspraxia can be encouraged to take part in physical activities and active play that helps to strengthen their muscle tone as well as improve their physical coordination. Typically, cycling and swimming are often helpful to keep children with Dyspraxia physically active and this helps to reduce their risk of obesity. That was something I struggled with a lot as a child. Also, children with Dyspraxia can work on puzzle activities and skills, like throwing a beanbag to improve their hand-eye coordination. As well as using pencil grips, learning to type and other simple interventions can help improve their communication skills. Clinical Psychology Conclusion Personally, I have really enjoyed learning more about Dyspraxia because now that we’ve looked at what Dyspraxia is, what are symptoms and causes and what are the treatment options for Dyspraxia, a lot of things make sense. I can see how a lot of difficulties in my life were caused by Dyspraxia and thankfully, a lot of the treatment options I received have worked and has decreased a fair amount of difficulties that my Dyspraxia has caused me. Whilst at this stage in my life because I’ve been through school, I’m basically done with university and I passed my driving test a few years ago, this diagnosis doesn’t change anything majorly for me. Yet it is nice to know that there was a neurological reason why I had so many difficulties as a child and that it wasn’t because I was useless like so many other people said. I had Dyspraxia and that is why I wasn’t great at sports, had awful motor coordination and it was responsible for a lot of other things that people didn’t like about me. And now I can go forward in my life knowing and being able to explain why I have such difficulty with certain things in case someone calls me a problem. I am never a problem, I am just a person with a neurological condition that might need a little more support and help compared to others. That doesn’t make me a bad person, and this is one of the few times where a diagnostic label can be empowering instead of debilitating and stigmatising. I have Dyspraxia and I am proud to finally know the truth behind my difficulties.      I really hope you enjoyed today’s clinical psychology podcast episode. If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Cognitive Psychology: A Guide To Neuropsychology, Neuroscience and Cognitive Psychology. Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Patreon for exclusive access and rewards Have a great day. Clinical Psychology Reference and Further Reading Bidwell, V. (2022). Developmental coordination disorder (dyspraxia): what helps, what hinders in the school years for later achievement and wellbeing? (Doctoral dissertation, UCL (University College London)). Castellucci, G., & Singla, R. (2024). Developmental Coordination Disorder (Dyspraxia). In StatPearls [Internet]. StatPearls Publishing. Dyspraxia USA Foundation Edmonds, C. (2021). An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of the Lived Experiences of Children with Dyspraxia in UK Secondary Schools (Doctoral dissertation, University of East London). Leonard HC, Hill EL. Executive difficulties in development coordination disorder: Methodological issues and future directions. Current Developmental Disorders Reports. June 2015;2(2):141-149.   National Health Service (U.K.) O’Dea, Á., Stanley, M., Coote, S., & Robinson, K. (2021). Children and young people’s experiences of living with developmental coordination disorder/dyspraxia: A systematic review and meta-ethnography of qualitative research. Plos one, 16(3), e0245738. Patino, E. Understanding Dyspraxia. Understood.org. Reviewed by R. Goldberg MD. Pemberton, M. (2022). All about Dyspraxia. The School Librarian, 70(3), 38-38. Waber, D. P., Boiselle, E. C., Yakut, A. D., Peek, C. P., Strand, K. E., & Bernstein, J. H. (2021). Developmental dyspraxia in children with learning disorders: Four-year experience in a referred sample. Journal of Child Neurology, 36(3), 210-221. I truly hope that you’ve enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon  page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/connorwhiteley  for a one-time bit of support.

Recently, I got diagnosed with dyslexia after struggling with reading, writing and understanding the different sounds that different letters make. Especially, when these letters are combined in words. Therefore, in this clinical psychology podcast episode, you’re going to learn what is dyslexia, what causes dyslexia and how is dyslexia treated amongst other facts about the condition. If you’re interested in learning more about clinical psychology, learning difficulties and neurodevelopmental conditions then this is a great episode for you. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Developmental Psychology: A Guide To Developmental and Child Psychology . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. What Is Dyslexia? Dyslexia is a neurodevelopmental condition that causes people to have difficulty with spelling, reading comprehension and word recognition. As well as whilst it is closely related to other learning disabilities like dyspraxia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia, this condition does affect people with normal and above-average intelligence too.  Additionally, dyslexia is believed to be the most common learning disability with the prevalence rate being around 5% to 17% of the population depending on the criteria being used. As well as it is possible for someone to have more than one learning disability, which is why a comprehensive evaluation is used during diagnosis. When learning disabilities are co-morbid, health professionals treat each condition separately because the different treatments that are effective for one condition might have no or little effect on another one. Like a dyslexia treatment might be useful for dyslexia but it might be useless for dysgraphia.  Personally, I knew I had dyslexia because I have always struggled with spelling and sounding out words. I just cannot do it and I found out recently I learn a word in “whole word blocks” so people normally learn by phonetics. For me phonetics are useless so I need to know what a whole word says then I remember the whole word instead of the sounds. This is why I struggle with learning new words and knowing how to say new words. What Are The Symptoms Of Dyslexia? Whilst this wasn’t the case for me, the symptoms and signs of dyslexia are typically seen in childhood but they do appear in adults too. For me, I did a dyslexia test when I was about 14 years old but I “failed” so I couldn’t receive a diagnosis but in the past few years my dyslexia has become more severe so I passed the screening test and the diagnosis. Moreover, a dyslexic person’s reading ability is lower-than-average for their age but symptoms can still vary from one person to another. This is why we’ll look at some of the most common symptoms now, and remember not all these symptoms will appear within everyone with dyslexia. Generally speaking, children as well as adults with dyslexia might struggle to summarise stories, remember phrases or words and understand jokes, idioms and other forms of wordplay. They might find it difficult to learn a second language too, but please remember that if no other symptoms are present, this is not an indicator of dyslexia. Furthermore, with dyslexia being a neurodevelopmental condition, it is common for those with dyslexia to reach common developmental milestones like walking and talking, later than their peers. Then as they get old and grow up, children and adults with the condition might struggle to participate in activities that require coordination, like those with high levels of hand-eye coordination or activities that require concentration and focus. I have a lot of these difficulties but mine can be explained slightly better by dyspraxia (a word I cannot actually spell without autocorrect on). A final general symptom for this section is that because reading is a challenge for people with dyslexia that makes people feel like they’re a “failure” at reading, it can make children and adults anxious or upset about the idea of reading. Or they go to a lot of effort to avoid reading activities. Interestingly, this can unfortunately impact children’s self-esteem that can last into adulthood. Especially, if their dyslexia continues to go undiagnosed so they might even be called “lazy” or “slow” because they don’t want to read or they struggle with it. This is why accurate timely diagnosis is so important because it can restore a child’s and an adult’s self-esteem as well as allow them to develop strategies that work best for their particular challenges. Also, with reading being considered a critical skill for academic success, this is why a lot of people with dyslexia believe they aren’t intelligent, when in reality, they are intelligent. They might just need a little more support and more strategies to help them learn and thrive. What Are Some Specific Dyslexia Symptoms? Firstly, a dyslexic person experiences delays or difficulties in learning to speak, read, the alphabet or how to spell. For me, I struggled so much with learning how to speak because I needed speech and language therapy for years just so I could form any words at all, as I was a mute child. As well as I struggled with reading words because I just couldn’t sound them out so I had to have extra lessons that focused on sounding out words. It wasn’t useful but still. Secondly, one aspect of a dyslexia assessment is you need to recall sequences of numbers, words and letters in a forwards and reverse order. That is very difficult for people with dyslexia and I hated that part of the assessment because I was seriously not good at it. I am pretty sure the psychologist doing my assessment actually stopped the reverse order sequences earlier because she could see how bad I was at the task. Therefore, difficulty recalling sequences of numbers, letters and/ or words is another symptom of dyslexia. Thirdly, dyslexic people tend to misread one letter for another. This can include u for an n, a p for a q and so on. I don’t have any experience of this symptom. Fourthly, this is how I actually knew I was dyslexic because my friends and housemates would lovingly bully me for my challenges with pronunciation. I have an amazing ability to randomly add and subtract letters of new words. I often get asked “Where’s the t, s, r in the word” because I randomly add so many extra letters. Or I get asked “There’s an r in the word, where’s that?”. My pronunciation is rubbish. In addition, people with dyslexia typically struggle with distinguishing the sounds of one word from another. Now I didn’t think I had any experience of this but my best friend who is half-French mentioned how I don’t have an ear for different sounds in French, but I remember something else too. I was talking with a housemate and we were talking about English as a language and they said a whole bunch of words and to me they sounded too similar for me to know the difference. Finally, people with dyslexia can struggle with recognising what are known as “sight words”. For example, and, the or it. What Causes Dyslexia? Whilst researchers aren’t entirely sure what can cause a child to develop dyslexia, given how it can run in families, it is commonly believed there is a genetic component. I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if my Dad has dyslexia but that is just a pure guess. Also, neuroimaging studies have found that the brains of children with dyslexia develop and work differently to the brains of children at the same age as those without dyslexia. This could explain why people with dyslexia have phonological difficulties that make it harder for them to distinguish between the sounds of individual letters and letter patterns in similar words like bag, ban and bat. In addition, dyslexia isn’t always a neurodevelopmental condition because it is possible to “acquire” dyslexia following a brain injury, stroke or another example of traumatic event. Then people with acquired dyslexia or alexia, lose their ability to read because the rear part of the left hemisphere of their brain is damaged, so this causes difficulties identifying individual numbers and letters. How Is Dyslexia Treated? Currently, there is no cure for dyslexia but in the majority of cases, it can be managed through compensatory techniques. In children with dyslexia, it’s important to recognise the symptoms and then start taking remedial steps as soon as possible within their journey through education so they can thrive and not risk falling behind. For this to happen, a formal evaluation is needed to uncover the specific deficit areas that the child has in reading and writing and this differs for every child. For example, I can read books and I have no problems enjoying reading, but I cannot read new words, I cannot sound out words and I have massive issues with not wanting to take notes in lectures because it takes me a while to write my notes out. As well as if I’m reading and I come across a new word, I don’t even try and read it, I just acknowledge there’s a weird word there and move on. Furthermore, there are brain-based and environmental differences between children with dyslexia that can make it easier for some children to learn compared to others. Dyslexic children tend to be taught by educators that use methods that are modified to meet an individual’s needs. As well as family support can be massively important to improve a child’s self-image and prospects for success. The same individual evaluations as well as reading interventions are necessary for adults with acquired dyslexia too. In addition, as dyslexia is recognised as a disability, it is possible for a person with dyslexia to request workplace accommodations for their condition. This can include assistive technologies, like text-to-write software, having long documents summarised for faster interpretations and replacing written directions with oral ones. Also, for some reason, people think there is a medication option for dyslexia, this isn’t true. There is no medication that is recommended for dyslexia, but if a child has another condition like ADHD alongside their dyslexia then Adderall and Ritalin can be useful for reducing ADHD symptoms but they will not help with the underlying dyslexia symptoms. Finally, in terms of academic accommodations, these can be immensely useful for students with dyslexia and they are normally a collaboration between the school staff and parents. In the United States, dyslexia is considered a disability so it is protected under the Americans With Disabilities Act, so children with dyslexia are normally able to secure an Individualised Learning Plan that includes accommodations that help them to catch up in the classroom with their peers or perform better. These accommodations depend on the severity of the child’s condition and their specific symptoms, but they can include: ·       Extra time on tests ·       Options to dictate answers instead of writing them ·       Use of audiobooks Clinical Psychology Conclusion After struggling with reading, pronunciation and being the joke for so long because I struggled with sounds so much, it is great to finally have an understanding and a diagnosis that can explain why I struggle so much with things that other people take for granted. Also, with a dyslexia diagnosis, I feel a little validated in a way because it means I am officially dyslexic, if that makes sense. It isn’t their excuse or condition that I am trying to use to explain away my difficulties, because now I actually have  the condition instead of me thinking   and hoping  that I have it. I would have preferred to have the diagnosis when I was back in school because that would have been really, really useful for me but I have it now. I can ask for accommodations when needed and whilst I don’t know how me having a dyslexia diagnosis will impact me in the future, I am glad that I have during my university. Because you never know when a diagnosis that can get you more support than stigma might be useful especially as I enter the world of work after the final year of my degree.     I really hope you enjoyed today’s clinical psychology podcast episode. If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Developmental Psychology: A Guide To Developmental and Child Psychology . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Patreon for exclusive access and rewards Have a great day. Clinical Psychology Reference and Further Reading International Dyslexia Association website. Accessed September 6, 2017. Lorusso, M. L., Borasio, F., Mistò, P., Salandi, A., Travellini, S., Lotito, M., & Molteni, M. (2024). Remote treatment of developmental dyslexia: how ADHD comorbidity, clinical history and treatment repetition may affect its efficacy. Frontiers in Public Health, 11, 1135465. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Dyslexia Information Page. Accessed September 6, 2017. Peltier, T. K., Washburn, E. K., Heddy, B. C., & Binks-Cantrell, E. (2022). What do teachers know about dyslexia? It’s complicated!. Reading and Writing, 35(9), 2077-2107. Shaywitz, S. E., Shaywitz, J. E., & Shaywitz, B. A. (2021). Dyslexia in the 21st century. Current opinion in psychiatry, 34(2), 80-86. Snowling, M. J., Hulme, C., & Nation, K. (2020). Defining and understanding dyslexia: past, present and future. Oxford review of education, 46(4), 501-513. Starrfelt R. Alexia: What happens when a brain injury makes you forget how to read. The Conversation. University of Copenhagen, Department of Psychology. July 14, 2015. Toffalini, E., Giofrè, D., Pastore, M., Carretti, B., Fraccadori, F., & Szűcs, D. (2021). Dyslexia treatment studies: A systematic review and suggestions on testing treatment efficacy with small effects and small samples. Behavior research methods, 1-19. Vaughn, S., Miciak, J., Clemens, N., & Fletcher, J. M. (2024). The critical role of instructional response in defining and identifying students with dyslexia: A case for updating existing definitions. Annals of Dyslexia, 74(3), 325-336. Vouglanis, T., & Driga, A. M. (2023). The use of ICT for the early detection of dyslexia in education. TechHub Journal, 5, 54-67. Wagner, R. K., Zirps, F. A., Edwards, A. A., Wood, S. G., Joyner, R. E., Becker, B. J., ... & Beal, B. (2020). The prevalence of dyslexia: A new approach to its estimation. Journal of learning disabilities, 53(5), 354-365. Watter K, Copley A, Fitch E. Discourse level reading comprehension interventions following acquired brain injury: A systematic review. Disability and rehabilitation. Published online February 18, 2016.   I truly hope that you’ve enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon  page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/connorwhiteley  for a one-time bit of support.

On the 3rd December 2024, I had a two-hour-long Specific Learning Difficulties online assessment, so I could get a diagnosis of dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia or dysgraphia. I was assessed for all of them because I went through my university to get a dyslexia diagnosis and instead I had a Specific Learning Difficulties assessment that allowed me to be assessed for all of them. After the assessment (which was actually funny in its own right because I was able to be diagnosed quicker than she expected), I was diagnosed with dyslexia and dyspraxia. We’ll cover these two conditions in the next two podcast episodes. Yet as an aspiring clinical psychologist, I found the assessment process fascinating and I really enjoyed how she adapted her process, her thoughts and what her approach as she got more information and test results so she could make a diagnosis. I learnt a lot during the assessment. Therefore, in this clinical psychology podcast episode, you’ll learn what happens during a Specific Learning Difficulties assessment, how I got the assessment in the first place and what I learnt as an aspiring clinical psychologist. If you enjoy learning about mental health conditions, psychological assessments and applied clinical psychology then this will be a great episode for you. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Developmental Psychology: A Guide To Developmental and Child Psychology . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Why Did I Want A Dyslexia Assessment In The First Place? As a quick note to start off this episode, I want to mention that the difference between a learning disability  and a learning difficulty is that to have a learning disability your IQ has to be below 70 points. You have dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia or dysgraphia but it doesn’t mean you have a learning disability. Especially if you’re IQ is above 70. I have always suspected that I am dyslexic because my ability to read new words has always been awful. I have always struggled with sounding out words, learning new words and understanding how to say words. It doesn’t matter if they’re English, Spanish, French, whatever language. I always struggle to say them because I don’t know how sounds work in words so unless I know what the entire word sounds like, I always add and subtract random letters that make no sense. However, this academic year because I’ve been living with housemates and words have come up as well as my ability to read them has been mentioned. I quickly became the joke in the house that I cannot pronounce words at all, my sense of direction is awful and my sense of left and right is troubling too at times. Therefore, I looked into it more and I did fit the criteria for dyslexia as well as dyspraxia. Yet I was resistant to getting diagnosed for a while because I’ve been through secondary education, my undergraduate degree and I am basically done with my Masters now. I didn’t really see the point of being diagnosed and it doesn’t impact my life massively. I can still read, write and learn to a good level, so I was resistant. Also, I had a dyslexia screening back in Year 8 so when I was around 14 years old, and that screening “showed” I didn’t have dyslexia so I didn’t really want to go through the whole process again. However, I was working an information evening at a college in Canterbury for my student ambassador work with my best friend and a girl that I always enjoy talking. We were talking and my ability to say new words popped up again and we were all joking about how bad I am at saying words, reading words and that sort of thing. Then I joked that I should do a dyslexia screening online (because that’s always accurate) so I did one then another then I realised the answers both said it was likely I was dyslexic. Afterwards, I didn’t really think about it for another day then I looked up what my university offers in terms of specific learning difficulties. I found out that offer diagnosis and screening tests. Now the thing you need to know about me is that I love a freebie, you should also know that even though a lot of my childhood and sexual trauma has been dealt with, I like surviving. And getting a diagnosis might help me to survive and make my life easier in the future. Sometimes you do need to use childhood trauma to manipulate yourself so you don’t miss very good opportunities like this one. I emailed my university asking for the screening, so they sent it to me and I did it later that night. I thought it was going to be a silly little quick thing. 90 minutes later I finally got my results and the screening test suggested that I had a mild form of dyslexia and the next day my university emailed me. I had to pay £175 for the dyslexia assessment and they covered the rest which was at least £200. If you’re undergraduate and you have a household income under a certain amount then you don’t need to pay, but because I’m postgraduate I had to pay for it. I wasn’t entirely happy about that, but I wanted this diagnosis. I booked the assessment for 3 until 5 pm on 3rd December 2024. Once that was firmed I did the pre-screening questionnaire that asked me a lot of questions that covered different areas of dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia and dysgraphia, and I sent it off. What Happens During A Specific Learning Difficulties Assessment? I have to mention the funny thing leading up to the assessment was that the company my university uses loves to send reminders. Every day at 3 pm for the 3 days leading up to my assessment, I got a daily text message reminding me about my assessment. Then on the day itself, I get a text message an hour before the assessment and 15 minutes before I get a text reminding me to get set up. For an online Specific Learning Difficulties assessment, in my experience, you will need: ·       Laptop or computer (you CANNOT use your phone) ·       Lined paper and a pen ·       A quiet space If you don’t have any of these requirements then the assessment will be cancelled and you or your university will be charged a fee. My university would have been charged £75 as a consequence of me not meeting these requirements. At 3 pm the woman who was doing my assessment popped into the Zoom call, and at first, I’ll admit I wasn’t sure how friendly she was going to be. She didn’t really do any small talk or really ask how I was or how my day had been. I might have preferred something to make her seem less intimidating, because ultimately as a client, I know she has the power to give or deny me a diagnosis. For this reason, I was relatively tense for the first 30 minutes into the assessment and I didn’t really offer up or think about any additional supporting information until after that point. Therefore, as an aspiring clinical psychologist, ideally I would like to spend 5 minutes just talking to the client first. This would allow me to build a little bit of a rapport, they could see me as a relatable person and this could decrease some of the power differential between me and the client. Of course, I know she might not have done this because of time and she is probably under pressure to get through assessments as quickly as possible so she can do more, write up their reports and keep her bosses happy. That is all just a guess but it is how mental health services work, even private works probably work like that to some extent. Anyway, she introduced the assessment that she is going to be assessing me for dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia and/ or dysgraphia. We’re going to do some psychometric tests, talk a little about my history and she explained how breaks work because it is a lot to ask someone to sit in front of a computer for 2 hours. Even though the funny thing was that she specifically highlighted the fact that these assessments tend to go on for 2 hours but they can go over if needed. Next we started the assessment itself. Firstly, she asked me what I was hoping to get out of the assessment and diagnosis. I explained how I’ve struggled with words, sounding out words and that I was a joke in my friend groups because of it in a banter-y way and that a diagnosis would allow me to be able to explain why I struggle to say, read and pronounce words. Secondly, we started doing about a range of different tests on the laptop. Originally, I could only remember 4 of these tests but as I wrote this podcast episode, I remembered more and more of them. I don’t entirely remember the order but I think we started with a “number sequencing” test. You’ll see in the next two podcast episodes but people with dyslexia struggle with sequencing numbers because of my working memory difficulties. Therefore, she said sequences of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and maybe 7 numbers then I needed to repeat the numbers as she said them. Afterwards we did the same but I needed to say them in the reverse order. For example, if she said 4, 5, 6, 7 then I needed to say 7, 6, 5 and 4. Personally, I think she stopped the reverse order sequencing earlier because I was so bad at it and I don’t think I managed to get past 4 or 5. That told her that I struggled with sequencing and indicated possible issues with my working memory. The second test was a pattern or shape manipulation task. I thought I was going to flat out hate this task because the dyslexia screening version I did two weeks before was so bad and so awful I definitely failed that. Yet the version used in the assessment was relatively “easy”. It was timed so I wouldn’t have been surprised if I spent slightly “too long” compared to people without a Specific Learning Difficulty trying to figure out how the shapes fit together. The specific task was that on the screen there was a big shape then below you had different shapes that could fit together to create the big shape, and each smaller shape had a number. You needed to say the number of the shapes aloud as your answer. I only made one or two mistakes there but I am not sure what that told her. The third task was horrific and this must have screamed dyslexia at the woman. The first set of words were real words that I needed to read out. There must have been about 20 to 30 words that increased in difficulty, so I read them out and managed all of them in the end. This was a timed test and then we switched to nonsense words. However, the words were made up of sounds that should have been easy to put together so you knew how to pronounce these fake words. I might have made it to the 6th or 9th word and she could see how badly I was struggling and how I just wasn’t able to say these sounds and she basically stopped the test. If I was struggling to put together “easy” sounds then I don’t think she needed any more information that she would have gotten from the “harder” sounds. That was so painful for me. In addition, there was a letter-based task where I needed to say letters that were on the screen, because dyslexia can cause people to mix up certain letters. I later told her that I have an issue with letters that I cannot say  letters without tracing them in the air or writing them, that I think only confirmed her suspicions about me being dyslexic. Yet this is a great lesson in the importance of making sure a client is comfortable with you and you have a rapport so they open up to you about things that you haven’t asked but could be relevant to the diagnosis. Afterwards, we did do two final tests but she wanted to talk to me first. How Did The Dyspraxia Conversation Go? This was a very valuable moment for me as an aspiring clinical psychologist because after the word task, I saw how interested the woman got in me. Me failing the word task clearly meant something to her, and judging by the conversation she was sure she was close to being able to make a diagnosis of something but first, she needed some extra information. Personally, it was seeing her get excited and she had a sort of “detective look” in her eyes. Like I was a case that she wanted to help and solve, so she could give me some peace about what specific learning difficulty I had. Then this would allow me to get the support I needed. As a result, she started talking to me about my gross motor skills because I had mentioned a lot of difficulties with throwing, catching and hand-eye coordination in the pre-screening questionnaire. She got me to talk about the extra lessons I needed to have as a child because I was so bad at throwing and catching. Also I spoke about my amazingly bad and rather shocking sense of direction, inability to read maps and even the sat-nav I find difficult at times. Me finding the sat-nav difficult seriously isn’t funny because I have added an hour extra onto journeys before. All because I missed a single turning and it was an awful junction that took me a while to drive back to, then I missed it again because of my inability to read a sat-nav. In all fairness, the sat-nav’s description of this junction isn’t ideal, but if I had simply read the signs (remember reading is difficult) then I would have been fine. Although, I have to admit that one thing I did disagree with her on but I didn’t openly challenge her because I wanted a dyspraxia diagnosis and even though this single piece of information wouldn’t have changed anything with all the other overwhelming evidence. She did imply that dyspraxia impacted my driving ability and that’s why I failed four times. In all fairness because I’ve written a podcast episode on dyspraxia now, I don’t disagree with her assumption, but at the time of the assessment I did. After I revealed all that information to her, she nodded her head as if everything must have clicked into place, and then she said to me “you do meet the criteria for a dyspraxia diagnosis, if you think that would be useful to you,”. I was never going to argue against a dyspraxia diagnosis because that is the condition I think best fits me anyway so I was very happy to receive that diagnosis. Next she wanted to talk about dyslexia because she wasn’t entirely sure that I only had dyspraxia or if I had dyslexia as well. Since dyspraxia explained a good chunk of my history and symptoms but not all of them. Leading us onto the final task that was always going to happen anyway. Spelling, Reading Comprehension and Writing Test In A Specific Learning Difficulties Assessment The first of the final three tests that we did was spelling. I knew I was going to fail this badly but what happened was, on my lined paper I wrote down how I thought words were spelt. She would read out a word and I would write it. The following were the words she asked me to write, and for our audio listeners, if you look at the blog post I’ve written out the correct spelling first then I explained how I wrote it next. ·       Beautiful- beautiful ·       Chaos- choas ·       Calves- Calaves ·       Whining- Whinning ·       Inoculate- Inknowculate ·       Aerobic- Aeorobic ·       Circumference- circumference ·       Quay- quay ·       Installation- Instation ·       Pheonix- Phoneix ·       Salmonella- Samella ·       Rhythm- rymthm Audio listeners, please go and look at the blog post, you will have a good laugh at my awful spelling. Furthermore, as a result of dyslexia making it difficult for some people to remember information and understand what a text says, you need to do a reading comprehension test. For example, one of my lecturers he needs to read and reread an essay at least five times to remember what’s going on. And often by the time he has reached the end of the essay, he has well and truly forgotten what happened at the beginning. For my specific learning difficulties assessment, I had to read three different extracts that were getting more and more complex as we went on. This was a timed, silent reading activity so I needed to tell the woman when I started reading and when I had finished reading. Also, instead of doing my normal “trick” of if I didn’t know a word I simply looked at it, didn’t read it and skipped it. I did honestly try to read it so I could show a more realistic reading time to the woman. Next she asked me questions about the extract after she flicked to another screen. Personally, because I have a good working memory and good reading comprehension the questions weren’t hard for me, but they might be for other people with dyslexia. As well as I did struggle with questions about place names and answers that involved words I didn’t know how to say. Again, I suppose this was further support for my lacking an ability to say words, but evidence showing I can read okay. Even though you could argue the lack is evidence “against” dyslexia, actually I think it’s better to argue that it helps you make more correct recommendations for the support that I get in the future. The final test that we did was a writing task because I had 10 minutes to write as much as I could on my lined paper about a particular topic. I did the advantages and disadvantages of mental health labels and I had one minute to prepare my answer. I wrote for 10 minutes then I needed to take photos and upload them to the weblink that she sent me. She spent five minutes reviewing them and the first thing she said when she came back was something along the lines of “I could read most of it but has anyone ever mentioned your handwriting to you,” Now I like to say that I have doctor handwriting meaning I am very smart but you can’t read it. In all fairness, the majority of people can read my handwriting but it can be hard at times. I said “yes, I have never met a person who hasn’t mentioned my handwriting”. Of course, she had checked my writing for spelling, grammar and punctuation. She didn’t tell me those results but I know I had made a good few mistakes because I didn’t know how to say certain words, and she mentioned a sign of dyslexia is avoiding certain words too. That I confessed to, I do that all the time. Following this, she wanted to talk to me about my fine motor skills because dysgraphia is basically the opposite of dyspraxia and you can have both. Dyspraxia focuses on gross motor skills whereas dysgraphia is all about fine motor skills. We spoke for a little bit about that because dysgraphia does impact handwriting but as soon as I mentioned how I can write 2,700 words an hour through typing she dismissed that diagnosis because it shows my fine motor skills are fine. Therefore, she gave me the dyslexia diagnosis because it explained my difficulties with sounds, reading and pronunciation as well as it explained my bad handwriting too. I was very happy to finally have that diagnosis. However, you might remember that earlier I mentioned how these assessments typically last two hours and they rarely finish before that. My entire assessment only took 85 minutes because I suspect my symptoms were that clear and I knew what to say about my life to help you make an informed diagnosis. I just found it funny how I managed to knock off 25% of the assessment timewise because my symptoms were that obvious. What Happens After a Specific Learning Difficulties Assessment? In my experience, what happens after a specific learning difficulties assessment is that the psychologist or whoever did your assessment will write up a full report and send it to you and your university (or whoever you did it through) within 14 days. This will be a very detailed and thorough report that will go through all the different elements of the assessment, what parts of the condition you meet and all the different ways how you might need additional support in the future. After you and your university have both got the report, your university will schedule a meeting with you to discuss what accommodations you need. For example, when I get the report in the next two days, I’ll be assigned and meet with a “Learning Disability Advisor” (yes, I flat out hate the name) so we can create an Inclusive Learning Plan that will help me get accommodations. I don’t really need them but it’s an interesting idea. I know some of the accommodations we spoke about include: ·       Extra time in exams ·       I cannot be marked down in presentations for taking a moment longer to think before answering. ·       There were others but I forgot. Clinical Psychology Conclusion Whilst the diagnosis I really want is an autism diagnosis because that will help me tons, I am really happy to receive my dyslexia and dyspraxia diagnoses. Since I have struggled so much with reading, pronunciation and speaking in my life that I am so happy that I am finally able to say and show other people that there is a real reason why I struggle with these areas and it isn’t because I’m “thick” like some people suggest. On the other hand, as an aspiring clinical psychologist, I have learnt three main things from this assessment. Firstly, I have learnt that if there is time, I will always try and spend a few minutes just talking to the other person I am assessing so they are more comfortable, they know I am a friendly face and I can try to decrease some of that natural power differential that exists in this situation. I think it would have been nicer and me and my assessor would have revealed more to each other a lot sooner if we had simply taken a few moments to talk beforehand. Secondly, I have learnt how much I want to do assessments in the future. I know I would because it’s just a part of clinical work. Yet seeing that detective look and sheer sense of curiosity in my assessor’s eyes has made me excited for the future. I want to meet clients, be curious and I want to be a detective as I try to find a diagnosis that matches and explains as many of their symptoms as possible. Of course, in an ideal world, I wouldn’t need to rely on the DSM-5 and I know after the assessment process barely any modern clinical psychologists actually use the diagnosis label because then it becomes all about the client and formulation thankfully. I am still excited though to effectively be a detective to help a client. Finally, I have learnt that I really am excited about continuing my clinical psychology journey. Sometimes there are moments that I consider whether I have the excitement, passion and interest to actually go all the way to become a clinical psychologist then I do something and something happens in my personal life and I realise I truly am. I actually had to be a bit of a detective the other day on the phone with a friend as I tried to work out what therapy option would be best for another friend. That was a fun conversation but that’s beyond the scope of this episode. Ultimately, I have these diagnoses, I now know what it’s like to undergo a psychological assessment and I realise I seriously do have the passion to have a career in clinical psychology. I couldn’t ask for a better and more useful assessment, so if you’re thinking about undergoing a Specific Learning Difficulties assessment because you think you might have dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia or dysgraphia, I would say go for it. Nothing bad can happen. The worst outcome could be you don’t meet any criteria but given how you would have done a screening beforehand, the chance of that is unlikely. If you’re an aspiring or qualified clinical psychologist, I would say enjoy psychological assessments. They seem fun, interesting and of course, they will lose their charm over time as you do them every week, but just remember that each assessment is a chance to transform someone’s life. And ultimately, you’re potentially giving them a tool to let them access specific services, support and coping mechanisms that will help them improve their life and decrease their psychological distress. There’s certainly nothing better than that for a clinical psychologist.     I really hope you enjoyed today’s clinical psychology podcast episode. If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Developmental Psychology: A Guide To Developmental and Child Psychology . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Patreon for exclusive access and rewards Have a great day. Clinical Psychology Further Reading Benavides-Varela, S., Callegher, C. Z., Fagiolini, B., Leo, I., Altoè, G., & Lucangeli, D. (2020). Effectiveness of digital-based interventions for children with mathematical learning difficulties: A meta-analysis. Computers & Education, 157, 103953. Graham, C. (2020). Can we measure the impact? An evaluation of one-to-one support for students with specific learning difficulties. Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning, 22(2), 122-134. Kormos, J., & Smith, A. M. (2023). Teaching languages to students with specific learning differences (Vol. 18). Channel View Publications. Lombardi, E., Traficante, D., Bettoni, R., Offredi, I., Vernice, M., & Sarti, D. (2021). Comparison on well-being, engagement and perceived school climate in secondary school students with learning difficulties and specific learning disorders: An exploratory study. Behavioral Sciences, 11(7), 103. Prior, M. (2022). Understanding specific learning difficulties. Psychology Press. Sewell, A. (2022). Understanding and supporting learners with specific learning difficulties from a neurodiversity perspective: A narrative synthesis. British Journal of Special Education, 49(4), 539-560. Wotherspoon, J., Whittingham, K., Sheffield, J., & Boyd, R. N. (2023). Cognition and learning difficulties in a representative sample of school-aged children with cerebral palsy. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 138, 104504. Zolfi, V., Hosseininasab, P. D., & Azmoudeh, P. D. (2022). The Effectiveness of Training in Cognitive-Metacognitive Strategies upon the Cognitive Load and Working Memory of Elementary School Students with Specific Learning Difficulties in Reading. Quarterly Journal of Education, 38(3), 37-50. I truly hope that you’ve enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon  page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/connorwhiteley  for a one-time bit of support.

Whilst I have to admit releasing a forensic psychology book about terrorism might seem weird in December but I haven’t thought about it. Yet whenever we see news about a terrorist attack, we always wonder why something would commit such a horrible attack but we wonder what makes a terrorist as well. Is a mental health condition? Is it biological in nature? Are there social or cultural factors at play? And does society make someone a terrorist or not? We need to know the answer. Therefore, in this criminal psychology podcast episode, you’ll learn about the large range of factors that can make someone into a terrorist. If you enjoy learning about the psychology of crime, terrorism and more then this will be a great episode for you. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Forensic Psychology Of Terrorism and Hostage-Taking . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. What Makes A Terrorist? (Extract from Forensic Psychology of Terrorism and Hostage-Taking by Connor Whiteley. COPYRIGHT 2024) The general consensus is that it takes time to convert a vulnerable person into a terrorist (Luckabaugh et al., 1997) because this is a process and different terrorist recruits have different motivations. For example, a need to belong, the development of a satisfactory personal identity, social alienation and boredom leads to dissidence and protests on a small scale, then over time terrorism, as well as histories of child abuse, trauma, humiliation and social injustice are common in a terrorist’s background as well. Although, Borum (2004) doesn’t feel like this is helpful in explaining terrorism, because these factors are vulnerabilities and they don’t make someone a terrorist on their own. Also, Merari (2007) may be suggesting general vulnerability factors when he suspects susceptibility to indoctrination is key to understanding suicide bombers. Due to most of the suicide bombers Merari studied where young and unattached people which are perfect types for all sorts of violent organisations. As a result, Merari believed suicide terrorism could be understood as consequences of a terrorist system, with people being recruited through interpersonal connections that then supported the recruit all the way through to becoming a suicide bomber. This is important to learn about because highly committed members of an organisation will spend hours talking to recruits, promoting the idea of martyrdom as will of the God and they focus on the illustrious past of Islam. Then the recruits become enmeshed in the group contact that is designed to help the recruit prove their allegiance to the organisation. Afterwards this “formal contract” creates a final personal commitment before a suicide bomber attack. In addition, Merari compared terror groups to suicide bomb production lines using empirical support from Palestinian suicide bombers. The stages of these production lines according to Merari include indoctrination. This is where members of terror groups with high authority constantly indoctrinate potential bombers to maintain their motivation to engage in the terrorist act and to prevent them changing their mind. For Palestinian indoctrination, the themes were nationalism. For instance, Israel’s humiliation of the Palestinian state and religious guarantees, by saying things like the suicide bomber will go to paradise after committing this act. As well as getting the recruit to commit to the group is done too at this stage where any doubts about committing to the attack are dealt with and the motivation for the attack is increased to maximum levels, or “maxed out” to use more urban slang terms. Then the last stage is personal commitment and this can take the form of video recordings were the terrorist describes their intent to do the suicide bombing. This is partly done for their family, but it is also done as a way of getting irreversible commitment. As well as the bomber prepares farewell letters for friends and family too for later giving. Also, at this point in the production line, Merari points out these would-be bombers are called “Living-Martyr”, and this whole approach is sympathetic with Horgan and Taylor (2001)’s view that terrorists don’t actively choose to become terrorists. Instead becoming a terrorist is a gradual process where a potential terrorist is socialised with the recruiters having the ultimate goal of making them preform a terrorist act. Of course, this is a process and not an absolute. People can leave the process at any point and this is to be expected given the high turnover rate in terrorist group membership (Crenshaw, 1986). Moreover, Taylor and Louis (2004) suggested young people find themselves wanting a hopeful future and they engage in meaningful behaviour that helps them get ahead and will be satisfied with their life. Also, these young people’s objective circumstances include no opportunity for a good future or advancement, and whilst they might find some collective identity in religions, living in a poor state and community makes them feel marginalised and lost without a clear group. So it’s easy to think how terror acts are result of group processes with Taylor (2010) asking can terrorism truly be understood as a phenomenon of group behaviour. Since Taylor (2010) distinctives between getting involved in a terror group and actually carrying out attacks. Since group processes could be important as a backdrop in terrorism when cultural, political and social factors have a role to play. But these group processes fail to explain the act or episode of terrorism itself. Taylor suggests there are two main issues with the “terrorism as group processes” argument. There is a lack of a good definition of what is terrorism besides from what terrorists do, and there isn’t a clear idea of what is meant by group processes in relation to terrorism. Since there are times when group processes seem to play no or little role in a terrorist attack. Lone-wolf attacks spring to mind here. Another extreme example is the reclusive Theodore John Kaczynski who’s terrorist campaign lasted for 17 years with 12 bombs and 3 deaths for his environmental agenda that he largely made-up alone without a group behind him. What Are Life Story Studies? I do enjoy qualitative research and I think given how hard terrorism is to research, qualitative research methodologies might be useful. Of course, you will still have a lot of the same problems as the rest of terrorism research as I wrote about in the first chapter but qualitive research can still be useful. Especially as Borum (2004) argued that a terrorist’s life experience includes common themes. He suggests that these common themes aren’t sufficient causes of terrorism, but they might be helpful to researchers to identify people susceptibility to being influenced by terrorist groups. In some ways this argument fits with the narrative studies being done with terrorists because they reveal other factors are needed to understand what turns someone into a terrorist and it helps to show that not all terrorists are made because of their similar circumstances. That notion doesn’t really have research support anymore. In addition, since 1992, terrorism has been a feature of “Israel’s relationship with Palestine” and Soibelman (2004) subscribes to the group processes idea over individual’s psychology like personality. Due to the researcher rejects the idea that suicide bombers are simply young religious fanatics and instead believes less extreme personality characteristics make up bombers. This was based on his research and interviews with 5 suicide bombers that were arrested before they could carry out the attack or the bombs failed to detonate (something that happens in another 40% of suicide bombings). The results of his interviews show there wasn’t a single explanation for why they became terrorists and instead there was a mixture of factors that were responsible but even this mixture was different for different terrorists. Yet it seemed that group solidarity and having a shared ideology were two overriding factors in becoming a terrorist because most of the interviewed suicide bombers had at least some shared ideology and solidarity. Furthermore, political factors were given as reasons for becoming suicide bombers, as well as having bad or secondary experience of dealing with the Israeli defence force. Such as the Israelis shooting one of their friends or beating them. And this is what I find interesting, most of the suicide bombers had been involved in protests or another form of assembly beforehand they were involved in terrorism. That means these people once wanted change through peaceful means and something changed to make them believe terrorism was the only option. To explain this, Soibelman (2004) suggested as the situation escalates, a person’s beliefs get more extreme. As well as given the nature of the sample, these suicide bombers were a part of the secular Fatah movement, so religion wasn’t a factor in them becoming terrorists. And despite this terrorist group don’t tend to have criminal histories, a few of them could have. Another study that offers up a more detailed account of the range of factors impacting someone’s chance of becoming a terrorist can be found in Sarangi and Alison’s (2005) and their study of the left-wing Maoist terrorists in Nepal and India. This terror group believe the state is an instrument of the rich and needs to be violently overthrown. The researchers interviewed 12 terrorists and 3 men and 3 women that were no longer involved with their average age being 26 years old and they generally lacked a formal education. These interviews were validated by checking court and police records. In this study, rapport building was a priority and the researches achieved this by having the terrorists talk about their childhood and matters not directly tied to terrorist activities. Then the researchers suggested common rhetorical structures in the interview. The results of the interviews showed that the terrorists had created a strong sense of “Us” (which included their Self-Image) and they saw themselves as a central character for themselves in their life story as brave, good, simple, logical and so on. Instead of the reality when the terrorist spoke about themselves, their family, friends and other people in their community being poor simple, naive, exploited, short on goods and water and cheated by others. Also, the interviews showed interpersonal figures were important and included rhetoric about outgroups and others. For example, one rhetoric found was about their beliefs surrounding the government being characteristic of rich, powerful, villain, uncaring and inhuman. Overall, this study found that terrorists believe themselves to be heroes and very good people that are fighting against an outgroup that is evil and foul and needs to be defeated. This sense of them being heroes helps them maintain their positive self-image and they see their friends and family and local communities as suffering at the hands of the outgroup. Hence, why the outgroup needs to suffer for this perceived injustice. In conclusion, if these past two chapters have taught you anything, I think we have to conclude that there really is no single factor that causes someone to become a terrorist. It is a mixture of individual, group and political factors that interact together to help make people into a terrorist. So now we understand how terrorists are made, how do terrorist ideologies and mental processes supporting these extreme ideologies develop?     I really hope you enjoyed today’s clinical psychology podcast episode. If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Forensic Psychology Of Terrorism and Hostage-Taking . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Patreon for exclusive access and rewards Have a great day. Criminal Psychology Reference Whiteley, C. (2024) Forensic Psychology of Terrorism And Hostage-Taking . CGD Publishing. England. I truly hope that you’ve enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon  page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/connorwhiteley  for a one-time bit of support.