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One of my favourite topics in psychology actually comes from developmental psychology because I love learning about attachment and attachment styles. Since our attachment styles are critical to our mental health, the relationships we form and attachment impacts so many aspects of our lives. Therefore, some people need therapy to help readjust their attachment styles and help them so they can have healthier relationships and improve their lives. That’s why in this clinical psychology podcast episode, we’re going to be looking at what is attachment-based therapy, how does it work, when is it used and more. If you enjoy learning about developmental psychology, mental health and attachment then this will be a brilliant 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 The Difference Between Attachment-Based Therapy and So-called Attachment Therapies? Before we dive into the main topic for today’s episode, I want to confirm a very dangerous, disgusting and outrageous misconception that I would rather not have to deal with. In this episode, we are NOT talking about the disgraceful, unproven and possibly harmful “attachment therapy” that was developed in the 1970s for children with behavioural challenges. Especially autism. These so-called therapies involved physical deprivation, restraint, boot camp-like activities, discomfort and physical manipulation. These so-called therapies are a disgrace and thankfully they have been investigated and firmly rejected by mainstream psychology as well as medicine. We are not talking about those therapies in this podcast episode. What Is Attachment-Based Therapy? Instead, we’re talking about attachment-based therapy that is a type of brief, process-oriented counselling where the therapeutic alliance is based on rebuilding and developing trust and centres on the client expressing emotion. Also, the attachment-based approach to therapy examines the connection between a client’s early attachment experiences with their caregivers and their ability to develop normal and healthy emotional and physical relationships as an adult. The ultimate goal of the therapy is to build or rebuild a trusting and supportive relationship that will help the client to prevent and/ or treat mental health conditions, like depression and anxiety. In addition, attachment-based therapy was developed, as you would expect, from Bowlby’s attachment work in the 1960s. Since Bowlby proposed that strong early attachment to at least one caregiver was needed for a child to have a sense of security and a supportive foundation to explore the environment (also known as the secure base). Then Bowlby described there being four types of attachment which we know as secure attachment, avoidance attachment, anxious attachment and disorganised attachment. How Does Attachment-Based Therapy Work? I think every single reader and listener here must be familiar with Bowlby’s attachment work therefore out of respect for all you wonderful people, I will not be explaining Bowlby’s work again in any real depth. I know none of you are stupid. As a result, because babies without a healthy attachment foundation grow up to be fearful, insecure, confused and ultimately become depressed and even suicidal in adolescence. It’s important that babies form trusting relationships with caregivers or with a therapist so the client is better prepared to form strong bonds in other relationships. Personally, I would like to add that depression and becoming suicidal in adolescents is a little more complex than attachment style, at least in my personal experience. Yet I certainly think having an insecure attachment style doesn’t help matters and it would have been lovely to have a secure attachment style growing up. Anyway, in Attachment-Based Therapy, clients explore their childhood so they might need to discuss their early relationship with their caregiver and their family dynamics growing up as well as any significant childhood experiences. Afterwards, the client and therapist might explore the connection between their childhood relationships and their adult ones to see how the past could have influenced the present. Also, this could lead to the client and therapist talking about what skills the client might want to improve in their current relationships and improve their emotions and behaviours. Interestingly, attachment-based therapy can involve working with a family member too as well as this type of therapy can be used alongside other forms of therapy too. Personally, I love the idea of doing attachment work with a client and family member, because that is the root cause of the attachment style. It was the caregiver that caused the attachment difficult so getting the client and the family member to work together now to improve the client’s attachment is actually a brilliant idea that would have a lot of good benefits. Also, I understand how attachment work can fit very nicely alongside other mental health approaches like systemic and humanistic. When Is Attachment-Based Therapy Used? Since this sort of doubles as an approach instead of a pure therapy in its own right, an attachment-based approach to mental health can be very useful in couple, group, family and individual therapy. Due to this approach helps both children and adults to mend and recover from fractured family relationships. That’s why adopted children, Care Experienced children, adolescents who are depressed and/ or suicidal, children of depressed parents and children who have experienced abuse and trauma even more so at the hands of a caregiver, can all benefit from attachment-based therapy. Overall, I should note that whilst some studies have shown Attachment-based therapy to be effective and it does have benefits for clients, the evidence base isn’t as strong as other forms of therapy. What Can Clients Expect In Attachment-Based Therapy? When a client goes for Attachment-Based Therapy, they know that the goal of this therapy isn’t only to repair their family relationship, because the therapist can work with the client alone or with the family as a group. Also, the therapist works with the family to build and strengthen their caregiver-child bond as well as the therapist helps the child to develop into an independent adult with high self-sufficiency. In addition, when it comes to therapeutic work with individuals, the therapist aims to help the client overcome any effects of the negative early attachment difficulties that they have by establishing a secure bond with the client. Then after this relationship is solidified, the therapist can help the client to communicate more openly and help them to better explore and understand how their current feelings and behaviours are associated with their early childhood experiences. Clinical Psychology Conclusion In my experience and because of my own attachment difficulties in the past (to a much lesser extent the present), I always enjoy looking at attachment because I know it is absolutely critical. And whilst we always think of it as traditionally a development psychology topic, it does have a massive impact on mental health and clinical psychology too. Therefore, I think what I want to unofficially say at the end of this podcast episode, is that whether you’re a current or future clinical psychologist or another type of therapist, definitely have an understanding of attachment-based work. Learn some of the tips, tricks and techniques that will help a client to overcome their attachment difficulties, because you will probably need it in the future and your clients could very well find it to be invaluable. Even though I never went for attachment-based therapy, my therapist still used a few ideas and notions from this type of work, and it has been really, really useful. So I know in the future as I continue on my clinical psychology journey, I’ll want to learn some more about attachment-based work and I hope you will too.   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 References and Recommended Reading American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. Adult Attachment Relationships. Cicchetti, D., Toth, S. L., & Rogosch, F. A. (1999). The efficacy of toddler-parent psychotherapy to increase attachment security in offspring of depressed mothers. Attachment & Human Development, 1(1), 34-66. Collado‐Navarro, C., Navarro‐Gil, M., Pérez‐Aranda, A., López‐del‐Hoyo, Y., Garcia‐Campayo, J., & Montero‐Marin, J. (2021). Effectiveness of mindfulness‐based stress reduction and attachment‐based compassion therapy for the treatment of depressive, anxious, and adjustment disorders in mental health settings: A randomized controlled trial. Depression and Anxiety, 38(11), 1138-1151. Collado‐Navarro, C., Navarro‐Gil, M., Pérez‐Aranda, A., López‐del‐Hoyo, Y., Garcia‐Campayo, J., & Montero‐Marin, J. (2021). Effectiveness of mindfulness‐based stress reduction and attachment‐based compassion therapy for the treatment of depressive, anxious, and adjustment disorders in mental health settings: A randomized controlled trial. Depression and Anxiety, 38(11), 1138-1151. Daniel, S. I. (2006). Adult attachment patterns and individual psychotherapy: A review. Clinical psychology review, 26(8), 968-984. Diamond, G., Diamond, G. M., & Levy, S. (2021). Attachment-based family therapy: Theory, clinical model, outcomes, and process research. Journal of affective disorders, 294, 286-295. Dozier, M. (2003). Attachment-based treatment for vulnerable children. Attachment & Human Development, 5(3), 253-257. Ewing, E. S. K., Diamond, G., & Levy, S. (2015). Attachment-based family therapy for depressed and suicidal adolescents: Theory, clinical model and empirical support. Attachment & human development, 17(2), 136-156.  Levy, S., Mason, S., Russon, J., & Diamond, G. (2021). Attachment‐based family therapy in the age of telehealth and COVID‐19. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 47(2), 440-454. Lewis, A. J. (2020). Attachment-based family therapy for adolescent substance use: A move to the level of systems. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 10, 486200. Russon, J., Morrissey, J., Dellinger, J., Jin, B., & Diamond, G. (2021). Implementing attachment-based family therapy for depressed and suicidal adolescents and young adults in LGBTQ+ services. Crisis. Russon, J., Smithee, L., Simpson, S., Levy, S., & Diamond, G. (2022). Demonstrating attachment‐based family therapy for transgender and gender diverse youth with suicidal thoughts and behavior: A case study. Family Process, 61(1), 230-245. Russon, J., Smithee, L., Simpson, S., Levy, S., & Diamond, G. (2022). Demonstrating attachment‐based family therapy for transgender and gender diverse youth with suicidal thoughts and behavior: A case study. Family Process, 61(1), 230-245. Tsvieli, N., Lifshitz, C., & Diamond, G. M. (2022). Corrective attachment episodes in attachment-based family therapy: The power of enactment. Psychotherapy Research, 32(2), 209-222. Waraan, L., Rognli, E. W., Czajkowski, N. O., Aalberg, M., & Mehlum, L. (2021). Effectiveness of attachment-based family therapy compared to treatment as usual for depressed adolescents in community mental health clinics. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health, 15, 1-14. Waraan, L., Rognli, E. W., Czajkowski, N. O., Mehlum, L., & Aalberg, M. (2021). Efficacy of attachment-based family therapy compared to treatment as usual for suicidal ideation in adolescents with MDD. Clinical child psychology and psychiatry, 26(2), 464-474. 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.

As aspiring and qualified psychologists and people interested in psychology, we read, listen and learn a lot of content about different mental health conditions. Yet as great as academic content is for helping us understanding a mental health condition, depression and anxiety, it is only lived experience that can possibly help us to truly understand what a condition is like for a client or service user. You can read as many academic papers on depression as you want but until you talk or listen to people who have or are currently experiencing depression then you will never be able to fully understand how depression impacts a person. Especially in their everyday life. Therefore, in this clinical psychology podcast episode, I’ll be talking about my experience of a major depressive episode, which is still on-going as I finish off this blog post. You’ll learn about how it’s impacting me, what triggered my depression, the challenges depression gives me and more. If you enjoy learning about mental health, lived experience and depression then this is going to be a great episode for you. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Abnormal Psychology: The Causes and Treatments For Depression, Anxiety And More . 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 Am I Talking About Experiencing Depression? Note: this is a cleaned-up audio transcription from the recording I made when I was experiencing a wave of depression. I did not realise I was as depressed as I was when I was making the record, so there will be grammatical errors. Since this is spoken word and not written word. I’ve hinted at my depression and declining mental health in the past two episodes. Therefore, the reason why I'm talking about this is because since Saturday, so seven days now, I've been having quite a major depressive episode, and I've never actually had this before. Sure, I've had one or two days of being depressed, and I mean going through quite crippling depression, but I've never had it for seven days.   And yes, it's sort of gotten a little better, but I'm still quite depressed now, though. For example, the only reason why I can actually record this and sound relatively normal in terms of this is what I normally sound like, at least I hope so, is because I've just been texting my best friend because they wanted to know about what plant pot they had in their bedroom. And I was like, "Oh God, I'm gonna have to go and look."   So, I did that, and we were talking, and we were texting to and fro for a bit, and I was making fun of them for their mason jars here. Thankfully, this helped me to have quite a bit of energy. But I know that will seriously dip, though. I thought, right now I feel good, I've got to do this.   Overall, the reason why I'm talking about this is, one, because of the practical issue that I just spoke about. Two, as a future clinical psychologist, or maybe even qualified psychologists and people interested in lived mental health experiences, it is really important that we do understand not only what academia says about a mental health condition, but we also hear about it from those people with a life experience. Of course, I do not have a depression diagnosis. To be honest, I do have a scary feeling that I'm not actually gonna get any better by saying "over the next week." And because I have been feeling depressed for two weeks, this is just off the top of my head, so don't quote me on this, that's actually all you need for a depression diagnosis, of course, as long as you meet the other criteria too, though. So, at the moment, I don't have a depression diagnosis, and I'm hoping that I won't ever have to get one. So, I'm talking about this just so we can all understand lived-like experiences here.   An Overview Of My Week I already mentioned earlier that this all started on Saturday, but there's something larger that's going on here. So, as you guys know, I experienced sexual violence back in April, and that has really messed with my mental health. That has been quite debilitating, and I've been doing tons of different bits to try and get better in that sense. But I'm still on a waiting list for specialist rape counselling, which is taking a toll on my mental health because I need this support, but I can't get it because it turns out there's a lot of people that get raped. So, it takes a while for a place to open up for you, which is tragic. And I'm basically coping as best I can with my mental health getting worse as the months go by, especially my PTSD. And I mean, like, I think I've had two days of depression since my, so to like 19 weeks ago tomorrow at the time of recording. I've not had it for seven days before. In addition, what happened was that on Saturday, I started to feel quite depressed. I started to feel really down, and it was a struggle to get out of bed. Thankfully, I had a friend coming round at 2:00 just because we had already planned it, and I wanted to spend time with him because we get on really well. But the problem was, was that I couldn't get out of bed. It took me a long time to have a shower, not as much as the next day though. And it took me a while to do everything. So, thankfully, I was ready for when he came around at 2:00, but I wanted to do stuff before then. I wanted to do some writing, I wanted to do some podcast work and other stuff, but that really didn't happen. Me and my friend had a really nice four and a half hours. It was really nice talking. We spoke about Halo Lore. We basically talked about a bunch of nerd stuff, then we talked about relationships and other bits and pieces, basically stuff you normally talk with your friends about. Then he left, and then I was just like, oh, right, I'm actually quite sad now. I'm actually feeling ridiculously lonely and everything. And then it was a full-on night of just PTSD. I mean, if there was a sound, I would have a massive reaction. There were tons of intrusive thoughts about sexual violence. That was not fun. On the Sunday, it was even worse. And because it was so dark and so bad, I can't actually go into all of the details, but it was absolutely horrific. All I’ll say is it took me 3 hours and 20 minutes just to have a shower because the interesting thing about depression is that because it's a low mood, it really impacts your energy levels. So then what happened was that around 2:00 pm, I finally decided, right, I am gonna have a shower. I'm gonna move heaven and earth to have a shower. Well, the issue with that is that you need to get up from the sofa, then you need to go upstairs, then you need to get your clothes, get your towel, go into the bathroom, have a shower, get changed, etc. So, when you think about it, there are actually quite a few steps to anything that we do. And normally, I can normally do that all in, like, 20 minutes. On Sunday, it took me 3 hours, 20 minutes to have a shower. I mean, that was just like... It took me 15 minutes just to get up the stairs. But then I actually had to come back down, so I was depressed about that, and it was ridiculous. It wasn't until I actually got in the shower at 5:00 pm, and I was just like, there's no point in me actually having a shower because it's 5:00, and to me, that's pointless. But I was like, I've been trying to do this for three hours. I've got to try. And then, as the night went on, my mental health deteriorated. I broke my favorite mug. I smashed my favorite mug ever. Oh, God. I mean, I was actually quite devastated because it's this half-liter mug, which is just amazing. I've had it since 2019, since I first came to university, so I broke it, and then I just called my best friend, and we spoke for, like, an hour and a quarter, and then they were just like, "Right. You need to go home. You need to be around people," and, etc. So, I went... I got back to my parents at half past midnight that night because me and my friend had a really heartfelt conversation. We'd had a really detailed one. Over the next two days, it was just constant depression. I was in and out of it because my parents work during the days, I was alone. Again, quite depressed. I couldn't really do anything. I had no energy. And then when they were back, it was fine because I was around people, so we could talk and stuff. Some stuff happened, but, I mean, that's just family. And then I came back Wednesday because I saw my great aunt, who lives, like, nearby. Then I came back. Now, bear in mind, when my mug had shattered that night, I actually hadn't cleaned it up because I was just like... My mental health was so bad, I didn't have the capacity to actually clean it up. So, then I walked in at Wednesday, and I was just like, "Oh, my God, I'm back here. I've got to clean the mug. I've got to do tons of stuff." It took me an hour and 40 minutes just to clean that mug up. And that did not make me feel great. So that all happened. Following on from this, yesterday, thankfully, I was able to do a few bits, but it was the energy levels that were really concerning me, because it was more of a thing about being in and out of depression and it basically not stopping and me not being able to reliably do stuff. I managed to do, I don't know, let's say four hours of stuff. It really wasn't that, it was more, like, two and a half because I tried to do some stuff. It was so unproductive. And considering I'm normally used to doing seven hours with ease of different bits and pieces, that was quite shocking, and that was actually quite bad. Quite bad. Unfortunately, today it's just been more of the same. There has been a lot of other very traumatic things going on in the background. But again, just to keep this podcast easy to listen to, or at least nice to listen to, I'm not gonna go into it. I just had to pause the podcast because I thought I heard a noise outside. I thought I was going to have a bad reaction. And then I felt a massive hit of depression almost hit, though. So, I've got to keep going with this, otherwise, it's not gonna get done. What Triggered This Depressive Episode? As with all mental health conditions and difficulties, there are always going be triggers and different aspects of this which make your mental health worse. Thankfully the only highlight of being depressed for seven days is that there are moments when you can actually think clearly. Oh, believe me, it happens extremely rarely, but they still happen. As a result, the thing that really triggered my depression and the thing that keeps making me feel worse is one, of course, the sexual violence. Two, just being really lonely because I really don't have many friends. And my best friend, they went back to the midlands to see their family and spend time with their friends. As well as basically, everyone I know is out there doing really cool stuff. They're going away, they're having fun, they're seeing their other friends. And because of my PTSD, because of everything else, my issue is that I actually can't do the same. Then there's also been some relationship stuff that were present. My best friends have been doing some relationship stuff. The LGBT+ society at my university, some of those conversations have been about past and current romantic relationships. And as someone who's been through sexual violence and also child abuse that was very homophobic, it's sort of like... I don't know if I can have that.I know logically, I can, but I mean, like, there's gonna be so much work to actually do that for. So that really didn't help me. And also, PTSD is bad enough, but when it comes to going outside, that doesn't help. But also, something I've been finding a lot lately when I've been going outside, like, going shopping is a nightmare. For instance, I tend to forget a lot. I find it really hard to focus. So as you can expect, it's really tough going out. As well as in my mind, if you're going go out properly, like, you're going to go somewhere, you do tend to need a friend just to make it more, enjoyable. And you can do it as a shared experience. But because my only real friend is actually not here at the moment, that's really tough. What Are The Challenges Of Experiencing Depression?  Moreover, there are four main challenges which I'm really struggling with at the moment. The first one is an inability to watch stuff because it's bad enough when I'm in and out of being depressed, which is another major problem because I can just be going along, then a wave of depression can just hit me. It can also be linked to triggers. For example, I can be doing stuff, then an intrusive thought comes out that's really bad, quite traumatic. Then it knocks me for six, and then I get depressed, and I just lay on the stairs, on the sofa, or wherever I am for half an hour to an hour. That's bad enough. But when I'm depressed, I also have a massive problem. I can't watch stuff because I can't watch things on the TV or any streaming service because of sexual references and sex scenes, which never used to bother me whatsoever. But because that's how bad my mental health is at the moment, I can't watch any of that because it's too distressing, it's too triggering, which is annoying. As a result, that was another reason why me and my best friend, we were on the phone for two and a quarter hours last night, as they were going through and compiling me a list of different series and films which I might be able to watch. But as I said to them, the main problem with that is, and just know I am extremely grateful that they did that. And I'm definitely gonna start watching some of it at some point. But some of it is that, yeah, you can have this list, you can have stuff to do, but you don't have the energy to actually do it, or you don't have the executive function to do it, which is an issue. My third major challenging of experiencing depression is loss of pleasure. I've always known this is a depression symptom, but I've never had to experience it before. So, you can be doing stuff which you normally flat-out love. Like earlier today, I was flat-out loving doing some business stuff, but I wasn't enjoying it. It was just like, "Wow, this is actually quite boring." And sure, I sort of picked the more mundane aspects, but I still enjoy it. I still don't mind doing it. It's so important to me. I did not enjoy it. Normally, I can do some reading, I can do a hobby, or I can do anything that I find really fun. No, not this week. I've just lost pleasure in most things, which is why I'm a bit concerned about this list that my friends put was they really love all of these programs. I don't wanna be the type of person who turns around and says, "Oh, thank you for doing this, but I really don't like this. I couldn't really care less about this." I'm pretty sure that's just the depression, but still, I don't want to do that even though I think that might be the case. But I will honestly try and enjoy this stuff. But the main issue that I've been having is energy. I know this is linked to a low mood, but the energy is that I really only have so much energy to be able to do stuff in the day. And I like to think of this in terms of spoons theory. I've done an autism podcast episode maybe two years ago on spoons . So, the idea of this, and this is done by Christina someone, is that there's the idea that you only have so many spoons in terms of energy throughout the day, and every time you do something, you take away a spoon. Let's say you have 10 spoons. Then what happens is that if you get up, then you could lose a spoon. If you go to work, if you have a shower, then you lose another spoon. Then if you get the kids ready, take them to school and get to work, that's another spoon. Then you have a really hard day at work, you have lots of meetings, you're working a very high-pressure job. Let's say that actually takes five spoons away from you. That means you've only got two spoons left by the time you get home from work. But then let's say you've got to pick up the kids, and then you've got to do dinner. Both of those activities takes away your two spoons. Therefore, after you've cooked dinner, you might not have even served it up yet. You're completely exhausted, and you have no energy whatsoever. That's how you can think about energy levels in terms of spoons. That's something I found quite annoying yesterday, was that I was trying to do stuff, I wanted to do stuff, I had no energy after a while to do it whatsoever. What am I trying to do to feel better? I'm between a rock and a hard place. The reason why I'm sort of in a rock and a hard place is quite simply because what I need is my rape counseling to start. Nonetheless, that can't happen because I'm still on the waiting list. And my contact at this charity that I'm gonna be seen by, she's on annual leave until the 27th of August. That's five days away, at the very least. And in the meantime, I sort of keep suffering. Of course, it's not the charity's fault. This is just how life works. But she can't chase it, and she can't say, "Right, this person needs help ASAP. Can we please try and fit them in?" So that's what I really, really need, and that's the sort of the solution. As soon as I start processing my rape and everything, then everything will get better. But until then, I am trying to do one or two things. I'm calling my best friend every night. We're having quite long conversations about each other's day, how I'm doing. And it's nice because it's social connection when I normally wouldn't get any social connection, which is quite a depressing fact, but that's just my life at the moment. And then the only other thing which I'm really doing because this week's been quite difficult because, I mean, I can't go back to my parents again because they're away, and the whole point is that I'm lonely. So I can't just go somewhere else to be lonely. That defeats the whole point. The only other thing I'm doing is I'm seeing my private therapist this week and next week. Both of us have agreed she's not a rape specialist. So, it's a case of me just talking to her. To be honest, like, I'm educating her about sexual violence because I've done so much research in the past 19 weeks. And I mean, it's nice just having someone to talk to, but I know it's sort of just sticking plaster on a very crumbling wall at the moment. Oh, no. Actually, the only other last thing that I'm doing, though, is that next week, I'm going up to see my best friend in the midlands. So, we can see each other, we can go to this city that I've always wanted to go to, more for a laugh than anything else. But this got quite a reputation. And originally, I wanted to go by myself, but my best friend was like, "You can't. You just can't. Like, I don't think you'll be able to cope." Of course, they said in much more polite terms than this, but I was just like, "You're right," and I'm really annoyed that I just can't go out without having a meltdown, without having an inability to make decisions and just getting overwhelmed, anxiety, PTSD, etc. So, all fun, not. As a result, I'm going up to see them, and their parents are going be there. And, I mean, I get on great with their parents. Their parents are lovely. And I might be able to meet their brother, which would be nice because I've been wanting to meet him for ages. Ultimately, there’s a lot's going on. I'm just trying to hang in there. And I don't know if this was a useful podcast episode, but I hope you got something out of it.      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 Abnormal Psychology: The Causes and Treatments For Depression, Anxiety And More . 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 Cunningham, S., Hudson, C. C., & Harkness, K. (2021). Social media and depression symptoms: a meta-analysis. Research on child and adolescent psychopathology, 49(2), 241-253. Malgaroli, M., Calderon, A., & Bonanno, G. A. (2021). Networks of major depressive disorder: A systematic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 85, 102000. Shorey, S., Ng, E. D., & Wong, C. H. (2022). Global prevalence of depression and elevated depressive symptoms among adolescents: A systematic review and meta‐analysis. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 61(2), 287-305. Smith, M. M., Sherry, S. B., Ray, C., Hewitt, P. L., & Flett, G. L. (2021). Is perfectionism a vulnerability factor for depressive symptoms, a complication of depressive symptoms, or both? A meta-analytic test of 67 longitudinal studies. Clinical Psychology Review, 84, 101982. Whiteley, C. (2024) CBT For Depression: A Clinical Psychology Introduction To Cognitive Behavioural Therapy For Depression . CGD Publishing. England. Whiteley, C. (2024) Social Media Psychology: A Guide To Clinical Psychology, Cyberpsychology and Mental Health.  CGD Publishing. England. Whiteley, C. (2024) Working With Children and Young People: A Guide To Clinical Psychology, Mental Health and Psychotherapy.  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.

I’ve already mentioned before on the podcast that eating disorders are some of the deadliest mental health conditions out there. Yet there are psychological treatments that are designed to help people with eating disorders to improve their lives, have a healthier and less maladaptive relationship with food and to improve their quality of life. Therefore, in this clinical psychology podcast episode, you’ll be introduced to a range of psychological treatments for eating disorders that are explored a lot more amongst other topics in my brand-new book CBT For Eating Disorders. If you enjoy learning about mental health, clinical psychology and eating disorders then this will be a great episode for you. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by CBT For Eating Disorders And Body Dysmorphic Disorder: A Clinical Psychology Introduction To Cognitive Behavioural Therapy For Eating Disorders and Body Dysmorphia. 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 Are Psychological Treatments For Eating Disorders? Extract From CBT For Eating Disorders and Body Dysmorphic Disorder  (COPYRIGHT 2024 Connor Whiteley) As we start to turn our attention towards the psychological methods used in treating eating disorders before focusing on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for the rest of this section of the book, I want to quickly mention some pharmacological treatments. Interestingly enough, antidepressants are the most common form of drug treatment for eating disorders with there being some evidence that this treatment can reduce bulimia symptoms (e.g. Bellini & Merli, 2004). Now as always what I find interesting about biological methods for psychological conditions is that pharmacological treatments aren’t effective in the long term considering that a person’s drive for thinness and extreme dieting isn’t biological in nature, it is psychological. Therefore, biological treatments will never ever be able to help a person come up with more adaptive coping mechanisms for their psychological thoughts and drives. Additionally, pharmacological treatments with anorexia have tended to be less successful (Pederson et al., 2003). However, it’s important to know that antidepressant treatments for eating disorders do have significantly higher relapse and drop-out rates than psychological interventions. Again this comes back to drug treatments failing and being useless at targeting the psychological causes of a condition. As a result, the best outcomes for eating disorders are when drug treatments are combined with CBT programmes. Family Therapy and Eating Disorders If we cast our minds back to a few chapters ago then I mentioned how family factors have a role in how eating disorders are maintained and developed in the first place, for that reason family therapy can be an effective way to treat eating disorders. Also, this is one of the most common interventions used with eating disorders with the therapy being based on the idea that eating disorders hide important conflicts within the family. Personally, I do enjoy systemic therapy because the idea of the family as a system is very useful and utterly fascinating. Of course, systemic theory doesn’t look at everything and it does miss out on psychological factors, but it is still interesting. And there is no such thing as a perfect theory in clinical psychology. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Eating Disorders CBT is the treatment of choice when it comes to eating disorders and even more so for (Wilson & Shafran, 2005) with this form of CBT being based on the cognitive model we looked at earlier developed by Fairburn et al. (1999). Since people with bulimia develop negative evaluations about themselves and have idealized beliefs about thinness, as well as distorted views of their own body shape. All these areas and beliefs are challenged during a course of CBT and there is an Enhanced form of CBT that is used as well, and there’s a whole chapter dedicated to that form coming up next. CBT is really helpful for clients that are significantly underweight too. What Are The Stages Of CBT For Bulimia? We’ll this in more depth in a moment, but the four stages of CBT For Bulimia according to Fairburn (1985) are: ·       Psychoeducation about the effects of purging, bingeing and mood. ·       Modified eating patterns – small meals 5-6 times a day instead of bingeing to start off with. ·       Altering the client’s dysfunctional attitudes about food, eating and the body. ·       Teaching the client coping strategies to avoid bingeing & purging. When a person with bulimia first starts CBT, the focus will be meal planning and stimulus control so instead of snacking and binge eating, the meals can be controlled more so they eat properly three times a day, or whatever the therapist deems appropriate. Furthermore, cognitive restructuring is a core part of CBT so when it comes to Bulimia, this is used to address the client’s dysfunctional beliefs about their body shape and weight. Then the focus shifts to become focused on developing relapse prevention methods so the eating disorder doesn’t return after therapy ends. Overall, CBT for eating disorders is based on identifying the dysfunctional thinking processes that cause and maintain the disordered eating, as well as using behavioural exercises to test and modify these maladaptive beliefs. CBT For Anorexia Nervosa Whereas CBT For Anorexia focuses on different clinical features, because we know from other chapters that anorexia involves several cognitive distortions. For instance, the client has irrational beliefs about weight gain and food and they have an inaccurate perception of their body. Therefore, this form of CBT aims to change these faulty thinking patterns, which the therapy assumes is what maintains the anorexic behaviour. Now what makes this form of CBT so special is that if you think normal CBT is highly structured then this is even more so. Due to CBT for Anorexia is the most effective treatment we have at this point for short-term clients. Although, if the client needs psychological help in the longer term then they might benefit more from family therapy or Interpersonal Psychotherapy. Overall, whilst that was a quick whistle-stop tour of CBT for eating disorders, our next chapter focuses a lot more on Enhanced Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy for eating disorders (Fairburn, 2008) and it might be my favourite chapter out of the entire book.     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 CBT For Eating Disorders And Body Dysmorphic Disorder: A Clinical Psychology Introduction To Cognitive Behavioural Therapy For Eating Disorders and Body Dysmorphia. 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 Whiteley, C. (2024) CBT For Eating Disorders And Body Dysmorphic Disorder: A Clinical Psychology Introduction To Cognitive Behavioural Therapy For Eating Disorders and Body Dysmorphia.  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.

As someone who’s experienced a range of trauma over their life, I’m always interested in learning about the different ways how trauma affects someone. Normally, I focus on the mental health implications, like panic attacks, social anxiety and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. I’m experiencing all of these symptoms at the time of writing but trauma doesn’t only affect us psychologically. Trauma can have profound physical consequences too. Therefore, this podcast episode merges clinical psychology and biological psychology so you can learn how trauma affects the heart, why trauma has physical impacts on our body and what can we do about these impacts. If you enjoy learning about trauma psychology, biopsychology and mental health, then this is a great 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. Brief Introduction To Trauma Whilst I talk about trauma on the podcast a fair bit, I wanted to briefly recap the importance of trauma within clinical psychology in case there are any new readers or listeners tuning in to this episode. Therefore, trauma is the term given to an extremely difficult experience in a person’s life that has a profound impact on them. This can include being involved in or witnessing life-threatening diseases, severe injuries or accidents, assaults, sexual violence and deaths of loved ones and so on. As well as trauma is common within society with at least 50% of adults in the United States experiencing one or more traumas in their lifetime (Wisco et al., 2022). Also, I’ve mentioned before in a previous episode , this is why trauma-informed approaches are so important, because they’re about recognising trauma is common and we need to support people. Furthermore, I’m guilty of this too but when it comes to trauma, we particularly only think about trauma as a psychological concept with psychological impacts. Which come to think of it doesn’t make a lot of sense, because traumatic events are physical, tangible events that happen to a person so it makes no sense why its impacts would only be psychological in nature. In this podcast episode, you’re going to be learning about the physical impacts of psychological trauma and why we need to acknowledge their existence. Since if we ignore the physiological impacts of trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder then this could prove deadly for our clients. Why Is Trauma A Mind-Body Condition? To some extent, I have no issue with the current official and extremely oversimplified dialogue about psychological trauma is very focused on the psychological and mental experience of trauma. You only need to look at the DSM-5 to see how trauma focuses on the intense emotional and behavioural responses that the traumatic event causes. For instance, the PTSD and acute stress disorder symptoms as listed in the DSM-5 focus on the anxiety, avoidance of trauma-related stimuli and situations and hypervigilance. Personally, I have no issue with that whatsoever because these are the things I severely struggle with after my sexual assault and these intense emotions and severe behavioural responses are horrific at times and rather debilitating. It was only three nights ago at the time of writing that I was watching a romance because I didn’t read the trigger warnings and I saw a sex scene. I screamed, panicked and I felt paralysed for 20 minutes just dealing with the perfectly innocent scene I had just witnessed. Needlessly to say, I will be reading trigger warnings a lot more carefully in future. However, the issue is that trauma probably needs to be reconceptualised a little more because there is a growing body of neuroscience research showing how trauma has a major impact on our biology and our physical body (O’Donnell et al., 2016). Now there are some researchers saying trauma has a greater physical impact than the psychological impact, and I have some thoughts on this argument. I have no doubt there is research demonstrating how significant and damaging trauma is on our physical body, but as someone who has experienced two major types of trauma in their life, I have to admit I don’t buy this argument. It is the anxiety, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, depression, suicidal ideation and on and on and on that causes me to struggle because of my trauma. It is the intense emotions and psychological aspects of dealing with being sexually assaulted that causes me to be paralysed as times as I deal with the intrusive thoughts and physical sensations of what happened to me. It is the psychological aspects that hurt me the most. The only physical aspects of the trauma I have to deal is the sweating and increased heart rate and rapid breathing whenever I have a panic attack. As well as the physical sensations of my body effectively remembering what he did to me amongst a few other bits. I don’t doubt all these physical trauma responses are having a physical impact on my body, but to say physical impacts are the most  damaging and the most  painful for a trauma survivor just doesn’t sit right with me. You might disagree but this is my lived experience. One of the areas most impacted by trauma is the heart. How Does Psychological Trauma Impact The Cardiovascular System? As you can imagine, whenever we experience a traumatic event, the brain activates our flight-fight-freeze response which is a biological process. During this process, the pituitary gland, hypothalamus and adrenal glands (typically referred to as the HPA axis) work together to produce a powerful and rapid stress response that floods the body with neurotransmitters and hormones in an effort to protect and save us. It is these hormones and neurotransmitters that are believed to alter the normal functioning of our major organs including the heart. Interestingly, whilst our fight-or-flight response is meant to save us during traumatic situations, it can be deadly too. Due to there are times when people have had heart attacks as well as strokes during natural disasters so it is possible to die from stress-induced cardiovascular events. There are even times when these cardiovascular events kill more people than the natural disaster in question (Babaie et al, 2021). In addition, whilst our flight-or-fight response is a biological mechanism that evolved as an emergency response to help our ancestors thrive. Our ancestors were almost always able to rest and recover after the activation of this mechanism, whereas in this modern era we cannot do that because of chronic stress. This is a modern problem because modern trauma and modern stressful events mean the fight-or-flight response gets activated more often so this response can be activated for months or even years after the traumatic event. I know this might sound strange or impossible but I agree with it. Since I sort of believe my fight-or-flight response is starting to only calm down after 17 weeks after being assaulted but whenever I go outside, whenever I go into certain situations and whenever I am inside, even more so when I’m in a locked room, all the physical stress responses return and I am on high alert. I know if I need to escape in case someone hurts me again, my body is only a second away from activating my flight-or-fight response. As well as there have been plenty of major incidents over the past 17 weeks where I have been okay in one moment, something small has happened and then I have freaked out and my flight-or-fight has been activated. I doubt my flight-or-fight has rested in the past 17 weeks. Therefore, with humans not resting and able to recover after each activation of our flight-or-fight response, our physical body is getting battered by our endless stress responses. This means our cardiovascular system and heart slowly become dysfunctional and damaged so this raises the risk of heart attack and stroke over time. Why Is The Trauma-Heart Relationship Bidirectional?  Lastly, what’s interesting about trauma and its physical impacts is that trauma is both a cause and an outcome of heart problems. Due to there is research, like Edmondson and von Kanel (2017), showing a strong link between trauma and chronic and acute cardiovascular risk. As well as there is separate evidence showing how strokes and heart attacks cause trauma reactions amongst the survivors (O’Donnell et al., 2021). This shows the trauma-heart relationship is bidirectional and they can both cause and be a consequence of each other. However, the issue with trauma and cardiovascular health problems is that because trauma is psychological in nature as are the emotional and behavioural responses, these aren’t assessed in emergency rooms or cardiovascular wards. This means the trauma symptoms that are causing clients a massive amount of psychological distress and are causing further damage to their heart, these are not being treated. Meaning the cardiovascular damage and the trauma symptoms simply continue. Which is why I flat out love holistic work and the biopsychosocial model, despite the jokes about it being the bio bio bio model. I’m an idealist at heart so I still believe in the aim of the biopsychosocial model. Biological Psychology Conclusion On the whole, if you take anything away from today’s episode, it needs to be that trauma survivors and other people experiencing chronic or acute stress need to be educated on how to reduce potential cardiovascular risk, and they need to be treated. As well as whenever someone goes into a medical setting to have treatment for a cardiovascular-related health problem, they should be screened and assessed for psychological trauma so they can be helped, supported and their trauma treated if needed so their cardiovascular symptoms don’t get worse. Of course, I am very cynical when it comes to medical settings embracing psychological concepts because most medical settings in my experience are ruled over by white older men who firmly believe in the biomedical model and they have little time or patience for psychology. There is absolutely nothing wrong with white older men but I wish they were more accepting towards psychology. Anyway, a great argument to make to them and other medical directors about this issue might be to mention, if you spend the time and money assessing clients for trauma and treating it earlier on. It means their symptoms will not get worse, they won’t need as long or as intense medical treatment and they can be discharged sooner from the hospital. That means the hospital can save money, which is something hospitals and medical settings love. I don’t blame them because their budgets are beyond awful at this point. Penultimately, I want to mention that I know a lot of this podcast episode doesn’t directly apply to us aspiring or qualified psychologists. We are trained to become experts in psychological matters so our knowledge about physical health is limited and I don’t always think that is a bad thing. Since the worst thing that could happen with this neuroscience research is that people use it to shift trauma treatment into the biomedical model where the main focus is on the physical symptoms, the hormones and neurotransmitters and everything that is physically happening to a client. That just will not work for trauma treatment. Of course, there always needs to be psychoeducation about how trauma impacts a client physically, especially when it comes to PTSD, panic attacks and anxiety. Yet I think it’s okay that psychologists mainly focus on the psychological aspects instead of letting the medical doctors rush in and focus on the biological aspects, like they do with depression with their anti-depressants that don’t actually work. I still love Read and Moncrieff (2022) for their brilliant work against the biomedical model for depression. Anyway, the real point of this episode is two-fold. Firstly, we all need to become aware, appreciative and acknowledge that psychological trauma has a physical impact. Secondly, we need to pressure medical settings to realise psychological trauma impacts physical health and if we want to save lives, improve the physical health of clients and decrease cardiovascular-related health problems that cost medical settings a lot of money each year. Then psychologists and medical doctors need to work together as equal partners to help tackle the physical aspects of trauma. Awareness is always a good first step towards change. Ultimately, I’ve mentioned on the podcast a lot of times how trauma is common in society, and I am a total fan-person of the trauma-informed approaches  that we are starting to shift towards in clinical psychology. Therefore, if we fail to appreciate the physiological impact that psychological trauma has on a person then not only are we negatively impacting the physical health of our clients but we could be risking major public health consequences with an increase in cardiovascular-related deaths. Something we have to avoid at all costs.   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. Biological Psychology References and Further Reading Babaie, J., Naghipour, B., & Faridaalaee, G. (2021). Cardiovascular diseases in natural disasters; a systematic review. Archives of academic emergency medicine, 9(1). Edmondson, D., & von Känel, R. (2017). Post-traumatic stress disorder and cardiovascular disease. The lancet. Psychiatry, 4(4), 320–329. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(16)30377-7 Fenster, R. J., Lebois, L. A., Ressler, K. J., & Suh, J. (2018). Brain circuit dysfunction in post-traumatic stress disorder: from mouse to man. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 19(9), 535-551. Galli, F., Lai, C., Gregorini, T., Ciacchella, C., & Carugo, S. (2021, July). Psychological traumas and cardiovascular disease: a case-control study. In Healthcare (Vol. 9, No. 7, p. 875). MDPI. Lei, M. K., Beach, S. R., & Simons, R. L. (2018). Childhood trauma, pubertal timing, and cardiovascular risk in adulthood. Health Psychology, 37(7), 613. Read, J., & Moncrieff, J. (2022). Depression: Why drugs and electricity are not the answer. Psychological Medicine, 52(8), 1401-1410. Noble, N. C., Merker, J. B., Webber, T. K., Ressler, K. J., & Seligowski, A. V. (2023). PTSD and depression severity are associated with cardiovascular disease symptoms in trauma-exposed women. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 14(2), 2234810. O’Donnell, C. J., Longacre, L. S., Cohen, B. E., Fayad, Z. A., Gillespie, C. F., Liberzon, I., ... & Stein, M. B. (2021). Posttraumatic stress disorder and cardiovascular disease: state of the science, knowledge gaps, and research opportunities. JAMA cardiology, 6(10), 1207-1216. Perryman, K., Blisard, P., & Moss, R. (2019). Using creative arts in trauma therapy: The neuroscience of healing. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 41(1), 80-94. Ressler, K. J., Berretta, S., Bolshakov, V. Y., Rosso, I. M., Meloni, E. G., Rauch, S. L., & Carlezon Jr, W. A. (2022). Post-traumatic stress disorder: clinical and translational neuroscience from cells to circuits. Nature Reviews Neurology, 18(5), 273-288. Wisco, B. E., Nomamiukor, F. O., Marx, B. P., Krystal, J. H., Southwick, S. M., & Pietrzak, R. H. (2022). Posttraumatic stress disorder in US military veterans: Results from the 2019–2020 National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 83(2), 39779. 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.

Whenever you watch a crime drama, mystery film or read a mystery book, the role of expert witnesses are critical to the criminal justice system. Psychologists, be it clinical psychologists or forensic psychologists, are important examples of expert witnesses that the prosecution and defence draw on to strengthen their cases. Therefore, in this forensic psychology podcast episode, you’ll learn about what is an expert witness, how does a psychologist act and testify as an expert witness and more. If you enjoy learning about the criminal justice system, applied psychology and how psychologists have a real-world impact then this is a great episode for you. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Police Psychology: A Forensic Psychology Guide To Police Behaviour . 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 An Expert Witness? Expert witnesses help to educate jurors as well as judges in criminal and civil cases about certain topics. For example, when the R. Kelly case went to trial where he was accused of sexual violence, sexual exploitation and coercive control, it raised a lot of questions within society that ultimately impacted the jury’s ability to understand what was going on in the case. For example, people couldn’t understand how R. Kelly had managed to persuade his victims to stay in his home, sometimes this went on for years. Therefore, both sides of a legal battle are likely to bring in expert witnesses because they help to strengthen their case. In addition, expert witnesses can base their testimony on scientific, technical or specialised knowledge. As a result, when it comes to domestic abuse cases, expert witnesses (like a psychologist) help jurors and judges to understand that domestic abuse isn’t caused by the victim’s actions, mental health conditions, anger, substance abuse or jealousy. Personally, I think one of the most important aspects or roles of expert witnesses is that they help the court to understand what victims-survivors do to survive. This thankfully helps the victims from being blamed or pathologized for the consequences of the abuse. Since if we take my own sexual assault for example, even though I’ve never reported it to the police (around 90% of sexual violence survivors do the same as me), I can manage a defence solicitor would try to paint me as a so-called “crazy” unstable person because of my panic attacks, PTSD and intense social anxiety that my trauma caused. Thankfully, expert witnesses made that argument null-void and it helps survivors get the justice they deserve instead of being blamed and discredited for their trauma. As I always say, trauma responses are normal reactions to extremely abnormal situations. Furthermore, for a psychologist to become an expert witness, a judge reviews the expert’s credentials and then the judge agrees to admit their testimony into evidence before the expert witness is allowed to speak. Then the lawyer who engaged the expert, questions them first then the other lawyer gets to cross-examine. Finally for this section, an expert witness (like a psychologist) can testify in two different ways. Firstly, they can testify in case-specific ways. This means the expert witnesses write a report and often testify to the facts of a specific case. Then the psychologist reviews the associated material, this can include medical or police reports, psychological evaluations, guardian ad litem reports, relevant photographs or records of text as well as court documents. Then the psychologist might conduct a domestic violence / coercive control interview and assessment with the alleged victim. The final way is for an expert witness to testify according to general expertise. Which is when an expert doesn’t know that much about the specific case but they testify about domestic abuse or whatever the case is about more generally. In terms of the lawyers, the lawyer can still ask “what if” or hypothetical questions that show how the information might pertain to the case currently on trial. Personally, I remember watching the Depp vs Amber Heard case and Elizabeth Loftus was an expert witness I think. Therefore, even if you’re a very academically focused psychologist, you can still become an expert witness if you want (and no I don’t know how you build yourself up to an expert witness) because of your research area. For example, Elizabeth Loftus is a legendary researcher when it comes to memory so she gets called in as an expert witness to testify on memory, and false memories. Let’s explore these two types of testimony in a little more depth. How Might Psychologists Be Used In Case-Specific Testimony? If a psychologist becomes an expert witness to give case-specific testimony then the psychologist can discuss a range of topics on the stand and under oath. For instance, the possible cultural influences on the case, the specific coercive control and domestic abuse tactics used by the abuser, the different ways the survivor tried to moderate the abuse so the survivor could protect themselves and maybe others. Also, a psychologist can talk about the “natural history” of the couple from the time they met until the present day. Since news flash, abuse rarely happens automatically in domestic violence and coercive control cases. In addition, psychologists can discuss with judges and juries, the impact of the abuse on children and other family members, as well as the medical, psychological and financial impact of the abuse on the survivor. Also, the psychologist can talk about what they found after doing a domestic violence/ coercive control assessment on the survivor and they can give recommendations for custody and visitation. And a psychologist can discuss the validity of previous evaluations and assessments by other professionals. Personally, I know I got this idea from TV so I know it doesn’t really happen in real life, but I would flat out love to be in a courtroom when a psychologist is ripping to shreds the evaluation and assessment done by a previous professional. I don’t know why I would like that, but I think it would be interesting to see. How Might Psychologists Be Used In General Expertise Testimony? Whereas if a psychologist becomes an expert witness and they’re called to give general expertise testimony then there’s a good chance, they’ll help the court understand the definitions of the issue and explanations as to why they occur. Such as, what is domestic violence and why domestic violence occurs. Also, the psychologist can help the court understand the research on coercive control as well as domestic violence, and explanations as to why a victim might lie, recant their statement or comply with, stay or defend the abuser. In addition, psychologists can teach the judge and jury about the impact of trauma on child and adult witnesses and victims, how abuse can change in severity and frequency over time, and the consequences that victims face when they try to protect themselves or their children. As well as psychologists can teach them about the beliefs, characteristics, tactics, behaviours and motivations of offenders. Ultimately, you can think of psychologists in general expertise as mythbusters. I see expert witnesses as helping the jury to realise a lot of the things that they’ve heard about abuse, sexual violence and victims are wrong because of the myths we’ve created for ourselves in society. For example, the disgusting myth that if a woman was actually raped she would fight back and never stay with her attacker. Psychologists are critical for dispelling these myths. How Might Psychologists Or Other Expert Witnesses Be Used In Civil Cases? Whilst like everyone, my mind only thinks of psychologists acting as expert witnesses in criminal cases, they are sometimes used in civil cases. For example, when it comes to pre-and post-nuptial agreements or other contracts, an expert witness can evaluate whether this contract was signed under coercion and if this is the case, then the contract should be set aside. In other words, it should be ignored by the law. And as someone who has a minor interest in contract law that is a very interesting idea. Another way how psychologists and other expert opinions can be used in civil cases is in immigration cases. Since it’s often the case that a domestic abuse survivor’s immigration case tied to their partner or an asylum seeker needs relief from deportation because they face domestic homicide or another violent fate if they’re sent home. So expert witnesses can be useful in these cases for different reasons. Thirdly, divorce cases can require expert witnesses to help the court understand the need to protect survivors from custody or divorce agreements that would enable further abuse or put them at even more risk. As well as civil benefit cases are another type where expert witnesses are useful, because during divorce proceedings, a survivor might be scared to talk about their right to half of their abuser’s assets or retirement pay. Therefore, an expert witness can help a survivor recover these benefits even after a time has passed. Sometimes long after the divorce proceedings. Penultimately, in tort cases, expert witnesses can help survivors sue their abuser for the damages that have occurred over time. This is a tricky one because this is only applicable in certain jurisdictions and expert witnesses, like psychologists, are useful for explaining how the harm of the abuse can be established as a basis for compensation. Similarly, expert witnesses are useful for educating juries on why abusers might file constant court petitions to harass, control and improvise their victim. These types of cases are called litigation abuse or vexatious abuse. Lastly, expert witnesses can be seen in family court during custody and visitation discussions. Since an expert can describe to the judge the evidence of domestic abuse and explain the victim’s survival behaviours. As well as when this is relevant the expert witness can offer a fact-based opinion about any potential danger there is to the child or children if the abuser gains custody or unsupervised visitation rights. Also, experts can counter any claims of “parental alienation syndrome” where the abuser’s lawyers try to wrest custody away from a protective parent. Forensic Psychology Conclusion Part of me would love to become an expert witness in the future, I’ve thought that years and whilst I admit I might have an idealised version of the life of an expert witness, I still think it would be fun. Yet between my child trauma, my sexual violence experience and my stutter at times which is made worse by stress, not including my PTSD, I don’t think this is something in my future. I seriously don’t. However, it’s still important that we learn about things in psychology careers, even if we don’t think we could do it because something might change in the future. Then that dismissed career option might become more appealing and exciting again. Overall, when a court needs a psychologist to help testify whether through general expertise or case-specific expertise. We’re still needed to help educate judges and jurors to dispel myths and misconceptions that could impact the case. Ultimately, expert witnesses, and this can include psychologists at times, are needed to testify at grand jury hearings, trials, plea negotiations, sentencing, parole hearings and clemency hearings without being “on” a side. Due to expert witnesses are simply there to tell the truth and educate people, we aren’t there to fight for a side. Expert witnesses are such a fundamental part of our criminal justice system. I am the last person who would ever say the criminal justice system is fair, but I firmly believe that expert witnesses and us telling the truth and educating judges and juries, we help to bring the system just a little closer to that lofty ideal. And that is a win and just another way how psychology helps to make the world a better place. One small step at a time.     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 Police Psychology: A Forensic Psychology Guide To Police Behaviour . 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. Forensic Psychology References and Further Reading Alceste, F., J Luke, T., D Redlich, A., Hellgren, J., D Amrom, A., & M Kassin, S. (2021). The psychology of confessions: A comparison of expert and lay opinions. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 35(1), 39-51. https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/invisible-chains/202108/expert-witnesses-in-domestic-violence-and-coercive-control Lubet, S., & Boals, E. I. (2020). Expert testimony: A guide for expert witnesses and the lawyers who examine them. Aspen Publishing. Vredeveldt, A., van Rosmalen, E. A., Van Koppen, P. J., Dror, I. E., & Otgaar, H. (2022). Legal psychologists as experts: guidelines for minimizing bias. Psychology, Crime & Law, 1-25. 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.

In recognition of how common trauma is in society and in an effort to help address its devastating consequences on people’s mental health, clinical psychology has shifted towards becoming more trauma-informed. In the UK at least, it is an area of interest that candidates are being asked about more often during their doctorate interviews. Therefore, if you want to work in clinical psychology and if you’re an aspiring clinical psychologist then trauma-informed approaches are a critical area to understand. In this psychology podcast episode, you’ll what makes a psychologist trauma-informed, what are the 6 core principles of trauma-informed approaches and more. If you enjoy learning about trauma, mental health and clinical work then this is a great episode for you. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by CBT For Anxiety: A Clinical Psychology Introduction To Cognitive Behavioural Therapy For Anxiety Disorders . 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 A Trauma-Informed Approach? As I mentioned in the introduction to today’s episode, there is a big move within clinical psychology to become more trauma-informed. Due to psychologists need to be trauma-informed in recognition of how common trauma is in the world and as psychologists we need to respond to this harsh reality that trauma causes. For example, if I go off my own experience here, I’ve been through two types of trauma, one a single event and another form of trauma that stretched on for over a decade. As well as trauma is a wide-ranging umbrella term for different traumatic situations that might not affect some people but they might affect others. These can include child abuse, sexual violence, witnessing a murder, being a soldier and so on. Therefore, being trauma-informed means psychologists need to be aware of how trauma can impact an individual personally and societally too as well as psychologists need to anticipate how trauma survivors might respond to our actions and words so we don’t compound the damage and suffering that the trauma causes. In addition, this concept connects to the idea of secondary traumatisation. This is normally seen in forensic psychology where victims of crimes are traumatised again by going through the criminal justice system. Yet I see no reason why this cannot be extended to clinical psychology because if you have a clinical psychologist who isn’t trained in dealing with trauma and they make a mistake with a client by saying the wrong thing. Then I can easily see how this would retraumatised the client. For example, let’s take a personal example and talk about my child abuse during my adolescence and let’s use this situation in when I went to therapy last August. If my therapist wasn’t aware of trauma or LGBT+ issues and she said something that was blaming me for my abuse, my mental health and my situation then that would have been extremely damaging and it would only add to my trauma. Since in my mind, if a therapist cannot accept me and support me being gay and all the trauma I’m experiencing around it then no one can accept me. So my mental health would continue to decline. This is why psychological training is so important as well as having trauma-specific training is critical. Ultimately, being trauma-informed means psychologists are helping to create a world that can foster a client’s resilience, growth as well as healing. What Are The 6 Core Principles of Trauma-Informed Approaches? As you can probably imagine, all of us aspiring and qualified psychologists can say we want to be trauma-informed as much as we want but this intention isn’t enough alone. Also, when we consider just how many different examples of traumatic experiences there are and all the different types of trauma survivors, it’s very difficult to land on a narrow set of clinical guidelines that are going to be useful in every situation. This is why clinical psychologists have managed to come together to create a set of 6 guiding core principles that we can apply flexibly to each client as well as situation. The source behind these guidelines are the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Association (SAMHSA) in 2014, and now we’ll look at these 6 core principles. What Is Trustworthiness And Transparency In Clinical Trauma Work? The first principle we’ll look at isn’t directly linked to client work but trustworthiness and transparency is a principle focusing on helping clients to feel more willing to engage with the mental health service that we work in. When it comes to being trustworthy, this means we need to keep our promises, be reliable and we need to clearly show this towards our clients. Such as, we might say to our clients one thing and then follow up with the client with evidence to show that we’ve done this for them. One example is that if you say you’re going to email a medical doctor for some reason then you could show them the email you sent, of course whilst sticking to data protection and any other rules your service has in place. Furthermore, transparency helps clients to understand what your intentions and priorities are so the clients know where they stand with you as well as the mental health service. One way of putting this concept is it is the equivalent of “showing your work” when you try to solve a problem, so you might tell your client your thought process and what factors you considered when trying to make the clinical decision. Personally, I only just realised how brilliant transparency is because when I went for my counselling assessment for my sexual violence therapy, the psychologist doing the assessment told me a lot of “extra” information. For example, she explained why I wouldn’t be suitable to see a placement or trainee counsellor and she would talk to me and tell me what she was thinking as she was making notes. Therefore, she might have “only” been a psychologist assessing me but because she was completely transparent with me and she kept me informed of everything she was thinking, I felt really comfortable. And I am really looking forward to working with the service whenever I come off the waiting list. How Does The Safety Principle Make A Psychologist Trauma Informed? Whenever it comes to trauma, it is very common and a natural response for people not to feel safe. For example, me and my best friend were talking the other night because they asked me a question from the kitchen, they found it weird that whenever they asked me something I stop everything immediately and “ran” to them. I said that it was because if I didn’t come quickly in the past to someone asking me a question or if I didn’t do something quick enough then I would be shouted at or occasionally worse, and my best friend wanted me to learn that I am safe with them in our new house. And the same goes for the intense social anxiety I often have because of my sexual assault. It can be extremely difficult for trauma survivors to feel safe but without a feeling of safety clinical work is often doomed to fail. As a result, safety encourages clients to focus on the psychological intervention and support that is being offered so clients can feel emotionally and physically protected from danger. Also, it’s important that psychologists understand what makes clients feel unsafe so this can be very different across different trauma experiences and across different cultures. Such as when it comes to what makes me feel unsafe due to my sexual assault, big crowds, a dimly lit room and large men make me feel very unsafe. Then again before I dealt with my abuse, homophobia and older straight men would make me feel very unsafe, so it is different depending on the situation. In addition, it’s worth noting that safety doesn’t mean that things will always be easy for the client or even comfortable and it’s important to make this distinction at times. Since the idea of safety is built on the idea that a lot of trauma survivors lack a basic sense of safety (this is why I have so many panic attacks when I’m in public and meeting new people), and a lot of non-trauma survivors take their basic sense of safety for granted. As a result, when it comes to applying the safety principle in clinical work, it’s about levelling the playing field so all your clients can enjoy a basic sense of safety whenever they’re with you. So an individual might report feeling safe when they’re able to just stop scanning their environment for any threats or dangers for the hour they are with for you, and they’re no longer having to focus on defending or protecting themselves. And it is this basic sense of safety which causes me a lot of issues in my life at the moment because whenever I’m out and in a busy place, I am hypervigilant and hyperfocused on scanning my environment, watching out for anyone who would hurt me and so on. I understand that these are all illogical thoughts but it is still scary. How Does Empowerment, Voice And Choice Make A Psychologist Trauma-Informed? Our next principle focuses on making sure psychologists help clients to use their voice and power. Since trauma is a very disempowering experience so clients can be fearful and reluctant to step forward so it is up to psychologists to gently help and support clients to develop skills in this area that will help them become more empowered. For instance, helping to develop a client’s assertiveness and advocacy. As well as the interesting thing about all 6 of these core principles is that the more you embody all of them, the more likely clients are to be empowered too. As a brief personal example, one major issue I’ve had following my sexual assault is my disempowered and my inability to make decisions. For example, there are times when I simply cannot make decisions at all, including really tiny ones like in what cupboards to put my kitchen stuff in when I moved into my student accommodation. I simply couldn’t make a decision because I didn’t trust myself, I didn’t have self-worth and so on. And there are lots of different examples of disempowerment in the past few months and it is absolutely horrible. I don’t wish being paralysed with fear so you cannot function and make basic decisions on anyone. How Does Mutuality And Collaboration Make A Psychologist Trauma-Informed? In addition, our next principle takes this even further because it encourages clients to focus on who has power and who might be vulnerable to its misuse. Due to this principle is about a psychologist embodying collaboration and mutuality, a psychologist can help a client to reduce this power differential and its risks by engaging in more active collaboration across different levels of the service between clients and staff. For instance, a mental health service might get clients to give their input on the service (Collaboration and Mutuality) when considering a new policy or procedure then share how that information was used when the service was making its final decision (transparency). Ultimately, I think this connects to all clinical work and the importance of the therapeutic alliance. I know all therapy work is effectively a collaboration depending on the therapy module being used, but in trauma work, this is even more important because trauma survivors are already so disempowered. Then if a psychologist walked in, did a lot of things to the client without working with them and then kept doing this then the trauma survivor wouldn’t see any benefit because nothing would change. This so-called clinical work would only be a continuation of their disempowerment and trauma without anything changing. How Does Understanding Cultural, Historical And Gender Issues Make A Psychologist Trauma Informed? There are a lot of historical, cultural and gender issues that exist in the world and the vast majority of these impact trauma survivors, so it is flat out critical to understand how these issues impact trauma-informed work. This is why psychologists need to pay attention to the culture and world we live in so we can see the strengths, core values, social connections and resources that people might ignore. As well as psychologists need to understand how a historical context or how a client experiences discrimination might impact them but also how these experiences might frame how a client perceives our actions or policies. Due to by understanding these historical issues, we can have a better understanding of how to implement the other core principles in this episode. And when it comes to my personal trauma, these historical, cultural and gender issues are a major problem for me. Since my childhood trauma was caused by the cultural and historical issues around homophobia and how older people see and treat gay people. As well as when it comes to my sexual assault, the gender issue of being male and how the vast majority of people believe males don’t experience sexual violence is very challenging and it has compounded my trauma in more ways than I want to admit. So please, try to understand the different cultural, historical and gender issues that will impact your clients. It is a fascinating topic and it is flat out critical for trauma-informed work. How Does Peer Support Make A Psychologist Trauma-Informed? Our final trauma-informed principle focuses on how peer support can help clients find opportunities to learn and grow with other people who have lived experiences of trauma. Before on the podcast I’ve spoken about the benefits of group therapy and peer support groups is one of the three types. Peer support can be useful because it gives trauma survivors a chance to develop a stronger sense of belonging and it can support empowerment too because it is normally easier to speak up as a group than as a single individual. Clinical Psychology Conclusion When it comes to trauma-informed work, this is flat out critical for aspiring and qualified psychologists because a trauma-informed approach isn’t just about the students or clients that we work with, to be honest. It is about our fellow psychologists, staff and our leaders at our mental health services, as well as ourselves, who could be trauma survivors. Our clients are not the only trauma survivors in the world. Therefore, these 6 core principles can be used in everyday context and setting, even if you’re not working with trauma survivors explicitly, because all these principles can be useful in clinical work. As well as even when you’re working with your peers, it is always good to make them feel safe, be transparent and collaborate with them and more. Sometimes I feel like just knowing how to be more trauma-informed helps you to become a better person and after this podcast episode, I believe that even more. To wrap up this trauma episode, it needs to be said that these principles need to be applied flexibly because chances are they will look very different depending on the type of trauma you are working with now or in the future. Yet they are still important because these principles have the power to transform and heal our relationships, our mental health services and maybe even ourselves if we’re trauma survivors. Working with trauma might sound scary to a lot of people, but as a trauma survivor myself, yes what I experienced and went through was utterly terrifying. But I am not a victim that needs to be treated carefully, like a child or like I am anything other than a regular human being who has been through hell and back. I am simply a survivor trying to live my life as much as I can but I need psychological help for that and that is where all of us come in now or in the future. Clinical trauma work might sound scary but it can probably be some of the most rewarding work we might ever do as psychologists. And we might transform lives for the better even more than usual.   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 CBT For Anxiety: A Clinical Psychology Introduction To Cognitive Behavioural Therapy For Anxiety Disorders . 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 Champine, R. B., Lang, J. M., Nelson, A. M., Hanson, R. F., & Tebes, J. K. (2019). Systems measures of a trauma‐informed approach: A systematic review. American Journal of Community Psychology, 64(3-4), 418-437. Chu, Y. C., Wang, H. H., Chou, F. H., Hsu, Y. F., & Liao, K. L. (2024). Outcomes of trauma‐informed care on the psychological health of women experiencing intimate partner violence: a systematic review and meta‐analysis. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 31(2), 203-214. Cutuli, J. J., Alderfer, M. A., & Marsac, M. L. (2019). Introduction to the special issue: Trauma-informed care for children and families. Psychological Services, 16(1), 1. Forkey, H., Szilagyi, M., Kelly, E. T., & Duffee, J. (2021). Trauma-informed care. Pediatrics, 148(2). Han, H. R., Miller, H. N., Nkimbeng, M., Budhathoki, C., Mikhael, T., Rivers, E., ... & Wilson, P. (2021). Trauma informed interventions: A systematic review. PloS one, 16(6), e0252747. Maynard, B. R., Farina, A., Dell, N. A., & Kelly, M. S. (2019). Effects of trauma‐informed approaches in schools: A systematic review. Campbell Systematic Reviews, 15(1-2). Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach. HHS Publication No. (SMA) 14-4884. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2014 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 ever done cognitive psychology before then you might be aware that people only learn and retain information if it enters the long-term memory. To achieve this and improve their learning, students and adults use a wide range of strategies to help them learn new information. Yet these different strategies are different levels of effective so in this cognitive psychology podcast episode, we’re going to learning about one of the most effective ways of learning new information. By the end of this podcast episode, you’ll understand what retrieval-based learning is, why is it effective and some of neuropsychological mechanisms underpinning this learning strategies. If you enjoy learning about the psychology of learning, neuropsychology and biological psychology then you’ll love today’s episode. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Retrieval-Based Learning: A Cognitive Psychology and Neuropsychology Guide To Learning . 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 all the references for this podcast episode can be found at the bottom of the blog post. What Is Retrieval-Based Learning? (Extract from Retrieval-Based Learning . COPYRIGHT 2024 CONNOR WHITELEY) Kicking off this book and as I mentioned in the introduction, we’re going to be following the structure of my dissertation and I’m going to introduce you to this brilliant and really interesting topic before explaining more about the experiment itself. Therefore, we can probably know, learning is critical in everyday life from learning how to ride a bike to how to revise effectively for exams to how to drive a car, learning is everywhere, and we also know that learning requires a lot of cognitive skills including memory retrieval as retrieval enhances learning (Roediger & Karpicke, 2006). Knowing the above is important because it is this understanding of the skills behind learning that lead to the development of retrieval-based learning tasks. As well as this is where learners’ re-access newly learnt stimuli by undergoing tests. Typically, participants in a retrieval-based learning task have an initial learning phase, where learners are tested on said stimuli, next is a testing phase, where the learners are tested on this material. Also, retrieval-based learning tasks utilise various combinations of these study-test blocks. Such as, STST, STTT, etc (Pyke et al., 2021). Whereas when a researcher decides to use a control condition, in this case learners aren’t tested on the learnt material and all learners complete a final assessment to measure their overall learning, with these assessments taking place minutes (Smith et al., 2013) or months (Carpenter et al., 2009) after the previous phases. You’ll see how we did this in two chapter’s time. In addition, retrieval-based learning tasks have been found in research to be beneficial for a wide range of populations, including patients (Friedman et al., 2017), children (Lipowski et al., 2014) and older adults (Coane, 2013) and retrieval-based learning reliably shows increased long-term retention of learnt stimuli compared to study-only conditions (Agarwal et al., 2008; Fazio & Marsh, 2019; Karpicke & Grimaldi, 2012; Roediger & Butler, 2011). Personally, after learning and looking at that small introduction to retrieval-based learning, I have to admit that this type of learning is really interesting. Because something me and the girls I was working with said was that when we were first introduced to the project we weren’t sure if this was going to work. Since this literature sounds great and very, very impressive but don’t all overexaggerated things? Like social priming, the research sounds amazing, for example the idea that holding a warm mug of coffee can make you more positive. It sounds fun and great but the research is beyond stupid. That’s sort of what me and my friends thought about retrieval-based learning when we first encountered it, but I promise you it really is amazing and fascinating to see in action. Anyway, the very notion of learning via retrieval started in the early 20th century (Abbott, 1909; Gates, 1917, Spitzer, 1939) and it was Bjork’s (1994) Desirable Difficulties Framework that bought the idea of difficulty and effort into the forefront of retrieval-based learning and it does nicely fit with retrieval-based learning for this reason. Due to the Framework proposes an effective way to improve long-term retention by learnt stimuli is to introduce a desirable amount of difficulty (effort) whilst learning. Furthermore, the role of effort in retrieval-based learning can be explained by the Retrieval Effort Hypothesis (REH) which is consistent with Bjork’s (1994) framework because the REH states the more difficult retrieval is, the more effort the learner requires and this increases the probability the material will be consolidated in the long-term memory and make the retrieval easier later on as supported by several studies (Carprenter & DeLosh, 2006; Karpicke & Roediger, 2007b; Pyc & Rawson, 2009). Nonetheless, the biggest problem with this theory is that REH has been criticised for being too descriptive (Karpicke et al., 2014) and fails to explain how effort could produce memory benefits. As well as the literature agrees it remains difficult to truly compare cued recall and free recall tests because of aspects like false alarm rates and response pressure in cued recall tests (Ozubko, 2011). What Theories And Models Explain The Effectiveness Of Retrieval-Based Learning? In addition, this is where we get into the information that isn’t covered in my project because I didn’t feel like it was relevant to the actual focus of the investigation. But I want to include it in here because it helps to explain the general background to learning better. As a result, a range of theories have been put forward over the decades to explain the effectiveness of retrieval-based learning. One such theory is the Stretch Theory  (Murdock & Dufty, 1972; Norman & Wickelgren, 1969; Wickelgren & Norman, 1966) because this provides researchers with a general theoretical model for recognition memory, where the more information is recalled or “remembered” the stronger the memory trace. Leaving a physical record of the memories in the brain (Thompson, 2005) and the more this is recalled the easier the information is to recall in the future. Moreover, another theory is the Transfer Appropriate Processing (TAP) theory and this states the initial practise test prepares the participant for the final test by eliciting a similar type of working memory processing compared to studying the material alone (Roediger & Karpicke, 2006). Consequently, the testing effect, where the performance difference between the study-only and RBL group, is greater when the task used in the initial encoding is the same as the final test. This is where the baseline and training sessions aren’t similar to all the testing phases we use because we wanted to make sure the performance of the participant was down to them learning and not the Testing Effect. Thirdly, the Bifurcation model proposed by Kornell et al. (2011) states during a retrieval-based learning condition using free or cued recall tests without corrective feedback, a split occurs in later recall tests. Successfully retrieved items on an initial test creates a stronger memory trace, compared to items that are forgotten. Therefore, creating a bifurcated item distribution where initially recalled items are more likely to be remembered later on compared to items that are forgotten. In other words, participants are more likely to remember correct answers than wrong ones because during the training sessions the correct answers make a stronger memory trace so these are recalled later, and the wrong answers are forgotten. What Is An Alternative Theory To REH? Personally, I would have liked to include this theory in my project but I did understand how this didn’t really add anything to the final submission. Yet I really did want to add it in this book so you can understand how learning happens according to a wide range of theories and models. Nonetheless, you might have noticed that all the above theories and models focus on the idea of the learner having to put effort into learning and there’s the idea of a physical memory trace. But are there any other ideas to explain the effectiveness of retrieval-based learning? One alternative theory is the Cognitive Load Theory (CLT) by Sweller (1988) and Sweller et al. (1998) and this aims to explain the link between cognitive load (processing load) and how this impacts a learner’s ability to manage new information and learning tasks and how this is later built into knowledge in the long-term memory. In addition, this theory is built on three critical assumptions. Firstly, the long-term memory consists of schemas categorising information based on how it will be used (Chi et al., 1982) and has an unlimited capacity. Secondly, the working memory has limited capacity and consists of multiple semi-independent subsystems. These two assumptions form a third where learning is most effective when instructional procedures are used limiting the working memory load whilst concurrently encouraging schema formation. In terms of research support for Cognitive Load Theory, the evidence mainly comes from studies that show the supporting effects that the theory proposes (Sweller et al., 1998). For instance, the goal-free effect, this is where learners encounter a novel problem without a schema readily available to help them, making the learners engage in a means-end Analysis (MEA), where they identify a goal state and problem state. Once they’ve done this, these two states require the learner to reconcile the differences between the states using a problem-solving operator (Sweller, 1988) and if no goal state is clear for the learner, they identify the problem state and apply a problem-solving operator to this problem. The theory is backed by practice as research shows in multiple experimental contexts this method reduces working memory load and increases schema construction, resulting in improved memorisation (Ayres, 1993; Bobis et al., 1994; Owen & Sweller, 1985; Vollmeyer et al., 1996). What Is Transfer Effect? Now that we understand a lot about learning and how retrieval-based learning works from a theoretical standpoint, let’s move onto what the project actually focused on, or at least the viewpoint that I wanted to explore in depth for the sake of my dissertation. I really wanted to focus on something known as Transfer Effect. This is a theory that is officially called Transfer Appropriate Processing (TAP) or Transfer Effect and this is the proactive use of prior learning in a novel context (Pan & Rickard, 2018) with this brand-new context potentially referring to any situation that is somehow different to the context the learning originally took place in (McDaniel, 2007). Such as, a different test type, goal or topic (Barnett & Ceci, 2002). In addition, this links to effort because the TAP proposes a process of spreading activation occurs during the search for answers on a test (Anderson, 1996; Collins & Loftus, 1975; Raaijmakers & Shiffrin, 1981), creating multiple retrieval cues to aid later recall. This results in the testing effect (Pan & Rickard, 2018) and Pan and Rickard (2018) believed Transfer Effects could result from the same mechanism, because semantically-related information similar to the previously learnt stimuli needs to be recalled on a transfer test. As a result, the process of spreading activation that presumably occurs during the initial testing increases the likelihood this learnt information will be recallable as well (Carpenter, 2011; Chan, 2009; Chan, McDermott, & Roediger, 2006; Cranney, Ahn, McKinnon, Morris, & Watts, 2009) suggesting participants implicitly employ techniques to carry out learning resulting in effort likely being reduced. On the whole, Pan and Rickard (2018) concluded test-enhanced learning could yield transfer performance substantially better than non-testing re-exposure conditions. This supports this paper’s examination as our Retrieval-Based Learning task will help to provide further evidence for the efficacy of test-enhanced learning and Transfer Effects. In other words, Transfer Effect is all about how a learner applies the learning they did in one context and transfers that learning to another similar context so they can do just as well as they did in the same similar context. As we go on through the book, you’ll understand how this happens in our training sessions.   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 Retrieval-Based Learning: A Cognitive Psychology and Neuropsychology Guide To Learning . 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. Cognitive Psychology References and Further Reading Whiteley, C. (2024) Retrieval-Based Learning: A Cognitive Psychology and Neuropsychology Guide To Learning CGD Publishing. England Abbott, E. E. (1909). On the analysis of the factor of recall in the learning process. The Psychological Review: Monograph Supplements , 11 (1), 159–177. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0093018 Agarwal, P. K., Karpicke, J. D., Kang, S. H., Roediger III, H. L., & McDermott, K. B. (2008). Examining the testing effect with open‐and closed‐book tests. Applied Cognitive Psychology: The Official Journal of the Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 22(7), 861-876. Anderson, J. R. (1996). ACT: A simple theory of complex cognition. American Psychologist, 51, 355–365. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0003- 066X.51.4.355 Ayres, P. L. (1993). Why Goal-Free Problems Can Facilitate Learning. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 18(3), 376–381. https://doi.org/10.1006/ceps.1993.1027 Barnett, S. M., & Ceci, S. J. (2002). When and where do we apply what we learn?: A taxonomy for far transfer. Psychological Bulletin, 128(4), 612–637. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.128.4.612 Bjork, R. A. (1994). Memory and metamemory considerations in the training of human beings. In Metacognition: Knowing about knowing. (pp. 185–205). https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Ci0TDgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA185&ots=qG4y4uPvYs&sig=dDuK6kAtBmrkeOe5AsfI3nmK3aM Bobis, J., Sweller, J., & Cooper, M. (1994). Demands imposed on primary-school students by geometric models. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 19(1), 108–117. https://doi.org/10.1006/ceps.1994.1010 Carpenter, S. K. (2011). Semantic information activated during retrieval contributes to later retention: Support for the mediator effectiveness hypothesis of the testing effect. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 37(6), 1547–1552. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0024140 Carpenter, S. K., & DeLosh, E. L. (2006). Impoverished cue support enhances subsequent retention: Support for the elaborative retrieval explanation of the testing effect. Memory and Cognition, 34(2), 268–276. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03193405 Carpenter, S. K., Pashler, H., & Cepeda, N. J. (2009). Using tests to enhance 8th grade students' retention of US history facts. Applied Cognitive Psychology: The Official Journal of the Society for Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 23(6), 760-771. Chan, J. C. (2009). When does retrieval induce forgetting and when does it induce facilitation? Implications for retrieval inhibition, testing effect, and text processing. Journal of Memory and Language, 61(2), 153-170. Chan, J. C. K., McDermott, K. B., & Roediger, H. L. III. (2006). Retrieval-induced facilitation: Initially nontested material can benefit from prior testing of related material. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 135(4), 553–571. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.135.4.553 , Glaser, & Rees. (1982). Expertise in problem solving. In R. Sternberg (Ed.), Advances in the Psychology of Human Intelligence (pp. 7–75). Erlbaum, Hillsdale. Coane, J. H. (2013). Retrieval practice and elaborative encoding benefit memory in younger and older adults. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 2(2), 95-100. Collins, A. M., & Loftus, E. F. (1975). A spreading-activation theory of semantic processing. Psychological Review, 82, 407– 428. http://dx.doi .org/10.1037/0033-295X.82.6.407 Cranney, J., Ahn, M., McKinnon, R., Morris, S., & Watts, K. (2009). The testing effect, collaborative learning, and retrieval-induced facilitation in a classroom setting. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 21(6), 919-940. Fazio, L. K., & Marsh, E. J. (2019). Retrieval-based learning in children. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 28(2), 111-116. Friedman, R. B., Sullivan, K. L., Snider, S. F., Luta, G., & Jones, K. T. (2017). Leveraging the test effect to improve maintenance of the gains achieved through cognitive rehabilitation. Neuropsychology, 31(2), 220. Gates, A. I. (1917). Recitation as a factor in memorizing. Archives of Psychology, 6(40). https://archive.org/stream/recitationasafa00gategoog?ref=ol#page/n22/mode/2up Karpicke, J. D., & Grimaldi, P. J. (2012). Retrieval-based learning: A perspective for enhancing meaningful learning. Educational Psychology Review, 24(3), 401-418. Kornell, N., Bjork, R. A., & Garcia, M. A. (2011). Why tests appear to prevent forgetting: A distribution-based bifurcation model. Journal of Memory and Language, 65(2), 85–97. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2011.04.002 Lipowski, S. L., Pyc, M. A., Dunlosky, J., & Rawson, K. A. (2014). Establishing and explaining the testing effect in free recall for young children. Developmental Psychology, 50(4), 994. McDaniel, M. A. (2007). Transfer: Rediscovering a central concept. In H. L. Roediger, Y. Dudai, & S. M. Fitzpatrick (Eds.), Science of memory: Concepts. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Murdock, B. B., & Dufty, P. O. (1972). Strength theory and recognition memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0032795 Mussel, P., Ulrich, N., Allen, J. J., Osinsky, R., & Hewig, J. (2016). Patterns of theta oscillation reflect the neural basis of individual differences in epistemic motivation. Scientific reports, 6(1), 1-10. Norman, D. A., & Wickelgren, W. A. (1969). Strength theory of decision rules and latency in retrieval from short-term memory. Journal of Mathematical Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-2496(69)90002-9 Owen, E., & Sweller, J. (1985). What Do Students Learn While Solving Mathematics Problems? Journal of Educational Psychology, 77(3), 272–284. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.77.3.272 Ozubko, J. (2011). Is Free Recall Actually Superior to Cued Recall? Introducing the Recognized Recall Procedure to Examine the Costs and Benefits of Cueing. A Thesis Presented to the University of Waterloo. Pan, S. C., & Rickard, T. C. (2018). Transfer of test-enhanced learning: Meta-analytic review and synthesis. Psychological bulletin, 144(7), 710. Pyc, M. A., & Rawson, K. A. (2009). Testing the retrieval effort hypothesis: Does greater difficulty correctly recalling information lead to higher levels of memory? Journal of Memory and Language, 60(4), 437–447. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2009.01.004 Pyke, W., Vostanis, A., & Javadi, A. H. (2021). Electrical Brain Stimulation During a Retrieval-Based Learning Task Can Impair Long-Term Memory. Journal of Cognitive Enhancement, 5(2), 218-232. Raaijmakers, J. G., & Shiffrin, R. M. (1981). Search of associative memory. Psychological Review, 88, 93–134. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033- 295X.88.2.93 Roediger III, H. L., & Butler, A. C. (2011). The critical role of retrieval practice in long-term retention. Trends in cognitive sciences, 15(1), 20-27. Roediger III, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological science, 17(3), 249-255. Smith, M. A., Roediger III, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2013). Covert retrieval practice benefits retention as much as overt retrieval practice. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 39(6), 1712. Spitzer, H. F. (1939). Studies in retention. Journal of Educational Psychology, 30(9), 641–656. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0063404 Sweller, J. (1988). Cognitive Load During Problem Solving: Effects on Learning. Cognitive Science, 12(2), 257–285. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15516709cog1202_4 Sweller, J., Van Merrienboer, J. J. G., & Paas, F. G. W. C. (1998). Cognitive Architecture and Instructional Design. Educational Psychology Review, 10(3), 251–296. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022193728205 Thompson, R. F. (2005). In search of memory traces. Annu. Rev. Psychol., 56, 1-23. Vollmeyer, R., Burns, B. D., & Holyoak, K. J. (1996). The Impact of Goal Specificity on Strategy Use and the Acquisition of Problem Structure. Cognitive Science , 20 (1), 75–100. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15516709cog2001_3 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 vast majority of people, giving birth is a beautiful, wonderful and amazing experience that means they get to bring new life into the world. Yet for a lot of women, giving birth can be a very traumatic, hard and awful time in their life because childbirth can be overwhelming. As well as mothers can find it overwhelming to immediately transition from childbirth to the early stages of becoming a mother, meaning there is no time for the new mother to recover physically and emotionally after childbirth. Also, whilst women are told it should take about 6 weeks for their recovery to happen, in reality, there is no recovery time because of the new responsibilities and demands of being a new parent. This is often forgotten about by the majority of people (myself included). Therefore, in this clinical psychology podcast episode, we explore why can childbirth be potentially traumatic for women, and how does birth trauma burden a mother. If you enjoy learning about mental health, clinical psychology and trauma then this is a fascinating episode for you. Today’s 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. Why Is Childbirth Potentially Traumatic? When it comes to birth trauma, there are a few main ways how this can become a traumatic experience for a new parent. Firstly, childbirth by its very nature disturbs the body’s equilibrium as well as the mother’s sense of security and creates a severe disruption that requires rebalancing and recuperation. Secondly, for a lot of women, childbirth can be emotionally traumatic too because childbirth can involve unexpected interventions, complications, awful interactions with medical staff, postpartum complications as well as childbirth is an extremely intense process. All these different factors can leave scars on a mother by disrupting her sense of safety and decreasing her mental health. In addition, what is even worse is that as a society, we don’t allow women the time to heal and recover from the emotionally and physically demanding process of childbirth. We simply kick them out of hospital with their new baby, expect them to immediately take on all the new responsibilities and unless the woman has an amazing social support network and family, then she doesn’t get time to recover at all. As well as even if the woman does have a great social support network, because of the weakened state of paternal leave and other support for new parents, sometimes the partner and other sources of support just cannot be there for the new mother. More on this later on. How Does The Isolation And Pressure Of Being A New Mother Impact Women? When I first came across this point, I was very surprised that being a new mother can be isolating because I didn’t understand how. Then I got thinking about how bringing a beautiful new baby into the world brings a lot of challenges that limit a new mother from seeing their friends, going out and doing a lot of things that people normally do to feel socially connected. Moreover, a new mother immediately has to deal with the demands of being a new mother by dealing with breastfeeding, sleepless nights, hormonal imbalances and the potentially overwhelming responsibility of caring for a newborn baby. And this is where the isolation and pressure part of motherhood comes into play, because of this new life the mother experiences is all-consuming and abrupt. Essentially, your life changes overnight forever and this leaves very little space for women to address any birth trauma or for them to reflect on their birth experiences. Of course, I am flat out not saying that mothers should not look after their newborns nor am I saying that mothers shouldn’t enjoy the experience of early motherhood, and I am not saying mothers shouldn’t partake in the responsibilities they now have. What I am saying is that mothers need and they should ask for the social support if they need it, so they can lessen some of this burden and pressure. This will allow them to process their birth experience and any birth trauma too, and getting social support will help the new mother enjoy the experience of early motherhood more as well. Additionally, when it comes to isolation in early motherhood, this happens because there is an awful silence around birth trauma. No one wants to talk about it and in society, there are unrealistic pressures placed on new mothers. For example, in society, there is a big idea that motherhood is only a time for joy, fulfilment and pure happiness and if you don’t feel those things then you are a failure as a mother. That is completely wrong and it ignores the complexities of early motherhood as well as all the struggles that different women may face. Ultimately, this silence and idealised version of motherhood leads to stigma that makes women feel guilty and ashamed for not immediately embracing the role of early motherhood with gusto, joy and pure excitement. Also, this stigma only prolongs any birth trauma they’ve experienced because it makes women scared to speak out and seek the psychological support they need. All because they don’t want to be judged and criticized for not living up to this idealised version of motherhood. How Can We Support New Mothers After Birth Trauma? After learning about why birth trauma can burden a new mother, we need to focus on how do we fix this to improve the lives and experiences of new mothers. It goes without saying that the childbirth process as well as the early stages of motherhood will always be challenging and tender in their own way for each woman. Yet the main problem with the current process is childbirth doesn’t have to be set up unfairly for the women going through childbirth. Since as a culture and society, we need to create a more supportive environment for new mothers so new mothers can feel understood, heard, nourished and protected as they recover from the physically and emotionally demanding challenge of childbirth. As well as recover from any birth trauma that they experience. In addition, we need to encourage more honest and open conversations about birth trauma as well as early motherhood. This would allow us to cultivate an authentically support environment where women can feel safe to share their birth trauma and other non-idealised experiences without any fear of judgement. Thankfully, this will help to reduce the feeling of isolation and improve the mental health of new mothers in other ways too. As well as we need to create conditions for new mothers that allow them to properly heal and steady themselves so they can prepare for what raising a child will require. Moreover, when it comes to healthcare providers, we need to put pressure on them to develop new approaches, new systems and interventions that support a new mother’s physical and mental health. This will help to decrease some birth trauma in the first place by decreasing postpartum complications and supporting a new mother’s recovery. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what your gender is, if you want children or not or whatever your thoughts are towards giving birth, we all need to recognise the importance of allowing women enough time and resources to physically and emotionally recover after childbirth to best protect their mental health going forward. Clinical Psychology Conclusion Something I realised during the writing of this podcast episode was just how much I questioned whether or not I should be writing this in the first place. Since I am not a woman and whether my future involves children or not is questionable but I think I did this topic justice because I want to introduce all of us to the topic of birth trauma. I don’t want to sit and let fear hold me back when there are a lot of great women who are struggling with birth trauma and negative birth experiences and they don’t feel like they can come forward because of the stigma. Therefore, that’s why I do these sort of “unconventional” clinical psychology podcast episodes, because I want to help people. And maybe there’s a woman listening to this and she feels glad to learn she isn’t the only woman going through this and there is help and support available to her if she needs it. It’s a hope. Anyway, when it comes to transitioning from childbirth to early motherhood, this can be a challenging and overwhelming time for new mothers, and that’s okay. It doesn’t make a mother a bad person, an unfit mother or anything negative if she finds it overwhelming and non-idealised. For the rest of us, we need to take steps towards creating a culture where we’re more understanding and empathetic towards women who have had birth trauma and negative birth experiences. We can create this culture by empowering women to navigate this transition with resilience and by supporting women to reclaim their well-being and sense of agency during the transition. Ultimately, this silence around birth trauma has to end and as current and aspiring clinical psychologists, we need to help do this to protect the mental health of women, so they feel empowered enough to seek mental health support if they need it. We need to make sure that every woman has the chance to heal and recover with the time and resources they need, so they can embark on the great journey of motherhood. A journey that will be challenging, hard and it will seem flat out impossible at times, especially for mothers who have experienced birth trauma. Yet with the right physical and mental health support, motherhood really can be fun, amazing and one of the most fulfilling experiences you’ll ever have.   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. Clinical Psychology References and Further Reading Ayers, S. (2017). Birth trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder: the importance of risk and resilience. Journal of reproductive and infant psychology, 35(5), 427-430. Chrzan-Dętkoś, M., Walczak-Kozłowska, T., & Lipowska, M. (2021). The need for additional mental health support for women in the postpartum period in the times of epidemic crisis. BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 21, 1-9. https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/mindfully-present-fully-alive/202407/the-unspoken-burden-of-birth-trauma Nakić Radoš, S., Matijaš, M., Kuhar, L., Anđelinović, M., & Ayers, S. (2020). Measuring and conceptualizing PTSD following childbirth: Validation of the City Birth Trauma Scale. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 12(2), 147. Simpson, M., & Catling, C. (2016). Understanding psychological traumatic birth experiences: A literature review. Women and Birth, 29(3), 203-207. Watson, K., White, C., Hall, H., & Hewitt, A. (2021). Women’s experiences of birth trauma: A scoping review. Women and Birth, 34(5), 417-424. 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.

Whenever people think about psychosis, they only think it involves hearing voices and paranoia. Yet psychosis involves so much more than hearing voices, in fact it involves 4 categories of symptoms. Therefore, in this clinical psychology podcast episode, you’ll learn about what are the positive, negative, disorganised and catatonic symptoms of psychosis. If you enjoy learning about psychosis, mental health and clinical psychology then this is a great episode for you. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Clinical Psychology: Second Edition . 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 Are The Four Categories Of Psychotic Symptoms? What Are The Positive Symptoms Of Psychosis? I certainly think that the term “positive” is one of the weirdest terms in psychology because there is nothing “good”, “exciting” or “happy” about psychotic symptoms and they can be extremely distressing to individuals with the condition. Yet what positive actually means in this context is “additional experience”. Therefore, when we talk about positive symptoms, what we actually mean is symptoms that add an extra experience to the client’s life and perceptions. Two examples of this include hallucinations as well as delusions. Hallucinations are internally generated sensory experiences because there is nothing in the person’s environment that is generating these voices, visions, smells, noises or tactile experiences that are very real to the person. Interestingly, smells, taste and tactile experiences are very rare hallucinations to experience in psychosis without there being an underlying medical condition or the effects of a substance. If a client is experiencing these three symptoms then they should be referred for a medical evaluation. On the other hand, delusions are fixed, false beliefs that people with psychosis hold with great conviction because they are convinced these beliefs are true even without any supporting evidence. At times, these delusions are believable or plausible in nature and these are known as non-bizarre delusions. For instance, if someone with psychosis believes they might be cheated on, they might be pregnant, have a disease or someone is plotting against them. Personally, I wasn’t sure if I was going to include this in today’s episode but the reason why I wanted to research psychosis more is because of persecutory delusions. This is where someone strongly believes someone or a group of people is out to harm them, and a woman I know verbally attacked me because of these delusions. It led to a whole thing in our social group and it was messy. Thankfully, everyone in our friendship group knows this woman has a few mental health conditions and that I would never hurt her, so even though I avoid her like the plague now. I really hope she’s okay. In addition, you can have bizarre delusions where these are highly unlikely or just impossible in nature. Such as, people with psychosis believing that other people can hear their thoughts or aliens have implanted thoughts inside their head. And some of the most bizarre delusions are nihilistic in nature, like a person believing they don’t exist. Finally for this section, it’s useful to note that delusions and hallucinations are not exclusive of each other. Often people with psychosis have both of these examples of positive symptoms. What Are The Negative Symptoms Of Psychosis? Whilst the positive psychotic symptoms are probably the most well-known, the negative symptoms are very common too. These symptoms include an absence of experiences and other things that should be present in a “healthy” client. For instance: ·       Cognitive impairment- including an inability to focus and have a slow cognitive processing speed. ·       Avolition- an inability to do the things someone wants to do. ·       Poverty of speech content- when the person speaks their words lack any substance. ·       Poverty of speech or mutism- typically this involves one-word or simple verbalisations or a complete lack of speech. ·        Inappropriate or flat facial or emotional expressions- a lack of expression or an expression that is incongruent to the content. Such as, talking about being scared whilst grinning. ·       Thought blocking- this is when the person with psychosis clearly has something they want to say or they’re in the process of saying and then they fall silent. Interestingly, they still appear to have something to say and on their mind but they just can’t get it out. ·       Social withdrawal- they’re disengaged from others and people with psychosis often report this is because they often don’t feel like they fit in because of their mental health condition or paranoia. What Are the Catatonic Symptoms of Psychosis? When a lot of people think about people in catatonic states, they often believe the person is in an unmovable, withdrawn and silent state. However, in reality, a person in a catatonic state can be excited or withdrawn so this means we need to split catatonic symptoms into two different categories. Firstly, when someone is in an excited catatonic state, they can act impulsively, seem agitated, perform meaningless and repetitive movements, mirror other people’s movements and echo other people’s noises or verbalisations. Secondly, when someone is in a withdrawn catatonic state, they tend to hold strange postures for hours and they can be placed in a posture by others as well. Or they might remain rigid for hours so they’re resistant to being moved by other people. Also, people in a withdrawn catatonic state don’t tend to have facial expressions or speak at all, even though at times they might grimace and have no response to an external stimuli. What Are Disorganised Psychotic Symptoms? It means there are a few weird terms when it comes to mental health because yet again, this is a term that doesn’t mean what we typically associate with it. Instead of being a mess and clutter, “disorganised” symptoms mean people with psychosis experience severe thought disorganisation. There are six different examples of this thought disorganisation. Firstly, “clanging” involves a person with psychosis using a “singsong” or rhyming speech pattern so the person is more interested in how they’re saying sounds to themselves compared to what they’re actually saying. Secondly, you can experience circumstantial thought processes where a person with psychosis doesn’t get to the point of what they’re saying linearly. Since there are a lot of extra, unneeded details that make the listener lose sight of the topic of the conversation but the person eventually ties it all together. And this example is a good reminder about why diagnosis needs multiple symptoms for a range of time and these symptoms have to cause clinically significant levels of distress in multiple domains of functioning. Due to everyone does this thought process every so often and I’ve had conversations with people who do this naturally without psychosis, so it is the combination of other symptoms that means someone has psychosis. Thirdly, loose associations involve a person with psychosis drawing parallels between two related items. As well as flights of ideas or thought derailment include clients jumping between topics without fully completing their thoughts. Then if the derailment is severe, then a client might be talking about their favourite car and then start talking about an unrelated topic without a transition or warning. Moreover, word salad involves a gross inability for the person with psychosis to form any sort of verbal cohesion so the words just pour out in a massive jumbled mess. Finally, neologism means “new words” so someone with psychosis can say words that don’t make much (or any) sense except to the client. Then the client tries to use these new words to describe some experience they’ve had but don’t have the words to describe it. Clinical Psychology Conclusion Whilst this was definitely one of the more information-heavy podcast episodes that we’ve done in recent months, and I wasn’t able to add in too many of my own thoughts and feelings on the topic (besides from being attacked and berated by someone with persecutory delusions, my experience of psychosis is just academic), I still enjoyed it. Since psychosis is a popular mental health condition to have in books, films and TV programmes and whilst I always prefer positive depictions of mental health conditions, this doesn’t happen with psychosis. This leads people to believe psychosis is only hallucinations and delusions, but psychosis is so much more than that as shown in today’s episode. And I hope you found it as interesting, thought-provoking and eye-opening as I did.   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 Clinical Psychology: Second Edition . 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 Best, M. W., Law, H., Pyle, M., & Morrison, A. P. (2020). Relationships between psychiatric symptoms, functioning and personal recovery in psychosis. Schizophrenia research, 223, 112-118. Davey, G. C. (2021). Psychopathology: Research, assessment and treatment in clinical psychology. John Wiley & Sons. Davey, G., Lake, N., & Whittington, A. (Eds.). (2015). Clinical psychology. Routledge. Davies, C., Radua, J., Cipriani, A., Stahl, D., Provenzani, U., McGuire, P., & Fusar-Poli, P. (2018). Efficacy and acceptability of interventions for attenuated positive psychotic symptoms in individuals at clinical high risk of psychosis: a network meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 9, 187. Geekie, J., Randal, P., Lampshire, D., & Read, J. (2012). Experiencing psychosis. Personal and professional perspectives. Longden, E., Branitsky, A., Moskowitz, A., Berry, K., Bucci, S., & Varese, F. (2020). The relationship between dissociation and symptoms of psychosis: a meta-analysis. Schizophrenia bulletin, 46(5), 1104-1113. Parra, A., Juanes, A., Losada, C. P., Álvarez-Sesmero, S., Santana, V. D., Martí, I., ... & Rentero, D. (2020). Psychotic symptoms in COVID-19 patients. A retrospective descriptive study. Psychiatry research, 291, 113254. Read, J., Bentall, R., Mosher, L., & Dillon, J. (Eds.). (2013). Models of madness: Psychological, social and biological approaches to psychosis. Routledge. Swora, E., Boberska, M., Kulis, E., Knoll, N., Keller, J., & Luszczynska, A. (2022). Physical activity, positive and negative symptoms of psychosis, and general psychopathology among people with psychotic disorders: A meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 11(10), 2719. 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.

Whether you’re a parent yourself, you know a child or you’re a child therapist then there are certain things you just need to know about child therapy. These facts can help child therapy be more successful, “easier” and it can improve the life of the child in the long term. I remember talking to a doctor once who worked with teenagers with eating disorders and she mentioned how the parents were the actual problem and main barrier to treatment. And if parents just knew a few more things then maybe the treatment would have been more successful sooner. Therefore, in this clinical psychology podcast episode, you’re going to learn about what do clients need to know about child therapy. There are a lot of great points in this episode so if you enjoy learning about psychotherapy, child mental health and parenting then this is a great episode for you. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Working With Children And Young People: A Guide To Clinical Psychology, Mental Health And 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 Do Clients Need To Know About Child Therapy? One reason why I wanted to do today’s episode is because this is a very light episode compared to the trauma-related ones, but there are a lot of myths surrounding child therapy. A lot of parents are nervous, scared and resistant to their child needing therapy so they either don’t take them even though the child badly needs the support, or they create barriers to treatment. Something that only harms and doesn’t help the child or young person. In addition, even though this podcast episode might be framed towards parents and non-psychology people, there is still a lot of aspiring and qualified psychologists can learn from this episode. Since this can help us to understand what are some the things and barriers that we might need to address with parents in therapy. Now, we need to bust some of these myths and start learning more about child therapy. There Needs To Be Trust To Help Your Child When it comes to child therapy, therapists can’t help a child unless the child and the parent trust the therapist. This connects to the idea of confidentiality because this is a key part of the therapeutic relationship and a lot of different states and countries have strict laws around confidentiality for children. Some states in the United States of America have laws where the young person has near absolute confidentiality so the parents cannot access any information about their child’s therapy sessions. Whereas other states have laws where the parent has all the permissions that the young person has. Whatever the situation in your state or country, a parent will be told when the therapist believes there is a serious risk to your child’s safety. This always includes if your child is making plans for suicide. I understand if parents are scared or nervous about the idea of confidentiality and the vast majority of parents want to know everything about their child so they can protect them. This is perfect in theory but in practice this just doesn’t work, because children don’t share things or too much without the protection of confidentiality. Ultimately, without a level of confidentiality the therapy will not be successful for the child and the child will keep suffering. Personally, when I went to try and get my autism diagnosis back in 2019 during my first year at university because my parents refused to get me diagnosed beforehand and I was struggling badly. I remember it being one of the first questions I asked the university team, will my parents be told about this. And if the answer was yes then I was going to refuse to have the initial meeting because it simply wasn’t worth the risk. It’s taken took them about 4 years to be open to supporting an autism diagnosis but I needed it a decade ago. So it just goes to show how important confidentiality is when it comes to being open and wanting to tell a stranger (also known as the therapist) personal information. Parents Might Need to Come To Their Child’s Therapy Session Whilst this won’t be all the time, child therapy often involves therapy sessions with family members. Especially when childhood trauma is involved because in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (we have a podcast episode about this in the future) (Kliethermes et al., 2017) does emphasise the need for a child and caregiver to have sessions together as part of the therapy process. In addition, we do these family sessions because they can be really beneficial to the young person because it gives them a place to express what they’re feeling and these family sessions can be powerfully healing. As a result, if a therapist invites you to a family session, this isn’t because the therapist wants to punish you, shout at you and say you are the worst parent in existence. This is just a normal part of the therapeutic process. Personally, I definitely get the immense power of family sessions because honestly, it would have been lovely to have some family sessions for my situation last August. It would have been more structured, more focused and more healing for all of us I think. As well as even towards the end of my breakdown in August/ September 2023 when I had this massive conversation with my family about what they had done, how they had made me feel and everything because of the homophobia and other things. It was very healing, powerful and it did change our family for the better. Therefore, there is immense healing in open and honest conversations so it is critical to attend these appointments when you’ve been invited to them. Psychologists Are Experts In Therapy and Practise, Not Experts In Your Child Even though clinical psychologists and other mental health professionals are highly trained and skilled professionals, we aren’t experts in your child. Yes, the vast majority of therapists have achieved a Masters’ degree or a doctorate so they’re been in higher education for at least 6 to 8 years, and they received Continued Professional Development even that after. We acknowledge there is a lot more to family and people than you can ever learn in a classroom. This is why despite psychotherapy training giving therapists the specific skills to practise different types of psychotherapy, we know that some of the techniques and experiential activities and strategies we use might seem mysterious to a parent because they don’t know why we’re doing them. For example, let’s face it an art therapy activity looks really weird when you think about it. Especially because most laypeople believe therapy is only laying on a couch talking about your mental health difficulties, so when a parent hears their child is making art, that just smashes into the myths and confuses them. Whereas in reality, an art therapy activity can be very useful in helping a young person to challenge a self-limiting belief or building rapport with them, before the more in-depth therapy work begins. Ultimately, if a parent is ever confused about an activity, strategy or whatever is going on in therapy, then therapists want the parent to ask them questions. Parents shouldn’t suffer in silence and it is more than okay to ask questions and want to understand more. Make Sure Your Child Comes To The Appointment I was rather surprised when I came across this one because I had no idea this was a real thing. I couldn’t believe there were times when a parent just didn’t take their child to an appointment. Or I’m honestly not naïve enough to think clients always turn up to appointments but in an ideal world, they would because you cannot get the professional help if you aren’t there. Of course this can be difficult at times, especially with children. Therapists understand that after-school clubs and family activities can make getting to a therapy appointment difficult at times because most therapists do have a few appointments outside of school hours. I talk more about this in a book coming out next year, but I was so happy and so impressed when a charity I’m working with had some 5 pm to 8 pm therapy appointments. Those out-of-hours appointments are seriously impactful and potentially life-changing for a client. Moreover, therapists really hope that parents want to work with them to make a time work for the therapy session, because everyone wants the child to be okay and thrive. And I think the most important aspect to realise here is that missing a therapy session certainly is not like missing a football or trumpet lesson. Missing therapy sessions add up and these missing sessions can throw a young person off if they’re working through a particular treatment. Also, a lot of clients and parents don’t know this, but therapists put a lot of time and thought into creating effective, evidence-based interventions outside of these therapy sessions. So I feel like it’s a little disrespectful to not try to make the therapy session when the therapist has put in a lot of work into them. Ultimately, it is attending therapy sessions that give the therapy the best chance of working, being successful and helping your child. Parents Need To Know Seeking Therapy Is A Wise Thing, It Isn’t Shameful I was always going to end on this note because I strongly believe this is the most important message to focus on, and I see this in my own family. At the time of writing, there are more children and young people in therapy than ever. I don’t think this is because the world is more dramatic, everyone is a snowflake or whatever else the idiots say. I think this is because stigma is thankfully decreasing, therapy is more accessible and people are becoming more aware of when they need help. Furthermore, whatever the reason why a child or young person comes to therapy, there is no shame to it. It’s okay if a child comes to therapy to work on a particular goal, to work through some trauma or a mental health difficulty or if they want to better themselves. All of those reasons and more are valid, shameless reasons to come to therapy. I know I always talk about this but it’s important to note that there is nothing wrong with you if you come to therapy. And the same goes for your family or parents, there is nothing wrong with them if your child comes to therapy. You wouldn’t hesitate in reaching out to a medical doctor if your child or young person was having heart problems or had a physical condition, so parents need to realise the same goes for mental health. Reaching out for mental health support is just like reaching out for other kinds of health support. Ultimately, reaching out for mental health support is an act of love and it shows that you care about their health and well-being. From personal experience, all I’ll say is that this is a million times better than knowing your child is struggling and just leaving them to it because you believe the stupid myths about children with mental health conditions have to go on medication and they’re barred from going to university. Clinical Psychology Conclusion  I always enjoy learning about myths and misconceptions that people create for themselves or others when it comes to therapy. In this episode, we looked at how parents need to trust us so we can help their child, parents might need to come to their child’s family sessions, how psychologists are experts in therapy but not the child, parents need to make sure children come to their appointments and how going to therapy is wise. It’s a massive shame that there are a lot of these myths that become engrained into the fabric of society so parents, aspiring therapists and everyone believes these damaging ideas. But if you’re a current or future parent then I hope you now understand how important it is that your child goes go to therapy if they need the support, and you understand the truth behind some of these myths and misconceptions. If you’re an aspiring or qualified psychologist, then again, I hope you understand the truth now. Yet I also hope you might bring these ideas forward into your work or they make you more aware of what the parents of our clients are going through. They will probably believe at least one of these myths and that will create a barrier to treatment that needs to be addressed so the young person can be helped and thrive. Since that really is the job of a child therapist, of course it’s about improving the child’s life, giving them new adaptive coping mechanisms and decreasing their psychological distress. But ultimately, child therapy is all about making sure a child can thrive for decades to come.   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 Working With Children And Young People: A Guide To Clinical Psychology, Mental Health And 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 Adams, D., & Young, K. (2021). A systematic review of the perceived barriers and facilitators to accessing psychological treatment for mental health problems in individuals on the autism spectrum. Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 8(4), 436-453. Babatunde, G. B., van Rensburg, A. J., Bhana, A., & Petersen, I. (2021). Barriers and facilitators to child and adolescent mental health services in low-and-middle-income countries: a scoping review. Global Social Welfare, 8, 29-46. Gee, B., Wilson, J., Clarke, T., Farthing, S., Carroll, B., Jackson, C., ... & Notley, C. (2021). Delivering mental health support within schools and colleges–a thematic synthesis of barriers and facilitators to implementation of indicated psychological interventions for adolescents. Child and adolescent mental health, 26(1), 34-46. Hamilton, A., Mitchison, D., Basten, C., Byrne, S., Goldstein, M., Hay, P., ... & Touyz, S. (2022). Understanding treatment delay: perceived barriers preventing treatment-seeking for eating disorders. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 56(3), 248-259. Kliethermes, M. D., Drewry, K., & Wamser-Nanney, R. (2017). Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy. Evidence-based treatments for trauma related disorders in children and adolescents, 167-186. Radez, J., Reardon, T., Creswell, C., Lawrence, P. J., Evdoka-Burton, G., & Waite, P. (2021). Why do children and adolescents (not) seek and access professional help for their mental health problems? A systematic review of quantitative and qualitative studies. European child & adolescent psychiatry, 30(2), 183-211. Weisenmuller, C., & Hilton, D. (2021). Barriers to access, implementation, and utilization of parenting interventions: Considerations for research and clinical applications. American Psychologist, 76(1), 104. 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.