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There are countless numbers of cases where someone with a mental health condition has been abused by the police or other law enforcement professionals. This is wrong, dangerous and many of these cases end up with the person with the mental health condition being killed or dead. Therefore, in this forensic psychology podcast episode, we’ll look at why are people with mental health conditions more likely to be abused by police, what are the factors behind this abuse and if there is anything we can do to prevent police abuse. If you enjoy learning about forensic psychology, mental health and clinical psychology, then this is a great episode for you. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Police Psychology: The 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. Examples Of Where People With Mental Health Conditions Have Been Abused As the top two countries for listeners are the United States and the United Kingdom, I want to take an example from both countries to show why we seriously need to talk about this pressing issue. Firstly, in the United States, an African American man called Jordan Neely was having a psychotic episode in the New York subway so a passenger strangled him to death to quiet down his psychotic episode. Secondly, in the United Kingdom, independent scholar Saville-Smith who wrote about madness was wrestled into submission by police officers who cracked his ribs, gave him abrasions all over his arm and gave him nerve damage to his fingers. Then after this situation with the two police officers he was involuntarily hospitalised. This was all started because his wife was worried about him so she called a doctor and the doctor called the police, and Saville-Smith told the officers he didn’t want to be locked up because his own environment was safe for him and he knew how everything worked. These situations where people with mental health conditions have violent interactions with the police are no secret, they’re common and this is just common knowledge at this point unfortunately. As well as anyone who experiences psychosis understands that they could be locked up and physically attacked if anything happened in public. Furthermore, both of these cases that happened on different sides of the Atlantic Ocean involved a violent altercation that got worse, possibly because of intersectional forces. Since Saville-Smith was an older adult and Neely was black. Whilst I’m trying to keep this podcast episode very focused on the issue of the police beating and killing people with serious mental health conditions, I’m realising the more I write about this topic the more additional topics it connects to. For example, you could argue this very much connects to mental health stigma and misconceptions because the majority of people believe individuals with psychosis are crazy, dangerous monsters that are a threat to people. That isn’t true. Also, this could connect to racial profiling and the stupid idea that black people are more dangerous or more criminal than white people. No social group is more criminal than the other. Those With Mental Health Conditions Being Overrepresented In The Prison Population In addition, it’s concerning how people with mental health conditions are overrepresented in the prison population. For example between 2010 and 2013 in the state of New York, over 600,000 people were arrested and matched by public health records to have a serious mental health condition in the 12 months before they were arrested. For New York during this time period, that means between 4% and 6% of the state’s prison population had a mental health condition. This is over presentation because you cannot tell me that between 4% and 6% of the entire population of New York State has a serious mental health condition, like psychosis. And what’s even more concerning is that this number was associated with a 50% increase in the chance of these people being sentenced for misdemeanour arrests. Granted, it is good that having a mental health condition wasn’t associated with an increased chance of being charged with criminal offences. Moreover, this number increases when we consider the world’s population because about 40% of people in prison could have a mental health condition according to work published in World Social Psychiatry. For example, people with psychotic disorders are between 2 and 16 times more likely, and people with depression are between two and six times more likely to develop in prison populations. Whenever I write about forensic psychology, I always find this overrepresentation both interesting and rather heartbreaking. Since it doesn’t matter the overrepresentation comes from those with mental health conditions, different racial backgrounds or different socioeconomic backgrounds. These all reflect different flaws, biases and systemic problems engrained into the Criminal Justice System. Of course those topics are beyond the scope of this podcast episode but I’m just trying to highlight additional topics or factors you might want to think about. People With Mental Health Conditions Being Abused By Police A 2018 study (reference at the bottom of the podcast episode) showed that 23% of people in 2015 who were killed by police during an altercation had a serious mental health condition. As well as the likelihood of them being killed was increased by factors like having a mental health condition and race. Also, people with a mental health condition were more likely to be killed in their own home. Nonetheless, it’s important that we don’t fool ourselves into thinking that even the prison system itself is safe for people with mental health conditions. Since yes, people with serious mental health conditions are attacked and killed in public and at home, but it isn’t the only place they’re abused and killed. The prison system itself can lead people with severe schizophrenia to be abused and neglected. An unfortunate example of this was Tammie Davenport who helped her son who had schizophrenia after she found out he was being abused in the Chatham County Jail where the jail couldn’t make medical decisions for him whilst he was in prison, and it led to a year-long quest for her to help her son. Thankfully, he’s doing better now according to the Facebook group, Justice for Justin. In addition, the Valdosta Daily Times did a news article in 2022 where an inmate died within three months of being kept in the same jail as Tammie Davenport’s son because the jail staff denied medical care to him when he seemed to be suffering from cardiomyopathy. As well as the Senate Permanent Subcommittee in the USA had 20 hearings about nearly 1,000 different deaths that were unreported by the Department of Justice in 2021. Leading some to suggest that the constitutional rights of inmates aren’t being protected. Personally, I just think this is all disgusting and outrageous. We all know and we have the empirical research that time and time again shows that rehabilitation works to reduce reoffending, and yes I understand there is not the political will needed in most areas to invest in rehabilitation. Since guess what, sounding tough on crime with long, pointless prison sentences that do nothing to decrease reoffending and criminal behaviour, sounds better to voters and it wins elections. If we do not support offenders, give them skills they need to effectively turn over a new leaf and if we don’t support their mental health then society will suffer in the long term as we need to keep wasting money on trials, investigations and sentencing because the cycle of criminality continues. The only way to stop the cycle is by rehabilitating offenders and not killing or beating or abusing them in prison. No one should ever be abused. There is never an excuse for it. Forensic Psychology Conclusion On the whole, the topic of police injustice is a major topic all over the world, and it is a topic that seriously needs reform. There needs to be some kind of training and scheme that helps social workers and mental health professionals to work with law enforcement during dispatch calls so these mental health professionals can help mitigate the extreme effects that happen when people with serious mental health conditions and law enforcement cross paths. Overall, I hope over time different programmes will be developed, implemented and the rights of inmates will be protected. Since just because someone has a serious mental health condition, it doesn’t mean they deserve to die, be beaten or have their ribs broken. That is outrageous and unacceptable and it needs to stop immediately. You could argue that people with serious mental health conditions represent so-called “risks” to the public, but I seriously doubt that is true. That is why mental health professionals need to be deployed so they can help law enforcement so killing and beating innocent people who are going through extremely scary mental health experiences can stop. I always say the job of clinical psychology is to improve lives, decrease psychological distress and give clients more adaptive ways of coping. Now in this situation, I want to add another critical point. The job of clinical psychology is to save lives and make sure more people don’t end up dead. I really hope you enjoyed today’s forensic psychology podcast episode. If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Police Psychology: The 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 Ashley, Asia. (2022). "Senate eyes unreported prison deaths." Valdosta Daily Times. Borum, R., Swanson, J., Swartz, M., & Hiday, V. (1997). Substance abuse, violent behavior, and police encounters among persons with severe mental disorder. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 13(3), 236-250. Dorn, T., Ceelen, M., Buster, M., Stirbu, I., Donker, G., & Das, K. (2014). Mental health and health-care use of detainees in police custody. Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine, 26, 24-28. Hails, J., & Borum, R. (2003). Police training and specialized approaches to respond to people with mental illnesses. Crime & delinquency, 49(1), 52-61. Hall, D., Lee, L. W., Manseau, M. W., Pope, L., Watson, A. C., & Compton, M. T. (2019). Major mental illness as a risk factor for incarceration. Psychiatric services, 70(12), 1088-1093. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/living-as-an-outlier/202306/people-with-mental-illness-more-likely-abused-by-law-enforcement Jackson, A. N., Butler-Barnes, S. T., Stafford, J. D., Robinson, H., & Allen, P. C. (2020). “Can I live”: Black American adolescent boys’ reports of police abuse and the role of religiosity on mental health. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(12), 4330. Lurigio, A. J., & Watson, A. C. (2010). The police and people with mental illness: New approaches to a longstanding problem. Journal of Police Crisis Negotiations, 10(1-2), 3-14. Morabito, M. S. (2007). Horizons of context: Understanding the police decision to arrest people with mental illness. Psychiatric services, 58(12), 1582-1587. Saleh, A. Z., Appelbaum, P. S., Liu, X., Stroup, T. S., & Wall, M. (2018). Deaths of people with mental illness during interactions with law enforcement. International journal of law and psychiatry, 58, 110-116. Seo, C., Kim, B., & Kruis, N. E. (2021). Variation across police response models for handling encounters with people with mental illnesses: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of criminal justice, 72, 101752. Varadarajulu, R. N., & Mahapatra, A. (2023). Prison mental health in the United States of America and India: A Dual perspective. World Social Psychiatry, 5(1), 42. 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.

Continuing our celebration of Pride Month here on the podcast, I want to look at the benefits of gender-affirming care on transgender youth. Since gender-affirming care saves lives, it improves mental health and it decreases gender dysphoria and the associated negative mental health outcomes. However, one debate that is raging across the world is whether underage transgender youth should be allowed to undergo gender-affirming care if they’re going through a mental health crisis. A crisis that could led to suicide. In this clinical psychology podcast episode, we’ll look at why denying youth gender-affirming care could increase suicide, what we can do to help transgender youth and ultimately why giving youth a way of their gender dysphoria with gender-affirming care could save lives. If you enjoy learning about mental health, gender dysphoria and clinical psychology 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. Some Basic Facts About Transgender Individuals and Gender Dysphoria I wanted to kick off this podcast episode by focusing on some facts about transgender individuals and gender dysphoria based on findings from research studies so we all understand what is actually happening. Since I know no one really investigates the truth about transgender people on their own and a lot of people rely on negative, biased media reports for their information. I used to be the same. Therefore, according to Anderson et al. (2023), there are nearly 1.4 million Americans that have gender dysphoria, meaning they do not identify with the sex they were assigned at birth. As well as Parker et al. (2022) found that 64% of Americans support transgender people against discrimination. In addition, below is an extract from an introduction I wrote for an academic paper where I was talking about the negative impact of gender dysphoria on mental health: “Half of all transgender youth report a history of suicidal ideation (James et al., 2016) and low self-esteem (MacCarthy et al., 2015) emphasising the need for mental health support for this clinical population. Also, research suggests gender dysphoria is an additional major cause of this mental health disparity. Gender Dysphoria refers to the psychological distress associated with the gender incongruence between the individual’s gender assigned at birth and their gender identity (APA, 2013) and Gender Dysphoria is associated with depression, suicidality, anxiety and eating disorders (Petersen et al., 2017) due to the profound emotional and physical suffering the dysphoria causes an individual (Morris & Galupo, 2019).” As a result, you can see how gender dysphoria leads to an increase in stark and dangerous mental health outcomes. This is why gender-affirming care is so important and why it saves lives. Below is another extract from my draft introduction that explains why gender-affirming care is so important, useful and valuable in saving lives: “Gender-affirming practices aim to reduce the psychological stress caused by gender dysphoria (Keo-Meier et al., 2015; Olson et al., 2016). For instance, trans-masculine participants experienced improved mental health and quality of life after receiving top surgery (Poudrier et al., 2019) and testosterone (Keo-Meier et al., 2015). Also, gender-affirming practices help participants to experience significantly lower rates of psychological distress and suicidal ideation compared to transgender individuals not undergoing gender-affirming practices (Almazan & Keuroghlian, 2021) with similar findings being found by additional studies (Sansfcon et al., 2020; Swan et al., 2021). Due to gender-affirming practices aid participants in living authentically through the process of social transitioning. Social transitioning refers to the process where transgender individuals express themselves in a way that reflects their gender identity to the outside world (Austin et al., 2022). Typically, this process involves changing their clothing, hairstyle, accessories to reflect their internal state of Self more accurately amongst other practices (Austin et al., 2022). Social transitioning has a history in psychological literature demonstrating its profound positive impact on transgender individuals through qualitative studies (Austin & Craig, 2015). For instance, using a transgender individual’s chosen pronouns and name in multiple domains of functioning (like school, home and the workplace) caused decreased suicidal ideation by 65% and depression by 71% (Russell et al., 2018). Further, socially transitioned transgender youth who were supported in their gender identity were found to have only minimally increased anxiety levels and developmentally normative levels of depression, suggesting mental health difficulties can be avoided in this population (Olson et al., 2016). Consequently, research demonstrates gender-affirming practices, including social transitioning, are critical to reducing the psychological distress and severe negative mental health outcomes caused by gender dysphoria.” Furthermore, Parker et al. (2022) found that Americans were seriously split over whether to allow gender-affirming surgery at all for anyone. Americans were generally undecided about whether to allow adults to have a surgery, but most Americans were flat out against allowing children under 18 to surgically change their gender. I know there are a lot of reasons why people feel like this and I acknowledge the majority of the time these reasons are coming from a good place, but in reality, a lot of the arguments don’t hold that much water. Especially when we investigate the mental health angle and how a gender-affirming surgery can be the difference between a child committing suicide or living. Should Transgender Youth Have The Right To Determine Their Gender? The first argument I’ve heard way too much about is the idea that children are too young to understand the consequences of any medical decision. Due to if we think about changing your pronouns that is very easy to reverse, you can’t reverse surgery. As well as Jackson (2023) found that some transgender youth still commit suicide even after gender-affirming treatment. However, we still need to remember that these children are going through the psychological distress that gender dysphoria causes because their post-puberty state does not match their internal reflection of their gender. This dysphoria is extremely distressing and self-harm is very, very possible and so is suicide if we stop a child from getting any form of help because we apparently know better. For the sake of improving the mental health of transgender youth, they deserve the right to choose their own gender. As a result, transgender youth are in a mental health crisis (Marcia, 2006) caused by the extreme distress of there being an incongruent between their external and internal reflection of their gender. Then we need to acknowledge that if there is a failure to overcome their childhood crisis then this can be fatal or disastrous (Jennings, 2015), also if children are asking for the right to choose their own gender then it isn’t because it’s trendy, it’s a craze or it’s a fad. It's because they don’t have it already. Adults already have the right to choose their own gender, so why don’t children have the same right? This is ultimately an equality question, because I have no idea what children will have to do to be treated equally to adults. Americans and everyone all over the world have already been asking for the right to choose by people assigned female at birth (let me think this is when women were asking for the right to vote so they could be treated equally by men) and people assigned black at birth (black people wanted to be treated equally). And before women and black people gained more equal rights, they were treated like children. Women weren’t allowed to work, they weren’t allowed to vote because they were deemed by men to be too dim to understand politics and they weren’t allowed the freedom to do whatever they wanted with their lives. All minorities are treated as children before they gain equal rights. Everyone should have the right to choose about their own life so children would be no exceptions. This already happens in other ways, like we allow children to dye their hair, get their haircuts, go wherever they want with their friends, and more. Let’s extend this right to choose to the really important things that ultimately save lives. And there is a brilliant and rather heartbreaking comment I’ve seen that I think is so true. Remembering that minors cannot vote, it is all well and good that we spent our time debating and arguing about what minors need to be safe, secure and protected. At the same time, these minors are in chatrooms and planning and discussing the advantages of secret suicide (Jennings, 2015; Marcia, 2006). This is not okay and we need to do something about this. The easiest and most effective way to decrease these secret suicide discussions is to simply allow children to choose their own gender, and implement both the social and possibly medical methods of gender-affirming care. Why The Agony Of Transgender Youth Matters As aspiring and qualified psychologists, it is our job to get children out of a mental health crisis and into a safe place, so children can survive. We always put the psychological needs of our client before ourselves because our client is the most important person, and we need to help them. Whatever a client is going through that is important to us as psychologists, we need to make sure we help them, so they can go through to live a full, happy and productive life. Their agony and distress matter to us. Also, whenever we’re with clients, we never invalidate them. We never tell someone with depression that they aren’t depressed because we don’t feel depression, or their depression isn’t valid because it’s unusual or uncommon in our culture. We never do that because that doesn’t help our clients and it certainly doesn’t help decrease their psychological distress. So let’s never do that to transgender youth either. Clinical Psychology Conclusion At the end of the day, as adults, we need to realise that when a child is telling us they’re undergoing gender dysphoria and they’re extremely distress, we need to treat this as fact. The child isn’t lying and if we don’t listen to them then this could have horrific consequences. Since for transgender youth, they are undergoing a mental health crisis and unless they get support and acceptance and some form of gender-affirming care, social transitioning is still a brilliant range. Then you can think of this as a glass bottle that is getting more and more pressurised. And at some point the glass bottle will shatter, the child will have a breakdown and they might commit suicide. We cannot allow that to happen. You can argue as much as you want about whether gender-affirming care is moral or ethical for children, but your arguments do nothing to help a grieving mother or father of a dead child. So the takeaway from this episode is don’t close every door on a child’s hope for acceptance. Because if you do that, there will only be a single door left open for the child to take and when they go through that door, they will not return, they will not feel like they have another choice and they will not be alive. Death, suicide and pain is all that remains when we take away gender-affirming care. 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 Almazan, A. N., & Keuroghlian, A. S. (2021). Association between gender-affirming surgeries and mental health outcomes. JAMA surgery, 156(7), 611-618. American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC. Anderson, D., Wijetunge, H., Moore, P., Provenzano, D., Li, N., Hasoon, J., Viswanath, O., Kaye, A. D., Urits, I. (2023). Gender dysphoria and its non-surgical and surgical treatments. Health Psychology Research, 10(3). doi:10.52965/001c.38358 Austin, A., & Craig, S. L. (2015). Transgender affirmative cognitive behavioral therapy: Clinical considerations and applications. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 46(1), 21. Austin, A., Papciak, R., & Lovins, L. (2022). Gender euphoria: A grounded theory exploration of experiencing gender affirmation. Psychology & Sexuality, 13(5), 1406-1426. Cummings Center for the History of Psychology (1957). Richard Evans interviews Carl Jung - Personality, organization, fundamental concepts [video]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLeXXoumkqU Jackson, D. (2023). Suicide-related outcomes following gender-affirming treatment: A review. Cureus, 15(3). doi:10.7759/cureus.36425 James, S., Herman, J., Rankin, S., Keisling, M., Mottet, L., & Anafi, M. A. (2016). The report of the 2015 US transgender survey. Jennings, K. (2015, October). Leelah Alcorn and the continued struggle for equity for LGBT students. In The Educational Forum (Vol. 79, No. 4, pp. 343-346). Routledge. Keo-Meier, C. L., Herman, L. I., Reisner, S. L., Pardo, S. T., Sharp, C., & Babcock, J. C. (2015). Testosterone treatment and MMPI–2 improvement in transgender men: A prospective controlled study. Journal of consulting and clinical psychology, 83(1), 143. Marcia, J. E. (2006). Ego identity and personality disorders. Journal of Personality Disorders, 20(6), 577-596. Meinecke, L. D. (2017). Neglected by assessment: Industry versus inferiority in the competition for scarce kidneys. (Doctoral dissertation). Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. (ProQuest No. 10689852) Morris, E. R., & Galupo, M. P. (2019). “Attempting to dull the dysphoria”: Nonsuicidal self-injury among transgender individuals. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, 6(3), 296–307. https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000327 Olson, K. R., Durwood, L., DeMeules, M., & McLaughlin, K. A. (2016). Mental health of transgender children who are supported in their identities. Pediatrics, 137(3). Parker, K., Horowitz, J. M., Brown, A. (2022, June 28). Americans’ complex views on gender identity and transgender issues. Pew Research Center. Retrieved from Peterson, C. M., Matthews, A., Copps-Smith, E., & Conard, L. A. (2017). Suicidality, Self-Harm, and Body Dissatisfaction in Transgender Adolescents and Emerging Adults with Gender Dysphoria. Suicide & life-threatening behavior, 47(4), 475–482. https://doi.org/10.1111/sltb.12289 Poudrier, G., Nolan, I. T., Cook, T. E., Saia, W., Motosko, C. C., Stranix, J. T., Thomson, J. E., Gothard, M. D., & Hazen, A. (2019). Assessing Quality of Life and Patient-Reported Satisfaction with Masculinizing Top Surgery: A Mixed-Methods Descriptive Survey Study. Plastic and reconstructive surgery, 143(1), 272–279. https://doi.org/10.1097/PRS.0000000000005113 Pullen Sansfaçon, A., Medico, D., Suerich-Gulick, F., & Temple Newhook, J. (2020). “I knew that I wasn’t cis, I knew that, but I didn’t know exactly”: Gender identity development, expression and affirmation in youth who access gender affirming medical care. International Journal of Transgender Health, 21(3), 307-320. Rogers, C. R. (1961). On becoming a person. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin. Russell, S. T., Pollitt, A. M., Li, G., & Grossman, A. H. (2018). Chosen Name Use Is Linked to Reduced Depressive Symptoms, Suicidal Ideation, and Suicidal Behavior Among Transgender Youth. The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 63(4), 503–505. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2018.02.003 Swan, J., Phillips, T. M., Sanders, T., Mullens, A. B., Debattista, J., & Brömdal, A. (2023). Mental health and quality of life outcomes of gender-affirming surgery: A systematic literature review. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health, 27(1), 2-45. 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.

When it comes to working with autistic individuals so we can support them, decrease their psychological distress and improve their lives, their perceptions are critical. Since we can have all the knowledge in the world but if our clients don’t think that the space supports them or if our therapy space distresses them, then this will hurt the therapeutic alliance. In turn, this will increase the chance of the therapy not being successful, so this is why creating a neurodiversity-affirming space is so important. Therefore, in this clinical psychology podcast episode, you’re going to learn why is this important, how to create a neurodiversity-affirming therapy space and essentially not simple changes can really benefit our clients. If you enjoy learning about autism, mental health and psychotherapy then this is a great episode for you. Today’s clinical psychology 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. Why Is Creating A Neurodiversity-Affirming Therapy Space Important? I’ve already briefly mentioned in the introduction that when we want to support the needs of our autistic clients, we need them to have positive perceptions of us and our therapy space. This helps our clients, who often struggle with social connection, to trust and like us more so this topic is critical so we can have a good therapeutic alliance with them and the therapy is more likely to be successful. In addition, Mauzek et al. (2023) did research on autistic clients and the researchers found that a lot of autistic clients struggled talking in therapy and integrating the strategies they discussed with their therapist into their lives. This was typically down to their neurodivergent-specific needs. Furthermore, Norby et al. (2021) looked at the effectiveness of a group intervention for adults with ADHD and the researchers found that a lot of clients felt burdened given the demands of the group. Yet they found the sharing of personal experiences to be helpful. Overall, it’s important to note here that neurodivergent clients do find therapy useful, helpful and it works, but group settings are difficult because of the stimulation, social skills and the other challenges that being neurodivergent brings. As well as individual psychotherapy can be challenging too for similar reasons. This is why a therapist being accepting, understanding and willing to accommodate the needs of an autistic client is so important to the outcome of the therapy. Now we’ll look at five ways how a therapist can create a Neurodiversity-Affirming therapy space. Create A Sensory-Friendly Space There are certain things you just shouldn’t do when you have neurodivergent clients, but you might do this for other clients without a second thought. There is no generally correct answer, but there are better situations for different clients. For example, it is best not to have clutter, bright lights, music, a white noise machine and other overstimulating things in your waiting room or your own therapy space. This reminds me of why my best friend doesn’t like my bedroom at my parents’ house too much because I have really bright lights because they don’t bother me as an autistic person, but I know the lights are too overstimulating for them. Which is fine as we’re close friends but this wouldn’t be ideal if this was a therapy space, because it would be too much for my friend, they would hate it and it wouldn’t help us form a therapeutic alliance at all. As a result, you can create a more Neurodiversity-Affirming therapy space by having a variety of fidget tools nearby, having a range of seating options at different distances to the therapist and this includes something on the ground like a bean bag, as well as muted lights. All these options can help a therapist to create a more welcoming space where the client can feel supported and not distressed about how overstimulating the space is. Never Assume Something Related To A Client’s Neurodivergence Is A Problem If you’re a long-time listener to the podcast or a reader of my books then you know I flat out hate the term “problem” because it is blaming, judgemental and it is so medical model anyway. Therefore, when working with autistic clients, therapists should realise that being Neurodiversity-Affirming means you need to take a perspective that autism is not a problem and autism does not need to be treated. I think there are a lot of lessons for all mental health conditions there, because autistic people might benefit from assistance in working through the challenges that pop up because of a mismatch between their environment and the emotional and social challenges it causes. In addition, a lot of neurodivergent people find that their behaviours that help them cope have been historically pathologized. For example, “stimming”, these are repeated motions and sounds they do for self-soothing like rocking, humming and hair twirling, or pacing as my friend did the other night. These stimming behaviours are critical for neurodivergent people because it helps them to have a sense of comfort, so these behaviours aren’t a problem whatsoever. So please, do not think these behaviours need to be treated. Moreover, Anderson (2023) found that clients that went through Applied Behavioural Analysis, a therapy that seeks to decrease neurodivergent behaviour, universally felt negative about the intervention. Overall, when in a therapy setting, don’t try to fix or cure autism because you shouldn’t, it’s wrong and that isn’t a helpful idea in the slightest. Instead focus on the difficulties and situations that are harming the client and that will help to improve the life of your client. You Need To Listen To Understand A lot of psychotherapy modules involve some kind of fixed, very rigid structure and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is a good example of this problem. Yet the majority of modules stress the need for the importance of making the therapy contextual and adaptable for the client. This is even more important for neurodivergent clients because each of them come with their own unique stories, perspectives and presentations, which is why I think these clinical populations are so interesting. Granted I come under this clinical population too, but still. Anyway, the key for therapists in creating a Neurodiversity-Affirming therapy space is to listen to the accounts of their clients with a drive to understand rather than jumping towards challenging what might be mislabelled as unhelpful thoughts or cognitive distortions. Since it is critical for therapists to suspend their judgement and they should validate the client’s outlook on their life. One example of this in research is Babb et al. (2021) who found that a lot of the autistic clients’ neurodiversity-specific needs like having a different experience to hunger cues or sensory sensitives compared to neurotypical people often got ignored by therapists. This is flat out wrong and this should never have happened because as a therapist, we’re meant to listen, acknowledge and try to understand how our client sees the world so we can help them. We should always try to understand how our autistic clients see and experience the world so we support them and have a more effective course of therapy. Personally, I didn’t expect to have anything personal to say about this podcast episode because my therapy wasn’t really related to my autism, except all the friendship trauma and the nightmare that is trying to navigate social relationships. But my therapist was very good at acknowledging, listening and affirming my autistic identity because we did need to talk about it and we did need to focus on the friendship aspect and social challenges of autism because it does cause me a lot of psychological distress. Yet my therapist was so good at affirming this and not ignoring my autism that I didn’t even notice she was doing this, because it was so natural to her. And I seriously appreciated this. Overall, you can create a more Neurodiversity-Affirming therapy space by simply listening, respecting and trying to understand your clients so they feel listened to. Never ignore what your clients say or are going through. Provide Your Client With Multiple Ways Of Communicating As a result of autism being a massive spectrum, talking will be great for some clients, like myself and my best friend, but it will not be for a lot of clients. Due to not everyone can process and communicate effectively with words, some clients will need pens, musical instruments and even digital communication tools to have meaningful conversations. This doesn’t mean the client is bad, wrong and messed up in any fashion but if you want to create a Neurodiversity-Affirming therapy space then you need to give your client alternatives to speech. In addition, in education settings, visual supports can be very effective in helping autistic people to learn new information (Hu et al., 2021) as well as communicating whilst moving about is easier for people with ADHD too. On the whole, when it comes to creating a Neurodiversity-Affirming therapy space, it’s important that you give your client other ways to communicate or you outright say at the beginning that it’s okay if they need to stim, move about or do anything so they can communicate effective and self-soothe too. Be Kind To Yourself and Ask For Feedback None of us are perfect people and there is no such thing as a perfect therapist, or even a perfect therapy session. As a client, there are brilliant, extremely helpful and really good therapy sessions but I think if a therapist analysed a therapy session there would always be minor things to improve. Therefore, Bachelor (2013) showed that the therapists’ reviews of therapy sessions as well as the therapeutic alliance can vary a lot. And if we think about it, this gap is likely to be even larger when the therapist and client have different neurotypes. This is why therapists should ask for feedback about how the client feels the session went, the relevance of the tools discussed and then following up on the integration of these tools at the beginning of the next session. Doing these things helps to bridge this gap. However, most importantly, you need to remember that you aren’t perfect and as long as you do the best job you possibly can then that is enough. You need to be kind to yourself because all therapy work is challenging but it is wonderful and rewarding too. It takes time to learn how to communicate, learn and help neurodivergent clients because every client’s needs are unique, so please be kind to yourself as you grow and learn. Clinical Psychology Conclusion At the end of this podcast episode, we’ve looked at how to create a sensory-friendly space, never assume something related to a client’s neurodivergence is a problem, how listening to understand, provide your clients with multiple ways of communicating and how being kind to yourself and asking for feedback all helps to create a Neurodiversity-Affirming therapy space. If you want to work with neurodivergent clients then this is more important than any of us will probably ever know. It’s important that we support our clients, improve their lives and decrease their psychological distress. That is just the standard baseline of what clinical psychologists and therapists do. However, for neurodivergence clients, the social and emotional challenges of therapy might be even more intense and distressing than for our neurotypical clients. So it is imperative that we work to create a safe, calm and affirming space where our neurodivergent clients feel safe, listened to and they can bond with us. The therapeutic alliance might be the most important factor in therapy, and it is our duty to make sure that the alliance can be established as quickly and securely as possible. This is why learning how to create Neurodiversity-Affirming spaces are so important. It’s probably the difference between us helping or failing a client. 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 Anderson, L. K. (2023). Autistic experiences of applied behavior analysis. Autism, 27(3), 737-750. Babb, C., Brede, J., Jones, C. R., Elliott, M., Zanker, C., Tchanturia, K., & Fox, J. R. (2021). ‘It’s not that they don’t want to access the support... it’s the impact of the autism’: The experience of eating disorder services from the perspective of autistic women, parents and healthcare professionals. Autism, 25(5), 1409-1421. Bachelor, A. (2013). Clients' and therapists' views of the therapeutic alliance: Similarities, differences and relationship to therapy outcome. Clinical psychology & psychotherapy, 20(2), 118-135. Beauvais, V. Identity-Affirming Approaches for Autistic Clients: Therapists Best Practice. Bonanza, C. E., Index, H., McNulty, K., Center, L. K., Stark, M., & Lite, D. B. T. Neurodiversity Affirming Understanding and Care for ADHD. Gaddy, C., & Crow, H. (2023). A Primer on Neurodiversity-Affirming Speech and Language Services for Autistic Individuals. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups, 8(6), 1220-1237. Hu, X., Wang, H., Han, Z. R., Zhao, Y., & Ke, L. (2021). The influence of visual supports and motivation on motor performance of the MABC-2 for Chinese school-aged children with autism spectrum disorder. Scientific reports, 11(1), 15557. Johnston, L., Maciver, D., Rutherford, M., Gray, A., Curnow, E., & Utley, I. (2024, March). A brief neuro-affirming resource to support school absences for autistic learners: development and program description. In Frontiers in Education (Vol. 9, p. 1358354). Frontiers Media SA. Lambert, M. J., & Barley, D. E. (2001). Research summary on the therapeutic relationship and psychotherapy outcome. Psychotherapy: Theory, research, practice, training, 38(4), 357. Mazurek, M. O., Pappagianopoulos, J., Brunt, S., Sadikova, E., Nevill, R., Menezes, M., & Harkins, C. (2023). A mixed methods study of autistic adults' mental health therapy experiences. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 30(4), 767-779. McGreevy, E., Quinn, A., Law, R., Botha, M., Evans, M., Rose, K., ... & Pavlopoulou, G. (2024). An experience sensitive approach to care with and for autistic children and young people in clinical services. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 00221678241232442. Nordby, E. S., Gilje, S., Jensen, D. A., Sørensen, L., & Stige, S. H. (2021). Goal management training for adults with ADHD–clients’ experiences with a group-based intervention. BMC psychiatry, 21, 1-12. Simpson, B. (2020). An open letter to the psychotherapy and counselling profession: It is time to recognise the politics of training and practising with Tourette's syndrome. Psychotherapy and Politics International, 18(3), e1549. 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.

To kick off Pride Month on The Psychology World Podcast, we need to focus on the topic of the mental health of bisexual people and what stressors negatively impact their mental health. This is a fascinating podcast episode where we look at the unique stressors faced by bisexual people that aren’t faced by other members of the LGBT+, heterosexual or cisgender communities, and we’ll briefly look at how do we support and help bisexual people so we can improve their lives, decrease their psychological distress and improve some of the mental health outcomes faced by this group of people. If you enjoy learning about clinical psychology, minority stress and the negative impacts of discrimination 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. Introduction To LGBT+ Mental Health I’ve mentioned before on the podcast that LGBT+ individuals face higher rates of mental health difficulties and conditions compared to cisgender and heterosexual people. Also, research shows time and time again being LGBT+ does NOT cause mental health difficulties, but they’re caused by minority stress. In other words, these mental health struggles are caused by the personal discrimination as well as stressful experiences that LGBT+ individuals face because of the transphobic and homophobic culture. You can see all the references and more at the bottom of the blog post. In case you’re new to the podcast, I can support this with my personal experience. Basically, all my mental health difficulties in the past have been down to living in an extremely homophobic social world (a kind word for the truth of the matter) and constantly being told I was wrong, I was unholy and I was deserved to die for a period of ten intense years before I just broke last August. Therefore, I can testify that minority stress is real, it is very impactful and my friends that didn’t grow up in homophobic social worlds have a lot better mental health than me. Or their mental health struggles are down to non-LGBT-related trauma. Interestingly, when we dig down into the research more, bisexual people seem to have the highest rates of mental health struggles within the LGBT+ community. This is even more true for suicide, depression and nonsuicidal self-injury. Again, these mental health disparities are caused by minority stress, not because being bisexual causes mental health struggles. This is why in the rest of the podcast episode we’re going to be focusing on what the unique stressors are faced by bisexual people. Moreover, I should note for the purposes of this podcast episode, when I say the term bisexual, I am referring to all sexual orientations that come under the bisexual umbrella. For example, bisexual, pansexual, fluid and so on. How Does Internalised Binegativity Impact Bisexual Mental Health? The vast majority of LGBT+ have some form of internalised homophobia or transphobia that they need to deal with depending on their childhood and the world they live in. I had a lot to deal with in the past and even now I still need to have check-ins with myself because I am not perfect, and the scars of my child abuse still run deep. However, a lot of bisexual people struggle with internalised Binegativity or internalised monosexism. This is the belief that being bisexual is wrong and they should only be attracted to a single gender, which is rubbish. This Binegativity develops because bisexual people face biphobia and monosexist discrimination. As well as if a person hears the negative messages about themselves and their sexual orientation enough times then they can start to believe it. Therefore, when bisexual individual internalises the idea that being bisexual is wrong, unnatural and immoral, then their mental health decreases and their levels of depression as well as anxiety increase. Lastly for this section, this is even worse when the Binegativity is added to any internalised cissexism (this is discrimination against transgender people) and heterosexism that they’re dealing with too. How Does Double Discrimination Impact Bisexual Mental Health? As we are all probably aware, all LGBT+ people face homophobic and transphobic discrimination from the idiots, the bigots and an endless list of other groups. Yet bisexual people face a very specific form of discrimination from monosexism and biphobia, because monosexism is the belief that people can only be attracted to a single gender. And people who believe in monosexism believe that being attracted to a single gender is more valid, better and legitimate compared to being attracted to multiple genders. In addition, it is these silly beliefs about monosexism and biphobia that lead people to believe that bisexual people are greedy, untrustworthy and they’re obsessed with sex. These silly beliefs only lead to bisexual people experiencing discrimination at higher rates from heterosexual and lesbian and gay people too. And it is that discrimination coming from heterosexual and gay and lesbian individuals that explains why this is double discrimination. Personally, I think the idea that you can only be attracted to a single gender is beyond silly, because it shouldn’t matter who you’re attracted to. For example, I always say I’m gay because everyone knows what that is, I don’t have to explain myself and 99% of the people I’m attracted to are men. Yet if I really think about it, I am attracted to a range of genders, like non-binary people and even a handful of women, for example some of the women at the trans group I go to are attractive. That’s why I'm more androsexual (being attracted to masculinity) over strictly gay. Therefore, I think it is perfectly normal not to be attracted to a single gender if we really think about our romantic preferences. And my argument always is, there are so many more important things to worry about in the world from climate change to war to world hunger. Who’s attracted to whom seems so futile. Because it is. How Identity Uncertainty Impacts Bisexual Mental Health? I think the brilliant TV programme, Heartstopper, showed our next stressor brilliantly because a lot of bisexual people face identity uncertainty because they aren’t sure if their bisexual identity is right or even accurate for them. The vast majority of bisexual people struggle with whether they feel “queer” enough for queer spaces, or they might even worry if they’re “faking” being bisexual. That’s something I’ve not heard before. This is even more intense when the bisexual person is dating someone of the same gender and they might even doubt their queer attractions and identities based on the bi-erasure that they experience (we’ll talk more about that in a moment). Overall, whenever you’re unsure about your identity, it is very stressful and it can lead bisexual people to feel disconnected from the LGBT+ community. Both of these factors lead to decreases in bisexual mental health. As a little side note, something I’ve noticed since my assault is my identity has been in flux badly, so whilst this is different it is still identity uncertainty and it is hard. There is a common myth in society that you are meant to know exactly who you are and that isn’t meant to change. Therefore, for things to pop up that make you question your identity regardless of whether it’s trauma, sexual orientation or gender-related, it is still extremely stressful and it is hard. This is why being supportive and taking the pressure off people to know exactly who they are is important. How Can Bi-Erasure Impact Bisexual Mental Health? One thing I hate beyond all else is how the bisexual identity is invalidated constantly because bisexual people are constantly being told “they’re straight”, “they’re actually gay” or “you’re just too scared to come out fully” or apparently, some bi-haters try to say bisexual people are trying to be trendy by being bisexual. That is wrong on so many levels. And yet it happens. As a result, monosexism fuels bi-erasure and bi-invisibility by trying to get rid of bisexual people and it reinforces the wrong and disgusting cultural message that being bisexual is only a phase of experimentation instead of being a valid identity in its own right. Also, after reading the Facebook post of my best friend when they came out as non-binary, there are a small section on them still being bisexual/ pansexual, and there was a sentence that has always stayed with me. It was something along the lines of “I’m still bisexual/pansexual regardless of who I’m dating”. This has always stuck with me because it reminds me that a lot of bisexual people are assumed to be straight when they’re dating members of the opposite gender or assumed to be gay when they’re dating someone of the same gender. I forget the comedian I was watching on TV one year and she did an entire set on why bisexuality is the worst sexuality to be because of this problem. It was a brilliant set and I’ll have to look her up later on, but it reminds me that bi-erasure might not be a problem I face but it is wrong that it happens. On the whole, it is these ideas or assumptions that try to explain away or remove any evidence of bisexuality that is the problem. But here’s the thing, being bisexual is real, it thankfully isn’t going anywhere because it has been around for tens of thousands of years and it is wrong to ignore it. And whenever someone does try to erase bisexual identities, they are harming the mental health of a great group of people for no good reason. How Do We Improve The Mental Health Of Bisexual People? Besides from getting rid of monosexism, heterosexism and cissexism which is a constant fight and it is will be removed one day, we need to look at how do we improve the mental health of bisexual people in the meantime. Firstly, research suggests that bisexual people could benefit and enjoy reading books or watching TV shows with positive and realistic bisexual characters. I would highly recommend season 1 of Heartstopper for that. Since watching bi-affirming messages, this helps bisexual people to feel more connected and validated in their queer identities. This has the added bonus of increasing the individual’s pride in their queer identity so this improves their mental health. Secondly, research shows that bisexual people benefit from being a part of the LGBT+ community, even more so when they are a part of bisexual-specific communities. Since this could help to reduce the negative mental health impact that monosexism and biphobia has on them. Finally, therapy. I will always encourage this option because this is a psychology podcast that mainly focuses on clinical psychology. Yet as a gay person, I know that having a good therapist is a brilliant, amazing and affirming way to unlearn homophobia and minority stress so you can start to live a full, happy and successful life where you can thrive. You can be yourself, can be happy and you can do all the amazing things that might never have seemed possible to you. Before my breakdown, I never thought I would be able to have queer friends, hang out with them and just be free to live my own life. I don’t even need to hide where I’m going anymore from certain people, and that sense of freedom is incredible. Clinical Psychology Conclusion In this psychology podcast episode, we looked at how bierasure, double discrimination, identity uncertainty and internalised Binegativity negatively impacts the mental health of bisexual people. The mental health struggles of all LGBT+ people are real and it is something we need to get better at as a society. We need to flat out stop these homophobic and biphobic, cissexist and transphobic messages completely. If you’re a heterosexual or lesbian or gay person listening to them, then I hope you learnt something interesting. This isn’t a topic that is spoken about too much because even though I have a few bisexual friends, I hear whispers of this stuff but no one really talks about it. That is a shame, because if we don’t talk about these stressors then we cannot do anything about them to improve the lives and mental health of bisexual people. Some takeaways for all of us from this episode are simple. Don’t support or ever say biphobic or monosexist messages, don’t try to erase the identity of bisexual people and always support or take the pressure off people to know exactly what their identities are. If we all do those simple thing or try our hardest to follow them, then the mental health and lives of bisexual people will improve. Finally, if you’re a bisexual person listening to this episode. Your identity is real, it is important and valid and you, like everyone else, deserves to love whoever you want regardless of their gender. It doesn’t make you any less queer, any less loved or any less supported. Everyone listening or reading this episode is amazing, and that includes you as well. 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 Doan Van, E. E., Mereish, E. H., Woulfe, J. M., & Katz-Wise, S. L. (2019). Perceived discrimination, coping mechanisms, and effects on health in bisexual and other non-monosexual adults. Archives of sexual behavior, 48, 159-174. Dürrbaum, T., & Sattler, F. A. (2020). Minority stress and mental health in lesbian, gay male, and bisexual youths: A meta-analysis. Journal of LGBT Youth, 17(3), 298-314. Feinstein, B. A., Xavier Hall, C. D., Dyar, C., & Davila, J. (2020). Motivations for sexual identity concealment and their associations with mental health among bisexual, pansexual, queer, and fluid (bi+) individuals. Journal of Bisexuality, 20(3), 324-341. Friedman, M. R., Dodge, B., Schick, V., Herbenick, D., Hubach, R. D., Bowling, J., ... & Reece, M. (2014). From bias to bisexual health disparities: Attitudes toward bisexual men and women in the United States. LGBT health, 1(4), 309-318. Gonzales, G., de Mola, E. L., Gavulic, K. A., McKay, T., & Purcell, C. (2020). Mental health needs among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Adolescent Health, 67(5), 645-648. Hong, P. Y., & Lishner, D. A. (2016). General invalidation and trauma-specific invalidation as predictors of personality and subclinical psychopathology. Personality and Individual Differences, 89, 211-216. Lambe, J., Cerezo, A., & O'Shaughnessy, T. (2017). Minority stress, community involvement, and mental health among bisexual women. Psychology of sexual orientation and gender diversity, 4(2), 218. Meyer, I. H. (2003). Prejudice, social stress, and mental health in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations: conceptual issues and research evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 129(5), 674. Mongelli, F., Perrone, D., Banducci, J., Sacchetti, A., Ferrari, S., Mattei, G., & Galeazzi, G. M. (2019). Minority stress and mental health among LGBT populations: An update on the evidence. Minerva Psichiatrica, 60(1), 27-50. Paul, R., Smith, N. G., Mohr, J. J., & Ross, L. E. (2014). Measuring dimensions of bisexual identity: Initial development of the Bisexual Identity Inventory. Psychology of sexual orientation and gender diversity, 1(4), 452. Perrin, P. B., Sutter, M. E., Trujillo, M. A., Henry, R. S., & Pugh Jr, M. (2020). The minority strengths model: Development and initial path analytic validation in racially/ethnically diverse LGBTQ individuals. Journal of clinical psychology, 76(1), 118-136. Persson, T. J., & Pfaus, J. G. (2015). Bisexuality and mental health: Future research directions. Journal of Bisexuality, 15(1), 82-98. Pollitt, A. M., & Roberts, T. S. (2021). Internalized binegativity, LGBQ+ community involvement, and definitions of bisexuality. Journal of bisexuality, 21(3), 357-379. Rees, S. N., Crowe, M., & Harris, S. (2021). The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities' mental health care needs and experiences of mental health services: An integrative review of qualitative studies. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 28(4), 578-589. Wittgens, C., Fischer, M. M., Buspavanich, P., Theobald, S., Schweizer, K., & Trautmann, S. (2022). Mental health in people with minority sexual orientations: A meta‐analysis of population‐based studies. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 145(4), 357-372. 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.

One of the new sections in my brand-new book Clinical Psychology: Second Edition is all about the Mental Capacity Act (2005). This is a critical and fascinating piece of legislation that impacts the work of mental health professionals in the United Kingdom, and I strongly believe that other countries have similar laws in place. In this useful clinical psychology podcast episode, you’ll learn what is mental capacity, what is the Mental Capacity Act (2005) and so many more interesting facts that you’ll need on your clinical psychology journey. If you’re interested in working in mental health settings in the future then this is a critical 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. The Mental Capacity Act (2005) And What Is Mental Capacity? (COPYRIGHT 2024 Connor Whiteley) Note: the legislation we will be discussing in this final chapter of the book is a piece of legislation passed by the United Kingdom, and whilst I am sure other countries have such laws in place. The exact details of these laws will vary country to country. Also, I am not a lawyer or legal expert so this is not any sort of official legal, professional or any other form of advice. In a past chapter, I gave you a brief overlook of the legislation to ease you into the topic but now I want to deep-dive a lot more because it is so interesting. And of all the brand-new updated chapters I’m writing for this second edition, I have to admit that I am so excited about the Mental Capacity Act (2005). I’ll admit that I am very unique in this fact because I seriously doubt that legislation makes someone excited, but considering I do like the legal system, laws and the like, it makes sense for me to like this area. Also, I love the debate that the Mental Capacity Act stirs up because the Act does allow us to do very interesting things to people with mental health conditions, but we do walk a very, very thin ethical line between right and extremely wrong. For example, let’s use a quick fictional example to kick off the chapter. Let’s say there is a woman called SW who has a long history of paranoid schizophrenia as well as she suffers from several physical health conditions, like diabetes. Then when she’s staying in institutional care her left foot has become gangrenous. This does require surgery. Yet SW refuses to have the surgery done and this risks the infection spreading and becoming so bad that the foot needs to be detached from her leg without medical help. SW’s surgeons want to remove the foot to make sure the infection doesn’t spread, but she refuses it. The question is should SW be forced to have the surgery? Personally, I think this is a hard one because I can see both sides of the argument. You could argue that yes she should be forced to have the surgery because otherwise the infection will spread and gangrene can kill you, so her life is at risk. On the other hand, you could argue that the choice has to be hers because it is her body, so it is her choice. I would personally go for the first option because I want to save her life, but I do understand the arguments against the forced surgery. What do you think? What Is Mental Capacity? Whenever we talk about mental capacity, we are talking about the fact that generally we all have the right to make our own choices about our behaviour, as long as they’re legal, and this idea of free choice is protected by law. However, for some people that have a severe mental or physical health condition, they may require help as well as support to empower and protect them. We would say that these people have less mental capacity than healthy people. Typically, the Mental Capacity Act is applied to people who suffer a stroke, brain injury, dementia or a learning disability. As I mentioned in a past chapter, we must never ever assume that someone doesn’t have mental capacity just because of the label their condition gives them. I cannot stress that enough. Overall, mental capacity is a person’s ability to make a decision and we need legislation around this because people need to be protected and we have to make sure we can empower and protect people who aren’t make decision for themselves. How Could The Mental Capacity Act Affect People With A Learning/intellectual Disability? For the rest of this chapter, I wanted to highlight how the Mental Capacity Act does or could impact different people with different neurodevelopmental or mental health conditions. Therefore, when it comes to learning disabilities, according to the NHS website, these disabilities affect the way that a person learns new things throughout the lifespan. As well as to have a learning disability a person has an IQ below 70 and this would negatively impact their daily life. As a result, people with a learning disability could struggle to understand complex and new information, learn any new skills and not be able to live or cope independently. Also, the NHS website highlights how this is a common set of neurodevelopmental conditions since 1.5 million people in the UK have a learning disability with 350,000 people having a severe learning disability. Overall, the Mental Capacity Act might be used on these people to make sure that they are protected and empowered since people with learning disabilities might not be able to make decisions for themselves. What About Strokes? Another set of conditions that the Mental Capacity Act is typically used on is stroke survivors because as explained at Stroke.org, a stroke occurs when a blood vessel in the brain is either blocked or bursts so the blood supply to the brain is cut off to various extents. As a result, when someone has a stroke they often need a long time to undergo rehabilitation before they can recover their independence, just unfortunately a lot of stroke survivors don’t fully recover. In the UK, about 100,000 people have a stroke each year and there are 1.2 million stroke survivors in the UK (www.stroke.org.uk). This lack of independence and the disruption to the brain that stroke causes can make someone lack the mental capacity to make important decisions. Mental Capacity Act and Brain Injuries The last condition I want to zero in on is brain injuries because a person has a traumatic brain injury when they experience a disruption to the normal functioning of their brain. The CDC in the USA  states this can be caused by a bump, blow, jolt or another injury that penetrates the brain itself. The effects of the brain injury can be wide ranging depending on what area is impacted and the severity is different for everyone too. Yet brain injuries aren’t just external, they can also be caused by internal factors like a tumour, stroke, haemorrhage or encephalitis (a fancy way of saying inflammation/infection). As well as there are around 350,000 hospital admissions for brain injury every year in the UK (Headway.org.uk). Why Might A Person Not Have Mental Capacity? On the whole to wrap up this chapter, there are conditions and medical problems that can cause a person to lack the mental capacity, but it’s important to note that just because someone has one of these conditions, doesn’t mean they lack the mental capacity. For someone to lack mental capacity, according to Mentalhealth.org.uk, they would need not to be able to understand the information given to them to make a particular decision, retain this information long enough to be able to make the decision, not be able to communicate their decision and they couldn’t weigh up or use the information given to them to make the decision. So now we understand what Mental Capacity is? How does the Mental Capacity Act help clinical psychologists to reduce distress and improve lives? 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 Reference Whiteley, C. (2024) Clinical Psychology: Second Edition. 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.

From our clinical psychology lectures, watching the media and talking to friends and peers at university or in the workplace, we know that depression is serious and can even be life-threatening. Depression can lead to increases in self-harm, suicidal ideation and it can be crippling. Therefore, it’s important to know how to survive a major depressive episode. Even if you don’t have depression yourself, this is still a useful podcast episode that will give you a lot of useful ideas and unofficial tips and techniques to help someone in the future. And if you are depressed then this episode will give you a lot of ideas to think about for the future. If you enjoy learning about depression, mental health and clinical psychology then this is a great episode for you. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by CBT For Depression: A Clinical Psychology Introduction To Cognitive Behavioural Therapy For Depression. Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Note: as always absolutely nothing on this podcast is ever any sort of official medical, professional or any other form of advice. Why Is Depression Serious And Potentially Life-Threatening? Before we talk about the five main ways how you or a client can survive a major depressive episode, I want to remind people how serious Depression is and how dangerous it can be. Granted, I was reminded of this yesterday because even though I’m not clinically depressed, there have been two times in the past 6-months where I’ve been so depressed I simply couldn’t move. There were other consequences too but I want to keep this podcast light as always. Therefore, depression is the leading cause of disability in the world according to Friedrich (2017) as well as about 34% of people with bipolar disorder and about 31% of people with major depression disorder will attempt suicide in their lifetime (Dong et al., 2019; Dong et al., 2020). On the whole, when we add those percentages to the fact that depression is most associated with suicide, it makes us realise that depression can be life-threatening. Hence, why we need to think about and make it common knowledge about how to survive a major depressive episode. In addition, major or severe depression can be linked at times to changes in a person’s information and sensory integration. This is called Psychosis, and this type of psychosis tends to take on a dark, depressive-congruent quality. For instance, a person experiencing this type of psychosis might experience persecutory delusions so they truly believe that the people around them are trying to harm them and they hate them or they can hear unkind voices too. Interestingly, about 10% of people with major depressive disorder (Dold et al., 2019) as well as 63% of people with bipolar disorder experience psychotic features (Aminioff et al., 2022). Overall, I know you’re all psychology students, professionals and people interested in psychology here, but we absolutely cannot underestimate depression. That is half the problem I think is the world at times, because we hear ignorant people saying they're “depressed” about the weather or that their football team is losing and they actually don’t understand what their talking about. Instead they are just using a word with a critical, vital meaning outside of a clinical context and this doesn’t help our clients. This only waters down the meaning of an important term so people don’t think depression is as important as it is and this stops people from seeking help when they need it and it creates extra barriers for our clients too. Thankfully, it’s important to note that people can recover from depression regardless of its severity, and there are more treatments than ever before to help people. I’ve spoken about them in podcast episodes before and in my books, with different forms of psychotherapy and anti-depressants being first-line treatments. How To Survive A Major Depressive Episode? It Will Not Always Be This Way I have to admit that when you are going through a major depressive episode, you seriously don’t remember this and I always forget it. I don’t remember that this is a temporary thing and I think this is how my life will be from now on because in the moment or the hours or day that it lasts, this is how my life seems. And it doesn’t help that when you are healthy again, the experiences of depression just feel so disconnected from you because it feels completely foreign. Therefore, it’s good to remind ourselves and our clients that the vast majority of major depressive episodes are temporary, as well as even with the longer-lasting depression episodes, there are usually moments of happiness. If your client is in a major depressive episode, remember that this is temporary and there will be moments of happiness again. Sometimes it can help to look over pictures and other memories from times when you were happy. Also when your client is healthy again, get them to write a note of encouragement to remind themselves of these times when they don’t feel happy. Depression never lasts. Seek Meaning This is an interesting one because even when a person is in a depressive episode, they can normally find meaning in small things or they can take steps towards their values. Since depression is an oppressive force so clients might want to find out what they can do and look for opportunities to live how you see as meaningful. Yesterday, I was sort of reminded of this because at my university, I want to reform the Psychology Society and I had emailed a final-year student on the 1st of May and she replied the same night. It was the 24th of May yesterday and I still hadn’t replied and I noticed her and a group of people had tried to message me on Teams. So I forced myself to go onto my laptop and look at what had happened in the email and on Teams. It was a nice reminder that people wanted to talk to me, be with me and work with me for the long term. And I seriously do want to start up the psychology society again and be President. Equally, I had a specialist appointment at the university again on Monday and this is basically what the woman said. She stressed that I should do a lot of self-care, throw myself into my interests and stick to my values and what would bring me joy. Ask For Help Last night me and a friend went to go and play Tennis because my friend was probably a little worried about me, and when we got back to their place, we were talking. I still hate their kitchen. I know it’s a student house but I hate their kitchen with a passion and I’m also glad the house we’re moving into together has a nice kitchen. Anyway, we were talking about mental health and my friend said that based on their experience, they realised that when it comes to mental health you never really notice how bad of a place you were in until you look back later on. I largely agree with the comment and depression is very good at hiding that from you. This touches on a different topic altogether. However, my point is that when you realise you need help, it’s okay to ask for it. If you haven’t received mental health support before then contact different services, find a therapist by searching for it online or ask for help in other ways. Just make sure you get the professional help you. If you’re already in therapy or getting another form of mental health support then asking for help means asking for more or different help than what you’re currently getting. This is something I’m struggling with at the moment because my normal therapist was brilliant for helping me with my child abuse and trauma. She isn’t so good at helping me now, which isn’t her fault because sexual violence work is so specialised at times so I reached out to charity and I have a counselling assessment next Friday. Additionally, if there’s a risk you or your client is at risk of self-harming or suicide then reach out to crisis services like the 988 suicide prevention lifeline. Also, a therapist and even a primary care doctor can help you. When it comes to asking for help, you can also reach out to your natural support systems like your family and friends too. In addition, one of the most annoying feelings in the world is when you don’t feel like you’re able to get help straight away or you’re told “no” in different ways. For example, I hate it when my therapist doesn’t have an appointment for me for a week and a bit, that is just annoying because I want support now and I’m not able to get it. Another form of this is when clients are looking for inpatient programmes and the programmes they want to get into don’t have any “beds” available. When this happens, you need to keep trying and realise that you reaching out for support is an act of defiance against your depression, so keep doing it. Keep looking for therapists, support and other options. Just please make sure you get the help and support you need. Remember Your Reasons For Living I know from personal experience how extremely difficult this can be during a depressive episode. When it comes to reasons for living, a lot of people want to live so they can see their friends and family, they have hope for the future so they want to see what happens and they believe that they’ll find something worth living for in the future. Yet during a depressive episode, it can seem like a client doesn’t have any of these options and they can’t even start to think of these things. For example, being brutally honest about yesterday, I do have a good number to live for coming up. I have Summer Core at my university from mid-June to mid-July as a student ambassador so that’s a lot of fun, really easy work with a great pay check attached. Me and my family are going to Kew Gardens somewhere I’ve always wanted to go, I’m going to Canterbury Pride with some friends and I’m moving in with my friends at the end of next month. In addition, me having a lot of normal reasons to live for because my life is good. I couldn’t remember a single one of those reasons yesterday and even when I did remember, my depression or my mental health twisted it so these things didn’t look like a reason to live. As a result, when it comes to surviving a depressive episode, you need to remind yourself of reasons to live. You need to write down your reasons so you can read it and remember you have plenty of reasons to live for, as well as you can hang up pictures of the people that are close to you and love you too. Just give yourself as many reminders that life is worth living as possible. Clinical Psychology Conclusion I never really intended to do a podcast episode on depression today but I wasn’t really inspired or bothered about any of the other topics I have on my podcast list after what happened yesterday. And I have to admit that I like episodes like this because even though nothing on the podcast is official advice, I still like that I can do slightly more practical and applied episodes that will hopefully help a student, professional or another person entirely. Going through a depressive episode is awful and I don’t wish it on anyone, but there is always hope and you are never alone. There is always support available and whilst it might seem difficult to find, it is there and there are lots of people happy and ready to help you, because you deserve it. You never deserve to suffer in silence and you can survive a major depressive episode. You seriously can. 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 Depression: A Clinical Psychology Introduction To Cognitive Behavioural Therapy For Depression. 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 Aminoff, S. R., Onyeka, I. N., Ødegaard, M., Simonsen, C., Lagerberg, T. V., Andreassen, O. A., ... & Melle, I. (2022). Lifetime and point prevalence of psychotic symptoms in adults with bipolar disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Psychological medicine, 1-13. Dold, M., Bartova, L., Kautzky, A., Porcelli, S., Montgomery, S., Zohar, J., & Kasper, S. (2019). Psychotic features in patients with major depressive disorder: a report from the European group for the study of resistant depression. The Journal of clinical psychiatry, 80(1), 16309. Dong, M., Lu, L., Zhang, L., Zhang, Q., Ungvari, G. S., Ng, C. H., ... & Xiang, Y. T. (2020). Prevalence of suicide attempts in bipolar disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences, 29, e63. Dong, M., Zeng, L. N., Lu, L., Li, X. H., Ungvari, G. S., Ng, C. H., ... & Xiang, Y. T. (2019). Prevalence of suicide attempt in individuals with major depressive disorder: a meta-analysis of observational surveys. Psychological medicine, 49(10), 1691-1704. Frankl, V. E. (1992). Man's search for meaning: An introduction to logotherapy (4th ed.) (I. Lasch, Trans.). Beacon Press Friedrich, M. J. (2017). Depression is the leading cause of disability around the world. Jama, 317(15), 1517-1517. Whiteley, C. (2024) CBT For Anxiety: A Clinical Psychology Introduction To Cognitive Behavioural Therapy For Anxiety Disorders. CGD Publishing. England. Whiteley, C. (2024) CBT For Depression: A Clinical Psychology Introduction To Cognitive Behavioural Therapy For Depression. 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.

There comes a point in all our lives when a friend or loved one goes through something that hurts them, rattles them or it even traumatises them. When this happens we can feel powerless or helpless to support them because we can see how badly it’s affected them and we have no idea how to support them. Or even worse in my experience, we want to support them even more but we know this can’t happen because it would turn a relationship into something that isn’t healthy. I think for aspiring or qualified mental health professionals, this feeling is even worse. Since we spend our days empowering, supporting and giving our clients hope within our professional boundaries but we can’t help the people we care most about. Therefore, in this social psychology podcast episode, we’re going to learn tips and tricks to help us feel less powerless to help the people we love most. If you’re interested in friendships, supporting our loved ones and social psychology then this is a great episode for you. Today’s podcast episode has been sponsored by Social Psychology A Guide to Social And Cultural Psychology. Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Note: as always absolutely nothing on the podcast is any sort of professional, medical, relationship or any other form of official advice. How To Stop Feeling Powerless To Help A Friend Or Loved One? Something I really liked about the introduction to this podcast episode is that I had a “penny drop” moment, because I realised why I’ve been feeling so powerless lately. Sure, a very close friend of mine is going through stuff, I’m going through stuff at the moment because of my assault and we’ve both admitted we feel powerless to help each other. So this got me thinking about other times when I’ve felt powerless in friendships to help the other and I realised this does pop up. Therefore, something I want to say straight away is that this is normal. It is perfectly normal to feel powerless to help someone in a friendship because that is just how friendships work at times. And it means that you care about your friend a lot and that’s great too. After a good few decades of not having a lot of great friends that cared about me too much, I know how great and powerful just knowing a friend cares about you can be. However, as much as I know it’s normal to feel powerless and helpless in a friendship when the other is going through something. It still doesn’t make it any easier on you because your friend is in emotional pain. We all hate our friends going through that so we want to help. Sometimes that just isn’t possible and that’s okay. Here are some ways we can all feel more powerful to help in a friendship or family relationship. Just Listen Without Trying To Fix It Now when it came to researching this rather niche topic on the internet, I started smiling and laughing after a while because a great former friend of mine did all of this to me last year before my breakdown. He was great in this regard and I know a lot about feeling less helpless and powerless from him. As a result, when your friend is going through something, just listen to them, don’t interrupt and don’t offer ten thousand solutions. Since you need to allow your friend or loved one to tell you what happened and how they feel about it without jumping in, being rude and offering up solutions. The problem with you offering solutions and interrupting them is it shuts them down, it doesn’t make them feel listened to and it isn’t respectful. The entire point of you being their friend is that they know you’re there for them and they’re trying to understand and empathise with what they went through. When I told friends about my assault because I only told one friend in-person because They have only gotten bits and pieces over text. They were great because they just sat there, listened and waited for me to finish. My former friend did the same when I was telling him about my abuse and trauma. Both friends made me feel valued, that they cared about me and they were there for me. That meant a lot. However, if we flip it over, when someone in my social world did interrupt me and try to offer my solutions when I was telling them about my assault. It hurt. It was so disempowering being shut down like that and it only increased my feelings of shame, guilt and like I didn’t matter whatsoever. That’s why when a friend is telling you what happened and how they feel, just listen to them. When my friend was telling me what happened yesterday (at the time of writing), I felt a little silly but I was just listening, nodding along and I was completely focused on my friend. I wanted them to know I was there no matter what. I will add here that sometimes (or often) you will have to process what your friend has told you. Do not do that processing in front of them or in the moment, go away, think about it and talk to your friend or loved one about it if needed. The entire point of your friend telling you what happened is so you can be there for them, this isn’t about you. Show Empathy And Encouragement Continuing with this initial conversation or to be honest whenever your friend or loved one needs it. It’s a good idea to acknowledge their pain, let them know you care and say something supportive. Of course, what you say exactly depends on the relationship and your friendship but make it personal. For example, because of my breakdown and everything surrounding it, I have massive issues about me just waiting for my friends to leave me, so it’s always nice when my friends say they aren’t going anywhere and that they care about me and they’re here. Linking this towards reducing feelings of powerlessness, by offering empathy and encouragement, you are doing something for your friend. You seriously are. You’re helping them to realise that there is a future, everything will be okay and this will pass. A personal example is that I have massive, massive fears at the moment because moving in with some friends next year for the final year of my Masters. I’m scared that my assault reactions are going to make it hellish and stuff like that. Of course, not a single aspect of those fears is based in any sort of reality, so I told my friend in passing and I almost cried about it. They simply offered some encouragement and they stressed how I would get better over time and it was a helpful reminder. Find Them Resources Now I’ve been on the receiving end of this and it is one of the nicest feelings ever. Due to about a week before my breakdown, my former friend knew I was going through stuff and the next day he sent me a little leaflet about a charity that might be able to support me. That meant the world to me because it meant he was thinking about me, he cared enough to see something, think of me and send me a photo of it later on. That was just such a kind thing to do. Especially, because finding resources is different to listening to someone. When you listen to someone, you’re there and you could argue that you have to listen. Yet finding resources for someone and sending them to the friend or loved one that is even kinder, because you have to go out of your way to do that. On the whole, if your friend or loved one is struggling then definitely send them some resources randomly. Of course, don’t overdo it and make sure the resources are relevant but it is an extremely kind thing to do, because you seriously didn’t have to do it. Keep It Healthy I wanted to wrap up this podcast episode with this section because it is critical. I know from my past emotional dependency and intensity that it is extremely tempting to go all in and move heaven and earth for someone you care about. Thankfully, I have never done it but I have come extremely borderline and that isn’t healthy. You need to understand that when a loved one or friend is in trouble or distress, you are “just” a friend. You aren’t their partner, you aren’t their therapist, you aren’t their parent. You are just a friend and that is it. Therefore, you need to respond how a friend would and you need to offer support that reflects your relationship to the friend or loved one. For example, me stressing I am always there for my friend, me texting my friend every other day and me making kind offers to my friend every so often. That is okay because we are close friends and we’ve been through stuff together. Yet if I did the same sort of thing towards a friend I’m not close with then that is intense, unhealthy and that isn’t a good idea. Therefore, when it comes to helping out a friend, you need to effectively know your place. You can’t move heaven and earth for them without your relationship turning toxic and unhealthy, and that will never end well whatsoever. Of course, if your friend needs a therapist or professional or legal help, then talk to them about it. Just don’t be it. Finally, I think this is hard for all of us aspiring or qualified mental health professionals. Since we want to help, we have a good idea how to help and we want to use the skills we use every single day in our jobs to help our friend or loved one. It is simply what we normally do so we want to do it in our spare time too. But we can’t, for the sake of my relationships, we have to know our place. There are limits. Social Psychology Conclusion I know it’s extremely rare for me to write psychology podcast episodes for me and based on my experience. Even though my assault episode came out of that and I did a bunch last August and September. Anyway, in the grand scheme of things, it is rare for me to feel the need to write an episode to help me. However, I hate feeling powerless to help friends and loved ones. My natural tendency is to do all I can to help people because I care about people and I hate, truly hate seeing people in emotional pain. Nonetheless, this podcast episode has been helpful to me because it’s shown me how listening without trying to fix it, expressing empathy and encouragement, find them resources and keeping it healthy is critical to feeling less powerless in this situation. We’re all going to make mistakes at times and we’re all going to overstep a little when a friend or loved one is in distress. But if you remember the lessons in this episode then you’ll feel more powerful, more helpful and ultimately better about your life and what your friend is going through. You can’t help your friend or loved one if you drain and wreck yourself worrying about them. Remember boundaries and remember the four lessons in this episode and it will be okay in the end. However long it takes, it will be okay. This too shall pass. I really hope you enjoyed today’s social psychology podcast episode. If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Social Psychology A Guide to Social And Cultural Psychology. Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Patreon for exclusive access and rewards Have a great day. Social Psychology References and Recommended Reading https://www.verywellmind.com/things-to-do-if-you-feel-helpless-5093315 https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/how-to-help-a-depressed-friend https://psychcentral.com/blog/5-ways-to-reduce-helplessness#1 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.

A lot of clinical psychology focuses on individual psychotherapy because this is what the majority of the profession gets involved with. As well as a lot of university courses, textbooks and resources focus on individual therapy, but a lot of aspiring clinical psychologists don’t always know about group therapy in any great depth. In this clinical psychology podcast episode, we change that by learning what are the types of group therapy and more. If you’re interested in learning about clinical psychology, therapy and psychological interventions then you’re going to enjoy this episode for sure. Today’s psychology podcast episode is 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 Is Group Therapy? The main difference between individual therapy and group therapy is that group therapy offers clients things that individual therapy cannot. For example, group therapy offers clients a chance to meet others experiencing the same or similar difficulties as them and it introduces them to different people at different stages of their recovery. This can be extremely useful to clients just starting their own recovery so you can immediately see what group therapy can accomplish because you can see the people who have had positive treatment outcomes. Personally, the reason why I’m focusing on this topic at this moment in time is because I’ve been thinking a lot about survivors, group settings and the benefit I might get from engaging in a assault survivor community and talking to other survivors. I know I am not there yet but this personal tragedy did spark my interest in actually looking into group therapy and trying to understand it a little more. Especially because I know Assistant Psychologists tend to get heavily involved in group therapy work but at university, no one really talks about group therapy. I want to help people learn about it so they aren’t in the dark about this useful and important area of psychotherapy. What Are The Three Types of Group Therapy? What Is Psychoeducational Group Therapy? Whenever I think about group therapy, Psychoeducational Group Therapy never makes it onto my list because I thought this was a major part of all therapies, and it is to some extent. Since the purpose of psychoeducational group therapy is to teach clients about their mental health condition and help them to learn coping skills. These conditions can include anger management, depression, anxiety or bipolar disorder. In this type of group therapy, clients tend to meet once a week for one or two hours. Then in these sessions, a therapist helps clients to learn the skills they need to manage or overcome whatever difficulty that they’re facing. As well as the therapist might give them homework or reading to help the clients further understand their progress in-between sessions. Finally, typically Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is used in psychoeducational group therapy because this therapy module helps clients to identify, challenge as well as change any biased cognitive processes that they have. Also, CBT is very action- and present-orientated so clients can come away from this therapy type with the tools and knowledge to help them recover. Personally, as much as the idea about CBT is “only present” focus is a myth because CBT can focus to a limited extent on the past if needed. I can understand why CBT is used in group settings because it’s easy to follow and cost-effective so you can treat a range of clients at once. The former NHS commissioning officer I spoke to would be so proud of me for that comment. On the whole, psychoeducational group therapy is about teaching clients about their condition and any coping skills they need to deal with whatever they face. What Is Support Group Therapy? Whenever we think of group therapy, this is certainly the one that pops into mind because we see this constantly on TV, movies and in books. This is typically shown as Alcoholics, Gambling or Narcotics Anonymous and I can certainly say that some shows do it better than others. I’ve only ever read academic sources on these groups but when you compare these sources to TV shows, some of the TV shows are seriously lacking in their accuracy. Anyway, the entire point of Support Group Therapy is that a client is with other people that are like themselves. This allows the clients to talk about why they joined the group, what their current struggles are and what they hope to get out of the group also known as their goals. The main aim of Support Group Therapy is for clients to encourage each other to move forward in their recovery. Therefore, clients offer each other words of motivation, compassion and they share stories with each other. As well as within the support group, clients can meet others who are further along in their recovery and this can be a powerful sense of hope for the future. In addition, support groups allow clients to see first-hand how group therapy helps others because group members tend to drop in and out and clients can find themselves in a new group of people from one session to the next. Now the interesting thing about support group therapy compared to other types of therapy is that you can join it at any time. You don’t need to wait for the current group to finish their course of therapy before the group allows a new intake to join. Due to it is the group leader that kicks off the session and keeps the meeting going forward but the leader doesn’t encourage or teach extensive interactions between members, partly because these group leaders aren’t mental health professionals normally. Nor are they typically licensed. In my opinion, I do like the idea of support groups because I’ve read the research on their effectiveness for gamblers, alcoholics, victims and more. I know they’re important and I know they can be effective if you find a good one and if you put the work in. In my current situation, I’m still playing with the idea of joining a sexual assault support group because part of me wants to hear stories, I want to know I’m not alone and I want to have that sense of other-people have been through it and have thrived in some small way. I know I’m not there yet because this week I tried reading some survivor stories online and that went so, so wrong for me. That was a mistake, but maybe this support group idea is something for the future. Just because a client isn’t a good fit for something now, doesn’t mean they won’t be in the future. What Is Process/ Working Group Therapy? This is another type of group therapy I’ve never heard of before this podcast episode, and in Working Group Therapy, the clients aren’t there to offer each other sympathy and support and they aren’t there to learn more about their condition. Instead this type of group therapy focuses on interpersonal processes so each client encourages each other to self-explore. Then the clients challenge each other and discuss their difficulty in a back-and-forth manner. In addition, these sessions are normally led by a licensed mental health professional but they are mainly there to facilitate the discussion instead of offering wisdom. As well as these conversations can flow naturally from topic to topic so clients can jump in at any time or just sit and listen. Also, clients can offer each other advice, compassion, personal experiences and most importantly they can learn from one another. And it is that idea of learning from others that I love. I love the idea that someone who is struggling with a mental health condition can learn from other people that have been through the same or very similar experiences to them. Since I’ve been in individual therapy before and I love it, I support it and therapy works. Yet I always feel that minor disconnect in terms of experiences because sometimes I think it would be nice to hear from someone who has been through a similar thing to me. Instead of a therapist who has only an academic knowledge of what I’ve been through, and experiences they’ve been told from other clients in the past. Of course, I acknowledge that is a brilliant way to do therapy. Since it allows a client to unlock and realise the answers for themselves instead of relying on someone else to effectively spoon-feed them the answers, but it’s an interesting and fun idea. Hearing from someone else. Clinical Psychology Conclusion Overall, whether a client is dealing with anxiety, anger, depression or another mental health condition, they might benefit from spending time with people who have experienced the same as them. Group therapy might help them feel less alone and abandoned. It gives a client a chance to find strength, inspiration and comfort in addition to learning new skills, develop new connections and receive guidance. And individual psychotherapy is still brilliant because it works, it’s useful and it changes lives for the better. But there is one thing individual therapy will never ever be able to accomplish like group therapy and it is important, it is critical and it can be life-changing. Group therapy teaches you, you are never alone in your experiences. And that is a wonderfully powerful thing to realise. I really hope you enjoyed today’s forensic psychology podcast episode. If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET 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 Recommended Reading Evidence on the effectiveness of group therapy. (n.d.).https://www.agpa.org/home/practice-resources/evidence-based-group-practice Faridhosseini F, et al. (2017). Effectiveness of psychoeducational group training on quality of life and recurrence of patients with bipolar disorder. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5425348/ https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/epidemiology-and-psychiatric-sciences/article/future-of-mental-health-care-peertopeer-support-and-social-media/DC0FB362B67DF2A48D42D487ED07C783 https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/mindful-anger/202108/why-you-should-try-group-therapy https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-group-therapy-2795760#toc-effectiveness-of-group-therapy Psychotherapy: Understanding group therapy. (2019).https://www.apa.org/topics/psychotherapy/group-therapy Rønning SB, et al. (2019). The use of clinical role-play and reflection in learning therapeutic communication skills in mental health education: an integrative review.https://www.dovepress.com/the-use-of-clinical-role-play-and-reflection-in-learning-therapeutic-c-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-AMEP The science of kindness. (2019).https://www.cedars-sinai.org/blog/science-of-kindness.html Thimm JC, et al. (2014). Effectiveness of cognitive behavioral group therapy for depression in routine practice.https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-014-0292-x What is a certified group psychotherapist (CGP)? (n.d.).https://www.agpa.org/cgp-certification/ 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.

Research suggest that men get raped and sexually assaulted as often as women by both men and women. Yet male rape is a lot less reported because of societal factors, gender roles and a whole bunch of horrible myths that stop men from reporting rape and sexual assault. Also, it’s important to note that talking about male rape isn’t about stopping or taking the focus away from female rape, instead it’s actually about highlighting something that isn’t spoken about in society. All rape and sexual assault whether it’s against a man or woman is flat out wrong and it should never happen. Therefore, in this forensic psychology podcast episode, we’ll explore male rape and why an erection isn’t consent. If you like learning about forensic psychology, sexual crimes and why people do this crime then you’ll enjoy today’s episode. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Forensic Psychology. Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Why Am I Talking About Male Sexual Assault and Rape? Just as a little introduction to this episode and why I’m personally doing this, I wanted to be upfront and honest with you about my own personal position. So I’m a victim of sexual assault, it happened about three weeks ago and I cannot emphasise how distressing, awful and foul it was. I don’t wish it on anyone and whilst you won’t hear any major details about my assault in this episode, this did happen to me. As well as I will add in my personal thoughts like always in this episode to help it come alive. Since one of the awful things that happened after my assault was that I worked an Open Day at my university and I was talking to a lecturer that I always talk to. I really like her, she’s great and she studies forensic psychology. Even though I completely forgot her topic was sexual violence so she started talking about it and I just couldn’t listen not one week after what had happened. And the entire reason for this podcast episode was researching sexual assault and rape really did help me during that first intense, horrific week. It helped me to understand what had happened, this was common and it really wasn’t my fault. Therefore, even if I can help one person or inform a few people about male sexual assault then I would have done my job with today’s episode. Some Data On Male Sexual Assault Before we start talking about the content in any more depth, let’s look at some data, the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network found that 1 in 33 men have experienced a completed or attempted rape in their lifetime and 1 out of every 10 rape victims are male. And remember, these figures are out of the reported figures, so the real numbers could be a lot, lot higher. Furthermore, the US’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention have shown in research that men and women are equally likely to be sexually assaulted and victims of sexual violence. Yet sexual assault against men has been severely, severely underrecognized, undertreated and underreported. Finally, the National Crime Victimisation Survey shows that a lot of men report being sexually assaulted by women through forced penetration and coerced erections. Overall, I hope this goes to show that male sexual assault isn’t rare and it is a lot more common than any of us realise. Male Sexual Assault And Rape Whilst it is very rare that male sexual assault is reported in a given year, it is true that men are victims of sexual harassment, rape and molestation on a daily basis. Also, whilst it’s tempting to think that male sexual assault is only committed by other men, in reality, it is actually an even spilt with female and male rapists. As a result of male rape by women is a lot more common than we will ever see in the Criminal Justice System and the news as well as social media. Part of this underreport is shame and the stigma of a man “not being manly enough” because of the stupid idea that “only weak men get raped”. Yet another reason is that when women rape men, they generally get the man to have an erection and even ejaculation so this confuses and paralyses the man. Mainly because society teaches us that if a man gets an erection then they enjoy it and that isn’t rape. I actually remember one of my schoolfriends saying this back in my secondary school years and back then I sort of knew that wasn’t 100% right, but I had no idea how flat out wrong it was until three weeks ago. Also, on the underreporting, why I didn’t report it was because I was embarrassed, I felt dirty, I felt so violated that I didn’t want many people to know. And I was scared to be honest. I was scared of getting hurt yet again, I was scared of the stigma and I was scared about what my friends and family would think. Of course, they loved me, supported me and they have been great since they found out. Then there is the legal issue too because I had cleaned my teeth when I got home and I had showered the next morning because I was in extreme denial. And it took me two days to admit I had been sexually assaulted and by that point there was no one DNA left on me. There were other reasons why a prosecution would have been difficult but that isn’t the focus of this episode. And I didn’t want to go through the whole legal process, but if someone listening does want to do this that is very important, critical and you should. If you want to press charges then you absolutely should. In addition, having an erection isn’t consent or a sign that the person is willing or ready to have sex because an erection and ejaculation are physiological responses that we cannot control. Also, these physiological responses can occur due to pain, anxiety, fear and sexual desire or excitement. Lastly, a final note on the underreporting, a lot of men don’t label themselves as sexual assault victims and they don’t call it what it is. Since typically when men learn that other men have been sexually assaulted they meet the disclosure with insensitivity and mockery. Personally, it took me two full days, my two good friends and a specialist at the university to help me realise and call my assault what it was. I was in such extreme denial that I refused to label myself as a victim of sexual assault because I knew how those people were viewed in society. Yet I am a victim and once I “accepted” or realised that, it got a little bit easier because I could talk to people, contact my therapist and start recovering. This podcast episode is part of that recovery because I want to help someone possibly. What About Male On Male Sexual Assault? A Brief Look So far in the episode, we’ve looked at what happens when women assault men, but let’s focus on male-on-male sexual assault. When a man is sexually assaulted by another man this carries another strand of stigma as the victim fears that other people might question their sexual preferences and their sexual orientation and there is a concern about they might be seen as “less manly” because of the assault. This is why I don’t understand gender roles and the whole idea that men have to behave a certain way. Male mental health would be so much better if these gender-based rules of behaviour weren’t around. Anyway, a lot of men don’t report male-on-male sexual assault because of the shame and humiliation or the perception of being weak for not fighting their attacker. That’s actually an interesting myth about sexual assault and rape that I learnt from the specialist at the university. Everyone thinks that when someone is raped or sexually assaulted, the victims screams, fights and tries to break free. But that is very, very rare. In reality, and this happened to me, you basically get so numb and cold and an emotion that I lately realised was fear, that you don’t want it to happen, you say stop but when the attacker keeps grabbing you and carrying on. You get it over with so you can escape and run like hell after towards. Since my fear was my attacker was a lot larger than me unfortunately, so I was scared if I tried to fight back he would grab me, hurt me and the situation would be even worse. That is why people rarely fight back. It doesn’t make them weak or stupid and it doesn’t make what happened to them any less traumatic. It just makes them a survivor. Myths That Contribute To The Challenge Of Recognizing Male Sexual Assault Below are some myths in society that contribute to people not talking, recognising and treating male sexual assault as seriously as female sexual assault (And yes, I realise there is still a long, long way to go before female sexual assault treatment is perfect). ·       Men are only raped by other men. ·       Erections only happen when the man is excited. ·       Erections are a sign of consent. ·       Men always want sex no matter what. ·       Men can never have enough sex. ·       Men secretly like being sexually assaulted. ·       There is something wrong with a man if he doesn’t want sex. ·       Ejaculation is a sign of sexual enjoyment. ·       “Real men” don’t get sexually assaulted. ·       Men like to be in charge in the bedroom. All these myths are extremely harmful when it comes to recognising male sexual assault, but they don’t help the aftermath of the assault too. Since our culture views sexual violence against men as disenfranchised abuse and this means men don’t get the same emotional, legal or medical support as women do. Therefore, these myths about men only being sexual predators that have an extreme need for sex that is engrained in the mental health, public health, medical as well as Criminal Justice Systems, they only hurt men. Since having an erection and ejaculation makes people debate if it was actually assault or not, because people believe they had to be aroused and enjoying it for that to happen. I can personally protest that this isn’t the case. Sure, I was rock hard during my assault but I was never ever going to ejaculate and I was not enjoying it. I did not enjoy being grabbed and having a lot of different things done to me. Interestingly, as I’m an aspiring clinical psychologist, in psychotherapy, a therapist might question the validity of the rape claim by the male victim and they might not be very convinced of the traumatic effects of the incident. So the therapist’s behaviour and attitudes tend to leave male victims feeling undermined and delegitimatized. Another factor I want to add here is that after a sexual assault, it takes even more courage to reach out to a therapist than normal. Since I have a great relationship with my therapist and she is brilliant because I work well with her and she helped me with my child abuse trauma. Something that was slightly connected to my assault. Yet I didn’t want to contact her because I didn’t want to admit that my assault had happened. I only contacted her and had a brilliant session with her because a good friend basically ordered me to see her. Thankfully, it worked out well. Forensic Psychology Conclusion Before I wrap up the podcast episode with a little more information, I want to mention that I have really enjoyed this episode. It has been tough and at the moment, I’ve only written the episode out. I am a little nervous about saying this stuff because I think having to say the R-word and the A-word so many times will be hard. But I’m still proud of myself for doing this really hard episode, because I’m revealing to the general public what happened to me and some people won’t like what I’m saying because of the myths. Other people will thankfully support me and it’s those people that I will listen to and treasure. But ultimately, I’m doing this episode to help people. There might be another listener who has experienced an assault, rape or they might know someone who has been. I hope this episode shows these people that it’s okay, things do get better and it wasn’t their fault. This is a common experience and it flat out doesn’t make you a failure. Society and the myth spreaders, they are the failures. And for people who have never been a victim, I seriously hope that never changes, but I hope you now know the truth and you’ll actively challenge these myths when they pop up. Then if you work with clients and if this happens to a friend or loved one then you know more facts to help them. Just love them, support them and listen to them. Those are my biggest takes from my experience. Anyway, on the whole, we need to realise that when our systems don’t make victims feel like they’re taken seriously and they minimise the assault and don’t tend to take action. Then this continues the harm and suffering that male victims experience from the trauma of sexual violence. As a result, as a society, we need to stop this minimisation and break this stigma of male sexual assault because it isn’t helpful and it certainly isn’t right. A lot of this can be done by deconstructing traditional gender stereotypes because the main problem is that currently men aren’t allowed to demonstrate their feelings besides anger, and this isn’t good. Especially when people see pain and trauma responses as a degradation of manhood and this isn’t helpful to us achieving true feminism. In other words, true gender equality where men and women are true equals. Additionally, we need to continue to work on deconstructing traditional ideas about what it means to be a victim. Since it’s important to note that “force” isn’t always about physical strength and being overpowered. Rapists and predators typically groom, coerce and emotionally manipulate or threaten their targets into nonconsensual sex. Most importantly, this podcast episode and the entire point of advocating for male sexual assault victims isn’t about delegitimising or undermining violence against women. Instead I am highlighting that men can be victims too and the gender stereotype that women are helpless victims is another unhelpful and undeserved gender stereotype. In turn, this only reinforces silly ideas what about it means to be a man or woman and even more outrageous ideas that male victims are “failed” men. No victim of sexual violence is a failure. They are a victim that needs to be supported, helped and listened to. Overall, when it comes to male sexual violence (or women for that matter) using gender-sensitive approaches in our work is critical. We need to understand that societal norms and expectations will always impact men and women disproportionately, and this should never come at the cost of undermining boys and men that have been sexually abused. Instead we need to use inclusive approaches to our work that allow us to advocate and support victims regardless of their gender, so we can enable a culture shift to happen. Ultimately allowing us to have more conversations about healing, prevention and providing good care for victims whatever their gender is. I really hope you enjoyed today’s forensic psychology podcast episode. If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Forensic 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. Forensic Psychology References and Recommended Reading Bullock, C. M., & Beckson, M. (2011). Male victims of sexual assault: Phenomenology, psychology, physiology. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online, 39(2), 197-205. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Intimate Partner Violence, Sexual Violence, and Stalking Among Men. Davies, M. (2002). Male sexual assault victims: A selective review of the literature and implications for support services. Aggression and violent behavior, 7(3), 203-214. DiMarco, D., Mizzoni, J., & Savitz, R. (2022). On the sexual assault of men. Sexuality & Culture, 1-9. Fuchs, S. F. (2004). Male sexual assault: Issues of arousal and consent. Clev. St. L. Rev., 51, 93. Petreca, V. G., & Burgess, A. W. (2024). Long-Term Psychological and Physiological Effects of Male Sexual Trauma. The Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 52(1), 23-32. Rice, S. M., Easton, S. D., Seidler, Z. E., & Oliffe, J. L. (2022). Sexual abuse and mental ill health in boys and men: what we do and don't know. BJPsych open, 8(4), e110. Thomas, J. C., & Kopel, J. (2023). Male victims of sexual assault: a review of the literature. Behavioral Sciences, 13(4), 304. Widanaralalage, B. K., Hine, B. A., Murphy, A. D., & Murji, K. (2022). “I didn’t feel i was a victim”: a phenomenological analysis of the experiences of male-on-male survivors of rape and sexual abuse. Victims & Offenders, 17(8), 1147-1172. I truly hope that you’ve enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/connorwhiteley for a one-time bit of support.

Whilst I don’t think I would ever engage in Friends With Benefits, because these sort of friendships and relationships just aren’t for me. I am really interested in learning more about them and understanding who they do and don’t work for. Therefore, in this social psychology podcast episode, you’ll learn what are the pros and cons of Friends With Benefits and if you did want to engage in this type of relationship, what are some research-based tips for making it work. Of course nothing on this podcast is ever any sort of official advice. Yet if you enjoy learning about relationships, casual sex and more then you’re in for a treat. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Psychology Of Relationships: The Social Psychology Of Friendships, Romantic Relationships 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. Introduction To Friends With Benefits Something I find really interesting is that despite levels of sexual intimacy being at a 30-year low, casual sex is rather common and over 50% of young people between 18 and 29 years old have reported at least one causal sex experience (Lambert et al., 2003; Hawkins et al., 2023). I think that’s rather interesting because it shows that whilst overall sexual activity is decreasing, people still want casual sex no matter what. Furthermore, causal sexual encounters are not all good and all bad, so they certainly aren’t created equal. Since some examples of casual sexual encounters can include hook-ups or Friends With Benefits and everything in between. It’s the experience of Friends With Benefits that is the focus of this episode. And in case you don’t know what Friends With Benefits are, Lewis et al. (2012) defines Friends With Benefits as regular sex between people that tend to know each other well as well as they have an emotional connection. The first con or disadvantage of Friends With Benefits is that people who tend to fall in love easily need to be very cautious. Yet some other disadvantages are that Friends With Benefits don’t tend to be suitable for people who want a committed relationship or have challenging attachment histories since this sort of relationship really will not work for these people. And I just want to jump in here and say that it doesn’t make you a bad person or a strange or odd one if Friends With Benefits isn’t right for you. I know in certain subcultures Friends With Benefits is something that is relatively normal, and actually in wider society, there are tons of people that have Friends With Benefits. I know plenty of straight people who love and only have Friends With Benefits, and the same goes for gay people. So that’s a little myth I wanted to burst straight away. It doesn’t matter what your sexuality is, your background or what your friends are doing. Friends With Benefits are really common but if they aren’t right for you then that’s okay. The worst thing you could do is invest in a Friends With Benefits relationship, realise you don’t like it and get seriously hurt emotionally by the experience. In addition, Friends With Benefits is a mixture of real emotional connection between the partners, good sex and sexual attraction. So in that respect Friends With Benefits and romantic relationships aren’t actually that different. Instead the only aspect that truly separates these two types of relationships is the idea that a romantic relationship involves a future for the couple and the perceived demands of a budding committed relationship. What Are The Cons Of Friends With Benefits? On the whole, there are some additional clear cons and disadvantages of Friends With Benefits because if someone develops a romantic attachment to their friend then this could end up in losing a good friendship, heartbreak is another one and for some people this could be a waste of time that could have been better spent on intentional dating. Personally, this is why I could never really do Friends With Benefits because I want something real, committed and something that does involve a future. I don’t want a friendship just to have sex and I do love that idea of building a future and relationship with someone. I want someone that can make me laugh, I can do things with like travelling and I can be with them for the long term. I don’t actually care about sex or physical stuff too much, but I am probably only saying that because of something bad that happened to me recently. Anyway, Friends With Benefits just isn’t for me. And I’m sharing that because I do feel that in wider society there is a pressure on young people to just have sex, do adult things and do them regularly. So I want you to know that if you don’t want this then that’s okay. The Losing A Friend Potential of Friends With Benefits I mentioned a moment ago that sometimes someone in the casual sex relationship can develop romantic feelings for the other one and this can be a problem. And whilst there is no good way to stop this from happening, if this does happen then this can lead to a breakdown in the friendship even more so if these feelings aren’t shared by the other person. Thankfully, research from the University of Louisville suggests this isn’t a death sentence for the friendship because 80% of participants who had ended their Friends With Benefits relationship were still friends. In addition, a lot of Friends With Benefits don’t last very long with Machia et al. (2020) finding that 60% of people in these relationships just went back to being friends after having sex only one time. As well as most Friends With Benefits relationships never progress into romantic relationships and end before that, with 75% to 85% of relationships going back to platonic friends or not being friends at all after they stop seeing each other. Which I have to admit is brilliant news and I think that will relax a lot of people who want to try Friends With Benefits but they’re scared that this might happen. I’ll talk in a little bit about how to possibly avoid losing friends. What Are The Pros of Friends With Benefits? Interestingly enough, there has been a lot of academic research over the years on Friends With Benefits and its advantages. Even though it has mainly been focused on emerging adults, it’s important to note that Friends With Benefits does happen in adulthood including for people who are single parents and divorcees (Vanderheiden, 2021). In addition, the reason for why single parents and divorcees engage in Friends With Benefits behaviour could be because if you really think about it, both these older age groups and emerging adults share some behaviours. Due to all those groups are sharing different types of major life transitions, so despite their personality and developmental differences, there are some similarities. Our first benefit of Friends With Benefits is that emerging adults who have had sex with a friend at least once has said it was a positive experience regardless of their gender (Gusarova et al., 2012). Also, there is some evidence of gender differences in the perception of casual sex because men are more likely to perceive it as more positive because they are more likely to experience an orgasm according to Piemonte et al. (2019). A second lot of advantages to Friends With Benefits includes it can lead to greater feelings of sexual agency, confidence and satisfaction in a relationship that is typically experienced as more psychological safe (Owen et al., 2013; Hawkins et al., 2023). As well as the quality of the sexual experience tends to increase with a person’s sense of familiarity and safety with the person. Personally, even though I’m flat out not going to go into the details because I am warming myself up to do a podcast episode on the topic because I need to burst some myths and talk about it so it can help people. I want to stress here that having a sexual encounter with someone who you don’t feel comfortable and safe with (even more so because of what they’ve done) is an awful experience and I don’t wish it on anyone. So I can understand how the quality of sexual experience can increase with a person’s sense of safety as well as familiarity. Building upon this further, safe sexual practices are critical and in contrast to popular belief they are more consistent in Friends With Benefits relationships. Therefore, this reduces the most common risks of casual sex, like getting a Sexually Transmitted Infection and unplanned pregnancies. Also, one benefit I do like about the idea of Friends With Benefits is that the sex is a lot more convenient. Since there is basically no effort unlike in a more serious romantic relationship and Friends With Benefits reduces the risk of sex with strangers. What Should You Consider If You Want To Explore Friends With Benefits? This is the section of the podcast episode that I was really interested in for my own curiosity because I have no intention of ever doing this but I am interested in the concept at the very least. As a result if you’re thinking about starting a Friends With Benefits relationship with, well, a friend you should consider these three things. Firstly, you need to know yourself and be transparent because less than 25% of Friends With Benefits relationships turn into romantic ones. So if you want to start a Friends With Benefits relationship hoping that it’s going to turn into a romantic one and you want to fall in love with your friend and you want them to fall in love with you, then you need to communicate that. Also, if you’re dating and want to pursue another person then let you know this so your Friends With Benefits relationship doesn’t degrade into a “situationship”. Now because I am somewhat cut off from the dating world and all of its wonderful lingo, I will just clarify here for the uninformed that a situationship is a romantic or sexual relationship that hasn’t been formalised yet. Personally, this is another reason why I couldn’t do Friends With Benefits because sure, I am still a young person and I want sexual and romantic things so there are friends I would love to have this relationship with. Yet I know I don’t want Friends With Benefits with them, I want a real romantic relationship with them. So that’s one reason why this wouldn’t be a good fit for me because I would be in a relationship that would never be what I wanted it to be and that wouldn’t be good emotionally over time. Secondly, you need to set clear boundaries from the start of your Friends With Benefits relationship. Since if you are sexually attracted to your friend and you broach the subject with them then you need to talk about what you do and don’t want from this relationship. This is going to save you a lot of stress later on because this will allow you to create shared meaning and informed consent before getting sexually involved with each other. Finally, nurture your friendship because the sex should hopefully be very exciting and really, really good. But you need to make sure you don’t forget to do what you enjoyed doing before you started being Friends With Benefits. Therefore,, you might want to spend some time together with shared friends, do something just the two of you that you both like and keep each other updated on your life. In other words, when you become Friends With Benefits, don’t forget that you’re actually friends too and actually friends first. So you need to keep the friendship alive, fun and kicking. Social Psychology Conclusion Overall, when it comes to Friends With Benefits, having casual sex with a great, trusted friend isn’t going to work for some people then for others, it could be amazing. Of course, I would add that if you’re a new adult, a single parent or a divorcee then these are times in your life that could be rich opportunities to have sex and explore. However, you have to do what is best for you because I don’t want you to get hurt physically or emotionally by Friends With Benefits relationships. You need to have a consensual sexual relationship with someone who you like, someone who likes you back and someone that will respect you. And having sex with a trusted friend might be a great way to do that because it might be pleasurable and wonderful. After this podcast episode, would I ever consider being in a Friends With Benefits relationship? I would consider it and think about it. But I know myself well enough not to do this in real life because I can have attachment issues, I’m not actually into sex that much and honestly, the people I would flat out love to have Friends With Benefits relationships with, are actually the people I want long-term committed relationships with. So no this wouldn’t be a good idea personally. However, you might be different and if you are then more power to you and I truly wish you the best of luck because I’ve heard from some friends over the years that they are amazing. And come to think of it one of my old friends did get his boyfriend from a Friends With Benefits relationship and they are the best couple ever and their relationship had less than a 25% chance of developing. So it’s possible. Just do what is right for you and have fun, because that really is the key to life. I really hope you enjoyed today’s social psychology podcast episode. If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Psychology Of Relationships: The Social Psychology Of Friendships, Romantic Relationships 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. Social Psychology References and Recommended Reading Gusarova, I., Fraser, V., & Alderson, K. G. (2012). A quantitative study of ‘‘friends with benefits’’ relationships. The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 21, 41–59. Hawkins, S.E., DeLuca, H.K., Claxton, S.E. et al. (2023). Sexual Behaviors, Satisfaction, and Intentions to Engage in Casual Sexual Relationships and Experiences in Emerging Adulthood. Archive of Sexual Behavior, 52, 1575–1591. Henderson, E., Aaron, S., Blackhurst, Z., Maddock, M., Fincham, F., & Braithwaite, S. R. (2020). Is pornography consumption related to risky behaviors during friends with benefits relationships?. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 17(12), 2446-2455. Lambert, T. A., Kahn, A. S., & Apple, K. J. (2003). Pluralistic ignorance and hooking up. Journal of Sex Research, 40, 129–133. Letcher, A., Carmona, J., Ramsay-Seaner, K., & Scott Hoffman, M. (2021). Motivations, Expectations, Ideal Outcomes, and Satisfaction in Friends With Benefits Relationships Among Rural Youth. Journal of Counseling Sexology & Sexual Wellness: Research, Practice, and Education, 3(2), 58-69. Machia, L.V., Proulx, M.L., Loerger, M., & Lehmiller, J.J. (2020). A longitudinal study of friends with benefits relationships. Personal Relationships, 27, 1, 47-60. Olmstead, S. B. (2020). A decade review of sex and partnering in adolescence and young adulthood. Journal of Marriage and Family, 82(2), 769-795. Owen, J., Fincham, F. D., & Manthos, M. (2013). Friendship after a friends with benefits relationship: Deception, psychological functioning, and social connectedness. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 42, 1443–1449. Piemonte, J.L., Conley, T.D., & Gusakova, S. (2019). Orgasm, gender, and responses to heterosexual casual sex. Personality and Individual Differences, 151, 109487. Stewart, R. S. (2020). Sexual Friendships: How Ought We Think about and Classify Friends with Benefits?. In Expanding and Restricting the Erotic (pp. 11-33). Brill. Vanderheiden, E. (2021). “Have a Friend with Benefits, Whom off and on I See.” Friends with Benefits Relationships. In International Handbook of Love: Transcultural and Transdisciplinary Perspectives (pp. 155-175). Cham: Springer International Publishing. Wade, L. (2021). Doing casual sex: A sexual fields approach to the emotional force of hookup culture. Social Problems, 68(1), 185-201. 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.

Psychological theory can be applied to real-world problems using Applied Psychology and this is the focus of today’s episode. Today we’re going to be looking at misinformation and conspiracy theories by looking at the social psychology theories helping to explain why people believe in this stuff. If you enjoy learning about social psychology, applied psychology and conspiracy theories then you’re going to be in for a treat. This social psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Applied Psychology: Applying Social Psychology, Cognitive Psychology and More To The Real World. Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Why Do People Believe In Misinformation And Conspiracy Theories? Extract From Applied Psychology COPYRIGHT 2024 Connor Whiteley Now for the rest of the chapter, we’re going to move onto the truly fascinating stuff that I just find so interesting, because we’re going to be looking at the psychological and social factors between these beliefs and the models designed to explain misinformation and conspiracy theories. This is going to be great. Psychological and Emotional Factors The first main factor behind belief in conspiracy theories and misinformation is the Illusory truth effect, and this is a very interesting effect that occurs because when information is familiar, repeated and consistent with a person’s previous cognitions then they often give it the value of true, even when this information is false (Pantazi et al. 2018; De keersmaecker et al., 2020). In other words, if the false information is familiar, repeated and consistent with their beliefs then they believe it. Secondly, the confirmation bias, selective exposure and motivated reasoning all play a role in a person believing in false information. Since people are motivated to get exposed to as well as accept information that aligns with their prior beliefs. Then people develop arguments and justifications to support this information and guarantee cognitive consistency as well (Lazer et al., 2018). This does make sense because no one likes to be proved wrong or being exposed to information they flat out disagree with because this can be uncomfortable and cause some distress. Hence, the easiest way to avoid these uncomfortable feelings is to seek out only information that confirms your beliefs. Regardless of whether the information is true or not. Also, this is where echo chambers come into play. Something we look at later on in the chapter. Thirdly, intuitive vs. deliberative thinking plays a strong role in conspiracy theories and misinformation. Since when a person uses intuition this makes them vulnerable to accepting misinformation and conspiracy theories, while deliberation protects them from accepting it (Bago et al., 2020; Swami et al., 2014; van Prooijen et al., 2020). For example, if I told you the sky was actually white or if I told you drinking cow's milk makes you sick and you just listened to your gut or intuition. There’s a chance that you would believe me. But if you stepped back and thought through it properly then you realise that I was wrong on both accounts (unless you’re lactose-intolerant of course). Although, the fascinating thing is that deliberate thinking isn’t only a protective factor, it too can make a person vulnerable to misinformation. Due to if a piece of misinformation matches your beliefs then deliberative thinking might contribute to the justification of false beliefs. It's a fine balancing act for sure. Finally for the psychological and emotional factors, emotional versus rational processing impacts whether or not someone believes in conspiracy theories and misinformation. Due to fake news and conspiracy theories are always designed to trigger negative emotions, like fear, anxiety and moral outrage. Then these negative emotions attract people’s attention making them vulnerable to being persuaded by this fake information (Vosoughi et al., 2018; Crockett, 2017; Liekefett et al., 2022). A classic example of this in the real-world, at least in the UK, is all the fake news pumped out about migrants and how the media is making people believe that migrants are only here illegally to steal English jobs, commit crimes, rape women and live off our benefit system. That’s all fake news. Since if you look into the numbers, attitudes and more of refugees and migrants then according to the UK Government in 2022 between 75% to 84% of them have a legal right to be here, they want to work and they want to contribute to the UK economy. But I know the power of misinformation is strong so I’ll stop there. Sociopsychological Factors Moreover, there are sociopsychological factors at play here too. For instance, misperception of the source of information can lead to a person becoming influenced and believing in misinformation and conspiracy theories. Since similar to the Sleeper Effect in persuasion psychology, a person could misperceive the source of the misinformation as coming from a respected source so they listen to it when it actually came from a bad source. Another sociopsychological factor is people are more likely to believe in misinformation and the misinformation is more likely to be persuasive when the source is attractive, powerful and similar to the listener. (Briñol & Petty, 2009). As well as people have a tendency to disregard quality cues of the source of the information. (Dias et al., 2020). In other words, if the misinformation sounds good, matches their beliefs or plays into one of the other factors discussed in the chapter then people aren’t too bothered if the source is known for its quality or not. Moreover, as social identity is a major factor in social psychology, research has also shown that social identity plays a role in conspiracy theories and misinformation. Especially because people are more willing to accept information from in-group members than from out-group members (Mackie et al., 1990). Another way of putting it is that if your in-group starts spreading and saying misinformation and your outgroup shares truthful information then you’re more likely to believe your in-group. Finally for this section, false consensus is important to take note of because this is the perception of consensus (regardless of this being true or false) is a cue of a claim’s trustworthiness. Therefore, people might trust widespread misinformation and they also overestimate how much their beliefs overlap with other people’s beliefs (Yousif et al., 2019). I know that last one was a bit confusing so let me explain it another way. Let’s use a real example, if someone spreads misinformation about humanity never visiting the moon (which we have) and 3% of a country believed in the theory. Then that isn’t a very strong consensus so there isn’t much point believing in it, because surely if the misinformation was correct then more people would believe in it. Yet if 60% of a population believed we never went to the moon. Then there is a strong consensus and it would get a person thinking, because surely if that many people believe it then it has to be true, doesn’t it? And maybe as an outsider or someone who doesn’t believe in it, I should change and modify my beliefs so my beliefs align with this piece of misinformation more. That’s a better way to explain false consensus. Motivational Needs-based Model of Conspiracy Beliefs The main model that looks to accurately explain believe in conspiracy theories was proposed by Douglas and Sutton (2023) and Douglas et al. (2017) and it investigates how people are motivated to believe in this false information and theories in three domains. Firstly, the model proposes that people have epistemic motives and this relates to how people need to achieve knowledge and reduce uncertainty in their lives. As a result, they give higher agency to certain stories, use pattern perception, search for meaning and engage in conjunction fallacy and illusory correlations in an effort to reduce their uncertainty about the world, even if it means believing in conspiracy theories. To use an example, everyone wants to believe they have unique knowledge and they’re certain they know how the world works and everyone wants to believe the world is stable and predictable. So when terrorists smash two planes into the twin towers that destroys the lie that the world is a predictable place creating uncertainty and certain groups of people would feel more uncertain than others, and some people would want to find out the “truth” about what happened. Then they stumble across conspiracy theories that help to give them the knowledge and certainty about themselves, others and the world that they so desperately crave. That’s an example of how a person could fall into believing a conspiracy theory. Secondly, the model proposes people have existential motives related to their need to feel safe and in control. As well as if these needs aren’t met them the consequence is people develop an anxious attachment style and they feel anxious, powerlessness, and lack of control. Therefore, like the example two paragraphs above, conspiracy theories can help people to feel safe and in control. Finally, the model proposes people have social motives that are fulfilled by conspiracy theories, and these motives are all about a person’s need to maintain their own positive self-image and their group image. As well as this connects to other Social Psychology topics like low self-esteem, collective and individual narcissism, a person’s need for uniqueness and intergroup threat. The Caveat: Nonetheless, I have to admit that the problem with this model is that it is very theoretical and I, personally, can see how conspiracy theories fulfil each of these needs. Yet we still don’t know if conspiracy theories actually satisfy these needs. According to the research, there is evidence that existential motives leads to conspiracy theories but they lead to increased aggression, anxiety and more. This is really evidence that conspiracy theories fulfil these needs. More research has to be done on this topic. The Context Earlier in the chapter I mentioned things like echo chambers and more, and these are critical to the spreading of misinformation and conspiracy theories, so that’s why we’re going to look at them now. One way to think about this last section is that we’ve looked at why misinformation and conspiracy theories are believed in and spread, but now we’ll look at the how? Consequently, as we know, unless we’ve been living under a rock, online media is a massive player in spreading misinformation since online media propagates misinformation and this is why it’s important to look at. Due to when it comes to the propagation of misinformation, it’s a very sad finding that misinformation spreads faster than true, valid information, at least on Twitter according to Vosoughi et al. (2018). Also, on social media, it’s basically impossible to track information back to its original source so a person cannot assess the author’s credibility or trustworthiness very easily. This only makes it easier to believe in misinformation. Furthermore, online media does increase the likelihood of people engaging in confirmation bias, selective exposure, motivated reasoning and illusory truth bias. As well as online media creates an environment for people focused on social validation. This potentially stirs up misperceptions, misbeliefs and false consensus within groups of like-minded individuals. Also if you want something very interesting to think about definitely read Into the Rabbit Hole by Sutton and Douglas (2022) and Lewandowsky & van der Linden (2021). In addition, echo chambers play an interesting role in conspiracy theories because everyone self-selects themselves into homogenous groups with like-minded people who share similar news, attitudes and beliefs. And I think if we take a step back then this is true for the vast, vast majority of us. Since my social groups are basically exclusively made up of psychology people (mostly students), professional fiction writers and people who have the same political beliefs as me. This is great for us most of the time because it prevents arguments, makes us feel part of a group and more, but if that group believes in conspiracy theories and only talks about them positively then this is a problem. Since the group would refuse to seek out disconfirming evidence and any sort of proof against their theory. Making this an echo chamber. Moreover, if we focus on social media for a moment then from the 1st August to 31st December 2016, there were over 2.4 million French users on Twitter according to Gaumont et al. (2018) and that’s just French users and there were 1.4 million users on Facebook at the same time. That’s a lot of people in one potential space to be exposed to misinformation and conspiracy theories, so someone tested this idea. Here comes Brugnoli et al. (2019) who investigated people’s preference on social media between science content versus conspiracy content, and the results are hardly surprising. The conspiracy content was more popular, and this was made even worse by filter bubbles. Since the social media algorithms themselves filter information people see based on individual preferences and past behaviour. In other words, if people like conspiracy content then they will see more conspiracy content and they won’t be shown true, validated content. Which is a massive danger and shame. I really hope you enjoyed today’s social 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. Applied Psychology Reference Whiteley, C. (2023) Applied Psychology: Applying Social Psychology, Cognitive Psychology and More To The Real World. 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.

Besides from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, the other form of psychotherapy that I have heard tons about is interpersonal psychotherapy. Personally, from what I have actually learnt about the therapy during my lectures, I prefer CBT to Interpersonal, but now I want to learn more. Therefore, in this clinical psychology podcast episode, you’ll learn what is interpersonal psychotherapy, how does it work amongst other fascinating topics. If you enjoy learning about psychotherapy, clinical psychology and mental health then this is a great episode for you. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Psychology Of Relationships: The Social Psychology Of Friendships, Romantic Relationships 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. What Is Interpersonal Psychotherapy? Interpersonal Psychotherapy is a focused, time-limited and evidence-based form of psychological therapy that is specifically designed to treat mood disorders. For example, depression and bipolar disorder. Since the main goal of this therapy is to improve the quality of a client’s social functioning as well as their interpersonal relationships because this helps to reduce their psychological distress. In addition, Interpersonal Psychotherapy uses four main strategies to help a client resolve their mental health difficulties. Firstly, Interpersonal Psychotherapy helps a client to manage any unresolved grief they have. Secondly, Interpersonal Psychotherapy addresses any interpersonal deficit a client has, like their involvement in unfulfilling social relationships and social isolation. Thirdly, this therapy can be useful for helping a client deal with a tough life transition like a major move, divorce or retirement. Finally, Interpersonal Psychotherapy is generally recommended for clients dealing with interpersonal disputes that come from conflicting expectations. For example, the expectations from family members, partners, close friends as well as coworkers. How Does Interpersonal Psychotherapy Work? The therapy was developed over 20 years ago as a treatment option for Major Depression and in recent years, the therapy has gained popularity. Since therapists that use Interpersonal Psychotherapy believe that a change in a client’s social environment is a key factor in the onset of depression as well as a maintaining factor. Furthermore, whilst the therapy was originally designed for adults, it has been modified so it can be effectively used for elderly and adolescent clients too. Also, the therapy first appeared in the literature as part of a study looking at the effectiveness of anti-depressants and it was found to be just as effective as medication. Personally, I really like that Interpersonal Psychotherapy acknowledges the “triggering event” in all but name when it comes to depression. Since I know and fully acknowledge that the Diathesis-Stress model is not perfect at all, but I like the model because it’s useful for explaining how a stressful life event can trigger depression. Interpersonal Psychotherapy takes that explanation to a practical level. In addition, Interpersonal Psychotherapy doesn’t really focus on past relationships or the past in general, compared to other psychodynamic approaches. Instead Interpersonal Psychotherapy draws on internal conflicts without making them the focus of the therapy. So there are some similarities between Interpersonal Psychotherapy and psychodynamic approaches but it is more of an off-shoot of that old approach rather than a sibling therapy. Equally, Interpersonal Psychotherapy is different from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and similar approaches because whilst Interpersonal Psychotherapy does focus and deal with maladaptive behaviours and thoughts, it only does this if the maladaptive behaviours and thoughts apply to interpersonal relationships. As a result of Interpersonal Psychotherapy is trying to change the client’s relationship patterns instead of the associated depressive symptoms and it targets the relationship difficulties that end up making these depressive symptoms more severe and common. Overall, Interpersonal Psychotherapy is less directive than cognitive behavioural therapy because whilst the therapy focuses on the client’s specific problem areas without focusing on their personality traits. Personally, something I do like about Interpersonal Psychotherapy is that it takes the “best” pieces from two completely different approaches to mental health and it combines them rather seamlessly. Therefore, clients can benefit from the insights gained from the internal conflicts idea from psychodynamic approaches and the targeting of maladaptive behaviours and thoughts from cognitive behavioural approaches without having to pull along and deal with the other facets of the two approaches. I like how this therapy knows it has to deal with interpersonal relationships and that is all it does. I almost admire that sort of focus. What Can A Client Expect From Interpersonal Psychotherapy? Similar to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Interpersonal Psychotherapy can be done as part of individual or group therapy sessions over 12 to 16 weeks. As well as this therapy makes use of homework, interviews and continuous assessment by the therapist being done over a number of phases. Before I talk about the different phases, group and individual sessions of Interpersonal Psychotherapy work in similar ways. Since group sessions are semi-structured, time-limited and they focus on interpersonal dynamics. Whereas unlike the individual sessions, group therapy sessions offer clients more opportunities to practice their interpersonal skills in a safe and supportive environment. As well as group sessions typically include pre-, mid- and post-treatment meetings individually with the therapist to review the client’s progress, goals and strategies. I have to admit that I don’t typically think too much about group session therapies, because I know they are useful but I haven’t really seen them as extremely useful compared to individual sessions. Yet I think group sessions are brilliant for Interpersonal Psychotherapy because the entire point of this therapy is to improve social skills, and you really can’t practice social skills to a large extent if it is only the client and the therapist. So it’s really good that group therapy sessions are used a lot in Interpersonal Psychotherapy if a client wants it. Moreover, the first phase of Interpersonal Psychotherapy typically involves one to three sessions where the therapist assesses the client’s depressive symptoms, close relationships, social history as well as any changes in relationship expectations or patterns. Afterwards, the therapist works with the client to implement a treatment plan specific to any “problem” areas that they’ve identified with the client. Then over time as the treatment continues and progresses, the targeted problem area will hopefully change. Furthermore, it’s good to be aware here that like most other psychotherapies, Interpersonal Psychotherapy changes as a client goes through it. Since a therapist’s recommended strategies might change as the client’s problem area improves. When Is Interpersonal Psychotherapy Used? As I mentioned earlier, Interpersonal Psychotherapy was originally developed as a treatment for depression but in the past few decades, it is being effectively used to treat a wide range of other mental health conditions. For example, drug and alcohol addiction, eating disorders, bipolar disorder, dysthymia, perinatal depression as well as other mood disorders. Clinical Psychology Conclusion At the end of this slightly shorter podcast episode, I have to admit that I am really glad that we’ve learnt about Interpersonal Psychotherapy because it is a very useful and interesting therapy targeting interpersonal skills and social functioning. And if a client has a mental health condition that is being maintained or caused by a lack of “good” interpersonal skills then this could be a great option for them. And I am still really pleased that it draws on different approaches to mental health, because I fully believe that no one approach holds all the answers and it is only by combining the best pieces of different approaches that we’ll be able to help our clients to the best of our abilities amongst the other attributes that makes an effective therapist but you get my point. Never think you need to be boxed into only using a single approach or therapy, because part the fun of psychotherapy is there are always more interesting, exciting, fascinating concepts and techniques to learn. 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 Psychology Of Relationships: The Social Psychology Of Friendships, Romantic Relationships 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 Recommended Reading Cuijpers, P., Donker, T., Weissman, M. M., Ravitz, P., & Cristea, I. A. (2016). Interpersonal psychotherapy for mental health problems: a comprehensive meta-analysis. American Journal of Psychiatry, 173(7), 680-687. Heisel, M. J., Talbot, N. L., King, D. A., Tu, X. M., & Duberstein, P. R. (2015). Adapting interpersonal psychotherapy for older adults at risk for suicide. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 23(1), 87-98. Huibers, M. J., Cohen, Z. D., Lemmens, L. H., Arntz, A., Peeters, F. P., Cuijpers, P., & DeRubeis, R. J. (2015). Predicting optimal outcomes in cognitive therapy or interpersonal psychotherapy for depressed individuals using the personalized advantage index approach. PloS one, 10(11), e0140771. Klerman, G. L., & Weissman, M. M. (1994). Interpersonal psychotherapy of depression: A brief, focused, specific strategy. Jason Aronson, Incorporated. Lemmens, L. H. J. M., Arntz, A., Peeters, F. P. M. L., Hollon, S. D., Roefs, A., & Huibers, M. J. H. (2015). Clinical effectiveness of cognitive therapy v. interpersonal psychotherapy for depression: results of a randomized controlled trial. Psychological Medicine, 45(10), 2095-2110. Lemmens, L. H., Galindo-Garre, F., Arntz, A., Peeters, F., Hollon, S. D., DeRubeis, R. J., & Huibers, M. J. (2017). Exploring mechanisms of change in cognitive therapy and interpersonal psychotherapy for adult depression. Behaviour research and therapy, 94, 81-92. Markowitz, J. C., Petkova, E., Neria, Y., Van Meter, P. E., Zhao, Y., Hembree, E., ... & Marshall, R. D. (2015). Is exposure necessary? A randomized clinical trial of interpersonal psychotherapy for PTSD. American Journal of Psychiatry, 172(5), 430-440. Sockol, L. E. (2018). A systematic review and meta-analysis of interpersonal psychotherapy for perinatal women. Journal of affective disorders, 232, 316-328. Weissman, M. M., Markowitz, J. C., & Klerman, G. L. (2017). The guide to interpersonal psychotherapy: updated and expanded edition. Oxford University Press. Wilfley, Denise E., & Shore, Allison L. (2015). Interpersonal Psychotherapy. In International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences (pp. 631-636). Wurm, C, Robertson, M, & Rushton, P. (2008). Interpersonal psychotherapy: An overview. Psychotherapy in Australia, 14(3), 46-54. 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.