The Psychologist, October 2009

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the
psychologist
vol 22 no 10 october 2009
The teller, the tale

and the told
Steven Killick and Neil Frude on
oral storytelling; and Richard
Gottlieb’s analysis of the children’s
classic Where the Wild Things Are
forum 818 the restless brain 836

news 826 making up the mind 842
Incorporating Psychologist Appointments
£5 or free to members of book reviews 856 the path to prose 854
The British Psychological Society looking back 902 careers: psychotherapy and other stories 882
psy 10_09 p817 contents:Layout 1 15/9/09 15:16 Page 816
The
British
Psychological
Society
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psy 10_09 p817 contents:Layout 1 15/9/09 15:16 Page 817
the
psychologist
forum 818 THE ISSUE

the narrowing focus of UK psychology; US healthcare reform; bias in testing;
clinical terminology; proposal for a Community Psychology Section; and more Given that I am a psychologist
news 826 turned wordsmith of sorts, it is a
particular pleasure to introduce a
heart attack survivors; online CBT; climate change; publication of Rorschach collection of articles in this issue
images; a special feature on the next big questions in psychology; and more related to writing and storytelling.
media 834 We have the Book Award article, a
the benefits and ethics of involvement in the media, with Kairen Cullen ‘Teach and learn’ on writing in a
PhD, a ‘Careers’ piece with a clinical
The restless brain 836 psychologist and novelist, and
Christian Jarrett enters the strange and Steven Killick and Neil Frude
controversial world of the ‘default mode examining the oral tradition.
network’ Finally, Richard Gottlieb’s ‘Eye on
fiction’ tackles my favourite ever
children’s book, Maurice Sendak’s
Making up the mind 842 Where the Wild Things Are (which has
836 Chris Frith, winner of the Society’s 2008 been adapted for a new feature film,
Book Award, on how his ideas have out this month). It has been
developed, and the surprising described as ‘one of the very few
JAMES MENDELSSOHN, WWW.BEYONDTHEBORDER.COM
854
implications picture books to make an entirely
deliberate, and beautiful, use of the
psychoanalytic story of anger’. It was
Teach and learn: The path to prose 854 an honour to contribute a box to
Paul McCarthy offers some reflections Richard’s piece, and it reminded me
on supervising writing in a PhD why psychology and storytelling go
so well together.
Dr Jon Sutton (Managing Editor)
book reviews 856

saving our children from nature deficit disorder; memory; study skills; dementia;
and a lifetime of intelligence
society 862
President’s column; ethical code changes; going green with the DOP; and more
careers 882
life as a clinical psychologist and novelist, with Frank Tallis; the benefits of
internships; building roads to success in mental health; the latest jobs, and
how to advertise
looking back 902
The teller, the tale
Barbara Tizard on John Bowlby: the origins of his ideas, their impact, and his and the told
often underestimated willingness to revise them
one on one 904 Richard Gottlieb analyses the
children’s classic Where the
…with Jay Belsky
Wild Things Are 846
Steven Killick and Neil Frude
see www.thepsychologist.org.uk on oral storytelling 850
for exclusive content this month
read discuss contribute at www.thepsychologist.org.uk 817

psy 10_09 p818_823 forum:Layout 1 15/9/09 15:20 Page 818
FORUM
The narrowing focus of UK psychology?

There is something insidious happening requirement to universities that will
to British psychology that may be directly save money as be losing some forensic
attributed to the RAE. The panel well as fulfilling psychology capability.
identified cognitive psychology and an aspiration for I have just returned
neuropsychology as most worthy of merit the university to from an international
with the top 10 institutions publishing in be amongst the conference where colleagues
these subject journals. Applied and top 10 HE were amazed at these losses
professional psychological areas fared less institutions and the implications for the
well. How might we interpret this? nationally and research and knowledge
We could argue about who was rating the top 100 base of not only forensic
papers and by what criteria and we might internationally. but other applied and
want to challenge the privileging of these Notwithstanding professional areas of
areas of psychology, but we should a 30-year history activity. Clinical courses
certainly discuss the consequences. Given of pioneering have limited scope to be
the present economic down turn and the forensic research productive given the
redirecting of money following the RAE, psychology, two out of the current four heavy demands to support trainees and
the panel’s judgement gave a steer to my posts have been lost, and I fear Surrey’s the interface with the NHS. Will these
department at the University of Surrey in contribution to this field is seriously too be at risk?
identifying where to retrench following a depleted. I am aware of at least two other There is in my view a serious danger
US healthcare reform – your support needed

Many readers will be aware of the debate currently wrestling with healthcare I expensive co-payments for
currently raging in the United States reform, whatever our area of practice – appointments;
concerning the proposed implementation clinical, forensic, research, and so on. I appeals concerning care being handled
of a government-backed health insurance Many of us work or have worked in the within an insurance company focusing
scheme to provide coverage to the NHS; nearly all of us use it; and, crucially, on economic cost–benefit analyses
estimated 49 million uninsured we all enjoy the right to high-quality care rather than individual well-being;
Americans, and to provide choice for the free at the point of access, including the I psychological issues caused or
under-insured. I, and many colleagues, care of psychologists and psychological exacerbated by stressors and other
have been surprised at the vehement therapists. Even as we continue to address factors emanating from under-
resistance with which a proposal of issues in our own service provision, we treatment of medical conditions;
nationalised health care has been met by cannot but recognise that high-quality I failure to include comprehensive
some in the United States. For example, psychological support in Britain is much psychological services within many
anti-reform protesters have taken such more freely available. The American basic insurance plans.
measures as bringing semi-automatic debate has thus far neglected the immense
weapons to rallies, and have benefit to society wrought from accessible The president of the American
misrepresented the NHS by suggesting psychological services; here, British Psychological Association, James H. Bray,
that we employ ‘death panels’ to judge psychologists can have a powerful voice. writes that ‘every American should have
the viability of life for elderly people. It is We are able to comment on some of those access to quality health care that includes
little wonder that in this fraught context, barriers with which millions of Americans mental and behavioral health promotion,
with the stakes so geographically distant struggle every day: screening and referral, prevention, early
and misrepresentations running rampant, I insurance coverage linked to intervention, treatment and wellness
British psychologists have thus far been employment: clearly a barrier for services across the lifespan’. The APA
reticent to comment on American those with long-term illnesses and is focusing upon the integration of
healthcare reform. other vulnerable people; psychological services into primary care,
Yet as psychologists, we are placed to I expensive costs for prescription and has offered limited support for the so-
provide great insight to those in America medication; called ‘public option’. However, given the
These pages are central to The Send e-mails marked Letters over 500 words are less likely to not permit the publication of every letter
contribute
Psychologist’s role as a forum ‘Letter for publication’ to be published. The editor reserves the received.
right to edit or publish extracts from However, see www.thepsychologist.org.uk
for discussion and debate, and psychologist@bps.org.uk; or letters. Letters to the editor are not to contribute to our discussion forum
we welcome your contributions. write to the Leicester office. normally acknowledged, and space does (members only).
818 vol 22 no 10 october 2009

forum
in narrowing the focus of British

psychology and relegating non
experimental paradigms to the margins
Reducing bias in testing
and in doing so minimise psychology’s
contribution to our national life. Not I was interested to read the article by such as personal development or career
every student wishes to pursue an Jacob Hirsh, ‘Choosing the right tools to guidance. This was the complete reverse
academic postgraduate route, rather find the right people’, in the September of conventional wisdom at the time.
many wish to develop professional issue – it is a very welcome change to Subsequent research has proved this to be
credentials and/or apply their have an article on occupational the right approach. Over the past three or
psychological knowledge in areas other psychology in The Psychologist. While four years we are beginning to see papers
than psychology. I congratulate Hirsh on the balance of his emerging at SIOP (the main US
Do other colleagues share my article and strongly endorse his emphasis occupational psychology conference) on
concerns? I invite members of the on the importance of the potential merits of using
Society to engage in a debate through using the right tools in forced-choice methods.
The Psychologist to discuss these selection, I would take However, one issue
important questions so that we do not issue with his implied with the use of forced-choice
sleepwalk into a diminishing of our claim to have formats, which Hirsh does not
discipline. discovered the use raise in his article, is the fact
Jennifer Brown of forced-choice item that the scale scores produced
(until December) Professor of Forensic formats for controlling are ipsative in nature if
Psychology the response biases conventional scoring methods
University of Surrey associated with Likert are used. This is not a
response formats in practical issue for instruments
high stakes assessment. like OPQ32, where the
He states that ‘[b]ias- number of scales is sufficient
resistant questionnaires to offset the effects of constraints
such as this may prove very useful for on overall scale scores, but would be a
assessing personality in competitive serious issue for an instrument designed
environments’. just to measure the Big Five.
It is perhaps symptomatic of the Anna Brown and I have been leading
Atlantic divide that those working in developments in the application of
North America are just now ‘discovering’ multidimensional item response theory
inequitable nature of services under the use of forced-choice as an alternative (IRT) models to the scoring of forced-
the current system, driven by private to Likert scales, when this approach was choice instruments. We are now able to
insurance companies with government pioneered in the UK by my predecessors use IRT to get normative trait scores from
support on offer only to the over-65s and in SHL over 25 years ago (the OPQ forced-choice item data that in the past
the very poor, it is difficult to foresee how Concept model was published in 1984). could only yield ipsative scale scores. This
the aim of universal access to Not only did SHL develop parallel forced- means that we are now able to get all the
psychological services can be choice and single-stimulus versions of benefits of control over response bias that
implemented without adopting a public OPQ but they took the radical step – at forced-choice formats provide without
option. the time – of recommending forced-choice having the consequent disadvantages of
As an American resident in the UK, for use in high stakes settings, such as ipsative scale scores.
I am keenly aware both of the great selection testing, and single-stimulus Dave Bartram
advantages bestowed by the British ratings for use in low stakes settings, Research Director, SHL Group Ltd
system and of the struggles which my
friends, family and fellow citizens fight
every day back home. As we all know, Jacob Hirsh stated phenomenon is culturally indifferent test
access to psychological care is a matter of that non-verbal tests of undoubtedly due to an of mental ability must be
core well-being, and sometimes a matter cognitive ability do not environmental cause. disputed. It is therefore
of life and death. I invite colleagues who discriminate against Although efforts to address surprising that the Society
share my concern about the availability respondents from different specific environmental still provides space for
of psychological services to all peoples, cultural backgrounds. factors remain declarations of the
to participate in the drafting of an open Although this was the predominantly speculative, ‘culture-free’ nature of
letter in support of a public option along intention of such tests, it is likely that one’s non-verbal IQ testing, as
the lines of the NHS, to be submitted to empirical scrutiny has culture is a strong well as the assumption
the Obama administration and major proven such assertion determinant. Progressive that such a psychometric
American media outlets. Anyone unjustified. IQ scores have generations experience tool will aid equality in
interested should please contact me at been increasing with each societal changes that selection procedures.
rebeccagraber@gmail.com for further generation and the effect increment non-verbal Alan William Gray
information. is most profound on IQ scores in particular. Durham University
Rebecca Graber performance measures. Since non-verbal IQ
Institute of Psychological Sciences Flynn (1987) has scores have consistently Reference
University of Leeds estimated that non-verbal been shown to be Flynn, J. (1987) Massive IQ gains in
IQ scores augment as susceptible to 14 nations: What IQ tests really
much as 20 points within environmental factors, measure. Psychological Bulletin,
30 years. This their position as a 101, 171–191.

forum
Reality TV – the problem of informed consent

Máire Messenger Davies display of stress and distress, encouraged within an
(Forum, May 2009), followed conflict and anxiety (which increasingly ‘light touch’
by Helen Hughes and Rose the press play a part in attitude to regulation;
Challenger (Forum, August underlining, by publicising it after 2003 the position
2009) have identified a as ‘stories’) is believed to draw is now even more lax,
problem which must concern in viewers. Before the 2003 so any sensibility and
psychologists. Broadcasts (over Broadcasting Act, ushering restraint with regard to
mass access channels and now, in Ofcom’s apparent role of treating those who
increasingly, via the internet) regulator of content quality, appear in broadcasts,
explore some human dramas the BBC and the Independent humanely, remains to be
that have occurred Television Commission identified and if possible
autonomously, and others that oversaw a market swelling safeguarded by those
have been contrived by with underfunded with special interests,
producers. The broadcast competitors; these were qualifications and
competence.
Professor Messenger
Davies hopes that
FORUM THE REAL WORLD informed consent is
a crucial safeguard for
Forget Afghanistan, the recession, the release of the Lockerbie
proper treatment of
bomber. The big news over the last month was, of course, the final
those who appear in Alison Lapper – could there be a
demise of Big Brother. what are mistakenly jeopardy to third parties from her
Now Big Brother aroused strong emotions both for and labelled as ‘reality’ informed consent?
(particularly amongst discerning folks like ourselves) against. But programmes. However,
who, interested in the understanding of human conduct, could fail we presented a case based
to be fascinated by the systematic and comprehensive observation on evidence going back over which Messenger Davies
of people over an extended period? two decades (McVey et al., referred, Boys and Girls Alone;
And Big Brother threw up many fascinating and profound issues: 2001) that there are two limits but for the two reasons
the collapse of the private and public spheres; the dilemmas of trying to this notion; one lies in the referred to above it is unlikely
to satisfy multiple audiences all at once, the tensions between phenomenon of ‘retrospective that such ‘consent’ validly
individual and group processes. Notably, in one series the falsification of informed absolves the consciences of
housemates were divided into two groups. In an almost perfect consent’ (which is where the broadcasters.
replication of Sherif’s findings in the classic Boys Camp studies, past participants sometimes realise To improve the plight of
personal friendships and enmities dissolved. As measured by eviction after the item has been shown, participants and of their third
choices, loyalty was almost exclusively reserved for the ingroup and that they would not have parties, there is scope for
hostility directed almost exclusively to the outgroup. A textbook consented to display, had they psychologists, at least, to
illustration. known its consequences); the influence the myriad ‘media
But the ‘experts’ chose to ignore this. Indeed one actually claimed other is the jeopardy to third studies’ courses so that future
that ‘now, in the group, their true selves will come out’. And there’s parties of those who have broadcasters become more
the rub. The behaviours may have been fascinating, but they were agreed to publication of their careful of those whom they
relentlessly trivialised by the commentary. Big Brother was presented own, ‘private’ lives and feelings might (mis)use. This issue has
as a soap opera with different stock characters, and this (consider the husband and been brought to the attention
individualistic narrative left no place for analysing how people reacted children of Jade Goody, or the of the society quite long ago
to the total institution of the Big Brother House. small son of Alison Lapper (Wober, 1978) and on a
Most interesting, perhaps, was the way in which contestants whose nude statue stood for grander stage more recently
could never act as contestants because they could never escape the over a year on the Fourth (McVey et al., 2001)
lure of collectivity. They would speak endlessly about ‘game playing’ Plinth in Trafalgar Square, J.M. Wober
and ‘winning the prize’, but they ultimately seemed more concerned for examples). A very recent London NW3
with the acceptance and approbation of their fellows. They would gain example of the problem for
little pleasure from trying to eliminate fellow contestants and would the third party is that of the References
usually seem highly distressed at having to nominate them. The very footballer George Best’s sister; McVey, C., McKechnie, J. & Wober, J.M.
notion of betrayal presupposed some group bond and some norm of a televised play, well received (2001, March). Informed consent: The
loyalty. So hard as Big Brother tried to set up a dog-eat-dog world, by critics as a sensitive display effect of the media on ‘documentary-
and hard as the producers strived to portray people as competitive of a human drama, was said soap’ participants, friends and
individuals, it ultimately demonstrated the opposite. (items in the Guardian, and families. Paper given at the
The impulse to sociality and collectivity runs deep in the human Financial Times) to have Centenary Conference of the British
condition. It can even survive Big Brother. particularly hurt her by the Psychological Society, Glasgow.
characterisation of her mother. Wober, J.M. (1978). Psychologists and
Steve Reicher is at the University of St Andrews. Alex Haslam is at There may have been the intrusion of broadcast
the University of Exeter. Share your views on this and other ‘real informed consent by parents ‘prygrammes’ on personal privacy.
world’ psychological issues – e-mail psychologist@bps.org.uk. and guardians of the children Bulletin of the British Psychological
in the Channel 4 series, to Society, 31, 1–2.

forum
Policy on clinical terminology

Since most of the letters published in is far from settled: interestingly the terminology, while we can accept that
September’s Psychologist were supportive BPS document referred to by Cooke psychiatric terminology is problematic,
of David Pilgrim’s position, I felt it was (www.bps.org.uk/3ndn) recognises the could I suggest that as a profession we are
important to redress the balance. likely contribution of biological factors, in danger of isolating ourselves from other
Pilgrim states: ‘A diagnosis is a social stating that ‘[p]eople may have greater or mental health professionals if we refuse to
negotiation with unequal power lesser levels of vulnerability to this type use terms that are in common usage? It is
relationships determining the outcome of experience’ and that ‘[s]ocial, biological healthy to debate these issues with our
[which] contributes to the stigmatisation and psychological causes of psychotic non-psychologist colleagues, many of
of people labelled…’ (Forum, August experiences are all important, and interact whom would share our doubts; it is not
2009); while Anne Cooke refers to with one another’. Similarly, the question healthy, in my opinion, to ban certain
‘phenomena traditionally seen as of whether or not schizophrenia is a useful terms, which merely closes down debate.
biological defects…rendering those term is a theoretical one, vigorously Interestingly, distinguished clinical
affected somehow less than human’ debated within and outside psychiatry. But psychologists who work in the field are
(Forum, September 2009). I wonder if these issues should not be confused with happy to continue using the term
they would say the same about clearly political matters such as public attitudes schizophrenia without quotation marks
medical diagnoses, such as diabetes or towards those who suffer from psychoses. or qualifiers such as ‘people diagnosed
multiple sclerosis? The fact that medical Theoretical conceptualisations of with…’ (e.g. Kuipers et al., 2006), which
conditions have a biological origin does conditions are either helpful or unhelpful implies that Pilgrim’s views by no means
not in itself confer any stigma on the in understanding the condition, but not represent a consensus within the
sufferer: if people suffering from a chronic in themselves oppressive or stigmatising: profession.
physical illness or disability do feel if it does turn out that some people have Stephen Bamford
stigmatised, they do not blame their a greater biological predisposition to Sheffield
diagnosis for this, but attitudes to the develop specific psychological problems
condition itself. Yet for some reason when faced with stressful life events (a Reference
psychological conditions are viewed conclusion that personally I find hard to Kuipers, E., Garety, P., Fowler, D. et al. (2006): Cognitive,
differently. avoid), why should this imply any more emotional, and social processes in psychosis:
The question of whether, or to what stigma than if their problems are entirely Refining cognitive behavioral therapy for persistent
extent, psychoses have a biological origin due to their life experiences? positive symptoms. Schizophrenia Bulletin,
is surely an empirical one, and despite With regard to the policy that The 32(Supplement 1), S24–S31.
what many psychologists claim, the issue Psychologist should adopt in relation to
Where is the dignity?

I read with some concern the The catalyst for the gender an announcement? What of dignity they claim, they
second headline on the front test was the phenomenal time the ethical issues of publicly would have been well advised
page of the Daily Mail (20 Caster ran in the African making a statement that to ask for advice from any
August), ‘Did a man win the junior championships and the Semenya may have both male psychologist about the
women’s 800m?’, accompanied physical changes the South and female chromosomes? emotional distress the
by a photo of the women’s African had experienced. It The psychological impact situation would present.
800m gold medal winner is without any surprise that of waiting for these results on The only mention of health
Caster Semenya. My certain elements of the media anybody would be intense, professionals is with regard to
immediate thought was of felt that this item of news was let alone in the glare of the the three doctors who will be
the psychological impact on so significant that it should world’s media. The IAAF examining her internally and
Caster. An announcement was warrant a headline on the offered little consolation by the externally.
made a few hours before she front page, and be covered in way of stating that ‘their main The second key issue is
ran, at the world further detail inside. On a priority is to see the athlete discrimination. Is Caster being
championships in Berlin, by refreshing note, a more treated with the respect and discriminated against as a
the International Association balanced reporting style was sensitivity she deserves and woman, on the basis that a
of Athletics Federations taken by the Evening Standard uphold the standards of the woman’s body does not have
(IAAF) that ‘they had (20 August), which covered sport’. There appears to be an the physical capacity to allow
requested a gender test’. The this as a small article deep amazing lack of insight into her to run such exceptional
distress that must have been inside its sport section. the emotional well-being of times? The ethical,
felt when a very public There are two key issues Caster. This is not a doping discriminatory and
suggestion was made that you here; the first, when, if at all investigation but a question psychological implications are
might not be who you think has the IAAF considered the that some in the sport have very real and I am intrigued to
you are, can only be imagined; emotional well-being of that examines who Caster is. see what fellow members of
and not only that it was just Caster? Surely the tests should Her self-identity is being our profession think.
before the most significant have been conducted and the publicly challenged. If the Phil Woods
race of her life, results obtained before making IAAF wanted to treat her with University of East London

forum
Support wanted for proposed

Community Psychology Section
Community psychologists are psychology has arrangements and how people understand
found throughout Europe, not been formally themselves and their social world; and
North America, Central recognised in the use that understanding to promote well-
America, South America and UK, and the purpose being, health and social justice through
Australasia, and community of this letter is to non-individual intervention. Some UK
psychology is formally seek support from psychologists work like this without
recognised by many national BPS members for the recognising their work as encompassing
psychology professional establishment of a community psychology approaches, and
organisations, including the Community others may wish to extend their
American Psychological Psychology Section. knowledge and skills to work in this way.
Association, the Australian Psychological Community psychologists: are A proposal to form a Community
Society and the New Zealand concerned with the consequences for Psychology Section of the British
Psychological Society. In Europe the individuals, groups and communities of Psychological Society has been made
European Community Psychology our social, organisational, cultural, socio- to the Society. The requisite number of
Association is formally recognised by the structural and politico-discursive Fellows, Associate Fellows and Chartered
European Federation of Psychologists’ arrangements; try to understand the Psychologists has written in support of
Associations. Until now community interconnections between those the proposal, and the proposal has been
approved by the Board of Trustees. For
a Community Psychology Section of the
obituary Society to be established, it is a
requirement that 1 per cent of the
Society’s membership express a desire
David McCarrell Campbell (1943–2009) to become a Member of the proposed
Section. If this happens, the proposal to
form the Section will be put to a vote at
David Campbell, an inspiring clinical psychologist and one of the most respected and a General Meeting of the Society. The
influential family therapists in the UK, has died, aged 65, of cancer. David was esteemed aims of a BPS community psychology
as a clinician of particular warmth and humanity, and as an exceptionally gifted trainer and section would include:
supervisor. While he became best know for his writing and editing in the family therapy field, I promoting the study and
he remained strongly identified with the clinical psychology profession and taught a understanding of community
succession of clinical psychology trainees at the Tavistock in his 36 years working there. psychology at public, undergraduate
Born in Chicago, the younger of two brothers, David came to Britain after qualifying as and postgraduate levels;
a clinical psychologist in Boston in the early 1970s. Initially trained in child psychotherapy, I raising awareness of issues, including
he quickly became aware of the need to address the contexts and relationships within which government policies and global
children live when they present with psychological difficulties. With colleagues he began to developments, affecting the
develop the family therapy service and trainings offered at the Tavistock Clinic in London, psychological health, education,
and, with his colleague Ros Draper, became the main proponent in the UK of what became and development of UK society;
known as the ‘Milan approach’. I fostering exchange of ideas through
Wearing lightly his great knowledge and breadth of experience, he brought a distinctive educational events such as
kind of grace and wisdom to all his activities. As a systemic thinker, he believed passionately workshops, conferences, symposia
in the generative potential of constructing ideas with others and he came to represent, and training;
personally and professionally, a commitment to helping people to see the ways in which I communicating the impact of
they were connected to each other across apparent difference. Always calmly thoughtful inequalities on psychosocial
and quietly spoken, he had a genuine and tenacious curiosity about, and respect for, other functioning and challenging the
people’s perspectives, and this underpinned his striking modesty about his achievements dominance of individually focused
and influence. models of psychosocial adjustment
He constantly questioned and revised his own ideas, bringing new influences to bear. and intervention; and
His latest work drew on ‘positioning theory’, developed by Rom Harré, as a way of exploring I facilitating community engagement,
conflict in both consultancy and clinical settings. lobbying, advocacy and policy
He was a workaholic, but also a devoted family man. He loved travel, especially to engagement.
Scandinavian countries where the style of life and humour suited him, and water sports,
which he pursued at his family house on a lake in northern Michigan. Please contact the Society (e-mail:
Throughout the 20 months with which David lived and struggled with his cancer, he CommPsych@bps.org.uk) expressing an
demonstrated an impressive openness to talking and writing about his illness. This was the interest in becoming a Member of the
last way in which he was able to touch, unforgettably, the lives of the very many people to proposed Community Psychology
whom he is irreplaceable. Section.
Bernadette Wren David Fryer
Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust University of Stirling

forum
Am I OK? COMMUNITY
I was pleased to see the note about the incidents in their lives, plus a checklist NOTICEBOARD
‘Am I Normal?’ website briefly described of early warning signs. It effectively gives
in your August issue (p.660). In the light them tools and guidance to self-refer, I I have the following sets of journals that I
of this I would like to introduce you to directing them to their GPs and to our would be happy to give away to anyone prepared
our www.am-i-ok.co.uk site. service. to come and collect them.
The site has been up and running Apart from the above core functions Journal of Occupational Psychology/Journal of
since March 2007 and has been drawing of the site, it also contains ‘Others’ Occupational and Organizational Psychology (1985
up to 16,000 hits per month. It took stories’, a list of useful websites, a list of to June 2007, Vol. 58 No. 1 – Vol. 80 Part 2);
several years to be developed and has whom else the person can talk to and how Personnel Psychology (1995 to Winter 2007, Vol.
been vetted by solicitors, and the to contact their GP (in the UK). It also 48 No. 1 – Vol. 60 No. 4);
prototype content by the NHS Litigation has an e-mail feedback option to help us Journal of Applied Psychology (1987 to November
Authority. to keep the design and the process within 2007, Vol. 72 No. 1 – Vol. 92 No. 6);
It is a signpost site that provides the thinking of the age group.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (1986
young people with a description of Keith Butler
to January 2007, Vol. 50 No. 1 – Vol. 92 No. 1).
psychological risk resulting from critical Buckinghamshire Early Intervention Service
They are all in good condition, although some
articles have been highlighted. They can be
collected from Central London or West
Take your PIC Hampstead.
Charles Woodruffe
charles.woodruffe@humanassets.co.uk,
Having read Benjamin Gardner’s article what they would be needed to do. For 020 7434 2122
(‘Incentivised snowballing’, September this reason Participant Information Clips
2009) it was interesting to see that in line (PIC) were created. These short movie I Have you considered the possibility of
with general population trends, clips (for examples, see www.simon- giving a little of your time to help beleaguered
psychology appears to becoming gradually hammond.co.uk/contact.php) were shown Palestinians?
more technologically to participants, We are a small Palestinian NGO which
proficient. Acutely, this outlining the wide runs programmes for families and children
could be attributed to the variety of with psychological and psychiatric problems.
continued dissemination of information deemed Almost all Palestinian therapists have had no
technology into our vital in an training in CBT. Consequently we wish to set
everyday lives. Chronically, accessible way. up a workshop to provide good CBT training
such trends may continue Conversing with for our therapists and to others working in this
due to cohort effects. It is the participants in district.
my view that such effects, this manner We are based in Bethlehem in the West
alongside the continued provided inherent Bank, some eight miles from Jerusalem, and
assimilation of information flexibility and a can offer you travel expenses and
and communications non-authoritarian accommodation. If you have experience in CBT
technologies (ICT) into our medium of training can you offer a week of your time?
everyday lives, should information John Gleisner
encourage reflections about delivery.
gleisner@paradise.net.nz
how ICT can be integrated Of course the
into different stages of the effectiveness of PIC
research process. does need to be I We are a group of psychological therapists
This reflection was explored. However, with a shared interest in how psychodynamic
something reinforced to me by during my beyond this process, future applications approaches may contribute to the treatment
doctoral research. This research sought to could see PIC being used to supplement of psychosis and who are planning a research
encourage vulnerable adolescents to or replace standardised instructions and study in the UK looking at the effects of
record a series of vlogs (a form of video debriefing in some internet-mediated supportive psychodynamic therapy (SPT)
dairies) in their own homes. research or face-to-face environments as developed in Denmark as part of the Danish
Understandably, ethical and safeguarding appropriate. Alternatively, as in my own National Schizophrenia Project.
issues were a clear priority for all research, PIC could be used to To this end we are looking for additional
stakeholders, with each adding their own communicate information to young therapists who may be interested to contribute
requirements in terms of what people in an accessible and participant to this study. You have to have had a minimum
information needed to be communicated friendly manner. The use of PIC could not of two years of supervised experience of
to this vulnerable population. only improve participant experience but psychodynamic practice and access to clients
Following a pilot meeting with a also promote the dissemination of the with psychosis. Supervision will be provided.
group demographically similar to that of aims and implications of the studies to Further information is available from
the target population, it became clear that participants in an accessible and Alison.summers@lancashirecare.nhs.uk.
despite my best efforts to synthesise this informative manner. Rowena Mattan
into accessible information, the young Simon P. Hammond Airedale General Hospital
people were not able to fully understand University of East Anglia

forum
Recovery Research Network

There is an opportunity to join a network grant applications, holding disseminate
of recovery-focused mental health events with international findings, or creating
researchers in England. The NHS National speakers, providing a accessible syntheses
Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has meeting-point for researchers of research.
funded a five-year (2009 to 2014) from different scientific areas At present the
programme of research around recovery (e.g. health services, research, network has 64
in adult mental health service, called well-being, social inclusion, members, and it
REFOCUS. identity) to develop first met in April
This provides an infrastructure to collaborative links, or co- 2009. The level of
create a new informal network to support supervising PhD students. involvement will be
recovery-focused research relevant to A particular, but not entirely up to each
mental health services. The agreed aims exclusive, focus will be on member, with no
of the network are: developing evidence through ongoing
To create new robust research around randomised control trials and commitment. We
recovery. This will involve conceptual and systematic reviews about key recognise the central
empirical work, importing critical tools recovery domains (e.g. hope, significance of values to a recovery
from other disciplines (e.g. empowerment, identity, personal, orientation and will aim to develop the
anthropological, historical, philosophical, responsibility, meaning, etc.), with the activity of this research network on those
sociological) and perspectives. Preliminary goal of informing clinical guidelines and same values.
topics include conceptual understandings changing the policy and practice culture. If you are interested in joining then
of recovery, methodological approaches, To increase access to existing research please contact Kelly Davies by e-mail at:
empirical studies, and approaches to around recovery. This may involve the Kelly.davies@iop.kcl.ac.uk.
changing organisation culture and development of a web-based resource of Ed O’Meara
professional practice. Specific tasks may academic studies and internet resources, Institute of Psychiatry
include collaborations to produce new holding conferences or workshops to King’s College London
Prices frozen for 2010 New online options

Advertising with Largest ever circulation Effective and easy
The British Psychological Society

2010
MEDIA
PACK
Available to download now from

www.bps.org.uk/media10

forum
Media responsibility to get it right

Although rape appears to alcohol intake, and sexual Telegraph (see Media page, Editor’s note: You can read
occur relatively infrequently history, however, had little September 2009). The report a full, ‘online-only’ article on
compared with other violent to no effect on whether male clearly placed the blame with this topic from Sophia Shaw
crimes, accounting for less participants engaged in women and fuelled the and colleagues with this
than 1 per cent of all police sexually coercive behaviour. general belief that women are month’s issue at
recorded crime, offences Rather, men’s personality and indeed responsible for being www.thepsychologist.org.uk.
towards women during their own sexual history were raped. The effect of this so-
2008/09 still stood at a the strongest predictors of called ‘information’ could be References
staggering 12,165 (Walker sexual aggression. devastating, causing even AIUK (2005). Sexual assault research
et al., 2009). Furthermore, in These are important more people to believe that summary report. Retrieved
a review of the investigation findings, particularly given a victim is to blame if s/he is (27/07/09) from tinyurl.com/kl7way
and prosecution of 573 rape that a survey conducted by raped. Moreover, victims may HM Crown Prosecution Service
offences, the victim knew the Amnesty International found be less willing to report rape. Inspectorate (HMCPS) and HM
perpetrator in 85.7 per cent of that about a third of all people They might blame themselves Inspectorate of Constabulary
the cases (HMCPS & HMIC, surveyed believed a woman for the attack or think that (HMIC) (2007). Without consent: A
2007). In view of these was to blame for being raped nobody will believe them. report on the joint review of the
statistics, I conducted a study if she was drunk, was dressed It is essential that investigation and prosecution of
for my MSc to identify factors provocatively, was flirtatious reporters take into rape offences. Retrieved (27/07/09)
specific to males that may or had an extensive sexual consideration the effects that from tinyurl.com/nbpngl
increase their likelihood of history (AIUK, 2005). The their articles might have on Walker, A., Flatley, J., Kershaw, C. &
committing acquaintance present study redresses the public opinion. Additionally, Moon, D. (2009). Crime in England
rape. balance of responsibility and given the media’s power to and Wales 2008/09. Volume 1:
The study found that indicates that women should influence the public, the Findings from the British Crime
individual differences played not be blamed for being media should strive to Survey and police recorded crime.
a large part in whether men raped. accurately portray research London: Home Office.
engaged in sexually aggressive However, the findings my results.
behaviour. Factors specific to MSc study were erroneously Sophia Shaw
women, such as their dress, reported by the Daily University of Leicester
HPC – any business case?

I recently wrote to the Health Professionals whenever a member of the public ownership, helping them to shape
Council (HPC), having been asked for is treated by a health professional, their strategic and cultural
membership payment. My simple question anywhere in the UK, they can be sure imperatives and to surface some of
was ‘What can the HPC do for business that the health professional meets the personal agendas that need to be
psychologists and why does it need £120 our standards and that we can take explored more openly.
from me over the next 18 months?’. action if things go wrong. Being I Supporting a leadership programme
The answer from the HPC Customer registered with us means that in Rome (as an associate), providing
Services Manager was as follows: registrants can use a ‘protected title’. individual and group feedback on
Each profession has one or more observed behaviours, linking them to
We are a UK-wide health regulator, protected titles which can only be business goals and existing planning
created by a piece of legislation called used by people on our Register. activities, and helping individuals to
the ‘Health Professions Order’. We Should you be required to use develop personal development plans
are a statutory organisation, run by a the protected title of Occupational for the forthcoming year.
Council that is made up of registered Psychologist in the future you would I Running an ‘Executive Circle’ for nine
health professionals and members of need to be registered with the HPC. European leaders from a multinational
the public. We were set up to protect The terms Business Psychologist IT company, the third in a series of
the public and we do this by: and Chartered Psychologist are not four meetings to explore leadership in
I Setting standards for 14 health protected titles and you do not need action, networking and remote
professions; to be registered to use them. management.
I Approving courses which run here in I A one-to-one coaching session in
the United Kingdom (UK); This response fails to answer either part London with the Marketing Director
I Keeping an approved Register of of my original question. of a FTSE100 company.
health professionals who meet our To give you some idea of my
standards; and professional practice, here are some I would be interested to hear anyone’s
I Taking action against registered upcoming entries in my diary. view on what the HPC can do for me and
health professionals who do not why it is worth £120 to join (even though
meet our standards I Working with a group of owner- I note I am already registered!).
managers in Morocco on issues to do Hugo Pound
It is our job to make sure that with leadership, partnership and Managing Director, r.d.i direct ltd

psy 10_09 p826_835 news:Layout 1 15/9/09 15:25 Page 826
NEWS
What becomes of the broken-hearted?

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) has receiving psychological care after Moreover, just 9 per cent of these
called for better funding of rehabilitation a heart attack is via so-called cardiac programmes met the minimal
for heart attack survivors following rehabilitation. Government targets requirements for psychological support.
publication of research in the British outlined in 2000 were for 85 per cent Dr Mike Knapton, Associate Medical
Journal of Health Psychology (BJHP) that of patients to be referred to rehab Director at the BHF, said: ‘Recovery from
documented rates of post-traumatic stress programmes. However, in a heart attack isn’t over when a
disorder (PTSD) symptoms in patients patient leaves hospital, and heart
recovering from a heart attack patients should be receiving the
(http://bit.ly/YSUtR). ongoing support they need. Referral
Dr Susan Ayers at the University of to cardiac rehabilitation should be
Sussex and her colleagues surveyed 74 a routine part of treating heart
patients who’d had a heart attack in patients, and until this happens they
the previous 12 weeks and found that will continue to miss out.’
16 per cent of them met formal ‘This [BJHP] study adds to the
diagnostic criteria for acute PTSD, substantial evidence that
whilst 18 per cent reported moderate psychological factors are important
to severe PTSD-related symptoms. in recovery and mortality following
Patients who believed that their myocardial infarctions,’ Dr Ayers told
heart attack would have a permanent, The Psychologist. ‘Our study is one of
negative effect on their lives and who a few that suggest anxiety symptoms
resorted to ineffective coping strategies may be as prevalent among heart
based on avoidance, tended to have attack survivors as symptoms of
more PTSD symptoms. Other factors, depression. The impact of these
less strongly associated with PTSD symptoms on recovery therefore
symptomatology, included the warrants further investigation.
perceived severity and danger of the Screening programmes should
heart attack and a prior history of consider screening for anxiety
psychological problems or trauma. symptoms, such as PTSD, as well as
The research was cross-sectional, so it’s depression, after myocardial infarction.’
possible, for example, that PTSD symptom August the British Heart Foundation Ayers added: ‘Rehabilitation
severity influences coping styles and released the results of an audit showing programmes that include some aspect
perceptions about the long-term that just 34 per cent of 83,540 heart of psychological intervention appear to
consequences of the heart attack, rather attack sufferers in England, Wales and be effective at reducing anxiety and
than the other way around. Northern Ireland had taken part in a depression, and possibly non-fatal
In the UK the normal channel for cardiac rehabilitation programme. reinfarctions – but not mortality.’ CJ
Facebook and jealousy

There’s an awful lot undergraduates (231 female; on the site, the more jealousy
written about the potential aged 17 to 24) and found that they experienced, thus
psychological dangers of even after controlling for triggering another bout of
websites like Twitter and pertinent personality variables Facebook time.
Facebook, most of it based such as trait jealousy and low Open-ended questioning of
on conjecture rather than self-esteem, and relationship the students appeared to back
research. But now an actual variables such as commitment, up the quantitative data. ‘I was
study has been published time spent on Facebook still already a bit jealous and
providing tentative evidence independently accounted for insecure, but I think that
that time spent on Facebook 2 per cent of the variance in Facebook has definitely made
is associated with increased the amount of Facebook- me much much worse,’ one
romantic jealousy related jealousy. ‘This finding student said. context. ‘One thing is sure,’
(Cyberpsychology and is notable considering the Muise’s team said it would they said ‘Facebook provides
Behaviour: http://bit.ly/4ovLcE). predictive power of trait be interesting to investigate a superb forum for the study
Amy Muise and colleagues jealousy,’ the researchers said. whether similar findings of relational jealousy, and our
at the University of Guelph in The researchers surmised that would apply with an older study only serves as a starting
Canada surveyed 308 the more time students spent sample outside of a university point.’ CJ

news
Working memory
predicts learning
outcomes
Working memory is a better working memory “space” is
predictor of children’s later not big enough to hold all the
academic success than IQ, information in,’ she explained.
according to a paper that’s ‘On a related note,’ she
currently under review at the said, ‘there is evidence to
Journal of Experimental Child suggest that working memory
Psychology. may be a culture-fair measure
In 2001 Tracy Alloway, of cognitive ability. For
now at the University of example, it’s relatively
Stirling, and Ross Alloway impervious to environmental
at Edinburgh University influence such as the quality
Online CBT measured the working

memory and IQ of 200
children aged approximately
of social and intellectual
stimulation in the home, the
number of years spent in pre-
Despite having the weight of science and government behind it, five years. Verbal working school education and financial
cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) remains difficult for many memory was measured using background.’
to access. Information technology has the potential to ease this the Automated Working Indeed, the
problem, as CBT does not need to be delivered face-to-face and Memory Assessment (AWMA), new results
is adaptable to self-help materials. Computerised CBT which involves verifying the showed that
programmes, although effective, can be difficult to tailor to truthfulness of between one whereas IQ
individual patient needs, and are associated with low rates of and seven sentences (e.g. was
adherence. Another option is to conduct CBT in real time online ‘bananas live in water’), whilst associated
– a method that a new randomised control trial published in also remembering the last with social
The Lancet (see tinyurl.com/mzh3da) has shown to be effective. word in each of the sentences. background
David Kessler (University of Bristol) and his team recruited Six years later, the researchers (as measured
297 individuals with a confirmed diagnosis of depression from again measured the children’s by a mother’s
general practices in Bristol, London and Warwickshire. They working memory ability and years in
found that 38 per cent of people assigned to an online IQ and also observed their education),
intervention condition recovered from depression at four-month reading, spelling and maths working
follow-up, compared with 24 per cent of those on the waiting list performance. Of all the memory was independent of
receiving usual GP care. These gains were maintained at eight measures taken, verbal this factor.
months, and quality of life and measures of functional health working memory at age five Alloway told The
status showed improvement at both follow-up points. was the strongest predictor of Psychologist that her findings
‘The number of patients for whom online CBT is feasible and learning outcomes at age 11, have clear implications for
attractive will grow,’ the authors wrote. ‘It could be useful in accounting for between 10 and education. ‘At present,
areas where access to psychological treatment is scarce, and for 20 per cent of variation in working memory problems
patients whose first language is not English. It could make access performance. tend to be misdiagnosed, with
to psychotherapies more equitable by providing a service to The new results are teachers labelling students as
patients in areas or even countries where psychological treatment consistent with recent research “unmotivated” or “lazy”,’ she
is not readily available. Real-time online CBT offers the flexibility by Alloway involving students said. ‘However, with the
and responsiveness of face-to-face CBT and is appropriate for with learning difficulties who availability of standardised
people with severe symptoms. It affords an opportunity for were tested at two-years tools for educators – for
reflection and review as part of the therapeutic process, which follow-up; children with example, the AWMA – it is
could enhance its effectiveness.’ dyspraxia; and children with now much easier for teachers
Participants in the treatment condition received up to 10 reading difficulties. to quickly identify working
sessions of CBT, delivered by psychologists working for the Alloway told us she memory problems.’
organisation PsychologyOnline. The company was set up in believes testing working She added: ‘There has also
2001 by British Psychological Society members Sue Wright memory has this predictive been exciting evidence of the
and Nadine Field. They welcomed the findings, telling The power because it measures efficacy of training working
Psychologist: ‘We have persevered with PsychologyOnline people’s potential to learn, memory to see transfer gains
because we believed that the method was effective, although not what they have already in IQ and academic
we knew that the research was needed to prove this as it was learned. ‘If a student struggles attainment. This offers real
so radical. We are hoping that, because we have seen it help so on a working memory task, it hope to students who might
many people so far, it can be recognised by NICE in order to be is not because they don’t know otherwise have been dismissed
implemented more widely within the NHS.’ JS the answer, it is because their as “not bright”.’ CJ

news
RESEARCH FUNDING NEWS Blots to consider

The ESRC has now launched its new Postgraduate Training and
Development Guidelines. Part of the new Postgraduate Training Fall-out from the online publication of the Rorschach ink-blots
Framework is the creation of Doctoral Training Centres (DTC) and on Wikipedia has continued late into the summer. Recent reports
Doctoral Training Units (DTU) that will provide all future postgraduate claim the Canadian doctor, James Heilman, who posted the
training for subjects within the ESRCs remit, including psychology. Rorschach images online, is to be investigated by his local
The application process for institutions to apply to be a DTC or a DTU authorities, after formal complaints by psychologists. The saga
is now open. The closing date for applications is 11 March 2010. first drew media attention when Heilman posted all 10 inkblots
I tinyurl.com/rc74v7 on Wikipedia in July, together with common responses to them.
His controversial posting followed months of online debate over
The National Institutes of Health (US) have a call out for research whether or not a single Rorschach inkblot should be published.
into the Role of Human–Animal Interaction in Child Health and The Rorschach continues to command a far larger following
Development (R01). This seeks to develop the research base on how among psychologists in the United States than in the UK, and
children perceive, relate to and think about animals; how pets in the advocates there were outraged, with many complaining that the
home impact on children’s social and emotional development and publication of the inkblots and common answers would render
health; and whether and under what conditions therapeutic uses of the test useless, thus undermining years of research building up
animals are safe and effective. UK researchers are eligible to apply. normative data on people’s responses to the images. However,
The deadline for Letters of Intent is 19 October 2009 and for full research-oriented psychologists were largely unmoved.
applications, 19 November 2009. Professor James Wood of the University of Texas at El Paso
I tinyurl.com/mb9vr3 is co-author of an authoritative meta-analysis of projective tests
(http://bit.ly/g8BGH), including the Rorschach, published in
Grants are available to support Starting Independent Researchers 2000, and continues to publish widely on the topic. He told The
from the European Research Council. The grant scheme aims to Psychologist: ‘It’s hard to see how the exposure of this generally
support up-and-coming research leaders who are about to establish useless test on the web is likely to cause much harm to anyone.’
or consolidate a research team. Grants are available for life science The current situation has arisen because the original
research (application deadline 18 November 2009) and social science Rorschach inkblots are nearly 90 years old and no longer
and humanities (application deadline 9 December 2009). protected by copyright. ‘The obvious solution,’ Wood said,
I tinyurl.com/5yuh5b ‘would be to update the test and create a new set of copyright-
protected stimuli, as happens routinely with other major
The British Academy has a variety of funding opportunities: psychological instruments. However, devoted Rorschach users
Overseas Conference Grants. Up to £900 towards travel expenses for have long resisted this solution.’
scholars delivering a paper at an international conference. Deadline Modern scoring of the inkblots accords to John Exner’s
for submissions 16 November 2009. ‘Comprehensive System’ developed in the 1970s. An updated
International Visits and Joint Projects. Funding to either visit or review of the scientific evidence supporting use of this system
undertake joint projects in many European, Commonwealth or other was published by Wood and colleagues in 2006, showing that
nations. Deadline 18 November 2009. whilst the Rorschach displays validity for 20 scoring categories,
Small Research Grants. Funding of between £500 and £7500 for including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, a further 160
individual or collaborative projects. Deadline 23 November 2009. scoring categories lack validity (http://bit.ly/2g6ZPQ).
Postdoctoral Fellowships. Fellowships to allow outstanding early ‘Perhaps most importantly,’ Wood told us, ‘findings from
career researchers to strengthen their experience of research and more than 70 studies have now confirmed that the child and
teaching in a university environment. Deadline 26 November 2009. adult norms for Exner’s Comprehensive System for the
Visiting Scholars Grants. Grants to allow early-career scholars from Rorschach are seriously in error and tend to mistakenly identify
overseas to undertake research visits to the UK. Deadline for most individuals as psychologically disturbed.’
submissions 3 December 2009. However, the President of the British Rorschach Society, Dr
Conference Support Grants. Grants to support key speaker expenses Justine McCarthy Woods, said: ‘I would question whether it is
and other conference related expenses. Deadline 1 December 2009. appropriate for lay editors without any expertise in psychology
I For further details of all the schemes see the British Academy to decide unilaterally the validity or utility of a professional
website www.britac.ac.uk/funding/index.cfm instrument,’ she said. ‘It could set a precedent for information
from other psychological tests being posted on Wikipedia.’
The Parkinson’s Disease Society provides Training Fellowships for She challenged Professor Wood’s claim that the test was useless:
health and social care professionals to undertake research training ‘The overwhelming consensus of scientists and practitioners is
relevant to Parkinson’s disease. Applicants should be aiming to gain that the Rorschach is an important tool in the psychological
a high degree like a PhD or MPhil and must be linked with a research assessment armamentarium, and that it possesses validity
unit or department with a proven track record in Parkinson’s comparable to other…psychological tests and even to many
research. The closing date for applications is 4 December 2009. For commonly used medical instruments [see http://bit.ly/6FnRt].’
further details see the website. Dr McCarthy Woods also disagreed with Wood’s assertion
I tinyurl.com/lhqhh5 that the Rorschach mistakenly identifies most individuals as
psychologically disturbed. ‘This has been previously refuted in
The Psychologist, in March 2008, and new norms have been
For more, see www.bps.org.uk/funds developed [see http://bit.ly/M08uE],’ she said. ‘In fact, the
info
Funding bodies should e-mail news to Elizabeth Beech on Rorschach is a psychological tool which serves a vital function
elibee@bps.org.uk for possible inclusion in mitigating human suffering and helping people identify the
sources of their mental confusion and emotional pain.’ CJ

news
Opposition to state regulation

The Alliance for Counselling regulation. Counselling and Therapy Today, the monthly organisation wants the best
and Psychotherapy – an psychotherapy are due to be publication of the British possible model for regulation,
organisation established earlier regulated by the Health Association for Counselling but that the model proposed
this year to oppose the Professions Council (HPC), and Psychotherapy (BACP), via the Professional Liaison
planned statutory regulation of the same body that recently seeking clarification from the Group acting on behalf of the
counselling and psychotherapy assumed the statutory organisation that it will HPC ‘is not right for us or for
– claims that over 2000 regulation of psychologists. continue to support members the profession’ – a view she
psychotherapists and The news comes as a letter who opt not to join the HPC. has shared in a letter to BACP
counsellors have now signed with over 30 signatories was ‘[W]e are not against members.
their petition opposing state published in the July issue of regulation per se but are Gabriel said: ‘The proposed
opposed to the model imposed Standards of Proficiency
by the Government’ the present unexamined
correspondents said. ‘We do differentiation between
not believe HPC regulation counsellors and
Climate change will add anything of significant

value to the work of therapists
nor to the experience of
psychotherapists –
differentiation that enhances
myths and assumptions that
The American Psychological Association has published an clients, certainly nothing abound in relation to the
authoritative task force report on climate change: Psychology and sufficient to outweigh the statutory regulation of
Global Climate Change: Addressing a Multi-faceted Phenomenon damage it is likely to inflict, counselling and
and Set of Challenges. Task force chair, Janet Swim of damage already being done in psychotherapy. One unhelpful
Pennsylvania State University, said: ‘What is unique about three closely related impact of the differentiation is
current global climate change is the role of human behaviour. government initiatives in the that it is likely to confuse the
We must look psy-domain: NICE guidelines, public and current or future
at the reasons the IAPT scheme and Skills for clients/patients, as well as
people are not Health’s “competences in employers of counsellors and
acting in order development” for the psychotherapists.’
to understand psychological therapies.’ She added: ‘In support of
how to get ‘To be clear,’ the letter our circa 32,300 practitioner
people to act.’ continues, ‘some of us are members, as well as our circa
The report considering refusing to register 1150 organisational members,
is partly a with HPC – a conscientious we see it as crucial that we
summary of objection of sorts – supported offer evidence and reasoned
the existing in our stance by principle, argument in response to the
psychological evidence and reasoned HPC consultation and aim to
research into argument.’ dispel the many unexamined
human BACP Chair, Dr Lynne myths that undermine
behaviour and Gabriel of York St John individuals’ capacity to make
climate change University, told The informed choices about
and partly a call Psychologist that her statutory regulation.’ CJ
to arms, including
the provision of advice on how psychologists can make their
input more influential.
‘Psychologists can be dramatically more effective if they
connect psychological work to concepts developed in the A-LEVEL RESULTS
broader climate research community and collaborate with
scientists from other fields,’ the report says. ‘Although Psychology overtook General Studies this year to become the fourth
psychologists have been doing work on climate change and most popular A-level subject in the UK, taken by 52,872 students, up
related subjects for decades... the relevance of psychological from 52,706 in 2008. Only English, Maths and Biology were taken by
contributions is not yet established or widely accepted.’ more students – 91,815, 72,475 and 55,485, respectively. Unlike
Among the specific recommendations made to psychologists many other subjects, there was actually a small reduction in the
working in this field, the report suggests using the language of proportion of Psychology A-level students obtaining an A grade: 19.2
the wider climate research community. For example, whereas per cent this year compared with 19.3 per cent last year. However, in
psychologists typically report their findings in terms of statistical line with most other subjects, there was an increase in the number
significance or effect size, the report says that what matters for of psychology students who achieved a C grade or above: 68.8 per
the climate change field is the strength of effects or causes in cent this year compared with 67.7 per cent in 2008. Among the other
environmental terms. ‘For example,’ it advises, ‘a good indicator science and maths subjects, Chemistry, Physics, Maths and Further
of the importance of psychological variables for understanding Maths all showed increases in student numbers. CJ
human contributions to climate change is the amount of GHG I The full results are at www.jcq.org.uk
[greenhouse gas] emissions they can explain.’ CJ
I www.apa.org/releases/climate-change.pdf

NEWS FEATURE
they explain, but less with untruths told
The next big questions by a ‘liar’ who believes what they’re

uttering. A final approach has been to
look at ways that true and false
in psychology statements differ in content, with the

former tending to contain more sensory
detail. Crucially, none of these methods
are reliable enough to be used without
Christian Jarrett and Jon Sutton report on a recent special issue of the journal
independent corroboration. Being
Perspectives on Psychological Science reconstructed and pieced together, ‘in
essence, all memory is false to some
degree,’ Bernstein and Loftus write. ‘Our
job as memory researchers and as human
beings is to determine the portion of
he same American journal that environmental changes, as espoused by memory that reflects reality and the
T earlier this year asked psychologists

how their discipline could be
improved (see www.bps.org.uk/persp)
books like Nudge, which create a ‘choice
architecture’ whereby people’s inherent
decision-making biases lead to desired
portion that reflects interference and bias.’
Meanwhile, Timothy Wilson at the
University of Virginia says he hopes
– Perspectives on Psychological Science – outcomes (for example, making organ psychology will finally get over its
has since published another round of donor schemes opt-out rather than ‘Freudophobia’ and start getting to grips
brainstorming contributions, this time opt-in). with self-knowledge. To date, efforts in
on ‘The next big questions in Also on the topic of judgement and this field are disjointed and there are big
psychology’. With a few nips and tucks, decision making, Martin Seligman and gaps, he argues. ‘I am unaware of any
we’ve summarised the majority of the Michael Kahana at the University of research on how well people can predict
contributions into four themes: how we Pennsylvania say there is promise in the how their personalities will change as
can improve ourselves; why people vary; idea of using virtual simulations to teach they age,’ Wilson gives as one example.
social interaction; and approaches to expert intuition that would normally Research that helps people understand
psychology. See what you think, then emerge only from years of experience. themselves better would be beneficial,
send your ideas to Daniel Bernstein and Elizabeth Loftus he says, given that people with larger
psychologist@bps.org.uk propose that the next big question in discrepancies in their implicit and explicit
their field is how to tell whether a self-concepts tend to be more anxious and
memory is true or false. Prior research has less happy.
Improving humankind revealed neural correlates of true and false This theme of improving the way we
Perhaps the boldest of the contributions memories, but has tended to involve live is encapsulated by Nansook Park and
was offered by Scott Lilienfeld and pallid material (rather than juicy real-life Christopher Peterson at the University of
colleagues at Emory University in relation memories) and has depended on Michigan in their clarion call for more
to reducing cognitive biases. Their averaging over hundreds of trials. There’s positive psychology. Besides studying
argument is that extremism is fuelled by been modest success with identifying false distress and pathology, ‘[w]e still need
mental flaws, such as the ‘confirmation memories in the form of deliberate lies, to know much more about the rest of the
bias’, in which we disproportionately
attend to information that supports our
current view. ‘At the risk of sounding
hopelessly idealistic,’ they write, ‘one
might... be so bold to suggest that if
researchers found debiasing to be
efficacious and implemented it on a grand
scale, it could prove to be psychology’s
most important contribution to reducing
ideological extremism and both inter- and
intragroup conflict.’
On a near identical note, Katherine
Milkman at the University of
Pennsylvania and her colleagues argue
that after years of successful research
exposing the flaws in our thinking, much
of it by Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman,
the time has come to focus on how
decision making can be improved. The
modest amount of prior research on this
topic has formed two types, they say:
interventions, such as taking an outsider’s
perspective and considering the opposite
view, which are designed to switch a
person from an automatic, impulsive way
of thinking to a more conscious,
considered style of thought; and Can psychology reduce ideological extremism and both inter- and intragroup conflict

news
human condition and those parts that health – just consider the finding that networks: instead, they tend to facilitate
make life most worth living,’ they write. wounds take longer to heal when people interactions with strangers facing the
‘The good life is not the troubled life are stressed – but there are many same or similar threats (such as cancer
avoided or undone,’ they argue, adding unanswered questions about how stress patients). The authors say that
that in uncovering what it means to live and psychopathology interact with psychologists should be ‘designing and
well, psychology needs more longitudinal environmental factors like diet and testing social experiments and developing
studies, more collaboration between pollution to affect our immune systems theory and empirical tests of how our
specialisms and more focus on behaviours and ageing processes, Kiecolt-Glaser says. social networks ‘’get under the skin’’ to
rather than processes. ‘We need to put greater emphasis on influence disease and mortality.’
cross-discipline training for our students,’ In years to come, such social networks
she argues, ‘underscoring the importance could well include the occasional android
Why people vary of getting a strong foundation in basic friend. A psychologist (Neal J. Roese) and
Untangling the relative contribution of biological science.’ artificial intelligence researcher (Eyal
nature and nurture to human Gregory Smith at the University of Amir) from the University of Illinois at
development has occupied the careers of Kentucky provided a clinical Urbana-Champaign write that ‘in 50 years
countless psychologists. Based on several psychologist’s perspective on this theme we suspect androids of substantial
of the contributions to the special issue, of how nature and nurture interact to sophistication to populate our world and
it’s a project that remains as pertinent and influence a person. ‘One fundamental task participate in everyday social interactions’.
daunting as ever. for clinical psychological science,’ he says, The science of psychology will, they say,
Jay Belsky and Michael Pluess at ‘is understanding why different face a remarkable new set of challenges in
Birkbeck University of London highlight individuals progress along different life grappling with human–android
the fascinating issue of individual trajectories.’ Smith adds that progress in interaction. How would we cope with not
differences in children’s sensitivity to their genetics has opened up exciting new knowing whether we were talking to an
environment. Normally this is discussed possibilities but that psychology needs to android or a real person? The AI needed
in terms of some children being more catch up by providing ‘sound theories and to grasp the complexity of human
vulnerable than others to adverse precise measures of coherent, emotion is perhaps the highest of all AI
circumstances, but Belsky and Pluess homogenous, elemental psychological hurdles, so perhaps we would resolve this
review a range of behavioural and genetic constructs.’ In particular, Smith says there ‘sentience ambiguity’ with an angry attack.
research showing that the same children is a need to abandon psychiatric The authors warn that ‘culture filled with
who are affected by negative diagnostic categories as the basis for advanced androids might well be an angry
circumstances also tend to thrive in clinical science research because, he one.’ But don’t rush to the bunkers just
quality conditions. In other words, argues, many of them ‘consist of sets of yet: Roese and Amir see the ‘threshold of
children vary in their responsiveness moderately or weakly related symptoms indistinguishability – the moment at
to the environment, be it positive or that often appear to have different which technology can create an android
negative. What’s more, other research aetiologies from each other.’ that is indistinguishable from human
shows that this tendency is influenced by beings – as more than 100 years away
conditions in the womb, which, in turn, from current technology (maybe much
are affected by maternal experiences, Social interaction further), with roadblocks centering most
including stress. In one final twist, Others believe psychology should turn pivotally on the material science
whether or not a fetus responds to these the spotlight outwards, to our interactions underlying artificial skin and the
influences in utero, potentially becoming with others. Sheldon Cohen and Denise computational challenges of computer
more sensitive to the environment in early Janicki-Deverts at Carnegie Mellon vision and natural language AI.’
childhood, could depend on their genetic University point out that ‘we have known
make-up, thus bringing the role of nature about the importance of social integration
back into play. (engaging in diverse types of Approaches to psychology
On a related note, Kenneth Dodge relationships) for health and longevity for It doesn’t really matter what the topic of
says one of the most important questions 30 years. Yet, we still do not know why study is if you go about it the wrong way,
facing psychology is to elucidate the having a more diverse social network and several contributors to the special
mechanisms underlying the way that the would have a positive influence on our issue focus on this bigger picture. For
MAOA gene interacts with exposure to health, and we have yet to design effective example, Lisa Oakes (University of
maltreatment in childhood, thus leading interventions that influence key California) looks at the ‘humpty dumpty
to increased risk for the development of components of the network and in turn problem’: after years of studying infant
conduct disorder. Dodge highlights physical health.’ The authors say that the cognitive abilities in isolation, how do we
possible mechanisms in the brain, in size, consistency and range of reported put the developing cognitive system back
social cognition and autonomic arousal, relationships lead us to talk about them as together again? For example, infants
leading him to predict that ‘the greatest if they were causal. ‘However, the truth is, remember the items they have attended to
possible contributions to science in the we do not know this,’ they write. There and perceived, and their emotional state
coming decade will be made by scientific are surprisingly few experimental studies will influence their perception and
teams that are able to combine multiple testing the possibility that network representation of the events they
disciplinary perspectives and methods to interventions – increasing the diversity encounter. So how do psychologists
understand how psychopathology and extent of our social networks, or develop tasks and experimental designs
develops.’ decreasing conflict and loneliness – would that will uncover the co-development of
This view was echoed by Janice be beneficial to our health. Those that do these different abilities? Oakes points to
Kiecolt-Glaser in her contribution about exist seldom draw inspiration from the studies that alter an infant’s motor
psychoneuroimmunology. We already evidence reported in the correlational experience in order to assess the impact in
know that stress and depression affect literature, by using natural social other areas, and the difficulty of doing this

news
in a cognitive sense: ‘We can put ‘’sticky honour, by Nisbett and Cohen. He advises focusing on important questions that may
mittens’’ on prereaching infants and we that we should not see research seem naive or obvious. He believes that
can put prewalking infants in walkers, contributions as ‘flawless monuments that we have an ‘extremely uneven empirical
but how do we give infants a we can be proud of map of the behavioral terrain, in which
boost in remembering, 20 years later. An a few areas are represented in exquisite
perceiving, or controlling experiment is just detail (e.g. self description, reaction time,
attention? That is, how do we a sampling from an memory recall) and many others are left
create ‘’cognitive sticky mittens’’?’ enormous set of almost completely blank’. Funder cites
Another contributor possible Roy Baumeister’s list of behaviours lying
suggesting psychology has gone parameters. In within the relatively unexplored territory:
too far down a route of isolating retrospect, the ‘helping, hurting, playing, working,
variables, ‘methodological great experiments taking, eating, risking, waiting, flirting,
sophistication’ and ‘faultless capture a truth goofing off, showing off, giving up,
experiments’ is Paul Rozin, from about the world, screwing up, compromising, selling,
the University of Pennsylvania. but it is the persevering, pleading, tricking,
These accomplishments are a problem selection, outhustling, sandbagging, refusing, and
critical part of psychology, Rozin not the elegance, the rest’. To allow the map to be redrawn,
argues, and they are well and that primarily Funder says that journal reviewers and
appropriately taught by determines the granting agencies will need to give higher
psychologists. ‘However, they are Sticky mittens – can we greatness. We priority to descriptive – and mostly
only a part of science and should create similar boosts for should just ask correlational – research that measures
not comprise the almost memory one simple interesting and consequential behaviours
exclusive criteria for evaluating question about any across a realistic range of situational
research. In particular, discovery of paper, a grant, or a psychologist: To what variables. ‘Careful methodology and
fundamental phenomena, such as degree is our enterprise advanced by the appropriate data analysis remain essential,
functional relations that apply to the real work in question?’ but perhaps the requirement that every
world and have generality, should have a In a similar vein, David Funder study must test a tightly specified theory
higher priority in psychology.’ Rozin gives (University of California, Riverside) can be relaxed for while. Why not give it
the example of research on the culture of proposes a simple research agenda a shot?’
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Blogging on
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behaviour
The British Psychological Society’s free Research Digest service:
blog, email, Twitter and Facebook
‘An amazingly useful and interesting resource’

Ben Goldacre, The Guardian
www.researchdigest.org.uk/blog

MEDIA
anything other than just not
If they come for you understanding, or, less kindly, ignorance.

It is therefore all the more reason for
appropriately qualified and supervised
professional psychologists to be involved.
in the morning… I know from discussion with
colleagues and from reading recent
correspondence in The Psychologist that
Kairen Cullen on the benefits and ethics of involvement some disquiet exists in the profession
with the media about media practices involving
psychology. The Society makes available
some excellent advice and training for
t is 4.30am and I am in a taxi, perspectives. When asked to contribute work with the media (see
Icentral
travelling at speed through a deserted
London, towards Television
an applied psychologist’s perspective,
depending on the timescale for the
www.bps.org.uk/media-info). However,
there is still a long way to go in ensuring
Centre on the South Bank. I drowsily request, I use a variety of methods for that the big issues of manipulation of
go over the ideas I have prepared for responding. I research the question participants, exposure of vulnerable
appearing on GMTV, on a piece about presented, using a blend of participants, representation and inclusion,
holidays and arguments of all things! ethnographic-style questions and confidentiality, libel and slander,
How did this happen? conversations with whomever I can competency, and professional control and
In my work as an educational engage at this point, trawling my boundaries are addressed in the interface
psychologist, whose speciality for a long memory banks of practice materials between the media and psychologists’
time was somewhat naively and from past projects and multiple case work. The BPS Ethics Committee and the
reductively labelled ‘behaviour’, a key studies, and I spend some time doing Media and Press Committee are currently
idea upon which I based my practice some literature research. collaborating in a new project in which it
was encapsulated in Kurt Lewin’s Yesterday, when the GMTV is proposed that a media ethics reference
familiar equation, B = f(P, S), i.e. researcher rang and asked if I could group be formed. This would be proactive
behaviour is a function of the person contribute to their breakfast news item in giving support and guidance to
and their situation. I was never in much on holidays and arguments complete members and also in ensuring a wider
doubt that if I was to understand and with Keith Chegwin message to the public,
work with children’s, young people’s and from a Butlins camp, including those directly
adults’ ‘behaviour’, then it was never I was confident I could involved in the media of the
going to be possible to contribute to any bring a bit of need for professional
change without being cognisant of their psychologically informed psychology bound by a clear
worlds, in which media played such an thinking to the table. code of ethics and conduct.
important part. This interest led to me I was also confident that The three of four minutes
taking on the role of press officer for the I would offer some angles allocated to holidays and
Division of Educational and Child that the programme arguments slide away. Andrew,
Psychology and to volunteering to makers had not thought the presenter is making a joke
become one of about a thousand of, more than likely and thanking me for my
chartered psychologists listed on the reflecting some of the comments. I can barely recall
Society’s media database who are willing human complexities and what I actually said and am
to speak to the media. paradoxes a non- fairly sure none of my lot at
In my view the benefits of psychologist would be home asleep in bed will be
involvement with the media are huge. likely to miss. Many of able to tell me. I know I got
Bringing psychology to society and the points I had some of my favourite points in –
increasing public understanding of and discussed with the researcher the day the importance of good
increasing access to psychology are before were there in the programme communication, preparation, dealing with
central aims for the Society. On a presenters’ questions and comments. different expectations and wishes,
personal basis, I find the work It is very common, in my keeping a positive focus, i.e. making the
intellectually stimulating, topical, varied experience, for editorial control to most of having a good time, being
and meaningful. The media employ overlook the need to acknowledge together, doing something different and
many psychology graduates, mainly as where programme material comes from. having a change. I could have mentioned
researchers at this time, who are It is also common for comments and the Society’s key principles: respect,
generally bright young people using views to be distorted or not represented competence, responsibility, integrity and
their well-honed research skills to create accurately. However, I have rarely found competence but perhaps it was preferable
some interesting questions and it be the case that this arises from to model and live them out.
contribute
This is the page of the Society’s If you would like to comment on others based on experiences, or coordinating editor, Fiona Jones
Press Committee, which aims to a recent newspaper article, if you know of a forthcoming (Chair of the Society’s Press
promote and discuss psychology TV or radio programme involving programme or broadcast, Committee), on
in the media. psychology, if you have tips for please contact the ‘Media’ page f.a.jones@leeds.ac.uk

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An Introduction to Working with the Media

A one-day immersion in the media - newspapers, magazines, radio and television - with lots of hands-on experience,
organised by the Press Committee of the British Psychological Society. This course is designed to give a general introduction
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All courses take place in London and include lunch and course materials.
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psy 10_09 p836_839 jarrettfeature:Layout 1 15/9/09 15:32 Page 836
FEATURE
nitrous oxide to show that, metabolically

speaking, students’ brains were just as
active when at ‘rest’ as during a mental
arithmetic task.
The restless brain We now know that the brain uses

20 per cent of the body’s energy
consumption even though it only
accounts for 2 per cent of the body’s
Christian Jarrett enters the strange and controversial world of the
mass, and that this barely changes
‘default mode network’ regardless of whether we’re engaged in
a demanding mental task or we’re resting.
‘When you’re lying quietly and then we
ask you to do something – move your
hand, talk, read, whatever – and we
unctional brain imaging promised made of is as yet virtually unstudied and measure the total cost of running your
F to lift the lid on the black box.

Psychologists responded in earnest,
prodding the brain and watching which
unknown. Perhaps resting brain activity,
and the mind-wandering it gives rise to,
is psychology’s very own dark matter.
brain, we can’t see much of a difference,’
says Raichle. ‘So what’s emerging here is
this notion that a large part of the
areas light up and which stay dark. But The question looks set to divide the brain functional activity of the brain – neurons
what if the brain’s most important sciences. Neuroscientists are heralding the talking to each other – is ongoing all of
functions are intrinsic, only occurring dawn of a paradigm shift while leading the time, and the input/output of the
when we’re ‘at rest’? The recent discovery psychologists remain sceptical. system is only a small addition to that.’
of an energy-guzzling default mode The further discovery that there might
network (DMN) that ramps up several be a specific network, active at rest and
gears when we disengage from the The network suppressed when we’re outwardly
outside world has rendered such a The DMN describes a swathe of brain engaged, emerged more recently. Gordon
scenario plausible, perhaps probable. regions, including parts of the prefrontal Shulman – a former student of
Physics had to come to terms with the cortex, the midline and the parietal and psychologist and attention pioneer Mike
fact that most of what the universe is medial temporal cortices, which Posner – had the idea in the late 90s of
paradoxically are more active when combining imaging results from nine
we’re at rest compared with when we’re different studies, involving 134 people,
engaged in a taxing, externally focused in an attempt to find a system that was
task. The network was first named and present whenever attention was engaged.
documented formally in a 2001 paper ‘It was the biggest collection of PET data
by Marcus Raichle, at Washington put altogether that’s ever been done,’ says
University in St Louis, and colleagues. Raichle, a long-time colleague of
‘What began to trouble people like me,’ Shulman’s. ‘To Posner’s disappointment,
says Raichle, ‘was that even if you just that attention system didn’t emerge out
had somebody lying in the scanner of these brain scans. But what did emerge
with their eyes open or closed and they was a very consistent set of areas, now
weren’t doing anything other than known as the DMN, that became less
being awake and then you asked them active during any demanding task, such
to do something demanding, not only as reading or moving your hand.’
did the areas that you might expect Raichle says the implication that there
light up, but areas went down – that was this brain system that flickered to life
was the opening for us.’ when we disengage from external tasks
Evidence that the brain remains met with immediate resistance from the
active when we disengage from the psychological community. He believes this
outside world can be traced back at is in part because of the dominant view in
least as far as the 1950s to a paper by the 80s and 90s, and to some extent today
Louis Sokoloff and Seymour Kety. The also, that to study brain function you
pair used a classic technique involving present a stimulus or you ask subjects to
E. (2006). Failing to deactivate. PNAS,

reading
Christoff, K., Gordon, A.M., Smallwood, J. Gilbert, S.J., Dumontheil, I., Simons, J.S. connectivity in major depression.
et al. (2009). Experience sampling et al. (2007). Comment on ‘Wandering Biological Psychiatry, 62, 429–437. 103, 8275–8280.
during fMRI reveals default network minds’. Science, 317, 43b. Greicius, M.D., Srivastava, G., Reiss, A.L. Mason, M.F., Norton, M.I., Van Horn, J.D.
and executive system contributions to Gilbert, S.J., Williamson, I.D.M., & Menon, V. (2004). DMN activity et al. (2007). Wandering minds.
mind wandering. PNAS, 106, 8719-8724. Dumontheil, I. et al. (2007). Distinct distinguishes Alzheimer’s from Science, 315, 393–395.
Damasio, D. & Van Hoesen, G. (1983). regions of medial rostral prefrontal healthy aging. PNAS, 101, 4637–4642. McKiernan, K.A., Kaufman, J.N., Kucera-
Emotional disturbances associated cortex supporting social and Hagmann, P., Cammoun, L., Gigandet, X. Thompson, J. & Binde, J.R. (2003). A
with focal lesions of the frontal lobe. nonsocial functions. Social Cognitive et al. (2008). Mapping the structural parametric manipulation of factors
In K. Heilman & P. Satz (Eds.) and Affective Neuroscience, 2, 217–226. core of human cerebral cortex. PLoS affecting task-induced deactivation in
Neuropsychology of human emotion Greicius, M.D., Flores, B.H., Menon, V. et Biology, 6, e159. functional neuroimaging. Journal of
(pp.85–110). New York: Guilford Press. al. (2007). Resting-state functional Kennedy, D.P., Redcay, E. & Courchesne, Cognitive Neuroscience, 15, 394–408.

feature
do something. ‘There was this mindset (see ‘Watching the

that you’re turning the brain on,’ he says. mind wander’,
A common criticism was that the
resting activity of what we now know as
overleaf). ‘What I’ve
noticed in the last five
Findings
the default network, rather than being to six years’, Smallwood Many psychologists and neuroscientists now routinely scan the
truly intrinsic, must instead reflect some says, ‘is that when I brain at rest. Here’s a sample of recent default-mode-related
uncontrolled activation. Raichle used to talk about this findings from disparate fields.
considered this and came up with a way model people would say
that he thinks shows default brain activity it’s interesting but Autism: In 2006 Daniel Kennedy (University of California) and
is more than unconstrained activation. essentially an colleagues reported that children with autism failed to show
His argument is based on the levels of epiphenomenon. The ‘deactivation’ in the DMN when engaged in a Stroop-like task
oxygen supply and demand in the brain, concept of the DMN compared with rest, whereas the deactivation was seen as
and specifically his observation that this has changed that. It’s usual in control participants. The researchers said the result
supply and demand is in near total brought to everybody’s was likely to be due to the children with autism having reduced
balance when we’re ‘at rest’, disengaged attention that an awful DMN activity at rest – an anomaly they argued might play a
from the outside world. It was these ideas lot of what the brain is causal role in the children’s social impairment.
that were published in his now classic doing is to do with
2001 paper. ‘The paper basically said the imaginative processing Depression: Could resting-state brain activity help identify
DMN, in the conventional way of looking that we can’t necessarily patients with depression who are unlikely to respond to
at things, is not “activated” in this resting observe, and there are treatment? A brain-imaging study by Michael Greicius (Stanford
state,’ Raichle explains, ‘therefore it must some aspects which you University) and colleagues revealed abnormal patterns within
represent something about the intrinsic can’t study without the DMN of patients with major depression – exaggerated
activity of the brain that it’s organised in accepting that they connectivity between a region called the subgenual cingulate,
that state.’ occur spontaneously.’ known to be involved in emotion processing, and the rest of the
Raichle himself has DMN. This was especially the case among those patients who’d
proposed that one of been depressed for longer.
The influence the key functions
The paper ‘A default mode of brain subserved by the default Alzheimer’s disease: In another study, Greicius and colleagues
function’, published in the Proceedings of mode network may well found reduced resting-state activity in the hippocampus and
the National Academy of Sciences, dropped be mind-wandering, posterior cingulate of Alzheimer’s patients compared with
like a bomb and its reverberations have and especially thinking controls. They argued that scanning resting-state brain activity
been felt ever since. A casual PubMed about the future. He could prove to be a sensitive way of detecting the disease.
search with the term ‘default mode refers to a case study,
network’ reveals 31 studies have been first documented by Comparative studies: Chimpanzees show greater activity in the
published on the topic in the first three Antonio Damasio, in DMN during rest compared with during externally focused
months of 2009 alone. Today the idea of which a stroke patient, cognitive tasks, in a similar way to humans. James Rilling and
a default system inspires new approaches with damage to a part colleagues made the observation in a 2007 study after
to research on depression, Alzheimer’s of the DMN, recovered comparing the resting brain activity of eight humans and five
disease, mental time travel, autism, and described her chimps. Species differences were also apparent. For example,
comparative research and many other experience as being the chimps showed less left-side activity, probably because they
topics (see ‘Findings’). One area of unable to have any lack language.
psychology that’s probably felt the thoughts – almost as
influence more keenly than most is in if her ability to mind-
the study of mind-wandering. wander had been lost.
Jonathan Smallwood, a Scottish The possibility that the DMN may more practised tasks. Next Mason’s team
psychologist currently working at the support mind-wandering was tested scanned the same participants under
University of California, has been explicitly in 2007. Malia Mason and similar conditions, as they performed
studying mind-wandering for most of colleagues first asked participants to either novel or practised tasks. They
his academic career. In particular, he and report how often their minds wandered found that the DMN was more active
his colleagues have been interested in the during either highly practised or novel during the highly practised tasks and that
idea that attention flips back and forth tasks. As you might expect, mind- this was particularly the case among those
between an internal and external focus wandering was more prevalent during participants who claimed to mind-wander
more.
‘Since Raichle made his claims in
2001, people had been floating around
the idea that off-task thoughts and day-
Morcom, A.M. & Fletcher, P.C. (2007). Does al. (1997). Common blood flow
the brain have a baseline? changes across visual tasks. Journal of
dreams are subserved by the DMN,’ says
Neuroimage, 37, 1073–1082. Cognitive Neuroscience, 9, 648–663. Smallwood. ‘But the Mason paper, and
Raichle, M.E., Macleod, A.M., Snyder, A.Z. Smallwood, J. & Schooler, J.W. (2006). The to some extent a 2003 study by Kristen
et al. (2001). A default mode of brain restless mind. Psychological Bulletin, McKiernan (which showed increased
function. PNAS, 98, 676–682. 132, 946–958. DMN activity during easier tasks) made
Rilling, J.K., Barks, S.K., Parr, L.A. et al. Sokoloff, L., Mangold, R., Wechsler, R. et a leap, in the sense they made this the
(2007). A comparison of resting-state al. (1955). The effect of mental focus of their investigation; before then
brain activity in humans and arithmetic on cerebral circulation and
it was just speculation.’
chimpanzees. PNAS, 104, 17146-17151. metabolism. Journal of Clinical
Shulman, G.L., Fiez, J.A., Corbetta, M. et Investigation, 34, 1101–1108.
All of sudden, it seems, mind-
wandering, day-dreaming, mental time

feature
travel, prospective thinking, call it what rest is discovered; psychologists respond they’ll only be engaged in internal
you will, have become the focus of heated by showing renewed interest in intrinsic processes just doesn’t accord with my
research in psychology. ‘There’s a whole mental activity. But the reality is a little subjective experience when I’ve been in
new field opening up,’ says Smallwood. more complicated. When Malia Mason’s a scanner,’ says Gilbert. ‘If you’re given
‘There’s all these different buzz words, 2007 paper linking the DMN with mind- nothing to do, especially if it’s your first
different approaches, but what’s wandering was published, it was time, you’re suddenly a bit anxious,
underlying all of them is the accompanied by a critical commentary by you’re wondering what’s going on, there
understanding that we’re beginning to psychologist Sam Gilbert at UCL and his are also these beeps and strange noises,
get the tools and concepts to look at colleagues, including cognitive and you may be waiting for something
imaginative and introspective thought neuroscience luminary Chris Frith. to come up on the screen. So it’s just as
that’s really been ignored for various Gilbert and his colleagues argued plausible that you’re actually in a state
reasons.’ that what Mason’s group had inferred where you’re really looking out for
In Marcus Raichle’s view, the was mind-wandering activity could just something in the environment.’
discovery of the DMN has indeed led as plausibly be What the discussions
to something of a paradigm shift as construed as enhanced about Mason and
psychology wakes up to the fact that, far watchfulness – in “what the mind is doing colleagues’ paper betray
from being a passive input/output device, other words, an is a growing unease
the brain is constantly anticipating the exaggerated focus on when it is turned in on among large quarters
future and bringing a rich context to its the outside world. itself is a vitally important of the psychological
interactions with the world. ‘Only eight Supporting this topic for investigation” community that it can
per cent of the terminals in the visual alternative view, ever be a good thing to
cortex come from the outside world,’ he Gilbert’s team pointed focus on scanning people’s
observes. ‘This should make people pause to research they’d conducted showing brains when they are at rest. After all, if
for a moment – how come everything is that in a simple reaction-time task, medial there’s room for multiple and contrasting
so clear? It’s because of what the brain prefrontal cortex activity (a key part of interpretations about the mental processes
brings to the table.’ the DMN) was actually higher when involved during a practised task (as in the
performance was better, consistent with Mason study) then the scope for
the idea that this brain activity reflected disagreement about the possible mental
The sceptics increased watchfulness. activities involved ‘at rest’ must surely be
In a simple world, the story could end ‘This idea that if you put people in even greater.
here: Brain network that’s more active at the scanner and give them nothing to do, ‘The growth in the DMN literature
has provoked good questions and good
experiments,’ says Gilbert, ‘but I don’t
think that studying rest itself is a
Watching the mind wander particularly useful thing to do. If you’re
interested in self-initiated behaviour, then
Instruct a participant to mind-wander: if they obey, then paradoxically, they’re not really you can study that experimentally – you
mind-wandering. What’s more, give a participant a boring task and ask them to indicate when just have to come up with good tasks for
they’re mind-wandering and by definition the moment you get a signal means they’re not how to do it in a careful and controlled
mind-wandering any longer. So just how do psychologists study such an intractable form of way. The DMN literature reflects, in a
mental behaviour? ‘We’ve looked at this issue with the view that attention isn’t static but can way, a decognitivisation of cognitive
ebb and flow,’ says Jonathan Smallwood. ‘So we’ve attempted to come up with tools to find neuroscience.’
out how and when people switch to an offline mode.’ These methodological concerns were
One such tool used by Smallwood is called the SART (sustained attention to response expressed most explicitly and forcefully
task), originally developed by Ian Robertson at Trinity College Dublin and Tom Manly at the in a 2007 paper ‘Does the brain have
University of Cambridge as a way to study cognitive deficits arising from head injuries. ‘One a baseline? Why we should be resisting
of the clever things about the SART’, Smallwood says, ‘is that it turns the attentional process a rest’ by Alexa Morcom, now at the
backwards so people have to withhold a response to a target, and this allows us to identify University of Edinburgh, and Paul
those moments when a person has failed to attend.’ Fletcher at the University of Cambridge.
A typical SART task will require participants to respond to the numbers 0 to 9, but Morcom, a psychologist, investigates
excluding the number 3. An inappropriate response to 3 acts as a marker for an attentional memory decline and ageing, and the
lapse and the period preceding an error is a strong candidate for a mind-wandering episode. DMN first came to her attention when
Another approach is to use thought probes, which involves unexpectedly asking a other researchers started talking about the
participant to report what they were just thinking about – whether they were ‘on task’ or if DMN changing with ageing. ‘It sounded
their minds had wandered. An obvious disadvantage with this approach is that participants like some kind of theory about brain
will soon cotton on to the purpose of the research, which is likely to have an effect on their ageing but when I looked closely I
tendency to mind-wander. realised that it wasn’t really telling me
Earlier this year, Smallwood and colleagues combined brain imaging with use of thought anything,’ Morcom says. ‘The DMN
probes and measures of attentional lapses to show that default mode network regions are theory is very unpsychological. I didn’t
activated during mind-wandering episodes. In other studies they’ve looked at the links feel I’d learned anything about what these
between mind-wandering and creativity and comprehension. Together with Jonathan regions are doing and how they might
Schooler, Smallwood is currently developing a model to explain why we sometimes catch actually be underpinning memory
ourselves in the act of mind-wandering and sometimes don’t. ‘One idea is that the brain decline.’
needs to periodically take stock of what it’s doing,’ he says. Morcom and Fletcher’s paper
acknowledged the potential diagnostic
utility of scanning the brain at rest. But

feature
beyond that, the pair argued in detail that raised the profile of these so-called regions were almost on top of each other
studying the resting brain has no use to intrinsic processes, then that can only but it was still possible to separate them
cognitive neuroscience whatsoever. In be a good thing. The points of contention, out according to their functionality. ‘So
their view there is nothing inherently the state of play, revolves around whether when you dig into this network you can
special or mysterious about the ‘resting scanning people at rest is the way to study start seeing amazing functional
state’ of the brain. They also rejected these intrinsic processes, and whether the specialisations,’ Gilbert says, ‘and I think
Raichle’s claims that the DMN being DMN, as it was originally conceived, really we should be spending more time carving
‘active’, but not ‘activated’, in the resting exists at all. up this network rather than considering
state means that it therefore reflects a ‘I think there are lots of important it as a homogeneous whole.’
baseline, intrinsic mode of operation. mental functions that we perform every However, Marcus Raichle and other
‘When Raichle says these [DMN] day that haven’t been studied enough,’ DMN advocates, remain undeterred.
regions are not “activated” at rest, Morcom says. ‘But I don’t think the idea They continue to believe that studying
although they are active, he’s making a of the default mode or the idea of doing the brain at rest holds the key to many
technical point about the balance between research using a resting state follows from secrets. In fact, there is an entirely new
the oxygen supply and demand in these these functions being really interesting.’ field now in which investigators look for
areas and indeed the whole brain,’ Sam Gilbert agrees: ‘It would be great correlations in resting state activity
Morcom explains. ‘But while there’s this to figure out what’s going on in these between brain regions so as to create a
balance, the level of neural activity functional map of the brain. Raichle
varies widely in the DMN and points me to a noteworthy paper
across the brain. So although the published last year in PLoS Biology,
blood flow balance may be special which is just the latest to take this
at rest, there’s no reason to think approach.
that the same is true of the neural Patric Hagmann and colleagues
function.’ If Morcom and Fletcher used diffusion tensor imaging (DSI)
are right, this would suggest that to create beautifully intricate maps
there isn’t anything special about of the dense cortical pathways within
the brain activity observed at ‘rest’ the cerebral cortex of five
– it doesn’t deserved to be placed participants, and crucially, they
in a category all of its own. In fact, then used fMRI to scan the same
by this account, the most participants at rest. ‘We found a close
important distinguishing feature of correspondence between the
neural activity at rest is that no one strengths of structural connections
really knows what participants are derived from DSI and functional
doing with their minds during this connections derived from resting state
time. Alexa Morcom says the DMN theory is ‘very fMRI in the same participants,’
What about the ‘tip of the unpsychological’ Hagmann’s team concluded. In other
iceberg’ observation – the idea that words, neuroscientists like Hagmann are
the majority of brain metabolism fuels DMN brain regions. But I’m not sure that using the resting state as a functional
intrinsic activity, and that externally it is constructive to do study after study template with which to inform their
focused tasks make little difference? where we just ask people to rest. At the structural findings – exactly what
Morcom agrees that we need to find out moment it’s very poorly understood what psychologists like Morcom and Gilbert
more about the bulk of the iceberg, but cognitive processes contribute to what say they shouldn’t be doing.
she points out that that bulk is present aspects of DMN activity. In all likelihood, The onward march of the DMN
during evoked or extrinsic tasks too. ‘To when we’re at rest we’re engaged in both doesn’t end there. A further development
my knowledge we’ve got nothing to say internally oriented and externally has been to look at the resting state
that this meaningful metabolic activity oriented processes. The way to correlations between brain regions over
that is substantial is special to rest.’ she understand these processes is to have longer periods than are usually studied in
says, ‘It follows logically that the bulk of better experimental controls.’ conventional brain-imaging tasks. These
this iceberg is present across many Gilbert’s own approach has been to studies are revealing coordinated resting
different cognitive states, of which rest is use carefully controlled tasks to carve up activity pulsing between disparate brain
only one, and therefore I don’t see why the DMN into its functional subregions. regions about once every 10 seconds.
they link it specifically to rest. I think the He’s focused on a medial prefrontal region ‘The sense I have about this is that there
question of what all this activity represents that’s associated with theory of mind – is a paradigm shift going on here,’ says
is extremely interesting and there needs that is, thinking about other people’s Raichle. ‘We’re beginning to recognise
to be more research into neural activity mental states. He and his colleagues had that there are actually slow cortical
that might not be the result or the participants manipulate information that potentials which have been largely
substrate of information processing, but was either visible on a screen or held ignored. There’s this coherent activity
might somehow support it.’ purely in their heads, and they were in the brain which has begun to define in
further led to believe that they were either an elegant way not only the relationships
working alone or collaborating with within systems like the DMN or the
The state of play another. Gilbert found that the brain area visual system, but the relationships
Technical issues aside, what everyone activated when looking at a screen versus between these systems. It’s like the
appears to agree on is that what the mind processing your own thoughts was as groundswell of the ocean.’
is doing when it’s turned in on itself is little as five millimetres away from the
a vitally important topic for investigation. area that was activated when thinking I Dr Christian Jarrett is The Psychologist’s
If the discovery of a postulated DMN has about other people’s thoughts. The staff journalist. chrber@bps.org.uk

psy 10_09 p840_841 ads:Layout 1 15/9/09 15:38 Page 840
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psy 10_09 p842_845 frith:Layout 1 15/9/09 15:49 Page 842
ARTICLE
newly developed brain-imaging technique

of positron emission tomography (PET).
Using this technique, to which our group
added functional magnetic resonance
Making up the mind imaging (fMRI), after moving to the

Wellcome Trust Imaging Centre at UCL, I
was able to look directly at the neural basis
of cognitive processes. (What we measure
Chris Frith, winner of the Society’s 2008 Book Award with Making Up the Mind, with PET and fMRI is not neural activity,
on how his ideas have developed, and the surprising implications but changes in blood flow that occur as a
result of changes in neural activity.)
These were wonderful new techniques,
My book Making Up the Mind is lthough I originally trained as a but to use them properly required
partly a scientific autobiography,
describing a career that seems to
have taken a satisfyingly circular
A
clinical psychologist, in the days
when this was a 13-month course
leading to a diploma, my subsequent
considerably more thought than was
applied initially. So it became obvious very
soon that applying these new imaging
course. This has progressed from career has been devoted to research, techniques to the study of schizophrenia
an interest in the newest although always in a medical setting. would be fruitless since we knew so little
mathematical approaches to human I have been particularly fortunate in about the relationship between brain
behaviour, to the study of that I have worked in multidisciplinary function and mental activity. Ironically,
schizophrenia via behaviourism and groups. Tea-time conversations, in those considering we are measuring objective,
clinical psychology, to cognitive days when there was still tea-time, physical activity, the restrictions on what
neuropsychology and new covered everything from you can do while lying
techniques of brain imaging. Now synapses and in a brain scanner make
I find myself almost back where neurotransmitters to “it is the study of it easier to study
I began, as I embark on a project to consciousness and consciousness that will subjective experiences
model human social interactions in expressed emotion. help us to understand rather than objective
terms of Bayesian learning My work on behaviour. In many
schizophrenia”
algorithms, and watch in schizophrenia began of the early studies
admiration as colleagues achieve almost by chance when volunteers lay in the
so much with this approach. Hans Eysenck assigned scanner and imagined
me this topic for the new addition of his making movements (Stephan et al., 1995)
Handbook of Abnormal Psychology. My or imagined seeing faces (O’Craven &
research aimed to understand the typical Kanwisher, 2000).
symptoms associated with this diagnosis in
Experimental psychology has revealed terms of neuropsychology. It took a while
question
much about the cognitive processes that to dawn on me that, even as a psychologist How do we know about the
underlie faculties such as perception interested in behaviour and introspection, world?
and decision making. Can we I was actually studying how the brain Another unexpected advantage of
understand group perception and group works. Whatever the ultimate causes of scanning is the ability to look at brain
decision making, starting with groups of schizophrenia, there is a neural basis to activity that occurs without awareness.
two, in terms of these same processes? symptoms such as hallucinations and Of course, there are elegant behavioural
delusions. In my book The Cognitive paradigms for looking at effects of
Neuropsychology of Schizophrenia (Frith, unconscious processing, but once you
1992) I developed some ideas about the have asked your volunteers whether they
resources
www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/Frith/Booksite/ cognitive basis of hallucinations and noticed some stimulus that was irrelevant
index.html
Fletcher, P.C. & Frith, C.D. (2009).
delusions and speculated on their neural to the task they were performing, their
Perceiving is believing: A Bayesian correlates. focus of attention is irrevocably altered.
approach to explaining the positive At this time I was incredibly fortunate With the scanner you can measure
symptoms of schizophrenia. Nature to be given the chance to move to the whether stimuli outside awareness elicit
Reviews Neuroscience, 10, 48–58. MRC Cyclotron Unit. At that time this was brain activity without ever mentioning
the only place in the UK with access to the these stimuli to the volunteers. Such
symptoms of schizophrenia. Nature

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Bayes’ essay Towards Solving a al. (2005). Somatosensory activations reactions to emotional facial Frith, C.D. (1992). The cognitive
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book award
studies confirmed, in a during the rise of

particularly striking manner, cognitive psychology
how much brain processing in the latter part of the
goes on without awareness 20th century when the
(Rees et al., 2002). This process of perceptual
observation is critical for inference was referred
research aimed at uncovering to as ‘analysis by
the neural correlates of synthesis’. Today the
consciousness (NCC). A key same idea dominates
question that still remains to theories of perception
be answered is, what is the and is referred to as
difference between the neural ‘predictive coding’
activity associated with (Yuille & Kersten,
consciousness and the neural 2006).
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al., 1999)? Helmholtz, a key
I thought that studying precursor of these
schizophrenia would provide theories of perception
answers to understanding was the Revd Th. Bayes
consciousness, but, instead, (1763/1958). Bayes’
I realised that it is the study of theorem is concerned
consciousness that will help us with the relationship
to understand schizophrenia. between evidence and
False perceptions such as beliefs. In a Bayesian
hallucinations are disorders of These were wonderful new techniques, but to use them properly framework, beliefs are
consciousness. However, these required considerably more thought than was applied initially expressed as probabilities. If
false perceptions are, at first I have a strong belief about
sight, difficult to understand in terms of and it was this realisation that led to the the state of the world, then I consider the
brain function. All the evidence we have main ideas in Making Up the Mind. probability of that being the true state of
about the state of the world comes through Some of this brain activity is involved the world to be high. Perception is a belief
our senses via our brain. It is easy to in creating our perceptions. This idea was about the state of the world, or, in other
understand how damage to the brain can originally proposed by Helmholtz (1866) words, an estimate of the state of the
impair our perception. For example, who talked about our brain’s ‘unconscious world. We can never know the true state
damage to the colour area (V4) of the inferences’. Helmholtz had made two of the world, but we can test and improve
visual brain means that colour is no longer important observations. First, that there our estimates by acting on the world and
available for perception. As a result the was a long time, in terms of neural collecting new evidence from our senses.
patient has a visual world without colour transmission (≈200ms), between a signal Bayes’ theorem tells how much we should
(Zeki, 1990). However, hallucinations are striking the senses and emergence of a change our beliefs about the world given
experiences in the absence of any signals conscious percept. Second, that sensory this new evidence.
coming from the senses. Why should our signals are essentially crude and This Helmholtz/Bayes framework had
brain create such experiences and how ambiguous. He concluded that perception a number of interesting implications, and
does it do this? depends upon the brain making I suspected that many people might be
unconscious inferences and that these quite shocked by them.
inferences take time. The perception of I Our experience of having a direct
The Helmholtz/Bayes depth is an obvious case where inferences perception of the world is an illusion.
framework have to be made. Just from its size on the This illusion is created by our lack of
I have already mentioned one clue to retina, we can’t tell whether we are looking awareness of the inferences being made
the answer to this question – the large at a small object nearby or a large object by our brain.
amount of brain activity that goes on far away. We need to use other cues like I There is no qualitative difference
without any associated conscious motion parallax. between perceptions and beliefs. A
experience. It took me a long time to Helmholtz’s idea was strongly perception is a belief about the world
realise the significance of this clue myself, promoted by Richard Gregory and others that we hold to have extremely high
B. (2006). The competitive advantage J. (2005). Theory of mind in 334–339. specific brain regions. Journal of
of sanctioning institutions. Science, schizophrenia: A critical review. Libet, B., Gleason, C.A., Wright, E.W. & Cognitive Neuroscience, 12,
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Hampton, A.N., Bossaerts, P. & 249–286. intention to act in relation to onset of Pickering, M.J. & Garrod, S. (2004).
O’Doherty, J.P. (2008). Neural Helmholtz, H. von (1866). Handbuch cerebral activity (readiness- Toward a mechanistic psychology of
correlates of mentalizing-related der Physiologischen Optik. Leipzig: potential): The unconscious initiation dialogue. Behaviour and Brain
computations during strategic Voss. of a freely voluntary act. Brain, 106(3), Sciences, 27, 169–190 (discussion
interactions in humans. Proceedings Lakin, J.L. & Chartrand, T.L. (2003). 623–642. 190–226).
of the National Academy of Science Using nonconscious behavioral O'Craven, K.M. & Kanwisher, N. (2000). Rees, G., Kreiman, G. & Koch, C. (2002).
USA, 105, 6741–6746. mimicry to create affiliation and Mental imagery of faces and places Neural correlates of consciousness
Harrington, L., Siegert, R.J. & McClure, rapport. Psychological Science, 14, activates corresponding stiimulus- in humans. Nature Reviews

book award
probability. told either that everybody knew that After all, this is what makes
I Perceptions are created by combining already or else that it must be nonsense. neuropsychology the most exciting and
bottom-up, sensory signals with top- To persuade people of the importance of difficult of the sciences. This is the
down, prior beliefs. psychology we need to choose some discipline where the mind and the brain
I Our perceptions are an estimate of the strong belief in folk psychology and come together.
state of the world and never the true provide sufficient evidence to convince
state of the world. However, we can people that they are wrong in holding this
constantly improve our estimate by belief. It seemed to me that my work on We are all connected
making and testing predictions. For perceptions and hallucinations could There is a second popular illusion that I
survival it is more important to be able provide the basis for a persuasive book wanted to confront in Making Up the
to predict the state of the world than to about psychology. Furthermore, my work Mind. This is an illusion about our social
have a very good estimate of what it with brain imaging could provide world. A striking feature of the symptoms
was in the past. Furthermore, for evidence that people find especially associated with schizophrenia is the
survival all that matters is that our compelling. For some reason brain- extent to which they are about other
model of the world makes useful imaging studies do seem to capture the people. If you have hallucinations they
predictions. imagination of the public, or at least, of are likely to consist of voices talking to
the press.
In this framework, hallucinations are no Experimental
longer such strange phenomena. All our psychologists are,
perceptions are hallucinations, in the quite rightly,
sense that they are created by our brain. annoyed when
However, our perceptions are phenomena that they
hallucinations that are strongly have been working
constrained by reality. These constraints on for years, are
derive from the evidence provided by picked up by the
our senses, but also from our prior press as having been
beliefs. Furthermore, in this framework, recently ‘discovered’
there is no essential difference between through a brain
hallucinations and delusions. Both result imaging study. In
from the assessment of evidence Making Up the Mind
constrained by prior expectations. I try to show by
And here might lie the critical defect in examples how
schizophrenia that leads to hallucinations behavioural
and delusions. The constraints of prior experiments are just
expectations seem no longer to apply as important as Being imitated makes us like the person we are interacting with
(Fletcher & Frith, 2009). brain-imaging studies
in telling us about
relationships between brain and mind. you or about you. If you have delusions
The problem with psychology We all have the strong belief that we they are likely to be about people
But are these rather complex ideas a have a direct perception of the world. This communicating with you or maligning
suitable topic for a popular book about is because we have no awareness of all the you or controlling your actions. In The
psychology? Psychology is different from inferences being made by our brain. In Cognitive Neuropsychology of
other sciences in many ways, but the writing Making Up the Mind I aimed to Schizophrenia I suggested that people with
most important difference is that show people that this belief is wrong. a diagnosis of schizophrenia would have
everyone has their own intuitions about I wanted to show how psychologists problems with social cognition and, in
psychology. This includes psychologists: have arrived at this conclusion and how, particular, with theory of mind or
we all use folk psychology all the time. through experiments, they create the mentalising tasks in which people have
With disciplines like physics or molecular evidence that supports this conclusion. to infer the intentions and beliefs of
genetics we accept that we know little or At the same time I wanted to combat the others. This prediction has been largely
nothing about the subject and respect the persistent dualist denial that there is any confirmed (Harrington et al., 2005).
experts who do. The psychologist who relation between the physical world of the However, since that time there has been
makes some exciting new discovery is brain and the mental world of the mind. a dramatic increase of interest in and
Neuroscience, 3, 261–270. perceived fairness of others. Nature, healthy subjects. Journal of (2003). Both of us disgusted in my
Rizzolatti, G. & Craighero, L. (2004). The 439, 466–469. Neurophysiology, 73, 373–386. insula: The common neural basis of
mirror-neuron system. Annual Review Soon, C.S., Brass, M., Heinze, H.J. & van Baaren, R.B., Holland, R.W., seeing and feeling disgust. Neuron,
of Neuroscience, 27, 169–192. Haynes, J.D. (2008). Unconscious Kawakami, K. & van Knippenberg, A. 40, 655–664.
Singer, T., Kiebel, S.J., Winston, J.S. et al. determinants of free decisions in the (2004). Mimicry and prosocial Yuille, A. & Kersten, D. (2006). Vision as
(2004). Brain responses to the human brain. Nature Neuroscience, behavior. Psychological Science, 15, Bayesian inference: Analysis by
acquired moral status of faces. 11, 543–545. 71–74. synthesis? Trends in Cognitive
Neuron, 41, 653–662. Stephan, K.M., Fink, G.R., Passingham, Wegner, D.M. (2003). The illusion of Science, 10, 301–308.
Singer, T., Seymour, B., O'Doherty, J.P. et R.E. et al. (1995). Functional anatomy conscious will. Cambridge, MA: MIT Zeki, S. (1990). A century of cerebral
al. (2006). Empathic neural of the mental representation of Press. achromatopsia. Brain, 113(6),
responses are modulated by the upper extremity movements in Wicker, B., Keysers, C., Plailly, J. et al. 1721–1777.

book award
studies of the ‘social brain’. This upsurge seconds before could predict what action
of interest has been driven, in part, by the a person was going to perform. The
discovery of mirror neurons, first noticed
in monkeys (Rizzolatti & Craighero,
discovery of social mirroring and its
effects also suggests that our actions are
Reacting quickly
2004). These neurons became more active much more constrained than we realise. The problem with writing about science is
when a monkey performed a particular However, whether or not we have free that the most exciting results always appear
action and also when the monkey saw the will, we have a strongly felt experience just after your manuscript has gone to press.
experimenter performing the same action. of being free agents. We feel that our This was certainly the case with Making Up
A number of different mirror systems intentions cause our actions and that we the Mind…
have now been identified in humans also. could have chosen to do something
We all tend to imitate (Dimberg et al., different if we had wanted to. This feeling In a recent study by Roman Liepelt and
2000) and share the emotional of being an agent, whether or not it is colleagues, participants were asked to lift
expressions of others (Wicker et al., illusory, has a very important role in our their first or second finger as quickly as
2003). If we see someone else being social interactions. From an early age we possible in response to a visual cue. If the
touched, brain activity occurs in the area make a distinction between deliberate acts participants could see a picture of a hand
of somatosensory cortex that would be and accidents (e.g. Behne et al., 2005), in which these same fingers were held down
activated if we ourselves were touched and this distinction is associated with the in clamps, their responses were slower even
in the same way (Blakemore et al., 2005). idea of responsibility. though their own fingers were completely
Of particular interest is the tendency we The importance of responsibility can free of restraint.
have to covertly imitate each other’s be observed even in simple laboratory It seems that even reaction time, the
movements and gestures, known as the games involving trust and reciprocity mainstay of experimental psychology, has
chameleon effect (Chartrand & Bargh, (Fehr & Gächter, 2002). In these games a strong social component.
1999). In some experiments, one the players can invest money in the group
participant in the interaction is instructed or keep it for themselves. Money invested Liepelt, R. et al. (2009). Contextual movement
to covertly imitate the other. The results in the group gains interest (this game was constraints of others modulate motor preparation in
show that being imitated makes us like developed before the credit crunch!) and is the observer. Neuropsychologia, 47, 268–275.
the person we are interacting with and then shared among all the members of the
makes us more likely to give money to group. Thus investing increases the
charity afterwards (van Baaren et al., amount owned by the group as a whole,
2004). but slightly reduces the amount held by response, measured by fMRI, was greater
This social mirroring has important the investor. As long as many people invest to the faces of players who persistently
functions. It makes us less selfish and then everyone gains. However, there are cooperated or defected than it was to those
more cooperative. It also increases always a few individuals (free riders) who who simply followed instructions (Singer
alignment between people, which realise they can gain even more by et al., 2004).
enhances communication benefiting from the I believe that these data show that our
(Pickering & Garrod, investments of others sense that we are each of us responsible for
2004). For me, however, “we psychologists are and not investing our actions has a vital role in developing
the key observation from lucky to be living in such themselves. With the sanctions that enable the good of the
these experiments is that exciting times” repeated rounds of group to take priority over individual
this mirroring mostly such a game, overall advantages.
happens without our being investments decrease as
aware of it. Except in rare members stop investing
cases of synaesthesia, we are not aware since they don’t see why they should We live in exciting times
of the activity in our own sensory cortex support the free riders. As a result the The discipline of social cognitive
when we see someone else being touched. group as a whole loses out. Fehr and neuroscience has flourished dramatically
Also, the prosocial effects of being imitated Gächter (2002) showed that this problem in the last few years. Nearly every week
would almost certainly disappear if we could be resolved by allowing the players a new experiment is reported revealing
become aware that we were being imitated to punish the free riders. A player can pay novel cognitive mechanisms
(Lakin & Chartrand, 2003). As a result of a small amount of money to have another underpinning social interactions and
this lack of awareness we feel much more player fined. This is known as altruistic group behaviour (for example see box).
independent of others than we really are. punishment since it has a cost. When this We are even beginning to get clues to
Because all this activity is hidden from us, sanction is introduced into the game the the kinds of computational mechanisms
we do not realise how embedded we are in amount of free riding declines and the that might enable us to read each others
the social world. We feel that we are amount of investment increases. As a intentions (Hampton et al., 2008). In
independent agents. result the group as a whole benefits (see comparison to other sciences, we
also Gurerk et al., 2006). psychologists are lucky to be living in
What has all this to do with such exciting times.
Freedom and responsibility responsibility? Tania Singer and her
Since Libet’s classic experiment (Libet colleagues (2006) found that punishment
et al., 1983) showing that brain activity in these economic games is only applied I Chris Frith
precedes the conscious decision to act to people who we believe are acting freely is at the Wellcome Trust
there have been ever-more frequent and deliberately. Punishment was not Centre for NeuroImaging
claims that neuroscience has shown that applied when players were told that other at UCL and the Interacting
free will is an illusion (Wegner, 2003). players were not choosing their responses, Minds Project, University
Most recently, Soon et al. (2008) reported but simply following a sheet of of Aarhus
that brain activity measured up to 10 instructions. In addition the emotional c.frith@ucl.ac.uk

psy 10_09 p846_849 gottlieb:Layout 1 15/9/09 15:53 Page 846
EYE ON FICTION
romp in which he joins them. He

commands them to stop the ‘wild
rumpus’, sends them off to bed without
their supper, and begins to feel lonely,
Where the wild things are wanting ‘to be where someone loved him
best of all’. He smells ‘good things to eat’
from ‘far away across the world’, and
Richard Gottlieb analyses Maurice Sendak’s fascinating 1963 picture book, on the journeys home, leaving the wild things,
eve of its cinematic release ‘into the night of his very own room,
where he found his supper waiting for
him, and it was still hot’.
‘I only have one subject. The question Unspeakable concerns

I am obsessed with is How do children As the lavishly illustrated book Sendak’s art addresses our deepest,
survive?’ Maurice Sendak (Marcus, opens, we meet the main protagonist, frequently repressed, often unspeakable
2002, pp.170–171). Max, a young boy armed with a very large concerns about ourselves and our loved
hammer. He is wearing his wolf-suit and ones. Often it speaks to children and to
ccording to the writer Francis making mischief about the house. This the adults who read to them from a place
A Spufford, Where the Wild Things Are

is ‘one of the very few picture books
to make an entirely deliberate, and
includes chasing the dog about with a
fork. His mother, never seen in the story,
is unsympathetic and shouts at Max that
of anguished inner struggle, struggle that
had rarely been directly addressed in
children’s literature prior to Sendak.
beautiful, use of the psychoanalytic story he is a ‘WILD THING!’ Max responds by In straightforward, undisguised fashion,
of anger’ (Spufford, 2003, p.60). For me, shouting back, ‘I’LL EAT YOU UP!’ Sendak’s work has addressed problems
this book and Maurice Sendak’s other Because of this, he is sent to bed ‘without as monumental for children as being in
works are fascinating studies of intense eating anything’. In his bedroom, Max’s a rage at mother, relating to a depressed
emotions – disappointment, fury, even rage continues, but soon trees begin to or emotionally unavailable mother, or
cannibalistic rage – and their grow from the floor and the walls begin coming to terms with a mother who
transformation through creative activity. to disappear. His
room becomes one
with a surrounding
The book forest. Max walks
Maurice Sendak’s works have enormous through the forest,
popular appeal and have been purchased coming soon upon
and read by tens of millions of adults to a ‘private boat’ that
their children over the years. Published in he takes across the
1963, Where the Wild Things Are is the ocean to ‘where the
first and best-known part of what Sendak wild things are’.
described as a trilogy. Although just 10 Wild things appear
sentences long, it has become from the jungle,
acknowledged as a masterpiece of bearing sharp,
children’s literature, inspiring operas, pointed teeth and
ballets, songs and film adaptations (the menacing claws.
most recent of which is released this Max’s Wild Things
month). Barack Obama recently told a are threatening,
White House crowd that Where the Wild too, but he
Things Are is one of his favourite books. It confronts and
inspired some to suggest that ‘it is perhaps dominates them
time to separate [Sendak] from the word and becomes their
‘children’s’ and deal with his work as an king, commanding
explorative art, purely and only seemingly them to commence Sendak’s art addresses our deepest, frequently repressed, often
simple’ (Braun, 1970, p.52). a wild, orgiastic unspeakable concerns
Braun, S. (1970, 7 June). Sendak raises 20(8), 949–954. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 21, picture book. New York: Dutton
references
the shade on childhood. The New Hauser, D., Carter, M. & Meier, B. 295–322. Childrens’ Books.
York Times Magazine. (2009). Mellow Monday and furious Lewin, B.D. (1953). Reconsideration of Moyers, B. (2004). Interview with
Gottlieb, R.M. (2008). Maurice Sendak’s Friday: The approach-related link the dream screen. Psychoanalytic Maurice Sendak. Public
trilogy: Disappointment, fury, and between anger and time Quarterly, 22, 174–199. Broadcasting System. Retrieved 27
their transformation through Art. representation. Cognition and Lewin, B.D. (1954). Sleep, narcissistic July 2009, from tinyurl.com/ljusfc
Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 63, Emotion, 23, 1166–1180. neurosis, and the analytic situation. Sendak, M. (1970). Fantasy sketches.
186–217. Lanes, S.G. (1980). The art of Maurice Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 23, Philadelphia: Rosenbach
Frassinetti, F., Magnani, B. & Oliveri, M. Sendak. New York: Abrams. 487–510. Foundation.
(2009). Prismatic lenses shift time Lewin, B.D. (1952). Phobic symptoms Marcus, L.S. (2002). Ways of telling: Spufford, F. (2003). The child that books
perception. Psychological Science, and dream interpretation. Conversations on the art of the built. London: Faber and Faber.

eye on fiction
cannot or will not recognise her child’s ‘screamed’ at Max instead of responding Mother, who is present only as a voice in
concerns or state of mind. He manages to his shenanigans empathically. In a the published volume, is here in the flesh.
nonetheless to maintain the optimistic better mood, Sendak suggests, she might She is undressed to the waist, her
view that all of these troubles can be instead have said, ‘Darling, you’re generous and large-nippled breasts
tamed, even if not fully overcome, hilarious. Come give Mamma a hug.’ gloriously and deliciously drawn exposed.
through imagination. The ultimate magic It is mother’s emotional unavailability, For Sendak, surely this sketch must have
of his work resides in his presentations a recurrent Sendak theme, that triggers been an act of whimsy, never intended for
of imagination, dream, fantasy and – Max’s rage and sets the narrative in publication. But it makes clear as nothing
ultimately – art itself as sources of motion. We also cannot fail to observe else could the bodily fantasy that informs
resilience, of the strength to soldier on. that Max is clothed as a predator, a wolf, the story of what Max lost, became
Sendak’s work in Where the Wild a familiar cannibalistic image, and that he concerned he would destroy with his
Things Are is of particular interest to chases his dog about with a fork. The idea teeth, and in the end regained.
psychologists due to his strikingly of intimates treating one another as food
unusual abilities to gain organises much of
access to, and to represent in the story. When The child and the man
words and pictures, fantasies “Sendak’s art addresses mother calls Max Art was Sendak’s means of ‘recovery’ from
that accompany childish rage our deepest, frequently ‘Wild Thing!’, he his own childhood; his published works
states. It is this capacity, repressed, often responds that he represent his gift to all children. By his
I believe, that contributes will eat her up. To own accounts, Maurice Sendak’s
to the appeal of his work to
unspeakable concerns” this cannibal threat childhood was filled with misery. Born
children who are unable or she retaliates by in Brooklyn in 1928, he was the youngest
unwilling to articulate these depriving him of both of three children. His parents, Phillip and
states, and to adults who have forgotten mother and his supper. In his bedroom, Sadie, had emigrated from shtetls in
them or do not wish to know about them. Max enters an altered state. Whether it is Poland before the First World War. The
The other two books in the set show a dream, daydream, or fantasy cannot be families they left behind, although never
similar insights. determined with certainty, but what is known firsthand by young Maurice, had
In a pair of interviews with Leonard clear is that he imagines a world of a great influence on the emotional tone of
Marcus (Marcus, 2002; the interviews devouring monsters replete with flesh- his childhood. ‘My father’s entire family
were in 1988 and 1993), Sendak said, tearing ‘terrible claws’ and sharp, was destroyed in the Holocaust. I grew up
‘I call those three books – Wild Things, gnashing teeth. These ‘wild things’ are in a house that was in a constant state of
In the Night Kitchen (1970), and Outside transparent representations of Max’s mourning,’ he said in an interview with
Over There – a trilogy. They’re all about enraged intention to ‘eat up’ his mother. Leonard Marcus (Marcus, 2002, p.172).
one minute’s worth of distraction. One Max then masters his inner demons, in He has described his mother as ‘disturbed’
noise in the kitchen had Mickey doing what Joseph Campbell has called ‘one and ‘depressed’ and has alluded frequently
a weird thing. One temper tantrum, one of the greatest moments in literature’. to her lack of emotional availability, her
wrong word, causes all of the wild things As Moyers (2004) remarks,
to happen; one minute’s dreamy ‘[t]hat is a great moment
distraction allows the kidnapping in because it’s only when a man
Outside Over There to occur’ tames his own demons that
(pp.170–171). he becomes the king of
But there is much more that binds himself if not of the world’.
these three works. Each begins with a Having done so, Max is
child in a rage (in two of the books it is drawn by the smell of food –
clear the rage is at his mother); the rage is representing maternal bounty
characterised in part by destructive, orally – to return home. There he
configured fantasies; the child’s rage finds that his mother still
triggers a poetic function in the child, loves him, having left his
resulting in an altered state of dinner in his room. The final
consciousness in which occurs a dream, demonstration of her love is
fantasy, or act of artistic creation; the that his dinner ‘was still hot’.
poetic process serves to modify and I doubt that there are
transform the initial rage and conflict many readers of this story
over it, bringing about a reconciliation who would question that
within the enraging person and restoring Max’s struggle is about losing Preliminary drawing for Where the Wild Things Are. Pencil on
the child’s capacity to continue the and winning his mother’s tracing paper. © 1963 Maurice Sendak. All rights reserved.
relationship. Ultimately, all three books love, cast in the imagery, feel, Rosenbach Museum and Library, Philadelphia.
are about the transformative power of and smells of food – in other
poetic function in children and adults, words, a story of breast lost
including, apparently, Sendak himself. and breast found again. But, to set to preoccupation, and her chronic sadness.
So let’s run through Where the Wild rest any lingering doubts about these Death was a constant presence, if not as
Things Are, stressing the oral imagery, the propositions and about the author’s a fact then as a fantasy, worry, or deep
rage that initiates Max’s creative process, intentions, I present as the clincher a concern. Maurice himself was a sickly
and his reconciliation – again expressed preliminary drawing for the book’s final child. He suffered from scarlet fever, and
as warm food – with his mother. Sendak scene that I found in the Rosenbach his parents worried about his dying from
has explained that Max’s mother was not Library (see above). In this preliminary that disease or another. Their sense that
in a good ‘mood’. That is why she drawing, Sendak clearly let himself go! he was physically fragile, alive by the

eye on fiction
grace of God but endangered, was an early adulthood. He certainly

enduring influence on his development. counted psychoanalysts
The year Maurice was born, his father among his closest friends. His
suffered a severe financial reversal and partner of 50 years, who died
‘lost every cent he had’ (Braun, 1970, in 2007, was a psychoanalyst.
p.42). The morning of Maurice’s bar Rumour has it that the wolf
mitzvah, his father received news that his suit that Max wears in Where
family had been wiped out by the Nazis. the Wild Things Are, was
Phillip collapsed in grief and had to be modelled on a pair of pyjamas
propped up by Maurice’s mother and that belonged to the young
brother during the ceremony. Maurice son of a close psychoanalyst
recalls having been enraged ‘by these dead friend.
Jews who constantly infiltrated our lives Lanes (1980) reported
and made us miserable’ (Marcus, 2002, that, when he was 27, Sendak
pp.172–173). Sendak has said that his was ‘undergoing’
models for drawing the Wild Things were psychoanalysis. I would
his Jewish relatives who used to visit his speculate that he sought this
family weekly when he was a child. They treatment because of a
terrified him, and he dreaded their visits, depressed mood; possibly he
because it always seemed to him that they felt isolated, as well, and his
might eat everything the family had. They sexual orientation may have Maurice Sendak
also threatened him directly, he recalled, been problematic at the time.
when they would pinch his cheek and tell But one must remain
him they would eat him up. uncertain about all these matters, as they and pictures. Kenny’s Window, entirely
never come up in published accounts of his own work, was produced after he had
his life or in any of his myriad interviews. begun therapy and was partly dedicated
Sendak and psychoanalysis I also discern some suggestion that he to his analyst.
For our purposes, it is especially was aware of an inhibition that at the Sendak’s interest in psychoanalytic
noteworthy that Sendak was in time prevented him from producing a techniques also allows us an additional
psychoanalysis for a period during his work entirely his own – both the words insight into the mind that created Where
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eye on fiction
the Wild Things Are. Beginning around that threaten to disorganise themselves daydream. The stories have happy
1952 (he was 24-years-old), Sendak and disrupt vital sustaining relationships. endings, at least for now, in which it is
created what he called, variously, ‘fantasy In two of the books, this happens because clear that positively toned relationships
sketches’, ‘stream-of-consciousness that parent is possessed by a mood state, can continue. How wonderful it must feel
doodles’, and ‘dream pictures’ while and in the third it happens because she to a child once alienated from a parent to
listening to classical music. His aim (and he) are otherwise engaged – most return home to find that his dinner is
was not unlike that of a patient in likely with each other. Parent and child waiting for him and it is still hot!
psychoanalysis, consisting, he wrote, (and the relationship between them) are So, ‘How do children survive?’ It
of ‘letting whatever came into my mind threatened with destruction, in two books would seem that Sendak’s answer must
come out on the paper, and my only by clearly cannibalistic means, in the third include the power of art (including
conscious intention was to complete a by becoming frozen, lifeless, inanimate. fantasy, dream and daydream). The child
whole “story” on one page… beginning Sendak has a remarkable close and transforms otherwise crippling traumatic
and ending, if possible, with the music conscious acquaintanceship with a wide circumstances into his (or her) very
itself.’ He said that some of these were variety of oral-cannibalistic fantasies, means of survival, growth, and positive
‘purely fantastic meanderings that seem to including modes of devouring and being maturation. They go to where the wild
roam carelessly through the unconscious’ devoured that are not available to most things are. They conquer them, and then
(Sendak, 1970, Introduction). Clearly he of us. they return.
viewed these sketches as free associations, These disappointments, losses and,
and they provide a kind of raw access to most important, destructive rages are
aspects of Sendak’s fantasy life that is some of what children need to ‘survive’. I Richard Gottlieb is Associate Editor of the
present but less readily apparent in his In Sendak’s books, survival results Journal of the American Psychoanalytic
finished work. To the psychoanalyst, a uniformly from fantasy, imagination and Association. He practices psychoanalysis in
patient’s free associations are the silt from creative activity carried on in such altered New York City.
which we laboriously pan for our gold, states of consciousness as dream and rmgottlieb@aol.com
that gold being knowledge of our subjects’
unconscious imaginings and the
configurations of their minds.
Examining these sketches, as I did in
Gottlieb (2008), we again find reflections On space, time and wild things
of Bertram Lewin’s ideas about oral
psychology (Lewin, 1952, 1953, 1954) –
the wishes to eat, to be eaten, and to and an ocean tumbled by with a private Sendak appears to have chanced on an even
sleep. Cannibalistic fantasies again feature boat for Max more specific relationship. When Max gets in
prominently, with themes of devouring and he sailed off through night and day his boat, he is angry. New research from
and regurgitation. We also find and in and out of weeks David Hauser and colleagues (2009) has
pleasurable and painful moods, the former and almost over a year showed that people with an angrier
expressed by ideas of floating and flight. to where the wild things are. temperament are more likely to think of
themselves as moving through time, than to
‘In and out of weeks and almost over a year’. think of time as moving towards them! You
How do children survive? On the hundreds of occasions I have read can test this on yourself by considering
There is a remarkable thematic coherence Where the Wild Things Are, that turn of which day of the week a meeting has
to much of Sendak’s work, and this phrase has got me every time. It seems so changed to, if it was originally planned for
coherence links creative efforts that are strange, suitably dreamlike yet so apt: as if Wednesday but has been moved forward two
decades apart and, additionally, links these Sendak has truly nailed a human universal days. If you think it’s now changed to Friday,
works to what is known about his early that we are somehow relatively unaware of. then you’re someone who thinks of
life and formative years. Sendak himself Recent psychological research gives us some themselves as moving through time, whilst
has commented on his single-minded insight into what this might be. if you think the meeting is now on Monday,
focus, saying, ‘I only have one subject. On an intuitive level, it makes sense that then you’re more passive, and you think
The question I am obsessed with is How our mental representations of space and about time passing you by.
do children survive?’ But it is more than time are linked. We see time ‘mapped’ out Hauser et al. (2009) also found that
mere survival that Sendak aspires to, for in front of and behind us; we talk about provoking anger makes people more likely
his children and for himself. He asks the rearranged events being moved from one to see themselves as moving through time.
question of resilience: How do children day to another, as if through space. And Conversely, thinking about moving through
surmount and transform in order to psychological research seems to confirm time can induce anger. Perhaps it is not
prosper and create? It is tempting to that the two models are heavily linked, to the surprising that by the time Max reached the
imagine that Sendak conceives of the point where modifying one has a knock-on end of his journey, he was face to face with
trajectory of his own life and art as a effect on the other. For example, Frassinetti his wild things!
model for the way he has handled these et al. (2009) found that people wearing prism Now of course it is unlikely that Sendak
questions in his works. glasses that shift everything to the right was consciously aware of these types of
In each of the three books of the overestimate the passage of time, while psychological relationship when he penned
trilogy, Sendak explores the child’s people wearing left-shift glasses those words. But it is another indication that
problem of an unavailable or inaccessible underestimate it. Sendak’s mind is well-tuned to such
parent. The most traumatic circumstances Sendak makes these links more explicit, matters, and that his work is of particular
– according to Sendak – are the rages with Max sailing ‘through’, ‘in and out of’ and interest and relevance to psychologists.
children feel toward the very persons ‘over’ time. But even more intriguingly, Jon Sutton (Editor, The Psychologist)
whom they love and depend upon, rages

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EYE ON FICTION
sphere and this may heighten its

emotional impact. For most of human
history storytelling has been a major form
The teller, the tale of entertainment, education and a means
of passing on values – often conveying
folk wisdom about how to survive or
and the told succeed or behave correctly.
However, relatively little has
been written about the impact of ‘live
Steven Killick and Neil Frude talk about the psychology of oral storytelling storytelling’ on children and adults.
Our conceptualisation of ‘live’ or oral
storytelling is of a triadic interaction
between a ’teller’, the ‘story’ being told
and the ‘audience’, whether it be one
It is easy to forget how resurgence of interest in the ‘oral listener or many (Killick & Wilson,
mysterious and mighty stories tradition’, the telling of stories that have 1999). We will consider each in turn,
are. They do their work in silence, been passed through several generations particularly in relation to formal
invisibly. They work with all the by word of mouth. This is now being storytelling.
internal materials of the mind recognised as a rediscovered art form,
and self. They become part of you a form of entertainment, and as a social
while changing you. Beware the activity with many actual and potential The art of the storyteller
stories you read or tell: subtly, at applications in education, healthcare The storyteller does not learn a story
night, beneath the waters of and in the workplace. Storytellers can word for word, as an actor learns a script,
consciousness, they are altering now be found working in schools, but reinvents the story afresh each time.
your world. libraries, arts centres, and in the
Ben Okri, Birds of Heaven (1996) increasing number of festivals held
worldwide that celebrate the
eople tell all manner of stories, in storytelling revival. Psychologists, both
P many different social contexts, for

different purposes and to different
effect. Sometimes such stories are meant
in academia and in applied settings,
may find an increasing interest in the
use of narrative and story in a number
to inspire or motivate, persuade or of fields that draw upon this oral
deceive. Sometimes they have the tradition to a greater or lesser extent.
function of warning or educating, and Storytelling has been the subject of
often they are told merely to amuse or multidisciplinary study through the
entertain. Storytelling is frequently disciplines of theatre, anthropology
spontaneous and informal, but it may and folklore. Although not currently
also happen regularly and ‘by the focus of much psychological
appointment’, whether this is the nightly research, it may be a fruitful area for
routine of a child’s bedtime story or an investigation.
event by a professional storyteller in a Stories, novels and poems clearly
school or theatre. have the power to move people
In this article, we will explore emotionally, to inspire them, to amuse
psychological aspects of oral or ‘live’ them, to uplift them and sometimes to
storytelling. It is our belief that stories anger them. The process of storytelling
can have profound effects on how people is a highly complex human interaction,
think and feel and that these effects may a powerful form of communication
be particularly powerful when the story that has a high emotional, motivational
is delivered ‘live’ by a skilled storyteller. and social impact. When a story is
Storytelling is sometimes seen as an ‘told’, as opposed to read off the page
innocent activity best suited to young or witnessed in a dramatic portrayal, it
children, but there has been a strong enters the interpersonal and interactive
Bettelheim, B. (1976). The uses of Oxford: Nash Pollock. behind the startling power of story. Bowen & G. Robinson (Eds.)
references
enchantment: The meaning and Fox, C. (1993). At the very edge of the Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. Therapeutic stories. Warrington: AFT
importance of fairy tales. New York: forest: The influence of literature on Hughes, D. (2004). An attachment based Publishing.
Knopf. storytelling by children. London: treatment of maltreated children and Lacher, D., Nicholls, T. & May, J. (2005).
Blake, J. & Maiese, N. (2008). No Cassell. young people. Attachment & Human Connecting with kids through stories.
fairytale… The benefits of a bedtime Fox-Eades, J. (2006). Classroom tales: Development. 6, 263–278. London: Jessica Kingsley.
story. The Psychologist, 21, 5, 386–388. Using storytelling to build social, Kabat-Zinn, J. (1994). Wherever you go, Lessing, D. (1999). Problems, myths and
Engel, S. (1999) The stories children tell: emotional an academic skills across there you are: Mindfulness mediation stories. Monograph Series No.36.
Making sense of the narratives of the primary curriculum. London: for everyday life. New York: Hyperion. London: Institute for Cultural
childhood. New York: W.H. Freeman. Jessica Kingsley. Killick, S. & Wilson, J. (1999). Weaving Research. Retrieved 10 July 2009
Fisher, R. (1996). Stories for thinking. Haven, K. (2007). Story proof: The science words and emerging stories. In B. from www.i-c-r.org.uk/publications/

eye on fiction
The essential ingredients may remain through interplay between language and on through word of mouth (although
the same, but every telling of a story is image (Thomas & Killick, 2007). The they may have become texts at various
a unique creation that will reflect the teller may call upon the rhythm of the points as well). Traditional stories include
storyteller’s mood and their response words as well as some specific phrases myths and legends, historical tales and
to the physical environment and the that are remembered exactly, and they ‘fairytales’ (also known as ‘wonder tales’).
audience. The story is conveyed not just may create strong visual images A small proportion of wonder tales such
verbally but also non-verbally, and the associated with the story – storytelling is as Snow White or Cinderella are very
amount of eye contact, the tone of voice not only about listening but also about familiar today, partly because they have
and use of gesture will be modulated and ‘seeing’. The teller may be said to ‘inhabit’ been transferred to other media and
adapted in response to the reactions of the story and to take listeners on a transmitted to wide audiences in novel
the listeners. The style in which the story journey. Such forms. Riddles and
is told will reflect the content of the story processes have much proverbs are fragments
and the personal style of the storyteller. in common with of the oral tradition still
Some storytellers are typically quiet and well-known memory “A story is a treasure commonly used today.
intimate in their style whereas others techniques. Indeed, chest of sign, symbol, It is possible to trace
make expansive and animated gestures the writer Doris image and metaphor” many of these stories back
and use a wide vocal range. Lessing has claimed through the generations,
Thus storytelling is largely improvised that literacy may have during which time the tales
and interactive. In order to make the had a negative impact upon our ability have evolved considerably while still
experience intense and the story vivid to remember. Without easy access to retaining a significant core identity.
to listeners, the teller may provide the information provided by literacy there The fact that the same stories retain
sensory detail and information about how was more effort and success in a widespread popularity and an appeal
the characters are thinking and feeling. committing tales to memory (Lessing, across generations, and often across
Stories are ‘remembered’ by the teller 1999). cultures, has suggested to many that
The storyteller role involves a number there is something archetypal about
of aspects; the teller is part teacher, part these enduring tales and that they must
preacher and part entertainer with resonate with something deep in the
different storytellers emphasising these human psyche.

elements to different degrees. The fact Many writers, such as Sigmund
that a storyteller can select or change the Freud, Bruno Bettelheim, Joseph
story to suit the needs of the audience Campbell, Ernest Bloch and Clarissa
adds to the storyteller’s power to engage. Pinkola Estes have speculated about how
The expression to ‘spin a yarn’ reflects the such stories may reflect aspects of the
fact that storytelling was often used to psyche and may facilitate the resolution
help time to pass more quickly when of internal conflicts or provide an arena
people were engaged in laborious, for wish fulfilment. Although it has been
repetitive and boring activities. However alleged that he took his ideas, largely
a teller’s function is not only to distract unattributed, from the work of Julius
and to entertain. In many cases it is clear Heuscher (Pollak, 1997), Bettelheim has
that there is an intention to instruct (or in been particularly influential. He suggested
some cases mislead), inform or influence that these stories provide a means of
through the meaning inherent in the tale transmitting unconscious role models
and transmitted in the telling. to children and thus helping children
through the various stages of
psychosexual development. His idea was
‘Telling’ tales – what are stories that, by identifying with the heroes and
really saying? heroines they encounter in these stories,
A story is a treasure chest of sign, symbol, children rehearse strategies for dealing
image and metaphor. A staple component with such delicate issues as separation
of many storytellers’ repertoires are from their parents, failing to meet with
traditional or ‘folk’ tales. These stories their parents’ expectations and rivalries
come from a mainly oral tradition, passed with peers. Stories allow difficult issues
to be examined in fantasy without
provoking too much anxiety (Bettelheim,
1976). In a contemporary analysis, Jon
Kabat-Zinn (1994) wrote of such stories
monographarchive/Monograph36.pdf Simmons, J. (2004). Dark angels. London:
McClellend, D. (1961). The achieving Cyan.
as ‘wise, ancient, surprisingly
society. Princeton, NJ: Van Nostrand. Sunderland, M. (2000). Using story telling sophisticated blueprints for our full
Oatley, K. (1998). Emotion. The as a therapeutic tool with children. development as human beings’.
Psychologist, 11, 285–288. Bicester: Speechmark. These tales are often elaborate
Oatley, K. (2008). The mind’s flight Thomas, T. & Killick, S. (2007). Telling metaphors of transformation and
simulator. The Psychologist, 21, tales: Storytelling as emotional literacy. frequently have an identifiable
1030–1032. Blackburn: Educational Prining hermeneutic function. The message that
Pollak, R. (1997). The creation of Dr B: A Services.
they convey is often deeply implicit but
biography of Bruno Bettelheim. Zipes, J. (2006). Why fairy tales stick. New
London: Simon & Schuster. York: Routledge.
sometimes, as in Aesop’s fables, laid bare.
The Brothers Grimm collected many

eye on fiction
traditional stories and, as they became

popular with the newly emerging
commercial market for children,
amplified the moral undertones of the
stories they collected. Zipes (2006)
suggests that such stories are effective
transmitters of memes, being
storehouses of cultural beliefs, symbols
and practices. Typical themes of such
stories are the overcoming of
seemingly impossible obstacles
through the application of such virtues
as persistence or kindness.
One remarkable theory suggests
that the content of popular children’s
stories affects the level of economic
growth in the culture. McClelland
(1961) suggested that the level of
personal motivation within a culture is
an important determinant of economic
productivity and that the stories told
to children affect their achievement
motivation and, decades later, the
economic productivity of the culture.
He studied the stories typically read to
children in various cultures, analysing
the story content to see whether the
themes expressed high or low
achievement motivation and then
correlated the achievement emphasis
in these stories with the economic
growth (assessed by gross national
product) 25 or 50 years later. Remarkably, ‘truth’ of the matter is revealed. However, empathy and social competence.
given all of the other factors that affect whatever meaning may be inherent in the Engagement with stories, in all their
economic outcome, he was able to story and emphasised by the storyteller or many forms, can provide an emotional
demonstrate a highly significant context, it is the listener who is most ‘work-out’ for the mind that helps both
correlation between economic growth and active in constructing the meaning found children and adults to ‘attune’ with their
the content of children’s stories decades in the story. feelings (Oatley, 1998). Indeed, stories
before. He then engaged in various might be ‘the natural language of feelings
projects designed to raise the achievement for children’ (Sunderland, 2000). Stories
motivation of children in underdeveloped The impact of storytelling educate people about the emotions,
countries, and an important element of Listening is an active process that providing insight into human responses
this was to select specific stories to be involves both the imagination and the and providing a vocabulary for emotions.
included in children’s readers. making of meaning. The positive Stories also portray different ways of
A more contemporary educational effects coping with emotional situations and of
analysis might suggest that of reading stories to coping with our own and other people’s
the heroes and heroines of young children have emotions. Stories can also directly
folk tales often display the “In healthcare, storytelling been well provoke emotions in the audience, thus
character strengths that and drama have been used demonstrated, providing, in some cases, an emotion
have been recently to build confidence and particularly with laboratory ‘in the room’. For young
identified within ‘positive communication skills” regard to the effects children to hear a ‘scary’ story from a
psychology’ as key factors on children’s language trusted adult gives experience of intense
in the achievement of and cognitive feelings of anxiety and excitement, with
authentic happiness and development (Blake & a happy ending enabling resolution that
the ‘good life’. Stories can help to Maiese, 2008; Fox, 1993) suggesting produces relief and a return to safety.
celebrate these strengths (Fox-Eades, storytelling could be a foundation for Other stories stimulate the audience to
2006). literacy. However, additional benefits of anger, frustration or sadness. Traumatic
The key messages within folk tales do storytelling have also been postulated. experiences can be portrayed directly or
not always relate to moral imperatives. In For example, it has been argued that oral indirectly and metaphor and fantasy can
some cases a twist in the tale reframes the storytelling has a considerable role to play be powerfully used. Emotions can be
situation portrayed within story so that in fostering emotional and social experienced safely within the storytelling
our eyes are opened to a different way of development or ‘emotional literacy’ (Fox- context, and the safety of the experience
seeing things. Such stories sometimes Eades, 2006; Thomas & Killick, 2007). may be ensured by the presence of a
mislead the listener into one way of Listening to stories can impact on the five trusted attachment figure. Research is
seeing things and then produce a sudden pathways of emotional intelligence; needed to ascertain if these benefits exist.
shock, surprise or amusement when the awareness, self-regulation, motivation, Hearing of the emotional responses of


eye on fiction
the most important stories we ever people gain a sense of the ‘journey’ they
tell are those that we tell about will experience or to help staff empathise
ourselves to ourselves. We need to and pay more attention to the experience
develop the capacity to relate ‘self’ of service users. The ‘1000 Lives’
or autobiographical narratives. Thus campaign (tinyurl.com/1000lives) uses
we may organise our understanding storytelling as a service improvement tool
largely in the form of narratives, and to prevent unnecessary deaths. Patients
the capacity that we develop to use storytelling skills to record their
construct and manage narratives may experiences of healthcare. These ‘digital
reflect our exposure to formal and stories’ are used as a tool to help
informal storytelling. The process healthcare staff be more aware of patients
of being able to ‘tell our story’, to as people rather than just ‘conditions’,
develop a narrative perhaps around also to inspire and remind them of ‘good
a traumatic or other significant work’ and simple changes they can make
event, enables us to organise our that have great benefits for patient care.
own experience and communicate it The stories can also be used to inform the
to others. Experience of storytelling, media and through them, the public, of
particularly personal narratives, may service changes that are under way.
help develop this skill. Storytelling is also being used in other
Storytelling may also be a critical organisational settings to develop brand
‘attachment building behaviour’ identity and to foster both staff and
utilising the building blocks of customer loyalty (Simmons, 2004).
intersubjectivity; joint attention, Stories may be an alternative, or an
turn-taking and affect attunement antidote, to presentations of quantitative
(Engel, 1999). Therapists interested data. They can make such information
in building attachments between much more meaningful to people.
children and carers increasingly
call upon storytelling in their work.
Dan Hughes (2004) describes how More than a sideshow
a therapist uses the skills of the Much of what is speculated about the
storyteller to develop affect benefits of exposure to storytelling is
attunement. Lacher et al. (2005) based on the study of story-reading.
characters in the story can have profound describe how creating and telling stories However, it might be that the gains of this
effects in helping children to develop an helps build ‘narratives of attachment’ in ancient and technology-free method of
appreciation of ‘other minds’ and adopted children. communication may enhance and amplify
empathic skills. Oatley (2008) suggests But there are many ways of calling the benefits of reading and be worth
that written stories are simulations that upon this ‘ancient art’. Storytelling is psychological investigation. It has been
can increase the audience’s understanding being used more and more as an said that the art of oral storytelling has
of the feelings and intentions of others, educational methodology. Scientist turned been lost to modern society through the
adding considerably to the sophistication storyteller Kendall Haven uses storytelling rise of literacy and the electric light. Now,
of the listener’s ‘theory of mind’. This as a way of engaging and interesting the experience of hearing a story well told
effect may be amplified in the process learners in a wide variety of subjects, is an unfamiliar one for many. However,
of live telling. especially science (Haven, 2007). He sees the art of formal storytelling is currently
Another benefit is that repeated not only the potential of stories to help enjoying something of a renaissance and
exposure to hearing stories will help to students’ engagement and motivation but is providing more and more adults and
develop the listener’s understanding of also benefits in terms of memory and children with a rich and joyful
and use of narrative form (Haven, 2007). attention. Another use for stories is as a experience. And, apart from the world
Appreciation of structure can lead to the stimulus for inquiry to develop thinking of the virtuoso storyteller, there is the
ability to recreate such structure. Thus by skills. This approach is an integral part everyday storytelling in which we all
hearing stories children learn how to tell of the ‘Philosophy for Children’ project participate because it is, quite simply, part
stories. This may be far more important (Fisher, 1996), which is also a vehicle for of the way in which we all function in
than it may at first sound. Even if a child developing emotional literacy skills in our daily interactions with other people.
never engages in formal storytelling, the school settings and the use of stories Ultimately, storytelling may be much
ability to produce a narrative is an especially to help develop an emotional more than a sideshow in the fairground
essential social skill, because from an vocabulary and social skills. of human interaction. Stories remind us
early age people are expected to be able In healthcare, storytelling and drama of what it means to be human in all our
to give well-structured and coherent have been used to build confidence and complexity, differences and diversity.
accounts of their experiences. Reporting communication skills in people with
on ‘what happened to me’ is a basic social acquired brain injury or to help value I Steven Killick is a Consultant Clinical
requirement, and the expectation is that and recognition to people’s experience of Psychologist in Cwm Taf NHS Trust, South
such reports will include the basic recovery from severe mental illness and Wales
elements of a story (context, characters cancer care. Storytelling is also being stevekillick@hotmail.com
and action) and will be presented as a combined with technology. Digital
narrative following a chronological storytelling uses digital technology to I Neil Frude is a Consultant Clinical
sequence. help people tell their own stories. In the Psychologist in Cardiff and Vale NHS Trust
Furthermore, it may be that some of NHS ‘patient stories’ can be used to help neil.frude@ntlworld.com

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TEACH & LEARN
themselves or to create a dialogue

between supervisors (i.e. actors),
questioning and peeling a person’s
concept of the world and challenging
beliefs in a subject. By questioning and
The path to prose challenging what a person assumes, new

paths for learning and greater
understanding emerges.
During the supervision process, I
Paul McCarthy offers some reflections on supervising writing in a PhD consciously and unconsciously examined
the practices, values and beliefs of the
supervisors to develop my supervisory
practice – in this instance, for the practice
If I’d had more time, I would have sought by some examiners (Mullins & of writing. The other supervisors and
written a shorter letter. Kiley, 2002). In the UK, however, a PhD I spoke about the process of writing and
in psychology generally comprises two explained its value during face-to-face
his well-known witticism, apparently assessments, a large piece of writing meetings with the student. The student
T uttered by Blaise Pascal, Mark Twain,

Victor Meldrew and many others,
reflects a counterintuitive thought –
(40,000–80,000 words) and a viva voce.
However, some postgraduates struggle to
write well (Torrance et al., 1992). Perhaps
grappled with her first task to explain the
aims of her research proposal. Although
challenged at first, via comments from the
writing in a clear and concise fashion they assume wrongly that speaking supervisors and advice in annotated
can be surprisingly tricky. Poor prose English creates good prose and do not scripts as well as her own reflection, she
persecuted me during my PhD, intruding use reflective practice as an anvil on produced a succinct and defined research
in every page I wrote, and it reared its which to hammer out their ideas. In proposal for the reader. New sections
ugly head again recently while supervising short, to contribute to knowledge, we were clearer, more concise and elegant,
my first PhD. should reflect on what we write, consider taking the reader by the hand through the
I was entrusted to supervise a PhD it thoughtfully and honestly answer central thread of the proposal. Although
student, especially her writing. I set three whether it is the best we could have done. she would add the pearls later to show
goals: to learn the guide to good writing, Reflective practice, a concept the context, she had the thread holding
advance my writing skills, and light the introduced by Donald Schön (1983), the beads on the necklace together
path of credible prose for the student. is a conscious process, to thoughtfully (Murray, 2004). I was intrigued to know
Though English was her second language, consider experiences and recognise whether a mix of pedagogical strategies
she was able in both written and spoken similarities and differences between a or reflective practice alone developed her
English. Two experienced senior novice and skilled equal. In other words, writing style.
supervisors supported us and we met each the skills of the novice are assessed After discussing the research proposal
week or fortnight during the first year of relative to the expert in this learning and literature review with the main
the student’s PhD. What follows are my system to enhance the novice’s critical and supervisor, we agreed that the student’s
reflections on teaching and learning about reflective abilities. During the supervision work usually needed structural changes
writing a PhD, which is after all an process, supervisors help students to to improve the flow and argument. We
attempt to tell an interesting story on engage in reflective practice, though they talked about the structure and meaning of
paper. Acknowledging my frailties as a may not be conscious of the process. For the student’s research during face-to-face
writer, I weave an argument that writing example, when the supervisor discusses meetings. The initial draft of the student’s
with purpose, clarity and style is an art research issues with a student during face- literature review lacked certain
crafted through practice and dedication. to-face meetings, the student is challenged components of an argument for which we
I had not reflected on writing and its to ‘think on her feet’ and respond to were looking. First, the argument should
value until I realised that to gain a PhD questions orally. Afterwards, while the define and clarify the key issue(s).
one has to contribute originally and student is writing up her work, she might Second, it should make the writer’s
substantially to knowledge. How could consider why she said or wrote what she position clear. Third, it should expect and
I contribute to knowledge without writing did to develop new ideas and questions respond to the opposition’s arguments.
well? After all, in Australia, a written about her work. Good writing thrives on Fourth, the writer’s arguments should be
thesis is often the only method to these two procedures because reflection put in increasing order of importance.
examine a PhD with an optional viva voce forces people to interrogate either Fifth, it should document each argument,
and the source of each piece of
documentation should be available to the
reader (Murray, 2004). Although the
student had succeeded in some of these
Bradford, C.B. (1965). Yeats at work. Murray, D.M. (2004). The craft of
references
Carbondale: Southern Illinois revision. Canada: Thompson

requirements, we felt a better ‘story’ had
University Press. Wadsworth. yet to emerge, a ‘story’ that would
Elbow, P. (1998). Writing without teachers Schön, D. (1983). The reflective practitioner: entertain the reader and explain the value
(2nd edn). Oxford: Oxford University How professionals think in action. of her research.
Press. London: Temple Smith. That ‘story’ often only emerges
Mullins, G. & Kiley, M. (2002). ‘It’s a PhD, Torrance, M., Thomas, G.V. & Robinson, through several revisions. Experienced
not a Nobel Prize’: How experienced E.J. (1992). The writing experiences of writers often reflect and reorganise their
examiners assess the research social science research students.
work, persistently changing its content,
theses. Studies in Higher Education, 27, Studies in Higher Education, 17,
369–386. 155–167.
striking out what needs removing and
revising arguments that do not flow.

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teach and learn
Research undertaken among court, she answered critical questions, I learned the rules of good writing
undergraduates and postgraduates supporting her work with research. Using using my books on grammar and style,
in social science demonstrates that this strategy, she examined the flow of and I try in vain to remember these rules
postgraduates typically produce more arguments, the support for, and balance when I revise. These books help me write
drafts of an assignment before hand-in to these arguments and her final position well-constructed sentences and explain
than do undergraduates (Torrance et al., that a layperson could understand. Both how and why these sentences work best.
1992). However, these drafts mainly procedures imbued her writing with Active verbs replace passive verbs;
contain stylistic but not structural confidence, helping her to think critically redundant words cluttering the prose are
changes: these postgraduates could about each word, its value and weight removed; shorter sentences help
correct grammatical mistakes, but they within her argument. paragraphs to flow. I am moving on from
did not change the content of the On reflection, I was aware that I did ‘the cat sat on a mat’, trying to remove
manuscript when it needed changing. not have an overall strategy for helping nominalisations (i.e. nouns derived from
That postgraduates differ from both a student to write well, but the building verbs or adjectives) from my writing and
undergraduates and experienced writers blocks of good prose emerged eventually to show pace, excitement, poise and flair
in this writing technique implies a in the student’s writing and for that I was in prose. I encourage you to split the
developmental change from novice to proud. Learning how to write well is a infinitive and ‘to boldly go’ where some
expert in the writing process. Helping frustrating but fulfilling craft. Only by people have gone before. Think about
undergraduates and postgraduates to writing can we truly understand what we what you want to write and keep your
reflect on their writing might develop want to say. As H.G. Wells said, ‘The toil arguments rigorous. ‘Longer words’ do
this skill. of writing may help to clear and fix many not mean ‘better writer’. Lots of small
After supervising for five months, we things that remain a little uncertain in my words mean big things like ‘tax’, ‘love’ and
considered reflective thoughts because they ‘life’ – longer words discombobulate the
practice essential for have never been fully reader. Now, I ‘start’ rather than
the student. We stated and I want to ‘commence’; I ‘try’ rather than ‘endeavour’
analysed her text in discover any lurking and I ‘buy’ rather than ‘purchase’.
face-to-face meetings inconsistencies and Learning to write well and supervise
and prompted her to unsuspected gaps’. another’s writing has taught me how to
answer our But what advice write better and teach better. I want to
questions orally. would I give to inspire students to write and, like Picasso,
Over time, our someone who wanted ‘I don’t know if inspiration exists, but
questioning gave to write well or write when it comes, it usually finds me
greater a lot? I began by working’. In my brief experience
understanding to the collecting books on supervising a PhD, I have learned the
student. Greater good writing value of reflective practice and developed
reading of her comprising grammar, my editing skills and those of the student.
subject filled the style and strategy. To I have taken down my antenna for
well from which she write well, as Donald criticism and erected one that welcomes
could draw her Murray’s (Pulitzer Prize new ideas, clarity, and advice for my
story, but only winner, 1954) cardinal writing. To reflect is to be a better writer,
through writing rule shows, is to ‘apply and without reflecting on my writing I
could that story your behind to a chair’. would have struggled to understand how
emerge (Elbow, 1998). The student Most productive writers use a schedule. I could learn from others and, perhaps,
found the writing process difficult, often For example, a prolific English novelist them from me.
dampening her confidence as a budding in the Victorian era, Anthony Trollope, More than anything else, I am trying
researcher and writer. She appeared began writing before work each morning to live by a Latin creed, Nulla dies sine
unsure of the reader’s needs. Looking at 5.30 and did not indulge himself to linea – ‘Never a day without a line’.
through the camera lens, she saw what sleep any longer. He considered three I hope my lines have told my story as
was important to her and what the topic hours of writing in one day enough for I understand it and I leave you with an
explored, but not the elements of a any writer. Many other skilled writers had enduring lesson about good writing
structured manuscript for the reader. jobs alongside their writing commitment. drawn from the life of Nobel Prize
By exposing examples, we helped the Agatha Christie worked in a pharmacy winning Irish poet and dramatist W.B.
student reach parity in her understanding during World War I, which influenced Yeats:
of the needs of the reader and her writing. much of her writing career; T.S. Eliot
We developed two principles for the worked in banking. Despite our hectic …he never allowed his equipment
student to improve her writing. The first lives, we can find time to write and to rust unused. Early and late, he
principle was to find a ‘voice’, and in that perhaps time to write well. You need to be worked at his art strenuously. It is this
voice, clearly explain the topic for the prepared to write when the time to write continued faith in works that in part
reader. Guided by her written work in arrives. And like Ernest Hemingway, you distinguished him from lesser poets,
face-to-face meetings, the main supervisor need to ‘leave some water in the well’. He that and an unusual ability to stay at
would ask, ‘What is it you would like to finished his work mid-sentence so that a poem until it came right. (Bradford,
say here?’ The student would respond when he returned to his work he caught 1965)
orally, and we would encourage her to the thread of his thoughts when he last
write that answer. She could explain what wrote. Peter Elbow (1998) advises to
she wanted to write, but her writing time write without focusing on what is written I Paul McCarthy is a lecturer in psychology at
distorted her ‘story’. The second strategy for sets of 15 minutes. This strategy gets Glasgow Caledonian University
involved ‘taking her work to court’. In something down on paper. Paul.McCarthy@gcal.ac.uk

psy 10_09 p856_857 book reviews:Layout 1 15/9/09 16:07 Page 856
BOOK REVIEWS
Growing up – naturally
Nature is good for you: recent research shows this to be a fact. And modern life is increasingly
keeping our children away from it. Or, at best, nature programmes on TV focus the experience of
it on the disappearing rainforests and endangered species, rather than encouraging the young to
experience nature directly, climbing trees, hunting and fishing.
So, in brief, runs the argument of this passionate American bestseller, now in an updated and
internationalised second edition.
The book is an excellent example of how an author with
journalistic skills can weave published academic research into their
story without breaking up the flow or losing the popular reader’s
attention. I thoroughly commend it to colleagues in any area of
science wondering how to ‘give away’ their findings whilst retaining
Thanks for the…
their essential message. All areas could do with their equivalent of Memory
Louv. Alan Baddeley, Michael W.
Before moving to the substance of the book, let us briefly Eysenck & Michael C.
consider its technique. The author captures the immediate interest Anderson
(an intriguing title, cover flash: ‘an absolute must-read for
parents’); introductory story (author’s son aged 10 saying: ‘Dad, What is on the cover of the
how come it was more fun when you were a kid?’); the modern magazine you are holding? What
challenges (‘I like to play indoors better, ‘cause that’s where all the caused you to remember, or to
electrical outlets are’). forget? The psychology of
Recent research (much of it from key developmental and memory is the focus of this
environmental psychologists) is cited as it supports the flow of undergraduate-level textbook.
the argument, but without the off-putting apparatus of a scientific The first part is largely
article: all journal titles and page references are tidied away into a Baddeley’s work and introduces
final section of notes and further reading. the short-term, working and
The coverage is good; theories and evidence are effectively and episodic memory systems. Upon
responsibly encapsulated. this framework Eysenck adds
Last Child in the Woods: Saving In the past few years, ‘nature is good for you’ has moved from five chapters examining
Our Children from Nature Deficit a warm, general feeling to an evidenced statement. We can now call semantic memory, developmental
Disorder on the research of Frances Kuo on the positive effects of exposure perspectives and applied topics,
Richard Louv to nature on ADHD children, and disaffected youth; Robin Moore on such as memory training and
the benefits of nature-playgrounds; Louise Chawla on those eyewitness behaviour. Anderson
cityscapes which involve children; the whole Child Friendly Cities provides three chapters, covering
initiative across Europe; the wide-ranging work of Gary Evans on retrieval as well as incidental
nature and well-being; and many others. and motivated forgetting.
Theories as to why nature can have these benign effects range from E.O. Wilson’s Biophilia The style is accessible, with
hypothesis (that we can look to our species’ origins), through the William James-inspired anecdotes and notable case
attention-restoration theory of Stephen and Rachel Kaplan, to Howard Gardner’s recent addition histories much in evidence, and
of a naturalist intelligence to his list of multiple intelligences. new paradigms often introduced
And Louv is good at introducing his readers to many concepts familiar to environmental by an example for the reader to
psychologists, including: place attachment and place identity; children’s ‘special places’; the try out. The three authors write
origins of environmental activism; fascination as involuntary attention; and transcendental nature clearly, and important
experiences. terminology is glossed. Graphs
Working against these are the forces of commercialisation, the privatisation of open spaces, and charts present plenty of
the commodification of play, the fear of parents about stranger-danger and of traffic hazards. GPS experimental data but are not
bracelets on our children have replaced the eyes-on-the-street that were our reassurance of their obtrusive, and the chapter
safety. Horror-movies use nature as a scary setting. News stories about eco-disasters may breed, summaries are a helpful length.
says Louv, ‘ecophobic’ children. In schools, natural history has given way to a more clinical biology. Experimental psychology
All of this is a world away from Louv’s fondly remembered tree-climbing boyhood. (And Edith research is the backbone of the
Cobb’s analysis of the autobiographies of famous Americans often shows their early formative book’s evidence base. The
experiences in nature) authors also discuss findings
So how can parents (and policy-makers) react to this reported loss of connection with nature, from cognitive neuroscience,
armed now with the research evidence presented here? How can they put their own fears into and make an effort to balance
proper perspective? What social, political and spiritual initiatives are called for? The final chapters laboratory results with applied
of the book offer examples, including interestingly cases of well-planned and aware European and experiential approaches.
cities.
I Psychology Press; 2009;
I Atlantic Books; 2009; Pb £12.99 Pb £27.50
Reviewed by Christopher Spencer Reviewed by Joe Hickey
who is Emeritus Professor of Environmental Psychology, University of Sheffield who is an assistant research
psychologist with Suffolk Mental
Health Partnership NHS Trust

psy 10_09 p856_857 book reviews:Layout 1 15/9/09 16:07 Page 857
book reviews
All the essentials A great resource A possible classic main question from a
Study Skills for Psychology Dementia: From Diagnosis to A Lifetime of Intelligence. psychological point of view;
Students Management – A Functional Follow-Up Studies of the that is, whether IQ is a stable
Jennifer Latto & Richard Approach Scottish Mental Surveys of measurement over a person’s
Latto Michelle S. Bourgeois & Ellen 1932 and 1947 lifespan. Surprisingly, the
M. Hickey Ian J. Deary, Lawrence J. authors indicated that there is
Study Skills for Psychology Whalley & John M. Starr a significant correlation between
Students is a well-organised This timely volume endeavours the measurements from age 11
book that aids students as they to provide a reference manual This publication is designed to and old age (the subjects were
progress through their degree for the development of bring together two world- in their 70s and 80s).
course. The authors of this functional and behavioural famous studies where whole This was a thoroughly
concise book provide knowledge approaches to assessing, populations of children were interesting and fascinating
they have achieved from their managing and treating tested on their cognitive ability. study that is exceptional in its
broad and varied experience in dementia. The two separate groups of longevity and scope. The
working in the psychology field, The initial chapters children were tested at 11 years authors put together an account
their education and the British introduce the topic of dementia old in 1932 and in 1947 and of follow-ups of unique data that
Psychological Society. from presentation and diagnosis these became known as the offers a much greater
The book covers all the through to the cognitive, Scottish Mental Surveys. The understanding of the various
essentials for psychology language and behavioural authors rediscovered this data factors that can be predicted by
students, including information characteristics present across that had lain almost untouched cognitive measurements and the
on studying psychology at its stages. The book then takes in Edinburgh for sometime and stability across a lifespan that
university, a guide to producing a considered look at realised that it could potentially had hitherto not been expected.
high-standard coursework and assessment, treatment and offer insight into questions It is possible that this work will
examinations, the different management paying particular about the predictability of become a classic study in
forms of teaching provided on attention to the management of cognitive testing at age 11 such psychology.
these courses, tips on how to eating. Additionally it considers as cognitive ageing and the
make the most of the the impact on quality of life and association of cognitive ability I American Psychological
information technology on the wider system of carers and death [see Association; 2009; Hb £62.95
available, a synopsis of the and staff. www.bps.org.uk/deary]. Reviewed by Christopher
statistics that will appear, and I found the book to be The authors managed to Boyle who is an educational
assistance with confronting and educational and packed with follow up samples of the original psychologist with South
undertaking a research project. interesting references whilst cohort in order to answer the Lanarkshire Council
There is also a brief chapter on also very accessible. The book
careers for psychology contains clinical materials in the
graduates and how to become form of assessment tools and
just in
Sample titles just in:

a practising psychologist. In forms to assist with memory Ceremonial Violence: A Psychological Explanation of School
addition, a website is included and communication. And there Shootings Jonathan Fast
that covers up-to-date material are a host of tips to enable the Cheating in School: What We Know and What We Can Do
on careers, along with advice person with dementia to Stephen F. Davis, Patrick F. Drinan & Tricia Bertram Gallant
from the authors and other function in daily life. Pleasures of the Brain Morten L. Kringelbach & Kent C.
students on performing well I believe this would be a Berridge
and exercises to aid students great resource for any student, Confabulation: Views from Neuroscience, Psychiatry,
with their course. practitioner or researcher Psychology, and Philosophy William Hirstein (Ed.)
working with dementia, and with Cambridge Handbook of Personality Philip J. Corr & Gerald
I Open University Press; 2009; communication disorders. Matthews (Eds.)
£14.99
Reviewed by Emer I Psychology Press; 2009; £40.00 For a full list of books available for review and information on
McDermott who is a Reviewed by Hannah Nelson reviewing for The Psychologist, see www.bps.org.uk/books
postgraduate psychology who is an assistant psychologist
Send books for potential review to The Psychologist,
student with Greater Manchester West,
48 Princess Road East, Leicester LE1 7DR
Intermediate Care

New titles from Wiley-Blackwell

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SHB-09-05803

We are UK distributor of CHAIR, JOURNALS COMMITTEE

2010–13
Psychological Assessment Call for nominations
Materials for:
Par Inc, Pro-Ed, Stoeling, Academic The Journals Committee is searching for a new
Therapy, Western Psychological Chair to serve from 2010-2013. This voluntary
position is an opportunity to make a real
Services and Slosson Education difference by chairing an action-oriented
Committee, whose remit is:
We have a huge range
of resources and tests G To be responsible for the strategic
covering all aspects of development, maintenance and co-ordination
psychological assessment. of the eleven academic journals of the
Society
Download our new G To raise the profile of psychology research
catalogue online or call G To oversee the appointment of new editors
for a printed copy.
The person appointed will automatically become
a member of the Publications and

Communications Board.
FURTHER INFORMATION
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Further information regarding the role and
Buy online: www.annarbor.co.uk responsibilities of the Chair can be obtained from
Julie Neason, Journals Publishing Manager (contact
details below).
what can the NOMINATIONS

psychologist Nominations should reach the Society’s office by
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We publish a wide range of material:
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psychologists in the UK and beyond.
Publications and Communications Board.
Advertise in The Psychologist: NB The current Chair, Stephen Morley, has
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Annual
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Psychology in
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Keynotes
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psy 10_09 p862_865 society:Layout 1 15/9/09 16:14 Page 862
SOCIETY
The
British
Psychological
Society President’s column
President
Sue Gardner
Sue Gardner
Contact Sue Gardner via the Society’s Leicester office,
President Elect or e-mail: president@bps.org.uk
Dr Gerry Mulhern
Vice President
Dr Elizabeth Campbell
he Society consists of a number of member Responsible Medical Officers (RMOs). The
Honorary General Secretary
Professor Pam Maras
T networks including Branches, Sections and
Divisions. The work of these subsystems is
brought together under the auspices of our five
Society is issuing guidance for members taking
on this role to help applied psychologists in
reaching clinically defensible decisions in the
Boards. I’d like to summarise some of the best interests of patients, their families and
Honorary Treasurer
current work of three of the Boards and tackle friends within the provisions of the act.
Dr Richard Mallows
the others in future columns. The PPB sponsors workshops for
Chair, The Research Board sponsors an extremely independent practitioners which are proving
popular Undergraduate Research Assistantship to be popular. There are also several awards
Membership and
Scheme, with research opportunities offered offered by the PPB including for lifetime
Professional Training Board
across a diverse range of areas. This year the achievements and for distinguished contribution
Dr Peter Banister research placements were undertaken on to professional psychology. For more
Chair,
working memory, facial composites and information, e-mail nigel.atter@bps.org.uk.
children’s early narrative skills. The recipients The Psychology Education Board (PEB)
Psychology Education Board
are required to produce a poster presentation for covers issues at both secondary/pre-tertiary
Dr Richard Latto next year’s Annual Conference in Stratford, from and tertiary levels of education. The A-level and
Chair,
14 to 16 April. I hope to meet them there. Scottish Highers 2008 award has been processed
The Society has a joint award with the and four of the winners will attend the Festival
Research Board
Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology. of Science. The processing of the Undergraduate
Professor Judi Ellis
This award enables a postgraduate research Award for 2009 is nearing completion. It is good
Chair, student to be seconded for three months to to celebrate the successes of those who will lead
Publications and
work at POST, assisting with the development the discipline in the future. An e-newsletter is
of policy briefing notes for Select Committees being launched for pre-tertiary teachers to give
Communications Board
and other such forums. Previous POSTnotes them news, relevant information and notices of
Dr Graham Powell included CCTV and facial identification, conferences and other events. The PEB and the
Chair,
delaying gratification, eating disorders and Division of Teachers and Researchers in
alternatives to custodial sentencing. Further Psychology are hosting an ‘Education’ themed
Professional Practice Board
details can be found on the website. day at the Annual Conference. We hope that this
Dr Carole Allan
A joint Ethics Committee and Research will make it easier for those in the classroom or
The Society has offices in Belfast, Board working party has been preparing a Code lecture hall who find it difficult to leave teaching
of Research Ethics. This code will bring together for several days to have all the relevant aspects
Cardiff, Glasgow and London, as
all of the existing guidance from the Society, of the conference on one day. The teaching
well as the main office in
including that for research conducted within award lecture will be delivered on the same day
Leicester. All enquiries should health settings. The document is being finalised (see opposite) and there will be opportunities
be addressed to the Leicester now ready for discussion at both parent bodies. for networking and sharing best practice.
office (see inside front cover for The Research Board is awaiting the launch I hope that this has given you a feel for some
address). of the consultation on ‘The Future of Research of the exciting work being undertaken at the
Excellence’. This consultation is particularly moment in just three areas of the Society.
The British Psychological important as it will indicate the classification
Society of psychology in future assessment exercises.
was founded in 1901, and We are arguing for the inclusion of psychology
incorporated by Royal Charter in as a science. Further details are available from
1965. Its object is ‘to promote the lisa.morrisoncoulthard@bps.org.uk. LEARNING CENTRE
advancement and diffusion of The Professional Practice Board (PPB)
To have your CPD event approved by the
a knowledge of psychology pure supports the work of practitioner or applied
Society and for a catalogue of forthcoming
and applied and especially to
psychologists. The Board produces a wide range
opportunities, see www.bps.org.uk/
of guidance, and recent projects have focused
promote the efficiency and learningcentre or call 0116 252 9512.
on Approved Clinicians, generic Professional
usefulness of Members of the To advertise your event in The
Practice Guidelines and the Provision of
Society by setting up a high Psychologist, e-mail psyadvert@bps.org.uk
Psychological Services via the Internet.
standard of professional or call +44 116 252 9552.
Approved Clinicians are mental health
education and knowledge’. A diary of non-approved events can be
professionals who take on a role introduced by
Extract from The Charter found at www.bps.org.uk/diary.
the Mental Health Act (2007). This role consists
of functions previously carried out by doctors as

society
Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Psychology

David Groome, Alex Haslam and Steve Reicher
It is through the teaching of psychology the syllabus so that it was successfully Using a multi-media approach,
that new generations of psychologists are validated by the British Psychological Professors Haslam and Reicher developed
inspired and the profession progresses, so Society’. As acting head of department, a DVD, manual, website and podcasts to
each year the Society seeks to recognise David’s continued support the teaching of the
and reward inspirational psychology commitment ensures subject. Teachers and
teachers through the Psychology the university’s students alike continue to
Education Board’s Excellence in the psychology degree find these resources
Teaching of Psychology Award. remains popular and engaging, informative and
Because of the high calibre of successful. stimulating; prompting
nominations this year, the panel decided On receiving the positive reviews such as:
to take the unusual step of making the award, David told us: ‘Its usefulness for teaching
award jointly to Dr David Groome ‘I am absolutely will be phenomenal, this is
(University of Westminster), and to delighted to receive a must-see for any social
Professor Alex Haslam (University of this award, and it is psychology course’, and ‘I
Exeter) and Professor Steve Reicher really touching to will be using the DVD as a
(University of St Andrews). discover that some of revision lesson for my
Dr David Groome was put forward my ex-students and Steve Reicher students and will do a much
for the award after former students of the colleagues actually better job of teaching this fab
University of thought I was worth nominating study next year’.
Westminster for it. This is definitely one of the Alex and Steve have also given up
lobbied Professor high points of my very lengthy their time to give many lectures on their
Angela Clow. ‘Two career, and all the more so work, addressing large and diverse
academic because I had pretty unpromising audiences. These lectures have been
psychologists who beginnings. Not many people incredibly well received due to both
recall his lectures know this, but I actually failed the professors’ enthusiasm and passion for the
with warmth and eleven-plus. So this bit of success subject which they convey to their rapt
who both felt shows that people should always audiences.
strongly that he be given a second chance. And On receiving this award, Professor
should be one thing is for sure, Sir Cyril Alex Haslam told The Psychologist: ‘We
recognised for his Burt would not have been happy were both really pleased to receive this
teaching initially to hear about this.’ award and see it as a great honour. It
suggested his David Groome This year’s teaching award also means a lot to us because it arose from
nomination for the went jointly to Professor Alex Haslam and our collaboration on the BBC Prison
this award,’ says Angela in her Professor Steve Reicher. Their 2001 BBC Study – a project that we’ve been working
nomination. Prison Study, revisiting the infamous on pretty solidly for the last eight years.
David has been a consistently popular Stanford Prison Over this time we’ve
and inspirational lecturer at the University Experiment to explore focused on trying to
of Westminster over the last four decades. issues like tyranny and translate the study’s
The time and thought he puts into collective resistance, has findings into both
developing innovative teaching methods gone on to become a core research and teaching
that make his lectures relevant, interesting topic of psychology outcomes and on
and interactive is recognised by colleagues curricula, including the showing that these
and students alike. Comments made on OCR psychology A-level things are not
feedback forms from Dr Groome’s lecture and the Open University’s necessarily
modules colourfully illustrate his popular social psychology course. incompatible. Along the
teaching style: ‘Interesting, funny and Not only did the way we‘ve learned a lot
useful’; ‘fantastic, clear and presented in series ignite the interest ourselves, and have
a way that I learned a lot from them’; of the general public, it Alex Haslam benefited from wonderful
‘excellent – he is a legend’. also led to articles in support from teachers,
As well as the long-lasting positive leading journals such as the British Journal students and colleagues. This has been the
influence Dr Groome has had on many of Psychology (and see their article in The source a lot of our motivation, but it’s also
of his students, this award also recognises Psychologist at www.bps.org.uk/prison). been a lot of fun and something for which
his commitment to developing the However, as Dr Michelle Ryan (University we’re incredibly grateful.’
psychological sciences programme at of Exeter) and Dr Nick Hopkins The winners of the 2009 Award for
the University of Westminster. In her (University of Dundee) say in their Excellence in the Teaching of Psychology
nomination, Professor Clow cites David nomination: ‘The most lasting legacy were all given free life membership of the
as being ‘absolutely central to the is their impact on psychology curricula Society and a commemorative certificate.
development of psychological sciences across the UK, and the pioneering way They have also been invited to give papers
since his arrival at the University of that Haslam and Reicher developed on the teaching of psychology at the
Westminster in 1970; setting up the first innovative resources’ to support its Society’s Annual Conference in 2010,
psychology degree and then developing teaching.’ where they will receive their award.

society
CONSULTATIONS ON PUBLIC POLICY ‘Going Green’

Society members prepared responses to the following consultations The Division of Occupational Psychology has established a new
during August: working group – Going Green – to promote the issue of pro-
environmental behaviour and green management within the
1. Better Diabetes Care (Scotland) Division. The group is specifically aiming to generate new
2. Consultation on Guidance About Compliance with the Health and research and identify good practice regarding how to change
Social Care Act 2008 (Registration Requirements) Regulations employee and consumer environmental attitudes and behaviours.
(2009) (Care Quality Commission) To build a community of occupational psychologists with an
3. Draft Guidance on Provisions to Deal with Nuisance or interest in this area and highlight the contribution that the
Disturbance Behaviour on NHS Premises in England (Department profession can make, Going Green is planning the following key
of Health) activities:
4. Guidance on Promoting the Health and Wellbeing of Looked After I establish an e-group where individuals can discuss this topic
Children (Department for Children, Schools & Families – DCSF) and share good practice (available through the ‘communities
5. Handling Allegations of Abuse Made Against Adults who Work of interest’ link on www.bps.org.uk/dop);
with Children and Young People (DCSF) I create and promote a business forum to connect with a wide
6. NHS Clinical Knowledge Summaries – Draft on Schizophrenia range of stakeholders;
(NHS Clinical Knowledge Summaries) I establish an MSc research competition to engage young
7. Review of Secure Mental Health Services (Welsh Assembly researchers;
Government) I contribute to publications such as Personnel Today and People
Management to reach a wider audience;
In the response to the DCSF regarding their draft Guidance on I organise a one-day symposium with state-of-the-arts from
Promoting the Health and Wellbeing of Looked After Children (no 4 practitioners and academics;
in the list above), the following points were raised: I conduct an industry survey investigating key aspects of green
I the draft guidance generally espouses a medical model of health behaviour;
but the evidence indicates that the main focus of the service should I hold a practitioner forum at the 2010 DOP Conference; and
be psychological and preventive; I keep members informed of progress through follow-up
I the designated doctor and nurse are given key roles in the delivery articles in The Psychologist and POW.
of services even though many psychological issues have been
identified; There is a real chance for occupational psychologists to make
I there is no mention of longer-term educational, employment and a difference, and the DOP is encouraging all interested members
criminal justice implications for looked after children; to get in touch via Gene_Johnson@Dell.com.
I no strategy is identified for dealing with the transition from child to
adult services.
The Department of Health’s Draft Guidance on Provisions to Deal

with Nuisance or Disturbance Behaviour on NHS Premises in
Society vacancies
England (number 3 in the list above) was found to be too long, too
prescriptive, to contain too many steps, to create additional duties Ethics Committee
of care, and to get in the way of current practice to maintain a safe Society representative on the European Federation
environment: it was therefore considered likely to be difficult to
implement. The guidance also risks re-balancing too far towards the of Psychologists’ Associations (EFPA) Standing
offender with reasonable excuse and placing too great an emphasis Committee on Ethics
on exempting groups of individuals who may otherwise be liable for Vacancy for a Member of the Society with an interest in ethics to
an offence. Various proposals for how the guidance could be serve as the Society’s representative on this European committee.
developed were made including: Two-year term. Travel and subsistence expenses met.
I widening the mental health conditions that might present with Contact Liz Beech liz.beech@bps.org.uk
reasonable excuse;
Closing date 30 October 2009
I making clear the effect of nuisance/disturbance on NHS staff’s
ability to conduct their work and preserve a therapeutic Journals Committee
environment (thus including the effect of nuisance/disturbance on
service users and carers); Chair 2010/13
I making mental health awareness training mandatory. See advertisement on p.860, this issue.
Contact Julie Neason julie.neason@bps.org.uk, 0116 252 9580
The preparation and submission of the Society’s responses to Closing date 30 October 2009
consultations on public policy is coordinated by the Policy Support Unit
(PSU). All members are eligible to contribute to responses and all Ethics Committee
interest is warmly welcomed. Please contact the PSU for further
information (psu@bps.org.uk; 0116 252 9926/9577). Details of active and Chair
completed consultations are available at: www.bps.org.uk/consult. See The Psychologist, September issue p.787.
Contact Lisa Morrison Coulthard lisa.morrisoncoulthard@bps.org.uk,
0116 252 9510
Closing date 30 October 2009

society
Taking psychology to society

The Publication and Communications in early December collaboration with the
Board set up their annual grants scheme 2009 at Defra’s offices, Child Bereavement Charity,
for members to ‘take psychology to London. a young people’s advisory
society’. Any form of project is welcome, Sally Hodges group will be set up to seek
from street parties to webpages to mini- received £5000 to views and opinions of
conferences – provided that one of the create an educational young bereaved people.
outcomes is some form of sustainable DVD to promote an These views will then be
resource that will reach as large an online mental health used as a foundation to
audience as possible. This year, 19 resource for primary develop a resource for
applications were received, three of which school children. The parents, carers and
received funding. DVD will contain educational professionals
Kathryn Rathouse received £1600 to information on how to to give them greater insight
put on a masterclass for organisations use the site, how to into the needs and
responsible for promoting water efficiency. make the puppets experiences of young people
It will be run in collaboration with children will see on the site and affected by death.
Waterwise (an NGO focused on reducing information on how to talk to children The next round of funding will
water waste in the UK). During the about their worries, together with ideas commence in the spring of 2010. There
masterclass, experts will explain the for further support. The DVD will be is no limit to the amount of funding
psychological principles, give some case reusable throughout schools and will be available, other than the overall grants
studies showing how the principles have both educational and promotional. budget of £14,000. Further information,
been successfully applied, and discuss Finally, Ann Rowland received £7313 including approved target audiences and
with delegates the implications for their to provide the psychological dimension to details of assessment criteria, can be found
day-to-day work. The session is to be held a website for bereaved young people. In at www.bps.org.uk/grants.
Ethical code change

To take account of the change in provided in relation to ethics
the role of the Society in relation support and guidance that is
to professional misconduct, available for members. Whilst
some minor changes to the these changes are not
Code of Ethics and Conduct
have been implemented with
significant, all members are
encouraged to obtain a copy and

effect from 1 August 2009. The re-familiarise themselves with its
changes mainly reflect the role contents and overarching

of the Health Professions principles. A copy of the new

Council in the regulation of Code can be downloaded from

practitioner psychologists and http://www.bps.org.uk/the-

the new Member Conduct society/code-of-conduct/code-

Rules. New information is also of-conduct_home.cfm or hard
copies are available from the
Society’s Leicester office on

request.
Further to the revised Code, !"# "$$%"&"'( "$!$
Unwanted additional ethics guidance and "'")*"$$%
support (including frequently
WAIS III asked questions) can be found
+, "$$%!!!""$!$
at www.bps.org.uk/the-

"-"%."$!$
complete in society/code-of-conduct/code-
hard case. of-conduct_home.cfm and two ! "
Used twice. new e-mail addresses have been # "'/ $%
launched to assist members
£600 ono. seeking guidance in relation to $$$% $%
practice ethics and research
ethics (practice-ethics@ &'& ()*+ **&&
Tel 01829 751892 bps.org.uk and research- , $%
ethics@bps.org.uk).

Organised by BPS Conferences

BPS conferences are committed to ensuring value for money, careful budgeting and sustainability in the current
economic climate
2009
CONFERENCE DATE VENUE WEBSITE

DCP Manager’s Faculty 14-15 October Ramada Hotel, Leicester www.bps.org.uk/conferences
DCP Professional Practice Workshop 5 November Tabernacle Street, London www.bps.org.uk/conferences
Edinburgh Lectures 17 November Our Dynamic Earth www.bps.org.uk/edinburgh2009
BPS Scotland 28-29 November Apex Hotel, Edinburgh www.bps.org.uk/scottish/events
London Lectures 8 December Kensington Town Hall www.bps.org.uk/london2009
Division of Clinical Psychology 9-11 December Congress Centre, London www.dcpconference.co.uk
2010
CONFERENCE DATE VENUE WEBSITE

Postgraduate Occupational Psychology 12-13 January Holiday Inn, Brighton www.bps.org.uk/pop2010
DECP Trainee Event 12 January Royal Bath Hotel, Bournemouth www.bps.org.uk/tep2010
DECP Professional Development Event 13-15 January Royal Bath Hotel, Bournemouth www.bps.org.uk/decp2010
Division of Occupational Psychology 13-15 January Holiday Inn, Brighton www.bps.org.uk/dop2010
Psychotherapy Section 29-30 March Durham University www.bps.org.uk/conferences
Annual Conference 14-16 April Holiday Inn, Stratford-upon-Avon www.bps.org.uk/ac2010
DCP Faculty for Learning Disabilities 28-30 April Chancellor’s Hotel, Manchester www.bps.org.k/fld2010
Division of Counselling Psychology 8-10 July University of Strathclyde, Glasgow www.bps.org.uk/dcop2010
Qualitative Methods in Psychology Section 23-25 August University of Nottingham, Jubilee Campus www.bps.org.uk/qmip2010
INTRODUCTION TO EXPERT
WITNESS WORK IN FAMILY COURT
Training Day, including Manual £195 + VAT Transference-Focused Psychotherapy
Liverpool 2nd December 2009
London 15th April 2010 for Borderline and Narcissistic
Presenter: Jacqueline Siner, chartered psychologist and
experienced expert witness
Personality Disorders
For full details see: Frank Yeomans, Clinical Associate Professor,
www.jsapsychology.co.uk
www.bps.org.uk/learningcentre
Cornell University
2nd November 2009, BPS London Office
Contact Helen or Yvonne at JSA Psychology
Tel: 0151 255 0533 Fax: 0151 255 0555
Email: office@jsapsychology.co.uk
The treatment of borderline patients is one of the most
challenging areas in mental health. An increasing body of
clinical experience and research shows that Transference-
Focused Psychotherapy (TFP) can help these patients achieve
character change. TFP is a psychodynamic psychotherapy
Quantitative EEG, Event Related Potentials developed by Otto Kernberg for borderline conditions.
and Neurotherapy course.
This course will teach the participant the theory and
On this 5 day course, you will learn how techniques of TFP which help the therapist provide effective
to record and analyze EEG and ERP’s: treatment of this disorder with less chaos and stress than is
compare them to a normative database, usually associated with the treatment of borderline patients.
identifying endophenotypes of brain
dysfunctions, from Specific Learning Course fee: £100
Disabilities to Psychopathologies for
research, therapy and medication. To book a place and for more BPS
information please visit Learning
at London University 2nd – 6th December, 2009 www.bps.org.uk/learningcentre-tfp Centre
www . q eeg . c o .u k

BPS providing maintaining supporting

Learning opportunities standards your CPD
Centre
The Learning Centre is the British Psychological Society’s online portal for training
and professional development.
EVENT DATE VENUE

Supervision skills training – Workshop 2: Enhancing supervision skills 2 October Society’s London Office
Introduction to psychometrics 9 October Society’s London Office
Child clinical neuropsychology course (part 2) 12–16 October Charney Manor, Oxford
Achieving leadership for effective team working within living local systems 14 October Wakefield
Goalsetting and coaching psychology 15 October Society’s London Office
Clinical issues: Asylum seekers and refugees 16 October Society’s Leicester Office
Introduction to supervision skills 16 October Edinburgh
Expert Witness: Essential knowledge of being an Expert Witness (Level 1) 21 October Society’s London Office
Psychometrics discussion forum (half-day) 22 October Society’s London Office
Expert Witness discussion forum (half-day) 22 October Society’s London Office
Supervision skills 22 October Society’s London Office
Adult survivors of child sexual abuse: Attachment, dilemmas and complexities 26–27 October Society’s London Office
Statement of Equivalence information day 29 October Society’s London Office
New ways with dreams 30 October Society’s London Office
Transference-Focused Psychotherapy for borderline and narcissistic personality disorders 2 November Society’s London Office
Expert Witness: Report writing (Level 2) 4 November Society’s London Office
Supervision skills training – Workshop 3: Review of supervision skills 7 November Society’s London Office
Advanced Psychopathy Assessment – The CAPP and other strategies 9–10 November Society’s London Office
Working with trauma 12 November Society’s London Office
Qualification in occupational psychology new route supervisors training 12 November LJMU
Looking forward: Psychology in the South West 14 November Exeter
Working with dreams and nightmares in therapy 15 November Exeter
Treating a fear of flying in clinical practice 19 November Society’s London Office
Relational approaches to rehabilitation following acquired brain injury 27 November The Resource Centre, London
An introduction to working with the media 1 December Society’s London Office
Qualification in occupational psychology new route supervisors training 3 December Society’s London Office
Broadcast interview skills 7 December Society’s London Office
Expert Witness: Presenting court room evidence (Level 3) 10 December Society’s London Office
Psychometrics discussion forum (half-day) 21 January Society’s London Office
Expert Witness discussion forum (half-day) 21 January Society’s London Office
For more information please visit www.bps.org.uk/learningcentre

To book a place on a Learning Centre event please call 0116 252 9512

Centre for Stress Management

promoting the cognitive behavioural
approach for over 20 years
Primary Certificate Courses 2009–2010

Stress Management 5–6 Oct Other Courses
Occupational Stress Management 23–24 Nov Advanced Certificate in Cognitive Behavioural
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Approaches to Counselling and Psychotherapy
and Training 16–17 Nov; 14–15 Dec; 1–2 Feb 2010 Advanced Certificate in Rational Emotive and
Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy 7–8 Dec Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy
Problem Focused Counselling, Coaching & Training 28–29 Oct Diploma in Stress Management: A Cognitive
Assertion and Communication Skills Training 28–29 Jan 2010 Behavioural Approach
Relaxation Skills Training 16–17 Dec Cert in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
Multimodal Therapy & Counselling 26–27 Jan 2010 Cert in Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy
Trauma and PTSD 8–9 Oct Courses held in London unless stated otherwise.
Advanced CBT (3 days) 30 Nov–2 Dec
Advanced REBT (3 days) 4–6 Nov Trainers include: Professor Stephen Palmer,
Mediation Skills TBA Michael Neenan, Kasia Szymanska, Liz Doggart,
Irene Tubbs and Nick Edgerton
Centre for Postgraduate Studies and Research Ltd All courses can be run in-house
In association with Centre for Stress Management Approved by the
Training centre and consultancy providing Continuing Professional Development British Psychological Society
programmes for health professionals Learning Centre for the
purposes of Continuing
Certificate in Cognitive Behaviour Therapies & Hypnosis/Certificate Professional Development (CPD)
in Cognitive Hypnotherapy
Course validated by
Part 1: either Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy 7-8 Dec General Hypnotherapy Standards Council
or Cognitive Behavioural Therapy & Training 16–17 Nov; 14–15 Dec; 1–2 Feb 2010 www.studiesandresearch.com
Part 2: Primary Certificate in Cognitive Hypnotherapy 3–5 Feb 2010 Tel 01582 712161 Email admin@studiesandresearch.com
Centre for Coaching

promoting the cognitive
behavioural approach
2009–2010
Diplomas† Advanced Certificates
Coaching Modular programmes in coaching,
Psychological Coaching (postgraduate level) psychological coaching & Approved by the
coaching psychology British Psychological Society
Diploma in Coaching Psychology† Learning Centre for the
Postgraduate programme for psychologists with GBC and graduate members purposes of Continuing
of the Society for Coaching Psychology Professional Development (CPD)
Trainers include: Professor Stephen
Certificate Courses* Palmer, Nick Edgerton, Gladeana
Coaching†‡ 9–13 Nov ; 7–11 Dec; 18–22 Jan 2010; 22–26 Feb 2010 McMahon, Kasia Szymanska, Irene
Coaching – counsellors/psychotherapists TBA Tubbs and Dr Siobhain O’Riordan.
Psychological Coaching†‡ 15–19 Mar 2010 All courses can be run in-house
Coaching Psychology 15–19 Mar 2010
modular The Centre for Coaching is an ILM
Stress Management and Performance Coaching† Recognised Provider. As a recognised
Stress Management and Health Coaching modular provider, the Centre runs a wide range
of coaching and management
Primary Certificate Courses development programmes which are
Performance Coaching 30 Sep–1 Oct; 25–26 Nov suitable for Continuing Professional Recognised Course
Health Coaching 21–22 Oct Development.
Stress Management 5–6 Oct * Courses recognised by the Association for Coaching
Assertion & Communication Skills 28–29 Jan 2010 † Courses accredited by Middlesex University
Redundancy Coaching and Counselling 10–11 Feb 2010 ‡ Society for Coaching Psychology Recognised Course

CPD AWARD FOR

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
OUTSTANDING
‘engaging’ ‘relevant’ ‘topical’ ‘thought provoking’ ‘stimulating’
CBT is now the treatment of choice for a wide range of clinical problems
Two-day ‘Introductory Workshop’ on

Tuesday 29th & Wednesday 30th September 2009 DOCTORAL RESEARCH
or
Tuesday 27th & Wednesday 28th October 2009 CONTRIBUTIONS TO
PSYCHOLOGY 2009
“Relevant insights into the human condition”. This introduction to CBT covers
learning theory from a cognitive and behavioural perspective, the research
base, basic principles of treatment and the practical application of CBT.
Two-day ‘Skills Workshop’ on Nominations invited

Wednesday 2nd & Thursday 3rd December 2009
Intended for non-CBT specialists, the ‘skills course’ is designed to put theory
into practice across a range of conditions.
It provides an understanding of specific CBT techniques to help you
Nominations are invited to this annual award to recognise
develop an effective ‘tool-kit’ of CBT treatment strategies. outstanding contributions to psychological knowledge by
postgraduate research students whilst carrying out research
Venue: The British Psychological Society, 30 Tabernacle Street, for their doctoral degrees in psychology.*
London EC2A 4UE
Price: £395 for the two days
Criteria – The Award Committee will base its decision
Our courses are all designed and run by Dr Brian Marien on published psychology articles, reporting the research
and Dr Jannie Van Der Merwe. More information and feedback carried out for a doctoral degree.* A maximum of two
on our previous courses can be seen on our website www.cbt-edu.co.uk articles can be submitted, and the following requirements
Accreditation: This 2 day workshop is awarded 12 CPD hours, must be met:
subject to your peer group approval, and in line with the Royal G The articles must have been published in refereed
College of Psychiatrists’ guidelines. journals (normally those covered by Psychological
Abstracts), or be in press.
For further information and how to book please contact Doon Muir,
Telephone: 01730 812123 G The candidate must be either the sole or senior author
Email: doon.muir@positivehealthstrategies.com of the article(s) concerned.
G The candidate’s doctoral degree supervisor or head of
department must sign a statement confirming that the
research reported in the article(s), was carried out by
the candidate as research for a doctoral degree in
psychology that was passed by a university in the UK
normally not more than two years before the date of
acceptance of the article(s) for publication.
The Society of Analytical Psychology Nominations
The UK’s leading provider of training in Jungian analysis offers
G Proposers must send a 500-word nomination statement
prospective patients and professionals a rich variety of therapeutic and
creative resources for 2009:
outlining why the candidate’s work is outstanding and
why they should be considered for the award.
SAP Training and Education G Proposers must send 10 copies of what they judge to be
Open Afternoon: 26th September, 3-6pm the candidate’s two most outstanding and significant
An opportunity to find out more about The Society's trainings and to
meet some of the analysts who teach on them
publications reporting the research carried out for the
G Four-year professional training in Jungian analysis candidate’s doctoral degree.
G ‘Foundations of Analytical Psychology’ short courses G Proposers must also send 10 copies of the candidate’s
(Wednesday evenings, October–March) current full CV.
G One-year course on Supervision (October–July) G Nominations should be sent to Dr Lisa Morrison
G Infant Observation seminars
G Links to post-graduate Jungian Studies Programme, Coulthard (Policy Advisor–Science and Research) at the
Essex University Leicester office by Friday 27 November 2009.
C. G. Jung Clinic and Consultation Service Award – A £500 prize and a commemorative certificate.
Affordable, reduced-cost analysis for suitable applicants and a readily The recipient is also invited to deliver a lecture based on
accessible Consultation Service for those seeking private referral to a
Jungian Analyst. the research at the Society’s Annual Conference.
Public Events The Award Committee may decide not to make an award
Annual Lecture: 24 October, London: in any given year.
‘The Banality of Evil and What it Means to be a Person’
For our new 2009-2010 programme of CPD-accredited talks in For further information please, contact Liz Beech at
London, Oxford and Cambridge, contact us at the Society’s office (e-mail liz.beech@bps.org.uk).
www.thesap.org.uk *A candidate may only be nominated for the award if the doctoral
1 Daleham Gardens, London NW3 5BY degree was awarded no longer than three years ago (i.e. in 2006).
020 7419 8896 or 020 7419 8898
Email: office@thesap.org.uk

Do you dream of becoming a modern,

progressive mental health professional?
At the University of Essex you can:
Training in
Achieve a dual qualification (MSc and Registered Nurse) on
PsychometricTesting Course Dates
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Gain practical experience with patients suffering from
leading developers of psychometric
tests and assessment software.
December ‘09
severe mental illness Psytech offers a highly focussed,
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2-4 & 7-9
Put your knowledge of psychology to good use and help
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BPS Certificates of Competence in
Occupational Testing at Level A and
February
Benefit from fees paid in full and a non-repayable bursary of Level B Intermediate.
3-5 & 8-10
£4,000 per annum Six days taught, plus one day
Come to our Nursing open evening on the 11 November 2009
follow-up.
Non-residential fee of £1300 +
April
at the Colchester Campus.
To book a place please call: 01206 874960.
VAT to include test materials and
full pre and post course supoport.
14-16 & 19-21
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If you are interested in making a difference to peoples’ lives and
desire a rewarding career we would like to hear from you.
Test Administration courses also June
available.
For more information and to Access to over 100 psychometric 2-4 & 7-9
apply please contact us by tests including 15FQ+*, 16PF5**, See website and click on
JTI and many more. “training” for more details
telephone: 01206 874496 or
by e-mail: ipl@essex.ac.uk
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Visit our website at: www.essex.ac.uk/hhs www.psytech.com
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An 8 day diploma course teaching integrative theory & effective practical
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The UK College of Hypnosis &

Hyyp
pnotherapy Ltd.
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e Based
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For information about clinical psychology courses
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www.leeds.ac.uk/chpccp 17 Piriess Place, Horsham, West Susssex, RH12 1BF
The closing date for applying is 1 December 2009.

PSYCHOANALYTIC
SUPERVISION
(weekly/fortnightly/monthly)
London W1 Consulng Rooms READING AND STUDY GROUP
Full Time, Sessional and Occasional (monthly)
Since 1966, “GAP” has been situated in the picturesque and o Develop your psychoanalytic
peaceful street of Montagu Mansions just off Baker Street in understanding
London’s W1. Now, the new, lively, broader-based pracce
embraces clinical and organisaonal psychology as well as
o Enhance the depth and interest of
coaching, mentoring and psychotherapy. If you’re looking for a your work
collegial and successful psychology pracce base, we fit the bill. o Extend your portfolio of clinical skills
Consulng rooms are generously sized for both individual o Bring a psychoanalytic dimension to
consultaons and group sessions. All have high speed wireless
internet access, telephone handsets and front door entry system.
your practice
The praconers benefit from knowledgeable and friendly full
me receponist staff as well as offering report and leer typing Location: Kilburn/Queens Park,
services, personalised pracce email facilies and therapist London NW6
website profiles. The pracce enjoys a high rate of external
referral, internal collaboraon and regular PR events. Fees: Individual - 1 hour session - £65
Group - 2 hour session - £35
For further informaon please contact us
telephone: 0207 935 3103/3085 Dr Maggie Turp UKCP C. Psychol
email: rooms@gapracce.co.uk Tavistock Society of Psychotherapists
website: www.gapracce.co.uk Email: maggieturp@googlemail.com
Telephone: 020 7461 0134
28 Fortismere Avenue, Muswell Hill, London, N10 3BL
Integrate practical spirituality into twenty-first century clinical

work, combining systemic, Human Givens and CBT skills with Doctoral Programme
spiritual healing and other subtle energy techniques to address
wellbeing at every level of existence. The Soul Therapy Centre
is an internationally acknowledged clinic run by a chartered in Clinical Psychology
psychologist, psychotherapist, hypnotherapist and healers,
offering training in our innovative, holistic style of treatment
for mind, body, soul and environment. In the two year part-
Open Day
time Diploma Course in Soul Therapy, nationally accredited by
the Alliance of Healing Associations and achieved Stage 4 Come and find out more about the 3 year
(highest level) recognition by UK Healers, participants will be
able to enrich and underpin their present-day therapeutic programme at our Open Day on
skills with an awareness of ancient wisdoms and methods of Thursday 12 November
self and interpersonal healing techniques. Students are drawn from 12:45–16:30
from experienced healthcare professionals and a wide range of
other occupations to form a richly resourced group. at the University of East Anglia, Norwich
The first year runs for three terms of ten weeks, plus practical
sessions & tutorials, starts in January 2010 and takes place on A chance to meet the course team and
Wednesday evenings from 6.30pm–9.30pm at The Soul current trainees and find out more about the
Therapy Centre (established in North London in January
1996) and the second year is fortnightly on Tuesday evenings. programme and application process
Enquiries and applications welcome, via our website:
http://www.soul-therapy.co.uk or contact Ingrid Collins, To find out more and register your
Chartered Psychologist and Registered Spiritual Healer,
on 020 8883 8562. attendance please email clinpsyd@uea.ac.uk

SPEARMAN MEDAL
CPD PROGRAMME 2009 - 2010 2010
On Becoming A Qualified Psychologist (ref: CPD80)
A Reflective Workshop Series
The Research Board invites
January - April 2010
Fee: £315
nominations
Venue: The Tavistock Centre
Making the transition from trainee to qualified psychologist can be daunting. Criteria:
These sessions are designed for newly and recently qualified clinical,
educational and counselling psychologists who wish to continue their G The award is made for outstanding published work in
professional development by reflecting on the transitions involved in taking up psychology.
their new roles.
G The work must have been carried out by the candidate
It offers participants the opportunity to meet with other psychologists at a
similar stage in their careers to discuss transitions, dilemmas and ideas together. within 8 years following the completion of a PhD (although
The sessions will consist of direct teaching and training, on topics relevant to research undertaken during the PhD can be taken into
participants, as well as work discussion. Participants will have an opportunity to
reflect on dilemmas and issues in their real work situations, and to think about account) and should represent a significant body of
those of other participants. This course will usefully supplement any other
specific cpd programmes and opportunities.
research output.
“These sessions have been really valuable. A thinking space to reflect on the G The Selection Committee will look for evidence of the
process of becoming qualified including identity, working in challenging
systems, establishing future directions and opportunities."
theoretical contributions made, the originality of research
(including innovation in the experimental methods or
For further information please contact techniques used) and the impact of the research findings.
The Conference, Events and Marketing Unit, The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust,
G Candidates need not be members of the Society, but they
Tel: 020 8938 2548, Email: events@tavi-port.org, Website: www.tavi-port.org/conferences
must be resident in the UK.
Nomination:
G Proposers must send a detailed nomination statement
outlining the candidate’s contribution to psychology,
together with a copy of the candidate’s current full CV.
G Proposers must also send 14 copies of what they judge to
be the candidate’s two most outstanding and significant
publications to date.
G Nominations should be sent to Liz Beech at the Leicester
office by 8 January 2010.
BACIP Autumn Conference 2009 Award:
Children’s Spirituality Recipients are invited to deliver the Spearman Medal Lecture
Date: Saturday, November 14th, 2009 at the Society’s Annual Conference, at which they will be
Venue: University of Leicester
Distinguished speaker: Dr Rebecca Nye presented with the Medal and a commemorative certificate.
An expert in children’s spirituality who has worked as
Reader in Education at Anglia Ruskin University, UK trainer for Previous Spearman Medal winners:
accredited Godly Play courses, Director of research for the
2007 Dr Chris Chambers
Godly Play Foundation
2008 Dr Tom Manly
Further details and registration forms are available
2009 Dr Matt Field
online or by contacting Janet Jackson (BACIP
Administrator)
For more information and the full nomination criteria,
Email: administrator@bacip.org.uk Tel: 0116 2301057
http://www.bacip.org.uk please contact Liz Beech on 0116 252 9928 or
The British Association of Christians in Psychology is an e-mail liz.beech@bps.org.uk.
association of over 300 members representing professional,
trainee, postgraduate and undergraduate UK psychologists

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The British Neuropsychiatry

Association
23rd Annual General Meeting
11/12 February 2010
With a joint meeting, 10 February, with the
Section of Neuropsychiatry, RCPsych
Venue: The Institute of Child Health,
Guilford St, London
Topics to include:
G Memory (SoN/BNPA)
G Encephalopathy and delirium
G Head Injury
G Neuropsychiatry and the Self
For outline programme and registration form visit: Research. Digested. Free.
www.bnpa.org.uk
The British Psychological Society’s internationally renowned
and completely free Research Digest service is now available via:
For details of exhibition/sponsorship
opportunities, contact:
Jackie Ashmenall on Phone/Fax 020 8878 0573 I Blog: see www.researchdigest.org.uk/blog
Phone: 0560 1141307 I E-mail: send a blank message to subscribe-rd@lists.bps.org.uk
Email: admin@bnpa.org.uk or I Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/digestonfacebook
jashmenall@yahoo.com I Twitter: http://twitter.com/researchdigest

hear some of the UK's top psychologists talk about what makes us tick!
Edinburgh Lectures
Tuesday 17 November 2009
Our Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh
Dr Adrian North, Heriot Watt University
Dr Monica Whitty, Nottingham Trent University
Paul Gardner, St Andrews University
Dr Carol Ireland, Merseycare NHS Trust
Professor Charlie Lewis, Lancaster University
www.bps.org.uk/edinburgh2009
London Lectures
Tuesday 8 December 2009
Kensington Town Hall
Professor Richard Carson, Queen’s University Belfast
Professor Mark Griffiths, Nottingham Trent University
Dr Pam Heaton, Goldsmith’s University of London
Dr Brett Smith, University of Exeter
Dr Catriona Morrison, University of Leeds
www.bps.org.uk/london2009
For further information, E-mail: edinburghlectures@bps.org.uk or

londonlectures@bps.org.uk Tel: 0116 252 9555 Fax: 0116 255 7123

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Journals of
British Journal of Psychology
British Journal of Clinical Psychology
Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice
British Journal of Health Psychology
British Journal of Social Psychology
British Journal of Developmental Psychology
British Journal of Educational Psychology
Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology
British Journal of Mathematical & Statistical Psychology
Legal and Criminological Psychology
Journal of Neuropsychology
‘With a publishing history spanning over 100 years, our journals

are widely regarded as some of the most prestigious publications
in international psychological research’
Professor Stephen Morley (Chair of the Journals Committee)
Discount subscriptions for members! Why order our Journals?

G 2010 MEMBER RATE: £24 (£17 student members) per journal G High impact factors
G FREE ONLINE ACCESS back to 1999 G RSS feeds
G Online access available 24 hours
G SUBSCRIBE VIA E-MAIL subscriptions@bps.org.uk a day
TEL 0116 252 9537
G Free online access to ‘in-press’
All are available in both print and online formats and offer exceptional articles
value to Society members. G Free online access to both current
and back issues from 1999–2009
Authors – why publish with us? G High visibility with all articles
indexed and abstracted by
G Fast publication times PsycINFO, Google Scholar,
G Online submission and peer review Scopus and other leading
databases
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G Article reference linking
G No author charges
G Special issues and sections
G Free e-print (pdf ) of your paper
G Free advice from the Society’s Media Centre For further information,
G Personal and professional service from a dedicated journals team visit www.bpsjournals.co.uk

Annual Student Writer Competition

Are you passionate about psychology?
Fancy reaching 48,000 readers, and winning a great prize?
This year we’re getting creative. You could write a ‘traditional’ article of up to 1800 words; a piece for
one of the regular sections of The Psychologist; a blog entry or ‘tweet’; in fact, any writing which
engages and informs. The goal is simply to unearth genuine new writing talent in psychology.
Winners will have their articles published or work announced in The Psychologist, and will also get an
expenses-paid trip to the Society’s Student Lectures or Annual Conference (UK travel, hotel and
registration fee).
1. E-mail your work to psychologist@bps.org.uk to arrive no later

than FRIDAY 29 JANUARY 2010 with the subject line ‘student
writer entry’.
2. DO NOT give your name or any other personal details in the work
itself or its file name – the judges will work blind.
3. In the body of the e-mail please list all of the following: your
name, postal address, and personal telephone numbers;
departmental address, name of head of department or
supervisor; and word count (if applicable).
See the July issue of The Psychologist for this year’s winners and the
judges’ report. Also visit www.thepsychologist.org.uk and click on
‘Contribute’ for more information.
A lasting contribution
The British Psychological Society is the representative body for psychology
and psychologists in the UK. Formed in 1901, it now has approximately
45,000 members.
By its Royal Charter, the Society is charged with national responsibility for the
development, promotion and application of pure and applied psychology for the
public good, and with promoting the efficiency and usefulness of Society members
by maintaining a high standard of professional education and knowledge.
With your help the Society works to:
I To encourage the development of psychology as a scientific discipline and
an applied profession;
I To raise standards of training and practice in the application of psychology;
I To raise public awareness of psychology and increase the influence of
psychological practice in society.
By including us in your will you can help ensure the future of your discipline in
the years to come by continuing to support the Society.
For more information on how to leave a legacy please contact Russell Hobbs,
Finance Director at russell.hobbs@bps.org.uk or call him on 0116 252 9540.
Piaget, Rawlings, Spearman, and Myers all left something to Psychology …
What will you leave?

This NSPCC - Anna Freud Centre conference will bring together an international
group of clinicians and neuroscientists, providing a unique forum to explore the
latest research and innovation in understanding and tack ling childhood adversity.
S A T U R D A Y 3 1 s t O C T O B E R 2 0 0 9 , U C L
SPEAKERS INCLUDE :
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Full Price: £140

NSPCC / AFC Employees: £100
Student Price (lunch not included):£45*
To book your place and for further details, please visit:
www.annafreudcentre.org/courses.htm
*Please note that student places are strictly limited and that proof of status may be required
THE ANNA FREUD CENTRE

psy 10_09 p882_885 careers:Layout 1 15/9/09 16:22 Page 882
CAREERS
Psychotherapy
and other stories therapies, the ‘storytelling’ component
has acquired particular significance (e.g.
reminiscence with the elderly or narrative
Frank Tallis on life as a clinical psychologist and novelist therapy). It may even be the case that
being able to tell a good story about one’s
self, is a powerful predictor of mental
health. Mary Main and colleagues (1985,
1990) have found that a sense of
emotional security is closely related to
t is still considered somewhat unusual patient, entered an altered state of the presence of internally consistent and
I for an individual to straddle C.P. Snow’s

‘two cultures’ divide. We live in a
society in which art and science are still
consciousness during which she would
tell Josef Breuer (Freud’s avuncular patron
and collaborator) stories that reminded
coherent self-narratives (see Gerhardt,
2004, for a summary). A failure to
develop a cohesive and emotionally
viewed as being irreconcilable pursuits. him of those written by Hans Christian ‘literate’ personal narrative might not only
Yet, over the past decade, I have been Andersen (Guttmann, 2001). These have consequences with respect to poor
both a clinical psychologist and a formed an integral part of her treatment mental health, but lead to antisocial
novelist. In a few months I will stop and prompted her to describe Breuer’s behaviour. For example, David Canter
seeing patients to concentrate on my approach as the ‘talking cure’. (2006) has suggested that the inner
writing, and then I will be described as a Yet more extraordinary is Ernest Jones narratives of violent criminals are
novelist and former clinical psychologist. suggestion that Freud’s revolutionary impoverished, resulting in a breakdown
However, I don’t really see it like that at technique of ‘free association’, was of empathy.
all, as I have always recognised inspired by a now little known author Like all therapists, I have become
continuities linking clinical practice called Ludwig Börne, who in 1823 wrote accustomed to patients telling me their
and writing novels. an essay titled ‘The Art of Becoming an chaotic life stories. At such times, I often
The practice of psychotherapy has Original Writer in Three Days’ (Jones, find myself offering them a number of
long been associated with ‘storytelling’. 1977). Börne’s advice to aspirant authors narrative schemes to help them make
Anna O., the very first ‘psychoanalytic’ was to simply write without interruption, sense of their experiences. These schemes
‘falsification and hypocrisy, frequently correspond with some of the
everything that comes into your head’ basic plots we find in literature, for
(pp.218–219 in Jones). This of course example, ‘slaying the monster’, ‘rags to
recollects Freud’s famous injunction riches’, or ‘voyage and return’ (Booker,
that patients should ignore all 2004). The line between clinical
censorship and express every thought psychology and creative writing becomes
– however trivial or unpleasant. blurred, as the patient and I produce life-
Freud had been given the collected story drafts and edit them accordingly.
works of Börne when he was 14 years Of course, this doesn’t happen with every
old, and they were the only books patient. Where the presenting problem is
from his adolescent library that he characterised by specific symptoms and
kept as an adult. clearly circumscribed, CBT has been quite
Since Breuer and Freud’s time, all sufficient; however, when dealing with
forms of psychotherapy have involved complex or difficult presentations,
some form of ‘storytelling’. Patients helping a patient to put the chapters of
tell stories to therapists, and their life into a meaningful order has
therapists tell stories (in the form of frequently proved extremely productive.
rationales, schemes and myths) back Perhaps it is true that a good therapist
to patients (Frank & Frank, 1993). will also be a good storyteller, and vice
Moreover, in many contemporary versa. There are several reasons why this
See www.psychapp.co.uk for the following jobs, to search by job Birmingham City – Lecturer in Psychology
jobs online
type, area and more, and to sign up for suitable e-mail alerts. Borough of Croydon – Organisational Development Manager
Disabilities Trust – Assistant Psychologist x 2
Turning Point – Various IAPT roles Dorset Health Care – Clinical Psych & Lead Service Manager
St Mungo’s London – Clinical Psychologist
City Psychology Group – Counselling/Clinical Psychologist Advertisers can reach this prime online audience from just
Interhealth – Leader for Training & Psychological Health Clinician £150, and at no extra cost when placing an ad in print (from just
King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals – £315+VAT). The next deadline for job advertising is 14 October
Associate/Assistant Professor (for the November issue). For more information, see p.886.

careers
should be the case.

Firstly, therapists and novelists must
have a well developed theory of mind.
FEATURED JOB
Keith Oatley – also a psychologist/novelist
– has recently argued that fiction is a kind Job Title: Chartered Occupational Psychologist
of social simulation that runs on the Employer: London Fire Brigade
hardware of the human brain (Oatley,
2008). Thus, the more time we spend
e definitely need an experienced practitioner,’ says Jim Robinson, Head of
reading fiction, the more socially skilled
we become. More interesting is his ‘W HR Policy and Transformation, who will be line manager for this role. ‘There’s
a need for some desk work and report-writing, for researching new approaches and
suggestion that frequent reading of fiction
(i.e. exposure to meaningful narrative) making improvement recommendations, but this job involves getting out, selling
might strengthen selfhood. approaches and ideas and then implementing them.’
Secondly, therapists and novelists Jim describes an organisation with change on the agenda. ‘There’s uncertainty
must be able to use language well. Unlike about future transformations of the job and service. Work on behaviour change is
psychiatrists, a clinical psychologist does at the centre of what my team will contribute to successful wide-scale change.’ He
not have an armamentarium of drugs at analyses a number of core areas where this job must make a difference. ‘This person
his or her disposal. To ‘change’ a brain will work with the recruitment team and must have knowledge of psychometrics and
(which surely must be the ultimate effect the ability to develop effective assessment centres. We need to work with our
of psychotherapy) armed with only the recruitment specialists to streamline our recruitment processes and ensure our
English language and a few models of managers have the necessary skills in areas such as interviewing.’
mental functioning still strikes me as The psychologist will also work with three change managers. ‘There’s a huge
vaguely miraculous. In the same way, job in developing leadership skills and enhancing teams. In a changing environment
suspension of disbelief while reading a we’ve got to go beyond our undoubted strength in process management to improve
novel – achieved with only well-chosen people skills. This is a huge programme. So
words on a page – is also a kind of this person must be strong at facilitation and
miracle. also at developing and using 360s in team- “this job involves getting
A further point worth making, building activities – something I’m keen to out, selling approaches
concerns the subject matter of introduce more.’ and ideas”
psychology. The topics which This person will work alongside another
psychologists study – for example, occupational psychologist who is already in
memory or psychopathology – frequently post. Are psychologists and their skills
play a part in tried and tested plot lines accepted in the service? ‘They are when they’re involved in selection process: but
(e.g. man wakes up in hotel next to body we will need to work hard to get buy-in to our focus on behaviour change. We’ll need
covered in blood, but can’t remember someone who’s strong, enthusiastic about their work and can explain ideas clearly to
who he is or how he got there). people. They won’t sit around waiting for work to arrive: it’s a case of getting out and
The parallels between detective talking. And they must have experience working in complex organisations where you
fiction and psychotherapy are obvious. have to understand professional and organisational dynamics.’
Psychotherapists and detectives have Jim highlights another area. ‘We’ve not had a formal performance management
a great deal in common. Both scrutinise and appraisal system for that long and it is going to be a long job to embed this and
evidence, look for clues, reconstruct get maximum value out of it – the psychologist will help here.’
histories, and seek to establish an
ultimate cause. It is no coincidence that You can find this job on p.893, and with many others on www.psychapp.co.uk, which
Freud viewed himself as the Sherlock now has its own ‘featured job’ spot. Download our 2010 Media Pack from
Holmes of the mind and was a great fan www.bps.org.uk/media09 to find out more.
of Conan Doyle.
I doubt very much that there are
many students who embark on a
psychology degree thinking that the psychologist practising in a different Gerhardt, S. (2004). Why love matters: How affection
education they are about to receive context. shapes a baby’s brain. Hove: Routledge.
might equip them to become novelists. Guttmann, M.G. (2001). The enigma of Anna O: A
Yet, I firmly believe it can. I have found I Frank Tallis’s latest Freudian detective biography of Bertha Pappenheim. Wickford, RI, &
my background in psychology immensely thriller is Darkness Rising, published by London: Moyer Bell.
useful – far more, I think, than the Century. Jones, E. (1977). The life and work of Sigmund Freud.
traditional writer’s training of a degree in Harmondsworth: Penguin.
English followed by a career in Main, M. & Goldwin R. (1985). Adult attachment
journalism. References classification system. Unpublished manuscript.
My most successful fiction has been a Booker, C. (2004). The seven basic plots: Why we tell Berkeley: University of California.
series of psychoanalytic detective thrillers stories. London: Continuum. Main, M. & Solomon, J. (1990). Procedures for
set in Freud’s Vienna. Without an Canter, D. (2006). Criminal shadows: Unlocking the identifying infants as disorganised-disoriented
appreciation of Freudian theory and my minds of serial killers and sexual predators and during the strange situation. In M. Greenberg et al.
experience as a practitioner – I could cracking cases. New York: Dorset Press. (Eds.) Attachment in the pre-school years: Theory,
never have written them. Moreover, when Frank, J.D. & Frank, J.B. (1993). Persuasion and research and intervention. Chicago: University of
I am no longer seeing patients, I will not healing: A comparative study of psychotherapy (3rd Chicago Press.
see myself as a former or retired clinical edn). Baltimore, MD, & London: Johns Hopkins Oatley, K. (2008). The mind’s flight simulator. The
psychologist, but rather, as a clinical University Press. Psychologist, 21, 12, 1030–1032.
seek and advertise at www.psychapp.co.uk 883

careers
The benefits of internships

he British Psychological Society’s Judgment Test (SJT) validity project. assessments for the graduate scheme and
T Division of Occupational Psychology

has a ‘Job Board’ at www.pow-
bps.com, where you can advertise or seek
I then joined full-time as an Assistant
Occupational Psychologist, working
alongside Sainsbury’s in-house Chartered
HR Shared Services (including interviews,
coaching exercises and group exercises).
Lastly, I have designed a team-building
voluntary experience (and paid positions Occupational exercise based on the Belbin team
that have appeared in The Psychologist). Psychologist, Peter roles for the team I was working in.
In particular, the site is designed to Burnham. Much of This placement has given me an
advertise internships for recent completed my experience has invaluable insight into the world of
MSc graduates and students looking to fallen in designing, occupational psychology in
get initial experience. validating and commerce, a vision that was not so
To illustrate the benefits for analysing SJTs. In clear from the lecture hall. I have
employers, as well as for applicants, we doing so, I got the gained a number of new skills and
meet three people who’ve been making opportunity to sharpened others that have enabled
internships work for them. apply my me to design valid and fair
At Sainsbury’s, Veronika Solloway knowledge of assessments. In terms of career
describes how an internship has helped research methods progression, this placement has
launch her career as an occupational and statistical brought me a step closer to being a
psychologist, whilst Peter Burnham analysis taught on Chartered Occupational Psychologist.
outlines the benefits from the employer the Psychology Where possible, organisations
perspective. Inga Pioro at PDI Ninth BSc and running occupational psychology
House has also used the Job Board to Occupational placements should explore incorporating
support sourcing three interns this year Psychology MSc, and this has been rotations so that postgraduates could get
and describes how this helped the invaluable in preparing me towards experience across the HR business
recruitment process. chartered status and supporting me in my functions (health and safety, selection and
current job search. I also learnt a number assessment, organisational development
of new skills including: and change, training and development
Veronika Solloway I critical incident technique job analysis; etc.) Rotations will provide much of the
Postgraduate Occupational I interview and assessment skills; necessary experience to become a
Psychology Placement, I conducting longitudinal research; and chartered occupational psychologist. The
Sainsbury’s Supermarkets plc I applied statistical techniques. return for running a placement will be an
I started with Sainsbury’s Supermarkets occupational psychologist who has been
as a volunteer assisting on a Situational I have also developed a number of trained for your organisation, who
Building roads to success in mental health

Clinical Studies Officers (CSOs) working within Leicestershire
NHS Partnership Trust for the Mental Health Research I Anticholinesterase inhibitors that is dangerous to
Network (MHRN) describe one route to acquiring valuable in moderate-to-severe themselves or to others.
research skills Alzheimer’s disease. This I The cost effectiveness of
class of drugs decreases supplementing standard care
The Mental Health Research Research and the UK Clinical breakdown of acetylcholine with an intervention for carers
Network (MHRN: see Research Network. The aim of (a chemical messenger in the of people with eating
www.mhrn.info) is at the heart the network is to provide the brain) and can be used in disorders.
of mental health research NHS infrastructure with support conditions where there is an
throughout England. It supports for both non-commercial and apparent lack of this The successful setup of these
NHS mental health trusts and commercial large-scale messenger transmission. and other MHRN activities has
industry to conduct large-scale, research in mental health and I The effectiveness of cognitive enabled LPT to become one of
multi-site research. Working for social care. Working as Clinical therapy in reducing distress the lead recruiting sites
the MHRN provides an Studies Officers (CSOs) at the and the risks of acting on nationally on some of the
opportunity for budding MHRN, we take responsibility command hallucinations, adopted studies.
psychologists to develop applied for the day-to-day local where individuals hear and So what is the role of the
research skills in practical management of the projects. sometimes obey voices that Clinical Studies Officer? We
settings. Leicestershire NHS command them to perform actively promote research
The MHRN is one of the Partnership Trust (LPT) certain acts. The studies to clinicians, service
topic-specific networks of the currently has a portfolio hallucinations may influence users and carers, working in
National Institute for Health of projects that includes: them to engage in behaviour collaboration with clinicians to

careers
understands your culture and priorities. other ‘in-house’ psychologists, but also consistently effective talent decisions
veronikasolloway@googlemail.com to the consultancies. about leaders. PDI Ninth House have
There were of course challenges in an established intern programme in
employing a trainee psychologist, who Australia, and wanted to experience the
Peter Burnham had excellent academic same level of success in their London
Occupational Psychologist, knowledge but limited office.
Sainsbury’s Supermarkets practical experience. The London programme has been
plc It took time to show running since January 2009, with interns
After attending a meeting Veronika how to do some working on a flexible basis depending on
at the BPS conference, I was of the basics, and the their commitments and the business
reminded of a need for challenges the needs, but typically around three days
postgraduate training schemes consultancies face when per month. They get involved in
in occupational psychology. putting trainees in front administering assessments, supporting
The meeting was made up of of clients, are no less and shadowing consultants, candidate
psychologists from all of the pertinent for ‘in-house’ care, and ongoing projects or research.
big consultancies, but only a psychologists. However, From our point of view, it’s a win-win
few who represented with some careful coaching situation – interns get intensive
psychologists who work ‘in house’. and explanation, I felt comfortable letting experience in a professional environment,
A few months later I was approached Veronika ‘loose’. In light of this, I still feel and get the opportunity to work toward
by Veronika Solloway, an MSc student strongly that it was worthwhile. As a their chartership, and PDI Ninth House
at Birkbeck College, University of society we cannot expect MSc graduates get to work with and learn from highly
London. She offered to work for free, to magic experience out of thin air, motivated individuals. In Australia it’s
three days a week, to help me gather and without offering them the opportunities already created a pipeline of talent for
analyse data for a paper I was writing. to learn a profession. Veronika will be future roles, and early indications are that
I was so impressed by her determination; finishing her one-year placement in we can achieve this in the UK. We used
I decided to offer Veronika a one-year September and we fully the DOP Job Board to find
paid, postgraduate placement. This was intend to be recruiting suitable candidates, and
an excellent opportunity for Veronika, another intern before then. found the process
who gained experience in job analysis, straightforward and quick,
assessment design, test design, statistical and appreciated the fact
analysis, executive recruitment practices Inga Pioro that it was free to use in
and large-scale project management. This Consultant the current environment.
was good for her, but even better for PDI Ninth House We received numerous
Sainsbury’s. The insight and academic PDI Ninth House is a global applications from a range
knowledge that she brought kept us all human resources consulting of qualified and high-
on our toes; it was refreshing to be firm who partner with the quality candidates and are
challenged. world’s leading organisations, very happy with the five
I would definitely recommend this to enabling them to make successful interns.
screen and recruit participants once, instead of duplicating a rapidly growing network, solve and communicate current
onto the studies. An important information in separate which means that there is an issues, such as recruitment
part of our role is to obtain application forms, and helps us increasing number of CSO roles targets or substantial
informed consent from willing ensure we meet regulatory and emerging. amendments to the research.
participants. Once consent has governance requirements. CSOs tend to have a An important element of
been agreed, we may conduct background in psychology or the role is to work within a
a range of psychological a nursing qualification in mental multidisciplinary setting that
assessments on behalf of A stepping stone? health. Once in this role some of includes psychiatrists,
the research team, as well as Becoming a clinical studies the mandatory training includes: psychologists and other health
providing support and guidance officer is rapidly become a I good clinical practice; and social care professionals.
on ethics. choice for many psychology I information governance; The role also helps develop
The Integrated graduates I informed consent; and scientific knowledge, excellent
Research Application as a I Mental Health Act training. communication skills and an
System is an “CSOs tend to have stepping empathic understanding of
important resource in a background in stone into CSOs undertake continuing mental health difficulties, whilst
our role. It is a single psychology or a a career in professional development in gaining insight into therapeutic
automated system for nursing qualification psychology. research skills, along with interventions.
applying for the The role specialised training for
in mental health”
permissions and offers the individual studies. These I Shaukat Desai, Rumun Sandhu,
approvals for health chance to may range from recruitment Sarah Lockley are all CSOs for
and social develop applied strategies and understanding the MHRN’s Heart of England
care/community care clinical and research skills, ethical considerations, to Hub. Dr Trevor Friedman is the
research in the UK. It enables whilst working closely with developing clinical skills. Study- Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist
researchers to enter the clients with mental health specific groups meet regularly for Leicestershire Partnership
information about a project difficulties. The MHRN is to share best practice, problem- Trust.

psy 10_09 p886_901 careers ads:Careers ads pages template 15/9/09 12:42 Page 886
CONTENTS View all vacancies online before you

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Counselling
886–895, 897–900
881, 891, 894 receive your print version at
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CLINICAL/FORENSIC/VARIOUS
The next step
is up to you. The Fens Unit
We are an Assessment and Treatment Service for
men who reach the criteria for Dangerous and Severe
Personality Disorders.
HMP Whitemoor in partnership with Cambridgeshire
and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust.
Clinical or Forensic Psychologists

Highly Specialist
Band 8a: £37,996 - £45,596 or
Band 8b: £44,258 - £54,714
(depending on experience) - Job ref: CPD252
Specialist
Band 7: £29,789 - £39,273 - Job ref: CPD251
The Fens Unit is one of the four national high secure
Consultant assessment and treatment units offering treatment and
65 beds for prisoners who have a personality disorder or
Clinical Psychologist are at high risk of re-offending.
Due to the impending increase in client numbers we
'MVGE7SYXL;EPIW
are increasing our staffing numbers and are looking for
clinical or forensic psychologists that want to work with
a challenging and stimulating client group. These are
'PMRMGEP*SVIRWMG4W]GLSPSKMWX key posts providing an exciting opportunity to work in a
'MVGE7SYXL;EPIW clinical team at the leading edge of practice in this field.
The team consists of clinical and forensic psychologists,
8LIWIEVII\GMXMRKSTTSVXYRMXMIWXSTVSZMHIGPMRMGEPMRXIVZIRXMSRW psychiatrists, nurses and prison officers, to provide a
[MXLMRGVIEXMZIGPMRMGEPGEVITEXL[E]W%WE'SRWYPXERX'PMRMGEP therapeutically supportive milieu within, which the
*SVIRWMG4W]GLSPSKMWX]SY[MPPTVSZMHIPIEHIVWLMT[MXLMRSYV treatment programme is delivered to prisoners located
within a high secure prison wing. This is a strong,
I\TERHMRKPIEVRMRKHMWEFMPMX]TW]GLSPSK]XIEQXEOIETMZSXEPVSPI
enthusiastic team of experienced professionals who are
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developing an innovative, high profile clinical service for
JSVIRWMGWIVZMGISVSRSYVRI[VILEFMPMXEXMSRYRMX%WEUYEPM½IH a previously neglected client group.
'PMRMGEP*SVIRWMG4W]GLSPSKMWX]SY[MPP[SVOGPSWIP][MXLXLI
The organising psychological framework for treatment
'SRWYPXERX4W]GLSPSKMWXXSJYVXLIVHIZIPSTERHIRLERGISYV
is cognitive interpersonal. Within this model we deliver
WIVZMGIXSTISTPI[MXLPIEVRMRKHMWEFMPMXMIW
structured and unstructured therapy groups and
'ERHMHEXIW[MWLMRKXSTVSKVIWWXSGSRWYPXERXKVEHIERH[LS individual therapy. All post holders will be responsible
EVIIPMKMFPIEGGSVHMRKXS&47VIUYMVIQIRXWEVIIRGSYVEKIHXS for a particular area of service development depending
ETTP];IXEOIETVSEGXMZIETTVSEGLXSHIZIPSTMRKTW]GLSPSKMWXW on knowledge and experience.
XLVSYKLGEVIIVTVSKVIWWMSRXSJYP½PXLIMVTSXIRXMEP All posts in the unit have excellent opportunities for
Continuing Professional Development and receive
3YVWIVZMGIWEVIFEWIHMR7SYXL;EPIWSJJIVMRKELMKLUYEPMX]
regular clinical supervision.
SJPMJIKSSHEGGIWWXSGSEWXERHGSYRXV]WMHIEJJSVHEFPILSYWMRK
HMP Whitemoor is situated in a rural setting near the town
I\GIPPIRXIHYGEXMSRJSVGLMPHVIRERHQER]GYPXYVEPERHWTSVXMRK
of March in Cambridgeshire, only 25 miles from Cambridge.
EGXMZMXMIW8LIVIMWEVIPSGEXMSRTEGOEKISRSJJIV
The nearest mainline station is Peterborough with local
8SETTP]JSVIMXLIVVSPITPIEWIWIRHE':XS connections to March and excellent rail links to London.
GEVIIVW$PWLIEPXLGEVIGSYO%PXIVREXMZIP]]SYGERGSRXEGXYW For further information, please contact Naomi Murphy,
SRJSVERMRJSVQEPHMWGYWWMSR[MXL4VSJ)VMG(EZMW Head of Psychological Therapies, 01354 602768.
8S½RHSYXQSVITPIEWIZMWMXSYV[IFWMXI[[[PWLIEPXLGEVIGSYO As part of the selection process, you will be required to
'PSWMRKHEXIXL3GXSFIV undergo a Criminal Records Bureau Check.
For an application pack, please contact Kayleigh Holland
via email Kayleigh.Holland@hmps.gsi.gov.uk,
telephone on 01354602770 or by mail The Fens Unit, HMP
Whitemoor, Longhill Road, March, Cambs. PE15 OPR.
For further details on these and all other vacancies in the
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough region, please go to
www.jobs.nhs.uk
JOURNEYS www.lshealthcare.co.uk Closing date: 30 October 2009.
TO RECOVERY We are an equal opportunities employer.


CLINICAL/FORENSIC/VARIOUS
HEALTH & SOCIAL SERVICES DEPARTMENT, GUERNSEY
St Andrew’s Healthcare, Birmingham
Exciting Opportunity to be involved in the development of a
new service.
Clinical
Psychologist
Clinical or Forensic
Psychologists Ref: BIRM339
A competitive salary package will be available depending
on skills and experience.
Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service
Full-Time, 37.5 hours per week,
though flexible and Part-Time hours may be considered. Job Ref: 101344
St Andrew’s Birmingham is a 128 bedded (male) healthcare Salary: £43,148 - £58,247 pa
facility, located in Stirchley, Birmingham. It has a well established
Mental Health care pathway, including Medium Secure Units, Hours: f/t 36 pw - A 15 year housing licence has
an Enhanced Low Secure Unit, Low Secure Units and a
Predischarge ward. We also have a Low Secure Unit for adult
been requested for this post
males with Autistic Spectrum Disorders. Are you interested in:
We would like to recruit Clinical or Forensic Psychologists who G working with children and adolescents with mental health
are committed to, and passionate about, working with clients
whose problems are complex and challenging. needs?
Experience in working with clients with mental disorders and G working with families where children have behaviour
experience in doing work related to challenging behaviour and problems?
offending is essential.
If so, this could be the role for you. If successful, you will join a
We have permanent posts available within the Mental Health
pathway and purpose built Autistic Spectrum Disorder inpatient multidisciplinary Tier 3 team comprising nurses, psychiatrists
service. Psychologists will be integral members of a Multi and psychologists. Our team offers a range of
Disciplinary Team consisting of medics, nurses, social workers, therapeutic approaches, with particular expertise in CBT and
occupational therapists and pharmacist.
systemic approaches.
Psychology is highly valued within the service, and embedded
within a multi-disciplinary approach. Post-holders will be fully You will have experience of working with children and
involved in the development, delivery and evaluation of a range families, and provide a service combining generic CAMHS
of therapeutic assessments and formulation-led interventions. work with a specific responsibility for developing services
There will also be opportunities for joint professional work, and around behaviour problems. Training and experience in
involvement in support, supervision and training, and we actively
support innovation and research.
parenting skills groups or family therapy will be an advantage.
Successful applicants can look forward to receiving good support We have a strong commitment to ongoing continuing
and supervision and will play a vital part in the promotion of this professional development and research interests, which are
new service. Participation in continual professional development actively supported. The team liaises closely with Education,
is encouraged.
Physical Health and Social Work.
For informal enquiries or to arrange a visit please contact:
Dr Dawn Fisher, Lead Psychologist on (0121) 432 2169. The post carries a Housing Licence linked to the employment
contract together with an attractive relocation package.
For an application form and job description please telephone:
(01604) 616589 (24 hour answerphone service) or email Living and working in Guernsey offers a high quality of life.
recruitment@standrew.co.uk or apply online via our With glorious Blue Flag award beaches, over 100 miles of
Website: www.stah.org coastline, spectacular cliff top walks and a vibrant,
Please quote the relevant reference number on all continental lifestyle.
correspondence relating to this vacancy.
Closing date: 23rd October 2009.
For further information please contact Dr James Murray,
Head of Psychology on 01481 701441 or email:
Interview dates: 9th November 2009.
jmurray@hssd.gov.gg
St Andrew’s is the UK’s largest mental health charity. We Closing Date: 15 October 2009
offer specialist, secure services for men, women, adolescents
and older people across mental health, learning disability,
For an application form and job description please visit our
brain injury, and degenerative disorders such as Huntington’s website www.health.gov.gg Alternatively, contact the
and Alzheimer’s. Putting service users needs at the heart of recruitment line on 01481 707444 (24 hours).
everything we do, we have built an innovative culture of clinical
expertise.
The St Andrew’s Academic Centre at Northampton, part of the
Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, is dedicated to
world-class research and teaching. For appropriate appointees
the Institute of Psychiatry may consider honorary academic
status. St Andrew’s also works closely with the University of
Northampton and other leading universities in training mental
health professionals for the nation.
St Andrew’s supports an active internal CPD programme which
includes regular lectures given by external speakers along
with audit meetings, journal clubs, research meetings and
case conferences. Personal and professional development
is expected, as is membership of an appropriate peer group
All posts are subject to annual appraisal. Study leave will be
available with a realistic expectation that up to ten days
will be taken per year.
We are an equal opportunities employer. Registered Charity No. 1104951.
A charity leading
Guernsey
innovation in
mental health
To find out more about Guernsey vacancies: www.health.gov.gg

Clinical Psychologist/CBT Therapist (Berkshire Child Anxiety Clinic)

School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences
This appointment is part-time 0.4 FTE, fixed-term until 30 April 2011
Grade 6 – £27,183 to £29,704 pro-rata per annum
We need a Clinical Psychologist/CBT therapist (or equivalent) to join an MRC funded trial of treatment of childhood anxiety
based in Berkshire Child Anxiety Clinic at the University of Reading.
You will deliver manualised treatments to children with anxiety disorders. You need to have excellent interpersonal skills, be well organised and be
able to adhere to systematic assessment and treatment protocols.
You will have:
• experience of working as a psychologist/CBT Therapist (or equivalent) with children and families
• excellent interpersonal and organisational skills
• the ability to adhere to a manualised treatment programme and be highly responsive to clinical supervision
• the means to travel in order to meet with client groups in a variety of locations
You will receive expert training and supervision in the delivery of cognitive behaviour therapy and a novel therapy focussed on the parent-child
interaction.
Informal enquiries: contact the Clinical Research Fellow, Dr Cathy Creswell on +44(0)118 378 6667 or email c.creswell@reading.ac.uk
Alternatively, contact the Clinical Director, Dr Lucy Willetts on +44(0)118 378 6667 or email l.e.willetts@reading.ac.uk
Closing date: 16 October 2009
Interview date: 3 November 2009
To formally apply please visit www.reading.ac.uk/Jobs or contact Human Resources, University of Reading,
Whiteknights, PO Box 217, Reading RG6 6AH. Telephone +44(0)118 378 6771 (voicemail)
Please quote reference number PM09052
We value a diverse workforce and welcome applications from all sections of the community

CLINICAL/COUNSELLING
Kent and Medway
NHS and Social Care Partnership Trust
Psychology Services for Older Adults Providing a range of mental health services across Suffolk, we are currently
with Mental Health Problems expanding our services for children and young people with learning
disabilities. Join us and we can promise you excellent support and the
Elizabeth House, Rainham, Kent
opportunity to extend your clinical practice within a strong, county-wide
Principal Clinical Psychologist service with a range of specialist interests.
Children and Young People with Learning Disabilities

Band 8b £44,258 – £54,714 p.a. (Ref: V068)
You will provide a service across both functional and dementia
teams and improve waiting times for psychological assessment and
Clinical/Counselling Psychologist
treatment. A particular responsibility will be for services to people Band 8a: £37,996 - £45,596 p.a.
with young onset dementia. Full-time
Ref: LD29/09
Basic/Senior Clinical Psychologist In this new position, you will provide a specialist psychology service for
Band 7/8a £29,789 - £45,596 p.a. (depending children and young people with learning disabilities, their families and carers
in the Waveney catchment area of North Suffolk.
on grade and experience) (Ref: V069) Ideally, with post-qualification experience of working with this client group
This newly funded post will have two separate roles. Half of the and in a multi-disciplinary team, you will have the opportunity to contribute
time will involve working with the community teams and the creative and innovative approaches to both clinical and service issues.
other half will be spent working in a new multi-disciplinary team
You will be supervised and supported by a Consultant Psychologist.
to provide liaison into the acute trust to work with people with
dementia. Psychologists who will be gaining their Doctorate this For an informal discussion, or arrange a visit, please contact Dr Chris Cull,
year are welcome to apply. Lead Consultant Clinical Psychologist (Learning Disabilities Directorate) on
We have 2 posts available in this developing service in Medway. 01440 715908 or email christine.cull@smhp.nhs.uk
Both posts are based within a well established community team
where psychology is highly valued and makes an extensive Consultant Clinical/
contribution to innovative practice and service development.
You must be committed to working within a multi-disciplinary
Counselling Psychologist
framework, as joint working both within the organisation and with Band 8c: £53,256 - £65,657 p.a. (pro rata)
outside agencies has been a strong feature. The multi-disciplinary 0.80wte
team has separate teams for people with dementia and for people
with functional problems. The dementia team has developed a Ref: LD31/09
strong model for dementia care, and has a well developed memory You will have the opportunity to influence the strategic direction and
clinic and post diagnostic treatment, consisting of counselling, development of psychology services for children and young people with
memory strategies groups, and psycho-educational groups for learning disabilities in North Suffolk.
carers. A day care project for people with young onset dementia is Your role will involve input to a 3-bed assessment and treatment unit for young
also provided. Within the functional team psychology is involved
people with learning disabilities, as well as the developing outreach service,
in individual and group based interventions and developing the
and you will also support community based services for children in the North
team’s skills. We have an interest in a wide range of models from
CBT, Systemic, Psychoanalytic to mindfulness. and Ipswich. In addition, supervision of trainees and other psychology staff
will be expected.
You would join a psychological therapies specialty for older
people across the Trust with a current establishment of For an informal discussion, please contact Dr Chris Cull, Lead Consultant
approximately 26 posts including clinical psychologists, CBT Clinical Psychologist, on 01440 715908, email: Christine.cull@smhp.nhs.uk
therapists, art therapists and psychotherapists. In Medway you or Ita Wentworth-Wood, Children’s Community Team Manager on
will join a group of 5 psychology staff who will offer high quality 01502 535010, email: Ita.wentworth-wood@smhp.nhs.uk or Samantha
supervision. The service is a developing one and we are expecting Gillings-Taylor, Adolescent Services Manager on 01502 560111,
the specialty to increase further as local commissioners are keen email: Samantha.gillings-taylor@smhp.nhs.uk
to develop the service. There will be opportunities for teaching, We have close links with the University of East Anglia from whom we take
training and research and we have very close links with the
trainees on regular placements, and connections with the University of Essex
David Salomon’s Clinical Psychology Trainee Scheme, providing
who may also use our training placements. Research interests are encouraged
placements on an ongoing basis. CPD is seen as crucial
to development. and actively supported.
For an informal chat please call Alison Kirkpatrick, Head of For additional information, to view all our current vacancies and to
Specialty for the Psychology Service for Older People in Medway apply on-line please visit the NHS Jobs website at www.jobs.nhs.uk
on 01634 382080 or email Alison.kirkpatrick@kmpt.nhs.uk
If for any reason you are unable to apply on-line, please contact
If your application is successful, you will be notified by e-mail. The Recruitment Department, Suffolk Mental Health Partnership
Therefore, please ensure that you regularly check your NHS jobs
NHS Trust, St Clements Hospital, Ipswich IP3 8LS or telephone
account.
01473 329712 (24hr answerphone) or email: hr-ipswich@smhp.nhs.uk
TO APPLY: quoting the appropriate reference number.
We encourage applicants to apply on-line – go to www.jobs.nhs.uk The starting salary for non NHS employees is up to a maximum of the
Completed applications by: 31st October 2009. third incremental point up the band depending on skills and experience.
Employment in this post is subject to a satisfactory Enhanced
Disclosure from the Criminal Records Bureau Closing date for both posts:
28 October 2009.
For other job opportunities visit our website
www.kmpt.nhs.uk Interviews for both posts will be
held in Lowestoft.
Working Towards Equal Opportunities

Kent and Medway DUNFERMLINE & WEST FIFE CHP

and Social Care Partnership Trust
NHS FIFE PSYCHOLOGY SERVICE
- CHILD AND FAMILY SERVICE
STRATHEDEN HOSPITAL, CUPAR/LYNEBANK
Kent Clinical Neuropsychology Service HOSPITAL, DUNFERMLINE
Hours: 37.5 (Mon – Fri, 9am – 5pm)
Clinical Psychologists/ The Fife Area Psychology Service is a large well provided and developing
service with extensive involvement in training, research and service
Clinical Neuropsychologists development. We enjoy close links with Edinburgh and Stirling Universities
D. Clin. Psych and MSc courses continue and your professional
development, CPD and research initiatives will be well supported. For
Band 7/8A £29,789 - £45,596 p.a. pro rata further details see our website: http://www.dwfchp.scot.nhs.uk/psychology/
East Kent Neurorehabilitation Unit The Child and Family specialty team consists of 8 other clinical
(Canterbury) Ref V079 psychologists, an assistant psychologist and several trainees.
Community Stroke Service (Canterbury) CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST

Ref V080 Band 8A £37,996 - £45,596 Ref: LY387/09/09
Scottish Government funding has become available to develop psychology
Community Stroke Service (Thanet)
posts within CAMH services. This post is part of the primary care service to
Ref V081 children and families, providing psychology assessment and treatment services
to children and families referred by GP practices throughout the Fife Area. Your
With significant new funding behind the Clinical clinical work will be based in GP practices. You will be based either at Lynebank
Neuropsychology Service, we have the resources to address Hospital or Stratheden Hospital.
the cognitive, psychological and behavioural consequences You will provide psychological expertise to the primary care service in
of stroke and acquired brain injury. Working here you can working with families referred by GPs and working closely within GP
use your skills and judgment to rehabilitate those affected, practices, allowing for the prompt delivery of psychological interventions.
learning about their unique circumstances to help them get
their lives back on track. CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST (CHILD AND FAMILY
SPECIALTY)
Whether or not you are currently in the field, your career Band 8A £37,996 - £45,596 Ref: LY388/09/09
will see the benefits thanks to our commitment to your
This post is part of the general service to children and their families, and
continuing professional development.
provides a service to the Kirkcaldy and Levenmouth Area. You will work
To deliver an effective service it is essential that you are with the generic referrals in this patch, providing psychology assessment
and treatment services to children and families and liaising closely to
able to travel between bases in a timely manner.
colleagues from CAMHS as well as professionals from education, social
Please indicate which post(s) you wish to apply for within work and voluntary agencies. You will be based either at Lynebank Hospital
your application form. or Stratheden Hospital.
To find out more, make your way to www.headforkent. CLINICAL ASSOCIATE IN APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
co.uk or call Catherine McDonagh, lead for stroke (CHILD AND FAMILY SPECIALTY)
developments for the service 01622 885923 or Band 7 £29,789 - £39,273 Ref: LY389/09/09
Elizabeth Francis, Head of Service on 01634 833937. As part of the developments facilitated by Scottish Government targeted
If your application is successful, you will be notified by funding for psychology in CAMHS, we have a new post for suitably qualified
e-mail. Therefore, please ensure that you regularly check Associate (Masters in Applied Psychology for Children and Young People)
your NHS jobs account. to support the clinical psychologists in the provision of an extended primary
care service linked to GP practices and allowing better and quicker access
TO APPLY: to psychological therapy for children and their families.
We encourage applicants to apply on-line – go to Date for Interviews for the above posts will be Friday 16th October 2009.
www.kmpt.nhs.uk For informal enquiries, please contact Dr Marie Renaud on 01383 565400 or
e-mail marie.renaud@nhs.net
Completed applications by: 19th October 2009.
Interviews to be held on: Tuesday 3rd November and For an application pack please contact our recruitment line
Wednesday 4th November 2009. (24 hour answer phone) on 01592 648081 or e-mail
Employment in this post is subject to a satisfactory recruitment@faht.scot.nhs.uk quoting the reference number,
Enhanced Disclosure from the Criminal Records Bureau name address and postcode. We do not accept CV applications.
Applications may be considered on a job share basis.
For other job opportunities visit Closing date for all posts 12 noon on 9th October 2009.
our website www.kmpt.nhs.uk

Click on all our vacancies at www.jobs.scot.nhs.uk
Working Towards Equal Opportunities
NHS Fife is an equal opportunities employer
and operates a no smoking policy.

CLINICAL/NEUROPSYCHOLOGY
St Andrew’s Healthcare
A charity Leading in Innovation in Mental Health Care
Head of Programme / Associate Director - Secure Men’s Services Ref: BPS358
Six figure package with substantial benefits
The Charity
St Andrew’s Healthcare is the UK’s largest mental health Charity, bringing innovative and expert care to nearly 700
service users in Northampton, Essex and Birmingham, with further sites under development.
Our national reputation for specialist services in mental health, developmental disability and brain injury will be further
enhanced in 2010 by the opening of two new state-of-the art secure facilities - one in Northampton, providing medium
secure men’s services to a further 130 service users, and a second in Mansfield, providing for 70 male service users
with mild learning disabilities.
The Person
We are seeking an outstanding Clinical/Forensic Psychologist to lead the delivery of ground-breaking, comprehensive
psychosocial treatment programmes for our Men’s Service in Northampton, with the possibility of a wider role.
You will be responsible for shaping, leading and systematically evaluating the full range of our existing cognitive
behavioural programmes, guiding your teams to deliver inspirational and challenging plans that focus on risk
assessment, relapse prevention and recovery principles to service users with mental illness, learning disability, autistic
spectrum disorder and deafness.
You are likely to demonstrate an interest in complex cases including personality disorders, severe mental illness, sexual
offending and substance abuse and be able to contribute to the development of our service user involvement strategies.
A life changing opportunity

For the right candidate, this is an exciting opportunity to contribute to the Charity at Associate Director level, shaping the
strategy for Men’s Services across all our sites, with a salary and benefits package to reflect the breadth of this role. In
addition, subject always to the proper performance of clinical duties, you will have the opportunity to join the St Andrew’s
Consultancy Service, which provides expert advice, training and medico-legal services across the UK.
Outstanding opportunities for professional development and research exist through the St Andrew’s Academic Centre
at Northampton, part of the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, which is dedicated to world class research
and teaching. Where appropriate, application for an honorary academic role will be encouraged after appointment. In
addition, you will be part of a well established network of Psychologists in the Charity and our strong CPD programme
will offer you further opportunities for personal development and growth.
Closing date for applications: 23rd October 2009 Interviews / Assessment Centre: W/C 9th November 2009
For informal enquiries or to arrange a visit, please contact either Warren Irving, Operational Director,
on 01604 616127, or Dr Clive Long, Group Head of Psychology, on 01604 616307
In order to apply, and view the job description and person specification please visit our website at www.stah.org or
email recruitment@standrew.co.uk or telephone our recruitment office on (01604) 616589 (24 hour answer-phone).
Please quote the relevant reference number on all correspondence relating to this vacancy.
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A charity leading innovation in mental health

Hywel Dda NHS Trust

Principal Clinical Psychologist
Band 7/8a (depending on experience) (10 sessions)
Ceredigion Psychology Service – Aberystwyth
A position has become available for an enthusiastic Clinical Psychologist to join the
Ceredigion Psychology service in Aberystwyth. You will provide a specialist clinical
psychology service within a CMHT for people with serious mental health problems.
There will also be an opportunity to provide specialist input to the Adult Psychiatric Ward
at Bronglais Hospital. The range of referrals will allow varied work including specialist CLINICAL/COUNSELLING PSYCHOLOGIST
clinical assessments, psychological therapy, and neuro-psychological assessment. There NEWPORT, SHROPSHIRE > BAND 8A/8B
will also be the opportunity for providing consultation and supervision to staff and to
FOR THOUSANDS OF VETERANS WITH POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS
develop training and research innovations within the workplace. The range of referrals
DISORDER, CIVILIAN LIFE CAN BE A NIGHTMARE OF FLASHBACKS, PANIC
will offer you with the opportunity to consolidate and expand clinical psychology skills
ATTACKS, SUICIDAL THOUGHTS AND VIOLENT RAGES. JOIN US, AND
however; we welcome and encourage areas of specialist interest and to develop
YOU’LL BE THERE FOR EX-SERVICE PEOPLE WHEN THEY DESPERATELY
research ideas. You will take a key role in local service developments relating to
NEED HELP AND SUPPORT.
psychology and will have the opportunity to play a lead role in the recently approved
strategy for improving access to psychological therapy offering training and supervision. WORKING WITH THE HEAD OF CLINICAL SERVICES AND THE MEDICAL
In addition to being part of a dynamic psychology team within Ceredigion, you will DIRECTOR, YOU WILL DEVELOP AND ENHANCE THE TREATMENT
have good links with the psychological community within the Trust. The department has PROGRAMMES WITHIN OUR TREATMENT CENTRE. SHARING YOUR
links with the South Wales Doctoral Clinical Psychology Course and there would be EXPERTISE IN THIS HIGHLY SPECIALISED CLINICAL AREA, YOU WILL
opportunities to hold trainee placements. PROVIDE PROFESSIONAL LEADERSHIP AND GUIDANCE TO OTHER
STAFF, CARRY OUT RISK ASSESSMENTS AND DELIVER EVIDENCE
To apply please visit www.jobs.nhs.uk quoting reference number BASED TREATMENTS.
140-140-B503-PCP. YOU MUST BE QUALIFIED TO DOCTORAL LEVEL IN CLINICAL/COUNSELLING
If you feel that you have the necessary attributes and would like to find out PSYCHOLOGY (OR ITS EQUIVALENT) AS ACCREDITED BY THE BPS.
more about this post, please contact Dr. Bethan Lloyd, Consultant Clinical EXPERIENCE OF WORKING WITH A WIDE RANGE OF CLIENT GROUPS,
Psychologist, Head of Ceredigion Psychology Service on 01239 710454. ESPECIALLY THOSE WITH TRAUMA-RELATED MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES,
YOU WILL ALSO HAVE THE COMPASSION AND COMMITMENT THIS
Closing date: 16th October 2009. ROLE DESERVES.
FOR AN INFORMAL CHAT ABOUT THE ROLE PLEASE CALL JEFF
Hywel Dda NHS Trust web page can be accessed via the below web address.
MARSHALL, HEAD OF CLINICAL SERVICES ON 01952 822712. TO REQUEST
www.hyweldda.wales.nhs.uk
AN APPLICATION PACK CONTACT SARAH BYRD, HR ASSISTANT ON 01372
841645 OR EMAIL: SARAH.BYRD@COMBATSTRESS.ORG,UK
CLOSING DATE: 16 OCTOBER 2009.
WWW,COMBATSTRESS.ORG.UK
THE STATE HOSPITALS BOARD FOR SCOTLAND
BAND 8A CHARTERED CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST

£37,996 - £45,596
Plus High Secure Environmental Allowance of £1,141 and High Secure Clinical Responsibility
Allowance of £2,738 per annum
Hours Negotiable up to 10 sessions, 37.5 hours per week
Psychological Services at the State Hospital is a large and well resourced department in Scotland’s only high secure hospital. We currently offer
a comprehensive psychological service to 150 patients. As well as ward based psychologists working in multi-disciplinary clinical teams with the
responsibility for the assessment and delivery of individual treatments, there is a significant multi-disciplinary psychological therapy service (PTS).
Current well developed Psychological Therapies include: sex offender treatment programmes, drug and alcohol services, CBT for psychosis
(individual and group work), Dialectical Behaviour Therapy, offending behaviour groups and anger programmes. Clinical psychologists are
also significantly involved in a number of hospital-wide strategies groups and initiatives and staff are encouraged to take a role in these where
appropriate to their interests and expertise.
An interest in the development of psychological therapies in a forensic setting, experience of working with mentally disordered offenders and/or experience
of working with people with complex difficulties such as psychosis or personality disorder would be an advantage. There are significant in-house training
opportunities to develop specific skills for any applicants not originally from a forensic background. You will have a keen interest in implementing the spirit
of new mental health legislation, ensuring an integrated care pathway for patients in their progress towards safe re-integration in the community and with
a vision that will energise the development of a national forensic network in Scotland. You will be committed to the implementation of the philosophy
of the equalities and diversities agendas. You will be a Clinical Psychologist with interest and/or experience of working in forensic mental health. Split or
part-time posts are a feature of our current service and we support flexible and family friendly working. There are strong links with Glasgow and Edinburgh
Clinical Psychology training programmes. We will actively encourage and support you in your Continued Professional Development and research initiatives.
Applications from less experienced psychologists will be considered with a view to providing extra support if necessary.
Informal enquiries can be made to Morag Slesser, Head of Psychology, on 01555 844317 or for an information pack, please
contact Human Resources on 01555 842084 or e-mail jobs@tsh.scot.nhs.uk
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY & FAMILY FRIENDY EMPLOYER
Closing date: 16th October 2009.

CLINICAL/COUNSELLING
Specialist psychologist recruitment service
Appointed in partnership with Mental Health and Primary Care NHS Trusts;
UK leading Independent mental health service providers
Local Authority and Military establishments in the UK and overseas, we
are seeking career aspiring qualified psychologists at all levels,
Programme Supervisor (Clinical Lead) for exciting, highest paid, specialist opportunities nationally.
Ref: M1136 For registration, current vacancies and testimonials
please visit: www.mindprofessionals.com
Band 8b £44,258 - £54,714 per annum
or call: 0845 301 1230
37.5 hours per week, permanent contract
Reading has an established Multi-Dimensional Treatment Foster Care
Programme (MTFC). The Programme is innovative and evidenced based;
it draws on a model developed in Oregon, USA and offers intensive and
comprehensively supported foster placements for children in care (aged
10 - 16) with complex needs.
Using your broad clinical experience and management skills you will
lead a multi-disciplinary team providing this support, overseeing all
clinical aspects.
The National Implementation Team at the Maudsley Foundation
Trust (based at sites in Manchester and London) support the
Programme and we are on track to achieve accreditation.
View all vacancies online before you
Good partnership relationships allow for the post to be seconded
from Berkshire Healthcare Foundation NHS Trust to Reading
receive your print version at
Children’s Services. As part of both organisations, you’ll enjoy
a supportive and stimulating work environment where we’re
www.psychapp.co.uk
improving outcomes for children.
This post is ideal for a Clinical Psychologist or Family Therapist, but The website also includes
applications from other professional backgrounds are encouraged.
many online only vacancies.
For further information contact Dr Jennifer Wallis, Consultant
Clinical Psychologist on 0118 931 5800 or Judith Russell, MTFC Acting Set up a profile and receive
Programme Manager on 0118 901 5222.
e-mail alerts when matching
Highly Specialist Psychologist CAMHS vacancies are placed.
and Youth Offending Services
Ref: M1174
Band 8b £44,258 - £54,714 per annum
Part-time, 0.4 wte, permanent contract
(plus optional, additional out-of-hour duty rota for
Multi-System Therapy available)
Reading Youth Offending Service (YOS) is a dynamic team providing HEALTH AND SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Youth Justice Services to the vibrant community of Reading.
AND SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, HEALTH POLICY
We are seeking a psychologist to provide a highly specialist AND PRACTICE, FACULTY OF HEALTH
psychology service to young people who have offended or are at risk
of offending. This will include engaging young people, assessment Senior Clinical Tutor/Senior Clinical Lecturer
of complex needs, therapeutic intervention, consultation to staff and
service development. in Clinical Psychology • Ref: ATR/ATS 9
You will work closely with YOS and CAMHS colleagues, facilitating Doctoral Programme in Clinical Psychology
effective working relationships between the two services. £49,178 to £69,567 per annum
The post is supported by the Tier 4 Child and Adolescent Forensic Indefinite post available from 01/01/2010
Mental Health Service in Oxford.
We seek a well-qualified and experienced Clinical Psychologist to
For further information contact Dr Jennifer Wallis, Consultant support our successful Doctoral Programme and join our
Clinical Psychologist on 0118 931 5800 or Lindsey Bass, YOS Manager supportive and innovative team from January 2010.
on 0118 939 0420.
An important function of this post is the organisation of clinical
This Trust positively welcomes applications from those who have personal placements across Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire and
experience of mental health issues.
support to supervisors. Applicants with an appropriate research
A disabled applicant who meets the minimum criteria will be interviewed.
profile will also be expected to demonstrate achievement in
research and contribute to the Faculty’s research programme.
HOW TO APPLY
The successful candidate will have a good first degree in
www.jobs.nhs.uk Psychology; a BPS recognised Clinical Psychology qualification;
0118 982 2912 (24 hour answerphone) demonstrable evidence of ability to teach effectively; first class
communication and team-working skills; and experience of
Please quote the above/appropriate reference number. supervising clinical placements.
For all other enquiries contact the Recruitment Applications are particularly welcomed from candidates with
Department on 0118 982 2759. qualifications and/or experience in CBT. Part-time applications
Closing date for both posts: 8th October 2009. may also be considered.
Closing date: 12 noon on 22 October 2009.
We are an equal opportunities employer committed to
safeguarding children and vulnerable adults.
Further particulars and an application form are available on
our website: www.uea.ac.uk/hr/jobs/ or Tel. 01603 593493.
D 8 09 09 O LES

pione spirit
Senior level roles at the enterprise university.

• Head of School of Psychology world-leading research. Here, internationally recognised
• Head of School of Applied Psychosocial Sciences experts work alongside our students. And all are inspired
At the University of Plymouth, you’ll find there’s more by our region’s cultural, economic and social life.
than enough space to be creative, innovative and To find out more and apply for these roles, visit
enterprising. In fact, it’s because we’re open to new
mindset and culture

ideas that we’ve become one of the top modern
www.pioneeringplymouth.co.uk
universities in the UK. And one of the country’s Closing date for both roles:
largest too – with around 30,000 students and 12noon, 15 October 2009.
3,000 members of staff.
Because we’re both pragmatic and adventurous,
we’ve developed excellence in both teaching and Promoting Equality and Diversity.
E LLERN M EDECentre for

Eating Disorders
THERAPEUTIC CARE WORKERS

Become an These developmental posts are suitable for highly
Examiner/Moderator motivated and thoughtful individuals with a first
OCR are currently seeking Examiners and Moderators degree in psychology who are looking to gain
to assess for A Level/GCSE: clinical experience before pursuing further
clinical training.
Psychology We are inviting those who have excellent
Sociology interpersonal and team work skills to apply to work
within our highly specialist in-patient nursing team
If you have a degree and relevant subject knowledge then with young people suffering from eating disorders.
becoming an Examiner or Moderator will help you to:
s )MPROVEYOURPROFESSIONALSTATUSAND We offer a comprehensive induction, clinical
personal development; supervision in house training and opportunities to
s "OOSTYOURINCOME participate in research. Previous experience of
&ULLTRAININGANDSUPPORTWILLBEPROVIDED working with young people is essential.
For further details and an application form, please For a brochure, job description and application
telephone 01223 552558, visit www.ocr.org.uk or email pack, please contact terri.kelly@ellernmede.org
examiner.recruitment@ocr.org.uk or call Lisa Lewer (Nurse Consultant) for further
OCR, part of Cambridge Assessment, the not-for-profit information on 020 8959 7774 or e-mail
assessment division of Cambridge University, is one of only lisa.lewer@ellernmede.org
three UK-wide awarding bodies, providing a wide range of
general academic and vocational qualifications through Informal visits available for short-listed candidates
schools, colleges and other institutions for learners of all ages. only.
OCR is committed to equal opportunities.
Closing date for applications:
Monday 12th October 2009.

CLINICAL/FORENSIC/GRADUATE/TEACHING AND RESEARCH

Men’s Service - Mental Health & Learning Disabilities
Services, Northampton
Principal Forensic/Clinical
Psychologists Ref: BPS 357
ASSISTANT PSYCHOLOGISTS Salary up to £60K dependent upon skills and experience
Salary £17,000 - £18,000 Hours: Full-time 37.50 per week
The Men’s Service is currently undergoing exciting new
Vista Healthcare, near Basingstoke, Hampshire, is a specialist developments, with specialist services for ASD clients, deaf
behavioural unit caring for people with learning disabilities, clients and an expanding Medium Secure service being just
three of these areas. We have three pathways of care – for
mental health problems and challenging behaviour. clients with Mental Health difficulties, learning disabilities
Responsibilities include assisting in the compilation of and ASD. The majority of our clients have significant
forensic histories and often present with challenging
behavioural and psychological data, assessments, treatment behaviours. We are currently looking to expand our skills
programmes and patient reviews. We strongly support mix and are seeking applications from suitably experienced
regular supervision and on-going training and development Psychologists.
opportunities. You will be part of an established multi- We are looking to recruit experienced Chartered
disciplinary clinical team. The post offers valuable experience Psychologists (minimum 2 years post qualification) who are
seeking a new challenge in the forensic and secure mental
for motivated individuals interested in a future in health field. You will have experience in assessing and
clinical psychology. providing interventions for a range of clients and will ideally
have managerial/supervisory experience. The successful
You will have gained an Upper Honours Degree of at least a candidates will have a desire to expand their skills and
2:1 and be eligible for graduate membership of the British expertise by providing clinical and risk formulations for our
Psychological Society. clients, the development and delivery of new group work
initiatives and have an interest in developing therapeutic
For an application form contact Lauren Coleman – 01252 approaches and cultures by working in consultation with
845826. E-mail recruitment@vistahealthcare.co.uk or visit multidisciplinary teams. The posts are allocated to specific
wards in the Mental Health pathway, in low secure care,
our website: www.vistahealthcare.co.uk however there will be future opportunity to rotate to other
A full enhanced CRB check would be carried out prior to appointment. areas of the Men’s Service where desired. The low secure
Vista Healthcare is an equal opportunities employer. area of the service aims to provide interventions for
complex clients in areas of both clinical and forensic need.
You will lead on the provision of such interventions and
on the development of the overall psychosocial treatment
programme on the specified wards.
For informal enquiries please contact Dr. Malcolm Wheatley
Consultant Clinical Psychologist.
In order to apply, and view the job description and person
specification please visit our website at www.stah.org
or email recruitment@standrew.co.uk or telephone our
specialise in providing residential care to people with a recruitment office on (01604) 616589 (24 hour answer-phone).
primary diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder. We focus on life skills,
promoting community inclusion and personal independence. Please quote the appropriate reference number
in all correspondence.
The Hawksmere Children’s Unit is a 36-bed hospital for 13 – 18
Closing date: 23rd October 2009.
year olds with Autistic Spectrum Conditions (ASC). Due to open in
December 2009, the hospital is owned and operated by Arventa St Andrew’s is the UK’s largest mental health charity. We offer
Health Care. specialist, secure services for men, women, adolescents and older
people across mental health, learning disability, brain injury, and
degenerative disorders such as Huntington’s and Alzheimer’s. Putting
Consultant Psychologist - service users’ needs at the heart of everything we do, we have built an
innovative culture of clinical expertise.
CAMHS Service The St Andrew’s Academic Centre at Northampton, part of The
Near Potters Bar, Herts Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, is dedicated to world
class research and teaching. For appropriate appointees the Institute
Job share will be considered of Psychiatry may consider honorary academic status. St Andrew’s
also works closely with the University of Northampton and other
This is a unique, opportunity for an innovative Consultant Psychologist leading universities in training mental health professionals for
(CAMHS) to help set up and become the lead Psychologist for the UK’s the nation.
first purpose-built children’s in-patient service, exclusively for young St Andrew’s supports an active internal CPD programme which
people with Autistic Spectrum Conditions. This is a high profile post includes regular lectures given by external speakers along with audit
within an establishment which will become recognised as a national meetings, journal clubs, research meetings and case conferences.
Personal and professional development is expected, as is membership
centre of excellence. of an appropriate peer group. All posts are subject to annual appraisal.
Outstanding CPD and research opportunities make this the perfect Study leave will be available with a realistic expectation that up to ten
post for a Consultant wishing to be recognised as a national specialist days will be taken per year.
in the field of ASC. Applicants must have significant CAMHS and Our benefits include:
learning disability experience. In return, we provide excellent career s'ROUP0ERSONAL0ENSION3CHEMEs3UBSIDISED3TAFF2ESTAURANT
development and training opportunities. s3UBSIDISEDCHILDCAREFACILITIES
s3PORTSFACILITIESGYMPOOLSQUASHCOURTS
We are an equal opportunities employer. Registered Charity No. 1104951.
For an application pack, please call our A charity leading
Recruitment team on 01707 39 39 39. innovation in
mental health
is an Equal Opportunities Employer.

Chartered Forensic Psychologist

or Clinical Forensic Psychologist
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delivery, and evaluation of evidence based programmes; staff Full applied divisional membership and Registration with the
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will carry some managerial responsibility in terms of deputising for For further information on these roles, please contact either
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As a Senior Registered/Chartered Psychologist, you will have the Closing date: 30th October 2009.
ability to apply psychological knowledge to a secure psychiatric
www.partnershipsincare.co.uk/jobs
setting, respond to supervision and adopt a systematic approach.
Experience of working with clients with mental disorders, and/or Partnerships in Care is committed to providing equal
opportunities for its staff and our patients.
working in a forensic setting is desirable along with experience
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psy 10_09 p902_903 looking back:Layout 1 15/9/09 15:47 Page 902
LOOKING BACK
children only on a part-time basis. We
The making and breaking should, perhaps, have known that these
measures were questionable, since for
generations women in the north of
of attachment theory England had worked full-time in the

mills, with no apparent north–south
difference in the incidence of
Barbara Tizard on John Bowlby – the origins of his ideas, their impact and his often psychopathy.
underestimated willingness to revise them Some psychologists at once criticised
Bowlby’s theories. They objected that the
evidence on which they were based was
too shaky to permit such generalisations,
consisting as it did largely of
observational studies in one deplorable
J
ohn Bowlby (1907–1990) first children referred to his clinic for stealing, orphanage, where there were many other
attained fame – some would say 14 were ‘affectionless’, and 12 of these had forms of deprivation, and retrospective
notoriety – in 1951, with the been separated from their mothers for at studies, where selective factors were
publication of his monograph Maternal least six months when under five. probably involved. His ‘monotropic’
Care and Mental Health. In it he presented His argument that young children are assumption that infants have only one
evidence that maternal care in infancy and harmed by maternal deprivation – preferred person, who is always their
early childhood is essential for mental whether through separation, or too many mother, the father’s role being to support
health. He claimed this as a discovery changes of, or absence of, a mother figure her emotionally and financially, was
comparable to that of the role of vitamins – was supported largely by this study of contested. His assertion that there is a
in mental health. young thieves, and some brief critical period in the development
Bowlby’s own experience of maternal methodologically weak studies by Spitz of attachment, which, if missed,
care seems to have been limited. He came and Goldfarb of institutional and ex- inevitably leads to severe and irreversible
from a conventional, upper middle-class institutional children. Bowlby concluded damage, was also met with scepticism.
background, his father a surgeon, that all children need to have a warm, What is much less widely known is
knighted for his services to the royal intimate and continuous relationship that Bowlby considerably developed and
family. According to the custom of this with their mother or a permanent mother modified his theories over his lifetime,
social class, Bowlby and his five siblings substitute. Moreover he driven by a desire to
were cared for by a nursery staff, at the believed that there is a be more scientific in
top of the house, visiting their mother in critical period for this “It seems likely that these his approach, and to
the drawing room from 5 to 6pm each relationship to develop, incorporate and
day. Aged four, he was heartbroken when from 6 to 30 months. If the experiences sensitised respond to the
his nursemaid left. At nine he was sent to relationship is absent then, him to issues of concepts, methods
boarding school. He later told his wife ‘he or broken, the attachment and loss” and findings of other
would not send a dog to boarding school consequences are severe disciplines. (The stages
at that age’. It seems likely that these and irreversible. Mothering of Bowlby’s thinking can
experiences sensitised him to issues of is almost useless if delayed until after the be followed in a 1979 collection of his
attachment and loss, although his only, age of two, and the child will grow up articles, The Making and Breaking of
cryptic, public comment was that he had psychopathic, or at best affectionless, Affectional Bonds). Initially, he accounted
been ‘sufficiently hurt but not sufficiently unable to form close relationships with for the dire consequences of maternal
damaged’ by them. others. He expressed his firm opposition deprivation in psychoanalytic terms, as
After public school, he read medicine not only to institutional care and due to the failure of the children’s egos
at Cambridge and University College separation in hospitals, but also to day and superegos to develop adequately. This
Hospital, and did voluntary work in an nurseries or schools for children under was because the normal childish conflict
analytically oriented school for three. Even those aged three to five between ‘the impulse to obtain libidinal
maladjusted children, before starting a should only attend part-time, and mothers satisfaction’ and the impulse to hurt and
seven-year Kleinian psychoanalysis, and with young children should, if necessary, destroy the ‘love object’ was intensified by
training as an adult psychiatrist at the be paid to stay at home. separation, to a degree which their egos
Maudsley Hospital. Working in the The book made a tremendous impact were too weak to resolve. Hence, these
London Child Guidance Clinic before the on the general public. I think this was intense feelings remained in the
war, Bowlby’s views soon began to diverge because it appeared at a time, soon after unconscious, unresolved, leading to later
from those of his psychoanalytic mentors. the end of the Second World War, when personality disturbance.
He became convinced that they greatly there was a big movement to get women, But Bowlby was remarkably open to
exaggerated the role of fantasy in in many ways liberated by their wartime influences from other disciplines. During
children’s psychological disturbances, work experiences, to stay at home. the 1950s his weekly workshop on
which he believed were primarily the Professional women like myself – I had parent–child relations included, besides
result of damaging life experiences, my first baby in the year the book was both a Freudian and a Kleinian analyst,
especially separation from their mothers. published – became worried that they psychologists who were behaviourists,
This led him to warn, unsuccessfully, would damage their children by returning a Piagetian, an ethologist, and psychiatric
against the evacuation of children under to work even on a part-time basis, and social workers. Within a few years he
five without their mothers at the those who worked full-time were widely became critical of psychoanalytic theory
beginning of the war. In 1944 he criticised. Many nurseries closed, and because of its failure to make systematic
published a paper showing that of 44 nursery schools switched to taking observations, the obscurity of many of its

psy 10_09 p902_903 looking back:Layout 1 15/9/09 15:47 Page 903
looking back
hypotheses, and its failure to see any need tentative, but they tend to be confirmed practices in hospital and child care. But
to test them. In 1956 the findings of his and to persist. Thus any initial emotional his influence was felt by many women as
own study of early hospitalised children damage to children tends to be oppressive, until feminism and the
led him to write that he and others had perpetuated, although to some degree growth of consumerism led to mothers
overstated their case about the inevitable it may be moderated by subsequent returning to work with greater
dire consequences of early separation. experience. He drew on information- confidence.
Theoretically, he switched to an processing theories to explain the In my own case, my first major
ethological explanation of the importance increasing resistance of these models research project, a longitudinal study of
of mother–child bonding, in terms of its to change. These concepts led him to children who spent their first two to five
biological survival value, as well as its withdraw his initial belief in a critical years in English residential nurseries, was
importance for emotional development. period for bonding, which had been inspired by doubts about Bowlby’s
He saw a parallel between this bonding called into question by later research. theories. In fact, we found that he was
and the concept (later repudiated by Although many psychoanalysts partially right. Whilst by 16 many of the
ethologists) of imprinting in animals and thought otherwise, Bowlby always saw ex-institutional children, especially the
birds, a process said to occur during a himself as a psychoanalyst. But when adopted children, had formed strong and
limited time period and to be irreversible. asked in 1979 for the 10 books that had loving relationships with their parents,
He was inspired by ethology to initiate most influenced his they more often had
observational studies of young children thinking, he included problems with their
entering hospital and residential only one by a peers than other
nurseries. He was struck by the psychoanalyst (Freud’s children. But these
resemblance between the stages of Introductory Lectures), problems occurred
protest, despair and detachment observed three books by in only half of the
in them after separation and the process biologists (Robert children, and were
of adult mourning. Hinde and Lorenz), one more frequent in
During the 1960s Bowlby turned to by the educationalist those who returned
study the normal process of attachment, Homer Lane, and one to their own families,
working with a psychologist, Mary by the psychologist with all their
Ainsworth, with whom he developed Ainsworth. In 1986 problems, than those
attachment theory. This emphasised that Bowlby wrote of Freud: who were adopted,
attachment relations are important ‘The phenomena to and had much
throughout life, and that later which he called attention and care
relationships and social and emotional attention are immensely lavished on them.
functioning depend on the security of important, but the Unlike me, my late
the first attachment. Ainsworth’s Strange theories he came up with are very dated husband Jack took little interest in
Situation procedure was devised as an and inadequate.’ Bowlby’s work. Like Bowlby, during the
objective, observable way to elicit In the last part of his life, strongly 1950s he was concerned about the effects
different patterns of attachment behaviour influenced by the writings of Michael of institutional care: in Jack’s case, on
in 12- to 18-month-old children in Rutter, he abandoned his original adults and children who had been
standardised situations with their mother. insistence on the irreversible certified as ‘mental defectives’, and
Secure children, who used their mothers consequences of maternal separation. In incarcerated with an almost indeterminate
as a base from which to explore, and to 1988 he wrote that ‘the central task is to sentence in huge institutional ‘colonies’.
return to for reassurance, were said to be study the endless interactions of internal Jack’s interest was in improving the
those with sensitive, responsive mothers. and external factors, and how the one is patients’ lives, by setting up occupational
It was predicted that they would later influencing the other not only during training for the young adults, which often
develop confident, positive social childhood but during adolescence and made their release into the community
relationships. Bowlby concluded from adult life as well… Present knowledge possible, and by an experimental transfer
research with this procedure that at least requires that a theory of developmental of severely retarded young children from
a third of children have mothers who do pathways should replace theories that a large hospital ward into a small,
not provide them with security, because invoke specific phases of development in nursery-like hostel. His motivation was
of their own emotional problems. which it is postulated that a person may humanitarian and libertarian. He was
Attachment theory and research have become fixated and/or to which he may influenced by, and liaised with, the
subsequently burgeoned (see Helen regress.’ His concern remained with the National Council for Civil Liberties (now
Barrett’s excellent 2006 book Attachment concept of attachment, but his interest ‘Liberty’) who were then campaigning for
and the Perils of Parenting for an account). had shifted to the problems of adults the release of specific adults, certified
To understand how early attachment with dysfunctional working models of when teenagers, often because of a
patterns can have lasting effects, by the attachment. Unfortunately, it is his combination of school failure and minor
1970s Bowlby had adopted the concept original crude theory that has stuck in delinquency. Unlike Bowlby, Jack saw that
of ‘internal working models’ from a the public mind. there was sometimes a role for
cognitive psychologist, Kenneth Craik. Bowlby’s theories, by emphasising institutional care, and was concerned to
He postulated that such models, built up the role in development of experience understand how institutions worked, and
by young children from their experiences as opposed to fantasy, constituted an how to improve them.
and from what they are told, consist of important critique of psychoanalysis.
expectations about how people will They were also important in drawing
respond to them, and they to others. attention to the emotional suffering that I Barbara Tizard is Emeritus Professor of
At first the models, whether based on young children can undergo in Education at the Institute of Education
negative or positive experiences, are separation, which led to more humane B.Tizard@ioe.ac.uk

psy 10_09 p904 one on one:Layout 1 15/9/09 15:45 Page 904
ONE ON ONE
One thing that you One problem that

would change about psychology should deal with
psychologists The continuing distrust by so
That they be less critical of many of all things
each other and more open- evolutionary and thus the
…with Jay Belsky minded, actively engaging,

even if only
experimentally, ideas with
obsessive interest in the ‘how’
of psychological/behavioural
phenomena, with insufficient
which they might concern for the ‘why’ of them.
Professor of Psychology at Birkbeck University of London (initially?) disagree.
One idea that grabs you at
One nugget of advice for the moment
aspiring psychologists That individuals vary in
Follow your nose! Never lose developmental plasticity, with
One inspiration Enabling so many to sight of what interests – or some being more susceptible
Professor Urie appreciate that children are better yet, fascinates – you. to environmental effects, both
Bronfenbrenner, Cornell not just miniature adults, but good and bad, than others.
University; among so much individuals who should be One cultural
else, he showed me how to understood on their own recommendation One hope for the future
find what is of value in others’ terms. Jared Diamond’s Guns, That it not be a self-serving
work, rather than concentrate Germs and Steel; masterly guild. If it makes good
on its limitations. One challenge you think interdisciplinary
psychology faces scholarship, even
One common denominator The tendency to regard only though he is
underlying your work experimental work, and undoubtedly wrong
Fascination with how possibly only neuroscientific in contending that
developmental experiences research, as science. humans have not
shape – or fail to shape – who changed genetically
we are. One alternative career since the dawn of
I spent my entire childhood agriculture.
One moment that changed wanting to go to the US
the course of your career Military Academy at West One hero from
When I spotted a teammate Point but, after securing an psychology
on the Georgetown University appointment there, including Sir Michael Rutter,
soccer team with a bunch of a congressional nomination, based on the depth
four-year-olds in tow, leading decided instead to study and scope of his
me to ask him, ‘Where did international relations at scholarship,
you get them?’ His reply led to Georgetown University. including the
the eventual resolution of my crystal clarity of his
identity crisis, as volunteering One lesson from Sure Start thinking.
at the university daycare Demand that anyone speaking
centre was my first step in about ‘evidenced-based’ One regret
becoming a developmental anything distinguish scientific Never having
psychologist. evidence from so much else mastered a second
that masquerades as such (e.g. language.
One great thing that anecdote, qualitative study, Jay Belsky
psychology has achieved general impressions). One proud j.belsky@bbk.ac.uk
moment
Remaining calm and
Belsky, J., Steinberg, L. & Draper, P. (1991). Childhood experience, focused when a
resource
interpersonal development, and reproductive strategy: An hippo dumped me out of my scientific sense for ‘psychology’
evolutionary theory of socialization. Child Development, 62, 647–670. canoe into the crocodile- to wither and something else
‘It re-cast traditional thinking in modern evolutionary terms, infested Zambeze River in to assume or assimilate it,
advancing new, testable hypotheses.’ Zimbabwe – and surviving to profession politics should not
tell the tale! stand in the way.
contribute
A special issue marking the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s
coming soon
Think you can do better? Want to see your

On the Origin of Species. area of psychology represented more?
I Send your comments about The Psychologist to the editor, Dr Jon Sutton, on See the inside front cover for how you can
jon.sutton@bps.org.uk, +44 116 252 9573 or to the Leicester office address contribute and reach 45,000 colleagues
I To advertise in The Psychologist: psyadvert@bps.org.uk, +44 116 252 9552 into the bargain, or just e-mail your
I For jobs in the Appointments section: psychapp@bps.org.uk, +44 116 252 9550 suggestions to jon.sutton@bps.org.uk

psy 10_09 pibc:Layout 1 15/9/09 15:44 Page 1
2nd UK Paediatric Neuropsychology Symposium:

Rehabilitation and Educational Support
19 – 23 April 2010
UCL Institute of Child Health & Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London.
This symposium will provide a contemporary account of rehabilitation programmes, specific interventions and
educational support for children with cognitive, behavioural and emotional difficulties following neurological injury or
neurodevelopmental disorder. A host of leading international speakers will participate in this unique symposium in order to
consider how professionals may best support children and their families following neurological injury and what opportunities
there may be to exploit brain plasticity in promoting positive learning, behaviour and socio-emotional development.
Confirmed Speakers
sProfessor Vicki Anderson s Professor Reuven Feuerstein

University of Melbourne The International Centre for the Enhancement of
Learning Potential, Jerusalem
s Professor Dorothy Bishop
University of Oxford sProfessor Fiona Gibbon
University of Cork
sProfessor Lucia Willadino Braga
SARAH Network, Brasilia sDr Sam Goldstein
Neurology, Learning and Behavior Center, Salt Lake City
sProfessor Robert Butler
Oregon Health & Science University sProfessor George Prigatano
Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix
sProfessor Jacobus Donders
Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital, Michigan sProfessor Keith Yeates
Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus
sDr Ian Frampton
University of Exeter
Programme Director: Dr Peter Rankin

Registration forms & Abstract submission details are available at www.ichneuropsych.co.uk
All other enquiries to ICH Events Office 020 7905 2135 or email k.gresty@ich.ucl.ac.uk
psy 10_09 pobc:Layout 1 15/9/09 15:42 Page 1
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The teller, the tale

forum 818 the restless brain 836

vol 22 no 10 october 2009

forum 818 THE ISSUE

book reviews 856

read discuss contribute at www.thepsychologist.org.uk 817

The narrowing focus of UK psychology?

US healthcare reform – your support needed

818 vol 22 no 10 october 2009

in narrowing the focus of British

read discuss contribute at www.thepsychologist.org.uk 819

Reality TV – the problem of informed consent

820 vol 22 no 10 october 2009

Policy on clinical terminology

Where is the dignity?

read discuss contribute at www.thepsychologist.org.uk 821

Support wanted for proposed

822 vol 22 no 10 october 2009

read discuss contribute at www.thepsychologist.org.uk 823

Recovery Research Network

Prices frozen for 2010 New online options

The British Psychological Society

Available to download now from

824 vol 22 no 10 october 2009

Media responsibility to get it right

HPC – any business case?

read discuss contribute at www.thepsychologist.org.uk 825

What becomes of the broken-hearted?

Facebook and jealousy

826 vol 22 no 10 october 2009

Online CBT measured the working

read discuss contribute at www.thepsychologist.org.uk 827

RESEARCH FUNDING NEWS Blots to consider

828 vol 22 no 10 october 2009

Opposition to state regulation

Climate change will add anything of significant

read discuss contribute at www.thepsychologist.org.uk 829

they explain, but less with untruths told

The next big questions by a ‘liar’ who believes what they’re

in psychology statements differ in content, with the

T earlier this year asked psychologists

830 vol 22 no 10 october 2009

read discuss contribute at www.thepsychologist.org.uk 831

BPS Shop is now open for business.

832 vol 22 no 10 october 2009

‘An amazingly useful and interesting resource’

read discuss contribute at www.thepsychologist.org.uk 833

anything other than just not

If they come for you understanding, or, less kindly, ignorance.

834 vol 22 no 10 october 2009

Media Training Courses 2009

An Introduction to Working with the Media

Broadcast Interview Skills

Registration form and further details from:

read discuss contribute at www.thepsychologist.org.uk 835

nitrous oxide to show that, metabolically

The restless brain We now know that the brain uses

F to lift the lid on the black box.

E. (2006). Failing to deactivate. PNAS,

836 vol 22 no 10 october 2009

do something. ‘There was this mindset (see ‘Watching the

read discuss contribute at www.thepsychologist.org.uk 837

838 vol 22 no 10 october 2009