Staying on top of best practices in applied psychology supports clinicians to produce good outcomes and since the evidence base continually changes it is essential to keep up so we can provide the absolute best to people we work with.
Now there is a new continuing professional development resource available for any professional or student of clinical psychology, psychiatry, nursing, or social work searching for more humanistic approaches to treat psychosis.
“Psychological Interventions for Psychosis, Towards a Paradigm Shift” brings together theoretical chapters that contribute to the reconceptualisation of psychosis and offer insights about how to work in a person-centred way with people given this label.
Dr Rachel Manser is an expert in psychosis who currently works for OCTC and trained as a Clinical Psychologist with Oxford University. Rachel is a co-author of one of the chapters brought together in this volume, published by Springer.
“Introducing the concept of alternative methods to pharmaceutical interventions to treat psychosis”
The psychotherapeutic approaches shared by Rachel and her co-authors are revolutionising an outdated model where medicine and symptom control are the basic and fundamental form of approach to treating psychosis.
Rachel said: “The book contains clinical cases which demonstrate how such contemporary psychotherapeutic intervention models can be applied to treatment: how we can harness the effectiveness of a CBT approach but adapt it to best meet the needs of this group. It incorporates reflections, strategies and practical guidelines demonstrating how these models can inform professional practice in mental healthcare.
“Our chapter focuses on illustrating cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) as an approach using case studies of two people’s therapy from beginning to end. The example dialogue shows how we build a psychological understanding of someone’s difficulties. How we ask about beliefs, while maintaining engagement and respecting the needs, values, and goals of each person.
“So that we meet the person where they are at, rather than disputing with them, and can start to improve their mood and functioning and work towards changing their distressing beliefs.
“These person-centred models all belong to psychology and serve as a guide to personal development for the therapeutic team while allowing people to see how CBT for psychosis looks from inside the therapy room: in practice and introducing the concept of alternative methods to pharmaceutical interventions to treat psychosis.”
Rachel has worked across many NHS settings over the years as a Clinical Psychologist including IAPT, AMHTs, EIS and inpatient settings. She is the author of “Bipolar Disorder: Managing Mood Swings” available on our website here, and co-author of “An Introduction to Psychosis” also available here.
Find out more about “Psychological Interventions for Psychosis, Towards a Paradigm Shift” by editors Juan Antonio Díaz-Garrido, Raquel Zúñiga, Horus Laffite, Eric Morris here.