Contents:

• Features
  • Politics and therapy

    • The connection between therapy and politics is being increasingly recognised. Pete Sanders calls for all therapists to engage in the debate

  • The reading cure

    • The healing benefits of books have long been recognised. Now bibliotherapy is recommended for the treatment of anxiety, and therapeutic reading groups are cropping up across the UK by Karen Brown

  • Knowing our worth

    • Unlike other professions, why has counselling been undervalued for so long? And will the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies initiative – with Alan Johnson’s recent announcement of a further £80 million to offer psychological help to people affected by the recession – improve counsellors’ career opportunities and pay, or make things worse?

  • Family time

    • Addressing young people’s substance misuse through a family work model

  • Sexuality in supervision

    • Whilst sex in the consulting room would transgress an ethical boundary, Paul Smith-Pickard argues that sexuality is always present in a therapeutic encounter

  • Cover feature

    • Notes on the psychological impact of military occupation in Palestine

• Regulars
  • Columns
    • Client column - Choosing a travelling companion

      • Finding a therapist is a lot like internet dating. You go through a series of unspoken vetting procedures as you tentatively work out whether you are a match for each other. Attracted by what it says on their profile, you make contact by email.

    • Student column - A job for the girls?

      • I am compelled to start with statistics. In October, when our course began, we were 25 – of whom 23 were women. The winter, the pressures of being adults and parents in a credit crunch, the demands of the study schedule, have reduced us to 21.

    • Therapist column - Log on, drop out

      • I have many friends, oh yes. In fact, the numbers probably go into the hundreds. We meet regularly for a good chat, a bit of a laugh, perhaps to talk difficult things through, before heading off in our own separate directions. I’ve never actually met many of them,

  • News
    • Threats to good childhood

      • The aggressive pursuit of personal success by adults is now the greatest threat to British children, according to The Good Childhood Inquiry, a major independent report on childhood commissioned by the Children’s Society.

    • New NICE guidance for BPD

      • New National Institute for Health and Clinical Evidence (NICE) guidance for identifying, treating and managing people with borderline personality disorder (BPD), recommends

    • Star status for mental health charity

      • For the second year in a row, Community Links, a leading provider of mental health and substance misuse services across Yorkshire and the Humber

    • ‘Too many’ mentally ill in jails

      • Thousands of people with mental health problems are ending up in jail rather than receiving treatment, the Prison Reform Trust has said. Offering mental health and social care instead of custody would relieve pressure on prisons and could cut reoffending rates, the trust argues.

    • Male abuse is ‘being ignored’

      • Men in their early 20s are just as likely to be abused by their partners as women, according to the latest Government figures. 6.4 per cent of men in England and Wales between the ages of 20 and 24 say they were victims over the last year, compared with 5.4 per cent of women. The official definition of partner abuse includes non-physical forms like emotional bullying. It also means more serious behaviour like threats and severe force.

    • Research into effectiveness of CBT

      • The National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment (NIHR HTA) programme is expanding the evidence base surrounding the effectiveness of CBT for the treatment of depression by commissioning three new research projects.

    • Stars fight to end stigma

      • Ruby Wax and Stephen Fry are spearheading the Time to Change campaign

  • Editorial

    • Freedom of expression is a theme that recurs in different ways in this issue: in our letters pages, in an interview with a psychotherapist and dancer who works in prisons and in our report on everyday life in the West Bank which Martin Kemp and Eliana Pinto describe as ‘a gigantic open prison’.

  • Letters
    • IAPT: a note of hope

      • For me, as a CBT-oriented member of BACP, 2008 ended with a familiar note of despondency but also with a note of hope. Having already been accused of being ‘imperialist’ and a promoter of ‘Maoist thought reform’, I now find

    • It's OK to be angry

      • From both a personal and professional perspective I was fascinated to read Linda Wolfenden’s excellent article ‘Understanding anger’ (Therapy Today, February 2009)

    • Medication for ADHD

      • In her letter ‘Medication for ADHD’ (Therapy Today, February 2009), Jan Topley states that ADHD is caused through genetics and seems to favour medication over psychological interventions. In my view there is always the other side of the coin.

    • Six steps to protecting the public

      • Ian Gilmore makes a number of good points in his letter to Therapy Today (February 2009), and asks the vital question: what might we as a profession do if we were really serious about protecting the public?

    • Schizophrenia: a challenge to NHS practice

      • My unconscious mind needed addressing and not just my conscious mind

    • The need for counselling in hospitals

      • I was encouraged to read in the December issue of Therapy Today (‘Psychological therapies in the NHS’) that therapy is scheduled to become more widely available through the NHS

    • We need to have a wider vision

      • I am writing in response to letters printed in the February 2009 issue of Therapy Today

    • Regulation: the need for debate

      • There was plenty in the February 2009 issue of Therapy Today touching on the future of our profession

    • Empower the public

      • I am a counsellor, a member of BACP and a member of the public

    • Dealing with the mess

      • I would like to welcome Peter Morrall’s challenging article (‘The trouble with therapy’, Therapy Today, February 2009)

    • Head injuries and stroke

      • I am writing as a lay member of the public whose mother-in-law and son both had counselling last year

    • Gravitas at last

      • Hooray! At last! A professional journal that looks and feels in my hand like a professional journal instead of a glossy magazine

    • What cost therapy?

      • I am struck by how often people refer to the lack of low- or no-cost counselling services, as if full-cost counselling – ie which gives the practitioner a living wage – were an unaffordable luxury

  • Questionnaire
    • Louis Appleby

      • The Government’s National Director for Mental Health in England, Louis Appleby, would like to ban derogatory words for mental illness

  • Marketing Toolbox
    • Are you listening carefully?

      • If you want to attract new clients, Clare Jones says it’s time to do some market research

  • Day in the Life

    • Robina Husain-Naviatti was a human rights lawyer before training as an existential psychotherapist and joining Forensic Therapies. She balances her work in prisons with a passion for dance

  • Reviews
    • Working in multi-disciplinary settings

      • Counselling in healthcare settings: a handbook for practitioners Robert Bor, Sheila Gill, Riva Miller and Amanda Evans Palgrave Macmillan 2009 £19.99 ISBN 978-0230549425 Reviewed by Christine Barley

    • User-friendly introduction to research

      • Essential research findings in counselling and psychotherapy: the facts are friendly Mick Cooper Sage/BACP 2008 £18.99 ISBN 978-1847870438 Reviewed by Els van Ooijen

    • Regulation: challenging the status quo

      • Psychoanalytic practice and state regulation Ian Parker and Simona Revelli (eds) Karnac 2008, £19.99 ISBN 978-1855755338 Reviewed by Colin Feltham

    • Empowering survivors of sexual abuse

      • Moving on after childhood sexual abuse: understanding the effects and preparing for therapy Jonathan Willows Routledge 2008, £12.99 ISBN 978-0415424837 Reviewed by Jessica Sullivan

    • Young people and self-esteem

      • Feeling like crap: young people and the meaning of self-esteem Nick Luxmoore Jessica Kingsley 2008 £13.99 ISBN 978-1843106821 Reviewed by Harry Stoyles

    • The effectiveness of brief therapy

      • Brief person-centred therapies Keith Tudor (ed) Sage 2008, £18.99 ISBN 978-1847873477 Reviewed by Sue Rowe

  • Noticeboard
    • Supervision

      • Search for a supervisor

    • Placements

      • Find a placement

    • Research

      • Particpate in research

    • Networking

      • Find a group near you

• BACP
  • BACP News
    • BACP News

      • News from your Association

  • BACP Professional Conduct
    • BACP Professional Conduct Hearing
    • BACP Professional Conduct Hearing
    • Re-entry to membership
    • Withdrawal of membership
    • Withdrawal of membership
  • BACP Professional Standards
    • Professional standards

      • Newly accredited practitioners and services

  • BACP Research
    • Research

      • Research news