Contents:

• Features
  • New developments in trauma therapy

    • Many practitioners have taken up the challenge of assimilating new neuroscience findings into psychotherapy, resulting in a changing culture of treatment for traumatised clients. The good news, writes Jane Ryan, is that it is possible for all therapists to quite easily learn the basics of neuropsychology

  • Recalled to life

    • The Cancer Reform Strategy seeks to improve psychological provision for those who are living with and who have survived cancer. But there is a general lack of awareness of the psychological and emotional impact of cancer upon those who physically survive, says Christine Knowles

  • A supervision model

    • Currently completing a postgraduate certificate in clinical supervision at the University of Derby, James Rye presents a model that attempts to represent what actually takes place in supervision

  • Cover feature

    • If sexual feelings are ubiquitous and sexual attraction a real possibility in the context of the therapeutic relationship, how are these managed in therapy?

• Regulars
  • Columns
    • In practice – Because you’re worth it

      • The two elderly aunts lived together, spinster and widow, my closest relatives other than my wife and small children. I would call by every fortnight or so, and the visits prior to Christmas, Easter, or the children’s birthdays took on a familiar pattern

    • In the client's chair – Change is happening

      • My therapist reminds me that we are nearing the end of our sessions of CAT (cognitive analytical therapy). I don’t remember there having been any discussion about the precise number of meetings we were to have, but I am happy to bring matters to a conclusion.

    • In training – Speaking for myself...

      • As we have always known, at the heart of good counselling is the art of communication, the ability to listen keenly and attentively and (more or less regardless of theoretical leaning) to respond clearly and empathically. This involves being able to enter the client’s world, to appreciate their position... to speak their language.

  • News
    • British Indian children have better mental health

      • British Indian children have substantially better mental health than white British children, according to research published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

    • Counselling effective in treating depression and anxiety

      • Counselling is an effective treatment for depression and anxiety within a primary care setting, with 66 per cent of clients achieving a clinical recovery within an average of six sessions. This is the key finding of research conducted by Elizabeth Freire of the University of Strathclyde and Kevin McGeever of the Lanarkshire Counselling Service, which was presented at the 16th Annual BACP Research Conference last month.

    • Troops in war zones more likely to misuse alcohol

      • Troops serving in Afghanistan and Iraq have a 22 per cent higher risk of alcohol misuse than their fellow servicemen and women, with the greatest problems reported among those in combat roles, according to a new report published in The Lancet.

    • Britain in the grip of ‘epidemic of loneliness’

      • Technology and the pressures of modern life are blamed for creating an epidemic of loneliness, as increasing numbers of people rely on the internet to communicate with friends and family.

    • Mental illness and its impact on the developing world

      • The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that neurological and mental disorders are the leading cause of ill health and disability globally, but there is a lack of interest from governments and NGOs (non-governmental organisations).

    • Choice of treatments helps anxious

      • A US study in the Journal of the American Medical Association has pioneered a more flexible approach to treating anxiety, offering a choice of treatments, and giving health professionals a computer-based tool to track patients

    • Depressed men are often not diagnosed

      • British men suffering from depression are missing out on treatment, owing to the skewed criteria used by GPs to diagnose the illness, warns Paul Farmer, chief executive of Mind.

    • Relationships stronger following infidelity

      • Couples who forgive and rebuild their trust following an affair are likely to experience a positive change in their relationship with an increase in openness and communication. This is the conclusion of research by Dr Andreas Vossler of the Open University and Dr Naomi Moller of the University of the West of England, presented at the 16th Annual BACP Research Conference.

    • £1m each spent on dangerous killers

      • A £200m scheme to treat some of Britain’s most dangerous killers should be abandoned as it is too expensive with no positive results, and in some cases left prisoners more aggressive than before they entered jail, according to a leading academic.

  • Editorial

    • The maintaining of sexual boundaries in the therapeutic relationship is a topic that fuels the drive towards regulation, so a new qualitative research study commissioned by BACP to identify indicators that lead to sexual boundary violation is timely.

  • Letters
    • Body and soul

      • A very wise counsellor I have worked with for many years once said to me: ‘It is not that the body has a soul; it is the soul that has a body.’

    • Positive practice

      • I read the interview with Salma Khalid in the May issue with great interest. I applaud her desire to integrate a greater awareness of spirituality in all forms into her work. This element was certainly covered on my counselling diploma course, and I felt able to choose those elements that were of relevance to me and leave behind those that were not.

    • Spiritual synchronicity

      • The May issue of Therapy Today contains a piece of synchronicity that should not pass without comment. In her client column, Emma Munro notes that her ‘“problems” may be in large part spiritual’. She attempts to share her interest in spiritual issues with her therapist so he can ‘understand where I’m coming from’ but ‘he doesn’t seem to see it as being something to work with’.

    • Challenging perceptions

      • I would like to commend you for your inclusion of the ‘Day in the life’ interview in the May issue regarding spirituality and the perspective of therapist Salma Khalid regarding counselling from an Islamic perspective.

    • What makes a man a man?

      • I’m sorry that James Hennah (Letters, Therapy Today, May 2010) has felt so threatened as a man in the world of therapy. It’s true that there are more female therapists and therapy trainers than men, and I share his experience of working in a professional context dominated by women. However, I cannot agree with his assessment that men are consistently dismissed as ‘irrelevant’ or ‘dangerous’

    • A counsellor's duty of care

      • I write in response to the article by Peter Jenkins (‘Children at risk: a confidential space’) in the May issue of Therapy Today. I believe that it is a counsellor’s duty of care to children/young people to report child protection issues.

    • Food for thought

      • I read with interest your article on postnatal depression (Therapy Today, May 2010). It was curious that there was little mention of the physiological changes a woman undergoes during pregnancy and after birth. From my understanding, the vital nutritional support a baby requires to develop is taken from the mother, potentially leading to her being severely depleted unless she has been able to get adequate nutritional intake before, during and after pregnancy and has a healthy constitution to start with.

    • Relentless positivity

      • Barbara Ehrenreich’s article, on the dangers of what I call ‘relentless positivity’, was much appreciated. I would like to expand on her links between affluence and happiness by pointing out that once nations have become affluent, further rises in wealth count for less and less.

    • Unsympathetic view of empathy

      • Does the concept of empathy stroke therapists more than it empowers clients? Whose needs are being met by the definition of empathy – the client’s or the therapist’s?

    • Obituary, Antony Grey (1927-2010)

      • Antony Grey died on 30 April 2010 after a long fight with leukaemia. He was no stranger to doing battle with opposing forces.

  • Questionnaire
    • Alain de Botton

      • For philosopher, author, and founder of The School of Life, Alain de Botton, writing is a form of consolation and therapy

  • Day in the Life

    • Carmel Dennehy set up and heads a maternity counselling service at Whipps Cross University Hospital in London

  • Reviews
    • Addressing the big questions

      • Social symptoms of identity needs: why we have failed to solve our social problems and what to do about it, Mark Bracher, Karnac 2009, £21.99, ISBN 978-1855756540

    • Collaborative conversations in the community

      • Psychology in the real world: community-based groupwork, Guy Holmes, PCCS Books 2010, £19.99, ISBN 978-1906254131

    • Attachment theory in practice

      • Exploring in security: towards an attachment-informed psychoanalytic psychotherapy, Jeremy Holmes, Routledge 2009, £21.99, ISBN 978-0415554152

    • Brief solution-focused DVD

      • The miracle question & its use in anger management (DVD), Paul Grantham, Psychotherapy DVDs 2010, £34.95

    • The art of listening

      • The 3-point therapist, Hilary A Davies, Karnac 2009, £9.99, ISBN 978-1855757462

    • Everything a trainee counsellor will need to know

      • What is counselling and psychotherapy? Norman Claringbull, Learning Matters 2010, £18.00, ISBN 978-1844453610

    • The power of patterns

      • Understanding transference: the power of patterns in the therapeutic relationship, Lesley Murdin, Palgrave Macmillan 2009, £21.99, ISBN 978-1403921185

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      • Search for a supervisor in your area

    • Placements

      • Find a placement near you

    • Research

      • Participate in research

    • Networking

      • Join a group near you

  • Dilemmas
    • Reaching out for help

      • In the first of a regular new column, Andrew Reeves invites readers to respond to a typical ethical dilemma

• BACP
  • BACP News
    • Understanding the aims of the NAPT

      • Lorna Farquharson, clinical advisor to the National Audit of Psychological Therapies (NAPT), talks to BACP about the aims of the project

    • BACP News

      • News from your Association

  • BACP Professional Conduct
    • BACP Professional Conduct Hearing
  • BACP Professional Standards
    • Applying for accreditation: issues of difference and equality

      • The following excerpts might be apocryphal: ‘There are no ethnic minorities in Myddle Charming, so I have no opportunity to work with issues of difference.’ ‘Everyone is equal so I treat everyone the same...’ The putative applicant might have added ‘but some are more equal than others’.

    • Professional standards

      • Newly accredited counsellors/psychotherapists

  • BACP Research
    • BACP seed corn research project focuses on premature menopause

      • Most young women grow up with the expectation of starting a family. For those who experience a premature menopause, however, this dream – however vaguely formed – is cruelly dashed. This is a relatively understudied group of women, who represent a number of clinical challenges.

    • BACP Research

      • News and information from the BACP Research department