Tag: Psychiatrist

Book: Psychiatry Disrupted

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Book Title:

Psychiatry Disrupted: Theorising Resistance and Crafting the (R)evolution.

Author(s): Bonnie Burstow, Brenda A LeFrancois, and Shaindl Diamond.

Year: 2014.

Edition: First (1st).

Publisher: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Type(s): Paperback and EPUB.

Synopsis:

There is growing international resistance to the oppressiveness of psychiatry. While previous studies have critiqued psychiatry, Psychiatry Disrupted goes beyond theorising what is wrong with it to theorizing how we might stop it. Introducing readers to the arguments and rationale for opposing psychiatry, the book combines perspectives from anti-psychiatry and critical psychiatry activism, mad activism, antiracist, critical, and radical disability studies, as well as feminist, Marxist, and anarchist thought.

The editors and contributors are activists and academics – adult education and social work professors, psychologists, prominent leaders in the psychiatric survivor movement, and artists – from across Canada, England, and the United States.

From chapters discussing feminist opposition to the medicalisation of human experience, to the links between psychiatry and neo-liberalism, to internal tensions within the various movements and different identities from which people organise, the collection theorises psychiatry while contributing to a range of scholarship and presenting a comprehensive overview of resistance to psychiatry in the academy and in the community.

A courageous anthology, Psychiatry Disrupted is a timely work that asks compelling activist questions that no other book in the field touches.

On This Day … 08 October

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People (Births)

  • 1888 – Ernst Kretschmer, German psychiatrist and author (d. 1964).

Ernst Kretschmer

Ernst Kretschmer (08 October 1888 to 08 February 1964) was a German psychiatrist who researched the human constitution and established a typology.

He attempted to correlate body build and physical constitution with personality characteristics and mental illness.

On This Day … 07 October

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People (Births)

  • 1927 – R. D. Laing, Scottish psychiatrist and author (d. 1989).

R.D. Laing

Ronald David Laing (07 October 1927 to 23 August 1989), usually cited as R.D. Laing, was a Scottish psychiatrist who wrote extensively on mental illness – in particular, the experience of psychosis.

Laing’s views on the causes and treatment of psychopathological phenomena were influenced by his study of existential philosophy and ran counter to the chemical and electroshock methods that had become psychiatric orthodoxy.

Taking the expressed feelings of the individual patient or client as valid descriptions of lived experience rather than simply as symptoms of mental illness, Laing regarded schizophrenia as a theory not a fact.

Though associated in the public mind with anti-psychiatry he rejected the label. Politically, he was regarded as a thinker of the New Left.

Laing was portrayed by David Tennant in the 2017 film Mad to Be Normal.

Do Psychiatric Conditions Shift Over Time?

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Diagnoses for mental health conditions often morph into each other, suggesting that psychiatry’s reliance on specific diagnoses may be misguided.

A team led by Avshalom Caspi and Terrie Moffitt (2020) at Duke University, North Carolina, analysed data from the Dunedin Birth Cohort Study, which follows a nationally representative group of more
than 1,000 New Zealanders born in 1972 and 1973.

As the participants in the Dunedin Study have grown up, they have been assessed nine times to measure aspects of their health and behaviour, including their mental health. Caspi and Moffitt’s team found that by the age of 45, 86% of participants had met the criteria for at least one psychiatric diagnosis in one assessment. This did not mean that they had received a psychiatric diagnosis, but if they had seen a psychiatrist, they could have been given one.

A third of the cohort met the criteria for a psychiatric diagnosis before they reached the age of 15. Yet over time, people’s mental health usually shifted into a different category of psychiatric conditions.

This could suggest that an excessive focus on a current diagnosis is short-sighted and that therapy should not just address the presenting disorder, but must build fundamental skills for maintaining general mental health.

However, one must caution against ditching diagnostic categories as some disorders are linked to specific causes and respond better to certain treatments than others. It could do harm to ignore these distinctions, at least in some cases.

Reference

Caspi, A., Houts, R.M., Ambler, A., Danese, A., Elliott, M.L., Hariri, A., Harrington, H., Hogan, S., Poulton, R., Ramrakha, S., Rasmussen, L.J.H., Reuben, A., Richmond-Rakerd, L., Sugden, K., Wertz, J., Williams, B.S. & Moffitt, T.E. (2020) Longitudinal Assessment of Mental Health Disorders and Comorbidities Across 4 Decades Among Participants in the Dunedin Birth Cohort Study. JAMA Network Open. 3(4), pp.e203221. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.3221

On This Day … 27 September

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People (Deaths)

  • 2004 – John E. Mack, American psychiatrist and author (b. 1929).

Background

John Edward Mack (04 October 1929 – 27 September 2004) was an American psychiatrist, writer, and professor and the head of the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

In 1977, Mack won the Pulitzer Prize for his book A Prince of Our Disorder on T.E. Lawrence.

As the head of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Mack’s clinical expertise was in child psychology, adolescent psychology, and the psychology of religion.

He was also known as a leading researcher on the psychology of teenage suicide and drug addiction, and he later became a researcher in the psychology of alien abduction experiences.

On This Day … 25 September

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People (Births)

  • 1962 – Kalthoum Sarrai, Tunisian-French psychologist and journalist (d. 2010).

People (Deaths)

  • 1958 – John B. Watson, American psychologist and academic (b. 1878).
  • 2005 – Urie Bronfenbrenner, Russian-American psychologist and ecologist (b. 1917).
  • 2005 – M. Scott Peck, American psychiatrist and author (b. 1936).
  • 2013 – Bennet Wong, Canadian psychiatrist and academic, co-founded Haven Institute (b. 1930).

Themes & Psychiatrists’ Use of Metaphor in Relation to Psychological Trauma

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Research Paper Title

A frog in boiling water? A qualitative analysis of psychiatrists’ use of metaphor in relation to psychological trauma.

Background

Tensions about the definition, diagnostics, and role of psychological trauma in psychiatry are long-standing. This study sought to explore what metaphor patterns in qualitative interviews may reveal about the beliefs of psychiatrists in relation to trauma.

Methods

A qualitative inquiry using systematic metaphor analysis of 13 in-depth interviews with Australian psychiatrists.

Results

Three themes were identified:

  1. A power struggle between people, trauma, and psychiatry;
  2. Trauma is not a medical condition; and
  3. Serving the profession to protect society.

Conclusions

Metaphors present trauma as a powerful force that people can manage in different ways. Psychiatrists may view trauma as a social rather than medical issue. Psychiatrists experience role pressure associated with trauma including incongruence with risk management expectations of their roles.

Reference

Isobel, S., McCloughen, A. & Foster, K. (2020) A frog in boiling water? A qualitative analysis of psychiatrists’ use of metaphor in relation to psychological trauma. Australasian Psychiatry. doi: 10.1177/1039856220946596. Online ahead of print.

Book: Doing Psychotherapy – A Trauma And Attachment-Informed Approach

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Book Title:

Doing Psychotherapy – A Trauma And Attachment-Informed Approach.

Author(s): Robin Shapiro.

Year: 2020.

Edition: First (1st).

Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company.

Type(s): Paperback, Kindle, and Audiobook.

Synopsis:

Most books about doing psychotherapy are tied to particular psychotherapeutic practices. Here, seasoned clinical author Robin Shapiro teaches readers the ins and outs of a trauma-and attachment-informed approach that is not tied to any one model or method.

This book teaches assessment, treatment plans, enhancing the therapeutic relationship and ethics and boundary issues, all within a general framework of attachment theory and trauma. Practical chapters talk about working with attachment problems, grief, depression, cultural differences, affect tolerance, anxiety, addiction, trauma, skill- building, suicidal ideation, psychosis, and the beginning and end of therapy.

Filled with examples, suggestions for dialogue and questions for a variety of therapeutic situation, Shapiro’s conversational tone makes the book very relatable. Early-career therapists will refer to it for years to come and veteran practitioners looking for a refresher (or introduction) to the latest in trauma and attachment work will find it especially useful.

Book: Conquer Worry and Anxiety – The Secret to Mastering Your Mind

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Book Title:

Conquer Worry and Anxiety – The Secret to Mastering Your Mind.

Author(s): Daniel G. Amen, MD.

Year: 2020.

Edition: First (1st).

Publisher: Tyndale Momentum.

Type(s): Paperback and Kindle.

Synopsis:

You can overcome worry and anxiety today. It is possible to feel better fast – and to make it last.

Many people, mental health professionals included, think therapy needs to be long, hard, and painful – a lifelong commitment. And while some people will need help longer than others, it is often possible for people to start feeling better right now. If you engage in the right behaviours and strategies, you’ll optimize your brain health – and see the benefits in your everyday life.

In Conquer Worry and Anxiety, renowned psychiatrist Dr. Daniel G. Amen will guide you to lasting change, teaching you how to make decisions that serve your brain’s health and set you on a path to a happier, healthier life. Each of us can make small changes that, over time, create amazing results.

COVID-19 and the Role of Primary Care in Suicide Prevention

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Research Paper Title

Role of Primary Care in Suicide Prevention During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Background

Primary care providers have an important role in suicide prevention, knowing that among people who die by suicide, 83% have visited a primary care provider in the prior year, and 50% have visited that provider within 30 days of their death, rather than a psychiatrist.

The psychosocial impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic poses increased risk for suicide and other mental health disorders for months and years ahead.

This article focuses on screening tools, identification of the potentially suicidal patient in the primary care setting, and a specific focus on suicide prevention during widespread, devastating events, such as a pandemic.

Reference

Nelson, P.A. & Adams, S.M. (2020) Role of Primary Care in Suicide Prevention During the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners. doi: 10.1016/j.nurpra.2020.07.015. Online ahead of print.