Critical Values Based Practice Network

C-VBP-N

Author Archive

Anxiety and Social Factors

Written by Bob Diamond on . Posted in Clinical Psychology Bite-Size

Anxiety and Social Factors

Issue 49 – March 2017

Author: Bob Diamond (robert.diamond@nottshc.nhs.uk)

Key points

  • Anxiety, along with other mental health difficulties, are frequently caused by traumas in earlier life and socio-economic difficulties, such as poverty, poor housing and living in impoverished environments.
  • Anxiety appears to be on the increase in the Western world and this increase may well be influenced by the mismatch between social expectations on how we ought to live and the reality that we confront.
  • Increased anxiety typically leads to an increase in arousal and awareness. Responses to heightened anxiety include, fight, flight and freezing (passivity, submission). 

Contextualising Distress III: Therapeutic Conversations

Written by Bob Diamond on . Posted in Clinical Psychology Bite-Size

Contextualising Distress III: Therapeutic Conversations

Issue 22 – May 2010 Authors: Bob Diamond and Steven Coles (steven.coles@nottshc.nhs.uk and robert.diamond@nottshc.nhs.uk)

Key points

  • Therapeutic conversations occur informally and in more formal settings.
  • Therapeutic conversations should always be collaborative and involve a shared exploration of meanings and circumstances, so to make sense of experiences. 

Contextualising Distress II: Formulation and Practice Plan

Written by Bob Diamond on . Posted in Clinical Psychology Bite-Size

Contextualising Distress II: Formulation and Practice Plan

Issue 21 – March 2010

Authors:  Bob Diamond and Steven Coles (robert.diamond@nottshc.nhs.uk and steven.coles@nottshc.nhs.uk) 

Key points

  • Personal history and social context are central factors to understanding and supporting people who are distressed
  • Formulation can highlight a distressed individual’s perspective and their context. However, formulation can be problematic if expert driven and imposed upon a person.
  • In supervision formulation may support staff reflection, but added care is needed to consider the perspective of the person within services 

User Involvement

Written by Bob Diamond on . Posted in Clinical Psychology Bite-Size

User Involvement

Issue 16 – July 2009

Author: Bob Diamond (robert.diamond@nottshc.nhs.uk)

Key points

  • User involvement at all levels of mental health services significantly contributes towards a more informed and personally meaningful understanding of distress.
  • User involvement improves the effectiveness of care and support provided by Mental Health services by promoting a shared dialogue between workers and people who use services.
  • There is a huge variation nationally of user involvement within Mental Health services, the debate continues as to whether real influences on services can be achieved through user involvement being situated within or outside of services.