scholarly journals Boredom among psychiatric in-patients: does it matter?

2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 259-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Steele ◽  
Paul Henderson ◽  
Frances Lennon ◽  
Donna Swinden
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Mental Health Research ◽  
Biological Psychiatry ◽  
Dopamine Antagonist ◽  
Sense Of Control ◽  
Meaningful Relationships ◽  
Internal Experience ◽  
Therapeutic Activities

SummaryMany psychiatric in-patients report boredom. Such complaints may appear trivial, but this literature review by a clinical librarian suggests that boredom is more complex than may initially appear and relates to wider areas of importance for in-patient psychiatric teams. Boredom may relate to the internal experience of meaning, which itself encompasses meaningful relationships and roles and a sense of control. Although meaningful therapeutic activities are vital, mental health professionals should focus on the internal as well as the external dimensions of boredom. Medications, particularly dopamine antagonist antipsychotics, may be a contributing factor. This article highlights the benefits of the clinical librarian role in synthesising research in mental health. Research can illuminate psychiatric practice in a more holistic way than purely by applying 'scientific' evidence in the practice of ‘biological’ psychiatry.

The 2016 RANZCP Guidelines for the Management of Schizophrenia and Related Disorders – what’s next?

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 600-602 ◽  
Author(s):  
Assen Jablensky ◽  
David J Castle ◽  
Frances Dark ◽  
Verity Humberstone ◽  
Eoin Killackey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Standard Of Care ◽  
Mental Health Research ◽  
Response To Treatment ◽  
Clinical Expertise ◽  
The Public ◽  
Measuring Outcomes ◽  
Treatment Plans ◽  
Personalised Treatment

Objectives: The recently published RANZCP guidelines for schizophrenia and related disorders reviewed recent scientific evidence, and, where lacking, referred to clinical expertise to supply a template for raising the standard of care. This paper builds on the guidelines and recommends how they might be used to improve outcomes. Methods: The guidelines call for evidence-based mental health policies, inclusive of mobilising affected families, communities and the public in support of policies that ensure better care and protect the wellbeing of people with severe mental disorders. The process of preparing the guidelines highlighted the limits of our scientific understanding of schizophrenia and shortcomings in the care currently provided. Results: Writing the guidelines evinced the need for a culture of measuring outcomes and response to treatment, and harnessing such data to monitoring and optimising patient care. Conclusions: We recommend creation of a national case cohort for mental health research involving a collaborative network of clinical research centres, using the guidelines and generating scientific evidence for translation into clinical practice protocols that enable personalised treatment plans for patients and criteria for the performance of clinical services.

scholarly journals Is "me-search" a Kiss of Death in mental health research

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Devendorf
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Clinical Psychology ◽  
Graduate Program ◽  
Mental Health Research ◽  
Relevant Research ◽  
Scholarly Personal Narrative ◽  
Personal Connections ◽  
State Of Affairs

Applicants to graduate school in clinical psychology are warned against disclosing something in their application that could be the “kiss of death,” information that by itself causes admissions committees to reject otherwise strong applicants. Specifically, several renowned authorities warn applicants against disclosing a lived experience with, or close connection to, psychopathology. This state of affairs seems counterintuitive. At least some people who pursue research in clinical psychology do so, in part, because they have a lived experience with mental illness. This pursuit is termed “self-relevant” research, which is also known by the pejorative label, “me-search.” Mental health professionals with lived experience are sometimes referred to as “prosumers.” There are anecdotal accounts of stigma toward self-relevant research in clinical psychology, but despite the important professional stakes at-hand (e.g., gaining admissions into a graduate program), we lack systematic documentation of such experiences. To fill this research gap, I use a Scholarly Personal Narrative to facilitate a scholarly conversation about this topic. I reflect upon my own experiences with stigma for when I, a depression researcher, shared my personal connections to depression in my family. This narrative calls for inquiry on self-relevant research and questions biases against this pursuit, for example, the assumption that self-relevant research hinders objectivity. Noting exemplars of people conducting self-relevant research in clinical psychology (e.g., Marsha Linehan), encouraging a more robust practice of self-relevant research may help combat psychopathology stigma.

scholarly journals Back to Basics: The Importance of Measurement Characteristics in Biological Psychiatry

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Moriarity ◽  
Lauren B Alloy
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Temporal Stability ◽  
Mental Health Research ◽  
Biological Psychiatry ◽  
National Institutes Of Health ◽  
Effect Sizes ◽  
Measurement Properties ◽  
Biological Variables ◽  
Temporal Specificity ◽  
Study Designs

Biological psychiatry is a major funding priority for organizations that fund mental health research (e.g., National Institutes of Health). Despite this, some have argued that the field has fallen short of its considerable promise to meaningfully impact the classification, diagnosis, and treatment of psychopathology. This may be attributable in part to a paucity of research about key measurement properties (“physiometrics”) of biological variables as they are commonly used in biological psychiatry research. Specifically, study designs informed by physiometrics are more likely to be replicable, avoid measurement concerns that drive down effect sizes, and maximize efficiency in terms of time, money, and the number of analyses conducted. This review describes four key physiometrics (dimensionality, internal consistency, temporal stability, and temporal specificity), illustrates how lack of understanding about these characteristics imposes meaningful limitations on research, and reviews examples of physiometric studies featuring a variety of popular biological variables to illustrate how this research can be done and substantive conclusions about the variables of interest.

Standards and Guidelines for the Development of Diagnostic Nomenclatures and Alternatives in Mental Health Research and Practice

2018 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 401-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah R. Kamens ◽  
Lisa Cosgrove ◽  
Shannon M. Peters ◽  
Nev Jones ◽  
Elizabeth Flanagan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Mental Health Research ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Alternative Systems ◽  
Standards And Guidelines

Diagnostic nomenclatures have been central to mental health research and practice since the turn of the 20th century. In recent years, an increasing number of mental health professionals have proposed that a paradigm shift in diagnosis is inevitable. The Standards and Guidelines for the Development of Diagnostic Nomenclatures and Alternatives in Mental Health Research and Practice are intended to serve as a reference for the development of scientifically sound and ethically principled diagnostic nomenclatures and descriptive alternatives. The Standards and Guidelines are divided into four sections that address the purposes; development; type, content, and structure; and scientific grounding of nomenclatures and alternative systems. They are intended to represent best practice in the classification and description of emotional distress for multidisciplinary mental health professionals.

scholarly journals Why is "me-search" a Kiss of Death in mental health research

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Devendorf
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Clinical Psychology ◽  
Graduate Program ◽  
Mental Health Research ◽  
Relevant Research ◽  
Scholarly Personal Narrative ◽  
Personal Connections ◽  
State Of Affairs

Applicants to graduate school in clinical psychology are warned against disclosing something in their application that could be the “kiss of death,” information that by itself causes admissions committees to reject otherwise strong applicants. Specifically, several renowned authorities warn applicants against disclosing a lived experience with, or close connection to, psychopathology. This state of affairs seems counterintuitive. At least some people who pursue research in clinical psychology do so, in part, because they have a lived experience with mental illness. This pursuit is termed “self-relevant” research, which is also known by the pejorative label, “me-search.” Mental health professionals with lived experience are sometimes referred to as “prosumers.” There are anecdotal accounts of stigma toward self-relevant research in clinical psychology, but despite the important professional stakes at-hand (e.g., gaining admissions into a graduate program), we lack systematic documentation of such experiences. To fill this research gap, I use a Scholarly Personal Narrative to facilitate a scholarly conversation about this topic. I reflect upon my own experiences with stigma for when I, a depression researcher, shared my personal connections to depression in my family. This narrative calls for inquiry on self-relevant research and questions biases against this pursuit, for example, the assumption that self-relevant research hinders objectivity. Noting exemplars of people conducting self-relevant research in clinical psychology (e.g., Marsha Linehan), encouraging a more robust practice of self-relevant research may help combat psychopathology stigma.

scholarly journals "Voluntarily, knowingly, and intelligently":

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 6
Author(s):  
Jan Nadine DeFehr
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Mental Health Promotion ◽  
Mental Health Information ◽  
Critical Scholarship ◽  
Mental Health Awareness ◽  
Intellectual Integrity

Educators are part of in-school discussions about student mental health. At times, teachers may suggest that students consult with mental health professionals. Informed by mental health promotion resources, educator referrals to mental health professionals may lack discussion of critical mental health information. Mental health promotion materials do not acknowledge the extensive scholarly critique of mental health premises and practices. Much of this critique is produced within psychiatry, the disciplinary base of mental health. Critical scholarship discusses profound flaws, misinformation, and potential for harm within conventional mental health. Important critical mental health topics include scientific evidence, psychiatric drugs, and psychiatric diagnosis. Access to both critical and conventional mental health scholarship is necessary for students and parents to provide informed consent to mental health intervention. Some interventions commonly take place in the first meeting and therefore, students and parents need access to critical information prior to their first meeting with a mental health professional. Forming a critical mental health primer for teachers, this article goes beyond promotion of critical mental health awareness to call for institutional divestment from mental health premises and practices that cause harm and lack scientific, ethical, and intellectual integrity.  

scholarly journals The current state of mental healthcare in Bangladesh: part 2 – setting priorities

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
M. Tasdik Hasan ◽  
Tasnim Anwar ◽  
Enryka Christopher ◽  
Sahadat Hossain ◽  
Md Mahbub Hossain ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Mental Healthcare ◽  
Public Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Research ◽  
Financial Resources ◽  
Current State ◽  
Mental Health Facilities

This is the second of a two-part profile on mental healthcare in Bangladesh. It describes the state of mental health research in the country and presents a set of priorities for addressing improvements to the fundamental gaps in mental healthcare highlighted in part 1. Focus on building infrastructure for public mental health facilities, training skilled mental health professionals, adequate distribution of financial resources and addressing stigma are all priorities that will contribute to significantly improving mental healthcare in Bangladesh.

scholarly journals Situating Psychotheraphy with Tribal Peoples in a Sovereignty Paradigm

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 25-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Consuelo E. Cavalieri
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Alaska Native ◽  
Historical Trauma ◽  
Mental Health Research ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Value Systems ◽  
Unresolved Grief ◽  
Tribal Communities ◽  
Trauma Response

American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) nations have experienced profound disruptions to their lifeworlds as a result of ongoing colonialism. With striking regularity, these disruptions have violated Tribal sovereignty, impacting Tribal capacities for self-determination. The ensuing distress within Tribal communities has been marked by the intergenerational transmission of colonial traumas and losses that have been conceptualized as historical trauma, historical trauma response, historical unresolved grief, and colonial trauma response. For mental health professionals to de-colonize their work with Tribal peoples, it is necessary to imbue mental health research and practice with a sovereignty perspective that supports Tribal nations’ rights to self-determination. In a sovereignty-based paradigm, psychotherapy and research would involve critically examining colonial assumptions currently enacted in western research and psychotherapy approaches and a search for therapeutic approaches that nurture each Tribal people’s self-determined relational, knowledge, and value systems.

Occupation or Therapy? The Attitudes of Mental Health Professionals

1996 ◽  
Vol 59 (7) ◽  
pp. 319-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daljeet Kaur ◽  
Martin Seager ◽  
Martin Orrell
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Occupational Therapy ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Occupational Therapists ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Health Staff ◽  
Mental Health Staff ◽  
Therapeutic Activities ◽  
Positive Light

A questionnaire study of mental health staff on a psychiatric unit investigated their views about occupational therapy. The study evaluated the attitudes to the role of the occupational therapist, the referral and assessment process, the importance of therapeutic activities, and communication and feedback between occupational therapists and other disciplines. Sixty-four out of 89 staff responded (72%). Most respondents thought that occupational therapy should start within a week of admission, even though many referrals took much longer than this to arrive. There was some confusion over who was responsible for getting the patient to attend occupational therapy. Although occupational therapy was felt to increase people's confidence, some staff suggested that patients should not attend until they had gained confidence. There was uncertainty about who should decide on a patient's suitability for occupational therapy. In addition, there was a blurring of rotes between occupational therapists and other disciplines. Many staff were well able to recognise the main functions of occupational therapy. However, they were not confident about this and did not fully apply this knowledge in their clinical practice. Occupational therapists were generally seen in a positive light. This study emphasises the importance of better communication between occupational therapists and the other professions and, in particular, the need to raise the profile of occupational therapy within local teaching programmes.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document