Hyman, S.E. & Nestler, E.J. (1996). Initiation & adaptation: a paradigm for understanding psychotropic drug action, American Journal of Psychiatry, 153(2), 151-162.

Explains how psychopharmacological drugs push serotonin and dopaminergic systems beyond bounds of normal homeostasis to create a 'chemical imbalance', thus causing a disorder to give therapeutic effects.  The compenstapry adaptation of the synapse then leads to a withdrawal syndrome that can be worse than the original psychological disturbance. A necessary read for anyone working with clients taking psychopharmacueticals, and those prescribing them.

Report: Psychologists in Focus

Health Workforce Australia, March 2014

https://www.hwa.gov.au/our-work/australia%E2%80%99s-health-workforce-series/selected-occupations-focus

Book Reviews

Teyber, E. (2005:2010). Interpersonal Process in Therapy: An Integrative Approach. Brooks Cole.

http://www.amazon.com/Interpersonal-Process-Therapy-Integrative-Model/dp/0534515649/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1386481047&sr=8-4&keywords=Interpersonal+Process+Approach

A seminal book for the budding intergrative therapist.  Teyber demonstrates the process of integrating CBT and family systems approaches with psychodynamic psychotherapy in a simple, easy to understand language. The approach adds the necessary depth in therapeutic formulation and practice to move between these approaches during the session, to benefit the client in the here and now.  Teyber utilises object-relations and cognitive theories to focus on the therapist's experience of the client in session, and emotional reactions to the client, to alert the therapist to past relational re-enactments and patterns of reacting in the clients life, but also in the therapists life and within the therapeutic relationship itself.  It encourages moving beyond simpke language and thinking techniques to use the relationship itself as the main therapeutic intervention, while reserving specific techniques for timely application.  The Interpersonal Process Approach fits the therapy to the client, rather than fitting the client to one therapeutic modality. Dr Phillip Stacey.

Paper Reviews

Wright, A.G.C. et al. (2013).  The structure of psychopathology: Toward an expanded quantitative empirical model, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 122(1): 281-294.

Wright and colleagues re-evaluate data from the Australian National Mental Health Survey to explore the structure of psychological disorders and whether they fit the DSM theory using the latest structural; modelling techniques.  They had responses from over 8,000 participants. They found 3 higher-order classes of disorders that do not support DSM, but does sseem to support the work of Achenbach with children: internalising, externalising and psychotic disorders. Internalising disorders include Distress, which is made up of Depression, Mania and GAD, Fear, made up of Panic, Social Anxiety and Agoraphobia, and  OCD made up Obsessions and Compulsions.  Externalising Disorders are made up of Alcohol and Drug Use disorders.  Psychosis is made up of particularly severe experiences.  Very interesting was the finding that these disorder classes were continuously distributed in the population, contesting the DSM model that suggests that people either have or do not have a mental illness based on a checklist count of symptoms.  Rather we all have more or less of these disorder classes. Dr Phillip Stacey

Crawford, J, et al. (2011). Percentile norms and accompanying interval estimates from an Australian general adult population sample for self-report mood scales (BAI, BDI, CRSD, CES-D, DASS, DASS-21, STAXI-X, STAI=Y, SRDS, and SRAS), Australian Psychologist, 46, 3-14.

Crawford and colleagues provide updated local normative data for some of the most widely used measures in research and clinical practice in this country.  Sample sizes exceed 400 across the paper, and exceed 700 in many cases.  The authors provide a much needed and welcome update to the psychology fraternity. Dr Phillip Stacey

Garrett, M. & Turkington, D. (2011). CBT for psychosis in a psychoanalytic frame, Psychosis, 3(1), 2-13. 

I've been fortunate to attend one of Doug Turkington's workshops, and despite his thick Scottish accdent, I was enthralled by his deep understanding of the psychology of severe mental illness.  The authors explain how psychosis might be approached using a timeline of psychotherapy interventions.  This begins with relieving immediate distress and reducing fear, establishing a trusting relationship and normalising the experinnes, then applying CBT interventions, before exploring deeper psychodynamic meaning in the psychotic experience and what lead up to the distressing psychotic break.  This timeline approach seems useful for all classes of psychological disorder, and particularly those that include aspects of personality. An enlightening read and a worthwhile workshop to attend if you get the chance.  Dr Phillip Stacey

Babyak, M. et al. (2000). Exercise treatment for depression: Maintainence of therapuetic benefit at 10 months, Psychsomatic Medicine, 62: 633-638.

Famous paper demonstrates that aerobic exercise alone was effective in reducing depressive symptoms, to non-clinical level, and as effective as an SSRI alone, or an SSRI in conjunction with exercise. However, at 10 months the exercise alone group maintained outcomes, whereas the SSRI alone and SSRI in conjunction with exercise did not maintain benefits. This suugests that long-term use of SSRIs may interfere with therapeutic effectiveness of physical exercise (i.e. behavioural activation) and contibute to long-term depression. Dr Phillip Stacey

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