Keith Laws

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Keith Laws is Professor of Cognitive Neuropsychology in the School of Life and Medical Sciences at the University of Hertfordshire. He completed a PhD at the Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge and is the author of over 100 papers and a recent book entitled 'Category-Specificity: Evidence for Modularity of Mind'. He is a Chartered Psychologist, an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Member of the Institute of Learning and Teaching and various academic organisations including the British Neuropsychological Society, British Neuropsychiatric Association, and the Experimental Psychology Society.

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The Trial: pharmacotherapy versus psychotherapy for schizophrenia – how do trials compare?

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Keith Laws looks at a systematic review of patient and study characteristics, which asks: are randomised controlled trials on pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy for positive symptoms of schizophrenia comparable?

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Third wave CBT for psychosis: how reliable is current evidence?

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Keith Laws explores a recent meta-analysis of third wave CBT for psychosis, which suggests we need better evidence about the safety and efficacy of mindfulness, acceptance-based therapy, compassion-focused therapy and other third wave approaches.

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CBTp changes the brain’s wiring? Extraordinary claims, ordinary evidence

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Keith Laws and Samei Huda are not impressed by a study on brain connectivity changes following CBT for psychosis, which received a significant amount of press coverage when it was published back in January.

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The harms of psychotherapy: are BME and LGBT communities more at risk?

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Keith Laws and Samei Huda mull over a recent national survey looking at patients experiences of the harms of psychotherapy. The study reports that both black and minority ethnic people and lesbian, gay and bisexual people reported higher rates of long-lasting negative effects of psychotherapy.

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Understanding Psychosis and Schizophrenia: a critique by Laws, Langford and Huda

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Keith Laws, Alex Langford and Samei Huda provide a critique of the British Psychological Society Division of Clinical Psychology report published today.

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Psychotherapy trials should report the side effects of treatment

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If a treatment is powerful enough to have a good effect, then it’s powerful enough to have a bad effect. This is well recognised when it comes to medication, with strict regulations in place to ensure adverse outcomes are monitored and measured. By contrast, psychotherapy has never been as readily associated with the potential to [read the full story…]