The impact of poor behaviour in schools can have wide-ranging detrimental affects on learning, wellbeing and social development. School-Wide Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS or PBIS), originally created by Horner and Sugai (2006), is a whole-school behaviour intervention program. It has been widely implemented in more than 16,000 schools across the United States, with [read the full story…]
In my last blog I emphasised the importance of addressing recovery expectations during treatment sessions with individuals with low back pain (LBP) and highlighted a simple screening instrument. However, the question remains, if a person has ‘low scoring’ recovery expectations how can we go about helping them? With that question in mind, I was delighted [read the full story…]
NHS Evidence have published an evidence update on generalised anxiety disorder in adults. Evidence updates are summaries of selected high quality evidence that has appeared since the relevant guideline was published, in this case NICE clinical guideline 113 ‘Generalised anxiety disorder and panic disorder (with or without agoraphobia) in adults: management in primary, secondary and community care’ [read the full story…]
The prevalence of depression goes up sharply in mid-adolescence and it’s estimated that by age 19 up to 20% of people will have suffered from at least one episode of clinical depression. So it makes sense that prevention programmes should be targeted at young people in schools, and indeed, published research has shown that classroom-based [read the full story…]
Postnatal (or postpartum) depression is moderate to severe depression that affects women just after they have given birth. It’s a relatively common illness, affecting 7-15% of childbearing women. Suffering from depression in the first few weeks of motherhood can have a significant impact, not just on the health of the mother, but also on her [read the full story…]
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is a group training approach that aims to prevent relapse and recurrence of depression. It combines mindfulness techniques with cognitive therapy and research shows that it is effective at reducing depressive symptoms as well as preventing relapse. The NICE depression guideline recommends that MBCT is offered to people who have experienced [read the full story…]
Women who experience intimate partner abuse (IPA) often suffer from mental health problems as a result. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and fear of further attacks are all common and understandable responses. Despite this, there are not many longitudinal studies that follow a group of women over a period of time and assess what interventions [read the full story…]
In these times of austerity, there is a lot of interest in computerised cognitive behavioural therapy (cCBT) as a treatment for people with depression and anxiety. It is hoped that this cheap and easy to deliver intervention can help to reduce the long waiting lists for face-to-face talking treatments. I’ve regularly blogged about cCBT over [read the full story…]
Early intervention services for psychosis are aimed at people aged 14-35 who are experiencing a first episode of psychosis or at risk of doing so. The teams that work in this area usually include psychiatrists, psychologists, community psychiatric nurses, social workers and support workers. The NICE schizophrenia guideline recommends that early intervention services are offered [read the full story…]
Regular close contact with specially trained staff is generally regarded as the best course of treatment for someone who has recently attempted to kill themselves, in order to prevent a repeat suicide attempt. Of course it can be difficult to engage with this group of patients after-treatment, but recent research suggests that assertive and motivational [read the full story…]
