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As a psychology Masters student at the time of writing with a massive interest in clinical psychology, I really like looking into therapies. This is even more true when I’m undergoing therapy and counselling for trauma, so when I found out my rape counselling was based on the Three-Stage Recovery Model by Judith Herman, I wanted to learn more. Granted, it took me 9 weeks to finally get round to researching the model in-depth but better late than never. Therefore, in this clinical psychology podcast episode, you’ll learn what are the three stages included in this recovery model, why are they useful and how does the model work to treat trauma. If you enjoy learning about mental health, clinical trauma work and psychotherapy then this is a brilliant podcast episode for you. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Healing As A Survivor: A Personal and Clinical Psychology Guide to Healing From Sexual Violence.  Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. What Is The Three-Stage Recovery Model By Judith Herman? The more I read about trauma work and the psychological models designed to explain how to treat trauma, the more I realise how important American psychiatrist Judith Herman’s recovery model actually is. This model forms the foundation of a lot of psychotherapies as well as it is the basis of the specialist rape counselling that I underwent between September and December 2024. I technically have one session left at the time of writing but we’ve done all the therapeutic work. Personally, whilst I’ll explain this model in a moment, as a psychology student, podcaster and writer, I find this model immensely useful. Since it explains how to deal with the trauma responses and gradually helps a client to return to a clinically normal life where they can control their actions, do the activities they want to do and they can enjoy life again. As a client with sexual trauma, I found this model even more useful. It isn’t a linear model which bugged me and my autistic brain, but it is very helpful. It allowed me to basically get rid of my Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, decrease my triggers dramatically and I can actually do things again with my life. For example, last week, I went out with a new friend one-on-one for the first time since my rape. That was amazing and so major for me because before the very notion of spending one-on-one time with anyone but my best friend would cause me to have a mental health crisis. Ultimately, the three stages of the recovery model are: ·       Safety and Stabilisation ·       Remembrance and Mourning ·       Reconnection and Integration During each of these stages, the therapist works with the client to create an environment where the client can safely process what happened to them without any sense of urgency. This helps to ensure the recovery is sustainable as well as empowering. What Is the Safety and Stabilisation Stage? The first stage of the recovery model is the “Safety and Stabilisation” stage and when I’ve looked into trauma work in a psychotherapy context I’ve always heard rumours about stabilisation work, but it is only through my counselling that I was able to see what that looks like. Therefore, stabilisation work is the very bedrock and foundation of all the therapy work that happens afterwards. The client absolutely needs to feel physically and emotionally safe before they can ever hope to engage with their trauma. There is a real-world caveat here but I’ll address it later. In addition, a large focus for the therapist during stabilisation work is to build a rapport and ensure that clients feel comfortable with them. I always say how as therapists we are asking clients to reveal their own personal, dark moments to us, people who are effectively strangers. That takes a lot of courage and a lot of trust, so we need to earn that trust quickly and effectively. One technique of helping clients feel comfortable is that trauma-informed counsellors must be prepared to disclose small amounts of personal information about themselves if the client asks a question. This is useful in building trust. Especially, as there is a relationship between the client and therapist called the therapeutic alliance, and if I adopt a marketing term “we buy from people we know, like and trust”. We can adapt this idea to psychology because “we like working with therapists, we know, like and trust”. Therefore, having a therapist open up to us about themselves helps us to know them so we can hopefully like them and trust them after a while too. Judith Herman herself uses the comparison that clients like to know who’s “holding the rope” during their therapy sessions so they can develop their sense of safety. Just like how a climber likes to know who’s holding their rope (safety line) during a climbing challenge. Moreover, stabilisation work involves reducing chaos and crisis in a client’s life so this might involve helping them to create a sense or environment of normalcy within the therapeutic environment. This helps the client to feel secure enough to explore their trauma. Especially, because trauma survivors typically feel unsafe internally (within themselves) as well as externally (in the physical world). This is why trauma-informed therapists work with clients to understand the difference between their internal and external realities and help them to learn techniques to manage hyperarousal and other trauma responses. In another podcast episode, you’ll learn about Window of Tolerance for this reason. On the whole, stabilisation work focuses on stabilisation techniques like psychoeducation, self-regulation and boundary-setting strategies. As well as therapists don’t force disclosures or force progress too quickly because clients need to be able to progress their trauma at their own speed. Also, therapists help clients during stabilisation work to reduce chaos and crisis in their life, create a safe space and give the clients tools to help them separate their internal and external realities. Something that is highly useful for dealing with flashbacks and other trauma responses. What Is The Remembrance and Mourning Stage? The second stage of Herman’s recovery model is the Remembrance and Mourning stage that focuses on reconstructing the trauma through remembrance and then mourning. Unfortunately, clients can experience this stage as a timeless descent with no clear endpoint. Interestingly enough, I actually experienced this sense and it was painful because it felt like I was processing things, remembering a lot of awful details about my rape but I didn’t know what I was working towards. I didn’t even know where the counselling was heading towards and I felt confused that I wasn’t expressively telling her what happened during my rape. Additionally, during this second stage, it isn’t unusual for clients to experience grief over various losses in their lives. For example, their loss of innocence, some failed relationships and even loss of family support or friends. This is important to remember when we consider that a lot of survivors, even more so for survivors abused within families, are often rejected or are faced with disbelief when they disclose their trauma. This leads clients to feel isolated as trauma can sever family ties. This connects to the topic of Rape Grief that I talk about in another episode. Moving onto the mourning aspect of this stage, I was no exception to this issue, a lot of clients mourn over the loss of years (or months) that their trauma has controlled their life. Clients feel like the trauma has robbed them of time that could have been spent in healthy relationships, personal growth and fulfilling careers. This is why it’s important that therapists support clients with empathy and without judgment so the client isn’t rushed. Personally, when it came to my childhood trauma, I was angry for so long that I wasn’t able to form healthy friendships, relationships, get a boyfriend, kiss and enjoy so many normal things that normal teenagers are allowed to do. I mourned that loss for so, so long. Equally, when it came to my sexual trauma, I mourned for months that I was going through my PTSD, intense social anxiety, depression and all my other trauma responses. I mourned for the lost friendships, the lost ability to do fun things and I mourned for the impact it had/ has (still present tenses to be fair) on my writing, podcasting and everything else that I flat out love. During this second stage, the therapist’s main job is to help a client process these losses and provide a safe space for a client to recount their trauma without the pressure of time or any expectations. Clarity, courage and trust are all needed for therapists and clients throughout this stage. What is The Reconnection and Integration Stage of The Recovery Model? In the final stage of the model, therapists work with clients to help them work towards reconnecting with their world as well as integrating their trauma into a new sense of self. For example, during this stage, clients regain trust in their relationships because they’ve learnt how to extend their trust and when it’s best not to extend trust to someone. As well as this stage involves something called “reparenting”. I first came across this term in my counselling during August 2023 and this is a term that describes the therapist’s role in modelling healthy boundaries as well as relationships. When it comes to trauma survivors, this can include relearning what are, how to have and how to recognise healthy sexual relationships. Something that myself and a lot of different survivors find immensely difficult, because this “reparenting” is often the first time that someone has spoken to us about what on Earth healthy relationships look like. In addition, a major part of reconnection during this stage is the survivor developing and maintaining their ability to form and sustain healthy relationships. This doesn’t only mean sexual relationships, but it can include friendships and familial relationships too. I talk a lot about these aspects of my trauma recovery in my book Healing As A Survivor . Also, for survivors of sexual abuse and sexual violence, a lot of survivors have to rediscover their sexual identity and sexual preferences, which is immensely challenging, because this only adds to the struggle that survivors have around their sense of self. Furthermore, you tend to be able to see progress in this stage of trauma recovery in a few different ways. For instance, as clients progress, they can enjoy intimacy or new experiences without associating it with their abuser or feeling like they need to be protected from their abuser. And the reason why these are amazing, wonderful moments for survivors is because they show the client is growing in their autonomy and ability to live with the fear and trauma responses that have ruled their life for so long. I know for me, being able to go out with a newish friend one-on-one was an amazing experience, because for the past 7 months that would have been flat out impossible. It would have caused me to have a panic attack, a breakdown and I would have had constant trauma responses. That had happened a good few times. However, this is a difficult and scary stage of trauma recovery because it’s an immensely weird and disorienting feeling to know that you don’t need to be protected from your attacker. Also, it is so disorienting to feel safe secure to experience life and pleasure without trauma responses. I talk more about this in my healing book, but I found it weird because I had been having severe PTSD for 7 months and then it wasn’t. It was weird to experience such an extreme change. Clinical Psychology Conclusion As much as I love the trauma recovery model because I have experienced it in the real world and I know how it can transform lives for the better, it isn’t the best applied psychological model. Since the model itself proposes that these stages are very linear, but in reality, you tend to work through all these stages at the same time to different extents. When I was talking to my counsellor about this model, she explained how we work a lot on Stage 1 at the beginning but during stabilization work, you are processing the trauma too, and doing a little integration work too. Whereas towards the end of the therapy, you’re working more on integration work and less on processing trauma and stabilisation work, but those stages are still present too. Ultimately, the Three-Stage Recovery Model is a humane and thorough model that provides a helpful framework for trauma therapy. It focuses on client safety and respecting client autonomy during the healing process because the model stresses it is the client that controls their pace, not the therapist. Then the therapist facilitates the client’s recovery by respecting the complex nature of trauma and provides the client with a safe space. As well as therapists and clients need to understand what can be achieved in the limited number of sessions that a mental health service provides so it’s easier to maintain realistic therapeutic goals. Yet we need to remember as aspiring and qualified psychologists that trauma work is not easier on us . I know I always talk about how important focusing on our clients are but honestly, we are so important too. We cannot help people if we don’t look after ourselves and if our mental health isn’t as good as it could be. Therefore, clinical supervision and self-care are critical for therapists because trauma work takes an emotional toll on us so we need to practice good self-care and we need to balance what our clients need with our capacity. As well as trauma-informed therapists should receive ongoing professional support so regular discussions in supervision and peer consultations can be useful in maintaining their effectiveness and well-being. Finally, a supportive work environment is important too so therapists and clients can work in a safe environment and have the time needed for meaningful, sustained healing. That will ultimately change our client’s life for the better.     I really hope you enjoyed today’s forensic psychology podcast episode. If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Healing As A Survivor: A Personal and Clinical Psychology Guide to Healing From Sexual Violence.  Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Patreon for exclusive access and rewards Have a great day. Clinical Psychology References and Further Reading Herman, J. L. (1998). Recovery from psychological trauma. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 52(S1), S98-S103. Herman, J. L. (2015). Trauma and recovery: The aftermath of violence--from domestic abuse to political terror. Hachette uK. Herman, J. L., & van der Kolk, B. A. (2020). Treating complex traumatic stress disorders in adults: Scientific foundations and therapeutic models. Guilford Publications. Mendelsohn, M., Herman, J. L., Schatzow, E., Coco, M., Kallivayalil, D., & Levitan, J. (2011). The trauma recovery group: A guide for practitioners. Guilford Press. Zaleski, K. L., Johnson, D. K., & Klein, J. T. (2016). Grounding Judith Herman’s trauma theory within interpersonal neuroscience and evidence-based practice modalities for trauma treatment. Smith College Studies in Social Work, 86(4), 377-393. I truly hope that you’ve enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon  page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/connorwhiteley  for a one-time bit of support.

Returning to The Psychology World Podcast this week is the brilliant Leanne Al-Mrayat. In this careers in psychology podcast episode, we talk about her experience as a psychology research assistant working in rare genetic disorders and behaviour. By the end of this psychology podcast episode, you’ll understand how to become a research assistant, what a typical day is like as a research assistant, tips for becoming one and so much more. If you have an interest in psychological research, careers in academia and becoming a researcher, you’ll love today’s episode. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by A Year In Psychology: A Psychology Student’s Guide to Placement Years, Working in Academia and More . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Who is Leanne Al-Mrayat? Leanne Al-Mrayat is a research assistant at the University of Cambridge researching brain and behaviour in rare genetic conditions. Prior to starting her role at Cambridge, she completed her Masters in Applied Pediatric Neuropsychology at University College London and her Bachelor’s in Psychology at the University of Kent.  Her research interests are in neurogenetics, neurodevelopment and mental health within different clinical groups, as well as understanding the link between behavioural and neuroimaging findings. In her free time she enjoys reading, exploring new coffee shops, and journaling. What Is It Like Being a Psychology Research Assistant? Connor: Brilliant. So you're also a research assistant, which is something else that I want to talk to you about. That sounds really impressive. So could you please tell us about that? Leanne: Yes. So I'm very fortunate. I am currently working as a research assistant, investigating neurodevelopment and the neuroscience behind rare genetic conditions. And I work at the University of Cambridge with a wonderful team here. And, basically, I get to meet a lot of wonderful individuals and just learn more about them and trying to better understand...because with rare genetic conditions, you really don't have a lot of understanding of what their behavioral abilities are going to be like, what their cognitive abilities are going to be like. So our project and our team is just basically trying to better understand and characterize all of these rare and not common genetic conditions. What's A Typical Day Like As A Research Assistant? Connor: Thank you. And what's a typical day for you as a research assistant? Leanne: It varies day to day, and I think it keeps things exciting. So most days, I'm definitely working on my PC, on an Excel sheet of some sort. If we're working on literature review, I'd be kind of preparing materials and sorting out some of the materials for literature reviews. Some days it'll be a lot of very client-heavy instance, where I'd be interacting with a lot of the families that reach out to us, kind of explaining a bit more about our project, what ways they can be involved in. And then days where we have data collection, I'd just be busy making sure that whatever neuroimaging method that we're using is prepared and ready, and that it's working, that basically the technology is working, and then just preparing to go, whether it's a home visit where I go visit the families or whether it's a visit at the unit. So I'd just be preparing for data collection sessions. So it really varies day after day. It depends on what project you have going on and what the schedule is looking like. What Types Of Neuroimaging Do Research Assistants Use? Connor: Okay, nice. So what sort of neuroimaging methods had you used? Because as you stated earlier, I did an EEG study, and I knew when something went wrong with that equipment, it was quite frustrating. Leanne: Of course. I think it's kind of the case. I do use EEG. We use MRI, MEG. Those are the three main ones that we use. Connor: Okay, wow. And, like, the MRI is something that I would love to use in the future. But I also know, though, that...so do you remember Andrew Martin from the university? Leanne: I do remember Andrew, yes. Connor: So recently, though, like, he bought some new...it's not quite fMRI, but it's like that sort of, like, technology. So it's sort of like an EEG sort of upper, but measures the amount of oxygenated activity in the brain, which is actually really exciting. And it does sound really cool. Leanne: That's similar to fMRI. Wow. Connor: Yeah. But it's a much smaller version. Smaller version. It's cheaper, but it does have a few more limitations, like you can't move around too much and data can actually be, like, interfered with similar to, like, EEG. But I think that it's really exciting about where this technology is actually going up because fMRI, it costs like half a million pounds. But as the technology gets smaller and easier, it makes more, like, affordable for universities and other researchers. Leanne: Of course, I think it's so amazing that this is now being introduced. Is this for the University of Kent that's being introduced that? Connor: Yes. Leanne: How exciting. I think it will really open up avenues for research at the uni. That would be so exciting. So props to Andrew for sorting that out because I must imagine there was a lot of paperwork that comes around with setting up a new kind of or novel method of neuroimaging. Yeah, I think it's definitely not the easiest thing of trying to get these neuroimaging studies set up. I think it's a lot of work that goes and a lot of planning and prep. But I think the data that we get out of this is really, really valuable. And it really tells us a lot about the human brain, which is just such a fascinating topic, in my opinion. Connor: Definitely. And so what's your favorite project at the moment? Because I know that you mentioned that you are quite a few at running. Leanne: Yeah, I kind of work within different projects, not necessarily that...I love all of them. And I really do enjoy being involved in all of them. I can't really pinpoint one that I enjoy the most. I think I do like the planning beforehand. I like making sure that everything is checked off. Obviously, there's a bit of anxiety with that. But I like the planning and the kind of anticipation of we have a kind of data collection session going on. I think that's my most enjoyable part of all the projects I work on. Connor: Definitely. And I do agree because the data analysis part, that can just be quite long, quite painful. And even while I'm writing the ethics proposal, writing ethics, I don't mind, which I know gives me quite a lot of weird looks whenever I say that, but planning the data collection is fun. Leanne: I think it kind of gives you peace of mind for me. And it just feels like there's so many little different building blocks that I'm kind of adding together to make sure that everything runs smoothly, which I'm definitely one of the parts I enjoy the most. Yeah, I think each part of research is just enjoyable in its own way. I think data collection is enjoyable in its own way. Data analysis, when you get findings and trying to linking them to theories that are existing or trying to basically merge different theories is also as exciting just in different ways. How Do You Become A Research Assistant? Connor: True. So how did you become a research assistant? Because I know there's lots of university students who would love to become one. Leanne: I think it was definitely a matter of kind of putting myself out there asking around. So I asked my personal supervisor if this was at UCL, if she had any opportunities that she knew coming up. We were very fortunate with UCL that we had a range of lectures coming from all across the UK. So they weren't all just based at UCL, which meant that, you know, if any opportunities kind of emerged anywhere else...my personal tutor, if she found anything that was kind of relevant to me, she was very happy to share that with me. So she kindly shared one. This is after months of job hunting. She shared one, and she's like, "I think this would be a good fit for you. You have the people skills for it." And I was like, "Let's go. Let's apply. Why not?" Really didn't have any kind of expectations. Just went with the interview. The team is fantastic. And then I'm very fortunate that I did get the job. I think the things that I am happy that I did, and I think the things that I wish people... I think if I was younger, I kind of wish I told myself that maybe in the early stages of my uni life would be not to underestimate the value of the projects that you do at university. I think choosing the right project for your final year project, your master's thesis, or even for a module that is research more based, I think these definitely are stuff that you should be bringing and putting on your CV, especially if you're just graduating from university. I think I, at first, was very unsure whether this would be relevant experience, but it's actually some of my most meaningful experience and stuff that I talked about in my interviews. So I had in addition to obviously the amazing project that I was working with on Amir, I also, my last year, did a project at the University of Kent. I did a project that looked at researching individuals with intellectual disability. And I had this opportunity of carrying out an interview with individuals that had intellectual disability. And that was something that I talked to about, and it really helped me develop my skills in interviewing and data collection. And, obviously, that was done as a university student. I think also it's important to do things outside or extracurriculars outside of university that just show your passion towards the field that you're in, A, and B, kind of develop your skills, but not from an academic perspective, but more so just from other equally important skills to have in the work job. So I was working as a part-time an early years' practitioner. So I was working at a nursery part-time, and in that job, it just meant I'm having to kind of manage it in the midst of my master's commitments. But also I was working with kids, interacting with kids all day. I, basically, kind of built that resilience of kind of still staying calm when things kind of go out of control, because, you know, you're working with kids, nothing's always going to be running very smoothly all the time. So I think these are all skills and things I added on my CV that really helped me kind of get to where I am and get the job that I have. Connor: Well, thank you. That's really useful because I never thought about putting my research experience on my CV. But similar to you, I had an email last week from my master's supervisor, and she said, "Oh, well,  I've actually got this PhD opportunity through a friend of mine. If you send her your CV, she might want to like talk at you." So for the first time ever, I had to put my research experience on it. When I was going through like my five different studies, because I did a bunch of extra curriculum ones during my master's, I was like, "Oh, wow, I've actually learned quite a lot of skills." So I really am going to actually keep doing that in the future. Leanne: Of course. Connor: Because it does show other skills. That's brilliant and useful. Leanne: Of course. And I think if anyone's interested in pursuing academia further, it's definitely the things you did. Just never underestimate the experience that you had at university because university, in its essence, is trying to get you ready for real life jobs and life outside of full-time academia. So it's very important to kind of really think wisely about the type of project that you want to do and what you want to get out of those in terms of skills, but also to make sure that you include that. So it could genuinely be just under your time at the University of Kent or whatever university, just kind of list out these are some of the projects I was involved in. I sometimes would do that. If it's not necessarily a very research intensive job, I would just kind of list it out briefly. But if it was a research intensive job, I tried to cater my CV a bit more for that. So I think that's another thing. Just catering your CV to the role that you're applying to makes a world of difference. Connor: And that's something I can't do. I'm quite horrifically bad at times, though. Leanne: It's okay. We live and we learn. Connor: Yeah, because when you're applying to so many jobs... Because let's face it, getting a job after graduation is really hard though. But sometimes you just scattergun, even though I know it's a lot better to just take a moment, customize it a little more than you might normally do. And then you might be a bit more successful. But just to mention a bit more of a applied at clinical psychology aspect, but if you're going for either a assistant, like a quality role, that is still a research role. So even though we're mainly talking about academia here, it is important to actually always, always talk about your research experience. Leanne: Of course, definitely. I think it still is as relevant and as important for assistant psychologist positions to have that experience of research and to mention it. And I think even if it's not necessarily talking about research skills, you're talking about your time management skills, being able to manage an intensive project alongside your other university commitments is also... I think you just want to show.... So it's very nice to list out the skills that you have, but showing how you've developed these skills is important, I think. How Can You Get Involved In Rare Genetic Disorders Research? Connor: True. And the question that just popped in to my head is that, so you're researching rare genetic disorders. In case a listener has a rare genetic disorder or actually has a family member or friend, is there any way that they can get involved in your study or not? Leanne: It will depend because I think we kind of focus on different genetic groups every once in a while. Definitely worth checking out the Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit website. On there, we'd be listed as one of the projects, and they can just kind of reach out and we'll see if they are eligible or not. But, yes, we'd love to kind of have more people included. So please feel free to check out the website, and they can always contact me via LinkedIn if need be. What Goals for the Future Do Research Assistants Have? Connor: Okay, brilliant. So I will return to that in a moment. What are your goals for the future? Leanne: I think, for now, just enjoying where I'm at with this role. It's a very wonderful job, and I'm very, very much enjoying it. I think in the future, I don't necessarily have a very set-in-stone idea of what I want to do, but I definitely want to improve or develop my clinical skills a bit more. Moving forward, I think I want to explore a bit of a clinical career, but I also still want to be involved in academia to some extent. I think I'm just kind of trying to figure out where I'm going to move forward. But I think academia and research is something I want to continue and pursue in the future. Connor: Okay, nice. And that's something that I often say to people is that even if you want to become a clinical psychologist, which is a tough long road, and just make sure that you actually enjoy where you are at the moment. And just be mindful and just be present at the moment because it is fun, and I don't know what to say really, except take a moment and enjoy life because it's short, sadly. Leanne: Yes, it is. And I think you'll get to that stage where you are a clinical psychologist one way or the other if that's the role destined for you. So might as well enjoy where you're at right now and make the most out of it because these are all experiences that you're building up, and they're shaping you to be the clinical psychologist that you're destined to be. I think that's another thing, or whatever it is that you're doing in the future, all the experiences that you are experiencing now are shaping you to that future you, whatever it is and whatever career it kind of goes to. I think that's another important thing to keep in mind, and I try to keep it in my mind as well. Tips For Pursuing a Career in Pediatric Neuropsychology Connor: Brilliantly said. So before we wrap up and end actually, have you got any final tips for someone who wants to pursue a career in a pediatric neuropsychology or research? Leanne: In pediatric neuropsychology I think reading is something I highly recommend. Read up more on the topic, see if this is something that you find yourself passionate about, you find yourself that you can find an area that you'd want to be more involved in. I think this is a rapidly evolving field. There's a lot of new researches coming out, especially with the advancements that we see in neuroimaging. It's just it keeps getting more exciting. So I think it's definitely worth reading up and seeing where the field is at right now. I think the masters, for me, was a very, very right choice. I think it really helped solidify and deepen my understanding of pediatric neuropsychology and neuropsychology in more broader terms. I think if you have the capacity or you are interested in pursuing another year of education, masters is definitely one that I recommend, whether it's in pediatric neuropsychology or whatever other course, just because if you are coming from a background of psychology, I tend to find that it's quite broad so it's really nice to further specialize in something a bit more. Tips For Pursuing a Career in Psychological Research And in terms of research, I think just being as involved as you can during your undergrad in research projects. I know there's research experience schemes. I was involved in that. So that's essentially when you kind of help out with a different project going on at the university whether it's in data collection or analyses, and it really doesn't matter the level of involvement as long as you are involved in some way. And I think just never underestimate the experiences that you're getting at university in terms of research. They are going to be very useful for you in the future. Connor: Wonderfully said. So thank you for joining us today, Leanne, and if people will want to connect up with you and follow your work, then where could they come, find you online? Leanne: I will be on LinkedIn. I think that's the best place. I'm quite active on there. So, yeah, feel free to just tag me on LinkedIn, and if you have any questions or anything, I'm always up to chat. And, yeah, that's where you'll find me. Connor: Thank you, Leanne, and best of luck with your psychology journey for the future. Leanne: Thank you so much. You too.     I really hope you enjoyed today’s clinical psychology  podcast episode. If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET A Year In Psychology: A Psychology Student’s Guide to Placement Years, Working in Academia and More . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Patreon for exclusive access and rewards Have a great day. Careers In Psychology Further Reading Leong, F. T., & Austin, J. T. (Eds.). (2023). The psychology research handbook: A guide for graduate students and research assistants. SAGE publications. Pawlow, L. A., & Meinz, E. J. (2017). Characteristics of psychology students who serve as research assistants. College Student Journal, 51(1), 77-80. Blackford-Jones, B., & Adam, M. Becoming an Assistant Psychologist. Childers, J. B., & Phillips, K. A. (2019). Conducting publishable research from special populations: Studying children and non-human primates with undergraduate research assistants. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 1030. Breakwell, G. M., Barnett, J., & Wright, D. B. (2020). Research methods in psychology. Nguyen-Trung, K. (2025). ChatGPT in Thematic Analysis: Can AI become a research assistant in qualitative research?. Quality & Quantity, 1-34. I truly hope that you’ve enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/connorwhiteley  for a one-time bit of support.

For some people, horror movies are some of the most entertaining films out there. Over the decades, there have been massive, massive hit films like IT, Us and the Saw series. All of these twisted, terrifying horror films have captured our imaginations and utterly terrified us, and some people keep going back for more. However, this raises a lot of fascinating questions about human behaviour, why are we scared of horror movies, why do some people enjoy horror films but others do not and most importantly, what is the psychology of horror movies. By the end of this social psychology podcast episode, you’ll understand why do we find horror movies scary, why do some people find them scary but not others and so much more. If you enjoy learning about horror movies, media psychology and fear, then this will be a great episode for you. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Social Psychology: A Guide To Social and Cultural Psychology . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. What is Fear? I wanted to add in this little definition first of all so we’re all on the same page about fear, what it is and why the fear response is flat out critical. Therefore, the fear response is important because it allows us to protect ourselves against physical and emotional danger. Since it allows the body to prepare a fight-flight-freeze response to combat this danger. And if we didn’t feel fear or anxiety then we would regularly walk into dangerous situations and this increases our risk of death and a failure to pass on our genetic material. At least from an evolutionary point of view. What Is the Psychology of Horror Movies? Personally, I am not a fan of horror movies because they are not interesting to me. I was talking with my boyfriend yesterday and I said to him that the world is scary enough at times, why would I want to watch something scary in my relaxing time. Movies like IT, Psycho and a whole bunch of other horror movies I just don’t find enjoyable. However, a lot of people do enjoy horror movies, and if you enjoy them then more power to you. I am really glad that you find them relaxing, enjoyable and it is a form of entertainment you enjoy in your free time. I am just not one of them. In addition, research suggests that there are certain elements of horror movies that people find particularly scary and this helps us to understand who tends to avoid horror films and who enjoys them. Therefore, in the rest of the psychology podcast episode, you’ll learn what makes horror movies scary, who avoids them and who seeks out horror movies. How Does The Dark Make Horror Movies Scary? If you think about any horror movie, you’ll probably remember that a lot of it happens in the dark or at night. The reason for this is because humans have a fear of the dark and this is a factor that makes the movies scary. We typically develop a fear of the dark in our early childhood because of what the darkness could hide. To be able to defend or prepare our body against threats, we need to be able to see them, or at least detect them. It is a lot, lot harder to detect threats in the dark compared to the light, so we develop a fear of the dark as a response. This fear response is only increased by watching the horror movie in a dark cinema or in a dark living room. This is why I know quite a few people who only watch horror films with the lights on or during the day. In fact, I remember as a child, me and my mum were reading a Goosebumps book and it was a horror book. I was only small and my mum said we’re going to have to read this together in the daylight, so that shows we also have a vested interest in decreasing our fear response when possible by removing the fear that the dark brings us. Especially if you don’t like horror movies or scary entertainment. Personally, as a kid, I used to be terrified of the dark and I needed a night light. I would see shapes, I would be scared and I couldn’t sleep because I really didn’t like the dark. The dark was just terrifying as a kid and nowadays I really don’t mind it. How Does the Fear of Death Make Horror Movies Scary? We are all scared of death. It is a major psychological and existential fear that all of us have inside us. This is one of the reasons why horror movies always make sure to include people being killed or facing the very real possibility of death. There are a few exceptions but they are few and far between. It’s why if you think about the latest remake of the film IT, it opens with the scene of the little boy George getting his hand bitten off and then the kid dies and all we see as the viewer is the rainwater turning blood red. Personally, that is not my idea of entertainment and the IT film wasn’t bad, but after a while it just became more jump-scares than anything else. Instead of making use of other forms of fear which I’m rather grateful for. How Do Sudden Movements and Noise make Horror Movies Scary? I remember when I was watching the IT film with my best friend and another friend of ours at a sleepover, I was watching it then my best friend’s cat leapt up on the sofa at me. I jumped and screamed a lot more at that cat than the actual film itself. And this is why “jump scares” can be so effective in my experience, because sudden movements make humans very scared. This is because a loud noise, a sudden light or movement after a period of quiet creates a startle response and produces an adrenaline rush. It is this biological response that makes jump scares so effective and a main feature of horror movies. Personally, I would also add something that slightly relates to this is “someone just appearing”. For example, if you’re alone then you turn around and someone is suddenly there. That is another example of a jump scare that can terrify people, get the blood pumping and makes someone experience an adrenaline rush. This is something that I used to do a lot to my dad when I was growing up. I would go down into the garden, I would be very light-footed (I couldn’t be light-footed these days to save my life) and I would make him jump. I wouldn’t try to do it on purpose but he would jump and get scared. Those moments would make me die of laughter and make him almost have a heart attack. How Does Suspense Make Horror Movies Scary? Suspense makes the best horror movies, like one of the reasons why we know Alfred Hitchcock films so well and they are considered the best horror films ever, is because they’re so suspenseful. This makes horror movies scary because suspense creates an anticipation that something bad is going to happen. Typically, this is seen as unpredictable by the viewer and some of the most shocking horror films violate the audience’s expectations. For example, the killer is one that the audience least expects or the hero gets killed. Granted, I will add here as a writer, pulling that off successfully is very skilful and it can go wrong in a million different ways. Anyway, I love suspense in a way because you really can feel tense, uneasy and on the edge of your seat as the scene unfolds. You know something is going to happen, you know it’s not going to be good and because you care about the main characters and their team, you want them to be okay. This suspense is a direct threat to their safety so the suspense builds and builds and builds. Then the scary point happens and you feel utter fear. How Does Spooky Music Make Horror Movies Scary? Visual media is nothing without sound. For example, my favourite media of all time is Demonslayer. It is an amazing anime, an epic film and it is sensational. I encourage every single person to watch it. Yet it wouldn’t be anywhere near as good without the epic music that is so tense, so dramatic and so perfect for each scene that the music elevates the media to another level entirely. It doesn’t matter if it’s a sweet, positive scene, a heartbreaking death of a character or the victorious slaying of an upper rank demon. The show always nails the music so well. Horror movies do the same. Since horror movies need to make effective use of music to set the mood, as well as by intensifying the music, they can make a scene even more intense in terms of shock and suspense. For example, the most famous example might be the “showering scene” in Psycho because of the intense bursts of music that accompany the slashing knife. Equally, if you watch any of your favourite programmes and put them on mute. You’ll find the programme doesn’t have anywhere near the same emotional impact on you as it does with the music and other sounds that film makers, crew and other parts of production crew layer in expertly. How Does Dismemberment and Disfigurement Make Horror Movies Scary? A lot of horror movies make use disgustingly disfigured villains. For example, you never see an attractive zombie, as well as the Phantom of the Opera and Frankenstein’s monster are all disgusting creatures. This is because studies show in early child development, young children show a fear response to asymmetrical or disordered faces. It could be argued that because most people don’t have disfigured faces when a young child sees a disfigured face, they might perceive it as “abnormal, strange or even dangerous”, because if something did that to someone’s face, then the young child might want to avoid the same fate. Therefore, their fear response to seeing the disordered face might be their young bodies trying to prepare their fight-flight-freeze response to protect them. It's a possibility. Personally, when it comes to horror movies, I flat out hate anything to do with teeth and eyeballs. I cannot deal with scenes that involve those body parts in the slightest, and now because of my rape, there are a lot more horror scenes that I cannot watch. For example, yesterday, my boyfriend was recommending the film Alien to me because it is a brilliant horror film that he flat out loves. Yet the entire point of the Alien movie is an analogy for sexual violence and rape. I am not watching that. I lived through that. I don’t want to watch it for entertainment. Of course, I will admit that this fear response does have a negative real-world impact on individuals with facial disfigurements. I remember there was a debate around the time the James Bond film “No Time To Die” came out. People with facial disfigurements were arguing why were they always cast as the villain and why were people always made to feel scared of them. And to some extent, I can definitely understand this concern because it is flat out horrible to see myths, misconceptions and lies pumped out about you. That is what always happens with the LGBT+ community and there are so many lies and misconceptions about the trans community. Therefore, I understand how frustrating it must be for people with lived experience of these facial disfigurements to always be cast as the villains. However, there is a primal fear response in all of us that gets triggered when we see something disfigured, and it is that response that Hollywood and other film producers tap into when it comes to horror movies. And whether this is ethical or morally right is a debate for another time. Who Enjoys Horror Movies? As I mentioned earlier, I am not one of the people who enjoy horror films in the slightest, but who does? Researchers have found that people who are high in the sensation-seeking personality dimension prefer as well as enjoy horror films. Since it gets them scared, they get to feel a wide range of emotions that they don’t normally get to experience and it gets the blood pumping in ways they don’t typically get to experience. As well as men tend to be more attracted to horror movies than women. As well as social psychological research suggests that taking a date to a horror film could stimulate feelings of physical attraction as the daters might misattribute the arousal from the scary movie as feelings of sexual attraction. I think that is quite a mind-blowing finding, and a slightly insane one because I’m blown away by it. Although, it must be noted that there seems to be a negative relationship between empathy and watching horror movies. Since if a person has more empathy then they’re less likely to enjoy horror films and this is even more true for people who experience emotional contagion. This is the ability to feel the pain of others. Social Psychology Conclusion At the end of this social psychology podcast episode, we’ve learnt a lot about how music, disfigurement, dismemberment, the dark and many factors help to make horror movies as terrifying as they are. As well as we learnt that men and people lower in empathy are more likely to enjoy horror movies than women and people higher in empathy. Finally, whilst there is some research on the psychology of horror movies, there are still a lot of unresearched and unanswered questions about this film genre according to Martin (2019). Therefore, if you’re looking for a research project topic, maybe have a think, design a study and help push our understanding forward. You never know what fun, brilliant and weird results you might find. And I’m actually writing this podcast episode on Halloween, so to wrap up today’s episode, here are some questions for you: ·       Do you like horror movies? ·       Why or why not? ·       Think about the different factors we learnt about today and which factors do you think are the most important. ·       Think about your favourite film (horror or not) and consider what the movie would have been like if you removed the elements we spoke about today.   I really hope you enjoyed today’s social psychology podcast episode. If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Social Psychology: A Guide To Social and Cultural Psychology . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Patreon for exclusive access and rewards Have a great day. Social Psychology References and Further Reading Derry, C. (2009). Dark dreams 2.0: a psychological history of the modern horror film from the 1950s to the 21st century. McFarland. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/202510/the-psychology-of-horror-movies Martin, G.N. (2019). (Why) do you like scary movies? A review of the empirical research on psychological responses to horror films. Frontiers in Psychology October. Doi:10:3389/psyg.2019:02298 Norman, J. (2018). PERSONALITY TYPES AND THE ENJOYMENT OF HORROR MOVIES. Journal of Social & Psychological Sciences, 11(1). Nummenmaa, L. (2021). Psychology and neurobiology of horror movies. Sultana, I., Ali, A., & Iftikhar, I. (2021). Effects of horror movies on psychological health of youth. Global Mass Communication Review, 6(1), 1-11. Werner, M. (2010). Why Do We Crave Horror? Evolutionary Psychology and Viewer Response to Horror Films. Bright Lights Film Journal, 68. I truly hope that you’ve enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon  page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/connorwhiteley  for a one-time bit of support.

Joining me today on the Psychology World Podcast is Leanne Al-Mrayat, a brilliant postgraduate research assistant and we have a great discussion today about neuropsychology. By the end of this clinical psychology podcast episode, you’ll understand what is pediatric neuropsychology, what are neuropsychological assessments, how to choose the right assessment tool for your project, and most importantly, Leanne shares ideas about how to get clinical experience with neuropsychological assessments. If you’re interested in psychological research, clinical psychology or neuroscience, then this will be a great episode for you. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Cognitive Psychology: A Guide To Neuropsychology, Neuroscience and Cognitive Psychology. Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Who is Leanne Al-Mrayat? Leanne Al-Mrayat is a research assistant at the University of Cambridge researching brain and behaviour in rare genetic conditions. Prior to starting her role at Cambridge, she completed her Masters in Applied Pediatric Neuropsychology at University College London and her Bachelor’s in Psychology at the University of Kent.  Her research interests are in neurogenetics, neurodevelopment and mental health within different clinical groups, as well as understanding the link between behavioural and neuroimaging findings. In her free time she enjoys reading, exploring new coffee shops, and journaling. What Is Pediatric Psychology And What Are Neuropsychological Assessments? Connor: Hi, everyone. Today, I've got a brilliant, very special guest called Leanne. So, welcome to the podcast. Do you want introduce yourself? Leanne: Hi, everyone, and hi, Connor. First of all, thank you so much for having me on the podcast. I'm very, very happy to be here. My name is Leanne, and I'm currently a research assistant looking at genetics and neurodevelopment. I was with Connor at university. We were working on similar final year projects, and we had a similar supervisor. We had the same supervisor. And, yeah, that's a bit about me. Connor: Okay, brilliant. And Leanne is brilliant, really kind, and she's one of the most hardest working people that you will ever meet. Leanne: You're kind. Connor: I've also been meaning to say, it'd been my pleasure though to work with her. Leanne: Likewise. How Did You Get into Psychology and Why Did You Want to Do It? Leanne: Such a good question. I always felt like, from a very young age, I had this very kind of interest in people and individuals and how we interact, and more importantly, how we differ. This is from a personal and, like, just from a kind of social aspect, where I just always was very curious about people. I love being around people, and I just love knowing more about people. And then I had received a GCSE booklet. Like, you know how you get the brochure before you choose your board's GCSE subjects to do it at school? I was very fortunate that my school offered psychology as a GCSE. Now, at the time, I did not even know what psychology meant. So I did a quick Google search, and it says, like, "The study of people's mind and behavior, and how they interact." And I was like, "Absolutely, yes. This is going to be my top option." Just because I think I had that innate interest in people and humans, and I think being able to study that scientifically was definitely something I wanted to do. And then fast forward, what? Eight, nine years later, I think every time, I think, we're progressing from GCSE psychology to A-level psychology to an undergrad in psychology. I feel like the only thing that happened, I just kind of enjoyed the topic more, and I'd realized just how much there is and how much the world revolves around psychology. And that's how I got into it. Connor: Wow, brilliant. And I definitely get what you mean, because when I did IB Psychology, I fell in love with the topic, especially neuroplasticity, which is such a niche topic that I had to fall in love with. But then as you learn more and more, especially when you get to university, that's something that I really like about clinical psychology is that there's always more to learn, whether it's about a specific mental health condition, a new therapy... Leanne: Precisely. Connor: ...or something that's brand new like pediatric psychology, which is actually a very good segue. I'm very proud of myself. Leanne: I'm proud of you too for that. That was really, really impressive. What Made You Want to Do Pediatric Psychology? And What Is It? Leanne: So just a bit of background. After I finished my undergrad in psychology, I went to UCL to do my master's in applied pediatric neuropsychology. Pediatric neuropsychology...or neuropsychology is, basically, the study of links between brain and behavior, and trying to look at how differences or how brain structures and function facilitates different aspects of our behavior and cognition, and how different environmental aspects in our life actually sometimes impact our neural development and our neural functioning. I chose pediatric neuropsychology specifically because when I was at uni...so when we were at Kent, we were very fortunate because the university just offered us so many different fields. We kind of got to explore so many different fields within psychology, such as cognitive, social, business, forensics. But I think the lectures and the subjects that stood out to me the most were developmental psychology, child psychology, and a lot of aspects of neuroscience and cognition modules that we had. I specifically remember one lecture by Laura Smith, I think it was. She was a lecturer at Kent at the time, and it was about neuropsychological assessment and how we basically measure cognitive abilities in individuals. And I think I just remember being in that lecture and being like, "I want to learn more about this. I want to be doing this in my future." I just did my own research, and I was very fortunate to find a course that merged my interest in development and my passion towards development and improving children's developmental trajectories, but also merging that kind of link between brain and behavior. And then I went ahead and I applied, and I did the course there. Connor: Wow, brilliant. And I definitely get what you mean there, because I think that module...wasn't it called Advanced Topics in Developmental Psychology, or something like that? Leanne: It would have been. I can't remember. I remember vividly the lecturer name and what the lecture was about, but I can't, for the life of me, remember the module name. But it could be, yes. Connor: Yeah. And at the time, though, it sounded like such an interesting module. Back then, though, I sort of hated developmental psychology... Leanne: Oh, no. Connor: ...which I'm so surprised by now, just because I really love child development. Leanne: Absolutely. Connor: Because I know what happens in your childhood really does have a massive impact. Leanne: I think I have the same thing where I wasn't very keen on doing child development or particularly working with pediatric groups. But, genuinely, I think doing these modules made me realize just the importance of basically childhood experiences, of neural development that happens in early years. That just made me realize this is such an important field to be in. I think, obviously, there's the passion of it, but there's an enjoyment of it, but there's also the fact that this is crucial, essential work that could really change someone's life outcomes and their cognitive abilities. And I think it's such an important field to be in, for sure. Connor: Yeah, definitely. And that's something that I think that our listeners can take away, though, about you've got to find out something that you're passionate about. And even if you don't enjoy something at that particular point in that time, in your psychology journey, you might later on. Leanne: I see. Never close any door, I think, early on. I think definitely allow yourself that time during your undergrad, especially during school, just explore all avenues before just... But then one will stand out at some point or the other, and they will find... I think, the right field within psychology will find itself to you, will find its way to you, the right career will do as well. For short. Connor: I agree and more. But there is one aspect of psychology which I will never enjoy, and that is language acquisition. Leanne: Language acquisition, really? Connor: Yeah, it's interesting in theory, because after doing it for like a full six hours in my undergrad, and it's so complex, I just cannot get my head around it, especially with different theories. Leanne: I get that. I get that. It can definitely, sometimes, get a bit repetitive in some of the lectures. I completely get that. I think, for me, one of the modules I just never kind of...or one of the fields within psychology I just never really resonated with was social psychology, funny enough. I know I said don't close the doors too early, and I truly mean it, but it's just, like, I had a very gut feeling of, like, "Social psychology, I don't really see myself moving forward or progressing in that career or that area of psychology." But, hey, you never know. Connor: No, true. And, like, I think that the thing about social psychology is that it's interesting. Because of the sort of things you're wanting to research, you can't do it as empirically as other aspects of psychology. Leanne: Precisely. Connor: I think that's where some people. get a bit stuck. Go on. Leanne: I agree. It's very theoretically heavy sometimes. Connor: And sometimes the theories are just so complicated. You're like, "Right, please go very, very slowly," especially when they start bringing, like, well, the stats, though. Because in my masters, I had to do this sort of complex one. I had to do adult group proving teenage group relation, and there was like five slides filled with these different effect sizes. Leanne: Oh my goodness. Connor: And back then, like, the class wasn't as good. She wasn't explaining it. She's just going through the slides. And there were some people in the cohort who were, yes, like, backing the slide, "Look at it and go, right. I know exactly what it means." The rest of us were just like, "You're just giving us numbers and no context." I was failing. Leanne: Oh my goodness. I think stats is just... I think it was never I go to the lecture and I know exactly what's going on. It's like you need to go back to it three, four times. And then I'm like, "Okay, I now know what this all means." I completely agree. Stat is just a very interesting aspect of psychology, but I think it's necessary, nonetheless. Connor: Yes, it's painfully necessary. This is why if you need help, everyone, please just ask, contact people, contact your university. Leanne: Please do. Connor: Your lectures will be more than happy to support you. Leanne: Absolutely. I think the earlier you kind of seek that support in stats, the better outcomes you'll have with it. I think it's one of those things that you just kind of have to keep up with rather than leave it all to last minute because it will really add up. And then that's when you get overwhelmed. But if you're tackling it bit by bit, and if you're asking all the questions and you're just really, really trying to get to the bottom of it, it will definitely be clearer with time, and it will not be a jumble of numbers. You'll understand why it's also important. Yeah. What Was Your Favourite Pediatric Psychology Topic And Your Least Favourite? Connor: So looking back at your masters. What was your favorite topic, and what was your least favorite? Leanne: Good question. Oh my God, I have to remember what modules I did. I really don't have the best memories sometimes. Right, my favorite module would be, I think the first one I did, and it was, basically, a neuroanatomy module. So all we did for...I think it was maybe 40 hours a month. Like, during the month was just learn about different zone parts, how they're connected, what different brain networks we have, and what their functions are. And I remember vividly, we had...the lecturer was amazing. I think the lecturer made a big difference on how much I enjoyed that aspect of my course. That actually is very daunting for some that don't come back, don't come from a background of neuroscience or biology, and they don't really know how the brain is structured. But I think the best part was that at the end of the module, we did this, like, recap of where the different parts of the brain were from different sections, so if it was a caudal, a sagittal, or coronal section. and just seeing where the, for example, the hippocampus is relative to other brain structures or from one side of the brain or from one aspect. I think it was really nice to tie everything together. And I feel like it definitely improved my knowledge of brain anatomy and different neural networks in the brain. And I will never forget that module. It was such a well presented and well delivered module. And I loved it a lot. And then the other part was about my least favorite module. I think I can pinpoint one that I did not really enjoy because they were all really, really good in different ways. I think I definitely did struggle a bit with my final pieces that I had to submit. I think that was the least enjoyable bit of the course just because it was just a lot of independent work. And it was just a lot of, like, structuring your own time and having to... Basically, we were working on two different projects simultaneously. So one was a systematic review and then the other was an original project. So, yeah, I found a bit of a hard time trying to balance between working on my systematic review and then stopping and not thinking about it and then working on my original part of the project and doing all the tasks for that. I think that was the least enjoyable bit, but I can't really fault the modules. They were all fantastic. Connor: Again, brilliant. And I'd like to thank you for sharing. And I definitely get what you would mean about the whole idea that if you've got a good lecturer, then that can really make all the difference. Leanne: It is life changing. Connor: Because I had a neuropsychology of ageing module. And at first, that sounded really dull to me or not the sort of area of clinical psychology where I wanted to go in there too. But then because quite a lot of clinical people were taking it, the lecturer decided, "Right, I'm going to adapt my content, and I'm going to make it more clinical focused." And that was so much more engaging. And I loved it because of him, because of what he had done. And it was one of my best modules, even though it wasn't directly clinical related. So if you've got a good lecturer, keep it. Leanne: But it really brings back to that point of passionate and being passionate about what you do. Because I'm sure these lecturers, it comes from a place of passion that they want to deliver this content and they want you to understand this content as well as possible. And I'm so glad. That seems like a very interesting module to take as well. Connor: Definitely. But I do struggle with different areas of the brain. I remember that Amir, like, our former supervisor, so he used to say, I feel like, "Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex." And for some reason, that is the only bit of the brain I actually remember. Because I think it sounded so complicated to me. I still don't know where that part of the brain is, even though I know it's like up here. Yeah. Leanne: I'm pretty sure it's forehead. Yeah, I'm just gonna... Yeah, near the forehead area. Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Yeah, pretty much. Wasn't that the area that you were researching in the EEG project? Correct me if I'm wrong. Connor: You know what that very much could have been. It's a few  years ago. But, yeah, it definitely... Leanne: It was a long time ago. Yeah. What are Neuropsychological Assessments? Connor: Yeah. It was. So neuropsychological assessments. Leanne: Yeah. Connor: Please tell us more about that. Because psychological assessments are one of my favorite topics in clinical study I grant you. So please tell me more. I'm all ears. Leanne: Okay. So in terms of neuropsychological assessments, those are assessments that we provide or we give to individuals to, basically, assess their abilities, whether it's language, memory, working memory...well, memory, such as working memory, long term memory, their social and communication abilities, their adaptive functioning, this is a very...like the Vineland, for example, which is a very big neuropsychological...yeah, it is a neuropsychological assessment. And I think the difference here is that it doesn't really focus on mood and maybe internal well-being or mental well-being as much as just more so focuses on how well is this individual functioning from a social domain, from a communication domain, from all different sorts of domains. And I think there's just a plethora of neuropsychological assessments that cover all sorts of different domains. Some could be very focused on...for example, some assessments will only look at one cognitive ability, such as executive functioning. Whilst with the Vineland, it does social communication, maladaptive behaviors. So really, it varies with the different assessments. And I think it's all about choosing the right assessment, but making sure that you're not just relying on that neuropsychological assessment to dictate what this individual is capable of or not. Because truthfully, these assessments, they give us a snippet of what these individuals are capable of doing, but actually meeting them and interacting with them gives us a different picture, and a more nuanced picture of what this individual can and cannot do. So I think that's definitely something worth mentioning as well. Connor: Okay, brilliant. Thank you. So you've mentioned that it's really important to actually pick the right psychological assessment. How would you do that? How Do You Pick the Right Neuropsychological Assessment? Leanne: I think it depends on what... Well, in a research aspect, it depends on what questions you want to ask or...sorry, what questions you want to answer. So if you are looking to investigate certain clinical populations communication abilities, it would make more sense to choose a communication checklist and to run through that. Because you also want to think and consider the participants' time and energy. And you don't want to give them this extensive neuropsychological assessment that looks at social, executive functioning, their memory abilities, but you actually just want to focus on this, their communication abilities. And then you also want to really sit down and study this assessment, see why it was developed, what is it measuring, and whether this measure would really work well with the other measurements that you are including in your research. I think from a clinical aspect, I think I'm not really the most qualified to talk about that, but I think it would be more so of looking at just getting a bit of a snapshot of what this individual is capable of doing in preparation to maybe meeting them, or when you're meeting them, you just want to just get a better idea of where they're at right now and what we could do to better improve or help them in the future. So I think it really just depends on the questions that you're asking and what you want to get out and what you want to understand better. Obviously, there's also intelligence assessments that we do, IQ, like the WASI. I completely forgot to mention those as well. Those are quite big in neuropsychological assessments, and those just give you a much more generalized idea of the individual's abilities. They're not very focused on a specific domain, as communication checklists would be, for example. Connor: Thank you for that. Leanne: Does that make sense? Connor: Yes, it does. And I think that's really helpful because I know that the issue that I have, and this is coming in, like, actually, as someone who doesn't have the most, like, extensive neuropsychological background, is that I know there were just so many. There were tons, and I think that can be quite overwhelming. Leanne: Of course. Connor: But I think that your advice about just taking, like, step back and think about what it is it that you actually want to answer, I think that can actually make it a lot more focused and a lot more easier to understand for us. So thank you for that. Leanne: Yeah, of course. And I think this is definitely what I see happening from a research element. Obviously, there's more logistical elements about which assessments you can...actually are available in the UK or which assessments are available at a certain center or unit. So that's also another thing to kind of keep in mind. But I think with us in research, it's just a matter of what questions are we wanting to get out of this research and what tools. So because these assessments are essentially tools that help us learn more and know more and aid our understanding. Connor: Do you have a favorite? Do You Have a Favourite Neuropsychological Measurement? Leanne: No, I can't be biased like that. I don't necessarily. I don't think so. I think each one of them, they have pros and cons. I think it's difficult. I do like the Vineland, which we use quite often here, because it just covers a big range of cognitive domains. And I think pros and cons with all of them, I think, it's difficult to just pinpoint and be like, "This is the one," because there's no such thing as that. Connor: Okay, then I could then, like, thank you for that, though. Because I remember when I was doing, like, my mental health studies, I definitely had like a ton of favorite, but that's because they did look at some different things. And I did tend not to use like three or four different ones because they were short. They looked at different things. And they did help to fulfil with some of the negative gaps over the other ones. So that's actually a really good point. Leanne: Precisely. And I think you kind of already answered the question of which one to use. I think it's similar to a mental health questionnaire, you want to use something that is answering the question, is not really taking up a lot of the time of the participant. It's important to be considerate to the people that are coming in and doing this research, but at the same time, you're getting good data out of it. Connor: True. So the last neuropsychological question I've got for you is that when it comes to assistant psychology jobs, I constantly see one of the most annoying things. So they want you to have experience in neuropsychological assessment. Can you please help us? How would you get that? How Do You Get Experience In Neuropsychological Assessments? Leanne: I'm not an assistant psychologist. I know that these positions are quite competitive. I think it's difficult because you want experience in a setting where you're actually administering this neuropsychological assessment. I think looking at research assistant positions where there is that kind of interaction with clinical groups is always a very good kind of experience to have. And maybe during your undergrad or your master's thesis and projects, it's always good to look for projects where you might have this interaction or ability to administer these assessments. Although I don't know which projects would offer that, but I think it's one of those things where you could develop your knowledge, but how you develop administering these assessments really would differ from based on what projects you can be involved in during undergrad and if you find a research assistant job. So that's more academia, like the one I have, which works with clinical groups. And you might have that ability or chance to oversee or administer some of these assessments. Although I don't think it's a guarantee, but it's worth it. Connor: No, but true. And as you were saying, that these are really common and competitive. And considering that I didn't actually prompt you that question to allow you to prepare beforehand. That was a really good answer. Leanne: Of course. Connor: Wonderfully said. So thank you for joining us today, Leanne, and if people wanted to connect with you and follow your work, then where could they come, find you online? Leanne: I will be on LinkedIn. I think that's the best place. I'm quite active on there. So, yeah, feel free to just tag me on LinkedIn, and if you have any questions or anything, I'm always up to chat. And, yeah, that's where you'll find me. Connor: Thank you, Leanne, and best of luck with your psychology journey for the future. Leanne: Thank you so much. You too.   I really hope you enjoyed today’s clinical psychology  podcast episode. If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Cognitive Psychology: A Guide To Neuropsychology, Neuroscience and Cognitive Psychology. Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Patreon for exclusive access and rewards Have a great day. Clinical Psychology Further Reading Roberts, M. C., & Steele, R. G. (Eds.). (2010). Handbook of pediatric psychology. Guilford Press. Delozier, A. M., Kamody, R. C., Rodgers, S., & Chen, D. (2020). Health disparities in transgender and gender expansive adolescents: A topical review from a minority stress framework. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 45(8), 842-847. Roberts, M. C., Aylward, B. S., & Wu, Y. P. (Eds.). (2014). Clinical practice of pediatric psychology. Guilford Publications. Ernst, M. M., Barhight, L. R., Bierenbaum, M. L., Piazza-Waggoner, C., & Carter, B. D. (2013). Case studies in clinical practice in pediatric psychology: The “why” and “how to”. Clinical Practice in Pediatric Psychology, 1(2), 108-120. Duncan, C. L. (2023). Clinical Practice in Pediatric Psychology: The Future Continues to Expand. Clinical Practice in Pediatric Psychology, 11(1), 1-5. Simon, S. L., Clay, D., Chandrasekhar, J., & Duncan, C. L. (2021). Gender bias in pediatric psychology. Clinical Practice in Pediatric Psychology, 9(1), 82-95. I truly hope that you’ve enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/connorwhiteley  for a one-time bit of support.

Whenever my own mental health isn’t doing great, my mind always turns to learning more about trauma and different forms of psychological therapy. In previous podcast episodes, I’ve spoken about the benefits of art therapy , how it works and more and I’ve discussed at length the importance of trauma-informed practice. Now, we need to think about what happens when we combine these two approaches to mental health. Therefore, in this clinical psychology podcast episode, you’ll learn what is Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts Therapy, how can it improve lives and what principles underpin Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts Therapy. If you enjoy learning about trauma psychology, mental health and psychological therapies, then this will be a great episode for you. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Introduction To Psychotherapies: A Clinical Psychology Introduction To Types of Psychological Therapies . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. A Brief Note On Trauma-Informed Practice in Clinical Psychology As I mentioned in a previous podcast episode called “ What Makes a Trauma-Informed Psychologist ” , I explained how trauma-informed practice helps us, aspiring or qualified mental health professionals, to guide an individual through trauma recovery whilst using arts therapy as a basis. Since trauma-informed practice helps clinical psychologists to understand how the body, mind as well as brain interact and what role they play in the trauma responses and the maladaptive coping mechanisms that the client has.  Also, trauma-informed practice is very useful because it helps therapists to de-pathologised whatever the client is going through and by combining with clinical work with arts therapy, it allows the client to express themselves, their emotions and their experiences. This helps the client in turn to fell more empowered, engaged and hopefully they’ll find therapy more fun and pleasurable compared to traditional talk therapy. Ultimately, trauma-informed practice is all about helping a client to go beyond just surviving and towards thriving so they can live a happy, purposeful and fulfilled life where they control their behaviour. Instead of their trauma controlling their lives. Then this can be achieved through arts therapy by making meaningful use of creativity, play as well as imagination. Personally, I’ve spoken about this before in my sexual violence-focused books and before I finished my rape counselling, my trauma responses definitely ruled my life. For example, if I went out by myself, if I meet a stranger or once I took some friends home and I drove them, all of these situations resulted in me having a massive mental health crisis and mental breakdown. I was so anxious, so fearful and I hated what my trauma responses were doing to me. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is not fun, not in the slightest. Even this weekend at the time of writing, a lot of small factors have added up this week but I am rather anxious, on edge and my mental health hasn’t been amazing. Yet because of the trauma-informed counselling I went through last year, I am thankfully fine 99% of the time. I can live my life, I can date and I can work. I’m happy the vast, vast majority of the time but that’s only possible because of the trauma-informed counselling I underwent. That’s why it is so important in clinical psychology. What Is Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts Therapy? Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts Therapy is a model for arts-based mental health interventions that combines best practices in trauma-informed clinical practice as well as play-assisted and expressive arts therapy. This combined approach helps a client to integrate their trauma into their lives so it is still there, but it’s in the rear-view mirror of the life, and they are able to move forward and heal. This therapy is based on characteristics of expressive arts therapy as well as trauma-informed practice. Furthermore, according to Malchiodi (2020), Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts Therapy is underpinned by seven key principles. How Does Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts Therapy Focus on Co-Regulation and Self-Regulation? As I spoke before on the podcast about the window of tolerance , when you’ve experienced trauma, it is very easy for us to have our senses overactivated, hyperaroused and this leads us to feel really, really anxious. I mentioned earlier how during the most severe periods of my PTSD, even going outside and meeting up with friends would make me so anxious I would have panic attacks. Even though, you don’t need PTSD to experience hyperarousal, hypoarousal or any other trauma responses. Therefore, expressive art interventions can support people to learn about and learn how to use their internal resources to manage their own mental health. This is an example of self-regulation where you’re able to manage your own mental health, emotions and distress. Yet expressive art interventions can also provide ideas for a wide range of action-oriented and creative approaches to co-regulation if a therapist decides to apply this within group therapy settings. Personally, this is something I really tried to focus on last night and I will admit, I was a little too distressed for this to work effectively. Also, I was tired, sensory overwhelmed and I had a lot on my mind. I’m telling you this because I want to be honest and I want you to know that we don’t always get it right. We can slip up and that’s okay. That’s normal, understandable and it’s a part of being human. Self-regulation is flat out critical though in trauma recovery. How Does Neurobiology Inform Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts Therapy? I explain this topic a lot more in my sexual violence focused books, but trauma isn’t just a psychological experience. Even after my rape, it took me a while to understand this fact, but trauma is also a mind-body experience. Since a lot of trauma responses are physiological reactions. For instance, the shaking, the heart pounding, the sweat and the physical sensations associated with the trauma. All of them are very, very real physiological sensations to the trauma survivor. As a result, Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts Therapy uses neurobiology to understand how to use expressive arts to address these trauma reactions as well as it helps clients to reconnect with the sensory (implicit) as well as the declarative (explicit) memories of the trauma. In my opinion, I just want to jump in here and add that this doesn’t always happen in trauma-informed practice because my rape counselling didn’t involve any talking about the rape itself. We focused on the here and now, my trauma responses and we focused on everything but the rape itself. Which was really nice. Anyway, neurobiology as well as neurodevelopment provides therapists with a framework for determining how to apply expressive arts therapy to various treatment goals. For example, how a client can help themselves to self-regulate, form positive attachment, build resilience as well as achieve self-efficacy. How Does Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts Therapy Support Positive Attachment? Building upon this, Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts Therapy can be used to support a client to reconnect with a sense of safety, prosocial relationships as well as positive attachments. And I always remember this amazing feeling I had during my rape counselling and it was a real game changer moment for me. I was able to feel safe in my own body for the first time in seven months. I was able to relax, untense all my muscles and actually feel safe. It’s such an amazing feeling and it’s so hard to describe but achieving that sense of safety as a trauma survivor feels impossible. Yet when it happens, it is one of the best feelings ever. In addition, Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts Therapy helps individuals to recover a sense of internal wellbeing and wellbeing in relationships with others. For instance, expressive arts therapy can provide a range of opportunities for people to engage in creative experimentation that integrates experiences of guidance, unconditional appreciation, experiences found in families with secure attachment, support amongst other benefits. As well as when expressive arts interventions are used in group settings, this can help clients to support prosocial interactions and connect themselves with their community. And that’s something that I am starting to realise as the months and years roll on is that survivors really are a community. Since if we take rape and sexual violence for example, a lot of people have sadly experienced it, but a lot of people haven’t. That means not everyone in your life has experienced it and without lived experience, you only have a limited understanding of what happened to the other person. Therefore, that feeling of community and knowing what you’re experiencing is normal, okay and understandable given your trauma. That is a very powerful and potentially healing realisation. How Does Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts Therapy Help A Client With Distress? As I’ve mentioned in other places, like the podcast and books, when you experience trauma, it has a wide range of different impacts on you. You can have increased threat detection and this means you’re more anxious, distressed and fearful because you don’t want to be attacked or experience your trauma yet again. Yet trauma does have a lot of somatic and physiological impacts too. And this is why expressive arts interventions are very useful because a therapist can use these interventions to help a client identify and repair a client’s bodily responses to different trauma triggers. As well as expressive arts interventions can help a client learn that their bodies are a resource in trauma recovery, and they want to normalise the body’s reaction to trauma as it isn’t a pathology, it is an adaptive coping mechanism. How Does Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts Therapy Provide Meaning-Making Experiences? Another benefit of Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts Therapy is that expressive arts interventions allows a trauma survivor to talk or express what is often unspeakable to them. It allows them to reframe, restructure, restory as well as explore the trauma they experienced and loss through non-verbal, self-empowering, participatory and asset-driven ways. Personally, this is something that I loved about my own rape counselling because whilst it wasn’t expressive arts-based, it was trauma-informed. It was so healing, empowering and validating to make new narratives of my rape after my trauma. It allowed to realise that it wasn’t my fault, I couldn’t have prevented it and despite what a lot of people were telling me, there was nothing wrong with me. How Does Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts Therapy Respect a Client’s Preferences for Self-Expression? Another brilliant part of trauma-informed practice that I flat out love is the fact that it focuses on putting the client at the centre of their own trauma recovery. A lot of research says “treatment” but for some reason that made me uncomfortable, because it’s healing and recovery. Treatment is a little too biomedical model for me. Anyway, trauma-informed practice helps a client to determine how much participation they would prefer in their treatment, and this can be determined by values, worldviews, previous experiences, their culture as well as other interpersonal dynamics. This is useful because some clients, like me, would like to be at the centre of their trauma recovery and they would be very comfortable talking about all aspects of their lives. Yet other clients would not. Whatever the case, expressive arts therapy provides a client with a wide range of methods to express “What happened” depending on their comfort level with the idea of self-expression. Then the therapist can respect the use of symbols and metaphors that allow the client to control how they communicate sensitive experiences. How Does Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts Therapy Support Resilience and Strengths? Finally, expressive arts therapy can be very useful in supporting a client’s strengths and building their resilience over time. Since trauma-informed practice helps mental health professionals to see that everyone is capable of growth as well as trauma recovery, with an acknowledgement that resilience is central to the recovery process. If a client is not resilient then they cannot really recover. This is why expressive arts therapy is always life-affirming, it honours a person’s capacity to be resilient as well as they encourage mastery of personal strength. With the ultimate goal being to encourage a client to move their self-perceptions from being a victim to a survivor to a thriver. Something I firmly agree with. Clinical Psychology Conclusion Personally, I have really enjoyed researching and writing up this clinical psychology podcast episode because my mental health hasn’t been great this weekend. I started a slightly under-stimulating new job, it’s loud and leaves me sensory overwhelmed, some rape trauma stuff popped up this week, I didn’t sleep well Friday night because of it and I have been really anxious. Mainly, because I know at some point sooner rather than later, I need to have the rape conversation with someone I’m dating. Since my rape is starting to impact me again as we start to do things. I am getting distressed, my mental health is dipping and I’m scared that he’s going to dump me, leave me or break up with me if he finds out I’m a rape survivor. Yet after doing this trauma-focused podcast episode, I understand that this is what I need. I need to have the “Rape Conversation” because it is the most empowering and self-compassionate thing I can do for myself. And even in the awful circumstance that he breaks up with me because I’m a rape survivor. I will understand, I’ll be sad and really disappointed because this guy is brilliant, lovely and we get on really well. But it just means we weren’t the right fit. It doesn’t make me a bad person, a failure and it doesn’t mean I’ll never get into a relationship. Whatever the outcome, I will keep surviving, thriving and living one day at a time.   I really hope you enjoyed today’s clinical psychology podcast episode. If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Introduction To Psychotherapies: A Clinical Psychology Introduction To Types of Psychological Therapies . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Patreon for exclusive access and rewards Have a great day. Clinical Psychology References and Further Reading Heiderscheit, A., & Murphy, K. M. (2021). Trauma-informed care in music therapy: Principles, guidelines, and a clinical case illustration. Music Therapy Perspectives, 39(2), 142-151. https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/arts-and-health/202005/what-is-trauma-informed-expressive-arts-therapy Lusebrink, V. B., & Hinz, L. D. (2021). The expressive therapies continuum as a framework in the treatment of trauma. In Art therapy, trauma, and neuroscience (pp. 42-66). Routledge. Luzzatto, P., Ndagabwene, A., Fugusa, E., Kimathy, G., Lema, I., & Likindikoki, S. (2022). Trauma Treatment through Art Therapy (TT-AT): a ‘women and trauma’group in Tanzania. International Journal of Art Therapy, 27(1), 36-43. Malchiodi, C. A. (2020). Trauma and expressive arts therapy: Brain, body, and imagination in the healing process. New York: Guilford Publications. Malchiodi, C. A. (Ed.). (2022). Handbook of expressive arts therapy. Guilford Publications. Sajnani, N., & Johnson, D. R. (2024). Trauma-informed drama therapy: Transforming clinics, classrooms, and communities. Charles C Thomas Publisher. I truly hope that you’ve enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon  page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/connorwhiteley  for a one-time bit of support.

Over the past few years I’ve noticed something in people interested in clinical psychology that I didn’t expect. More and more people are coming up to me at university Open Days asking about ketamine-assisted psychotherapy and whether universities offer any education on this form of psychological therapy. When I used to work at the University of Kent, talking to, guiding and supporting Open Days, I would explain that we didn’t and I would pass these questions over to the academics. Yet people are still becoming more interested in ketamine-assisted psychotherapy and it is only going to become more popular over time. Therefore, in this clinical psychology podcast episode, you’ll learn how does ketamine-assisted psychotherapy work all over the world, should you try ketamine-assisted psychotherapy and a whole bunch of other great topics. If you enjoy learning about mental health, new forms of psychotherapy and advances in psychology then this will be a great episode for you. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Biological Psychology.  Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Introduction Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy Even if you haven’t been paying much attention to the use of ketamine in clinical psychology circles, you might be aware that it is interestingly being used in a wide range of health settings. Up until March 2019 though, it was only really used as an anaesthetic. Yet in March 2019, the United States’s FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approved the use of ketamine for the treatment of severe depression. Also, it is worth noting that the media loves to talk about ketamine from time to time. The drug, ketamine, was developed in 1962 because it’s a tamer alternative to the hallucinogen PCP, so its psychoactive effects have been known for decades. The use of ketamine can lead to alterations in thoughts, mood, sense of bodily boundaries as well as meaning. It can lead to perceptual distortions too. Knowledge about these effects have also been confirmed by the less than 1% of Americans that use the drug recreationally. In terms of research into ketamine’s uses for mental health conditions, this started in the mid-2000s because researchers started to notice that it can have very strong positive impacts on people with depression. This led to the US’s National Institutes of Mental Health to affirm that ketamine is effective as an anti-depressant and medical professionals have even started to recommend ketamine to severely suicidal clients. Then in 2010, Americans started to see the first wave of ketamine clinics pop up around the United States. How Does Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy Work In The United Kingdom? I always like to look at the cross-cultural context when I can. Therefore, in the United Kingdom, according to the Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust website, ketamine can be an anti-depressant but it isn’t licensed for this use by the National Health Service. This is mainly because the cost of ketamine to the NHS instead of there being a lack of evidence on its effectiveness. Although, it is possible to get self-paid ketamine service but this is only really available to people with depression who have not responded to other forms of psychological treatments. This costs at least £3,000 per year and the NHS uses this money to fund NHS care in the Trust. After an initial assessment, the initial treatment consists of three to six ketamine infusions over a three-to-six-week period. 10% of clients have a negative experience with their first infusion whereas over 90% have a pleasant or neutral experience, and 50% of clients respond well as well as continue with their treatment. Finally, like all anti-depressant treatments, ketamine needs to be used for several years regularly in order to effectively treat severe depression. How Does Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy Work In China? As an afterthought by me, ketamine-assisted psychotherapy works in China similar to how it works in the United Kingdom and United States. The rest of this podcast episode also applies to China to in terms of effectively, what a typical session looks like and how it works. China uses it similar to the West in terms of treatment for severe depression and severely suicidal clients and they mainly use it at hospitals and other treatment clinics throughout the country under the supervision of healthcare professionals. There isn’t a great difference between how the West and China use ketamine to treat mental health conditions. How Does Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy Work In Australia? In Australia, a quick internet search reveals that ketamine-assisted psychotherapy seems to be much more widespread and privatised with a wide range of healthcare settings offering ketamine treatment for depression in a range of different ways. Yet the website of the Royal Melbourne Hospital explains that the clinic provides a 3-week course of low-dose intravenous ketamine treatment for clients with severe depression. Nonetheless, this treatment is only available for people who are seeing mental health services or are currently “engaged with a psychiatrist who is overseeing their care”. In other words, you cannot simply go to the hospital or clinic and say you want ketamine-assisted psychotherapy without a referral from a psychiatrist. How Does Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy Work In Brazil? Brazil mainly uses the global approach to ketamine that all the other countries, like the United States, China, United Kingdom use. Yet Brazil uses ketamine-assisted psychotherapy in hospital-based mental health services because they administer ketamine for treating severe depression under strict medical supervision with standard monitoring. Even though, there is a problem in Brazil because as much as they would ideally like to combine ketamine and psychological therapy for their clients. This cannot always happen, because the distribution of trained psychologists and other mental health professionals is so uneven in the country. In addition, when research is conducted into ketamine in Brazil, university and academic trials commonly use intravenous or intramuscular administration with hospital oversight. Finally, similar to the United States and Australia, Brazil uses ketamine-assisted psychotherapy in private outpatient clinics where they typically combine medication sessions with psychological therapy and assessment. Even though, the formality of the psychotherapy really does differ between providers. How Effective Is Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy? Building upon this in more depth, a wide range of studies show that ketamine is an effective treatment for severe depression (Marcantoni et al., 2020) and it can be useful for other mental health conditions. For example, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Stein and Simon, 2021), anxiety disorders (Tully et al., 2022), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (Rodriguez et al., 2013) and Parkinson’s disease. However, as you can probably imagine, the effects of ketamine are greatly improved if a client works alongside a therapist before, during and after ketamine treatment. This led to the creation of ketamine-assisted psychotherapy. How Does Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy Work? As I explain in my podcast episode titled “How can psychotherapy be combined with ketamine?” from 2023. “Ketamine engages the neurotransmitters glutamate and GABA. Due to N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) is a glutamate receptor and ketamine effectively blocks NMDA receptors from action so this allows more glutamate to be present in the synapses of a client (Furikawa et al., 2005). Therefore, with glutamate being an excitatory neurotransmitter and GABA being an inhibitory neurotransmitter, the client’s other neurotransmitters can reach an optimal homoeostasis. Then this leads to a reduction in depression and anxiety symptoms as it decreases hyperarousal as well as rumination. As a result from a psychotherapist’s perspective, this allows them to focus on the underlying events that are causing the client’s affective and cognitive dysfunction with a client that is calmer and more able to focus constructively on finding better ways to effectively manage their condition.” Is Ketamine Addictive? Generally, no, ketamine is not an addictive substance because in the United States, it is classed as a Schedule III controlled substance. It is a hallucinogen and anaesthetic, so it doesn’t produce chemical dependence. Yet there are some people who report cravings for the feelings and sensations that ketamine gives them. Personally, I would like to remind people that as a side note, addiction is a treatable condition and if you or anyone you love is experiencing any kind of addiction then it can be useful to reach out to mental health professionals. What Does A Typical Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy Session Look Like? Earlier in the podcast episode when I was exploring how different countries deal with ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, you were able to see that it really does differ between the providers to some extent. Yet the core basis of ketamine treatment is that you will meet with a medical professional and they will work with you to determine dosage, your eligibility as well as a method of administration. Since ketamine can be given to you intramuscularly, intranasally, sublingually and intravenously. In case, like me, you are not aware of not what sublingually means. It is the process of you being given ketamine under the tongue. Personally, for me, the idea of anything going up your nose, like a tube or spray, is just awful and I would hate that. That was probably because I was on life support as a baby and I almost died within the first three weeks of being born. And intravenously doesn’t sound great either. This is important to note because depending on the dosage and the method used your treatment can last about one and three hours per session. Moreover, because ketamine is classified as a “dissociative anaesthetic”, so you can dissociate and disconnect from your body and your normal reality, depending on your dosage, you are likely to experience these effects. You might experience mild or severe anaesthetic, anxiolytic as well as anti-depressant effects. This is why a trained psychotherapist will support you throughout your treatment. After the ketamine has worn off, you would complete an integration phase with your therapist and this might include journalling, somatic, art or dance therapy or verbal reflection or something else entirely. This integration section is flat out critical because it helps you to process new insights and any new information that you learnt through your ketamine experience. Who Doesn’t Benefit from Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy? If you’re pregnant or nursing people or you have a history of addiction and/ or psychosis or untreated hyperthyroidism or hypertension then you should not do ketamine-assisted psychotherapy. Who Would Benefit From Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy? People with a range of mental health conditions like anxiety, severe depression, chronic pain and PTSD can benefit from ketamine-assisted psychotherapy. The traditional treatment for these conditions to be have talking therapy and take an SSRI, and whilst this is useful for a lot of people, this doesn’t work for everyone. This is why ketamine-assisted psychotherapy can be very useful for people who haven’t responded well to other treatment options. Especially, because clients can see improvements in their mental health even after a single session and they can start to see massive improvements after four to six sessions. Clinical Psychology Conclusion Overall, at the end of this psychology podcast episode, I’m really happy, excited and pleased because I haven’t looked into cross-cultural research for ages and I miss it. I seriously enjoy looking at how different countries are similar and different from one another in how they use ketamine to treat mental health conditions. Thankfully, we were able to cover all continents on the podcast except Africa and the Antarctic. Granted, I am pretty sure the Antarctic doesn’t use psychological treatment too much. Therefore, as a little recap, ketamine-assisted psychotherapy is shown to be an effective treatment for severe depression by a wide range of studies (Marcantoni et al., 2020) and it can be useful for other mental health conditions. For example, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Stein and Simon, 2021), anxiety disorders (Tully et al., 2022), obsessive-compulsive disorder (Rodriguez et al., 2013) and Parkinson’s disease. As well as ketamine-assisted psychotherapy can be very useful for people who haven’t responded well to other treatment options. Especially, because clients can see improvements in their mental health even after a single session and they can start to see massive improvements after four to six sessions. Here are three questions for you to consider at the end of this episode: ·       Would you ever try ketamine-assisted psychotherapy? ·       Would you ever be interested in being trained in this form of psychotherapy? ·       What do you think the future of ketamine-assisted psychotherapy is in your country?   I really hope you enjoyed today’s clinical psychology podcast episode. If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Biological Psychology.  Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Patreon for exclusive access and rewards Have a great day. Clinical Psychology References and Further Reading Drozdz, S. J., Goel, A., McGarr, M. W., Katz, J., Ritvo, P., Mattina, G. F., ... & Ladha, K. S. (2022). Ketamine assisted psychotherapy: A systematic narrative review of the literature. Journal of Pain Research, 1691-1706. https://www.oxfordhealth.nhs.uk/ips/ketamine-trd/ https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/the-truth-about-exercise-addiction/202212/should-you-try-ketamine-assisted-psychotherapy https://www.thermh.org.au/services/mental-health/our-research/advanced-interventions-in-mood-disorders Joneborg, I., Lee, Y., Di Vincenzo, J. D., Ceban, F., Meshkat, S., Lui, L. M., ... & McIntyre, R. S. (2022). Active mechanisms of ketamine-assisted psychotherapy: A systematic review. Journal of Affective Disorders, 315, 105-112. Marcantoni, W. S., Akoumba, B. S., Wassef, M., Mayrand, J., Lai, H., Richard-Devantoy, S., & Beauchamp, S. (2020). A systematic review and meta-analysis of the efficacy of intravenous ketamine infusion for treatment resistant depression: January 2009 - January 2019. Journal of affective disorders, 277, 831–841. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.09.007 Reilly-Harrington, N. A., Falcone, T., Jobes, D. A., Deisz, C., Flannery, C., Wolf, A., ... & Anand, A. (2025). Ketamine treatment in youth for fast reduction of suicidality and engagement in psychotherapy: a randomized placebo-controlled trial protocol. Contemporary Clinical Trials, 149, 107777. Rodriguez, C. I., Kegeles, L. S., Levinson, A., Feng, T., Marcus, S. M., Vermes, D., ... & Simpson, H. B. (2013). Randomized controlled crossover trial of ketamine in obsessive-compulsive disorder: proof-of-concept. Neuropsychopharmacology, 38(12), 2475-2483. Sholevar, R., Kromka, W., & Beaussant, Y. (2025). Ketamine and Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy for Psychiatric and Existential Distress in Patients with Serious Medical Illness: A Narrative Review. Journal of Palliative Medicine. Stein, M. B., & Simon, N. M. (2021). Ketamine for PTSD: well, isn’t that special. American Journal of Psychiatry, 178(2), 116-118. Tully, J. L., Dahlén, A. D., Haggarty, C. J., Schiöth, H. B., & Brooks, S. (2022). Ketamine treatment for refractory anxiety: A systematic review. British journal of clinical pharmacology, 88(10), 4412-4426. Witt, K., Potts, J., Hubers, A., Grunebaum, M. F., Murrough, J. W., Loo, C., ... & Hawton, K. (2020). Ketamine for suicidal ideation in adults with psychiatric disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis of treatment trials. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 54(1), 29-45. I truly hope that you’ve enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon  page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/connorwhiteley  for a one-time bit of support.

Ghosting in dating is never fun. It is wrong to suddenly cut off contact with someone and disappear without a trace, for example. Not only can this lead to negative mental health outcomes, low self-esteem and other undesirable outcomes for the person who was ghosted, but it can take a while to recover from ghosting. Therefore, in this social psychology podcast episode, you’ll learn how does ghosting impact someone, how to recover after ghosting and how to thrive. If you enjoy learning about dating, social psychology and the psychology of ghosting then you’re in for a treat. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Social Psychology: A Guide To Social and Cultural Psychology . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. What Is Ghosting? In case you’re new to the term “ghosting”, this refers to the digital act of vanishing when someone cuts off all contact with someone else without warning. Typically, this is done in romantic settings, like online dating, and in this episode, you’ll focus on what ghosting makes a person feel and how to recover. Personally, whilst I’ll do a future podcast episode on why people ghost others in the first place, I’ll admit that I almost ghosted someone myself. I was talking to a guy on a very, very famous dating app that everyone uses, regardless of sexuality, and we had nothing in common but the guy kept talking to me. I didn’t reply to him for two days and then I realised he might think that I’m ghosting him and I might end up ghosting him by mistake. Therefore, I sent him a message saying that I don’t think I was the right fit for him and I wished him the best of luck in the future. I’m mentioning this little story because it seriously isn’t hard to overcome ghosting and by sending a little message like that, it prevents all the negative mental health outcomes associated with ghosting. I am just not a fan of being or ghosting people. What Happens When Someone Realises They’ve Been Ghosted? Whenever a person first realises that they’ve been ghosted, they have an uncomfortable feeling because they know something is off. Even though, you likely dismiss it because you think the other person isn’t replying because they’re busy, they’re working hard or they’re just naturally bad at texting back. Later on, you start to realise that this is a pattern and you realise that they aren’t going to respond to you. This is even worse when after you’ve checked their social media, their profiles or anything else. You see that they’re still alive, they’re still online and they are still living their life. You might see that they’ve been on WhatsApp, their dating app or they’re posting on social media. This realisation further reinforces the realisation that you’ve been ghosted. They choose to stop communicating, they choose to disappear and they are the ones causing you to experience a wide range of emotions. In addition, it’s okay, normal and understandable that at this point, you’ll have a million and one questions. For instance, you’ll be wondering what the hell happened. Did something bad happen? Did you offend them? Were you too boring? Did you x, y and z and so on. These questions are normal. What Emotions Do People Experience After Ghosting? After you’ve realised you’ve been ghosted, you are going to be experiencing a lot of emotions, because whilst everyone is different and processes ghosting differently. There are four main emotions that people experience. After being ghosted, you might feel shame because ghosting can be humiliating. You might be feeling rejected and you might be constantly wondering, why they didn’t bother saying goodbye. Was it because you weren’t worthy? Were you being too demanding or needy? Was there something wrong with you so they didn’t want to say goodbye? This sense of shame can be increased because in today’s society, your relationship status is often linked to personal success. We tend to think of people in relationships as more successful than those who aren’t in a relationship. Even though, in reality, this sense of shame can have a benefit. It can make you more reflective so you start to consider what do you want in a relationship and what boundaries could you set next time to protect yourself. After being ghosted, you might experience anger, because ghosting is disrespectful, it’s rude and it’s outrageous. To me, it is one of the rudest things that you can possibly do to someone. If you’re chatting to someone online and you’re on a dating app, the other person has been kind enough to start a conversation, show an interest in you and they’re putting effort into the conversation. Even if you don’t feel a connection, want a relationship with them or anything else, the least someone could do is say a goodbye. Just don’t ghost people. It’s rude. Anyway, anger is a very understandable emotion after being ghosted. Also, you might be angry that the other person took the “easy way” out because they ghosted you, they’re okay and it is down to you to deal with the emotional fallout. Something they do not have to experience. Equally, a ghostee might show anger towards themselves, and this can make the emotional toll of ghosting even worse. You might be wondering how you couldn’t have foreseen this, what had you missed and why did you let it happen and so on. Personally, I would mention that when you’re dealing with these self-critical thoughts, please remember to practise self-compassion. Remember that whatever you’re feeling, it’s okay and lots of people get ghosted, a lot of people feel angry, sad and shame after being ghosted and all your thoughts and feelings are perfectly valid. Moreover, it’s useful to note that anger can be very empowering as well. If you block your ghoster on social media, if you delete your old messages and remove photos of them, these acts might seem very small. Yet what you’re actually doing is reclaiming your sense of control and this is a great first step towards moving forward. Another emotion people often experience after ghosting is sadness, because the loss of connection often hits people hard. Since you might not only be sad because you’ve lost a potential person in your life, but you might be grieving over the lost relationship and the fun potential future together. These feelings of sadness are amplified more by the fact that you can’t get closure because the person who ghosted you never offered up any explanations. This is called ambiguous loss and this is a lingering uncertainty that keeps you stuck replaying every moment in your relationship and makes you wonder what went wrong. Building upon this, self-blame is another emotion people typically feel after ghosting because as you don’t have any answers, self-doubt creeps in and you start making up your own reasons for why you were ghosted. For instance, you might wonder if you were too clingy, if you texted too much or whether you were too emotionally distant. Of course, these are good questions to be asking yourself at the end of any relationship, but it isn’t a good idea to do this after being ghosted. You will be vulnerable, feeling a lot of different emotions and you’ll be blaming yourself when this wasn’t your fault. The person who ghosted you should have given you a reason. Finally for this section, all these different emotions can lead to a decrease in self-esteem because when you doubt yourself, your thoughts can spiral and feed your inner critic. Therefore, because the ghoster never gave you clarity or closure for what happened, you’re stuck trying to solve the mystery for yourself without all the information. This might lead you to wonder whether you were fun enough, if you’re enjoyable to be around and if you’re attractive enough. Decreases in self-esteem aren’t fun. What Are Some Coping Strategies After Being Ghosted? Firstly, when it comes to being ghosted, it’s a great idea if you cut ties with the person. This can include blocking the ghoster on social media, deleting messages and their contact in your phone. This can be beneficial because it can be freeing, it can help you to move on and some people compare it to shutting a door on someone who’s left you, and firmly locking it behind them. Secondly, to cope with ghosting, you can seek answers and I am very unsure about this coping strategy, because as someone who’s faced emotional abuse and gaslighting. If I wanted to understand what everyone was thinking, how other people were feeling and why a particular person was so interested in being emotionally abusive towards me. This would not have been healthy, it would have prolonged my suffering and since I’ve put this part of my life behind me. My mental health has been a lot better, I’ve been a lot happier and it gave me the mental headspace to pursue dating. However, some ghostees just cannot let it go that they were ghosted without trying to find answers. This can include scrolling through the ghoster’s social media, their messages and sending one last message in an effort to find closure. Although, it has to be said, more often than not the search for answers ends in frustration and the mystery of why you were ghosted doesn’t get solved. Personally, if I were you, I would focus on other coping strategies, talking to a mental health professional if needed and I would practice self-care. Searching for answers would be the last thing that I would do because as I mentioned a moment ago, it only prolongs suffering and it tends to end in heartbreak. Thirdly, you can embrace acceptance and you can use rationalising. I think this might be one of the most useful coping strategies because when someone ghosts you, it isn’t about you. It’s about them. Therefore, after you’ve deleted messages, blocked the ghoster and you practice self-care. This frees up your headspace so you’re better able to focus on things that make you happy, like your friends, your family and maybe exploring new romantic interests. Also, it’s useful to bear in mind that by accepting your situation and moving on, it doesn’t mean that all your emotions will disappear. It means instead of lingering in your sadness as well as anger, you’ll be able to focus on your own healing. Finally and I think this is rather unfortunate, but one coping mechanism after being ghosted is to become the ghoster. Since people who have experienced ghosting are more likely to ghost other people themselves. This could come from the belief that everyone ghosts, why can’t I?  But this isn’t the best coping strategy, because you’re hurting others, and ghostees tend to find ghosting other people doesn’t bring them the relief they want. Mainly because they already know how hurtful it is to be on the receiving end of ghosting. What Are the Long-Term Effects of Ghosting? As I’ve hinted at in other parts of this episode, being ghosted can lead to emotional fallout in the long term because it can lead to anxiety as well as depressive symptoms. This is because the lack of closure leaves ghostees feeling stuck in a loop of uncertainty. Another long-term effect of ghosting is it creates trust and self-esteem issues for the person. Since ghosting leaves unresolved questions that make the ghostee doubt themselves for months, or even years in extreme cases, and they might become more guarded in future relationships. This isn’t ideal because this can make it harder for them to trust new partners and it can make genuine connection more difficult. Ultimately, it can create a cycle of failed relationships and insecure attachment. However, there is a potential benefit of ghosting in the long term because after you’ve recovered and healed from all the negative impacts, it gives you an opportunity to grow and reflect on the experience. As aspiring and qualified psychologists, we know the importance of self-reflection and wanting to improve our actions for the future, so we can apply this knowledge to our dating life too. Due to, being ghosting can lead to people reflecting on their needs for boundaries and this can help them to come away from the ghosting experience stronger and better for future relationships. Social Psychology Conclusion It wasn’t until near the end of this psychology podcast episode that I realised I have been on the receiving end of “small scale ghosting”. By this, I mean me and a few guys on a dating app have “matched”, we’ve exchanged one or two messages and the guy doesn’t reply again. I think when I was new to online dating, this did hurt in small ways because these guys were really attractive and it would have been nice to talk a little bit more. Yet we had barely had a conversation so I recovered very quickly and it didn’t really have an emotional impact on me. However, ghosting leaves deep scars on people and it can decrease their self-esteem, their mental health and their ability to trust others. And thankfully, healing from ghosting is definitely possible, but the echoes of ghosting often last far longer than the relationship itself and it can continue to cause difficulties for weeks, months and even years after the experience. If you’re struggling for the long term and it’s impairing your relationships, please consider reaching out to mental health professionals. Ultimately, I want to end this episode by stressing that honestly, if someone is willing to ghost you without any reason, any closure and anything at all. Then you are so much better off without them. You are special, you are important and you are lovable. You deserve someone who recognises you for the amazing person that you are.   I really hope you enjoyed today’s social psychology podcast episode. If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Social Psychology: A Guide To Social and Cultural Psychology . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Patreon for exclusive access and rewards Have a great day. Social Psychology Reference and Further Reading Di Santo, J. M., Montana, D., Nolan, K., Patel, J. P., Geher, G., Marks, K., ... & Thomson, G. (2022). To ghost or to be ghosted: An examination of the social and psychological correlates associated with ghosting. EvoS Journal: The Journal of the Evolutionary Studies Consortium, 12(1), 43-62. Freedman, G., Powell, D. N., Le, B., & Williams, K. D. (2024). Emotional experiences of ghosting. The Journal of social psychology, 164(3), 367-386. https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/intimate-relationships-in-the-digital-era/202412/haunted-by-silence-the-emotional-aftermath-of LeFebvre, L. E., & Fan, X. (2020). Ghosted?: Navigating strategies for reducing uncertainty and implications surrounding ambiguous loss. Personal Relationships, 27(2), 433–459. https://doi.org/10.1111/pere.12322 LeFebvre, L. E., Allen, M., Rasner, R. D., Garstad, S., Wilms, A., & Parrish, C. (2019). Ghosting in emerging adults' romantic relationships: The digital dissolution disappearance strategy. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 39(2), 125–150. https://doi.org/10.1177/0276236618820519 Navarro, R., Larrañaga, E., Yubero, S., & Víllora, B. (2020). Psychological correlates of ghosting and breadcrumbing experiences: A preliminary study among adults. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(3), 1116. Pancani, L., Aureli, N., & Riva, P. (2022). Relationship dissolution strategies: Comparing the psychological consequences of ghosting, orbiting, and rejection. Cyberpsychology, 16(2). Pancani, L., Mazzoni, D., Aureli, N., & Riva, P. (2021). Ghosting and orbiting: An analysis of victims' experiences. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 38(7), 1987–2007. https://doi.org/10.1177/02654075211000417 Park, Y., & Klein, N. (2024). Ghosting: Social rejection without explanation, but not without care. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 153(7), 1765. Schokkenbroek, J.M., Hardyns, W., & Ponnet, K. (2023). Online relationship dissolution strategies: A scoping review on ghosting, orbiting and breadcrumbing. Presented at the 73rd annual conference of the International Communication Association. Toronto, Canada, 25–29 May 2023. Thomas, J. O., & Dubar, R. T. (2021). Disappearing in the age of hypervisibility: Definition, context, and perceived psychological consequences of social media ghosting. Psychology of Popular Media, 10(3), 291. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000343 Timmermans, E., Hermans, A. M., & Opree, S. J. (2021). Gone with the wind: Exploring mobile daters' ghosting experiences. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 38(2), 783–801. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407520970287 Wu, K., & Bamishigbin, O. (2024). Ignorance is not always bliss: A qualitative study of young adults' experiences with being ghosted. Personal Relationships. https://doi.org/10.1111/pere.12547 I truly hope that you’ve enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon  page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/connorwhiteley  for a one-time bit of support.

This week MSc Developmental Psychology graduate Alia Awan joins The Psychology World Podcast again to talk about applying for psychology PhDs, how to apply for PhDs for psychology students and she offers a whole bunch of valuable, insightful and fascinating tips and tricks for psychology students looking to apply. If you want to learn more about PhD applications then this will be a brilliant episode for you. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Applied Psychology: Applying Social Psychology, Cognitive Psychology and More To Real World Problems.  Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Who is PhD Student Alia Awan? Alia Awan has just completed her Masters in Developmental Psychology at the University of Kent (where she also completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology). She is currently a PhD student in Applied Health Research focusing on adolescent social media use and health. Her research interests also include children’s play, imagination and the science of reading. In her spare time she like to play badminton, read, do some colouring and spend time with family and friends. What Is It Like Applying For PhD As A Psychology Student? Connor: So we're coming up to the 38-minute mark. To be honest, we probably are going to split this in, like, two different episodes. But in September, you're going to be starting something very exciting. Did you want to tell us about it? Alia: Yes, I do. Because it's kind of, like, a full circle moment as I was saying before. So I'm going to be starting a fully funded PhD with the Centre for Health and Service Studies at Kent University. I'm pretty sure I got that right. I'm still learning to get it right. But I should note, actually, I did apply for other PhDs, funded PhDs, through the school of psychology, and I wasn't successful in those. So if you don't... I learnt a lot about, like, resilience and perseverance this year because I applied a lot, and I put a lot of effort into it, and then I didn't get it. But I am a firm believer in, like, the right things will come your way when it's time, if that makes sense. So the right things will come along, and better things do come along if you don't get something. So that kind of helped me, like, stay grounded as well. Knowing that something will come my way even though I didn't believe it at times, and it didn't feel like it was going to happen But, yeah, so in September, I think in a couple of weeks, I'll be starting the PhD. The title of it is Applied Health Research, but it's part of this project. So it's the World Health Organization funds this type of research across 41 different countries, and it's about the health behavior of school-aged children. So looking at adolescents, and they get adolescents to do surveys, anonymous surveys, and asking lots of different questions. So maybe about vaping, smoking habits, drinking habits, sharing family meals, how many fruits and vegetables they eat, social media use, exercise activity. There's quite... It's just such a broad range of things they get asked. So I'm trying to cover as much as possible and remember as much as possible. But also, like, about body image as well, about eating behavior, loneliness. And, yeah, there's a lot. And if you're interested in this, it's called the larger project at Kent. Actually, it's not at Kent. It's kind of across the nations. I'm not really sure. I'm also a bit, like, still learning exactly what the whole thing is. It's called Health Behavior of School-aged Children, HBSC. And if you look it up online, you'll see reports that they've done in the past, where they've reported on what they found across these surveys, across the UK, but also across countries, across genders, but also they've looked at it across ages. So mainly in adolescents, so between, it's either 11 or 12. I think it's 11 to 15. In different countries, you report on different ages. But at Kent, specifically for the UK, basically, the government have said to this lady at Kent, like, "Oh, can you hire three PhD students to sort of do these kind of topics." And then I applied to one of those with a research proposal, and she was like, "Yep, we're happy to have you on board sort of thing." So I haven't met the other two students, but I'm really excited to start, to be honest. I think mainly because they're going to teach me about the stats, and working with such a big data set will be really cool because my undergrad and masters project...my undergrad dissertation project did have about 400 people, and then my masters project was a bit smaller, and it had about 70. So working with thousands of bits of data will be really interesting. I'm also really scared because it's statistics, but it's quite normal to be scared of stats. But they're going to teach me how to deal with that. But then also write for policy makers and write our findings academically but also for lay people and in different formats. And it really aligns with what I want to do in the future, post PhD, where I want to translate complex information into something that's understandable because rarely do you get, like, people who have spent years in research who can do this. So I want to be one of those people who can spend my time really getting to grips with research, really understanding it, being able to collect, analyze, and summarize data for people, like, policy makers who can make a difference, who don't have those skills and that time to do the research themselves. Connor: Wow, that sounds amazing, and because I've known you for so long, I know you were going to be incredible at it. But I completely agree about how scary the stats sounds. Like, from my Masters of Research, I was only doing collaborations of like 70, 80 people, having to do statistics for thousands of people just sounds mind blowing and just insane, but well done for wanting to do it because, yeah, it's going to be hard, but I know you're going to be great at it. Alia: Thank you. Yeah, I know it's definitely going to be hard doing a PhD because I don't think you've ever heard a PhD student go, mine was easy. Connor: No. Alia: The best bit of it is that I can make it my full time job because PhDs tend to be, the fully funded ones at least, you are funded so that is your full time job and that's kind of across the UK. If you get a fully funded one, it tends to be that you can do it as your full time job, and some of them have contracts where you can't actually pick up work outside of it because they expect you to spend a lot of time on it. So if you're thinking about doing a PhD but you're not sure if you've got enough funding to live beyond the stipend, just I would check the contracts and information. But, yeah, you do need a lot of perseverance when applying though I will say. It's a tough process as well because your competition are the same people who are getting, like, top marks, they are in the same position as you, and they're really passionate about research, they know what they want to do, and they've really thought about their studies as well. So, yeah, beyond that I don't really know what else to say, but it's good to learn perseverance in that sense. Connor: Definitely. Alia: Like, I think that's going to help me in the future for sure. Connor: Definitely. And if I've learned one thing from you over the past year it is just how much perseverance you have. I remember quite a few of our conversations, especially after some of these other PhDs I fell through, and, like, if it's okay to say this, if not I'll edit it, it's how you were very sad. You put your heart and soul into these things, and then when they fell through, it's a loss for anyone though. But I'm so glad though that you have, like...because I think you're going to do really well though. So have you got any other tips if someone's applying for a PhD besides perseverance? Tips For Applying For A Psychology PhD Alia: I think make sure you get on with your supervisor, have a little meeting because supervisor relationship is really important to me. And although I'm not doing my PhD with my supervisor I initially intended to with at the beginning of the year... Her name is Dr. Angela Nyhout, please check her out, she does some really cool research on imagination, mental imagery, counterfactual thinking in children. And although I'm not doing it with her, I did still want to make sure my supervisor relationship with the other person was going to be good, and when we had a little chat, I knew it was and I asked questions as well. There's no shame in asking questions to a supervisor about what things they kind of...how do they support, like, a little community? How do they...? I don't really know what I was going to try to reword that, but, yeah, how do they create a little community? What sorts of things do they do to help the student learn and the PhD student be supported? How does the student learn or, like, how will you teach me things I don't know? Is there room for being taught how much I don't know? And, like, what the supervisor relationship will be like? What do they expect? Another thing is also the university as a whole. If you're choosing to do it at another university that you've not been to, go in person and check it out, and see if you can, like, meet with the person, with your potential supervisor to see if they can show you around for a bit, have lunch with them. I don't know how typical that is actually, but I think it would be nice to do if you can do it and if they're up for it. But also remember that if you don't get your first one, that's okay. And apply for a few as well, if you can, maybe across different countries, across universities. But also it does take a lot of time to develop a proposal, so don't try to do like 10, maybe try to do like 3 at a time but also be wary of the deadlines that they have. Because some of them are at different times, but I looked a lot of them up online as well about tips for applying for PhDs in the UK. And remember to specify where you want to do it. So if you want to do it in the U.S., there's different requirements. If you want to do it in the UK, of course, there's different requirements. So just check out all the details to make sure you meet all the requirements so you don't spend your time making a proposal and then, actually, you're not eligible for the scholarship or funding, whatever it might be. Connor: Definitely. And I'm a bit glad that we've actually focused on the whole relationship bit there. Because I know when I first started thinking about a PhD in a moment of, like, madness...because a PhD is so not for me. Yeah, that was just pure madness, like, that moment. But I know when I was, like, thinking about it, I was just thinking about the whole education side of it. But I didn't put enough focus on the relationship side because you're going to be stuck doing it for three or four years, and you don't want to be with someone that you don't like. And it's going to be a lot of stress and a lot of work though, so you don't need yet another stressor of having a bad relationship with your supervisor. Alia: Definitely. Connor: And also, yes, it's a relationship. So there will be some good moments and bad moments. But if you can have a generally good relationship, then that's going to improve your health and your mental health throughout it a lot more. So definitely. Alia: Yeah. So I chose my supervisor because, well, initially, I read one of her papers, and I was like, "I love this research. It's amazing." And then I approached her and said I want to do a PhD, and she helped guide my ideas so that we could do one that I liked and applied for. I didn't get those in the end, but it was still a really interesting journey, and it was nice that she knew how I worked as well because I did my masters with her. She knew how I worked and knew I needed deadlines, and I had set deadlines. And I liked that I knew how to work with her. Like, it wasn't a whole new person at my masters. It was the same person who knew me from undergrad, and it's nice that she's seen me progress as well. I think that's also so realizing and having a special kind of relationship. Like, we don't just talk about academics. We talk about other things too. And when I have something exciting or exciting news, I know I'll just drop her a message or I'll go see her and tell her. And I think that's...yeah, like you said having a good supervisor relationship, I think is important to a PhD especially if you're quite like a personable person. And I feel like it can make or break it kind of in some instances. It can make or break it. I don't want to say it can for everyone and in case it doesn't. But I think it is really important for people. Connor: Because that's one of the reasons why I flat out loved my masters, and I think that it might be quite similar for you. Because I've heard about your and Angela's conversations have quite a lot, and it was really nice though like for me and Hannah because we did just get on so well. We spoke about each other's lives, and it was almost a sort of friendship relationship. That's what made my masters even more be rememberable, and I think it's the same, like, for you and Angela, both of you love working together. Alia: Yeah I think it's made it a lot better definitely, and then for my masters I work with one of my colleagues, Rosina Tolley, on a project. And she trusted us fully because she knew us. She trusted us fully to be really independent, and we were, and it gave us a lot of confidence in our decisions, and it was really nice to work with Rosina on... Let's say, like, we collected data together, but we analyzed different bits of it. But it was nice to do together and be trusted. And she wasn't like a helicopter supervisor just checking in all the time. Like, if we needed something, we would check in and we would ask. Rather than her saying, "Oh, like, how's it going?" Every week, if that makes sense. She knew if we needed something, we would come to her. And I think that's really important because it allowed us to build a lot of confidence around research. Especially for me, because I'm always, like, second guessing myself, but this year I learnt a lot about not doing that. But also, I would say, one of the PhD tips I forgot to mention is that if you meet with your supervisor or if you can see any of their ex-PhD students who have graduated, reach out to the students via LinkedIn or via email. See if you if they respond, explain who you are, and saying that you're planning to apply for a PhD with so and so in this topic. You don't have to go into too much detail, I don't think. Just give them some context as to who you are and why you're contacting them. And you can ask them about any tips or advice they have or reflect about their experience. Because as you would on an open day, you'd speak to students who are currently studying there, so why not do that with a PhD? And you can definitely do with a PhD. A lot of supervisors I was thinking about asking to be my PhD supervisor a few years ago, I spoke to their ex-students because I gave an insight into how they might work during a PhD and how that might be different from a master's supervision...yeah, how that might be different from master's supervision. Connor: Yeah. Definitely. That's actually a really good tip. Thank you for sharing that. Because I hadn't even thought of that, but that would be really useful. And I think having that open-day mindset is really impactful, and I think that tips are actually going to help a lot of people. So we're coming up to the... So are there any other tips or tricks that you might have for either other PhDs, aspiring psychology students, or just anyone at university? Any Other Tips and Tricks for PhDs, Psychology Undergraduates or Aspiring Psychology Students? Alia: My main tip is post-graduation and with the job market right now, it is hard and give yourself some credit. But in order if you're quite early on in your degrees or experiences, try build up your CV doing various different things because the job market is really competitive, and you're competing with people who have graduated for years or just graduated as well. So it is very difficult. So I would say build as much experience as you can without overwhelming yourself. Connor: I couldn't agree more, never true words have been spoken. I know that pain all too well, and if I don't laugh, I will cry about it. Alia: Yes, it is wrong. Because a lot of people do psychology, so you just want to, like, help yourself later on to stand out. Connor: Okay, then, so if the people having enjoyed today's episode, then where could they find you online? Like, LinkedIn or anything? Alia: Yes, so I have LinkedIn, and my handle...I think it's just my name. It should just be Alia Awan. A-L-I-A. And then space. And then Awan, A-W-A-N Connor: Brilliant. Thank you. This has been a brilliant conversation. It's going to be really useful, and best of luck with your PhD and in the future. Alia: Thank you. Thank you for listening as well to all listeners.   I really hope you enjoyed today’s university psychology student life podcast episode. If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Applied Psychology: Applying Social Psychology, Cognitive Psychology and More To Real World Problems.  Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Patreon for exclusive access and rewards Have a great day. I truly hope that you’ve enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/connorwhiteley  for a one-time bit of support.

As I always talk about on The Psychology World Podcast, getting mental health support is flat out critical if you’re experiencing suicidal thoughts and you’re contemplating suicide. Therefore, in this clinical psychology podcast episode that’s a little different from usual, I list a wide range of suicide hotlines and prevention programmes throughout the world. Please reach out to these hotlines if you’re suicidal and as someone who has tried to end their life three times in the past. I promise you life gets better. I am so happy, relieved and excited that I did not succeed in ending my life back in 2024 because of how dark and pointless my life seemed. Due to my life has turned out brilliantly. Please read the resources below and reach out to these resources if needed. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Suicide Psychology. Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. What Are Some Suicide Hotlines and Prevention Programmes Around The World? Argentina Suicide Prevention Resources National emergency number: 911 Centro de Asistencia al Suicida In the greater Buenos Aires area, dial 135 Otherwise, call 5275-1135 or 0800 345 1435 Australia Suicide Prevention Resources National emergency number: 000 Lifeline Australia Dial 13 11 14 for 24/7 crisis support Text 0477 13 11 14 for 24/7 text support Austria Suicide Prevention Resources National emergency numbers: Dial 112 for emergencies (EU emergency number), 133 for police, 144 for an ambulance, and 122 for the fire brigade Emergency psychiatric hotline: 01 313 30; 24/7 support is available Suicide prevention hotline: 01 713 3374 Telefon Seelsorge Dial 142 for 24/7 crisis support For online chat support, visit  Telefon Seelsorge's website ; available from 4 pm to 11 pm Central European Time Belgium Suicide Prevention Resources National emergency number: Dial 112 for emergencies (EU emergency number), 101 for police, and 100 for a medical emergency or the fire brigade Zelfmoord 1813 Dial 1813 for 24/7 crisis support For online chat support, visit  Zelfmoord's website ; available from 5:00 pm to 12:am Central European Time Canada Suicide Prevention Resources National emergency number: 911 Talk Suicide Canada Dial 1-833-456-4566 for 24/7 crisis support Text 45645 for text support; available 4 pm to midnight ET In Quebec: Dial 1-866-APPELLE (277-3553) for 24/7 crisis support Text 535353 for 24/7 text support For 24/7 chat support, visit  suicide.ca Kids Help Phone 24/7 text support: Text CONNECT to 686868 Chile Suicide Prevention Resources National emergency numbers: Call 133 for police; call 131 for medical assistance Teléfono de la Esperanza Dial (00 56 42) 22 12 00 Colombia Suicide Prevention Resources National emergency number: 123 Teléfono de la esperanza Dial (57-1) 372 24 25 In Medellín, dial (57) 604 604 27 84 Ministerio de Salud y Protección Social (Ministry of Health and Social Protection) Visit  the website for region-specific suicide hotlines Denmark Suicide Prevention Resources National emergency number: 112 Medical Helpline 1813 For emergency medical help in the Capital Region of Denmark, dial 1813 on weekends, or after 4 pm Monday through Friday Livslinien Call the crisis line at 70 201 201 every day. Access online chat  on Mondays and Thursdays between 5 pm and 9 pm, and on weekends between 1 pm and 5 pm. Psykiatrifonden Access mental health support every day by calling 39 25 25 25 France Suicide Prevention Resources National emergency number: 112 National suicide prevention number: 3114 24/7 crisis support; visit  3114.fr  to learn more Suicide Écoute Dial 01 45 39 40 00 for 24/7 crisis support SOS Suicide Phénix Dial 01 40 44 46 45 for phone support between 1 pm and 11 pm Central European Time Germany Suicide Prevention Resources National emergency number: 112 (EU emergency number), 110 for police TelefonSeelsorge Dial 0800 111 0 111 or 0800 111 0 222 for 24/7 crisis support For chat or email support, visit  TelefonSeelsorge's website Hong Kong Suicide Prevention Resources National emergency number: 999 The Samaritan Befrienders Hong Kong For 24/7 support, dial 2389 2222 For English-language assistance, dial 2389 2223 For online chat help, go to  chatpoint.org.hk The Samaritans For 24/7 support, dial 2896 0000 Ireland Suicide Prevention Resources National emergency number: 112 or 999 The Samaritans Dial 116 123 for 24/7 mental health support Mental Health Ireland Text About It For 24/7 text support, text 50808 On smaller phone networks (such as An Post or 48), text HELLO to 0861800280 Mexico Suicide Prevention Resources National emergency number: 911 Consejo Ciudadano Dial 55 5533-5533 for 24/7 crisis support New Zealand Suicide Prevention Resources National emergency number: 111 National mental health and addiction hotline: 1737 Can be reached by phone or text; learn more at  1737.org.nz Lifeline Aotearoa Dial 0800 543 354 for 24/7 crisis support Dial 0508 828 865 for the suicide crisis helpline Text HELP to 4357 for 24/7 text support Singapore Suicide Prevention Resources National emergency number: 999 (police) or 995 The Samaritans of Singapore Dial 1767 for the 24/7 hotline WhatsApp 9151 1767 for 24/7 text support South Africa Suicide Prevention Resources National emergency numbers: 10111 (police) or 10177 (ambulance) South African Depression and Anxiety Group Dial 0800 567 567 for 24/7 crisis support Spain Suicide Prevention Resources National emergency numbers: 112 Teléfono de la Esperanza Dial 717 003 717 for 24/7 crisis support Sweden Suicide Prevention Resources National emergency number: 112 Mind Självmordslinjen Dial 90101 for 24/7 phone support; in cases of acute crisis, call 112 For online chat support,  visit Självmordslinjen's website Switzerland Suicide Prevention Resources National emergency number: 112 (EU emergency number), 117 for police, 144 for ambulance Die Dargebotene Hand Dial 143 for 24/7 mental health support in German, French, and Italian For help in English, dial 0800 143 000 between 6 pm and 11 pm, or visit  heart2heart.143.ch Online chat support is available in  German ,  French , and  Italian United Kingdom Suicide Prevention Resources National emergency number: 999 or 112 The Samaritans Dial 116 123 for 24/7 mental health support Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) Dial 0800 58 58 58 for crisis support; available between 5 pm and midnight, BST or GMT Visit  thecalmzone.net  to access chat support Shout Text SHOUT to 85258 for 24/7 text support United States Suicide Prevention Resources National emergency number: 911 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: 988 Accessible by phone or text 24/7 support in English or Spanish 24/7 support for deaf or hard-of-hearing individuals; learn more at  988lifeline.org . For TTY Users: Use your preferred relay service or dial 711 then 988 Online chat: Visit  988lifeline.org Crisis Text Line 24/7 text support: Text HOME to 741741   I really hope you enjoyed today’s clinical psychology podcast episode. If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Suicide Psychology . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Patreon for exclusive access and rewards Have a great day. I truly hope that you’ve enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon  page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/connorwhiteley  for a one-time bit of support.

At the time of writing, it’s suicide awareness month, and typically whenever we think about suicide, we only think about the signs and symptoms that a person is suicidal. Equally, we think about the loss, heartbreak and sadness that follows a successful suicide attempt. However, the majority of suicide attempts are not successful and the aftermath of a suicide attempt can be difficult, distressing and heartbreaking for everyone involved. As someone who’s survived three suicide attempts, I want to explore the facts and findings of what happens after surviving a suicide attempt whilst I bring the subject to life with my own experiences. Therefore, by the end of this clinical psychology podcast episode, you’ll learn what happens after surviving a suicide attempt, how to support someone after a suicide attempt and what to do if you’ve survived a suicide attempt. If you enjoy learning about mental health, psychotherapy and suicide risk, then this will be a great episode for you. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Healing As A Survivor: A Personal and Clinical Psychology Guide To Healing From Sexual Violence.  Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Note: nothing on this podcast is ever any sort of official advice. Please reach out to a mental health service or suicide hotline if you’re suicidal. What Happens After Surviving A Suicide Attempt? The only silver lining we can take from the topic of suicide is that there are a lot more suicide attempts than completed suicides, but this does nothing to bring comfort to all of us impacted by suicide. According to the United States’ Centres for Disease Control, in 2019, there were 47,500 completed suicides compared to 1.4 million suicide attempts, and it’s important to remember that suicide is greatly underreported. For example, my three suicide attempts in 2024 were not recorded or registered with any healthcare provider or similar agency. This suggests that less than 5% of suicide attempts are fatal. Personally, what’s interesting about this statistic is that within clinical psychology, mental health and wider society, there is a massive focus on suicide prevention and supporting the friends and loved ones that are left behind after a completed suicide. Yet there is very little teaching on what to do after a suicide attempt. Of course, as a suicide survivor myself, I understand that the focus absolutely has to be on prevention. In my experience, if the focus wasn’t on prevention as much as it was, I would have tried to complete a successful suicide attempt way, way before 2024. Nonetheless, this lack of focus on what to do and how to support clients after a suicide attempt can lead to negative treatment of clients. For example, in my book, Healing As A Survivor , I talk about how my specialist rape counsellor didn’t react very well to my suicide revelation. It made me feel isolated, alone and it didn’t make me feel supported. Building upon this, people who attempt suicide and survive often require a lot of mental health support afterwards. Personally, I would highly, highly recommend that the person who attempted suicide should definitely seek out mental health support so they can heal, get support and find more adaptive ways to cope with life’s stressors. Another silver lining is that research shows that whilst people who attempt suicide can continue to struggle with their mental health after an unsuccessful suicide attempt. The majority of these people do not try another suicide attempt and the Centre for Disease Control finds that more than 90% of people who survived a suicide attempt do not go on to die by suicide. Thankfully, that suggests there is hope for a great life after surviving a suicide attempt. How Do Survivors Feel After a Suicide Attempt? Before I talk about what the research says, personally after my three suicide attempts, I felt really depressed, annoyed and slightly happy that I had been unsuccessful. I had wanted to kill myself because of my anxiety, my PTSD and all the other trauma responses I was having after my rape. I had no quality of life, I believed my life was beyond awful and there was no way I would ever heal and get better and I believed that my rapist had stolen everything from me. I firmly believed the only way to stop the pain, the agony and the trauma was just to kill myself. After I failed three different times with different methods, I felt guilty that I had hurt my friends and support system, I felt depressed because I was still hurting and in agony because of everything my rapist had done to me and I felt isolated. Again, that’s another symptom of depression. Building upon this, the emotions that a survivor experiences after surviving a suicide attempt can be wide ranging. Some survivors might be sad, others might feel relief and others might feel anger or regret that they weren’t successful. As well as there are some survivors that immediately have thoughts of trying a second attempt and then they experience immense feelings of relief because they survived. Personally, the gap between my first attempt and my second and third was about a week or two and I think at first after the first suicide attempt, I did feel relief and sad and isolation. Yet over time as my mental health was still bad, my life still wasn’t worth living as far as I was concerned and I was still dealing with all the trauma responses, I just started to think more and more about a second then third attempt. Some survivors feel guilt that they survived their first suicide attempt because they believe they are still a burden on others, and other survivors still, believe that their suicide attempt allowed them to “snap out” of their suicidal thoughts and despair. In addition, some suicide survivors feel like they’re given a new lease on life and these survivors are typically able to return to their lives with a sense of gratitude. Personally, I feel like it took months for me to reach this point in my life and for the past few months, I really have been focusing on gratitude, being grateful to be alive and just enjoying the small moments. For example, a few days ago, the sun was shining, the golden light looking really pretty on the vibrant green leaves and I allowed myself to enjoy the pretty sight. I couldn’t experience that simple moment of joy if I wasn’t alive. On the other hand, other survivors are not so positive about their survival. Some people who survive a suicide attempt feel regret, depressed and even disappointed after their survival. I think I went through something similar after my first suicide attempt. Thankfully, some research shows that these feelings will decrease for the majority of survivors but they might indicate that the individual is still at risk of suicidal thoughts and future suicide attempts. This is why mental health support is so important. How To Support Someone After A Suicide Attempt? If a friend or family member or someone else you know has survived a suicide attempt then you might be scared, confused or angry at them. It is a normal and understandable reaction because you’re scared that you’ll lose someone you care about, love and enjoy spending time with. I completely understand how scary this must be because there have been plenty of people in my life who I would be devastated by if they had a successful suicide attempt. As well as if one of my friends or family members had tried to end their life then I would be scared for them. Additionally, after a suicide attempt, you might be asking yourself why your friend or loved one tried to end their life or if there was something you could have done to prevent it. Again, these are normal and good questions to think about and there are no easy answers. Yet the most important thing that you can do for your friend or loved one is to provide them support and being with them is often a key, critical part of recovery. Nonetheless, something I want to stress here is that it is so important that as much as you love, support and care about your friend or loved one who survived their suicide attempt. You need to look after yourself too. You are going to have to process your feelings, practice self-care, put up boundaries and manage your own mental health too. Believe me, from personal experience as a suicide survivor, there is nothing worse than having someone you rely on for mental health support suddenly backing off because they didn’t realise how badly your suicide attempt and your recovery was impacting them. I’m pretty sure this is why I tried my second and third suicide attempt. Therefore, when you learn that your friend or loved one has survived a suicide attempt, it’s important that you know this isn’t about saying the right thing. In this moment in time, what your friend or loved one needs from you is your support, they need you to be there for them and just see what they’re most comfortable with. It’s very unlikely that a friend or loved one wants to lose their autonomy, their freedom and their ability to make decisions for themselves after a suicide attempt. This is why honest and open conversations between you and your loved one are so important. A practical, yet unofficial, tip might be check in with the suicide survivor regularly, tell them that you’re thinking of them and if the survivor wants to talk about the suicide attempt then please, make an effort to listen. Of course, this will be hard, it will be emotionally draining and it might trigger some really difficult emotions for you. Yet it’s important in these situations to create an empathetic and non-judgemental space and definitely ask open-ended questions and give the survivor the space to sort through their difficult feelings after the suicide attempt. Something that I realise now, looking back, is that I didn’t really have a safe, empathetic environment for me to deal with my emotions after my first suicide attempt. Again, this was probably a major factor in why I did my second and third suicide attempt. At the time, the people in my life were struggling with the realisation that I had tried a suicide attempt, they were backing off because of their own mental health and when we did speak about it, I actually realise now I didn’t feel safe enough to be completely vulnerable about why I wanted to kill myself. And as much as the particular friend said they were great at mental health talks, they weren’t validating, they didn’t ask me what I needed and they focused on their fear. That only actually made me feel like more of a burden. And I distinctly remember writing in my book, Healing As A Survivor, either before or after the first suicide attempt that I wanted to kill myself because I had hurt my friends. Anyway, when supporting a suicide survivor, you can ask him or her or them directly, if they’re thinking of hurting themselves again and if they’re struggling with suicidal thoughts. These are two good questions to ask because as I discuss in Suicide Psychology , no one actually wants to do a suicide attempt. We try to end our lives because we don’t feel like we have another way out. Therefore, by asking these questions and wanting to tackle these topics head-on, you’re giving a suicidal person exactly what they want and need. A chance to talk about their feelings, their life and hopefully, you’ll be able to find solutions together. So a suicide attempt isn’t needed. Furthermore, as you might imagine, expressing your anger towards the suicide survivor in your life isn’t helpful because it will only undermine your loved one’s recovery and it will add more so-called “evidence” that they’re a burden. This is why it’s important that you find a more productive and healthier way to cope with your feelings like talking to a therapist or a support group for families or friends of suicide survivors or another trusted friend or family member. One of the best things you can do for a suicide survivor is to manage your own complicated emotions so you can support the survivor in recovery without getting burnt out. A final set of unofficial tips is that you can help your friend or loved one find a therapist or another form of mental health support as well as encourage them to take part in exercise and other healthy habits. For example, getting plenty of sleep, self-care and eating a balanced diet. How To Get Support After a Suicide Attempt? It’s okay that you attempted suicide. There is no shame in it. I know what it’s like to hate your life so much, see the world as such a dark and hopeless place that death by suicide seems like the only way out. I also know that you didn’t want to do a suicide attempt and if you saw another way out then you would have tried it. I know that suicide is always a last resort and you see it as a mercy so you aren’t a burden on your friends and family members anymore. And sometimes suicide can just seem like a way to end all the awful pain that we experience on a daily basis. I understand it all as supported by my three suicide attempts, but I am so happy that I wasn’t successful. I smile as I write this section because I really am so happy that I didn’t kill myself in 2024. If I had killed myself then I wouldn’t have finished the clinical psychology MSc that I flat out loved, I wouldn’t have met my beautiful ex-partner and I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy our relationship whilst it lasted and I wouldn’t have been able to have sex for the first time with someone else. All of those life events seemed flat out impossible after my rape and that’s why I wanted to kill myself. Thankfully, my life is amazing, fun and I am so happy to be alive. Yet I also know after a suicide attempt, life doesn’t always feel that great. As a result, after a suicide attempt, you might be feeling a lot of conflicting emotions like I spoke about towards the beginning of the podcast episode. And you might be annoyed or depressed that even after the suicide attempt, you are still dealing with a lot of mental health struggles or social challenges that made you want to end your life by suicide in the first place. This is why I highly recommend that you reach out to mental health services after a suicide attempt. It will be scary, you might be nervous about being judged and you might think you’ll be locked up forever if you reveal your suicide attempt to mental health services. Please reach out and get professional support because it will be so important to your suicide recovery. Also, seek out support from your loved ones or friends. Especially, because after a suicide attempt, it can be so tempting to just shut yourself away from the world, hide in your bedroom and cut everyone off out of shame or another emotion. Yet experts agree that after suicide, social connection is so important to your recovery. Also, your friends or loved ones are likely to be very worried about you and they want to help, so please reach out to them. Friends and family members can also be good sources of support if you tell them how you’re hurting, how you’re struggling and what you need from them in turn. In the longer-term, it can be helpful for suicide survivors to find a sense of purpose and meaning because this can help survivors recover from despair. This is different for everyone. For example, as a podcaster and author, I find sharing my story, writing and learning to give me a lot of purpose so I don’t want to end my life by suicide. You might decide to do something completely different, because some research shows the survivors that don’t go on to die by suicide, they end up citing their desire to help others and contribute to society are important protective factors against further suicidal thoughts. Overall, finding meaning can be a critical step towards recovery. Clinical Psychology Conclusion As dark as talking about suicide is, especially after the past year with my experience of three suicide attempts, I have to admit that I’ve enjoyed today’s podcast episode. Not only because as I mentioned earlier, educating others and telling my story about suicide and how recovery is possible act as protective factors against further suicidal thoughts for me. But because this episode helped me to realise a few factors behind my suicide attempts and how I didn’t get the support I needed after my first attempt and that led me to do a second and third suicide attempt. Ultimately at the end of this psychology podcast episode, my message is clear, if you’ve survived a suicide attempt then please reach out to mental health support. And as a survivor myself, please know that healing, recovery and thriving after a suicide attempt is possible. I have had so many fun experiences from hanging out with friends, playing fun games, having sex, having a partner, writing great stories, reading wonderful books and learning so many fascinating concepts that I flat out love being alive. I couldn’t have done any of these experiences if my suicide attempts were successful. Therefore, I know how hard it is, I know how much pain you’re in and I know how much easier it seems to simply end it all. But please, reach out to mental health support, start your recovery journey and let your friends and family members support you. Life gets better, trust me.   I really hope you enjoyed today’s clinical psychology podcast episode. If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Healing As A Survivor: A Personal and Clinical Psychology Guide To Healing From Sexual Violence.  Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Patreon for exclusive access and rewards Have a great day. Clinical Psychology References and Further Reading Al-Harrasi, A., Al Maqbali, M., & Al-Sinawi, H. (2016). Surviving a suicide attempt. Oman Medical Journal, 31(5), 378. https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/basics/suicide/surviving-a-suicide-attempt Maple, M., Frey, L. M., McKay, K., Coker, S., & Grey, S. (2020). “Nobody hears a silent cry for help”: Suicide attempt survivors’ experiences of disclosing during and after a crisis. Archives of suicide research, 24(4), 498-516. Oexle, N., Herrmann, K., Staiger, T., Sheehan, L., Rüsch, N., & Krumm, S. (2019). Stigma and suicidality among suicide attempt survivors: A qualitative study. Death studies. Parra-Uribe, I., Blasco-Fontecilla, H., Garcia-Parés, G., Martínez-Naval, L., Valero-Coppin, O., Cebrià-Meca, A., ... & Palao-Vidal, D. (2017). Risk of re-attempts and suicide death after a suicide attempt: a survival analysis. BMC psychiatry, 17(1), 163. Tong, B., Kashdan, T. B., Joiner, T., & Rottenberg, J. (2021). Future well-being among people who attempt suicide and survive: Research recommendations. Behavior Therapy, 52(5), 1213-1225. Williams, S. M., Frey, L. M., Stage, D. R. L., & Cerel, J. (2018). Exploring lived experience in gender and sexual minority suicide attempt survivors. American journal of orthopsychiatry, 88(6), 691. I truly hope that you’ve enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon  page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/connorwhiteley  for a one-time bit of support.

This week on The Psychology World Podcast MSc Developmental Psychology graduate discusses how she got into psychology, why she choose the University of Kent over other universities, her experience of university burnout and so much more. If you want to learn more about studying psychology, how to make the most of your time at university and more then this will be a brilliant episode for you. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Year In Psychology . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Who is PhD Student Alia Awan? Alia Awan has just completed her Masters in Developmental Psychology at the University of Kent (where she also completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology). She is currently a PhD student in Applied Health Research focusing on adolescent social media use and health. Her research interests also include children’s play, imagination and the science of reading. In her spare time she like to play badminton, read, do some colouring and spend time with family and friends. Connor: Hi, everyone, and welcome to "The Psychology World Podcast." And today, I have a really good special guest, Alia. She’s a psychology master's student and studied in developmental psychology. She's a good, a friend, and she's really interesting because she's done so many different bits and pieces with her psychology degree. So, hi, Alia. Would you want to introduce yourself and how you got into psychology? How Did You Get into Psychology? Alia: Yes, my name is Alia. I just finished my masters. So I did my undergrad and masters at the same university, similar to Connor. The way I got into psychology, it's not...I think it's quite similar to how a lot of sixth form students pick their university choice in that it was the class that I least dreaded the most. Like the other classes, I thought, "Oh, I don't want to go. I can't be bothered." But psychology was the one where I was like, "Oh, I want to go." Like, "I can't wait to see what's next," or, I don't know, "I want to know what we're learning today." So that's how I picked psychology, and I'm really glad I did because when I first started my university year, I was like, "Oh, psychology is a lot broader than I thought it was." But then there were also things that I noticed. Like, I thought I'd really like forensics because I thought forensics was about crime and serial killers and that stuff. And then it wasn't. But that opened my eyes up to how much, like, pop psychology is out there, and how much, like, you really have to delve into the subject to figure out if it is what it really is, if that makes sense. So when you learn psychology and do it, doing it as a degree, it's not like you're going into it and you're going to learn how to read minds or you're going to diagnose everyone because that's what everyone still thinks I do. But that's not the case. It's a lot broader than you think it is or people usually think it is. Connor: Yeah, definitely. Thank you. Because I remember when I did sixth form, so for our international audience, that is the 16 to 18-year-old education option that we have in the UK, and I was like, "I'm going to pick the least worst option," because I did IB Chemistry, and I hated it so much, so much. But then like you said psychology, again, is exciting. And those myths and misconceptions that we have to deal with is so constant. People still will think that I do mind reading and everything else. So another question that I want to ask you, why did you choose Kent over some of the other universities in case there were other listeners thinking about studying psychology, but they're unsure what you need to look at? How Did You Choose A University for Your Psychology Degree? Alia: Yeah, I mean, I think it's a very big choice to make, obviously, because if you're going away from home, it's a scary decision to make sometimes. And you want to make sure you pick the right uni for you. And there are some, like, city-based universities in the UK, and then there's some campus-based. So I chose Kent because I live close to home, and I wanted to stay home for the first few years to save money and work and save money on the side. And then I ended up really enjoying it and falling in love with Kent. Because it's mainly the staff that I fell in love with at Kent, like the way they teach, and the passion they had. Because I think students will go...you can go to any sort of university and find your people, find your friends. So wherever you go, I wouldn't worry about making sure you find your people because it's one of the times in your life, I think, you'll be met with so much diversity. And I really like that because I can't think of another opportunity, not even in a job where you'd meet so many different people in one place with so many different interests. Well, yes, so one of the reasons I chose Kent is because I wanted to stay close to home. But if you do want to move away from home, I think things...like on our open days, because I'm a student ambassador, on open days I tell people to consider their budget, how far away they actually want to be from home, whether they want a city-based university, campus-based university, because the vibes are a bit different. Like, with a campus-based university, what I like is everything's in one place. So if I have a friend who's got a subject or a lecture on, like, the other side of campus, we're not far and we can meet in the middle for coffee. Whereas if it's city-based, you might be you might be a bit further apart. And I like that everything is in one place, especially in Canterbury because everything is quite close by. But one of the good things about city-based is that it is far apart. So it depends on your preferences as well. And city-based tends to be to be a little bit busier, I suppose. But I think when I chose Kent, I didn't put as much thought into it. I was like, "Okay, I want to stay home, and this is quite a good uni. And they do really well in psychology, so might as well." And then when I actually came to Kent, I was like, "Oh, this is a good thing. This is a good thing." And then I get to tell people what I love about Kent at the open days and be genuine about it. Connor: Thank you for sharing about that. Because me and Alia, we tend to work a lot of open days together. And I love those days because it's just a really good chance though for us to catch up, talk about our research and our other interests, but also just to talk to other students about how passionate we are, well, just about psychology, about our university, especially when it came to the staff. Because if you've got really good staff that are passionate, educated, and they really just want to, like, talk to you, sometimes they'll just talk your ear off about the research. They're so passionate, it has some effect and can really make a massive difference. Thank you for that. Alia: One of the good things if you have the chance to go to an open day, talk to the staff about their research interests, and you'll see how passionate they are. You might find that yours align or your quite interested in what they do because they tend to bring the stuff they research into their lectures, because they deliver lectures on what they know more about, of course. Wait, of course, it's not general knowledge, but, yeah, they do tend to do that. And then you can always go and speak to them as well. And I think it's just so interesting that they're interesting and they're interested in their research and work, because they can help give you ideas or they can help guide you, in that sense, with your ideas. Yeah, it's just great learning from, like, the experts in the field, and they're not far from you, so you might as well. If you've got three or four years at uni, or five or six, in our case, make the most your staff that are available to you. Usually, in university's psychology department, because psychology is such a big subject, you'll have quite a few university's staff members, and if you have the time, I would say, for that uni you're thinking about going to, have a look at the staff profiles. Because, usually, they say, like, what their research interests are and maybe read some of their papers as well, or have a little look. Sometimes they can be really hard to read and really confusing because of the technical terms, especially if you haven't done psychology before. But it can be quite eye opening to see what the time in the uni is good at and what the lecturers are good at. Yeah, I loved the work in the open days because also in between when prospective students go off and do things, the ambassadors and the staff would just chat away, would just keep yapping. I don't even know about what sometimes, but it's really enough to build those relationships as well. Connor: Yeah, definitely though...and this is one of the reasons why I love the clinical psychology lecturers. Because all of the clinical psychologists, they're actually practicing. So in their lectures they actually get to talk about their cases, their past experiences, and that really does make the subject come alive. And I completely agree with what you say about sometimes we're talking to lecturers, we don't even know what we're talking about but we're just, like, enjoying it. And that's just part of the fun of it. So I completely agree with what Alia said definitely look at the university profiles and see if you're interests align. Alia: But also they are really open to the ideas you have and learning new things that you might find. So you might find a very unique paper, a really niche paper, and say, "Oh, this is in your subject area, what do you think?" And they might go, "Oh, well, I haven't read that yet." Yeah, so they're also open to learning as much as they're teaching. But I think you'll also find that in other uni's, of course, I haven't been to other uni's, but I can at least speak for the Kent Psychology Department and other departments as well, to be fair. Connor: Yeah, true. So did you find that quite surprising when you first went there, that they were open to talking to you? Were You Surprised the Psychology Lecturers Wanted to Talk to You? Alia: Yeah, definitely. I think I was really worried that because they were lecturers they would be like, "above me." But they're not. They want to talk to you. They want to learn more about you. They want to be friendly with you. They're not scary people. Like, they're going to eat you alive. Like, they are also there for you as well because, again, you get an academic advisor assigned to you. And they're there to support you with any academic needs, personal needs. Like, I remember a few years ago, there was this one girl who was really struggling to make friends at uni, and she spoke to one of the supervisors. And the supervisor knew my group of friends and brought her to us, and was like, "Get to know these people because they're really nice." So you can talk to them about quite a few different things, and they're open to it as well. They're not just there for academic purposes, but, of course, they're not also there for...like, you have specific services for mental health support. But they are mainly there for academic support, if that makes sense. So they're still there for academic support... Connor: Yeah, definitely. Alia: ...but they can't completely do the mental health support because there is a dedicated service for that. Connor: Yeah, and that's really nice that you were able to become friends with this person just because a supervisor knew that you were really nice. So that's brilliant for that. And in my experience and most other lecturers, they're just a down to earth human. Because my supervisor kind of similar and we would be like, "That's a meeting for an hour and 20 minutes." We were literally talking for like an hour about here and everything about our lives. And we only spent probably 10 or 20 minutes talking about why I was actually there. So it's brilliant. Thank you. That's really good insight that I think everyone can learn from. How Do Psychology Placement Years Work? Connor: So did you want to talk about placements now? Alia: Yeah, so I'll go first. So the way the university do our placements, they sort of do it towards the end of... It's not the end of first year. End of first year or beginning of second year, where they advertise it like a job sort of thing. So they say this X company is looking for a placement student. Send you a cover letter, CV, or use this application form, and email it to this person by this date. It's a really good experience because it's sort of like you're applying for a job, and I didn't quite realize it then, but it is pretty much like applying for a job. So you get that experience of applying. And we have a careers and employability service who help us with applications and can support us with applications. Because it's quite a new thing because you don't usually get that sort of opportunity at least in secondary school here to be applying for jobs, although some schools do, like, mock interviews, it's a really hard process. And it's something, like, you have to sort of learn. It's something that takes a bit of time to learn as well, like get used to doing interviews and stuff. Like, I'm still not used to doing interviews. But, yeah, we do have the support there as well for that. But the way we did it was, like, applying for a job, and then usually, you'd applied to multiple... Like, the way I did it was I applied for ones I thought maybe I won't like that. Because what I loved about my placement was that I did it in a clinical setting in an autism diagnostic service. And whilst I enjoyed and learned a lot, it showed me that I didn't want to work in a clinical setting. It just wasn't right for me, but a lot of people found that they did a clinical based placement, and then they ended up loving it and knew it was for them. So it does teach you what you like and don't like. And I think it's really important that you learn what you don't like really early on because during my placement I found that I really loved research, and that led me to pursue research-based experiences and roles after my placement year in undergrad. And that's led me to where I currently am. But if I had not done my placement year, I would have geared my whole career towards clinical and ended up realizing that it's not really for me. So it would have been a big...not waste of time, but it would have been, I suppose, like a waste of time for me because then I found out I didn't like it, if that makes sense. But I don't like to use the phrase waste of time because I still learn a lot. Like, I've built a lot of confidence during my placement. Connor: Okay. Brilliant, and that's something that I always say to people about placement years is that you use it as a chance to act an experiment, and just what you did where you went in some realizer that you hated. And it's so much better than doing all the qualifications, all the studying and you realize, "Oh my god, I've just spent so many years doing this." And something else that I would add is that sometimes you might not like something at that moment in time, but then later on, you might find out that you love it. Like, I did a research placement with Amir, brilliant man. Loved working with him. But research during COVID was not fun. I flat out hated it. But then in my masters, I did lots of research on transgender mental health, and it was really good. I, like, loved it because I could do my research however I wanted to, and it was a lot of fun. Alia: Like, if you realize you've tried something and you're like, "Oh, I really don't like this," maybe try it again a bit later. Like, for example, in my second year, I thought because I had already done the year of psychology and I was like, "Kind of interested in eating disorders and disordered eating in people and doing maybe some research in that." So I joined Rise and Recover, which isn't currently a society because there wasn't enough people this year and last year to run it. But it was a society about raising awareness and fundraising for Beat, an eating disorder charity. And it was really nice while we had it. Like, I got to speak to KMTV about what we as a society do at Kent and how we can raise more awareness in Kent and our local area of eating disorders. And then as I got more into psychology, I fell in love with child development. I fell in love with researching imagery. And also you don't have to just have one interest. That's one thing I've learnt. You don't have to have one research interest, you can have multiple. Or not even just research-wise, you can have lots of general interests in different things. You don't just have to be like, "Oh, yeah, I only like this thing, and I can only like this thing." You can like multiple things. Because now, I might be going into looking into disordered eating and disordered eating behavior. So I've kind of done like a full circle moment. So I started off thinking, "Oh, I quite like this topic." I kind of erred quite a bit away from it, and now, I'm coming back to it. And I never thought I really would. But do keep an open mind as well doing your degrees. Whatever degree you do, try getting involved in lots of different types of placements or work experience opportunities. Because they really teach you what you might want to do in the future, and I think undergrad, and if you do a masters, it's the best time to do it because you've got that time to work it out because you're doing something in the background and you're gaining a qualification in the background. But also at the same time, try not to overload yourself. So try have your degree and then maybe doing work experience or placement like part-time or if not part-time, then in your weekends or on holidays, but also be wary of burnout. It's quite a hard thing to balance, and it does take some time to figure out how to balance it because everyone's different. So you just kind of have to trial and error and work out what's for you. But you've got time to do that in your first year, especially where usually your first year doesn't count towards your whole degree, like, the marks don't count to your degree. So that's probably the best time to do it, I would say. Work out how to balance your commitments with your degree. Connor: Wow, definitely, and I didn't know you did the whole eating disorders society. I think that’s fascinating that you were able to make a society. And for our international audience, a society is a sort of like an adult social club. So it's a group of people that form a group around a particular interest. But that's great clinical psychology experience, and I can imagine lots of other people thinking that they might want to do that at their own universities. Because not only will they be able to evidence their skills, then that proves that they're really passionate about psychology because they're going above and beyond. So that's amazing. I thank you so much for sharing that. How To Manage Burnout For University Psychology Students? Connor: And burnout. Burnout's just a nightmare. I've been burnt out quite a few times during my degree life. It's never fun. Can you recommend any sort of tips and tricks how you manage burnout because it's going to hit all of us at some point? Alia: Yeah. I think it's going to hit you at some point, and different people have different capacities. So it's okay if you're burnout before other people or if you're like, "Oh, everyone around me is burnout, but I'm not burnout yet." You might get burnout. You might never experience burnout, and be like some sort of superhuman being. But you might experience burnout from academic studies, personal life, or both combined. And that can be quite tricky. But I think I don't know, like, the exact signs. I think signs are different in people. But you start to feel like...I noticed I start to feel really tired, demotivated for things I usually would feel motivated to do, and I just think I can't really be bothered to do that even though sometimes that is a daily occurrence, I can't be bothered to do something. But you just find that you really don't want to do the things that you enjoyed before, and you don't really want to be social maybe. I can't remember if you said to avoid burnout. I think you said avoid burnout, but to avoid burnout I would... I don't really know. I think I try find a work-life balance that works for me, but also include and make sure I have some social time. And by social time, I mean meeting up with friends but not too frequently for me. So I try to like once a week meet up or every couple of weeks with different people just to keep it varied and also make sure I have commitments that aren't super draining for me outside of studies. Like, now, I just finished my masters, and I do feel quite burnt out. So I've got a few weeks before I start my next thing. And what I'm doing now is while I have work to do on the side, like research assistant role to do on the side, I'm making sure in my free time that I am going with what I'm genuinely motivated to do. So maybe I fancy going to the gym, maybe I fancy going to do a little bit of shopping, window shopping, well, such as shopping, or maybe I fancy going to meet with a friend, or going to the park, or maybe just going by myself for a walk, or doing some reading. Like, I'm just going day by day even though I'm very much a planner. Like, I need to plan to a specific time. I know that I need to give myself a bit of...like, allow myself to just go with the flow a bit so I can recover from burnout. Connor: Definitely, and I'm really glad that you are looking after yourself that way. Because, like, I've seen you a few times during your burnout, and I'm glad you're doing a lot better. And, actually, at the time of recording, I'm doing like three massive projects. And I'm like, "No, three massive projects is too much. I'm approaching burnout." So next week, I've got to be a lot more mindful about giving myself time to relax. But I also think that it's healthy for us, like, to have this conversation just so people can know that burnout is normal. It's not ideal, and if you find yourself at burnout, then there are steps that you can take. So thank you for sharing. Alia: Oh, sorry, I just wanted to add to that and just say, like you said, like, you might not get recover from your burnout the day after you feel burnt out and, like, the day after you recognize your burnout. Because sometimes your body tells you, so do listen to your body. Because sometimes your body tells you you're tired before you even know you're tired, and I think it's just important to become more attuned. I don't know if that's the word, attuned to your body and the signals that tell you you're tired and exhausted. But try listen to it as early as possible and catch it as early as possible. Because the longer you wait, I suppose, the longer recovery time. And then it kind of might impact whatever you're doing. Whether you're working or still doing your degree, you might be burnt out around exams, and that's not an ideal time because you want to be productive. Also, try not to be too hard on yourself when you're burnt out and push yourself even further because I've seen people, like, who push themselves to that point and then they really start to struggle. But do reach out when you do feel that. Reach out to people you know and trust when you feel that way. But I also really like...there was this analogy, you've probably heard of it and a lot of people have heard of it. Like, a spoon analogy. Like, you only have a certain amount of spoons each day, and you're not going to have the same level of energy each day. And I like that because it makes me feel like it's okay to put more effort in one day and then not do so much the next day, and that's normal. Like, you don't have to go 100% every day, and 100% looks different as well. Connor: That's what I've got to get a lot better at because most of the time I just go full pelt all the time, and that's where I tend to, like, forward down a lot. But the spoons theory is really good. I've spoken about it before on the podcast. Listeners, if you want to learn more, search the backlist. It's something like spoons theory and autism, but it's really good though. And thank you, Alia, for reminding me because I need to incorporate that into my work next week. Alia: Easier said than done that all. This I'm saying is so much easier said than done. I struggle with it. Everyone struggles with it, and it's normal to struggle with burnout, and not knowing when you're burnt out, and then realizing you're burnt out and thinking, "Oh, no, I pushed it too far." And sometimes for people this happens on repeat till you learn your signs. So, yeah, don't be too hard on yourself if you don't pick up immediately that you are burnt out because it's hard. It's a working progress for everyone, I think. What Is Stats Buddies? Connor: True. Definitely. Thank you. During your undergrad, you started this really interesting program called Stat Buddies. Could you please tell us what that is? What's it about? Alia: Yeah. Also, I don't know how much time we have, but I'll talk you through the little journey I had with stats buddies. So in my undergrad, in first year, I started in lockdown, which meant it was all online and everyone was a bit disconnected. I hadn't met anyone. It was a bit awkward. So the stats lecturer that we had at that time, I forgot his last name but he was Dr. Lazarus. He was really good. He's at another university at the moment. But he decided that he wanted to create something called stats buddies, where it was like peer to peer support. So I volunteered to be a stats buddy, and I was really worried because I thought, "Oh, no, I'm going to have to be perfect at stats." But, actually, I wasn't. But, actually, it was a really helpful tool to help me learn because I had to know enough to teach, which meant I tried to really understand it myself. And it was usually if you can teach someone something, it means you've understood it well, and that kind of reassured me that I knew some stats. So we did that in first year, and then it kind of disbanded during undergrad, and then someone else did it in their final year. And then the year after that, me and a couple other people, we set up something called Psych Buddies. So we took Stats Buddies and made it into this bigger thing called Psych Buddies, where we support students with their study skills, so giving some exam and revision tips, Google Scholar hacks, essay writing, APA formatting tips. But the aim of it was not to spoon feed people and tell people the answers, like, "Do this, this, this." it was to equip them with the tools to support themselves in the future because that initiative might not be there forever. It might not be there when they graduate, of course, because they might be somewhere else. So it was to make them independent learners, which I know the university as a whole tried to do. But we had weekly, hourly...actually, they were two hours, two-hour sessions to do that and support students in that sense. So they would come in, and we would help them with... There were volunteers as well. So we called ourselves Stats Buddies. And they would come in, and they might have an error with their code. They might be struggling with a specific assignment or not understand it, and we would help them try to be independent in their thinking. So, for example, I'll put it into context, and I'll give an example. So maybe someone comes in and their code isn't working, which is pretty common in psychology. If you know RStudio, then you know that it's a very common thing, and it's fine if it's not working because, yeah, it happens all time. So they'd come in. They couldn't figure it out. So what we would do as a stats buddy is maybe narrate the process that's going on in our mind to help resolve the problem. So we'd say, "Okay, let's check if the variable name you're trying to do is the same as the one in your data set. Let's check the spelling. Let's check if there's any extra things you put in the code that shouldn't be there. Let's actually read the error code and try and understand it." So we talk through our steps so that this person can then carry out the same steps next time when they have an error in their code. Just little things like that to help people be independent in their thinking, and we also didn't want to copy what they were taught in lectures and seminars at uni. So we made sure that we saw what they're actually doing at uni, and then, basically, added onto that with extra information. So, for example, the uni might cover some study skills tips, like revision tips, but then we would add to them by thinking of some neurodivergent friendly ones, like body doubling. I really like body doubling, where you sit with someone else doing maybe the same task, a different task, and it would it might help you be more productive and get be more focused in your work. But, yeah, that's sort of...it's like buddy is essentially there to support. It was peer to peer support, which I think students felt more comfortable with because it wasn't like a lecturer. They felt like they could ask all their questions, silly or not. Obviously, we didn't judge or... Connor: As someone who hates RStudio with an utter passion, and the podcast is well aware of my hatred for RStudio, thank you so much for developing that sort of support. Because as you say RStudio, everything is supposed to be so exact. If your variable name might not have a capital letter or there might be one extra space at the end, then the entire thing just doesn't work. I know it's a nightmare, so thank you for developing that. And I also saw throughout the university and throughout the school of psychology how popular it was, how useful it was. And I won't go into it on the podcast, but as I know there were lots of difference and things going on around stats and buddies, and it wasn't always smooth sailing. But I know you did amazing work. But that's what I laughed at when I originally asked the question even though I'm going to, like, edit it out because I know so much happens around it. But you did like amazing. And the reason why I wanted to, like, share that story on the podcast is that I think that because in psychology stats is such a fearful topic. Lots of students find stats really stressful. I think that this could actually inspire other students to develop that sort of program and, yes, in their universities in their own friendship groups. Alia: Definitely, yeah, you don't have to be a stats expert. You can learn alongside students quite often. Well, not quite often. But sometimes we would be learning alongside the students. We'd say, "Oh, actually, I don't really know. Let's look it up together." And we'd show them the process of how we looked it up and how we found answers because that's also another tool to help support their independent learning. And I remember a few weeks ago, a few months ago, I met one of the friends that was living in the same building as me. And she was like, "Oh my gosh, did you...?" Because I told her about psych buddies, and she was like, "Oh my gosh, wait did you lead psych buddies?" Because she was a first year student and doing psychology, and she was like, "Oh my gosh, was that you? Oh my gosh, I feel like I'm meeting a celebrity." And I think that was a moment I was like, "Oh, so people know about it. That's good." Like, she didn't know I ran it, but she knew of it, which was really cool. Connor: Oh, wow. That's lovely, and I've had that a few times or times when someone has recognized me in public or recognized, well, something that I've done. And I'm like, "I didn't do anything like that and what you said." But it's definitely like a star-struck moment. Connor: Okay, then, so if the people having enjoyed today's episode, then where could they find you online? Like, LinkedIn or anything? Alia: Yes, so I have LinkedIn, and my handle...I think it's just my name. It should just be Alia Awan. A-L-I-A. And then space. And then Awan, A-W-A-N Connor: Brilliant. Thank you. This has been a brilliant conversation. It's going to be really useful, and best of luck with your PhD and in the future. Alia: Thank you. Thank you for listening as well to all listeners.   I really hope you enjoyed today’s university psychology student life podcast episode. If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Year In Psychology . Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Patreon for exclusive access and rewards Have a great day. I truly hope that you’ve enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/connorwhiteley  for a one-time bit of support.

I always say that you can do a lot with a psychology degree, including speech and language therapy. Next week at the time of writing, I have an interview to become a Speech and Language Therapist Assistant, and I’m really looking forward to it. Since speech and language therapy combines my interest in clinical psychology, improving lives and developmental psychology. Therefore, in this careers in psychology podcast episode, you’ll learn what does a speech and language therapist do, how do you become a qualified speech and language therapist and more. If you enjoy learning about psychology careers, child development and psychotherapy then this will be a great episode for you. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Applied Psychology: Applying Social Psychology, Cognitive Psychology and More To Real World Problems. Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Why Might a Psychology Graduate Want to Become a Speech and Language Therapist? All of us are probably well aware that the journey to become a qualified psychologist is long, bendy and it is never straightforward. Therefore, you might want to become a speech and language therapist because you like working with children, you have always enjoyed language work and you want to improve lives. Or whilst I love the idea of improving lives and it is one of the reasons why I want to become a clinical psychologist in the future, at first I’ll be honest (and I admit it might be risky to admit this publicly) but wanting to become a speech and language therapist assistant wasn’t my first idea. I’m using this as an opportunity to work in the UK’s National Health Service, work with clients with language difficulties and this will help me build up my clinical experience. Something I desperately need if I’m ever going to become a clinical psychologist. In addition, working as a speech and language therapist assistant would be a way to use my knowledge about language development, child development and everything else that I’ve learnt about developmental psychology over the years. Overall, you might want to work in speech and language therapy as a way to gain work experience, improve lives and most importantly, learn clinical skills for your future psychology career. What Does A Speech and Language Therapist Do? Thankfully, becoming a speech and language therapist gives you a lot of variety in your work life. That’s something that is very important to me because in theory, I flat out hate doing the same thing in a job over and over. Yet because of autism and I can see this in my own author business, I do like small, repetitive tasks. However, side note over, as a speech and language therapist, you can help clients with a wide range of different conditions and you’ll be working in a multi-disciplinary team. For example, I’ve worked with speech and language therapists alongside clinical psychologists, nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals. As well as you get to work with clients in a range of settings, like hospitals, clients’ homes and community clinics. I’ve had the chance to work with speech and language therapists in residential care settings, clinics and the client’s own homes before. I asked my parents this question and they said when I had speech and language therapy as a toddler, I had it at a community clinic. Moreover, as a speech and language therapist, you can help adults with a stutter, hearing impairment, learning difficulties, mental health difficulties, physical disabilities, voice problems and any eating, swallowing or communication difficulties after a neurological impairment and/ or neurodegenerative conditions. For instance, if a client has experienced a stroke, dementia, head injury or Parkinson’s Disease. Lastly for this section, you can support children with cleft lip and palate, a stutter, voice disorders, selective mutism, specific difficulties in pronouncing sounds, developmental language disorders and any mild, moderate or severe learning difficulties, as a speech and language therapist. What Is A Speech and Language Therapy Assistant? Considering that this is the job role that I have an interview for next week, I want to learn a little more about the role. Therefore, a speech and language therapy assistants work in a frontline role supporting clients with conditions that negatively impact their feeding, swallowing and communication. Also, a lot of people use this as a first step towards becoming a speech and language therapist. Speech and language therapy assistants work closely with speech and language therapists and other health professionals in community clinics, special and mainstream schools, hospitals and the client’s own homes. As well as their tasks can include preparing rooms and equipment, updating patient records, writing important reports on the client’s condition and helping clients during appointments. What is the Working Life of a Speech and Language Therapist? As a speech and language therapist, you would be providing language support, care and interventions to children, young people and adults with difficulties in eating, drinking, communication and swallowing. As well as you might get to work with individuals who have difficulties speaking and communicating because of physical or psychological reasons. This includes autistic people and other individuals with neurodivergent conditions. Moreover, speech and language therapists work with people who’s needs vary from children who’s language is just slow to develop, all the way up to older adults who have speaking difficulties because of an injury or illness. How Does Someone Get Qualified To Become A Speech And Language Therapist? Below is an extract from my book, Applied Psychology. “Personally, I can attest that these therapists are amazing and do the works of the Gods because I needed them when I was very young, and without them I wouldn’t have been able to talk. And not only talk and speak but go on to become an audiobook narrator and podcaster. So thank you. Therefore, in case you want to become one of these amazing people, this is the typical pathway you would need to take in the UK. Firstly, you would need an undergraduate degree in a science, language or psychology at least at a 2:1 level then you would go on to study Speech And Language Therapy at Masters Level (either a PGDip or MSC) with this lasting two years. Now the reason why I’m mentioning this in a psychology book is because a lot of psychology students go on to do this career. As well as in addition to the normal student support the UK Government gives you (at the time of writing), you also get a grant of at least £5,000 a year that isn’t means-tested or repayable. That’s brilliant. If you wanted to find out more, you can find more information from the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapy.” Day Of Working with a Speech and Language Therapist Below is an extract from the podcast episode Lessons Learnt From A Week In A Learning Disability Team. “There wasn’t a great of amount of things that happened on the Tuesday, or nothing that memorable but I know I learnt a lot about the Speech and Language Team. Which I was always going to be interested in considering I had to go through extensive Speech and language therapy as a child because I was effectively mute. In addition, it was really good to learn about how the Speech and Language Team didn’t only deal with talking and communication issues for people with learning disabilities. They did feeding and drinking difficulties too. That was something I had heard mention a few times but I couldn’t understand why this was Speech and Language’s job, because it was eating, not communication. A while later during one of my conversations with one of the Clinical Leads for the team, they explained to me the Speech and Language Team is perfectly suited for these difficulties because they all use the same muscles and mechanisms. If someone is having eating and swallowing difficulties above the lungs then it is Speech and Language’s job to help the client. If it is a bit of food that falls into the lungs or something similar, it is a medical job because that food could start rotting inside the lungs. That would cause a ton of problems if it happened. Furthermore, a non-learning disability Speech and Language Team might have 80% of their caseload focusing on communication and 20% eating difficulties. Yet when it comes to learning disabilities, it is reversed. Due to people with learning disabilities might have bad posture, developmental difficulties and other factors caused by their learning disabilities that prevents them from swallowing and drinking normally. One solution might be for the Speech and Language Team to remind the staff to sit the client upwards more when eating and drinking. Especially if their posture makes them leant to one side. Then on the Thursday, I already explained the afternoon visit when me and one of the Speech and Language therapists went out to an assisted-living farm (a different one this time) to assess a woman for her communication needs whilst she was making sausage rolls. However, in the morning, we went to an assisted-living “house” or apartment complex might be a better term to talk to a man that had had some communication aids designed for him. And this was really fascinating to see how the assessments worked with the therapist’s booklet and there was one test I really liked. What happens is you read the client a very short story and for podcasting ease I will really cut it down. So you might say “Harry was watching a video with his grandson and Harry jumped at a scary moment,” Then to the client you would ask a simple question like “Was Harry alone?” And this time the client said “yes,”. I found this really interesting because I had just watched the man point to tons of objects and say what they were, but he couldn’t follow a “simple” story. It was an interesting and useful test. That’s a brief summary of the Speech and Language Team, even though I will admit I probably learnt the most from these people. Then again, Speech and Language therapy has a large overlap with psychology in my opinion, I’ve listened to enough about it during my Developmental Psychology  and Applied Psychology lectures over the years.” Careers In Psychology Conclusion I always enjoy these psychology career podcast episodes because as much as we want to be assistant psychologists, or at least get a job that is directly related to psychology, that sadly isn’t the reality of the world. And if you’re disappointed and sad about that, then please, allow yourself to feel and process those emotions. Whatever you’re feeling about the difficulty of getting a psychology role after years of studying at university, those feelings are valid, normal and very understandable. I’m feeling them too. Therefore, at the end of this psychology podcast episode, you’ve learnt a lot about what a speech and language therapist does, who do they support, how to become a speech and language therapist amongst a whole host of other topics. Here are some questions to think about: ·       Do you have any interest in speech and language therapy? ·       If yes, why? If not, then why not? ·       Do you have any skills, qualifications or life experiences that might help you become a speech and language therapist? ·       How do you think becoming a speech and language therapist might help your psychology journey? ·       What’s stopping you from applying for speech and language therapy assistant roles?     I really hope you enjoyed today’s careers in psychology podcast episode. If you want to learn more, please check out: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Applied Psychology: Applying Social Psychology, Cognitive Psychology and More To Real World Problems.  Available from all major eBook retailers and you can order the paperback and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore and local library, if you request it. Also available as an AI-narrated audiobook from selected audiobook platforms and library systems. For example, Kobo, Spotify, Barnes and Noble, Google Play, Overdrive, Baker and Taylor and Bibliotheca. Patreon for exclusive access and rewards Have a great day. Careers In Psychology Reference and Further Reading https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/allied-health-professionals/roles-allied-health-professions/speech-and-language-therapist https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/healthcare-support-worker/roles-healthcare-support-worker/speech-and-language-therapy-assistant I truly hope that you’ve enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon  page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click  https://www.buymeacoffee.com/connorwhiteley  for a one-time bit of support.