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Considering the popularity of the topic of Artificial Intelligence in recent years because of the release of ChatGPT and other massive language learning models, we need to investigate could these have any implications for psychologists. To explain simply this is a massive piece of artificial intelligence that is trained on millions, if not billions, of pieces of conversational text so the AI knows what to say and how to respond at a given moment depending on the language input or prompt a user gives it. That is one oversimplified explanation of the language model these Chatbots runoff. Therefore, in today’s episode we’ll be looking at the pros and cons of how these chatbots could be used as future therapists. If you enjoy learning about psychotherapy, clinical psychology and the future of psychology then you’ll love today’s episode. Today’s episode has been sponsored by Abnormal Psychology: The Causes And Treatments Of Depression, Anxiety 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, you can buy the eBook directly from me at https://www.payhip.com/connorwhiteley Are There Any Signs Chatbots Are Useful In Therapy? Before we actually dive into today’s episode, I want to be honest and upfront with all of you that I do have massive problems with the inputs of Artificial Intelligence. I don’t have a problem with how artificial intelligence is used for bad, because everything is both good and bad. Just look at what great benefits the internet has given us as a species but also the damage the internet can do at the same time. My problem is a more advanced issue that affects me as an author but not as a psychology person but I will not explore the topic in depth. Yet my problem is how these Artificial Intelligence programmes are illegally taking copyrighted works and training their models on them. This is illegal and if you’re interested in finding out more then you can look up at the lawsuits currently going on especially surrounding AI Art. And this is why I’ve put off doing this topic for so long. Anyway, whilst I’ve learnt a lot about mobile mental health apps in recent years and I’ve learnt a lot about how Chatbots are used in those apps, I wanted to focus a little more on the research side. Since there are early signs that chatbots can be used as psychotherapists. Due to research shows chatbots are promising therapists for certain types of therapies that are structured, skills-based and concrete (Abd-Alrazap et al., 2019) making chatbots effective for Cognitive Behavioural Therapies, Health coaching as well as Dialectical behavioural therapy. And chatbots are effective for getting people to stop smoking (Whittaker et al., 2022) and chatbots are being used in almost every single industry on the planet. Especially as whenever we go on Amazon, Google, YouTube, etc. we are training artificial intelligence on our preferences. Moreover, and this is something I learnt when I was investigating mobile mental health apps during my academic placement year, there are apps, like Woebot, that use chatbots to help people’s mental health that are “based” on cognitive behavioural therapy. Now I say in air quotes because the problem with the literature in this area is that it hasn’t really been empirically validated, but this is definitely beyond the scope of this podcast episode. Anyway, Chatbots are already being used on mobile mental health apps as therapists with some effectiveness. What Could The Benefits Of Chatbot Therapists Be? Personally, I think this is a really interesting question because a lot of people don’t think there would be any but let’s really think about it. Firstly, chatbots would be absolutely amazing for public health services because they’re cheap, accessible to everyone with a phone and they’re scalability. Since if the chatbots are used correctly then this can bring mental health services to more people in the comfort of their own homes in their own time. Secondly, a very interesting idea is that chatbots could be good for personalisation of therapy because it’s important to note that ChatGPT generates conversations and answers based on what the person inputs, making the chatbot more likely to respond more personally to the client compared to older, less effective chatbots. Thirdly, there is an argument that chatbots could help connect our clients to more psychoeducation resources. Since the current “problem” is that if a therapist wants to give a client a particular resource for them to use outside of the therapy session then the human therapist needs to remember to do that, find the link or reference, send it to them and know exactly what resource would be good for that particular client in that particular moment. Chatbots could connect clients to a particular website, book or online tool instantly by giving a link the moment they need it. Therefore, clients might be able to get more psychoeducation through chatbots. Finally, and I think is this is an important one because clinical psychology is a science, chatbots allow therapies to be uniform, standardised and trackable. This is important because chatbots can deliver a more standardised and predictable set of responses allowing researchers to be able to review and analyse these interactions later on. However, I personally think that chatbots will only ever be able to augment psychotherapy alongside a human therapist because you need that human interaction too. Or do you? What Could The Limitations and Challenges of Chatbot Therapists Be? Firstly, the biggest problem and this is something I kept finding when I was researching these mobile mental health apps was retention rates. Due to people are more likely to show up and be accountable to human therapists when compared to chatbots and user engagement with mental health apps is very, very questionable. Especially as Kaveladze et al. (2022) only 4% of users continued to use a mental health app after 15 days and only 3% of users continue after 30 days. When we consider that CBT typically takes 3 months of weekly sessions to bring about therapeutic change, this is extremely worrying. Secondly, another major problem I found when I was researching mobile mental health apps was the increasing need for improved data security, privacy and transparency. These are all very unethical and questionable uses of this very sensitive data because users have no idea how their data and discussions about extremely personal topics are being used by these massive companies. This is even more alarming when only 2% of mental health apps have research to back up their claims about their effectiveness and user experience (Wei, 2022). Thirdly, I am strongly against artificial intelligence being used in high-risk cases because AI augment with human oversight is safer than AI replacement in these kinds of situations. These high-risk situations include suicide assessment, crisis management and other mental health difficulties that would typically be seen by a Tier 4 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in the UK. This is even worst when we consider the open legal and ethical questions surrounding who is liable in cases of faulty AI. Since we have no idea who is responsible a chatbot therapist fails to assess or manage a mental health crisis, including suicidality. We also don’t know if a chatbot therapist will alert a human therapist or at least flag them, if a client is self-harming or suicidal or poses a risk to others. These questions are important to saving a person’s life and the lives of others and until these questions are ethically and legally answered then I will always be opposed to AI chatbots being therapists to high-risk clients. Finally, and I feel like this is the most important limitation of all. A chatbot cannot have the level of empathy required in certain therapeutic situations. Since research shows that even if a chatbot offers a person empathic language and writes the right words for a person then this isn’t always enough. You still always need that human-human interaction in certain emotional situations, like if you’re venting to someone or being angry. This might have been shown best in Tasi et al. (2021) because these researchers showed when a client was angry they were less comfortable and satisfied with a chatbot compared to a human. As well as people don’t always feel heard or even understood when they don’t have a human at the other end of a conversation. The therapeutic alliance might need or depend on the human-to-human connection between the therapist and the client because the client might want another human to witness their difficulties and suffering. An AI replacement will likely never work for all these situations. Clinical Psychology Conclusion Personally, forgetting my concerns about copyright and artificial intelligence, in the realm of psychology and mental health, I am not against artificial intelligence being used in therapeutic settings. I think there is a place for it but chatbots can never and should never replace human therapists because humans are a social species and we need that social connection in therapeutic settings. I think chatbots will only ever be able to augment psychotherapy alongside a human therapist, and that’s relatively okay, I don’t mind that. I just don’t think chatbots will ever be able to replace human therapists. And when we consider that depression is one of the most common mental health conditions, and the extremely close relationship between depression and suicide. I don’t think chatbots ever should be allowed to replace therapists just in case suicidal and other high-risk clients slip through the cracks. 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 Abnormal Psychology: The Causes And Treatments Of Depression, Anxiety 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, you can buy the eBook directly from me at https://www.payhip.com/connorwhiteley Patreon for exclusive access and rewards Have a great day. Clinical Psychology and Cyberpsychology References Whittaker, R., Dobson, R., & Garner, K. (2022). Chatbots for Smoking Cessation: Scoping Review. Journal of medical Internet research, 24(9), e35556. https://doi.org/10.2196/35556 Abd-Alrazaq, A. A., Alajlani, M., Alalwan, A. A., Bewick, B. M., Gardner, P., & Househ, M. (2019). An overview of the features of chatbots in mental health: A scoping review. International journal of medical informatics, 132, 103978. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2019.103978 https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/08/project_december_openai_gpt_3/ Kaveladze, B. T., Wasil, A. R., Bunyi, J. B., Ramirez, V., & Schueller, S. M. (2022). User Experience, Engagement, and Popularity in Mental Health Apps: Secondary Analysis of App Analytics and Expert App Reviews. JMIR human factors, 9(1), e30766. https://doi.org/10.2196/30766 Camacho E, Cohen A, Torous J. Assessment of Mental Health Services Available Through Smartphone Apps. JAMA Netw Open. 2022;5(12):e2248784. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.48784 Goldberg SB, Lam SU, Simonsson O, Torous J, Sun S (2022) Mobile phone-based interventions for mental health: A systematic meta-review of 14 meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials. PLOS Digital Health 1(1): e0000002. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pdig.0000002 Garland, A. F., Jenveja, A. K., & Patterson, J. E. (2021). Psyberguide: A useful resource for mental health apps in primary care and beyond. Families, Systems, & Health, 39(1), 155–157. https://doi.org/10.1037/fsh0000587 Tsai, W. S., Lun, D., Carcioppolo, N., & Chuan, C. H. (2021). Human versus chatbot: Understanding the role of emotion in health marketing communication for vaccines. Psychology & marketing, 38(12), 2377–2392. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21556 CBT at your fingertips: A review of mHealth Apps and their ability to deliver CBT to users. (Under Submission) 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.

We all know that social media has a negative impact on mental health, but why? Also, how does social media impact mental health? The answer is a lot more nuanced and complex than you might imagine at first because social media can benefit and harm our mental health in equal measure. In this clinical psychology podcast episode, we’ll explore this topic in more depth and you’ll start to understand how social media impacts mental health. Today’s episode has been sponsored by Social Media Psychology: A Guide To Clinical Psychology, Cyberpsychology and Depression. 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, you can buy the eBook directly from me at https://www.payhip.com/connorwhiteley Extract From Social Media Psychology by Connor Whiteley Copyright 2023 CGD Publishing I’m going to lay the groundwork for the rest of the book in terms of mental health. Since in the last chapter, we definitely spoke about mental health and how it relates to social media, but now we dive into it even deeper. Which is critical just so the rest of the book makes sense and why we’re looking at the different topics that we are. Therefore, given that social media has been reported to produce both negative and positive effects within different people (Gitlow et al., 2019). We do need to question who is at greater risk on social media platforms. Is it those with mental health conditions or those without? One example of this sort of thinking can be seen in Primack and Escobar-Viera (2017) who noted the possibility for social media to negatively impact people with depression and a person’s subjective well-being (Kross et al. 2013). Then just to emphasise how complex this all is, despite the findings of Primack and Escobar-Viera (2017), there have been several case study reports that show possible evidence for social media being a useful, and not harmful, tool for people with mental health conditions. Especially amongst people who are considered to be reclusive as social media can help them improve their social integration (Veretilo & Billick, 2012) and connections with other people with stigmatizing mental conditions (Primack & Escobar-Viera, 2017). In addition, social media has been cited as playing a large role in the long war (my terms but hardly an exaggeration) against the stigma around mental health conditions. Other people have compared it to another on-going battle but the long war is definitely what it feels like. The reason for this is because there are positives and negatives of social media for mental health stigma. Since it does allow people to share with their own thoughts and experiences with other people who could benefit from these social exchanges (Betton et al., 2015). However, as a personal note, you also get trolls and other idiots who bang on about how people with mental disorders need to be locked, shot or cleansed for religious reasons or to stop them from further polluting the human gene pool. Whenever I see comments like that I seriously laugh, because it just goes to show how stupid these commentors are and just how little of an understanding they actually have of how these so-called disorders or illnesses work. Then I tend to feel sad because of the sheer amount of damage these commentors are doing with their toxic views. Anyway, social media use as well as depression, in particular, seem to be closely linked with the greater amount of social media use being associated with a greater risk of developing Major Depression Disorder (Aydin et al., 2020; Cunningham et al., 2021; Ghaemi, 2020; L. yi Lin et al., 2016; McDougall et al., 2016; Mok et al., 2014), self-injurious behaviour and suicidal ideation (George, 2019; Memon et al., 2018), as well as suicide rates (Twenge et al., 2018). In addition, research suggests that people with depression might experience social media differently compared to people without depression. For example, social media might have a negative effect on those with depression and people with depression might experience decreased social activity on social media (de Choudhury, Gamon, et al., 2013), and they might have fewer social media interactions compared to control groups in research (Sungkyu Park et al., 2013). Nevertheless, Park et al. (2013) found that people with depression thought of social media to be a tool for them and others to become more socially aware and have more emotional interaction, compared to people without depression who described social media as an information consuming and sharing tool. In my opinion, I can definitely see where these studies are coming from because I don’t have depression and as I mentioned early, I tend to use my personal social media to learn what my friends and family are up to, and I’m a part of a few Facebook groups that is all about learning and asking questions around a certain topic. As well as on my Twitter list of profiles I want to check daily or at least regularly, I want to learn what these people are doing and what they have to share with me. And in case you’re wondering, the people on my Twitter List aren’t celebrities or anyone. They tend to be author friends that share interesting articles from time to time that I can learn from, in fact I think the only celebrity on my Twitter list is the amazing Joe Locke but that’s it. But my point is I do tend to use my social media accounts for information gathering and social interactions. Anyway, the reason why we’re looking at these studies is that they are actually very important and their significance can’t really be overstated. As they all highlight a possible negative mechanism within people with depression that results in even though these people use social media less for interaction compared to non-depressed people, these people still see their interactions on social media to be more important and a central function of SM. As well as the reason why this is bad is because even though they might feel like they’re getting benefits of these online interactions, their social media use might increase their feelings of loneliness, leading to negative effects (Casale & Fioravanti, 2011). As a result, this could suggest that these negative outcomes from social media might work, at least in part, by the mechanism of social media’s perceived purpose, and before I actually go onto the next bit. Let’s take a moment to consider what that actually means, because this really is all about perception. As I’m fairly sure that when I was talking about what I’ve used social media for, you probably haven’t agreed, and that doesn’t make you or me wrong. It just means that we both think social media has a different purpose. For example, in terms of concrete purposes, the purpose of social media for me is to learn more and interact in groups and reach amazing as well as interactive readers. Again, this is only my perception, and yours will probably be very different, but it’s the idea of personal perception that is important here. Therefore, this perceived purpose is important because depressed people don’t have the same levels of interaction and support as they perhaps expect, and their real-world social support network might be rather small. In addition, social media platforms, like Facebook, can be used by people to develop as well as maintain social connectedness. Which has been shown by research to be associated with decreased depression and anxiety, and improvements to quality of life (Grieve et al., 2013). As a result, people with depression might therefore struggle to develop social-media-derived connectedness because they’re having fewer interactions when they are online. So this could lead to them increasing or maintaining their levels of depression. Leading to exacerbating the negative outcomes associated with the condition. Moreover, broader research into social media suggests that online social interaction, or in this case a lack of social interaction is at the epicentre of the negative social media-related outcomes. Like the mental health difficulties, the psychological distress it causes and how it links within various mental health conditions. As well as potentially the perception of what social media is used for and by extension, the perception of how other people use it. Because as we near the end of the chapter, we all need to get one thing very straight right now. We all need to understand that the relationship between depression and social media isn’t as simple as social media only being negative towards depressed people, because it could have potential benefits that we’ll explore later on in more depth. But to give you a little taster perhaps, it’s worth noting that research has found that social media has been found to act as an affective adjunct therapy for treatment-resistant anxiety and depression (Mota Pereira, 2014; Rice et al., 2020) and social media has been associated with a decline in depressive symptoms, when used to strengthen pre-existing relationships (Bessiere et al., 2010). Therefore, even from those two quick examples, we can all start to see that this social media and depression relationship is very complex and it isn’t as clear cut as perhaps any of us thought before we started this book. Consequently, social media may have different outcomes based on the way that people use it. Such as, if people use social media to strengthen pre-existing social relationships, it’s thought to be more beneficial to their well-being compared to them using social media for extending relationships beyond these circles, or in other words making more online friends. This could be because of the different levels of social support that the person gains from each of these types of social media use (Pantic, 2014). Equally, another type of social media use is called ‘compensatory’ SMU (Kardefelt-Winther, 2014), were the person sadly uses social media as the place where they make their social connections, instead of forming real-life connections, with it probably being no surprise whatsoever that this has unfortunately been associated with higher levels of depression (Zhou et al., 2020). Whereas phubbing, this is where you use your phone in social contexts, has been associated with feelings of exclusion and subsequent increased SMU. Then this because the person feels excluded and using social media more is linked to higher levels of anxiety and depression (David & Roberts, 2020). So this relationship, I suppose, could be called as sort of being like a vicious cycle because someone might start feeling excluded and lonely so they use social media more. Then this causes their loneliness to get worse. That’s exactly how complex this relationship is at times. And now that’s I’ve given you a thorough introduction that links social media to mental health and depression, I’ll give you a quick outline for the rest of the book as now we really need to deep dive into this complex relationship. Because I’m guessing that you’re now very interested in what these positives actually are? How could social media possibly benefit people with depression? 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 Social Media Psychology: A Guide To Clinical Psychology, Cyberpsychology and Depression. 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, you can buy the eBook directly from me at https://www.payhip.com/connorwhiteley Patreon for exclusive access and rewards Have a great day. Clinical Psychology and Cyberpsychology Reference Whiteley, C. (2023) Social Media Psychology: A Guide To Clinical Psychology, Cyberpsychology and Depression. CGD Publishing. England. 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 remember seeing something really important on Twitter about autism and it was something about how High Functioning Autism hides a person’s challenges and calling someone Low Functioning takes away their potential. Lots of autistic people hate functioning labels because they’re harmful and they completely misunderstand what autistic is and how it is experienced. Therefore, in this clinical psychology podcast episode, you’ll learn the reasons why autistic people don’t like functioning labels and how we could make this better for people in the future. If you enjoy clinical psychology and autism, you’ll love today’s episode. Today’s episode has been sponsored by Developmental 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. What’s High Functioning and Low Functioning Autism? Personally, I know that these autism “types” come from well-meaning people that believe that autism is a deliberating neurodevelopmental disease (it isn’t a disease) and if you have the disease then you are doomed to fail and struggle in life. I know that is how a lot of laypeople see autism but they are completely wrong and to be honest, they create a lot more problems than they could ever hope to solve. Since autism is a neurodevelopmental condition, and yes people with severe autism who are rendered unable to speak, unable to walk and unable to even remotely live a clinically “normal” life. Autism could be awful for them. However, for a lot of people, myself included, autism isn’t a problem. It is a great part of us that brings us a lot of joy, happiness and laughter. My autism gives me the ability to focus, learn and have an immense drive for the few areas I really care about, and it gives me the courage to stand up for what’s right because I couldn’t care less about the social norms and offending certain people’s feelings. There will always be struggles and I do seriously struggle in the social aspects of life. And without speech therapy when I was younger I would be mute. But to think that because I’m autistic I’m doomed to fail and struggle is silly just. As well as to call me high functioning because I can have a job, because I live a relatively normal life and because I go to university that is beyond insulting. Since there are times in my life when I would have loved, truly loved to have some support about this infuriating complex and cruel social world. But again, because I was high functioning I was denied support, help and any chance of people making a life easier. Overall, an autistic person is called High Functioning if they can hold down a job, live a “normal” life and do most things a non-autistic person could do. Whereas a Low Functioning person is when they cannot hold down a job and they conform to the endless serotypes of autism. Finally, for this section, whatever “type” of autism you have life is still a struggle. You as an autistic person can feel strange, out of place, abnormal in this world so even when a kind person says “You’re high functioning. Well done,”. This is so lost on us because it’s meaningless and it invalidates the reasons why we want help and support in the first place. What’s The Myth of Being High Functioning? Another reason why high functioning is such a silly myth is because all it really is masking behaviour. Autistic people that can learn the skill of masking do it earlier on in childhood because it’s a survival mechanism, it helps us blend in with other neurotypical and when we conform to the social norms of this neurotypical world we get rewarded. This masking tends to be learnt through treatment (never an option available to me), socialisation, parenting and other ways that social skills are taught to us. This all helped autistic people to mask their ideas and these autistic tendencies growing up so they could function, especially when the world tells autistic people that their natural behaviours are flat out averse and wrong. So the reward for that was being called “High Functioning” and when they asked for help they weren’t believed. That’s what happened to a lot of friends of mine over the years. Personally, if you ask anyone that knows me, they will say I never struggled, never needed any help and was always great at making friends. To you I would say I was an expert masker, because any autistic person I talk to always knows I’m autistic the moment I open my mouth but any non-autistic person, they’re surprised but they start nodding a few seconds later as they understand why I do a lot of things I do now. Because I am extremely brutal, I don’t have a filter and if a person is being disgustingly wrong, I will tell them because I don’t care about the social norms of the world. Thankfully, I always make people laugh when I’m being brutal. Thank God. However, a lot of childhood was masking behaviour. I struggled to make friends, I struggled to function in brand-new scary environments with tons of new people. I hated change with a passion, I hated having to do new things, I hated a lot about my teenage years because people are outrageously cruel to “odd” people or people that are different to them. And this led to massive, massive problems for me because people would think I was doing something because I was cruel, evil or just weird. When in reality, it was because I’m autistic but no one cared. No one wanted to help me. Because I was High Functioning. And no, I’m not bitter about that at all (Grin). How Functioning Labels Impact Autism Suicide Rates? Interestingly, South et al. (2021) wrote a great article that investigated the unknown epidemic of suicides amongst autistic adults with them concluding the act of masking is a significant contributor to these high suicide rates. This is because by calling someone “High Functioning”, a person is invalidating all the struggles, all the difficulties, all the feelings of that autistic person. So they become trapped in a cycle of learning daily living skills, masking their autistic behaviour and maintaining their life. And that gets so old after a while. Especially because masking does force autistic people to endure a lot of negatives because the world has told us that autistic behaviour is aversive and wrong and it should never be shown. In my opinion, I hate being called High Functioning, as you might have been able to tell, because what I really want is someone to just sit me down and say something. maybe something along the lines of “How are you? I know you’re a good student, great writer, podcaster and business person. But how are coping with life?” It is something as simple as that, that I would because people never allow me to talk about my struggles because they don’t think I have any. It’s a shame and I force myself to soldier through anything and I have now found outlets for my autistic behaviour. Like the repetition for being the man that makes people laugh because of his brutal opinions. What’s The Stigma Of Low Functioning Autism? On the flip side, lots of autistic people have low functioning labels too because they are just as damaging. Due to autistic people with a low functioning label are stigmatised and isolated. As well as their strengths are ignored and they are seen by everyone as incapable of anything. Something I love about low-functioning people is that there are some mute autistic people in the world but they are amazing writers. They can write their feelings with such depth and clarity that I doubt neurotypicals could do it so that is how therapy sessions can be done. Yet no one cares about their writing skills, they are still “only” “low functioning” people they don’t talk and their facial expressions are flat or aren’t right for the context of the situation. No one cares about the person’s inner workings. Probably because that’s too hard for people to understand and want to think about. Why The Diagnostic And Statistical Manual 5th Edition Text Revision Might Be Better For Autistic People? As you know from other podcast episodes and the immense amount of psychology literature available online, me and basically every single clinical psychologist have immense problems with the DSM and we need a new way to deal with mental health. Yet until those new things come along, the DSM-5 Text Revision offers a slightly better way to offer support for autistic people that isn’t based on functionality. Since the DSM-5 Text Revision proposes there are three levels of support, but it doesn’t offer reasons as to be autistic people need support. Therefore, it doesn’t limit different types of support for different levels of functioning labels. · Level 1 is all about people needing some support. For example, the autistic person might need some daily functioning help but they can do a lot on their own. · Level 2 is about the autistic person needing a lot of support. · Level 3 is about the autistic person needing a lot, lot more support. Overall, this approach is better because the support isn’t tied to high or low functioning, it’s all about what the autistic person needs and how much support is needed for them to live comfortably, happily and without unneeded psychological distress. Why Autism Needs To Be A Wheel and Not A Spectrum? Personally, I flat out love this idea and I’m really glad that I’ve found this idea. As a result of a lot of autistic people prefer the idea of an autism wheel instead of an autistic spectrum. Due to the problem with a spectrum is that it’s linear so an autistic person is either a “little bit” or “very autistic”. That flat out does not reflect the real world experiences of autistic people. Instead autistic people prefer to be seen as people with different needs and wants. I don’t have a problem with that. Therefore, a wheel of autism helps to acknowledge and understand that some autistic people experience anxiety more than others. Other autistic people might struggle with sensory aversions. Others still might struggle more with communication because they might talk too much or not at all. In addition, some autistic people might be paralysed by depression. Others might have a mixture of these difficulties or none of the others mentioned. Overall, being autistic isn’t about a line between having a little autism and having a lot of it. Being autistic is about a spectrum or range of traits that all autistic people have to vary degrees, and the wheel acknowledges that all autistic people struggle and need help. As well as high functioning autism is a myth and low functioning autism is just stigmatising. Autism and Clinical Psychology Conclusion I want to finish off this podcast episode by mentioning that for most of history, academic researchers and parents have been the voice of autism. That isn’t always a bad thing but because the researchers and parents like functioning labels that is why they’ve stayed about. Many autistic people don’t like them. They prefer to be seen as humans with struggles and successful like everyone else but they just need a little bit more support depending on their own situation. If you take anything anyway from this podcast episode, please let it be that functioning labels are awful, they’re damaging and I know if you’ve used them you were trying to be a good person. And me and tons of others appreciate that more than you will ever know. But it is damaging, we need to change that dialogue so functioning labels are a thing of the past and we can start to support everyone that needs help, and we recognise the strengths and how amazing everyone can be. Whether they have autism or not. Finally, personally, I don’t think autism is a disability because it has given me my drive, focus and everything I value in my life. And it makes me me, I would change it for the world. Granted, I have lost friends, I’ve hated for much hate thrown at me and people have my foul towards me. I’ve experienced awful things because of autism that I doubt anyone can even begin to imagine, but I still wouldn’t change my autism for the world. It is difficult, a struggle and it can be a right pain at times, but I’m happy with who I am. All I ask for is the right to get help when I need it. Something myself and tons of “High functioning” types have been denied so far. 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 Developmental 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. Patreon for exclusive access and rewards Have a great day. Clinical Psychology References: Clinical Psychology by Carr (2012) Clinical Psychology Third Edition by Davey et al. (2015) South et al. (2021). Death by suicide among people with autism: Beyond Zebrafish. Journal of American Medical Association. Jan 4;4(1) e2034018 Wharmby, Pete (Twitter Feed). 2022 https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/the-forgotten-women/202208/why-many-people-autism-dislike-functioning-labels 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. Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal.

Whilst the vast majority of this podcast audience are university psychology students and psychology professionals, I still enjoy doing and researching parenting-related content. Since as psychology people we know that giving someone a diagnosis and the label associated with it can be difficult and it can take some time to get used to. Therefore, it’s important for us to understand the impact that mental health conditions have on not only our clients, but their families as well. That’s why in today’s psychology podcast episode, we’re focusing on how parents can deal with ADHD? So we can understand more about the parent’s experience of having a child with this condition. If you enjoy learning about ADHD, mental health and clinical psychology then you’ll love today’s episode. Today’s episode has been sponsored by Developmental 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. What Is ADHD? In case anyone is unfamiliar with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), it is a mental health condition that normally begins in childhood, and as I’ve spoken before on the podcast. There is evidence that it shouldn’t be thought of as a mental disorder with there being something “wrong” with a person. It is an evolutionary adaption that the human species evolved to help our survival and it is for that reason people with ADHD can live successful and fulfilled lives. Similar to Bill Gates, Simone Biles and Justin Timberlake to name but a few successful people with ADHD. However, clinically speaking, ADHD is a condition with symptoms including people finding it hard to pay attention, being hyperactive and impulsive. As well as people with ADHD might struggle to sit still, control their impulses, focus on tasks and sometimes they are more accident-prone than others. Yet again, I want to stress that just because someone has ADHD doesn’t mean they’re messed up, have a problem or anything else negative that society has attached to an ADHD label. How can ADHD Affect A Child’s Life? As psychology students and, current or future, therapists, we need to know how a particular condition will impact our client’s life before we give them a diagnosis. And when it comes to ADHD then the condition does have a massive impact on every single aspect of a child’s life. For example, a child with ADHD finds it difficult to focus in class, keep up with their classmates and follow instructions (be it by a teacher or family member). Therefore, sadly children with ADHD do tend to have lower grades, and in the USA, they are more likely than students without ADHD to be held back a grade. When it comes to social and home functioning then children with ADHD are disadvantaged as well. Since ADHD does lead to behavioural and social difficulties because children with the condition might struggle to make friends and they are at a higher risk of bullying. Personally, that isn’t right at all and no one kid should be bullied, especially children with a mental health condition, but as everyone knows children can be mean at times. Yet at least not everyone is bullied. Also, when it comes to home life, ADHD can cause problems as parents struggle to manage their child’s behaviour, they don’t feel supported and their siblings can even feel neglected and resentful. That’s another reason why I wanted to be today’s episode because it isn’t right that parents don’t feel supported with the right information, tricks and tips. Therefore, whilst nothing on the podcast is even any sort of official advice, I want to do something to help the amazing parents that have a great kid with ADHD but they aren’t necessarily sure how to deal with a diagnosis. Because let’s face it, even as psychology students and professionals we would struggle and be surprised or at least need an adjustment period, if our current or future child as a diagnosis. And we’re the people that know this information like the back of our hands (depending on our interests and jobs of course). Overall, we need to acknowledge that ADHD is challenging for everyone, including the child and parents and everyone else who comes into contact with the child. Yet this is far from a bad thing because there are ways to manage the condition and with the right support, there is no reason why a child with ADHD cannot reach their full potential. How Can Parents Deal With ADHD? As I’m sure everyone listening to the podcast knows full well, but parenting a child with any condition, like ADHD or autism, can be challenging. Even more so when the parent doesn’t have access to good information so whilst this is not the ultimate parenting guide for parents with ADHD kids, I hope this helps some. Therefore, one of the first tips is definitely don’t handle everything themselves, because that only leads to burnout, stress and their mental health will decrease. That’s why it’s important to get support and find other people that are going through the same things as you. Secondly, parents can create routines as well as structure at home. The benefit of this is it helps to keep a child with ADHD on track. Thirdly, parents can make sure that their doctors and teachers are involved in developing a plan to deal with the child’s ADHD. Personally, I think this is worded quite harshly but the real point behind it is to make sure there is a plan in place to allow the child to thrive and manage the symptoms of ADHD so they can live a full and productive life as I mentioned earlier. And the most important one I think, parents have to be patient and they need to encourage positive behaviours. Thankfully, all of these tips aren’t hard for us as psychologists to explain to parents and these tips are really about hope I think. Whenever a parent gets a diagnosis then it can feel like the carpet has been taken out from under them because in their eyes, at times, it can feel like their child’s future has changed forever and they have no idea what to do about it. I’m sure the psychologists listening to the podcast can back me up here when I say that these feelings are just temporary whilst the parents experience a learning curve about what the diagnosis means, and what the next steps are. Finally, parents need to look after themselves. No one in psychology will ever say that having a child with a mental health condition isn’t stressful and challenging. That’s why parents need to look after themselves, make sure they have a support system in place and they are able to cope with everything that is going on. How Can Parents Create A Positive Relationship With Their Child With ADHD? Time and time again research shows that our relationships, our connections and our social support systems are the most important factor in our mental health, our success and many more different areas of functioning. Therefore, I’m sure that a lot of parents will be asking us, as current or future, psychologists how do they build a positive parental relationship with their child with ADHD. Thankfully, it is far from impossible and there are tips. Firstly, it is absolutely critical that a parent is patient and when a child is “acting out” then this can be very hard to do, and I think it is perfectly reasonable that a parent does sometimes feels the need to shout. Ideally, there would be no shouting and that is why being patient is so important. Especially, since parents need to remember that their child is not acting out intentionally. Secondly, and I know that most parents don’t do this but it has to be said anyway, parents shouldn’t compare their children to neurotypical children. As well as they certainly shouldn’t use negative words like “stupid” or “lazy” that I think is heart-breaking, but it could also reflect on how stressful this is on them too. Yet using negative words will not help the parental relationship at all and over time it will really damage their child’s mental health. In addition, and this is my favourite one, parents (regardless if the child has ADHD or not) should spend quality time with their kid every day. Even if it is as simple as reading a book together, playing together or walking around the block together. You are still spending time with your child and they will love that time with you. Finally, praise a child with ADHD when they show positive behaviour. As much as I have no interest whatsoever in behaviourism, when it comes to child psychology, there are some very useful concepts that work. Therefore, parents should encourage and praise good behaviour so this helps the child feel good about themselves as well as it encourages them to continue the behaviour way into the future so they can get rewarded again and again. Overall, we have one more section to look at and I want to stress here that I hope you’re starting to see that ADHD isn’t a terrible, terrible condition that ruins lives. If you’re a parent reading this then so far I hope that this has helped you to realise that there are strategies and tips and ways to help yourself and your child manage this brand-new diagnosis. As well as there are plenty more online for you to explore. If you’re a psychology student or professional, then I hope you’re realising that there are a lot of management tips that we can and should give parents when they first get the diagnosis. Due to how overwhelming this entire situation can do. How To Help A Child With ADHD Succeed In School? Moving onto our final section of the podcast episode, I mentioned earlier that children with ADHD can struggle academically and they’re often behind compared to their peers. However, there are thankfully some tips and strategies that can help a child with ADHD thrive at school. For example, a surprising tip is that helping a child at school might start from home. Due to if a parent provides structure as well as routine at home then this has the benefit of helping the child to stay on track and avoid any distractions. As well as at home, a parent can help their child develop organisational skills. Such as teaching them how to use a calendar or planner to help them keep track of their assignments, homework and classes (not exactly applicable to young children but you get the point). Moreover, in terms of the school itself, parents working with teachers and the school to develop an individualised education plan is important, and I will admit I am not exactly sure how this works in schools. Yet I do remember a few people in my year at school has something like this so I imagine it is something as easy as talking to the school and getting the process started. Since the plan focuses on the child’s strengths and weaknesses of their learning and it includes accommodations for their ADHD. As well as if there is a change in a child’s ADHD medication then the school should be told about that too. Clinical Psychology and ADHD Conclusion Overall, I want to finish this clinical psychology episode by reminding us, psychology students and psychology professionals, that whenever we give a child or adult a diagnosis of ADHD or something else, we have just changed their lives forever. That isn’t a bad thing. With a diagnosis (as much as the diagnosis system is awful as we all know) that amazing person can get the support and treatment they need to go on and live a great life. And to parents of children with ADHD and my fellow psychology students and professionals, I want to remind you that everyone has the love, support and drive to help a child with ADHD. Parents are brilliant and if they work with doctors and schools, keep having a positive relationship with their child and if they have the right social support network around themselves, not only the child. Then the child will thrive and they could do amazing things. Having ADHD isn’t a death sentence, a child with ADHD can do amazing things and live a happy, successful life given the right support, treatment and most importantly, love. 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 Developmental 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. Patreon for exclusive access and rewards Have a great day. Clinical Psychology References: Clinical Psychology by Carr (2012) Clinical Psychology Third Edition by Davey et al. (2015) https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/promoting-empathy-with-your-teen/202303/how-to-deal-with-adhd-a-guide-for-parents 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. Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal.

Whilst I fully admit that the examples and real-world situations featured in this psychology podcast episode are US-focused, this is still a fascinating episode for everyone all over the world. Since as the number of mass shootings and other forms of mass violence becomes more common, we’re seeing people experiencing Mass Violence Fatigue. Leading us to question what is this and why this is important for psychologists to understand. If you enjoy the clinical and forensic psychology between violence then you’ll like today’s episode. Today’s psychology podcast episode has been sponsored by Today’s episode has been sponsored by Forensic 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. Why Am I Talking about Desensation To Mass Violence? I live in the United Kingdom and the worse mass violence events me as a 22-year-old man can remember is the Plymouth mass-shooting in 2021. That was the UK’s worse mass shooting in 11 years and the mass-shooting before that one resulted in the UK overnight changing its gun laws making it very hard to have a gun and gun access in the UK extremely limited. I don’t even know how I go about getting a legal gun, I don’t think I could and I’m more than happy with that. Another mass violence event I remember is the Manchester Arena bombing in 2015 that killed tens and injured many more, and I was also alive for the London Bombings of the early 2000s but I don’t personally remember that. Counter those three mass violence events (and I admit I might have missed two or three) with the assessment of the USA’s mass shooting reports that Sky News put in Late December 2022 and the US situation is very, very different. In 2022, over 20,000 children died in mass shootings, it was more common to have a day with a mass shooting than not and mass shootings are basically normalised in the USA. And as a UK person writing this post, I can remember when me, my parents and my friends whenever we encountered a news report of a mass shooting in America we were shocked, surprised and we had a reaction to it. Nowadays, a few weeks ago, we watched a report of a mass shooting and we honestly had no reaction beyond the normal “that’s a shame. That shouldn’t have happened. Why does this keep happening? Those children never deserved to die,” That is the extent of the reaction nowadays because everyone in the UK and I imagine everyone outside the USA knows these mass shootings will never stop, change and people (including children) will keep dying. Anyway that isn’t the point of the podcast episode, my point is myself and my family alone used to have a strong emotional reaction to a mass shooting, but now me, my family and other people don’t. This honestly doesn’t make me and my family bad people because we aren’t in the country where the mass shootings are happening for starters, so of course we would have a weaker emotional response compared to someone in the USA. Yet it also means we’ve gone through a desensitisation to these acts of mass violence and everyone goes through this. Even the media because Sky News itself mentioned that the only reason why they were reporting on it was because of who the shooter was and they used to go to the school. They didn’t report on it because children had died, so why do people go through this process of desensitisation and what else happens when we’re exposed to mass violence over and over again? That’s what we’ll look at now. What Is Mass Violence Fatigue? As I outlined in the section above, as the number of mass violence acts sadly increases over time, a lot of people reach a point when they’re no longer shocked by these tragic and outrageous events. Another example of this decrease of shock is the COVID-19 pandemic because at the beginning of lockdown a lot of people were scared, concerned and they were very emotional about the number of people dying. Yet after months and months of lockdowns (and government mismanaged in the UK) a lot of people felt psychologically and emotionally numb and exhausted. Moreover, the loss of social support, generalised anxiety and loss of concentration that a lot of people experience after a mass shooting or another form of mass violence, and these consequences and feelings that are increasing because of the increasing number of mass shootings. They all only add to our level of desensitisation. All of this is perfectly normal, but tragic. It is part of us as humans to get desensitised to a stimulus after a while. It is a survival mechanism after all. As well as it is a strategy that helps us to continue our daily lives, focus our brains on what it needs to do so we can work, live and have a life outside of our constant fear and anxiety. This is why we became emotionally and psychologically numb during COVID because our brains needed us to be numb so we could focus on surviving a massive global pandemic. Overall, mass violence fatigue is another term for this desensitisation people go through after being exposed to acts of mass violence time and time again. Why Can’t We Let Mass Violence Fatigue Control Us? In addition, we need to overcome our desensitisation and we cannot ever allow mass violence fatigue to control us and make us ignore this stuff. Since at some point the numbness will fall away, or (and I truly hope this never ever happens to any of you) it will be ripped away from us because we will have to deal with an act of mass violence personally. Be it because we are a victim or we know a victim personally. Due to if we don’t deal with or we don’t learn the lessons of the devastation these acts of mass violence causes, as well as the feelings of paralysis and how overwhelming it is, will only grow and continue. How Can We Improve Mental Health Damaged by Mass Violence? Whenever we experience an act of mass violence or a mass shooting, we need to give ourselves the time and the space to allow ourselves to process what the hell had just happened, and we need to experience the pain safely. We need to talk about the traumatic events, we need to feel safe with. You can feel safe with a loved one, family, friends, a therapist, a support group or someone else entirely. Just make sure you talk about it and you can make sense of the event as well as understand what the event means for you and those around you. Since it is this understanding and this meaning that we personally give it that helps us to feel in control of what happened. Instead of us letting the event control us and we give it more power than it deserves. Additionally, I saw a recent article on Psychology Today called something along the lines of “Are We Becoming The United States of learnt Helplessness?” and I found the title interesting but I didn’t look it. Yet the idea of learnt helplessness after a mass shooting is important to understand because when fully trained and armed police officers fail to even act and storm in and stop a shooter. Then of course you will feel powerless and helpless. This is even more important when those in power don’t seem to be doing anything to make the situation better and the whole cycle of mass shootings, deaths and more mass shootings just continue again and again. Therefore, with all this going on, people feel helpless, alone and they start to think nothing can be done to decrease mass violence in their country, whatever one it might be. This is why it’s a good idea to build and maintain meaningful social relationships because social support is critical to our mental health and survival. As well as limit media exposure to violence is another good idea so you can reset yourself and avoid it, but if these emotions continue then maybe professional help is needed. Forensic And Clinical Psychology Conclusion Personally, this was a tough episode because I don’t like mass shootings and the reasoning behind them, and I hate the reason why mass shootings are legally allowed to continue even more. But of course The Psychology World Podcast isn’t political and I would never want to comment publicly on another country’s politics, but reading those statistics of 20,000 dead children was hard for me and it is still is. That’s why I wanted to do this podcast episode. Just so I could do something because I completely agree that desensitisation isn’t right in response to mass shootings but it happens. Therefore, whilst nothing will change about this situation for years, if ever, I wanted to at least do something so if you are ever unfortunately involved in a mass violence event then you will know you aren’t alone, what happened to you isn’t right and there are some steps you can take if you want to recover and reset yourself. I know this was a dark podcast episode but it needed to be done. Not just out of my own interest in this area but so anyone impacted by an act of mass violence knows some steps they could take if needed. Mass violence is wrong on so many levels, but I just want to help its victim in a small way if I can. 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 Today’s episode has been sponsored by Forensic 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. Patreon for exclusive access and rewards Have a great day. Clinical Psychology and Forensic Psychology References: Sky News https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/lifetime-connections/202304/mass-violence-fatigue-whats-normal-and-whats-not 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. Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal.

As psychology students and professionals, we know that a lot of topics, debate and more aren’t discussed in the lecture theatre or in many textbooks. Therefore, to celebrate the release of my brand-new Clinical Psychology Reflections book containing tons of fascinating and brilliant topics to really help you deepen your knowledge of psychology beyond the lecture theatre. I wanted to share one of my favourite reflections with you from the book. It is why we need to support psychologists with lived experiences of mental health conditions. This is critical area to understand and you’ll learn a lot from this episode. Enjoy. Today’s episode has been sponsored by Clinical Psychology Reflections Volume 3. 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. Extract From Clinical Psychology Reflections Volume 3 By Connor Whiteley. COPYRIGHT 2023 SUPPORTING PSYCHOLOGISTS WITH LIVED EXPEREINCES Our next reflection is inspired by an article in an issue of The Psychologist by the British Psychological Society from October 2021. In this article it was written by a female psychologist that was depressed if memory serves and she mentioned a lack of support within the psychology community for her. Citing that people were even moaning at her for going to see her General Practitioner (local doctor for our international audience) first. Now I feel that this is a critical topic to reflect on because here we have a clinical psychologist that is being moaned at for doing the exact same thing that our clients have to go through. Therefore, there are three aspects I want to reflect on here. Firstly, there is immense value of having therapists and psychologists with lived experience. Since the “problem” in clinical psychology is that we can read all the books we want, go on all the courses and listen to all the different experts on the different mental health conditions. But at the end of the day, unless we have had personally experience with the condition then our knowledge is limited. It's why I have already firmly believed in something by clinical psychology lecturer once said: “You are the expert in the psychological knowledge and theory. The client is the expert in themselves,” And absolutely nothing is truer in clinical psychology for this simple reason alone. We will never fully understand our clients, their struggles and their mental health conditions unless we have had them ourselves. Of course, the vast majority of us will never have any of these conditions thankfully, but it does slightly limit our insight into these conditions. Therefore, when a psychologist or therapist comes along with lived experience then they should be supported like everyone else is in our profession. They shouldn’t be condemned or discouraged from the profession because they are the subset of therapists we definitely need. They will make some clients feel so much more relaxed not only because they will show that you can live with the mental health condition and thrive. But also you can thrive so much that you can get a brilliant highly paid and respected job. Completely helping the client combat any myths about how messed up and doomed to fail they are. Therefore, these therapists and psychologists must be appreciated for what only they can bring to the table and the profession. Just like how you are the only person who can bring your unique characteristics and talents to the profession. Moaning At Following The System To be honest, this is my true problem with this article and what this psychologist experienced. Because I cannot understand for the life of me why we are moaning at the person who is suffering and experience struggles just because they did what our other clients have to do. As well as for our international audience, in the UK because we thankfully have free healthcare, we don’t have to pay for our psychotherapy unless we go private. Therefore, if we’re experiencing a mental health difficulty, we have to go to our local medical doctor (GP), talk to them and then they refer us to mental health services. I’m not going to go into the details and the length of time this referral takes, but I cannot believe that fellow psychologists were criticising this woman because she went to speak to a medical doctor first. Let me say this, there is no other way in the UK to access psychological services. If you want public healthcare, you have to follow this procedure and route. I have not come across anything else. So why are we criticising someone for doing what anyone else has to do? It simply makes no sense. What I think is actually happening is these criticising people are taking out their frustration on a peer who is struggling with a condition. Now I fully admit I understand and support the frustration. I think it is ridiculous that clients who are not suffering from medical and biological conditions have to see a medical doctor first. I fully support the idea of clients being able to reach out to psychological services first because we understand psychological difficulties at a deep level, medical doctors do not. Just like how psychology doctors do not have a deep understanding of medical problems. However, what I will never understand is how psychologists can take out their frustration on one of their peers. That is flat out outrageous and as a profession that is something we cannot tolerate and stand for. Finally, instead we should run that frustration towards the decision-makers and policy-makers that prevent people from reaching out to mental health services themselves. Therefore, to end this reflection, we must remember that as frustrating as the current system is, it is our job to always support out colleagues if they are struggling and they follow the current system. Because they most probably are not the person running the current system, they are a person struggling who needs psychological help, and if you really want to look at it from the system perspective. Our colleague is a victim of the current system, and we should never ever blame the victim. 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 Today’s episode has been sponsored by Clinical Psychology Reflections Volume 3. 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. Patreon for exclusive access and rewards Have a great day. Clinical Psychology Reference Whiteley, C. (2023) Clinical Psychology Reflections Volume 3. CGD Publishing 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. Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal.

All of us are on our own psychology journeys and all of them are very different. In this psychology podcast episode, we explore my own psychology journey in the past, how it’s impacted me now and what my hopes for the futures are. If you want to understand more about me, the life of a psychology student and how psychology works, you’ll enjoy this podcast episode for sure. Today’s episode has been sponsored by my Direct Store at https://www.payhip.com/connorwhiteley and buying directly from authors just helps to support them better because they get more of the money instead of the larger retailers taking a large cut away from authors. Hope. Wonder. Passion. My Psychology Journey. My Psychology Journey Before University So, it might come as a surprise for you to know that I did not want to do psychology before I went to university. Well, to be honest, I never intended to do psychology. I never wanted to. I didn't think there was a job at the end of it and I thought psychology was profiling, which now looking back absolutely horrifies me. But again though, this is why in my Criminal Profiling book, I do actually focus on that aspect a little bit because everyone does think psychology is profiling and all of that absolute rubbish. So, it's something that we need to be kind of ourselves on because even though that's such a myth, it's okay to believe in myths as long as we find the truth later on and as long as we realize that they are myths. My psychology journey actually started in sixth form, which in the UK is the 16 to 18 year old education system. And normally, you would go to a sixth form or college. So, college to oversimplify it, is where you do more vocational courses but sixth form is where you typically do A levels, which are the more academic subjects. But in the UK, increasingly, the International Baccalaureate, it has become really popular. So, what I did at my school was the International Baccalaureate careers-related program, which meant I had to do two IB subjects and two BTEC. So two vocational subjects. And this was actually really interesting. I did geography and psychology for my IB subjects. And then I did travel and tourism, and business studies for my BTEC. All of them absolutely great courses and I loved them all. However, the problem with chemistry that I found was that yes, I was getting the grades. Yes, I could get the grades if I revised, but I didn't feel like I was understanding it. It just didn't really mesh for me with the topic. And it was all really quite advanced stuff, which I didn't have a problem with. My grades didn't have a problem with it, but I just wanted something that I feel like I understood intrinsically and that I was really good at. At the time my form tutor and a bunch of my friends that were in the psychology classroom. Some of my friends are learning about psychology and they were talking about it. My form tutor, Mrs. Shepley, absolutely wonderful woman, who I owe so much to, she was the psychology teacher. So, the next day I asked her, "Could I join psychology?" She said yes. She was really pleased that I was considering it and she had absolutely no problem with it. The next day, I spoke to the chemistry teacher, she was fine about me dropping out, not in the horrible sense because she realized that it's not for everyone. And even she realized this is really quite advanced stuff. It's more advanced than the A level was at the time. And even she was having to think about, right, how do I break this down so those 16, 17-year-olds understand this. So it was tough and even she acknowledged that. So, then I started psychology three months after everyone else. But the good thing about that was that at least according to other people, I was understanding it more. I was asking more questions and I was basically really adding it to the classroom because for the past three months, it had been sort of dead, really difficult. It wasn't easy to understand for a lot of other people. But I sort of came in and "I lightened things up," apparently, which was always like quite nice to hear. Then what's happened was that over the Christmas break and I had to catch up on biological psychology, they had already covered it and that kicked off my psychology journey. And I honestly think it was one of the best decisions of my life. Well, in fact, I know it is the best decision of my life to change from chemistry to psychology. Because psychology is how I met all of you wonderful people. And it gave me a lot of hope, passion, and opportunity. Applying For University Psychology Degree One of the things I absolutely love about psychology is that you cannot get a job in it unless you have a degree and a master's degree at the bare minimum. That was my selling point because I know I'm gonna sound harsh, I know I'm gonna sound horrible, but I think that there are so many degrees that you can go to university and do, and yes it gives you a degree qualification and it gives you tons of transferable skills which are brilliant, absolutely brilliant, but there isn't a job at the end of it. Or to be honest, it doesn't give you anything unique. Personally, I think psychology does give you that uniqueness because if you go for a job, you are only competing against other graduates, which is brilliant and it's always nice. It doesn't mean getting the job's gonna be any easier but at least it's a little easier compared to if you were going to an office job, for example. So, I knew I had to go to university and this is what makes it even funnier. So, in the UK when it comes to UCAS, which is the application system, you are allowed to take five options. So, you are allowed to apply for five different universities. I'm gonna tell you what my choices were and why and what my original plan was. I applied for the University of Kent, so my current university, as a backup choice, I had no intention of going there. Canterbury Christchurch. Again, I had no intention of going there for reasons I can't say on this podcast, a little touch of defamation. I wanted to go to University College of London, which is a really top-level university. I wanted to go to University of Bath and the University of Oxford. Now, the University of Oxford was not my idea. I had looked at that before and I'm thinking no, this course didn't sound right for me. But then my psychology teacher said, "I think you could get into Oxford, I believe in you." So, I said, "All right, fine then." So, I did all of my university applications late September, early October because when you applied to Oxford, Cambridge and medicine schools in the UK, they've got a very early deadline because there's so much to it. So, I applied. I did the Oxford entry exam. I didn't get quite what I was meant to do but I wasn't that far off. And to be honest, since I think that's the best decision I've ever made and I've never been so grateful to fail, I say, you know, in a air quotes in my life because I've heard so much stuff about Oxford because of one of my old friends, she actually went to Oxford. And she was from a middle-class background like me. And our parents don't teach us which wine goes with a particular fish and we don't want to write essays every single week and defend it like a dissertation for a PhD. And it's like, I'm so glad I don't have that life, like the Oxford life. Yes, it would've been great in some respects but it would've been a lot harder. And that's even more important for something coming later on. University of Bath, always love that, it's a beautiful campus. And if you ever are in Bath, just go and see the university. It's brilliant and and Bath is a wonderful city. University College London. This university might sound great but it's a city university. And the reason why I'm talking about this is that if there's any university psychology students here thinking about going to university, you've got to go to different campuses. You've got to go to different universities so you can see what is right for you. UCL, University College London is a city university. That was not right for me especially because let's just say their accommodation is questionable, their accommodation is small. And that's all I'm gonna say because I'm pretty much pushing the boat out on how much negativity I can say on this podcast. Yeah, University College London, I was really glad I didn't go there. And then at Christchurch, no joke, they accept everyone. So, I got an offer within a few days. University of Kent took a bit longer but I got there. My original plan, I think, but I'm really not sure because it's been four years, was to go to UCL in London for my undergraduate, and then I go to university of Bath for my masters. And then I think go somewhere else for my PhD. But of course back then, I didn't know that to become a clinical psychologist you don't need a PhD and in fact you shouldn't get one to some extent. But I talk about that in different places. So, that's my original plan. Thankfully, I actually ended up going to University of Kent. Best decision of my life. My First Year At University I think whenever we go to university, whenever we decide to make this massive change in our lives, this is always a scary time and it's always quite nerve-wracking. We are just filled with self-doubt and we basically don't know where we stand in the world. So, University of Kent from my house, on a good day and committing to the 70 miles per hour speed limit, I can get there in about 40 minutes. So, that's the sort of distance, it's about 35 miles away. So, what that means is that it wasn't too far away from home. It was far enough away that I got to live down there in Halls for first year. And that was an interesting experience. But it meant in my second and third year, I could commute very easily. My first year at university. I can't really remember it because it was four years ago and lots of stuff happened. But I remember when I first got to university, I had a great habit of just wanting to get away from there because even though I've been away from my parents before, I've been on scouting trips that have lasted a week. I've been to Sweden, Malta, I've given speeches and stuff like that to different people abroad. But university just seemed a bit different. Because I remember my parents leaving my dorm, well my dorm, we're not in America, sorry Americans, in my flat, my university accommodation. And when that happened with that I felt really sad. At University, it's always that sort of awkward first few days because people are still moving in. You don't know who your flatmates are, so you really are quite unsure. So, the next day, or to be honest I should probably say that, what would you do the next day? Normal people might want to have a walk around campus, meet people, see who else has moved in. I decided to do a 19 mile walk to Whitstable and back. So, basically I walked nine miles there. Good few miles through the sea front and then the nine miles back. The back of my knees were hurting the next day and for a few days after. And I realized, oh I think you might be trying to escape university. Thankfully, that didn't stay with me for very long because at my university accommodation, I met great people, made great friends. And the only problem I've ever had with university accommodation, please bear in mind that mine was en suite, it was self-located, quite nice accommodation, was that people were loud. And I mean like there were some nights I didn't go to sleep before 2:00 a.m because people were just so noisy. People were coming back from clubs and stuff like that. People were running up and down through corridors, but besides from that it was great. And you do meet some wonderful nationalities like French and Italian, like they were my two like good friends during like my first year. And even now I do keep in good contact with them. That's always nice. In terms of psychology itself, well, I thought I'd made a massive mistake for the first few weeks. I was honestly scared that I'd ruined my life or made a big mistake because the problem with the first year at university, even though everyone listening to this probably knows this, is that it's a step down. So, they really sort of dumb it down because there were tons of people on the course who have never done psychology before. It's always about bringing everyone to the same level. The first few weeks, and I found this in my second year and my final year, it does make you question because they're all introductory stuff. There's stuff that you already know and you are sort of thinking, oh my god, is this what it's gonna be like for the whole year? If not, what have I done with my life? I'm stuck here now. Well you're actually not stuck there at all. After the first few weeks, it really got sorted. We started to move on to more interesting, more advanced stuff that I didn't necessarily know. And it was just all about filling gaps in everyone's knowledge. And there's some great lecturers at the University of Kent, so I did enjoy it. But my problem has always been group projects. When it comes to group projects, I'm very independent. I like to get stuff done and I have a fear of group projects because there were some people on any course at whatever university, whatever stage of life you're in that don't wanna put the work in. They seriously don't. So, it is sort of down to you. I have a massive fear of group projects. And my first group project at university confirmed this fear innately. It really did hammer home how much this fear was and it was really founded. I was really stressed. I was feeling really down and I think towards the end of the first term because of this group project. Yeah. It was always a bit harsh. I did beat myself up a bit and I did worry about it quite a lot, which turns out that it wasn't the case or I didn't need to be because we did get a good like, grade on it. But I still have a massive fear of group projects and I've always hated them. And then the only other interesting thing for my first year, and this sort of feeding into my second year mainly, was that in March, 2020, that was my first year. That was the end of the spring term. That was when COVID struck and that's when the world changed. The Second Year Of The University And My Psychology Journey As you can imagine, at the end of the first year, the early exams were online, they were just thrown up and they were very tense. It was a very tense time and I feel so sorry for the second years and the final year students. So, then what happened was my second year, and as you can imagine this was very much all online. It was a tense time because of the world we were locked down. And yeah, it just wasn't a pretty time of life. Thankfully, that didn't really matter with me in my university experience. Of course, we still couldn't do much. And looking back, I realized that, yeah, we did miss out on a lot because it's why this year I'm actually really glad I have been down on campus even though I've not really done any societies and stuff. I did miss out on quite a lot during my second year. But equally, I'm sort of glad COVID did happen in that sense because it really did divide up the time between my first and my second year and my placement year and my final year. Because to be honest, they're really important distinctions in my academic life. And because there's nothing really interesting that happened in my second year, I do wanna just gloss over something quickly. My academic writing was appalling. I could not write academically to save my life. And I think that the problem with the university as a whole is that they do expect you to be able to write academically. They just expect you to know exactly what you are meant to do. And I find some university advice is so misleading. So, I don't know if you've actually got this in your countries, but in the UK we are sort of given the PEEL structure when it comes to writing essay paragraphs. So that's point, evidence, explain, link back to the question. I don't think that works for university essays because I followed it, I followed it down to the letter and I was only getting 50s in my first and my second year when it came to essays. And I was getting worse and worse and worse when it came to essays But in my placement year, which I'll talk more about in a moment, I changed my structure. I learned how to write a good academic argument like a professional paper, and then that helped me to get the firsts that I'm thankfully getting now and touch wood still will be because I've still got quite a few assignments not back yet. I am sort of pushing the boat out on that comment. I really hope it doesn't bite to me in the backside now. So, academic writing is hard. It's really, really hard I found. So, that was a massive struggle for me. I basically thought at the end of my second year that I was going to fail university and my psychology journey was over. My Placement Year And How This Impacted My Psychology Journey I fully admit, this next section of the podcast is definitely gonna be very glossed over simply because I've got an entire book coming out in the end of the year called "A Year in Psychology" that actually talks about this in a lot more depth because it talks about everything I did in my placement year, why I did it, why I thought I really needed it and why I would honestly recommend it to anyone in the world. It is amazing. My placement year. Because it was still sort of COVID, sort of wasn't, it was in that sort of weird getting back to normal time. Oh, yeah, plus I think there was even a lockdown during my placement year. Yes, I think there was a one-month lockdown in November, December on that year. COVID, it was such a messy time. I lose track of it half the time. What happened was that it was a remote placement at my home but it was also at the university and I was doing like literature reviews and other stuff. So if you are interested in that, I've spoke about it on the podcast before in the personal update section. But the reason why I'm talking about this is because this really did impact my psychology journey. If this placement year didn't happen, my psychology journey would be completely different. It would've failed. It would've been awful because my placement year gave me back my hope and it gave me back my passion for this subject. Because not only because of the topics we were looking at, but also because it taught me how to write academically, which no one else does. People that I was working with, they were really supportive and stuff. And also they never judged me which is always nice. And they realized I could write academically quite well but they just needed to give me a few tips. And it was from reading these literature reviews and reading these academic papers, that I realized how you are actually meant to write academically. And it's like good that I now know how to do it. Because universities they just don't tell you how to do that stuff. So, it's really good that I was able to up my skills and basically this placement year, it saved me. It saved my grades. So, this year I'm doing so much better than I ever could have done if I never did this placement year. And also the reason why I talk about opportunities quite a lot in this podcast and when it comes to placement, is because if you do a placement year, and you actually meet a great supervisor, especially at university, then it can open so many doors for you. For example, if I didn't do that placement year, I never would've been on the final year project that I'm on. I never would've met all my friends. I never would've met this great PhD student that I get on really well with. So, placement year has given me so much and it really has sort of revitalized my interest in psychology. Because even though my interest, my passion for this amazing topic never went away, I sort of thought I could never do it because my academic writing simply wasn't good enough. So, placement year, definitely, definitely do it. My Final Year This sort of last section actually looking at my psychology journey is sort of gonna be short because I've spoken about it all year basically. And there are some books coming and I have reflected on it in different places about different aspects of it. Like, I know "Clinical Psychology Reflections Volume 4," which is coming out next April, I know that covers some of my final year. I'm planning to do a third year survival guide. Yeah, like that sort of book. So, there's definitely a lot coming up which reflects on this a lot better than I can now. But your final year at university can be the most amazing time of your life. I think. You can meet great people, you can get involved in great projects and it can really make you excited about the future but also sad at the same time because sad in the sense that you just completed an amazing journey through university. And I'm honestly a shadow of my former self in the fact that I am more confident, I know how to stand my ground, I've got friends. And yeah, it's just amazing what university can do for you if you take the opportunities that come your way and if you are proactive. And this is even more true in your final year because I'm doing so many other opportunities which have deepened my learning, deepened my interest in psychology that makes me realize exactly what I want to do in the future. It's honestly great. And so many opportunities have popped up for me just because I've been willing to actually talk about them. So, there's one that I can't talk about actually because I'm not sure if it's actually gonna happen, but when it does on the podcast I will talk about it. So, I'm so excited about it. And again, it's something I would never ever thought I would do. In fact, I've been a very vocal critic of it in various places. So, that's always interesting. To be honest, sometimes I think I just shouldn't have opinions because they always come back biting me because then I end up doing them. So, that's always fun. And again, that is why I love university. It's why psychology always gives me hope, wonder and curiosity. And yes, I know I'm changing these, but to be honest, these little deviations on the original title of this podcast episode, this episode took so long to actually fix up. Take Home Messages In this penultimate section of the episode, I just wanna say that the entire point of me doing this episode isn't just so that you know what I've been through. It's that you know that in psychology, there is so many opportunities for you. And psychology it is honestly a wonderful discipline. It's a wonderful profession. It's a wonderful degree that I just love because it covers so much. Without psychology, humans are nothing. As I've said before on the podcast, from a biological standpoint, we can say smoking gives you cancer but what do you do about it? Only psychology can make someone change their mind, get a healthier habit and improve their lives. Biology can't do that. Chemistry can't do it. Physics can't do that. Psychology is in everything we do and that is why it's so important. It's arguably one of the most important disciplines in the entire world and that is why I'm so passionate about it. We can improve lives, we can help people, we can make people not want to kill themselves, well, potentially. We can do so much more than we ever thought possible and this is only because of psychology. So, this is why I love it and this is why I'm so grateful for all of you for listening to this podcast because your interest, your passion, your comments really keeps me going and keeps me wanting to learn. And thank you. I cannot thank you guys enough. So, that's the sort of the take home message. And I was actually gonna do these in separate sections, but I'm actually not going to. In terms of the future, my future is, I'm gonna be doing a clinical psychology masters in September, hopefully at the University of Kent. I'm really looking forward to it. I want to learn more about clinical psychology and it's gonna be a lot of fun. And the project that I'm gonna be working on will be a lot of fun too. Working with people on depression. Well, not actually working with depressed people, but working on the cognitive angle, even though I also talk about why that's a bad thing about why academics with no clinical psychology experience are researching mental health conditions. But again, that's something coming out like next year. So yeah. So, there's a lot going on in the future. I'm really excited about it and I do want to get a part-time job or something or a volunteering position, if I work with service users directly, in fact I've actually got to start like looking at that. In fact, my original plan was to do that in April. So, anyway, though, busy times ahead. When it comes to the future of this podcast. Well, this podcast, I love it. I just cannot give this up. I really can't because I love it so much. You guys honestly keep me learning. I see the statistics, I see the watch numbers and I look at these subscribing numbers on YouTube and I'm pleased that this is growing. And I know that the podcast has been a bit chaotic at times. For example, back in October, when I slowed down the podcast and I changed the pitch of my voice, that was weird and I'm really glad that someone told me about it. So, thank you. And then I know that I've fixed it by slowing it down slightly, but keeping my own voice basically. So, this a podcast I'm gonna keep. It will continue. I will fight to make sure it continues because I love it so much. You guys aren't just listeners to me. I will never see you guys as numbers. All of you take time out of your day. I'm busy, I know you're probably busy. So, the fact that you want to listen to me is amazing and I'm so grateful, right? You honestly don't know how much it means to me that you guys want to listen to me ramble on. Like at the moment, this is almost half an hour long as I'm recording this, even though that's gonna change when you guys hear it. There's a lot going on and I'm not gonna give up this for the world. I want to keep learning. And if I didn't have this podcast, I know my psychology learning would just be what I learned in lectures and that's not what I want because lectures, come on, they're fixed, they're a bit boring at times. I want to go beyond my lectures. I want to learn about stuff that no one in psychology really talks about. And that's the aim of this podcast. So, thank you for listening. I honestly love you all and you guys are just brilliant. So, thank you. 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 Today’s episode has been sponsored by my Direct Store at https://www.payhip.com/connorwhiteley and buying directly from authors just helps to support them better because they get more of the money instead of the larger retailers taking a large cut away from authors. Buy Me A Coffee 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. Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal.

Whenever couples sadly experience a miscarriage, it is the traditional view in society, families and amongst friendship groups that only women grieve a miscarriage. Men aren’t affected by them at all, and because of that false belief men are left to grieve miscarriages in silence because they sometimes believe that no one cares about them, their feelings and how miscarriages impact them. In this social psychology podcast episode with a minor overlap in clinical psychology, we investigate how miscarriages impact men and their own grief process. Definitely listen to this one everyone. It is critical to understand. Today’s episode has been sponsored by Psychology of Relationships: The Social Psychology of Romantic Relationships, Friendships 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. How Do Men Grieve Miscarriages? I want to start off this episode by saying that miscarriages are normal and extremely awful for the people who experience them because 1 in 5 pregnancies end in a miscarriage and this does negatively impact the miscarrying woman and her own social network. As well as miscarriages do occur inside and outside a wide range of relationships, but typically they happen in heterosexual and cisgender people. Therefore, the effects of a miscarriage sends shockwaves through a social network system and relationships leading to an increased chance of the couple getting divorced (Gold et al., 2010) or breaking up. In addition, when it comes to men they often suffer from grief, anxiety and depression after a miscarriage as well as at times their mental health difficulties lasts longer than their partner’s does (Farren et al., 2021). This only makes the fact that men often feel ignored or stopped from grieving even worse and they may feel the pressure from society and their friends to be stoic, emotionless and “strong” so they don’t grieve. This only ends badly. Not only because men need to cope with their grief for the sake of their mental as well as physical health, but for the sake of the relationship and their partner’s health too. Everything interacts when it comes to mental health after all. How Metaphor Can Be Used To Help Men Grief A Miscarriage? The work of Horstman et al. (2019) was very interesting reading and they looked at the stories of 45 white, straight, married men and how miscarriage impacted them. also, what’s really interesting is that they made sense of the loss and the miscarriage by using metaphors, that’s certainly a new take on this important issue. We all know from English classes that metaphors are a set of tools we use to help us understand confusing ideas or events by linking them with a familiar idea, event or concept. Therefore, in the work of Horstman et al. what they did was get participants to use metaphors to reflect society’s very limited knowledge about how common miscarriages are and how society morphs this into a very taboo topic. Not only so that people can always believe that miscarriage is a very rare and I’ve heard conversations that blame the mother for the miscarriage, but also so the people experiencing the miscarriage cannot grieve for their loss because it is such a taboo subject. One common theme of the metaphors used was the idea a lost gift or another idea was that wonderful gift you receive and it is suddenly taken away. Some participants said this was like a present under the Christmas tree only to find it broken or missing when you opened it. or a participant described it as being given the winning lottery but you’re one number away. That would be seriously annoying. As well as that’s why metaphors are so important in human communication, because I don’t have kids and I wouldn’t have them for at least another decade ideally if I ever do. But even I can understand that feeling of a lost gift, a lost precious item and the lottery idea. I can understand all of that and it is a truly awful feeling. However, other people describe a miscarriage, as a profound emptiness that fills you right up. You feel like you have empty legs, empty chests and empty hearts because that lost baby has left such a gap or void in your world. Leaving these men feeling hopeless and listless. Finally, men can describe a miscarriage as something unexpected, devastating and sudden like a cataclysm or maybe something like a natural disaster. Leading men to feel like a miscarriage is a tragedy and the men were onlookers of this tragedy and couldn’t do anything to stop it. Like witnessing their loved one was in a car crash and they could only stand and watch the destruction and fallout happen. These metaphors were all to show that the participant was helpless as they tried to help their devastated partner through both emotional and physical pain. And this links to a point earlier about how men aren’t really helped and there is no support for them too. Social Psychology Conclusion Overall, I am telling you all this because I want us all to understand that the idea that men don’t care or grieve about miscarriages is such a myth and it has to end. I also want to highlight that yes miscarriages are a dark topic in society, this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t talk more openly about that not only so we all understand the truth about miscarriages like their likelihood. But also so that the men and women that have to go through this horrible event don’t feel isolated, pressed and abandoned because society deems this topic to taboo to actually talk about. That taboo-ness has to end outright. Connecting this to social psychology, we are a social species and our communication comes under social psychology too. Therefore, the metaphors that men use to describe and explain how it feels to have a miscarriage will hopefully provide all of you with a better understanding of what it’s like to have a romantic partner experiencing this type of loss. Then if we understand how it feels then we can better support the men and women experiencing this perhaps better inform our own private conversations and the larger, more societal discourse too. That would be nice. And maybe if you have experienced your own miscarriage then maybe this has validated you. Maybe you can finally realise that you were okay to grieve, be sad and emotional during this impossible time. I don’t know but I know there is something in the USA (and other countries probably have it too) the National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness month so get involved in that in your own way. I think in the UK a similar event is in March judging by a politician’s social media that I follow. I truly hope none of us ever have to experience a miscarriage but if you do or if someone you know experiences one. Then it is critical we all support each other and allow people to talk about it. Nothing good comes from keeping everything bottled up so please, don’t let it. 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 Psychology of Relationships: The Social Psychology of Romantic Relationships, Friendships 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. Buy Me A Coffee Have a great day. Clinical Psychology and Social Psychology References: Farren, J., Jalmbrant, M., Falconieri, N., Mitchell-Jones, N., Bobdiwala, S., Al-Memar, M., Tapp, S., Van Calster, B., Wynants, L., Timmerman, D., & Bourne, T. (2021). Differences in post-traumatic stress, anxiety and depression following miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy between women and their partners: multicenter prospective cohort study. Ultrasound in obstetrics & gynecology: the official journal of the International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology, 57(1), 141–148. https://doi.org/10.1002/uog.23147 Gold, K. J., Sen, A., & Hayward, R. A. (2010). Marriage and cohabitation outcomes after pregnancy loss. Pediatrics, 125(5), e1202-e1207. Horstman, H. K., Holman, A., & McBride, M. C. (2020). Men’s use of metaphors to make sense of their spouse’s miscarriage: Expanding the communicated sense-making model. Health Communication, 35(5), 538-547. 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. Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal.

When it comes to sex and intimacy, a lot of people approach these topics with ease, excitement and desire for deep, meaningful connections. To neurotypical people these topics are hardly given a second thought, but for autistic people, sex and intimacy can be difficult. No mental health professional talks about these topics leaving autistic people in the dark about sex and intimacy, two things they desire and want to experience. In today’s clinical psychology podcast episode, we aim to explore this topic and provide neurotypicals and autistic people alike with the information they need. If you enjoy mental health, autism and social psychology, you’ll love today’s podcast episode. Today’s episode has been sponsored by Developmental Psychology: A Guide To Developmental And Child 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. What Needs To Be Said About Autism, Intimacy and Sex? I know when I started to research autism and want to explore this topic in great depth towards the end of my 6th form years (around 18 years old), I came across the weird myth within academic research that autistic people have no sense of self and they didn’t have a sexuality at all. I’m really glad academia has realised this is a myth now, but a lot of professionals still don’t realise that sexuality and intimate relationships within autistic people aren’t subjects commonly discussed. And this is a great shame I think because there are tons of autistic people that do want to have sex, be in deep and meaningful relationships, autism can make these topics difficult. Especially when research like Dattaro (2020) shows that many people on the autistic spectrum don’t identify with heteronormative and traditional values when it comes to sexual and intimate relationships. Yet there is a massive lack of academic research on these subjects and this academic research if it was available. Then this would be very helpful in supporting autistic people having the healthy as well as meaningful relationships that they carve. For example, I’ve known tons of autistic people in my life and only a handful of them would never ever want a sexual relationship with anyone. Yet my old best friend, he had plenty of great, loving and caring relationships with girlfriends and he was autistic. So it is clear that some autistic people do want sexual and intimate relationships and others do not. Um, is it me or does that sound like neurotypical people too? So why might this lack of research exist? Personally, I believe it centres around prejudice, stigma and discrimination against autistic people and the beliefs people have about them. I know talking to other students and professionals that they’re surprised to learn that autistic people do want relationships, love and sex. These beliefs are understandable to the extent that it is known that autistic people have difficulties with touch, emotions and empathy. All three are needed for close and sexual relationships. In addition, sex and intimacy are still very taboo topics to talk about in western society and even more so for people with disabilities, be it physical, mental or neurological. Therefore, these beliefs about sex and intimacy impact academic research, funding and basically makes no one want to research this topic. If you’re listening to this episode, like autism research and are in a position to do this. Then perhaps please consider doing this sort of research because it is so badly needed. Furthermore, whilst there are some autism advocates working on this topic like the Neurodivergent Rebel as well as Wheelchair Rapunzel and now me on this podcast. It is a massive shame that the mental health services support autistic people just aren’t doing enough to educate autistic people and others about intimacy and sex. Just because a person is autistic, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be able to enjoy intimate and sexual relationships if they want to. How Could We Educate And Support Autistic People? There are tons of different ways we could hopefully start to change this and one of the simplest ways could be starting with ourselves. The main problem with this debate is that it is the mental health services and academics that aren’t doing enough to support autistic people in this area. The solution has to start with them, so we all need to accept that relationships are not the same for everyone. And I think this is so easy to understand when you start thinking about it because successful relationships seriously are not the same for everyone. For example, it’s a joke in my family that my family’s weird because they sleep in the same bed but all their friends sleep in separate beds. Yet that clearly works for all of their relationships, and a lot of non-straight people have successful relationships too. I bet if you started looking at you and your friends and the relationships involved, you would see tons of differences. And that’s honestly part of what makes this all so fun, interesting and important to understand. Therefore, if we explicitly connect this to autism then a lot of traditional relationships, marriages and heteronormative relationships aren’t available or even desirable to autistic people. As well as whilst Joyce et al. (2021) found most autistic people are in fact interested in a relationship, few professionals seem to be openly talking about how having a neurodivergent condition will impact the likelihood of this happening. As a result, this does need to change because we do need professionals to help autistic people understand intimate relationships. This is even more important when we realise that a lot of autistic people enjoy talking about and questioning their sexuality and personal preferences. Personally, this is a great thing and to really focus on the autism aspect here, I know from personal experience that being a teenager is so, so hard for questioning your sexuality AND being autistic. It’s hard, because you truly don’t know where you stand and the world is already chaotic and bad enough if you live in a world that doesn’t accept or want to help your autism. So throwing questioning sexuality into the mix is a nightmare, a beautiful nightmare, but one just the same. That’s why it’s so important for therapists to be open to talking about this. Additionally, it’s important that people understand that what might look strange to neurotypical people is actually healthy and joyous for autistic people. As well as it is these differences that should be supported and encouraged by psychological professionals, because after all it is their job to ensure their clients live happy and fulfilled lives. And I think we can all agree being in sexual and intimate relationships (if we choose to be) certainly helps that happen. Is There An Overlap Between Autistic People And The LGBT+ Community? I will admit that the book that really got me interested in autism research and similar topics when I was about 17 years old was on autism and gender identity. Whilst that is different to sexuality, I still think it was important in making me realise just how many myths there are about autism within the academic literature. As a result, there is an overlap being neurodivergent people and the LGBT+ community (I should note there is still an overlap between neurotypical people and the community). And yet, something I have a minor problem with, okay then, a massive problem with is just how little resources and books and papers are on the topic. Personally, I would have imagined there to be tons of research because if you think about the current (or past) thinking about autism, this is a “weird” finding. I can imagine some professor somewhere who’s out of touch with the world wanting to find out why autistic people would ever want to be LGBT+ considering it is apparently against societal rules and autistic people have rigid rules in their minds. And when you consider the myths surrounding LGBT+ people then this represents another conflict with perception against autistic people. I mean the myths surrounding gay sex and how every single autistic people would hate it. I just want to point out that considering a lot of research sets out to challenge myths, stereotypes and so-called common knowledge, I am surprised this stuff hasn’t been tested yet in academic settings. Going back towards more fact-based stuff, a possible reason for this lack of books and resources on the topic is because many disabled as well as neurodivergent people are infantilised and desexualised to such an extreme extent that their preferences and sexuality are often ignored and devalued. Again this comes back to the myths about autistic people not being interested in sexual relationships at all. Autism, Clinical Psychology and Social Psychology Conclusion: Overall, at the end of this podcast, we’ve covered a lot of interesting points that make us question the myths surrounding sex, intimacy and more about autistic people. I know, I truly know from personal experience that this is an impossible topic at times, but it needs to be spoken about. As Maslow said in his hierarchy of needs, intimacy is a fundamental human need and if professionals and therapists aren’t encouraging, helping and supporting autistic people to have these healthy relationships then we, as a profession, are failing people. All of us have the right to relationships, to love and sex and intimacy. Just because autistic people are technically “disabled” doesn’t mean they are the exception to this rule and as future or current therapists, it is our duty to try and help autistic people form and maintain these most critical relationships. Because what are humans without our relationships? 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 Developmental Psychology: A Guide To Developmental And Child 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. Buy Me A Coffee Have a great day. Autism, Clinical Psychology and Social Psychology References: Dattaro, L. (2020) Gender and sexuality in autism, explained. Spectrumnews.org Joyal, C. C., Carpentier, J., McKinnon, S., Normand, C. L., & Poulin, M. H. (2021). Sexual knowledge, desires, and experience of adolescents and young adults with an autism spectrum disorder: an exploratory study. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12, 685256. Taylor, L. (2022) What Isn't Being Said About Autism, Intimacy, and Sex. Psychology Today. 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. Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal.

Cyberstalking is a type of stalking that occurs online and using technology, and as this is a psychology podcast, we have to question why people do this. In this useful psychology podcast episode, we investigate the gender, personality and other factors that are likely to impact cyberstalking behaviour. If you’re interested in how social psychology and clinical psychology intersects with cyberpsychology then you’re in for a treat. Today’s episode has been sponsored by Personality Psychology and Individual Differences. 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. Introduction To Cyberstalking One of the things that makes this issue so interesting is that everyone throws the word about like it's nothing. For example, I regularly hear people say how they “stalk” celebrities online and check in on their social media accounts once, twice or three times a day. This overuse of the term “stalking” isn’t exactly helpful because all forms of stalking can be very serious in the “right” circumstance, but is understandable. I am no different because I occasionally state I stalk celebrities and a politician or two online. Although, the form of cyberstalking that is common is the following situation. When a man or woman (or to be honest any intimate partner) are asleep and when the man had fallen asleep, the woman checks the man’s phone if they know their password or have face ID access. Then the woman starts reading their messages and checking up on their boyfriends. That is the form of cyberstalking that we’ll be focusing on in today’s episode because it’s common, and it’s been very well researched in a recent paper by Evita March et al. (2022). Since this paper gives us insight into why this happens and more. Also, I know this might not sound like cyberstalking because at least, I imagine cyberstalking involves stalking people online, possibly hacking them and harassing the stalker’s target. Therefore, I understand how in comparison to online harassment and menacing online acts, “simply” checking a partner’s phone might be seen as relatively innocent and acceptable. Especially, when we consider how this tends to involve checking in on a long-partner and investigating their commitment to the relationship, or checking out a potential short-term relationship to get information like their sexual promiscuity. Although, this matches cyberstalking behaviours in a sense because one of the aims of cyberstalking is to retain or gain a partner. As well as knowing relationship commitment and sexual promiscuity definitely helps achieve that aim. Furthermore, it’s perfectly possible that a person’s motivation to monitor their partner online is related to their personality. Since the study we’ll look at in a moment does find cyberstalking implications for the Dark Tetrad. These are the personality traits of narcissism, psychopathy, sadism and machvavellism. March et al. (2022) The main study we’ll look at in this episode was done by March and her peers because they aimed to investigate the different methods people used to monitor or cyberstalk their imitate partner and what techniques were used to get this information. These methods were gathered from long-term and short-term partners, data about personality traits as defined in the Dark Tetrad classification were collected and mating goals whether the person wanted to gain or retain a mate. All that data was collected. Moreover, the study measured cyberstalking with 21 items asking participants to rate whether or not they would engage in each type of behaviour by responding to yes or no questions, in 4 different contexts, long-term or short-term relationships and while pursuing the goal of either gaining or retaining a mate. In other words, the participants had to think about how they would behave in each of these life circumstances. For example, how they would engage in these techniques if they were in a short-term relationship compared to long-term. Then a factor analysis was run to classify the cyberstalking behaviours into three different types of cyberstalking. The researchers labelled these as duplicitous. This involved behaviours like using the location settings on a partner’s phone to see where they’ve been. Personally, I find that just creepy and flat out wrong. The second classification was invasive. For example, partners would use invasive behaviours to get information from their partner, like checking the partner’s messages and phone history. Then finally, there was passive cyberstalking behaviour involving checking the online status of a partner. In my opinion, I think whenever we casually throw around the word “cyberstalking”. We definitely mean passive cyberstalking because scrolling through our favourite person’s social media account is very passive, and maybe we like or comment on a few things. What Were The Results Of March Et Al. (2022)? The findings of the study show that thankfully both men and women were more likely to passively cyberstalk their partner compared to using invasive or duplicitous methods. This makes sense because most people just want to see what their partner is up to online and whilst I suppose there is an argument that duplicitous methods of cyberstalking, like using the location app to monitor your partner’s movements, might be more beneficial. Since this allows you to get higher quality information, it is probably outside a lot of people’s comfort zones because I’m fairly sure that’s illegal. Interestingly, the results show that women cyberstalk a lot more than men do. Due to women are a lot more likely to use invasive and passive forms of cyberstalking than men. As well as women engage more in invasive cyberstalking to retain a long-term partner and they use invasive cyberstalking to gain a short-term partner too. And I think those results are really interesting. Especially, as whenever I think of cyberstalking I always imagine men doing and a lot of media and other representations of cyberstalking is that it is a male dominated task. Yet one possible explanation for why women cyberstalk more than men can be found in Trivers (1972) because he argued that from an evolutionary perspective it makes sense. since if women made a mistake in choosing their sexual partner then this is potentially more costly for women than men. Due to women have to invest more in parenting compared to men and domestic violence happens more than women than men. Therefore, it is arguable that cyberstalking provides women with a low-risk strategy to avoid making these errors in their partner choice. Personally, I think this is very understandable to some extent because I think in the UK and across the western world there have been a lot of high-profile murders of women on the news. Also, whilst I know that I am almost certainly tapping into media bias and the availability bias here, the research does show that women are more likely to get abused, assaulted and murdered by male partners so it makes sense that partner choice is more costly to women than men. I can understand why cyberstalking is a strategy to help women get information but I still think there are some ethical and possibly legal questions about this strategy. Moreover, something interesting that March and her peers did note was that it is strange that women reported using invasive cyberstalking to get a short-term partner. This is weird because invasive forms of cyberstalking offer require greater knowledge of a partner than would normally be available in a short-term relationship. For instance, in my mind, if I’m in a short-term relationship with a guy then I’m hardly going to give him access to my phone. That makes no sense to me, so that finding is a little strange. How Cyberstalking Links To Personality Psychology? To wrap up the results of the study, the research did find that personality impacts cyberstalking because people higher in sadism, narcissism, psychopathy and Machvavellism were related to higher levels of intimate partner cyberstalking. Although, when each form of cyberstalking was examined more closely, it was only psychopathy that related to duplicitous, invasive and passive forms of cyberstalking. As well as machvavellism was associated with passive and invasive cyberstalking but not duplicitous. Also, sadism, Machvavellism and narcissism didn’t impact invasive cyberstalking too. Cyberpsychology and Personality Psychology Conclusion To wrap up today’s episode, cyberstalking can be a very serious crime and problem for people who are harassed and menaced online. And whilst March et al. (2022) only looked at intimate partner cyberstalking, this is still an important area to learn about because I’m sure there’s some research out there on the possibly darker implications of cyberstalking in relationships. Or maybe that really is just for Hollywood and entertainment. As you’re seen in this episode, gender and personality traits play a large role in cyberstalking and this study and others do raise massive questions about cyberstalking and whether it is good or not. So please let me know your thoughts. Is the fact that errors in partner choice are more costly to women than men enough to justify cyberstalking? 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 Personality Psychology and Individual Differences. 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. Buy Me A Coffee Have a great day. Cyberpsychology and Personality Psychology References March E, Szymczak P. Di Rago, M, Jonason, P. K. (2022). ‘Passive, invasive, and duplicitous: Three forms of intimate partner cyberstalking’ Personality and Individual Differences, 189. Trivers, R. L. (1972). ‘Parental investment and sexual selection.’ In B. Campbell (Ed.), Sexual selection and the descent of man (pp. 1871–1971). Aldine. 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. Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal.

Celebrating the release of my brand-new dementia book, I want to investigate whether or not dementia rates are declining or increasing. Due to the advancement of medical care or maybe the ageing population of certain worlds will lead to an increase in dementia rates. In this great podcast episode we investigate this clinical psychology topic in depth to help you understand more about dementia. If you enjoy mental health, neuroscience and clinical psychology then you’ll love today’s episode. This episode has been sponsored by Dementia Psychology: A Biological Psychology, Cognitive Psychology and Neuroscience Guide To Dementia. 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. Extract From Dementia Psychology By Connor Whiteley. COPYRIGHT 2023 Connor Whiteley. Before we move onto the last two chapters of the book, I wanted us to look at a very interesting argument and some findings from a recent study on dementia rates. The main reason why I wanted us to look at this is simply because in psychology and science as a whole, we always need to look at both sides of an argument, and dementia is no different. Therefore, one of the subtle arguments throughout the book and in the dementia literature is that dementia rates will only grow and grow and grow over the next few decades, but this might not be the case possibly after all. Yet if it does than all these dementia cases will put an immense pressure on our society, medical services and other public services and these will only cost more and more to taxpayers. Then there’s the personal costs because families will be devastated that this is happening to their loved one and they will somehow have to pay for care. As well as with a lot of western countries like the United Kingdom and Italy have ageing populations, these only encourage the rates of dementia cases to rise. As a result, in an article by The Alzheimer Cohorts Consortium, they suggest that the dementia case burden might not be as bad as feared. Due to they presents results of a comprehensive research project examining thousands of people aged over 65 between 1988 and 2015. For their study they used 9 cohort studies in United States, Sweden, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Iceland and France, along with data collected from 49,202 participants and it must be noted that 59% of the participants were female. But as you’ll see in our final chapter is this is probably not a population or sample bias, it might be a great realistic look at the dementia population. Out of all these people studied in the cohort studies, 4,253 participants unfortunately developed some form of dementia by 2015 and the incidence of new dementia diagnosis is steadily increasing with age. Although, against the expectations of the researchers, there was a 13% decrease in all-cause dementia per decade since 1998 with a similar decrease found for cases of Alzheimer’s disease alone, as well as men showed a much higher decrease than women of 24% compared to 8%. I know that was a lot of information in that paragraph but it’s basically saying there was a lot of decreases in different groups, suggesting an overall decrease in dementia cases. Consequently, if these trends continue in Europe and North America over the next few decades, there could be 15 million fewer dementia cases than expected in high-income countries alone. Possibly meaning by 2040, there could be 60 million fewer new cases of dementia. That would be brilliant. In addition, whilst this study seems to contradict earlier studies, thankfully these trends do seem fairly robust over time and across different countries. Personally, this is a great study to look at because its methodology does use a lot of my favourite research techniques, and that’s actually what makes it a very powerful study. Since the study uses data from a lot of people and 6 different countries on two different continents. Therefore, it is a lot more difficult for critics to condemn the study for making grand conclusions based on tiny amounts of data from a single country. Instead because there are so many participants from so many different countries and continents, these results suggest there is a universal behavioural trend going on that dementia rates are decreasing in higher income countries. Of course, as psychology students and professionals, we always need to be balanced. So I will add that these results (like the research says) can only apply to higher income countries because no middle or lower income countries were used in the research sample, and as you’ll see in the next two chapters those types of countries have their own problems. Also, I am slightly concerned about the size of the research sample overall compared to the population of those countries. For example, off the top of my head, the USA’s population is around 350 million people and according to Statista.com in 2020 16.9% of the US’s population was aged over 65 giving us around 59 million people. Therefore, even if all 49,000 participants where from the US then this isn’t a very large sample and probably representative of the overall over 65 population in each country. Especially when you have stark regional differences like the USA (next chapter). I know it’s a bit picky but there are just some limitations of the research. Possible Explanations Building upon these findings, there are no easy explanations for why this decrease seems to be happening, but it is important to find out why says the lead author of the research Albert Hofman. As well as he acknowledges the true explanation is likely related to overall improvements in medical care over decades for older adults in high income countries. For example, over the past few decades there have been improvements in cardiovascular treatment like statins and other medications to control blood pressure, inflammation and cholesterol, and as we saw from a previous chapter, maintaining good cardiovascular health is important to protect your health and reduce risk of dementia. In addition, over the past few decades as the public and society as a whole have become more aware of healthy living. There have been a lot of people introducing other healthy lifestyle changes and more to help them ensure they have a healthier life, and this helps many people who might have developed dementia otherwise. On the other hand, there has been a sharp rise in diabetes and obesity in western countries and according to Hofman (and I highly doubt any medical professional would disagree) these are two risk factors not helpful in curbing dementia. Moreover, over the past few decades, there has been an amazing rise in access to education and other mental stimulation to older people. Like the rise in websites, online courses and other educational content. For example, I would personally like to add that the rise of the internet has allowed older adults and everyone to access more information so they can learn and keep their minds active. As well as the rise of podcasts, like my one The Psychology World Podcast, have allowed older people to learn on the go and just listen if reading is a bit harder than it used to be. In fact, I get a good amount of emails a year and I’m really pleased that I’m able to help these older adults learn, stay active and hopefully reduce their risk of dementia. And the same goes for eBook or print books really, they are easier and cheaper to get now so this gives older people even more access to information. Dementia Psychology Conclusion Overall, this study might be very promising and it is truly amazing that we have such a hopeful finding from research. But we cannot stop worrying about the dramatic rises in dementia cases and potential impacts, because even if the predictions are not as bad as we feared, there will still be a lot of cases that will seriously strain our loved ones and our healthcare infrastructure. Then again, this does suggest that having proper healthcare and staying both mentally and physically active could help older adults live much longer and more productive lives. And that’s something all of us definitely want for ourselves, our friends and our loved ones. 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 Dementia Psychology: A Biological Psychology, Cognitive Psychology and Neuroscience Guide To Dementia. 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. Buy Me A Coffee Have a great day. Cognitive Psychology Reference Whiteley, C. (2023) Dementia Psychology: A Biological Psychology, Cognitive Psychology and Neuroscience Guide To Dementia. CGD Publishing. England 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. Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal.

Whenever people think about giving birth and having children, they think about a wonderfully peaceful birth that delivers a perfectly happy mother and child. Then the mother and child go on to be perfectly tender, loving and happy with the newborn and the entire birthing process is so idyllic that it is the best feeling in the world. However, this isn’t always the case and for some mothers pregnancy can be traumatic. In this clinical psychology episode, we investigate how mental health is impacted during and after pregnancy on women. If you enjoy clinical psychology, mental health and maternity care you’ll enjoy this episode. Today’s episode has been sponsored by Abnormal Psychology: The Causes And Treatments For Depression, Anxiety 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. What Happens When a Mother Has A Bad Birthing Experience? I think it’s a massive shame that a lot of women don’t have the traditional idyllic, joyous experience giving birth and becoming parents. Since a lot of people can feel cut off and distant from their own bodies, offspring and identities both during and after their pregnancy. And it’s important to note that this isn’t because the parents don’t care about the child and they don’t want a bond, because this can happen even when they really, really want that idyllic bond with their child. In addition, this distance that the parents feel can be increased or made worst by a range of mental health challenges that can and do change the course of lives for generations, particularly when the pregnancy wasn’t wanted in the first place. That’s something we’ll cover later in the episode. Also, this is a lot more common than people believe because Vegas-Lopez et al. (2008) found that across the globe 15% to 20% of people developed mental health conditions because of the birthing experience and their pregnancy. One example of these conditions is Postpartum Depression, and this is the most studied and common of these pregnancy-related conditions. Since nearly 1 in 6 women develop Postpartum Depression according to Wang et al. (2021) with symptoms including excessive sadness, crying, severe mood swings and unexpected changes in their sleeping, eating, lower energy and they not only withdraw from their friends and family but they struggle to bond with their child. Then to make things even worse for the mother, the depression they feel is in stark contrast to how they’re meant to feel after giving birth making them feel isolated, guilty, shameful and sad. With the external and internal stigma surrounding mental health conditions only interfering with the mother’s likelihood of seeking professional help and some studies find less than 20% of mothers actually do get help (Manso-Cordoba et al., 2020). Personally, this is why I hate stigma around mental health conditions because it is so negatively impactful and it does ruin so many lives. Since if there are less stigma then these mothers could seek professional help, get treated and then learn how to cope with their condition so they could have that idyllic bond that they want so badly. This is why it’s important to talk about these sort of mental health challenges so we can raise awareness and hopefully decrease this stigma. Moreover, a range of healthcare providers as well as researchers are continuing to learn about other mental health difficulties associated with pregnancy like the development of anxiety, OCD and posttraumatic stress disorder (Ali, 2018). For example, some pregnant women develop constant worrying, fear of uncleanliness and contamination and intrusive thoughts about aggression and harm towards the baby. We don’t understand why pregnant women get these symptoms but some people do, so we have to keep learning. As a result of these symptoms, parents can impose very strict rules and avoidance behaviours and since it’s so terrifying to talk about these thoughts about harming a child to a healthcare provider, so many parents suffer in silence and great shame. Due to if a parent does disclose these symptoms then they risk getting misdiagnosed, involuntary hospitalisation, inappropriate care and even getting separated from their families. And I don’t think there is a good way to deal with this disclosure from the point of view of a healthcare provider. Especially because I know about safeguarding procedures and this is a clear safeguarding risk so this does have to get reported. But equally we need to balance the need for child protection with what will help the mental health of the parent. They need to be treated regardless. What Happens If A Mother Doesn’t Get Professional Help? Sadly, the longer a mother goes without seeking professional help for their mental health during pregnancy and afterwards, the greater risk of the mental, financial and physical health problems getting worse. A lot worse. Since if the symptoms persist and get worse then the mother tends to withdraw more and more from their baby and toddler. So the child in turn is less likely to develop a secure attachment style so this has long term impacts for the rest of their childhood and adulthood. This is even more concerning when we consider how these people might then start to become parents themselves. In addition, if a mother doesn’t get the needed treatment, then naturally they will try to cope themselves. And as we know from clinical psychology, these strategies are always maladaptive and not helpful in the long term. Therefore, the parent would probably turn to drugs and alcohol. With the worst impacts of mothers not getting treated is that OCD is the 5th most cause of disability for women aged between 15 and 44 (Speisman et al., 2011) and suicide as well as overdoses are two most common causes of death for new mothers. That is why treatment is so critical. How Pregnancy and Postpartum Period Impact Existing Mental Health Conditions? However, pregnancy and the postpartum period afterwards aren’t only a risky time period for developing new mental health conditions because existing conditions can be made worse during this time. Since pregnancy requires mothers to make changes to their lifestyle and jobs and they might have to take certain medications. This is all before we consider the massive financial burdens that having children places on families. As well as because so many medications for mental health conditions aren’t deemed safe for babies, people are often advised to stop taking them which is good for the baby’s health during both the pregnancy and the feeding period. But what about the mother’s mental health? Therefore, the break from medication, the financial burden, the immense lifestyle changes and stress caused by a pregnancy. It’s actually amazing more people don’t have a mental health crisis during pregnancy. Personally, I can see how this would be a nightmare for any family because all these are factors are stressful, negative, awful. And I think families are heroes for having to deal with everything before you add in mental health conditions. So whilst I don’t think there is a “true” answer about how do we manage this better and better support pregnant women with mental health conditions during this time. It is still something we have to focus on. Even worse, this is all whilst mothers go through with a birth that they wanted to complete. What happens when a mother goes through a pregnancy they don’t want? What Happens When A Mother Is Forced To Complete An Unwanted Pregnancy? Very interestingly there was ground-breaking research published in the book “The Turnaway Study” in 2020 and it examined the impact of women being denied an abortion and chance to terminate their pregnancy with it looking at over 1,000 women over the years (Foster, 2020). They got very clear data and it went way beyond mental health implications. Since a woman wanting an abortion was NOT associated with negative mental health outcomes. In other words, just because a woman wanted an abortion did not mean she was “to put in coequally” not in her right mind. On the other hand, if a woman was denied an abortion then she did suffer from negative mental health outcomes. A real shocker I know. Since these women are more likely to experience anxiety, stress, physical and financial harm when compared to women who had abortions. In addition, women who were denied abortions were more likely to have life-threatening complications during the pregnancy and have more chronic health problems after birth. But of course making abortions illegal helps protect everyone. Yeah right? Furthermore, if a woman was denied an abortion then they were more likely to live in poverty, have a lower credit score and have more debt. As well as their children and the mother themselves were more likely to remain with a violent partner or have no partner or family support. And all those negative outcomes are before we consider that women who are denied abortions experience all these social, financial and physical problems resulting in negative impacts for a child’s development becoming a certainty. But of course as everyone says, abortions are flat out wrong. To me whoever says that is just flat out stupid. Pregnancy Mental Health Conclusion As we bring this clinical psychology episode to a close, let me just say that I truly hope all of you have a brilliant pregnancy if you’re a mother and if you’re a male listener, then I hope your partner is okay. Whilst the vast majority of people having a pregnancy will be okay, there are of course some people that will not be. And that’s okay. It doesn’t make them rubbish parents, bad people or evil monsters that need their child to be ripped away from them. It just means that they need help, support and love and despite nothing on the podcast ever being official advice, if you’re a mother having a hard time, please seek professional help. Pregnancy can be a magical time for everyone given the right support, guidance and most importantly, love. 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 Abnormal Psychology: The Causes And Treatments For Depression, Anxiety 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. Buy Me A Coffee Have a great day. Pregnancy Mental Health References Ali, E. (2018). Women’s experiences with postpartum anxiety disorders: a narrative literature review. International Journal of Women’s Health, 237-249. https://doi.org/10.2147/IJWH.S158621 Miller, S., Wherry, L. R., & Foster, D. G. (2020, May). What happens after an abortion denial? A review of results from the Turnaway study. In AEA Papers and Proceedings (Vol. 110, pp. 226-230). 2014 Broadway, Suite 305, Nashville, TN 37203: American Economic Association. Foster, D. G. (2020). The turnaway study: ten years, a thousand women, and the consequences of having–or being denied–an abortion. NY: Scribner. Manso-Córdoba, S., Pickering, S., Ortega, M. A., Asúnsolo, Á., & Romero, D. (2020). Factors related to seeking help for postpartum depression: a secondary analysis of New York City PRAMS data. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(24), 9328-9340. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17249328 Speisman, B. B., Storch, E. A., & Abramowitz, J. S. (2011). Postpartum obsessive‐compulsive disorder. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing, 40(6), 680-690. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1552-6909.2011.01294.x Vesga-Lopez, O., Blanco, C., Keyes, K., Olfson, M., Grant, B. F., & Hasin, D. S. (2008). Psychiatric disorders in pregnant and postpartum women in the United States. Archives of General Psychiatry, 65(7), 805–815. http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.65.7.805 Wang, Z., Liu, J., Shuai, H., Cai, Z., Fu, X., Liu, Y., Xiong, X., Zhang, W., Krabbendam, E., Liu, S., Liu, Z., Li, Z., & Yang, B. X. (2021). Mapping global prevalence of depression among postpartum women. Translational Psychiatry, 11, 543-566. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-021-01663-6 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. Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal.