Brief therapy in adult psychiatry: results from fifteen years of practice

We report the outcomes from our solution-focused brief therapy outpatient clinic in adult mental health. A questionnaire was sent to clients and their family doctors one year after they ceased to attend. Seventy-five clients were referred, of whom fifty-three were seen and forty-one traced at follow-up. Thirty-one (76%) reported a good outcome, with an overall average of 5.02 sessions, 20% attending only one session. Combining these data with our previous studies, 170 referrals were received of whom 136 attended and 118 were traced. Good outcome was reported by eighty-three clients (70%) with a mean of 4.03 sessions per case. There was no significant difference between the groups in solving additional problems or seeking further professional help. New problems were significantly less common in the 'good outcome' group. Long-standing problems did less well. In all three studies there were no significant differences in outcome between socioeconomic groups.     

Aggression,crying and physical contact in one-to three-year-old children

In a longitudinal study in which 59 first-born middle class children were observed in the company of other children of the same age and with their mothers, a high frequency of attacks on other children by children nearly two years old was correlated with absent or delayed response by the mother to the child's crying after falls, etc. Other aspects of mother's or child's behaviour were examined but all failed to explain away this correlation. Some routes by which the correlation could have arisen from immediate influences of the child's behaviour upon the mother were also excluded. Thus it was not true that “tough” kids fight a lot and stop crying quickly. Nor did mothers respond less to children who cried often.     

Threat appraisals, distress and the development of positive life changes after September 11th in a Canadian sample

Several surveys have reported the negative psychological impact on the general public of the terrorist attacks in the USA of September 11th, 2001. Yet the attacks also led many people to make positive changes in their relationships, values and priorities. A survey of 80 adults in Ottawa, Canada demonstrated that greater perceived threat and greater initial distress reactions significantly predicted the extent to which people reported positive changes in their lives (e.g. closer to family, refocused priorities). Initial distress and greater perceived threat also correlated positively with whether people provided help after the disaster. Follow-up data on 40 of these participants 11 months later revealed significant stability over time for the extent of positive life changes reported, and demonstrated that degree of initial distress and perceived threat continued to correlate positively with life change reports at this later point in time. The data are consistent with the argument that the perception of growth may develop out of one's personal experience of emotional pain.     

Brief Therapy in Adult Psychiatry – Further Outcomes

A report of a one-year follow-up of thirty-six referrals treated with solution-focused brief therapy by a supervised team in a mental health setting is described. A good outcome was reported for twenty-three cases (64%). These results are comparable with our previous work and with one other statistically validated outcome study on solution-focused therapy.     

Why does social exclusion hurt? The relationship between social and physical pain

The authors forward the hypothesis that social exclusion is experienced as painful because reactions to rejection are mediated by aspects of the physical pain system. The authors begin by presenting the theory that overlap between social and physical pain was an evolutionary development to aid social animals in responding to threats to inclusion. The authors then review evidence showing that humans demonstrate convergence between the 2 types of pain in thought, emotion, and behavior, and demonstrate, primarily through nonhuman animal research, that social and physical pain share common physiological mechanisms. Finally, the authors explore the implications of social pain theory for rejection-elicited aggression and physical pain disorders.