Hi folks,

 

Just wanted to draw you attention to a recent piece we’ve posted on our blog by Anne Cooke and Dave Harper. Analysis of Time To Change and anti-stigma campaigns more generally.

 

http://discursiveoftunbridgewells.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/when-ads-dont-work.html

 

 

BW

 

John

 

 

 

Hello everyone,

 

You have probably seen some of the (really welcome and long overdue, in my view) recent media debate prompted by the DCP publishing its consensus statement on diagnosis –

 

http://dxrevisionwatch.com/2013/05/12/division-of-clinical-psychology-dcp-calls-for-paradigm-shift-away-from-disease-model/

 

One example was this in the Observer:

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/may/12/medicine-dsm5-row-does-mental-illness-exist?INTCMP=SRCH.

 

I hear that not all BPS members are happy with the statement or the coverage.  Mel Wiseman is collecting signatures from those of us who support it, for a letter to the Psychologist.  Please send your name to Mel if you would like to be a signatory.  The letter is below.

 

Best wishes

Anne

 

 

Anne Cooke

Principal Lecturer, Department of Applied Psychology

Director, Third Year, Doctoral Programme in Clinical Psychology

Canterbury Christ Church University

Tunbridge Wells Campus

David Salomons Estate

Broomhill Road

TUNBRIDGE WELLS

Kent

TN3 0TG

 

[log in to unmask]

07944 649488

 

www.canterbury.ac.uk/appliedpsychology

www.discursiveoftunbridgewells.blogspot.co.uk

 

 

 

 

 

 

*****

 

Please feel free to ignore this request - but if you feel able to, it would be helpful if you could add your name to this planned letter of support to The Psychologist. Send your name and job title to [log in to unmask] as soon as you can  - PLUS the names of any colleagues who are willing to join you.



We support the DCP's call for a paradigm shift in how we think about mental distress and the need to move away from psychiatric diagnosis. We are pleased by the media coverage and the debate this has stimulated in the wider public.
 
 It is essential that diverse voices are heard and that rather than considering individuals as receptacles of disorders, deficits and distortions, we make sense of distress in more helpful and evidence-based ways. We need to focus far more on people's lives, experiences and social contexts and to consider how people embody and are shaped by the world around them.
 
 We note that organisations such as the Hearing Voices Network and Mental Health Europe, which represent the service user perspective, have recently challenged the diagnostic and professional expert-driven status quo, and we believe that Clinical Psychology needs to support and work with these groups. We need to step out from the shadow of biological reductionism and consider the multi-faceted nature of what it is to be human and to be part of the world around us. We wish to support the DCP and the growing number of service users, carers, professionals and organisations who are questioning the dominant paradigm.
 
 This is a very important step for the profession and one that is long overdue.

Dr Mel Wiseman  and others

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