After 35 years of DSM dominance is it time to develop an alternative taxonomy?  Gary Bakker investigates.

Controversy surrounding the publication of the latest iteration of the American Psychiatric Association’s diagnostic and statistical manual, the DSM-5, has reawakened debate over the role and utility of psychiatric diagnosis in clinical psychology

In a recent paper, Professor Jorm (2018) concluded that there was no discernible impact of the Better Access Scheme on the mental health of the Australian population. In making this conclusion, Jorm focussed on two population metrics, namely, the prevalence of psychological distress as measured by the K10 and the annual suicide rate. He argued that the increased use of mental health services after the introduction of Better Access had no detectable effect on either measure.

In court proceedings witnesses of fact are not permitted to offer opinions; rather, they are only able to provide evidence about factual matters. Therefore, witnesses of fact must limit their evidence to only what they have observed.

As a treating clinician, the psychologist may give evidence as to when and how often he or she met the defendant, and provide details about his or her treatment. As a witness of fact, however, the treating psychologist cannot offer an opinion to the court that is related to the psycho-legal issues being considered by the court.

Psychologists have a key role in preventing disability in injured workers with persisting pain, provided they stick to evidence-based methods.
The Work Injury Screening and Early intervention (WISE) study employed a prescriptive protocol that included having psychologists – mostly clinical psychologists – assess and treat recently injured public health workers, generally within three weeks of their physical injury. On average, they conducted five sessions and the changes achieved by the psychologists at post-treatment were all highly statistically and clinically significant. These included improvements on measures of depression severity (DASS), disability, pain catastrophising and pain self-efficacy.

An innovative new mentoring program linking senior and junior professionals offers benefits for early career and experienced practitioners alike.

When registrar rep Beth Sinclair, student rep Brianna Morante and I first joined the College’s national committee, one of our first tasks was to redevelop the mentoring program. 

It has taken us many months of thinking, discussion and planning, but we are thrilled to have the program up and running again as the ‘Connect Program’.

Brianna Morante reflects on her experience of the Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) as part of the Master of Psychology (Clinical) course requirements.

The Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) have recently undergone piloting in postgraduate psychology training programs in Australia (Roberts et al., 2017). This assessment format involves students rotating through a series of simulated clinical scenarios and performing a range of clinical tasks in each. 

In response to increased parental debate about the effectiveness of time-out, Dr Dave Pasalich looks at the implications for clinical practice.

Time-out is a significant component of parent management training (PMT), which is the most rigorously studied and well-established intervention for reducing conduct problems (for example, aggressive and noncompliant behaviour) in children aged three to eight (Kaminski & Claussen, in press). PMT is thought to improve child outcomes, such as compliance, by strengthening parents’ skills in responding to their child’s behaviour (Forehand, Lafko, Parent, & Burt, 2014).

Do you provide supervision to clinical psychology registrars? Access our one-stop shop.

Check out the new College webpage which provides updated information for supervisors. It includes links to supervision requirements, forms, ethical guidelines, competencies and APS articles on supervision.