Guidelines for Depression: More Gourmet Nights from NICE
by SUSAN MCPHERSON Sep 15, 2017 Could it really still be Gourmet Night for Psychological Therapies? I have written previously comparing IAPT to Fawlty Towers’ Gourmet Night, in which a series of events led to the hotel restaurant offering three options on the menu: duck with orange, duck with cherries or ‘duck surprise’ (duck without either orange…
Keep readingEvidence-based medicine, evidence-based practice, NICE, IAPT and CBT: A short history
by Jay Beichman Evidence-based medicine can be conceptualised as a three-legged stool in which ‘the use of evidence (first leg) is to be balanced with the expertise of the clinician (second leg) and characteristics and context of the patient (third leg)’ (Wampold & Imel, 2015, p. 11). It has been further described as making ‘use…
Keep readingCampaigning for universal Access to Counselling and psychoTherapy
Manifesto Over the past 20 years, counselling and psychotherapy, as provided by the NHS and charities, has been reorganised into an assembly line of formulaic, ‘medical model’ diagnosis and treatment, backed by misleading statistics. Since 2008, IAPT (the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies service) has monopolised funding for therapy provided in the public and third sectors. IAPT is based on a…
Keep readingWhat is the UK’s mental health crisis trying to tell us?
This is a reworked version of a talk I’ve given on a couple of occasions, most recently at the National Counsellors Day conference in June. I am writing as a member of the Free Psychotherapy Network (FPN) and the campaign for universal Access to Counselling and psychoTherapy (uACT), but the responsibility for the opinions expressed is mine alone. Is…
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uACT 