Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Secret_Smile t1_j0gumib wrote

Hi Dr Lucy, thanks for the interesting AMA! Obviously CBT has dominated as a model for quite a while, but IMO has some issues. Do you think there should be a push for prioritising Compassion Focused Therapy as first port of call over CBT? Also a second question regarding your career overall. Do you have any tips for an aspiring Clinical Psychologist? I'm just about to complete my psychology undergraduate degree but am feeling so overwhelmed as to what to do next. AP positions are limited in my country, would you have any recommendations for getting non AP clinical experience? Thanks so much!

4

Own-Tax-2811 t1_j0havsn wrote

I hope you & Lucy don't mind if I jump in here with my own 2p worth! I had Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) for several years & found it of very limited effectiveness. Some techniques e.g. imagining looking at your ideal compassionate self from the outside were actively unhelpful. Eventually I received a diagnosis of OCD and had OCD specific CBT. Made more progress in 20 sessions than in years of CFT.

My sense, from personal experience, hearing other people's experiences, studying psychology and working for a short time in mental health research is that different things work for different conditions & people. Usually there will be evidence pointing towards a particular treatment for the person's diagnosis, which is where treatment should start. If it doesn't help then need to give careful thought as to why before next steps.

4

FireZeLazer t1_j0izfdu wrote

Support worker is good experience prior to being an AP.

Research assistant can also be good experience

2

UniversityofBath OP t1_j0yht5l wrote

Hi! I'm a big fan of compassion focussed therapy but I don't think the evidence base is there to suggest it should be prioritised over CBT. I think it's important to be guided by what the evidence says is most effective, and for a lot of problems that is CBT at the moment. It doesn't mean that won't change as more studies are done with other modalities though. I also think patient choice is important - giving people the information about what the research says helps, but also telling them what the different therapies are like so they can be involved in the decision making. One of the reasons I made the podcast Let's Talk About CBT was to demystify the different types of therapies which are based on cognitive behavioural principles. There's an episode on CFT in there too! https://letstalkaboutcbt.libsyn.com

​

With clinical psychology - if AP positions are hard to find you might have more luck with a research assistant post on a study which has clinical components. Voluntary work can also help if you are able to do a bit of that on the side (e.g. things like phone lines often provide training). Good luck!

2