SUICIDALITY IN MEN IN PSYCHODYNAMIC PSYCHOTHERAPY

Understanding change - developing a typology of therapy outcomes from the experience of adolescents with depression

Outcome measures mostly focusing on symptom reduction to measure change cannot indicate whether any personally meaningful change has occurred. There is a need to broaden the current understanding of outcomes for adolescent depression and identify whether holistic, interlinked patterns of change may be more clinically meaningful.

To create a typology of therapy outcomes based on the experiences of adolescents with depression.

Interview data from 83 participants from a clinical trial of the psychological treatment of adolescent depression was analysed using ideal type analysis.

Six ideal types were constructed, reflecting different evaluations of the holistic impact of therapy: "I've worked on my relationships", "With the insight from therapy, and feeling validated, I can cope with life challenges better", "My mood still goes up and down", "If I want things to change, I need to help myself", "Therapy might help, but it hasn't been enough", and "I don't feel therapy has helped me".

Assessing change using outcome measures may not reflect the interconnected experience for adolescents or the contextual meaning of symptom change. The typology developed offers a way of considering the impact of therapy, taking into account how symptom change is experienced within a broader perspective.

Connecting and Healing: The Role of Existential Isolation in Mediating the Impact of the Therapeutic Relationship on Canadian Men's Mental Health Outcomes

The therapeutic relationship has emerged as one of the most important components of successful treatment outcomes, regardless of the specific form of therapy. Research has now turned its attention to better understanding how the therapeutic relationship contributes to patient improvement. Extant literature contends that a strong therapeutic relationship may help reduce a patient's sense of existential isolation (i.e., a sense of not feeling understood by others). Research indicates that existential isolation might be especially problematic for men, potentially increasing their risk for suicidality. This study investigated the association between strength of the therapeutic relationship and psychological distress and suicidality among men who received psychotherapy, and whether existential isolation mediated this association. A total of 204 Canadian men who had previously attended psychotherapy participated in a cross-sectional survey, completing measures of the quality of their most recent therapeutic relationship, existential isolation, depression and anxiety symptoms, and suicidality. Regression with mediation analysis was conducted. Two models were tested; one with depression/anxiety symptoms as the dependent variable and the other with suicidality as the dependent variable. Both mediation models emerged as significant, indicating an indirect effect for quality of the therapeutic relationship on symptoms of anxiety/depression and suicidality through existential isolation. The findings suggest that a positive therapeutic relationship can contribute to men feeling less isolated in their experiences in life (i.e., less existentially isolated), thereby helping mitigate psychological distress and suicidality.

The Journey Through and Beyond Mental Health Services in the United Kingdom: A Typology of Parents' Ways of Managing the Crisis of Their Teenage Child's Depression

OBJECTIVE

Depression is a common mental illness experienced by young people. Yet we know little about how their parents manage their symptoms at home, and how parents may experience their treatment at child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). Thus, the aim of our study was to create a typology of parents' experiences over a 2-year period, beginning with their teenage child's referral to CAMHS in the United Kingdom.

METHOD

A total of 85 semistructured interviews were conducted with one or both parents of 28 adolescents at 3 time points, and qualitatively analyzed using ideal type analysis.

RESULTS

Three distinct types or patterns of parental experience were identified: the learning curve parents, the finding my own solutions parents, the stuck parents.

CONCLUSION

These patterns of parental experience could perhaps provide a basis for clinicians working in CAMHS to reflect on the families that they see and to adapt their ways of working accordingly to best support these families.

Physical distress and relationship problems: exploring the psychosocial and intrapsychic world of suicidal geriatric patients

BACKGROUND

Suicide is a serious mental health problem in old age. Suicide ideation and life weariness are important psychopathological issues in geriatric medicine, although suicide ideation does not primarily depend on the severity of any physical disease. Despite these facts, insight into the internal psychological state of suicidal geriatric patients is still limited.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

This study examines intrapsychic and psychosocial issues in suicidal geriatric inpatients. A semistructured interview concerning suicide ideation in old age was used to interview 20 randomly chosen, acutely suicidal clinically geriatric inpatients aged 60 years and older. The control group comprised 20 nonsuicidal patients.

RESULTS

Hamilton Depression Scale 21 scores (HAMD 21; patient mean 17.3, control mean 6.1), suicidal ideation and psychiatric treatments differed significantly between the groups. In contrast to lifetime suicidal ideation, the discovery of a physical disease was the primary trigger for current suicidal ideation, followed by interactional conflicts. Patients would rather speak with family or friends than professionals about their suicidal ideation.

CONCLUSION

Suicidal ideation should be recognised as an important psychological problem in geriatric patients with interpersonal conflicts. Specific help and training for relatives is recommended.

Psychodynamic therapies with infants and parents: a review of RCTs on mother-infant psychoanalytic treatment and other techniques

This article critically examines the existent evidence base for Psychodynamic Therapy with Infants and Parents (PTIP), specifically focusing on the available RCTs (Randomized Controlled Trials) in the literature. The author also discusses how these studies influenced the design of an RCT of a related novel treatment method, Mother-Infant Psychoanalytic treatment (MIP). He found that certain types of mothers and infants may be more likely to benefit from MIP. In addition to providing guidance on therapeutic techniques, this article also effectively outlines ways in which PTIP, as well as psychotherapy for emotional issues during pregnancy, can be better integrated into the comprehensive health care system. Local health care units comprised of a nurse group and one therapist may be a better way of handling mother-infant interactional difficulties than centralized, specialized perinatal psychiatry centers.

Shame behind the masks: the parents' perspective on their sons' suicide

Suicides are more frequent among boys than girls. A tentative, conceptual model of processes behind suicide among boys and young men (aged 12-25), grounded in their parents' views, is presented. Extensive interviews with parents in 33 cases of suicide were analyzed using grounded-theory methodology. Family alliances, coalitions, and secrets interacted with the boy concealing problems and "hiding behind a mask," while the professionals did not understand the emergency. Four interwoven paths to suicide were found: the boy was hunted and haunted, addicted, depressed, or psychotic. Different forms of shame were hidden behind the masks of "the clown," "the warrior," and "the prince." Future preventive programs need to address barriers to communication among all parties involved.