Gender dynamics within the patient-therapist relationship can influence the therapeutic process in meaningful ways. However, the female patient-male therapist dyad has received limited attention in recent psychotherapy research. This article explores how female patients and their male therapists experience the role of gender in outpatient psychotherapy.

There is evidence that prior experience of intimate partner violence (IPV) can lead to high levels of sensitivity to betrayal, shame and self-criticism and interfere with initiation, development and maintenance of future intimate relationships. We measured these variables in women survivors of IPV, evaluating whether they are associated with the quality of current relationships.

Accessing psychological therapy presents unique challenges for Muslims, who are underrepresented in primary care mental health services in the United Kingdom. This qualitative study sought the narratives of British Muslims to gain insight into the perceived barriers and facilitators to engagement with therapy.

Body image is a transdiagnostic construct that seems poorly understood in psychosis. Poor body image is associated with paranoia, which makes it a theoretically meaningful treatment target in psychosis. We systematically reviewed associations between body image and psychosis symptoms in both the 'general' population and people living with psychotic disorders, synthesised known correlates of negative body image in people living with psychotic disorders and performed a meta-synthesis to understand the lived experience of body image in people with psychosis.

Dissociation is a well-established mediator of the relationship between trauma and psychosis. Despite identified phenomenological similarities, there is limited research regarding the nature of the relationship between dissociation and delusions. The study aimed to identify dissociative experiences within delusions and examine whether these are associated with childhood trauma and its psychological sequelae.

Cognitive analytic therapy (CAT) offers a relational framework for understanding psychological difficulties, emphasising how early relational and socio-cultural experiences are internalised and shape the self through a repertoire of reciprocal roles (RRs).

This qualitative study explored the subjective experiences of psychologists in terms of the establishment and development of the therapeutic relationship with adults with intellectual disabilities (ID). It placed a particular focus on the psychologist's own process in their work.

Relational approaches to voice hearing (VH), which emphasize changing a person's attitude towards and relationship with their voices, challenge the medical view of VH as a psychotic symptom that can only be managed, typically through medication. In this paper, we review historical perspectives on VH, exploring factors that led VH to be classified as a core symptom of schizophrenia in the late 20th century. Around the same time, an alternative paradigm emerged through the Hearing Voices Movement, which argued that VH was a variation of normal human consciousness that should be accepted and explored without stigma. Dirk Corstens, a psychiatrist working within that perspective, joined forces with Andrew Moskowitz, a clinical psychologist with experience with dissociative disorders, to publish a paper entitled 'Auditory Hallucinations: Psychotic Symptom or Dissociative Experience'? In that seminal paper, Moskowitz and Corstens (2007) argued-after reviewing research on VH in the general population, similarities in VH between clinical and non-clinical populations, and the relationship between dissociation and voice hearing-that VH was better understood as essentially normal and dissociative in nature, rather than pathological and psychotic. They further argued that voice hearers would benefit from dialogical approaches seeking to understand the purpose of their voices and change the voice hearer's relationship to them. Since then, research and clinical trials have strongly supported all the tenets of the 2007 paper, to the point that relational or dialogical approaches to VH are now rapidly becoming an acceptable complement or even alternative to medical treatment for hearing voices.

Talking about the present-moment quality of a therapy relationship-sometimes termed immediacy or working in the here and now-has been recommended as a technique to enhance the therapeutic alliance and treatment outcome. The aim of the present study was to compare perceptions of therapy when the discussion was of the client's relationship with the therapist or with someone else.

Adolescent depression is a significant public health concern, with emotional neglect and psychoticism identified as key risk factors. This study investigated their longitudinal effects on adolescent depression within a unified framework.

In recent decades, research has increasingly highlighted the devastating effects of childhood trauma and relational processes that violate human development. However, the unique dynamics of such early-life deprivations in adults who practice meditation, a context where the complexity of such wounding (and healing) may become apparent, remains underexplored. The objectives of this study were to explore how individuals with a history of inconsistent evolved developmental niche (EDN) care experience their meditation journeys, and to understand the emotional and relational processes that emerge in this context.

The integration of religious beliefs is considered an essential component of evidence-based practice; however, clients from faith-based communities frequently report that their beliefs are overlooked in therapy. While existing research primarily centres on therapists' perspectives, there is limited understanding of how Muslim clients themselves make sense of therapy when their religious identity is not acknowledged, particularly within mental health systems often grounded in Western psychological models. This study, therefore, aimed to explore the mental healthcare experiences of Muslim therapy users in the UK who received therapy where their religion was perceived as minimised or excluded, despite its personal significance.

The Talking With Voices approach, influenced by the work of the survivor-led Hearing Voices Movement, is a non-pathologising way of relating to the experience of voice hearing which emphasises coping enhancement, formulation and direct dialogue as a way to promote control, cooperation and relationship-building while reducing distress. This article presents insights from specialised mental health practice regarding potential facilitators and obstacles to implementing this approach more widely within statutory settings. Consideration is given to transferable skills for practitioners, guiding principles and values, training requirements and the ongoing challenges of bridging the gap between research and practice in clinical services.

Exposure-based CBT is highly effective in treating patients with panic disorder and agoraphobia; however, access to such treatments is often limited. Smartphone-based self-management apps offer a promising low-threshold treatment alternative to face-to-face therapy. Although such health apps have shown to be effective in reducing anxiety symptoms, comparisons to active treatments are still scarce. Therefore, this study compared the effectiveness of a self-help app to an established face-to-face CBT intervention for panic and agoraphobia.

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), parent training programm (PTPs), and their combination as adjunctive interventions to medication in reducing core ADHD symptoms and functional difficulties in children aged 7-11 who had been receiving pharmacological treatment. The goal was to examine whether these psychosocial approaches could enhance treatment outcomes beyond medication alone.

This study used a network approach to examine gender differences in adolescents regarding unresolved attachment styles, COVID-19 PTSD symptoms, comorbid psychiatric symptoms, and contamination fear. The rationale for the study stems from the suggestion that parents' relationships with adolescents (i.e., attachment) can influence how adolescents cope with distress during COVID-19. Since attachment is linked to gender differences, these differences should also be considered. Furthermore, while much has been documented on secure or insecure attachment, little is known about whether the impact of unresolved attachment can influence psychological distress in adolescents.

Despite studies showing that persons with hearing impairments (HI) or vision impairments (VI) have an increased risk of developing mental health disorders, mental health services frequently are not accessible and suited to the specific needs of both populations. However, there is limited research addressing how mental health services can be improved to meet these needs.

As part of a task-sharing strategy, clinical psychologists are becoming increasingly expected to offer therapy training for staff in health care services to develop psychological mindedness to increase access and provision of psychological support for clients. The current study explored how 10 staff working in health care settings experienced Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) training and how they subsequently used it.

Research consistently reports an association between auditory hallucinations and traumatic experiences, yet the psychological mechanisms underpinning this relationship remain poorly understood. Empirical evidence suggests that enduring dispositions, including early maladaptive schemas, interact with immediate stressors to elicit auditory hallucinations. The inner critic represents the activation of such enduring dispositions and concurs with common themes in auditory hallucinations. This study aimed to investigate the effect of the inner critic on speech illusions and the emotional valence of perceived words.

To evaluate cognitive analytic therapy-guided self-help (CAT-GSH) for depression in terms of outcomes and acceptability.

This qualitative study, which provides practical insights for the field, described the transition process of psychological service providers towards online care provision. We aimed to describe the process of professionals' adaptation to new methods of distant psychological care, including its main facilitating and complicating elements.