Research online 2021: Presenting issues
On-demand service

Watch recordings related to working with different presenting issues, including abuse, addiction, bereavement, identity, suicide and trauma.

View the programme for the full abstracts for each presentation.

Return to the on-demand main page to select another theme

The association between childhood emotional abuse and depression: the role of emotion dysregulation - a systematised review

Research paper

Peta O'Brien presents findings from eight studies examining many aspects of emotion dysregulation. Despite the considerable heterogeneity, all aspects of were found to be mediators in the association between childhood emotional abuse and self-reported current depression in adults. The results also suggest there may be different underlying mechanisms linking childhood emotional abuse and neglect individually to depression.

Download The association between childhood emotional abuse and depression handout (pdf 350kb)

In counsellors’ and clients’ experiences what impact does sex-addiction have on sex-addicts’ concepts of self and their ability to form intimate relationships, and how might this inform psychotherapeutic practice?

Rapid paper

Christine Brown presents research findings indicating that childhood sexual trauma and abuse commonly underpins compulsion for multiple sexual-encounters, often with disregard for health and personal safety. This amplifies poor self-esteem, a sense of degradation and fear of judgement and is often accompanied by other addictions and an inability to form or sustain loving relationships. Successful treatment appears to depend on a multidiscipline-approach encompassing 12 Step work, trauma-based therapy and psychotherapy.

Insights into the psychological and emotional experiences of prematurely bereaved children and young people

Research paper

Shelley Gilbert explores the under-researched area of the lived psychological and emotional experiences of parentally bereaved young people. The research highlights the traumatic impact of premature death, identifying four underlying core processes of identity challenges, fear and safety issues, isolation and reconnecting, and existential challenges to meaning and beliefs. It also finds heightened risks of long-term distress and dysfunction.

Download Insights into the psychological and emotional experiences of parentally bereaved young people handout (pdf 2.15MB)

The impact of group support for COVID-19 bereavement

Research paper

With lockdowns leaving people isolated from family and facing complex, pandemic-impacted grief, this project looked at online sources of support. John Wilson discusses the findings of the research which aimed to discover whether COVID-19 grief is significantly different from grief experienced in ‘normal’ non-pandemic circumstances and if group support, provided through online groupwork or a social media support group, is an effective way of ameliorating COVID-19 grief.

Download The impact of group support for COVID-19 bereavement (969kb, PDF)

View AGES Grief Outcomes Scale (Word)

Where have all the men gone?

Discussion paper

Death by suicide remains the biggest killer in men between the ages of 15 and 35 in the UK, but men make up only one third of referrals to IAPT. Benjamin Nuss's research seeks to discover why men are not accessing help at the same rate at
which they are presenting with mental health difficulties by creating a male-focused narrative of mental health  to inform policy and provision of psychological help. 

Download Where have all the men gone (500kb, PDF).

The impact of career stress on client suicide risk: implications for practitioners, faculty and students

Discussion paper

Career stress can have an impact on a many factors in a client’s life, including suicide risk. Suicide risk factors are varied and complex, and although professional standards and guidelines regarding counsellor competency exist, training is not occurring consistently. This presentation by Heather Dahl and Wendy Hoskins provides specific and current information on career stress and suicide risk and offers training recommendations for current counselling students and practitioners.

Download The impact of career stress on client suicide risk handout (pdf 106kb)

Assessing the role of psycho-education in empowering survivors of complex PTSD and trauma coerced attachment – emerging insights and potentialities

Discussion paper

Rod and Linda Dubrow-Marshall discuss the appropriate psycho-educational aspects of counselling practice and the potential use of the Power, Threat, Meaning framework to aid the empowerment and personal growth of survivors of abuse, coercion and
trauma and clients who present with symptoms of complex PTSD. They explore the complexity of psychological distress and how learning about power, threat and meanings can be potentially empowering as a core part of recovery.

Download Assessing the role of psycho-education in empowering survivors of complex PTSD and trauma coerced attachment handout (pdf 305kb)