Doctorate in Clinical Psychology : Main Research Portfolio

: 1) Disorder-specific versus generic cognitivebehavioural treatment of anxiety disorders in children and young people: A systematic narrative review of evidence for the effectiveness of disorder-specific CBT compared with the disorder-generic treatment Coping Cat; 2) Service-user and staff views on the provision of written information in a memory service in the South West of England; 3) Everyday experiences of intrusive thoughts and images in individuals with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder.

Abstract

Background: Holmes et al (2008) posited that mental imagery acts as an ‘emotional amplifier’ in bipolar disorder, leading to the shifts in mood that are a hallmark of the condition. Evidence for this idea comes largely from retrospective studies. No study has, to the author’s knowledge, explored experiences of mental imagery as they occur in the day-to-day lives of individuals with bipolar disorder. This approach has the advantage of greater ecological validity, minimising confounds associated with retrospective recall. Method: Twelve individuals with a diagnosis of Bipolar I or II disorder and 20 non-clinical controls completed a diary of intrusive mental images and verbal thoughts twice-daily for seven days. Thoughts and images were rated on a number of dimensions, including ‘intensity’ and ‘vividness’.Results: Individuals with bipolar disorder reported significantly more ‘intense’ experiences of intrusive mental imagery compared to controls, but there were no significant differences in frequency or intensity of verbal thoughts, although the small number of participants in the bipolar disorder group means the study may have lacked power to detect significant group differences. Vividness of mental images was also higher in the bipolar disorder group.Conclusions: The findings provide support for Holmes et al’s (2008) model, using assessment of intrusive verbal thoughts and mental images in a naturalistic setting. The main benefit was greater ecological validity compared to previous retrospective studies. The study also demonstrated that it is possible to elicit reports of these phenomena using diaries in a bipolar disorder population.

Date of Award	31 Aug 2016
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bath
Supervisor	James Gregory (Supervisor)