Mind your language

A guide to language about mental health and psychological wellbeing in the media and creative art

Depressed people are not less motivated by personal goals but are more pessimistic about attaining them

This is a postprint of an article published in Journal of Abnormal Psychology © 2011 copyright American Psychological Association. 'This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record.' Journal of Abnormal Psychology is available online at: http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/abn/index.aspxDespite its theoretical importance, personal goal motivation has rarely been examined in clinical depression. Here we investigate whether clinically depressed persons (n = 23) differ from never-depressed persons (n = 26) on number of freely generated approach and avoidance goals, appraisals of these goals, and reasons why these goals would and would not be achieved. Participants listed approach and avoidance goals separately and generated explanations for why they would (pro) and would not (con) achieve their most important approach and avoidance goals, before rating the importance, likelihood, and perceived control of goal outcomes. Counter to hypothesis, depressed persons did not differ from never-depressed controls on number of approach or avoidance goals, or on the perceived importance of these goals. However, compared to never-depressed controls, depressed individuals gave lower likelihood judgments for desirable approach goal outcomes, tended to give higher likelihood judgments for undesirable to-be-avoided goal outcomes, and gave lower ratings of their control over goal outcomes. Furthermore, although controls generated significantly more pro than con reasons for goal achievement, depressed participants did not. These results suggest that depressed persons do not lack valued goals but are more pessimistic about their likelihood, controllability, and reasons for successful goal attainment

“But what about real mental illnesses?” Alternatives to the disease model approach to ‘schizophrenia’

The old dichotomy between ‘neurosis’ and ‘psychosis’ appears to be alive and well in the debate about psychiatric diagnosis. It is often suggested that while diagnostic alternatives may be appropriate for the relatively common forms of distress with which we can all identify such as anxiety and depression, psychiatric diagnoses remain vital for experiences such as hearing voices, holding beliefs that others find strange, or appearing out of touch with reality–experiences that are traditionally thought of as symptoms of psychosis. Such experiences are often assumed to be symptoms of underlying brain pathology or ‘real mental illnesses’ that need to be diagnosed or ‘excluded’ (in the medical sense of ruling out particular explanations of problems) before deciding on the appropriate intervention. This paper argues that this belief is misguided, and that far from being essential, psychiatric diagnosis has the potential to be particularly damaging when applied to such experiences. It describes an alternative perspective outlined in a recent consensus report by the British Psychological Society Division of Clinical Psychology (Understanding Psychosis and Schizophrenia [Cooke, 2014]) which has attracted significant attention in the UK and internationally. The report argues that even the most severe distress and the most puzzling behavior can often be understood psychologically, and that psychological approaches to helping can be very effective. It exhorts professionals not to insist that people accept any one particular framework of understanding, for example that their experiences are symptoms of an illness. This paper outlines that report’s main findings, together with their implications for how professionals can best help

The development and validation of a general measure of well-being: the BBC well-being scale

Purpose: The concept of maximising well-being, as opposed to merely treating mental disorder, is a powerful current theme in the area of mental health. Clearly this emphasises the need for appropriate valid and reliable measures of general well-being. This paper examines the appropriateness of a number of measures in this area and concludes that existing assessment tools fail to address the full range of aspects of personal well-being. This paper therefore presents the psychometric properties, validity and reliability of a new measure of well-being-the BBC Well-being Scale. Methods: A total of 1,940 participants completed the new measure, the Goldberg scales of anxiety and depression, the 'List of Threatening Experiences' life events scale, a modified version of the Response Styles Questionnaire and a modified version of the Internal, Personal and Situational Attributions Questionnaire presented via the internet. Results: Exploratory factor-analysis suggested a three-factor solution including themes of psychological well-being, physical health and well-being and relationships. The total 24-item scale had good internal consistency (α = .935) and correlated significantly with key demographic variables and measures of concurrent validity. Conclusions: The new measure-the BBC Well-being Scale-is recommended for research and clinical purposes. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V

F**k business: Brexit and the deep freeze between business and politics in populist nationalism

Business has been f**ked! F**k government! The relationship between business and politics is broken - can it be fixed? This contribution, by Daniel Kinderman (University of Delaware), part book review and part blog post, reflects on the tense and sometimes openly conflictual relationship between business and politics in populist nationalism

Understood at Last?: A Memetic Analysis of Beethoven’s ‘Bloody Fist’

As a singular moment in the western canon, the opening of the recapitulation in the first movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony has prompted a variety of structural and expressive readings. This paper explores its intertextual connections with Mozart’s Don Giovanni from a memetic perspective, outlining certain extra musical interpretations, including some related to Susan McClary’s controversial reading of the passage, one might infer from the strong musical connections