Background Humanitarian emergencies, including conflict, are a known risk factor for common mental disorder. The impact of such an emergency on the mental health of women in the perinatal period has not been studied. This is important because, in addition to personal and family distress, poor perinatal mental health has a negative impact on infant development and contributes to inter-generational disadvantage. Lack of awareness about such conditions hinders appropriate help seeking. This study, which was conducted in a post-conflict area in Swat, Pakistan, had the following aims: a) to determine the prevalence and associations of psychological distress in perinatal women, and; b) to evaluate the feasibility of a psycho-educational intervention to improve awareness of common mental disorder amongst such women and their families. Methods The study was conducted in a rural area in Swat that had witnessed a decade-long armed conflict between the military and local insurgents. Study participants included all pregnant women on the list of local community health workers (Lady Health Workers) aged 17 to 45, living in the study area and not suffering from a physical disorder. Psychological distress was assessed using the Self Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ). Conflict-related traumatic events were measured with the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ). Stressful life-events and perceived social support were measured by the Life Events Checklist and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), respectively. Information was also collected on demographic and socio-economic variables. Half of the women who scored =>9 on the SRQ (n=34) were randomised to receive a 2-session psychoeducational intervention, and the remaining (n=37) acted as controls. Outcomes including appropriate help-seeking, perceived social support and levels of psychological distress were measured 2 months after intervention delivery. Results The prevalence of psychological distress (SRQ score =>9) was 38.1%. Psychological distress was positively associated with four or more traumatic events and there was a dose-response relationship, with levels of psychological distress increasing with an increase in the number of traumatic events [4 events (OR=2.80, 95% CI: 1.18 to 6.65), 5 (OR=2.85, 95% CI: 1.04 to 7.79) and 6 or more (OR=4.62, 95% CI: 1.59 to 13.44)]. Psychological distress was also independently associated with three or more stressful life events in the post-conflict year. Family support and living in a joint family was protective, as was being primi gravida. There was very low level of recognition of psychological distress in the trial participants at the baseline. Following intervention, more women sought assistance for their distress from their community health worker in the intervention arm, compared to women in the control arm (71% intervention arm vs 46% control arm P= 0.036). There was no difference in the levels of perceived social support or severity of symptoms although mean reduction of SRQ score from baseline was significantly more in the intervention arm compared to control arm. There was a high response rate, and attrition rates were low. Conclusions This study is one of the first epidemiological studies to assess the prevalence of psychological distress during pregnancy in an area affected by conflict. The study shows that over a third of all women show evidence of significant psychological distress, and are likely to be suffering from a common mental disorder. A psychoeducational intervention to improve awareness and appropriate help seeking showed promising results in the context of this rural post-conflict setting.

This project examines the application of fractal geometry to understanding aesthetic response to the visual environment. Fractals have been established as contributing to positive experiences both in response to art and nature, including aesthetic judgment. Taylor et al (2011) established that preferences for fractal patterns appear to consistently fall within the mid-range of fractal dimension (D1.3-1.5) others have found that preference for fractal complexity is linear (Forsythe et al., 2011). Here aesthetic responses to fractal patterns are tested in cross-cultural and sub-cultural settings with the aim of validating claims that mid-range fractal dimension a predictor of positive aesthetic response. This thesis has three overarching aims; the first to validate the mid-range hypothesis proposed by Taylor et al (2011) compared with other linear models of fractal preference, secondly to determine the relationship between visual complexity and fractal dimension, and finally a series of studies will explore the impact of individual difference on our aesthetic relationship with fractal patterns, these included Culture, Environmental Classification, Gender and Age. The 6 studies within this thesis demonstrate the progression of the research journey to arrive at the final conclusions of this thesis. Studies confirms the hypothesised relationship between fractal dimension and visual complexity, the fractal stimulus and GIF compression complexity scores as significantly correlated (r=-0.92, p < 0.001); suggested that fractal dimension and visual complexity are related constructs. Here only limited support for the mid-range hypothesis of fractal preference and instead results suggest preferences demonstrate linear relationships as a function of culture group and environmental classification. One of the strongest findings of this thesis is the significant distinction in preference between urban and rural dwellers, with rural dwellers demonstrating a higher probability of choosing complex & mid-range images compared to the urban dwellers. This result suggests that immediate visual environment has significant effects on preference for fractal patterns. Gender was also highlighted as a significant main predictor of preference for fractal patterns, with additional interaction effects with continent, environmental classification and age. Gender findings demonstrate females have a higher preference for complex fractal patterns. Results offer support for biological underpinning of universal aesthetic responses, in particular the distinction between males and females when processing aesthetic information and its links with gender specific activities in our evolutionary history (Cela-Conde et al, 2009; Silverman & Eals, 1992). A large-sample, final compilation study, explored the strength of predictions based on Continent, Gender and Age and results found support for the individual differences based on both Continent and Gender, however the Age was not supported as a function of fractal preference. Overall, this thesis demonstrates new insights into the field of aesthetic preference towards fractal patterns. Unlike previous studies, significant individual differences are evident, suggesting potentially fruitful future directions including advanced analysis and design strategies, neuroaesthetics foundations, as well as further quantification and perceptual analysis of the environment. Findings offer new and strong evidence for individual differences as contributors to different patterns of preferences for fractal patterns and lay the groundwork for further exploration into the potential applications of these findings.

Practising psychologists across a range of disciplines are known to frequently work with individuals who have complex emotional difficulties. Excessive job demands and lack of resources are known to impact on the well-being of these professionals (Hannigan, Edwards, & Burnard, 2004) with consequences for the individual, clients, and organisations at a wider level. This thesis examines some of the factors which can affect wellbeing in psychologists. Section 1 presents the findings from a systematic literature review including 22 papers that looked at the experience of burnout in practising psychologists (e.g., clinical, counselling, and school psychologists). Psychologist burnout was within the moderate to high range in at least half of the studies examined. Variables including gender, practice setting and level of experience were related to burnout, as were several psychosocial variables. Methodological quality of studies varied hugely and compared to other professions, the literature on burnout for psychologists was generally lacking. Relevance to clinical practice and implications for future research are discussed. Section 2 comprises the quantitative research study, which explored whether job demands predicted psychological well-being in clinical psychologists, and whether the quality of the supervisory relationship was capable of moderating that relationship. A total of 194 clinical psychologists participated in the online study consisting of a questionnaire gathering demographic information and information on job characteristics, and five standardised self-report measures including a measure of job demands, a measure of the supervisory relationship, and three measures of psychological well-being. Job demands significantly predicted psychological well-being, but that relationship was not moderated by the strength of the supervisory relationship. A discussion of the findings, including possible reasons for the lack of moderation, are presented, along with suggestions for further research. Section three presents a critical appraisal of the research. It discusses the findings of the literature review and research study, as well as a critique of the methodology. Reflections on the research process are given and implications for clinical practice are discussed.

This thesis examines the working memory (WM) function of authorised firearms officers (AFOs) after participation in a variety of simulated armed confrontations. In the UK, AFOs are required to operate and make decisions during situations in which there is a high degree of threat, novelty, time pressure, a large volume of perceptual information and a requirement to multi-task. A small amount of anecdotal evidence details the numerous perceptual distortions encountered by police officers in such situations. Whilst naturalistic decision making theories detail the cognitive heuristics employed by professionals who operate in comparable environments (e.g. fire fighters and military personnel), an investigation of the precise cognitive adaptations which occur during such demanding situations has not (to the knowledge of the researcher) been conducted. AFOs are required to use the conflict management model (CMM) to guide decision making; one of the main hypotheses in the present thesis is that the adequate use of the CMM requires Working Memory (WM) processing. As the multi-store model of WM is the accepted gold standard for behavioural experimentation; this was invoked as a template for the systematic examination of WM function in AFOs. To explore these issues, the researcher attended a variety of tactical training packages involving AFOs. In total over 200 training days were attended, including theoretical inputs. Discussions with firearms officers and their trainers facilitated the development of studies and subsequent interpretation of results. A total of 75 AFOs participated in 9 studies conducted around highly immersive simulated armed confrontations. Which were designed by firearms trainers to test AFOs tactic completion and decision making. A variety of standardised measures of WM function were sourced and administered to AFOs at various time points in relation to a simulated armed confrontation. This provided a body of work with high replicability and ecological validity. A variety of physiological measures were also collected, the rationale for which was as a test to establish if the simulated armed confrontations placed the anticipated level of demand on the officers. These measures were also used to make tentative inferences concerning the relationship between cognitive adaptations and physiological arousal which is well documented in the literature. The results suggest that the completion of tactics which are over learned (e.g. standard operating procedures) leads to a reduction in executive cognitive functioning whilst non-executive cognitive functioning simultaneously increases. It is reasonable to suggest that the available information processing capacity was devoted to following the standard operating procedure rather than making tactical decisions from scratch, hence the relative increase in non-executive functioning. The completion of novel and more complex tactics resulted in an increase in executive cognitive function whilst non-executive function decreased. It is also possible that the absence of experiential learning led to the allocation of information processing capacity to executive functioning in order to facilitate making novel tactical decisions in the absence of the ability to pattern match the cues from the environment. The demand placed on AFOs during a simulated armed confrontation appeared to lead to a shift in cognitive function. An increase in the processing of visuo-spatial information was observed, at the cost of phonological processing. The literature suggests this may represent a shift from left hemispheric cortical function to right hemispheric and more posterior activity. Information from two sources and particularly from different modalities cannot be simultaneously processed and attended to. In situations of high demand a faster speed of information processing and increased attention focus is achieved through decrease in PFC function. Attention is directed to the perceptual cue(s) most likely to facilitate with the coping/removing of the source of threat. It is suggested that these cognitive adaptations are defensive behaviours placing the officers in the optimum state to deal with the perceived threat. For example, the cognitive adaptations may reflect evolutionary responses to facilitate survival in situations of increased demand/threat. Hence these changes (even when decreases were observed) should not necessarily be viewed as deficits. Increases in physiological arousal demonstrated that the simulated armed confrontations placed increased demand on the AFOs resulting in a general adaptive response. Nevertheless, at all time points, in every test, performance was maintained at a relatively high level compared to control situations. The simulated armed confrontations conducted during the tactical training of authorised firearms officers provided a rare platform to investigate defensive behaviours in humans. The applications of the findings are discussed in terms of police training/policy, inputs to theory and methodological progress. It is also argued that, as well as demonstrating that defensive adaptations in humans result in cognitive shifts, more generally, the current studies may provide a foundation for the ethological study of human defensive behaviour.

Practice leads to performance gains in speed and accuracy. Investigations have indicated these may occur due to use of cognitive strategies. One such strategy, previously investigated with an Alphabet Verification task, is called Information Reduction (Haider and Frensch, 1996). It involves attending to and processing only information relevant to the task in hand. Information Reduction has been proposed to be consciously and abruptly adopted and applied consistently. However, it has been observed that not everyone makes use of this strategy. This could be due to the nature of the task, the conditions under which learning takes place or characteristics of the participants. Using new tasks developed for this study, plus post-testing questionnaires, further investigations were carried out. These confiffi1ed Information Reduction is not a task-specific phenomenon, but demonstrated that the instructions and feedback given have considerable effects on whether irrelevant information in the stimuli is ignored. When instructed that a shortcut could improve performance, only one-third of participants could verbalise Information Reduction use, although another third adopted it, apparently without awareness. Using Inforn1ation Reduction without awareness is at odds with Haider and Frensch's hypothesis about the mechanism. However, experiments testing transfer to other stimuli where the same regularity occurs or with similar stimuli obeying a slightly different rule suggested that conscious knowledge may be required for transfer to be successful. One notable result from all experiments is that Information Reduction is often not used consistently. Whilst this may seem to be in line with the idea that it is consciously applied, it is not with other aspects of the proposed mechanism. Overall it does seem to be less robust than has been suggested and there seems to be some way to go before an adequate theory to explain Information Reduction can be developed.

No description available.

While existential psychotherapy is in its ascendancy, there is a lack of philosophical critiques of existential psychotherapeutic thinking. This thesis is an attempt to examine whether there is conceptual confusion embedded within this thinking and, if so, to tease out what it is. My examination has shown that contemporary existential psychotherapists are confused about what existential psychotherapy is, while on the surfac.e, they seem to be clear about what it is. While existential psychotherapy has increasingly been , integrated with other forms of therapy such as cognitive-behavioural arid multimodal, such integration could necessitate important changes to the existential psychotherapeutic fundamental basic assumptions. Meanwhile, some existential psychotherapists have tried to challenge or re-define psychoanalytic concepts. However, my examination suggests that there are in fact common features in the concepts (interpretation, transference, resistance. and repression) that existential and psychoanalytic psychotherapists share. This, in turn, questions the extent to which existential psychotherapists have truly challenged or distanced themselves from psychoanalytic concepts, as they claim to have done. Existential psychotherapists have developed their own understanding of the ! unconscious; however, my examination shows that their understanding of it is in fact incoherent. The way in which they define the unconscious implies a strong sense of selfconsciousness, Le. the unconscious is found within a wider capacity of human consciousness. But, I have argued that existential psychotherapists have not resolved difficulties which are derived from viewing the notion of self-deception as a conscious phenomenon. Also, their effort to assist their clients to enhance or widen self-consciousness could lead clients to develop fantasy. The foregoing critiques, I believe, represent only some of the conceptual confusions embedded within existential psychotherapeutic thinking

Research has indicated an effect of obesity on cognitive performance but there has been limited research considering how individual differences in eating behaviour are related to variation in cognitive processes. Differences in cognitive performance influence an individual’s ability to undertake behaviour change or maintain healthy behaviours. This thesis addressed a current gap in the literature by assessing the effect of Restraint, Emotional and External eating behaviour on the cognitive processes involved in undertaking causal reasoning judgements and the inhibition of distraction by food images. Study 1 (N=176) examined how individual’s causal conditional reasoning (CCR) performance varied dependant on whether the reasoning tasks was based on general or obesity causal relationships. Participants made more accurate, logical reasoning decisions when undertaking obesity CCR tasks compared to general CCR tasks. However, individuals high in restraint did not show the same increase in reasoning ability for obesity tasks, but their performance for general tasks did not differ. Study 2 (N=110) replicated key findings however, increased levels of restraint were associated with detrimental CCR performance across both conditions. Study 3 (N=83) confirmed that a participants automatic belief in the causal relationships drove their CCR responses more than controlled, logical processing. Study 4 (N=31) was the first of three flanker studies examining ability to inhibit distraction by food pictures. Results showed emotional eaters were slower to respond to target pictures, with external eaters displaying a significant reduction in distraction for palatable flanking pictures. Study 5 (N=47) compared individual differences in cognitive control modulation (CCM) for food and non-food pictures. Results showed emotional and external eaters slower to respond to food pictures, with emotional eaters demonstrating significantly greater levels of CCM for food pictures only. Study 6 (N=48) found when required to simultaneously process food and non-food pictures, participants respond more strongly to differences in valence of target stimuli. In addition participants were more distracted when responding to sweet targets foods. In summary, the thesis suggest a relationship between eating behaviour traits and cognitive processing when undertaking causal reasoning and inhibiting distraction by food pictures. The synthesis of results indicates emotional and external eating behaviour influences automatic cognitive processes more strongly, with increased levels of restraint influential on controlled cognitive processes. The implications of findings on the design and implementation of behaviour change or maintenance programs is apparent.

Primary objective : This study assessed the degree of insecure attachment style in a sample of patients undergoing bariatric surgery compared to a normal weight control group. It also investigated the association between attachment style and eating behaviour within the bariatric group pre-surgery and the impact of attachment on weight loss 6 months post-surgery. Design and method: A cross sectional and cohort quantitative design was used. The bariatric group consisted of 195 patients recruited from a bariatric clinic who were compared with 195 normal weight controls recruited through social media. All participants completed the ECR-R and provided demographic information. The bariatric group also completed measures of control over eating, diet and exercise behaviour, behavioural intentions, and the Power of Food Scale. T-tests and correlations were used for analysis. Outcome and results: The bariatric group demonstrated significantly higher levels of attachment avoidance and lower levels of attachment anxiety than controls. Significant correlations were found between insecure attachment and hedonic wanting of food, and attachment anxiety was significantly correlated with control over eating. No significant correlations were found between attachment and weight loss at 6 months follow up. Conclusion: A potentially causal relationship between attachment and obesity is discussed, as well as the implications for clinical psychology in bariatric services.

The aim of the present study was to explore emotion processing, fear and anxiety in mentally disordered offenders while controlling for psychopathy. Patient participants were thirty-seven male mentally disordered offenders from a high-secure hospital who had a history of violent offending. Controls were twenty-seven male staff from the hospital. Participants completed the Emotion Perception Task (EPT), a task of emotion recognition and discrimination in intensity of facial affect. Participants also completed the Joystick Operated Runway Task (JORT), a measure of fear and anxiety. Patients’ level of psychopathy was measured using the Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R). Significant differences were found between patients and controls for overall discrimination of facial affect intensity and for fear and anger individually. Patients with schizophrenia alone performed significantly worse than both patients with personality disorder (PD) alone and patients with comorbid schizophrenia and PD for emotion discrimination. The study found no differences between patients and controls for emotion recognition, induced fear or anxiety. These findings have important theoretical implications for how emotion processing deficits among individuals with schizophrenia are understood in the context of models of violent offending that do not account for defensive violence. Clinical interventions that focus on improving emotion perception accuracy may contribute to a reduction this type of violent re-offending. Recommendations for future research are discussed.