the psychologist vol 28 no 7 july 2015 www.thepsychologist.org.uk Beyond the ‘average adolescent’ Sarah-Jayne Blakemore’s keynote opens our coverage from the Society’s Annual Conference letters 514 it’s not just cricket 552 news 522 the monster mind 560 careers 586 reaching out to the ‘Untouchables’ 564 looking back 600 new voices 570 Contact The British Psychological Society the psychologist... St Andrews House 48 Princess Road East ...features Leicester LE1 7DR 0116 254 9568 [email protected] www.bps.org.uk The Psychologist www.thepsychologist.org.uk Beyond the ‘average’ adolescent 534 www.psychapp.co.uk Sarah-Jayne Blakemore’s keynote kicks off [email protected] our extensive coverage from the Society’s Annual Conference, held in Liverpool in May. tinyurl.com/thepsychomag You can find more reports at http://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk @psychmag Advertising It’s not just cricket 552 Reach 50,000 psychologists As the Ashes comes to England, Jamie Barker at very reasonable rates. and Matt Slater consider the psychology at play Display Aaron Hinchcliffe 020 7880 7661 534 [email protected] The monster mind 560 Recruitment (in print and online Jonathan Myers considers why we see at www.psychapp.co.uk) monsters, and what form they take Giorgio Romano 020 7880 7556 [email protected] Reaching out to the ‘Untouchables’ 564 Paul Ghuman gives a psychological perspective June issue on Dalit resistance and identity 47,604 dispatched New voices: Helpful categorisation or Printed by limiting label? 570 Warners Midlands plc on 100 per cent recycled Caitlin Cherry with the latest in our series paper. Please re-use or recycle. ...reports ISSN 0952-8229 552 news 522 Queen’s speech; citations; Pint of Science; gay marriage; and more society 574 © Copyright for all published material is President’s column; Work Capability Assessment; held by the British Psychological Society Walk the Talk; and more unless specifically stated otherwise. As the Society is a party to the Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA) agreement, articles in The The Psychologist is the monthly publication of The British Psychological Society. It provides a forum for Psychologist may be copied by libraries and other organisations under the communication, discussion and controversy among all members of the Society, and aims to fulfil the main object terms of their own CLA licences of the Royal Charter, ‘to promote the advancement and diffusion of a knowledge of psychology pure and applied’. (www.cla.co.uk). 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International panel Vaughan Bell, Uta Frith, Alex Haslam, Elizabeth Loftus the psychologist vol 28 no 7 july 2015 the issue ...debates Later this month I will be hosting a discussion at Latitude Festival. letters 514 ‘Being young never gets old – for mindful teaching of mindfulness; EU referendum; educational psychology teenagers debunked’ is the title, trainees; the two-fold nature of autism; therapist self-disclosure; who teaches and between the two participants – the teachers?; and more Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore (see p.534) and author Fiona Neill ...digests (see p.595) – I have become convinced that despite the particular why it’s a mistake to seek control of your life neurological challenges they face, through solitude; is CBT for depression losing teenagers aren’t all that different its efficacy?; metalheads from the 80s are from grown-ups, that stereotypes thriving; why do children stick their tongues out surrounding them are as old as the when they are concentrating?; and more, in the hills, and that we need to look latest from our free Research Digest beyond the ‘average adolescent’. (see www.researchdigest.org.uk/blog) 528 Why are we doing the event? I would like to reach out beyond 528 the ‘average reader’, to engage new, large and diverse audiences. ...meets But we must never lose sight of our core readership, the Society news 527 members. Feedback has been very five minutes with newly-elected MP psychologist Lisa Cameron positive lately, but are we living in an interview 572 echo chamber? We will be looking with clinical psychologist Fleur-Michelle Coiffait at ways to assess your engagement with the publication, in print and careers 586 online, but in the meantime just get we meet Susan Golombok, and hear from Sangita Bhandari on her work in touch. The Psychologist is your with a UK education charity in Nepal baby, not mine: is it developing well? one on one 604 Is it ‘beyond average’? Can you feel with Willem Kuyken, University of Oxford proud of it? Dr Jon Sutton ...reviews Managing Editor @psychmag Defining Beauty: The Body in Ancient Greek Art, at the British Museum; Fiona Neill’s The Good Girl reviewed ahead of her appearance with Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore as part of ‘The Psychologist presents…’ at Latitude Festival; The Aging Mind; The Enfield Haunting; Every Brilliant Thing; and more 594 ...looks back What passes between client and therapist? 600 Stephanie Cobb with three perspectives on transference and countertransference 21 years ago Go to www.thepsychologist.org.uk The Psychologist and Digest for our archive, including disastrous Editorial Advisory Committee decisions! Catherine Loveday (Chair), Phil Banyard, Olivia Craig, Helen Galliard, Harriet Gross, Rowena Hill, Stephen McGlynn, Tony Wainwright, Peter Wright Big picture centre-page pull-out a lonely disorder: image by Brad Fox and words by Rob Willson read discuss contribute at www.thepsychologist.org.uk For mindful teaching of mindfulness LETTERS Edo Shonin’s interview of Jon Kabat- be spiritual in nature? Zinn [published as an online exclusive Patients receiving mindfulness- on The Psychologist website at based interventions are invariably http://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/meets] under the impression that they are is timely particularly in light of recent receiving a clinical intervention to calls by the Mental Health Foundation assist with mental health issues. for mindfulness to be made more readily However, if in conjunction with available on the NHS. However, the treating such issues, the primary debate regarding the clinical use of purpose of interventions such as mindfulness has never really been about MBSR is to expound the Buddhist whether it leads to health benefits. teachings, then there is an ethical Rather, mindfulness stakeholders have obligation to make this abundantly repeatedly deliberated (in some cases clear to participants. quite fiercely) whether ‘mindfulness’, Most mindfulness approaches as it is conceptualised in interventions include in their name the term such as mindfulness-based stress ‘mindfulness-based’. On the surface, reduction (MBSR), still bears meaningful this appears to be an entirely resemblance to the traditional Buddhist acceptable and transparent approach interpretation of this term (Monteiro et al., 2015). because it implies that such interventions are based on Kabat-Zinn states that his teachings and the intervention mindfulness, but do not teach mindfulness in a manner that is he developed (MBSR) are not: (a) about Buddhism per se, necessarily in keeping with the Buddhist model. In other words, or (b) spiritual in nature. However, he then states that MBSR the term ‘mindfulness-based’ is consistent with what is arguably is about ‘the movement of the Dharma into the mainstream of a common understanding amongst psychologists that these society’ (‘Dharma’ means the Buddhist teachings). The rhetoric interventions have adapted a Buddhist (and therefore spiritual) used by Kabat-Zinn is arguably both confusing and misleading. meditative technique in order to develop an attention-based How can an approach that purports to be bringing Buddhist psychological intervention. teachings into the mainstream not be about Buddhism and not A problem arises however, when individuals such as Kabat- EU referendum – what’s the question? One’s first reaction may be ‘not again’ but There are claims that elements other trivial if…the choice… [is]…between two it has been reported that minds are now than the purely political can affect voting men or two parties’, where the contest is turning to what the question should be, behaviour. Thus the taller of two close it may be better not to ignore this. for the forthcoming referendum across (presidential) candidates has a very Psychologists might also reflect on the UK. Prime Minister Cameron is said slightly better chance of being elected. whether an option to say ‘yes’ may gain to have suggested that one wording might A name at the top of a list has a slightly wider approval than would be given to be ‘Should the UK remain a member of better chance of receiving votes than one a wording looking for rejection of the the EU?’. at the bottom, and though the ‘bias is proposition ‘Should the UK cease its THE PSYCHOLOGIST NEEDS YOU! …and much more We rely on your submissions throughout the publication, and in return we help you to get your message across to a large and Letters contribute diverse audience. These pages are central to The Psychologist’s role as a forum for communication, discussion and controversy among all ‘Reach the largest, most diverse audience of psychologists in the UK members of the Society, and we welcome your contributions.