MSc Clinical and Health Psychology / Course details

This unit covers the key interventions within clinical psychology that are designed to facilitate change, improve well-being and promote recovery. This unit builds upon the material delivered within the Semester 1 course Facilitating Change 1 (for MSc Clinical & Health Psychology). Facilitating Change 2 content includes understanding the principles of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) applied with more challenging and complex experiences, child and family interventions, and recent developments in psychotherapy beyond the traditional CBT approach.

The unit aims to:

• Continue the introduction, initiated in Facilitating Change 1, to the core principles and features of contemporary, theory- and evidence-based approaches to facilitating psychological change in people with health problems
• Further encourage a critical analysis of the strengths and limitations of psychological interventions
• Enhance students’ awareness of the reciprocal links between theory, research and clinical practice in the development and evaluation of psychological interventions
• Provide a broader range of illustrative examples of interventions, and the application of interventions with a range of clinical groups, including children and families, and people experiencing psychoses, bipolar disorder, substance use problems and self-harm.
• Expand the students’ knowledge of psychological interventions to include recent developments of cognitive behavioural and other therapeutic approaches.

By the end of the course unit, students will be able to;

• Understand the science and practice of CBT in complex and challenging clinical groups.
• Demonstrate enhanced knowledge of a broader range of issues and innovations in clinical psychology.
• Show a more developed appreciation of how psychotherapy interventions are practiced.
• Critically analyse and evaluate the science and practice of interventions.
• Demonstrate enhanced understanding of human change processes across a range of clinical groups.

Teaching will be delivered in 10 x 2-hour face-to-face sessions and will include lectures, group discussions, experiential tasks and demonstrations of interventions. To assist in preparation for the sessions, students will be provided with electronic resources on Blackboard including PowerPoint slides, key papers, web links and discussion boards.

Cromby, J., Harper, D., & Reavey, P. (2013). Psychology, Mental Health and Distress Paperback. London: Palgrave Macmillan

Leahy, R. L. (2004). Contemporary Cognitive Therapy. Guilford Press.

Lindsay, S., & Powell, G. (2008). The Handbook of Clinical Adult Psychology, Third Edition. Routledge. (earlier editions also appropriate)

Morrison, AP, Renton J, Dunn, H, Williams, S & Bentall, R (2003) Cognitive Therapy for Psychosis: A Formulation Based Approach. Routledge.

Wells, A. (2009). Metacognitive therapy for anxiety and depression. New York: Guilford Press.