Max Birchwood

Bio: Max Birchwood is an academic researcher from University of Warwick. The author has contributed to research in topics: Mental health & Psychological intervention. The author has an hindex of 65, co-authored 259 publications receiving 18491 citations. Previous affiliations of Max Birchwood include University of Birmingham & Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Understanding the Role of Emotion in Psychosis: Social Anxiety Disorder in First-Episode Psychosis

Abstract: Affective disturbances are highly prevalent in non-affective psychosis and exert significant impact upon its course and outcome. Low mood and associated suicidality, anxiety symptoms, withdrawal and isolation have been consistently observed throughout the course of psychosis, during the prodromal phase and following symptomatic recovery. Social anxiety disorder in particular is among the most prevailing disturbances manifest in people with psychosis. Prevalence rates range between 17 and 36% in people with psychosis. The nature and phenomenology of social anxiety in psychosis are not well understood and the need to identify the developmental and psychological origins is of fundamental importance. In this chapter we will thoroughly examine the phenomenology of social anxiety in first-episode psychosis and we will also investigate its relationship with positive symptoms and particularly paranoia Understanding the pathways and psychological processes that lead to the development of affective dysfunction in psychosis will have important implications for psychological interventions and treatments.

Douglas Hospital Research Centre Symposium Symposium du Centre de recherche de l'Hôpital Douglas The national policy reforms for mental health services and the story of early intervention services in the United Kingdom

Abstract: In this review, we summarize and review reforms to the mental health service in the United Kingdom from 1999 to the present. Our analysis is based on government documents describing the reforms and providing guidelines for their implementation. In addition, we summarize prospective studies of psychosis from the first episode and early treatment studies on the basis of existing systematic reviews. The UK mental health reforms have attracted major government funding and have been used to commission specialized (“func tional”) community teams for people with severe mental illness. The reforms include changes to services for first-episode psychosis, which have attracted considerable consumer support. The UK service reforms are continuing, with the aim of providing services fit for the 21st century.

Better reporting of interventions: template for intervention description and replication (TIDieR) checklist and guide

Abstract: Without a complete published description of interventions, clinicians and patients cannot reliably implement interventions that are shown to be useful, and other researchers cannot replicate or build on research findings. The quality of description of interventions in publications, however, is remarkably poor. To improve the completeness of reporting, and ultimately the replicability, of interventions, an international group of experts and stakeholders developed the Template for Intervention Description and Replication (TIDieR) checklist and guide. The process involved a literature review for relevant checklists and research, a Delphi survey of an international panel of experts to guide item selection, and a face to face panel meeting. The resultant 12 item TIDieR checklist (brief name, why, what (materials), what (procedure), who provided, how, where, when and how much, tailoring, modifications, how well (planned), how well (actual)) is an extension of the CONSORT 2010 statement (item 5) and the SPIRIT 2013 statement (item 11). While the emphasis of the checklist is on trials, the guidance is intended to apply across all evaluative study designs. This paper presents the TIDieR checklist and guide, with an explanation and elaboration for each item, and examples of good reporting. The TIDieR checklist and guide should improve the reporting of interventions and make it easier for authors to structure accounts of their interventions, reviewers and editors to assess the descriptions, and readers to use the information.

Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide through Qualitative Analysis

Abstract: การวจยเชงคณภาพ เปนเครองมอสำคญอยางหนงสำหรบทำความเขาใจสงคมและพฤตกรรมมนษย การวจยแบบการสรางทฤษฎจากขอมล กเปนหนงในหลายระเบยบวธการวจยเชงคณภาพทกำลงไดรบความสนใจ และเปนทนยมเพมสงขนเรอยๆ จากนกวชาการ และนกวจยในสาขาสงคมศาสตร และศาสตรอนๆ เชน พฤตกรรมศาสตร สงคมวทยา สาธารณสขศาสตร พยาบาลศาสตร จตวทยาสงคม ศกษาศาสตร รฐศาสตร และสารสนเทศศกษา ดงนน หนงสอเรอง “ConstructingGrounded Theory: A Practical Guide through Qualitative Analysis” หรอ “การสรางทฤษฎจากขอมล:แนวทางการปฏบตผานการวเคราะหเชงคณภาพ” จะชวยใหผอานมความรความเขาใจถงพฒนาการของปฏบตการวจยแบบสรางทฤษฎจากขอมล ตลอดจนแนวทาง และกระบวนการปฏบตการวจยอยางเปนระบบ จงเปนหนงสอทควรคาแกการอานโดยเฉพาะนกวจยรนใหม เพอเปนแนวทางในการนำความรความเขาใจไประยกตในงานวจยของตน อกทงนกวจยผเชยวชาญสามารถอานเพอขยายมโนทศนดานวจยใหกวางขวางขน

Psychosis as a state of aberrant salience: A framework linking biology, phenomenology, and pharmacology in schizophrenia.

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: The clinical hallmark of schizophrenia is psychosis. The objective of this overview is to link the neurobiology (brain), the phenomenological experience (mind), and pharmacological aspects of psychosis-in-schizophrenia into a unitary framework. METHOD: Current ideas regarding the neurobiology and phenomenology of psychosis and schizophrenia, the role of dopamine, and the mechanism of action of antipsychotic medication were integrated to develop this framework. RESULTS: A central role of dopamine is to mediate the “salience” of environmental events and internal representations. It is proposed that a dysregulated, hyperdopaminergic state, at a “brain” level of description and analysis, leads to an aberrant assignment of salience to the elements of one’s experience, at a “mind” level. Delusions are a cognitive effort by the patient to make sense of these aberrantly salient experiences, whereas hallucinations reflect a direct experience of the aberrant salience of internal representations. Antipsyc...