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A consideration of the new BACP Ethical Framework and its implications Peter Jenkins Professional ethics in the therapeutic world is currently dominated by discussion of the new version of the BACP Ethical Framework (2015). This has involved a major process of rewriting, consultation, comparison with other similar professional codes and membership acclimatisation prior to its introduction in 2016. The new Framework, as opposed to a code of ethics, builds on the previous version first introduced at the turn of the century. It acknowledges the growing impact of digital versions of therapy and the changing landscape of professional practice, incorporating, somewhat controversially, coaching along with counselling and psychotherapy as part of the counselling professions. The introduction of a new, extensively revised framework provides a useful opportunity to take stock of the BACP’s ethical journey so far and its current direction of travel. Inevitably, this also will involve frequen...

The Freedom of Thought Report is an annual survey on discrimination and persecution against non-religious people in countries around the world. The latest report is  available free to download . The first report was  published  in 2012 on International Human Rights Day, 10 December. In his preface to the report, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Religion or Belief, Heiner Bielefeldt, said: “As a universal human right, freedom of religion or belief has a broad application. However, there seems to be little awareness that this right also provides a normative frame of reference for atheists, humanists and freethinkers and their convictions, practices and organizations. I am therefore delighted that for the first time the Humanist community has produced a global report on discrimination against atheists. I hope it will be given careful consideration by everyone concerned with freedom of religion or belief.” For the 2013 report ...

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By Juliet Newbigin IN THIS ISSUE of New Associations we hope to introduce you to some of the work of the BPC’s task group which was set up to consider ways of making the profession more open and welcoming to gay, lesbian and bisexual people. I imagine that some readers will wonder why this was necessary. The ban on acceptance of gay and lesbian candidates for psychoanalytic training on the grounds of their sexual orientation is surely a thing of the past? All member organisations are now bound by the Equality Act, and have signed up to the Position Statement that the BPC adopted in 2012, which stated that: The British Psychoanalytic Council opposes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. It does not accept that a homosexual orientation is evidence of disturbance of the mind or in development. Might this be another symptom of the unstoppable march of political correctness, which will lead to an intrusive policing of psychoanalytic training organisations? So why d...

24th November 1859 – Charles Darwin Publishes ‘On The Origin Of Species’

A MESSAGE FROM PARIS An Edge Special Event! by Ian McEwan [11.14.15] ED. NOTE: Ian McEwan, who is living in Paris this month, sent a deep and moving email this afternoon which he asked us to share with Edge community. JB   Reality Club discussion: Scott Atran , Daniel L. Everett , Dan Sperber , James J. O'Donnell IAN MCEWAN, the award-winning British novelist, is the author of  The Child in Time (winner of the Whitbread Novel of the Year Award, 1987),  Amsterdam (winner of the Booker Prize, 1998), Atonement, Sweet Tooth , and The Children Act . He lives in London. Ian McEwan's Edge Bio Page .  The death cult chose its city well—Paris, secular capital of the world, as hospitable, diverse and charming a metropolis as was ever devised. And the death cult chose its targets in the city with ghoulish, self-damning accuracy—everything they loathed stood plainly before them on a happy Friday evening: men and women in easy as...

A Last-Minute Breakthrough By Muriel Dimen November 3, 2015 3:30 am November 3, 2015 3:30 am 122 Comments Couch Couch is a series about psychotherapy. Julia returned after the August vacation that we New York psychoanalysts customarily take. Well, not right after. She missed the first session. A family obligation, she said. Were I a traditional analyst, I might have wondered to myself: “Is there ambivalence here? Perhaps she doesn’t want to come back?” But I didn’t think that, or rather I ignored that flicker of doubt. I should have trusted my suspicions. When she did show up, Julia told me that she wanted to end the therapy. Very forthrightly, too. Cordially. She asked me about my summer and then said that this session would be her last. I felt that slight bump, the one you feel when a patient wants to stop treatment and you’re not exactly expecting it, or maybe you’ve been denying what in fact you know. Julia explained her decision. She reminded me that she had never f...

Please click on the link below. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/07/my-life-without-gender-strangers-are-desperate-to-know-what-genitalia-i-have#_=_

UN Global Sustainable Development Goals   (click on this link for details)  UN adopts new Global Goals, charting sustainable development for people and planet by 2030 By UN-DPI on 25 Sep 2015 More information 25 SEP 2015 - The 193-Member United Nations General Assembly formally adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development on 25 September 2015, along with a set of bold new Sustainable Development Goals, which Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hailed as a universal, integrated and transformative vision for a better world.“The new agenda is a promise by leaders to all people everywhere. It is an agenda for people, to end poverty in all its forms – an agenda for the planet, our common home,” declared Mr. Ban as he opened the UN Sustainable Development Summit which kicked off today and wraps up Sunday.The UN chief’s address came ahead of the Assembly’s formal adoption of the new framework, Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development...

David C. Mohr , a professor of preventive and behavioral medicine, is the director of Northwestern University's Center for Behavioral Intervention Technologies . Updated September 22, 2015, 3:21 AM A large body of clinical research shows that web-based and phone applications can treat depression and anxiety. These applications — called behavioral intervention technologies (B.I.T.s) — differ in style from traditional face-to-face forms of therapy, but the aim is the same: to help people understand their difficulties, and take steps to reduce symptoms. To do this, most B.I.T.s include straightforward steps for improved wellbeing, as well as interactive features, which build cognitive and behavioral skills that identify and challenge negative thinking patterns. To be effective, B.I.T.s require repeated use over a number of weeks — an obstacle because many people with depression or anxiety have trouble staying engaged long enough to make substantial improvements...

Love, Hate and Suicide By G. Collerone   September 8, 2015 There are times when I like my therapist. When she is supportive and understanding, it’s easy to like her. Sometimes the like turns to love because she means so much to me. It is at these times when I value our relationship the most. My therapist is very dear to me but then, like tonight, she will say something that makes me hate her. Mostly, this is around her not wanting me to kill myself. I feel trapped by this and so the love I feel turns to hate. It is not a quick thing to happen. I don’t have oscillating feelings toward my therapist. It is only when I am suicidal and she wants me to live that I really hate her. It wasn’t always this way. I never really knew how she felt about me till we were four years into our relationship. I call it a relationship for lack of a better word. In 2005, I was severely depressed and snapped. I wanted to die very badly and was planning on ending my life sometime that Nov...