PM at G8 Dementia Summit welcomes work by PsychologyOnline

When Prime Minister David Cameron spoke at the G8 Dementia Summit recently about the global challenge of dementia he also talked of seeing a glimmer of hope in tackling this condition.

He said: “It doesn’t matter whether you’re in London or Los Angeles, in rural India or urban Japan - this disease steals lives; it wrecks families; it breaks hearts and that is why all of us here are so utterly determined to beat it.”

He talked of the hope of creating a treatment and also of progress in developing for tools for early detection.

“I see it in the extraordinary work of UK life sciences companies, like Ixico, Cambridge Cognition, PsychologyOnline and Proteome Sciences, working with others to develop new tests for Alzheimer’s Disease.”

Barnaby Perks, CEO of PsychologyOnline welcomed this high profile support for work in this area.

“The NHS is one of the most respected health institutions in the world.  If it is prepared to be a ‘smart purchaser’ and work with innovative companies such as those mentioned in David Cameron’s speech then this will fast track developments in this area.”

PsychologyOnline provides text-based cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) to treat anxiety and depression, conditions that are common in dementia sufferers and their carers.

CBT is used widely in NHS mental health services, as a NICE-recommended treatment.  The therapy aims to help people manage their problems by changing the way they think and feel about certain situations or events.  Such is the demand for this type of therapy that there can often be a long wait to see a therapist.

One of the reasons, PsychologyOnline was developed originally by two NHS psychologists was to enable more effective use of resources. It provides instant-messaging based CBT with a therapist via a secure internet consulting room, so neither the therapist or the service user needs to travel.

Barnaby says results for the treatment of depression and other conditions are very promising, with patients needing 40% fewer sessions than would be expected with face-to-face therapy to recover.

“From our work with the Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in Surrey, where we provide therapy on prescription, we’ve seen that people of all ages are prepared to use the internet to access treatment.  The ability to have therapy in your own home makes it particularly suitable for those who find it difficult to travel for appointments or who already spend too much of their time waiting in hospitals.

“We are currently provide an accessible treatment path for carers of people with dementia and other diseases, who would not otherwise find time to focus on their own health. We also see considerable potential for CBT delivered in this way to support people in the early stages of dementia and are working with experts in this field to explore this further.

“If the NHS was to commission a study in this area then we would be able to devote more resource to this area of research. This type of support would lend further credibility to this approach and support early adoption of beneficial treatment. “

PsychologyOnline one of Observer's 16 leading Tech Start-Ups

PsychologyOnline has been identified as one of Cambridge’s 16 leading technology-based startups in the Observer’s Tech Monthly supplement.

Cambridge is a world-leading centre for the development of technology and life science firms; the city has long been accepted as a hub for pioneering new companies and a place where brilliant academic minds can turn their innovative ideas into reality. PsychologyOnline is located on the outskirts of the city to tap into networks of existing expertise as Barnaby Perks, chief executive at PsychologyOnline, explains:

“Cambridge has the right environment and support networks, including lawyers, accountants and non-executive directors. When I looked at the skills we needed, the software development skills, the clinical management skills, here was the best place and all the best people were here."

Other firms featured in the article include Crowdsurfer, a website which allows users to search for alternative finance options such as peer-to-peer lending and Darktrace, a cyber security firm launched this year which provides technology to companies to allow them to monitor threats to their computer networks.

PsychologyOnline was co-founded in 2011 by Barnaby Perks and two chartered psychologists, Sue Wright and Nadine Field. Having worked in the NHS in England and witnessed first hand the scarcity of therapists, they started the company in a bid to make top quality cognitive behavioural therapy easily accessible to all.

Therapy from PsychologyOnline is available on the NHS across Surrey and to private individuals across the UK and overseas via Thinkwell. It helps people suffering from a wide range of mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, phobia and stress-related problems.

PsychologyOnline’s in house developers have created a secure messaging system to allow service users and therapists to write short, confidential messages to each other during sessions, which last up to an hour at a time. All users need is a computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone and a stable internet connection.

"This way patients are comfortable,” Barnaby explains. “They can have therapy at home at a time that suits them. The results show the system has higher recovery rates and takes fewer sessions than face-to-face therapy for patients to get better.”

You can read more about the 16 leading Cambridge tech startups here and for more information on PsychologyOnline, please visit our website: www.psychologyonline.co.uk.

Trott shows 'stress-related illness' happens to the best of us

Jonathan Trott is not the first world-class cricketer to return home from the intense spotlight of the Ashes tour with a stress-related illness. The nature of the game - a team sport played by individuals – and the type of personality required to excel, risks the mental health of many of its players.

The big question is whether the sports associations are doing enough to support players at all levels within the game.

According to Telegraph journalist Steve James, himself a former cricketer, there is still a culture of secrecy within the sport when it comes to mental illness. Indeed the word ‘depression’ was rarely mentioned in the numerous media interviews.

Writing in the paper on Monday 25th November, James says that sport should be grateful for the bravery of cricketers such as Marcus Trescothick, Darren Cousins and Tim Ambrose who have all spoken publicly about their mental health over recent years.

The courage it takes to do this or to show any indication of weakness within such a macho sport was self-evident from the comments that Aussie player David Warner made a few days earlier about Trott having ‘scared eyes’.

The type of training given to the physical body should be extended to ensuring the health of the mind.

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is well proven to be effective in ‘retraining’ the mind to allow an individual to consider the world from a better perspective. It helps create a tool kit of coping mechanisms for the pressures of life.

PsychologyOnline’s approach to CBT is particularly effective and it is available wherever you are, 24x 7, all that is required is a computer and an internet connection.

However robust you are, intense ambition, long periods away from home, high pressure, high financial stakes, detachment from family are all risk elements that can adversely affect your mental health.

Perhaps now is the time to promote the concept of a ‘physio for the mind’ and use the pressures faced by our top sportspeople to show that although depression is something that can happen to the best of us, it can be effectively treated.

Re-thinking Psychological Therapy in a new NHS: PsychologyOnline attends New Savoy Partnership Conference

Improving the quality of mental healthcare while navigating a path through the new clinically-led commissioning framework is just one of the themes to be explored at the seventh annual ‘Psychological Therapies in the NHS’ conference, 28 and 29 November at the Mermaid Conference Centre in London.

PsychologyOnline will showcase its unique online therapy at the high-profile event, and in so doing will rub shoulders with leading mental healthcare policy-makers including the Care Minister Norman Lamb and Dr Geraldine Strathdee, NHS England’s head clinical director for mental health.

The two-day conference at the end of November, organised by the New Savoy Partnership, will investigate whether the coalition government’s Mental Health Strategy is working and whether more needs to be done to “join up” the way talking therapies are commissioned and accessed on the NHS.

In 2011, the government issued a “No health without mental health” pledge, and committed to improving access to psychological therapies by broadening the focus of IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies) initiative.

As a consequence, PsychologyOnline was commissioned earlier this year by the Surrey Mental Health CCG Collaboration as one of four therapy providers.

Surrey GPs referring patients to the innovative service say the evening appointments have been particularly popular with patients who work during the day or those who find it difficult to travel to meet a therapist face-to face.  It has also allowed more men, who are often embarrassed to seek help in person, to access the therapy they need, without taking time off work.

All that service users need to access online CBT is a computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone which is connected to the internet.  Therapy can begin within 24 hours of referral and can be undertaken from the comfort of home or wherever the patient feels most comfortable.

Barnaby Perks, chief executive at PsychologyOnline, is encouraging delegates to come along and meet the team and find out how online CBT could make therapy more accessible.

“At PsychologyOnline, we’re proud of our innovative way of delivering highly-effective therapy.  All our therapists are UK trained and accredited and our service has been proven to be effective in treating moderate to severe depression.

“PsychologyOnline’s therapy can treat a range of mental health conditions, including anxiety, stress-related disorders, phobia, obsessive compulsive disorder and postnatal depression.”

To find out more about PsychologyOnline, please visit www.psychologyonline.co.uk.

Technological Innovations in Mental Health: PsychologyOnline Exhibits at London Launch Event

PsychologyOnline’s innovative text-based approach to cognitive behavioural therapy will be on show at the Technical Innovations in Mental Health conference on 11 November 2013.

The symposium, held at the Royal College of Physicians in London, will highlight the latest technological advances in the field and consider how these advances could help transform the delivery of therapy to service users.

The event coincides with the launch of MindTech, the NHS National Institute for Health Research’s new initiative to promote the use of technologies for mental healthcare in England.

Cambridge-based PsychologyOnline provides a unique form of live online cognitive behavioural therapy via a text-based instant messaging system. All service users need is access to a computer, laptop, tablet or smartphone which is connected to the internet.

Therapy sessions can be held at flexible times, including evenings and weekends, from the comfort of home or wherever the patient feels most comfortable.

Surrey is one of the first areas to offer PsychologyOnline “on prescription” to service users in its five CCG areas. Therapy is also accessible to all via Thinkwell, the firm’s pay-for service.

Barnaby Perks, chief executive at PsychologyOnline, has welcomed the conference as an exciting chance to showcase the firm’s unique online therapy and is encouraging fellow delegates to come and meet the team.

He adds: “It is good to see the health sector embracing new developments in technologies in the mental health field.

“PsychologyOnline allows more flexibility in the way mental health services are delivered and is also a means to cope with the increased volume in demand that we’ve seen over recent years.

“There has been a growing acceptance of internet technologies for accessing services of all types and many NHS Trusts and commissioners are interested in how PsychologyOnline could work for their patients.”

Keynote speakers at the conference include Dr Geraldine Strathdee, the national clinical director of Mental Health for NHS England and Dr Louise Wood, the head of NHS Research Infrastructure and Growth at the Department of Health.

For more information please visit: www.psychologyonline.co.uk or MediLink

Military mental health: Join the discussion with Professor Jamie Hacker Hughes

While the physical rehabilitation of service personnel often features prominently in the headlines, the mental effects of war on serving or veteran soldiers is often less well publicised.

PsychologyOnline is hosting a webinar on 5^th November at 1.30pm discussing the impact that military conflict can have on the mind and the how online cognitive behavioural therapy can improve access to support both on and off the battlefield.

It will be led by prominent military psychologist Professor Jamie Hacker Hughes, who has spent 20 years in the military, first as an army officer and later as a military psychologist. He rose to become head of clinical psychology for the Ministry of Defence.

Prof Hacker Hughes will also explore the type of mental health conditions, such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder that affect serving personnel, reservists, veterans and their families and how they can be assessed and treated.

He will also outline some of the warning signs to allow the families of service personnel to spot when a mental health problem may be manifesting.

Click here for a preview of the webinar from Prof Hacker Hughes.  If you would like to book your place at the webinar, which will last for one hour, send your name, company and email address to info@psychologyonline.co.uk with “military webinar” in the subject field.

Role of online technology within IAPT

How to integrate online text-based CBT therapy within IAPT, was the topic of a presentation by Sarah Bateup, Clinical Lead for PsychologyOnline and lecturer at Exeter University, at the recent Recovery-Focused Conference organised by Bournemouth University and Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust.

Sarah, who is a BABCP accredited therapist who has delivered over 27,000 hours of CBT, discussed her experiences gained with PsychologyOnline of integrating live synchronous, Internet-based text CBT into Step 3 IAPT services.

Prior to joining PsychologyOnline Sarah had worked with the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust where she was involved in training junior doctors how to deliver CBT within IAPT. So, she has a good knowledge of IAPT and support for therapy services. Before this Sarah was a manager of a primary care CBT service in the South West of England. 

Sarah comments, "I am very interested in seeing how technology can enhance therapy and learning. Increasingly we are seeing more learning being offered online and accessed remotely. CBT is very much based on people learning and therefore it fits well within this model.

"Interestingly the benefits of text-based therapy are maintained for a long time. I think this is partly the action of writing and reading that takes place during the session, which is very much how we are used to learning and creates a real change in the thought processes.

"Originally IAPT was designed to offer patient choice and PsychologyOnline's service supports this by making it easier to access therapy. For example, we have seen particularly good results for patients with anxiety disorders for whom arranging and attending a face-to-face session in itself creates stress."

The bi-annual Recovery-Focused Mental Health Conference was held on September 6th 2013 and was attended by mental health professionals, health commissioners, researchers and service users. The purpose of the conference is to disseminate information about new research, innovation, best practice, and inspirational developments in mental health.

IAPT programme struggling to achieve targets

The Government’s flagship scheme to expand access to psychological therapies is struggling to achieve its targets, with recovery rates dipping and patients in some areas waiting over a year for treatment, according to Pulse.

A Pulse investigation found that CCGs in many areas were struggling to roll out the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme to all the intended target groups, and that over two-thirds were reporting waiting times longer than the 28-day maximum target.

Funding for the IAPT programme was also variable, ranging from £1.76 to £14.55 per head of population across CCG areas.

The results come as experts question whether the IAPT programme was cost effective and if it was reaching the right people.

The latest quarterly figures from the Health and Social Care Information Centre on the IAPT programme showed that although the number of patients accessing treatment went up in the first quarter of this year, the proportion of patients moving to recovery slipped back from 47% in the final quarter of 2012/2013 to 43% in the period from April to June this year, against a target of 50% of treated patients.

Overall more than 80,000 people in the system are still waiting for treatment more than a month after they were referred.

Data obtained by Pulse under the Freedom of Information Act from 85 CCGs reveals that 68% report treatment waiting times longer than the 28-day maximum target. Around half of these are down to longer waits for higher intensity therapy, with many areas reporting waiting times of three to five months for higher-intensity therapy while some have waits of over 12 month

Cognitive therapy study hope for hypochondria patients

Cognitive behavioural therapy is more effective than standard care for people with hypochondria or health anxiety, say researchers writing in The Lancet.

In their study, 14% of patients given CBT regained normal anxiety levels against 7% given the usual care of basic reassurance.

It said nurses could easily be trained to offer the psychological therapy.

Between 10% and 20% of hospital patients are thought to worry obsessively about their health.

Previous studies have shown that CBT, which aims to change thought patterns and behaviour, is an effective treatment for other anxiety disorders.

But there is a shortage of specialists trained to deliver CBT, and as a result waiting lists can be long.

In this study, 219 people with health anxiety received an average of six sessions of cognitive behavioural therapy while 225 received reassurance and support, which is standard.

After periods of six months and 12 months, patients in the CBT group showed "significantly greater improvement in self-rated anxiety and depression symptoms" compared with standard care, the study showed.

There was also a particularly noticeable reduction in health anxiety in the CBT group straight after treatment began.

Read more here. 

Rumination: The danger of dwelling

According to Denise Whiteman (BBC News Magazine)  the UK's biggest ever online test into stress, undertaken by the BBC's Lab UK and the University of Liverpool, has revealed that rumination is the biggest predictor of the most common mental health problems in the country.

A bit of self-reflection can be a good thing, say psychologists. But just how serious can it get when introspection goes awry and thoughts get stuck on repeat, playing over and over in the mind?

Rumination and self-blame have long been accepted by health professionals as part of the problems that can lead to depression and anxiety - the two most common mental health problems in the UK, according to the Mental Health Foundation.

But new research has demonstrated just how significant and serious their impact on mental health can be.

The findings of a ground-breaking study, published in the journal PLOS ONE today, suggest that brooding too much on negative events is the biggest predictor of depression and anxiety and determines the level of stress people experience. The research even suggests a person's psychological response is a more important factor than what has actually happened to them.

A total of 32,827 people from 172 countries took part in the online stress test devised by the BBC's Lab UK and psychologists at the University of Liverpool, making it the biggest study of its kind ever undertaken in the UK.