| Summary: | This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Doctor of Clinical Psychology (Clin. Psy. D. ) at the University of Birmingham. It comprises clinical placement reports and a research project. Volume I contains the research component in two papers. The first is a review of the literature relating to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in Obstetrics. This paper is prepared for submission to the British Journal of Health Psychology. It examines how the DSM-IV diagnostic system for PTSD has been applied to traumatic stress reactions to childbirth. Post-partum PTSD is then compared and contrasted with PTSD in other fields, such as combat, civilian and health-related settings. The second paper is an empirical study of the psychological adjustment to the Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD). It investigates the role of coping style and negative and positive affect in physical and psychological recovery. There is also an examination of whether ICD shock discharge is associated with poorer psychological and physical outcome and posttraumatic stress symptoms. This paper has been prepared for submission to the journal of Pacing and Clinical Electrophysiology. Instructions for submitting authors to the journals are included in the appendices to Volume I. The thesis follows APA required writing guidelines unless journal submission specifications are required. To facilitate ease of reading, tables and figures are included in the text, but will be included as appendices for journal submission. The appendices to Volume I also contain an executive summary of the empirical paper that is intended for submission to the public domain. Volume II comprises five reports of clinical practice that were submitted over the course of clinical training. These describe a range of issues pertinent to the clinical specialties of adult mental health, child and family, older adult and clinical health psychology. The reports are: a case of a woman with bulimia formulated from cognitive, psychodynamic and systemic perspectives; a short case study of a cognitive behavioural intervention with a woman experiencing phobic anxiety of public urinary incontinence; an evaluation of the quality of communication of a child and family mental health team to GP referrers; an extended single case study of the assessment and intervention with an older adult experiencing chronic grief and sleep disturbance, and; a written presentation describing the role of the clinical psychologist in the assessment of a patient requesting breast augmentation surgery. Relevant appendices are inserted after Clinical Practice Report Three.
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