COST: $20, includes finger food.

Presenter: Bob Duncan, Private Practice

About the 2016 case presentations:

The Anxiety Practitioners Network is pleased to bring you the 2016 series of Case Presentations aimed at providing a more relaxed atmosphere for discussing anxiety treatments. These presentations provide an opportunity to see some of the most experienced clinicians present one or more detailed cases highlighting issues in their area of expertise.

About this topic:

Practitioners often view researchers with disdain as lacking clinical experience with real people. Researchers often view practitioners with disdain as undisciplined and ignorant or misinformed about the relevant science. Scientists know everything about nothing: philosophers know nothing about everything and therapists are somewhere in between. Randomised control trials are held up as the gold standard of proof of treatment efficacy. Preferred treatments are those which have the biggest average differences in outcome variables. However, when we look at the individuals’ outcome data usually some people in all experimental conditions improve, some do not change and some deteriorate. When we are well informed about the relevant research and meet an individual client we know what works best on average for a defined population but not what will work best with this person. So how are we to be better therapists than we would if we just delivered manualised treatments?

About the presenter:

Bob Duncan is a clinical psychologist with many years experience in community and inpatient settings treating adults with a wide range of mental disorders. He began his private practice in 1995 and has been full-time since 2007. Bob has had a good deal of experience in providing training and supervision to beginning mental health practitioners. He has a strong interest in human relationships and the broader social context. For several years he was the program director in the first ward in a house for very chronic patients. Part of his practice has been couple therapy which began in his clinical training with the treatment of psychosexual problems where the management of anxiety is central.