Psychologists' experience of working with people who hear voices and their views on the idea of voice simulation training: A qualitative study.

Objectives: Research indicates psychologists typically lack subjective understanding of voice hearing. Voice hearing simulation training has potential to improve understanding, empathy and confidence among clinicians, but psychologists have had limited input into its development. This study investigated psychologists' and a psychotherapist's clinical experience of working with people who hear voices and their views and recommendations for voice hearing simulation training.

Digitally Enhanced Psychological Assessment and Treatment of Paranoia: A Systematic Review.

Background: Paranoia is relatively common but can lead to significant distress, impairment and need for care. Digital technologies offer a valuable extension to service provision and are increasingly being integrated into healthcare. This systematic review evaluated feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of digitally enhanced psychological assessments and treatments for paranoia across the paranoia continuum (PROSPERO: CRD42023393257).

Integrating a virtual reality relaxation clinic within acute psychiatric services: A pilot study.

People with acute psychiatric conditions experience heightened stress, which is associated with worsened symptoms and increased violence on psychiatric wards. Traditional stress management techniques can be challenging for patients. Virtual reality (VR) relaxation appears promising to reduce stress; however, research on VR for psychiatric wards is limited.

Virtual reality and immersive technologies to promote workplace wellbeing: a systematic review.

Background: Work-related stress negatively impacts employee wellbeing. Stress-management interventions that reduce workplace stress can be challenging. Immersive technologies, such as virtual reality (VR), may provide an alternative.

Videoconference-based Creativity Workshops for mental health staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: COVID-19 presented significant challenges to psychiatric staff, while social distancing and remote working necessitated digital communications. NHS England prioritised staff wellbeing. Arts-based creativity interventions appear to improve psychological wellbeing, so this study evaluated online Creativity Workshops as a staff support response for COVID-19-related stress.

Virtual reality relaxation for people with mental health conditions: a systematic review.

Purpose: Vulnerability to stress is linked to poor mental health. Stress management interventions for people with mental health conditions are numerous but they are difficult to implement and have limited effectiveness in this population. Virtual reality (VR) relaxation is an innovative intervention that aims to reduce stress.

Virtual reality-based training for mental health staff: a novel approach to increase empathy, compassion, and subjective understanding of service user experience.

Background: Mental health service users report that staff empathy is key to developing positive therapeutic relationships but promoting empathy in staff training is challenging. Staff may struggle to maintain their compassion, particularly in challenging settings, and have limited clinical confidence when treating conditions of which they lack subjective understanding. Novel interventions are required to address these needs.

Synthesis of the Evidence on What Works for Whom in Telemental Health: Rapid Realist Review.

Background: Telemental health (delivering mental health care via video calls, telephone calls, or SMS text messages) is becoming increasingly widespread. Telemental health appears to be useful and effective in providing care to some service users in some settings, especially during an emergency restricting face-to-face contact, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. However, important limitations have been reported, and telemental health implementation risks the reinforcement of pre-existing inequalities in service provision.

A myth-busting mental health tour of the National Gallery in London: Facilitators and challenges to its development and evaluation.

This paper describes a mental health-awareness audio tour of the National Gallery, London, and evaluates the development and implementation of the tour. This smartphone-based audio tour was co-produced by Gallery staff, young people with lived experience of mental health issues, academics, and technologists. Interviews (N = 22) were conducted with developers and data-collectors (who had gathered feedback from Gallery visitors who undertook the tour) with responses analysed thematically.

Character Strength-Focused Positive Psychotherapy on Acute Psychiatric Wards: A Feasibility and Acceptability Study.

Objective: A manualized single-session positive psychotherapy intervention was developed and tested on acute psychiatric wards.

Methods: Participants were invited in 2018-2019 to identify positive experiences, link them to a personal character strength, and plan a strengths-based activity. The intervention's feasibility was evaluated through fidelity to session components, character strengths identification, and activity completion.

Impact on public attitudes of a mental health audio tour of the National Gallery in London.

Aim: The arts have the potential to increase public awareness about mental health and reduce stigma. However, arts-based projects to raise awareness have been small-scale. In this study, a mental health-awareness audio tour of The National Gallery in London was co-produced and narrated by young adults with relevant lived experience.

Staff experience of team case formulation to address challenging behaviour on acute psychiatric wards: a mixed-methods study.

Background: Team case formulation on acute psychiatric wards aims to support staff to manage significant levels of challenging behaviour. However, there is limited research on staff experience of case formulation in this setting.

Aim: This study aimed to investigate staff experience of team case formulation sessions on acute psychiatric wards and their impact on staff wellbeing.

Therapeutic engagement in robot-assisted psychological interventions: A systematic review.

Purpose: Therapeutic engagement is a key component of psychological interventions. Robot-assisted psychological interventions appear to have therapeutic benefits for service users that are challenging to engage. However, engagement with robots in robot-assisted psychological interventions is not well understood.

Virtual reality-based assessment and treatment of social functioning impairments in psychosis: a systematic review.

People with psychosis can experience social functioning impairments. Virtual reality (VR) has been used to assess and treat these difficulties. This systematic review (Prospero CRD42015026288) provides an evaluation of these VR applications.

Virtual reality relaxation for the general population: a systematic review.

Purpose: Relaxation has significant restorative properties and implications for public health. However, modern, busy lives leave limiting time for relaxation. Virtual reality (VR) experiences of pleasant and calming virtual environments, accessed with a head-mounted display (HMD), appear to promote relaxation.

Single-session Comprehend, Cope, and Connect intervention in acute and crisis psychology: A feasibility and acceptability study.

Comprehend, Cope, and Connect (CCC) is a third-wave cognitive behavioural approach developed for acute mental health services. The aim of this study was to assess feasibility and acceptability of a newly developed, manualized single-session CCC intervention delivered face-to-face with service users in acute and crisis psychology services in South London. The study adopted a within-subjects pre-post-test design.

Subjective experience of paranoid ideation in a virtual reality social environment: A mixed methods cross-sectional study.

Virtual reality-assisted cognitive-behavioural therapy (VR-CBT) has potential to support people who experience paranoid ideation in social settings. However, virtual reality (VR) research using overt social environments is limited, and lack of qualitative studies on paranoid ideation in VR restricts understanding. This study aimed to use predominantly qualitative methods to investigate subjective experience of paranoia in VR and identify target domains for VR-CBT.

Calcifying Pseudoneoplasm of the Neuraxis, Cerebellum and Cognition: A Rare Opportunity to Learn More.

Calcifying pseudoneoplasms of the neuraxis (CAPNON) are rare tumours. We describe a CAPNON in the posterior fossa and its associated neuropsychological sequelae to provide further evidence for the role of cerebellum in cognitive function. We report the clinical details, imaging, pre-operative neuropsychological assessment, histological features and management of a patient with such a tumour in the posterior fossa location.

Factors Affecting Sense of Presence in a Virtual Reality Social Environment: A Qualitative Study.

Sense of presence is an important factor influencing the quality of the virtual reality (VR) experience. However, there is limited understanding of what factors affect presence in virtual environments. This study uses a qualitative methodology, specifically thematic analysis, to investigate factors affecting sense of presence in a VR social environment that has been designed for psychological assessment.

Protective Factors for Early Psychotic Phenomena Among Children of Mothers With Psychosis.

Early identification of sub-clinical psychotic experiences in at-risk individuals is vital to prevent the development of psychosis, even before prodromal symptoms emerge. A widely-replicated risk factor is having a family member with psychosis. The Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study has shown that better cognitive functioning, a stimulating family environment, and a cohesive community, are protective against psychotic experiences among children; while engaging in physical activity, social support, and a cohesive community are protective for adolescents.

Impact of an auditory hallucinations simulation on trainee and newly qualified clinical psychologists: A mixed-methods cross-sectional study.

Simulation training is an effective teaching tool enabling learners to gain a subjective understanding of a range of skills. Our aim in this study was to pilot and evaluate a newly designed simulation of auditory hallucinations as a future training tool for clinicians. This was a mixed-methods study in two parts.

Using Virtual Reality to Assess Associations Between Paranoid Ideation and Components of Social Performance: A Pilot Validation Study.

Virtual reality (VR) enables the real-time assessment of paranoid ideation and of associated social performance. In this two-phase study, we aimed to recruit a general population sample to investigate the association between trait paranoia and cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components of social performance. In phase 1, a general population online survey (N = 609) investigated how trait paranoia related to fear of negative evaluation (FNE), interpersonal sensitivity, social avoidance and distress (SAD), mood, and demographic characteristics.

Development, implementation and evaluation of Altered States of Consciousness: an immersive art exhibition designed to increase public awareness of psychotic experiences.

Background: The arts can increase public awareness of mental health. Stigma about psychosis remains high despite common occurrences of psychotic experiences in the general population (e.g.

Altered States of Consciousness: Evaluation of a voice-hearing simulation during an immersive art exhibition.

Aim: To improve public understanding of the subjective experience of auditory hallucinations and increase empathy towards individuals who hear voices and have other unusual sensory experiences.

Methods: This pilot study developed a new immersive art exhibition, Altered States of Consciousness, which gave members of the public an individualized voice-hearing simulation experience in 2 real-world settings-an art gallery and the London Underground. A total of 150 visitors completed visual analogue scales immediately before and after their experience of the exhibition.