Who says? Presentation for the Women and Psychology Conference Dec 2 nd, 2006 Carmel O’Brien

Types of Reports Family Court Assessment Children’s Court Assessment Forensic Assessment report Clinical Psychological Assessment Victims of Crime T.A.C Workcover Etc

General Report Guidelines Have a clear structure, use headings Use simple, comprehensible language Always write as if your client will read the report. Be complete, not selective. Differentiate information from opinion Give behavioural examples that support your conclusions, and make sure they follow from the material presented. Do not leave anything for the reader to work out Concentrate on quality, not length.

General Principles (1) A woman can define her own problems A woman is not more responsible for the success of a relationship than a man Power imbalances exist in relationships Be aware of social role-typing Support choices about awareness and change Psychology is as important as Biology

General Principles (2) Violence is a choice, caused by the violator Respect is paramount, in note-writing, reports and conversations. Recognise that systems disempower women Be informed about culture and its effects Study women’s issues and lives, and your own attitudes.

Pitfalls (1) Failure to acknowledge context. –Pathologising distress which may better be normalised. –Overlooking the obvious. Failing to take sufficient account of the context in which distress is occurring. Over-Pathologising. –Labels tend to stick 1: Pathologising only, or seeing the behaviour only through the eyes of the diagnosis you have given. There are numerous examples which illustrate that once you have been diagnosed as mad/disturbed, most of your behaviour will be interpreted as originating from the pathology. The diagnosis becomes the context in which behaviours are judged. BPD case. –Labels tend to stick 2: Relying on past diagnosis, and/or taking reports of past diagnosis as fact without investigation, –Failing to investigate/acknowledge progress.

Pitfalls (2) Patriarchal attitudes –In both assessment and recommendation phases. –Insufficient collecting of evidence. The stigma of ‘being mad’. –Relying on past diagnosis, and/or taking reports of past diagnosis as fact without investigation. –Persisting in a view of the person based on original presentation. Review progress. and re-assess. Failing to investigate/acknowledge progress The stigma of ‘not really being mad’. –Not being seen as having a legitimate mental illness. –Not have the ‘right’ to be feeling the distress, eg Work-place stress, grief reactions Recognising the impact of the system. Danger of the label/labeling itself doing harm.