The Claybury community psychiatric nurse (CPN) stress study collected data on stress levels in 250 CPNs and 323 ward-based psychiatric nurses (WBPN) in the North East Thames region. Four out of 10 CPNs were found to be experiencing high levels of psychological distress on GHQ scores. Whilst both CPNs and WBPNs scored highly on scores of occupational burnout, especially on emotional exhaustion scores, WBPNs scored worse on emotional detachment from their patients and were achieving less personal fulfilment from their work. Both groups of nurses were more satisfied with direct patient clinical work than with their employment conditions, particularly their working environments and, for CPNs, their relationships with their managers. The different patterns of coping skills are explored and discussed for both groups of nurses, especially the use of social support, time management and organization of tasks. The study concludes that whilst major changes are occurring in the psychiatric arena for both groups of nurses, stress is reaping its toll on mental health nurses, in terms of higher absence rates, lower self-esteem and personal unfulfilment. This could not only affect the quality of patient care but also future career prospects for nurses. The study invites serious consideration of introducing stress-reducing measures in the work-place as well as further research into specific stressors for different groups of nurses.

The authors critically review the main strategies that false-memory proponents have used to challenge the admissibility of testimony regarding recovered abuse memories in the courts: that the laboratory evidence fails to prove the existence of repression, that people rarely forget trauma, and that scientific studies claiming amnesia for trauma and abuse are fraught with a variety of methodological weaknesses. False-memory proponents who have advanced these arguments have made serious logical errors in their arguments and have misused the available scientific evidence. The authors review 68 data-based studies specifically on amnesia and later recovery of memories for childhood sexual abuse, each of which presents evidence favoring amnesia and recovered memories for sexual abuse in certain individuals. These studies were conducted using a variety of methodological approaches and progressive improvements in research design that addressed and answered each criticism advanced by false-memory proponents. These studies also include a number of recent studies using a clarifying interview strategy that demonstrated that the mechanisms operative in substantial forgetting and later recovery of abuse memories typically include a mixture of dissociative amnesia, cognitive avoidance, and misappraisal of the abuse, and rarely include ordinary forgetting. Data-based studies on the accuracy of recovered memories have demonstrated that recovered memories are no more or less accurate than continuous memories of childhood abuse and generally are reliable, except when a specific pattern of suggestive influences may have contaminated the memory. The authors offer a set of evidentiary criteria by which the court can assess suggestive influences. The authors also review the Frye-Daubert standards that have been applied in the courts. They argue that the current weight of the available scientific evidence on amnesia for childhood sexual abuse clearly meets the Daubert standards of admissibility.

In this paper we present data from three research studies on stress, coping and burnout in mental health nurses. All three studies used a range of self report questionnaires. Measures included a demographic checklist, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28), the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the DCL Stress Scale and the Cooper Coping Skills Scale. In all, 648 ward based mental health nurses were surveyed. There were no significant differences between levels of psychological distress on GHQ Total Score, but there were differences in caseness rates. In Study 3, some 38% of nurses were found to score at or above the criterion for caseness. The main stressors for ward staff were to do with staff shortages, health service changes, poor morale and not being notified of changes before they occurred. Differences in coping skills were found across studies. The study group with the highest stress scores also had the lowest coping skills scores. This was also associated with significantly higher alcohol consumption and greater self reported sickness absence. Scores on the Maslach Burnout Inventory showed higher levels of burnout amongst nurses in Study 3. These three studies have confirmed that stress is a problem for ward based mental health nurses. Two main implications arise from this work. Firstly we need models of the stress process that are empirically based, and which help us identify the moderating variables that reduce the impact of stressors on nurses. Secondly, we need to utilise this knowledge to deliver stress management interventions for staff. We end by outlining a model which may help us both understand the process of stress causation, and move towards our goal of stress reduction.

Limitation of the concept of dissociation to structural dividedness of the personality sets it apart from related but non-dissociative phenomena and provides a taxonomy of dissociative symptoms. It postulates a common psychobiological pathway for all trauma-related disorders. Trauma-related dissociation is maintained by integrative deficits and phobic avoidance. This conceptualization advances diagnosis, classification, treatment and research of trauma-related disorders.

The pseudomemory (PM) debate has focused on individuals who do not remember sexual abuse and later recover these memories, often in therapy. This paper critically reviews experimental research on stress and memory and on suggestibility and memory in terms of its applicability to PM production in therapy. Three different kinds of suggestibility are identified--hypnotizability, postevent misinformation suggestibility, and interrogatory suggestibility. It is hypothesized that interrogatory suggestibility alone or the interaction of all three pose significant risk for PM production. It is argued that a better standard of science is needed before claims can be made about PM production in therapy, since no experimental studies have been conducted on memory performance or suggestibility effects in therapy. However, the findings derived from memory research on other populations, nevertheless, are useful to inform the standard of care in treating recovered memory patients.