There is increasing recognition that dementia in people under 65 years represents a unique challenge to sufferers and services alike. However, by either ignoring this population or sampling them together with older adults, current research has failed to reflect this. This study explored the specific experience of living and coping with Alzheimer's disease in younger life from the perspective of those diagnosed. Semi-structured interviews were analysed using interpretive phenomenological analysis, and four themes were identified: 'disruption of the life-cycle', 'identity', 'social orientation' and 'agency'. The experience of living and coping with young onset Alzheimer's disease was strongly situated within an individual's social context. Most significantly, participants felt too young to develop the disease and felt out of time with age-related psychological tasks. Coping strategies that attempted to redress and normalise the life-cycle were identified. The contributions of the study are discussed in the context of the human development literature.
CAT was seen as an active and emotional experience facilitated by a trusting and collaborative therapeutic relationship. The CAT reformulation was seen as important but only when embedded within this context. Whilst, this was a small study theoretical generalizations are discussed about the process of change and further clinical and research recommendations are presented.
Asthma is a life-threatening and disabling condition in which medication is the major form of management. However, there is widespread evidence that asthmatic patients do not comply with their medical regimens which increases the likelihood of relapse, crisis, hospital admission and can represent a threat to the patient's life. A phenomenological qualitative study was designed which integrated the framework of cognitive analytic therapy. The aim was to explore those factors that influenced the self-care regimens of asthma sufferers. Thirty-five patients were interviewed and three patterns of 'non-compliance' were identified. The clinical implications are discussed. The paper concludes with comments on the contribution of psychotherapeutic tools as a means of understanding 'risky' patient behaviours.
This paper reports a qualitative, idiographic study, which intensively examines a multidisciplinary team of clinicians' subjective understandings and experiences of treating young people with anorexia nervosa. The study employs semi-structured interviews and interpretative phenomenological analysis, these methods enabling individual clinicians' perspectives to be explored in depth and retained within the analysis. The analysis focuses on the salient higher-order theme of control which emerges as central to understanding the treatment of the anorexic child. Three control-related themes are used to illustrate the multiplicity of meanings and experiences which are relevant to this team of health-care professionals. It is suggested that this paper makes three important contributions to the current eating disorder literature: illuminating the multi-faceted nature of the construct control; highlighting the importance of therapists' subjective understandings and experiences; and illustrating the value of qualitative methods for clinically relevant research. In recent years, researchers and clinicians alike have repeatedly reported widespread concern regarding the increase in incidence of the eating disorders anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, especially within Western populations (Gordon, 1990). It is now well established that an alarming proportion of young women experience problems with weight, food and body image (Fallon, Katzman and Wooley, 1994), and recent research also indicates that increasing numbers of children (Lask and Bryant-Waugh, 1993), men (Andersen, 1990) and older women (Cosford and
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