“I used to think that they were all abnormal. And I was the normal one”: conceptualizing mental health and mental health treatment under Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT)

Article


Mackinnon, Jessica and Murphy, H. 2016. “I used to think that they were all abnormal. And I was the normal one”: conceptualizing mental health and mental health treatment under Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT). Journal of Mental Health.
AuthorsMackinnon, Jessica and Murphy, H.
Abstract

Background: Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) was introduced in the United Kingdom in 2006 to provide more effective and efficient services to people experiencing mild to moderate mental ill health. The model represents a paradigm shift in how we provide psychological care to large populations.
Aims: We wanted to document how the IAPT programme impacted on patients’ understanding of their mental health, and mental health treatment.
Methods: We used Foucauldian Discourse Analysis to analyse six semi-structured research interviews with patients from one IAPT service in a major UK city.
Results: Participants constructed their mental health problems as individual pathologies. Constructions of mental health and of treatment evidenced the privileging of personal responsibility and social productivity over dependency on others and the state.
Conclusions: Services are functioning well for some. The role of IAPT in pathologising those who are dependent on people and services requires further commentary and action.
Declaration of interest: The first author was employed by the same organisation that delivered the IAPT service, although through a separate staffing and management line.

JournalJournal of Mental Health
ISSN1360-0567
0963-8237
Year2016
PublisherTaylor & Francis
Accepted author manuscript
Web address (URL)http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/09638237.2015.1124396
Publication dates
Print13 Jan 2016
Publication process dates
Deposited20 Jan 2016
Accepted19 Oct 2015
Copyright informationThis is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Mental Health on 13.01.16, available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/10.3109/09638237.2015.1124396
Permalink -

https://repository.uel.ac.uk/item/852v8

Download files

  • 171
    total views
  • 612
    total downloads
  • 1
    views this month
  • 1
    downloads this month

Export as

Related outputs

Becoming Australian: a review of southern Sudanese students’ educational experiences
Sellars, Maura and Murphy, H. 2017. Becoming Australian: a review of southern Sudanese students’ educational experiences. International Journal of Inclusive Education. 22 (5), pp. 490-509. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2017.1373308
Just another ordinary bad birth? A narrative analysis of first time mothers' traumatic birth experiences
Murphy, H. and Strong, Joanna 2018. Just another ordinary bad birth? A narrative analysis of first time mothers' traumatic birth experiences. Health Care for Women International. 39 (6), pp. 619-643. https://doi.org/10.1080/07399332.2018.1442838
“I just can’t, I am frightened for my safety, I don’t know how to work with her” Practitioners’ experiences of client violence and recommendations for future practice
Murphy, H. and Jussab, Fardin 2015. “I just can’t, I am frightened for my safety, I don’t know how to work with her” Practitioners’ experiences of client violence and recommendations for future practice. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice. 46 (4), pp. 287-297.
‘To me, it's like a little box of tricks’: Breaking the depressive interlock as a programme participant in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy
Murphy, H. and Lahtinen, Marika 2014. ‘To me, it's like a little box of tricks’: Breaking the depressive interlock as a programme participant in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice. 88 (2), pp. 210-226.