Kevin Dyer

• Lecturer at Queen's University Belfast

Objective: Psychological trauma is a pervasive, influential antecedent in a variety of mental health presentations; however, the comparative reliability and validity of long-standing self-report trauma history batteries remain unclear despite recent developments in trauma assessment. The present study employed both clinical and nonclinical samples...

Alongside the recognized potential negative repercussions of working as a psychological therapist, there is growing interest in the potential positive impacts of engaging in such work. The current study used a cross‐sectional online survey design to explore the impact of a range of demographic, work‐related, and compassion‐related factors on levels...

Background The psychological therapies service (PTS) in the Northern Health and Social Care Trust, in Northern Ireland, provides therapies to adults with moderate or severe mental health difficulties. Psychometric outcomes data are routinely collected to assess if a patient demonstrates significant improvement in their main presenting problem area...

Background: Cross-sectional studies have shown that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the mental health of healthcare staff. However, it is less well understood how working over the long term in successive COVID-19 waves affects staff well-being. Aims: To identify subpopulations within the health and social care staff workfor...

Background: Healthcare staff represent a high-risk group for mental health difficulties as a result of their role during the COVID-19 pandemic. A number of wellbeing initiatives have been implemented to support this population, but remain largely untested in terms of their impact on both the recipients and providers of supports. Objective: To exami...

This study examined the relationship between posttraumatic stress and posttraumatic growth (PTG), as well as the role of wider trauma-related factors, demographic characteristics, and trauma appraisals in the development of PTG. This cross-sectional study used a quantitative survey methodology. An opportunity sample of 85 trauma-exposed adults (56...

Objectives: With the acceptance of Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Complex PTSD) as a recognized diagnosis, supporters of unimodal approaches to traditional PTSD (e.g., trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapies) claim that these modalities should be extended to Complex PTSD, whereas other practitioners stress the need for more gradual p...

Background Throughout the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, health and social care workers have faced unprecedented professional demands, all of which are likely to have placed considerable strain on their psychological well-being. Aims To measure the national prevalence of mental health symptoms within healthcare staff, and identify i...

Public speaking anxiety (PSA) is a prevalent condition which is highly interrelated with social anxiety. PSA can be effectively treated with exposure therapy. Virtual reality exposure therapy (VRET) is increasingly being explored as a novel and cost-effective mode of treatment. No previous randomized controlled trial has examined whether stand-alon...

Attentional biases have been overlooked as a treatment focus in CBT practice. This pilot study examined patterns of attentional bias in an OCD clinical sample with a view to understanding the key mechanisms in order to inform assessment and intervention. It was hypothesised that individuals with OCD would demonstrate vigilance, delayed disengagemen...

Background Whilst data-driven processing (DDP) during trauma has been shown to play a role in poor memory integration and is associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) re-experiencing symptoms, the pre-trauma risk factors and related cognitive mechanisms are uncertain. Aims This experimental study aimed to investigate predictors of peri...

It has been suggested that treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) be framed within a staged or phase-oriented model, particularly in cases of increased trauma symptom severity and complex PTSD. However, ambiguity remains around this model’s definition and efficacy. The present literature review aimed to examine the efficacy of treatmen...

Rates of posttraumatic stress are elevated in individuals who have experienced childhood and/or cumulative trauma, and trauma appraisals have been suggested as a possible mediator of this effect. This study tested the proposed mediating role of trauma appraisals between both childhood and cumulative trauma, and two markers of trauma-related distres...

Objective: Cognitive models posit negative trauma appraisals as maintaining symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder. Recent research has demonstrated that alienation appraisals (feeling disconnected from the self and others) are salient in trauma-related distress. Studies show that alienation appraisals fully mediated the relationship between tra...

Background The Salkovskis (1999) model of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), which emphasizes the role of inflated responsibility, has proven highly influential in both the understanding and treatment of OCD. Aims This study aimed to empirically test several core processes of this model. Method The individual components of the model were measur...

Objective: Exposure to traumatic events is prevalent, with the impact of trauma and its relationship with other conditions widely documented. Research suggests that clinicians do not routinely ask about trauma history in clinical settings. Trauma-related training has been recommended as a means of addressing this. Neither the impact of training on...

This study used interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to explore the lived experiences of five individuals diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) who underwent a group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) intervention program to address their symptoms. Two master themes were identified: experiences and processes of change and ref...

Dyslexia has been associated with a range of psychological well-being issues in childhood. However, it is unclear if these difficulties stem from coping with academic struggles at school, or from other pre-existing diagnoses that sometimes co-occur with dyslexia. Using UK Millennium Cohort Study data (n = 7224) from 2003 to 2011, the present study...

This investigation aimed to examine how specific client characteristics of individuals with chronic, complex trauma are associated with the type of coping strategies that they use and the quality of the therapeutic alliance. Fifty-nine adult participants with diagnostic levels of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and who attended therapy for com...

Cognitive models of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) place an emphasis on the role of negative appraisals of traumatic events. It is suggested that the way in which the event is appraised determines the extent to which posttraumatic stress symptoms will be experienced. Therefore, a strong relationship between trauma appraisals and symptoms of P...

Objectives: Elevated shame and dissociation are common in dissociative identity disorder (DID) and chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and are part of the constellation of symptoms defined as complex PTSD. Previous work examined the relationship between shame, dissociation, and complex PTSD and whether they are associated with intimate re...

Objectives: To conduct a preliminary study comparing different trauma and clinical populations on types of shame coping style and levels of state shame and guilt. Methods: A mixed independent groups/correlational design was employed. Participants were recruited by convenience sampling of 3 clinical populations-complex trauma (n = 65), dissociati...

Background and objectives: Cognitive models suggest that attentional biases are integral in the maintenance of obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS). Such biases have been established experimentally in anxiety disorders; however, the evidence is unclear in Obsessive Compulsive disorder (OCD). In the present study, an eye-tracking methodology was emp...

This study examined levels of mathematics and statistics anxiety, as well as general mental health amongst undergraduate students with dyslexia (n = 28) and those without dyslexia (n = 71). Students with dyslexia had higher levels of mathematics anxiety relative to those without dyslexia, while statistics anxiety and general mental health were comp...

Objectives: This study examined the role of shame coping styles and state shame in predicting the therapeutic alliance and intimate relationship functioning in individuals with mental health problems. Method: A sample of 50 treatment-receiving adults aged 21 to 67 years with a mix of common mental health difficulties was recruited from a clinica...

This study examined the role of prolonged, repeated traumatic experiences such as childhood and sectarian trauma in the development of posttraumatic aggression and self-harm. Forty-four adult participants attending therapy for complex trauma in Northern Ireland were obtained via convenience sampling. When social desirability was controlled, childho...

BACKGROUND: This study examined dissociation, shame, guilt and intimate relationship difficulties in those with chronic and complex PTSD. Little is known about how these symptom clusters interplay within the complex PTSD constellation. Dissociation was examined as a principle organizing construct within complex PTSD. In addition, the impact of sham...

This study examined the contribution of complex posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis and symptomatology to the difficulties of anger, aggression, and self-harm in a Northern Ireland clinical community sample. A "current complex PTSD" (CCPTSD) group (n=11) was compared with a "current PTSD" group (n=31) on self-report measures of these var...

Practice guidelines have long been surrounded by controversy. Despite an almost instinctive outcry against these protocols among many clinicians, current versions provide therapists with considerable freedom, in their practice. This paper examines the utility and possible negative evolution of such guidelines.

Victims and perpetrators of bullying experience a variety of psychological problems. The aim of the current pilot study was to explore the bullying experiences of Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMHS) service-users. The investigation was conducted as a cross-sectional survey at a community-based specialist CAMH service. A modified version of t...

To compare patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) with controls on sub-types of aggression and explore the role of social desirability. Quasi-experimental, matched-participants design. Sixty-nine participants were included in the study. The sample comprised a TBI group (n = 24), a spinal cord injury (SCI) group (n = 21) and an uninjured (UI) gr...