Peter Beazley

• BA (Oxon) DClinPsy [IoP, KCL]
• Clinical Associate Professor at University of East Anglia

There has been limited research considering how different types of mental health information can influence juror decisions of guilt. The present study adopted an experimental methodology in which the amount of mental health information presented to contextualise an alleged offence of Criminal Damage was varied. Participants (n=243) were randomly as...

Background and Objectives: The Attribution Questionnaire (AQ-27) is a widely used measure of public mental illness stigma. The AQ-27 was originally developed in the USA in the English language. Since its inception in 2003, several translations of the measure have been produced. This is the first review to explore the use of translated versions of t...

In this analysis article, Peter Beazley examines trends in the size of the mental health workforce in comparison to population growth and the overall NHS clinical workforce in different regions across England.

The Historical-Clinical-Risk Management-20 Version 3 (HCR-20 V3) is a violence risk assessment tool that has been insufficiently studied in women. Existing reviews provide limited information on women's characteristics and clinical presentations. This review explores the profiles of women assessed with the HCR-20 V3. Five databases were searched an...

Background: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) has been proven to be effective for anxiety and depression in children and young people (CYP). Over the past 20 years there have been several attempts at delivering CBT through apps, online software, videogames, but also with a therapist via phone or videoconferencing platforms, with promising results...

Background Over the past 3 years, a multitude of studies have highlighted the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of children and young people (CYP). In this umbrella review, we synthesise global evidence on the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of CYP from existing systematic reviews with and/or without meta-analysis. Metho...

The recent Draft Mental Health Bill for England and Wales proposes changes to the Mental Health Act 1983 which will include, for the first time, a legal definition of autism. This article explores the specific potential issue that the definition, owing to its breadth, potentially encompasses a number of conditions other than autism, consequently le...

The alternative model for personality disorder (AMPD) is currently included in Section III of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5). This review sought to summarize the literature concerning the interrater reliability (IRR) of the AMPD. Despite high heterogeneity, meta-analysis provided tentative support...

The Draft Mental Health Bill for England and Wales proposes a range of changes to the Mental Health Act 1983. Among these is a proposal to amend the definition of ‘Mental Disorder’, which would mean that people with a primary diagnosis of autism or learning disability would be excluded from most of the civil sections of the Act. If enacted, this wi...

Purpose: An open group intervention for stroke inpatients, based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, is evaluated using retrospective clinical service data. Materials and methods: Participants were included unless severely unwell or unable to provide informed consent. 117 participants attended at least two sessions in a non-controlled, repeate...

Introduction: The efficacy of psychological interventions delivered under the Mental Health Act (MHA) (1983) in England and Wales is unclear. While meta-analyses have reviewed acute and forensic psychological interventions in wider geographical areas, there has been no review specifically in the unique MHA context. Aim: A systematic review was c...

Background: It has been suggested that the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (BPD) is associated with particularly stigmatizing connotations, particularly among mental health professionals. The goal of this study was to synthesize quantitative studies investigating the attitudes and responses of clinicians to BPD and to appraise the met...

Stigmatic attitudes appear to vary across different mental health diagnoses, and offenders with mental illness have been shown to elicit more negative stigmatic attitudes than offenders without mental illness. Stigma and discrimination can have detrimental effects on an individual's recovery, treatment and even employment opportunities. This system...

Malingering – the feigning of mental or physical health symptoms for external gain – is a significant problem for clinicians, the courts, and society. For clinicians working in mental health settings, it is a complex task to differentiate malingered presentations from genuine ones, with a range of potential legal and ethical questions facing the cl...

Stigma is an established consequence of the Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) diagnosis. This diagnosis is subject to revision in the International Classification of Diseases–11th Revision (ICD–11). Using the legal issue of diminished responsibility, this study applied an experimental mock-jury methodology to explore the impact of diagnostic st...

Background Despite the established evidence base of psychological interventions in treating PTSD in children and young people, concern that these trauma-focused treatments may ‘retraumatise’ patients or exacerbate symptoms and cause dropout has been identified as a barrier to their implementation. Dropout from treatment is indicative of its relativ...

Aim Pathways to care are well studied in the First Episode Psychosis field, but less attention has been given to At‐Risk Mental States or prodromal psychosis. This is important because accessing appropriate help at the earliest opportunity is likely to improve outcomes, particularly for those who make transition to psychosis. The present systematic...

Introduction: Contemporary qualitative research has explored service users' experience of seclusion and have found it to be a highly distressing and potentially traumatising experience for service users. The majority of the existing literature has researched seclusion within the context of other restrictive practices, resulting in findings that ca...

Accessible summary What is known on the subject? Seclusion involves isolating a patient in a room away from other patients in order to contain aggressive behaviour, and it is used in psychiatric hospitals. Research has found that seclusion is often viewed by patients as negative; however, there is limited in‐depth understanding of the deeply perso...

The SCQ is a widely used screening measure for the assessment of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, its sensitivity and specificity when used with older children in the context of community Child & Adolescent Mental Health services is unclear. Seventy-seven (Mean age = 12.8 years) young people with suspected ASD were screened using parent- an...

The HCR-20 is established as the de-facto tool for the assessment of violence risk within forensic psychiatric services. Although much has been written about the value of the tool, less has been written about the practicalities of achieving meaningful completion of HCR-20 assessments at a service level. The present paper seeks to review recommendat...

s a clinical psychologist working in an in-patient psychiatric setting, I am fully supportive of the principles behind the recovery model (or recovery approach) in the treatment of severe mental health problems. As such, I am fully supportive of efforts to ensure that the recovery approach is at the heart of the service delivery. I have observed t...

Although a number of effective treatments are available for patients on inpatient psychiatric units, the motivation of patients to engage with these treatments is frequently poor. Unmotivated patients may be more likely to drop out of treatment, or discontinue treatment after discharge. The present study examined the relationship of depression and...

Introduction: Buprenorphine is being used increasingly as an alternative treatment to methadone in the treatment of heroin misuse. Aim: We sought to obtain patients' views regarding the two medications and test the hypothesis that buprenorphine has a better reputation and is therefore preferred by patients. Method: Patients receiving treatment in C...