Associate Professor Vijaya Manicavasagar
Associate Professor Vijaya Manicavasagar, Director of Psychological Services and Director of the Psychology Clinic, Black Dog Institute, University of New South Wales, BSc. Psyhology (Hons), M Psychology (Hons), PhD to present Keynote at the 16th International Mental Health Conference being held at QT Hotel, Surfers Paradise Thursday 13 August to Friday 14 August 2015.
Presentation Title Psychological Interventions and Treatments: Future Directions
Overview
This talk focuses on recent developments in psychological interventions including interest in therapies derived from religious and alternate philosophies such as Buddhism (mindfulness meditations) and Hinduism (Yoga) as well as the growing popularity of positive psychology - especially in the youth space in order to increase resilience and wellbeing. Another new area in psychology is in the use of Animal Assisted Therapies (AAT) to improve social, emotional, or cognitive functioning in humans.
This talk also touches on innovative ways in which ‘traditional’ psychological interventions have been adapted to deal with the issues of improving access to the most vulnerable and/or marginalised members of the community, and reducing overall costs such as through the development and adoption of eHealth initiatives. Other challenges include the economic costs of developing new evidence-based treatments and meeting the training and supervision needs of clinicians especially in rural and remote areas.
Finally, this talk attempts to highlight tensions between the need to use evidence-based treatments, the speed at which the therapeutic landscape is changing and the demand to adopt innovative (and popular) interventions. In conclusion, we as clinicians need to exercise our clinical and professional judgement on which psychological interventions we choose to use and how we choose to apply them in order to effect the greatest therapeutic change amongst our clients.
To read Associate Professor Vijaya Manicavasagar's bio or for links to her research please click here.
