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ARTICLES
A Constituent Member the International Society of Hypnosis (ISH)
A Division of the Psychological South Africa (PsySSA)
Most active PsySSA division 2002 - Get a piece of the action!
Public interest in hypnotherapy in South Africa continues to grow!
This is partly due to limited funds available from medical aid
societies and a need for quicker relief from stress and tension.
SASCH is a very active division - and was awarded a
commendation in September 2002, at the National Psychology
Congress, for being the most active division of the Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA).
In keeping with this, SASCH has long been involved in attempts
to establish a specialist register for appropriately trained
psychologists. It appears that this dream is now coming to fruition!
Earlier this year, Dr Ann Watts addressed the Professional Board of Psychology on this issue, and formally presented the training courses of SASCH and the SA Clinical Neuropsychology Association to the Board, as proposed models of training for a proposed specialist registration!
SASCH offers training courses in four modalities of clinical hypnosis:
Traditional Clinical Hypnosis, Egostate Therapy, Eriksonian Therapy and Medical Hypnoanalysis – at elementary, intermediate and advanced level. This offers the broadest and most complete training in clinical hypnosis available from any single body anywhere internationally! In addition to this, various workshops on a variety of topics of interest to psycho- and hypnotherapists are presented annually.
At present, the Society is organizing a two day international
congress on clinical hypnosis to be presented during September 2003, as a prelude to the national psychological congress organized by the Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA). One of the specific aims of the congress, is to attract international delegates to attend the PsySSA congress to learn from psychologists and students in SA. Topics on which papers will be presented include hypnosis and psycho-somatic disease, trauma counselling, pain control and medical disorders, hypnosis with children, as well as marriage and family counselling in hypnosis.
The congress will be hosted in colaboration with the
Neuropsychology Division, of PsySSA, who will present one leg
of the programme.
This congress will take place in Marloth Park, a game reserve cum residential area directly adjoining Kruger National Park. Delegates will have the opportunity of attending a congress, with the roar of lions in the background and kudus grazing nearby! There will also be opportunities for therapist enrichment combined with adventure walks in the game reserve.
Accommodation will be arranged in lodges in Marloth Park. A
programme for spouses and family will also be arranged. A precongress tour for international delegates prior to the congress, including visits for delegates, spouses and family to Soweto and other places of interest in Johannesburg and Mpumalanga (including the Kruger National Park), is envisaged.
Further information will be available from January 2003 on the
SASCH website: www.sasch.co.za, or by e-mail from Kathy at the SASCH head-office: sasch@icon.co.za.
INDEMNITY FOR PSYCHOLOGISTS
For just R200 per year, PsySSA members will get professional indemnity cover for R2.5m, with no excess payable on claims. Cover includes negligence, malpractice, legal representation and costs, defamation, as well as claims against locums and employees. PsySSA President Terry Mashego says “This specially designed professional indemnity insurance is the most comprehensive and inexpensive on the market that is available for psychologists” and assures members that this cover will not stop the current services provided to PsySSA members such as the Ethics Committee and Ethics Workshops.
News from the ITC and about CBT
The International Test Commission (ITC) held a very successful conference on computer-based (CBT) and internet testing in Winchester in June this year. Flowing from this conference, Dave Bartram is heading up a project to develop international guidelines for CBT. Visit the ITC web site (www.intestcom.org) to get more details on the ITC and its projects and the development of the CBT guidelines.
Following on from the ITC conference and based on a couple of papers related to CBT that were presented at the recent PsySSA conference, it is clear that we need to seriously dialogue regarding good practices when using CBT in South Africa. We need practice guidelines regarding specific issues and challenges in CBT, assessment practitioners’ responsibilities, challenges and responsibilities related to test-takers, and test development and distribution. When it comes to CBT and Internet testing guidelines for assessment practitioners, guidelines would need to spell out that practitioners should at least:
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New Mental Health Bill
New Mental Health legislation was passed by Parliament in May 2002, and will be enacted once the Minister of Health has signed regulations for the Act and once people in provinces have been trained and processes put in place to carry out the provisions of the legislation. The new law will come into effect later this year or early next year.
The process of drafting and passing the legislation was a long and sometimes difficult one, which started in 1997 when representatives from a number of key stakeholders met in Pretoria to discuss what was wrong with the existing legislation and what the key elements of new legislation should be. PsySSA was one of the core organizations from the earliest stages and was represented by Dr Saths Cooper. A first draft was then drawn up and circulated to the core group. After initials inputs had been incorporated, the Bill was circulated at various draft stages to a widening circle of stakeholders and very significant and wide-ranging input was received. Eventually, a reasonable degree of consensus was reached and in February 2000 the Bill was published in the Government Gazette for public comment. Another round of important comments were received and integrated.
The Bill was then thoroughly discussed and debated by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health. All political parties other than the ACDP (who objected on the basis of one clause with regard to state patients) supported the Bill, signifying that the human rights values underpinning the legislation was widely endorsed. The Select Committee of the National Council of Provinces then debated the Bill and it was also referred to all Provincial Legislatures for provincial comment and endorsement. Certain amendments proposed by the Department of Justice were incorporated at this stage. The Bill was then referred back to the National Assembly, where it was finally passed.
Some of the important changes for Psychologists include that Clinical and Counselling Psychologists may conduct mental health status examinations to determine whether a person should receive “assisted” or “involuntary” care. Such examinations were previously the sole domain of the medical profession. Psychologists may also be members of Mental Health Review Boards, which will, inter alia, decide whether a person can be kept as an involuntary user. An application for the discharge of state patients also requires that a Clinical Psychologist’s report be submitted if such an assessment has been done.
The regulations will be published for public comment for three months and PsySSA will post them on our website as soon as they become available. All PsySSA members are urged to study them and make representation to the National Department of Health, which regards this as just the beginning of a new mental health era in South Africa.
• Ensure that they have the competence to use CBTs.
• Decide on the potential utility of the CBT.
• Choose a technically sound CBT.
• Check for equivalence of paper-based (PBT)
and CBT versions.
• Give consideration to human factors and
issues of fairness when using a CBT.
• Prepare test-takers appropriately.
• Verify the identity of test-takers (especially
when doing Internet testing).
• Administer CBTs properly.
• Have contingency plans if technology fails.
• Ensure that CBT materials are securely
stored.
• Check the computer scoring system and the
accuracy of the classification system used to
generate reports
• Interpret results appropriately and be aware of
the limitations of CB test interpretations(CBTI)
• Ensure that the results are securely stored.
• Debrief test-takers
In future editions of PsyTalk, some thoughts can be shared regarding good practice guidelines related to other stakeholders (e.g., test developers and distributors, test-takers). If anyone would like to form part of a group that can dialogue on CBT matters and inform policy-making in this regard in South Africa, please contact me at pyacdf@upe.ac.za
Cheryl Foxcroft (ITC Council member)
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