GP events

28 September, 2021

GP Webinar | Radical Openness: Understanding, recognising and responding to over-control in mental health difficulties

St Patrick's Mental Health Services (SPMHS) is hosting a sixth event in our 2021 GP Webinar series on 28 September.

There is growing interest and research into what might underlie certain mental health disorders that are associated with too much control (over-control). People who are over-controlled keep distant from others, are rigid in their patterns and are emotionally inhibited. They often receive a diagnosis of refractory depression, anorexia nervosa, obsessive compulsive personality disorder or avoidant personality disorder, and tend not to respond well to traditional treatments.

Identifying the specific mechanisms that maintain symptoms across disorders is necessary, and over-control represents transdiagnostic and multifaceted constructs that underlie many treatment-resistant forms of psychopathology.

A promising new treatment approach has been developed here at SPMHS, which has been very well received by patients. Group Radical Openness (GRO) is a transdiagnostic group therapy intervention for people who are over-controlled. GRO is a distinct group therapy approach where people themselves become the main agent of change.

The GRO programme focuses on developing insight and awareness into peoples’ over-controlled strategies via the group dynamic and common humanity within the group. Difficulties associated with over-control fall under three core themes that are explicitly addressed in GRO; distance in relationships, rigidity and inhibited emotion.

In this one-hour webinar, Dr Violet Johnstone and Dr Cian McDonough, Senior Clinical Psychologists here at SPMHS, explore how to understand and recognise over-control, what a GRO programme involves, research into radical openness, and referral pathways.

The presentation will be followed by a short question and answer (Q&A) session. You can submit questions in advance by emailing communications@stpatsmail.com or raise them during the webinar.

The Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) has accredited the webinar for one Continuous Professional Development (CPD) point. Please note that you can only receive CPD points if you attend the live webinar. If you are not a GP but interested in attending other mental health-related events, you can see our upcoming schedule here.

Register your place at the webinar here.

Visit our GP Portal

We have lots of CPD-accredited mental health films just for GPs on our online GP Portal. You can sign up for free to watch these and see other mental health information to help you in your practice.

Sign up to the portal here 

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