What if asking yourself the simple question “what happened in my childhood” could unlock the answer to your mental health and wellbeing. Clinical Psychologist and Educator, Dr. Bill Saunders, is here to help us learn about and understand our Mental Health in his new book What Happened?
Dr. Bill Saunders is a Clinical Psychologist with over more than 40 years of experience as both a psychologist and as an educator. Dr. Saunders, through his new book, helps us to understand mental health by turning the ‘What’s Wrong?’ assess, diagnose, treat model to the ‘What Happened’ model which explores events that occurred in childhood and adulthood that affect mental health and wellbeing.
Dr. Saunders states: “If you consult a psychiatrist for assistance with a mental health problem you will be subjected to the “What’s wrong with you?” approach. You will be assessed, diagnosed and then treated, most commonly with a pill to combat your purportedly biologically based ill. But what if this is a hazardous and flawed paradigm? What if psychiatrists are inherently unable to reliably diagnose what ails you?
“Despite the listing of over 250 ‘mental illnesses in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, what if there are only eight different types of interventions available to treat this myriad of different ‘mental illnesses?’ Furthermore, what if you take pills that change your brain biochemistry, but the biological basis of all the purported ‘mental illnesses’ are unknown?“
– DR. BILL SAUNDERS
About Bill Saunders:
Dr. Bill Saunders is a Clinical Psychologist in private practice in Perth. Bill has a BA (Hons) degree and a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Keele and a Master’s degree in Psychological Medicine from The University of Glasgow.
Prior to becoming involved in private practice in Perth Bill was an academic. He held the positions of Lecturer in Psychological Medicine at the University of Glasgow, Senior Lecturer in Applied Social Studies and Director of the Alcohol Studies Centre at the University of Paisley (Scotland) and was then an Associate Professor and Head of Addictions Studies at Curtin University (Perth, WA). Bill was also a Professor of Psychology and Head of the Clinical Psychology program at Curtin University. As an academic Bill published extensively and has also consulted for a wide range of agencies including the World Health Organisation and the United Nations.
Bill has extensive clinical experience. He has been a Senior Psychologist in an Alcohol and Drug Unit in Glasgow, a consulting Clinical Psychologist to a private hospital in Perth, the Director of an Alcohol and Drug treatment agency in the Channel Islands (UK), and the Clinical Director of a co-occurring drug and mental health disorders unit at Graylands Hospital, Perth. More recently Bill was a Director and Head of Psychotherapy at Abbotsford Private Hospital
Bill specialises in the management of adult psychopathology, addictive behaviours, the co-occurrence of both, and the impact of childhood trauma on adult psychological functioning. Bill is also an experienced group psychotherapist who ran his first-ever group in an Alcohol and Drug Treatment Unit in Glasgow some 45 years ago.
About the book: ‘What Happened?’
Dr. Bill Saunders reminds us that there quite possibly could be an alternative? And just maybe, we may have been asked the wrong question all along”. Unlocking one’s mental health can set them free, and through reading ‘What Happened?’ you will unlock mental state and ultimately have a better understanding of yourself.
The book is set on the idea that if you are to consult a psychiatrist for assistance with a mental health problem you will be subjected to the “What’s wrong with you?” approach. You will then be assessed, diagnosed and treated, most commonly with medication, such as a pill, to combat your purportedly biologically based illness. This book will allow you to dig deep within yourself and find what it is that mentally consumes you and how you can help your mind and mental state for the better.
Dr. Saunder’s book ‘What Happened?’ is available on Booktopia, Amazon, and in all leading retail bookstores from the 13th of May 2021.
