Alasdair Macdonald - Solution-focused approaches







			I have been a Consultant Psychiatrist in the NHS since 1980. I currently hold a part-time contract with Children’s Services in Dorset HealthCare University Foundation Trust. I have experience in all aspects of psychiatry including secure care. My psychotherapy training includes psychodynamic, group and systemic approaches and I am registered as a family therapist and supervisor with the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy. I have been the Medical Director of two Trusts and Project Director of the Mental Health Institute at St Martin's College in Carlisle and Lancaster. I am a past President and Research Coordinator of the European Brief Therapy Association. I work as a trainer and supervisor and as a management consultant. Training workshops include solution-focused therapy, solution-focused approaches to mental health and organisational skills for finding cooperation in the workplace. I am a former Director of Dorset Child and Family Counselling Trust and a Trustee of the Dorset Trust for Counselling and Psychotherapy, both local charities. Teaching and training in solution-focused brief therapy has been my chief interest for 25 years. I have taught in the USA, South Africa, China, Singapore and Australia as well as many countries in Europe. I have special experience in the application of these ideas within the mental health setting and with offenders. I have over 40 peer-reviewed publications and numerous other published pieces. My book ‘Solution focused Therapy: Theory, Research and Practice’ was republished in 2011 and translated into Mandarin. I am on the editorial board of two journals and I supervise a research group in China. I am the Scientific Advisor for the Helsinki Psychotherapy Institute. My annotated bibliography of the current literature on this site may be freely copied with acknowledgement. I am co-author of a vocabulary book for backpackers and business travellers. Examples of my publications are listed below. Whyte, SF, Macdonald, AJ, Naylor, GJ, Moody, JP 'Plasma Concentrations of Protriptyline and Clinical Effects in Depressed Women'. British Journal of Psychiatry, 1976, 128, 384-9. Macdonald, AJ 'Review: Children and Companion Animals'. Child: Care, Health and Development, 1979, 5, 347-358. Macdonald, AJ, Bouchier, IAD 'Non-organic Gastro-intestinal Illness: A Medical and Psychiatric Study'. British Journal of Psychiatry, 1980, 136, 276-283. Macdonald, AJ, Peden, NR, Hayton, R, Mallinson, CN, Roberts, D, Wormsley, KG ‘Symptom relief and the placebo effect in the trial of an anti-peptic drug’. Gut, 1981, 22, 323-326. Macdonald, AJ 'Dreams After Amputation'. British Journal of Psychiatry, 1984, 45, 669 (letter). Macdonald, AJ 'Consultant-Based Services: One Man's Experience'. Bulletin of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1987, 11:55-56. Macdonald, AJ 'Brief Therapy in a Mental Hospital'. Context (Association for Family Therapy Newsletter), 1990, 6:40-41. Macdonald, AJ 'Training and Outcome in Supervised Individual Psychotherapy'. British Journal of Psychotherapy, 1992, 8, 237-266. Macdonald, AJ 'Systemic Family Therapy in Adult Psychiatry'. British Journal of Psychiatry, 1992, 160, 718 (letter). Macdonald, AJ 'Family Therapy in the Training of General Psychiatrists'. Psychiatric Bulletin, 1993, 17, 173 (letter). Macdonald, AJ 'Wernicke's Encephalopathy - a missed diagnosis?' Care of the Elderly, 1993, 5, 201 (letter). Macdonald, AJ 'A paper that changed my practice: Reversible mental impairment in alcoholics'. British Medical Journal, 1994, 308, 1678. Macdonald, AJ 'Brief Therapy in Adult Psychiatry'. Journal of Family Therapy, 1994, 16, 415-426. Macdonald, AJ ‘Training and outcome in supervised individual psychotherapy’ British Journal of Psychotherapy, 1995, 12, 132 (letter). Macdonald, AJ 'Brief Therapy in Adult Psychiatry: Further Outcomes'. Journal of Family Therapy, 1997, 19, 213-222. Macdonald, AJ ‘Losungsorientierte Kurtzzeittherapie in einer schottische Psychiatrie: Die Erfahrungen von acht Jahren’ In: Eberling,W & Vogt-Hillman, M (Eds): Kurzgefasst: Zum Stand der losungorientierten Praxis von Europa; borgmann publishing, Dortmund 1998. Macdonald, AJ Chapter. In: Berg, I K and Dolan, Y (eds) ‘Tales of Solutions: a collection of hope-inspiring stories’ Norton: New York 2001. Macdonald, AJ ‘Solution-focused brief therapy’ Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 2002, 8, 316 (letter). Macdonald, AJ‘Research in solution-focused therapy’ In: O’Connell, Bill ‘Solution-focused therapy in practice’ Sage Publications: London 2002. Macdonald, AJ ‘Solution-focused brief therapy’ Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 2002, 8, 316 (letter). Macdonald, AJ, Ross J ‘Solution-focused brief therapy in general practice’, Journal of Primary Care Mental Health and Education, 2003, 7, 68-69. Macdonald, AJ ‘Hyperventilation: a curable cause of symptoms of anxiety’ Journal of Primary Care Mental Health and Education, 2004, 7, 105-108. Macdonald, AJ ‘Thiamine treatment of Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome in alcoholism’, Psychiatric Bulletin, 2005, 29, 233 (letter). Macdonald, AJ ‘Input via partners for anxiety and depression in primary care’. Journal of Primary Care Mental Health and Education, 2005, 8, 61. Macdonald, AJ ‘Voices: an exercise in developing solution focused conversations with the mentally ill.’ Journal of Family Psychotherapy (special issue: Solution Focused Brief Therapy Training), Ed Nelson TS. 2005, 16:1/2. Macdonald, AJ ‘Brief therapy in adult psychiatry: results from 15 years of practice’ Journal of Family Therapy, 2005, 27, 65-75. Macdonald, AJ ‘Applying solution-focused brief therapy in acute mental health care’ In: Thomas FN and Nelson T (Eds) ‘Applications of solution-focused brief therapy’ Howarth Press: New York 2007. Macdonald, AJ ‘Solution-focused situation management: finding cooperation quickly’. In Lueger, G. and Korn, H-P. (eds) ‘Solution-focused Management’. Rainer Hampp Verlag: Munchen und Mering 2006. Macdonald, AJ ‘Warmup / starting exercise for solution-focused workshops in therapy and management: too many to shake hands?’ in ‘57 SF Activities for Facilitators and Consultants’ P. Rohrig and J. Clarke (eds), Solution Books: Cheltenham, UK / Managerseminare Verlag: Koln / Bonn 2008. Macdonald, AJ ‘Applying solution-focused brief therapy in acute mental health care’ In: Thomas FN and Nelson T (Eds) ‘Clinical applications of solution-focused brief therapy’ Howarth Press: New York 2007. Macdonald, AJ ‘A journey towards solutions.’ In Metcalf L and Connie E (eds), The Art of Solution-focused Therapy. Springer: New York 2009. Macdonald, AJ ‘Solution focused brief therapy.’ In Nelson-Jones R (ed) Theory and Practice of Counselling and Therapy (5th edn). Sage Publications: London 2010. Bakker, JM, Bannink, FP, Macdonald, AJ (2010) ‘Solution-focused psychiatry.’ Psychiatric Bulletin, 34: 297-300. Macdonald, AJ. Solution focused brief therapy. In Nelson-Jones R (ed) Theory and Practice of Counselling and Therapy (5th edn). Sage Publications: London 2010. Macdonald, AJ ‘Solution focused brief therapy’. In Nelson-Jones R (ed) Six Key Approaches to Counselling and Therapy. Sage Publications: London 2010. Macdonald, AJ, Popovic, M. ‘100 Useful Words in 37 Languages: The Essential Vocabulary To Travel The World’. Olympia Publishers: London 2010. Montagu, R, Macdonald, AJ. ‘A New Initiative In Child And Family Counselling: Dorset Child And Family Counselling Trust’. Context: Newsletter of Association for Family Therapy, 2010, 112: 35-38. Macdonald, AJ Introduction to classic paper. Interaction, 2011, 3: 46-7. Macdonald, AJ ‘Common questions about solution-focused approaches’. Interaction, 2011, 3: 21-33. Macdonald, AJ ‘Solution-focused Therapy: Theory, Research and Practice (2nd ed)’. Sage: London 2011. First edition (2007) published in Mandarin. Gingerich, WJ, Kim, J, Stams, GJJ, Macdonald, AJ. ‘Current evidence base for solution focused therapy’. In Franklin C, Trepper T, Gingerich WJ, McCollum EE (eds) Solution-focused Brief Therapy: A Handbook of Evidence-Based Practice. Oxford University Press: New York 2011. Macdonald, AJ ‘Studies of outcome in solution-focused research since 2007’. Context: Newsletter of Association for Family Therapy, 2011, 118, 31-35. Macdonald, AJ ‘Solution-focused Therapy: Theory, Research and Practice’ (2nd ed). Sage: London 2011. In press / in preparation: Macdonald, AJ ‘Some recent studies of outcome in solution-focused research’. Solution focused Research Review 2012 (in press). Luo, H, Macdonald, AJ ‘Solution-focused training manual’. Ningbo Publishing House, ZheJiang, China (in preparation). Macdonald, AJ ‘Solution-Focused Therapy’. Chapter in Reeves A and Dryden W The Handbook of Individual Therapy. Sage: London 2012.