Editorial Symbol and reality

How we are — news, views and information
Interview with the 'drug czar' • Unhappy families • Children hearing voices • Bad behaviour • Schizophrenia and carers • Antidepressants • Treatments for depression in children • Muslim mothers.

Rules don't rule, OK?
Both clients and therapists might benefit from responding to the moment, instead of sticking to rules that don't work, says Helen Combes.

Alzheimers disease: tell the patient or not?
Dr Robert Clafferty makes the case for (and against) giving the diagnosis. Denise Winn talks to nurse Debbie Hawkins about a pioneering dementia support group.

All in the service of meaning
Joe Griffin talks with Dr Arthur Deikman about his work on consiousness.

Psychosis: thinking beyond drugs
Cognitive-behavioural therapy can help to reduce or eliminate distressing symptoms of psychosis which drugs fail to eliminate. By Gillian Haddock.

Hints for therapists of all persuasions
Peter Chadwick, a psychologist with personal experience of psychosis, provides a forceful view of how treatment fails patients — and what needs to change.

Taking leave of our senses
Scientists' new abilities to scan the brain are providing far reaching insights into normal and abnormal behaviour. Rita Carter explains.

Plus: Learning Curve • Talking Point • Books • Letters