PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Milne, Derek AU - Souter, Keith TI - A re-evaluation of the clinical psychologist in general practice DP - 1988 Oct 01 TA - The Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners PG - 457--460 VI - 38 IP - 315 4099 - http://bjgp.org/content/38/315/457.short 4100 - http://bjgp.org/content/38/315/457.full SO - J R Coll Gen Pract1988 Oct 01; 38 AB - Recent evaluations have questioned the early claims that psychologists make a valuable clinical contribution in general practice. In particular, it has been suggested that the promising outcomes have been the result of a 'worst year' phenomenon and that psychologists only slightly accelerate clinical improvement. This paper describes a small but relatively comprehensive evaluation of the work of a clinical psychologist. Analyses of economic and clinical data on 22 patients referred by the general practitioner indicated that the psychologist made a distinctive clinical contribution by improving personal coping strategies and reducing distress among patients with more chronic problems who did not show any such changes during a waiting list period. It is concluded that the recent negative evaluations of the clinical psychologist in general practice may have been misleading and premature.