TY - JOUR T1 - A re-evaluation of the clinical psychologist in general practice JF - The Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners JO - J R Coll Gen Pract SP - 457 LP - 460 VL - 38 IS - 315 AU - Derek Milne AU - Keith Souter Y1 - 1988/10/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/38/315/457.abstract N2 - 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. ER -