In 2013, the Division of Clinical Psychology (DCP) of the British Psychological Society (BPS) published a Position Statement entitled Classification of behaviour and experience in
relation to functional psychiatric diagnoses: Time for a paradigm shift. Recommendation 3 of
the position paper is: ‘To support work, in conjunction with service users, on developing a multi-factorial and contextual approach, which incorporates social, psychological and
biological factors’ (p.9). This document is the result of a DCP-funded project for work
towards fulfilling this aim.
The framework described here, the Power Threat Meaning Framework, is an over-arching structure for identifying patterns in emotional distress, unusual experiences and troubling
behaviour, as an alternative to psychiatric diagnosis and classification. The document sets
out the conceptual and empirical basis of such a system and is intended as a foundational intellectual resource. It is important to note that the framework is not tied to a particular
level of explanation (social, psychological or biological) or to a specific theoretical
orientation such as cognitive, behavioural or systemic. Thus while we suggest it can be used as it stands, it can also be seen as a meta-framework within which many existing models and bodies of evidence can be accommodated, and which can be used to inform future projects translating the framework into practice. (From the document). An overview and other resources are available on the website. Record #6742