The first ‘do’ is you must write session notes! Taking adequate session notes (or ‘progress notes’) is part of the important review and planning associated with providing an ongoing psychological service, and is one of the ethical obligations of psychologists. Session notes...

Last reviewed Apr 2026

Empathy is generally considered indispensable to the therapist-client relationship. In his 1957 highly influential paper, ‘The necessary and sufficient conditions of therapeutic personality change’, Carl Rogers discussed the role of empathy in bringing about positive client ch...

Published Nov 2018

These guidelines present a framework for ethical practice when using hypnosis. These guidelines are designed to be consistent with the ethical obligations and principles outlined in the Psychology Board of Australia’s Code of Conduct for Psychologists (the Code) as well as ...

Last reviewed Mar 2026

Dementia is the most common threat to loss of legal capacity among the elderly, although other conditions giving rise to brain injury such as a stroke may also impact upon capacity. A diagnosis of dementia is not evidence that a person lacks capacity. Whilst the progression of...

Published Nov 2017

Despite the fact that it was first described in the psychiatric literature more than 100 years ago, it is only in the past 25 years that compulsive buying disorder has begun to be researched. Among the initial papers, a 1994 paper by McElroy, Keck, Pope, Smith and Strakowsk...

Published Aug 2017

Recently there has been a great deal of media interest in suggestions of serious long-term health effects in former United States National Football League (NFL) footballers, resulting from concussion in their playing days. Some commentators have described the incidence of post...

Published Jun 2017

The context Western Australia’s Department of Education, employs over 300 school psychologist FTE, equating to 400 psychologists, providing services to students (Kindergarten to Year 12) across 800 public metropolitan, regional and remote schools. The School Psychology ...

Published May 2017

An election for the APS President-Elect and two General Director positions on the APS Board of Directors was held by postal ballot and electronic voting, and the results were declared at the 2013 APS AGM in October. The successful candidate for the President-Elect is Professor...

Published Jun 2017

As part of the APS’s commitment to meeting the needs and expectations of members, the APS conducts a large scale member satisfaction survey at the end of each calendar year. The 2016 APS member satisfaction survey was conducted online over a two week period in December with 23...

Published Jul 2017

The first anniversary of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in July this year has provided a timely opportunity to review the impact, implications and challenges of the roll-out of the Scheme across trial sites for consumers and for service providers, particularly...

Published Jun 2017