Clinical psychological services in the general hospital setting of Queen Mary Hospital started in 1980. There was significant expansion of the scope of clinical psychological service in the following 20 years with the recruitment of more full- time clinical psychologists. In 2003, the Department of Clinical Psychology was formally established.
Clinical psychologists apply their knowledge and skills in the assessment, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of psychological problems. We provide direct services such as psychological assessment and treatment, as well as indirect services, such as training and education.
Service Teams
There are two major clinical service teams serving different clientele:
-
Medical Health Psychology Services Team
- Consultative-liaison psychological services to admitted patients referred from different clinical departments in the hospital
- Day- and out-patient services for patients referred from day hospital and specialist out-patient clinics are provided
-
Mental Health Services Team
- In-, day-, and out-patient services for children and adults with various psychiatric problems are provided
Service Scope
Assessment
- Diagnostic assessment
- Neurodevelopmental assessment
- Personality assessment
- Neuropsychological evaluation
- Emotional assessment
- Forensic/legal psychological examination
- Pre-procedure assessment
Treatment
In mental health service, clinical psychologists provide psychological treatment for a range of mental disorders. The most common referral problems include:
- Depressive disorders
- Anxiety disorders
- Personality disorders
- Trauma- and stressor-related disorders
- Neurodevelopmental disorders
- Neurocognitive disorders
- Obsessive-Compulsive disorders
- Eating disorders
- Psychotic disorders and etc.
In general medical settings, common referral problems include:
- Patients with medical problems and common mental disorders (e.g., anxiety, depression, and psychosomatic problems)
- Adjustment issues related to newly-diagnosed chronic or life threatening illnesses
- Coping with permanent disabilities
- Treatment compliance problems
- Palliative and end-of-life care
- Complicated/Prolonged grief
- Neuro-rehabilitation
- Trauma cases
- Pain management, etc.
There are various approaches of psychological treatment and intervention which can be conducted in the form of individual, couple, group and family. Individual treatment is by far the most common one. The common treatment approaches include but are not limited to:
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy
- Behavioral therapy
- Mindfulness-based treatment
- Family therapy
- Emotion-focused therapy
- Biofeedback
Teaching, training and education
Various types of training or educational programs are provided, including skills enhancement workshops for professional staff and psychoeducational talks and seminars for patients and their carers. In addition, clinical attachments for clinical psychologists in training and nurses were also provided. Psycho-educational materials have also been produced over the years to help disseminate information on psychological aspects of health and illnesses, and promoting psychological self-help.