Evidence is reviewed linking specific early abusive experiences (sexual abuse, physical abuse and emotional abuse) with the occurrence of eating disorders and this is interpreted in light of two conceptual models – self-trauma theory (Briere, 1996) and schema theory (Young, 1990). These models are used to consider a potential vulnerability to further victimisation, more specifically, being bullied at school. The impact of these repeated traumatic experiences on the development of a secure sense of self and emotional regulation skills is considered and examined in light of offering an aetiological understanding of eating problems. Research is then reviewed examining the prevalence of negative self-beliefs in the eating disorders. Alexithymia has been documented as being common in individuals with eating disorders, however this is reconsidered in light of a lack of emotional expressiveness as a result of particular childhood experiences. This clinical group seem to have particular difficulties with anger and disgust, however there is a lack of concise research measuring all of the basic emotions and comparing an eating disordered group to a psychiatric control group. This study aims to examine the association of abusive experiences both at home and at school with eating disorder symptoms, as compared to a control group suffering from depression and a non-clinical student group. Comparisons were also made on levels of all of the basic emotions across the three groups. The eating disordered group were found to have significantly higher levels of sexual abuse than the depression control group suggesting that this may act as a specific risk factor for eating problems. The higher level of bullying experienced by the eating disorder group, compared to the depression group, was only approaching significance; however the ED group did report higher levels of being left out or ignored by their peers. Although the prediction that the eating disorder group would report higher levels of anger was not observed, the eating disorder group did report higher levels of disgust.

The existing research literature was reviewed with respect to child refugee and asylum seeker experience and its relationship with emotional and behaviour adjustment.  This was considered in relation to experiences prior to and during migration, whilst claiming refugee status and in the longer-term resettlement and adaptation.  The literature review also examined various individual, familial and extra-familial risk and protective factors involved in the mediation and moderation of children’s stress. Research regarding the psychological status of asylum seeker and refugee children however, provides no consensus on the extent of the emotional and behavioural needs of these children.  Therefore, this study aimed to determine the adjustment profile of asylum seeker and refugee children attending a school in a socially deprived area and to compare this with their British peers and a normative population.  It also sought to identify whether particular factors were associated with adjustment difficulties in the overall sample.  Results showed that the asylum seeker/refugee boys had significantly higher levels of emotional and behavioural difficulty than the girls.  There were comparable rates of difficulty in asylum seeker/refugee boys and British boys and girls and significantly higher rates of difficulty within both of these groups compared with the normal population.  However, asylum seeker/refugee girls had lower rates of emotional and behavioural problems and these were comparable with the normal population. This study found that younger age, involvement in bullying, and lower academic ability were significant predictors of emotional and behavioural difficulties.  The results of this study indicate the high levels of need in both asylum seeker/refugee boys and British children living in a socially and economically deprived area.

This study, which took place in three phases, looks at pupils’ perceptions of bullying and of the incidence and nature of bullying in a secondary school over a period of three years. The changes in the children’s perceptions of the incidence of bullying over this period are discussed and the implications of the variability in perceived incidence of bullying are drawn out. A convenient questionnaire for describing pupils’ perceptions of the incidence of bullying was devised and used to help define bullying in terms of actions between children over the period of the study. A definition of bullying was arrived at which six key statements supported by, on average, half of the pupils. A further phase of the study addressed boys’ perceptions of the process of bullying and of the school’s attempts to minimise bullying. During the period of the study, children’s perceptions of the incidence of bullying varied between different Year groups, whilst in the school as whole, the perception of the incidence of bullying and of ‘one-off’ aggressive actions reduced over time. The variability in the perceived incidence for each of the three cohorts of children, which were surveyed annually during the period of the study, was different from that of the whole school. From this, certain elements are seen as crucial in the accurate assessment of incident and monitoring of interventions, particularly regular monitoring at class and Year group level and a recognition of the complex nature of the definition of bullying itself. The implications of this study for other research into bullying and for schools attempting to monitor bullying are discussed. It is argued that, when children use the word “bullying”, they refer mainly to a core psychological process in which domination of a personal peer group is achieved through bullying type actions. A complex social mechanism is proposed in which there is an interdependent relationship between the main bullying protagonists and their supporters, in which the victims are incidental rather than central to the process, with the role of the witnesses and bystanders being crucial. Recommendations are made for schools and Local Education Authorities, as well as suggestions for further research.

Throughout its history, the activity, or profession of social work has been influenced by dominant political and social mores. This thesis charts such developments in the United Kingdom, locating them in not only the socio-economic circumstances of each period, but also in relation to changes within social theory, specifically those from a left wing political tradition. Charting the move to the contemporary period, it is argued that the current epoch is one of ‘diminished subjectivity’, where people are viewed as more objects than subjects, and are more likely to be viewed as either vulnerable or atavistic, rather than as having the potential to create a better society. The thesis starts with a history of social work from its charitable origins in the seventeenth century through to the early 1970s. It then analyses intellectual developments in the understanding of human subjectivity, in particular that of Hegel, Marx, the Frankfurt School, and the influence of postmodernism/poststructuralism to our understanding of the human subject. It is argued that a common intellectual current is one of ‘diminished subjectivity’. We return to the history of social work in chapter four, analysing the changes from the 1970s onwards, with particular emphasis on the overt politicisation of the profession. Combining this with the theoretical analysis of chapter two, the influence on social work of wider intellectual and political change becomes evident. The contention is that social work itself, for all its talk of ’empowerment’, is influenced by the tendency to view the subject with suspicion, and to demean it at the very moment it endeavours to ’empower’ it. The thesis then examines manifestations of ‘diminished subjectivity’ in the arena of social work. Four specific but interrelated areas of concern to social work are highlighted, with particular focus being on the arena of adult mental health. The first is the rise of the discourses of pathology and abuse. Whilst these increasingly common concepts have affected both social work policy and practice, social work itself is partly responsible for the popularity of such constructs. The second is the current pre-occupation with risk minimisation, or risk management, and this is analysed in relation to mental health policy and practice at the level of statutory powers and civil containment. From this focus on the more overt coercion within the mental health field, we turn thirdly to the constructions of stress and bullying. The fourth focus is on ‘identity politics’, in particular the rise of the psychiatric ‘survivor’. The penultimate chapter discusses the public/private divide as a theme which cuts across all the previous chapters, and addresses some of the implications of the erosion of this boundary. The concluding chapter summarises the thesis and discusses recent critiques of social work from within the profession. It is argued that the developments discussed within the thesis should not be seen in isolation; but rather that all share a common perception of the human subject as fragile, dangerous, or both.