Dr Maxine Spedding

Senior lecturers

Background and research interests

Maxine Spedding is a Clinical Psychologist with a PhD from the Department of Psychiatry at UCT. As a psychotherapist, her research interests are largely centred on psychotherapy in South Africa and the development of equitable and meaningful public psychological services for anyone who would like to access them. Her theoretical orientation is toward Intersubjective Psychoanalytic Self Psychology and she is currently working on a study concerning the intersubjectivity of secret-keeping and disclosure, with a particular interest in the subjective experiences of sameness and difference that inform these. With her office at the Child Guidance Clinic, Maxine’s primary teaching responsibilities are with the Masters in Clinical Psychology training programme, where she teaches Psychological Assessment and Adult Psychotherapy. She also teaches a portion of the Critical Approaches to Clinical Psychology module to third year psychology students.

 

Her most recent publications include:

  • Spedding, M.F., Sorsdahl, K.R., Parry, C.D.H., Mathews, C., Stein, D.J., & Petal Petersen Williams (2020). Psychological distress during pregnancy: Prevalence and risk factors in a South African sample. Journal of Nervous & Mental Disorders (in press).

  • Spedding, M.F., Ofori-Atta, A., Stein, D.J., Sorsdahl, K.R., & Lund, C. (2019). Prioritising women’s mental health for the achievement of Sustainable Goals in Africa. In: Ramutsindela, M. & Mickler, D. (eds). Africa and the Sustainable Development Goals. Switzerland: Springer.

  • Spedding, M.F. & Chibanda, D. (2019). Emerging models of psychotherapy. In: Stein, D.J., Hofmann, S. & Bass, J. (eds). Global Mental Health and Psychotherapy. Amsterdam: Elsevier.

  • Malan, M., Spedding, M.F. & Sorsdahl, K.R. (2018). The prevalence and predictors of intimate partner violence among pregnant women attending a midwife and obstetrics unit in the Western Cape. Global Mental Health, 5(e18), p.1-13.

  • Spedding, M.F., Stein, D.J., Naledi, T., Myers, B. & Sorsdahl, K.R. (2017). Task shifting a screening and problem-solving intervention to treat antenatal symptoms of common mental disorders: Feasibility, acceptability and preliminary responses. Paper presented at the Psychotherapy Symposium, Cape Town, South Africa.

  • Spedding, M.F., Stein, D.J., Naledi, T. & Sorsdahl, K.R. (2017). Mental health literacy among pregnant women in the Western Cape, South Africa. Mental Health & Prevention, 11, p.16-23.

  • Spedding, M.F., Stein, D.J. & Sorsdahl, K.R. (2017). Africa. In: Hofmann, S. (ed). International Perspectives on Psychotherapy. Switzerland: Springer; p. 197-218.

  • Spedding, M.F., Stein, D.J. & Sorsdahl, K.R. (2015). Task shifting psychosocial interventions in public mental health: A review of the evidence in the South African context. In A. Padarath, J. King, R. English (Eds.). South African Health Review 2014/2015. Durban: Health Systems Trust; p.73-87