what is depression? sometimes tracing the various meanings of words can help in understanding the concept or experience for which the word stands. a while ago i spent a few hours trying to pin down when the word “depression” was first used. it looks like henry maudsley, a british physician (there were no psychologists before… Continue reading tracing depression
Category: psychological research and other things academic
increasing psychotherapy effectiveness
research has shown that when clients are directly involved with charting the course of therapy, therapy tends to be much more effective. because of that, i use two very simple tools in my sessions that help to ensure client involvement. the one i am reprinting here is the one i give at the beginning of… Continue reading increasing psychotherapy effectiveness
mental illness, mental health, mental wellness
the public health agency of canada has a site on mental health – or mental illness, if you prefer that term. the definition is: Mental illnesses are characterized by alterations in thinking, mood or behaviour (or some combination thereof) associated with significant distress and impaired functioning over an extended period of time. The symptoms of… Continue reading mental illness, mental health, mental wellness
headache, families and guilt
from WebMD: When one person gets a headache, the family may feel the pain, a new survey shows. The results show that headaches often run in families, with effects rippling through the family like waves on a stone-struck pond. The survey included the statement, “I am unable to tend to
anorexia and the naked body
yesterday, at a lovely meeting of the vancouver chapter of valley women’s network, i met laara atley, originally from finland, the land of saunas. we were talking about body image, plastic surgery and the like when laara made the very valid comment that people who were brought up in a culture where nakedness is normal… Continue reading anorexia and the naked body
psychiatric medication and diagnoses, working hand in hand
Many Authors Of Mental Health Diagnosis Guidelines Have Financial Ties To Drug Makers, Study Says The majority of psychiatrists who worked on the most recent edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s widely influential diagnostic manual had financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry before, during or after the manual was published. more … are we surprised?… Continue reading psychiatric medication and diagnoses, working hand in hand
the psychology of cyberspace
john suler of rider university on the psychology of cyberspace, with titallating topics like cyberspace as psychological space cyberspace as dream world bringing online and offline living together and of course it includes a (large!) section on online therapy. in the myths of online therapy, there are two interesting comments: Many sexual abuse survivors report
mood tracking software
medicalnews tells us today Dutch researcher Maarten de Rijke and his co-workers Gilad Mishne and Krisztian Balog have developed a new programme that can trace and explain significant changes in mood patterns on the Internet. MoodViews is a collection of instruments that maps the mood of bloggers as they write their message. this is the… Continue reading mood tracking software
obesity research
back in january, i posted an entry about the controversy around the size of the “obesity epidemic”. i just received a comment about this, suggesting that the article i had pointed out in that entry was naïve
and now for these therapists: plato, st. augustine, darwin, freud
i wrote this some years ago, trying to elucidate how some of the fathers and grandfathers of psychology would look at contemporary problems: after a stormy, decade long marriage, JU and his wife separated after she found out that he had sexually abused their two sons. JU explained he was “sexually educating them”. there was… Continue reading and now for these therapists: plato, st. augustine, darwin, freud