according to a recent article in medical news today, a team of researchers led by dr. geoffrey williams of the university of rochester found that smokers who were counseled in a manner that encouraged them to reflect on whether they wanted to smoke and why they were trying to quit, were more likely to maintain… Continue reading quit smoking
Category: psychological research and other things academic
addiction: underestimating the power of cravings
addiction is pretty hard to understand if you’ve never been there. the crazed lust, the desperate longing for whatever it is that your are hooked on – from heroin to alcohol to overworking to shopping to sex to codependency – whatever it is, if it’s not your thing then all you can do is shake… Continue reading addiction: underestimating the power of cravings
a fix for both obesity and malnutrition?
research on obesity is really going places these days. a little while ago, i reported on the discovery of an obesity virus and an obesity molecule. now, feifan guo and douglas cavener, two biologists at penn state university, have discovered an enzyme with the weighty name of GCN2 eIF2alpha kinase (let’s call it GAK, shall… Continue reading a fix for both obesity and malnutrition?
attracted to the law of attraction
are you attracted to the law of attraction? everyone seems to be talking about the movie the secret lately, and the law of attraction. are you one of them? if so, i wonder whether you’d like to
probing the mind of the cavewoman
what went through the mind of the cavewoman? that’s hard to answer because fossil records won’t tell us anything about it. the good people at the max planck institute had a stab at that question anyway. they felt that one of the things that our ancestors would have to know would be how to find… Continue reading probing the mind of the cavewoman
obesity molecule
the search to understand and perhaps even find a cure for obesity is going strong. four weeks ago, i reported on the obesity virus. while research on it is promising, it does not look like there is going to be a treatment for it any time soon. now something else has been found – boc5,… Continue reading obesity molecule
obesity virus
this is a repeat from my old blog from last year, with an update. this article showed up in medicalnews: Can You Catch Obesity? Apparently You Can, Say Researchers 30 Jan 2006. Written by Christian Norquist In the past, all we had to worry about was our ability, or inability, to resist fattening foods. According… Continue reading obesity virus
the therapist as a person – pt 4
this is a long overdue continuation from a post in march, about the therapist as a person. here is another vignette, or really almost a caricature, of the kind of role that a therapist can fall into – with all the positive and not-so-positive consequences. The Irreproachable Professional What she does: Is very mindful to… Continue reading the therapist as a person – pt 4
orchestrating attention
how does attention work? how does attention improve perception? ken paller and colleagues from northwestern university conducted a study to shed some light on this mystery: You know the sensation. When something has your full attention you see it vividly. And when you don’t pay attention, you’re liable to miss something important. … The mystery… Continue reading orchestrating attention
journaling for healing: 15 tips
anyone who uses writing for therapeutic purposes should read louise de salvo’s writing as a way of healing. quite a bit of what she writes is based on james w. pennebaker’s research on writing and health (do go to his web site, he has all kinds of neat little tests on it). one of the… Continue reading journaling for healing: 15 tips