2007 October | World of Psychology

Archive for October, 2007

Is Serotonin the Main Factor or Cause of Depression?

Wednesday, October 31st, 2007

No, it's not. Pharmaceutical companies have done a bang-up job over the past two decades in promoting the serotonin theory of depression -- namely that people who are depressed suffer from an "imbalance" in their serotonin ...

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Can a Panic Attack Cause a Heart Attack?

Wednesday, October 31st, 2007

According to recent research, there's a definite connection between panic attacks and heart attacks. What that connection is, however, remains open to additional research. Smoller and his colleagues (2007) decided to see whether panic attacks ...

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Would you sign up for robot therapy?

Tuesday, October 30th, 2007

Over the last couple of decades researchers have spent increasingly more time studying the therapeutic effects of animals on humans. A cursory search on google.com revealed there are more than 11,000 pages associated with ...

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Psychologist Has Field Day with Psychiatry

Tuesday, October 30th, 2007

Just in case you had any doubts that there are a great deal of politics and money involved in healthcare, look no further than some the entries posted by psychologist Bruce Levin ...

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Direct-to-Consumer Drug Advertising

Monday, October 29th, 2007

John Edwards, a U.S. presidential candidate, would apparently ban drug ads targeted at consumers for 2 years. This type of advertising by pharmaceutical companies is called direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising in the industry, and it ...

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Rushing Our Children’s Development

Monday, October 29th, 2007

Does teaching children to read and build a larger vocabulary earlier actually help the child with learning and school? The Boston Globe Magazine on Sunday had an excellent article that examined what research actually shows ...

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A Decrease in Semen from Flomax?

Sunday, October 28th, 2007

So I was watching a commercial during the Boston Red Sox game tonight (likely going to sweep the World Series, unfortunately for our Rockies' fans) for Flomax. Flomax is used to treat symptoms such as ...

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Learning from the Irish

Sunday, October 28th, 2007

I had the honor of attending a talk today by naturalist David Sibley, who is the author of the famous Sibley Guide to Birds. He's made his life observing birds and spoke about the timeless ...

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Could your depression be your greatest asset?

Sunday, October 28th, 2007

Author Tom Wootton thinks it just may be. Mr. Wootton just released his second book “The Depression Advantage”, which touts being depressed as a potential benefit. An article posted on the website, ...

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Research shows employers reap benefits from knowing about their employees’ depression

Saturday, October 27th, 2007

Recently, a friend came to me for advice about a treatment for a mental disorder. The friend who was suffering from symptoms of depression asked me; “If I see a therapist using my company ...

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Why Sexually-Active Women Don’t Need a (or Another) Man

Saturday, October 27th, 2007

Do women find other men more attractive if they are sexually active, either by themselves (e.g., via masturbation) or with a partner (e.g., via sexual intercourse)? The answer appears to be no, according to new research. Researchers ...

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Mental Disorders are Not Simple “Brain Illnesses”

Friday, October 26th, 2007

This letter writer to the Florida Times-Union had me agreeing until this ill-formed paragraph: If there is blame, let's blame those professions that delay mental illness recovery. Let's educate the churches, which call mental illnesses ...

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