2008 May | World of Psychology

Archive for May, 2008

Bipolar Overdiagnosis: Are You Swayed?

Saturday, May 31st, 2008

An excerpt from my book review on the new book by the Brafman brothers, Sway, in bookstores shortly: The one place the authors don’t really sway me is their attempt to explain why bipolar disorder is ...

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A GP’s Take on Treating Depression & Anxiety

Friday, May 30th, 2008

Knowing that most people initially seek out treatment for their mental health concerns through their general practitioner or family doctor, you have to wonder how many of them feel about being the front line in ...

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The Megan Meier Foundation

Friday, May 30th, 2008

Megan Meier, the 13-year-old who took her own life after being bullied online, is hopefully at peace. But her mom fights on in her name, having recently created a foundation to help reduce and ...

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Optimistic Recovery Videos

Thursday, May 29th, 2008

Positive messages and success stories about individuals with mental illness who have found hope and recovery are helpful for other who may feel less optimistic. They can help ease worry about future outcomes, and provide ...

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The Army’s Response to Rise in Suicides, PTSD

Thursday, May 29th, 2008

Today I participated on a U.S. Army-sponsored conference call to discuss their reaction to data showing that 115 active soldiers took their own lives last year (nearly double the rate from 2005) and approximately 17 ...

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Ambien Outrage

Thursday, May 29th, 2008

"Sleep-driving" while under the influence of Ambien has captured wide attention and continues to be an alarming problem. Ambien (zolpidem) is one of the new "Z" drugs used as sleeping pills that are popular in ...

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7 Challenges of Psychotherapy

Thursday, May 29th, 2008

Every treatment has its downsides. Medications have side effects and it can often feel like a revolving door trying to find one (or a combination of a few) that work for any particular person. And ...

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Spend Some Time with Ron Kessler

Wednesday, May 28th, 2008

Ron Kessler is one of the world's leading psychiatric epidemiologists, studying data trends in mental and behavioral health around the world. He is a 61-year-old professor at Harvard Medical School, and boils down the research ...

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OTC (Over the Counter) Antidepressants

Tuesday, May 27th, 2008

Philip over at Furious Seasons thinks that antidepressants shouldn't be made available over-the-counter in the U.S. (e.g., without a prescription). His entry was based upon this article over at Time magazine that interviews Josephine ...

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Party-School Rankings a Biased, Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?

Tuesday, May 27th, 2008

The Princeton Review publishes annual "Best of..." college lists based upon a now-online survey of students at each college. They describe the survey process as: The Princeton Review survey asks students 80 questions about their school's ...

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Free Counseling for Our Troops

Monday, May 26th, 2008

On Memorial Day, it seemed appropriate to mention a volunteer project called, Give an Hour. As the Washington Post notes, thousands of private counselors are offering free services to troops returning from Iraq and ...

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Let the Data Speak? No, Not Always

Sunday, May 25th, 2008

Frank L. Schmidt, a respected professor and researcher at the University of Iowa, gave a talk at the Association for Psychological Science's 20th convention on Saturday about how scientific data can lie. Yes, that's right, ...

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