In case you missed it, we launched two new features on Psych Central since our last Flashback — our weekly podcast and a new blog entitled Mindfulness and Psychotherapy. But if you prefer the old over the new, then read on…

10 Years Ago on Psych Central

• Detecting Deception: A quick review of the psychological research
  A decade ago, we did a quick lit search on psychologists’ ability to detect deception in others, and this issue has come up as one of the cornerstones of anti-terrorism efforts at airports in the U.S. since then. A great special issue of Criminal Justice and Behavior in October 2008 (Snook, 2008) noted that “hypnotic interviewing, polygraph examination, criminal profiling, critical incident stress debriefing, and detecting of deception solely on the basis of nonverbal cues” all lack strong scientific support and are “indicative of pseudoscience.” Yet they continue to be used by law enforcement personnel, the TSA, and even psychologists around the country as supposedly-valid tools.
  

5 Years Ago on Psych Central

• February 2004 Blog Entry
  We noted that optimism provides no protection against cancer (e.g., those who had a more positive attitude about their life did not enjoy a greater survival percentage). A more recent meta-analysis in 2008 “showed that positive psychological well-being was associated with reduced mortality in both the healthy population and the diseased population. [...] Both positive affect (e.g., emotional well-being, positive mood, joy, happiness, vigor, energy) and positive trait-like dispositions (e.g., life satisfaction, hopefulness, optimism, sense of humor) were associated with reduced mortality in healthy population studies” (Chida & Steptoe, 2008). I don’t think a positive attitude’s going to help you much once you get cancer, but it may help you before you do.
  

1 Year Ago on Psych Central

• 10 Common Reasons to Lie to Your Therapist
  After our controversial entry in January Why Would You Lie to Your Therapist?, I answer my own question with this entry giving common, legitimate reasons why people are not always honest with their therapist in psychotherapy. I still believe psychotherapy works best when honesty is a foundation, but understand there are times where it’s not always possible.
• Mentally Ill Unfairly Portrayed as Violent
  People who have a mental health concern often get an unfair shake in the media, especially if they happen to get into trouble with the law. Media often note a person has a mental illness if they are involved in some violent act, but never mention whether he or she has diabetes or a heart condition. This sort of stigma is the kind of thing we rail against year after year. And earlier this week, yet another study was published showing the lack of a link between mental illness and violence (except when a substance disorder is also present). When will journalists get it?

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 3 Feb 2009
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.