I’m in Houston on my annual e-patients retreat. So what better way to help you get through your TGIF fever than to give you a look back on what we were talking about on Psych Central in years past (gee, I sound so old-timey!).

11 Years Ago on Psych Central

The Great Psychology Prescription Debate

I boiled psychologists’ push for prescription privileges down to a question of money in this post. Psychologists are being pushed down the income ladder by cheaper psychotherapy providers (like marriage and family therapists and clinical social workers), and so look upward to see what they could be doing that could be making them more money. Psychiatrists can make twice as much psychologists because they can prescribe psychiatric medications.

Re-reading this essay, I think things are a little bit more complicated than I originally suggested. Indeed, in some rural parts of our country, there is a lack of psychiatric prescribers. But I don’t think the answer is tacking on a few more years of study to psychologists’ training programs, who have no intrinsic or specialized medical training to begin with (psychological training, yes; medical training, no).

Over lunch a few weeks ago, Dr. Danny Carlat suggested the answer is an entirely new training paradigm for professionals, combining the best of both worlds of psychiatry and psychology. And why not, when it’s so clear the existing training paradigm for both professions leaves much to be desired. It sounded intriguing and full of potential, so I look forward to reading more about his ideas in this vein in the months to come.

5 Years Ago on Psych Central

Lovers no good in spotting others in love

I love this study, even five years later, because it goes against the conventional wisdom that lovers in love should be able to see such love in others, too. In fact, adding some traction to the saying that “love is blind,” people in love actually fared twice as badly in identifying love in others than those who were not currently in love. Love is not only blind to the partner we love, but also to anyone else in love too, apparently.

1 Year Ago on Psych Central

10 Ways to Make Friends

Regular World of Psychology contributor Therese J. Borchard listed 10 ways a person can go and make new friends. It seems like such a simple topic that you wouldn’t even need to write it. Yet as we get older and out of school, making friends can be a lot more challenging than you might realize. Especially if you’re shy, or are in a work environment where socialization is frowned upon.

Suicide: When It Hurts Too Much To Live

Suicide is a topic that still makes my heart skip a beat whenever I see it in print or write about it. I lost my dearest friend to suicide in 1990, so it’s close to my heart, even 20 years later. While we’ve come a long way in making progress to help decrease suicides in 20 years, it remains a significant problem and one of the leading causes of death in young adults. In this entry by World of Psychology contributor Erika Krull, MS, LMHP, she talks about the pain of suicide and invites readers to contribute to a discussion on this issue; readers respond with over 120 comments.

Dr. John Grohol is the founder & CEO 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 26 Feb 2010
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