Description: Schizophrenia affects about 1% of the population and while there are treatments that can be partially effective there is no real cure. An understanding of the origins of schizophrenia, of how it emerges, could move us towards earlier identification and could suggest new treatment avenues. As it has been discussed in our textbooks, schizophrenia… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Abnormal Psychology
Peer-to-Peer Campaigns for Dealing with Depression in High Schools: A Solution to Screening Woes?
Description: One of the biggest challenges in dealing with depression in the population is getting those who are struggling with it to seek help. Efforts to set up screening systems for any psychological (or physical) health matter are potentially very costly and very difficult to design effectively (just think about two issues – false negatives,… Read more »
Is There a Useful Psychology of Mass Shooters?
Description: As I contemplated whether to choose to blog on this particular topic I ran across the article linked below and while reading through it, for a number of associative reasons (I suspect), I was reminded of a song by Canadian Blues artist Lest Quitzau called Home on the Range. It contains the line “Welcome… Read more »
Forensic Neuropathology and Forensic Psychology: Searching for the Whys of heinous behavior
Description: When individuals do horrible things we, of course, want to know why they did what they did. We want to know if there was something specifically wrong with them and, in particular, we want to know if there was either something that could or should have been done to prevent the person doing what… Read more »
OCD: Do you know what you need to know to help?
Description: Have you ever referred to a friend’s behavior as “so-OCD”? or have your friend ever referred to behaviors of yours that way? OCD, which stands for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, is one of those psychology terms that has become part of common speech and popular culture (like calling someone who is a stickler for order “anal”… Read more »
The Psychologies of Sycophants and Narcissists: Historical Shifts, Developmental Histories and Clear and Present Dangers
Description: What is a sycophant? Well, colloquially we sometimes use the term “suck up” as in “that person is a suck up” or “that person is really sucking up to the boss”. But what is going on in situations like that psychologically? There are a couple of hints for possible hypotheses in the pictures posted… Read more »
Scaring Babies for Science: But Ethically This Time
Description: If you have had an introductory psychology course you have likely learned something about phobias. Phobia’s are usually described as irrational fears. Learning theorists (John Watson foremost among them) argued that phobias are learned when a situation or object or animal is associated with a fear inducing stimulus such as an unexpected loud sound…. Read more »
A key to health, recovery, and combatting depression? Let the Sun Shine In!
Description: In Egypt, rates of clinical depression are highest in December and rates of mania are highest in June. Why might that be? ….“Sunlight on my shoulders makes me happy” to quote John Denver. A signature line in a kitschy song but is there some truth to it from a clinical perspective? What do you… Read more »
Are Student Anxiety Levels Skyrocketing? And if so why?
Description: Do you have feelings of anxiety especially associated with school, college or University? If you do you are not alone, and in fact, you may actually be in the majority of recent data is valid. Before reading the article linked below think a bit about why it might be that students these days are… Read more »
Primal Screams: Socio-historical Contexts of Psychological Theory and Therapy and Arthur Janov’s Obituary
Description: When I was in high school (back in the old days of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s) I had a good friend whose mother was a practitioner of Janov’s Primal Scream therapy. Part of the basement in their house was lined with mattresses and there were bins of stuffed animals, boxing gloves and… Read more »
Books for Success!
