Description: Have you heard of E.M.D.R. therapy? It stands for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy. This is an unfair oversimplification, but it involves a patient thinking of a past traumatic event while guided by a therapist to engage in some form of bilateral stimulation such as following the therapist’s finger moving from side to… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Health Psychology
Nature Experiences Well-being and Covid?
Description: I hope you already know that spending time out in nature is good for you. If not, have a look at one or two of the articles listed in the Further Reading section below. Given the positive relationship that has been observed between time in nature and well-being, how would you design a study… Read more »
Variable Blood Pressure and Whale Brains
Description: I am on an exploratory tour of the West Cost of Canada and have seen a few whales along the way (grizzly bears too but that is another story). Seeing whales is just simply an awe-inspiring experience and perhaps that lead me to pick up on a reference to the article linked below. Its… Read more »
Remote Work and Mental Health
Description: Sometimes you may run across references to large scale studies that take broad, general looks at parts or sectors of the population and sometimes those large survey studies take a look at aspects of mental health. Before taking the results of such studies at face value it is well worth taking a moment or… Read more »
Dog Ownership and Psychological Wellbeing
Description: Quick question. Is having a dog good for you psychologically? Don’t do any searching on the question, just go with what you have heard or recall. Answer? Good for you, right? Maybe you have heard that regular time with dogs extends the lives of elderly people or that dog companions help their human friend… Read more »
Happiness and Aging: A New Look at the Data
Description: You have heard, I hope, of the supposed power of providing random acts of kindness to others, even strangers, haven’t you? However, have thought much about why that might be a good thin g to do? We may have heard from parents, teachers and others that it is a good thing to be kind… Read more »
Can We Treat Depression with De-Magicked Mushrooms?
Description: It is not a big secret so you have likely heard or read references to findings that antidepressant medications do not work for somewhere around 30% of those to whom they are prescribed and that most of those for whom they DO work will find at some point that they no longer work, and… Read more »
When Fat Cells Talk Does the Brain Listen?
Description: The standard introductory psychology account of how our systems maintains consistent levels of food intake used to involve a couple of components. The first involves close areas within the hypothalamus which seem to be implicated in appetite regulation. The most dramatic data involved rats who had one or the other of these areas surgically… Read more »
Forest Bathing: Follow the Data or the Money?
Description: I am willing to bet that you have already heard something about the practice of if not the term being used for forest bathing. No, it does not involve getting wet in the woods (unless perhaps it is raining). The term comes out of Japan (shinrin yoku = forest bathing) where the practice of… Read more »
Mental Health Thermometers
Description: You drop into your doctor’s office and tell them you are not feeling well. Assuming COVID is not the issue (which would likely be picked up at the front desk of the clinic using screening questions) what is one of the first things the doctor will likely do? Take you temperature, right? (Or ask… Read more »
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