Description: Rorschach inkblots were made by a psychoanalyst named Rorschach. What do you think you know about them? They were literally made by pouring ink on a piece of paper and smudging the ink be folding the paper in half. So each blot was a random event not intended or manipulated in any way to… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Assessment: Clinical Decision Making
Pupil Responses to Angry and Sad Faces: Markers for Depression Relapse rates?
Description: One of the largest concerns after the task of finding a treatment for depression that seems to relieve symptoms has been accomplished is wondering whether the individual will suffer a relapse of their depressive symptoms at some future point. Markers that could be used to monitor for the likelihood of relapse would be valuable,… Read more »
Diagnosing at a Distance: What About Donald?
Description: Here is a question: Is Donald Trump crazy? Before you answer the question think about it a little bit. Is this an appropriate question to ask? More pointedly, what should psychologists or psychiatrists think about from an ethical point of view before engaging in any sort of efforts to diagnose public figures like Donald… Read more »
Selfies as Symptoms?
Description: What do you think about people to post a lot of Selfies on social media sites? The title of the article linked below hints at a causal relationship between the taking of Selfies and problems in one’s relationships. Read the article and maybe have a look at the research article it refers to and… Read more »
ADHD Incidence Jump: Think Like an Epidemiologist
Description: Think about this logically. If the incidence of a diagnostic category within the DSM in the general population shows a big jump what sorts of explanations might we begin to look for to account for it? Well, in the United States, and in Canada as well, the rate of ADHD within the child population… Read more »
Depression, Symptom Pattern Complexity and Diagnosis
Description: When clinical psychologists and psychiatrists diagnose depression they do so with reference to a list of diagnostic criteria (essentially a list of symptoms) contained within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, fifth edition. This article describes a research study that examined the pattern of symptoms presented by nearly 3500 depressed patients to see if in… Read more »
Cat Ownership and Schizophrenia: Not Straightforward
Description: So what is the first thing that pops to mind when you think of “cat people”? Crazy? Weeellll it’s a bit more complicated. Read this discussion by Andre Picard of an article suggesting that childhood cat ownership increases the chances that one will show symptoms of schizophrenia in adulthood. Source: Andre Picard Column Globe… Read more »
The State of Canada’s Mental Health Treatment System: Broken? Fixable?
Description: The Globe and Mail has produced a series of articles on the current state of mental health treatment in Canada. It does not so much focus on the quality of the treatment options available (they are pretty good) but rather on the general availability (or lack thereof) of such services. You can think of… Read more »
Pilots and Depression: Ethical Issues and Considerations
Description: It appears that the co-pilot of the Germanwings plane (on March 24, 2015) locked the pilot and remaining crew out of the cockpit and deliberately flew the plane into a mountainside killing everyone on board. Discussion and speculation about his mental health status and his previous struggles with depression raise a number of ethical… Read more »
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