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 »
Posts Categorized: Clinical Health Psychology
Movement Therapies for Anxiety and Trauma: Better Fits
Description: If you were experiencing anxiety or struggling with trauma would dancing be good for you? If you first thought is, “well it might be a distraction but other than that….” You might benefit from a look at and some reflection upon research that looks directly at this question. If you know something about the… Read more »
Rushing to Get From Syndrome to Disease
Description: Have you heard of General Paresis? No, it is not a military officer. It was the name given to a mysterious collection of symptoms that were regularly seen among adults (usually but not always older) in Victorian London. It started with forgetfulness and progressed consistently into memory loss, delusions, hallucinations and eventually into seizures… Read more »
Pandemic Dreams: With or Without Anxiety?
Description: How are your dreams these days? Not so good? Rather frightening? Does it make sense to say that the unsettling nature of your dreams are, in some way or ways, tied to our current Covid circumstances? If that makes sense, what is the mechanism by which our dreams are influenced by our current socially… Read more »
Psychology of COVID-19: Stress and Vaccine Efficacy
Description: If you have taken an introductory Psychology course that included a section on stress you may be aware that ongoing stress can have a negative impact upon your immune system. Those with sustained moderate to high levels of stress are at increased risk for things ranging from colds to cancer as a result of… Read more »
Transgenerational Neural Impact of Early Neglect
Description: You have likely heard about the research looking at the longer term imp0acts of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE’s) on later development and functioning as children grow into adulthood. In has supported and spurred on an ongoing push for early intervention with at-risk families in an effort to minimize the existence of or to mitigate… Read more »
Psychology and Covid-19: Self-Care is Vital
Description: Most of us have been spending a LOT of time in the past couple of months looking outward, using television and online media, at the world around us and at how the other people in it have (or have not been) coping with the impacts associated with Covid-19. We are also starting to see… Read more »
Psychology and Covid-19: Stress and Disorder (Depression)
Description: We (well, the media) have largely been discussing the Covid-19 pandemic is terms of physical demands and consequences and while that makes sense given that its origins are viral (literally not virtually). One of the consequences of this focus is that, even in countries with socialized medicine programs (e.g., Canada), when we mobilize the… Read more »
Psychology and Covid-19: How is This Changing Us Psychologically?
Description: Did you see those news videos of interviews with young adults partying on or near beaches during spring break and expressing disdainful disregard to distancing and other Covid-19 mitigation efforts? If you did, how did the statement made in the interviews make you feel? Anger? Disgust? If so, you were actually experiencing symptoms of… Read more »
Children, Disasters, Mental Health and Wellness: Issues with Bushfires
Description: In addition to this post I also posted today aboutthe issue of Seasonal Affective Disorder among those of us who live well north of the equator. While we reflect on SAD in our winter, we see stories of the issues of wildfires well south of the equator in Australia. Bushfires such as those experienced… Read more »