Description: I will not even ask whether you know what anxiety is, of course you do, especially given how much experience we have all had with it recently. Have you also heard about the Yerkes-Dodson Law? Basically, it says that for most tasks that we take on, a certain amount of stress increases our performance… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Psychological Intervention
Psychology of Covid: Reasoning with Unreasonable People About Vaccination
Description: How do you deal with someone who you believe is completely unreasonable? Well, one possible answer that makes a lot of sense is simply to not deal with them at all. Who needs the stress and the headaches associated with trying to take on an unreasonable person and try to get them to BE… Read more »
Psychology of COVID-19: Suicide
Description: When we look back on the year or two (or whatever it finally turns out to be) of the Covid-19 pandemic what do you think we will find happened to the suicide rate during the pandemic? If the rate increased significantly why might that have occurred? What factors were (are) involved? The study of… Read more »
Ending Psychotherapy: Don’t Slip Out the Back Jack!
Description: Think about how relationships tend to go for you. Think about how relationships end for you (assuming you have had one or two relationships end). Now imagine you have been seeing a psychotherapist for the past 6 months, perhaps to help you sort of what is or did go on in your relationships. How… Read more »
Drugs versus Psychotherapy: Not Either/Or But And
Description: So, what comes to mind as a definition when you see the term Psychiatric Therapeutics? Psychiatric relates to what Psychiatrists and Psychiatry is the medical specialty that focuses upon mental functioning, mental illness etc. It also involves the training necessary to be permitted to prescribe medications to treat the symptoms of mental disorders. Psychologists,… Read more »
Dealing with Problematic Drinking in High School: A Developmental Approach
Description: There are many issues and problems that can benefit from a developmental perspective. We can try and find ways to address reduce or fix problems when they arise. For example, we can address the problems associated with some risk-seeking young drivers by suspending their licenses after fewer demerit points than would be true for… Read more »
Should Clinical Psychologists Routinely Assess Client Status’ and Outcomes? Or do they already?
Description: Clinical Psychologists who are involved in providing therapy to people have a number of ethical standards to which they must adhere (you can download the Canadian Psychological Association Code of Ethics here: https://www.cpa.ca/docs/File/Ethics/CPA_Code_2017_4thEd.pdf) . One of those standards states that practicing psychologist should “Strive to provide and/or obtain the best reasonably accessible service for… 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 »
Treating Depression, What’s Best: Or Is That a Fair Question?
Description: Ok a pop-quiz! Name 5 treatment options for people diagnosed with clinical depression and then rank order them in terms of effectiveness. For a few extra points explain the mechanism by which your top three treatment actually effect symptoms of depression. Given the number of people who deal with depression and related issues each… Read more »
Politics These Days: Tips from Clinicians Who Treat Psychotic People
Description: Decades ago, psychiatrists used the term Schizophrenogenic Mothers to describe the mothers of individuals with schizophrenia and to then go on to talk about how the patient’s mother’s emotional ambivalence and related paradoxical behavior contributed to and perhaps even cause their offspring’s schizophrenia. Reflecting gender biased and even misogynistic attitudes, such hypotheses could simply… Read more »
Books for Success!
