Description: Even if you are not old enough to have experienced the 1960’s and 70’s personally you are no doubt aware that one of the things that era was known for is the illicit use of drugs and of psychedelics like LSD, peyote, mescaline and magic mushrooms. Within what was referred to as counterculture (outside… Read more »
Posts Tagged: Therapy
Psychology and Covid-19: It is a HUGE Psychology Experiment
Description: Occasionally during one of my lectures something unexpected would happen, nothing serious, but perhaps a construction crew renovating a neighboring classroom would start to use a jackhammer or power drill. In such situations I would typically comment that the event was NOT part of a Psychology experiment of the effects of annoying background noise… Read more »
Are Client Status/Outcome Assessments Problematic or Necessary?
Description: In my previous post (http://wileypsychologyupdates.ca/general-psychology/abnormal-psychology/should-clinical-psychologists-routinely-assess-client-status-and-outcomes-or-do-they-already/) I discussed and provided an article link to the issue of whether clinical psychologists should (be required to) routinely objectively assess the status (wellbeing) and outcomes of their clinical clients. One of the arguments against having clients complete a status assessment prior to each therapy session is that the… 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 »
Who or What is Telling What to Who? Dream Interpretation Today
Description: If you have taken an introductory psychology course you have likely heard a bit about Freud’s psychodynamic theory and about his views on the subject of dreams and the manifest (surface) and latent (deep, symbolic) content he argued that they hold. The idea that dreams are “the royal road to the unconscious” (Freud), in… Read more »
Refugee Distress and Mental Health: Trauma AND Other Factors
Description: Think about what sports of factors might be involved in how refugees cope with distress once they have arrived in a relatively safe place and are trying to get on with their lives. Certainly the potentially horrific stressful events they endured in their original homes and in their flight towards safety could be important… Read more »
Confidentiality: When Therapists Write Books
Description: If a psychotherapist is going to write a book and in that book they’re going to use some of their interactions with their actual clients to illustrate the points they’re making in the book what ethical requirements should they meet? It’s obvious that anonymity is important. If you were a lawyer advising a psychologist… Read more »
Drugs versus Talking: The Devil is in the Dichotomies
Description: You have undoubtedly had some thoughts about and perhaps even some classroom discussion around the question of whether drugs are therapy (talking) are the best choice for treating mental illness. In a way that’s reminiscent of the classical debate about whether it makes more sense to focus on people’s brains or on their minds… Read more »
Would Mass Murderers Have Benefited from Therapy?
Description: So here is a thought that you may not wish to dwell upon, but when you hear the news account of an individual accused of mass murder is one of your first thoughts that regardless of what else is true they must be mentally ill? You may not of taken this thought the next… 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 »
Books for Success!
