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The Good Therapy Blog

For Children of Alcohol-Dependent Parents, Gender Influences Mental Health

July 23rd, 2010 . 5 Comments

Interactions between parents and their children often have life-long influence on those children. In the case of children raised by alcoholic-dependent (AD) parents, those influences are particularly harmful, with increased risk of psychiatric problems well-documented. A new study looks closer at gender within those parent-child relationships. Female children of female AD parents were found to be significantly more at risk for mania and alcohol and nicotine abuse than... Read More

New Book: Psychiatrists Need to Focus More on Talk Therapy

July 22nd, 2010 . 4 Comments

Psychiatrist Daniel Carlat was recently featured on NPR to discuss his new book, Unhinged: The Trouble with Psychiatry—A Doctor’s Revelations about a Profession in Crisis. Carlat’s assessment of psychiatry hits on several areas, especially the tendency to prescribe medication at the exclusion of talk therapy. He says just one in ten psychiatrists are utilizing psychotherapy on a regular basis, and while he does believe in medication,... Read More

Mental Health and 9/11: Children Were Especially Vulnerable

July 22nd, 2010 . 6 Comments

A GoodTherapy.org News Summary In the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, much public attention was placed on the lives lost, as well as the heroic actions of emergency personnel who responded to the attack. Nine years later, two new studies have shown that children who were directly impacted by the event (either through witnessing it directly, or by living with a parent who suffers PTSD as a result of the attacks) have lasting and... Read More

PBS Film Documents History of Schizophrenia Awareness

July 21st, 2010 . 7 Comments

A new film playing on PBS stations nationwide documents a group of parents who took to the streets—literally—in the 1970s to fight misinformation about schizophrenia. “When Medicine Got it Wrong,” by Katie Cadigan and Laura Murray, explores the then-widespread belief that schizophrenia in children was caused by the parents. Tired of being blamed for what they knew was a real disease, a small group of parents raised their voices to politicians and even the World Congress of Psychiatry.... Read More

Mental Health and Life After War for Child Soldiers

July 21st, 2010 . 7 Comments

A GoodTherapy.org News Summary The newest issue of the journal Child Development presents two different studies addressing former child soldiers and their mental health, social adjustment, and overall well-being in the years after they fighting has stopped. The studies together show that wartime experience and post-war family and social environment both impact the mental health outcome of the children. The first study followed 150 former child soldiers from Sierra Leone... Read More

Among ER Visits, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Issues are Prominent

July 21st, 2010 . 3 Comments

Statistics from 2007 emergency room visits have been compiled, and 12 million of those visits (roughly one in eight) involved substance abuse, mental health, or both, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Depression was the most frequent concern, followed by anxiety disorders and alcohol-related problems. While accounting for one eighth of all ER visits, mental health and substance abuse visits were more than... Read More

Ten Ways Pets Can Improve Your Family’s Mental Health

July 20th, 2010 . 6 Comments

Mazey was three months old when I got her from the Humane Society. She and her three feral siblings were found in the snowy Rocky Mountains and needed a home. I took them all in and became their temporary mother while they learned to trust and even love humans. Like many animals, Mazey was special. She was attentive, affectionate, and friendly. She loves to meet new people and give hugs, often at just the right time. Now at just over a year old, Mazey is my therapy cat. Most of us who own pets intrinsically know the value they have in our lives.... Read More

New Trial PTSD Treatment Uses MDMA (Ecstasy) To Enhance Psychotherapy

July 20th, 2010 . 14 Comments

A GoodTherapy.org News Summary Clinical trials have been underway to see if MDMA, commonly known as Ecstasy, might be effective in providing effective psychotherapy for PTSD sufferers whose conditions have been otherwise treatment-resistant. The use of MDMA in therapy-related settings is not unprecedented. In fact, it was regularly used in psychotherapy before becoming a recreational street drug and being subsequently outlawed in many countries. The results of this... Read More

Exploring Attitude Through the Body – Part III: From Demand to Despair

July 19th, 2010 . 4 Comments

My last article discussed the physiological reaction of a young infant to external stress. As this infant grows and develops coordination and strength he will have new and different ways to meet the world. But if he had prolonged reactions to external stimuli, the early reaction pattern may stay buried in his system only to be triggered in the future; it creates a vulnerability and sets him up for perceiving the world in a certain way where trust is a big issue. Stress on a newborn... Read More

The Art of Parenting

July 19th, 2010 . 4 Comments

Social scientists love to study trends. These trends, whether short- or long-term, are recorded in articles or lectures, and they add to our general knowledge of ourselves and the world. Families, marriage, children, and parenting are among the topics most frequently studied. That’s a very good thing. Problems can arise when writers translate those carefully developed statistics, trends, or curves into newspaper and magazine articles, radio stories, or full-length... Read More

Economy and Psychology: As Spending Declines, Mental Health Needs Grow

July 18th, 2010 . 3 Comments

A GoodTherapy.org News Summary Job loss and financial stresses can, and often do, lead to depression and anxiety for those who are dealing with these struggles. In times of economic crises, when even more people could benefit from psychotherapy and other counseling services, these services are unfortunately harder to access. This is according to research from Brandeis University, published this month in the International Journal of Mental Health. Nationally and internationally,... Read More

Emotions Are Contagious, and Math Proves It

July 17th, 2010 . 11 Comments

Using a mathematical model that tracks infectious diseases, researchers at MIT and Harvard have been able to show that happiness and sadness spread through social connections in patterns very similar to those taken by viruses. The long term study, which began in 1948, assessed people’s overall happiness, as well as their connections with other people in the study, every two years. They found that sadness was more ‘contagious’ than happiness, but also was faster-fading. This suggests... Read More

Short Attention Span? Meditation Offers Focus, Concentration

July 17th, 2010 . 7 Comments

Instant communication and an increased tendency to multitask are hallmarks of today’s technology-immersed lifestyles. But study after study shows that attention spans are shortening, and people have problems focusing on single tasks. New research on people who practice Buddhist meditation suggests that the practice can improve both focus and attention. Future research is planned to determine whether meditation also helps people regulate emotions.... Read More

Barriers to Effective Communication

July 16th, 2010 . 7 Comments

Although communication plays the most crucial part in our relationships with the people in our lives, the average person does not communicate well. Problems with communication can lead to difficulties at work and to loneliness and distance from family and friends. Much of the work we do with our clients will involve improving their communication skills, whether directly or indirectly. I will share with you what I have learned from my practice as well as from experts that... Read More