October 2007 Archives

I'm back today after two days on a Dreamweaver course. Dreamweaver is a rather pompously-named piece of web creation software. The course was good and I can now weave dreams from pieces of code, or something like that.

The more you try to resist chocolate, the more you will eat, researchers have found.

Curb Your Enthusiasm is one of the funniest programmes on telly but may also be useful in treating people with schizophrenia.

Apparently there might be some potential in it, according to new research. Check out this PsychCentral blog for the lowdown.

Research published in the Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Nursing says 80% of nurses view clients with borderline personality disorder as "more difficult to care for than other clients" and 81% believe the care they receive is inadequate.

Mental health courts do work, according to research carried out in the US.

It can be no coincidence that on the day Mad World suggested that the government needed to roll out its talking therapy programme it announced a £170m scheme to do just that.

Today is World Mental Health Day - an opportunity to promote mental wellbeing and educate people about the realities of mental illness. But what changes would you like to see to the mental health system?

Mixed bag of stuff today, on what you learn in life, the benefits of meditation, the side-effects of SSRIs and neurofeedback.

An early warning system has been set up in the US state of Massachusetts to spot pre-schoolers who may be getting excessive medication for mental illness

by Keith Sellick

My friend Spence goes to the doctor.

"Doctor I am depressed."

How do you know, asks the GP.

Here's some light-hearted Friday fun. Are you left-brained or right-brained? Do you actually believe any of that stuff?

Should clinical psychology embrace complementary and alternative medicine? This is the question posed in a paper submitted to Clinical Psychology Review.

There's a good post by Mental Health Nurse about the anthropology of mental health wards.

The New York Times reports on what it describes as "the most comprehensive and long-running study to date of depression treatment among adolescents."

If a child is angry or sad, parents should react in different ways to help foster the child's emotional development, according to new research.

Lots of snippets today - TV and behaviour problems, mental health screening for young people and why city life is rubbish - are among the highlights.