Posts tagged with 'writing'
The 5 minute 'Health' read - Background
8th January 2024
I read a fair amount of research and thought some people might be interested in recent studies that I've found helpful. I plan to write a brief approximately 1,200 word (5 minute read) newsletter/blog post pretty much every week, highlighting helpful material that has emerged in the previous couple of …
A fun exercise for increasing intimacy in couple relationships
12th June 2021
The Journal of Positive Psychology regularly publishes very interesting, helpful articles. One that recently caught my eye is titled "The marital version of three good things: A mixed methods study". OK, maybe not the most catchy title, but the reference to 'three good things' hooked my interest as this is …
Using a wisdom diary - the record form
5th April 2021
The first of the two blog posts in this sequence can be reached by clicking on "Using a wisdom diary - background". In this second post I give the nuts & bolts recording form: This wisdom diary exercise is adapted from the work of the Canadian researcher Igor Grossmann. Please …
Using a wisdom diary - background
5th April 2021
"Wisdom, compassion, and courage are the three universally recognized moral qualities of men.” Confucius “Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes every day; wisdom consists in not exceeding the limit.” Elbert Hubbard “No man was ever wise by chance.” Seneca The language is a bit archaic, …
The "emotion colouring in exercise": how to do it
11th June 2018
The "Emotion colouring In exercise" is a deceptively simple 6-minute writing exercise where we practise identifying and describing our feelings. For important additional information about this process, see the "Initial background for the colouring in exercise: assessment, maps, emotional intelligence & emotion differentiation" and the "Further background for the colouring …
Some current research evidence for therapeutic uses of reading & writing (2nd post)
13th January 2015
Yesterday's post and today's are combined and downloadable as a Word doc or as a PDF file. therapeutic benefits from writing: Quite often “therapeutic” approaches that primarily involve reading also include writing components and vice-versa. Probably the most extensively studied form of therapeutic writing is the large body of research …
Some current research evidence for therapeutic uses of reading & writing (1st post)
12th January 2015
I was asked by a friend to write a short piece on research evidence backing up therapeutic uses of reading & writing to be used in a local initiative supporting health workers in a diverse range of settings. Today's and tomorrow's post give the piece with hyperlinks to the various …
Building on our strengths
4th July 2013
A few months ago I wrote a series of three blog posts on the theme "New research suggests CBT depression treatment is more effective if we focus on strengths rather than weaknesses". Possible points ... the series of studies that have suggested that a strength focus is more helpful (the …
Rumination: brooding, pondering, mindfulness, hypersensitivity, concreteness, writing - raising as many questions as answers
13th November 2012
Probably most cogntive-behavioural therapists subscribe to the general comment that rumination is a bad for depression. And it is, but as Oscar Wilde said "The truth is rarely pure and never simple". Smith & Alloy, in their 2009 paper "A roadmap to rumination: a review of the definition, assessment, and …
Written exposure therapy: how do you do it?
27th October 2012
(This post on "Written exposure therapy" is downloadable both as a PDF file and as a Word doc) Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear. James Hollingworth In yesterday's post - "One of the most exciting therapeutic writing …