Improving therapeutic success rates: using UK IAPT data to assess how well we're doing therapeutically
8th March 2014
I wrote a blog post in the autumn - "Improving therapeutic success rates: UK IAPT data gives us a clearer set of targets" - highlighting that, if we want to improve how effective we are at an activity, it's likely to be crucially important that we monitor how well we're …
CBT Today: keeping up with the literature - exposure, mindfulness & reappraisal - winter '13/14 (2nd post)
26th January 2014
In yesterday's post on "Keeping up with the literature", I wrote about the wealth of updated knowledge that has emerged with publication of the third UK National Survey of of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal) and about useful qualitative research on why most health professionals (including psychotherapists) tend to be …
CBT Today: keeping up with the literature - UK sex survey - winter '13/14 (1st post)
25th January 2014
This is an extended, online, hyperlinked version of a regular quarterly column - "Keeping up with the literature" - that I write for "CBT Today, the official magazine of the British Association for Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapies". In October's column, I commented that new CBT-relevant research flows past constantly like …
Simple self-help for insomnia: an upgrade to counting sheep
21st January 2014
this blog post is downloadable both as a Word doc and as a PDF file In a recent paper on cognitive behavioural treatment for insomnia - "Hyperarousal, sleep scheduling, and time awake in bed as mediators of outcome in computerized cognitive-behavioral therapy (cCBT) for insomnia" - Vincent & Walsh particularly …
Are dietary supplements a dangerous waste of money?
9th January 2014
"The truth is rarely pure and never simple" Oscar Wilde Being a doctor, I tend to get occasional health queries from family members. Recently my brother emailed me saying "I have been taking multivitamin supplements for a while (also fish oil). Does the (linked) article mean that I am wasting …
Recent research: articles from December journals
7th January 2014
I read a lot of research. When I find an article of particular interest I download it to my bibliographic database - EndNote - which currently contains over 20,700 abstracts. Every few weeks I scan through all the articles I've found interesting in the previous month (in the general areas …
Self-practice, Self-reflection (SP/SR) & treatment for social anxiety: more on avoidance, social skills & compassion (5th post)
2nd December 2013
In a recent blog post - "Self-practice, Self-reflection (SP/SR) & treatment for social anxiety: avoidance & safety behaviours (4th post)" - I discussed identification of avoidance & safety behaviours using questionnaires like David Clark's "Behaviours questionnaire" and Ronald Rapee's "Subtle avoidance frequency examination (SAFE)". I mentioned too that David Moscovitch's …
What's your "fitness age"? It's a key predictor of how long you're likely to live
24th October 2013
The Norwegian Cardiac Exercise Research Group was established early in 2008 with funding from the Norwegian Research Council and other grant organizations. The work of their team of 36 research scientists "focuses on identifying the key cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects of physical exercise on the heart, …
CBT Today: keeping up with the literature (take two)
21st October 2013
I have been asked to write a column on "Keeping up with the literature" for CBT Today "the official magazine of the British Association for Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapies". I sent in a first copy a couple of months ago, but unfortunately the editors couldn't get the space to squeeze …
Self-practice, Self-reflection (SP/SR) & treatment for social anxiety: avoidance & safety behaviours (4th post)
13th October 2013
I have written three posts recently on Self-practice/Self-reflection (SP/SR) and cutting edge CBT for social anxiety disorder - the most recent went onto the website yesterday. There is also a further associated post - "Assessment & monitoring questionnaires for CBT treatment of social anxiety disorder" - which gives ten or …