The potential value of rescripting images in chronic pain & other distressed states like depression & anxiety: treatment
10th March 2013
I have recently written a couple of blog posts - "The potential value of rescripting images in chronic pain & other distressed states like depression & anxiety: introduction" and "The potential value of rescripting images in chronic pain & other distressed states like depression & anxiety: assessment". The posts were …
The potential value of rescripting images in chronic pain & other distressed states like depression & anxiety: assessment
8th March 2013
(Downloadable resources include an imagery assessment questionnaire available both as a PDF file and as a Word doc, a table to track changes during rescripting available as a PDF file and as a Word doc, a frequency/severity assessment scale also available both as a PDF file and as a Word …
The potential value of rescripting images in chronic pain & other distressed states like depression & anxiety: introduction
6th March 2013
A high percentage of chronic pain sufferers seem to be affected by recurrent imagery that is linked to and aggravates their pain. Often the imagery's occurrence only emerges with careful questioning. "Rescripting" these images is associated with impressive short term improvements in pain and distress. What's exciting is the potential …
Recent research: articles from February journals
4th March 2013
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 19,000 abstracts. Every few weeks I scan through all the articles I've found interesting in the previous month (in the general areas …
Do psychotherapists, doctors and leaders develop "emotional chainmail"? Some ways of building both stability and empathy.
28th February 2013
In the last couple of days I've written two posts on the possibility of developing "emotional chainmail" when faced with repeated experiences of suffering ... "Do psychotherapists, doctors and leaders develop "emotional chainmail"? Description of a possible problem" and "Do psychotherapists, doctors and leaders develop "emotional chainmail"? Two kinds of …
Do psychotherapists, doctors and leaders develop "emotional chainmail"? Two kinds of empathy.
27th February 2013
I wrote yesterday about how, at the weekend, I was involved in an hour and a half's deep emotional conflict resolution with an old friend that was witnessed in a group by another eight people. As pretty much always, in the feedback that emerged over the next twenty four hours, …
Do psychotherapists, doctors and leaders develop "emotional chainmail"? Description of a possible problem.
26th February 2013
I've been in a peer "psychotherapy group" residential retreat again recently and I was involved in an interaction that has crystalised a series of thoughts about potential "emotional armouring" in therapists that I've been aware of more vaguely for some time. And in fact these "suspicions" involve not just psychotherapists, …
The "Balanced Measure of Psychological Needs" scale: a helpful contribution to self-determination and wellbeing assessment
16th February 2013
I'm a big fan of Self-Determination Theory (S-DT). For me it's one of the best ways into understanding flourishing and wellbeing. I use the ideas all the time in my work and in my life. The fine S-DT website at Rochester University in the States gives vast amounts more information. …
Could increasing our compassion for others be even more "therapeutic" than increasing our self-compassion?
13th February 2013
"It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life, that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself." Ralph Waldo Emerson "We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They …
Major new research shows how psychotherapy can help those struggling with antidepressant-resistant depression: more detail
9th February 2013
I wrote an initial post yesterday on the very interesting recent Lancet paper "Cognitive behavioural therapy as an adjunct to pharmacotherapy for primary care based patients with treatment resistant depression: Results of the CoBalT randomised controlled trial". In today's post I want to give a little more context to this …