COVID & dietary supplements: maybe clutching at straws?
5th April 2020
It's hard ... very hard. COVID-19 is burning through communities & nations and we currently don't have a vaccine or other obvious medical protection against it. Interestingly age makes a difference. Older people ... like me (I'm due to be 70 in a couple of weeks time) ... are more …
COVID-19 threat: a dozen useful coping skills
28th March 2020
"Wisdom, compassion, and courage are the three universally recognised moral qualities of men" (and women) Confucius "Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than one's fear" James Hollingworth 1.) Values: How we want to respond to a crisis, like the …
COVID-19: some useful websites
21st March 2020
"Everything you say in advance of a pandemic seems alarmist. Anything you've done after it starts is inadequate." Michael Leavitt (then US Health Secretary discussing H5N1 avian flu in 2007). "There isn't any formula or method. You learn to love by loving - by paying attention and doing what one …
Twice weekly therapy sessions seem more effective than once weekly for depression
20th February 2020
"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." (mis) attributed to Arthur Schopenhauer. It's hard to improve psychotherapy outcomes. Typically, different well structured therapies produce very similar outcomes in head to head trials. This makes the …
Accentuate the positive: how to go about it
13th September 2019
"You've got to spread joy up to the maximum. Bring gloom down to the minimum. Otherwise pandemonium ... Liable to walk upon the scene". Bing Crosby sings In the last blog post "Accentuate the positive: an exciting new psychotherapy development", I described the encouraging results being reported by researchers exploring …
Accentuate the positive: an exciting new psychotherapy development
4th September 2019
"You've got to accentuate the positive. Eliminate the negative. Latch onto the affirmative. Don't mess with Mr In-Between". Bing Crosby sings! I was really intrigued by the recent paper from Michelle Craske, Alicia Meuret & colleagues - "Positive affect treatment for depression and anxiety: a randomized controlled trial for a …
5th international 'breaking convention' psychedelic conference: 1st morning - microdosing and group retreats & ceremonies
22nd August 2019
'Breaking Convention' - the fifth biennial international conference on psychedelics - took place at Greenwich University in London from 16th-18th August. There were apparently 1,200 or so attendees for the 6 concurrent programmes - academic, workshop, performance, cinema, entertainment & installations - as well as an art exhibition. I went …
Chronotherapy: rapid treatment of depression by altering sleep & light
28th July 2019
The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper. Eden Phillpotts At the recent World Congress of Behavioural & Cognitive Therapies in Berlin, David Veale from King's College & the Maudsley reported on a randomised controlled trial of 'triple chronotherapy' for depression. David pointed …
CBT World Congress: 3rd conference day - working alliance, cbt v's ipt, iapt, positive psychology & imagery
20th July 2019
This is the third & last day of the conference proper ... More to follow
CBT World Congress: 2nd conference day - sp/sr, imagery rescripting, personal practice, effective therapists, & compassion
18th July 2019
Well this was a fascinating day ... I went to my friend James Bennett-Levy's fine symposium on "Self-practice/self-reflection (SP-SR) at 18: an experiential training strategy maturing into adulthood", then on to an interesting & helpful symposium discussing broader applications of Arnoud Arntz's imagery approaches - "Efficacy of imagery rescripting as …