Exercise 2: UK Department of Health, resources for assessment & advice
11th January 2010
Last week I wrote a blog post "Exercise 1: checking it's safe to start". In today's post I talk about resources provided by the Department of Health (for England & Wales). They have an excellent webpage on Physical Activity with links to a series of important initiatives including its publication …
Writing (& speaking) for resilience & wellbeing 1: introduction
10th January 2010
The universe is full of magical things patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper. Eden Phillpotts You can access a downloadable Word format version of this post by clicking here . Introduction: This is the first in a series of blog posts that aim to provide a brief, "state …
Recent research: articles from December journals
7th January 2010
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 13,800 abstracts. Every few weeks I scan through all the articles I've found interesting in the previous month (in the general areas …
My dilemma: passion or peacefulness?
5th January 2010
I had an interesting mix of experiences yesterday. It's left me wondering - about the balance between passion and peacefulness, about whether vitality and craziness fit into a meditative life, about courage and risk and exploration. I play tennis - not very well. I used to play quite a lot …
Exercise 1: checking it's safe to start
4th January 2010
I've talked a lot on this blog about the tremendously worthwhile gains we can make for our physical health by exercising regularly. See for example the posts "Does healthy lifestyle really make a difference?" and "Common sense isn't common". Now the recent national depression guidelines "Updated NICE guidelines on treating …
Handouts & questionnaires for improved assessment & monitoring of panic disorder
28th December 2009
For quite some time, I've used Katherine Shear's "Panic Disorder Severity Scale (PDSS)" as my main way of assessing and monitoring the severity of panic disorder. I've recently woken up to the fact that there is a specifically designed "Self Report" version of this scale. It is copyrighted, but Dr …
Handouts & questionnaires for outcome tracking: depression, mania, side-effects, anxiety, worry, alcohol, sleep, gambling & more
21st December 2009
Well, well, well ... what a lot of amazing information there is out there on the internet. I was trawling to try to find the copyright position of the Panic Disorder Severity Scale (more on this soon in a future post) when I tumbled into Mark Zimmerman's "Outcome Tracker" website. …
Getting help for depression in Scotland – support groups, online & face-to-face courses, newsletter, telephone service, and more
20th December 2009
The e-newsletter from Depression Alliance Scotland (DAS) popped into my inbox last week. What good work they do. The new information that particularly caught my eye was access to an online facilitated self-help course. The description runs: "We have a new service offering support for people to use Living Life …
NICE guidance on promoting mental wellbeing at work
17th December 2009
There are several recent research studies I've come across that highlight the need for better working conditions. Magnusson Hanson & colleagues' research on "Psychosocial working conditions and depressive symptoms among Swedish employees" shows clear links between decision authority, conflict & support and the development of subsequent depressive symptoms, while Nyberg …
Berlin weekend: self-affirmation theory
13th December 2009
All day Friday and all day Saturday exploring Berlin. Then on Saturday evening we went to a reasonable restaurant and this morning - Sunday - I woke with what seems to be a pretty good dose of food poisoning. Humph. Well it's been a peaceful day for me with my …