Handouts & questionnaires for depression, CBASP & neuroscience
18th May 2009
Here is a mixed bag of handouts and questionnaires. Most are spin-offs from CBASP (pronounced 'seebasp') - the awkwardly named cognitive behavioral analysis system of psychotherapy. There are also a few handouts which are adapted downloads from the neurosciences site "The brain from top to bottom". When in 2000, Keller …
Oregon University research on emotional regulation, interpersonal perception & personality
17th May 2009
I love it when I follow up ideas from a new research paper and then break through into a whole area of helpful knowledge that I haven't come across before. This happened recently with the paper by Srivastava and colleagues (Srivastava, Tamir et al. 2009 - see below) on the …
The broadening, evidence-based relevance of emotional processing
13th May 2009
"There's nothing so practical as a good theory". Kurt Lewin I wrote yesterday about the "triangle of emotions". I am a medical doctor and accredited cognitive behavioural psychotherapist. I was drawn to CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) because I wanted to help people as effectively as possible. When I started to …
Peer groups: Cumbria spring group reflection - "the triangle of emotions"
12th May 2009
Like many cognitively-orientated therapists who have observed the power of charged emotional work, I've struggled to integrate these approaches in ways that are evidence-based and intellectually rigorous. As they used to say in the early groups I was involved with in the 1970's - "Lose your head and come to …
Peer groups: Cumbria spring group – cathartic work from the outside
11th May 2009
So I wrote yesterday about the cathartic, emotion-focussed work that I went through. In their classic 1973 book "Encounter groups: first facts" the authors, Lieberman, Yalom and Miles, describe their major research on the potential benefits of these kinds of groups. One of their findings was that people who benefited …
Peer groups: Cumbria spring group – cathartic work from the inside
10th May 2009
I wrote yesterday about a horrid feeling of my heart "drying out" and closing. Although it seemed hard to do without possibly upsetting other people badly, I was very clear that I would share what was going on in me. These kinds of groups need honesty to flourish - otherwise …
Peer groups: Cumbria spring group – feeling burnt out & relinking to values
9th May 2009
Something quite deep happened to me, in me, during the group yesterday. Third full day of the group and powerful, deep things were happening in and between a whole series of us. Two couples have contacted particular distress. No doubt many, maybe most, others have been moved strongly in various …
Peer groups: Cumbria spring group - more on what makes groups helpful
8th May 2009
Yesterday was a fairly classic first full day of one of these four day peer groups that I've been involved with for so long. Like a musical form ... a concerto or something ... there are usual stages to the group, phases which it typically moves through. When I wrote …
Peer groups: Cumbria spring group - initial thoughts
7th May 2009
It's the first morning of this year's "Mixed Group" in Cumbria. I wrote about this group in some detail when we last met up almost exactly a year ago. Lying in bed a little earlier on, I thought over why I'm here. I should be reasonably clear about this by …
Three good books: “Positivity”, “The Compassionate Mind” & “The Spirit Level”
3rd May 2009
Here are three good, recently published books that are all highly relevant to the fields of stress, health & wellbeing. "Positivity" by Barbara Fredrickson (see below) is subtitled, a little breathlessly - "Groundbreaking research reveals how to embrace the hidden strength of positive emotions, overcome negativity, and thrive." Actually Professor …