Would you like to be 14 years younger – it’s largely a matter of choice!
3rd October 2008
Back in January I wrote a blog post entitle "Does a healthy lifestyle really make a difference? " I highlighted that it makes a hell of a lot of a difference. At around that time another major study was published that hammered this point home even more thoroughly and I've …
Recent research: half a dozen depression & anxiety papers on CBT, telephones, exercise, relaxation, prevention and more
2nd October 2008
Here are half a dozen recent papers on aspects of depression and anxiety. They include an interesting overview on brain-psychology connections by Aaron Beck, one of the originators of CBT; a meta-analysis of studies on psychotherapy delivered by phone, internet & videoconferencing; details of a free database of studies on …
Vitamin D - time to take action!
1st October 2008
I final got round to visiting Oliver Gillie's campaigning website "Health Research Forum" yesterday. It's well worth having a look at. At first glance I thought he might just be a bit of a cranky campaigner using the internet to have a louder shout about his pet subject. Not so. …
Handouts & questionnaires for life review, traumatic memories & therapeutic writing
29th September 2008
I've been working on the 'Life review, traumatic memories & therapeutic writing' handouts list in the Good Knowledge section of this website. I detail them below: Chart, early years (0 to 13) - this is the first of six charts that I sometimes use to get an outline of the …
Draft SIGN non-pharmacological depression treatments guideline, 9th post: self help, guided, and complementary therapies
27th September 2008
The fourth and final session of the "Non-pharmacological management of depression" SIGN seminar was entitled "Self help, guided and alternative/complementary therapies". Dr George Deans, Consultant Clinical Psychologist at Aberdeen's Royal Cornhill Hospital, gave the first presentation of this session on "Alternative/complementary therapies 2". I've already discussed the lack of good …
Draft SIGN non-pharmacological depression treatments guideline, 8th post: therapeutic alliance in the treatment of depression
25th September 2008
There was some discussion at the SIGN "Non-pharmacological management of depression" seminar about the possible importance of the therapeutic alliance in depression treatment. Professor Kevin Power said that SIGN had not found any good research that threw light on this issue. This is somewhat surprising because there is a fair …
Draft SIGN non-pharmacological depression treatments guideline, 7th post: effectiveness of psychological therapies 2
24th September 2008
This is the 7th blog post in a series reviewing the recent Scottish Intercollegiate Guideline Network's (SIGN) draft guideline for "Non-pharmacological management of depression". I gave more background details in the first post of the series. This post covers the third session of the guideline presentation seminar. The session was …
Draft SIGN non-pharmacological depression treatments guideline, 6th post: effectiveness of psychological therapies 1b
23rd September 2008
This is the 6th in a series of blog posts about the recent day seminar introducing a Scottish draft guideline for "Non-pharmacological management of depression." In my last post I discussed Gary Morrison's initial presentation of the day's second session on "Effectiveness of Psychological Therapies in Depression 1". Gary talked …
Draft SIGN non-pharmacological depression treatments guideline, 5th post: effectiveness of psychological therapies 1a
22nd September 2008
This is the 5th in a series of blog posts about the 10th September SIGN draft guideline day on "Non-pharmacological management of depression." On the day, the second session was entitled "Effectiveness of Psychological Therapies in Depression 1". Dr Gary Morrison, Consultant Old Age Psychiatrist from Dumfries, gave the first …
Draft SIGN non-pharmacological depression treatments guideline, 4th post: light, lifestyle & sleep
16th September 2008
The SIGN draft guideline day on "Non-pharmacological management of mild to moderate depression" last Wednesday continued with two further presentations in this first section on "Lifestyle and Alternative/Complementary Therapies 1". After the "grade A" recommendations on exercise and St John's Wort given during the first two presentations (covered in the …