Posts tagged with 'research'
Recent research: five papers on overweight - mortality, cardiovascular risk, diets, and schools
9th April 2009
Here are five papers mostly looking at aspects of overweight. The first, published recently in the Lancet, is a huge study on the effects of body-mass index (BMI) on subsequent mortality in nearly 900,000 adults. It shows progressive excess mortality above the BMI range 22.5-25 kg/m2. (To calculate your BMI …
Recent research: five papers on depression, stigma, biology, & extending the reach of psychotherapy
2nd April 2009
This set of five papers documents, in part, our mixed viewpoints on depression. Worryingly, Mehta & colleagues show deteriorating public attitudes towards mental illness in England (and to a lesser extent Scotland) between 1994 and 2003. Meanwhile Blumner et al demonstrate a shift towards a more biological view on causes …
Recent research: five papers on childhood trauma, parenting & health in adulthood
12th March 2009
Here are five papers on childhood, the effects childhood experience can have on adulthood, and the effects adults may then have on their own children. The first paper by Brody et al. is the encouraging one. It demonstrates how caring parenting can combat genetic vulnerability - "involved-supportive" mothering greatly reduced …
Recent research: five papers on adolescent psychological difficulties
5th March 2009
Here are five papers on difficulties experienced by adolescents. A couple of the papers are follow-up studies. Colman et al looked at the multiple negative personal & relationship outcomes in a UK national cohort of adolescents with conduct problems followed over 40 years. Wentz et al studied the somewhat more …
Recent research: lifestyle - five papers on sleep, exercise & stress management
26th February 2009
Here are five papers on lifestyle and the benefits of making healthy choices. The first by Cohen et al on sleep habits and susceptibility to the common cold, showed increased risk of developing a cold after infection for those with shorter sleep duration. Interestingly the increased risk was even greater …
Recent research: a mixed bag of six papers on anxiety
19th February 2009
Here are half a dozen papers with anxiety relevance. The first couple are about the interaction between genetic vulnerability (or resilience) and childhood experience. The Stevens et al paper is an update on the large body of research looking at psychological genetic vulnerability/resilience in macaque monkeys and how this interacts …
Recent research: five papers on feeling good & improved functioning, on meaning & wellbeing, and on happy memories,
12th February 2009
I seem to be making a habit this month of focusing on a specific journal when posting the weekly report on interesting recent research. Last week it was the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology . This week it's the Journal of Positive Psychology . To quote the Journal's website: …
Recent research: four papers from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
5th February 2009
I routinely scan quite a few journals every month. Sometimes it's disappointing and there's nothing in the issue of a particular journal that interests me much. Sometimes a particular journal contains a bunch of stimulating articles. January's edition of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology was a good find. …
Recent research: half a dozen papers relevant to psychotherapy
22nd January 2009
Here are half a dozen papers relevant to psychotherapy. The first two throw some light on the question of whether it matters which form of established psychotherapy one uses to treat a particular depression sufferer - bearing in mind Cuijpers et al's recent meta-analysis suggesting that " ... there are …
Recent research: six studies on prevalence of depression & anxiety, and risk factors for depression, bipolar disorder & suicide
15th January 2009
Here are a couple of studies on the prevalence of depression and anxiety, and four on risk factors for depression, bipolar disorder and suicide. Strine et al report on a major survey of depression and anxiety in the United States. They found "The overall prevalence of current depressive symptoms was …