Posts tagged with 'depression'
Recent research: six papers on helping children & adolescents
21st May 2009
Here are half a dozen papers on helping kids and adolescents. The Fuligni et al paper found that adolescents experiencing frequent interpersonal stresses tended to have increased levels of C-reactive protein, " ... an inflammatory marker that is a key indicator of cardiovascular risk ... ". Jackson et al showed …
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 …
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 …
Recent research: three depression papers that get me thinking
16th April 2009
Looking back over relevant research papers that caught my attention last month, some stand out for me more than the others. Here are three on depression that stood out and got me thinking. The Fergusson et al paper looks at links between alcohol abuse and major depression. There has been …
Handouts & questionnaires for assessment of depression
6th April 2009
Depression assessment scales come in two basic forms - interviewer/clinician rated and sufferer/patient rated. As stated in the background information on the IDS/QIDS questionnaires (see below) "There are several accepted clinician rated and patient self report measures of depressive symptoms. The most commonly used clinician rated scales are the 17, …
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 …
Holiday, friendship and “meditation retreat” (eleventh post)
31st March 2009
This is the eleventh and final post about the Moroccan trip - a reflection once I was back in Scotland. So it's before breakfast on Tuesday morning in Edinburgh. We got back about 36 hours ago. I'm now mostly into the swing of "normal, everyday life" again. 150 plus emails, …
“Antidepressants are not all created equal”
8th March 2009
Cipriani and colleagues published a major multiple-treatments meta-analysis of new generation antidepressants last week - see abstract below. As Parikh wrote in his linked editorial (see below) "Andrea Cipriani and colleagues provide the field with a major answer. Free of any potential funding bias (and including an analysis of studies …
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 …
Handouts & questionnaires for depression information
2nd March 2009
Here are a few handouts that I've put together over the years to provide background information about depression. The development & maintenance diagram is probably the handout here that I use most - both to explain issues about depression and also for many other psychological disorders as well. Development & …