Posts tagged with 'values'
Therapeutic writing & speaking: inspiration from values (specific instructions)
18th December 2010
See the two earlier blog posts - "Therapeutic writing & speaking: inspiration from values (background information)" and "Therapeutic writing & speaking: inspiration from values (how-to-do-it)" for fuller details of these self-affirmation, self-transcendence approaches. This "instructions" post is downloadable as a Word doc. introduction: Affirming key personal values and life areas …
Therapeutic writing & speaking: inspiration from values (how to do it)
12th December 2010
I wrote yesterday about "Therapeutic writing & speaking: inspiration from values (background information)". Today's post looks more at how-to-do-it details. Self-affirmation research describes a number of effective ways to reduce stress, clarify thinking, and boost effectiveness. If the affirmation exercise is being done in response to a particular stress or …
Therapeutic writing & speaking: inspiration from values (background information)
11th December 2010
Writing (or speaking) about our values or areas of our lives that are of particular personal importance can help us feel less threatened by stresses and more able to see situations clearly. There are many research studies demonstrating this. For example writing about personal values has been shown to reduce …
Recent research: 4 studies on prayer and their implications for compassion, loving-kindness & goodwill meditation practices
24th November 2010
"If you want others to be happy, practise compassion. If you want to be happy, practise compassion" Dalai Lama I was struck by three recent research papers on intercessory prayer, and one somewhat less recent meta-analysis. What I found most interesting about these studies is their potential relevance for meditation/prayer …
Recent research: six studies on mindfulness, values & meaning
27th May 2010
Here are half a dozen recent research studies on mindfulness, values & meaning - fuller details, links and abstracts for all studies are listed further down this page. Hofmann and colleagues' meta-analysis on "The effect of mindfulness-based therapy on anxiety and depression" found encouraging effect sizes for mindfulness training and …
Recent research: three studies on sex, three on couples, and one on both!
14th January 2010
I recently asked a computer-literate friend how I could encourage more people to visit this blog (thank you to all who already do!). He said "Write more about sex and violence." Ouch. I replied, rather self-righteously, that I wasn't just interested in increasing website traffic for its own sake - …
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 …
Autogenic training: seventh session
12th October 2009
Here are handouts and recordings for the seventh Autogenic Training session. The initial "Autogenic relaxation training" page gives introductory details of this method. In the face-to-face trainings that I run, I would typically start the two hour class by practising last time's Autogenic Training exercise together - in this case …
The health professions: selfless vocation or well-paid career?
2nd August 2009
The overlap between money and the health professions seems to involve a complex, multi-faceted set of issues. I was triggered into thinking about this by the coincidence of three events. One was a conversation at the recent annual BABCP psychotherapy conference, a second was reading Lewis Hyde's book "The gift", …
Recent research: six articles on wellbeing – meaning in life, reappraisal, positive emotions, and neighbourliness
23rd July 2009
Here are six research articles (see below for abstracts and links) loosely falling into the overall area of wellbeing. Boyle, Barnes et al report on the association between purpose in life and mortality in older people. They found that greater purpose in life was associated with considerably reduced mortality even …