Health and Psychology

Psychological testing includes a wide variety of types of testing.  One of the most common tests used by psychologists are measures of cognition also known as intelligence measures.

There are several types of measures of cognitive functioning available.  The selection of the test instrument will depend on:

• the age of the person being evaluated
• their ability to communicate fluidly in English
• whether they are suspected of being...

Stress affects us in many ways, including:

• Emotionally – anxiety, depression, tension, anger, fatigue

• The way we think – poor concentration, forgetfulness, indecisiveness, apathy, hopelessness

• Behaviorally – increased drinking and smoking, insomnia, accident proneness, weight problems, obsessive-compulsive behavior, nervousness, drug use.

Stress does not cause illness. Illness is caused by a breakdown in th...

I get asked about accommodations testing fairly routinely.  Many people call in with questions about how much I charge for specific tests.  Accommodations testing isn't about the tests.  Accommodations testing is the data used for a psychological report that will ultimately be reviewed by an administrative law judge or an attorney involved in applications of the American's with Disabilities Act to ensure that the person seeking accommodations under the Act is not being afforded...

"I have mood swings so I must have bipolar disorder."  The woman telling me this had a long history of difficulty interacting with other people, marginal suicide attempts that really didn't require medical attention, and rapid changes in how she felt.   "Medications haven't really helped me."

I asked about the major symptom about bipolar disorder-a manic episode.  "I have highs and lows. Sometimes in the same day."  She reported.  So I tried again to...

Back when I was in college I was the person someone called to get the stray cat from out of the closet, from under the bed, from making life insane when all someone thought they were trying to do was help by taking the stray indoors.  

I speak cat.  Cats have about 100+ different vocalizations mainly to express how they feel or to connect with what is in their environment.  I wasn't allow cats as a child; my mother hated them.  But as soon as I left home ...

One of the things I do as a psychologist is to perform mental status examinations.  The most common mental status examination is something called a Folstein Mini-Mental Status Examination.  It consists of several questions that function as screening items to assess orientation and consciousness,  immediate memory, attention and calculations, intermediate or remote memory, mood and affect, intermediate memory recall, speech and thought processes, perceptual disturbances, cogniti...

I work out in the Inland Empire a couple days a week doing social security disability evaluations.  At least once a week I see some child that should have received a diagnosis of autistic disorder but didn't.  This level of misdiagnosis isn't present in Los Angeles county. In Los Angeles it's more common for a diagnosis of autistic disorder to be made when there is minimal evidence to support it.  So why is this happening? Pediatricians or family practice physicians are seeing ...

I've been teaching for a long time.  I was learning disabled, spastic, and gifted, (advanced placement math, a history of needing speech, adaptive PE, and not able to spell anything) so that meant I was bored out of my mind in elementary school.  In junior high (what people now refer to as middle school) I spent my class time drawing or doodling, occasionally looking up to provide the correct answer then went back to what I liked. One teacher suggested that I work with other student...

I heard about the shooting at Santa Monica College from my psychological assistant, Catherine, in a text message.  "I'm home at the moment.  Shooting at SMC in library.  Campus on lockdown and supposed to give an exam at 3:30.  Sad news and adrenaline in my system."  Some of her students fled the library where they were studying for the exam or were sheltered in a locked room by library staff while the gunman shot through the drywall.

Some of these s...

Crowdfunding and other Crowd based sites

Crowdfunding allows companies or individuals with products or ideas to ask for money to put their products or ideas into production.

Kickstarter 

http://www.kickstarter.com This site lets you help to fund new products or new companies as they get started. You give the site a credit card number or pay through paypal and once they are funded the...