Health and Psychology

Asthma is a medical condition that causes difficulty in breathing.  It can be life-threatening.  It's usually marked by wheezing but can also be noticed by coughing.  Asthma is diagnosed by spirometry.  This test is performed three times in a single visit to ensure the results are accurate.  The person breathes into a tube to evaluate how the lungs function.  Medication may be given to open the lungs to see if there is improvement with a bronchodialator.  Ea...

Medical Trauma is a very common phenomenon.  It can happen when you awaken during a surgical procedure because the anesthesia wasn't deep enough, it can happen when you are misinformed about a medical procedure, it can happen when a procedure goes different than planned, and it can happen as a result of multiple procedures or being mistreated by a medical professional. 

The statistics are alarming.  About 100 patients a day wake up during a surgical pro...

I received an email from a psychological assistant of mine forwarded from an insurance company.  It talked about dual relationships being created by allowing clients to run up enormous debt and then having to collect that debt.  It's the wrong focus.

The focus should be on understanding your purpose and what you value.  If the purpose in providing mental health care is to help clients get better then allowing them to amass enormous debt doesn't serve that purp...

"I see dead people. So I'm schizophrenic."  Not since The 6th Sense or some of the Medium programs on television and the movies have so many people been talking about visual hallucinations and illusions.  I have seldom seen visual hallucinations correctly evaluated or identified.

So to all those people equating visual hallucinations with schizophrenia...you're wrong.  Very seldom does schizophrenia present with visual hallucinations, and the type that does has...

"What do you mean I shouldn't drink if I take a stimulant? Doesn't alcohol and a stimulant like Ritalin just cancel each other out?"

I was advising a client that taking a stimulant medication with alcohol can pose some significant health risks.  While not all medications for ADHD are stimulants a number of them are.  Many of these medications are prescribed by general practitioners or family doctors without a cardiac workup prior to the prescription.  Minor st...

The staff member was whispering as she handed me the chart.  "You're next patient says he has MRSA."  

"Okay, I know all about that.  It's a bacterial infection that's resistent to Methicillin-Methicillin Resistent Staph Aureous.  My husband got infected after his hip was replaced.  He's fine now.  He is still classified as a carrier, but because he didn't have a skin infection and he doesn't test positive, he's not at all contagious.  The next patient...

It's a new year and many people make resolutions to change habits.  So let me explain how to change a habit. There are three steps.  

1.  Identify all the things that make you do the thing you want to change.  These are known as cues.

2.  Identify a reward for changing the behavior.  Something small that you can do every time you do the new behavior.

3.  Change the cues and do them consistently for a few weeks, (somewhere between 4 and 12 w...

Several psychological assessment companies are moving in the direction of allowing psychologists to practice in the evaluation, assessment, and treatment of clients online.  Most psychologists will require a face-to-face meeting in an office setting prior to setting up online services for clients.  We are currently moving towards providing some, if not most, of our services in online service delivey.  These types of services are especially helpful with tracking of behaviors on ...

We're coming up on the holidays and there are the normal stresses of family drama, and there are the stresses of those with health conditions and food issues.

Family Drama Tips:

1.  Recognize that you cannot control the behavior of others.

If you tend to excessively worry about how people will "be" with each other, challenge yourself to stop taking on other people's issues. If there is an issue between two adults, let them work it out. It's not yours to ow...

It was a busy morning with some breaks that allowed me to have a conversation with an assistant.  The conversation went like this:

"I felt funny yesterday.  Sort of confused for a moment or two, and if the woman hadn't honked I might have hit her car."  she said.

"Funny and confused how?"  I asked.

"Just sort of tired and out of it.  Then my arm felt funny. It's still a little numb but it's better."  she said.

"And you broke ou...