Health and Psychology

A colleague of mine asked if I could send her the names of some applications for helping a client track their moods.  I thought it was something a lot of clients or psychologists might be interested in.

For psychologists:

It's always possible to give a client several Beck Depression Inventory or Beck Anxiety Inventory forms and have them email you item numbers and ratings.  That will allow you to track their scores between visits and contact them with specific instructio...

I started teaching from the first time I attended preschool.  I went home and taught my younger brother.  I taught my peers in the yard.  I taught my friends.  I started teaching in a more formal capacity to a class of students when I was in 7th grade.  I still teach.  I've always liked it and I think teaching is a fundamental part of psychology, whether it's medical education, skills training or assistance with accommodations, it's all teaching.  

"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...

I've heard from several people in the past month, referring to their adolescent children in terms I think of as reserved for the seriously mentally ill or criminally insane.  When I attempt to clarify the nature of the delusional psychosis, criminal conduct, or psychotic mood disorder it seems to be non-existent.  What is being described by these parents, step-parents and legal guardians of teens are temper tantrums. 

There are several variants of these tantr...

I read a lot.  About a book a month or two and about 40 journal articles or more each week.  I used to read under the covers with a flashlight when I was a child.  So I'm surprised at how little younger students read. Many don't like to read at all, and many are poor readers.  But when students are in my classes, I have to take into account the fact that they will not read the course material.  This has been true at the last 5 colleges, universities, or other academic...

Sometimes when I read reports I'm surprised about how diagnostic labels are used.  This is especially true when I try to clarify how a diagnosis was actually made.  This is especially important when it comes to diagnosis that involve a careful evaluation and ruling out of other conditions that may seem similar.  

Here are the top three symptoms that require a thorough evaluation.

• Hyperactivity and Attention Disorders
• H...

What is Autism?

Autism is a term used for a number of developmental disabilities called Autism Spectrum Disorders. Autistic Spectrum Disorder emerges in the first three years of a child’s life, and can affect the child’s ability to communicate, understand language, and to develop social relationships.

The symptoms of ASD vary, and can range from mild to severe, but all children on the spectrum show difficulties with:

...

I drove by my old apartment.  I was mugged and beaten there years ago.  For a long time I had symptoms of trauma:  nightmares, recurrent vivid recollections of what happened (flashbacks), looking around to see if anyone was watching me, suddenly startling if someone came up behind me.  Then someone taught me a technique to stop the symptoms.  I had had the symptoms for three years at that point and I thought they would never go away.  The technique was simple, to...

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...