Health and Psychology

Testing for accommodations of health issues, learning disorders, or psychological issues is a complex process. This requires a knowledge of the law under the Americans with Disabilities Act, an understanding of the educations system and the laws pertaining to it involving such terms as a Free and Public Education (FAPE), Least Restrictive Environment, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Individual Education Plans (IEP) and many other programs covered under education law.

April is National Sarcoidosis awareness month.

Sarcoidosis is an atypical autoimmune disorder that can impact all organs of the body.  It can affect all ages although it is typically diagnosed in people between age 20 and 50.  It is most commonly seen in African Americans and people from Scandanavian backgrounds, although it may impact other ethnic groups.  It's is commonly not diagnosed or is missed as a diagnostic consideration in Caucasians.

I'm in the process of completing a paper on phenomenological testing and neuropsychology with my colleague, Maria Martin, Ph.D.  We're hoping to present at the Los Angeles County Psychological Association in the Fall.

Phenomenological assessment is so much different than standard psychological or neuropsychological assessment. I thought I'd explain the difference here. I do standard psychological evaluations a couple of days a week. These are relatively quick evalu...

I got a rescued cat yesterday.  She's an 11 month old tortoiseshell colored female tabby.  She has some minor health issues and will need regular medication but nothing that can't be bought over the counter.

There are health benefits to having pets. Pets can decrease your:  blood pressure, cholesterol levels, triglyceride levels, and feelings of loneliness.  They increase your opportunities to talk to other people.  They increase your exercise l...

I evaluate children for intellectual functioning often.  The testing for intellect involves administering an IQ test.  I.Q. (intelligence quotient) in general, is an assessment of the ability to think and reason. An IQ score is a standardized way of comparing this ability with the majority of people of the same age. A score of 100 means that compared to these people in the general age group as the person being evaluated have basically an average intelligence.

Most...

Many people do not understand what a health psychologist actually does.  I was talking with my neighbor yesterday who thought I was a scientist and was surprised to see my picture in the paper listed as a psychologist.  I was talking with my brother who has complications from diabetes and reminded him I can work with him on setting up a diet and exercise plan, help him with understanding his medications, make referrals so he can be treated for depression, etc.

Heal...

I had to make a decision recently.  A company I worked for was intending to change what they were doing in relation to my work.  So the major part of what I had hoped to accomplish at my time at the company was going to disappear.  The company tells me that what they intend will be better because there will be more people involved in learning.  But the plan has nothing to do with what I want, hope or dream about.  So I left.

In the meantime, the...

Ethics is often presented in psychology as a form of risk management, but that does ethics an injustice.  Ethics is about making a determination about the correct course of action after looking at a variety of options.  It's not about religion, or feelings, or laws.  Although hopefully religions proscribe rightness of actions, and feelings guide you to correct choices, and laws uphold the correct course of actions.  But that's not always the case.  Risk management inv...

I spoke to some relatives about health issues yesterday.  I have a niece waiting on a diagnosis.  I didn't know she'd been waiting since September and is scheduled to wait until February for surgery to find out if the small mass is a benign cyst or tumor or a malignant tumor on her ovary.  She has a family history of cancer.  Six months is a long time to wait until you know what's wrong.

She describes herself as "paranoid" about the diagnosis.  I hel...

There's something that happens to people when they have an idea that their mortality is catching up to them.  Many start to do things they think are important and will have some lasting meaning.

Steve Jobs found out a few years ago that he had pancreatic cancer.  So he did what a lot of people do.  He ignored it.  In the initial stages of diagnosis, it's common for people to not want to deal with things.  So people make up stories about what a ...