Health and Psychology

I’m teaching psychological assessment and it’s finals week. That means I’m explaining a lot about psychological test scores and how to evaluate them. Most psychological tests are based on the normal curve (pictured below). The normal curve is a statistically way of looking at a phenomena in a population that is believed to be normally distributed, like IQ scores. The midpoint in the distribution is referred to as the mean. This is a fixed number.

Th...

I had a new person coming to seek treatment the other day.  I explained that the concept of privacy is a myth.  Let me explain further.  In this profession confidentiality is important.  People would like to believe that the things they tell to their therapist will not be told to anyone else. Unfortunately that hasn't been true for the past decade or so.  It's not that therapists are running around telling people everything the person they are treating says.  It'...

This past weekend, The Hoffman Report http://www.apa.org/independent-review/APA-FINAL-Report-7.2.15.pdf was leaked to the New York Times.  The report details the collusion between the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) specifically the CIA and the Bush Administration in collaborating to use enhanced methods of interrogation otherwise known as...

I'm increasingly concerned about professionals posting about standards of ethics that have nothing to do with the ethical standards of the profession.  In many cases the professional has a specific theoretical orientation they adhere to that proscribes how to do psychotherapy.  In other cases they are applying standards they learned from a supervisor for their professional practice in that setting.  In these cases these professional approach ethics as if situations are either e...

I did a presentation for a local networking group on neuropsychological testing.  Here's a recap:

Neuropsychological testing looks for problems and deficits in functioning localizable to the cortex.  Much of the purpose of neuropsychological testing has been replaced by neuroimaging.  MRI's or CT Scans.  But there are still several purposes for neuropsychological testing.

1.  Likely etiology for neurological impairment.

If you...

When did we stop?

Eating real food that was cooked from fresh ingredients.

Letting children play unsupervised outside.

Having a doctor visit that was longer than 15 minutes.

Gardening.

Talking to people face to face.

Writing letters.

Having a legible signature.

Questioning authority.

Reading books made of paper.

Sleeping enough.

Having schools pay for supplies like paper.

Expecting students to read the assigned rea...

I provide objective evaluations for the State of California for people who have applied for Social Security DIsability.  These evaluations are referred to as Consultative Evaluations.  I provide the same kind of limited evaluation privately at my office in Glendale, CA.  The only difference between the evaluations I do in my private practice than the evaluations I do for the State of California, is that I'll help someone ensure they have provided an adequate history.  Ther...

I have a day off.  Not really.  It wasn't scheduled.  I was supposed to go to court on a case and testify but the case was settled, leaving me time in my schedule.  That's not really a day off.  but it's not work.  I could have scheduled work, as late as yesterday, I could have worked instead.  So it's time off of a sort.

Like most people I have a list of to do items that never really get done.  It's a long list.  It's been posted...

A couple of friends and I were supposed to get together tonight.  We do this about once every 2 to 3 months.  It's nice and relaxing.  Nothing much changes.  We talk about our lives.  It's low to no drama.  But today, things got postponed and we're still tweaking schedules.  And I was looking forward to it.  So I'm sad.  So I went shopping for some needed work clothes.  Tried about 50 things on and bought three.  I had sales people tell m...

She counted off the events of the week. "It was a year ago on Monday when I had my accident.  Tuesday four years ago my husband filed for divorce.  On Wednesday six years ago my sister died.  And on Saturday three years ago I was robbed. It was a bad week."

"How do you remember all those?"  I asked.

"Oh I put them on a calendar." She said.

Why? ...