In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychological terms. This week’s term is attachment theory. Psychologists John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth originally developed attachment theory, which links emotional bonds in social relationships, human development, and evolutionary influences. Attachment in early life Infants automatically seek attachment to familiar caregivers, and display attachment […]
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The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) study was a landmark research trial conducted by Kaiser Permanente and the U.S. Center for Disease Control. The study examined the correlation between adverse experiences in childhood and health outcomes in adulthood, and it clearly showed just how profound that connection is. What are adverse childhood experiences? Adverse childhood experiences
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In Untangled: A Story of Resilience, Courage, and Triumph, Alexis Rose offers raw, forthright descriptions of the repeated abuse she experienced in childhood and into adulthood. I would caution anyone who has experienced abuse themselves to carefully evaluate whether they are far enough along in their own healing to feel safe while reading this kind
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Some studies have shown that the quality of the therapeutic relationship between client and therapist is a stronger predictor of therapeutic outcomes than the type of therapy used. However, it seems logical that the type of therapy should at least to some extent match up with how you tend to conceptualize the problems you’re experiencing.
Psychotherapy Alphabet Soup: CBT, DBT, ACT, and More Read More »
If you have a mental illness and have a paid job or volunteer gig, chances are that, at some point, you’ll be faced with the question of whether to disclose your mental illness at work, and if so, how much to disclose. Yes, there may be laws in place to keep employers from discriminating against
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Mental illness is a health issue, not a criminal one, but the police role in mental health crises can end up blurring that line. In some places, people struggling with their mental health are routinely handcuffed to be taken to hospital by police. How is that appropriate? It seems like a practice that accomplishes little
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An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison is an intimate look into the havoc that bipolar disorder can wreak. The book captures her journey with bipolar, from its emergence in her late teens to its effects on her accomplished career as a clinical psychologist and university professor. The book contains rich descriptions, and it’s searingly
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In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychological terms. This week’s terms are shame and guilt. Guilt and shame are sometimes used synonymously, but they’re actually two distinct constructs that focus on different things being bad or wrong. Both are social emotions in that they arise from the way we
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Ketamine is a relatively new option for managing treatment-resistant depression that has a different mechanism of action from other antidepressant medications. Ketamine itself isn’t new, though; it’s a dissociative anaesthetic that’s also known by its club drug name Special K. Over the last 10-15 years, multiple research trials have shown that it has an antidepressant
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In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychological terms. This week’s term is judgementality. [As a quick spelling geek comment, judgementality is spelled with an e after the g, while judgmental is more commonly spelled without an e.] According to Psychology Today, being judgmental involves getting satisfaction out of making
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