Bill and Melinda Gates have announced their divorce (more here: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/may/03/bill-gates-divorce-melinda-gates-billionaire-couple). In their tweet, the Couple said that they put “a lot of work” into their relationship. And I think that unlike the ‘Happily Ever After’ fairy-tale, most of us understand that relationships require effort. So, here’s to WYSH-ing – Winning Your Sweetheart’s Heart 🙂
https://www.who.int/news-room/campaigns/year-of-the-nurse-and-the-midwife-2020
Florence Nightingale was born 200 yrs ago and is credited with the work that formed Nursing as we know it today. She is known as a statistician and approached her knowledge scientifically. Known also as “the lady with the lamp”, Florence made her rounds checking on the wounded. She inspired social change through her actions and the way she lived her life as well as her advocacy. Florence’s work drove reforms improving healthcare in Britain as well as improvements in gender equality. She also advocated for assistance reliving hunger in India
I am reminded of a video I watched where a cardiologist (I forget his name) vented his frustration that whilst he is able to surgically prolong human life, he does “nothing for what brought them here in the first place”. Finally, we are starting to recognise the importance of Behavioural Sciences in the healthcare. “The use of psychotropic medications as the first line treatment for depression and other conditions is, quite simply, unsupported by the evidence.” Below is the full article from today:
Original article here: https://shar.es/1QJpYd
The World Health Day – 7 April 2017
Depression: Let’s talk about how we address mental health
On the occasion of World Health Day, I welcome the opportunity to address its theme: depression.
It is fitting that depression has been chosen as this year’s theme. Mental health more broadly has begun to enjoy increasing attention as a new global health priority, now recognized in the 2030 Agenda as a human development imperative.
The human right to health is understood to inclusively guarantee the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. There can be no health without mental health and everyone is entitled to an environment that promotes health, well-being, and dignity.
I’ve come across this article, smiled, and wanted to share it with you:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE1609/S00094.htm
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (Training) is the modern form of treatment that is pronounced as a verb ‘ACT’. It is because of its ACTive nature, where long-lasting changes are gained not only through talking, but also through practising new and helpful skills. ACT has been generating exponential research evidence and becoming more and more widely used. In this post, I mention the example of using ACT for Chronic Pain. Curious? Read more
Tinnitus is an experience of noise without any external source. Culturally, hearing something that’s not there terrifies us. I am not sure why, but many of us are very afraid of anything to do with their minds. In fact, when I meet someone socially and they find out that I am a Psychologist, they tend to stop speaking with me. The very word ‘Mental’ (something of mind) is a scary word for people. When our minds are not working as we expect them to… isn’t it fascinating that we can use our mind to create expectations for our mind’s performance… But when our minds do not meet those expectations, we tend to become very afraid… freak out even. Curious? Read more
What a wonderful metaphor for human learning and flexibility. Nuroplasticity – You learnt it once, you can learn another thing at another time. Old dog can be taught new tricks, just takes a little elbow grease. Curious? Read more
Ever had a day when you woke up and things seemed just right? You couldn’t explain it. The world hasn’t changed. But you felt just good. What if there was a reliable way of producing this effect? Wouldn’t you want to take advantage of it?
Today, we identify a number of things that an individual could do to feel better. Some of these are ‘magic pills’ in that they work better and have fewer side effects than any of the non-magical pills we are aware of. Chances are, as a Psychologist, I will be closer at putting myself out of a job if you did these things: Curious? Read more
I am feeling grateful to the Pine Rivers Neighbourhood Centre (Encircle) for the opportunity to help out the Volunteers at the front line who are entrusted with greeting the Clients. The training was ACT based and focused on helping the Volunteers pursue their values whilst helping a Client who is emotionally flooded, may be aggressive, may be dissociated, etc.
It was great to get good feedback in the end of the 2hr session, but what was even better was to hear people’s awareness of some of the ACT concepts and familiarity with Russ Harris’s’ ‘The Happiness Trap’. Most common requests were for more training and spend more time working on developing these skills experientially. Great to see how keen you guys are!
It is difficult to answer these questions in just a few words. But, saying this doesn’t help, so let me try to describe the psychological processes that are involved in this kind of suffering.
The fear of confinement and deprivation of freedom has been documented in humans and animals for a long time as related to our need for autonomy and survival (e.g. BF Skinner 1971). Having said that, some of us will have the freedom to choose the elevator, whilst others will feel forced to take the stairs. Let’s have a look at some of the psychological processes that are at work here. Curious? Read more
