Psychology Basics Forums

I've Created a "Survivor Needs" Meme

Robyn Artemis — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 20:51:09 GMT

Note - It is past the holiday season however when I came across this I thought it was a great thing to post here too.

Survivors Can Thrive

Marj aka Thriver

December 22, 2007

This holiday season, many of us survivors are rushing around trying to get our gift shopping done and get all those items on our lists checked off. For some of us, the holidays are a painful time of triggers and obtrusive memories. Whether you hate Christmas, really get into the holiday spirit, or just tend ...

Homecoming After Deployment: Dealing with Changes and Expect

Robyn Artemis — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:35:58 GMT

]Department of Veteran Affairs

With deployment comes change. Knowing what to expect and how to deal with changes can make homecoming more enjoyable and less stressful. Below are some hints you might find helpful.

Expectations for Soldiers:

You may miss the excitement of the deployment for a while.

Some things may have changed while you were gone.

Face-to-face communication may be hard at first.

Sexual closeness may also be awkward at first.

Children will have grown and may ...

Bad Ideas Can Be Contagious

Robyn Artemis — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 23:16:47 GMT

Washington Post

By Shankar Vedantam

Monday, December 17, 2007

Nearly four decades ago, psychologist Stanley Milgram had a volunteer stand stock still on a busy New York sidewalk and look up at the sky. About one in every 25 passersby stopped to look up, too. When five volunteers were recruited to sky-gaze, nearly one in five passersby stopped to look up.

When Milgram and his colleagues assembled a group of 18 volunteers to simultaneously look up at nothing in particular, nearly one ...

Relaxation Techniques for

Robyn Artemis — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 23:53:16 GMT

Healthy Place

Susan M. Lark, M.D.(Excerpted from The Menopause Self Help Book

Celestial Arts, Berkeley)

Women with increased levels of anxiety and nervous tension often need to develop more effective ways of dealing with day to day stresses the minor everyday pressures that women with a healthy emotional balance handle easily but that can be overwhelming for women whose anxiety responses are easily triggered. Such stress can include riding in an elevator, being in crowds, going to the ...

Many Children Struggling After '05 Storms

Robyn Artemis — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 23:14:11 GMT

New York Times

By LESLIE EATON

December 7, 2007

At least 46,600 children along the Gulf Coast are still struggling with mental health problems and other serious aftereffects of 2005 hurricanes, according to a new study by the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and the Children�s Health Fund.

Many of these children are performing poorly in school and have limited access to medical care, according to the study, which combines government statistics with data collected ...

URGE SURFING � RELAPSE PREVENTION

Robyn Artemis — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:54:33 GMT

Mindfulness.org

Background

Urge surfing is a term coined by Alan Marlatt as part of a program of relapse prevention he developed for people recovering from addictions to alcohol and other drugs. It can actually be used to help with any addictive behaviour such as gambling, overeating, inappropriate sex or any other destructive impulses.

Urges for substance use rarely last for very long. In fact, they almost never last for longer than about 30 minutes, if there is no opportunity to ...

Mental Illness And Drug Addiction May Co-occur Due To Distur

Robyn Artemis — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:26:26 GMT

Science Daily

ScienceDaily (Dec. 3, 2007) � Why do mental illness and drug addiction so often go together? New research reveals that this type of dual diagnosis may stem from a common cause: developmental changes in the amygdala, a walnut-shaped part of the brain linked to fear, anxiety and other emotions.

Dual diagnosis is common yet difficult to treat. Addiction of all types -- to nicotine, alcohol and drugs -- is often found in people with a wide variety of mental illnesses, including ...

Shy? Or Something More Serious?

Robyn Artemis — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 05:24:37 GMT

The Washington Post

By Christopher Lane

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

If anyone in my parents' generation had argued that shyness and other run-of-the-mill behaviors might one day be called mental disorders, most people would probably have laughed or stared in disbelief. At the time, wallflowers were often admired as modest and geeks considered bookish. Those who were shy might sometimes have been thought awkward -- my musically gifted mother certainly was -- but their reticence fell within ...

A misunderstood stress symptom

Robyn Artemis — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 00:25:23 GMT

Gulf News

November 27, 2007

By Carole Spiers,

In the aftermath of a traumatic event, such as a fire or an air-crash, the mysterious onset of survivor guilt used to baffle friends, families and colleagues so much that it was classified as a mental disorder.

That was certainly how it looked - a condition that appeared to run counter to any notions of reason or logic. Instead of celebrating their lucky escape, the survivors would start to identify with the dead rather than the living, ...

Bullying on the Net

Robyn Artemis — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 06:56:38 GMT

Reuters

Tue 27 Nov 2007

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON (Reuters Life!) - Hateful text messages, abusive e-mails and cyber-gossip are giving bullies new power over their victims -- even in the supposed safety of their own homes, U.S. researchers are reporting.

And most of the victims are themselves new, with two-thirds of children who report such harassment saying they had not been bullied before in other ways.

Schools and parents must work together to find ...

A wife's tale: the general and the ghosts of Rwanda

Robyn Artemis — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 19:25:22 GMT

Globe and Mail

SARAH HAMPSON

November 26, 2007

'Much later, back in Canada, I was taking a vacation with my wife and children, driving down a narrow road on the way to the beach. Road workers had cut a lot of trees down on either side of the road and piled the branches up to be picked up later. The cut trees had turned brown, and the sawn ends of the trunks, white and of a fair size, were stacked facing the road. Without being able to stop myself, I described to my wife in great detail ...

A New Focus on Caring for Survivors of Extreme Violence

Robyn Artemis — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 18:49:32 GMT

virtual mentor

Richard F. Mollica, MD, MAR

http://virtualmentor.ama-assn.org/2007/10/cprl1-0710.html-October 2007, Volume 9, Number

Major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are two of the most common psychiatric disorders associated with life experiences of violent conflict [1]. Extensive research has demonstrated a high prevalence of these disorders in combat veterans, survivors of torture, and civilian populations traumatized by mass violence. These diagnoses are well ...

Internet-based PTSD Therapy May Help Overcome Barriers to Ca

Robyn Artemis — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 17:22:43 GMT

NIMH

Science Update

November 1, 2007

Internet-based PTSD Therapy May Help Overcome Barriers to Care

NIMH-funded researchers recently completed a pilot study showing that an Internet-based, self-managed cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can help reduce symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, with effects that last after treatment has ended. This study supports further development of PTSD therapies that focus on self-management and innovative methods of providing ...

Soldiers suffer from stress after coming home - Study: Adjus

Robyn Artemis — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 17:02:12 GMT

msnbc

Nov. 13, 2007

CHICAGO - Associated Press - The euphoria of a soldier's homecoming from Iraq often gives way to depression, stress and trouble dealing with family members during the first months home, a new Pentagon study finds.

And the adjustment struggle was more profound for National Guard troops and reservists than it was for active-duty soldiers.

About 42 percent of the Guard and reserves, compared to 20 percent of active-duty troops, were identified as needing mental ...

Denial Makes the World Go Round

Robyn Artemis — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 22:59:32 GMT

New York Times

By BENEDICT CAREY

Published: November 20, 2007

For years she hid the credit card bills from her husband: The $2,500 embroidered coat from Neiman Marcus. The $900 beaded scarf from Blake in Chicago. A $600 pair of Dries van Noten boots. All beautiful items, and all perfectly affordable if she had been a hedge fund manager or a Google executive.

Friends at first dropped hints to go easy or rechannel her creative instincts. Her mother grew concerned enough to ask pointed ...

About Psychology Basics

Robyn Artemis — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 19:37:32 GMT

In the early 90's I started my own journey of recovery of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. As many others, I am myself an adult survivor.. Over the past 10 years I have become an counsellor, educator and consultant working with many survivors of violence due to past childhood abuses, spousal abuse, institutionalized abuse, residencial schools. I have been on both sides which has gifted me with a unique compassion for people currently dealing with the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress. At times ...

Just me.

Andre — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 17:10:15 GMT

Hi, my name is Andre. I don't use a pseudo name as I have quite hiding quite some time ago. I am interested in the human aspect of life as I deal with different people with different issues. I have taken some courses in psychology, nothing too extravagant, just something to give me a leg up.

I guess I could start with that I was diagnosed with Klinefelter's Syndrome at the age of 22, a time that was very confusing for me because I found out that I thought differently than my counterparts. ...

Ten Tips For Building Resiliency

Robyn Artemis — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 16:32:45 GMT

Dr. Deb

Psychological Perspectives

September 22, 2007

Resiliency is the ability to spring back from and successfully adapt to adversity. Resilient people are often flexible in their thinking, endure difficulty with a realistic outlook and use the experience in self- empowering ways.

Experts are not all in ageement about how much of resilience is genetic. So the thought is that resilience can be learned.

Below is the American Psychological Association list of how to build ...