psychotherapy

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Her Dad Was Losing Memory, So They Took Literal Trip Down Memory Lane

Francesca Mari reflects on how reminiscence therapy factored in during a big trip with her father

(Newser) - When Francesca Mari decided to take a European trip with her aging dad, it wasn't just fun that she was hoping for. Writing for the New York Times , Mari expands on her father's Alzheimer's and how, as dementia started to steal his memories, she hit upon an...

She Forged a Path for Psychedelics in Mental Health
Pioneer of Psychedelics
in Therapy Dies at 91
OBITUARY

Pioneer of Psychedelics in Therapy Dies at 91

Ann Shulgin, along with late husband Alexander, was psychotherapy pioneer

(Newser) - Ann Shulgin, who together with her late husband, Alexander Shulgin, pioneered the use of psychedelic drugs in psychotherapy and co-wrote two seminal books on the subject, has died at the age of 91. Shulgin had been in ill health due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, daughter Wendy Tucker said. She...

Psychologist Who Captured Zeitgeist With 'Primal Scream' Dies

Arthur Janov was 93

(Newser) - Arthur Janov, the California psychotherapist whose development of primal scream therapy in the 1970s garnered him both celebrity patients and celebrity, died Sunday in Malibu at the age of 93, the New York Times reports. Primal scream therapy, which Janov claimed could "cure" everything from alcoholism and asthma to...

Pope: Female Psychotherapist Helped 'Clarify Some Things'

Francis saw her when he was 42, back when he was just plain old Jorge Bergoglio

(Newser) - Pope Francis says that when he was 42 he had sessions weekly with a psychoanalyst who was female and Jewish to "clarify some things." It wasn't specified what the future pontiff wanted to explore, the AP notes. The revelation came in a dozen conversations Francis had with...

Bracelet Promises to Shock Your Bad Habits Away

The human version of a dog shock collar has yet to be studied for long-term effects

(Newser) - Some people will try just about anything to break a bad habit—and that now includes a gadget that promises to help people retrain their behaviors using mild vibrations and painful zaps. Named after the Russian physiologist who introduced the world to Pavlovian classical conditioning and its subset aversion therapy,...

Talking to a Shrink May Not Work as Well as You Think

Publication bias keeps out negative results in efficacy calculations: researchers

(Newser) - No one is denying that talking things out with a therapist can be helpful for those with depression. But, like antidepressants, psychotherapy's usefulness may be overstated, researchers say, per the New York Times —by as much as 25%, finds a study in PLOS One . "This doesn't...

Study: Vampires Are Real, and They Have a Big Fear

 Study: Vampires 
 Are Real, and 
 They Have a 
 Big Fear 
in case you missed it

Study: Vampires Are Real, and They Have a Big Fear

They drink blood, but live in fear of ... the doctor

(Newser) - This surely ranks among the more unexpected studies: Vampires are real, and they have a fear—"of Coming out of the Coffin to Social Workers and Helping Professionals," as the study's title reads in part. The study, published in the journal Critical Social Work , isn't talking...

7 Celeb Couples Who've Gone to Counseling

These famous duos are not afraid to admit they need help

(Newser) - Celebrity relationships are often blink-and-you-miss-them moments, so it's refreshing when celebs like Ben Affleck admit that keeping a marriage going, especially in Hollywood, takes a lot of work (albeit " the best kind of work. ") Below are seven famous couples who've reportedly used therapy as a...

Scientists Turn Bad Memories to Happy Ones

Research could mean more effective treatment for human disorders

(Newser) - Scared to death of spiders after you found one crawling in your bed? Scientists may have discovered a way for you to find them positively cuddly. After identifying the neurons powered by positive and negative memories in mice, MIT neuroscientists found a way to use light to essentially rewrite a...

NJ Looks to Ban Gay Conversion Therapy

Would join California as only states to do so

(Newser) - California may soon have an ally in its battle against anti-gay psychological therapy. The New Jersey Assembly voted 56-14 yesterday to ban licensed therapists and social workers from pushing gay and lesbian young people to alter their sexuality, Reuters reports. The state Senate is likely to approve the measure Thursday....

Judge to CA: You Can't Ban 'Gay Cures'

Temporary injunction blocks new law from being applied to 3 people

(Newser) - Sorry, California, but you can't ban gay-to-straight "conversion" therapy for minors just yet, a federal judge ruled yesterday. Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law in September prohibiting so-called "gay cures," the first law of its kind in the US. But the judge found that the law,...

California Moves to Ban 'Gay Cure' for Teens

'Conversion therapy' is dangerous, bill's sponsor says

(Newser) - Psychotherapists who claim they can "cure" gay teenagers may soon be out of business in California. A bill before the state Senate would ban so-called "conversion therapy" for minors and require adults to sign a release form stating that the counseling is ineffective and possibly dangerous, reports AP...

Getting High on Ecstasy May Help Soldiers' PTSD

...provided it's taken during therapy sessions

(Newser) - The federal government has given its blessing to the practice of letting US soldiers get high on ecstasy, all in the name of finding a way to cope with post traumatic stress disorder. One catch: It has to be taken while in therapy sessions. Two researchers—with OKs from the...

Darth Vader Just Needed Pyschotherapy

He's a candidate for borderline personality disorder

(Newser) - If young Anakin Skywalker had gotten himself into see a good psychotherapist, he might have steered clear of the dark side and the Darth Vader get-up. The Star Wars prequels show that Anakin suffered from borderline personality disorder, say French psychiatrists. (They've made the argument before, but will buttress it...

Group Urges Docs to Prescribe Meditation

 Group Urges 
 Docs to 
 Prescribe 
 Meditation 

better than antidepressants

Group Urges Docs to Prescribe Meditation

'Mindfulness' effective in preventing relapse

(Newser) - The best prescription for recurrent depression isn't pills or talk therapy, it's "mindfulness"—a combination of meditation, yoga, and breathing techniques that empties the mind of negative thoughts. So claims a UK mental health organization so impressed by its effectiveness in combating chronic depression that they're urging doctors...

Swiss Shrink Revives LSD Research

(Newser) - A Swiss psychiatrist has revived research into the use of LSD to treat emotional disorders after decades of neglect, Der Spiegel reports (unable to resist the headline "Tune In, Turn On, Cheer Up"). Albert Gasser, the first person to study the psychiatric use of the hallucinogen in 35...

The Power of Negative Thinking
The Power
of Negative Thinking

The Power of Negative Thinking

Better to acknowledge bad feelings than recite phony good ones

(Newser) - Deliberate positive thinking—from Norman Vincent Peale to Stuart Smalley—has long been touted as a way to overcome feelings of worthlessness and self-doubt. But a new study suggests that repeating positive mantras may often backfire, making people with low self-esteem feel even worse about themselves. For many, it may...

Boozing Editor Loves New Life on the Wagon

Elle fashionista goes weeks without a drop: 'I love not drinking'

(Newser) - British Elle fashion editor Stacey Duguid knew her drinking was getting to be a problem: “As well as possible health issues, the days I've spent hungover have been some of the most horrific of my life,” she writes in the Daily Mail. But it was a mammoth task....

4-Star General Confesses to Post-Traumatic Stress

4-star general seeks PTS treatment, speaks out about it

(Newser) - The trauma associated with combat is a hushed topic among troops returned from Iraq—but a four-star general’s fight off the battlefield could help usher in a new attitude, USA Today reports. After witnessing the scene of a suicide bomb in an American mess hall at a base near...

Drug Abuse Rising Among US Soldiers

Military struggles to keep up with demand for substance-abuse counseling

(Newser) - US soldiers are testing positive for drugs in record numbers even as the number of Army counselors shrinks, USA Today reports. This year 2.38% of troops tested positive during routine urine screens, up from 1.74% in 2004, and more than 7,000 soldiers were sent to counseling for...

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