Sunday, March 14, 2010

“Psychology: Avoidant anxiety might be overcome (The Columbus Dispatch)” plus 2 more

“Psychology: Avoidant anxiety might be overcome (The Columbus Dispatch)” plus 2 more

Psychology: Avoidant anxiety might be overcome (The Columbus Dispatch)

Posted: 14 Mar 2010 04:51 AM PDT

 

Avoidant personality disorder is a tragic and often-disabling condition. People suffering from it become anxious in situations when they have to carry out duties in a group situation.

Fear of criticism, disapproval or rejection, for example, makes organizational teamwork difficult for them.

Also, new interpersonal situations often lead these individuals to experience discomfort and have strong feelings of inadequacy. Though viewed by their peers and co-workers as attractive and competent, people with the disorder feel socially inept and often have low self-esteem; they withdraw from others. They also perceive themselves as inferior to others and are very unsure of their identity and self-worth.

Sufferers tend to avoid entering into new situations or trying new things that might contain elements of risk. Closeness and intimacy in social relationships are rare and temporary due to a fear of being shamed or ridiculed.

Finally, people with the disorder feel the need for assurance that they will be accepted and liked by everyone in new situations. Without this assurance, they prefer to be alone.

Fortunately, many types of therapy can help.

Cognitive behavioral psychotherapy can assist individuals in examining faulty thinking patterns such as the assurance that they will be accepted and liked in all social situations or the belief that their performance is always under scrutiny.

Behavioral therapy using techniques such as relaxation and role playing can help reduce anxiety and the fear of social situations.

Individual and group psychotherapy can boost the individual's self-esteem and lead to confidence in relating to other people in a healthy manner.

Medication can also be helpful for symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Hap LeCrone, a Cox News Service columnist, is a clinical psychologist. Write him at 4555 Lake Shore Dr., Waco, TX 76710; or send e-mail.

hlecrone@aol.com

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Science Notes / Psychology and paleontology (The Buffalo News)

Posted: 14 Mar 2010 03:39 AM PDT


To the lifeboats

Whether it is "Women and children first" or "Every man for himself" in a shipwreck may depend on how long it takes the ship to sink, researchers said recently.

When the Lusitania was torpedoed by a German U-boat in 1915, it sank in 18 minutes and the bulk of survivors were young men and women who responded immediately to their powerful survival instincts.

But when the Titanic struck an iceberg in 1912, it took three hours to go down, allowing time for more civilized instincts to take control—and the bulk of the survivors were women, children and people with young children.

Economist Benno Torgler of the Queensland University of Technology in Australia and his colleagues studied the two sinkings in order to explore the economic theory that people generally behave in a rational and selfish manner. The two tragedies provided a "natural experiment" for testing the idea, because the passengers on the two ships were quite similar in terms of gender and wealth.

The primary difference was how long it took the ships to sink.

Reporting in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, the researchers found that, on the Titanic, children had a 14.8 percent higher probability of surviving, a person accompanying a child had a 19.6 percent high probability and women had more than a 50 percent higher probability. On the Lusitania, in contrast, fit young men and women were the most likely to make it into the lifeboats.

Researchers suggested that when people have little time to react, gut instincts may rule. When more time is available, social influences play a bigger role.

—Los Angeles Times

Dino heads spur thinking

Scientists have made a rare find: four skulls of a new species of giant, plant-eating dinosaur, one of them completely intact.

Skulls of plant-eating dinosaurs were so light and fragile that they have rarely been preserved to be discovered by paleontologists. Reaction to the find, made in Dinosaur National Monument in eastern Utah, was "probably not printable in a newspaper," said lead author Dan Chure, a paleontologist with the Dinosaur National Monument. "To find multiple heads was just phenomenal."

Abydosaurus, which lived about 100 million years ago, is a type of sauropod, the largest kind of dinosaur to walk on land. The dearth of skulls among dinosaur fossils has posed a hurdle in learning about the creatures' biology and evolution, researchers said. After all, "When you meet somebody you look at their face," said coauthor Jeff Wilson, assistant curator at the University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology. "There's a lot of information which has to do with their face—organs, eyes, nose, ears, intricate parts of the brain."

—Los Angeles Times


Comments have been disabled.

Due to a high volume of submissions that violate The News' guidelines, commenting is no longer available on this story. If you'd like to share your thoughts on this story, click here to get information on contributing to The News' opinion pages.

Log into MyBuffalo to post a comment


Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Public Engagement Grants 2010 - Applications Open - British Psychological Society (Medical News Today)

Posted: 14 Mar 2010 05:19 AM PDT


Main Category: Psychology / Psychiatry
Article Date: 14 Mar 2010 - 1:00 PST

email icon email to a friend   printer icon printer friendly   write icon view / write opinions



Applications are open for the British Psychological Society's Public Engagement Grants 2010.

The Society has £14k to award to its members working on projects that help people or contribute to everyday life, and raise awareness of psychology and psychology research. This is the seventh year of the scheme.

Past successful awards include £5k in 2008 to Dr Sarah Davidson who works with the British Red Cross to promote the CALMER psycho-social framework. That project trained Red Cross volunteers, school teachers and trainers in emotional support skills to enable them to ease psychological trauma as they help people who have experienced crises. The scheme has already proved invaluable during incidents like the Haitian earthquake and the floods in Madeira.

Dr. Graham Powell, Chair of the Public Engagement Grant Selection Panel said: "I'm chuffed to bits that through these awards we've been able to support our members to get good evidence-based psychology into the public arena. There are some really great ideas about practical applications of the science that bring real benefits to people".

An award of £1.6k in 2009 went to Kathryn Rathouse in collaboration with Waterwise, to hold a masterclass on changing water using behaviour for water companies to demonstrate that psychological-based guidance can help promote more water efficient behaviour.

Other successful awards in 2009 went to Sally Hodges, working with Camden PCT online mental health resource for primary school-aged children, and to Ann Rowland for her work with the Child Bereavement Charity to support bereaved young people and create resources for parents and teachers for the Charities website.

The grant scheme is open to all members of the British Psychological Society. The closing date for completed grant applications is Friday 2nd July 2010.

Full details of the public engagement grants are available at http://www.bps.org.uk/grants

Source
British Psychological Society

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)