An Interview with James Gordon, MD on Mind-Body Medicine and his book 'Unstuck'
Posted by David Van Nuys, Ph.D. on Sep 16th 2008
"In this edition of the Wise Counsel Podcast, Dr. Van Nuys interviews James Gordon, MD, a psychiatrist, advocate for mind-body medicine and the responsible use of complementary and alternative medicine, and author of the book, Unstuck:Your Guide to the Seven-Stage Journey Out of Depression. The approach to care fostered by Dr Gordon's Center for Mind Body Medicine stresses the importance of non-medical interventions including techniques that foster self-awareness (such as meditation, guided imagery, and promotion of self-expression through art, words, drawings and movement), self-care (such as exercise and diet) and social supportive care (including educational and meditative groups) in healing. " More...

Regulating Brain Chemicals and Mental Illnesses with WINCS and DBS
Posted by Allan N. Schwartz, LCSW, PhD on Sep 16th 2008
"While I admit that this research is very exciting and does offer hope for those with intractable types of depression in which all hope has been lost, the reader should be very cautious. Modern psychiatry has come to rely too much on medications in the attempt to treat mental illnesses. A recent report stated that most psychiatrists today no longer practice psychotherapy because they rely solely on medications. " More...

Liberal morality versus conservative morality: Understanding the difference can help you avoid arguments
posted by Mark Dombeck, Ph.D. on Sep 15th 2008
"According to Haidt, the first two moral dimensions (harm/care, and fairness/reciprocity) are universal, and heavily used by everyone in deciding what things are moral and what are not. However, the later three dimensions (ingroup/loyalty, authority/respect, and purity/sanctity) are far more important to conservative people than they are to liberal people." More...

Pleasure...Depression’s Kryptonite?
Posted by Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D. on Sep 15th 2008
"The American Psychological Association (APA) defines depression as "a complete loss of pleasure in all, or almost all, activities." In my own practice with clients I work on increasing their awareness around pleasure and taking steps to acting on more pleasurable activities in daily life...From the time we are infants we need to experience pleasure. Those infants that do not experience sensory pleasure from a caretaker have been shown to experience poor weight gain, feeding and sleep disturbances, hypersensitivity to touch, be socially withdrawn, and at times, death. " More...

Iraq, Afghanistan Wars and PTSD: Just Fraud?
Posted by Allan N. Schwartz, LCSW, PhD on Sep 15th 2008
"I come from the generation whose fathers and uncles served in the armed forces during the Second World War. As young adults, many of talked about these relatives and how they were affected by the disastrous things they had to do and what they witnessed. More than a few of us had emotional difficulties growing up because our fathers, uncles and relatives were not quite there, had bad tempers, tended to drink more than they should and had difficulty being warm and accepting. " More...