Negligent not to offer a trauma-focused psychological treatment

Negligent not to offer a trauma-focused psychological treatment

Imaginal prolonged exposure is a powerful process for both therapist and client. It results both in reduced distress and in greater understanding of what happened and why. “Putting the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together” is crucial to recovery and has long been recognised as an effective treatment. Early variations on prolonged exposure (such as…

Emotional support duck

Emotional support duck

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2016/10/20/daniel-the-emotional-support-duck-takes-his-first-plane-ride-soars-in-popularity/ The duck’s human introduced him to their fellow, now-amused passengers: This was Daniel Turducken Stinkerbutt, or Daniel for short. He is a 4 1/2-year-old Indian Runner duck and is her emotional support animal, she explained. “I heard a few maybe semi-critical mutterings, like, ‘Now I’ve seen everything,’ ” Essig told The Washington Post. “But…

7,600 NZ Men Returned From WW2 with Diagnosed PTSD

7,600 NZ Men Returned From WW2 with Diagnosed PTSD

Even those who remained married after their husbands returned from war found there were changes to absorb. Other families endured long-term consequences of the conflict. Of the men who came home, 15,000 returned with physical injuries. And there were also those less visibly damaged. In the 1940s the term used to describe psychological and psychiatric…

Misuse of therapists position

Misuse of therapists position

http://www.pennlive.com/nation-world/2016/02/pa_psychologist_who_used_touch.html TATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — A central Pennsylvania psychologist who used “touching therapy” on two female sexual trauma patients will spend three to six years in prison. State prosecutors say the therapy really amounted to sexual abuse. Fifty-four-year-old Richard Lenhart, of State College, was sentenced Thursday in Centre County. He previously pleaded no contest…

Israeli Male Inmates in Group Therapy

Israeli Male Inmates in Group Therapy

http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.738928 For the past five months, seven prisoners clad in orange have been meeting weekly at the department for rehabilitation for drug addicts at the Hasharon prison. They are all victims of sexual assault and are participating in a pioneering support group called “trauma and recovery.” In prison they talk for the first time of…

Why many rape victims don’t fight or yell

Why many rape victims don’t fight or yell

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2015/06/23/why-many-rape-victims-dont-fight-or-yell/ Freezing occurs when the amygdala – a crucial structure in the brain’s fear circuitry – detects an attack and signals the brainstem to inhibit movement. It happens in a flash, automatically and beyond conscious control. It’s a brain response that rapidly shifts the organism into a state of vigilance for incoming attacks and avenues…

Huffington Post – When Sleepiness Becomes Narcolepsy

Huffington Post – When Sleepiness Becomes Narcolepsy

The signs of narcolepsy aren’t always obvious, despite how the condition is popularly portrayed. While the most evident symptom is daytime sleepiness, narcoleptic patients might also experience other symptoms. One of these is cataplexy — muscle weakness that is brief and usually triggered by emotional stimuli such as laughter, surprise or anger. Other symptoms include…

The internet is no place to make a convincing argument

The internet is no place to make a convincing argument

http://www.theframeworks.com/blog/2016/08/10/the-internet-is-no-place-for-reasoned-debate A large part of the problem is that it’s easy to act brave behind the shield of a keyboard and computer screen. On Facebook, comments are not even anonymous; your name and profile picture precede your comments. Yet some people still feel protected enough to be aggressive. Despite the lack of anonymity, people are…