Two Personalities, One Brain?
Two Personalities, One Brain? (broadcast Friday, November 13th, 2009) http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/200911133 NPR Science Friday’s Ira Flatow interviews Psychotherapist Kathy Steele and Psychiatrist Numan Gharaibeh on dissociative identity disorder. Once the 2 guests get past the DSM semantics debate, and get past agreeing on the disservice of popular media, they do get the the crux of the question: can you have two distinct personalities in one brain, or is dissociation like tuning out the road and traffic while driving to work, not a second personality, just the on

NYT on anxiety and inborn temperament
In September 29th’s New York Times, Robin Marantz Henig published Understanding the Anxious Mind. 15% to 20% of babies react strongly to novelty, and they are more likely to grow up anxious. Four significant long-term longitudinal studies are now under way: two at Harvard that Kagan initiated, two more at the University of Maryland under the direction of Nathan Fox, a forme

Do Psychologists Reject Science?
Another from Dr. Becker-Phelps Psychology Today Making Change blog. Science and Psychology!!! Love this topic. Here’s a good quote from Leslie: Cumulative psychological literature shows that when competing forms of therapy are compared, the outcomes almost always come out about the same. The quality of the therapist-patient alliance is the best predictor of outcome (see Let’s Face Facts article). This means that people who need help will benefi

Staying the Way you Were
From Dr. Becker-Phelps Psychology Today Blog: Making Change.  http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/making-change/200910/why-the-way-we-were-is-the-way-you-stay One basic element to consider in understanding how people struggle with change is self-verification. They develop particular ways of defining themselves and then find ways to support those beliefs. Having a secure sense of who we are is so important that some people choose to cling to it-even when they’d be better off changing. Leslie defines the Stages of Cha

NYT: A Parent’s Unemployment Stress Trickles Down to Children
From today’s New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/us/12families.html For many families across the country, the greatest damage inflicted by this recession has not necessarily been financial, but emotional and psychological. Children, especially, have become hidden casualties, often absorbing more than their parents are fully aware of. Several academic studies have linked parental job loss — especially that of fathers — to adverse impacts in areas like school performance and self-esteem.