Clinical psychology

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Clinical Psychology on Psychology Journal

Clinical psychologists aim to reduce psychological distress and to enhance and promote psychological well-being.

They work with people with mental or physical health problems - which might include anxiety and depression, serious and enduring mental illness, adjustment to physical illness, neurological disorders, addictive behaviours, childhood behaviour disorders, personal and family relationships. They work with people throughout the life-span and with those with learning disabilities.

Clinical psychologists work largely in health and social care settings including hospitals, health centres, community mental health teams, child and adolescent mental health services and social services, also they will often work alongside other professionals including doctors, nurses, social workers, occupational therapists and physiotherapists.

To assess a client, a clinical psychologist may undertake a clinical assessment using a variety of methods including psychometric tests, interviews and direct observation of behaviour. Assessment may lead to therapy, counselling or advice.

Due to their high level of research skills clinical psychologists undertake the role of scientist-practitioner as an innovator and applied researcher adding to the evidence base of practice in a variety of health care settings.

Clinical Psychology on Psychology Journal

Colic - Prevention Is Better Than Cure

Saturday, December 27, 2008

The main symptom of colic is usually constant crying for no apparent reason. For example your baby won't be hungry, need their nappy changed or have a temperature, they will not want to be laid down, sat up, played with or left alone. Nothing you do will ease their crying. Most babies have a colicky time of day, which is usually in the afternoon or early evening. The good news is that colic normally passes by the age of 3-4 months.

Below you will find some top tips which we as a family have utilised to great effect.

Don't shake your baby's bottles. When making your baby's bottles swill the bottle gently to mix the milk and powder instead of shaking it. Shaking the bottle just causes more bubbles, which may lead to colic later.

Get the best bottles you can afford. There are companies that make bottles that claim to ease or prevent colic in babies. If you can afford to, try many different bottles to see which ones work better for you and then use them religiously.

Get a good colic treatment. There are many colic treatments out there. All babies are different and what one parent recommends may not work for your baby. Just keep trying different remedies and see which one works best with your infant.

Feed your baby in an upright position. Most parents' position their baby lying on their backs with their heads propped up on their arm for their bottle-feeds. Try to keep your baby as upright as possible without making them uncomfortable. You are aiming for their back and head to be in a straight line with an imaginary ping-pong ball between their chin and chest. If you picture a long necked bottle and now imagine a kink in the neck of the bottle you can see how easy it is to trap wind inside.

Patting is better than rubbing. If you picture your long necked bottle full of a fizzy drink with bubbles attached to the insides then begin to rub the bottle on the outside, what happens to the bubbles on the inside? Nothing? Exactly. We have a tendency to rub our babies backs to bring up wind rather that patting them. Rubbing their backs is soothing for mother and baby but does little to bring up their wind. Patting will help to move the air bubbles and will eventually release their wind.

Hold on to your baby. Once the feeding and winding is over and done with and your baby looks content you may be tempted to lay them down. Don't! Try to keep your baby in an upright position for around 20 minutes after a feed, even if they are asleep. This will help them release wind naturally without any intervention.

Don't lay them flat. When you do lay your baby down to sleep try to ensure they don't lay flat. If they sleep in a cot, put something under the head end of the cot mattress to raise it slightly. Make sure you don't raise it too much as your baby may slide down the mattress and disappear under the covers. A baby bouncer with an adjustable seat angle is ideal for sleeping in during the day.

Give them water. Babies that are fed on formula milk often suffer with constipation. Prior to their colicky time try to give your baby 1 -- 2 ounces of cooled boiled water. This should not be given in one go, spread it out throughout the day. The ideal time is when they are impatient for a feed but they have a little while to go, give them a little water, but don't fill them up. This will ease their constipation, meaning they won't get a stomachache and it also helps to ease their wind. Keep an eye on their nappies for the next couple of days, too much water will result in runny number two's.

If you try all the above it should have an impact on you and your baby, reducing the amount of time spent crying and trying to soothe him. If it doesn't work, help to soothe your baby during its colicky time by giving him a warm bath, put on a lullaby CD (it really works) and gently rock them side-to-side.

By; Lisa Mills, website; http://www.newbabygiftboxes.co.uk/

Developmental psychology

Developmental Psychology on Psychology Journal

Developmental psychology is the study of changes in behaviour during a lifetime. Many developmental psychologists study only a part of the lifespan. Most are chiefly interested in childhood and adolescence, the period of a person's life between birth and the early 20's.

There are four main theories of child development that psychologists use in research on the behaviour of children: (1) maturational theory, (2) psychoanalytical theory, (3) learning theory, and (4) cognitive theory.

Maturational theory states that the chief principle of developmental change is maturation, which means physiological "ripening," especially of the nervous system. Arnold L. Gesell, the leading American supporter of this theory, found that the growing child's behaviour seems to follow a set developmental pattern. He described in detail the ways in which behaviour changes with age. Gesell believed that differences among people result more from heredity than from environment.

Psychoanalytical theory is based on Sigmund Freud's theory of psychoanalysis. According to Freud, children are driven by impulses of sex and aggression. Children develop through a complicated interaction between their needs, based on sexual impulses, and the demands of their environment. Environmental demands are represented first by loving and restricting parents, and later by the children's own version of their parents' demands.

Anna Freud, Erik Erikson, and others have modified Freud's theory and applied it to child behaviour. In the psychoanalytical view of development, children change through conflict, chiefly between their own impulses and the demands of reality. A successful solution of this conflict brings normal development, and an unsuccessful solution may lead to mental illness.

Learning theory says a child's development depends mainly on experience with reward and punishment. The child must learn certain responses--such as speech, manners, and attitudes--to adults. Children learn these responses through their association with reinforcement (any condition that makes learning occur). If a mother smiles at her child each time the child is polite to adults, her smile reinforces the learning of manners. The task of the adult is to arrange the environment so that it provides suitable and effective reinforcements for desired behaviour.

Learning theorists base their ideas on two basic learning experiments--studies of classical conditioning by Ivan P. Pavlov and studies of instrumental conditioning by E. L. Thorndike and B. F. Skinner. Maturation and heredity have relatively little importance in the learning theory of development.

Cognitive theory regards the child as an active solver of problems. Cognitive theorists emphasize the role of a child's natural motivation as the key factor in development. This motivation can include the desire of children to satisfy their curiosity, master challenging tasks, or reduce the inconsistencies and ambiguities they find in the world about them. According to cognitive theory, children form their own theories about the world and the relationships among its different aspects. The theories are primitive at first, but become more realistic after they have been tested against the child's experience.

Comprehensive cognitive theories of development have been proposed by a number of authorities, including the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget. Piaget described in detail how growing children change their ideas about number, cause, time, space, and morality. First, the children represent the world in terms of their own activities. Then they move to a limited set of generalizations based on their knowledge of specific cases. Finally, the children gain the ability to make valid and abstract generalizations about reality.

Maturity and old age.

In general, the study of psychology in maturity and old age has been based on observation. There have been no clear theoretical principles to guide the search for consistent patterns of development.

Scientists have established that sensory acuity (keenness), speed of response, productivity in art and science, and the ability to process new information decline with age, particularly after the late 50's. Less well documented are declines in memory and in the ability to solve familiar kinds of problems. Psychologists know little about the most remarkable fact of old age--that some people go through a degrading decline with the passage of years, and others remain capable and active until the end of their lives.

Developmental Psychology on Psychology Journal

Social Influence - Change How People See You

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

A program in the UK does social experiments. Their aim is to see how susceptible the public are to being conned and hustled.

For example, one of the cons was to take a car from a car park- in daylight. Cars nowadays are more sophisticated in their locking systems, so the only way to get it is to ask for the keys.

If you walk up to a regular person and ask for their keys- chances are you'll get them . . . but in your eye.

To get the keys from an unsuspecting person is to influence the conditions. Instead of walking up in regular clothes, they walked up with one simple article of clothing- a fluorescent security coat.

All he did then was come up with some about needing to run the car through the system again and bring it back. Sure enough, they handed him the keys. I mean, who would argue with authority?

One simple change managed to INFLUENCE their responses.

UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL PERCEPTION

Ever looked at a homeless person dressed in rags? Ever seen a big guy with bulldog tattoos and "I love mum" walking down the street? You automatically have perceptions of these people before they even open their mouth.

If you look at the typical CLICHE characteristics of, a successful person- things like the way they walk, the way they move, the way they talk, the way they dress- and you MODEL those attributes, then people will begin to react to you as a successful person.

In the same way as you could easily turn away from a bum in the street, but you would pay attention to a policeman.

You can manipulate the external factors to create a perception about you- and people react to that perception.

ANOTHER SOCIAL EXAMPLE

It all seems like it is about what you wear. That's true to an extent, but there was another experiment which suggests you can change your body language to influence people.

The experiment was gambling. People were asked to go into a room and gamble as they were being observed.

Scenario #1: They entered a room and saw a guy waiting at the table. He looked shy and nervous.

Scenario #2: Different individuals came in to do the test. It was with the same guy- the only difference was he had changed his attitude. He was laid back relaxed in his chair, he gave strong eye contact and didn't rush up to greet.

The results: they found that the people in scenario #1 with the shy guy gambled MORE money than in scenario #2.

When you realise it was the SAME guy- and the only thing that changed was how he displayed his attitude, then you understand how just a few small changes influenced complete strangers.

When he was confident, it made the others feel insecure in gambling all of their money. With the shy guy, they felt a bit more relaxed in being able to win over such "A loser".

HOW TO USE SOCIAL PERCEPTION TO YOUR ADVANTAGE

By wearing a fluorescent coat, and exhibiting confident and relaxed characteristics- you can influence people to hand you some keys and lose money!

Both examples illustrate one thing, and that is:

You can influence social behaviour just by displaying the right attributes and characteristics.

You want to avoid displaying WEAK characteristics because people unconsciously respond to you as LOW STATUS. This means you probably won't be listened to or respected as much as you would like. You probably find yourself being overruled the majority of the time. Your opinions are not carried by enough value.

WHAT CHARACTERISTICS SHOULD YOU TAKE ON?

I've always believed your external always reflects your internal mindset. But if you do not have a cool, calm and confident persona- then this social experiment doesn't need it. You are doing these to test and see how people respond to you.

But the typical cliché characteristics are:

* Walk slower and take your time. A cool mind is never in a rush. He can handle it * Slow your speech down and pause. People will listen to you no matter how long you take. * Stand up straight and look out to the world. You're ready for what comes your way. * Spread out when you sit down. Lean back and appear relaxed. * Don't lean in so much. It's too eager. Let people enter your reality. * Don't laugh as much. People will treat you as the boss- "Make him laugh to win him over" * Look at people when you talk. Your gaze plus confident body language is money baby.

Model people who exhibit the qualities you like. People may not know you from Adam, so they have to go on how you present yourself.

By; Sean Adams, website; http://www.modernmanliving.com/

Top 10 Relaxation Tips

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Modern life is stressful - extra hours at the office, added studies, juggling a career and kids. Before you get to the point of exhaustion it's essential that you recharge. Here are our top 10 tips for just letting go.

1.Take a yoga class

Improve your flexibility, core strength, muscle tone and circulation as life's stresses fade into the background. Your yoga instructor will teach you mental, physical and spiritual relaxation that you can practice at home. Try the Life Centre in Notting Hill for beginners or advanced classes.

2.Experience nature

Whether it's the beach, a lake, a mountain range or even just your local park, take the time to notice the serenity and beauty of nature and you will immediately feel relaxed.

3.Spend time in the garden

Have you ever seen a stressed-out gardener? You might not be a natural green thumb, but planting a few bulbs, pruning roses and just trimming the hedges will provide great satisfaction and relaxation.

4.Have an aromatherapy bath

The warm water and the scent of the aromatherapy oils will have you relaxed in no time. Try lavender and valerian oils for a truly calming experience.

5.Meditate

Meditation is conscious relaxation. By focusing on breathing and repeating simple mantras we can block out ‘mind-clutter' and find inner peace and calm. Switching off conscious thoughts is not easy, but you will benefit from renewed clarity and energy by taking the time to meditate. The Meditate in London website - www.meditateinlondon.org.uk -- can locate meditation classes close to you.

6.Catch up with friends

Laughter is the best medicine, so invite a group of friends out for drinks or coffee and let them entertain you with their mirth and humour. Make sure you invite friends you can be yourself with and those who appreciate you for who you are.

7.Read a book

Reading is the best form of escapism. Grab yourself a fiction book that will lift your mood and let your imagination take you on a journey away from your everyday life. Try books by Jodi Picoult, John Irving or Nick Hornby, just to name a few. You can browse Amazon and have next day delivery.

8.Write your thoughts down

Writing your thoughts down can help clarify the issues you are facings and make sense of the emotions you are feeling. It's a form of self-therapy that actually lightens the burden you're feeling whilst processing your thoughts until you arrive at suitable solutions.

9.Take up a hobby

Put your concentration into a new hobby such as painting, stamp collecting, genealogy or pottery and you will notice your stress fade away. Why not take up a recreation involving others and take the opportunity to socialize at the same time.

10.Treat yourself to a relaxing spa experience.

For the ultimate spa experience try Center Parcs' one or two day pamper packages. You can enjoy an overnight stay in an executive twin-bedded apartment, complimentary breakfast, a Decleor facial and a back, shoulder and neck massage. A Center Parcs' spa break is the perfect way to leave the world behind.