Psychology and Psychotherapy Archives

A Synopsis of the Side Effects of Psychotherapy – What Should Clinicians Know?

July 24, 2017

Dr Osheroff was a 42-year-old physician who was admitted to Chestnut lodge in 1979 with depression and agitation. Although Chestnut lodge recorded the symptoms of major depression, they attempted to treat him with psychotherapeutic techniques designed to regress him. During the seven months that Mr…

Donald Trump – Insights From a Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist

January 30, 2017

In the world of mental health, the personality disorders (PDs) are the most enigmatic but persistent forms of mental illness, given their relative failure to respond to medication but good response to psychotherapy, making them an anomaly in modern neuroscience. They comprise individuals who present…

The Benefits of Psychological Assessments and When to Use Them

August 10, 2016

A Psychological Assessment involves the planned use of interviews (generally semi-structured) and specific psychometric assessments (tests) to answer questions highlighted in a referral. I find that questions are typically around teasing out complex diagnoses, helping clarify symptoms/coping style/personality, or, specifying the types of therapy and…

Why Pokemon is Really About Self Discovery and Exploration

August 5, 2016

When videogame developer Satoshi Tajiri was a young boy, he enjoyed collecting small insects around the grassy areas near his home. There was a vivid memory of his first close look at a captive tadpole, seeing its coiled insides through its translucent skin, perceiving the…

Supercharge Your Psychotherapy Case Training

July 19, 2016

Psychoanalysis, starting with the theory that not all of our behaviours are under our conscious control and exploring the unconscious can help to improve human functioning, did not fix everyone. But it’s one of the first interventions that seemed to have lasting positive impacts in…

Countertransference

May 21, 2016

Countertransference is the response elicited in the therapist due to the patient’s unconscious projection of transference communications. The therapist’s emotional reactions to the patient are based on the therapist’s unconscious needs and conflicts, as distinguished from his or her conscious responses to the patient’s…

Transference

May 21, 2016

Transference is the phenomenon whereby we unconsciously transfer feelings and attitudes from a person or situation in the past on to a person or situation in the present. The process is at least partly inappropriate to the present. The psychiatrist utilizes this phenomenon as…

Pattern Analysis and Clinical Reasoning by Prof. Gordon Parker

April 13, 2016

Prof. Gordon Parker, Professor of Psychiatry, author and business executive, brings us a personal and fascinating discussion about pattern analysis. This section of his talk opens with personal examples of how pattern analysis has altered his way of thinking between explicit and implicit modes of…

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