“Stop Whining!”: The Operant Approach to Pain Behavior

When reading my health psychology textbook, I came across something called the operant approach to treating pain. Well, more correctly, the operant approach treats pain behaviors. It utilizes a system of rewards and extinction (ignoring unwanted behavior) to lessen a patient’s pain behaviors, such as complaining of pain, refusing to perform physical activity, etc. In [...]

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My Truth on Dissociation and Childhood Trauma

In my previous post, I discussed whether I’m exaggerating the effects of my traumatic experiences. This is a common theme for survivors of trauma. Often, we’re either told or think ourselves that we exaggerate or make stuff up. When dissociative identity disorder complicates the matter, this is even worse. Some people deny that DID even [...]

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Psychological Report

Last week, I received a psychological report by someone from the Center for Consultation and Expertise, which gets involved when long-term care agencies can’t handle complex care needs, like apparently mine is. The consultant psychologist had spoken to me and my team, and had administered a few psychological questionnaires. She had also analyzed the information [...]

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Three Years

Today, I have been in the mental institution for three years. This third year – which will be my last full year in this institution since I was accepted to the workhome -, was quite important. I made quite a lot of progress in trusting people. I came out multiple to my psychologist and primary [...]

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PTSD in People with Intellectual Disabilities

When searching for studies on post-traumatic symptoms, I came across an interesting paper on PTSD among individuals with an intellectual disability (ID. This study is the first systematic review of prevalence, assessment and treatment of PTSD in people with ID. There are several reasons why people with intellectual disabilities are more susceptible to PTSD than [...]

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What Is EMDR and How Accessible Is It?

Eye Movement Desentization and Reprocessing (EMDR) was initially developed as a treatment for PTSD. It was thought that the eye movements would simulate REM sleep, thereby enabling the person to reprocess the trauma. Now, however, the eye movements are not so important anymore. What is important is the bilateral stimulation of the brain with a [...]

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CBT Improves Anxiety, Daily Living Skills in Autistics

In children with autism spectrum disorders, 30 to 80% have a comorbid anxiety disorder. Cognitive behavioral therapy is one evidence-based treatment for anxiety, but was hardly studied in autistics. In 2009, Wood et al. carried out a randomized, controlled study of a modified form of family-focused cognitive behavioral therapy in the treatment of anxiety in [...]

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Should Mental Health Professionals Google Their Clients?

Recently, some discussion has sprung up in the Netherlands around whether psychiatrists or psychologists should google their patients. The Dutch Association of Psychiatry (NVVP) says that information that has been put on the Internet, is public, so anyone should be able to view it, including psychiatrists. On the other hand, the Netherlands Institute for Psychologists [...]

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Oregon Governor Vetoes Bill Granting Psychologists Prescription Privileges

There is some good news for people, like me, who feel strongly about the protection of patients from unwarranted drug prescriptions: according to Lunatic Fringe, Oregon governor Kulogonski vetoed a bill that would allow psychologists to prescribe psychiatric drugs. The bill would’ve allowed clinical psychologists to prescribe drugs if they cooperated with a psychiatrist. It [...]

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Psychological Factors Affecting Physical Health Are Not Mental Disorders

In the DSM-V, the effect of psychological factors on physical health, will be acknowledged and reflected in a conditoin tentatively labeled psychological factors affecting medical condition. A number of subdiagnoses are considered, but for now, they will not be included as specific subtypes in the DSM. Now of course it is a fact that psychological [...]

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