17 posts · 15,140 views
Dreaming is like gazing into a mirror that looks into the future. Each time we step into the reflection, the image changes into a more real possibility. Mental health information from a licensed mental health professional.
David Johnson, MSW, LICSW
17 posts
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- January 11, 2012
- 03:39 PM
- 52 views
The Existential Experience of the Trauma Should Be the Focus of Treatment in PTSD
by David Johnson, MSW, LICSW in Dare To Dream
How we integrate or make sense of our experiences have a lot to do with how they affect us. That's just common sense. However, the drive within psychology towards a research and evidence based practice standards has led to a move away from seeking the consensus of practicing professionals in the field on the formation of theory. A theory informed practice has been the standard for many years. Experts construct a theory based on their professional knowledge, including research. The theory is then........ Read more »
Litz, B., Stein, N., Delaney, E., Lebowitz, L., Nash, W., Silva, C., & Maguen, S. (2009) Moral injury and moral repair in war veterans: A preliminary model and intervention strategy. Clinical Psychology Review, 29(8), 695-706. DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2009.07.003
- November 22, 2011
- 09:24 PM
- 36 views
Facebook Depression: Another Media Frenzy
by David Johnson, MSW, LICSW in Dare To Dream
I'm going to try to write more short posts rather than work on a big paper for months before I post.There is a lot of hype about Facebook causing depression citing research. Actually, if you look, you will find the research had nothing to do with Facebook.Image via CrunchBaseIt all started with this article writing on this research article where the author rather loosely used the term "Facebook depression". There is of course no such thing as Facebook depression. The author submits her disclaime........ Read more »
O'Keeffe, G., Clarke-Pearson, K., & , . (2011) The Impact of Social Media on Children, Adolescents, and Families. PEDIATRICS, 127(4), 800-804. DOI: 10.1542/peds.2011-0054
- August 20, 2011
- 10:19 PM
- 304 views
Emotion Regulation: Emotional Intelligence for Personal Growth
by David Johnson, MSW, LICSW in Dare To Dream
This is the eighth in a series of articles about emotional intelligence for personal growth.
Emotions give our experiences a sort of color, a dimension of experience very different from other senses, different from even thoughts. Yet many of us find our emotions at times more of an enemy than a friend. Our emotions serve a purpose, one that is not entirely obvious.
Most current theories of emotion share the assumption that emotions serve an adaptive function in human life. Emotions play an im........ Read more »
JAMES J. GROSS. (2002) Emotion regulation: Affective, cognitive, and social consequences. Psychophysiology. DOI: 10.1017.S0048577201393198
- January 19, 2011
- 09:51 PM
- 980 views
Book Review: When the Past is Always Present; A New PTSD Treatment?
by David Johnson, MSW, LICSW in Dare To Dream
by Ronald Ruden, MD, PhD
When the Past Is Always Present: Emotional Traumatization, Causes, and Cures introduces a new treatment for trauma. Ronald A. Ruden is an internal medicine physician practicing in Manhattan. Since beginning his practice in 1983, he has dedicated part of the proceeds to follow research interests. His first efforts resulted in the book, The Craving Brain, a neurobiological discussion of addictive behaviors. In 2003 he redirected his interest in understanding traumatizatio........ Read more »
Rasolkhani-Kalhorn, T., & Harper, M. (2006) EMDR and Low Frequency Stimulation of the Brain. Traumatology, 12(1), 9-24. DOI: 10.1177/153476560601200102
Ruden, R. (2011) When the Past is Always Present. Psychosocial Stress Series. Routledge. info:other/978-0-415-87564-6
- May 9, 2010
- 08:00 PM
- 409 views
The Two Darts of Suffering: Pain is Inevitable, Suffering is Voluntary Emotional Intelligence for Personal Growth, Part VI
by David Johnson, MSW, LICSW in Dare To Dream
This is the sixth in a series of articles about emotional intelligence for personal growth. In keeping with the idea that emotional intelligence is one of the foundational concepts of mental health, I dedicate this installment to May, Mental Health Month.
It is often said that life is suffering. Some of that suffering is unavoidable. Life has a way of throwing us adversity. The pain of physical distress and illness as well as the psychological pain of loss is unavoidable. This is the first "Dar........ Read more »
Egloff B, Schmukle SC, Burns LR, & Schwerdtfeger A. (2006) Spontaneous emotion regulation during evaluated speaking tasks: associations with negative affect, anxiety expression, memory, and physiological responding. Emotion (Washington, D.C.), 6(3), 356-66. PMID: 16938078
Greenberg LS, & Pascual-Leone A. (2006) Emotion in psychotherapy: a practice-friendly research review. Journal of clinical psychology, 62(5), 611-30. PMID: 16523500
Gross JJ. (2002) Emotion regulation: affective, cognitive, and social consequences. Psychophysiology, 39(3), 281-91. PMID: 12212647
- April 9, 2010
- 02:49 PM
- 416 views
The Essence of Human Experience: What is Normal? Emotional Intelligence for Personal Growth, Part V
by David Johnson, MSW, LICSW in Dare To Dream
This is the fifth in a series of articles on Emotional Intelligence for Personal Growth.
Probably all of us have asked our self from time to time if our thoughts, feelings, or behavior at any single moment is "normal". Actually, there are different answers for each one of these.
Normal behavior is, like it or not, defined by our legal, community (family, neighborhood, social group) and religious institutions. The law is enforced by our local police, and sanctioned by our courts. Religious valu........ Read more »
Ambady N, & Gray HM. (2002) On being sad and mistaken: mood effects on the accuracy of thin-slice judgments. Journal of personality and social psychology, 83(4), 947-61. PMID: 12374446
Back MD, Schmukle SC, & Egloff B. (2009) Predicting actual behavior from the explicit and implicit self-concept of personality. Journal of personality and social psychology, 97(3), 533-48. PMID: 19686006
Bandura, A. (2006) Toward a Psychology of Human Agency. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 1(2), 164-180. DOI: 10.1111/j.1745-6916.2006.00011.x
Denes-Raj V, & Epstein S. (1994) Conflict between intuitive and rational processing: when people behave against their better judgment. Journal of personality and social psychology, 66(5), 819-29. PMID: 8014830
DENNETT, D. (2003) The Self as a Responding-and Responsible-Artifact. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1001(1), 39-50. DOI: 10.1196/annals.1279.003
Finkel EJ, DeWall CN, Slotter EB, Oaten M, & Foshee VA. (2009) Self-regulatory failure and intimate partner violence perpetration. Journal of personality and social psychology, 97(3), 483-99. PMID: 19686003
Kahneman D. (2003) A perspective on judgment and choice: mapping bounded rationality. The American psychologist, 58(9), 697-720. PMID: 14584987
Klauer KC, Teige-Mocigemba S, & Spruyt A. (2009) Contrast effects in spontaneous evaluations: a psychophysical account. Journal of personality and social psychology, 96(2), 265-87. PMID: 19159132
Libet B, Gleason CA, Wright EW, & Pearl DK. (1983) Time of conscious intention to act in relation to onset of cerebral activity (readiness-potential). The unconscious initiation of a freely voluntary act. Brain : a journal of neurology, 623-42. PMID: 6640273
Oaten M, Stevenson RJ, & Case TI. (2009) Disgust as a disease-avoidance mechanism. Psychological bulletin, 135(2), 303-21. PMID: 19254082
Rottenberg, J. (2003) When Emotion Goes Wrong: Realizing the Promise of Affective Science. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 10(2), 227-232. DOI: 10.1093/clipsy/bpg012
Gog, T., Paas, F., Marcus, N., Ayres, P., & Sweller, J. (2008) The Mirror Neuron System and Observational Learning: Implications for the Effectiveness of Dynamic Visualizations. Educational Psychology Review, 21(1), 21-30. DOI: 10.1007/s10648-008-9094-3
- March 12, 2010
- 08:30 PM
- 413 views
Self-Knowledge - Emotional Intelligence For Personal Growth Part IV
by David Johnson, MSW, LICSW in Dare To Dream
This is the fourth in a series of articles on emotional intelligence for personal growth.
Self-knowledge is something we all strive towards. But how many of us have done a complete review of our emotions and how they influence our thoughts and behavior? Most people find that pretty hard to do, especially since they struggle to put their feelings into words. We talk about "will power" as the ultimate motivation. It might surprise you to find out that motivation is really emotion.
Emotion in it's........ Read more »
Choi-Kain LW, & Gunderson JG. (2008) Mentalization: ontogeny, assessment, and application in the treatment of borderline personality disorder. The American journal of psychiatry, 165(9), 1127-35. PMID: 18676591
Dolan, R. (2002) Emotion, Cognition, and Behavior. Science, 298(5596), 1191-1194. DOI: 10.1126/science.1076358
Kahneman, D. (2003) A perspective on judgment and choice: Mapping bounded rationality. American Psychologist, 58(9), 697-720. DOI: 10.1037/0003-066X.58.9.697
Waller, B., Cray, J., & Burrows, A. (2008) Selection for universal facial emotion. Emotion, 8(3), 435-439. DOI: 10.1037/1528-3542.8.3.435
Westen, D. (1998) The scientific legacy of Sigmund Freud: Toward a psychodynamically informed psychological science. Psychological Bulletin, 124(3), 333-371. DOI: 10.1037//0033-2909.124.3.333
- June 29, 2009
- 11:19 PM
- 680 views
Positive Thoughts Make Things Worse for Poor Self-Esteem??
by David Johnson, MSW, LICSW in Dare To Dream
Image via Wikipedia
I caught this article at Psychcentral.com, Positive Thoughts Make Things Worse for Poor Self-Esteem . It struck me as a counter-intuitive finding for a research study. I've been helping clients build self-esteem for over 30 years and while positive thoughts is not a short road to better self-esteem, it certainly does work over the long run. I'd estimate that at least six months is required to make significant progress with self-esteem from solely refocusing on the positive,........ Read more »
Wood, J., Elaine Perunovic, W., & Lee, J. (2009) Positive Self-Statements: Power for Some, Peril for Others. Psychological Science. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02370.x
- May 20, 2009
- 05:14 PM
- 560 views
How Do You Inspire a Client to Believe in Therapy?
by David Johnson, MSW, LICSW in Dare To Dream
Image via Wikipedia
Recently, I exchanged messages with Michele Rosenthal, author of the blog, Parasites of the Mind. She asked me a very good question, one that is so much a part of my everyday work, a good long contemplation was needed just to tease out a good answer.
Speaking of inspiring, how do you inspire a client to believe in what he/she is doing? It's so difficult to believe in anything when PTSD has settled its big black cloud on your head.
Any general rules of the game for (self)........ Read more »
Grillon, C., Pine, D., Lissek, S., Rabin, S., & Vythilingam, M. (2009) Increased Anxiety During Anticipation of Unpredictable Aversive Stimuli in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder but not in Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Biological Psychiatry. DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2008.12.028
Grühn, D., Rebucal, K., Diehl, M., Lumley, M., & Labouvie-Vief, G. (2008) Empathy across the adult lifespan: Longitudinal and experience-sampling findings. Emotion, 8(6), 753-765. DOI: 10.1037/a0014123
Patterson, C. H. (1984) Empathy Warmth And Genuiness In Psychotherapy: A Review Of Reviews. Psychotherapy, 431-438.
Patterson, C. H. (1986) Foundations For A Systematic Eclectic Psychotherapy. Psychotherapy, 427-435.
Verhofstadt, L., Buysse, A., Ickes, W., Davis, M., & Devoldre, I. (2008) Support provision in marriage: The role of emotional similarity and empathic accuracy. Emotion, 8(6), 792-802. DOI: 10.1037/a0013976
- April 19, 2009
- 08:01 PM
- 1,606 views
Forgiveness Therapy Endorsed by a Skeptic
by David Johnson, MSW, LICSW in Dare To Dream
Since I heard of all the excitement in the therapy literature about forgiveness therapy, I've been a skeptic. I've worked with a lot of people who have experienced unforgivable abuse. Often they are tortured by their feelings of anger, resentment, helplessness, violation, and shame for allowing themselves to be a victim. They also feel guilt about their anger with the perpetrator so much so they feel morally obligated to forgive the perpetrator. When they do, they seem to feel no personal relie........ Read more »
Bridges, M. (2006) Activating the corrective emotional experience. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 62(5), 551-568. DOI: 10.1002/jclp.20248
Robert D. Enright, & Richard P. Fitzgibbons. (2000) Helping Clients Forgive - An Empirical Guide for Resolving Anger and Restoring Hope. Washington DC. DOI: 1-55798-689-4
Greenberg, L., & Pascual-Leone, A. (2006) Emotion in psychotherapy: A practice-friendly research review. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 62(5), 611-630. DOI: 10.1002/jclp.20252
Reed, G., & Enright, R. (2006) The effects of forgiveness therapy on depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress for women after spousal emotional abuse. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 74(5), 920-929. DOI: 10.1037/0022-006X.74.5.920
- December 28, 2008
- 01:27 PM
- 881 views
Clients, Not Practitioners, Make Therapy Work
by David Johnson, MSW, LICSW in Dare To Dream
Image via Wikipedia
I have been really enjoying my access to a large number of professional journals over the past couple years. Working at a teaching hospital definitely has it's academic perks. I've been particularly gratified to see a growing sophistication in research methods, creative approaches and a maturing view of results.
Until recently, practice based research articles have often taken the form of providing some support for a therapist preferred approach to therapy. I can understan........ Read more »
Michael J. Lambert. (2005) Early response in psychotherapy: Further evidence for the importance of common factors rather than “placebo effects”. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 61(7), 855-869. DOI: 10.1002/jclp.20130
- September 25, 2008
- 10:52 PM
- 1,725 views
Is There a Place for Emotion in Cognitive Theory?
by David Johnson, MSW, LICSW in Dare To Dream
Aaron Beck, considered the Father of Cognitive Therapy, is an American psychiatrist and a professor emeritus at the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. He is President of the Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research that is directed by his daughter, Judith S. Beck, Ph.D.. He is noted for his research in psychotherapy, psychopathology, suicide, and psychometrics, and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), one of the most widely used instruments for measuring depress........ Read more »
Beck, Aaron. (2008) The Evolution of the Cognitive Model of Depression it's Neurobiological Correlates. American Journal of Psychiatry, 969-977. DOI: http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/165/8/969
- March 12, 2008
- 11:11 PM
- 1,640 views
The Limits of Reductionism: Misreading the Mind
by David Johnson, MSW, LICSW in Dare To Dream
I've previously complained about research that so often is focused on small parts and pieces so small that they mean very little to the average person, or even the practitioner in the field. Worse yet, few authors seem willing to reach beyond the data and advance theoretical knowledge. It is at the level of theory development that research reaches into application and education. There seems to have been few willing to work on a new grand theory based on the nearly 50 year old previous attem........ Read more »
Gregg Henriques. (2003) The tree of knowledge system and the theoretical unification of psychology. Review of General Psychology, 7(2), 150-182. DOI: 10.1037/1089-2680.7.2.150
- March 12, 2008
- 10:16 PM
- 1,579 views
Science and Mass Media Don't Mix Well
by David Johnson, MSW, LICSW in Dare To Dream
Sunday I found a disturbing article in a blog that has a good reputation. Dr. Peter Breggin at The Huffington Post wrote about the FDA decision to require a "black box" warning on the anti-depressant medication Paxil because of the risk of suicide in the beginning of treatment. Dr. Breggin is the author of the book Talking Back to Prozac which is highly critical of the anti-depressant medication Prozac. In his post at Huffington's, Dr. Breggin makes statements that appeared design........ Read more »
Irving Kirsch, Thomas Moore, Alan Scorboria, & Sarah Nicholls. (2002) The emperor\'s new drugs: An analysis of antidepressant medication data submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. . Prevention , 5(1).
- March 12, 2008
- 10:15 PM
- 1,387 views
Paranoia Is A Widespread Problem?
by David Johnson, MSW, LICSW in Dare To Dream
Recently, a post at Anxiety and Depression Treatments Blog got my attention. It refers to a BBC NEWS article titled "Paranoia 'a widespread problem". The article is about a survey done in the UK by the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London. The blog characterized the results as laughably high. Here is an excerpt from the BBC article.
One in three people in the UK regularly suffers paranoid or suspicious fears, clinical psychologists have found. A team at the Insti........ Read more »
D Freeman, P Garety, P Bebbington, B Smith, R Rollinson, D Fowler, E Kuipers, K Ray, & G Dunn. (2005) Psychological investigation of the structure of paranoia in a non-clinical population Freeman D, Garety PA, Bebbington PE, Smith B, Rollinson R, Fowler D, Kuipers E, Ray K, Dunn G. British Journal of Psychiatry, 186(5), 427-435. info:PMID/15863749
- March 12, 2008
- 10:14 PM
- 1,258 views
Secret Shame Contributes to Chronic Depression
by David Johnson, MSW, LICSW in Dare To Dream
Shame has been a particular interest for me. It has appeared repeatedly as a major barrier in therapy, especially in those for whom therapy has failed in the past. It takes a lot of courage to re-enter therapy after feeling it was previously insufficient. Fortunately, a person returning to therapy after a less than satisfactory experience is significant motivated to try new ideas.
Agreeing to therapy is a humbling experience in and of itself. The American culture so values individualism, asking........ Read more »
Anne Hook, & Bernice Andrews. (2005) The relationship of non-disclosure in therapy to shame and depression. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 44(3), 425-438. DOI: 10.1348/014466505X34165
- March 12, 2008
- 10:14 PM
- 1,214 views
The Process of Grieving
by David Johnson, MSW, LICSW in Dare To Dream
The Journal of the American Medical Association [February 21, 2007—Vol 297, No. 7] published an important article on grief, Maciejewski et al (2007). While it's hardly definitive research, it represents an exciting trend in research that I've seen in recent years. Researchers seem more willing to take some risks with the rigor of their research models to produce information that is immediately relevant to practice. While, we are a long way from having clear guidance towards an e........ Read more »
Paul Maciejewski, Baohui Zhang, Block D Susan, & Prigerson G Holly. (2007) An Empirical Examination of the Stage Theory of Grief K. , PhD; , MS; D. , MD; G. , PhD. The Journal of the American Medical Association, 297(7), 716-723. http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/297/7/716
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