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In this clinical psychology episode of the podcast, we’re going to be looking at my reflection of Should Psychologists be Able to Prescribe Medications? This episode of podcast has been sponsored by Abnormal Psychology: The Causes and Treatments of Depression, Anxiety and More Third Edition. My Clinical Psychology Reflection on Should Psychologists be Able to Prescribe Medications? Saturday 10th October 2020: Today on my podcast The Psychology World Podcast, I did an episode on the for and against arguments for should psychologists be able to prescribe medication as treatment. So, the episode introduced the background information and the for and against arguments. Personally, I found the background information rather interesting because in 5 states of the USA psychologists can prescribe medication, and I discussed the training required as well. Therefore, I think it’s interesting to think about psychology in these states has developed. However, this raises a number of valid questions about prescribing privileges. Why hasn’t this spread to other states or countries? Could it mean it doesn’t work? What other factors could lead to these states to adopt prescribing privileges? Such as: a shortage of psychiatrists or prescribing doctors? Additionally, I really liked exploring the topic because the BPS have raised this debate in The Psychologist in 2020. And if psychologists don’t engage with the topic then others will make the decisions about prescribing rights for psychologists without their input. Afterwards, I explained the pros and cons of prescribing rights. In my opinion, I can understand why prescribing privileges could be a good idea. As it might increase access to mental health treatment and it could free up doctors, as I said on the podcast. However, in addition to the other disadvantages, I mentioned in the episode. My central concern still remains. As a profession, we need to move towards Formulation being engrained at every level of a service, and we must focus on the biopsychosocial model. I have discussed this in my Formulation In Psychotherapy book and Lucy Johnstone says the same. So, my concern is if we allow psychologists to get prescribing rights, then could this push psychology backwards to the biomedical model? And we place less of an emphasis on psychological and social factors as we can simply give medication to solve the condition? Again, it might only be a school of thought within psychology, but surely that’s still a lot of psychologists? Regardless of what happens psychologists need to act in the interest of their clients and not in the interest of ourselves or the service. We are there to improve lives and allocate psychological distress. I really hope you enjoyed this clinical psychology reflection and I would love to show your own reflection in the comments! If you want to support the podcast, please check out the links below: FREE AND EXCLUSIVE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Abnormal Psychology: The Causes and Treatments of Depression, Anxiety and More Third Edition Have a great day!

In this abnormal psychology episode of The Psychology World Podcast, we’re going to be looking at What Causes Schizophrenia? This is a great clinical psychology topic you’ll love. This episode has been sponsored by Abnormal Psychology: The Causes and Treatments for Depression, Anxiety and More Third Edition. Available on all major eBook retailers and you get order the paperback, large print and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore or your local library. Clinical Psychology: What Causes Schizophrenia? There are a lot of different causes of Schizophrenia and there is no one cause so everything below; for lack of a better term; interacts together to cause the condition. The Dopamine Hypothesis: This hypothesis was proposed by Meltzer & Stahl (1976) and they thought schizophrenia was caused by excess activity of dopamine synapses in certain areas of the brain. This I think is interesting since we tend to associate dopamine with positive behaviours so the thought that dopamine can do us harm is weird at first. Yet in Biological Psychology I discuss how much damage various neurotransmitters can do to us. So, this hypothesis is interesting, to say the least. Furthermore, this hypothesis is supported by several key pieces of evidence. For example, drugs that provoke a similar state to schizophrenia (like amphetamines) increase stimulation of dopamine synapses. (Martinez et al, 2007) Meaning there’s a link between stimulation of the synapses and schizophrenia. Additionally, drugs that alleviate schizophrenia block postsynaptic dopamine receptors. (Dimitilis & Shanker, 2016) and drugs that are the most effective at blocking dopamine receptors also are the most effective against schizophrenia. Overall, this evidence provides good evidence for this theory and I quite like the hypothesis since it’s logical and it makes sense. However, there is evidence against this hypothesis. Such as: drugs that block postsynaptic dopamine receptors don’t always alleviate schizophrenia for all patients, and there are inconsistent results about the measurements of dopamine or its metabolites. On the whole, I want to add that this hypothesis is quite good but it’s similar to the serotonin hypothesis in depression. Because it’s just a biological factor and it doesn’t take the cognitive or social factors into account. The Glutamate hypothesis: Another biological hypothesis for the cause of schizophrenia is the Glutamate hypothesis proposed by Moghaddam & Javitt (2012). This propose schizophrenia is partially caused by a lack of Glutamate activity. This is a problem because Glutamate inhibits dopamine release so this hypothesis builds upon the dopamine hypothesis and explains why the excess dopamine levels occur. Saying that the lack of Glutamate activity occurs because Phencyclidine blocks the glutamate synapses. Preventing it from being released into the synaptic gap. (Murray, 2002) as well as Schizophrenia is associated with lower than normal release of glutamate and fewer receptors in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus (Harrison et al., 2003) Leading to this interaction of both positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Especially, in people already predisposed to the condition. Overall, I believe these two hypotheses largely build upon one another and these are good explanations for the biological explanation of schizophrenia. Genetic and Prenatal Factors: For a long time, schizophrenia has been known to run in families. As supported by Andreasen and Black (1996) as it found that a sibling of a person with schizophrenia is four times more likely to develop schizophrenia than the general population. Nevertheless, there are always problems with the research. However, whilst the evidence above could be perceived to be down to environmental factors. The results from twin studies show that the likelihood of identical twins developing schizophrenia if the other twin has it is between 41%- 65% and 6%-28% for non-identical twins. (Cardno and Gottesman, 2000) In addition, genetics aren’t the only possible cause of schizophrenia as prenatal influences; influences during pregnancy; can cause schizophrenia as well. Such as prenatal influences include a diminished supply of oxygen to the brain as well as a number of prenatal infections can contribute to schizophrenia. Furthermore, the evidence suggests that schizophrenia is a neurodevelopmental disorder. Meaning that from a young age the brain doesn’t develop as it’s meant to; also this means that schizophrenia could be detected in early adulthood. Finally, stress is another contributing factor to the development of schizophrenia as explained in the introduction. Stress can trigger a genetic disposition to cause a condition. This explains the higher prevalence of schizophrenia in people with a lower socioeconomic status. Other biological causes of schizophrenia include: · Poor nutrition for mother · Extreme maternal stress during pregnancy · Season of birth effect · Viral infections and influenzas. · Premature birth, low birth weight and complications in delivery. Neurodevelopmental Hypothesis: In addition, to the biological causes of this condition, a new line of thinking is starting to develop to consider there might be a neurodevelopmental cause of schizophrenia. Yet it isn’t firmly established currently. For instance, some psychologists believe damage to an infant’s dorsolateral prefrontal cortex could be a factor. Since at one year old there is little effect of the brain lesion, as well as infants perform as well as undamaged monkeys when performing tasks. However, at 2 years old, the effects of the lesion are clear and the 2-year-old infant performs a lot worse than undamaged monkeys. I really hoped you enjoyed this clinical psychology episode. If you want to support the podcast, please check out the following links: FREE AND EXCLUSIVE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Abnormal Psychology: The Causes and Treatments for Depression, Anxiety and More Third Edition. Available on all major eBook retailers and you get order the paperback, large print and hardback copies from Amazon, your local bookstore or your local library. Have a great day, everyone! Abnormal Psychology Reference: Whiteley, C (2021) Abnormal Psychology: The Causes and Treatments of Depression, Anxiety and More Third Edition, CGD Publishing I truly hope that you’re enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal.

In this week's episode of The Psychology World Podcast, I thought we would go back to the psychology basics. This episode touches on all areas of psychology. Like, abnormal psychology, cognitive and developmental psychology. Since we're looking at the timeless debates of psychology. Personally, I think all of these debates are pointless because all these have merits and no one argument is more correct than the others. Psychology Debate: Nature Versus Nurture This argument is extremely outdated because all behaviours are a mixture of genetic factors and environmental factors. Overall, this outdated psychology argument looks at is behaviour determined by genetic or biological factors or environmental factors only. Nowadays, this argument looks at which factors contribute more to behaviour. Psychology Debate: Materialism Versus Constructionism Whereas this psychology debate takes a different approach because it looks at whether behaviour has a material basis or a construction basis. Since Materialism believes all behaviour is down to the physical material, like the brain, and these materialists believe all behaviour is just down to neural activity. Whereas constructionists believe human behaviour is caused by environmental factors only. Again, both these arguments are correct to various degrees. Consistency Versus Change Across Development The last psychology debate I want to look at is a developmental psychology one. Since some people believe some skills, personalities and abilities are developed by late childhood and they're fixed for the rest of our lives. Whilst others believe, our personalities, skills and abilities can change through our life span. The answer to this debate is complex and it really depends on the trait you're looking at. If you want to know the answers to this debate please check Developmental Psychology Third Edition and my Personality Psychology book in late 2021. Debates in Psychology Conclusion: In scientific psychology, everyone works to develop ideas, theories and concepts that help us to explain behaviour. However, none of these theories exists by themselves. They all interact with one another in addition to situational and biological influences. So, if anyone tells you a particular argument or they themselves have all the answers. They're very wrong indeed because human complex as well as we need to understand that our understanding of Behavior is rooted in broad sets of assumptions and even some of these might be debatable. I really hope you enjoyed this psychology episode. If you want to support the podcast, please check out the link below: FREE AND EXCLUSIVE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET- https://www.subscribepage.com/psychologyboxset What is Psychology?- free eBook available on all major eBook retailers. I truly hope that you’re enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal.

In today's episode of The Psychology World Podcast, we'll be looking at the clinical psychology topic of How Artificial Intelligence Can Be Used to Help Diagnosis Depression and Bipolar Disorder? If you remember episode 49 of the psychology podcast, you'll know how much I love artificial intelligence. This episode is great too! This episode has been sponsored by Clinical Psychology. Therefore artificial intelligence can assist researchers and clinicians in disciplines that involve complex problems and nuances. This includes clinical psychology because there are lots of factors and nuances that need to be analysed. For example, in mental conditions, the severity of them differs for every patient or client. This can makes diagnosis difficult and can lead to misdiagnosis. Thankfully, artificial intelligence can be used to help in these situations. In addition, artificial intelligence machine learning (basically how you train artificial intelligence) is increasingly being used in science as part of data analysis and other purposes. Just do a Google search on this and you'll see hundreds of great applications. From finding cancerous growths doctors have missed to health benefits. Why Is It Difficult to Tell Depression and Bipolar Disorder Apart? As we know depression and bipolar have many similarities. For example, both mental conditions feature long periods of sadness and depression that can last weeks days, weeks and months. Some other reasons why depression and bipolar disorder is confused is because both mental conditions result in a loss of appetite, insomnia, fatigue, a feeling of lack of self-worth, as well as the inability to concentrate according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIH). As a result, there are a lot of commonalities between these conditions so it isn't surprising bipolar disorder can be misdiagnosed. How Can Artificial Intelligence Help Reduce Mental Health Misdiagnosis? Interestingly, artificial intelligence can have great benefits as shown in a study (Reference at the bottom of the psychology blog post) where participants with depressive symptoms ranging in age from 18 to 45 years old were recruited online. And from an initial sample of 5,422 enrolled, 3232 individuals completed a range of online mental health questionnaires. As well as 1377 people provided blood samples, and 924 participants were invited to complete a telephone diagnostic interview using the World Health Organization World Mental Health Composite International Diagnostic Interview (WHO WMH-CIDI or CIDI). This is a commonly used diagnostic tool for assessing mental conditions according to the DSM-IV and ICD-10. Also because this is an amazingly detailed study from 924 participants that provided blood samples only 688 participants had usable blood samples. Leading to the blood samples, online questionnaires and phone interview to be analyzed. In addition, the machine learning algorithm used a decision tree-based method called Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) to differentiate participants with bipolar disorder from people with depression who self-report a current major depressive disorder diagnosis. Also, the participants' blood samples were analysed for biological markers that targeted 203 unique peptides that represent 120 proteins. Presumably, the two mental health conditions have different levels of these proteins in the blood. Furthermore, a researcher from the study said: “The diagnostic algorithm accurately identified patients with BD in various clinical scenarios, and could help expedite accurate clinical diagnosis and treatment of BD,” Overall, this great study shows that by using a diagnostic machine learning algorithm along with blood biomarker data and data from online questionnaires. This may reduce the misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder like major depression. And whilst this is a proof of concept demonstration, it does show the potential for empirical evidence-based AI machine learning to improve mental health treatment as well as its outcomes in the future. I really hope you’ve enjoyed this clinical psychology episode. If you want to learn more please check out the links below: FREE AND EXCLUSIVE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Clinical Psychology Have a great day, everyone! Psychology Reference https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-future-brain/202102/machine-learning-may-reduce-mental-health-misdiagnosis I truly hope that you’re enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal.

In this clinical psychology episode of The Psychology World Podcast, we need to talk about Ways to Overcome Social Anxiety About Socialising Again. This episode has been sponsored by Social Psychology: A Guide to Social and Cultural Psychology. Ways to Help Social Anxiety About Socialising: Be Curious: After a year of being locked away and told to keep away from people, we're all probably a bit scared about socialising again. I know some people are because they're concerned about looking silly or foolish after not being able to socialise for over a year. Therefore, one way to think about socialising is to use a curious Mindset. Think about seeing other people as a way to find out how to socialise in this new world and most importantly what have your friends and family been doing. This is one of the reasons why I'm looking forward to seeing people again. I want to find out how people and doing and how they've entertained themselves. Listen to people I know, I know this sounds so obvious that I shouldn't have to put this in the blog post. But let's stop for a moment. How many people do you actually listen to? Chances are not a lot that's why after the Pandemic it is so important that you actively listen to others. Bringing this point to socialising, this is important because active listening shows you care and want to be there. This makes the other person feel better and they are likely to actively listen to you too. Overall, actively listening when socialising is so important. Especially, when we need to prove to ourselves and our friends that we want to be with them. Shift your focus: Leading into this next point, I completely understand if people are going to be anxious and panicking when we socialise again. I know I'll be concerned. And this all leads to people overthinking. Like, do I look okay? Am I asking stupid questions? Am I boring them? What if they don't like me after a year apart? I understand all these concerns. But you need to shift to your focus from focusing on yourself to focusing on the other person. Make them look good, ask them questions, engage with them and show them you care and really want to be there with them. There's nothing worse than getting really excited to meet someone then find out they really don't want to be there with you! Remember that everyone is struggling: If you're still concerned then just remember, none of this is New. Socialising, our social worlds and everything in social psychology has shown us that socialising has always been a messy, complex process. So, embrace it, be weird and chaotic abut most of all have fun socialising again. Make new friends, reconnect with old friends and family members. But just have fun! So, I really hope you enjoyed this social psychology episode of The Psychology World Podcast. If you liked this podcast episode and want to support the podcast, please check out the links below: FREE AND EXCLUSIVE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Social Psychology: A Guide to Social and Cultural Psychology I truly hope that you’re enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal. Social Psychology Reference: https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/play-your-way-sane/202103/your-guide-reentering-society-post-vaccine

In this is clinical psychology episode of The Psychology World Podcast, we’ve going to be talking about 5 Ways to Keep Your Brain Healthy and Reduce the Risk of Getting Dementia. This episode has been sponsored by Biological Psychology Third Edition. Personally, I really wanted to do this episode because we have a dementia suffer in our family. And I really don’t want any of you to go through this so hopefully this could help you, your family and your clients. 5 Ways to Keep Your Brain Healthy and Reduce the Risk of Getting Dementia Get your Flu Vaccination: Surprisingly enough, becoming vaccinated against the flu has other benefits because it may help to protect you against Alzheimer’s disease. Since psychology research studied a large data set of 9066 people and they found people who got a flu vaccination had a decreased risk of cognitive decline. This is associated with Alzheimer’s. Additionally, the researchers added: “...people that consistently got their annual flu shot had a lower risk of Alzheimer's. This translated to an almost 6% reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease for patients between the ages of 75-84 for 16 years.” Personally, I think this is a great point because it shows by protecting our physical health, we can protect our mental health too. Also, it’s reasonably easy to do. Be Positive: I have said this before so please check out the other clinical psychology podcast episodes for more information. But being a positive, cheerful person is always great. And thankfully, positivism isn’t an innate trait so it can be learnt if you’re not positive at the moment. If you want to start becoming more positive, then maybe start my appreciating the small things. Like, thanking your loved ones, being grateful for your health and maybe write about why something positive each day. Get a Good Night Sleep: I think this is a certainly interesting point because we all know we need to get enough sleep and I talk about this a lot more in Biological Psychology. However, whilst researchers are still trying to determine the relationship between Dementia and sleep. Some research clearly shows the brain gets rid of a lot of its waste during sleep that is associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Meaning if you get more sleep then you’re less likely to get Dementia. Add Berries, Apples and Green Tea to Your Diet: Moving onto some more diet-based ways to keep your brain healthy. Research has shown people should eat foods high in flavonoids, substances that reduce inflammation, and these types of foods are associated with a reduction in Dementia. Therefore, eating berries, apples and drinking green tea can be protective factors to keep your brain healthy and dark chocolate is high in flavonoids too. Personally, I’m grateful for this fact because I really eat a lot of fruit and sometimes I drink green tea. So, hopefully, I’m on the right track. Drink Coffee However, if you don’t like the taste of green tea and I can understand why. I hated it at first! It turns out by drinking coffee it has dementia reducing effects in addition to its increase in short term concentration. According to a longitudinal study of 1409 people, people who drunk moderate amounts of coffee a day, 3 to 5 cups, in mid-life reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease later in life. This is another point I’m happy about because I tend to drink two to three cups a day. Nonetheless, I did want to mention maybe two years ago, I read a study linking drinking over four cups of coffee a day with increase mortality later in life. Of course, it was years ago and I don’t have a reference for it. But whilst we’re on the topic of being healthy, I thought I should give a caveat. Overall, I really hope you’ve enjoyed this clinical psychology episode of The Psychology World Podcast. If you liked this episode, please share it and check out the links below: FREE AND EXCLUSIVE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Biological Psychology Third Edition My Fiction Kickstarter (explained in the podcast episode) I truly hope that you’re enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal. Clinical Psychology References: Graff-Radford, J. & Lunde, A. M. (2020). Mayo Clinic on Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Dementias. Rochester, MN: Mayo Clinic Press, pp. 48 ff, p. 290-1. Sing out. "Choir Singing Can Improve Cognitive Functioning Among the Elderly." ScienceDaily, 2.10.2021. Sauna bathing. Emamzadeh, A. "Could Sauna Bathing Have Cognitive Benefits?" 2.6.2021. Psychologytoday.com. Tai chi. Harvard Health Letter of 8.22.2019. Attitudes/Becca Levy. Applewhite, A. This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism (2016). NY: Celadon Books. pp. 43, 114 Vaccination. "Flu, pneumonia vaccinations tied to lower risk of Alzheimer's dementia." ScienceDaily, 27 July 2020. Positive outlook. “Positive Outlook Predicts Less Memory Decline,” Association for Psychology Science, 10/29/2020. Berries, apples, green tea. "More berries, apples and tea may have protective benefits against Alzheimer's," ScienceDaily, May 5, 2020. Coffee and dementia risk. Hendrick, B. “Coffee Strong Enough to Ward Off Dementia?" WebMd, Jan. 16, 2009.

In today's episode of The Psychology World Podcast, we're going to be talking about the abnormal and clinical psychology topic of How to Talk to Children About Mental Health Conditions? So I wanted to talk about this clinical psychology topic because the Pandemic is putting a lot of strain on mental health. Especially for children, as they haven't been able to go to school and see their friends for a long time. Therefore, a child might come to you and speak about what they're worried they might have a specific mental condition, or they're worried they might have something but don't know what. Also, it's important to note that it has probably taken the child a lot of courage to tell an adult this. Therefore, it's important to be supportive and actively listen. In the rest of this clinical psychology podcast episode, I want to explain some things you shouldn't say to children. I should add I have personal experience with a lot in today's episode, but because it's personal, I won't give specific examples. What Not to Say to Children When Talking Their Mental Health "We all feel or do that sometimes," Personally, I understand why a parent might want to say this because they want to be supportive and they want to relax their child. So they don't think anything is wrong with them. However, this can be quite damaging since this is being dismissive towards the child and it probably makes them feel stupid or bad for coming to see you. Meaning if they do have a mental health condition and it gets more severe, they probably won't come forward. Leading them to suffer in silence. In addition, by saying this, the adult is shutting down important conversations before the child has fully explained themselves. "You'll grow out of it," This is another initially logically thing to say to children because you want to reassure them that they would always feel like this. However, considering in my Abnormal Psychology book I explain a few mental conditions that get worse over time. This is reasonably danger advice. Since yes the child might grow out of this phase of the mental condition only to move into more severe phrases. All of which could have been avoided if a conversation was had earlier. Also, even if this doesn't happen, this is still invalidating their current problems. I know this from personal experience and sadly children are quite often left to suffer in silence until they grow out of it. "You don’t have anything to be sad about," At first, this may sound like a good point because people in the west tend to have plenty of food, fresh drinking water at a moment's notice and plenty of money. So, I think it's understandable to say this to a child. Equally, this can be a way for an adult to say focus on the positives to a child. However, this can still be very damaging to children because if an adult says this to someone then this plays into the guilt the child is already experiencing. Since they feel bad for struggling because they believe they shouldn't be 'messed up' or suffering. So, it's important not to say this to children and try and be more supportive instead. "Don't tell others about this," Again, this is logical, but this can come from a caring place. As a parent might not want their child to be bullied for suffering a mental health condition or being excluded. Yet this can come from a bad place to as the adult or parents might not want their child to tell others because they feel ashamed their child is suffering. And it makes them bad parents. However, this reinforces the child's idea that they're messed up, it's their fault and something is wrong with them. Over time this makes their concerns worse and it doesn't improve their mental health. Lastly, this reinforces the idea that mental health difficulties are a taboo subject that must not be spoken about. This stigma must go so people might get the help they need and improve their lives. What Should You Say to a Child? Throughout this entire clinical psychology episode, I've been telling you what you should say so the key in these types of conversations is to listen carefully and have a supportive conversation. And you could say the following: "How does the stuff we've just spoken about make you feel?" “I’m glad you felt able to talk to me about this.” "Do you have any ideas about what you’d like us to do next? (It’s ok if you don’t.)” Again, the key is to be supportive and listen. I hope you found this abnormal and clinical psychology episode useful. If you know to learn more, please check out the links below. FREE AND EXCLUSIVE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Clinical Psychology Have a great day, everyone! I truly hope that you’re enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal. Reference: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/because-we-are-bad/202102/how-talk-children-and-teens-about-mental-illness

In today's episode of The Psychology World Podcast, we're going to talk about the abnormal and clinical psychology topic of How to Make Anxiety Your Ally? This episode has been sponsored by Abnormal Psychology; A Guide to Depression, Anxiety and More Third Edition. When I came across this article was interested to say the least because it relates to the video on the Psychology Book Page about the psychology of stress. And making stress your friend. Anyway, with the Pandemic being chaotic and adding anxiety to our lives. Our initial reaction is to suppress our feelings or avoid it entirely. This is wrong. Whilst this might be helpful in the short term, in the longer run this can create more problems and we miss opportunities to face our fears. Why Do We Avoid Our Anxiety? We do this because of the Anxiety Disease Story. Where we're told by society, that anxiety is a dangerous, life-threatening condition that must be avoided at all cost. I understand why people think about because it can be disruptive and it can cause psychological distress to the client. Yet this story about anxiety doesn't help. Since the more you avoid anxiety, the more it grows. Also, saying don't worry as we all know only increases our worry. How to Make Anxiety Our Friend? Interestingly, in 2013 Harvard Researchers found socially anxious people who were told to believe anxiety benefited them copied better during the tasks. This is all about a Mindset shift to believe that we get anxious because our body and mind want us to benefit from this. It wants us to know that our mind and body are ready to handle a threat. So, of course, our body wants to help us protect ourselves and our future. Since that is what anxiety is all about. It comes from our ability to think about the future. Then we get anxious because we care about it and we don't want everything bad to happen to us. Leading us to get anxious so we can make sure our future is okay. How Do We Make Anxiety Our Friend? The best way is to practise this new skill so when you next get anxious or you know something who does. Remind yourself and then that this is your body and mind wanting to help you deal with a threat. So identify that threat and deal with it. And remember you are in control. I really hope you enjoyed today's clinical psychology episode. If you want to learn more, please see the links below: FREE AND EXCULSIVE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Clinical Psychology Have a great day, everyone! Reference: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/more-feeling/202102/we-dont-have-be-anxious-about-anxiety I truly hope that you’re enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal.

In today's episode of The Psychology World Podcast, we'll be talking about the clinical psychology topic of What to Do When You're Overwhelmed. As always nothing on this podcast is ever official nor professional mental health advice. This episode has been sponsored by Developmental Psychology: A Guide to Development and Child Psychology. Third Edition. I'm going to talk about the topic of feeling overwhelmed today because with the craziness of Pandemic and the things that others have going on in their lives. It's easy to feel stressed and overwhelmed. Leading to a decrease in mental health and possibly an increase in depression and other mental health conditions. 3 Tips to Help You (or your clients) when you're feeling overwhelmed: Recognise Your Recognise: I know this isn't probably what you or your clients want to hear but recognising your own feelings is important. Since you need to recognise them and think about how to deal with them. For example, I sometimes sit in my bedroom and make myself think about my thoughts and feelings. This allows me to think about if something is wrong. Also, if there is something wrong I think about recent events and I think critically about them. For example, if someone moaned at me. This could harm my mental health then I think about and recognise I'm feeling sad. Then I consider why they mentioned it and it's usually out of love. Making me feel better. In addition, I know at first Denial and forgetting our feelings might seem like a good idea. This is rarely the case because it leads to a build up of negative emotions and thoughts. Leading to a further decrease in mental health and possibly physical difficulties. Like, tension, stress and aggression. Find a Source of Consistency: Overwhelm tends to be caused due to stress and uncertainty in someone's life. So, finding consistency is a must. This can be in others but it can be in themselves too. For example, some find consistency in their values and other personality traits. Even the thought of them being a good person what matter what can help. For instance, it always brings me comfort to myself to know that I'm a good person who wants to help others. Find Something You Can Rely On: This point is split into two different points. Since this is talking about finding a person but it can be a time or memory as well. You should try and find a person who you can rely on to support you and adds certainty to your life. For example, this can be a boyfriend, wife, mother, father or more. However, this can be a memory or job as well. Because the real point of this idea is you need to find out what gives you a sense of calm and stability. Therefore, if a type of activity gives you a sense of calm and stability. Do it! If you love looking at family pictures, then do it! Do whatever makes you calm and adds stability to your life. I really hope you enjoyed today’s episode and found it useful. If you want to learn more about Clinical Psychology, please click here and don’t forget to check out Developmental Psychology: A Guide to Development and Child Psychology. Third Edition. FREE AND EXCULSIVE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Have a great day, everyone! I truly hope that you’re enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal. Reference: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psychoanalysis-unplugged/202102/what-you-can-do-when-life-is-overwhelming

In today's episode of The Psychology World Podcast, we going to talk about the abnormal and clinical psychology topic of The Myths About Hypnosis. This episode has been sponsored by my Psychology Audiobooks. Personally, I think this is a great topic because it hypnosis is definitely a sort of mystical therapy in psychology. Also, it often gets represented on TV, but in a completely wrong way, so in this abnormal psychology episode. I think it'll be good to look at this topic. 5 Common Myths About Hypnosis: Abnormal Psychology Hypnosis Myth- Hypnosis is a Quick Fix: Firstly, it's commonly believed that hypnosis is a quick fix that will solve all your problems, or it's commonly believed that hypnosis is completely useless. I understand this is because this is what I believed before reading this article. In reality, hypnosis can have a lot of therapeutic benefits. Like it can help to decrease pain, anxiety or it can help reduce obesity and it can be beneficial for other conditions too. Myth- Hypnosis is a Standalone Intervention: Another misconception about hypnosis is that it is used as a standalone intervention or treatment. This is another abnormal psychology myth I understand because on TV hypnosis is always used by itself and it always magically treats the person. Instead, hypnosis is always used in addition to other interventions. Like psychodynamic therapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. Hypnotists Need to Be Highly Skilled For It To Work: This is another great myth because the hypnotist only need to be able to administer the procedures and they need to have basic social skills. This is very useful since the hypnotist needs to establish a rapport (trust) with the client. Hypnotic States Resembles Sleep: Personally, I understand this myth because whenever you see hyponisis happen it always look like the person is asleep. In reality, whilst some people do fall asleep, people are awake and have good awareness of their environment during the state. Hypnosis Improves Memory: This has to be my favourite myth because if you've done cognitive psychology or you've read my Cognitive Psychology book then you know because of how memory works this will rarely happen. Therefore, the reality of this myth is hypnosis can increase and return memories of recent events to the person. But it can increase false memories as well. Overall, I really hope you enjoy today's episode. If you want to learn more, please check the links below: FREE AND EXCULSIVE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Psychology Audiobooks Have a great day, everyone! Abnormal Psychology Reference: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/finding-new-home/202102/21-myths-about-hypnosis

In today's episode of The Psychology World Podcast, we return to clinical and abnormal psychology and mental health. So, in this episode, we talk about the 5 Ways Harmful Thinking Patterns using Clinical Psychology. This episode has been sponsored by my book Abnormal Psychology: The Causes and Treatment for Depression, Anxiety and More Third Edition. The 5 Ways Harmful Thinking Patterns Using Clinical Psychology We Dwell on The Past Or Future: Let's face it and we all do it. Humans are terrible for focusing and worrying about the future and past. I know this from personal experience because when someone happened to me a few years ago. I focused and criticised myself for 6 months before I forgave myself. And still from time to time, I still focus on that painful piece of my past. Yet humans worry about the future too. Overall, this obsession with the past and future can harm our mental health because we focus too much on the negative. Therefore, the proposed solution is to practise mindfulness as that gets you to focus on the present. My personal tip (not official advice) would be to write about the painful and your worries, and hopefully you will see that it wasn't your fault after all. Or whatever it is for your own personal situation. We Negatively Compare Ourselves To Others: We also know this as upwards social comparison and this can have benefits to our mental health and self-esteem. However, it can be harmful too, as it could lead us to feel worthless and useless. I talk more about this in Social Psychology: A Guide to Social and Cultural Psychology Third Edition but I'll try to summarise it here. For example, in an enormous source of your self-esteem comes from being an outstanding football player. Then you compare yourself to someone else who is better than you. You could start to feel useless and criticise yourself for not being as good as them. A good solution here could be to engage in downwards social comparison because you will be better than someone else. This will make you feel good. On a personal note, whenever I'm feeling worthless about psychology, I just think about some other students I know who aren't doing as well. Then, for my author side, I look at all the other authors who are behind me on the author journey. We Focus on What's Wrong with Us: This we are all guilty of because no one is perfect, and it's easier to focus on the negatives or bad things about ourselves than the positives. Leading to a decrease in mental health as we focus on the bad and we criticise ourselves. This solution is pretty straight forward since you should from time to time acknowledge the bad, but focus on the good. Like I know I'm not the best psychology student and my essays aren't the best, but I can write psychology books, podcast and more. And just remember no one is perfect. So, yes acknowledge and maybe work on the bad but focus on the good too! We Treat Negative Thoughts as Fact: This is an interesting point I think because I haven't experienced like this, but I know people who have. So, sometimes humans treat negative thoughts as facts, and as I write this, I remember I have experienced this. This acts as a sort of reinforcer for the negativity because if you think you're an awful person. Then you might think you are when you aren't. Meshing you believe this falsehood to be true. Personally, I remember this from a few years ago when I thought I was had a big personality and was almost attention seeking in a certain social situation. Leading me have negative thoughts about myself. Until I mentioned it to someone else and they thought I was being silly. Leading me to possible solution being ask other people to see if you are right or just making things up in your head. We Miss Changes to Grow By Avoiding Uncomfortable Thoughts And Feelings: I don't think I know a person who hasn't done this before, and I have certainly done this. I know it's a not psychology related but I know I can grow as a person and as an author. If I pitched other podcasts to appear on and talk to strangers more. However, the idea of talking to strangers terrifies me, so I'm a bit resistant to pitch other podcasts. There are other reasons, but that's the main one, and I'm worried about stuttering on other podcasts. So, whilst in this case, it hasn't harmed my mental health. There are other situations where avoiding growth opportunities could harm us. Since we could later start to criticise ourselves for not going outside our comfort zone. Therefore, what I'm doing to help take advantage of more growth opportunities is I sometimes just do things. For example, I just apply for things or try things out. Or going back to my podcast example, I'm going to pitch podcasts that ask their questions pre-recorded first to get me used to the format. So, I really hope you enjoyed today's abnormal psychology podcast episode. If you liked this episode and want to support the podcast, please check out: FREE and EXCLUSIVE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Abnormal Psychology: The Causes and Treatment for Depression, Anxiety and More Third Edition Reference: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/being-your-best-self/202101/15-ways-we-beat-ourselves I truly hope that you’re enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog on an ongoing basis and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show one-time support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal. About The Author Connor Whiteley: Connor Whiteley is the author of over 30 books in the sci-fi fantasy, nonfiction psychology and books for writer’s genre and he is a Human Branding Speaker and Consultant. He is a passionate warhammer 40,000 reader, psychology student and author. Who narrates his own audiobooks and he hosts The Psychology World Podcast. All whilst studying Psychology at the University of Kent, England. Also, he was a former Explorer Scout where he gave a speech to the Maltese President in August 2018 and he attended Prince Charles’ 70th Birthday Party at Buckingham Palace in May 2018. Plus, he is a self-confessed coffee lover!

Whilst this episode wasn’t meant to be a social psychology episode, this episode of The Psychology World Podcast is on What Strong Relationships Have in Common? This episode has been sponsored by Psychology of Relationships: A Guide to the Social Psychology of Friendships, Romantic Relationships, Prosocial Behaviour and More… The aim of this episode is to find out what strong relationships have in common using social psychology. Note: as always, nothing on the podcast is any sort of official or professional advice. Whether it’s relationships, medical or any other type of advice. Care: Caring is very important in relationships because if the two people in the relationships don’t care about one another. Then the relationship is likely to fail since humans tend not to maintain relationships they don’t care about. In addition, you can show you care about your friend or partner by what you say to them or your actions. Like you get them a nice present. Social Psychology: Cheerleading Another important feature of strong relationships is cheerleading. (I had no idea what that was before today) This is where you both lift each other up and support each other. Whether it's for friends or romantic partners. Personally, I quite like this point because in my own strong relationships, supporting each other with the occasion lifting each other up has been major factors that made these friendships strong. Confidence: Whenever I’m or have been in strong relationships before, this is a critical point for me. Since I find it very difficult to trust people so for friendships to be strong with me, I have to know that I’m safe and I can be confident with that person. Whether it’s confiding in them or talking about personal matters. I think we all have this in certain friendships or romantic relationships. Communication: This is an interesting and I give a minor story in my Psychology of Relationships book. But the short version is back in 2018, I thought one of my closest friends was blanking me, and it led to a bit of a rough patch. But it turned out that he was going through something, and he didn’t communicate that to me. Overall, communication is very important in strong relationships because if you don’t have open communication. Then this can lead to difficulties and could strain the relationship. Compromise: I think we have funny stories about compromises in relationships. Since I remember a funny story where my friend wanted to me go out with him and some of his other friendships (which I didn’t like) so we had to compromise by saying I’ll go out with him and his friendships. On the condition, we did something I wanted to do at another point in time. Overall, if you remember the How Couples Can Stop Arguing? episode last month, then you know that compromise is key to a strong relationship. Since it shows that you want the relationship to work, and you’re willing to sacrifice your own needs to satisfy the other persons. I could write a book on all the compromise stories I have! I really hope you enjoyed today’s episode. If you want to support the podcast, please check out: FREE 8 PSYCHOLOGY BOOK BOXSET Psychology of Relationships: A Guide to the Social Psychology of Friendships, Romantic Relationships, Prosocial Behaviour and More… Have a great day, everyone! I truly hope that you’re enjoyed this blog post and if you feel like supporting the blog going forward and get lots of rewards, then please head to my Patreon page. However, if want to show onetime support and appreciation, the place to do that is PayPal. If you do that, please include your email address in the notes section, so I can say thank you. Which I am going to say right now. Thank you! Click www.paypal.me/connorwhiteley1 to go to PayPal. Reference: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/emotional-fitness/201904/8-things-the-strongest-relationships-have-in-common Bonus Social Psychology Video: