Archive for the ‘Behavioral Therapy’ Category

Facebook Face Offs

Friday, June 25th, 2010

A couple of days ago I was lambasted on Facebook.  While I went with it posting candidly, it got rather insulting.  Still, I kept my comments honest.  Sadly, they were not appreciated.  Moreover, my expertise and credibility were challenged.

Part of that challenge was because I was employing or had “invented” “new terms”  that “had not been accepted,” yet.  Actually, I have been inventive.  I use the term “Positive Projective Psychology” and the terms “Negative Projective Process” and “Negative Projective Psychology” to differentiate my perspective from the common clinical practises of the day–which I consider sub-par treatment!  So, I am guilty as charged.  Those are new concepts and they are mine.

Also, I use advanced concepts which have not been heard much.  In part, this is because I am ahead of the curve.  An example of this is Bipolar Disorder Type III.  While this is not is use yet, you’ll hear about it if it makes it past the hurdles in committee formulating the new DSM-V.  I heard about Bipolar Disorder Type III three years ago.  It is a significant development in that it is a bold-faced admission that psychiatric medications cause permanent mental illness!

It bothers me that I was attacked but then those who attacked me, don’t know me.  In fact, they don’t know anything!  I was called a “narcissistic.”  I guess everyone thinks they are a psychologist or they can practise psychology.  I wish I had a little more narcissism in me but I am the way I am, as God intended me.

My middle initial should be “G” because I have been gullible.  It took me years believing in what I was taught in school to realize what a farce my field was (and is) and how much damage clinical psychology (as practised today) is doing to our society.  I owe the people of Mississippi a lot but that debt has been discharged fully in my service to those wonderful folks at low pay for several years and that was time well spent. 

It was inside the walls of Arizona’s maximum security prisons that I honed my craft and developed quick and concise skills of intervention with those who needed my services most.  They may not have been deserving but I was saving lives–the lives of those on the outside as my murderers, rapists and thieves were released back to society. 

Had I been more narcissistic, I might have not worked there and gone into private practise and still have a license and a practise today.  Maybe I would have published and become better known but I would never have developed the razor sharp skills of intervention and the insights in psychology I have.

I regard my contributions to the field of psychology and the body of scientific knowledge as minor, but I know the best psychology and psychologists.  The most significant contributor of our time is Steven Hayes, Ph.D. and his “Acceptance & Commitment Therapy,” the most advanced form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), also known as ACT.  Dr. Hayes has answered most of the questions B.F. Skinner asked in 1952.  I am proud to have had Steven as a guest on my Talk Radio Show “Giving Psychology Away.”

These days I am struggling.  When you get to the level of consciousness I have, you see clearly what is going on and the trends are alarming.  However, there is solace for me in knowing that I am in the latter half of my life.  I have seen some incredible inventions.  I remember the invention of the ball point pen.  What a breakthrough that was!  The computer had already been invented but transistors came on the scene shortly after I was born.

But I have also seen the rise of the audacity of man.  A puny little man who challenges God!  And the foolishness grows.

I was born into a private family that was going military.  Because of the shelter that provided, I saw our country as it was during its Golden Days and the Golden Age of the United States of America has passed so long ago that few remain alive to tell of it and no one wants to hear about it. 

Still, what we saw, witnessed and lived were not our best days.  We were not at out best.  A simple reading of the newspapers of colonial times reveals a far more educated population.  The average colonial citizen was a genius compared to those our institutions of higher learning of today produce with doctorates.  I have seen “inflation” and “degradation” in our educational system. 

It is all corrupt, controlled by an elite we do not see.  We do not know.  And we are complacent to let the status quo go on unimpeded while it slowly destroys US and plans our further enslavement.  They already have our minds but this captivity is not that different from the exiles of the Jews to Babylon. 

Moreover, we are beholden to the same group of repugnant worshippers of power.  Power given from the following of Lucifer and making deals with the devil.  The fight between Good & evil (sic).

What are the Differences between Psychiatrists and Psychologists?

Saturday, August 8th, 2009

 

While there are vast differences within these categories and there are books I will review that explain their histories and origins, in a nutshell the main differences between psychiatrists and psychologists are:

 

Psychiatrists prescribe medicine and their main method of treatment consists of medications and secondarily grossly disabling techniques including electroshock and lobotomy.

 

—All medications work upon principles of disabling and toxicity—

 

Psychologists use methods of behavioral treatments that operate upon principles of “sensitization” and “desensitization.”

 

There are many modalities of “talk therapy,” none of which may be considered “toxic” or “disabling”—except when psychologists serve to uphold The Medical Model and “reify” the diagnosis thus causing “iatrogenesis.”

 

Psychologists earn “real” doctoral degrees and are true scientists trained in the scientific method.  In comparison psychiatrists earn “technical degrees” and are mere technicians.

 

Psychiatrists are “medical doctors” and are trained in understanding the risks and benefits of medications.  The “medical doctor” or “MD” degree has existed for less than a century.

 

Psychologists are the original “doctors” and have “doctor of philosophy” degrees.  The “Ph.D.” has four centuries of heritage.

 

“Iatrogenesis” is “physician caused illness” and is not limited to the practices of either psychiatrists or psychologists.

Bibliotherapy: “AD/HD: Ritalin Is Not The Answer: A Drug-Free, Practical Program for Children Diagnosed with ADD or ADHD”

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

by David B. Stein

Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (January 29, 1999)

Check back soon for my review of this handy little handbook on how to rear children. It is the manual my mother they always said they never made, “You didn’t come with a manual!”

Bibliotherapy for Couples & Marriage Counseling

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

Hendrix (2007), Getting the Love You Want: A Guide for Couples, 20th Anniversary Edition (Paperback), Holt Paperbacks.

 

Harville Hendrix’s seminal work from 1985 upon which he has written approximately 30 titles stands as his best book of the series. The exercises in the appendix are highly recommended as engaging in such allows a couple to explore their conscious and subconscious values and images.

Hendrix put forth the idea that we choose partners who simultaneously have “the best qualities” and “the worst qualities” for us. He said consciously we choose those with the best qualities but subconsciously we choose those with the worst qualities in order to work out formerly unresolved issues from parenting and our families of origin.

Amazon.com Review
When Harville Hendrix writes about relationships, he discusses them not just as an educator and a therapist, but as a man who has himself been through a failed marriage. Hendrix felt the sting of his divorce intensely because he believed it signaled not only his failure as a husband but also his failure as a couples counselor. Investigating why his marriage dissolved led him to start looking into the psychology of love. Marriage, he ultimately discovered, is the “practice of becoming passionate friends.”
As a result of his research, Hendrix created a therapy he calls Imago Relationship Therapy. In it, he combines what he’s learned in a number of disciplines, including the behavioral sciences, depth psychology, cognitive therapy, and Gestalt therapy, to name just a few. He expounds upon this approach in Getting the Love You Want: A Guide for Couples. His purpose in writing the book, he says, is “to share with you what I have learned about the psychology of love relationships, and to help you transform your relationship into a lasting source of love and companionship.”
Divided into three sections, the book covers “The Unconscious Marriage,” which details a marriage in which the remaining desires and behavior of childhood interfere with the current relationship; “The Conscious Marriage,” which shows a marriage that fulfils those childhood needs in a positive manner; and a 10-week “course in relationship therapy, ” which gives detailed exercises for you and your partner to follow in order to learn how to “replace confrontation and criticism … with a healing process of mutual growth and support.” The text is occasionally dry and technical; however, the information provided is valuable, the case studies are interesting, and the exercises are revealing and helpful. By utilizing his program, Hendrix hopes you too will be able to solve your marital difficulties without the expense of a therapist.

“Hendrix provides much insight into how spouses can mature through one another.” — — Booklist

“I know of no better guide for couples who genuinely desire a maturing relationship.” — — M. Scott Peck, author of The Road Less Traveled

Beck (1988), Love is Never Enough: How Couples can Overcome Misunderstandings, Resolve Conflicts, and Solve Relationships Problems Through Cognitive Therapy, Harper & Row, Publishers.

 

Aaron T. Beck, M.D., is University Professor Emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and president of the Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and Research. Dr. Beck is the author of thirteen books. He lives with his wife, Judge Phyllis Beck, in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, and has four children and eight grandchildren.

Aluminum Causes Alzheimer’s Dementia

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

This is such old information I am amazed it caught your attention.

Aluminum plaques (tangles) in the brain occur at the ion level.

No, I do not understand it entirely.

Yes, this knowledge has been suppressed.

No, I do not know of any way to remove aluminum from the body.

There is no use for any aluminum in the body.

There is no FDA minimum daily requirement for aluminum.

Part of the difficulty in this conversation is that the field of psychology has been down-graded and dumbed-down just like the rest of American society, especially our schools.

For instance, while we in medicine and in psychology used to differentially diagnose approximately six different types of dementia’s, since 1983 there has been a tendency to diagnose any dementia as Alzheimer’s Disease.  This is unfortunate because many types of dementias can be treated successfully.

For example, I have treated alcohol induced dementia* and successfully reversed one case with massive B vitamin supplementation.  However, not all alcohol induced dementia’s respond to treatment.  We got lucky that time but as I said motivationally to the patient upon recovery:

“You got lucky.  We didn’t think you were going to make it.  Do you remember how you were when you came in here?  How disoriented you were?

“Do you like being independent?  Do you want someone changing your diapers . . .

“We were able to get you back this time.  But I don’t think you have many more drunks left in you.  If you continue drinking, that fog and stupor could reoccur.  It could become irreversible.

“Next time we might not be able to bring you back .”

You can imagine how motivational that session was.  The risk in front of that gentleman was that he might not be able to return from another fog of alcohol induced dementia.

*Certainly I am aware of Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome.

Is Anyone Out There?

Monday, March 16th, 2009

While it is generally known that a blogger must post regularly in order to get readership and perhaps even secure a following, I really would appreciate hearing from others.  I am open to allowing others write and post on my blog their experiences and concerns with mental health service systems & providers.

I really need some feedback and the outrageous amount of spam I get from the usual cadre of unscrupulous spammers really saddens me.  If you have a comment, please post.  If you like something I have written and want more, let me know.  If you are offended and disagree with something I have posted, I really want to hear from you.

The fact is I fell like I am working in a vacuum.  I really don’t like distant electronic communications.  I feel I have posted a lot of salient and sensitive material but it has not drawn the feedback I was hoping for.  In short, I want to hear from you.

Panic Disorder—Behavioral Treatment

Thursday, January 29th, 2009

 

This is generic advice and may not be suitable for you individually.  Please see your health care provider to determine what is best for you.

 

The basic behavioral approach to treat panic disorder from a behaviorist point of view is quite simple and very effective.  In general, having the client “self-monitor” reduces the incidence of panic attacks by approximately 50%.  Here’s how I do it:

 

We start out with having the client keep a “panic log.”  We want to achieve a “baseline” number of panic attacks so that we have a yard stick against which we can measure our progress.  This is observable and enumerable (one can count the number of panic attacks.) and from this initial data, we can compare the results of our interventions. 

 

However, just having the client keep such a log and observe themselves is an intervention in & of itself.  Just from this homework assignment we often see a reduction in the occurrence of panic attacks and the development of insight into managing one’s self in order to diminish the occurrence and severity of panic attacks.

 

The client’s assignment includes keeping specific data about the date and time of each panic attack, logging the antecedents (what occurred just before the onset) and the consequences (what was the resolution), the quality (symptoms) and quantity (duration).  The more details we assign the client to track and write down, the better the results.

 

From this we obtain a baseline, that is, the initial rate of panic attacks prior to beginning treatment.  Remember, exercises in self-observation tend to become interventions in & of themselves.  Therefore, we often see an improvement in the first week; however, sometimes, especially when fueled by personality traits & features, there may be an exacerbation in panic attacks.

 

Furthermore, I also do an intake assessment of what the client has done to do to resolve his or her panic attacks that has not worked and how much caffeine the client ingests.  I have seen a correlation in clinical practice as almost half of my clients who complained of panic attacks had comorbid problems with caffeine. 

 

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) has much to offer those who suffer from Panic Disorder.  See my earlier blog postings and archived shows.

 

 

Caffeine & Panic Attacks: Causation Versus Correlation

Friday, January 16th, 2009

 

A while back a friend of mine commented after one of my shows that even though he thought that I had a point with caffeine “causing” panic attacks he said he wasn’t going to stop drinking coffee. My friend missed my point completely and demonstrated an error common among psychologists themselves.

 

First, I never said that caffeine “caused” panic attacks or panic disorder. What I said was in treating clients who presented complaining about having panic attacks I observed that approximately half of them had a problem with caffeine. Some appeared to be addicted to caffeinated beverages and a telltale sign of their addiction was when they suffered a dull headache, a withdrawal symptom, when they didn’t have their coffee or other beverage of choice.

 

Second, the context of my comments was that we were pretty much invincible and could our abuse are bodies with almost any substances until the age of approximately 19.  Thereafter, we learn that we needed to take much better care of ourselves and this was usually “inspired” by a rude awakening.

 

Third, my concern was that the current generation of super caffeinated beverages contain so much more caffeine than anything my generation was exposed to when we were growing up or when I was treating people clinically for panic disorder, that I am extremely concerned regarding the outcome for the current generation which indulges in such overly stimulating beverages.

 

I also mentioned that ‘drinking strong beverages’ was not recommended by Joseph Smith of The Latter-Day Church of Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith seemed to know and his recommendations to his followers that they abstain from drinking coffee and tea as well as alcohol seem wise.

 

I never said that caffeine or coffee “caused” panic attacks but I must apologize to my audience for the confusion. What I needed to convey was that there was an observed correlation that is a positive correspondence between the use of caffeine or coffee in some subjects with panic disorder in my clinical practice.

 

In those cases what I typically did was had the person keep an additional log. Aside from the usual detailed log of panic attacks, I assigned them the task of keeping a log regarding their intake of caffeinated beverages. We wanted to see what might happen when they ceased drinking coffee. Some of these clients were drinking a lot of coffee. And when they stop drinking “cold turkey” they often experienced typical “withdrawal” or “discontinuation effects.” Often these consisted of some sort of headache and general discomfort but sometimes there was an increase in panic attacks and generalized anxiety.  And sometimes we found that their anxiety and panic attacks decreased!

 

When we found that either of those were the case, we adopted a program of behaviorally tapering off the use of caffeinated beverages. We did this with the goal of ceasing the use of all caffeinated products for a period of approximately 3 weeks during which we would determine if that might have an impact upon their symptoms of panic and anxiety.

 

Just as in the discontinuation of psychotropic medications, since caffeine is a psychoactive drug, I never rushed my patients in their discontinuation of caffeine/coffee. We always stepped down slowly and backed off from the use of the “drug” slowly. This is exactly what I recommend to anyone seeking to discontinuation psychiatric medications. There is no reason to rush it and there is no sense risking discomfort, such as with the sudden discontinuation of SSRI medications such as Prozac or fluoxetine.

 

A lot of folks when they hear such a presentation, including psychologists, jump (wrongly) to the conclusion that this implies causation. That is nonsense. It is utter nonsense. It is sheer hogwash. All we can do is say that we observe the two events or sequeluae occurring in conjunction. Unless we have a true experimental design with random assignments, we can never make the hard fast conclusion that caffeine causes panic attacks, most certainly not for all people, across all time and all situations.

 

Hence, I observed that the excessive use of caffeine/coffee actually increased certain clients’ propensities to experience panic attacks. In a sense one might say that caffeine lowered the panic threshold thereby allowing the individual to experience greater panic attacks.  I hope this clears the matter up regarding applied psychology.

 

Correlation means we observe a relationship and I need no be positive.  For instance, as we reduce X we see an increase in Y which indicates a “negative correlation.”  Stay tuned for more on this in the future.

The Dr. Kent Show November 29, 2008 with Guest Kelly Wilson, Ph.D.

Monday, December 29th, 2008

20081129.mp3

The Dr. Kent Show December 6, 2008With Guest Steven Hayes, Ph.D. Founder of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

Monday, December 29th, 2008

20081206.mp3