The Psychology of Cutting Corners (with a dash of Valentine’s day advice)

Prior to the holidays, I noticed a posting by one of the graduate students in our research centre looking for recruits to join a weekly indoor pick-up soccer game. I was of two minds: after years of terminal couch-potato status, this past summer I decided to increase my activity level and took up biking. It was great, the problem being that it is a seasonal activity for those of us not committed to installing skis on our two-wheeled vehicles. I thought that participating in soccer would be a fun way of staying in some semblance of shape until the arrival of the temperate winds that...

Read more →
2 comments
1

Stress, genes and depression: The long and the short of it

In my last entry I hinted at the exciting research results that are emanating from the stress-diathesis model, a model predicting pathology as the combined result of an individual’s vulnerability and stressful life events. One of the reasons for the delay between my last post and this one was my inability to decide what research to choose as an illustration of the stress diathesis model. I finally decided to focus on a wonderful paper published in 2003 by Avshalom Caspi and associates from the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College, London.

First, let’ set the context: Talk to any...

Read more →
3 comments
1

Stress and diathesis OR psychological tales of wise Achilles

In my last entry, I lamented the lack of progress we have made in understanding the causes of mental disorders. Before I get accused of being an eternal pessimist, let me clarify the point I was trying to make. All I was trying to do was to emphasize that we need a lot more research in the area of mental health before we can start making significant head-way. Of course, the same can be said about maladies of the non-psychological variety, but I can (but won’t) bore you with an array of statistics demonstrating that research into mental health is about as well-funded as research...

Read more →
2 comments
2

Exciting causes of insanity

Excitable causes

My good and true friend, Ray Barillaro (who is our resident audio-visual guru at the Douglas) took time out of his busy schedule to send me the table above. It’s from the 1893 annual report of the Douglas (in those days called the Verdun Protestant Hospital for the Insane). It shows the best guesses of the M.D.s of that time as to the “exciting causes” directing folk into our kind and enlightened care. Click on the thumbnail above and then have a gander yourself, I find it quite informative and revealing, but it would be best for you to form your own opinion on the matter before I opine...

Read more →
2 comments
2

Blog? What the hell is a blog?

I was first introduced to the term “blog” about two years ago. A colleague of mine was taking a course on new technologies in the field of education, and I asked him what had impressed him the most up to that point in time. We told me he was impressed with the power of the “blog”.

“Blog?”, I replied, “What the hell is a blog?”

“It’s short for web-log”, he replied, “think of it as an electronic, personal diary. Or a medium through which you can provide your own commentary.”

Confession number 1: I was disappointed with the answer. I had hoped that this would be a medium through which...

Read more →
1 comment
0