A Patient Information Resource on Fibromyalgia

On July 30, 2015January 10, 2016 By SergioIn articles, pain psychology

Dear Dr. <Name>,

I would like to kindly ask your attention to the information leaflet enclosed developed to give Fibromyalgia (FM) patients the latest information on how to cope with their condition. The current guidelines to managing and treating FM clearly recommend that patients (and their relatives) should learn as much as possible about it, as this is likely to help reduce any fear and anxiety it might generate (e.g., Arthritis Care, 2013; Arthritis Research, 2011). In this sense, this leaflet explains what Fibromyalgia is, what its main physical and psychological symptoms are and what treatment alternatives are currently available.

[Click to view the Fibromyalgia Leaflet]

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The Neuropsychology of Alzheimer’s Disease

On April 18, 2015December 9, 2015 By SergioIn articles, neurospsychology

A Review for A-Level Students (Wiki Transcript)

1. What is Dementia?

According to the Oxford Dictionary, Dementia is the 18th century evolution of the word dement, the Latin word the concept of “being out of one’s mind”. In neuropsychology, dementia designates an acquired and persistent syndrome characterised by an intellectual impairment that affects higher brain functions (Kolb and Whishaw, 2009), including memory, thinking, comprehension, judgement, calculation, learning capacity, orientation and language (World Health Organization, 2015). These impairments are frequently accompanied by a reduction in emotional control, social behaviour, or motivation.

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Using DBT for the treatment of Self-harm

On April 15, 2015December 7, 2015 By SergioIn articles, clinical psychology

1. Introduction

Characterising self-harm and implications for empirical research

1.1 What is Self-harm?

The NICE guidelines define self-harm as self-poisoning or self-injury, irrespective of the apparent purpose of the act. Other authors (e.g Whitlock, 2010) define self-harm as acts of deliberate, self-inflicted physical damage with no explicit intention of committing suicide and for reasons not socially accepted. Although self-cutting is probably the best well known method of self-harm, other methods include self-hitting (battery), pinching, scratching, biting or even burning (Greydanus and Shek, 2009). Moreover, the part of the body where self-harm is conducted varies significantly. Injuries inflicted on the face, eyes, jugular area, breast, or genitals are particularly important as they hint a greater level of psychological distress and, potentially, indicate a worse prognosis for treatment (Whitlock, 2010). Effectively, this suggests a point for consideration when analysing the effectiveness of psychological therapies.

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Theory of Mind development in both autistic and typically-developing children

On April 16, 2014January 10, 2016 By SergioIn articles, developmental psychology

(A Critical Discussion)

Introduction

The development of Theory of the Mind (ToM) during the first five years of life is a fundamental process in typical childhood development. The term Theory of Mind describes the ability to understand people as mental beings and having mental states that do not necessarily coincide with ours (Astington and Edward, 2010).

Although research on ToM is profuse, there are still many areas where research has been unable to find satisfactory answers and many findings where the interpretation is not consensual. Such is the case of the development of ToM is children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Children in ASD show evidence of having an impaired ToM, but a body of research is now challenging this mainstream view (e.g. Chevallier, Parish-Morris, Tonge, Miller and Schultz, 2014), either proposing alternative interpretations, questioning the methodology used in tasks designed to evaluate the existence of ToM, or expanding the theory to encompass additional features of ASD.