CBT: Introductory Course

Our most popular CBT Introductory Course was run by Paul Grantham last week for the first time.

Delegate`s feedback was extremely positive and we want to share with you some of the comments - please see the comments to this post.

Please note that this course is run in very small groups (no more than 18 delegates) - therefore the places are strictly limited. We only have ONE place still available for the June course in London.

In the Autumn CBT Introductory Course will take place in Manchester, Birmingham & London (facilitated by Paul Grantham) - please secure your place early to avoid disappontment.

Diabetes and Psychology

Diabetes and psychology are not often thought of as being complimentary but with the use of psychology the life of a diabetic can be drastically improved. To understand the role that psychology has to play it is first important to understand exactly what diabetes is and how it can affect the life of a diabetic.

85% of diabetics have type 2 diabetes which is the body's resistance to insulin. Insulin is naturally produced in the body and helps to breakdown the glucose in the blood. The causes of type 2 diabetes are linked to obesity, inactivity and an unhealthy diet. In order to cope with diabetes the diabetic needs to avoid long periods of high blood glucose levels called hyperglycemia and also periods of hypoglycemia which is low blood glucose levels. To balance these 2 extremes a diabetic needs to monitor and regulate their blood sugar levels on a regular basis. If the diabetic doesn't keep their glucose levels under controls they may encounter a whole host of unpleasant diseases and side effects.

The use of psychology comes in when it is necessary for a diabetic to make rapid and extreme changes to their lifestyle. Once diagnosed a diabetic must make these changes almost overnight so someone may go from a sedentary lifestyle of eating junk food and watching TV to having to eat regular healthy food and take regular exercise and well as monitor their blood sugar level. This rapid change can cause lots of problems for newly diagnosed diabetics.

The routines needed to monitor blood sugar levels and control the diabetes can be very complicated. As the majority of diabetes treatment is self care there can be serious problems if the person lacks motivation. Their condition can deteriorate and result in amputation of limbs or blindness. It is therefore imperative that the doctors use psychology to make the patient understand the importance of the illness.

Tests conducted in Canada and Germany into diabetes and psychology in recent years using fully qualified psychologists have resulted in increased levels of successful diabetes control. Whilst still relatively new the use of psychology has undoubted positive effects. With the current level of 125 million diabetes sufferers estimate to double to 300 million in the next 20 years it is important that doctors start to realise the obvious befits of psychology and incorporate psychology as part of the treatment plan for any diabetic.

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An very interesting article. Psychology and a number of physical illnesses are becoming more and more interlinked, with illnesses such as Cancer and Stroke also warranting more and more psychological intervention throughout the illness and after.

The Skills Development Service are currently rolling out a number of training days for those working with Stroke Patients and Psycho-oncology, we are soon hoping to have a training course ready for Diabetes also.

If you have any interest in any of these courses please feel free to contact SDS on 01183 360169.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Max_Peykar

On Altruism, Motor Control and Positive Psychology

A polite act shows respect.

But a new study of a common etiquette-holding a door for someone-suggests that courtesy may have a more practical, though unconscious, shared motivation: to reduce the work for those involved. The research, by Joseph P. Santamaria and David A. Rosenbaum of Pennsylvania State University, is the first to combine two fields of study ordinarily considered unrelated: altruism and motor control. It is to be published in a forthcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

"The way etiquette has been viewed by Emily Post-that you're being proper by following social codes-is undoubtedly part of it," said psychology professor Rosenbaum. "Our insight is there is another contributor: the mental representation of other people's physical effort. Substantial research in the field of motor control shows that people are good at estimating how much effort they and others expend," Rosenbaum continued. "We realized that this concept could be extended to a shared-effort model of politeness."

The researchers videotaped people approaching and passing through the door of a university building. The tapes were analyzed for the relationships among several behaviors: Did the first person hold the door for a follower or followers and for how long? How did the likelihood of holding the door depend on the distance between the first person at the door and whomever followed?

"The most important result," Rosenbaum said, "was that when someone reached the door and two people followed, the first person at the door held the door longer than if only one person followed. The internal calculation on the part of the first arriver was, 'My altruism will benefit more people, so I'll hold the door longer.'"

Another finding: the followers who noticed the door-holder hastened their steps, helping to "fulfill the implicit pact" between themselves and the opener "to keep their joint effort below the sum of their individual door-opening efforts," the authors write.

A more common explanation of why we extend a physical gesture of courtesy is what the researchers term the "critical distance" model: we do something for someone if she is simply near enough. But the researchers found that model insufficient. "We need a way of describing why there is a change of probability" both of doing the task and of expending more time at it, said Rosenbaum. Is the critical distance 10 feet? Why not 50 feet? What is "near enough?" And why wait longer if more people are following? "You still come back to the question of what the individuals are trying to achieve."

Rosenbaum sees the shared-effort model as enhancing, not detracting from, our appreciation of good manners: "Here are people who will probably never see each other again," he says, "but in this fleeting interaction, they reduce each others' effort. This small gesture is uplifting for society."

Source:
Association for Psychological Science

How to be more Effective

This is just a blog to share with you delegates’ feedback on our new course HOW TO BE MORE EFFECTIVE: THERAPY APPLICATIONS OF TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH (CETS - MODULE 2) that run for the first day in London last week: http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=67

The feedback is extremely positive with 90% of delegates assessing all elements of the course as “Very Good”, indeed some of them marked it even as “Very Good +++”.

Paul Grantham, who facilitated the course, was extremely pleased with the delegates’ participation and their involvement during the course.

I just want to quote one response that summarised the overall opinion of the delegates:

• “Today has taken me out of my comfort zone, but in a good way. I would never have thought of using this kind of research to help my clients but there is so much to choose from!”

Remember, if you are booking online you can still take advantage of Early Bird Booking Discount and save over £25 of the regular price: http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=67

This course is a module of the Certificate in Essential Therapy Skills, approved by the BPS Learning Centre for the purposes of CPD: http://skillsdevelopment.co.uk/ets.html

Looking forward to meeting at our courses soon.

A message from Paul Grantham

Hello all!

Just wanted to share with you a few things that had been on my mind over the last couple of weeks:

- I was applying some finishing touches to the presentation for my new course “HOW TO BE MORE EFFECTIVE: THERAPY APPLICATIONS OF TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH (CETS - MODULE 2)” that goes ahead this week in London (Wednesday) and then rolls around the country during March. Again and again, while working on this topic, I felt astonished by the vast number of extremely useful research studies in the fields of social psychology, anthropology, management & development, that can be directly applied to therapeutic settings, to everyday work that all of us involved in, but that in the overwhelming majority of cases remain totally unknown and unused by our profession. The interventions and changes that can produce remarkable results and change clients’ response to therapy are incredibly simple and sometimes seem surprisingly obvious, (after you read about them that is), and they often left me wondering – why – WHY? – I haven’t thought of this before and why these approaches are not used every day in everyone’s practice?

I am pleased with the way the course is now shaping up and look forward to working on it with you – it promises to be stimulating and exciting, hopefully for you as well as myself.

You still can book with the online discount here

I am very grateful for all the replies we’ve received from our delegates to our latest delegate debate. I was particularly interested in comments made by L.A. on the situation regarding psychological support for stroke patients. She writes: “…the recent CQC review highlights that only about 40% of stroke survivors receive any psychological support at all and what that consists of is anyone’s guess due to the shortage of Clinical Psychology positions within the NHS.” I cannot agree more – as you know SDS runs a unique training course for a wide range of health professionals working with stroke patients “PSYCHOLOGICAL COPING STRATEGIES POST STROKE (CERTIFICATE COURSE)” (http://www.skillsdevelopment.co.uk/seminars.php?courseid=75 ) designed specifically to address this issue. We’ve run this course as in-house training around the UK as well as the open course (completed recently) and the response to this training has been extremely positive. If you want to know more about various options of this training – check out the website of get in touch with our training co-ordinator Peter Musham (petermusham@skillsdevelopment.co.uk ).

In her comment C.C. makes very valid point about similarities between this situation with Mental Health and current policies in Education. P.H. takes the argument further presenting us all with extremely difficult questions about choice and priorities that the NHS will inevitably have to face in the not too distant future.

Thank you!

I am personally particularly grateful for the comment by L.V. who, apart from adding interesting points to our discussion, shared with me her first experiences of using the Miracle Question with her clients, following her participation in our Brief Solution Focused Therapy workshop. She says about her clients that after the use of the Miracle Question “…their attitude, animation and level of involvement in the session changed dramatically”. These sort of comments are so rewarding for me and all of us here at SDS – we feel that our work makes real difference to delegates’ practice and it is what we are here for! Please keep sharing with us your triumphs and achievements no matter how great or small.

You can read all the comments on this topic at: "No Health Without Mental Health"

And finally – we’ve completed a new training DVD in series “Training with Experts Series” – “New Approaches to Grief & Loss Work (with me!) - 3 DVD Set”

You can find it here.

My colleagues at Psychotherapydvds.com tell me that currently it is on special offer. You can save £10 off the set and receive CPD certificate for 3 hours. Have a look.

Looking forward to seeing you at our training events again soon!