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Recent research: articles from spring journals

I read a lot of research.  When I find an article of particular interest I download it to my bibliographic database - Endnote - which currently contains well over 23,000 abstracts.  I also regularly tweet about emerging research, so following me on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ (click on the relevant icon at the top of this web page) will keep you up to speed with some of what I'm finding interesting. Additionally you can view this highlighted research by visiting Scoop.it (click on the "it!" icon at the top of the page).  At Scoop.it, I stream publications into five overlapping topic areas: Cognitive & General Psychotherapy, Depression, Compassion & Mindfulness, Healthy Living & Healthy Aging, and Positive Psychology.

Sleep apnea: how is it recognised & what can be done about it?

I have already written a couple of posts on sleep apnea -"Sleep apnea - what is it, how common is it and how does it affect mortality & physical health?" and "Sleep apnea - how does it affect psychological health?".  In this third & last post of the sequence, I'll explore how we can recognise sleep apnea and what we can do about it.

Sleep apnea - how does it affect psychological health?

I have already written a first post "Sleep apnea - what is it, how common is it and how does it affect mortality & physical health?" which highlights that sleep apnea is a common, regularly unrecognised disorder, occurring in approaching 1 in 5 adults and that, particularly as it becomes more severe - probably approximately 1 in 10 sufferers (Li et al, 2015) - sleep apnea is linked with a wide range of serious diseases and with significantly increased death rates.  In this second post, I'll look at the relevance of sleep apnea for psychiatric disorders.

Sleep apnea - what is it, how common is it and how does it affect mortality & physical health?

Sleep apnea is a common, but frequently unrecognised, contributor to psychological difficulties and to health problems more generally.  I would like to look at a series of questions about this disorder - what is it, how common is it, why is it important, how do you recognise it, and what can be done about it?

Non-drug treatments for bipolar disorder (2nd post) - sleep, light & exercise

I have just given a talk on "Recent research on non-drug treatments for bipolar disorder" to the Lothian branch of "Bipolar Scotland".  There is a description of the first part of the talk at "Non-drug treatments for bipolar disorder (1st post) - the value of psychotherapy" and you can download the full sequence of slides here.  Points touched on in the second part of the talk are illustrated below:

Non-drug treatments for bipolar disorder (1st post) - the value of psychotherapy

I am due to give a talk for the Lothian branch of "Bipolar Scotland" on "Recent research on non-drug treatments for bipolar disorder".  Here is the downloadable Powerpoint presentation (with pictures removed to reduce the size of the file) and here is a slide illustrating the main points that I touch on:

Truly excellent therapists have "grace under interpersonal pressure" - Fascinating new research

Hemingway wrote "Courage is grace under pressure".  New research underlines that "grace under interpersonal pressure" is a key ability of truly excellent therapists.  Study after study has shown that psychotherapists vary considerably in how helpful they are for their clients.  The slide below shows a typical set of findings:

                                       (downloadable as a Powerpoint slide and as a PDF file)

Personal ‘retreat’: eighth reflection – making life intentions & the last day here

I wrote yesterday of my three wishes for this ten day “retreat” in Hampshire … a “being/doing” shift, an exploration of awareness (& it seems also our sense of self), and a chance to get perspective on my life.  For the first week I focused especially on the first two of these hopes.  In this final three days of my stay, I’ve swung much more to looking at my life overall.  When I’m “sitting on the bank of the river” after spending such a quiet beautiful week here, it’s a lot easier to get perspective than when I’m caught up in the fast flow of my day to day life.

Personal ‘retreat’: seventh reflection – life tide returning

I didn’t write a reflection in the blog yesterday (although I did the day before).  I said when I came down here for this ten day retreat at the Krishnamurti Study Centre, that I was aware of three intentions … three hopes.  One was to “move the slider across” from the usual heavy emphasis on “Doing” in my life at home to a much greater emphasis on “Being” here in the Centre & walking in the surrounding countryside.  A second wish was to explore “Awareness” more … both by seeing how it is to spend days where I am more aware, and to read/discuss/think/experiment with awareness over the time here.  Both of these hopes have worked out well … precious days, deep, soft.