Monthly Archives: October 2013

When are you going to have children?

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This week is the UK’s National Infertility Awareness Week. It is being organized by the Infertility Network UK, and runs from October 28-November 3. I’m very glad to see that awareness is growing for a problem that is rarely talked about publicly, but touches so many lives.

We are lucky to live in a time when medical advances are being made every day. Medication, operations, and IVF have enabled countless people to conceive who would not have had the opportunity just a decade ago. However, these options are not available to everyone, and the outcomes are not always successful. Being diagnosed with infertility problems typically comes with significant emotional and financial costs.

I am particularly interested in the stress, depression and anxiety that can result from fertility issues (please see my survey). A few weeks ago I discussed this topic in an interview with an Icelandic newspaper. I feel we need to be more sensitive when talking to people about their family planning. For example, the question “when are you going to have children?” is often inappropriate. It’s usually asked by well-meaning friends or family who have a genuine curiosity. However, if you take a moment to consider the reasons why someone does not have a child, you will see the list of possibilities is pretty short. It may be a decision of a personal nature, it may be due to relationship problems, or perhaps there are medical complications. In any of these cases, it’s not a good conversation to have over Thanksgiving dinner. In general, people will bring it up when and if they want to talk about it.

I encourage everyone to check out the National Infertility Awareness Week page, become involved, and think about how you approach these issues.

If only it was so easy to overcome fear of public speaking

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Last night I went to see Captain Phillips (not a blog-worthy experience in itself, but the movie was very good). One of the advertisements was for the latest Google Nexus 7:

This ad has been viewed millions of times on YouTube, not including all the views on TV and in movie theaters. The fear of public speaking has been a research topic within psychology for at least two decades,  and major advancements have been made. In particular, it is now known that cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is the most successful way to decrease fear and anxiety. Furthermore, the elimination of safety behaviors is a crucial component in tackling this problem. In this advert, it looks as if one simply needs to prepare (and being Google, “preparation” is watching YouTube speeches with a Nexus tablet). Obviously, there is much more to it than this. In fact, over-preparation is a behavior that can actually maintain social anxiety in the long term. In other words, sometimes the things we do to cope with short term anxiety are the very reason why the anxiety persists in the long run.

I am not saying it is unhelpful to watch clips of great speakers – we can all learn a lot from the masters. Also, being adequately prepared is important. However, real life can be more of a struggle than it is presented in commercials, and true gains are the result of hard work, not a fancy new tablet.

Fjola

Fjola  Helgadottir, PhD, MClinPsych, is a clinical psychologist, a senior research clinician at the University of Oxford, and is a co-creator of AI-Therapy.com, an online CBT treatment program for overcoming social anxiety

Big Pharma vs Little Therapy

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I would like to share a very important article that was published in the New York Times a few days ago. It is called “Psychotherapy’s Image Problem”, and was written by Brandon A. Gaudiano of Brown University.

big pharma vs small therapy

Here is a brief summary of Dr Gaudiano’s main points:

  • The number of people using psychotherapy alone for mental health problems is dropping, while the number of people using medication alone is increasing
  • Recent trials show that therapy is more effective in the long run than medication for many of the most common disorders
  • Why are fewer people seeking psychotherapy? The author suggest that the profession has an “image problem”. In particular:
    1. There is no “Big Therapy” lobbying group to promote the field. On the other hand, Big Pharma has deep pockets to aggressively market their drugs
    2. Many practitioners are not using evidence-based therapies, giving the field as a whole a bad repuation
  • If we do not promote treatment guidelines that are firmly supported by evidence, psychotherapy risks being sidelined in the future

I highly recommend reading the whole article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/30/opinion/psychotherapys-image-problem.html

Fjola

Fjola  Helgadottir, PhD, MClinPsych, is a clinical psychologist, a senior research clinician at the University of Oxford, and is a co-creator of AI-Therapy.com, an online CBT treatment program for overcoming social anxiety