Researchers from the University of Granada have analyzed in what measure being of an anxious disposition and being anxious at a given moment affects attention. This study may help develop specific therapies allowing patients with anxiety disorders to control themselves. This article is being published in the next issue of the prestigious journal Psychological Science.
A research conducted at the University of Granada has identified the different effects of being of a nervous disposition and being anxious at a given moment on what happens around us. Being of a nervous disposition and being anxious at a given moment affects our attention to what happens.
Its an RSA focus this Friday, in his comment this morning Paul Allen addresses how the time bomb of an ageing population and a diminishing workforce coupled with the economic climate provides the new government with a difficult challenge.
Time is ticking on this potentially explosive situation. Paul Allen argues that swift, decisive and well thought out action is required to ensure the needs of our elderly population are met.
In 2009, the UK population numbered 62 million: 38 million of working age, 9.2 million between 50 and 65 years, and 11.3 million over current state pension age. The forecast for 2031 is a 58 per cent increase in the number of people aged over 65, but just a 16 per cent increase in those at working age. This creates a huge imbalance between those who are earning and those likely to need care. However, the funding available for elderly care has been shrinking for some time and many local authorities have slashed budgets up to 400 per cent, with some regions reducing sheltered housing provision from £40 to just £11.75 per week. link to continue reading
Professor Philip Zimbardo conveys how our individual perspectives of time affect our work, health and well-being. Time influences who we are as a person, how we view relationships and how we act in the world.
Psychologist Irving Kirsh aims to “explode the myth” of Prozac and its ilk, arguing that there’s little evidence that they actually work for most patients.
The following article is a sample from DISCOVER’s special Brain issue, available only on newsstands through June 28.
Depression is a chemical imbalance, most people think. Researchers, drug manufacturers, and even the Food and Drug Administration assert that antidepressants work by “normalizing” levels of brain neurotransmitters—chemical messengers such as serotonin. And yet hard science supporting this idea is quite poor, says Irving Kirsch, professor of psychology at the University of Hull in the U.K. An expert on the placebo effect, Kirsch has unearthed evidence that antidepressants do not correct brain chemistry gone awry. More important, the drugs are not much more effective against depression than are sugar pills, he says. To support these controversial claims, Kirsch conducted a meta-analysis, digging up data from unpublished clinical trials. When all the evidence is weighed together, Prozac, Paxil, and other such popular pills seem to be at best weakly effective against depression—an argument Kirsch presses in his new book,The Emperor’s New Drugs. Some other research backs up his claims. A study published this winter in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that psychoactive drugs are no better than placebos for people suffering from mild to moderate depression. link to continue reading
