http://blogs.psychcentral.com/anxiety Blogging weekly with news and insights into anxiety and OCD topics. Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:41:58 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en In recent weeks, several articles have appeared previewing the work to be published in November's Psychological Science in the Public Interest. In this article, the authors allege that the majority of psychotherapists fail to use empirically validated treatments. Furthermore they suggest that millions of people are getting therapy based on ... http://blogs.psychcentral.com/anxiety/2009/11/psychotherapy-art-or-science/ To our regular blog readers: Forgive us for indulging in some stray musings today. We're hanging out in the San Francisco airport waiting for our flight back home to New Mexico, reflecting on the unique conference that just wrapped up. Actually, it was an unconference, meaning that it was designed to be interactive and ... http://blogs.psychcentral.com/anxiety/2009/11/when-dummies-get-together/ My wife, Dr. Smith, and I are big fans of mindfulness approaches to therapy and we've included discussions of mindfulness in most of our self help books within the For Dummies series (including Borderline Personality Disorder For Dummies). In brief, Mindfulness is typically described as involving focused attention on experiences ... http://blogs.psychcentral.com/anxiety/2009/11/beyond-mindfulness/   Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) involves feelings, thoughts, and behaviors.   For the vast majority of people with OCD, the feeling of anxiety is prominent. A man with OCD might have an obsessive thought that a doorknob is contaminated and the thought of touching the doorknob causes him great distress. He takes ... http://blogs.psychcentral.com/anxiety/2009/11/ocd-feeling-thinking-doing/ People sometimes ask us if they should stay with a partner who has Borderline Personality Disorder. They tell us that their loved one can flip from wonderful to horrible in a split second. They wonder whether they should keep working on the relationship or abandon ship. We tell those asking this ... http://blogs.psychcentral.com/anxiety/2009/10/should-you-stay-with-someone-who-has-borderline-personality-disorder/ Like many professionals, clinical psychologists take advantage of continuing education to keep up with new advances in the profession, develop new skills, broaden their knowledge, and keep their license to practice. Frankly, after attending hundreds of hours of continuing education, I can tell you that some conferences are decidedly better ... http://blogs.psychcentral.com/anxiety/2009/10/ptsd-and-evidence-based-practice/ We just returned from a trip to New York City. While there, we managed to do a little work and visit some family. Our family, like many families, stretches from the west coast to the east coast. We don't see each other as often as we'd like. So, when we get ... http://blogs.psychcentral.com/anxiety/2009/10/families-do-the-best-they-can-do/ People with Borderline Personality Disorder sometimes engage in acts of self harm. These acts of self harm are wide ranging; they're also dramatic and startling in many cases. These behaviors include: Blunt force trauma: This type of self harm includes banging one's head on a hard surface, punching oneself, and using ... http://blogs.psychcentral.com/anxiety/2009/09/how-and-why-do-those-with-borderline-personality-disorder-hurt-themselves/ We've had clouds and rain for the last few days in New Mexico; an unusual occurrence in the land of sunshine (more than 300 days a year). But with the rain came lower temperatures and the quick change to fall. Here in Corrales, we look forward to the harvest festival, ... http://blogs.psychcentral.com/anxiety/2009/09/are-you-getting-sad/ Last night the phone rang at 2:18 am. I was sound asleep-it was great sleeping weather last night, the cool air streamed through open windows. By the time I woke up enough to understand that the ringing was real and not part of a dream, the noise had stopped. Unlike ... http://blogs.psychcentral.com/anxiety/2009/09/more-on-getting-your-zzzzzzzzs/