Conference on Alternative Strategies for Alcoholism Treatment

Alcoholism treatment strategies and ethical challenges, with video archives in three parts. Part one features David Musto on temperance history, and starting at 00:40:15 Charles O’Brien details modern pharmacological treatments. Part two has Kathleen Carroll in an animated talk about trials of behavioural therapies and combined approaches, then at 00:57:35 Arthur Caplan speaks about ethical issues around why drug treatment for alcoholism feels threatening to some and their sense of autonomy. Part three is a fascinating panel discussion on legal and ethical issues in specific case reports (includes problems with the grossly inadequate Canadian mental health system and war-on-drugs US Customs bullies: Canadians who seek treatment in the US will get banned for life). Accompanying pdfs here. Unfortunately the slides are mostly not visible, but it’s still a cool event worth watching.

Web Therapy – Gossip Girl, part 1-3

Comedy about dubious web psychotherapist Fiona Wallice, who offers three minute sessions online using her theory that 50 minutes is too long and all the real work happens in three minutes. Features Lisa Kudrow of Friends fame, and other well-known actors playing her clients. Season two has just been uploaded to YouTube, beginning with “Gossip Girl” (in three parts) about a woman who comes to therapy for help because she thinks she’s too pretty, but ultimately reveals a shocking secret about Wallice’s husband. I recommend all the webisodes: they’re brief, slick, and very funny.

Obsessed

Television channel A&E’s new series on obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is engrossing. I watched three episodes and was impressed by how close they got to people who normally hide their symptoms; both the sensitivity of the producers and bravery of the subjects. But while it does shine as the best of TV in some ways, it also carries its worst tendencies. Disorders that have tormented people for decades are reduced to sobbing/smiling dramas with happy endings in under an hour. But that’s TV. I like TV, so I don’t have a big problem with it, so long as people learn that there’s more to OCD treatment – it’s not traditional CBT, it’s behavioural therapy involving exposure and response prevention along with CBT (sometimes habit reversal training and/or medication too) that needs a specialized psychotherapist. The profiles of people with a variety of severely disabling symptoms elicit strong reactions, and as Claudia Holwill from A&E commented, “We hope it helps gives sufferers the encouragement to seek support, and others a better understanding about the issue.” It definitely succeeds at that. The accompanying web site (with streaming episodes available to view in the U.S. and Canada) offers bonus video from patient diaries, links to OCD and anxiety disorder groups, treatment info, and a user forum where you can read the usual arguments over medication (oddly not mentioned in the episodes I saw). Judging by my unscientific Torrent Seeders Ratings System (TSRS) this show may not linger online for long, but it’s worth watching while you can. Have cable for your HDTV set and live in America? Obsessed is scheduled to air Mondays and Tuesdays in June, 09.

The Coming Home Project assesses and treats veterans and their families after service, using couples therapy.

[Image: The Suicide by Edouard Manet.]

title Suicidal Individuals: Evaluation, Therapies, and Ethics – Part 2
description Human subjects and ethics in research, and the problem of high risk suicidal people being excluded from studies (eg. drug trials). From the great Allen L. Edwards Psychology Lecture series, vodcast on the Research Channel.
producer University of Washington
featuring Marsha Linehan
format wmv, mpeg4, Quicktime
date 28/02/07
length 00:57:37
link http://www.researchchannel.org/prog/displayevent.aspx?rID=16248&fID=4139

Tags: brain video vodcast lecture psychology psychiatry psychotherapy suicide research