'There are some useful sites on the web for interviewing your clinician...use them! If your clinician is unwilling to be interviewed prior to your visit, phone another. You're "shopping" for someone who's open and sincere.
For "shopping" sites, the BC Association of Clinical Counsellors and CounsellingBC have a huge variety of clinicians who might meet your needs. Call at least 3 before booking.
Good luck -- and shop until the penny drops!
Dr. Lee Pulos, PhD., ABPP and Dr. Heather Fay, MD.
The Canadian Society of Clinical Hypnosis (BC Div) (CSCH) presents a 1-day seminar on Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT).
EFT is one of the most powerful and effective therapeutic tools in the world for creating remarkable and impressive personal change and growth. It can be utilized for a broad spectrum of personal issues including eliminating phobias and fears, healing trauma, panic attacks, stress and anxiety, addictions, sleep dysfunction, belief change, etc., and is one of several approaches of Energy Psychology.
DON’T MISS THIS EXTRAORDINARY OPPORTUNITY!
The seminar will be 80 percent experiential and 20% lecturettes. This powerful one day experience is open to both healthcare professionals and the public.
Date: May 3, 2008
Time: 9:00 a.m. – 5 p.m. **Registration begins at 8:30 a.m.**
Place: Centre for Peace - Canadian Memorial United Church
1825 West 16th Avenue, Vancouver, BC
Price: $150.00 or Early Bird Rate: $135.00 (prior to April 15)
Please bring your own lunch. Coffee & Tea will be provided at breaks.
NEW and Controversial Studies on the Efficacy (or Lack Thereof…) of Antidepressant Medications
In the January 17th issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, one of the most prestigious medical journals there is, an article was published called “Selective Publication of Antidepressant Trials and Its Influence on Apparent Efficacy,” authored by Erick Turner, M.D. of the Portland, Oregon VA Medical Center, and his colleagues. It is a bombshell article that documents how the selective publishing of drug studies serves to inflate our perspectives on just how effective antidepressants really are. The researchers obtained reviews from the Food and drug Administration (FDA) for studies of 12 antidepressant agents involving 12,564 patients. Then they conducted a systematic literature search to identify matching publications. For trials that were reported in the literature, the researchers compared the published outcomes with the FDA outcomes. They also compared the effect size derived from the published reports with the effect size derived from the FDA set. The findings: “Studies viewed by the FDA as having negative or questionable findings were, with 3 exceptions, either not published (22 studies) or published in a way that, in our opinion, conveyed a positive outcome (11 studies). According to the published literature, it appeared that 94% of the trials conducted were positive. By contrast, the FDA analysis showed that 51% were positive.” In an editorial published by the researchers in the March 8th BMJ (British Medical Journal), they said, “Our main finding was that antidepressant drugs are much less effective than is apparent from journal articles.” To read the research abstract, go to: http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/358/3/252.
In another highly visible study called “Initial Severity and Antidepressant Benefits,” this one by Irving Kirsch and colleagues published online in PLoS Medicine in the February issue, the researchers reported that when previously unpublished studies on the effectiveness of antidepressants that had been excluded from consideration for questionable reasons were factored back into the efficacy data, the benefit of antidepressants has been exaggerated. Kirsch et al. show that at mild and moderate levels of depression, the antidepressants effects are at the same approximate level as placebo. As the depression increases in severity, the differences between placebo and drugs become more apparent. However, Kirsch et al. do NOT attribute the higher level of drug efficacy in the most severe cases to the drugs. They conclude, “The relationship between initial severity and antidepressant efficacy is attributable to decreased responsiveness to placebo among very severely depressed patients, rather than to increased responsiveness to medication.” To read the full text of the article, go to: www.plosmedicine.org and click on “Most Viewed.”
Clearly there is a legitimate basis for concern about the antidepressants’ effectiveness. With many billions of dollars at stake for each of the most popular antidepressants, there is conflict brewing between researchers, clinicians and the drug companies. On May 3rd in Los Angeles, I will be having a dialogue with a psychiatrist about the merits and liabilities of antidepressants as a featured presentation of the annual meeting of the California Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (CAMFT). If you can’t be there, the recordings will be available after the conference through CAMFT. You can visit their website at www.camft.org.
Fortunately, drug treatment isn’t the only option, much less the best option.
Michael Yapko www.yapko.com
THE CRISIS WITH COLLEGE FRESHMEN | -- an article by best-selling author and educator, Michele Borba,
THE CRISIS WITH COLLEGE FRESHMEN | December 20, 2007
Your teen spent months studying for those SATs, filling out college applications and agonizing. Then acceptance! You move him into the dorm, hug goodbye and drive away assuming that the stress is finally over and his new life has begun. Right?
Not according to the latest U.S. statistics from university counseling centers. Stress and pressure in our teens are back and up at epidemic levels.
REALITY CHECK: The freshman year dropout rate has reached an all time high at more than 26 percent (that’s one of every four students) and four of ten students report feeling depressed to the point it was difficult to function. Depression, stress, and drop-outs peak during the SECOND half of the FIRST year. Read College of the Overwhelmed: The Campus MEntal Health Crisis and What to Do About It by Richard Kadison (Jossey Bass). It is stirring!
College counselors realize these troubling stats and are making changes on campuses to try to better meet kids’ emotional needs. Meanwhile, thousands of college students are home for the holidays, back to family and friends. And it’s over this holiday break when parents play a critical role in making sure that second semester goes smoother and safer.
Here are things to do during to check up on your college child’s emotional needs before he returns to that worrisome second semester. I shared these on the Today show (Wed. Dec. 19). That video clip is available through NBC Today show.
• Look for stress and depression. Yes, you will see a change in your kid. He probably will be a bit moody, lazy, sleepy or defiant. But when do you worry? Give things a couple of days to settle and then tune into your teen’s daily behavior. Anything about it that doesn’t ring true? Are there any hot button concerns? Identify the behavior that concerns you (i.e. “moody”). Now apply the word “too.” Is he too moody for your instinct and for “too” long. Red Flag: Whenever your child is demonstrating too much of a behavior that is not normal him and it lasts longer than two weeks, get help. Whenever in doubt, use your instinct.
• Listen for descriptions of school experience. Ask: “Would you recommend the school to other kids?” “If you had it all over again would you apply to the same place?” If he doesn’t open up to you, ask a friend to ask. Does she seem happy? Is he adjusting? Does he have new friends? Is she involved in any activities (going to the gym, pledging a frat). Or does he want to be home? Watch him over these next two weeks. Does he make any attempt to contact (text, cell, email) a “friend” from college? If not, why? How does he describe his school. Does he use the word “MY” (my school) or “OUR” (”Our team collaborated State). Is he developing any sense of school pride or an ownership? Red Flags: When you called he was never available (too much partying—not enough studying) or he was always in his room so he never formed connections. “No connections” is a big sign of adjustment problems and can lead to dropping out.
• Listen to what your kid doesn’t say about grades. Hearing what your kid doesn’t say can be revealing. So listen to his silence. Does he bring up his grades, a professor, or how hard (or easy) the final was? Is he evasive when you ask how he’s doing? Don’t ask: “What grade did you get?” Reframe it: “Was it as hard as you thought it would be?” Red Flag: A distress indicator can be when a teen doesn’t say anything about schoolwork or is evasive.
• Brainstorm possible solutions. If your teen is overwhelmed or feels he might fail, then be clear that you’ll help find solutions Just one change can be enough to turn things around: Change majors? Change dorms? Pledge a fraternity? Change roommates? Find a tutor? Get a counselor? Change schools? Take a semester off? Red Flag: Overwhelmed kids don’t see options and come up with poor solutions.
• Check on sleep patterns. Any college kid will sleep in once home, but those who are depressed and overwhelmed usually get their first really restful sleep in their own beds. Ask: “So glad you’re getting a rest. Were you able to sleep at school?” Red Flag: Sleep troubles are often the first signs of adjustment problems and depression.
• Share your concerns. If you suspect your teen is depressed share your concerns: “I’m worried about you and think you might be depressed.” Print off the depression signs posted on his college website or at www.acha.org and show him. Make an appointment with a mental health professional. Do NOT wait. Red Flag: A depressed teen often realizes something isn’t right, but doesn’t know what’s wrong. Often the first to identify depression is a roommate or resident assistant.
• Stay connected. A teen’s biggest fear (and stressor) is not failing school but failing his parents. So focus now on your teen’s emotional needs not grades. Convey you love him no matter what. Just knowing that you are concerned takes tremendous weight off of a teen. Red Flag: Many kids are struggling and don’t tell us only to go back second semester and drop out because they don’t want to let us down.
Take this time to not only celebrate the holidays and your child’s homecoming but also to assess his adjustment and mental health. One in ten college students will consider suicide. The highest rate of drop-outs is second semester. Take it seriously!
Michele Borba
www.micheleborba.com
