grumblebee's post about cell size and scale the other day was quite fascinating. Pulling back to the home for that site, the Genetic Science Learning Center at the University of Utah delivers educational materials on genetics, bio-science and health topics ranging from stem cells to gene therapy, and from epigenetics to heredity. Explore the neurobiology of normal and addicted brains and the genetic contribution to this chronic disease.
posted by netbros on Oct 31, 2009 - 4 comments

"Research has shown that numerous psychological interventions are efficacious, effective, and cost-effective. However, these interventions are used infrequently with patients who would benefit from them, in part because clinical psychologists have not made a convincing case for the use of these interventions ... and because clinical psychologists do not themselves use these interventions even when given the opportunity to do so." In Psychological Science in the Public Interest, psychologists Timothy Baker, Richard McFall, and Varda Shoham argue that clinical psychology needs to embrace its status as a science in order to save itself as a profession. If that's too long, Walter Mischel -- yes, the marshmallow guy -- writes an accompanying editorial. : "The disconnect between much of clinical practice and the advances in psychological science is an unconscionable embarrassment..."
posted by escabeche on Oct 26, 2009 - 16 comments

We have known almost since we first got him that Rojo was "different" from many other llamas we have been around. Rojo is a therapy llama. [more inside]
posted by Lutoslawski on Oct 20, 2009 - 55 comments

A free website that helps you learn to diagnose and work through negative though patterns. Having seen so many posts on AskMeFi about depression, anxiety and related topics, it seemed almost a duty to share this. It's a free website (well, you have to register but it's anonymous and no cash changes hands) that's run by the health service here in the UK. [more inside]
posted by KMH on Oct 20, 2009 - 27 comments

“The psychoanalytic mystique was overwhelming. It was a little bit like the evangelical movement.” How Aaron Beck and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helped increase empiricism in psychotherapy.
posted by Non Prosequitur on Oct 9, 2009 - 53 comments

Rev. Ed Young challenged husbands and wives among his flock of 20,000 to strengthen their unions through Seven Days of Sex (perhaps FF to 2:15 on either video). Their site has a comment section.

He was recently on The Colbert Report (Canadian version). [more inside]
posted by gman on Feb 1, 2009 - 42 comments

Psychotherapy in the Age of Obscene Wealth
posted by Weebot on Jul 9, 2008 - 67 comments

Suppose you have a problem with your thinking, your mood, or your relationships. Come in, sit down, and let the internet help. Meet MoodGym and its newer sister site, e-couch. [more inside]
posted by sondrialiac on Jun 15, 2008 - 8 comments

Blogging could be positively deadly (previously); or (previously) at least stressful, if not lethal. Then again, it might actually be good for you!
posted by Kronos_to_Earth on May 29, 2008 - 6 comments

Bacteriophages ("phages" for short) were the only effective treatment against infectious diseases until antibiotics came along during WWII.

Phages are the most ubiquitous organism on Earth. They are naturally occurring viruses that infect bacteria and bacteria only. We live in a sea of phages. Our bodies are more phage than human. There approximately 10 to the 32 power of them around us. That's 10 with 32 zeros behind it.

Antibiotics cannot keep up with evolving infections, while phages naturally co-evolve with the bacteria.

Currently we are in a growing antibiotic crisis and phage therapy is getting a serious look again. Here's a fascinating discussion from National Public Radio.
posted by wsg on Apr 4, 2008 - 37 comments

In 1975 a young divorced mother named "Gloria" volunteers, in an attempt to find some answers to the problems in her life, to be videotaped being a client to three rather new psychotherapies: Person-Centered Therapy, Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, and Gestalt Therapy. Not only is she filmed participating in each therapy, she receiving the therapies from the respective founders of each therapy, Carl Rogers (Part 1, sadly it's cut short), Fritz Perls (Part 2), and Albert Ellis (Part 3). They all take the time before each therapy to explain their methods and there beliefs and how the therapy will go.
posted by Del Far on Mar 11, 2008 - 17 comments

Mr. Show skits that became reality . (Warning: mature language)
posted by boost ventilator on Feb 6, 2008 - 43 comments

Cary Grant on LSD. Excerpted from his autobiography.
posted by Bookhouse on Jan 9, 2008 - 188 comments

Cow piss heals (a guide)
posted by bigmusic on Jun 5, 2007 - 29 comments

Doctors in London have made the world's first attempt to treat a retinal degeneration disorder using gene therapy. "The researchers aim to restore the activity in these cells and therefore restore vision by implanting healthy copies of the key gene into the RPE at the back of the eye. In other optical news, wired.com is leading with a piece about "Luke 's Binoculars" (yes, as in Skywalker) - a gadget that is meant to provide soldiers with a 120-degree field of view and allow him/her to be able to spot moving vehicles as far as 10 kilometers away by integrating EEG electrodes that monitor the wearer's neural signals. CTTWS, I presume?
posted by chuckdarwin on May 1, 2007 - 6 comments

Nude Marathon! Psychotherapy traveled down a lot of strange paths in the 60s and early 70s, but perhaps none stranger than the naked group therapy sessions, some up to 48 hours long, supervised by Paul Bindrim. Bindrim's sessions were the subject of a documentary film and an unflattering, thinly fictionalized novel by Gwen Davis Mitchell. Bindrim sued Mitchell for libel. Can descriptions of a fictional character be libelous of a real person? Yes.
posted by escabeche on Mar 23, 2007 - 13 comments

A snoezelen room is a multi-sensory environment that provides comfort for people with severe mental disabilities. They tend to incorporate a combination of visual, aural, and tactile stimulii, but can take many different forms. The rooms generally offer soothing, non-directive therapy, but the effects are hard to quantify. While mostly used with children, some think the snoezelen can help those with alzheimer's or dementia.
posted by jtajta on Mar 20, 2007 - 16 comments

PARO: Seal Type Mental Commit Robot for Psychological Enrichment.
posted by gottabefunky on Dec 28, 2006 - 18 comments

Whipping cures depression. ”The whipping therapy becomes much more efficient when a patients receives the punishment from a person of the opposite sex. The effect is astounding: the patient starts seeing only bright colors in the surrounding world, the heartache disappears, although it will take a certain time for the buttocks to heal, of course,” Sergei Speransky told the Izvestia newspaper.
posted by cgs on Oct 25, 2006 - 70 comments

It is imported from Russia in three different flavors. What can't it do?. Why not attend a conference and sing the song. Previously. Skeptical?
posted by unSane on Sep 6, 2006 - 16 comments

Here are some alternative therapies you may not have considered. Animal assisted therapy promotes the healing benefits of the animal-human bond. Biblical Therapy provides treatment based on biblical "truths" to strengthen your relationship with Jesus. Color therapy has nothing to do with Spike Lee, and everything to do with your favorite shirt. With Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) you can replace years of therapy with one 90 minute session where you learn to roll your eyes the right way. Feng Shui suggests maybe it's not you, it's your crummy crib. Or perhaps you simply don't get enough Orgone. Doesn't it make you want to scream?
posted by ubiquity on Sep 5, 2006 - 21 comments

New hope for blind hamsters. According to the Guardian, scientists at MIT have repaired brain damage and restored eyesight to rodents using nanotechnology. In the study, minute particles were injected into damaged parts of the brain, and subsequently arranged themselves into a "scaffold" gel throughout the damaged area. The scaffold allowed severed nerves to regrow and form new connections. 75% of test animals' injuries were improved with the new technique. (The article did not note if the test subjects offered any resistance to the therapeutic measures.)
posted by rob511 on Mar 14, 2006 - 18 comments

Shut down the computer, turn off the cell, kick back a minute and see the world in a whole new way.
posted by dfowler on Apr 25, 2005 - 8 comments

With My Special Partner, I can drink my way back to the 7th Millenium BCE for ancient music, and the fish’ll tell me how to get home.
posted by dfowler on Apr 13, 2005 - 13 comments

Human beings have a gift for fantasy which shows itself at a very early age and then continues to make all sorts of contributions to our intellectual and emotional life throughout the life span.
posted by dfowler on Mar 28, 2005 - 8 comments

Cinema Therapy : I recently discovered that there is actually a field of study for something that I have long felt existed - a way to access blocked emotions and memories simply through movies. More info: Books, Newsletters, and an Index of films recommended by issues. If movies can indeed "change the way we think and feel" for good, does this not lend credence to those who claim that movies contribute to negative behaviors ("inciting violence", "contaminating society's values") and even crimes? Or does the recognition of the good that films can do actually assist in the battle against those who blame films for negative influences? After all, "Courts do not award extra dollars to entertainers for the unforeseen positive byproducts of their work. Why penalize them for the less fortunate consequences of what they do?" Have you ever felt a theraputic effect from seeing a film?
posted by spock on Mar 11, 2005 - 14 comments

Superman born in Germany? It appears that "the boy's mutant DNA segment was found to block production of a protein called myostatin that limits muscle growth."

"Now we can say that myostatin acts the same way in humans as in animals," said the boy's physician, Dr. Markus Schuelke, a professor in the child neurology department at Charite/University Medical Center Berlin. "We can apply that knowledge to humans, including trial therapies for muscular dystrophy."

Or other things...
posted by andreaazure on Jun 24, 2004 - 17 comments

Anger management therapy in prison. Does it work? Is it ethical? Prisoners who state "If I had had a better education, I would have a good job, and wouldn't need to commit crime" have "distorted thinking"; and one prisoner claims therapy helped him premeditate an attack on an informer. Should prison therapy be effectively compulsory? Meanwhile, the positive psychology movement aims to find out what makes people happy.
posted by TheophileEscargot on Nov 19, 2003 - 18 comments

Oh... the evils of psychotherapy. And they are many - by turning to therapists, we don't get the strong emotional bonds that are the benefit of sharing your trouble with friends. (More Inside)
posted by gregb1007 on Nov 18, 2003 - 35 comments

Ten years of therapy in one night Could a single trip on a piece of African rootbark help a junkie kick the habit? That was the claim in the 1960s, and now iboga is back in the spotlight. But is it a miracle cure? Daniel Pinchbeck decided to give it a go. And life, he says, will never be the same again... Any of you junkies at Metafilter care to give it a try?
posted by Postroad on Nov 7, 2003 - 34 comments

Prom for the young at heart. A Milwaukee woman raises awareness about Alzheimers using a high school theme and some creativity.
posted by Macboy on Apr 21, 2003 - 4 comments

The catch-22 of prison therapy. The biggest criticism of sex offender justice is that imprisonment does not mean rehabilitation. In Massachusetts because of stringent anti-sex offender laws, lawyers are advising their clients to turn down prison therapy because it will be used against them. Even used against them after they're done with their sentence. These are serious violations of double jeopardy and doctor patient privilege.
posted by skallas on Jul 28, 2002 - 9 comments

Overcome Depression: The New Computer -Cognitive Treatment Overcoming Depression is the world's first self-educative computer program for understanding, dealing with, and preventing depression using a unique dialogue mode that allows you to express yourself freely in your own words and that responds in meaningful every language characteristic of a therapeutic context. So much for the personal therapeutic process. My question is - can this program prescribe meds??!??
posted by gloege on May 20, 2002 - 18 comments

On Soul, Character and Calling: An Interview with James Hillman Therapy, or analysis, is not only something that analysts do to patients; it is a process that goes on intermittently in our individual soul-searching, our attempts at understanding our complexities, the critical attacks, prescriptions, and encouragements we give ourselves. We are all in therapy all the time insofar as we are involved in soul-making.
And here is a link to all things James Hillman. Having just picked up a copy of The Soul's Code, I thought I'd post something about Hillman here. Here's yet another interview. See what you think.
posted by y2karl on May 17, 2002 - 6 comments

Depression leads to brain changes lead to depression leads to... Augh! Is anyone else aggravated by an article that starts right out by sounding confused?

"Antidepressant therapy may reverse the structural changes that take place in the brain as a result of depression... Researchers are unclear about the exact brain changes that lead to depression..."
posted by Tubes on Oct 1, 2001 - 30 comments

Scientists discover secrets behind aging process raising the possibility that hormonal therapy could add decades to the human life span. While I'm generally environmentally aware and concerned about overpopulation, all I can think is - sign me up!
posted by quirked on Apr 6, 2001 - 19 comments