All Articles by Robert A. Yourell, MA
Mr. Yourell's experience in the mental health and social services fields dates back to 1975. His training includes Ericksonian communication and hypnosis with John Grinder, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing with Francine Shapiro, Ph.D., Body Integrative Psychotherapy with Jack Rosenberg, Ph.D., and solution-focused psychotherapy. He provides free audio experiences on his site that include bilateral sound and Shimmering.
Preventing Schizophrenia, Part 1 – Overview
Is it too soon to talk about preventing schizophrenia? Is medicine, social policy, or insurance ready to tackle it? What about individuals and families? According to The Schizophrenia Bulletin, "The stage is now set for the 'implausible' -- the primary prevention of schizophrenia." The journal recently published a volume addressing this question, and Medscape turned the lead article into a continuing education piece.
Willpower and the Unconscious on Automatic Pilot
What is the practical value of research delving into our sense of self? Willpower is one answer. In the course of putting the pieces of my consciousness back together after assaults to my brain, I came to see my conscious self as being the size of a person navigating on the high seas. There was me taking wind, currents, and sea-worthiness into account, and there was the vast ocean and atmosphere offering up enough detectable patterns that I could navigate toward a destination.
Plan a Cognitive and Memory Enhancement Program
In my last post about memory training (that spilled into cognitive training issues), the experts quoted pointed to limitations in the research as well as existing programs tested. The indication was that programs were no better than normal activities that use cognitive abilities, such as discussion and learning. Many older people play word games online to charge up their brains. I have long suspected that much of the draw to American TV shows like The Price is Right (with Bob Barker talking so slowly and directing people so carefully) and Jeopardy (with constant memory testing) was for older folks wanting to challenge their minds even though they were home during the day. Now the older demographic is flooding onto the Internet for even more variety in games and intellectual stimulation.
Willpower and Reward Myopia
Don't let the immediate rewards of a bad behavior wash away your better knowledge and values. Prevent your imagination from being hijacked by myopic temptations -- eliminate "reward myopia."For the sake of research and for developing good theories, researchers work with ideas that are boiled down. But what about real life? As we've seen from the my prior posts on the subject of willpower, we can take some very useful measures, and they aren't all the kinds of obvious things that you didn't need research to know.
Popular Posts
- The Love Drug
- Women After Sex
- Fatty Acids and Suicide Risk
- Mind Games - Science's Attempts at Thought Control
- Risks of Personalized Medicine
- Mental Health Disorders Prevalent Among Youth Worldwide
- Is Giftedness Nothing More than Good Genes?
- The Many Emerging Roles of Astrocytes
- Behind the Masks - The Mysteries of Dissociative Identity Disorder
- The NeuroSocial Network
Future Posts
- The Brain’s Buying Power
Latest Posts
- Aging Intelligently
- A Nicotine Patch a Day Keeps the Cognitive Impairment Away
- The Many Emerging Roles of Astrocytes
- Diabetes Impairs Cognition
- Media Violence Leads to Real Violence
- Intelligence – Are You Holding Back Your Brain?
- Childhood Aggression Predicts Health Care Use Later in Life
- The Brain’s Border Patrol – Blood Brain Barrier
- Risks of Personalized Medicine
- BED-head and Obesity – Food for Thought
Comments
- Sandi Sarabia: Definitely, what a splendid we
- : This article had great info on
- peter: I also see things the same way
- Scapadas Amorosas: Lets patent it, package, marke
- Emily Haines, MSc, PhD student: Thanks for your comments, Matt
- Emily Haines, MSc, PhD student: Thanks for your comments and s
- Alex: While we have our eyes glued t
- Richard Kensinger, MSW: Carla,You are absolutely c
- Soraya L. Valles: I'm interested in astrocytes.
- Raymond Tallis: Dear Kitty, I have come to you
- Steven: After smoking for 17 years dai
- Matt: I'm just interested in hearing
