It has seemed likely for some time that skilful goal setting boosts wellbeing.  A couple of small recent research studies from the Department of Psychology at Royal Holloway, University of London rei

I'm a big fan of Self-Determination Theory (SDT).  SDT is a general theory of motivation and personality that has evolved over the past three decades.  SDT suggests that humans, like plants or other animals, intrinsically 'strive' for need satisfaction & flourishing.  Social context and personal choices can support or thwart this need striving with major effects for health and wellbeing.

There are a series of interesting recent research studies here highlighting the drastic reduction in physical exercise taken by young people as they move into their teenage years, the fascinating pro

There was an interesting request on JISCmail (see note below), the listserv for BABCP cognitive-behavioural therapists, asking about podcasts on mindfulness.  Several people wrote in with useful suggestions.  These included:

I don't know if this is exactly what you are looking for, but you can listen to Matthiew Richard on http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/matthieu_ricard_on_the_habits_of_happiness.html  
I find the "TED talks" quite inspiring and I would recommend the talks on "how the mind works" in particular the one by Jill Bolte Taylor: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html

I've been working on the 'Panic & depersonalization' handouts list in the Good Knowledge section of this website.  The list contains most of the handouts and questionnaires I currently use when working with people suffering from panic disorder, agoraphobia or depersonalization/ derealization disorder.  Here they are with brief descriptions: 

In yesterday's post I discussed interesting research (Marigold, Holmes, & Ross, 2007) on boosting self-esteem by helping people allow appreciation in rather than dismissing it.  In these studies,

People who are low in self-esteem are often self-defeatingly, self-protective.  They would like other people to accept and respect them for the good qualities they have.  However they fear that, if

Teratology is the study of the effects that drugs, medications, chemicals and other exposures may have on the unborn child during pregnancy.  Particulary when a mother is taking a medication that is helping her stay well, it can be a difficult decision whether or not to stop taking the medication because of a possible risk to the fetus ... or because of a possible risk that could be transmitted through breastfeeding.  This decision is made harder because we know that if a pregnant woman becomes unwell, for example with depression, this too risks damaging the fetus, so it's not necessarily the case that stopping medication is going to be in the unborn baby's best interest.