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Recent research: articles from winter journals

I read a lot of research.  When I find an article of particular interest I download it to my bibliographic database - Endnote - which currently contains over 21,600 abstracts.  I also regularly tweet about emerging research, so following me on Twitter, Facebook or Google+ (click on the relevant icon at the top of this web page) will keep you up to speed with what I'm finding interesting.  Additionally you can view this highlighted research by visiting Scoop.it (click on the "it!" icon at the top of this page).  At Scoop.it, I stream publications into five overlapping topic areas: Cognitive & General Psychotherapy, Depression, Compassion & Mindfulness, Positive Psychology and Healthy Living.  Here you can scan through abstracts (and my comments), follow hyperlinks to the original research papers, and search by keyword (click on the funnel icon or in the tag cloud on the relevant Scoop.it topic pages).

Every couple of months or so, I also provide overviews of this research - sign up for the newsletter to receive this information regularly (see the link at the bottom of this page).  Clicking on the topic heading - Cognitive & General Psychotherapy - downloads a hyperlinked PDF list of 30 good recent research studies, including Gale's meta-synthesis of CBT therapist self-practice/self-reflection research, two papers on important developments in treating complex grief, another on McEvoy's fascinating augmentation of social anxiety treatment with imagery interventions, and the great Green paper on the widely differing outcomes achieved by different IAPT therapists.  Click on Depression for an overlapping list of 24 relevant studies (this covers medication too), including Gonzalez's intriguing finding that fatigue moderates the effects of personality on affect, Howard's summary of new NICE guidance on ante- and post-natal mental health, Ost's challenging updated systematic review of ACT research, and Tasca's helpful paper on what research themes are judged as most useful by frontline clinicians.  The Compassion & Mindfulness link brings 11 recent abstracts. Chu reports on a meta-analysis of studies on yoga benefits for cardiovascular risk factors, Crane has a good paper on how amount of MBCT home practice impacts subsequent risk of depressive relapse.  Galante reports on a systematic review of the health benefits of kindness-based meditation, while Schutte has conducted a meta-analysis on mindfulness meditation's effects on telomerase activity.  Clicking on Positive Psychology downloads abstracts and links to 16 good recent papers including Hallam's work on the inverse association between adolescent eudaimonic activity and anxiety-depressive symptoms, Lonnqvist's finding that any association between number of Facebook 'friends' and wellbeing becomes minimal when extraversion is controlled for, Strohminger's interesting paper "The self is moral", and Velten's research underlining the importance of healthy lifestyle choices for psychological wellbeing.  Finally, the Healthy Living link brings details of 36 articles. There's the Canadian Task Force recommendations on screening for prostate cancer, Cao's meta-analysis on the dose-response link between smoking and impotence, the scary US paper on the unreliability of eye witness memories, and Martin's somewhat counter-intuitive results on the value of desensitisation (rather than avoidance) for migraine & headache triggers. 

So much fascinating & helpful information here.  Remember you can always search these & earlier studies using keywords on James's Scoop.it pages.

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