Will Baum, LCSW

This Sunday, July 11th, 2-6pm, at SCCC.  From the Free CBT Clinic’s Facebook page:

Stand-outs this morning from around the web…

ScienceDaily: Combining sex and drugs reduces rock and roll

NYT:  Your Brain on Exercise

WebMD: Getting Pregnant: Easy Ways To Encourage Fertility

PsychCentral:  Therapist Competency Important for Treatment Success

ScienceDaily: Antidepressants make shrimps see the light

Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) is yet another condition being studied for its responsiveness to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).

[P]eople coping with BDD seek out in particular plastic surgeons, orthodontists and aesthetic professionals to alleviate their suffering.  “However, what they really need is psychological support and assistance…”

Another study showing that depression declines with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.  This one with longer-term treatment–35 sessions.

“On completion of therapy, patients reported significantly fewer symptoms than on commencement,” Schindler summarizes the results of a before/after comparison. Whether patients were also concomitantly taking psychotropic drugs or not evidently had no effect on the outcome.

A free CBT clinic launches this Sunday at SCCC.  The flyer:

FREE Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Consultation Clinic

The Southern California Counseling Center
5615 W. Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90019
(323) 937-1344

Come receive a one-time FREE CBT consultation and education from experienced mental health counselors!

CBT is a highly effective type of mental health treatment that helps people who suffer from:

Depression, anxiety disorders (such as panic disorder, social phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder), low self-esteem, family/marital/relationship problems, grief and loss, and many other issues.

CBT helps people develop hands-on therapeutic skills to improve the quality of their lives. It helps to elevate daily functioning by reducing stress, improving mood, assisting with communication skills, anger management skills and in raising self-esteem.

The CBT Clinic will offer one-time No-Cost Cognitive Behavioral Therapy consultations at the Southern California Counseling Center on the first Sunday of every month starting on:

Sunday, June 6th, 2010 from 2pm to 7pm.

The service is offered on a “first-come-first-serve” basis. No prior appointment is required. Simply come to the Southern California Counseling Center at the above address and sign up for a free consultation session. We hope to see you there.

From NPR: Mental Health Apps: Like A ‘Therapist In Your Pocket’.

[On one app,] [t]hroughout the day at random times, a “mood map” pops up on a user’s cell phone screen. “People drag a little red dot around that screen with their finger to indicate their current mood”…Users also can chart their energy levels, sleep patterns, activities, foods eaten and more, she says.

The client knows best–studies catching up: Flexible Treatment Intervention Associated With Greater Improvement In Anxiety Symptoms (Medical News Today).

A study suggests more C, less B is helpful in early weeks of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy treatment for depression.  Also:

Patients improved more when they collaborated with their therapists about a plan for treatment and followed that plan.  Not surprisingly, patients also showed greater improvement when they were more engaged in the therapy process and were open to suggestions from their therapist.

I post links to potentially helpful worksheets at Therapy Worksheets. Here’s a find from there that warranted double-posting:  A set of free workbooks from the Centre for Clinical Intervention, a CBT-based program in Western Australia.  Available there as of today:

• Back from the Bluez – Coping with Depression
• Keeping Your Balance – Coping with Bipolar Disorder
• Shy No Longer – Coping with Social Anxiety
• Panic Stations – Coping with Panic Attacks
• What? Me Worry!?! – Mastering Anxiety
• Improving Self-Esteem
• Put Off Procrastinating!
• Assert Yourself!
• Perfectionism in Perspective
• Overcoming Disordered Eating

Worth a look.

A doctoral thesis out of Stockholm gives a boost to the growing practice of online therapy.