Psychology in Action

Tag: healthcare

  • Ideal Affect: How What You Want to Feel Can Impact Your Choices

    Ideal Affect: How What You Want to Feel Can Impact Your Choices

    For the most part, people want to feel good things, such as feeling excited, enthusiastic, calm, or relaxed. But according to affect valuation theory, the type of good feelings people strive for—or their ideal affect—impacts the kind of behavior they engage in.

  • The Convenience of Therapy on your Computer

    Finding a good therapist is important. As a graduate student in clinical psychology, I am often asked where to find one. Typically, I would recommend the psychology clinic associated with my university, or point them in the direction of therapists who use empirically supported treatments. Yet, there remains several obstacles for reaching a therapist. These include…

  • NY Times doctor ignores decades of research

    A man who can not control his blood sugar levels (he’s diabetic) comes into a medical clinic with gangrene so aggressive that people in the clinic hallway can smell his rotting flesh. This is the story Dr. Pauline W. Chen writes about in her NY Times Health article, “When Doctor’s Advice is Ignored at Home”.

  • What can we learn from the placebo effect?

    An article in The Economist this week – “Think yourself better” – examined the effectiveness of alternative medical treatments such as acupuncture, crystal healing, Reiki channelling, and herbal remedies.  Alternative medicine a booming business.  Survey results released by the US National Institutes of Health found that in 2002 62.1% of adults in the country had…

  • Using health data to improve community health

    Often in academia the direct arrow from research findings to improving the human condition is hard to see. I believe this is a major problem specifically  in the area of health and wellness. Governmental organizations, the private sector, and foundations spend billions of dollars on health research and yet the health of U.S. individuals and…

  • Possible link between poverty and health

    About a year ago I went on a field trip to the California Science Center to dissect cow eyes with a class of third graders. I am a mentor for a 3rd grade student through an organization called I Have a Dream (IHAD). I was awestruck by how smart, funny, adorable, and happy these children…

  • Healthcare savings and alcohol and drug abuse treatment: Saving lives and money

    From allaboutaddiction: A recent paper put out by an initiative called Closing the Addiction Treatment Gap (CATG) talks about some of the cost savings benefits that go along with alcohol and drug abuse treatment. The numbers refer to current treatment methods, success rates, etc., so the savings should only go up as we become more…