You are more likely to encounter a person suffering a mental health crisis than someone having a heart attack and in need of CPR.

According to Diana Baumrind (1991) in order to be classified as an authoritarian parent, you would have

Betty is a 45 year old executive who has had alcohol on her breath during your last two contacts and answered in her history-taking she has 3 drinks per day. All of the following are Motivational Interviewing approaches that might be used during the counselling session EXCEPT:

Social connectedness is usually a better predictor of mental and physical health and well-being at follow up in 1 to 5 years than all traditional risk factors combined.

In 1967 a psychologist ran an experiment in an attempt to make some determinations regarding social connectedness. From this experiment came an expression that became the title of a play and also inspired a game. The psychologist's name and the expression was.

Clinical neuropsychologists study changes in thinking and behaviour that may arise from brain dysfunction such as head injury, epilepsy, neurological disease and stroke, drug and alcohol disorders, learning disabilities, attention deficit disorders, dementia and psychiatric disorders. They deal with the cognitive, emotional and behavioural problems related to brain dysfunction through assessment, rehabilitation, education and psychological therapy.

An almost universal effect of any brain insult is impaired processing and work speed. Significant impairment here can have serious implications for adjustment across many life domains. Neuropsychological testing is a valid means of assessing this (i.e. having real world application) under a variety of conditions e.g. of sustained, divided, focussed attention and, especially, prolonged demand. Typically this assessment is achieved by clinical and psychometric analysis of performance on psychological tests and clusters of sub-tests. Results are compared with norms for the patients' population (e.g. age, culture) and their pre-morbid abilities. Assessment of function and localisation of lesions can also be inferred by neuropsychologists applying experimental techniques of establishing single and double dissociations during testing.

As well as being valid it is also a very efficient process. Typically an assessment that delineates work speed and a host of other crucial patient assets or liabilities, such as memory, takes:

Language functions are normally superordinated by the brain's left hemisphere but shared with the right. In what type of patient have the language abilities of the right hemisphere been demonstrated?

Forensic psychologists with our service are often charged with the weighty responsibilty of presenting objective estimates of risk related to certain types of dangerous, abusive, antisocial or violent behaviour. In such cases chances are very high that an individual will "fake good".

In determing risk and detecting such dissimulation, forensic psychologists improve accuracy by:

Many of the District's psychologists work with people who have one or more persistent physical illnesses. Depression is estimated to be a common co-morbidity in 1/3 to 1/2 of several chronic medical illnesses. It can complicate the condition e.g. by compromising self-management and be an added biophysical risk factor. Evidence-based pychological therapy can improve mood states by focussing on the behaviours, emotions, ideas, environmental factors and social connections that contribute to depression. Patients can then understand which aspects of those problems they may be able to solve or improve. A common goal is to help them regain a sense of achievement and pleasure in life e.g. via the behavioural strategy of 'activity scheduling'.

Which condition is NOT commonly associated with higher than normal population prevalence (3-5% at any one time) of major depression? (Click conditions for their prevalence figures.)

Would you like to try our "Psychology Myths Quiz" from 2007?
Either answer gets you extra percentage points.