(not) Friday Funnies
It’s been a busy day for a Friday for me, so instead of Friday Funnies I thought I’d leave you with a photograph to remind those of us in winterland that One Day it Will Be Warm Again, and those of you in summerland – enjoy! This is harakeke, or NZ flax. The tui love … Read more
What do we do about placebo?
Body in Mind recently featured a piece on the ‘Moral Dilemma of Offering a Known Placebo’ in which Neil O’Connell talks about how the ‘placebo effect … in part rests on the effects of expectation, belief in the treatment and possibly a re-evaluation by the patient of their symptoms’. He was referring to treatments like … Read more
A shout-out to the How to Cope with Pain Blog
One of the most useful, patient-friendly blogs around, How to Cope with Pain Blog has a monthly blog round-up that is always worth reading. Head to here for this months’ carnival, and while you’re there take some time to read some of the excellent material that has been posted there. Some of it is written … Read more
Goals, outcomes, direction & values
Someone asked recently, how do you decide the difficulty level of a goal? Or words to that effect. It’s a good question – and like most good questions, there doesn’t seem to be a nice clear-cut answer. So here’s a ramble on where I’ve got to with goals. The first thing I remember about goals … Read more
Black Dog Institute does it again!
New document from Black Dog Institute – Punctuating your day with mindfulness – go on, click on it, read it and DO IT!
Assessment as intervention
When you start to put together all the elements that people want from a health interaction, it’s not surprising that simply having an assessment can be an incredibly powerful experience. So much so that an assessment can be counted as an intervention in its own right. Does that make you think about the investment you … Read more
Mindfulness and exercise?
Now I know this might seem a strange heading when we think of mindfulness practice normally, but this isn’t ‘treatment as usual’. The definition of mindfulness in this study is ‘The body scan practice involves systematically moving awareness through each part of the body and noticing the presence of sensation in a detailed and precise … Read more
Friday Funnies!
Here in New Zealand it is most definitely Friday in mid-winter. As regular readers will know, I’m not one given to recommend medications – but in deepest, darkest winter there comes a time whenI think it’s wise to consider effective treatments for our winter blues. …This one works for kids too! And I’m prescribing this … Read more
A quick (oops! long) observation on using ACT
The last few weeks and months I’ve been starting to work with people using some of the ACT approach. For those of you who are unfamiliar with ACT, it involves developing an awareness that what we think and feel is not who we are, that if we are open to experiences (even negative ones) they … Read more
Accepting what life throws at ya
I was looking to write about a new treatment, or something that is innovative, and you know, there isn’t a whole lot new out there in pain management land. If it wasn’t for Lorimer Moseley’s work on motor imagery and Lance McCracken’s work on acceptance, I think we’d be doing pretty much what I was … Read more
