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Patient Privacy Should be Respected Abroad and Online

By Guest PostFebruary 15, 2011Culture, Healthamerican medical student, developing countries, dominican republic, ecuador, erik black, ethical gray area, Facebook, federal guidelines, haiti, health care providers, lindsay thompson, medical students, patient, patient privacy, reed van deusen, social media, spring break, terry kind, unauthorized photo, united states, web

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Taking an unauthorized photo of a patient and posting it on Facebook is a giant no-no for health-care providers, who follow strict federal guidelines protecting patient privacy.

But what if the patient is a little girl in Ecuador receiving a vaccine from an American medical student, who’s in the country on a medical outreach trip? Although taking photos of patients in developing countries and posting them on the Web may not be illegal, it’s not ethical, say researchers from the University of Florida.

It’s long been a common practice for health care providers to snap photos while volunteering their time in developing countries, generally to bring back evidence of the conditions patients face there. But reporting in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, UF College of Medicine researchers say providers should treat patients’ privacy with the same reverence no matter where the care takes place. (more…)

Does Social Anxiety Disorder Respond to Psychotherapy? Brain Study Says Yes

By Guest PostFebruary 14, 2011Culture, Healthbrain, brain electrical interactions, capital punishment, delta beta coupling, diane santesso, disorder, eegs, electroencephalograms, emotion, hamilton, louis schmidt, martin antony, medication, nervous system, neurological effects, ontario, ontario mental health foundation, physiologic change, psychotherapy, randi mccabe, real-time, rene sommer, same-sex marriage, social anxiety, vladimir miskovic

When psychotherapy is helping someone get better, what does that change look like in the brain? This was the question a team of Canadian psychological scientists set out to investigate in patients suffering from social anxiety disorder. Their findings are published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association of Psychological Science.

Social anxiety is a common disorder, marked by overwhelming fears of interacting with others and expectations of being harshly judged. Medication and psychotherapy both help people with the disorder. But research on the neurological effects of psychotherapy has lagged far behind that on medication-induced changes in the brain. (more…)

Teach-in: “Unrest in the Middle East and North Africa”

By Guest PostFebruary 10, 2011Culture, Politicsadel allouche, adria lawrence, arab students, ellen lust, middle east, north africa, tarek masoud, unrest in the middle east, yale law school

Even if you did not have the opportunity to attend the panel on “Unrest in the Middle East and North Africa,” you can slearn what four experts on the history and political affairs of the Middle East had to say about the causes of the unrest in the region in this video of the panel, […]

Spring Break: Study Suggests How to Reduce Risky Behavior

By Guest PostFebruary 9, 2011Culturealcohol use, college freshmen, college students, condom, get their backs, megan patrick, risky behavior, risky spring break behavior, sex, sexual behavior, study, unprotected sex

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— College students who arrange with friends to “get their backs” are less likely to engage in risky spring break behavior, according to a new study.

The University of Michigan study, published this month in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, says about 60 percent of more than 650 college freshmen surveyed reported having an understanding with their friends about using alcohol during spring break. (more…)

Having a Strong Community Protects Adolescents From Risky Health Behaviors

By Guest PostFebruary 6, 2011Cultureadolescents, cornell university, gary w. evans, health behavior, health problems, rachel kutcher, social capital, social cohesiveness

Children who grow up in poverty have health problems as adults. But a new study finds that poor adolescents who live in communities with more social cohesiveness and control get some measure of protection; they’re less likely to smoke and be obese as adolescents. (more…)

Weighing the Costs of Disaster: Consequences, Risks, and Resilience in Individuals, Families, and Communities

By Guest PostFebruary 5, 20111 commentCulture, Generalchris brewin, cisd, critical incident stress debriefing, disasters, economic resources, george bonanno, krzysztof kaniasty, manmade, natural, pfa, psychological effects of disasters, psychological first aid, warning

Disasters — both natural and manmade — can strike anywhere and they often hit without warning, so they can be difficult to prepare for. But what happens afterward? How do people cope following disasters? In a new report in Psychological Science in the Public Interest, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, George Bonanno, Chris R. Brewin, Krzysztof Kaniasty, and Annette M. La Greca review the psychological effects of disasters and why some individuals have a harder time recovering than do others.

Individuals exposed to disaster may experience a number of psychological problems including PTSD, grief, anxiety, and increased substance abuse, but the evidence shows that less than 30% of adults experience severe, lasting levels of these problems. The majority of people exposed to a disaster experience passing distress but return to psychological health. In other words, people tend to be psychologically resilient. (more…)

Every Profession Has Its Superstitions

By PravdaFebruary 3, 2011Cultureaboard a ship, bad luck, banknote, boots, brigade, doctors, dog, fire people, irina shlionskaya, professional superstitions, professions, rubber gloves, russian cosmonauts, sailors, sales people, sergei korolyov, sex, sunflower seeds, superstitions, surgeons, surgery, volker mitzlaff, woman

People of many professions have their own superstitions. Most likely, they did not appear from scratch.

Doctors, for example, try not to exchange their night duties. If they do, they will have a tough night, they say. They also try not to have sex the day before the night duty. There is nothing funny about it because people usually get relaxed and become less attentive after sex. (more…)

People Aren’t Born Afraid of Spiders and Snakes: Fear Is Quickly Learned During Infancy

By Guest PostFebruary 1, 2011Culturearachnophobia, arne ohman, children, electric shock, elephant, hollywood, humans, infants, monkeys, movies, poisonous, scary objects, snakes, snakes on a plane, spiders, susan mineka, toddlers, vanessa lobue

There’s a reason why Hollywood makes movies like Arachnophobia and Snakes on a Plane: Most people are afraid of spiders and snakes. A new paper published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, reviews research with infants and toddlers and finds that we aren’t born afraid of spiders and snakes, but we can learn these fears very quickly.

One theory about why we fear spiders and snakes is because so many are poisonous; natural selection may have favored people who stayed away from these dangerous critters. Indeed, several studies have found that it’s easier for both humans and monkeys to learn to fear evolutionarily threatening things than non-threatening things. (more…)

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