Therapist Unlimited Blog

The Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness (ASSC) is an academic society that promotes rigorous research directed toward understanding the nature, function, and underlying mechanisms of consciousness.
The ASSC includes members working in the fields of cognitive science, medicine, neuroscience, philosophy, and other relevant disciplines in the sciences and humanities.

Membership
 

There are three categories of membership. Please note the minimal requirements for membership in each of the categories when submitting your application.

    * Student Member - The applicant is a student currently enrolled in a degree in an accredited program. The applicant’s research interests and major project matches with the general research areas promoted by the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness. In addition to the member benefits below, student members are eligible for various ASSC programs and scholarships, including student activities at annual meetings and such.
    * Regular Member - without voting privileges - The applicant has a degree from an accredited University and an interest in the promotion or pursuit of the scientific study of consciousness as defined by the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness.
    * Full-Voting Member - The applicant has a graduate degree in a relevant discipline and at least two articles published in internationally recognised peer reviewed journals or the equivalent in scholarly output particular to the applicant’s discipline. These articles should relate to the scientific, clinical, or philosophical study of consciousness. In addition, members meeting these criteria will be entitled to vote on official ASSC matters such as Board elections and other issues presented to the membership as they arise.

Get to know more the organization by visiting their official website at http://www.theassc.org/.

The American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry (AAPDP) is a forum for physician psychoanalysts and psychodynamic psychiatrists to exchange ideas, find a voice within the American Psychoanalytic Association (APA) to advocate psycho dynamic understanding in the evaluation and treatment of patients, and take a leadership role in promoting the importance of psycho dynamic training in residency and medical education. Founded in 1956, the AAPDP is an affiliate organization of the APA.
The organisation publishes a Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry.

Mission
 

The American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry is an organization of psychiatrists interested in the application of psycho dynamic psychotherapy in clinical practice and in understanding emotional aspects of culture and art.
The aims of The American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry are:
•To provide a forum for the expression of ideas, concepts, and research in psycho dynamic psychiatry and psychoanalysis.
To constitute a forum for expression of and inquiry into the phenomena of individual motivation and social behavior.
•To encourage and support research in psycho dynamic psychiatry and psychoanalysis.
•To advance the development of psycho dynamic psychiatry and psychoanalysis in all other aspects.
•To develop communication among psychiatrists, psychoanalysts, and their colleagues in other disciplines in science and in the humanities.
 

Learn more about the organization by visiting their website http://aapdp.org/.

Based in Washington, DC, the American Psychological Association (APA) is a scientific and professional organization that represents psychology in the United States. With 150,000 members, APA is the largest association of psychologists worldwide.
The mission of the APA is to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people?s lives.

APA Vision Statement
 

The American Psychological Association aspires to excel as a valuable, effective and influential organization advancing psychology as a science, serving as:A uniting force for the discipline;The major catalyst for the stimulation, growth and dissemination of psychological science and practice;The primary resource for all psychologists;The premier innovator in the education, development, and training of psychological scientists, practitioners and educators.
The leading advocate for psychological knowledge and practice informing policy makers and the public to improve public policy and daily living.
A principal leader and global partner promoting psychological knowledge and methods to facilitate the resolution of personal, societal and global challenges in diverse, multicultural and international contexts.
An effective champion of the application of psychology to promote human rights, health, well being and dignity.
Psychologists and students need support in a variety of ways. So APA offers a wide range of services that benefit both individuals and the field of psychology.

APA provides direct services to its members through insurance programs, financial services, education loans and student loan consolidation, discounts on computers and electronics, electronic payment processing, career services and many additional discounts on a wide range of products and consumer goods and services.
And APA protects you and your field through advocacy programs, information resources, and many other ways it supports psychology.
APA also strives to bring psychologists of similar interests together through its divisions, state and provincial associations, regional associations, and Annual Convention.
APA offers membership categories to include the wide range of people who dedicate themselves to psychology.
Whether you’re a doctoral degree holder, a psychology student, or a psychology teacher, you’ll find a membership category that’s right for you.
Doctoral degree holders can qualify for the APA Member category. Or if you live outside the U.S. or Canada, you can become an International Affiliate.
If you’re a student, APA has many options for you. Graduate and undergraduate students in psychology can become Student Affiliates. And if you’re in high school, there is an affiliate program just for you.
Those with 2-years of graduate school training can also become a part of APA as an Associate.
And recognizing the importance of early training to the profession, APA has an affiliate program for both High School and Community College teachers of psychology.

Those who wish to know more about the American Psychological Organization you can visit their website at http://www.apa.org/.

Who says it is better to find medical cure in the past than today?
A recent analysis has found that adolescents and young adults who were recently diagnosed with blood-related cancers have
better long-term survival rates than those who were diagnosed in the 1980s.
Based on the study it was uncovered that significant advances have been made in the treatment of 15 to 24 year-olds with leukemias and lymphomas; however, survival rates in this age group are
still lower than those seen in younger children.
It is said that few studies have looked at trends in the long-term survival of adolescents and young adults with blood-related cancers, which include Hodgkin’s lymphoma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, acute myeloblastic leukemia, and chronic myelocytic leukemia.
To get the data, Dianne Pulte, MD, of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and her colleagues analyzed data from the Surveillance,
Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database, which is a population-based cancer registry in the United States.
The team then compare survival rates of young patients diagnosed in recent years with those diagnosed two decades ago.

Those who are suffering from leukemia and lymphoma find better cure today than in the past.

Based on the information they gathered from SEER data from 1981-1985 with data from 2001-2005, they found that survival significantly improved in each of the five blood-related malignancies.
The researchers revealed the 10-year survival rates increased from 80.4 percent to 93.4 percent among adolescents and young adults with Hodgkin’s lymphoma; from 55.6 percent to 76.2 percent for non-Hodgkin’s
lymphoma; from 30.5 percent to 52.1 percent for acute lymphoblastic leukemia; from 15.2 percent to 45.1 percent for acute myeloblastic leukemia; and from 0 percent to 74.5 percent for chronic myelocytic leukemia.
Furthermore, the researchers also that survival improved steadily over the two decades for the lymphomas and chronic myelocytic leukemia, but survival was stable during the late 1990s and early 21st century for the
acute leukemias.
In addition, the exception of Hodgkin’s lymphoma, survival in adolescents and young adults still lags behind survival in children and, in the case of acute myeloblastic leukemia, even behind survival in older adults.
The researchers explained the persistent lower survival rates for adolescents and young adults with acute leukemias compared with children with these diseases remain a major challenge.
They said more research into how to treat these diseases and how to make sure that all patients have access to the best treatment is needed.
 

According to a recent medical study the Hispanic population groups have higher incidence rates of certain cancers and worse cancer outcomes if they live in the United States, than they do if they live in their homelands.
Paulo S. Pinheiro, M.D., Ph.D., M.Sc., researcher in the Department of Epidemiology at the University Of Miami Miller School Of Medicine said Hispanics are not all the same with regard to their cancer experience.
Pinheiro, who is also the study’s lead researcher, added targeted interventions for cancer prevention and control should take into account the specificity of each Hispanic
subgroup: Cubans, Puerto Ricans or Mexicans.
Amelie G. Ramirez, Dr.P.H. director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research, and co-associate director of the Cancer Prevention and Population Studies research program at the Cancer Therapy & Research Center at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio for her part said Hispanics are really heterogeneous from cultural and socioeconomic perspectives and represent several population groups.
Ramirez said the Hispanic population in the United States is increasing nearly one in every three people will be Hispanic by 2050.
She said it is important to conduct studies like this to better understand these differences and learn what predisposes different population groups to certain types of cancer, in order to improve health outcomes.
To get the data they are searching for, Pinheiro and colleagues evaluated the kinds of cancers occurring in each Hispanic population group and compared their risk after moving to the United States.

Studies have shown that Hispanics are probe to suffer from cancer in the United States.

They conducted the study in Florida, which has a diverse Hispanic community composed of Cubans, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Central and South Americans.
The results indicated that these population groups showed different patterns of cancer once they moved to the United States; Mexicans had the lowest rates of cancer overall and Puerto Ricans had the highest rates of cancer. Cubans’ risk of cancer most closely resembles that of non-Hispanic whites. Similar to the U.S. non-Hispanic white population, Cubans and Puerto Ricans seemed to acquire higher risk for diet-related cancers relatively quickly.
Furthermore, Cuban males had higher incidence of tobacco-related cancers; Puerto Rican men had high incidence of liver cancer; and Mexican women had a higher incidence of cervical cancer. For all cancers combined, risk for most cancers was higher (at least 40 percent) among Hispanics living in the United States compared with those who live in their countries of origin.
The researchers also discovered that colorectal cancer risk among Cubans and Mexicans who moved to the United States was more than double that in Cuba and Mexico.
The same was said for lung cancer among Mexican and Puerto Rican Floridian women compared to those in Mexico or Puerto Rico.
Pinheiro explained this suggests that changes in their environment and lifestyles make them more prone to develop cancer.
He said it is puzzling that the groups, for which integration in mainstream American society is easier, including access to health care, are also those with higher cancer rates even after accounting for the increased detection of certain cancers in the United States.
Furthermore, the researchers said the results present important opportunities for United States and international collaborations in the prevention, treatment and research of cancer.
Ramirez said while physicians may not have to change the care they provide they should be more aware of the diversity and differences in cancer prevalence among this population.
She said physicians should probe Hispanic patients more on their background and family history to identify any problematic behaviors that could contribute to health problems.
The researchers said patients should become better informed of some of the positive aspects of their original lifestyles and should be strongly discouraged from adopting unfavorable lifestyles that may be more common in the United States, such as unhealthy diets, smoking and alcohol use.

Health authorities in the United States are now doubling efforts to stop the spread of the deadly swine flu virus.
This developed after a recent study has shown that 40% of the country’s whole population could be infected with the swine flu (H1N1) virus over the next 24 months if the proper prevention is not implemented.
Medical experts said the estimates are based on data gleaned from the 1957 flu pandemic which killed nearly 70,000 people in the country.
That pandemic was not as severe as the 1918-1919 Spanish flu one.
The researchers revealed if one hundred and twenty million people caught swine flu this time round, and vaccine campaigns were not successful, the eventual death toll could be in the hundreds of thousands.
The researchers added such a level of infection would be double the expected number during a normal flu season.
However, the researchers said if an effective vaccine were to come out in time, many immunized people would show no symptoms that is, if the vaccine worked and
authorities managed to get enough of them out there.

Proper prevention should be implemented to stop the spread of the deadly swine flu virus which could inflect 40 percent of Americans in two years time.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) informs that approximately 160 million doses of swine flu vaccines should be available in October, as long as they pass testing.
Testing has not started yet but will soon, officials say.
Researchers at the University Of Maryland School Of Medicine’s Center for Vaccine Development say testing will start in August, involving 1,000 volunteers in 8 centers around the country.
The American Medical Association estimates that approximately 36,000 Americans die each year from flu and complications from flu.
About 2 billion people are expected to become infected with swine flu worldwide over the next 24 months, the World Health
Organization (WHO) estimates. WHO added that we are in the initial phase of the current pandemic.
WHO has asked countries to seriously consider closing schools as a measure to slow down the spread of infection.
It is now virtually impossible to know accurately how many people have been infected so far.
A significant proportion of infected individuals never goes and sees their doctor and recovers completely by staying at home and self-medicating with OTC drugs. Others may go to see their doctor with some mild flu like symptoms and be sent home and told to drink plenty of fluids and rest.
Officials at the CDC say that it is likely that over one million Americans have so far been infected since the virus first started infecting people in April this year.
American and Japanese researchers have discovered that the Swine Flu virus reaches deeper into the lungs than normal seasonal flu. This may well indicate that it is more virulent than first thought.

According to a latest medical study those who are poor with low intelligence quotient are at higher chances of suffering from cardiovascular disease.
Dr. David Batty, a Welcome Trust Research Fellow at the Medical Research Council Social and Public Health Sciences Unit in Glasgow, and colleagues discovered that people on low incomes, in jobs with low prestige and with limited education had a higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and other causes than people of a higher
socioeconomic status.
Batty said based on their study they also found out that IQ accounted for 23 per cent of the difference between the death rates among people from poorer and more advantage socioeconomic backgrounds, once age and classic known risk factors for heart disease such as smoking and obesity were taken into account.
He said previous studies have shown that people from poor socioeconomic backgrounds have worse health and tend to die earlier from conditions such as heart disease, cancer and accidents.
He added environmental exposure and health-related behaviors, such as smoking, diet and physical activity, can explain some of this difference, but not all of it.

Those poor people who have low IQ have strong chances of suffering from a cardiovascular disease.

The medical expert revealed this raises the possibility that, as yet, unmeasured psychological factors need to be considered and one of these is intelligence or cognitive function: a person’s ability to reason and problem-solve.
The medical expert added IQ is strongly related to socioeconomic status.
Furthermore, Batty said IQ alone explained 23 per cent of the differences in mortality between the higher and lower ends of the socioeconomic spectrum, in addition to the other, known risk factors.
Batty and his team, speculate that this might be because intelligence leads to better knowledge about how to pursue healthy behaviors, or owing to the link between intelligence and socioeconomic position (more intelligence leads to more education, income, and more prestigious jobs).
He said it also provides further evidence that efforts to tackle socioeconomic inequalities could have far-reaching benefits on health.
Batty explained initiatives aimed at raising living standards and education of the most disadvantaged families with children could potentially make a difference to those children’s health and wellbeing in later life.

The future of male contraception could be an injectable testosterone.
This developed after a recent research in China uncovered a new safe and highly effective male contraception that could be soon be commercially available worldwide.
The researchers discovered that regimen; a male contraceptive hormone has the potential to become a highly effective male contraception for the male population in this planet.
According to Dr. Yi-Qun Gu, MD, of the National Research Institute for Family Planning in Beijing, China in their initial study they discovered that regimen has the components to prevent pregnancy among women.
Gu revealed they got their findings on their study comprising 1,045 healthy fertile Chinese men aged 20-45 years.

Medical experts said there is a strong indication injectable testosterone could be the future in male contraception.

He said each participant had fathered at least one child within the two years before the study and had a normal medical history.
He added their female partners were between 18 and 38 years of age and had normal reproductive function.
Based on their study, Gud said those men who were injected with regimen has not impregnated their sexual partners and were in normal physical condition after the study except for two participants.
Moreover, Gu said despite the good result in their study, they still need further study on regimen to determine if it is indeed viable to be used commercially around the world.
Whatever, the result of the further study, this piece of news is still great for males in this planet since if fate permits injectable testosterone could be used in future as a male contraception.

 

It was proven through a study that the nicotine in cigarettes can calm a person down.

According to a recent research, it was proven that cigarette had a chemical element that can calm any person puffing it.
Based on the study conducted by the University of California, they found out that nicotine might alter the activity of brain areas that are involved in the inhibition of negative emotions such as anger thus it calms a person down.
Jean Gehricke, the lead researcher of the study explained nicotine slows down the anger of any person as shown by their study.
Gehricke said participants who showed nicotine-induced changes in anger task performance also showed changes in brain metabolism.
He added nicotine-induced reductions in length of retaliation were associated with changes in brain metabolism in response to nicotine in brain areas responsible for orienting, planning and processing of emotional stimuli.
Despite this finding, it is still advisable to avoid smoking since over-all smoking is bad for the health.
The cigarette might have calming effects but the truth of the matter it could cause cancer and other health problems to persons addicted to smoking.

Breaking up with someone you, love is one of the hardest tasks you will face in life.

After engaging in a relationship then suddenly, you will tell your mate you are now breaking up with him or her, what a painful thing it would be.
However, if you are serious in breaking up with someone you really need to face this situation in whatever way you want it.
To all those on the verge of dumping someone they love here are tips to help you deal with the situation as softly as possible to reduce the pain involved.
 

One of the hardest things in life is breaking up with someone that you love.
 

A. Face to face honesty

One of the best ways to end up a romantic relationship is to a personally talk with your mate and discuss your intention.
This approached is good since it shows respect, honesty, and understanding and provides opportunity for the two of you to end up as friends.
Although this approached is laudable it had some risk involved like physical assaults and the big possibility that your mate will do everything possible to make you change your mind.

B. Telephone blues

Another way to broke up with your partner is the use of a telephone or cellular phone.
The good thing about this method is your protection from physical assault and the less guilty feeling you will experience since you will not see his or her face.
This technique is appropriate for those who have lesser heart and not comfortable in face-to-face confrontation.
One of the downside of this method is the most likely chance of engaging in a heated word war with your mate over the phone.

C. Snail mail
 

If you do not want to see your mate face to face and hear, his or her voice when you relay your sad decision to dump them one of the easiest way out is the use of snail mail.
Express everything you want to say to your partner in a letter and have it mailed in the nearest post office.
This method might sound fine at first glass but like the first two method it has also some risk involved.
One of the most visible risk on this method is the chance it can shown to other people and could even be used as evidence against you.
Unlike the other, two these methods needs some time before you can relay your sad message as the person involved needs to receive it first.

D. E-mail
 

If you wish a quick and heartless method to relay your sad message of separation, use the electronic mail technique.
Your partner will receive the message in an instant if he or she had a computer unit at hand by virtue of our modern technology today.
However if you use the method you risk getting into an email dialogue about the whole dumping thing.

E. Third party
 

You can also use your best message to deliver your doom message to your partner.
This technique is so effortless that all you need is to relax and wait for your messenger to deliver the sad news.
This method might be effortless but this is also very risky especially if you will be branded as coward the rest of your life.
Another risk is the chance that your messenger could take advantage of the sad situation of your former lover.

F. Treat her like a rug
 

Another interesting method to relay that you want to end a relationship is to totally ignore your mate.
If you use this method, make sure you have the courage to withstand the temptation and tendency to talk to your former partner.
However if you use this idea there is a big tendency you will be branded as coward and the sadness felt by your mate if being ignored could last for a long time.

G. Going out with someone else
 

If you have enough courage you can show that you do not like her anymore in the boldest way by showing in front of her or him that you are already loved someone else.
You are sending a clear and strong message to your mate that you do not like him or her anymore.
However if you do the technique there is a strong chances you will lose your credibility and the possibility that your former girlfriend or wife will take revenged on you.