Psychology in the News

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APA SURVEY SHOWS HOLIDAY STRESS PUTTING WOMEN’S HEALTH AT RISK

Added Holiday Stress Increases Women’s Reliance on Unhealthy Behaviors More Often than Men

Nearly half of all women in the United States experience heightened stress during the holidays at great risk to the health of their minds and bodies, according to a recent national survey released by the American Psychological Association (APA). Compared to previous surveys on stress, APA found that women are actually doing less to address the increased stress of the holiday season. Despite repeated warnings about the effects of stress on both psychological and physical health, women are relying more on unhealthy behaviors to manage stress during the holidays and the rest of the year.

Juggling work and added family responsibilities, such as planning for holiday gatherings, shopping for gifts and cooking leave most women feeling like they can’t take time to relax during the crunch to get everything done for the holidays. Survey findings show that added holiday stress, on top of already disproportionately high stress levels in women year round, makes it hard for women to relax. This increases the likelihood that they will turn to unhealthy behaviors like using food to deal with stress (41 percent) or drinking alcohol (28 percent).

“People who cope with stress by engaging in unhealthy behaviors and lifestyle, regardless of the time of year, may alleviate symptoms of stress in the short term, but end up creating significant health problems in the long run, and, ironically, more stress,” says Dean Perry, M.Sc., R.Psych, Public Education Co-ordinator, Association of Psychologists of Nova Scotia (APNS).

“Research shows that stress, and the unhealthy behaviors people use to manage it, contribute to some of our country’s biggest health problems such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes. So it’s imperative that people take steps to address issues like holiday stress in healthier ways.”

A national stress survey conducted by APA in January 2006 found that, during the year, 31 percent of women turn to food to manage stress compared to 19 percent of men. The holiday stress survey, conducted by APA in October 2006, showed that comfort eating rises by ten percent at the holidays as a source of stress relief for women (versus a six percent increase for men), indicating that holiday pressures are having an impact on women’s behaviors.


“The effectiveness with which people manage stress — especially women during the holidays, given their increased stress levels — is critical to long-term mind and body health,” says Perry. “It seems that women, in particular, view holiday stress and their ways of coping with it as a normal part of the season.” Results from the January 2006 survey show that women report stress affects them more than men do (51 percent versus 43 percent) and that women are more likely than men to report multiple stressors. The same is true during the holidays. Women (44 percent) are more likely than men (31 percent) to report an increase of stress during the holiday season, citing lack of time (69 percent versus 63 percent), lack of money (69 percent versus 55 percent), and pressure to give or get gifts (51 percent versus 42 percent) as primary stressors. While stress is an important health issue for everyone to take note of, survey findings indicate that identifying healthy strategies for managing stress is critical to the mind/body health of women.

The January 2006 survey shows that stress does have an effect on overall mind/body health. Adults who experience a great deal of stress rate their psychological and physical health lower than adults who are not experiencing stress. Women under stress are more likely than men to report that they are in fair or poor health. People very concerned with the level of stress in their lives are more likely to report a number of specific ailments and symptoms.

§ 59 percent report feeling nervous or sad
§ 51 percent report symptoms of fatigue
§ 56 percent report inability to sleep or sleeping too much
§ 55 percent report lack of interest, motivation or energy
§ 46 percent report headaches
§ 48 percent report muscular tension
§ 32 percent report frequent upset stomach or indigestion
§ 37 percent report change in appetite
§ 29 percent report feeling faint or dizzy
§ 26 percent report tightness in chest
§ 23 percent report change in sex drive

“My advice to both men and women is to pay attention to what causes their stress and to find healthy ways of managing it. Everyone responds to their stress in some way. The key is handling stress in a manner that doesn't make things worse,” says Perry.
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The holiday stress survey was conducted October 2-5, 2006 by Greenberg, Quinlan Rosner Research for the APA, with the objectives of exploring stress during the holidays, the causes of stress and how holiday stress differs from other times of the year, as well as what people do differently during the holiday season to manage their stress. The telephone poll reached 786 adults, 369 men and 417 women, 18 years or older and was weighted by gender, age, race and education. For tips on managing holiday stress or to learn more about stress and mind/body health, visit the American Psychological Association at www.APAhelpcenter.org.


The American Psychological Association (APA), in Washington, DC, is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world’s largest association of psychologists. APA’s membership includes more than 150,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance psychology as a science, as a profession and as a means of promoting human welfare.

BABCP welcomes £170million boost for CBT

The BABCP (British Association for Bahavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapies) today warmly welcomed Health Secretary Alan Johnson s announcement of a £170 million expansion in psychological therapies.

BABCP President David Veale said the announcement would increase access to CBT for hundreds of thousands of people and mean more than 3,000 new therapists would be needed.Dr Veale said: This is fantastic news for all those people who have been waiting for access to CBT. It will mean a massive expansion of CBT right across the country with thousands more therapists trained and employed.

Read more here:

Virginia Tech tragedy may touch close to home

The Association of Psychologists of Nova Scotia extends its condolences to the victims, families and friends in the aftermath of the violence that unfolded on the Virginia Tech University campus on Monday. Latest news reports suggest that up to 16 Canadians (students and faculty) may have been on campus at the time. Whether or not we know someone personally, these events, which play out on our televisions and the Internet, can have a serious affect on all of us, especially our children. This current incident involves post-secondary students and teachers; however, the following information, provided courtesy of the American Psychological Association, may be helpful in dealing with these issues.

Few events hit home for children and families like a school shooting. When children see such an event on television or on Web-based news flashes, it is natural for them to worry about their own school and their own safety, particularly if the violence occurred nearby or in a neighboring city or state.

Talk to your children
Psychologists who work in the area of trauma and recovery advise parents to use the troubling news of school shootings as an opportunity to talk and listen to their children. It is important, say these psychologists, to be honest. Parents should acknowledge to children that bad things do happen, but also reassure them with the information that many people are working to keep them safe, including their parents, teachers, and local police.

Young children may communicate their fears through play or drawings. Elementary school children will use a combination of play and talking to express themselves. Adolescents are more likely to have the skills to communicate their feelings and fears verbally. Adults should be attentive to a child's concerns, but also try to help the children put their fears into proportion to the real risk. Again, it is important to reassure children that the adults in their lives are doing everything they can to make their environment—school, home, and neighborhood—safe for them.

Parents, teachers, and school administrators also need to communicate with one another not only about how to keep kids safe, but about which children might need more reassurance and the best way to give it to them.

Limit exposure to news coverage
Parents should also monitor how much exposure a child has to news reports of traumatic events, including these recent school shootings. Research has shown that some young children believe that the events are reoccurring each time they see a television replay of the news footage.

Know the warning signs
Most children are quite resilient and will return to their normal activities and personality relatively quickly, but parents should be alert to any signs of anxiety that might suggest that a child or teenager might need more assistance. Such indicators could be a change in the child's school performance, changes in relationships with peers and teachers, excessive worry, school refusal, sleeplessness, nightmares, headaches or stomachaches, or loss of interest in activities that the child used to enjoy. Also remember that every child will respond to trauma differently. Some will have no ill effects; others may suffer an immediate and acute effect. Still others may not show signs of stress until sometime after the event.

Minister Clement announces appointment to the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse Board of Directors

OTTAWA, April 5 /CNW Telbec/ - The Honourable Tony Clement, Minister of Health, today announced the appointment of Dr. Sherry Stewart to the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA) Board of Directors for a three-year term.

"Dr. Stewart's professional background on substance abuse will greatly contribute to the Centre's mandate of providing objective, evidence-based information and advice to help reduce the health, social and economic harms associated with substance abuse and addictions," said Minister Clement. "With 20 years experience in academic research and teaching, her expertise will be of enormous value to the Centre."

Dr. Stewart is a registered clinical psychologist and holds a doctorate degree in clinical psychology from McGill University.
She is a professor of psychiatry at Dalhousie University and is presently lending her expertise to the University of British Columbia as a visiting professor. Stewart has devoted much of her time and knowledge to the research of addictions and substance abuse in relation to cognitive behavior, having written and co-written more than 600 pieces of academic literature on this subject matter.

Dr. Stewart is also a professional member of the Canadian Psychological Association, the Anxiety Disorders Association of America, the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, the Association of Psychologists of Nova Scotia, and the American Psychological Association.

The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse is Canada's national addictions agency and is supported by Health Canada through the National Anti-Drug Strategy. Established by an Act of Parliament in 1988, CCSA provides objective, evidence based information and advice aimed at reducing the health, social and economic harm associated with substance abused and addictions.

Medicare for the mind

Article from: The Herald-Sun, Melbourne, Australia

BETTINA Arndt writes: Finally the Government has decided to spend some Medicare dollars on mental health care services that actually work.

Up until now, Medicare spending on mental problems has been firmly in the hands of the psychiatrists who have fought a mighty battle to keep it that way. But it has become obvious that clinical psychologists do a far better job with common psychological problems such as anxiety, phobias, sleep and sexual problems, obesity, alcohol and drug abuse.

For years, the evidence has been stacking up that therapy techniques such as cognitive behaviour therapy can actually make people better. These are evidence-based treatments, supported by research which proves they are effective. Yet most people aren't able to afford the $150 or so per session charged by the clinical psychologists best trained to provide these techniques.

Mental health care has been dominated by the medical profession, with only medically trained specialists, the psychiatrists, being given access to Medicare funding. Much of the training received by psychiatrists focuses on the drug treatments. Their therapy training is less firmly grounded. Most of the therapeutic training received by psychiatrists is not evidence-based. Their training still includes the long-term talk therapies, which churn through the Medicare dollars with no proven results.

Finally the Government has had enough. A few years ago it gave a trial run to a scheme that trained GPs to refer to psychologists for limited sessions of treatment for common problems. It worked well; the treatments made a difference, the doctors were happy referring patients for affordable, effective treatments and the Government was impressed by this cost-effective approach.

Now comes the revolution. From November, doctors will be able to refer patients to psychologists for 12 Medicare-funded sessions of evidence-based treatments a year.

That's great news, particularly as it should help sort out the properly trained psychologists from the more dubious members of the profession. There are psychologists and even more so-called "counsellors" offering all manner of weird and wonderful therapies that have absolutely no evidence to support them. Crystal and colour therapy, body work, neurolinguistic programming, craniosacral therapy; there's no end to the stuff being touted as cure-alls for mental ills. With government money now being used to support legitimate treatments, it may just put some of these so-called therapists out of business, with a healthier community as a result.

The Australian Psychological Society has been given the huge task of working out which psychologists qualify for the new referral system. Plus there's a huge job ahead training psychologists who have only minimal four-year degrees and often very little training in the therapy techniques they will be required to use. There are bound to be teething problems. There's a big job training GPs to correctly diagnose people in order to refer them to appropriate help, let alone monitor whether the treatment plan has been followed. The most intriguing question about the new system concerns the psychiatrists. With new entrants in the system under pressure to use treatments that work, why are psychiatrists still free to proceed on their own sweet way? There's no requirement on them to use evidence-based treatments, their government funding comes with no strings attached.

The new broom taken to the mental health system has exposed the psychiatrists' uncomfortable position. It won't be surprising to find them in the Government's sights in the next round of reform.

BETTINA ARNDT is a writer and qualified clinical psychologist.