A recent jaunt to Paris prompted a conversation with a friend about Paris syndrome. I had never heard of this, but it is a rare city-specific disorder first written about in the 1980s, where Japanese tourists get so disorientated by being in Paris that they become panicked and upset. It can be linked with feelings of disappointment that Paris isn’t as they have seen in films and read about in novels. Continue reading
I am feeling a sense of learned helplessness about what the coalition government are doing to the NHS.
Learned helplessness is a phenomenon associated with depression. A classic animal model of depression, learned helplessness occurs when an animal is repeatedly hurt or subjected to a nasty situation that it has no power to change. Continue reading
Described as “the Oscars of the design world”, London’s Design Museum has currently devoted a floor to this annual Design of the Year Award. International designs from seven categories have been nominated: architecture, digital, fashion, furniture, graphics, transport and product. Category winners and an overall winner will be announced on 17th April. Continue reading
Valentine’s day is fairly lose-lose. If you’re single you imagine that everyone in couples is living out a romantic fantasy. If you’re in a couple the pressure of expectation can weigh upon you: not just whatever expectation you think your partner might have of you, but expectation of whatever you think your relationship should be like on this one day of the year. Continue reading
The Psychologist, magazine of the British Psychological Society, has updated its Reviews pages to embrace apps, films, TV shows and forms of media other than the written word.
January’s pages are here.
More juicy morsels coming up in February, including some Hobbit psychoanalysis.
Grey matter changes over time (Gogtay et al, 2004)
This week I was shown fantastic moving images of the child brain developing over time.
Quite a nice post here on PsyBlog about 12 Christmassy psychology studies. Ho ho ho.
Matthias Lenke’s pictures of snowflakes give you a different perspective on the world
The recent death of Sir Patrick Moore, along with his magnificent eyebrows and his passionate enthusiasm for the stars, got me thinking about perspectives on the world. We seem to love looking at things that are either much bigger or much smaller than us. Continue reading
You don’t have to sit on a mountain to be able to do mindful meditation
Mindfulness meditation made it into a debate in the House of Commons this week, in the context of government explorations of ways to help people with mental health problems who are out of work. Continue reading
This year, for the first time, a television company funded a scientific research study. Not only that, but a research study which included people taking ecstasy live on TV. Channel 4 paid the costs of an experiment on the condition they could film part of it for a documentary: Drugs Live: the Ecstasy Trial. In the current climate of financial difficulties in higher education, this was no small gesture. University College London and Imperial College collaborated with the TV team in this novel way, which may provide a template for future science-media collaborations. Continue reading
Psychology magpie 