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Psychological
Articles

Attitude

CATASTROPHE? OR INCONVENIENCE?

"...the words we use can have quite an impact upon how we feel about a situation.  If we look at a situation as an inconvenience rather than a catastrophe we will approach it differently and not feel as overwhelmed."

SADNESS IS A STATE OF HAPPINESS

"....Somehow we have come to believe that happiness is not only an inalienable right but also an achievement in and of itself.  We believe that if we experience anything less than happiness we have failed.........But we have it wrong.  .....Happiness is not something we achieve but something that we experience when we have a sense of contentment and satisfaction with our lives and ourselves. This sense of satisfaction is not something that occurs only when things are going well but also when everything is falling apart around us."


 

MAKING ATTRIBUTIONS FOR A HEALTHIER ATTITUDE

"....We tend to believe that the problems other people have are due to some internal fault or flaw and we tend to over-estimate the degree of the person's responsibility.....Interestingly, we tend to view our own behavior in a more complex manner: we attribute our own failures to external factors and our successes to internal factors.....So why is all this important?  Because the way we make attributions about behavior affects relationships and self-esteem."

 

 

Psychological Disorders


OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER AND SOCIAL PHOBIA

".....recent research estimates that 24% of individuals diagnosed with OCD receive an additional diagnosis of social phobia.  In fact, this study found that social phobia is the most common additional anxiety disorder diagnosis made for those individuals with OCD."


THE EFFECTIVENESS OF COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL TREATMENT FOR ANXIETY DISORDERS
 

"....Fortunately, there is a wealth of research evidence supporting cognitive-behavioral treatment as the most effective treatment for the anxiety disorders...The review of approximately 150 research studies showed that 87% of people with Panic Disorder with Agoraphobia improved with only a 10% relapse rate for CBT as compared to a 60% improvement rate with a 35% relapse rate for anti-depressants and a 60% improvement rate with a 90% relapse rate for anti-anxiety medications."

Sport and Exercise


FEEDBACK, SELF-EFFICACY, AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF MOTOR SKILLS

"Although we may prefer to believe that learning a motor skill is purely learning a set of physical techniques, we have to consider that most learning typically takes place in the context of an interpersonal relationship with a teacher.  The critical question is how does this interaction affect the development of motor skills.  It appears that the mediating factor between the presentation of the instructions by the teacher and the performance of the skill by the student may be the cognitive process of self-efficacy..."

PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT IN KARATE:  A REVIEW

"...a tremendous amount of interest has been generated by the potential of psychological principles to enhance athletic performance... ....sports psychology can assist martial artists with achieving peak performance in both katas and sparring."

THE RECIPROCAL INFLUENCE OF SELF-ESTEEM AND EXERCISE



USING SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY SKILLS TO IMPROVE MARTIAL ARTS TRAINING: 
***DEVELOPING FOCUS
***CHALLENGING PERFECTIONISTIC DEMANDS
***TEACHING SELF-CORRECTION
***GIVING WOMEN FEEDBACK
***SETTING GOALS TO MAXIMIZE PERFORMANCE

Interpersonal Relationships

REJECTION SENSITIVITY, IRRATIONAL JEALOUSY AND IMPACT ON RELATIONSHIPS

"...people's early experiences in life may lead to increased sensitivity to rejection.  This rejection sensitivity often leads to misinterpretations of others' behavior  and irrational jealousy leading to problematic relationship behaviors by the rejection-sensitive person.  These behaviors may cause dissatisfaction and termination of the relationship reinforcing the irrational thinking about the likelihood of rejection."

WHEN YOU HAVE BEEN BETRAYED

FOR WOMEN ONLY:  HOW TO HAVE THE RELATIONSHIP OF YOUR DREAMS


"If women could just change one thing, they would find that they could have almost everything they want in a relationship....I don't know how often I've heard a woman say, "But I shouldn't have to ask."....they have all sorts of expectations of their partner and become resentful and angry when he doesn't fulfill those expectations. "

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR JEALOUSY THREATENS TO DESTROY YOUR MARRIAGE 


"Frequently, I am asked how to handle irrational jealous feelings.  Usually, the individual recognizes that her feelings are unreasonable with no valid evidence but feels incapable of controlling the jealousy.  In addition, the person usually recognizes the destructive nature of indulging in the feelings and the resulting behavior. "

CONFLICT IN THE WORKPLACE


"As most of us spend approximately one-third of our adult lives in the workplace, conflict in this setting can’t be easily dismissed as unimportant.  In fact, failing to address such conflict may have implications for our “non-working” lives.  As a result, it becomes important for each of us to understand how conflict arises in the workplace, and what steps we can take to deal with such conflict."

Self-Esteem


MAKING MISTAKES TO ENHANCE SELF-ESTEEM AND IMPROVE PERFORMANCE


 

THE RECIPROCAL INFLUENCE OF SELF-ESTEEM AND EXERCISE


 

Wellness

 

POWER OF THE MIND: THE WELLNESS PHILOSOPHY

"Too often, mental health pro-fessionals focus on treating illness rather than maintaining wellness. However, the skills we bring to the treatment of psychological disorders are the same skills that can aid people with enhancing wellness. More importantly, the focus on wellness can prevent the life disruption caused by illness and the need for further treatment."

WELLNESS: HOW TO REDUCE ILLNESS AND ITS EFFECTS

MY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DIET: OR, HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT WITHOUT DEPRIVATION

"The hardest thing about dieting is the deprivation.  It feels like we are being punished.  No wonder so many people are unsuccessful with dieting if it has such a strong negative reaction.  We aren't motivated by negativity except to move away from it.  We are motivation to move towards things that feel good.  Therefore, the secret to losing weight has to be in making it feel good.  "How can I do that?" you ask because you associate the words "diet" and "bad." 

 

WHAT IS SPORTS PSYCHOLOGY?

"....misconceptions include thinking that sport psychology is for treating athletes with mental disorders or that it is simply focused on getting an athlete through a slump or that it is just fluff.  There is also a great deal of confusion about the credentials of a sport psychologist primarily because there has been controversy within the field as to the appropriate credentials....Simply speaking, sport psychology is the application of psychological principles to sport and athletes."



GOAL SETTING FOR
A SPORTS TEAM

"....the difference between per-formance oriented goals which are directed towards achieving individual skills or behaviors and outcome oriented goals which are directed towards winning should be delineated.  A goal focused on a performance orientation tends to be more effective because it is more under the control of the athlete, involves learning even at the risk of making mistakes, improves problem-solving, and encourages the athlete to be more persistent with higher effort."

SELF-EFFICACY: THE KEY TO SUCCESS IN SPORTS

"Without confidence in one’s ability, an individual cannot perform to his or her potential.  It is even possible that someone with lesser ability, but with confidence, can outperform this person because belief in oneself can be a powerful influence.

PERSONALITY TESTING IN SPORT: SHOULD WE OR SHOULDN'T WE?

ENDING A SPORTS CAREER

 The Relaxation & Stress Reduction Workbook
By Martha Davis

 

The Beck Diet Solution: Train Your Brain to Think Like a Thin Person
By Judith S. Beck

 

 When Anger Hurts Your Relationship: 10 Simple Solutions for Couples Who Fight
By Kim Paleg

 

If This Is Love Why Do I Feel So Insecure?
By Carl G. Hindy, J. Conrad Schwarz, Archie Brodsky