March 31, 2010 eighteenth mailing An evidence-based blog on stress, health & wellbeing (February & March posts)

) Greetings The ten February posts to this evidence-based blog on stress, health & wellbeing are detailed in the calendar view. In March, my very dear 97 year old mother died and there is only one post Gratitude and dedication. There continue to be three strands to the blog research updates, general writing, and information leaflets/questionnaires. There were four information leaflet/questionnaire posts in February. Two of them extended the four posts already written in January on the importance of exercise for stress, health & wellbeing. Exercise 5: the recommendation to do strengthening exercises discusses the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans suggestion that it makes good sense to do strengthening as well as aerobic exercise. Exercise 6: where can I do what? looks at where to exercise, what choices are available, and some broader national & international exercise-relevant links. There are also two information leaflet/questionnaire posts on interpersonal process groups. Interpersonal group work 1 gives a series of questionnaires and handouts that I typically give to people who are thinking of trying this type of group. Interpersonal group work 2 lists further information leaflets that can help in orientating participants to how they can use the group experience as helpfully as possible. Several of these sheets are useful more generally for understanding our emotions better. There are also four February research update posts. There are downloadable details of 66 articles I found particularly interesting in Januarys journals recent research: articles from January journals and 65 articles in Februarys journals recent research: articles from Februarys journals. In both these posts, the article abstracts are listed in three categories CBT, depression, and more general health & wellbeing. There is a third research update on a major BMJ review Vitamin D deficiency again! As the reviews authors point out "A recent nationwide survey in the United Kingdom showed that more than 50% of the adult population have insufficient levels of vitamin D and that 16% have severe deficiency during winter and spring Health professionals have been slow to respond to this problem even though the issue has been highlighted in the literature for a number of years ... vitamin D insufficiency now seems unequivocally linked to several ... common and morbid conditions." The fourth update is of particular relevance to psychotherapists Six studies on management, health messages, behavioural activation, ACT, expressive writing, and wellbeing (shared primary care/mental health professional communication, making health messages more effective, behavioural activation for depressed smokers, mindfulness & values-based action for pain sufferers, expressive writing & homosexuality, and the importance of enhancing quality of life in people who have recovered from depression). Finally there are three more general posts. Our life stories: needs, beliefs & behaviours describes a model (viewable as PDF or as Powerpoint handouts) that Primarily helps make sense of how we feel, think and act in our lives. It explains different forms of adaptive and maladaptive behaviours, why they have arisen, and what can be done to put them right. The second general post Developing a training course: life skills for stress, health & wellbeing describes a next generation stress management course Ive been developing with the ambitious aim of helping participants live longer, healthier lives that are more energised, happy and fulfilling. We will work to improve our knowledge and activities in three interconnected areas - stress management, healthy lifestyle, and overall wellbeing. There are good research-based reasons why such a project is entirely feasible, and other group trainers may be interested to look at some of the thinking involved in selecting the course ingredients. The third general post is a sadder and more personal one Gratitude and dedication commemorates the recent death of my mother. As Ive mentioned before, this blog is intended as a free resource for people who are interested in stress, health & wellbeing. Its key feature is that I read a lot of emerging research and bring over 30 years experience as a medical doctor and psychotherapist to the sifting-out-whats-valuable task. Going to the tag cloud will give you a searchable view of subjects Ive touched on in the blog. Theres also a linked searchable list of 260 good health-related websites that Ive checked out, and several hundred freely downloadable stress, health & wellbeing relevant handouts & questionnaires. If this information isnt of interest to you (or if Ive contacted you at two different addresses) simply reply to this email with unsubscribe in the subject line and Ill take that email address off the mailing

list. Similarly, if you know anybody who would like to be on the mailing list, let me know and Im very happy to make sure theyre included. With all good wishes James 78 Polwarth Terrace Edinburgh, EH11 1NJ Tel: 0131 337 8474 Email: james.hawkins@blueyonder.co.uk Web: www.goodmedicine.org.uk Blog: www.stressedtozest.co.uk