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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: psychologist

psychologist stories: 15 news summaries

 Speed Shrinking Offers Quicker Fixes 

... And promotes shrinks' books, in 180-second encounters

(Newser) - Freud must be shuddering in his grave, but that doesn't bother Susan Shapiro, the author of Speed Shrinking and the cheerful organizer of speed-dating-style therapy sessions for New Yorkers. On a recent evening, 200 talk-therapy-seekers stood in line at a lecture hall for their turn to spill their problems and... More »

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mental health New York Manhattan therapy psychoanalysis psychiatrist psychologist Speed dating Speed shrinking

Study: Talking to Pretty Women Makes Men Stupid

Trying to impress women can take up all the male brain's power, experiment finds

(Newser) - Men literally lose their minds when talking to women they find attractive, a new study finds. A group of Dutch psychologists—inspired to carry out the experiment after one of them forgot his address while talking to a pretty woman—tested the memory skills of 40 heterosexual volunteers before and... More »

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women men beauty psychology psychologist short-term memory

ANALYSIS

 Jaycee May Never Recover 

Overcoming lost years will be a huge challenge, mental health experts say

(Newser) - It will be a struggle for Jaycee Lee Dugard and her two daughters to recover from the years they spent in captivity, writes Karen Kaplan in the LA Times. Psychologists have few comparable cases to draw from, and those that exist are not encouraging. Kidnap victim Natascha Kampusch, of Vienna,... More »

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kidnapping captivity development Vienna psychologist child rape Elisabeth Fritzl Jaycee Lee Dugard Phillip Garrido

First US Internet Addiction Rehab Center Opens

For $14,500, reStart offers therapy, socialization

(Newser) - The first US Internet addiction clinic has opened in Fall City, Wash. The Heavensfield Retreat Center offers “reStart,” a 45-day in-patient rehab program for Internet, video game, and texting addictions, LiveScience reports. Clients undergo talk therapy and social skills training, as well as feeding goats, raising chickens, and... More »

(Newser) - Psychologists are seeing red in a row over Rorschach's famous inkblots, the New York Times reports. The original series of 10 inkblot images, whose interpretations are used to gain insight into a viewer's mind, have been posted on Wikipedia along with the most common responses. Psychologists fear that some people... More »

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Wikipedia psychology psychologist diagnostic test Rorschach test

Inside the CIA Torturers' Heads

Post: Higher-ups pushed interrogators for harsher methods than they wanted

(Newser) - The FBI was already getting information out of a suspected terrorist in a series of relatively friendly interrogations in 2002 when the CIA stepped in, a former US official tells the Washington Post. Agency contract psychologists escalated the techniques to sleep deprivation, extreme cold, and waterboarding, which the FBI interrogators... More »

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CIA torture FBI sleep deprivation waterboarding terror suspects al-Qaeda psychologist enhanced interrogation techniques

 'Rockefeller' Was 
 Unaware, Deluded: 
 Defense Shrink  

Others fed into his narcissistic personality disorder, she says

(Newser) - Lawyers for accused kidnapper “Clark Rockefeller” began their insanity defense today with testimony from a psychologist who said he has a deluded sense of self-importance and fantasies of unlimited power, the Boston Globe reports. “If there is a continuum of narcissistic personality disorder, he is on the far... More »

Psychologists, Doctors Helped With Interrogations

Role of medical professionals in CIA program angers peers

(Newser) - Psychologists and physicians who assisted the CIA's harsh interrogation program are being accused of violating the most basic principles of their professions, the Washington Post reports. The newly released CIA memos confirm that on-site psychologists—generally contract workers with the agency—took an active role in the program, offering ideas... More »

OPINION

 Obama Plays Shrink 
 to Europe: Dowd 

President brings "psychological finesse" to the G20

(Newser) - Therapists could learn a thing or two from the "psychological finesse" Barack Obama showed in Europe this week, Maureen Dowd writes in the New York Times. Obama's upbringing taught him how to "slip in and out of different worlds," and that legacy was on display... More »

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Barack Obama psychiatry Nicolas Sarkozy Maureen Dowd Silvio Berlusconi Dmitry Medvedev psychologist George W. Bush G20

(Newser) - A couple that revealed their thieving ways to TV psychologist Dr. Phil appear to have received a federal investigation in return, the North County Times reports. The California couple appeared on Dr. Phil’s show in November and were shown on a 3-day shoplifting road trip with their children.... More »

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television California federal investigation shoplifting psychologist stealing Dr. Phil McGraw

Interrogation Debate Divides Psychologists

Should they be present for questioning? 'Soul' of profession at stake

(Newser) - The use of psychologists to aid government interrogations at places such as Guantanamo Bay has triggered an acrimonious ethical debate as the American Psychological Association considers banning the practice altogether, the New York Times reports. Some say psychologists are used to “break” detainees—in some cases illegally—while others... More »

Calif. Therapists Rake in Millions Under Sex Offender Law 

Billed $24M for 2007 Jessica's Law services

(Newser) - Psychologists and psychiatrists are cashing in on a California law requiring mental health screening for sex offenders, the LA Times reports. Last year, private contractors billed the state for millions of dollars in prisoner evaluations, with one psychologist bringing home $1.5 million. State officials defend the expense as... More »

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California law mental health sex offenders psychiatrist psychologist

Therapists See New Disorders
in Mega-Rich

Today's wealthy are too narcissistic to be depressed, say shrinks

(Newser) - These days the rich in America are richer than ever—but with more money come more problems, from fears of inadequacy to neurotic consumption. To help them with their troubles, these titans of Wall Street or K Street call upon a small group of therapists who make a specialty of... More »

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wealth money neuroticism therapy psychologist psychotherapy

 Italy Calls In Shrinks
 for Garbage Crisis 

Berlusconi dispatches psychologists as part of promise to clean up mess

(Newser) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has a “final solution" to Naples' trash problem—and it includes psychologists, Der Spiegel reports. Naples, whose overflowing landfills have led to intermittently trash-choked streets for years, will soon be invaded by an army of volunteers, including a group of psychologists trained in counseling... More »

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Italy landfill garbage Naples Silvio Berlusconi psychologist

Shrink Killer Suspect Acts
Up at Hearing

Accused derides lawyer, asks for food
as charges are read

(Newser) - The suspected killer of a New York psychologist shocked observers at a hearing today by ridiculing his lawyer and asking for food, the New York Post reports. The judge ordered a psychiatric evaluation of David Tarloff, who was charged with second-degree murder in the slaying of Kathryn Faughey and attempted... More »

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New York City crime murder therapist Kathryn Faughey David Tarloff psychologist

15 Stories