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NEWS ABOUT: psychologist

9/11 Shows Psychology's Shortcomings

Report gives humbling assessment of therapists' work

(Newser) - Psychologists rushing to Ground Zero on September 11 might have done more harm than good. Experts overestimated how many people—including firefighters and police who responded—would experience stress for a prolonged period following the disaster, according to a report coming out in American Psychologist. Many also might have been... More »

CIA Promised to Cover $5M in Legal Fees for Waterboarders

Psychologists first known waterboarders in secret prisons

(Newser) - The CIA secretly agreed to pay at least $5 million in legal fees for two contractors who designed interrogations and repeatedly waterboarded detainees, say former US officials. Whereas CIA agents generally receive agency-paid insurance for potential legal bills, psychologists Jim Mitchell and Bruce Jessen, the first individuals to have been... More »

Psychologist Explains Why Your Boss Is a Jerk

It's a family affair: Yelling dads spawn tyrant bosses

(Newser) - People plagued by tyrant bosses or troublesome co-workers can blame their families, says leadership coach and psychologist Sylvia Lafair. Lafair has identified 13 patterns of annoying office behavior and the family dynamics behind each. They include the abusive, micro-managing "persecutor," who likely comes from a background of neglect,... More »

'Papa Joe' Simpson Scores Sitcom Deal

Jessica Simpson's dad will star in Nickelodeon show

(Newser) - Joe Simpson, father of Jessica and Ashlee, will star in a Nickelodeon comedy loosely based on his experience raising his singer/actress daughters. Joe, who is a psychologist in addition to being his daughters’ manager and a TV producer, and will portray a Texas psychologist raising two daughters. The twist? One... More »

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 »

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 »

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 »

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 »

Shrinks Fume Over Wiki's 'Rorschach Cheat Sheet'

(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 »

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 »

'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 »

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 at... More »

Shoplifting Couple Raided After Appearance on Dr. Phil

(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. Last... More »

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 necessary... More »

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 »

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 »

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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