WOW! In this profession it's good to see your teachers in action in the real world from time to time. Today one of my favorite profs did a dementia assessment behind one-way glass for us to watch. She was absolutely amazing! Yes, I have done nearly all the tests she performed, but not the way she did them or with the breathtaking proficiency and sensitivity she demonstrated. In very short order it became clear that the WAIS-III scores weren't going to be meaningful due to acute short term memory loss, so she swiftly shifted from the standardized presentation format to information gathering mode, with a neuropsych perspective. She skipped around through the subtests looking for specific information and focusing on specific brain areas, all without a pause in her patter. She also sprinkled mental status exam questions and some neurological tests (squeeze my hands as hard as you can. Hold out your arms straight, now close your eyes etc) between subtests. In 45 minutes she knew that there were problems in the client's right frontal lobe, left parietal lobe and the entirety of the occipital lobe and that what was going on was probably not dementia and more likely a case of post-anesthetic anoxia. But the most wonderful thing to watch was the rapport that she established and the amazing way she instilled both hope and comfort to the client.
It's easy when doing psych tests to become an automaton, especially when you're new and trying to be sure you go verbatim from the manuals. Having seen this example I know every test I do from here forward will be a little more 'human' regardless of who I work with. I think the level of proficiency she showed, knowing how to shift around among tests and when to shift mind sets and so forth can only come with years of familiarity, but she certainly set a big bright goal for us to strive for!
Friday, November 30, 2007
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Oh KEWL!!!
Has anyone tried out this new online book feature from Amazon Digital Services, Inc. ? Just placed and order and it told me that for about 7 bucks more I could have access to it online, start reading right away as well as searching and annotating all I liked. Too cool! For the book I ordered it's totally unnecessary, but for tardy textbooks it could be seriously handy. I've thought more times than I can count that I should get the DSM on a CD because I could then search for keywords.
A moment etched in my mind from my masters program:
A moment etched in my mind from my masters program:
"Oh yeah, there was some off the wall specifier fir agoraphobia buried in an unlikely section that referred to being phobic exclusively about urinating in public, now where in this 943 page book did I see that?"
Monday, November 19, 2007
Brain Fitness Program
I recently purchased this program for my mom and will be taking it down to her at my sister's this week.
Posit Science Program
I'd read quite a few studies on similar sorts of noncomputerized treatments on Alzheimer's and other dementia sufferers that looked extremely promising, so when I saw a presentation on this program at the American Psychological Association conference this past August I decided to get it for Mom. Unfortunately it has gotten a shitload of press since then, teamed up with a few insurance companies and TRIPLED in price!!! Should have bought it then. Oh well, if it works in even a small way it's well worth the price.
Mom is far too sedentary, not socializing at all, and very depressed, so I'm not sure how much good it will do her. Our brains shrink as we age, and physical exercise is critical in maintaining brain mass. If you snooze, you literally lose your mind. She doesn't have Alzheimer's, but rather had a stroke 10 years ago and also problems with Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus. Without the cortical mass to work with I'm not sure this can help her, but it can't hurt her either...
Of course she'll have to actually use it, which involves my dad not fucking with the thing and breaking it, or putting it on a computer that crashes etc. We're going to give her an old laptop solely dedicated to this. AR wants to lock Dad out, but I'm not sure that's good politics. Now I just have to manage to present it and walk away, since there is no way for me to be further involved. No getting upset if she doesn't use it or if Dad proceeds to slam it as bullshit and prevents her from using it. I may have to go back into therapy for that last...
Posit Science Program
I'd read quite a few studies on similar sorts of noncomputerized treatments on Alzheimer's and other dementia sufferers that looked extremely promising, so when I saw a presentation on this program at the American Psychological Association conference this past August I decided to get it for Mom. Unfortunately it has gotten a shitload of press since then, teamed up with a few insurance companies and TRIPLED in price!!! Should have bought it then. Oh well, if it works in even a small way it's well worth the price.
Mom is far too sedentary, not socializing at all, and very depressed, so I'm not sure how much good it will do her. Our brains shrink as we age, and physical exercise is critical in maintaining brain mass. If you snooze, you literally lose your mind. She doesn't have Alzheimer's, but rather had a stroke 10 years ago and also problems with Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus. Without the cortical mass to work with I'm not sure this can help her, but it can't hurt her either...
Of course she'll have to actually use it, which involves my dad not fucking with the thing and breaking it, or putting it on a computer that crashes etc. We're going to give her an old laptop solely dedicated to this. AR wants to lock Dad out, but I'm not sure that's good politics. Now I just have to manage to present it and walk away, since there is no way for me to be further involved. No getting upset if she doesn't use it or if Dad proceeds to slam it as bullshit and prevents her from using it. I may have to go back into therapy for that last...
Saturday, November 17, 2007
A Moment to Breathe
Finally I have two seconds to rub together! It's been a long couple of weeks and this past one was particularly trying because I had two enormous presentations, a big stats assignment due and an annual review to write up for my practicum, not to mention enough reading to leave me blind. Ugh.
The presentations went really well. The second one I would have liked to do in much more depth, but considering the time allotted it was ok. Both topics generated a ton of discussion, which is always satisfying. Spent an extra hour talking to the teacher in my biological psychology class because she thought I should pursue my presentation topic (mirror neurons) further as a dissertation. Hmm... I dunno, I 'd have to do it qualitatively to accomplish anything in the time allotted and without access to the imaging technology needed to do most of these sorts of studies. It made for fascinating conversation though!
Yesterday was really charged up for me because I got such good feedback on the presentations, then co-led a department wide meeting with a good friend and classmate, then met with the teacher I mentioned above. After all that my friend and I then took two first years out to lunch to get to know them better and we talked shop the whole time. It's so good to be able to spend time with people who have not only similar interests, but a similar vocabulary, you know?
My dad had an episode with his heart on Wed and put himself in the ER without telling my mom where he was going. Her ability to care for herself is iffy, so it was a bad situation. They have no friends at all in the area and my sister and I are 5 and 7 hours away, respectively. My sister called a neighbor who went over and checked on Mom and took her some dinner since she can't cook. Dad's ok and didn't end up spending the night, but it was just one more indication that things are going from bad to worse. Mom still isn't clear on what happened and Dad is trying to downplay the whole thing. I got a 'brain fitness' program from PositScience for my mom and will give it to her over the holiday. She has some dementia going on, but thanks to her lack of exercise and socialization, I'm not sure that cognitive work is going to be very helpful. It's something I can do though, so I 'm doing it. Not much to offer to my Dad... except maybe a baseball bat upside the head! It's such a joy to have a narcissistic parent with borderline traits. Mom would be living in the same town as one of her kids and still have a decent quality of life if it weren't for him. Sigh. She made her choice back when her mind was still serving her decently though, so this is the consequence. Very hard to watch though.
My niece had an interesting experience yesterday that we're all still laughing about. She went to a football game between her two schools, the one she went to last year and the one she transferred to this year. She opted to root for her old school, but she sat with her friends on the new school side of the stadium. It was all great fun, and because her colors were so different, she stood out like a sore thumb on ESPN's televised game. LOL! All was going well until she went down to use the restroom and people started throwing popcorn at her and booing as she made her way back to her seat. She said it was all in fun and nobody was being nasty, but security got spooked and wouldn't let her sit with her friends, saying it was too risky. When she offered to take off her hat and outer sweater so she wouldn't stand out they said no, because it was too late and everyone already knew she was for the other team. So she ended up seated for the rest of the game where she couldn't see and was quite torqued about it. At least a friend came and sat with her. So it goes...
Oh, and on the work side I am all kinds of excited because my supervisor is going to do a Rorschach on someone! This is very interesting because he has spent an inordinate amount of time telling me how worthless he thinks projective testing in general and the Rorschach in particular is. Gave me this inch thick article on on the iffy psychometrics of all these tests, including the Exner scoring on the Rorschach. It's a measure of how stuck he is on this case we've been doing. We have what may be a Folie รก Deux, but then it may not. Fascinating and very tricky one. It is just so amazing to me the variety of conditions that walk in the doors of our little community center, you know? Wow. Anyway, I think he may have done it while I was at school, so I won't get to hear about it until after the break since I'm taking this next week off. Shoot! I haven't had the class yet, so I'm not sure how much I can get out of his results, but I'm still looking forward to it.
Think I'll stop here... I'm not feeling good at all. Was sick last night and am only a little better today. Time to power down and focus on sleep, fluids and more sleep.
Here's to a good holiday break for everyone!
The presentations went really well. The second one I would have liked to do in much more depth, but considering the time allotted it was ok. Both topics generated a ton of discussion, which is always satisfying. Spent an extra hour talking to the teacher in my biological psychology class because she thought I should pursue my presentation topic (mirror neurons) further as a dissertation. Hmm... I dunno, I 'd have to do it qualitatively to accomplish anything in the time allotted and without access to the imaging technology needed to do most of these sorts of studies. It made for fascinating conversation though!
Yesterday was really charged up for me because I got such good feedback on the presentations, then co-led a department wide meeting with a good friend and classmate, then met with the teacher I mentioned above. After all that my friend and I then took two first years out to lunch to get to know them better and we talked shop the whole time. It's so good to be able to spend time with people who have not only similar interests, but a similar vocabulary, you know?
My dad had an episode with his heart on Wed and put himself in the ER without telling my mom where he was going. Her ability to care for herself is iffy, so it was a bad situation. They have no friends at all in the area and my sister and I are 5 and 7 hours away, respectively. My sister called a neighbor who went over and checked on Mom and took her some dinner since she can't cook. Dad's ok and didn't end up spending the night, but it was just one more indication that things are going from bad to worse. Mom still isn't clear on what happened and Dad is trying to downplay the whole thing. I got a 'brain fitness' program from PositScience for my mom and will give it to her over the holiday. She has some dementia going on, but thanks to her lack of exercise and socialization, I'm not sure that cognitive work is going to be very helpful. It's something I can do though, so I 'm doing it. Not much to offer to my Dad... except maybe a baseball bat upside the head! It's such a joy to have a narcissistic parent with borderline traits. Mom would be living in the same town as one of her kids and still have a decent quality of life if it weren't for him. Sigh. She made her choice back when her mind was still serving her decently though, so this is the consequence. Very hard to watch though.
My niece had an interesting experience yesterday that we're all still laughing about. She went to a football game between her two schools, the one she went to last year and the one she transferred to this year. She opted to root for her old school, but she sat with her friends on the new school side of the stadium. It was all great fun, and because her colors were so different, she stood out like a sore thumb on ESPN's televised game. LOL! All was going well until she went down to use the restroom and people started throwing popcorn at her and booing as she made her way back to her seat. She said it was all in fun and nobody was being nasty, but security got spooked and wouldn't let her sit with her friends, saying it was too risky. When she offered to take off her hat and outer sweater so she wouldn't stand out they said no, because it was too late and everyone already knew she was for the other team. So she ended up seated for the rest of the game where she couldn't see and was quite torqued about it. At least a friend came and sat with her. So it goes...
Oh, and on the work side I am all kinds of excited because my supervisor is going to do a Rorschach on someone! This is very interesting because he has spent an inordinate amount of time telling me how worthless he thinks projective testing in general and the Rorschach in particular is. Gave me this inch thick article on on the iffy psychometrics of all these tests, including the Exner scoring on the Rorschach. It's a measure of how stuck he is on this case we've been doing. We have what may be a Folie รก Deux, but then it may not. Fascinating and very tricky one. It is just so amazing to me the variety of conditions that walk in the doors of our little community center, you know? Wow. Anyway, I think he may have done it while I was at school, so I won't get to hear about it until after the break since I'm taking this next week off. Shoot! I haven't had the class yet, so I'm not sure how much I can get out of his results, but I'm still looking forward to it.
Think I'll stop here... I'm not feeling good at all. Was sick last night and am only a little better today. Time to power down and focus on sleep, fluids and more sleep.
Here's to a good holiday break for everyone!
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Wanna Count With Me?
How many ways do we hate statistics? Do I hear lots of shouts? LOL! Ok, I know there are a bunch of sickos out there who live for it (very lovable, respectable sickos I have no doubt...) but to those of you who resonate with this post, shout ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR... and on to infinity.
Sigh. Did my take home midterm for Data Analysis today. I do mean today, too, the whole damned thing from dawn to dusk! I am now done with 19 out of 20 questions and will come back to #17 on Wednesday and hopefully it will be clearer to me then.
Just figures it's the one homework assignment that I was lost on and didn't get a chance to clear up at school this week. THAT would be because we got pulled out of class to celebrate an anniversary for the founding of our university and the installation of a new president. There were seminars to attend, which were delightful, but c'mon people, we already have way too much info to cover in 10 weeks, don't take most of two classes away from us! It was the politically correct thing to do to be there, so I don't consider having had a meaningful choice. I did get a bunch out of it too, I just would have preferred to have my class and seminar too, thanks.
Now on to the gazillion other assignments that have been backing up all day. Thought I'd be done by noon and have written a case study by now. Boogers! Oh well, it's just business as usual I suppose.
Enough grousing. Time to get on that case formulation. Joy...
Sigh. Did my take home midterm for Data Analysis today. I do mean today, too, the whole damned thing from dawn to dusk! I am now done with 19 out of 20 questions and will come back to #17 on Wednesday and hopefully it will be clearer to me then.
Just figures it's the one homework assignment that I was lost on and didn't get a chance to clear up at school this week. THAT would be because we got pulled out of class to celebrate an anniversary for the founding of our university and the installation of a new president. There were seminars to attend, which were delightful, but c'mon people, we already have way too much info to cover in 10 weeks, don't take most of two classes away from us! It was the politically correct thing to do to be there, so I don't consider having had a meaningful choice. I did get a bunch out of it too, I just would have preferred to have my class and seminar too, thanks.
Now on to the gazillion other assignments that have been backing up all day. Thought I'd be done by noon and have written a case study by now. Boogers! Oh well, it's just business as usual I suppose.
Enough grousing. Time to get on that case formulation. Joy...
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