Monthly Archives: December 2017

Home: A Recap

--Original published at Home.blog

Earlier this week, Michael Bierut, Sonia Williams, and I spent an hour on the phone together. Michael is an influential graphic designer based in New York, Sonia is a high school student in Paintsville, Kentucky, and I’m a designer at Automattic, living outside of Boston.

Sonia came prepared with a great set of questions. She prompted Michael to tell us about his career, and to take us through some of his favorite projects. We talked about designing this website. Michael described how he came to use a photo of the earth to represent home: he’d aimed to show the most universal representation of a home. We all live drastically different lives, in drastically different houses, but this gigantic, fragile planet is our shared home.

At the end of the call, Sonia went to her next class. I got to work on WordPress.com and Longreads, and Michael turned his attention to his work at Pentagram.

Michael, Sonia, and I are all different ages, at different stages of our careers, and in different parts of the country, but we took time out of our days to share stories and work together. Our conversations felt natural, and we learned a lot from each other. I was struck by just how powerful — yet seemingly normal — an experience this project was.

When I was Sonia’s age, I attended a fantastic high school: The Buffalo Academy of Visual and Performing Arts. I was an art major there, which meant that I had two periods of art every day, in addition to my normal coursework. I took extensive classes in painting, sculpture, pottery,  photography, art history, and more. I loved art, and I knew I wanted to involve it in my future somehow, but I didn’t know any specifics beyond that.

At some point during my senior year, one of our teachers arranged to have a graphic designer visit her classroom. He showed us an ad campaign for a local art museum that he’d worked on. It involved billboards, printed material, and a website. I remember being really interested in his presentation, and speaking to him for a few minutes afterwards. Until that point, I don’t think I had a great idea of what exactly graphic design was. I knew a bit about designing individual things — an ad in a magazine, a single website, etc. — but that was my first real exposure to the idea of (and challenges around) designing an identity that spans across many single applications.

A few months later, I took my art portfolio to a college portfolio review day in Syracuse, New York. I applied to a number of colleges, and ended up in Brooklyn, studying graphic design at Pratt Institute. In my design history class, we learned about Michael Bierut.

I’ve been working in the field for over a decade now. I’ve worked on branding, ad campaigns, websites, t-shirts, and more. I currently do all this while working from home. High school me didn’t know this sort of job existed until I met that graphic designer.

When John Maeda invited me to take part in this project, I thought back to the time I met that designer in high school, and recognized the impact it had on my future. Sharing what we do with the next generation is a key responsibility of all of us. Just as I’ve learned from Michael Bierut’s work throughout my career, it’s my hope that Sonia and her classmates come away from this experience with a better understanding of art and design themselves.

Thanks to John Maeda for organizing, thanks to Michael Bierut for your artwork, insight, and perspective, and thank you to Sonia for all the preparation and effort you put into this project.

Home: A Recap

--Original published at Home.blog

Earlier this week, Michael Bierut, Sonia Williams, and I spent an hour on the phone together. Michael is an influential graphic designer based in New York, Sonia is a high school student in Paintsville, Kentucky, and I’m a designer at Automattic, living outside of Boston.

Sonia came prepared with a great set of questions. She prompted Michael to tell us about his career, and to take us through some of his favorite projects. We talked about designing this website. Michael described how he came to use a photo of the earth to represent home: he’d aimed to show the most universal representation of a home. We all live drastically different lives, in drastically different houses, but this gigantic, fragile planet is our shared home.

At the end of the call, Sonia went to her next class. I got to work on WordPress.com and Longreads, and Michael turned his attention to his work at Pentagram.

Michael, Sonia, and I are all different ages, at different stages of our careers, and in different parts of the country, but we took time out of our days to share stories and work together. Our conversations felt natural, and we learned a lot from each other. I was struck by just how powerful — yet seemingly normal — an experience this project was.

When I was Sonia’s age, I attended a fantastic high school: The Buffalo Academy of Visual and Performing Arts. I was an art major there, which meant that I had two periods of art every day, in addition to my normal coursework. I took extensive classes in painting, sculpture, pottery,  photography, art history, and more. I loved art, and I knew I wanted to involve it in my future somehow, but I didn’t know any specifics beyond that.

At some point during my senior year, one of our teachers arranged to have a graphic designer visit her classroom. He showed us an ad campaign for a local art museum that he’d worked on. It involved billboards, printed material, and a website. I remember being really interested in his presentation, and speaking to him for a few minutes afterwards. Until that point, I don’t think I had a great idea of what exactly graphic design was. I knew a bit about designing individual things — an ad in a magazine, a single website, etc. — but that was my first real exposure to the idea of (and challenges around) designing an identity that spans across many single applications.

A few months later, I took my art portfolio to a college portfolio review day in Syracuse, New York. I applied to a number of colleges, and ended up in Brooklyn, studying graphic design at Pratt Institute. In my design history class, we learned about Michael Bierut.

I’ve been working in the field for over a decade now. I’ve worked on branding, ad campaigns, websites, t-shirts, and more. I currently do all this while working from home. High school me didn’t know this sort of job existed until I met that graphic designer.

When John Maeda invited me to take part in this project, I thought back to the time I met that designer in high school, and recognized the impact it had on my future. Sharing what we do with the next generation is a key responsibility of all of us. Just as I’ve learned from Michael Bierut’s work throughout my career, it’s my hope that Sonia and her classmates come away from this experience with a better understanding of art and design themselves.

Thanks to John Maeda for organizing, thanks to Michael Bierut for your artwork, insight, and perspective, and thank you to Sonia for all the preparation and effort you put into this project.

Home: A Recap

--Original published at Home.blog

Earlier this week, Michael Bierut, Sonia Williams, and I spent an hour on the phone together. Michael is an influential graphic designer based in New York, Sonia is a high school student in Paintsville, Kentucky, and I’m a designer at Automattic, living outside of Boston.

Sonia came prepared with a great set of questions. She prompted Michael to tell us about his career, and to take us through some of his favorite projects. We talked about designing this website. Michael described how he came to use a photo of the earth to represent home: he’d aimed to show the most universal representation of a home. We all live drastically different lives, in drastically different houses, but this gigantic, fragile planet is our shared home.

At the end of the call, Sonia went to her next class. I got to work on WordPress.com and Longreads, and Michael turned his attention to his work at Pentagram.

Michael, Sonia, and I are all different ages, at different stages of our careers, and in different parts of the country, but we took time out of our days to share stories and work together. Our conversations felt natural, and we learned a lot from each other. I was struck by just how powerful — yet seemingly normal — an experience this project was.

When I was Sonia’s age, I attended a fantastic high school: The Buffalo Academy of Visual and Performing Arts. I was an art major there, which meant that I had two periods of art every day, in addition to my normal coursework. I took extensive classes in painting, sculpture, pottery,  photography, art history, and more. I loved art, and I knew I wanted to involve it in my future somehow, but I didn’t know any specifics beyond that.

At some point during my senior year, one of our teachers arranged to have a graphic designer visit her classroom. He showed us an ad campaign for a local art museum that he’d worked on. It involved billboards, printed material, and a website. I remember being really interested in his presentation, and speaking to him for a few minutes afterwards. Until that point, I don’t think I had a great idea of what exactly graphic design was. I knew a bit about designing individual things — an ad in a magazine, a single website, etc. — but that was my first real exposure to the idea of (and challenges around) designing an identity that spans across many single applications.

A few months later, I took my art portfolio to a college portfolio review day in Syracuse, New York. I applied to a number of colleges, and ended up in Brooklyn, studying graphic design at Pratt Institute. In my design history class, we learned about Michael Bierut.

I’ve been working in the field for over a decade now. I’ve worked on branding, ad campaigns, websites, t-shirts, and more. I currently do all this while working from home. High school me didn’t know this sort of job existed until I met that graphic designer.

When John Maeda invited me to take part in this project, I thought back to the time I met that designer in high school, and recognized the impact it had on my future. Sharing what we do with the next generation is a key responsibility of all of us. Just as I’ve learned from Michael Bierut’s work throughout my career, it’s my hope that Sonia and her classmates come away from this experience with a better understanding of art and design themselves.

Thanks to John Maeda for organizing, thanks to Michael Bierut for your artwork, insight, and perspective, and thank you to Sonia for all the preparation and effort you put into this project.

Home: A Recap

--Original published at Home.blog

Earlier this week, Michael Bierut, Sonia Williams, and I spent an hour on the phone together. Michael is an influential graphic designer based in New York, Sonia is a high school student in Paintsville, Kentucky, and I’m a designer at Automattic, living outside of Boston.

Sonia came prepared with a great set of questions. She prompted Michael to tell us about his career, and to take us through some of his favorite projects. We talked about designing this website. Michael described how he came to use a photo of the earth to represent home: he’d aimed to show the most universal representation of a home. We all live drastically different lives, in drastically different houses, but this gigantic, fragile planet is our shared home.

At the end of the call, Sonia went to her next class. I got to work on WordPress.com and Longreads, and Michael turned his attention to his work at Pentagram.

Michael, Sonia, and I are all different ages, at different stages of our careers, and in different parts of the country, but we took time out of our days to share stories and work together. Our conversations felt natural, and we learned a lot from each other. I was struck by just how powerful — yet seemingly normal — an experience this project was.

When I was Sonia’s age, I attended a fantastic high school: The Buffalo Academy of Visual and Performing Arts. I was an art major there, which meant that I had two periods of art every day, in addition to my normal coursework. I took extensive classes in painting, sculpture, pottery,  photography, art history, and more. I loved art, and I knew I wanted to involve it in my future somehow, but I didn’t know any specifics beyond that.

At some point during my senior year, one of our teachers arranged to have a graphic designer visit her classroom. He showed us an ad campaign for a local art museum that he’d worked on. It involved billboards, printed material, and a website. I remember being really interested in his presentation, and speaking to him for a few minutes afterwards. Until that point, I don’t think I had a great idea of what exactly graphic design was. I knew a bit about designing individual things — an ad in a magazine, a single website, etc. — but that was my first real exposure to the idea of (and challenges around) designing an identity that spans across many single applications.

A few months later, I took my art portfolio to a college portfolio review day in Syracuse, New York. I applied to a number of colleges, and ended up in Brooklyn, studying graphic design at Pratt Institute. In my design history class, we learned about Michael Bierut.

I’ve been working in the field for over a decade now. I’ve worked on branding, ad campaigns, websites, t-shirts, and more. I currently do all this while working from home. High school me didn’t know this sort of job existed until I met that graphic designer.

When John Maeda invited me to take part in this project, I thought back to the time I met that designer in high school, and recognized the impact it had on my future. Sharing what we do with the next generation is a key responsibility of all of us. Just as I’ve learned from Michael Bierut’s work throughout my career, it’s my hope that Sonia and her classmates come away from this experience with a better understanding of art and design themselves.

Thanks to John Maeda for organizing, thanks to Michael Bierut for your artwork, insight, and perspective, and thank you to Sonia for all the preparation and effort you put into this project.

Home: A Recap

--Original published at Home.blog

Earlier this week, Michael Bierut, Sonia Williams, and I spent an hour on the phone together. Michael is an influential graphic designer based in New York, Sonia is a high school student in Paintsville, Kentucky, and I’m a designer at Automattic, living outside of Boston.

Sonia came prepared with a great set of questions. She prompted Michael to tell us about his career, and to take us through some of his favorite projects. We talked about designing this website. Michael described how he came to use a photo of the earth to represent home: he’d aimed to show the most universal representation of a home. We all live drastically different lives, in drastically different houses, but this gigantic, fragile planet is our shared home.

At the end of the call, Sonia went to her next class. I got to work on WordPress.com and Longreads, and Michael turned his attention to his work at Pentagram.

Michael, Sonia, and I are all different ages, at different stages of our careers, and in different parts of the country, but we took time out of our days to share stories and work together. Our conversations felt natural, and we learned a lot from each other. I was struck by just how powerful — yet seemingly normal — an experience this project was.

When I was Sonia’s age, I attended a fantastic high school: The Buffalo Academy of Visual and Performing Arts. I was an art major there, which meant that I had two periods of art every day, in addition to my normal coursework. I took extensive classes in painting, sculpture, pottery,  photography, art history, and more. I loved art, and I knew I wanted to involve it in my future somehow, but I didn’t know any specifics beyond that.

At some point during my senior year, one of our teachers arranged to have a graphic designer visit her classroom. He showed us an ad campaign for a local art museum that he’d worked on. It involved billboards, printed material, and a website. I remember being really interested in his presentation, and speaking to him for a few minutes afterwards. Until that point, I don’t think I had a great idea of what exactly graphic design was. I knew a bit about designing individual things — an ad in a magazine, a single website, etc. — but that was my first real exposure to the idea of (and challenges around) designing an identity that spans across many single applications.

A few months later, I took my art portfolio to a college portfolio review day in Syracuse, New York. I applied to a number of colleges, and ended up in Brooklyn, studying graphic design at Pratt Institute. In my design history class, we learned about Michael Bierut.

I’ve been working in the field for over a decade now. I’ve worked on branding, ad campaigns, websites, t-shirts, and more. I currently do all this while working from home. High school me didn’t know this sort of job existed until I met that graphic designer.

When John Maeda invited me to take part in this project, I thought back to the time I met that designer in high school, and recognized the impact it had on my future. Sharing what we do with the next generation is a key responsibility of all of us. Just as I’ve learned from Michael Bierut’s work throughout my career, it’s my hope that Sonia and her classmates come away from this experience with a better understanding of art and design themselves.

Thanks to John Maeda for organizing, thanks to Michael Bierut for your artwork, insight, and perspective, and thank you to Sonia for all the preparation and effort you put into this project.

Home: A Recap

--Original published at Home.blog

Earlier this week, Michael Bierut, Sonia Williams, and I spent an hour on the phone together. Michael is an influential graphic designer based in New York, Sonia is a high school student in Paintsville, Kentucky, and I’m a designer at Automattic, living outside of Boston.

Sonia came prepared with a great set of questions. She prompted Michael to tell us about his career, and to take us through some of his favorite projects. We talked about designing this website. Michael described how he came to use a photo of the earth to represent home: he’d aimed to show the most universal representation of a home. We all live drastically different lives, in drastically different houses, but this gigantic, fragile planet is our shared home.

At the end of the call, Sonia went to her next class. I got to work on WordPress.com and Longreads, and Michael turned his attention to his work at Pentagram.

Michael, Sonia, and I are all different ages, at different stages of our careers, and in different parts of the country, but we took time out of our days to share stories and work together. Our conversations felt natural, and we learned a lot from each other. I was struck by just how powerful — yet seemingly normal — an experience this project was.

When I was Sonia’s age, I attended a fantastic high school: The Buffalo Academy of Visual and Performing Arts. I was an art major there, which meant that I had two periods of art every day, in addition to my normal coursework. I took extensive classes in painting, sculpture, pottery,  photography, art history, and more. I loved art, and I knew I wanted to involve it in my future somehow, but I didn’t know any specifics beyond that.

At some point during my senior year, one of our teachers arranged to have a graphic designer visit her classroom. He showed us an ad campaign for a local art museum that he’d worked on. It involved billboards, printed material, and a website. I remember being really interested in his presentation, and speaking to him for a few minutes afterwards. Until that point, I don’t think I had a great idea of what exactly graphic design was. I knew a bit about designing individual things — an ad in a magazine, a single website, etc. — but that was my first real exposure to the idea of (and challenges around) designing an identity that spans across many single applications.

A few months later, I took my art portfolio to a college portfolio review day in Syracuse, New York. I applied to a number of colleges, and ended up in Brooklyn, studying graphic design at Pratt Institute. In my design history class, we learned about Michael Bierut.

I’ve been working in the field for over a decade now. I’ve worked on branding, ad campaigns, websites, t-shirts, and more. I currently do all this while working from home. High school me didn’t know this sort of job existed until I met that graphic designer.

When John Maeda invited me to take part in this project, I thought back to the time I met that designer in high school, and recognized the impact it had on my future. Sharing what we do with the next generation is a key responsibility of all of us. Just as I’ve learned from Michael Bierut’s work throughout my career, it’s my hope that Sonia and her classmates come away from this experience with a better understanding of art and design themselves.

Thanks to John Maeda for organizing, thanks to Michael Bierut for your artwork, insight, and perspective, and thank you to Sonia for all the preparation and effort you put into this project.

Home: A Recap

--Original published at Home.blog

Earlier this week, Michael Bierut, Sonia Williams, and I spent an hour on the phone together. Michael is an influential graphic designer based in New York, Sonia is a high school student in Paintsville, Kentucky, and I’m a designer at Automattic, living outside of Boston.

Sonia came prepared with a great set of questions. She prompted Michael to tell us about his career, and to take us through some of his favorite projects. We talked about designing this website. Michael described how he came to use a photo of the earth to represent home: he’d aimed to show the most universal representation of a home. We all live drastically different lives, in drastically different houses, but this gigantic, fragile planet is our shared home.

At the end of the call, Sonia went to her next class. I got to work on WordPress.com and Longreads, and Michael turned his attention to his work at Pentagram.

Michael, Sonia, and I are all different ages, at different stages of our careers, and in different parts of the country, but we took time out of our days to share stories and work together. Our conversations felt natural, and we learned a lot from each other. I was struck by just how powerful — yet seemingly normal — an experience this project was.

When I was Sonia’s age, I attended a fantastic high school: The Buffalo Academy of Visual and Performing Arts. I was an art major there, which meant that I had two periods of art every day, in addition to my normal coursework. I took extensive classes in painting, sculpture, pottery,  photography, art history, and more. I loved art, and I knew I wanted to involve it in my future somehow, but I didn’t know any specifics beyond that.

At some point during my senior year, one of our teachers arranged to have a graphic designer visit her classroom. He showed us an ad campaign for a local art museum that he’d worked on. It involved billboards, printed material, and a website. I remember being really interested in his presentation, and speaking to him for a few minutes afterwards. Until that point, I don’t think I had a great idea of what exactly graphic design was. I knew a bit about designing individual things — an ad in a magazine, a single website, etc. — but that was my first real exposure to the idea of (and challenges around) designing an identity that spans across many single applications.

A few months later, I took my art portfolio to a college portfolio review day in Syracuse, New York. I applied to a number of colleges, and ended up in Brooklyn, studying graphic design at Pratt Institute. In my design history class, we learned about Michael Bierut.

I’ve been working in the field for over a decade now. I’ve worked on branding, ad campaigns, websites, t-shirts, and more. I currently do all this while working from home. High school me didn’t know this sort of job existed until I met that graphic designer.

When John Maeda invited me to take part in this project, I thought back to the time I met that designer in high school, and recognized the impact it had on my future. Sharing what we do with the next generation is a key responsibility of all of us. Just as I’ve learned from Michael Bierut’s work throughout my career, it’s my hope that Sonia and her classmates come away from this experience with a better understanding of art and design themselves.

Thanks to John Maeda for organizing, thanks to Michael Bierut for your artwork, insight, and perspective, and thank you to Sonia for all the preparation and effort you put into this project.

Spotlight: Mental health treatment Option three

--Original published at Em

Background to major depressive disorder is Catatonia, delusions, destruction, disorder. Cognitive therapy which was established by cognitive behavioral therapy Beck et al. Antidepressants most commonly prescribe are ADMs.

Supports my perspective

I believe that the best treatment is a combination of antidepressants and cognitive therapy. While the patient is learning to cope mechanisms, and learning reframing techniques they still have the antidepressants to fall back on. There is a large amount of data that antidepressants treat moderate to severe depression. There is less data on cognitive therapy. The objective is to compare the efficacy is moderate to severe depression of antidepressant medications with cognitive therapy in a placebo controlled trial. The design is 16 weeks of cognitive therapy, 16 weeks of medication, and 8 weeks of pill placebo. The Hamilton Depression Rating Scale provided continuous severity scores. At week 8 50% of the medication and 43% groups were superior to placebo. At the end of the study cognitive therapy was just as effective as medications. Some limitations are the quality of the therapists. The Treatment of Depression Collaborative Research Program Compared cognitive therapy and Antidepressants and no differenced were observed between cognitive therapy and antidepressant patients.

For Antidepressants

The National institute of mental health first recommends antidepressants as treatment for major depressive disorder.  Antidepressants alter the way the patient’s brain uses chemicals, so it is more efficient.  The national institute of health leans towards these methods because they have empirical evidence of neurotransmitters. The National institute for metal health also discusses cognitive therapy but as a second option to antidepressants.

The in the national revision of neuroscience 2008 by the National institute of health. Patients are advised to take ADM for at least six months to prevent relapse. In the patient does not experience symptoms then they are said to be cured if they do have symptoms then they are prescribed antidepressants indeterminately. These patients are deemed to have chronic depression. The efficiency of ADMs has been established in “thousands of placebos controlled clinical trials.” ADMs seem to be symptom suppressive instead of curative.  Lots of studies have shown that ADMs change the regulatory processes of the monoamine systems. Some negative effects are changes in sleeping, appetite sexual interest, and emotional response.

 

For cognitive therapy

In the United Kingdom’s National Health Service it is stated that cognitive therapy is as effective as antidepressants and therefore recommends cognitive therapy first. The antidepressants simply suppressed the side effects while the cognitive therapy got to the root of the problem and cure the problem. This study was carried out by the University of North Carolina International and Danube University. Then peer reviewed by the British medical journal.  Some limitations are this is only for moderate depression some doctors think that severe depression need to be treated with antidepressants first.

The Time magazine used a PET scan to see the brain function when researchers took scans. The participants who got well had increased insula this is a region that assesses or signals pain.  The pattern of insula levels predicted who would respond better to talk therapy or antidepressants. Those who responded best to talk therapy tended to have reduced insula compared to before.  Cognitive therapy teaches the patients what their thoughts mean and teaches them coping techniques therefore is advised.

References

@maiasz, M. S. (2013, June 17). Talk Therapy or Antidepressant? A Brain Scan Predicts Which Works Best for Your Depression. Retrieved December 07, 2017, from http://healthland.time.com/2013/06/17/talk-therapy-or-antidepressant-a-brain-scan-predicts-which-works-best-for-your-depression/

Depression. (n.d.). Retrieved December 07, 2017, from https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/depression/index.shtml

DeRubeis, R. J., Siegle, G. J., & Hollon, S. D. (2008, October). Cognitive therapy vs. medications for depression: Treatment outcomes and neural mechanisms. Retrieved December 07, 2017, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2748674/

Http://ljournal.ru/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/a-2017-023.pdf. (2017). doi:10.18411/a-2017-023

Talking therapy ‘as effective as antidepressants’ study finds. (n.d.). Retrieved December 07, 2017, from https://www.nhs.uk/news/mental-health/talking-therapy-as-effective-as-antidepressants-study-finds/

 


Spotlight Blog 3: Option 1

--Original published at Site Title

We all face peer pressure in life. From small, meaningless things to big life decisions, we feel pressure from others to make a certain decision. A lot of times, the decision that others want you to make may not be the best one. For this reason, people need ways to deal with peer pressure. There are a lot of tips on the internet for dealing with peer pressure for all different kinds of audiences. For this post, I chose tips for college students, high school students, and athletes.

The first website I found was bestcollegereviews.org. Their first suggestion was to find a group of students that are focused on school. This is definitely a good first step. Surrounding yourself with the right people is very important. If your friends have the same values as you, it will go a long way towards not feeling peer pressure. Not everyone has the same values though, and even if you find a group of friends that are focused on school, stuff happens and you could still find yourself in an uncomfortable situation. Whether it is alcohol, drugs, sex, or something else, you might need a way to deal with pressure. The website says to say “thanks, but no thanks” to offers to do something you are not comfortable with. If that does not work, politely leave the situation. Finally, if neither of those work, get in contact with an adult you trust. I think these tips work in an ideal world and should usually work but sometimes people will keep pressuring you. In that situation, being all nice about it will not really work. You should be firm or even get aggressive. It might not be the best for your relationship with that person but it will get you out of that situation. Getting out of the situation is usually the best way to deal with peer pressure.

The next website was 6 tips for dealing with peer pressure in high school. It is by teens.drugabuse.gov. I read through it and it really was not tips. The article was more of excuses to give people so you avoid drinking or doing drugs. These are good to have but they’re nowhere near perfect. People will eventually pick up on the excuses and one of two things will happen. Either you get left alone or pressured more. In the case that you get left alone, then the excuses did their job. But sometimes people will keep pressuring you. The website does not really give any tips for if you find yourself in this situation. If that situation does come up, it is probably best to follow the tips from the first website and politely leave.

My final website was tips for dealing with peer pressure for athletes. Peer pressure for athletes is a little different than regular peer pressure. It comes more as pressure to perform. This pressure can affect your performance positively or negatively depending on how you handle it. Their first tip is to reframe the pressure. Instead of seeing it as negative, see it as positive. This change in perception is huge. It puts you in a much better mindset which will go a long way towards performing better. They then say to reduce external and internal sources of pressure. Parents, coaches, and for some athletes, reporters can put a lot of pressure on. The website suggests that you talk to them about it. A lot of times, your parents and coaches do not know they are putting pressure on you and talking to them and letting them know will get them to stop. You also put pressure on yourself to perform. The website advises that you let it push you to perform better. Their next tip is to know the symptoms of pressure. If you can recognize the pressure, you can start to deal with it. The first step is knowing it’s there. Their next tip is to use the pressure in your training. Knowing you have a big game coming up can push you to work harder to get ready. This can be really good for you but it could also spell disaster if you overdo it. You have to make sure you are using the other methods of dealing with pressure, not just training. So many athletes have gotten hurt from pushing themselves too far while getting ready for a big game. Their last tip was to make a checklist. If you have a specific process that works for you, it is best that you write it down and follow it. Pressure could make us do some things that could harm our chances of success, having a checklist can keep you from doing something out of the ordinary.


Medication or Psychotherapy? Why Not Both?

--Original published at Ashley's Psyche

Although collectively many sources believe that the most effective way to treat a mental health condition is to use both medication and psychotherapy, a comparison of the argument of which is better shows a slight preference for psychotherapy over medication.

Those who support psychotherapy as treatment for a mental health condition suggest that the strengths of psychotherapy lie in its long-lasting results and variety of different treatments based off of the brain. Psychotherapy is able to have long-lasting effects on a person as he or she is regularly being taught coping skills that can be utilized outside of therapy sessions to help treat his or her mental conditions (Andersson). By teaching these coping skills, the person is learning how to identify the problem causing discomfort in his or her life and can take positive action in fixing those problems, replacing negative thoughts and influences in the process. This can also help in the case of a mental health condition getting better, but then worsening in the future, as the person will already have the knowledge and skill in improving their mental health to help solve the issue again (Andersson).

As well, another specific strength supports of psychotherapy suggest is that of variety. As psychotherapy focuses on different aspects of the brain that can be utilized to dig out problems and resolve them, it is suggested that psychotherapy therefore has more options and potential in solving mental health issues (American Psychiatric Association). What is suggested here is that people can save time from treatments that are ineffective with psychotherapy as their differing brain states can be more specifically tailored in s psychotherapy treatment than a medical treatment (American Psychiatric Association).

Supporters of psychotherapy are also quick to point out the many downsides to use medication as treatment for mental conditions. Psychotherapy is not considered to have any negative side effects and is not considered to be addictive, however many medications are (Andersson). In fact, many people fear taking medication as a solution to their mental condition due to a fear of reliance on the drug that the drug may change some aspect of their personality or identity (American Psychiatric Association). In a study where researchers did a meta–analysis of rates of treatment refusal and rates of drop out for psychotherapy and medication, the researchers found that out of the eight percent that refused treatment and the twenty-two percent that dropped out of treatment, the majority of those people were using medication and not psychotherapy (American Psychiatric Association).

However, this does not mean that medication as treatment for mental health conditions does not also have support. Many supporters of medication over psychotherapy suggest that the strengths of medication lie in its quicker, short term resolution of the problem and its tendency to cost less than psychotherapy. In regards to medication being a quicker and more short-term resolution to mental health conditions, this can be seen as a positive as some conditions may have severe symptoms that need to be dealt with immediately to ensure the safety of the person (Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies).

Similarly, medication that is often prescribed as treatment for mental health conditions is seen as less expensive. Not only is the medication prescribed once, meaning a person pays once instead of multiple times, such as for sessions in psychotherapy, but often times a person’s insurance will cover the cost of the medication while a person’s insurance may only cover a limited amount or none of psychotherapy (“Psychotherapy or Medication”). If the treatment is more affordable, this may affect the person’s willingness to stay with the treatment and how he or she perceives the treatment is going.

As for the reliability for these sources, I would say that they are fairly reliable as the Center for Treatment of Anxiety and Mood Disorders, the American Psychiatric Association, the World Psychiatric Association, and the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies are all official psychological organizations. The most reliable source can be considered the source from the World Psychiatric Association as that journal was included in the U.S. National Library of Medicine and was the only source that included their randomized sample, measurement process, and experimental process and design in order to ensure that the information they said could be generalized and reliable.

Yet, this is not to say that my opinions on medication and psychotherapy have changed. Although a comparison of support for psychotherapy and a support for medication shows that psychotherapy has slightly more support due to the downsides of medication, I still believe that the use of both is most effective in improving mental health conditions. Each mental health condition is unique; therefore some situations may cause for temporary medication to be used in order to effective act out psychotherapy, or vice versa. All options should be kept open, as long as the overall mental health conditions of individuals in the world are improving.

 

References:

American Psychiatric Association. “Treating Depression – Psychotherapy or Medication?” American Psychiatric Association, American Psychiatric Association, 17 Apr. 2017, http://www.psychiatry.org/news-room/apa-blogs/apa-blog/2017/04/treating-depression-psychotherapy-or-medication.

Andersson, Gerhard, Beekman, Aartjan T., Cuijpers, Pim, Koole, Sander L., Reynold, Charles F., Sijbrandij, Marit. “The Efficacy of Psychotherapy and Pharmacotherapy in Treating Depressive and Anxiety Disorders: a Meta-Analysis of Direct Comparisons.” U.S. National Library of Medicine, Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 4 June 2013, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3683266/.

Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies. “Treament Opitions: CBT Or Medication?” Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies, http://www.abct.org/Help/?m=mFindHelp&fa=CBT_Or_Medication.

“Psychotherapy or Medication – Which Should You Choose?” The Center for Treatment of Anxiety and Mood Disorders, The Center for Treatment of Anxiety and Mood Disorders, 6 Apr. 2017, http://www.centerforanxietydisorders.com/choose-psychotherapy-medication/.