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The task we must set for ourselves is not to feel secure, but to be able to tolerate insecurity. Erich Fromm |
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| Can you beat the blues online? |
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A Guardian journalist tries out an online tool for countering depression, and finds that the eight-week course can help sufferers identify flaws in thinking that can reinforce negative habits. The "Beating the Blues" program is an attempt by Britain's national health service to meet the growing demand for mental health treatment without spending a fortune on face-to-face therapy. Journalist Tim Lott was initially insulted by the idea that the "toxic black cloud" that occasionally wrecked his rational thought processes could be solved online. But while he says it is "no substitute for a real face-to-face session with a counsellor", in the absence of the necessary resources, it's "not an entirely worthless stab at countering an intractable problem". The Australian National University's Centre for Mental Health Research has reported favourable results from its online MoodGYM program, released five years ago. And now German researchers have developed another computer-based program, Deprexis, that has shown positive effects, although "as with virtually all online interventions, the drop-out rate was enormous". According to US psychologist Dr John M. Grohol, a pioneer in online mental health and self-help, the German findings raise some interesting questions about why most people simply don't "stick with the program" when left to their own devices.
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