Movie review: Inside out (2015) - meet the little voices inside your head

Movie Review: Inside out (2015)
11 year old Riley has a lot going on for her, she is moving to a new town, leaving behind her friends, her sports team, and her school. There are little voices inside of Riley's head- the feelings, the memories, and the core memories.

And "joy" is busy inside her keeping her happy. Of course fear, disgust, sadness, and anger have been keeping "joy" company as Riley has been growing up, but her emotions have been fairly simple to date. That is until "sadness" plays out of turn and both "sadness" and "joy" go missing from her control centre in the brain. The movie takes the audience of adventure between childhood and adolescence, and we finally realise that happiness/joy can't dominate our life, and sadness or even more complex emotions can be quite useful for us.

Sometimes we have to let go of being happy all the time, because other emotions have their place too.

My psychological perspective:

As a therapist, this movie is a fantastic resource. It's a great way to introduce the topic of emotions to children and adolescents, it is also a useful way to begin conversations about cognitive processes.

From an emotional intelligence perspective, the movie brings out the development of different emotional expression. The movie is surprisingly accurate at a gross level. Children do have more simple emotions that are quick to change and predictable. As children bridge the gap to adolescence, there is a hypothesised "storm and norm" period, and this movie was able to capture this adventurous journey to creating a new control centre of the brain.

The movie also captures interesting cognitive processes of short term memory, long term memory and even personality development due to core memories. I thought it was quite clever in it's execution.

Topics to talk to your kids about
Feelings, sadness, joy, fear, growing up

My Christian Perspective:

From my Christian perspective, I think it is also an opportunity to talk about bullying. Sometimes, no most of the time it feels good just to have positive affect. And we do things that provide us with immediate pleasure. However, we are called to set our eyes on longer term things, even if this results in shorter term disappointments. 

My overall rating: 

Superior
This is a fantastic resource or was an extremely great use of time.

This is a great resource for therapists and parents of children and adolescents. I strongly recommend seeing this movie this school holidays and getting a copy when the movie comes out on DVD. I will surely be referring to it in session with my clients. 

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Movie review: Cinderella (2015)

 

Movie Review: Cinderella (2015)

Once you get over the fact Ella's eyebrows don't match her hair colour, you will be mesmerised by the beauty of the movie. It's true to the classic, which in modern times is a brave move by Disney.

Ella stays in the household of her stepmother and two stepsisters. She slowly becomes subject to their bullying and becomes servant-like in the household while upholding her mother's final words- to have courage and be kind. It's these morals which leads her to finding her true love.

My psychological perspective:

Finally, kids get to see the kind of morals I was bought up with. Good outshines evil.

For the first time, I was able to empathise with the step-mother. Is she truly evil? Or has she been psychologically damaged by grief for her first husband, and the lack of love she perceives from her second husband? Cate B does a great job in the subtly in her eyes to show this pain. And slowly, this pain turns into something more bitter and revengeful.

Topics to talk to your kids about
Love, forgiveness, courage, kindness, step-families

My Christian Perspective:

It's hard to have courage and be kind. In spite of suffering, be able to offer kindness. It is certainly easy to be nice to a stranger once off. It's much harder to be kind to someone who doesn't treat you nicely day in and out. There is some lessons that children can learn about kinds from this movie- kindness to animals, strangers and most importantly those who don't treat you well. After all, God asks us to be both courageous and kind in bible. 

My overall rating: 

Good
This resource maybe useful and maybe a decent use of time.

I love a disney family movie. This is one to keep on the dvd shelf, it's one adults will enjoy watching with their kids whilst laughing at the undertones within the film. 

It's now available to buy on DVD and blu-ray on amazon.com and all good retailers. 

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Book review: The Little Black Book of Neuropsychology: A Syndrome-Based Approach(2011)

Book review: The Little Black Book of Neuropsychology: A Syndrome-Based Approach(2011)

I have taken a little of a break from my reviewing, who can blame me having submitted my PhD and about to pick up a new locum position. And review season is now in full swing. So over the next few weeks, I will be catching up on reviewing all the peer reviewed journal articles and texts.

This is a really good text to get me back into the game. Having done a fair few neuropsychology assessments in the last month, I can appreciate a good resource when I see one. Instead of digging into the numerous powerpoint presentations, different textbooks and different notebooks, this text has allowed me to get a really good comprehensive source reference when preparing for assessments and during the write up. It was also a very good refresher for main neuropsychological concepts.

The structure of the text itself lends itself to be useful. While the text itself is somewhat wordy and dry, the quick call out boxes gives all the information I need at a quick glance. If I was still in graduate school, it would be a text that I would be madely highlighting, and these highlights would come to great use just about now. It will definitely be a text I would recommend to my students.

My psychological perspective

The text is well organised and I can imagine myself seeing a particular client, then having a flick through the text to identify key things I would need to test for, just in case I've forgotten. There are bits and pieces that I will keep well "tabbed" including the list of common abbreviations, specific tests that I can use in bedside assessments, and brief recommendations.

I like the focus on facts and practical examples. As a visual person, I liked the inclusion of diagrams, though I believe coloured diagrams would have really added to the overall understanding of the concepts.

My Christian perspective

Observing and describing strengths and weaknesses in cognitive functioning is great. At this clinical level, I find it really hard to have any grey areas in terms of impact on my Christian worldview. Of course ethical issues will arise from the use of the information in reports and so on, but it's not really worth discussing here.

My overall rating: 

Excellent
This is a very useful resource or a decent use of time. 

This is another great quick reference guide to have on my bookshelf at work- yes it's getting quite large now, but I will definitely be referring back to this text every now and then. Especially, if I'm getting the Tip of the Tongue syndrome. I would highly recommend this text for any graduate student studying neuropsychology or any medical student studying neuro.

  This book is available from Springer, Amazon and other online retailers.

I was provided with a review copy of this book but was not otherwise influenced in my review. 

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Book review: Mindful Parenting (2014)

Book review: Mindful Parenting (2014)

I think I am in the same minds as the publisher, I am truly grateful that Mindful Parenting is finally published in it's current form. I have been training parents in evidence based family behavioural interventions and mindfulness based parenting (PuP) for a number of years, but there was a gap in our understanding of the scientific basis of such approaches.

  It is an easy to read text including an 8 week Mindfulness Parenting course!

My psychological perspective

This text is spot on. It doesn't matter how many skills we provide parents, if they are unable to apply these skills because of emotional stress. And reading through the text, I felt like I was going on a journey with the authors into the development and refinement of the Mindfulness Parenting Course: an 8 week courses detailed in the book complete with handouts. The preliminary evidence shows that it works. Obviously more research is needed, but this is an exciting step.

The Mindfulness Parenting Course is not presented as a mechanical program, but written in such a way as to give insight into the processes of the evolving group program. I love how the authors include the reactions they normally get from parents. It's almost as if I was there with them in the room. And I can definitely picture myself running said group. They also provide a bunch of resources (permission to replicate included :D) to use if one decides to run the program. My critiques of the program.  I really like how the authors have attempted to scientifically study the effectiveness of this program. I like that there is a balance of experience as well as knowledge imparted in the program. I like the encouragement of homework tasks to practice the skills. And I like on follow up, parents continued to improve beyond the program. One of my critques of the program in private practice is that it is a long program, which won't be as big of an issue in the public sector. And personally, I would prefer a greater emphasis on parenting techniques which combine well with the mindfulness based approach, but this wasn't a positive parenting program, it was a mindfulness based parenting program.

I would recommend this book to those who have already been exposed to evidence-based mindfulness approaches, and those interesting in enhancing their parenting skills.

My Christian perspective

Mindfulness parenting just makes sense. We were created differently to animals, and traditional behavioural approaches uses the same strategies to train dogs. Well, it works, kind of, at least in principle it works, and for most parents it does. But it's missing something. And I think Mindfulness Parenting fills that gap well.

My overall rating: 

Superior
This is a fantastic resource or was an extremely great use of time.

 I do rarely give out a superior rating for my reviews. But this book definitely deserves one. This is one of the resources used in developing the Raising Tweens and Teens group in my clinic later this year. This is not really an academic text, but targets those who are already practicing mindfulness. I will be sharing this resource with my psychology students and with some of the parents I am working with.

I guess my interest also stems from parents asking me for an alternative to what is available on the market. And it's still evolving. A lot of my clients are parents struggling with the behaviours of their children (ADHD, challenging behaviours from ASD, self harm, substance use, aggression). This text definitely is one step in the right direction.

Please stay tuned for a new program called: Raising Tweens and Teens: Positive and mindful parenting which I will be running late 2014. It combines Mindfulness Parenting with Family Behavioural Intervention. It is a five session program with ongoing follow up sessions every 6 months as needed. For more information, please contact the clinic or visit www.couragepsyc.com.au/groups.

  This book is available from Springer, Amazon and other online retailers.

I was provided with a review copy of this book but was not otherwise influenced in my review. 

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Book review: Positive Psychology (2013)

Book review: Positive Psychology: Advances in understanding adult motivation (2013)

I was really excited to see this text being published. It's a useful first and second look at Positive Psychology. Not light reading, but clearly useful for those interested in positive psychology.

My psychological perspective

Having been trained in traditional psychology perspectives, I have noticed that the focus on treatment is usually based on the past and based on deficits. But I have noticed that when I include and focus on positive psychology, my clients start showing more resilience, hope and courage. And this really resounds with me.  

I was hooked into the book when it was talking about calling. Particularly reviewing findings where parental calling increases child wellbeing. Bam. This is what I've been noticing all along. And what I have personally found is that the concepts of positive psychology fit better for some clients than the traditional CBT approach. Obviously though, there needs to be more trials in this area.

An interestingly, the text looks at the constructs in positive psychology that aren't easy measured including flow (how do you measure how an individual is completely engrossed in activities that they enjoy?).

My Christian perspective

Positive psychology really resounds with the focuses in the Christian faith. Think purpose driven life by Rick Warren. We are built with a purpose. And when you find said focus, it should empower and drive you. It was interesting to read about the matches between psychology and the christian faith in Chapter 1. This is a relatively uncommon stance as some theorist have openly claimed that psychology conflicts with the Christian perspective. And what is more interesting is that the positive psychology movement to date has been close associated with other world religions.

My overall rating: 

Excellent
This is a very useful resource or a decent use of time. 

This is mostly an academic text, and is a bit too dense for general reading and there are far too many references listed. If you are looking at an easy to read pop psychology book, look elsewhere. But as an academic, I found it an exciting addition to my bookshelf and definitely one I will share with my psychology students.

Please stay tuned for a new program called: Raising Tweens and Teens: Positive and mindful parenting which I will be running late 2014. For more information, please contact the clinic.

  This book is available from Springer, Amazon and other online retailers.

I was provided with a review copy of this book but was not otherwise influenced in my review. 

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Book review: Evidence-Based Interventions for Children with Challenging Behavior (2014)

Book review: Evidence-Based Interventions for Children with Challenging Behavior (2014)

This text is written in really simple language, and balances the practical needs of practitioners with evidence-based intervention techniques. For college students, this text provides a great overview of a range of childhood disorders- highly recommended for child development courses. And not only that, it will provide parents with some key tips on how to manage a range of childhood emotions and challenging behaviours.


My psychological perspective:
Challenging behaviours in children and adolescence is one of my special interest areas in psychological practice. I found this text particularly useful as a quick reference guide (quick incidence rates, guidelines and evidence based treatment approaches for common disorders).  Childhood disorders are more common than we think, and the number of parents seeking help for these problems are disproportionate to the incidence of such problems.

There are snipits based on different evidence-based interventions giving practitioners, funding bodies and parents a good idea about what is involved and the effectiveness of such programs. I can only judge the accuracy of approaches that I've been trained in, but the presenting information about Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Triple P Positive Parenting Program, . The descriptions are brief but do give an insight into what the programs involve. As opposed to other training manual, this text is quite practical and even provides details of how to get trained in these approaches. The benefit of presenting all these evidence based approaches is really because there isn't a one size fit all approach. There are a few evidence based programs not available in Australia which has shown promise.

Finally, the book presents some core strategies. Although I have found that these strategies can be applied better with practitioner support, through role plays and active problem solving, the strategies presented here give parents a great idea of how to start using the strategies of time out, modelling, problem analysis, progress monitoring, etc.  (Not so useful was the large number of pages dedicated to showing you how to graph in excel, this is not a computing text after all and many practitioners I know are actually mac uses). Nevertheless, the book has inspired me to write a few more case studies. What I think the text does lack is a focus on third wave CBT interventions, which deals with empowering parents to be mindful while appling strategies.

If you are a parent of a child suffering from challenging behaviours, please give my clinic a call, and I will be happy to meet with you to discuss your concerns. The clinic in located on the Gold Coast.

If you are a psychology university student on the Gold Coast, and would like to work shadow me in delivering Triple P, please contact me.

My Christian perspective: 
I would not discount the potential of children.  I have seen how these interventions have worked. Based on some of the theories presented in this book, I have seen children develop into leaders, and become really helpful around the household. But there is something missing in this text. From my Christian perspective, I have to note that physical, and emotional development are useful, but so is spiritual development. I would still encourage clinicans and parents to investigate the options listed in the book and also adapt these to include a focus on moral development and spiritual growth.

My overall rating: 

Excellent
This is a very useful resource or a decent use of time. 

 

Really very useful for clinicians and college students. A great resource to keep on the bookshelf as a quick reference guide.

This book is available from Springer, Amazon and other online retailers.

I was provided with a review copy of this book but was not otherwise influenced in my review.

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Book review: Angels (2013) Alexis York Lumbard

Book review: Angels (2013) by Alexis York Lumbard

This is a beautiful little picture book.

My psychological perspective

I love simple picture books that speaks beyond it's simple words. It's not so much about angels as about "differentness". Kids themselves, through this book can start to understand that they are unique in how they look and what that like, and that's all great. 

Things to talk to your children about: uniqueness, selfesteem, body image.

My Christian perspective

I am well aware that angels that are presented in this book differ to how angels are represented in the bible.  And when children are older, it will be important to draw this distinction.

My overall rating: 

Excellent
This is a very useful resource or a decent use of time.

It's a great little book to have around. To remind kids that they are unique, and it doesn't make them better or worse than others. Probably aimed more at little girls than little boys.

Available on Amazon. If this was a gift, I would probably splurge for a handcover copy.

I was provided with a review copy of this book, but it did not influence my review opinions.

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