Thanks for all the submissions we’ve gotten. We’ll see how this works out. I’m in the process of setting up a TTLB Community for us and will let you know when that goes live as well.

Since I’m a relative newcomer to the psychosphere (as Dr. Sanity calls it) and because I’m the guy who started the carnival, I’m putting my post first. It’s called the Problem With Psych and details how psych has failed to incorporate lessons and knowledge from a variety of related fields including animal behavior, evolutionary biology, and neurobiology. Basically if you read that post, you’ll never have to read another psych post of mine, ever again.

Transmuted Internalizations brings us a truly excellent post on the over-medicalization of normal variations in mood and personality, noting that doctors treat minor and major depression with medication at the same rates. This resonates pretty deeply with me, being a future psychiatrist who is committed to the axiom of ‘therapy before pharmacology’. I’ll end my rant here and give you a teaser:

Maybe it is a misuse of resources for patients with sub/non-clinical sadness to visit a primary care doctor to have their concerns addressed, but how would they know where else to go? Primary care physicians may be exacerbating patients’ problems by “treating” normality and introducing people to potentially very problematic side effects.

GM Roper reminds us that even the most gravely ill among us can enjoy life, and by doing so, live longer in his post about the joy of living and cancer.

Dare To Dream takes pseudo-scientific anti-depressant naysayers to task in Science And Mass Media Don’t Mix Well. He takes a *cough* slightly different position on antidepressants than I do, but unlike Dr. Peter Breggin, who he thoroughly fisks, I hope that I’m at least a fairly scientific naysayer. Anyway, he discusses a variety of topics including how anti-depressants, clinical trials, and therapy work. Good read.

Pie-Bolar brings a refreshingly frank and open discussion of how depression affects her capacity to care. Another excellent read, especially for those of us (like myself) who want to work in mental health but have never experienced being a patient.

Health-Psych provides an overview of Cinema as Therapy that even includes some helpful guidelines for choosing your next couch session. The Ancient Greeks recognized the power of theater to aid in psychological relief when they coined the term catharsis. And I think everyone has a movie or two that they routinely watch when they’re in a funk. Check it out:

Movies can also be used to facilitate discussion about areas that people might find difficult. “Because cinemagoers watch films from a third person perspective, their defences are often down and the film acts as a springboard to self-discovery,” says Barry Wooder, a UK based psychotherapist and pioneer of film therapy.

From Dr. Sanity comes a typically philosophical and intellectual discourse on narcissism, from how an individual becomes that way to the kind of effect he can have on society.

The second type problem for society at large is an evil that is far more subtle, but even more destructive; and it originates from the idealized object developmental line . Individuals with this particular narcissistic defect (as likewise described for the grandiose self) also do not see other people as separate individuals; and instead see them only as fodder for the expression of an IDEAL or as pawns for an Omnipotent Object (e.g., a dictator).

Assistant Village Idiot blogs about the horrors of political indoctrination classes–I mean ‘Diversity Training‘:

There are bigotry buttons you can press all day in the psych biz, and no one will raise a brow. Some kinds of diversity are not to be celebrated, and no one creates animations with wombats and cute kids to make sure you’re treated well.

It saddens, sickens, and outrages me that this kind of stuff goes on. It’s actually one of the reasons I decided to go into psych (along with over-medication). We shouldn’t be imparting our cultural and political biases on to others, especially when they have little or no basis.

Dr. Deborah Serani brings us (well for the females anyway) a fun post on the psychology of shopping. I don’t go shopping unless i have to, or unless I need to waste money on books or firearms, so I can’t add much personal commentary here.

Radical Hop brings us two posts: First a mathematical equation for satisfaction and how to improve yours. And second a post on How To Cure Your Unhappiness. Very buddhist in its discussion of delusion and attachment. Being a buddhist, I enjoyed it.

From Jon Swift comes a tongue in cheek post about Conservative Fatigue Syndrome.

And from The Skwib comes another lighthearted post about a blogger’s shift from musing about things to pondering them.

With that I’m going to beg, beseech, and otherwise cajole you into offerring submissions for the next edition on June 15th. Homepage and submission guidelines.