Drinking in older adults
Dr Simon Adamson
The popular image of problem drinkers is, more often than not, a young person in town at 2am, or perhaps a middle aged person whose drinking may be in response to, and impacting on, family and work pressures.
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Ritual, Recovery and Guy Fawkes
Prue Fanselow-Brown
A community’s resilience may be defined as its capacity to withstand major trauma and loss, overcome adversity, and to prevail, usually with increased resources, competence and connectedness. After trauma the community and its members face challenges arising from major disruptions to life, stress, loss and grief, and ruptures in connectedness. This comes as no surprise to us Cantabrians.
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An identity lost: the social consequences of acquired brain injury
Dr Debbie Snell
An acquired brain injury (ABI) refers to any brain injury that occurs after birth and can result from an accident or something non-traumatic such as stroke or brain tumor. The Brain Injury Association of New Zealand reports that approximately 90 New Zealanders sustain a brain injury every day and it has been suggested that 6000 New Zealanders have a stroke each year.
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Earthquakes and Relationships
Alan Prosser
Christchurch and Canterbury have taken a beating over this past year, and the sentiment, “I’m just over it”, is frequently expressed by many. Because this natural disaster was not a one-off event, but multiple – and extended over a prolonged period of time – this can be very wearying to our neurochemical and psychological systems.
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Is Optimism helpful?
Dr Debbie Snell
“When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Is optimism helpful?
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The violent video game controversy
Craig Prince
Imagine the following scenario: Your character in the game Grand Theft Auto visits a prostitute and is ironically rewarded with “health points”, however, you lose “money” due to paying for the service. Thus, to recuperate your “money”, you kill the prostitute and take your money back. Does enacting this type of behaviour through a game carry any real life significance?
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Daily Pleasure
Dr Fran Vertue
A French journalist asked me last week why it was that Cantabrians are such an up-beat lot in the middle of the earthquake mess. The question prompted me to think about what makes us happy.
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How children feel when parents fight
Prue Fanselow-Brown
Children (of all ages) who experience frequent, intense and poorly resolved conflict and harshness between their parents suffer terribly. These children are also at risk for a number of negative psychological outcomes including depression, anxiety, aggression, hostility, and poor social skills.
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Alcohol and Drug Use in Movies
Dr Simon Adamson
How do we get information about things in life? Through direct experience, through education, and through observation. Whilst most of our observation is of things going on around us in everyday life, a lot of our observation is through the media – that is rather than observing “real life” we observe the lives of others in fiction and it’s estranged sibling “reality TV”.
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Free Earthquake Counselling
ONE STOP SHOCK SHOP
Earthquake Recovery Information Sheet
The essential list for everything recovery.
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