Looking at Sweet Faces Raises Mood and Decreases Blood Pressure

What a lovely way to start the Monday morning... Enjoy this cute face, make a wish, say a prayer, write down a Gratitude List, smile at ten people, wave at everyone at traffic lights, leave messages for people you appreciate, think about funny YouTube videos, kiss your spouse and any children who will allow it, sing a song, bop to the music in the car... These are all tools to lift your mood, boost the amount of seratonin and dopamine flowing through your bloodstream, lower your blood pressure, raise your galvanic skin response (now, THAT'S a great piece of news!) and contribute to your overall good health. 

Just a Parody About Mood Alteration Media (click me!)

"FDA Release:  New Medication for the Annoyingly Cheerful!"So, why does this remind me of the tale of "The Three Bears?" One mood is "too low" and the next mood is "too high"... and we just need to make ourselves feel "juuuuusssstt right!" If this weren't such a serious topic (psychopharmacology) it might be funny. I just reviewed the literature last month and came across a troubling statistic: Of the studies about the efficacy of antidepressants, there was a discrepancy (over a number of years) resulting in the following:

1. If the study's result was positive, it was published 94% of the time. 2. If the results were negative, it was published 14% of the time. This is scary to me... Not that I am against the judicious and prudent use of medication as a potential adjunct ... I just think that we need to inform the consumer public with a balanced approach and review of the literature...

My Work Space: The Intersection of Nursing, Law and Family Therapy

Welcome to my new blog. I intend to gather some useful sites and publications for you to use, conduct a few web-based research projects and generally create a tiny conversational bubble at the intersection of several different "planets." (Poor Pluto) My metaphorical "planets" are nursing, law and family therapy. I have to spend a little time on the background of how these places came together to create my work space. The story spans 32 years in 2 paragraphs. Feel free to skip it, too...

Starting out as a nursing student at UT Austin (Go, HORNS!), I became interested in the differences I started to see between who got better and who became a "frequent flyer" in the medical system, whether it be in the ICU or the psychiatric ward. Even in the ICU, I spent more time interacting with patients' families and helping sort out some of their tangles, often, as I tried to provide some continuity of care for our patients. 

Eventually, I went off into the community sector (wings!) and learned how scary it can be out there. If I was nervous about being outside the hospital setting, I can only imagine how frightening it must have felt for most of these vulnerable folks! Since most of my patients/clients were elderly, there were multiples of family dynamics (think giant kitty hairball!) to learn about and negotiate, every day. These patients and their family members were anxious to tell me their stories. I soon discovered that if I wanted them to let me in their home, check their incision, their blood pressure, their IV, their bandages, their lungs... I needed to listen, listen and listen...