Holding my Breath – for anyone who wants to know the back story of substance abuse

While this book is not a traditional psychology textbook, it is of interest to relatives and loved ones of those with substance misuse problems. It also gives a personal insight for anyone working with the many people who suffer like this.  It would be a useful addition to a high school library. All proceeds go to the Open Road charity … Read More

Overlaps between cognition and health

There are several overlaps between the cognitive approach and the health option. For example, cognitive psychology can explain stress through the theory of cognitive appraisal: how we appraise our level of stress can affect the level that we experience. The theory of planned behaviour can explain addictive behaviours and the varying success of health promotion programmes, mainly through its concept … Read More

Planning your course effectively – the sociocultural approach and health

The sociocultural approach is increasingly used in health psychology, as it became obvious that not all disorders could be explained through a biological etiology.  For example, addiction can be caused and sustained through our position in social groups, and treated through the support of social networks. Pegg et al. (2018) conducted a survey that investigated social identity and alcohol use … Read More

Holiday Reading for all

Psychology teachers and students alike must by now either be on holiday, or be desperately looking forward to being on holiday.  Some lighter reading recommendations (with links to summaries or reviews) for those who just can’t get enough psychology are: Alexandra Horowitz – On Looking  – 12 stories of walking through a city with different experts (one being a dog!).This … Read More