Here’s a great video of Derek Sivers to help challenge our perspectives and make us think.

(Find the chart above and commentary on it at StoptheDrugWar.org.)

When observing the American political scene or listening to pundits on cable news it becomes clear that we are a nation of adult children who love to complain. We don’t want government intruding in our lives, taking our money, or telling us what to do. The term “socialist” is used without having any real understanding of what it in fact it means to live in a socialist country. In working with individuals, children and families who find themselves at-risk and in need of help what bothers us most is how people railing against government look to it for assistance when they find themselves in need. Our safety, ability to move, be taught, rise up, healed and comforted are all linked to some type of intervention from local, state and federal government agencies. Police officers, firefighters, nurses, doctors, teachers, mental health professionals, social workers, public transportation employees and public health officials are just some of the examples of our government in action for us. Read more…

Psychcentral has a post worth checking out that dispels the myth that incidents of domestic violence are the highest on Super Bowl Sunday titled “Super Bowl Sunday, Domestic Violence & Your Health.”

Research Digest Blog has an excellent post titled “CBT-based self-help books can do more harm than good.” We do focus on the value of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for those in need of certain types of help. We also get asked about suggestions for self help books and are given many recommendations. My response is to be mostly reluctant about giving self help book suggestions or taking recommendations. Read more…

Here is a fantastic presentation by Seth Godin on tribes, who we are, what we do, and how “we are living through a key moment in the way ideas are being created, spread and implemented,” which are all central themes of this blog and our work.

The Economist has an article titled “That way, madness lies: A new manual for diagnosing diseases of the psyche is about to be unveiled,” about the 2013 release of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) next revision of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V). On Feb. 10 the APA plans to release a draft of the DSM-V. According to many critics, this process of revising the manual has been cloaked in secrecy and surrounded by uncertainty regarding the direction this manual and the diagnostic process will take. It doesn’t help that the effort to revise the manual has taken over ten years now, with three years to go before its intended publication. We have commented on the DSM and its hold on our culture in previous posts. Read more…

We just watched the fantastic HBO film on Temple Grandin. She is a hero and teacher of ours. We need her voice now more then ever.

The Pew Internet has a poll about Social Media and Young Adults that is worth checking out. Here is an excerpt:

Both teen and adult use of social networking sites has risen significantly, yet there are shifts and some drops in the proportion of teens using several social networking site features.

• 73% of wired American teens now use social networking websites, a significant increase from previous surveys. Just over half of online teens (55%) used social networking sites in November 2006 and 65% did so in February 2008.

• As the teen social networking population has increased, the popularity of some sites’ features has shifted. Compared with SNS activity in February 2008, a smaller proportion of teens in mid-2009 were sending daily messages to friends via SNS, or sending bulletins, group messages or private messages on the sites.

• 47% of online adults use social networking sites, up from 37% in November 2008.

• Young adults act much like teens in their tendency to use these sites. Fully 72% of online 18-29 year olds use social networking websites, nearly identical to the rate among teens, and significantly higher than the 40% of internet users ages 30 and up who use these sites.

• Adults are increasingly fragmenting their social networking experience as a majority of those who use social networking sites – 52% – say they have two or more different profiles. That is up from 42% who had multiple profiles in May 2008.

• Facebook is currently the most commonly-used online social network among adults. Among adult profile owners 73% have a profile on Facebook, 48% have a profile on MySpace and 14% have a LinkedIn profile.

• The specific sites on which young adults maintain their profiles are different from those used by older adults: Young profile owners are much more likely to maintain a profile on MySpace (66% of young profile owners do so, compared with just 36% of those thirty and older) but less likely to have a profile on the professionally-oriented LinkedIn (7% vs. 19%). In contrast, adult profile owners under thirty and those thirty and older are equally likely to maintain a profile on Facebook (71% of young profile owners do so, compared with 75% of older profile owners).

(Find the image above at the article from Power and Energy (pe) titled “Cordless electricity: is it the future?“)