Our spring talks are provided by Dr Randy Paterson, Director of Changeways Clinic. Our Spring 2010 program is below. Join us!

Tuesday March 23. Out of the Blue: The Nature and Treatment of Depression.

Think you don't know anyone with depression? You are almost certainly wrong. Within 5 years depression will be the leading cause of long-term disability claims (one indication suggests that it already is). A recent study indicates that 20% of BC women are prescribed antidepressants.

But what is depression, exactly? Is it overdiagnosed? How is it treated, and are these treatments effective?

At this talk you'll learn about: The signs and symptoms of depression. How clinicians distinguish true depression from the everyday blues. Overdiagnosis and overtreatment. Risk factors for depression. The controversy about "biochemical imbalances." Problems with a medication-only approach. Evidence-based nonpharmacological strategies. Self-directed coping strategies, including free resources available from the web.

We'll try to cut through the myths about depression and see the reality.

Like all PsychologySalon talks, this presentation is for everyone: those with depression, those treating it, policy makers, business leaders, and the general public.

Ticket orders here.

Tuesday April 27. Slippage: The Gap Between Perception and Reality.

Has anyone ever told you that you don't live in the real world? They were right: you don't. But neither do they.

Your boss frowns as she passes you in the hallway. How do you feel, and why? We instinctively feel that our emotions and actions are based on the events around us, but really our reactions are based on what we think is going on, not what is really happening. This entertaining presentation shows how our automatic thoughts (often outside awareness) help us out and trip us up.

You'll discover: How distortions affect us in everyday life. The barn window and farm gate metaphors for experience. Proof that thoughts can happen outside awareness. Why the rules we learn as children trip us up as adults. Some of the most common cognitive slip-ups. A strategy for finding your own automatic thoughts - and rethinking them.

Though based on the principles of cognitive therapy, this talk is designed to show how cognitive work can help all of us. It'll be fun, thought-provoking, and practical.

Ticket orders here.

Tuesday May 25. Achieving Your Vision: Goal Setting in Real Life.

What do you want? What would be doing if you took your life seriously?

Life is like a sailing trip. You want to enjoy the ride, but every now and then you have to look at the map and put your hand on the tiller. But how do we do it? We all set goals, but often we don't reach them. Or we feel overwhelmed by the amount of effort it will take to achieve them.

Fortunately, psychology has discovered some principles that help. This PsychologySalon evening covers: The critical distinction between Ultimate and Immediate Goals. Strategies for identifying your Ultimate Goals. How to specify your Immediate Goals so that they are achievable. The importance of balancing your goals across the realms of your life. Traps along the way, including reactions to success and to failure. Practical goal-setting tools to maintain your progress and improve your life.

Bring paper! We'll invite you to consider your own life goals, and to give you some inspiration we'll have a slideshow portraying goals others people have identified.

Ticket orders here.

Tuesday June 22. Failed Nations? Misery in Wealthy Societies.

Industrialized and post-industrial cultures consume more of the Earth's resources than ever, but the rate of depression and life dissatisfaction only seems to be increasing.

If we consider resource use as an investment and life satisfaction as the return, or payback, then we have to face the possibility that by at least this measure our culture has failed. How did this happen? How can we be wealthier than the kings of old, and still feel so miserable?

This talk identifies specific causes of dissatisfaction, depression, and distress in our culture, and provides 15 ways that individuals can work against these influences in their own lives.

Along the way, we'll consider: The decline of face-to-face social networks. How we made exercise inconvenient. The media as negative mental filter. Expectation, gratitude, and mood. The denial of the reality of illness, suffering, and death. How rejecting unpleasant emotions can make them more intense. The fact that no, we can't (and maybe shouldn't) have it all.

Though we take a broad societal view in this evening's talk, the intent is to provide clear and practical ideas at the level of the individual.

Ticket orders here.