Resources

Useful Links

Pathways to Achievement
Provides personal and professional development, psychotherapy, counselling, life coaching, sports psychology, groups, mediation and non-directive pregnancy support counselling.

Amen Clinics
Specialists in SPECT Brain Imaging Scans and the management of Attention Deficits Disorders.

Zengar Institute Inc.
Zengar’s NeuroCARE program is the most advanced neurofeedback technology available today.

Centrepoint Audiotechnology
Centrepoint’s Holosync audio technology can easily and effortlessly place you in the electrical brain wave patterns of deep meditation.

VibeWatch
A real time, continuous display biofeedback monitor.

Low Dose Naltrexone
FDA-approved naltrexone, in a low dose, can boost the immune system, helping those with cancer, autoimmune diseases, and central nervous system disorders.

Stress Reduction Basics
The Most Complete Stress Reduction Guide Available Online


E-Library

E-Books

Journal Articles

Dyer, J. (2007). How does spirituality affect physical health? Holistic Nursing Practice, 21(6), 324–328.
Dyer, J., & Beck, N. (2007). Psychocardiology: Advancing the assessment and treatment of heart patients. Electronic Journal of Applied Psychology, 3(2), 3-12.

Australian Healthcare Information Sheets

Medicare GP Mental Health Care items
Rebates for Psychologists and Other Allied Mental Health Professionals

Glossary
www.medterms.com

Addiction: A chronic relapsing condition characterized by compulsive drug-seeking and abuse and by long-lasting chemical changes in the brain. Addiction is the same irrespective of whether the drug is alcohol, amphetamines, cocaine, heroin, marijuana, or nicotine. Every addictive substance induces pleasant states or relieves distress. Continued use of the addictive substance induces adaptive changes in the brain that lead to tolerance, physical dependence, uncontrollable craving and, all too often, relapse. Dependence is at such a point that stopping is very difficult and causes severe physical and mental reactions from withdrawal. The risk of addiction is in part inherited. Genetic factors, for example, account for about 40% of the risk of alcoholism. The genetic factors predisposing to addiction are not yet fully understood.

Noradrenaline: A neurohormone and neurotransmitter of the sympathetic nervous system.
 
ADD (attention deficit disorder): An inability to control behavior due to difficulty in processing neural stimuli.

Biofeedback: A method of treatment that uses monitors to feed back to patients physiological information of which they are normally unaware. By watching the monitor, patients can learn by trial and error to adjust their thinking and other mental processes in order to control "involuntary" bodily processes such as blood pressure, temperature, gastrointestinal functioning, and brain wave activity. Biofeedback is now used to treat a very wide variety of conditions and diseases ranging from stress, alcohol and other addictions, sleep disorders, epilepsy, respiratory problems, and fecal and urinary incontinence to muscle spasms, partial paralysis, or muscle dysfunction caused by injury, migraine headaches, hypertension, and a variety of vascular disorders, including Raynaud's phenomenon.

Dopamine: An important neurotransmitter (messenger) in the brain. Dopamine is classified as a catecholamine (a class of molecules that serve as neurotransmitters and hormones). It is a monoamine (a compound containing nitrogen formed from ammonia by replacement of one or more of the hydrogen atoms by hydrocarbon radicals). Dopamine is a precursor (forerunner) of adrenaline and a closely related molecule, noradrenaline. Dopamine is formed by the decarboxylation (removal of a carboxyl group) from dopa.

Endorphin: One of the body's own painkillers, an opioid (morphine-like) chemical produced by the body that serves to suppress pain. Endorphins are manufactured in the brain, spinal cord, and many other parts of the body. They are released in response to neurotransmitters and bind to certain neuron receptors (the same ones that bind opiate medicines). Endorphins act as analgesics (diminishing the perception of pain) and as sedatives. Chemically, endorphins are peptides (amino acid chains that are shorter than proteins) and they are rapidly inactivated by enzymes called peptidases.

Neurotransmitter: A chemical that is released from a nerve cell which thereby transmits an impulse from a nerve cell to another nerve, muscle, organ, or other tissue. A neurotransmitter is a messenger of neurologic information from one cell to another.

Opiate: A medication or illegal drug that is either derived from the opium poppy, or that mimics the effect of an opiate (a synthetic opiate). Opiate drugs are narcotic sedatives that depress activity of the central nervous system, reduce pain, and induce sleep. Side effects may include oversedation, nausea, and constipation. Long- term use of opiates can produce addiction, and overuse can cause overdose and potentially death.

Serotonin: A hormone, also called 5-hydroxytryptamine, in the pineal gland, blood platelets, the digestive tract, and the brain. Serotonin acts both as a chemical messenger that transmits nerve signals between nerve cells and that causes blood vessels to narrow. Changes in the serotonin levels in the brain can alter the mood. For example, medications that affect the action of serotonin are used to treat depression.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor: A selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) is one of the commonly prescribed drugs for treating depression. SSRIs affect the chemicals that nerves in the brain use to send messages to one another. These chemical messengers, called neurotransmitters, are released by one nerve and taken up by other nerves. Neurotransmitters that are not taken up by other nerves are taken up by the same nerves that released them. This process is termed "reuptake." SSRIs work by inhibiting the reuptake of serotonin, an action which allows more serotonin to be available to be taken up by other nerves. The most commonly prescribed SSRIs as of 1999 were paroxetine (brandname Paxil), fluoxetine (brandname Prozac) and sertraline (brandname Zoloft).

All three of these SSRIs appear equally efficacious, according to a 1999 study. The rate of patients switching from one class of drugs to another did not differ among the drug classes studied and there was no significant difference in the proportion of patients who switched from an SSRI to another SSRI (or another type of antidepressant), regardless of whether paroxetine (Paxil), fluoxetine (Prozac) or sertraline (Zoloft) was the initial therapy. These three SSRIs therefore are "equivalent in their effectiveness" but they "...are not interchangeable, because patients who discontinue one SSRI for lack of tolerability or response can generally be treated effectively with another."

SPECT scan: Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography, a nuclear medicine procedure in which a gamma camera rotates around the patient and takes pictures from many angles, which a computer then uses to form a tomographic (cross-sectional) image. The calculation process in SPECT is similar to that in CT (X-ray computed tomography) and in PET (positron emission computed tomography).

Tranquilizer: In pharmacology, a drug that calms and relieves anxiety. The first tranquilizer, chlordiazepoxide hydrochloride (brand name: Librium) received FDA approval in 1960. Tranquillizers range in potency from mild to major, with increasing levels of drowsiness occurring as potency increases. They are prescribed for a wide variety of conditions, but are used primarily to treat anxiety and insomnia. Most tranquillizers are potentially addictive, particularly those in the benzodiazepine family.