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AADT's Session Wrap-Up
> 8/6/2007 11:34:44 AM

Last week, we covered some pretty somber stories. We discussed the news that military deployment raises the risk of child abuse, that genes can predispose some people to be haunted by traumatic memories, and that hostile people bring physiological damage on themselves in addition to inflicted emotional damage on others. Here are a few lighter stories that we didn't get a chance to fully cover.

Psychologists Replacing Coaches- Rising numbers of parents are sending their children to therapy in order to boost their athletic performance. Sports psychologists can help young athletes get over fears or deal with defeats, but some psychologists caution that putting too much pressure on youths can cause problems. It is too much to expect that a child will focus on one sport with the discipline of a professional athlete?

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Helps Dieters- Judith Beck shares in an interview that the CBT diet technique, outlined in her book The Beck Diet Solution, has demonstrated success in a small pilot program she is running. Her claims are supported by an unrelated randomized clinical trial that reported that after 10 weeks the group receiving CBT lost 17 pounds compared to the control group, which actually gained weight.

Silence Provokes Greatest Brain Activity- All 18 participants in a study showed that the most neuron activation occured during the breaks between parts of a symphony. This suggests that silence is not a period of total relaxation or boredom but rather a time for the brain to do some serious work. The head researcher puts forth the idea that pauses are used to parse events into distinct segments with a beginning and end so that they can be organized and better understood.

New Comprehensive Brain Imaging Technology- Researchers at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital programmed software to combine many different imaging technologies. Putting together images from MRI, fMRI, and DTI creates a more complete picture of a patient's brain and should make it much easier for doctors to visualize problems.

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