July 9, 2009
Newsmakers
BORDERLINE BLUES: The New York Times visited the topic of borderline personality disorder in a recent article, and quoted UW Psychology Professor Marsha Linehan. “Some children need more than others in learning to regulate their emotions,” said Linehan, whose cognitive therapy has proved effective on the disorder (which is misnamed as being at the “border” between neurosis and psychosis when experts say it has nothing to do with either condition). “These kids require a lot of effort to keep themselves emotionally regulated. They do best with stability. If the family situation is chaotic or the family is very uptight, teaching children to grin and bear it, that tough kids don’t cry, these children will have a lot of trouble.”
GRANT TSUNAMI: The lure of grants from the $10.4 billion economic stimulus plan has researchers applying at unprecedented rates, according to a story on Naturenews.com that characterized the National Institutes of Health as “groaning under the weight” of all the grant applications. The story quoted Mary-Claire King, UW professor of medical genetics and genome sciences. “The sponsored-projects offices have been flooded by the number of grants going in. That flood is now becoming a tsunami,” King said, adding, “They need an early-warning system.”
HOME CHORES: John Gottman is no stranger to mentions in the press, but maybe not so often in an advice column. Still, when Washington Post style writer Carolyn Hax wrote about the sharing of chores among domestic partners, many readers replied with comments. One, “Husband Helping Out,” suggested one of Gottman’s books to the columnist. “The fantastic book by John Gottman and Nan Silver, The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work, has a checklist of every single chore one could possibly think of, and asks two questions: Who does it now? And, Who should ideally do it? Each spouse fills out the questionnaire — it leads to great talks and certainly greater awareness.”
C-SECTIONS: The Los Angeles Times discussed the upward trend of Caesarean births in a recent story under the headline “More C-sections, more problems.” It’s the most common operation in the U.S., and is now performed in 31 percent of all births, up from 4.5 percent in 1965. “We’re going in the wrong direction,” said Roger Rosenblatt, UW professor of family medicine. He said maternity care “is a microcosm of the entire medical enterprise.”
‘CLEANING UP’: Andrea Kovalesky, associate professor of nursing at UW Bothell, published an entertaining piece about cleaning out her office — or trying to — in the Chronicle of Higher Education’s First Person column. It’s titled “Cleaning Up,” and ran with the subheadline “With summer comes the time for an associate professor to organize her office, and this time she really means it.” If you missed it, read it here: http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2009/06/2009060101c.htm.
