We’ve encouraged subscribers to develop a Website, and have noted that a blog can be an important part of that site. But what to write about?
One answer is to come up with timely posts—tied to the news of the day. A hot topic not only helps you write something meaningful, it brings more attention to your blog and Website from readers using search engines to find articles about a current issue.
Here’s a great example: A California psychologist wrote a lengthy piece on his blog recently about Joseph Andrew Stack, who flew his plane into an IRS building in Austin, TX on February 18.
Paul Mattiuzzi asks the question: “Was he crazy?” And then he goes on to answer the question—and others—in a way that lay readers can easily understand.
Mattiuzzi bases his assessment on a Web post Stack himself wrote “explaining” why he did what he did. It was a “manifesto” that got a lot of news media attention, so Mattiuzzi’s piece could not have been more timely.
“What you see in his writing is that he was a self-righteous, grandiose, resentful and narcissistic individual who tends to externalize blame and responsibility for his shortcomings and failures,” Mattiuzzi wrote. “We also see that he was striving for power and omnipotence in the face of his fundamental human inadequacy.”
Although not every post has to be as in-depth as this one, the piece is a good example of how to make the most out of your blog and Website. Check it out by clicking on the link, above.
A draft version of the new DSM-5 has been released by the American Psychiatric Association. And yes, it is “5” and not “V” as the roman numerals have apparently been dropped.
“These draft criteria represent a decade of work by the APA in reviewing and revising DSM,” APA President Alan Schatzberg, said in a news release posted February 10. “But it is important to note that DSM-5 is still very much a work in progress – and these proposed revisions are by no means final.”
Among the proposed changes:
- Creation of a new category of behavioral addictions. Gambling is currently the only disorder listed, but the new category opens the door to other more controversial issues such as Internet addiction. Work group members decided there was insufficient research data to include it now, but plan to mention it in the manual’s appendix to encourage additional study.
- A single diagnostic category for autism spectrum disorders, including Asperger’s disorder.
- Elimination of the term “mental retardation.” It will be renamed “intellectual disability.”
- Dropping the categories of substance abuse and dependence and replacing them with the new category, “Addiction and related disorders.”
- New recognition of “binge eating disorder” along with criteria for anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.
- New suicide scales to help clinicians identify those individuals most at risk in order to enhance intervention. Criteria include impulsive behavior and heavy drinking in teens.
The final DSM-5 is scheduled to be published in May, 2013. For detailed information on the proposed changes, click here to find the DSM-5 Web site.