February 2, 2011
Newsmakers
WEIRD WEATHER: The Science Friday radio program, broadcast on National Public Radio, discussed weather fluctuations caused by the polar vortex, a jet stream that has weakened the last two winters, allowing cold air to move south. Host Ira Flatow asked John Wallace, UW professor of atmospheric sciences, whether the weird weather of late is caused by global warming. Wallace said, “I would never associate an event in as short a period of time as a single winter or even a single couple of years with global warming, which is a very slow process thats really evolving on the time scale of decades and longer.” Listen to the interview online.
HOME CARE: Gastric bypass surgery is getting safer and the rate of complications is down, according to a December article in The New York Times. And though more insurance carriers are paying for the operation, there tend to be considerable costs afterward, for nutritional counseling, plastic surgery and more. Some choose to have the surgery in Latin America or Asia, where it costs less. The article quoted Dr. David Flum, UW professor of surgery and adjunct professor of public health. “Its not necessarily a bad idea to go abroad for surgery, but its a bad idea to go there and not have established a method for follow-up care at home,” Flum said. “When it comes to adjustable banding procedures, the surgery is not the intervention. Its the lifestyle changes and the adjustments that come after it.” Read the story online.
MINDFULNESS: The Wall Street Journal recently wrote about mindfulness and cognitive behavioral therapy in an article headlined “Conquering Fear,” and quoted UW psychology professor (and Director of Behavioral Research & Therapy clinics) Marsha Linehan. The article stated that mindfulness “holds that simply observing your critical thoughts without judging them is a more effective way to tame them than pressuring yourself to change or denying their validity.” Though some critics dismiss mindfulness as new-age fluff, it has been shown effective in managing depression, panic disorders, social phobias and even borderline personality in randomized-controlled trials.
Linehan said such acceptance therapies she pioneered in the 1990s enabled suicidal and borderline personality patients to accept their feelings and get help, while challenging them would only have created more bad feelings. “Its the nonjudgmental part that trips most people up,” Linehan said. “Most of us think that if we are judgmental enough, things will change. But judgment makes it harder to change. What happens in mindfulness over the long haul is that you can finally accept that youve seen this soap opera before and can turn off the TV.” Read the story online.
Newmakers is a periodic column reporting on the coverage of the University of Washington by the national press and broadcasting services.
