Go to the June 2023 Issue

In a recent interview with NPR in the US, neuropsychologist, Bernhard Sabel, declares that his study estimates that more medical papers may be made up or plagiarized than previously thought. This is disturbing, if not unsurprising news. The pressure to “publish or perish” can push some academics to produce poor quality papers that can, unfortunately find journals that are no better than vanity publishers. Even more concerning is the number of fake studies that Sabel discovered were being published. The parameters used in the study declared that 28% of all biomedical studies in 2020 were fake. He expresses concerns that these papers are being produced by artificial intelligence.
So where does that leave us – practitioners trying to keep up with the modern research? Sebel doesn’t give any recommendations other than to warn us of the probability of fakes or poor quality papers in the biomedical literature. It then comes back to us to be more cautious with what we read, be more thoughtful about the quality of the journal we are reading, and do our own checking of the information provided. Caveat emptor – buyer beware!
On that note, the articles we have for you this month and every month come from very reliable and sincere authors, mostly who are known to us personally or come highly regarded. One of the most reliable book publishers in our field is W. W. Norton and they have again allowed us to publish the introduction to a fascinating book. Patrick Williams and Diane S. Menedez present, Becoming a Professional Life Coach: The Art and Science of a Whole-Person Approach. This is a masterful explanation of the differences and intersections between psychotherapy and coaching. This is followed by a delightful personal story and professional case from Pamela Trotman, an Australian practitioner specializing in trauma. On learning how to sing… is a story of courage and recovery. Rubin Batino writes for us again on his personal practice and shares his therapeutic experience. He explores How To Do Multiple Issue Psychotherapy (MIP) and gives personal case descriptions of a selection of methods that can be used when a client has more than one issue to resolve. We are graced once more with a review from Gunnel Minett who brings us another fascinating book, Rethinking Consciousness, Extraordinary Challenges for Contemporary Science, edited by John H Buchanan and Christopher M. Aanstoos. And we continue our ongoing series of articles from Matthew Dahlitz and myself. Matthew presents his 14th installment of Iain McGilchrist’s book, The Matter With Things exploring The Science of Life: A Study in Left Hemisphere Capture. And finally, I present my review of the Complete Works of Milton H Erickson, Volume 5 – Classical Hypnotic Phenomena, Part 1.
Creating this magazine each month is just a joy. We hope you feel the same as you read it.