Author: Paul McQueen

Dr Paul McQueen is a Clinical Psychologist, holding a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Melbourne. He has experience working in both adult and child mental health services in Queensland and Victoria. Dr McQueen is comitted to providing high quality, evidence-based interventions for a range of mental health conditions. He specialises in the treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder and Depression.

Motivation experiment day 2

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Below is my drawing from day 2 of my motivation experiment.

Abstract lines and colours

Motivation experiment day 2 – drawn 22/4/2014

The main motivator to do this drawing was having committed myself to doing a drawing each day for this experiment. There wasn’t a sense of inspiration and I had no idea what to draw. You can see it is a very similar, abstract style to the previous day’s drawing.

There was some additional motivation created by experimenting with a digital pen, which was a relatively new toy.

Overall, though, I had to push myself to keep to my commitment to draw this, and struggled with feeling I didn’t know what to draw. I managed that obstacle by telling myself it didn’t matter if I just scribbled – as long as I drew something.

Motivation and the secrets to getting things done – part 1 – Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivation

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What makes you get out of bed in the morning? What makes you go to work? What makes you read a book, or sit down to watch tv?

All of these actions in our daily lives are driven by motivation. But what does that really mean?

Motivation is something I have been thinking about – and researching – a lot recently. Motivation has been on my mind because one of the biggest challenges in providing effective psychological treatment for depression seems to be overcoming motivational barriers that are a symptom of depression. For example, exercise is known to be an effective treatment for depression – but how can a depressed person exercise consistently enough to experience improvement in mood when two of the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for Major Depressive Disorder suggest significant problems of motivation?
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A Cognitive Behavioural model of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

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I have recently added a new PDF of a CBT model of OCD to the self help resources at Thrive Wellness. In this post I would like to provide some detail on this model.

CBT model of OCD

The cycle of OCD all begins with intrusive thoughts: distressing thoughts that seem to pop out of nowhere and are inconsistent with personal values. Pretty much everyone experiences intrusive thoughts from time to time. In OCD, however, these intrusive thoughts become so repetitve and distressing that they are referred to by a different name: obsessions.

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At What Cost?

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My last post – The Antidote – linked to a post at the blog Hands Free Mama which was about the journey of letting go of the perfectionist’s desire to do it all for the sake of, paradoxically, having more.

In today’s post I want to make an important acknowledgement: there is a cost.

There is a cost to having more of something. That cost is having less of something else.

Australian currency

There is a cost to having more of something. That cost is having less of something else.


If you want to have more chocolote, you have to be prepared to have less money and, depending on how much more chocolate you intend to have, perhaps a less healthy figure.

Stating the blindingly obvious, right? Well, there is an aspect that may not be so obvious.
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The Antidote

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I have written several times about perfectionism. Trying to achieve perfection would be a good thing if the energy it required didn’t so consistently get in the way of actually living a life that mattered to you and the people you love. Today I stumbled across a blog writer who I thought beautifully captured the paradox of one form of perfectionism: the need to do it all.

I miss out on what REALLY matters in life. And here is the part that caused teardrops to dampen the front of my shirt just like it does in a rainstorm: What I miss, I won’t ever get back.

She also offers an antidote, and says of her journey now:

I am witnessing and experiencing the simple, joyful things around me that I was too distracted to notice before. I am now free to grasp what really matters.

Her “about” post is what particularly grabbed me today (About Hands Free – Hands Free Mamma), but the rest of her blog is also well worth a look.

Compulsions: fast-acting anxiety relief! (With a price…)

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As I have previously written, there are two key facets of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: obsessions and compulsions. In this post I want to explain what compulsions are, and why they occur.

Essentially, compulsions are actions or thoughts that are repetitively performed in an attempt to reduce or eliminate anxiety or distress triggered by obsessions. A compulsion may be an attempt to prevent obsessions from coming to mind (perhaps by repeatedly praying for such thoughts to be prevented, or repeating a phrase intended to block such thoughts), or it may be an attempt to prevent some feared outcome associated with the obsession (such as calling a friend to warn them to be careful after having an image come to mind of that friend being in an accident).

In the beginning stages of the development of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder compulsions provide fast relief from the anxiety or distress created by intrusive thoughts – uninvited, upsetting thoughts that can pop into our minds unexpectedly.
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Word perfect

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The internet can be quiet a mind field because often what you read is unaccurate. Its partly because people rope learn facts or phrases without checking there source or based on what they have miss-heard. Its probably a good idea to be weary of facts that are presented without sighting reliable sources. If you’re curiosity is peaked by some new theory, do some background checking. Weather you learned a fact twenty years ago or yesterday is a mute point: it could turn out to be wrong. Maybe you could care less, but if you like to be accurate you could wet your appetite with a review of Wikipedias useful List of common misconceptions.

How many mistakes can you find in the text? 10 is average, above 14 is excellent.

This was a post put up yesterday on our Thrive Wellness facebook page. In case you’re looking for the answer, I thought it was between 16 and 18 depending on opinion on a couple of things (for example, “unaccurate” does appear in some dictionaries, and has a history of appearing in some literature but is generally considered a mispelling).
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The Serotonin Hypothesis of Depression

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I am all for accurate information when it comes to managing your own health. Today I want to explore some misinformation about the causes and treatment of depression.

Serotonin chemical structure

Serotonin

You may have heard the idea, especially if you have ever been treated for depression, that depression is caused by a lack of a particular chemical, serotonin, in the brain. And you may have heard that antidepressants help lift depression by correcting this serotonin shortage.

The problem is, it isn’t true. Continue reading