Psychological Skills Press
Psychological skills are the competences that make life better. Academic and work skills are part of the set. So are the skills traditionally the bailiwick of mental health professionals: productivity, joyousness, kindness, fortitude, decision-making, conflict-resolution, nonviolence, and self-discipline are examples. These skills lead toward happiness and success, and are at least partial antidotes to anxiety, depression, attention disorders, and other mental health problems. Psychological skills may be taught and learned. Effective learning of these skills is central not only to solving and preventing mental health problems, but also to the full development of any human being. If you are interested in getting better at psychological skills, or helping other people to do so, this site aims to help.
If you're interested in literacy and reading instruction, please click here.
If you want to look at the books and CD's published by Psychological Skills Press, please click here.
If you want to look at the information presented here on topics of parenting, anxiety, depression, self-control, conflict-resolution, teaching of reading, teaching psychological skills through stories and plays, media violence, helping children finish tasks, and others, please click here.
Psychological Skills Press is dedicated to teaching psychological skills. We make available quality books and recordings in the fields of child and adult psychotherapy, psychological self-help, conflict resolution, nonviolence, child-rearing, parenting, education, literacy training, cognitive therapy, and psychoeducation.
Psychological Skills Press aims not only to sell published materials, but also to provide helpful information to our visitors to this site.
The
philosophy of psychological skills aims us toward grand goals for the continued
improvement of human society: reduction and eventual elimination of violence,
cruelty, ignorance, and poverty; prevention of a substantial fraction of mental
disorders; and promotion of happiness and harmony among people. Of course,
Psychological Skills Press can make only a small contribution toward these
lofty goals. But we hold high hopes for the general enterprise of making
evidenced-based decisions on 1) which patterns of thought, feeling, and
behavior work best in which situations, and 2) how people can best learn to
carry out skillful patterns.
The
books, CD's, and website information furnished by Psychological Skills Press
have been written by Joseph Strayhorn, Jr., M.D. Dr. Strayhorn was educated at
Amherst College (undergraduate school) Northwestern University (medical school)
Duke University (psychiatry residency) and University of Pittsburgh (child and
adolescent psychiatry fellowship). For 35 years he has been interested in
the topic of learning-based approaches to mental health: what competences can
people learn that make their lives better? He has carried out research,
supported by the National Institute of Mental Health and private foundations,
on parenting of young children, the use of stories and dramatic play in
teaching psychological skills, the teaching of reading, and other topics. He
has worked with patients throughout his professional life, and has been listed
in Woodward/White's Best Doctors in America. He has been on the
editorial boards of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry and School Psychology Quarterly. He is a
homeschooling father. He founded Psychological Skills Press to make available
to a wider public the educational materials he has composed throughout his
professional lifetime so far.
Postal
address
205
Willard Way, Ithaca, NY 14850
Electronic
mail