Author: Sabrina Sovilla

Categories
psyCH aktuell

Introducing EFPSA

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If you have never heard of EFPSA, then the time has come. This article will briefly introduce EFPSA, list their goals and show you the range of events and services they have on offer for psychology students like you.

EFPSA is the European Federation of Psychology Students’ Associations. In short, EFPSA was founded in 1987 and aims to connect Psychology students’ organizations like psyCH from across Europe. At the moment the Federation consists of 32 psychology Member Organisations (psychology students’ associations like psyCH) and one Observer Organisation (Organisations that may join in the future). The involved countries range from Albania, to Finland, to Luxembourg and many more. 

Through its work, EFPSA tries to achieve the following goals:

  • To serve psychology students
  • To contribute to society
  • To improve psychology
  • To link professionals, academics and students 

These goals are at the centre of the events and services that EFPSA offers. Below is a brief list and description of their events:

EFPSA Congress 

The annual congress is a week-long event, where 350-500 psychology students come together and take part in a scientific and a social program. It is a great place to meet other students from across Europe! (The 2021 congress will be held in the Netherlands)

EFPSA Conference

The conference is smaller than the congress and takes place bi-annually. The focus lies on the scientific program. Last year, for example, the conference theme was environmental psychology and took place in the Czech Republic.

EFPSA Research Summer School

The summer school is a 7-day long event, in which you plan and implement a 12-month study within a team supervised by a PhD. After the one-week program, there is the possibility to be invited into a fully structured 12-month research program. 

Further Events are EFPSA Academy, EFPSA Day and Various Trainer Events (Train the Trainers; Train Advanced Trainers; Trainers’ Meeting; Trainers’ Conference). 

Apart from events, EFPSA also offers various services like a Journal of European Psychology Students, Social Impact Initiative and a section on ‘Study and Travel Abroad’. 

For more information on EFPSA, visit their Website: https://www.efpsa.org/

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Author: Sabrina Sovilla

Categories
current directions

Mindfulness in Therapy

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You may have heard about mindfulness before, but not be sure what it is. Meditation and mindfulness are used a lot in spiritual contexts but have been adapted to be used in a secular, therapeutic context. Probably the most strongly established form is MBSR (Mindfulness-based stress reduction) as well as MBCT (Mindfulness-based cognitive training) developed by Kabat-Zinn.  Kabat-Zinn was a professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and is the founding father of mindfulness-based stress reduction, which he developed in the 70s. In this article, I am going to introduce what MBSR is, what it can be helpful for, and then introduce some resources to let you try out mindfulness on your own.

What is MBSR/MBCT and how useful is it?

Forms may vary, but the form that I am going to introduce here is the 8-week, group-based, in-person program, which originated at the  University of Massachusetts Medical School. The course focuses on new aspects every week and introduces new forms of practice as well as a space to reflect personal behavioral patterns as well as thought patterns. The practice takes place in a group and in private and consists of exercises like mindful yoga, body scans, mindful eating (raisin exercise), and sitting meditation. According to Kabat Zinn, 7 attitudes are important to cultivate, including non-striving, acceptance and trust. (For more information on the attitudes see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n7FOBFMvXg). While mindfulness can be beneficial for all, the MBSR and MBCT programs are starting to be applied in clinical settings more and more. They are used for patients suffering from depression, chronic pain, cancer substance abuse, and much more. Nevertheless, when it comes to studies concerning the effectiveness of these therapies, there is a need for more research. Hempel et al. (2014) created an overview of the results found in research so far. Their overview shows, that there seems to be evidence of potential positive effects when using MBSR/MBCT to treat depression, pain and anxiety. However, when it comes to stress, cancer in general and substance use, the results are mixed. In conclusion, while MBSR/MBCT seems to help treat depression and pain patients, more research is required, as there is unclear evidence when it comes to other illnesses like cancer or substance abuse. 

Resources 

 There are many ways to give mindfulness a shot. You can stroll into your bookstore, where there are many books including theoretical backgrounds as well as guided practices or search the internet. Here are a few digital resources for you to try:

Hopefully, these resources help get you started. Enjoy!

BIbiographY

Hempel, S., Taylor, S. L., Marshall, N. J., Miake-Lye, I. M., Beroes, J. M., Shanman, R., … & Shekelle, P. G. (2014). Evidence map of mindfulness. Washington DC: Department of Veterans Affairs, Health Services Research & Development Service.

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Quelle: https://www.elsevier.com/connect/atlas/can-mindfulness-based-interventions-help-women-victims-of-violence

Author: Sabrina Sovilla

Categories
psyCH aktuell student life

4 Reasons to volunteer in an association

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The semester is past the halfway point and the next one around the corner. If you are looking for a new challenge, joining an association might be right for you. The following article lists a few of the reasons some of our members and I joined psyCH and what we have been able to gain from it.

Connecting with others

For me and many others connecting with others was and still is one of the main reasons for joining and being a part of psyCH. Apart from making new friends, it has been a great opportunity to get insight into life at other universities and surpassing the language barriers within Switzerland. 

Insight in different fields of psychology

PsyCH has created ways for me to deepen my knowledge about different areas of psychology. At the psyKo for example, different workshops and lectures let me learn about fields I had never heard of. The same goes for other students I have met through psyCH. Furthermore, as a part of the blog-team writing articles about different topics has the perk of getting to know more about various topics through research. Joining an association is certainly a way to deepen your knowledge on topics that interest you and meeting others who share your passion.

New experiences

Becoming active in an association is a great way to gain new skills and insights. Obviously, these experiences depend on which tasks you are involved in, so the following are about my personal experiences. Being part of the psyKo organization team was challenging but at the same time very rewarding. It was interesting to see how much work goes into a congress behind the scenes and trained my coordination and improvisation skills when faced with challenges. I especially enjoyed having the freedom to turn my ideas into reality. In comparison being part of the blog-team has been an opportunity to work on other skills. There I have been given the chance to work on my writing as well as researching topics that interest me. In conclusion, there are many tasks to be done in associations, so if you are interested, ask around and you are likely to find a task that suits you. 

New opportunities

Associations are a way to immerse yourself in new worlds and find new opportunities that can support you on your way. Before joining I did not know much about psyCH or EFPSA but since I have become a member lots of new doors have been opened. Obviously, many things can also be found on the internet these days but nothing beats a good personal recommendation (which you are sure to get in associations). Two examples of things I have discovered through psyCH are EFPSA and the trainer school. EFPSA is the European Federation of Psychology Students’ Organisations, which organizes a one-week long conference with tons of workshops about psychology every year. Furthermore, it is a gathering of psychology students from across Europe. So far I have not been able to attend the congress but it has been highly recommended by people who have visited it in the past. Apart from EFPSA I was introduced to the trainer school (organized by psyCH), where you learn how to lead trainings on team building, learn more about yourself and much more. 

The above-mentioned points are only a few of the reasons to become involved. If you think psyCH might be right for you, check out our website! We are recruiting new members right now, so maybe you will find a task that is right for you.

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Author: Sabrina Sovilla

Categories
student life

6 Useful tools to prepare you for your exams

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Exams are around the corner and it’s time to hit the books. As a psychology student, you have probably learned lots of theories on how to maximize your study success and are aware of the importance of distributed studying and taking breaks. While theories are nice, the following article will introduce some useful tried and proven study tools, to help you get through the coming weeks as smoothly as possible.

1. Quizlet

Quizlet is one of my favorite study tools. It is an App, that lets you create personalized flashcards. The free version gives you access to all of the basic functions, while the premium version lets you take your cards to the next level and add images and diagrams. One of my favorite features is that you can share and co-edit your sets with others. Depending on privacy settings you even have access to cards others have created in the past, which can save you lots of work. The software can be used on laptops or smartphones, making it easy to study on the go or even creating your cards during lectures.

Link: https://quizlet.com/

2. Mindjet

Maybe you are not into flashcards and prefer mind maps in order to get a good overview of your classes. Mindjet offers the option to create mind maps digitally. Some create the basic structure before class so that they can add their notes during the lecture. I personally use OneNote for mind maps, because I like drawing them by hand. That, however, requires a laptop with a touch screen. So Mindjet is a good alternative. Mindjet isn’t free but in order to get it inexpensively, you can buy it from your university’s software store. (The same place where you can buy SPSS etc.)

Link: https://www.mindjet.com/

3. Uniboard/Summaries

This section is probably most important for new students. One of the greatest tools to use during your studies are summaries of literature and lectures. These can either be created in study groups or found on different student platforms (different at every Uni, if you do not know the platform used at your university, that’s a great reason to talk to fellow students and possibly make a new friend 😉). Uniboard is a general platform, that has some material on it. While that is one, the most commonly used platform differs between universities, so it is best to find out which one is used at your university.

Link: https://www.uniboard.ch/startseite/

4. Grammarly

After constantly seeing Grammarly adds on YouTube, I gave in and gave it a try. I was surprised by how useful it was. It is a program you can install and use as an add-on in tools like Word. It corrects grammar and spelling surprisingly accurately. So far, I have only used the free version, which has been enough. The premium version goes even further and gives you advice on your word choice and sentence structure. It is worth giving it a try if you ever need to write something in English.

Link: https://www.grammarly.com/

5. KKarten

Unfortunately, they are not available for all classes and all universities. Nonetheless, when available, the pre-made flashcards are a very useful tool to prepare for exams. They can be a lifesaver when you are low on time or have lots of exams in a short amount of time. The main drawback is the price (37.-) but by buying ones from older students or buying a set with a fellow student they can be made more affordable. Along with the physical cards you receive a code, that lets you use the digital version. The content is created by students and is based on the slides and literature. I usually complete them with my personal notes.

Link: https://ube.uniseminar.ch/ (They can also be bought at the universities book shop

6. Motiviert Studiert

This last tip is not as much a tool, as a platform with many useful tips. The founder creates useful YouTube videos where he focusses on studying effectively rather than constantly (Spoiler: LOTS of repetition and lots of breaks). I found one of his videos during my third year of studies and still learned new things on how to make my studying more efficient. On his website he also has various templates and resources to create study plans etc. If you are in a study crisis I would highly recommend checking out some of his content. (Unfortunately, his content is in German but under downloads there are templates you can adapt to your own language)

Video/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWYZnronE0o

Link to website: https://motiviert-studiert.de/

Hopefully, you discovered some new useful tools; have a calm exam season (as calm as they get) and good luck on your exams!

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Author: Sabrina Sovilla