1. "There are so many different types of therapy—I never had a clue," comments Brian. "Well," notes Brandon, "there are a lot more than Professor Fredericks talked about in class. In fact, I've heard there are actually hundreds of different types of therapy." Some excellent websites for Brian and Brandon to explore to learn more about the many different types of therapy—including what therapy is (and isn't), how it works, why go, why stop (and when), and what should and should not happen in therapy—are "About Psychotherapy" created by Bennett Pologe, Ph.D., Mayo Clinic's article, "Psychotherapy: An overview of the types of therapy," and PsychCentral's article, "Types of therapies: Theoretical orientations and practices of therapists":

2. "I know you love learning languages," Candice said to Kim, "yet you never take any of the language courses that the college offers. Why?" Kim grimaced as she said, "All the courses are taught in the Language Arts Building. Haven't you seen the signs posted there that say 'Beware of Rattlesnakes'? The mere thought of going anywhere near that building makes my whole body shake." Kim can gain insight into her phobia and other anxiety disorders, and she can learn about treatment options by going to this Medline Plus site:

3. Dennis thinks he wants to be a therapist and would like to get some idea of what it's like to be in therapy and "do" therapy. He can get a tiny snippet of what it's like to reveal personal information, to conduct an interview with a psychiatric patient, and to sample some of the interventions by exploring in the In-Class Exercises developed by John Suler, Ph.D., of Rider University :

4. "Do you think CBT really works?" Angel asked. "Well," responded Buffy, "from reading the text it looks like CBT may be the treatment of choice for lots of disorders. Maybe we should learn more about it." They can learn about CBT, the kinds of disorders that are helped, the populations that are treated, and much more at the American Institute for Cognitive Therapy:

5. "Now I know why I'm so messed up," sighed Tina. "My whole family is dysfunctional—not just me, but ALL of us. We could really use help!" Many websites can offer Tina insight into the different types of family therapy that are available, the kinds of problems that are addressed, how families can create and maintain problems in individual members, and other valuable information. Some of these are the Harvard Medical School Health Letter's 11-page article on Family therapy, Helpguide.org's discussion of psychotherapy and relationship/marriage counseling, and the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT), which is the professional association for the field of marriage and family therapy:

6. "You hear a lot these days about whether kids should be put on Ritalin and other stimulant drugs for ADHD. Actually, I wonder about using drugs even with adults—after all, when you take drugs you're clearly putting chemicals that may be toxic into your system," Marilyn stated. "Well, on one hand I agree that there are dangers and potential side effects," responded Marty, "but sometimes meds seem to be the only thing that works. Think about it—if you have a bacterial infection, wouldn't you take an antibiotic to get rid of it?" Marilyn's concerns are valid and have been debated by mental health professionals for years. She can get a booklet to help her understand how and why medications are used for treating mental health problems at the National Institute of Mental Health and she can read a cautionary article about treating children who have ADHD with stimulant drugs at Medscape:

7. "Did you see the old Jack Nicholson movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest?" Drew asked Javier. "Yeah, a long time ago. It was really frightening. Remember Nurse Ratched—she was almost enough to scare you well!" "Well," said Drew, "now that we're studying about treatments for these different disorders, I'm wondering about some of the extreme treatments, like ECT and lobotomies. I shudder to think that they are still being used." Drew and Javier can find out more about ECT and other medical treatments by searching the Mayo Clinic's Web site for "electroconvulsive therapy" (where they can watch a video of a woman who underwent ECT). They can also find out about lobotomies and more modern forms of psychosurgery at Psychosurgery.org: