BBC 6 Minute English 2018 Its good to talk
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see learning English to find out more
visit our website from BBC learning
english.com welcome to six minute
English where we bring you a thoughtful
topic and six items of vocabulary I’m
Rob and I’m Neil so I was watching an
old Woody Allen movie last night okay
he’s the anxious middle-aged guy from
New York who talks about his problems
all the time as the one he was paying
for psychoanalysis and that’s a type of
talk therapy that was popular in the
1970s do you know what therapy means Rob
yes therapy means a type of treatment
for a problem or illness and talk
therapy is a treatment for psychological
problems which means problems of the
mind in case he was struggling with a
another long Greek word Neel trained
therapists work with you on ways to
understand your thoughts feelings and
behavior hey Rob I’m an expert on long
Greek words psychology is the noun by
the way and the prefix psycho in front
of any word means to do with the mind
for example the horror movie psycho
which is all about the disturbed mind of
the main character Norman Bates where
disturbed means not thinking or behaving
in a normal way because you have
psychological problems Norman Bates
would have found talk therapy helpful
the only thing hmm I’m not sure really
anyway let’s have a quiz question shall
we now Neil can you tell me who invented
the first talk therapy was it a Boris
Karloff be Carl Jung or C Sigmund Freud
I’m going to go for Sigmund Freud okay
interesting answer we’ll find that later
whether it was the right one or not now
moving on what do you think is the most
common psychological problem today Neal
it’s depression and depression a feeling
of unhappiness that can affect your
thoughts behavior and feelings is the
most common psychological problem
affecting people throughout the world
mmm how depressing and that’s the
adjective it makes me feel depressed
just thinking about it and depressed is
the adjective we use to
of how we are feeling then feel
depressed Rob let’s listen to professor
Brent Roberts from the University of
Illinois to find out more about the
benefits of talk therapy seeing a
therapist does result in marked changes
in psychological functioning Soviet
people get less depressed and they get
less anxious and it seems to be
regardless of what type of intervention
is is engaged and that is and has been
one of the more positive aspects of the
therapy research that we’ve seen so when
people talk to therapists about their
problems it results in marked changes in
their psychological functioning marked
here means obvious or noticeable and
these marked changes are that people
become less depressed and anxious an
intervention by the way is something you
do to improve a medical problem and in
this context it refers to different
types of talk therapy but why is talking
about our problems helpful Neal I think
it gives a shape to our problems it
makes them seem clearer and that’s a
first step in being able to manage them
also a problem shared is a problem
halved as the saying goes there’s also
some scientific evidence that talk
therapy can change the way we think and
feel by replacing negative thought
patterns with positive ones medication
can also change the way we think and
feel
some people take pills to treat
depression but medication can have
negative effects for example it can make
you feel sleepy during the daytime well
here’s a positive thought let’s check
how much we’ve learned today by going
over today’s vocabulary we had therapy
therapy is a type of treatment for a
problem or illness as therapy therapist
therapeutic my therapist is using a new
therapy with me it’s very therapeutic
therapeutic means treating an illness
but in a more general sense it can
simply mean relaxing for example I find
listening to music very therapeutic okay
next up psychological relating to the
mind psychology psychologists
psychological depression and anxiety are
both psychological problems my friend is
studying psychology at university I
to be a famous psychologist career
change at your age Anil you’ve kept that
one a secret okay number three disturbed
not thinking or behaving in a normal way
because you have psychological problems
she was a disturbed young woman or
disturbing I’ve been having very
disturbing dreams recently no poor Neal
disturbing here means upsetting or
worrying next item depression a feeling
of unhappiness that can affect your
thoughts behavior and feelings we felt
depressed by the news news was very
depressing alright let’s lift the mood
marked means obvious or noticeable
there’s been a marked improvement in
your English homework there was a marked
increase in the company’s profits last
year and finally intervention something
you do to improve a problem medical or
otherwise let me intervene at this point
intervene that’s the verb and in this
context it means to interrupt and say
we’ve forgotten the quiz question Rob oh
no good intervention yes let’s remind
ourselves of that quiz question who
invented the first talking therapy and
you say Sigmund Freud which is the right
answer so well done Neel psychoanalysis
was invented in the early 1890s by the
Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud the
patient lies on a couch and talks about
their thoughts feelings and dreams while
the therapist listens psychoanalytic
sessions typically last 50 minutes and
take place four to five times a week
okay good to know but I think I prefer
our own brand of talk therapy here on
the show and listeners you can express
your thoughts and feelings by visiting
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YouTube pages hmm talk to you again soon
bye bye so tell me about your childhood
Rob from the BBC
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