Monday 1 August 2011
Music therapy may help depression
Music therapy can be used to improve treatment of depression, at least in the short term, say researchers in Finland.
The technique used non-verbal communication to help patients express their emotions.A study on 79 people, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, showed a greater improvement than in patients receiving standard therapy.
British experts said music may engage people in ways that words cannot.
Music therapists are used, including by the NHS, to help children who struggle to communicate. Playing instruments and singing with a trained music therapist is supposed to help children express themselves.
Initial improvement In this study, all patients with depression recieved the standard practice of counselling and appropriate medication. Thirty three of them were also given 20 sessions with a trained music therapist, which involved things such as drumming.
After three months, patients recieving music therapy showed a greater improvement in scores of anxiety and depression than the other set of patients.
However, there was no statistical improvement after six months.
Professor Christian Gold, from the University of Jyväskylä, said: "Our trial has shown that music therapy, when added to standard care helps people to improve their levels of depression and anxiety."
"Music therapy has specific qualities that allow people to express themselves and interact in a non-verbal way - even in situations when they cannot find the words to describe their inner experiences.
Dr Mike Crawford, who specialises in mental health services at Imperial College London, said in a journal editorial: "The results suggest that it can improve the mood and general functioning of people with depression.
"Music-making is social, pleasurable and meaningful. It has been argued that music making engages people in ways that words may simply not be able to."
@'BBC'
Scotland Yard Identifies (Alleged) LulzSec Hacker
The teenage hacker arrested last week in the U.K. for his alleged involvement with Anonymous and LulzSec is reportedly an 18-year-old named Jake Davis.
Scotland Yard on Sunday revealed that the hacker known as "Topiary" is actually Davis, from the U.K.'s Shetland Islands, according to security firm Sophos and Daily Mail crime reporter Chris Greenwood.
Davis will appear in a London court on Monday morning, Greenwood tweeted.
Scotland Yard has not yet posted any new information about the case since the Wednesday arrest. In a Sunday blog post, however, Sophos' Graham Cluley said Davis has five charges against him:
- Unauthorized access to a computer system, contrary to Section 3 of the Computer Misuse Act 1990.
- Encouraging / assisting offences, contrary to S46 of the Serious Crime Act 2007.
- Conspiracy with others to carry out a Distributed Denial of Service Attack on the Web site of the Serious and Organised Crime Agency contrary to S1 Criminal Law Act 1977.
- Conspiracy to commit offences of section 3 Computer Misuse Act 1990, contrary to S1 Criminal Law Act 1977.
- Conspiracy between the defendant and others to commit offences of section 3 Computer Misuse Act 1990 contrary to S1 Criminal Law Act 1977.
Last week, Scotland Yard said it had arrested a man who "is believed to be linked to an ongoing international investigation in to the criminal activity of the so-called 'hacktivist' groups Anonymous and LulzSec, and uses the online nickname 'Topiary' which is presented as the spokesperson for the groups."
The day after that announcement, the LulzSec Exposed blog said Scotland Yard had arrested the wrong person because its evidence suggested that Topiary was actually a 22-year-old Swedish man named Daniel Sandberg. That, however, has not been confirmed.
As PCMag pointed out in a recent overview of the key LulzSec players, Topiary is reportedly second-in-command within LulzSec, though he is thought to be the least tech-savvy in the group. As a result, he acted as a PR liaison for Anonymous before moving over to LulzSec.
He recently deleted posts from the @atopiary Twitter account; it now only has one tweet from July 21: its new "You cannot arrest an idea" tagline. The bio on that Twitter page says Topiary is a "simple prankster turned swank garden hedge [who] worked with Anonymous, LulzSec, and other such paragons of intense cyber victory. You are free."
The @LulzSec Twitter feed has not been updated since July 27, the day of Davis' arrest. A recent tweet from the @AnonymousIRC feed encouraged officials, in all caps, to free Topiary and other hackers who have been arrested in recent weeks, including "tflow."
Members of Anonymous and LulzSec have been arrested throughout the world in recent months, including Spain, Turkey, the U.K., the Netherlands, and the United States. In retaliation, Anonymous recently organized a boycott of PayPal, though the company said that effort had little effect.
Chloe Albanesius @'PC Mag'
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