MedWorm.com provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest items from the 'Psychology Today Stress Center' source. Fri, 31 Dec 2010 05:08:52 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4129618&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fthe-chemistry-calm%2F201011%2Fthe-unsettling-the-american-mind Whew! We are at the end of the political season! It has been stressful or exciting; dull or entertaining; fearful or hopeful, all depending upon your perspective. But as the dust settles, what lives on in our hearts and minds-and which gets our votes-the politics of fear or of hope? In the past few election cycles we have witnessed an unprecedented assault on our national equanimity. Negative campaigning, attack ads, mudslinging-call it what you will. Its objective is to bring down the opponent(s) and hence improve one's own chances by raising concerns in the minds of the voters. This is nothing new. History tells us that negative campaigning has always been part of the American political fabric to some degree. But I think that we have reached new heights in the ability to u... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4129618 Mon, 01 Nov 2010 13:24:40 +0100 4129618 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4129619&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fthe-couch%2F201010%2Ftrust-yourself-what-makes-it-hard-and-how-you-can-get-better-it Some years ago I was working with a client who was expecting her second child. She was excited but worried, and her fears centered on the pain of childbirth. As was true of many of her past experiences, she could not remember much about the birth of her first child a number of years earlier, but she had a vague sense that it had been pretty awful. She was frightened of getting stuck in pain and not being able to do anything about it.At the time I was also pregnant and a little worried myself. My obstetrician believed that too much pain was not good for mother or child and carefully explained how he liked to manage the discomfort. Still nervous, I spoke with a friend with several children who said, "You can trust your body. It will know how to do this."It was a fascinating concept. While I ... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4129619 Sat, 30 Oct 2010 15:51:49 +0100 4129619 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4129620&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fthe-mindfulness-approach%2F201010%2Fanxiety-therapy    General Anxiety Disorder is a very common condition that affects many of us at some time in our lives. At any one time it is estimated that over 10 million people in the US suffer from some form of GAD. Many are actively seeking treatment through medication or some form of psychotherapy, either online or in-person.   What can I do to help manage my Anxiety?   Through my work with clients both in the office and online I find Mindfulness-based therapy to be the most direct and effective for helping people change the underlying patterns of emotional and cognitive reactivity that sustain the emotional suffering of anxiety and depression. I describe some of the highlights of this approach that you can apply by yourself to work with your anxieties.     Refra... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4129620 Thu, 28 Oct 2010 22:40:03 +0100 4129620 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4129621&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fhere-there-and-everywhere%2F201010%2Ftips-ease-your-childs-halloween-fears With Halloween just days away, some children may be having more fears than usual. Seeing adults and family members in costumes and masks can be pretty frightening to a young child. How do you help your child enjoy Halloween without becoming overcome with fear?First, let your child know when Halloween is coming. Talk to them about why people wear costumes. Explain to them that it is part of the fun of Halloween. Help your child understand that there is a real person under the mask. You can ask friends and family to take off their masks to show your child that they are still the same person underneath.Older children and adults may play pranks on Halloween. This can be very scary to a young children, and the feeling and memory of being caught off-guard and terrified can stay with them their w... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4129621 Thu, 28 Oct 2010 22:03:24 +0100 4129621 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4129622&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fthe-long-reach-childhood%2F201010%2Fchildhoods-dont-ask-dont-tell Welcome to my blog. The theme I will continue to explore with you is how the experiences and messages of your childhood continue to influence, impact and limit the rest of your life. A starting point in setting the stage for this blog is a very simple truth: children need adults in order to survive. And in certain situations a child needs to meet and adapt to the dysfunctional needs of the adults -- at the child's expense. I call this kind of adaptation a "survival system" and will more fully explain and explore this concept in later writings.Childhood's Don't Ask, Don't Tell refers to the various ways children react to and are affected by the need of their families to maintain secrets. My first experience with an adaptation to a powerful dysfunctional need -- wrapped around a secret --occ... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4129622 Wed, 27 Oct 2010 01:01:08 +0100 4129622 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4129623&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fyour-wise-brain%2F201010%2Fconfronting-the-negativity-bias My previous post used the example of Stephen Colbert's satirical "March to Keep Fear Alive" as a timely illustration of a larger point: humans evolved to be fearful -- since that helped keep our ancestors alive -- so we are very vulnerable to being frightened and even intimidated by threats, both real ones and "paper tigers." With this march, Colbert is obviously mocking those who play on fear, since we certainly don't need any new reminders to keep fear alive. Some BackgroundThis vulnerability to feeling threatened has effects at many levels, ranging from individuals, couples, and families, to schoolyards, organizations and nations. Whether it's an individual who worries about the consequences of speaking up at work or in a close relationship, a family cowed by a scary parent, a business ... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4129623 Tue, 26 Oct 2010 21:18:05 +0100 4129623 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4129626&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fapologies-freud%2F201010%2Fis-halloween-the-new-new-years Remember when Halloween meant sweating in your colorful polyester Batman costume? Or nearly suffocating under the bulk of the hard plastic princess mask with the tiny eyeholes and painted on hair? Back then it was all so much fun: running around with friends, screaming "trick-or treat," and getting to eat a bunch of candy your mom never let you have on any other day of the year. No more. For many the new Halloween means serious business-and heavy duty social pressures.Allison, a 26 year old Baltimore fundraiser, notes: "If you are in your 20s and single, then you are kind of expected to go out, dress up creatively, and get a little ridiculous-in the adult way, not the trick or treating way. Here they close the streets and people end up partying outside on the way to bars and house parties.... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4129626 Tue, 26 Oct 2010 11:56:27 +0100 4129626 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4129624&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fsomatic-psychology%2F201010%2Fpost-abortion-stress-syndrome-pass-does-it-exist No matter your philosophical, religious, or political views on abortion, the fact of the matter is, the actual experience can affect women not only on a personal level but can potentially have psychological repercussions. Women’s reasons for having an abortion are always highly personal, but it’s important to remember that some women might choose to have an abortion after experiencing rape at the hands of a stranger or someone they know. Conversely, at times women may feel compelled not to follow through with a pregnancy under pressure from a husband, boyfriend, or family member. In any case, it is usually thought of as a solution to stressful circumstances. Post Abortion Stress Syndrome (PASS) is the name that has been given to the psychological aftereffects of abortion, based on Post... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4129624 Tue, 26 Oct 2010 00:21:37 +0100 4129624 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4129625&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Furban-mindfulness%2F201010%2Fbuddhism-and-psychotherapy-interview-dr-mark-epstein Recently, I had the privilege of corresponding with Dr. Mark Epstein, a distinguished psychiatrist and author. When I read his first book, Thoughts without a Thinker: Psychotherapy from a Buddhist Perspective, it blew me away! His book was my first exposure to the integration of Buddhism with psychotherapy, and I was amazed by the parallels that he elucidated. As someone who was new to Buddhism and psychoanalysis, I found his writing to be very accessible without any sacrifice in sophistication or eloquence. I especially appreciated the fact that he "went to the source" in his writing. That is, he referenced the works of Freud, Winnicott, and other psychoanalysts as well as the original Buddhist teachings. Since that time over a decade ago, I've been a big fan of his writing, and I recomme... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4129625 Mon, 25 Oct 2010 20:01:36 +0100 4129625 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4129627&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fvitamin-you%2F201010%2Fprogressive-muscle-relaxation The deadline for the APPIC Application for Psychology Internships is fast-approaching, and my level of stress has thus been fast-increasing. Sleep has been difficult to come by, so I have found myself turning to a tried & true method of calming anxiety: progressive muscle relaxation. Most people experience stress and anxiety physiologically as tension in their body, and progressive muscle relaxation helps alleviate this tension through a series of tensing and relaxing muscles throughout the body. I certainly hold most of my stress in my upper back and neck, and I know that when I feel overwhelmed, I find myself clenching my jaw, reverting to shallow breathing, and experiencing stomach upset, which are all signs of bodily tension.Again, these are physiological responses of the body to a... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4129627 Sun, 24 Oct 2010 04:40:45 +0100 4129627 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2773786&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Freel-therapy%2F200908%2Ffunny-people-mental-illness-double-edged-sword In the mid-1990's something strange happened to Martin Lawrence, an exceedingly successful Hollywood comedian. He engaged in a violent outburst and drug abuse on the set of "A Thin Line Between Love and Hate." Increasingly erratic behavior culminated in an arrest for waving a pistol and screaming at tourists on Ventura Boulevard in L.A. The answers to psychological mysteries such as this are usually a combination of nature and nurture, of self and environmental forces interacting in a precise, perfect storm sort of way. Indeed, there may be a combustible relationship between a comedian's mindset and the social world of Hollywood success. In "Funny People," Judd Apatow attempts to flush out the backdrop of the Lawrence meltdown. The skilled filmmaker reveals a surprisingly somber and comple... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2773786 Thu, 13 Aug 2009 19:29:00 +0100 2773786 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2659629&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fredefining-stress%2F200907%2Fadd-and-sex As many of you have seen, I am on a mission to highlight some of the traps to be avoided by those lucky individuals who have symptoms of ADD and ADHD. Being categorized in this realm for all my life, I will always be grateful for my "condition" because once I got beyond the heavy regimentation of academic education, I found my brain dynamics to spur me into tremendous advantages of creativity and personal gratification in fantasy and life philosophy of joy.But yes, there are some traps I have learned that can be trials, both for the individual and those who have to live with him or her. My last discussion was about flying, which did not seem to excite many readers from the low response. However, this trap might be more interesting - sex.For a person with the symptoms of limited focused con... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2659629 Wed, 29 Jul 2009 21:00:18 +0100 2659629 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2655835&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fthe-99th-monkey%2F200907%2Fwhat-really-matters "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.                        --Percy Bysshe Shelley "Time is on my side."              --Jagger "Time, that great eater of Time."                             --me! The Batesville Day Parade in Batesville, Virginia is a throwback to an earlier time. The mayor ... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2655835 Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:42:31 +0100 2655835 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2773784&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fthe-depression-cure%2F200907%2Focd-treatment-good-it-gets I got a call from a psychiatrist colleague of mine a while back. He was an old-school Freudian psychoanalyst who had his patients come in twice a week to lie on a couch, talk about their dreams, free-associate about childhood experiences, and so on. Although this type of treatment might be useful for some patients - especially those who wish to better understand and change troublesome personality patterns - it has not always been strongly supported by research.As it turned out, the psychiatrist was calling to ask if I would take on one of his patients who suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) - a debilitating mental illness that afflicts about 2% of the population - wonderfully depicted by Jack Nicholson in the film, As Good As It Gets. The psychiatrist had already been treatin... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2773784 Mon, 20 Jul 2009 19:47:14 +0100 2773784 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2655834&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Faspergers-diary%2F200907%2Fis-harry-really-hairy In a recent book, and accompanying article, autistic savant Daniel Tammet explored the connections between associative thought and creativity.  Inspired by his thoughts, I found myself exploring all the ways associative thinking manifests in my life. As I explored, I realized something that I hadn't expected - that the roots of many of my social issues lie at the intersection of visual and associative thought.<!--break--> One of my first "A-ha!" moments in my Asperger's journey was reading Temple Grandin's description of her particular brand of associative visual thought, which is very similar to mine.  She wrote, "I think in pictures. Words are like a second language to me. I translate both spoken and written words into full-color movies, complete with sound, which run lik... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2655834 Wed, 15 Jul 2009 03:32:37 +0100 2655834 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2773785&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fthe-social-self%2F200907%2Fwhy-the-draw-michael-jackson-now In conclusionI should note that the above list is by no means exhaustive. However, I did find a lot of value in thinking about how BIRGing, death as scarcity, death as existential terror, and nostalgia were being evidenced, especially by people who weren't huge Jackson fans. In many ways, this isn't really a blog about Jackson per se, but rather about how people seek ways to extend their sense of self to others in the service of connection and self-worth. Civic pride, high school reunions, sports teams, and even political party affiliations can serve these roles as well. Like most things psychological, many of these processes work invisibly until some event like Jackson's death puts them in stark relief.  Exclude From Most Popular:  Included in most popular... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2773785 Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:09:11 +0100 2773785 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2655833&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fambigamy%2F200906%2Ftaowinism-taodarwin-serenity-prayer-variations-part-2 I'm a Taowinist--a cross between a Taoist and a Darwinist.  I remember the night I realized it. I was reading Alan Watts on Taoism and this sentence jumped out at me:The lifestyle of one who follows the Tao must be thought of as a form of intelligence. That is, knowing the patterns, structures, and trends of human and natural affairs so well that one uses the least amount of energy dealing with them. At the time I had been thinking a lot about Darwinism and the serenity prayer. You know the serenity prayer, right? Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.It had occurred to me already that evolutionary adaptation paralleled the serenity prayer.  Take beavers. Their thick fur coats are e... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2655833 Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:32:53 +0100 2655833 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2659628&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanger-in-the-age-entitlement%2F200906%2Fending-emotional-abuse-requires-commitment-compassion A quarter century of working with chronic resentment, anger, and abuse of all kinds has firmly taught me what the ancients knew. The only way out of the relentless pendulum of pain that keeps loved ones hurting each other, over and over, in fairly predictable intervals, is through sustained compassion.I don't mean the Mother Theresa kind of self-sacrificing compassion. I'm talking about simple, everyday, basic humanity compassion that allows you to be true to your deepest values even when you greatly disagree with loved ones and when you must set limits on their behavior.The first thing we require in our Love without Hurt Boot Camps for resentment, anger, or emotional abuse is that all participants make the following pledge.I will make a supreme effort to be compassionate to you:I will rec... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2659628 Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:36:39 +0100 2659628 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2655832&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fambigamy%2F200906%2Ffungibility-build-last-forever-be-ready-leave-tomorrow A few weeks ago I wrote an article called Job Security: loving your work whether you’ve got work or not. Basically it was a case for cultivating backup plans, fungible, functional equivalents to your main plan.  I applied for a job recently that I didn’t get, and it didn’t bother me because I have lots of other work to do. In that respect I have “job security.”The title of that article plays with an ambiguity around the word “work.”  How can you love your work whether you’ve got your work or not?  By applying two different definitions of work.  The first one, the work to love, is your life’s work, your work in general.  The second, “whether you’ve got work or not” refers to a particular job.  These two interpretations represent two dist... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2655832 Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:24:56 +0100 2655832 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2482264&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fcrazy-life%2F200906%2Fbeer-meds-and-men-dont-mix-or-maybe-they-do From my real, and not so imagined, life as a bipolar princess:So Nick and I rip onto the highway, heading west. It's summer. Hot, scorching really. We're in his, what really should be an ‘off-the-road' vehicle. No, I don't mean an ‘off road' vehicle, but literally a car that should be impounded. Certain parts, which look to me as fairly operationally essential, appear to be held together by silver duct tape (and probably a lot of his spit and some crazy glue). It's a Ford Pinto - I think. Meaning either a bean or in Brazilian slang: penis. Really. Somehow very appropriate. My fear of dying by spontaneously combusting is obliterated by my amazement of the audacity of the speed at which Nick is driving. Tail pipe's a-rattling, blue exhaust smoke a-puffing and Nick zigzags through Upper L... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2482264 Fri, 05 Jun 2009 20:20:52 +0100 2482264 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2659627&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fredefining-stress%2F200905%2Ftaking-the-relationships-add-seriously In the last two posts I have written rather humorous aspects of my personal experiences being diagnosed with ADD and the dangers in marriages. In response to my perceived levity I have received responses that these approaches were not appreciated as much as I enjoyed writing about them. Hopefully, I can correct the perception that these and other personality factors related to the issues with ADD are challenging and sometimes overwhelming, but I suspect that the humor may be part of the issue as well as well as one problem in marriage relationships as well.I think it is well documented that the mind of someone with ADD has a very active imagination, likely due to the consistent theta frequencies in the frontal lobe and is the frequency in which people are very suggestive in a "hypnogogic" ... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2659627 Fri, 22 May 2009 16:00:00 +0100 2659627 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2773783&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fget-it-together%2F200905%2Fgive-your-brain-break Doesn't your brain just want to explode some days? Between keeping your own schedule (and your kids' and your spouse's and maybe even your boss' too), remembering all your internet passwords, tracking tasks and projects at home and at work, and managing your home -- life can feel overwhelming. Your brain is an amazing little machine with unfathomable capabilities, but sometimes the poor thing just feels FULL! Give your precious brain a break by... creating a simple process to capture the information that swirls around in your head, taking your attention. How can you be fully present to watch Idol on Tuesdays if you're all distracted??The reason your brain sometimes feels filled up at at the breaking point is because it's trying to remember so. Many. Little. Pieces. Of. Data. And it wants y... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2773783 Thu, 21 May 2009 12:58:11 +0100 2773783 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2482263&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fambigamy%2F200905%2Fjob-security-love-your-work-whether-youve-got-work-or-not I play bass and sing in jazz combos.  Unlike rock, where band members stay together for years if they can stand each other, jazz gigging is more like pickup softball games.  You get a call asking if you can make some café gig and if you can, you’re often meeting fellow players for the first time while setting up for the show. Like pickup games you can learn something about where you are in the pecking order by when you’re called. If you’re called right before a gig it probably means you’re pretty far down the list. When I was young I hated that aspect of pickup games.  I wasn’t great so they’d generally pick me toward the end and reluctantly. Sometimes I wouldn’t be picked at all and would sit on the sidelines watching like the unemployed in today’s economy.... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2482263 Tue, 19 May 2009 15:02:07 +0100 2482263 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2655831&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanger-in-the-age-entitlement%2F200905%2Femotional-abuse-why-anger-management-didnt-work Anger management programs for emotional or verbal abusers sometimes produce short-term gains that disappear when follow-up is done a year or so later. That was probably your experience if your partner took an anger management class. If you're lucky, you may have seen a lower tone to the chronic blame - anger management classes sometimes turn a yeller into a stonewaller.The worst kind of anger management class teaches men to "get in touch with their anger" and to "express it" or "get it out." The assumption is that emotions are like 19th century steam engines that need to "let off steam" on a regular basis. These kinds of classes include things like punching bags and using foam baseball bats to club imaginary adversaries. (Guess who would be the imaginary victim of your partner's foam-softe... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2655831 Wed, 13 May 2009 03:03:18 +0100 2655831 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2482262&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanger-in-the-age-entitlement%2F200905%2Femotional-abuse-why-your-individual-therapy-didnt-help-and- Many abused women in individual therapy withhold important details about their relationships. Most say they're embarrassed to be completely honest with their therapists.One of the women I treated in connection with an Oprah Winfrey Show was convinced that her therapist, whom she thought was "awesome," wouldn't like her if she knew about the harsh emotional abuse she endured at home. She saw that same therapist for five years without ever mentioning her husband's severe problems with anger and emotional abuse. By the time I met her on the show, she was suffering from acute depression and anxiety that were ruining her physical health.When therapists are aware that their clients are walking on eggshells at home, they feel bound to persuade the woman to leave the relationship. Though this is u... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2482262 Wed, 06 May 2009 18:37:33 +0100 2482262 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2659626&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fsnow-white-doesnt-live-here-anymore%2F200905%2Fhow-survive-mothers-day My mother died when I was a teenager and, although I have grown step-sons, I have never raised a child of my own.On the surface, it would seem as if I have more a connection to almost any other holiday--including Flag Day, Arbor Day, and Periodontal Appreciation Day--than Mother’s Day.But just as fish are not necessarily the best authorities on water, so are mothers not necessarily best authorities on the causes and effects of motherhood.“Causes?”you might be saying, with an emphasis on the plural. “Did they invent another way to get pregnant while I was out of town?”But indeed there are lots of ways to become a mother. There are also lots of ways to locate and adopt a mother for your own personal use when the original one is, for whatever distressing reason, no longer on your sc... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2659626 Tue, 05 May 2009 19:51:04 +0100 2659626 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2714537&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanger-in-the-age-entitlement%2F200905%2Femotional-abuse-why-your-marriage-counseling-failed If you live with a resentful, angry, or emotionally abusive person, you most likely have tried marriage counseling that made things worse at home.By the time couples come to our boot camps for chronic resentment, anger, or emotional abuse, they have been to an average of three marriage counselors. A major reason for their disappointment is that marriage counseling presupposes that both parties have self-regulation skill - the ability to hold onto self-value while they regulate guilt, shame, and a state of inadequacy, without feeling entitled to blame them on one another. In our Age of Entitlement, fewer couples seem able or willing to do this.Another strike against marriage counseling is manifest in an old joke among marriage therapists: We all have skid marks at the door from husbands bei... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2714537 Sun, 03 May 2009 21:29:05 +0100 2714537 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2773782&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fcrisis-center%2F200904%2Fmanaging-anxiety-about-swine-flu In conclusion, keep things in perspective and maintain a hopeful attitude. Frankly, I personally am affronted by much of what I what I see and hear the "talking heads" on television say about the current situation. Thus I recommend that you and your family avoid staying "glued" to the TV news programs but rather seek periodic updates from more credible sources such as the CDC website. Good luck.         Primary WebMD XPG:  4067: flu Secondary WebMD XPG:  2951: anxiety (Source: Psychology Today Stress Center) Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2773782 Wed, 29 Apr 2009 21:50:33 +0100 2773782 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2659625&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fcase-and-stories%2F200904%2Fhypochondriacs-get-sicktoo Jerry insisted his eyes were yellow, but they didn't appear yellow to me. I moved in for a closer look. Fluorescent lights like those in the office where I practice internal medicine can make subtle jaundice, a sign of liver disease, difficult to detect. No, his sclerae were as white as mine and, as usual, Jerry seemed to have absolutely wrong with him. Jerry visited my office frequently. He was in his mid twenties, handsome and well built, someone who should have felt invulnerable. Most men his age need to be talked in to going to the doctor occasionally--and talked out of taking risks with their health. Jerry needed no such counsel. He used seatbelts and a bike helmet. He took vitamins and supplements. He flossed. And, still, he felt in perpetual danger of getting something bad. For Jerr... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2659625 Mon, 27 Apr 2009 21:47:07 +0100 2659625 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2482261&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanger-in-the-age-entitlement%2F200904%2Fthe-leading-cause-emotions-emotions By the time we're adults we have developed many conditioned inhibitions of emotional display which are largely motoric and automatic. These can lead you to feel misunderstood and to misunderstand others, especially if you or your therapist focuses on your feelings apart from their social context. But sometimes conditioned inhibition occurs with the emotion itself and not merely its display. In that case, other emotions, rather than motor reflexes, serve the inhibitory function.The primary inhibitory emotions are fear and shame. Once these become conditioned to occur with other emotions, enjoyment can cause shame of unworthiness, love can smack of fear, interest can scare us, sadness can depress us.Now here's where it gets really confusing for those who focus on feelings or the presumed "or... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2482261 Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:23:29 +0100 2482261 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2336658&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Frss%2Fpto-20060921-000002.html Remedies for the jet lagged. (Source: Psychology Today Stress Center) Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2336658 Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:11:42 +0100 2336658 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2578866&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fevolution-the-self%2F200904%2Fthe-wisdom-spontaneity-part-3 On Those Who Are Neither Spontaneous Nor Impulsive  So far, I've talked about the many advantages of acting more spontaneously--and the various disadvantages of behaving impulsively. But what about those who almost never respond either way?--those whose habit is to painstakingly ruminate over almost every act, every choice, every decision? Such individuals, who might be seen generally as obsessive in their whole life orientation, fear the loss of control more than anything else. They're afraid of anything that could lead to failure or rejection--and the accompanying feelings of guilt, shame, or humiliation. Because, typically, they're so concerned about what others might think of them--for example, that they might be viewed as selfish, aggressive, or childish--that they're not likely ... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2578866 Fri, 10 Apr 2009 20:57:38 +0100 2578866 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2714536&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fsnow-white-doesnt-live-here-anymore%2F200904%2Fwhat-your-college-rejection-really-means Last week the University of California at San Diego mistakenly offered congratulations to nearly 29,000 applicants on their acceptance when, in fact, these poor souls were actually rejected by the school.This caused--as you might imagine--much discussion in various academic as well as non-academic circles, raising questions about the college application and acceptance process itself, about the emotional resilience of today's students and their helicopter parents, about the philosophical implications of all forms of institutional responsibility, and about what to do when you hit the "send" button before proofreading.Maybe the office of admissions should have simply told the truth, and sent out a version of the following letter:To: Everybody who applied but didn't actually get in even though... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2714536 Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:46:47 +0100 2714536 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2624201&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fthe-dance-connection%2F200904%2Fyour-dysfunctional-family Families are not fair and we don't choose the one we are born or adopted into. Today a family is what most people are in recovery from. What is a functional family, anyway? Why doesn't yours match up?Here are three key elements of "the functional family".1.The functional family encourages the optimal growth of all of it's members and provides a safe space where individuals can more or less be themselves. Families promote of sense of unity and belonging (the "we") while respecting the separateness and difference of individual members (the "I"). 2. Parents make and enforce rules that guide a child's behavior but they do not regulate the child's emotional and intellectual life. Individual family members feel free to share their thoughts and feelings on emotionally loaded subjects, without tel... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2624201 Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:25:15 +0100 2624201 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2714535&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Ffearsome%2F200903%2Fblind-terror-meets-bunny-empathy Our first born, who has asked to be called Alice, started out as a dog lover. In fact, she took her first steps in pursuit of three frolicking pups. She fearlessly toddled to the panting dogs, giggling with delight when they swiped at her cheeks with their long pink tongues. We thought that was it; she'd be a dog lover for life. But around age four, she began to recoil when dogs jumped to greet her; suddenly she seemed to perceive their open mouths and high energy as threatening. By third grade her terror had deepened to the point where even a small dog trotting down the opposite side of the street could send her leaping into my arms with a shriek. She had developed a terror, a real phobia, that has persisted through most of sixth grade, though it has begun to diminish. I have some new tho... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2714535 Wed, 25 Mar 2009 21:15:56 +0100 2714535 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2271208&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Frss%2Fpto-20031119-000001.html How to keep anger from eroding your life. (Source: Psychology Today Stress Center) Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2271208 Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:32:38 +0100 2271208 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2723797&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fthe-narcissus-in-all-us%2F200903%2Fmass-murder-is-nothing-fear Two terrible incidents of violence occurred last week. Michael McLendon went on a killing rampage in Alabama that took the lives of 10 people before he killed himself. Half a world away in Germany, at about the same time, Tim Kretschmer attacked a school and murdered 15 people before killing himself. All told, 27 people died in these two incidents of mass murder.The news media in the United States has spent enormous amounts of time covering both incidents. We have not watched the German media, but it too has probably focused a lot of attention on the two incidents. It is probably safe to assume that news watchers in both countries have received a healthy dose of mass murder during the past several days.It will be interesting to see what results from these two incidents. To the extent that ... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2723797 Mon, 16 Mar 2009 21:14:59 +0100 2723797 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2578865&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanger-in-the-age-entitlement%2F200903%2Fmarriage-help-editing-the-negative-movies-in-your-head Parts I and II of this post described how we make movies in our heads starring the people we love and how those movies can easily turn love sour. This post shows how to edit your movies for more benign and realistic characterizations of loved ones.Step one: Compassionate Binocular visionDue to the unavoidable bias of subjectivity, your perspective is never as factually right as it seems. But regardless of how right it may be in a given circumstance, it is always incomplete. The reality of your relationship has two perspectives that must be seen simultaneously.Many people resist holding their partner's perspective alongside their own because it feels like they might lose something, as if their partner's perspective will take something away from theirs. In truth, learning more about your par... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2578865 Mon, 16 Mar 2009 19:15:24 +0100 2578865 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2271210&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Frss%2Fpto-20050920-000001.html Rumination can lead us to lash out. (Source: Psychology Today Stress Center) Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2271210 Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:22:40 +0100 2271210 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2519895&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanger-in-the-age-entitlement%2F200903%2Fmarriage-help-love-and-the-movies-in-your-head When we form emotional bonds with others, we also form dynamic internal images of them. In other words, the people we love star in movie scenes that we continually play inside our heads.Our internal movie scenes give us a persistent sense of the significant people in our lives when they are absent. The 14 month-old child who closes her eyes and vividly imagines her absent mother avoids the pangs of separation anxiety; mother still exists in her imagination and is likely to return in reality. Internal movies give us a sense of continuity and security. They help us explain and predict what is happening in our relationships.By the time we're adults, our internal movies allow us to interact with the most important people in our lives, in our imaginations. We routinely think of what we will say... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2519895 Wed, 11 Mar 2009 15:09:36 +0100 2519895 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2704789&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fbrainstorm%2F200903%2Fstocks-go-down-paranoia-goes For a summary of the current economic crisis, we need to look no further than the recent comment by President Obama, who said, "this is a big problem and it's going to get worse."The recession will wreak (if it hasn't already) very obvious damage: reduced pay checks; joblessness; home repossessions; loss of health insurance; hundreds of thousands of families restricting their spending to the bare essentials.Less apparent however, but just as significant, are the effects of the crisis on the nation's emotional and mental well-being. If there's one factor that is almost guaranteed to trigger psychological difficulties it's stress - and millions of Americans are going to find themselves under severe, sustained, and in many cases, unprecedented levels of stress as a result of this downturn.It'... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2704789 Mon, 09 Mar 2009 19:47:30 +0100 2704789 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2558770&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanger-in-the-age-entitlement%2F200903%2Fthe-psychotherapy-value-the-value-psychotherapy It was clear as we neared the end of our first session that Tom had worked hard to cultivate an ironic sense of humor, which had attracted many acquaintances but few emotional connections in his 41 years on earth. So I expected some witty remark to try to lighten the tone as he looked down at his fingers, toying with the loose fabric of the chair in my office. Still, I was in no way prepared for what he said on that summer afternoon some 15 years ago."I'm just another guy looking for a rainbow," he sighed.Maybe it was the shadowy tone of voice in which he said it or the thinness of his smile immediately afterwards. For whatever reason, Tom's little statement completely disarmed my empirically-based symptom-reduction training that had already yielded a treatment strategy. Suddenly I realize... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2558770 Sun, 08 Mar 2009 19:13:46 +0100 2558770 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2612805&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fthe-literary-mind%2F200903%2Ffetishes-and-clean-pencil-tips There is a deep connection between phobias, fetishes, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. In each, someone has an emotion that threatens to overwhelm her. Or, she has a complex brain--so her own racing thoughts threaten to derail her. In response, she compartmentalizes things in the outside world. A person with a fetish handles the monster of desire by focusing not on whole people but on parts--just a shoe, or the butt, or the slit in skirts. Focus on one thing organizes or restrains multiple feelings. A person with a phobia is similarly able to contain anxiety by condensing emotion to one target: She only fears spiders, or elevators, or crowds. The obsessive-compulsive mind works similarly: Faced with diffuse anxiety, she imposes a strict sense of orderliness on the outside world. She must... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2612805 Sun, 08 Mar 2009 17:39:18 +0100 2612805 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2525724&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fevolution-the-self%2F200903%2Fhuman-nature-abhors-vacuum-too If scientists ever come up with a physics of the psyche, one of its first axioms might be the above title. We humans crave stimulation, and on many different levels. To experience ourselves as fully alive, we all have various "arousal requirements"-whether physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual. And if we feel under-stimulated, we'll generally complain of being bored, antsy, anxious, irritable, lonely, or even depressed.This post explores some of the less fortunate ramifications of our constant need for stimulation. Perhaps more than anything else, our arousal needs--and the negative emotions and states of mind we experience when these needs aren't being met--can interfere with our better judgment. People who suffer accidents and injuries, for example, frequently do so because their per... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2525724 Thu, 05 Mar 2009 22:00:45 +0100 2525724 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2551860&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanger-in-the-age-entitlement%2F200903%2Flove-marriage-and-the-illusion-certainty If you're like most people, you rode into married life on powerful waves of affection and intimacy that crashed occasionally into self-doubt and apprehension, only to rise again, stronger than ever. In other words, you believed that you married for love. That was the easy part. Lots of research shows that love is more effective at bringing us together than keeping us together. You may have heard the saying, "Love is easy; relationships are hard." The truth is relationships are hard because love is easy. Strong feelings and sensations of any kind carry an illusion of certainty. With the exception of resentment, no emotional experience has more illusion of certainty than love. The need to feel certain is at least part of the reason why we come to resent the most the people we love the most. ... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2551860 Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:21:18 +0100 2551860 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2647676&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fsnow-white-doesnt-live-here-anymore%2F200902%2Fare-you-older-edith-bunker-or-norma-desmond It is astonishing how young a woman may be and yet be thought of as old, and how old a man may be and yet be thought of as young. I've been considering it. A lot. This started after I had my gallbladder removed, although I don't think that everyone necessarily experiences this as a side effect. When I was recuperating (already I'm introducing a wonderfully youthful phrase, right?), I caught the end of one of the world's best movies, SUNSET BOULEVARD.  Enthralled, I watched it for the twentieth time, but--and this is the crucial factor--for first time in about ten years. Let me ask you: without checking-- no Googling now, no going to IMDB--how old would you say Norma Desmond is?  C'mon, be honest? When she's clutching her neck, gritting her teeth, having lost her mind over her you... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2647676 Sat, 28 Feb 2009 23:09:40 +0100 2647676 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2575118&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fulterior-motives%2F200902%2Fstress-decreases-risk-taking-in-older-adults Stress clearly changes people's behavior. Just think about the last time that you were driving and someone nearly plowed into you. Your driving behavior was probably affected for some time to come. Short-term stress reactions like this are influenced by hormones. When you experience a stressful event, your body releases the stress hormone cortisol, which is known to affect both the brain and the body. A paper by mara Mather, Marissa Gorlick, and Nichole Lighthall in the February, 2009 issue of Psychological Science examined how risk-taking behavior was affected by stress both for young adults (between 18 and 33) and older adults (over 65). To manipulate stress, participants either bathed their arm in warm water for 3 minutes (a low stress condition) or in ice water for 3 minutes (a high st... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2575118 Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:12:48 +0100 2575118 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2572463&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanxiety-files%2F200902%2Ffacing-unemployment-ten-steps-handling-your-unemployment-anxiety Throughout the country we hear of factories closing, massive layoffs as companies retrench, stores going out of business and people everywhere facing unemployment. In January,  598,000 new people were added to the ranks of the unemployed in the United States for a total unemployment rate of 7.6 %.  The total number of unemployed people reached 11.6 million in January 2009. Most forecasters expect the unemployment rate to go higher—perhaps to 9% or 10%. The unemployed face increased risk for binge drinking, depression, anxiety, and suicide. There is decreased quality of mental health, life satisfaction, and objective physical well-being. The unemployed are likely to worry about their financial situation, never knowing for sure when they will find a new job. It’s a difficult time—but... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2572463 Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:18:48 +0100 2572463 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2590266&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fsnow-white-doesnt-live-here-anymore%2F200902%2Fhow-do-you-know-youre-getting-better It’s been three days since The Operation. How do I know I’m getting better? I made lasagna today: 3 big ones, two little ones—with sausage, full-fat ricotta, the whole deal. Okay, so I couldn’t lift them (not even the little ones) because the stitches still pinch, but cooking them was a pleasure; Obviously, my appetite is back. It was gone for about, oh, an hour and a half. That was while I was unconscious. The moment I returned to consciousness, I had ginger ale and a muffin. By the way, I from what I recall, which is nothing, the anesthesia worked like a charm. I could talk on the phone, although the conversations were shorter than usual. I suppose I should reverse the thrust of the statement: I knew I WASN’T okay until this morning because I’d been unwil... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2590266 Mon, 23 Feb 2009 02:37:39 +0100 2590266 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2639056&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fevolution-the-self%2F200902%2Fin-families-blood-may-be-thicker-skin-is-thinner-part-3-why-criticism Originally, I was going to call this post, "I'm Always Getting Criticized: The Trials of Marriage." But I opted for the more "picturesque" title above. The main thing is that as a therapist I so frequently hear from couples that "she's always criticizing me!"--or "he's always criticizing me!" And in fact, if your relationship is sagging under the weight of daily squabbling or bickering, it's likely that each of you is experiencing the other as constantly judging or second-guessing you. Why is it that we often feel so compelled to find fault with our mate?--and to be considerably more vocal about our frustrations with them than with others whose relationship to us is actually far less important to protect? Additionally, why do so many of us feel uneasy when we observe our mate's saying or d... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2639056 Sun, 22 Feb 2009 19:09:07 +0100 2639056 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2673272&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanger-in-the-age-entitlement%2F200902%2Funcertainty-is-your-friend-part-iii-emotions-are-all-the-ab All available evidence suggests that the brain has enormous flexibility to do a lot of different things at one time. Mental focus is hard because it forces the brain to concentrate its resources, something it is naturally inclined to do only with the prospect of reward or in the face of threat. We lose sight of brain flexibility in emotions in part because when we express an emotion, it seems like we experience only one. Thus we confuse the limitations of expression, particularly linguistic expression, with the multi-tasking of actual brain function. One example of the brain's spectacular flexibility is the arousal of sensory and emotional processes within milliseconds, to react to change in the environment. The brain does not activate individual senses and emotions - that would be an incr... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2673272 Fri, 20 Feb 2009 20:27:47 +0100 2673272 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2632783&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fsnow-white-doesnt-live-here-anymore%2F200902%2Frecovering-catholic-wants-confess Tonight I wish could go to a Drive-By Confessional and rattle off my sins to an anonymous priest, and be awarded absolution, forgiveness, mercy, and/or a nice little indulgence, if possible. (I only thought of an indulgence because the Roman Catholic Church is making them available again, according to a recent piece in the New York Times, and they sounded nice).I'm a recovering Catholic: I can never be anything else, but I can't engage actively in the practice without endangering myself.I miss confession's luxuriousness, the "whew" of completed penance. When I left the church, they hadn't yet changed the name to "reconciliation" and to be honest--and we should probably aim for honesty in a post about confession, right? --I'm glad. I don't want to be reconciled; I want t... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2632783 Thu, 19 Feb 2009 01:38:18 +0100 2632783 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2608621&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fredefining-stress%2F200902%2Fthe-ptsd-solution-new-hope-through-brain-plasticity As new programs continue to grow in response to the huge demand of patients who believe they are victims of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder), I am becoming more frustrated with the mercenary trends of the professional community in trying to "catch the next wave" of fad diagnoses. Not that I am calling PTSD a fad, but practitioners are coming forth with only a modicum of understanding of what this complex is and how to treat it. This blog may be more of an editorial than educational.The DOD fiasco of caring for these vets has led to many of these professionals losing credibility by the tons when they exclaim how "effective" they can be in dealing with the suffering veterans suffering while the number of suicides begin to stack up at their door and some estimate reac... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2608621 Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:23:30 +0100 2608621 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2669596&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanger-in-the-age-entitlement%2F200902%2Funcertainty-is-your-friend-part-ii-testing-the-illusion-cer There's a famous story about the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein watching a sunset with a student and marveling about how anyone could have believed that the sun revolved around the earth. "But Professor," the student said, "It seemed as if the sun revolved around the earth." Wittgenstein replied, "How would it have seemed if it seemed as if the earth revolved around the sun?"We cannot make inferences about what seems to be true and then use what seems to be true as evidence to support the inferences. Yet that's what we do all the time with our emotions - we buy into the illusion of certainty, discussed in Part I of this topic. The goal of this post is to become more scientific about our emotions.To be sure, there is still a lot about emotions and their role i... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2669596 Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:13:12 +0100 2669596 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2612804&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fsnow-white-doesnt-live-here-anymore%2F200902%2Ffacing-operation-fears-jokes-monsters-and-general-an I'm having an operation next week and I'm scared. There, I admitted it. I think about fear far too much, but I also believe that acknowledging fear is inevitably better than desperately pretending what frightens us doesn't exist. Emily Dickinson wrote a powerful poem about the sudden unexpected appearance of a snake; it obliterated her sense of calm when she was out on for an afternoon's walk. She describes her sense of terror as feeling like "zero at the bone." That's sort of how I feel right now.For many years, I felt this way more often than not; fear was a constant companion. I would cringe if not cower, weep if not wail in trepidation. I was scared to stay home and scared to leave the house.It took me years to learn to live without fear as a interruption in my life, and I've... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2612804 Thu, 12 Feb 2009 21:04:37 +0100 2612804 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2558769&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fthe-shrink-tank%2F200902%2Fwant-sure-fire-way-score-valentines-date-spray-some-axe You've seen the TV commercials. One little spritz and bikini clad women trek across the globe to hunt you down. One whiff and hot women will strip you down while chanting some cheesy porn music... Bom chika wah wah. It's called the Axe effect. Is it true that a simple deodorant spray is enough to turn a dud into a super stud? Researchers have found that there is indeed truth to the Axe effect. Wait, before you go dashing off to the deodorant aisle, let's look at what the researchers found. A study recently published in the International Journal of Cosmetic Science (there's an International Journal of Cosmetic Science?...Seriously?) explored the effects of deodorization on men's self-confidence and perceived attraction to women. British scientists randomly assigned a sample of men to either... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2558769 Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:28:40 +0100 2558769 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2519894&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanger-in-the-age-entitlement%2F200902%2Funcertainty-is-your-friend-part-i A number of years ago the dean of a leading medical school opened the commencement ceremonies with a message to the newly graduated physicians, "Fifty percent of what we taught you is wrong. The trouble is, we don't know which fifty percent." The uncertainty percentage is much greater in social sciences, due to the enormous number of variables that influence even a barely adequate analysis of complex phenomena. Almost everything I learned in graduate school about emotions is wrong. I can read certain things I wrote just six years ago and be amazed at how wrong they are, given new developments in technology that reveal so much more about how the brain works, along with a more vigorous study of emotion in animals - with whom our most basic emotions have much in common - and more ad... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2519894 Wed, 11 Feb 2009 17:56:12 +0100 2519894 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2525723&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fthe-tao-innovation%2F200902%2Fbreaking-away There's a saying that "entrepreneurs are like teabags - you never know how strong they are until you put them in hot water." Well, we're all in hot water now. The next year or two should provide us with a remarkable opportunity to test our mettle.The funny thing is, despite all the grumbling that accompanies a capital crunch, lean years are actually good for new companies. Many major brands like 3M, General Motors, IBM, General Electric, Microsoft, and Sun Microsystems all got their start during the lean times of recession. The worst recession since World War II was from 1973 to 1975, when the country's gross domestic product dropped 3.1 percent. This is when both Microsoft and Apple were founded.One of the reasons why better companies come out of recessions can be explained by t... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2525723 Tue, 10 Feb 2009 18:11:20 +0100 2525723 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2718370&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanger-in-the-age-entitlement%2F200902%2Fanger-problems-how-blogs-and-emails-make-them-worse The proliferation of blogs and emails may be partially responsible for the increase in anger of recent years. We can learn a lot about the emotions that motivate many blogs and emails, as well as reactions to them, from, believe it or not, a few observations of animals. Anger, for instance, is the fight part of the primitive fight/flight/freeze response common to all mammals. It functions primarily to protect self and juvenile offspring from harm. Activation of the fight/flight/freeze response requires a dual perception of threat and vulnerability. Animals respond to lesser threats with greater anger, fear, or submission (freeze) when they are wounded, starving, sick, or recently traumatized. The activation of fight over flight/freeze is determined by the annihilation potential of the thre... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2718370 Sun, 08 Feb 2009 20:37:34 +0100 2718370 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2167906&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Frss%2Fpto-20010501-000021.html Bridging the gap between East and West. (Source: Psychology Today Stress Center) Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2167906 Fri, 06 Feb 2009 22:31:43 +0100 2167906 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2551859&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fevolution-the-self%2F200902%2Fwhy-criticism-is-so-hard-take-part-2   This post offers additional bulleted explanations to help account for the almost universal susceptibility to criticism. At the same time, it suggests ways to gradually become less sensitive to the negative judgment of others. • When we're unfavorably evaluated or disagreed with, we can experience such discord almost as a put-down. Negatively sensitized to criticism, we may respond as though we were told (in so many words) that we were bad, ugly, or stupid. In such instances, the hurt child within us--never fully healed from the wound of early, and quite possibly excessive, parental criticism--is likely to bleed anew. And so we're simply unable to listen objectively to the other person's remarks, calmly appraise them, and respond accordingly. If their criticism pushes our buttons--... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2551859 Thu, 05 Feb 2009 17:50:15 +0100 2551859 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2575117&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanger-in-the-age-entitlement%2F200902%2Fanger-problems-how-words-make-them-worse In their attempts to describe anger, many therapists and authors use words that obscure more than they illuminate. Pseudo descriptions like, "appropriate/inappropriate," "normal/pathological," or "healthy/unhealthy" tell us nothing about the experience and motivations that occur during anger arousal. They are normative terms with no meaning apart from the values, ideologies, and biases of those who use them.Anger is certainly natural. It is part of the innate fight/flight/freeze response we share with all mammals, although most species opt to flee or freeze as a primary defense. It carries a powerful motivation to prevail, dominate, or retaliate in response to perceived threat to juvenile offspring, self, territory, and, in the case of the more cooperative social animals, pack mates. (A le... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2575117 Sun, 01 Feb 2009 23:13:50 +0100 2575117 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2572462&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Foccupational-hazards%2F200901%2Fsetting-boundaries-work-steps-making-them-reality One way to understand boundaries is to think about them as your limits or parameters in relationship to something or someone. The first step in setting boundaries is to identify when and in what context they are needed. Maintaining your boundaries in a particular situation refers to knowing and respecting your limits - what you are willing and able to give, as well as tolerate, without compromising your own physical, emotional, or spiritual health. Examples of professional boundaries include the following:-Schedule a regular lunch break daily to restore your energy and help manage stress. If it's not possible to take a walk, then give yourself time at your desk to read a book or magazine.-Balance periodic social breaks to chat and connect with your co-workers and colleagues with uninterrup... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2572462 Fri, 30 Jan 2009 17:48:59 +0100 2572462 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2590265&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fevolution-the-self%2F200901%2Fwhy-criticism-is-so-hard-take-part-1-0 Very few people can take criticism graciously. For most of us, being criticized is uncomfortable at best--de-stabilizing (or even devastating) at worst. The ability to take criticism in stride, it seems, is almost universally elusive. We all need to feel good about ourselves, so the moment someone judges us negatively any doubts we may yet have about ourselves can immediately catapult to the surface. And, to be ruthlessly honest, which one of us doesn't harbor certain deep-seated doubts about our worth, goodness, competence, or attractiveness? Of course, there's some relativity in all this. If, for example, a four-year-old gets on our case for something, it's unlikely that our emotional composure or self-confidence will be much shaken. For typically we give a child of that age very little ... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2590265 Fri, 30 Jan 2009 06:42:26 +0100 2590265 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2639055&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fsnow-white-doesnt-live-here-anymore%2F200901%2Fwhy-all-the-women-are-laughing Practically every woman I've met secretly believes she's half crazy.She'll tell you so, too, within the first hour or so of real conversation. Maybe that means it's not such a secret, but you know what I'm saying. She's worried about it. She's concerned about appearing too loud or too needy, too grabby or too greedy. There you are, talking to the most soignée, charming, unselfconscious person you've ever met, and when you least expect it, she'll smile slyly, pause briefly, and blurt out "Oh, God, I don't know what you'll think of me, but I have to tell you...." She'll then regale you with a story that is both uproariously funny and gut-bustlingly inappropriate. It won't be a joke. It will be an actual story about her life, one that's kept her up at night.It's how women become friends. We ... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2639055 Tue, 27 Jan 2009 14:07:27 +0100 2639055 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2134861&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Frss%2Fpto-20050422-000004.html How does your brain deal with a moral dilemma? (Source: Psychology Today Stress Center) Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2134861 Mon, 26 Jan 2009 14:02:40 +0100 2134861 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2608620&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fulterior-motives%2F200901%2Fthink-long-and-hard-why A few years ago, I was driving down the highway. Another car and I tried to shift into the middle lane at the same time. The driver of the other car turned and flipped me a rude gesture, only to discover a moment later that both of us are colleagues at work. The next day, this colleague apologized, saying "Sorry, I reacted without thinking." I have reacted the same way in other circumstances, so to this point only luck has kept me from being rude to a colleague or friend. More generally, we often react quickly to situations, acting in ways that are quite different from what we would do with a more careful and reasoned approach to the same situation. What is going on?A lot of our thinking is driven by attempts by the cognitive system to minimize energy consumption by a particular ... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2608620 Mon, 26 Jan 2009 13:41:44 +0100 2608620 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2669595&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanger-in-the-age-entitlement%2F200901%2Fmarriage-help-rear-and-side-view-mirrors During conflict with anyone, but especially a loved one, your perspective becomes narrow, rigid, and resistant to any feedback that mitigates the negative assumptions you are currently making. Worse, you are all but oblivious to how you seem to your partner. In short, you behave under the influence of blind spots that are the psychological equivalent to driving down the highway without rear or side view mirrors. You know well how your partner looks and sounds when he or she is resentful or angry. You could write a book about it, or at least a pamphlet or blog post. But you never think, at least not at the time, about how you look and sound when you notice that your partner is resentful or angry. You don't think of how likely is it that your partner perceives you at that moment to be reject... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2669595 Fri, 23 Jan 2009 22:03:08 +0100 2669595 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2558768&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fhealth-matters%2F200901%2Fthe-cultural-context-depression One cannot fully assess the nature of depression without addressing the context (cultural, communal, familial) within which it occurs, any more than one could fully understand the growth of a bacterium without understanding the medium within which it grows. To focus the analogy even further, we might say that we cannot fully understand the growth of the phenomenon of depression, the rising incidence and prevalence, without understanding the medium within which this phenomenon is growing. That medium is the western culture, the community one lives in, the schools and groups one belongs to, and the family. Much has been written about the influence of marital status, marital satisfaction, early parental loss, and early developmental trauma on the vulnerability to depression. However, much les... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2558768 Fri, 23 Jan 2009 13:16:56 +0100 2558768 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2612803&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Faspergers-diary%2F200901%2Finterest-in-serial-killers In an earlier post, Asperger's Awareness for Assistance Professions, I touched on  the importance of professional awareness of certain behaviors in Asperger's, and how they can be misunderstood. Such misinterpretations, handled improperly, can cause a great deal of havoc in the lives of people with Asperger's, and their families.  I recently saw yet another example of this depicted in the movie, "Billy The Kid." As I laid out in my last post, Billy The Kid is a documentary following a few days in the life of a 15 year old from Maine named Billy, who has Asperger's. Not too far into the film, Billy's mother relates a call she received at home: "I got a call at home that, you know...'Is Billy okay? Um, does he seem okay at home?'  And I'm like, 'Yeah, he's fine.... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2612803 Tue, 20 Jan 2009 05:43:18 +0100 2612803 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2519893&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanger-in-the-age-entitlement%2F200901%2Fanger-problems-the-confusion-primacy My many posts on anger have distinguished the natural function of the emotion - to protect something of value - from anger problems - the recurring experience of anger that makes one act against one's best interests. The issue of anger problems is not a simplistic distinction between primary and secondary emotions, which is just a straw-man argument. No one wants a life without any anger or the ability to protect the self and that which we value from attack. The point is that anger problems pervert the natural function of anger by making us devalue that which we value. Anger problems, unlike the occasional experience of natural (primary anger), are not about self-defense or existential rights, they are about protecting fragile egos and enforcing a sense of entitlement. They are not about p... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2519893 Mon, 19 Jan 2009 07:04:38 +0100 2519893 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2525722&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fcrisis-center%2F200901%2Fptsd-in-the-military-interview-military-wife As ever-increasing numbers of soldiers are being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the need to understand this complex and troubling experience grows larger. In order to better understand what soldiers are going through, I interviewed the wife of a veteran who was diagnosed with PTSD. Shelly is not her real name, but Shelly and her husband are real people and I have known Shelly for several years. This interview took place in January 2009. Dr. Call: Thanks for agreeing to this interview, Shelly. I appreciate your willingness to share your experience. So your husband is a veteran of the Iraq war?Shelly: Yes, he is. He did a 13-month tour in 2005-2006. Dr. Call: And when was he diagnosed with PTSD?Shelly: In the spring of 2007. Many people think that in order to have PTSD... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2525722 Sat, 17 Jan 2009 16:37:31 +0100 2525722 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2718369&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanxiety-files%2F200901%2Ffifth-week-overcome-your-worry-overcoming-your-fear-failure I don't know about you, but no one ever taught me how to fail successfully. There was no course in college called, "Failure 101". I'm not sure if they would grade you as Pass/Fail in such a course, but that course wasn't offered. But as we all know, failure is an inevitable part of our lives-and no one has gone out of his or her way to get us prepared.We've heard unhelpful ideas such as, "Winning is everything" and "How to win and never lose" and "There are winners and losers". It's a lot of hype. Everyone loses sometime. Even the people we admire most have had big losses. Whether it's sports, finance, relationships, academics, medicine, law, construction, or business---we all have to face some losses. We are not "winners" or "losers&q... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2718369 Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:02:00 +0100 2718369 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2551858&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Furban-mindfulness%2F200901%2Fwhat-is-urban-mindfulness What is mindfulness?Mindfulness has been described as "nonjudgmental awareness of the present moment" by Jon Kabat-Zinn. This refers to our ability to notice what we're experiencing right now without critique or analysis. Thus, mindfulness is different from thinking. It's the difference between thinking, "Oh, no! I'm late!" vs. noting that "Oh, no! I'm late!" is passing through your mind. The difference is subtle, but it can make a big difference in terms of our resultant emotional reaction and overall stress level. In fact, studies of mindfulness have shown that it is helpful in reducing stress and anxiety, alleviating chronic pain, and preventing relapse of depression. The origination of mindfulness can be attributed historically to Buddhism. However, there ... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2551858 Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:19:05 +0100 2551858 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2647675&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fevolution-the-self%2F200901%2Fattachment-vs-detachment-finding-the-psychological-golden-mean-part-2 Dysfunctionally Attached--and Moving Toward the Golden Mean of Attachment Being too detached--or not sufficiently available or responsive to others--represents one pole of the attachment continuum. Over-responsiveness (or excessive relational dependency) defines the other. Here what's impaired isn't our ability to experience the full spectrum of human emotions, but our ability to sufficiently detach from these emotions so we're not totally preoccupied, or consumed, by them. Extremely sensitive to how others see us--in fact, being held so tightly in the grip of external validation that we view ourselves mostly on the basis of how we imagine others view us--constantly threatens our mental and emotional equilibrium. Whereas being excessively detached from others hardly represents a viable sol... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2647675 Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:24:58 +0100 2647675 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2567348&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanger-in-the-age-entitlement%2F200901%2Fmarriage-help-turn-your-automatic-defense-system Except in the case of abuse or battering, the real barrier to a satisfying intimate relationship is not the personality, selfishness, ill-will, poor behavior choices, or communication skills of you or your partner. The real enemy of your relationship is the hypersensitive Automatic Defense System (ADS) that has evolved between you. Activated almost entirely without words, the ADS gets triggered unconsciously by body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice. By the time you're aware of any feelings, it's usually in an advanced stage. It's the feeling you get when your partner doesn't look at you or or sighs as you or when you hear the door close before he/she enters the room, or when he or she starts with that "tone." Suddenly you find y... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2567348 Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:12:33 +0100 2567348 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2101372&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Frss%2Fpto-20040116-000001.html Are we flooded with choices? (Source: Psychology Today Stress Center) Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2101372 Tue, 13 Jan 2009 14:16:58 +0100 2101372 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2572461&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanger-in-the-age-entitlement%2F200901%2Fanger-problems-smokescreen-fear-shame-phobia I was recently approached about participating in a documentary on anger and incivility in the land, which caused me to reflect on why things seem to be getting worse. In addition to survey evidence that shows people reporting higher levels of anger, most professionals who work in the field know that the demand for their services has greatly increased over the past decade. (My own practice group, CompassionPower, has gone from serving some 20 new clients per month in 1998 to over 150 per month in 2008.) Whatever your job, the emotional state you are likely to observe most often in the course of a typical day is some form of low-grade anger (usually manifest as impatience, agitation, annoyance, irritability, sarcasm, resentment, frustration, or superiority), plus a sense of entitlement. The ... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2572461 Fri, 09 Jan 2009 20:59:42 +0100 2572461 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2590264&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fevolution-the-self%2F200901%2Fattachment-vs-detachment-finding-the-psychological-golden-mean-part-1 Dysfunctionally Detached If in the past we've felt taken advantage of, rejected or betrayed, we may erect stiff (even impenetrable) boundaries to protect ourselves. As a result of our adverse experiences--which frequently take place early in life when we're most sensitive to them--we may harbor anxiety or cynical beliefs about getting too close to others. And we may have decided that it's also not prudent to allow others to get very close to us. In such cases, we'll tend to relate to others on a generally impersonal level, and share our deepest, most private feelings not at all. Such a life stratagem, though extreme, does at least minimize threats of further disillusionment or deception. By restraining ourselves from getting emotionally invested in a relationship, we render ourselves... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2590264 Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:33:19 +0100 2590264 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2090163&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Frss%2Fpto-20081114-000008.html Action hero John Geddes survives the war zone. (Source: Psychology Today Stress Center) Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2090163 Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:24:30 +0100 2090163 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2632782&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fcare-the-soul%2F200901%2Ftherapy-world-politics I have often wondered why doctors and other medical professionals are not the most vocal environmentalists in the world. They know firsthand what disease does to a life, how much suffering is involved, and how tragically children are left without parents and marriages end in death. They know that many of our illnesses are due to toxins in our water and air and foods. They know that human health depends on the health of the planet.I also wonder why psychologists are not more vocal about bloody conflicts around the world, such as the current wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Gaza. Not only is the suffering more than you can bear to consider, but the madness of it all is obvious. Emotional complexes burst out in violence, brutal histories play themselves out, acting-out is a way of life and ... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2632782 Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:09:34 +0100 2632782 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2639054&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fstress-remedy%2F200901%2Fpalpitations-anxiety-or-heart-disease In his thoughtful post, Dr. Steven Hayes discussed (among other things) an episode in which he felt his heart race. Feeling your heart race, or palpitations, is a very frequent symptom of anxiety. On the other hand, certain types of palpitations are a signal of heart disease. How can we tell whether palpitations represent a symptom of anxiety or heart disease? And finally, when one has palpitations from anxiety, what are some very practical steps to address them?A study in the Archives of Internal Medicine looked at 107 consecutive patients with a heart rhythm problem called "paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia" or "PSVT." [Lessmeier, et.al., Archives of Intern. Med. 1997; 157:537-543] With PSVT, the heart rate suddenly jumps to a very high rate. In the above study,... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2639054 Tue, 06 Jan 2009 06:22:13 +0100 2639054 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2608619&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanxiety-files%2F200901%2Ffourth-week-looking-the-core-your-anxiety We differ as to the kinds of things we worry about. Some of us worry about being abandoned by other people, some worry about not being able to take care of ourselves, others worry about being humiliated, and others worry about losing their special status as "superior people". Let's take a look at the current financial worries that many of us have and ask, "What is the core theme of your worry?"How is your current worry related to your underlying view of yourself and others?Let's imagine five different people who are facing financial losses---or even the loss of their job. The first person thinks, "If I lose money or lose my job, my partner will abandon me." "I will be left all alone". The second person thinks, "If I lose money, then it proves th... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2608619 Mon, 05 Jan 2009 20:29:54 +0100 2608619 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2558767&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanger-in-the-age-entitlement%2F200901%2Fanger-problems-prevention One dangerous myth about an "anger problem" is that it only involves aggression, abuse, hurting people, or destroying property. Such behaviors are merely the extreme end of the anger spectrum, indicating but one of many kinds of anger problems.Though we associate extreme behaviors with anger, in reality most of the anger we experience in the course of our lives is unconscious. You are never aware of most of your anger. By the time you do know that you're resentful or angry, it's already in an advanced stage, when the techniques taught in anger management classes - "managing" angry feelings and arousal - run the risk of being too little too late.A more viable target for prevention of anger problems is the subtle types of anger that lie outside conscious awareness. Subtle... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2558767 Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:28:26 +0100 2558767 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2612802&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fget-out-your-mind%2F200901%2Fhuman-life-is-not-problem-be-solved If you happened to be walking through a southern college campus 30 years ago you might have seen a man sitting on a park bench apparently wiping his face in the warmth of a Spring day while gazing at the kind of lush green scenery only the South can provide. But if you had been inside this young man you would have seen something different. He was not actually wiping his face. That was a cover so that he could put his fingers on his neck and feel how fast his heart was beating. To his dismay he found that it was still above 160 beats a minute - a rate only hard exercise could produce even though he had not moved in nearly half an hour. And he was not actually looking at the trees and grass. Instead he was wondering how he could possibly stand up, and walk that 500 yards to a classroom fille... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2612802 Fri, 02 Jan 2009 04:48:34 +0100 2612802 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2519892&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fpromiscuous-facts%2F200812%2Fis-it-spaghetti-or-barbed-wire-are-you-suffering-acid-reflux This is the opening challenge in a Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) television commercial for Nexium, first aired in 2004. The aim of the commercial is to connect directly with the experience of heartburn sufferers so that they see themselves in the persons in the ads whom we are then told suffer from acid reflux disease, a disease that appears identical with heartburn. it's different for people with acid reflux disease,because you know the heartburn's gonna nail you.The image of food turning into barbed wire is both a lived anticipation and a reality we are told. And over time that acid could shred your esophagus.Next time, Nexium, the new purple pill.For many, one prescription Nexium daily means 24-hour heartburn relief;more importantly, it also heals acid-reflux erosions.Nexium, for those who l... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2519892 Tue, 30 Dec 2008 20:54:06 +0100 2519892 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2525721&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanger-in-the-age-entitlement%2F200812%2Fanger-problems-what-they-say-about-you Anger is the primary protective emotion, designed to protect us from harm or from loss of something of value. The most physical of all emotions, anger sends action signals to the muscles and organs of the body to prepare us for one purpose and one purpose only: to neutralize or defeat the perceived threat. Two factors go into the formulation of anger: current vulnerability and magnitude of the perceived threat. Relatively little threat will cause anger when vulnerability is elevated, for example when physical resources are low - you're tired, hungry, sick, injured, depressed, anxious, stressed - or when self-doubt is high, making you more easily insulted. Problem anger (that which leads you to act against your long-term best interests) is caused by high vulnerability. It is the most self-r... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2525721 Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:38:26 +0100 2525721 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2718368&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanger-in-the-age-entitlement%2F200812%2Fanger-problems-numbing-avoiding-pain Even after more than 20 years of practice in the area of chronic resentment, anger, and abuse, it continues to amaze and dismay me how many calls and emails I get about anger problems during the holidays. We all know the reasons - families are together more, overeating and overdrinking, offering more opportunity for conflict. The expectation of happiness around the holidays inclines them to frustration and to blaming their disappointment on those around them.Anger provides a way to temporarily numb or avoid pain, which is why, when you bang your thumb hanging a picture, you don't pray. Most of us are unaware of our hurt when angry.Most problem anger - that which makes you act against your best interest - is about abrupt ego pain or threat of ego pain. Something happens that makes you feel ... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2718368 Sun, 28 Dec 2008 18:21:51 +0100 2718368 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2551857&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fstuck%2F200812%2Falone-the-holidays   One of the reasons that this is the year's peak season for anxiety and depression is that we are expected to spend much of this season -- this day, especially -- with others. This simple fact, this folkway, this presumption, leads to torment: albeit for opposite reasons in different kinds of minds.Some of us prefer solitude, or near-solitude, given a choice. For we loners, extended stretches of time spent in the company of others, especially with numerous others, feels like donating blood. It's that painful and that draining. Alone we feel most natural, most serene, most ourselves. Yet this is a crowded and intensely sociable world, full of societies built over centuries of hardship during which families, clans and villages had to share, had to huddle together, or face certain ... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2551857 Thu, 25 Dec 2008 17:11:02 +0100 2551857 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2567347&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fredefining-stress%2F200812%2Fre-training-the-brain-worry-stress-part-ii The objective is the training of your body and brain to find the methods that you could employ as you met highest stress levels, and create a natural cycle of restoration. Remember, flexibility is key, whether it be physical or psychological.• Biofeedback - A similar program can be developed with self-monitoring devices. As mentioned earlier, biofeedback is a self-training method that uses sophisticated computer technology to monitor stress-related levels in your body, such as blood vessel dilation, muscles tension, breathing cycles, heart rhythms and even brain waves.My favorite is peripheral temperature, which is an indication of vessel dilation and restriction. Basically, the idea is that the more relaxed you are, the more relaxed your blood vessels are, and thus the warmer your hands... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2567347 Fri, 19 Dec 2008 21:36:48 +0100 2567347 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2647674&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fget-out-your-mind%2F200812%2Facceptance-mindfulness-and-values-why-now <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]--><!--[if !mso]> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } <![endif]--> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"MS Mincho"; panose-1:2 2 6 9 4 2 5 8 3 4; mso-font-alt:"ＭＳ 明朝"; mso-font-charset:128; mso-generic-font-family:modern; mso-font-pitch:fixed; mso-font-signature:-536870145 1791491579 18 0 131231 0;} @font-face {font-famil... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2647674 Fri, 19 Dec 2008 20:02:15 +0100 2647674 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2575116&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Faspergers-diary%2F200812%2Fmaking-pearl While driving to work the other morning, I had one of my "moments."  One of the moments in which my otherness overwhelms me, and I find myself thinking there's no place for me in the world.  At least, no place where I fit in.  Early on, it was easy to let those types of thoughts slip me into self-pity, but this time, I found myself stopping to think.  Sure, it hurts to be an outsider - but is it really necessary to fit in?<!--break-->Inexplicably, I started thinking about pearls.  Pearls are made when a small object, such as a grain of sand, is washed into an oyster.  As a defense mechanism to an irritant inside its shell, the mollusk creates a pearl to seal off the irritation.  A substance called nacre (mother-of-pearl) is deposited on the surface of the object, fo... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2575116 Mon, 15 Dec 2008 05:23:25 +0100 2575116 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2572460&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fmy-life-aspergers%2F200812%2Fanother-auld-lang-syne This week, I went to two Christmas parties, and they could not have been more different. I'll describe the first one here, and the second one in my next post.The first should have been the best, or at least the most lavish, as it was hosted by one of our leading banks. It's always drawn the movers and shakers from the local business world, and it's traditionally featured soft music, good wines, fine catered food, and a relaxed moneyed atmosphere.Not this year.As soon as I walked into the room, I felt something in the air. My neck and shoulders began tensing up. Ill feelings were swirling all around. Anxiety, terror, depression. Every bad emotion you can name was out there that night. The prior year's feelings of warmth, pride and even common greed were long gone."Things are going to g... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2572460 Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:09:50 +0100 2572460 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2033505&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Frss%2Fpto-20080425-000001.html A little stress may help you make good decisions. (Source: Psychology Today Stress Center) Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2033505 Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:06:20 +0100 2033505 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2027661&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Frss%2Fpto-20081016-000001.html How the disorder can wreak havoc at home. (Source: Psychology Today Stress Center) Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2027661 Wed, 10 Dec 2008 14:18:25 +0100 2027661 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2673271&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanger-in-the-age-entitlement%2F200812%2Fcompassion-is-power I think of my late mother often, but especially around the holidays - she loved Christmas so. She overcame a history of severe emotional abuse and domestic violence to bless me with the belief that compassion is the most powerful human emotion. Before I was 11 years-old, my mother had left my father 13 times. This is known as the elastic effect in which battered women repeatedly leave, only to return to their abusers. My mother tried to go back a 14th time, but by then he had found another woman. So still in her twenties, she became a single mother, working in a factory to support her child. In the 1950s there was little sympathy for mothers who "failed their marriages" for whatever reason; I was the only kid in the Catholic schools I attended who was "from a broken home.&qu... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2673271 Thu, 04 Dec 2008 19:20:14 +0100 2673271 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2632781&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fmouse-man%2F200812%2Fsocial-anxiety-disorder-and-the-placebo-effect This study provides further stunning evidence of the power of genetic analysis, as well as providing some molecular and genetic explanations for the placebo effect. It may also provide some new clues into understanding the controversies surrounding SSRI treatment, which is often claimed to be no better than placebo. The powerful placebo effect in some people may make it harder to see a significant difference between placebo and SSRI-treated groups, even though the SSRI drugs may be having beneficial effects in patients who do not carry the "placebo genes". Full study; Furmark et al, A Link between Serotonin-Related Gene Polymorphisms, Amygdala Activity, and Placebo-Induced Relief from Social Anxiety. The Journal of Neuroscience, December 3, 2008, 28(49):13066-13074. (Source: Psyc... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2632781 Thu, 04 Dec 2008 04:57:59 +0100 2632781 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2604537&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fambigamy%2F200811%2Fthanksgrieving-cheer-cause-its-downhill-here When we're down, people sometimes try to cheer us up with reminders that other people are much worse off than we are. Comparing misfortune to good effect also applies to our future selves. We should all cheer up because compared to who we'll be in our declining years we're doing great. Along with AARP cards, one perk senior citizens get is the occasional amusement of consoling some youngster who is distressed to be growing so old. I wrote this song after just such an experience, me at 51 consoling a 36 year old who was distressed about aging.Enjoying the happiness we get depends upon our ability to manage our interpretation of wellbeing as either a complement to, or substitute for future happiness. If my happiness today is a complement to happiness tomorrow--if it sets up an expectation th... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2604537 Wed, 26 Nov 2008 01:46:26 +0100 2604537 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2558766&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fambigamy%2F200811%2Fthanksgrieving-cheer-cause-its-downhill-here-musical-op-ed When we're down, people sometimes try to cheer us up with reminders that other people are much worse off than we are. Comparing misfortune to good effect also applies to our future selves. We should all cheer up because compared to who we'll be in our declining years we're doing great. Along with AARP cards, one perk senior citizens get is the occasional amusement of consoling some youngster who is distressed to be growing so old. I wrote this song after just such an experience, me at 51 consoling a 36 year old who was distressed about aging.Enjoying the happiness we get depends upon our ability to manage our interpretation of wellbeing as either a complement to, or substitute for future happiness. If my happiness today is a complement to happiness tomorrow--if it sets up an expectation th... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2558766 Wed, 26 Nov 2008 01:46:26 +0100 2558766 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2612801&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fin-practice%2F200811%2Ftreating-anxious-kids-part-iii-which-psychotherapy This study is not a bad one; in fact, its methods are excellent. But because the focus of any outcome trial is necessarily narrow, all research in this field needs to be put in context and integrated with other findings. In a prior posting, I suggested that the Zoloft doses used in this study were so high as to limit the practical utility of its findings. Something parallel can be said about the psychotherapy component. We can be reasonably sure that psychotherapy and medication work for anxiety disorders in children. For policy purposes, that result is important: broadly speaking, this sort of treatment should be offered. But for CBT, as for Zoloft, whether this therapy should be preferred remains unknown. (Source: Psychology Today Stress Center) Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2612801 Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:40:26 +0100 2612801 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2519891&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fmouse-man%2F200811%2Fposttraumatic-stress-disorder-and-cannabis-potted-history "....because I can't forget no matter how hard I try.........." Corporal Cloy Richards, PTSD sufferer.Cannabis has often been proposed to treat posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and rates of marijuana use are significantly higher in PTSD sufferers. However like all medical marijuana issues it's controversial and complicated. I will try and explain some of the science behind the issue. The basic rationale is this; a defining feature of PTSD is that sufferers cannot "forget" a traumatic event such as combat or rape. It is well established that cannabis use impairs certain types of memory and may help sufferers "forget". Additionally cannabis often reduces anxiety and promotes sleep, both of which are beneficial for PTSD where elevated general anxiety and slee... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2519891 Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:09:13 +0100 2519891 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2525720&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanger-in-the-age-entitlement%2F200811%2Fmarriage-help-stop-worrying-about-what-say What I hear the most in counseling people about relationships is, "What should I say..." when he or she does this or says that. My pat response is, "Don't worry about what to say; focus on the emotional state you are in and the emotional state of your partner when you say it." The classic miscommunication in marriage occurs when she says something like, "Honey, we need to talk." I've written elsewhere about why this well meaning approach goes awry. The point here is, whether she forces him to talk or not, the likelihood is great that they both end up feeling disappointed and disconnected. The pain of disconnection from someone you love lies at the heart of every argument, cold silence, and resentment you endure in your intimate relationships. Emotional disconn... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2525720 Sun, 23 Nov 2008 23:26:05 +0100 2525720 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2684765&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fin-practice%2F200811%2Ftreating-anxious-kids-part-ii-how-much-zoloft A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found Zoloft and cognitive behavioral therapy to be highly effective in the treatment of reasonably severe anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. I reported on the findings when they first appeared, hailing them as mostly good news, and promised to come back with further postings about the limitations of the research.Today: thoughts about the medication arm of the trial.The Journal is selective when it comes to research studies in psychiatry. I suspect that the editors chose this paper because it looked at a large sample (489 subjects) and because the results were striking. The children had social anxiety, generalized anxiety, and separation anxiety. On medication, most kids responded, and the responses were substantia... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2684765 Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:34:17 +0100 2684765 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1969227&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Frss%2Fpto-20010501-000026.html The mind-body connection is stronger than you think. (Source: Psychology Today Stress Center) Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1969227 Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:20:55 +0100 1969227 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2551856&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fredefining-stress%2F200811%2Fthe-gift-stress-santa-claus It is no surprise that we are approaching the stressful time of the year - the holidays. It seems paradoxical that "holidays" are defined as times meant for joy and release from work demands. The pictures of children dancing around, opening up gifts, families smiling in the chorus of a song, and group pictures are actual higher stress than routine Mondays. But they are generally when the worst of our nightmares often manifest themselves. In my investigation of what stresses are most often present, I may have discovered seven of the underlying issues that seem to be programmed into our present day issues that churn our stomachs into ulcers and heads into migraines. In the spirit of David Letterman, I will use the reverse order to emphasize the mounting tension many people feel as ... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2551856 Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:58:06 +0100 2551856 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2647673&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanger-in-the-age-entitlement%2F200811%2Femotional-abuse-overcoming-victim-identity In terms of your health, happiness, and deepest values, one of the worst things that can happen is to live with a resentful, angry, or emotionally abusive partner. The worst thing you can develop, in terms of your health, happiness, and deepest values, is an identity as a victim. Victim identity destroys personal power and undermines the sense of self. It makes you falsely identify with "damage" done to you or with bad things that have happened to you. The cry I hear over and over again from those who live with resentful, angry, or emotionally abusive partners is, "I don't like the person I've become."Once emotional abuse occurs in a relationship, it becomes necessary not only to stop the abuse but to overcome victim identity through a strong identification with your i... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2647673 Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:40:43 +0100 2647673 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1969228&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Frss%2Fpto-20030221-000001.html When mastered tasks fall apart under pressure. (Source: Psychology Today Stress Center) Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1969228 Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:05:19 +0100 1969228 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2567346&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fmouse-man%2F200811%2Fgene-anxiety-depression-and-posttraumatic-stress-disorder-fkbp5 Everyone experiences stress and unhappiness at some points in their lives. For most people, these unpleasant episodes are transient but for others they are associated with the development of conditions such as depression, anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder. A key challenge for scientists is to try to understand why only some people will develop these disorders. Nature, nurture and interactions between the two are all suspected. It is well established that many psychiatric conditions have a genetic component and that environmental conditions will influence those genes. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an excellent example of this; people carrying genes that increase the likelihood of them developing posttraumatic stress disorder will still have to experience significant stres... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2567346 Sun, 16 Nov 2008 20:44:47 +0100 2567346 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2575115&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fsingletons%2F200811%2Fshyness-mental-disorder-or-personality-quirk I listened to her parents beg, "Talk to your Uncle Steve." From the time she was able to talk, with the exception being her father, Annie refused to speak to her uncle and most adult males. She spoke to her mother and her aunt at full tilt and somewhat to a few female grown-ups. At five-years-old, she would play games with me when we were together once or twice a year, but spoke as little as possible. "Your turn," she said, or pulling another game off the shelf, "Can we play this one?" Not the chatter you would expect from a bright, young lady starting school.Annie resisted monumental bribes including a trip to Disney World bankrolled by Uncle Steve if she would just acknowledge him. Her parents worried: Would Annie outgrow her shyness? Or would it be a lifelo... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2575115 Fri, 14 Nov 2008 23:22:19 +0100 2575115 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2572459&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fulterior-motives%2F200811%2Fthoughts-death-can-be-bad-your-health The last few posts, I have talked a bit about temptations around the holidays. One thing that is clear from people's behaviors is that we do a lot of things in the short term that are bad for our long-term health. We overeat, even at the risk of putting on dangerous amounts of weight and risking diabetes. We smoke cigarettes. We drink too much alcohol. We lie out in the sun and get a nice tan. Despite lots of education about the potential dangers of these behaviors, we don't do much to take care of our long-term health. A theory published Goldenberg and Arndt in the October, 2008 issue of Psychological Review may help to explain why.<!--break-->Their theory applies "Terror Management Theory" to health behaviors. I wrote about Terror Management Theory in another post in this... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2572459 Thu, 13 Nov 2008 19:50:49 +0100 2572459 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2590263&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanger-in-the-age-entitlement%2F200811%2Fverbal-abuse Some words have fangs. Among the sharpest are those classified as negative labeling. Negative labels come in the form of adjectives: "You're lazy, selfish, unreasonable, insensitive, etc.," and also in nouns: "You're a loser, s., bitch, bad boy, etc." Sometimes tone of voice grows fangs on otherwise benign words. "I love you," can imply with nefarious inflection that no one else could, because you are pretty much unlovable. In addition to the fact that negative labeling implies unchangeable characteristics of personality rather than negotiable behavior, negative labels virtually guarantee that you'll get more of the behavior you're condemning. After all, what do "lazy" people do? Well, they don't help around the house. What do "bad" kids d... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2590263 Thu, 13 Nov 2008 19:45:12 +0100 2590263 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2680512&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanxiety-files%2F200811%2Fhow-optimist-sees-opportunity-in-the-current-market In an earlier post "Anxious Financial Markets: How Fear Drives Investments" I indicated that pessimists and optimists have different underlying assumptions, theories and realities that affect their approach to investment. Let's consider how an optimist might approach the current investment environment.The Mind of the OptimistThe optimist is generally looking for opportunities to take reasonable risks to maximize profits. The optimist is "growth-oriented" rather than focused exclusively on protecting assets. (Of course, optimists can get into real trouble when they take foolish risks in bubbles-as the recent crash in the market indicates). Nonetheless, the optimist believes that she has sufficient current assets to warrant some investment. She also believes that she will be able to enjoy f... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2680512 Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:20:26 +0100 2680512 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2632780&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanger-in-the-age-entitlement%2F200811%2Fthe-fear-shame-dynamic My colleague, Pat Love and I have written that a great many marital disputes are triggered by an unconscious fear-shame dynamic, in which the fear or anxiety of one triggers shame-avoidant behavior (withdrawal or aggression) in the other, and vice versa. The classic example occurs in the car. A woman passenger startles at something she sees on the road. Her husband gets angry, perceiving her involuntary startle as an assault on his charioteering. He'll sulk or say something sarcastic or turn into Ben-Hur, ready to drive those other chariots off the road, making her even more afraid and angry. They'll each feel that the other is overreacting, insensitive, inconsiderate, or immature. The culprit here isn't poor communication skills or childhood wounds. Rather, the couple is subject to a prim... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2632780 Wed, 05 Nov 2008 18:03:51 +0100 2632780 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2639053&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fmouse-man%2F200811%2Fnew-target-alcoholism-treatment-the-n-type-calcium-channel This study suggests that drugs like NP078585 might create a "positive feedback"; reducing the desire of human alcoholics to drink, lessening their rates of relapse once sober and reducing the effects of alcohol should they relapse. Our group is expanding these studies to determine whether derivatives of NP078585 might be suitable for human trials. As excited as I am about this work, I'm not getting carried away. We're still a long way from a treatment that could be used in people and of course there is no guarantee such a treatment will work. Nevertheless, the pharmaceutical industry is actively developing drugs that block N-type calcium channels so there is a real chance we could find out. Hopefully we can deliver some good news for the treatment of a devastating disease that cu... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2639053 Wed, 05 Nov 2008 05:21:01 +0100 2639053 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2608618&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanger-in-the-age-entitlement%2F200811%2Fpost-election-stress-disorder National elections are tough times for those of a bi-partisan nature, not to mention a blogger who comments on the negative effects of emotional pollution. I'd like to think that we are the silent majority, those of us who long for civility and respect in the discourse of decent people presenting their vision and plans for the nation. After all, poles say that the public is fed up with negative campaigning with its misleading and often downright false advertising. We're appalled at the costs of this election cycle, which exceeds that of the Revolutionary War and the duration that nearly doubles our participation in World War I. This election has been so disappointing because it held out promise to be better. Both candidates really seemed above personal and negative attacks. The use of the ... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2608618 Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:05:09 +0100 2608618 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2558765&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fbrainstorm%2F200810%2Felection-superstitions Yesterday I was on NPR's Talk of the Nation to talk about superstition. (They called me up after reading my article on magical thinking.) The guest who was on before me, Dana Milbank of the Washington Post, had written an article about McCain's lucky charms; he discussed politicians' peculiar rituals. So I thought I'd provide 7 election-time superstitions and why we subscribe to them.<!--break-->1. Rituals and charms. McCain carries a lucky penny, a lucky nickel, and a lucky quarter. And a lucky compass. And a lucky feather. Meanwhile, Obama tries to play basketball on the day of every election. People are very good at spotting patterns. Sometimes we see them when they're not even there, a byproduct of evolution. (It's better to connect the dots and see an illusory cheetah on the sav... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2558765 Fri, 31 Oct 2008 05:05:29 +0100 2558765 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1914998&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Frss%2Fpto-20011101-000024.html Some are more prone to colds and flu than others. (Source: Psychology Today Stress Center) Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1914998 Wed, 29 Oct 2008 12:59:12 +0100 1914998 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2612800&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanxiety-files%2F200810%2Fovercoming-post-traumatic-investor-disorder As I indicated in my previous post on Post-Traumatic Investor Disorder you have been so badly burned by your recent losses in the stock market that you are traumatized. You have a sense of impending doom, terrible surprises that can happen at any time, loss of trust in investment and guilt over your own actions. You blame others, you feel that the world is not what you thought it would be, and you want to avoid all information about the market and any information in your monthly statements. As I indicated, this makes it possible for other investors to buy all the stocks that have been dumped at cheap prices. Warren Buffet and the other pros may look at the current debacle as the biggest opportunity that they have seen. It may also be the most terrifying financial trauma that you have exper... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2612800 Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:11:20 +0100 2612800 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2519890&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fulterior-motives%2F200810%2Fchoice-and-recession-iii-fighting-expectations When you read the newspaper stories about the current decline in the financial markets, there are lots of quotes from people affected by the economic crisis. People have lost their homes, and suddenly must move from their own house to a smaller apartment. Corporations are trying to downsize to get more efficient, and older workers are being asked to step aside. It is a real tragedy that people are losing so much because of the current economic conditions. People's reaction to this loss also reflects a few aspects of the way that people's expectations about the future influence their current plans. Two of the concepts I want to talk about here are the hedonic treadmill, and people's schema for wages across their lives.The concept of the hedonic treadmill is an explanation that Danny Kahnema... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2519890 Sun, 26 Oct 2008 18:51:33 +0100 2519890 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2525719&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanxiety-files%2F200810%2Fpost-traumatic-investor-disorder The market hits new lows, your 401 K money has died and gone to heaven, and you are in total panic mode. Yes, Main Street, you are bewildered by the market's wild ride and you just called your broker and screamed in a high-pitched voice, "SELL EVERYTHING". After watching your investments evaporate into thin air you are so traumatized by the market that you no longer look at your monthly statements-- "I can't stand to see how bad things are". You wake up in the middle of the night, clutching a pillow, and sweat it out saying to yourself, "I'm going to go broke". It's not sugar plums dancing in your anxious brain tonight. No, my fellow traumatized friend, it's the image of the market crashing to zero. It's the image of you standing on the street, selling apples ... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2525719 Fri, 24 Oct 2008 20:20:17 +0100 2525719 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2684764&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fulterior-motives%2F200810%2Fthe-power-yard-signs-iii-perceived-control I thought I was done writing about yard signs, but when I woke up this morning, all of the Obama signs in my neighborhood were gone. Some people had them by the street, and others by their houses. All of them were gone. This was a targeted neighborhood beautification project, though, because the McCain signs were all still standing. Obviously, this does make the neighborhood look like it leans a bit more to McCain than it does, but the real question here is why someone would steal the signs? The election is two weeks away, and early voting in Texas begins on Monday. Obama may be ahead in the national polls, but he is unlikely to carry the state of Texas.So, what is the point of stealing Obama signs?<!--break-->If you are a strong supporter of McCain right now, you are probably starti... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2684764 Sun, 19 Oct 2008 21:12:31 +0100 2684764 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1886588&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Frss%2Fpto-20081006-000003.html Foods to grab when you"re frazzled. (Source: Psychology Today Stress Center) Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1886588 Fri, 17 Oct 2008 14:57:52 +0100 1886588 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1883502&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Frss%2Fpto-20081006-000002.html Looking after a sick loved one can shorten your life. (Source: Psychology Today Stress Center) Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1883502 Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:53:36 +0100 1883502 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1883503&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Frss%2Fpto-20010101-000012.html Tending to the needs of a disabled loved one. (Source: Psychology Today Stress Center) Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1883503 Thu, 16 Oct 2008 13:49:47 +0100 1883503 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2551855&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fstress-remedy%2F200810%2Fthe-utility-and-problems-labels Labeling people can sometimes serve a function. For instance, a person with bipolar disorder may benefit from a different medication than someone with clinical depression. Someone with a phobia may benefit from different types of psychotherapy than someone with schizophrenia. However, labels carry some risks as well!<!--break--> If we are not careful, categorizing people into different groups reinforces the notion that they are totally different than us. We can forget our common humanity and lose our ability to empathize. To prevent this we need to remember that most people do not intentionally cause suffering for the sake of causing suffering. For the most part, people are just trying their best to be happy - just like we are. Sometimes people are skillful in their attempts to be ha... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2551855 Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:04:24 +0100 2551855 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2647672&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fredefining-stress%2F200810%2Fbeware-stress-inducers-are-present In psychology news in today’s modern world, the issues of our tremendous stress are on our personal coping skills. The research has validated the promotion of positive cognitive perception, especially as we coach ourselves to act more rationally and solve our problems from within. I agree with the framework as a valid and constructive plan. However, I am also aware that there are people who I would label as “Stress Inducers.” You can usually tell when they are present because there is an eerie silence around them because there is so much tension and fear that they will bring disaster to someone. You can almost smell them, or the unconscious reactions to them by the innocent, as they approach. You probably know at least one at work or when you gather for a social event. They nee... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2647672 Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:31:36 +0100 2647672 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2567345&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fstress-remedy%2F200810%2Fnothing-fear-fear-itself Now is a perfect time to reflect on FDR's first inauguration speech - when the economic situation was far worse than it is now (excerpts as follows): "This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself-nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance..."<!--break--> "In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties. They concern, thank God, only material things... Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment. Yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered bec... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2567345 Tue, 14 Oct 2008 05:27:38 +0100 2567345 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2575114&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanger-in-the-age-entitlement%2F200810%2Femotional-reality-v-reactivity Seeking to "get your needs met" in a relationship will not improve it. Neither will just solving problems. Besides the fact that these are often veiled attempts at manipulating your partner into doing what you want, they are likely to increase the emotional reactivity at the heart of your discord. To improve your relationship, you have to change your emotional reality. If you don't consciously choose your emotional reality, your brain will create one on automatic pilot, based on past experience and biases, and that will keep you making the same mistakes over and over. Most people want the emotional reality of their relationships to be harmonious, affectionate, loving, and compassionate. But instead of behaving more harmoniously, affectionately, lovingly, and compassionately, th... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2575114 Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:50:42 +0100 2575114 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2572458&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanxiety-files%2F200810%2Fthird-week-challenging-your-worried-thinking Well, I have to apologize to those of you who have been following the ANXIETY FILES on worry. I took a detour for the last couple of weeks to address your anxieties during this financial crisis. But if you followed my blogs on financial worries, then you have learned something about how to handle worry in general. This included challenging some of your negative worries about finance. During the first two weeks of your Worry-Cure Program you learned how to examine the differences between productive and unproductive worry and you learned some techniques to deal with acceptance of uncertainty and limitations. In this third installment, we will look at some simple techniques to handle your negative thoughts. Challenge your worried thinkingMany of your worries are based on overly negative and d... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2572458 Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:22:24 +0100 2572458 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2590262&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fcreating-in-flow%2F200810%2Fyou-create-pacify-your-inner-critic Creating can be an emotional process. But there's good emotional—even when you're sad or the work epitomizes sorrow—and there's bad emotional. That's when your inner critic attacks you, calls you mean names, and causes you not to feel like creating anymore. One of the ways you may slip out of flow when you're creating something is if you don't feel that what you're producing—your internal feedback—matches what you had in mind originally, that is, your internal ideal. Of course, apprehension due to such non-matching is helpful when it warns you to go back and revise the substandard work. In fact, that's an essential part of the flow process. It's only dysfunctional when it makes you feel too bad to continue working, then or later. (Check out this amusing and very brief talk about en... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2590262 Wed, 08 Oct 2008 18:55:22 +0100 2590262 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2680511&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanxiety-files%2F200810%2Fhow-optimism-got-us-in-trouble-in-financial-markets-or-why-smart-people-do In a previous post- Taking the Blinders Off: Knowing What You Should Really Worry About-- I suggested that there are many things that we should worry about but that we don't seem to bother to worry about. These include risky habits such as smoking, drinking, overeating, spending too much, risky sex, and driving dangerously. People generally don't worry about these things-if we define worry as recurrent, unwanted negative thoughts about the future. The same processes that lead us to avoid everyday real risks have contributed to the development of an overly risky financial market and credit crisis. The financial crisis is due to building a house of cards and then acting like we are surprised when it collapses. There's a risk when there is too much optimism.But what has led us to build a hous... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2680511 Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:12:51 +0100 2680511 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2632779&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fevolution-the-self%2F200810%2Fthe-power-be-vulnerable-part-1-3 Part 1--Denying Vulnerability: "You're Really Making Me Angry!" To feel anxiety and not back away from whatever's causing it requires marked self-control. Resisting the temptation to avoid anything we experience as threatening takes considerable courage. We humans are so wired that the slightest perception of danger leads to feelings of vulnerability, setting into motion the impulse to flee, freeze or dissociate. And that sudden flash of trepidation can be prompted by anything that threatens our sense of control. It could, for instance, relate to sharing ourselves personally in a way that exposes us to the other's indifference, disapproval, or anger. When we confide our thoughts and feelings in another, we may also fear that our sharing won't be reciprocated. Or that it could be used again... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2632779 Sat, 04 Oct 2008 04:00:07 +0100 2632779 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2608617&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanger-in-the-age-entitlement%2F200810%2Fpolitical-opinion-and-professional-ethics There is a serious ethical issue with political opinions expressed in these blogs under the guise of psychological expertise. Psychologists may have the right to express political opinions and make partisan interpretations as much as anyone. But posting them on the Psychology Today website implies that they are something more than opinion and interpretation. Other blogs and even legitimate news media can recycle sensational quotes from psychologists about so and so being a psychopath or depressed or a congenital liar or suffering PTSD or afflicted with anger or anxiety problems. When a professional psychologist expresses these opinions they necessarily imply clinical expertise and empirical support, which, of course, they do not have. No ethical clinician or researcher would make a diagno... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2608617 Fri, 03 Oct 2008 16:29:03 +0100 2608617 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1851173&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Frss%2Fpto-20080623-000004.html Chinese children buckle under academic pressures. (Source: Psychology Today Stress Center) Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1851173 Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:22:32 +0100 1851173 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2612799&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fbrainstorm%2F200810%2Fjock-straps-and-conspiracy-theories Jim Ohms puts another penny in the pouch of his supporter after each win. Clanging against the hard plastic genital cup, the pennies made a noise as he ran the bases toward the end of a winning season. Glenn Davis would chew the same gum every day during hitting streaks, saving it under his cap. Infielder Julio Gotay always played with a cheese sandwich in his back pocket (he had a big appetite, so there might also have been a measure of practicality here). Wade Boggs ate chicken before every game during his career... Mike Hargrove, former Cleveland Indian first baseman, had so many time consuming elements in his batting ritual that he was known as "the human rain delay."That's from an essay titled "Baseball Magic" by the anthropologist George Gmelch. As I explained in my article on magica... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2612799 Thu, 02 Oct 2008 19:00:05 +0100 2612799 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2558763&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanger-in-the-age-entitlement%2F200810%2Fyou-are-the-way-you-value-and-devalue Self-value is a far more useful construction than self-esteem. The latter is, at best, a function of what you think about yourself -- mostly in comparison to others -- or, worse, a depiction of your ego. Value is more behavioral than conceptual, more about how you act toward what you value, including yourself, than how you regard it. To value something goes beyond regarding it as important; you also appreciate its qualities, while investing the time, energy, effort, and sacrifice necessary for its maintenance. If you value a da Vinci painting, you focus on its beauty and design more than the cracks in the paint, and, above all, you treat it well, making sure that it is maintained in ideal conditions of temperature and humidity. Similarly, people with self-value appreciate their better qu... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2558763 Thu, 02 Oct 2008 18:02:24 +0100 2558763 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2519889&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fredefining-stress%2F200810%2Fit-is-out-finding-natural-paths-through-the-stress-storms On September 22, a major breakthrough into mental health was published under the name of The Stress Answer. I think it is great, but I am biased - I wrote it. But before you write me off as a narcissistic bore, let me explain that I wanted to make a statement about a new science breakthrough that people have discussing for years and never had applications of it. The term is "brain plasticity," and it refers to the brain abilities to reconstruct itself and create new pathways. Paralyzed people have walked again by teaching another area of the brain to function for their motor coordination, when according to current thought it would be impossible. People have learned to talk again, using another part of their brains. There are examples over the map of people who have recovered moto... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2519889 Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:55:55 +0100 2519889 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2525718&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanxiety-files%2F200809%2Ffinancial-anxiety-and-the-luckiest-man You are watching your 401k shrink in value and you are wondering how you will be able to pay your bills when-and if---you retire. Everything in your life right now seems to hinge on the money that seems to be disappearing right before your eyes. What can you do?Diversified PortfoliosI've noticed that many of my anxious patients over the years who worry about money often get tunnel vision. They focus on one set of their assets and think that their entire wealth is based on that asset. But your assets may be far more diversified than that asset. For example, your 401 K may be one asset. But are there other assets? For example, your house is an asset. It may have declined in value, but there is likely some net value there. The average equity in America in your home is about 45% and about 1/3 ... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2525718 Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:48:29 +0100 2525718 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1837458&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Frss%2Fpto-20010901-000012.html How yoga may ease your chronic pain. (Source: Psychology Today Stress Center) Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1837458 Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:16:44 +0100 1837458 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2684763&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanxiety-files%2F200809%2Fanxiety-investing-and-time-perspective If you are like a lot of investors who are anxious, you have become derailed in your thinking in recent weeks, feeling that the bottom might fall out. The recent news seems bad, then good, and then you wonder what can happen next. Anxious investors often focus on what has happened recently and then they over-generalize to the future. If you are like a lot of anxious investors, you think that current bad news means that the future will unravel. And you believe that this can happen very, very quickly. But a major component in assessing risk is time-perspective. If you are focused on the short-term and you believe that this predicts the future, then your emotions go up and down with ticks in the market. You sit by the screen, watch your stocks, focus on changes of less than a point for a stoc... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2684763 Mon, 29 Sep 2008 19:22:03 +0100 2684763 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1833381&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Frss%2Fpto-20080716-000003.html Wind down the right way. (Source: Psychology Today Stress Center) Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1833381 Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:50:09 +0100 1833381 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2551854&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanger-in-the-age-entitlement%2F200809%2Femotional-reality Emotional reality, unlike physical reality, is created rather than observed. By and large, people create the emotional reality in which they live. Unfortunately the choice of which reality we create is usually made by default, a kind of habitual automatic pilot derived from temperament, metabolism, and experience. The human brain filters information within its default choices, processing that which conforms to them and excluding that which deviates from them. The result can keep us pretty much stuck in a rut. When we try to make changes in emotional reality, we tend to think in terms of problems and challenges, as if these were rocks to be removed from a garden. This approach often fails because the emotional reality we create is more like a broad cityscape than a particular rock or garde... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2551854 Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:52:16 +0100 2551854 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2647671&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fcreating-in-flow%2F200809%2Ffear-flow-trivialize-the-task Expressing ourselves creatively—whether in words, wax, pixels, movement, or whatever—can be pleasurable. But often it isn't. We can't face the activity in which we most want to lose ourselves. The very thought of it makes us queasy. What's going on?Writer's block may be unique—perhaps basket weavers never get weavers' block?—but any act of creative expression has its own perils. Anxiety leads us to think there's something to fear, even when there isn't. And fear, needless to say, is the antithesis of flow, that engaged state of mind in which whatever you're doing feels nearly effortless. COMMON FEARSI collect fears. Here is a selection of them based on interviews I've done with writers and from students I've taught. Do any of these sound familiar? The worry that the work isn't goo... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2647671 Mon, 22 Sep 2008 02:54:12 +0100 2647671 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2567344&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanxiety-files%2F200809%2Fanxious-financial-markets-how-fear-drives-investments All of us have been watching the gyrations of Wall Street and the stock market in recent days. With the collapse of Bear Stearns and Lehman, the "rescue" of the failing Fannie Mae-Freddie Mac, and the bail-out of AIG, many people wonder, "Have investors completely lost their minds?" Well, the answer may be, "Sometimes". Here's how we might look at anxious investing during a time of market volatility, uncertainty, bad news, and fear.How does the anxious investor think? Let's consider two possible investors--- one who is reasonably optimistic and the other who is pessimistic. Pessimistic and Optimistic InvestorsConsider Jones who is considering an investment and who believes that he has substantial assets and substantial future earning potential. He is presented... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2567344 Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:41:27 +0100 2567344 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2575113&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanxiety-files%2F200809%2Fsecond-week-accepting-uncertainty-end-your-worries Now that you have been recording your worries and examining whether they are productive (see my previous blogs on this), you have been able to identify which worries you can take action on and which you cannot act on. For example, you can take action on your worry about whether I will get my work done--- by taking the action of doing more work now. But you have also identified some worries that don't lead to an action plan, such as "What if no one likes my talk?" I have called the latter worry, "Unproductive worry". But now what?The second step in our approach is to consider accepting limitations. You and I have limitations in terms of what we can do and what we can know. Let's start with the limitation of what we can know.Tolerating UncertaintyIn an earlier blog "... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2575113 Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:04:55 +0100 2575113 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2572457&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fulterior-motives%2F200809%2Fstill-angry-after-all-these-years When John McCain gave his acceptance speech at the Republican convention, he spoke at length about his imprisonment in Vietnam, and his harrowing ordeal. What was fascinating about this speech was that he maintained a relatively calm tone, even though he was describing events in which he was beaten and physically broken. This calm tone contrasts with McCain's reaction when he is reminded of the vile attack ads that were used against him when he ran against George W. Bush in the primaries. In those discussions, McCain can get visibly angry. You might think that McCain is suffering from some kind of post-traumatic stress disorder that affects his ability to remember and recall his time as a POW, but a paper in the August, 2008 issue of Psychological Science suggests a different explanation. ... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2572457 Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:47:54 +0100 2572457 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2590261&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fcrisis-center%2F200809%2Fcommon-reactions-disasters-and-ways-cope-them On September 1, Labor Day, as a member of the Oklahoma Medical Reserve Corps, I spent the day working with about 2,000 Louisianans who had just been bused to Oklahoma City to shelter from Hurricane Gustav. They were sheltering in a huge unused warehouse-the Lucent Technology Center in southwest Oklahoma City. By far the majority of our "guests" were a stalwart group. In particular I met and talked with a man, about my own age (older rather than younger), who worked as a maintenance man in the courthouse complex in New Orleans. We started the conversation with him teaching me the best way to eat MREs (meals ready to eat)-which menus were the best, how to mix the gravy with the meat, and the best way to open the cheese packets. He had been through Katrina and decided that had been ... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2590261 Wed, 17 Sep 2008 17:33:47 +0100 2590261 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2632778&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fredefining-stress%2F200809%2Fnew-old-mental-health-tool-flowers Some of you know that I am the Chief Content and Oversight Adviser to the Dr. Phil Show, and have seen me occasionally as an expert guest on the show. A fascinating event took place recently as I was taping the show featuring my new book, The Stress Answer, that I would like to share with you.  Before you ask, the show is scheduled to air October 1 and you can witness my discovery.           The book is about self-help techniques to help rid yourself of what I call “brain stress storms.” These brain storms are what I observe when the brain goes into a chaos, usually triggered by stress. I define brain stress storms as those states in which your stress is so high as to prohibit rational thinking and produce circular thinking patterns. When you are in this state you can’t pro... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2632778 Mon, 15 Sep 2008 19:09:10 +0100 2632778 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1779613&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Frss%2Fpto-20080718-000007.html Bringing nature inside. (Source: Psychology Today Stress Center) Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1779613 Tue, 09 Sep 2008 13:19:42 +0100 1779613 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2608616&cid=s_35660_36_f&fid=35660&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psychologytoday.com%2Fblog%2Fanxiety-files%2F200809%2Feight-weeks-being-worry-free-reviewing-your-first-week-setting-aside-your- Your Last Self-Help AssignmentYou may have been following my last two blogs-- Eight Weeks to End Your Worries and First Week: Ending Your Worries. I hope you have been using some of these techniques to help yourself. Let's look at where we are.In my last blog I recommended that you do the following:1. Identify the same worries---over and over2. Set aside worry time3. List the advantages and disadvantages of worrying4. Ask if this is a productive or unproductive worryLet's see what you may have found.Same Worries-Over and OverDid you find that you have a lot of the same worries occurring over and over? For example, are you repeating the same worries about your relationship, health, work, finances, or another topic? If you are repeating your worries, then it's useful to just list them and ch... Psychology Today Stress Center news http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2608616 Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:08:55 +0100 2608616