MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'behavior'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 01:54:14 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5181897&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F09%2F01%2Fsxsw-2012-psychology-picks-need-your-vote%2F Time is running out to vote for some of your favorite SXSW 2012 Interactive panel ideas through the SXSW panel picker (Friday at midnight is the deadline). Yes, you need to register a free account in order to vote, but it takes only a minute to do so. I’ve organized a panel again for consideration, as have some other psychologists and professionals. I’ve highlighted three panels I’d like you to vote a big thumbs-up on, if you have a minute today. While people’s votes only constitute 30 percent of how a panel idea is chosen to present at SXSW Interactive, it’s an important part of the process that helps the organizers make the tough decisions. The panel I’ve proposed is about online therapy. But not your everyday kind of online therapy… Click on th... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5181897 Thu, 01 Sep 2011 12:14:46 +0100 5181897 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5181899&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2F31%2F3-fascinating-facts-about-our-brilliant-brains%2F Our brains do a lot of work behind the scenes to help us function and thrive. But we largely know this already. What might surprise you are the details of this work. For instance, as neuroscientist David Eagleman writes in his book Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain: Your brain is built of cells called neurons and glia—hundreds of billions of them. Each one of these cells is as complicated as a city. And each one contains the entire human genome and traffics billions of molecules in intricate economies. Each cell sends electrical pulses to other cells, up to hundred of times per second. If you represented each of these trillions and trillions of pulses in your brain by a single photon of light, the combined output would be blinding. The cells are connected to one another in a netw... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5181899 Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:57:59 +0100 5181899 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5174665&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2F29%2Fbeliefs-about-memory-interview-with-dan-simons%2F In a recent survey of the U.S. population, researchers Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris assessed common beliefs about memory.  They found that common beliefs are often incongruent with scientific findings.  Recently I had an opportunity to ask Simons about some of the implications of the survey. What motivated this survey on understanding memory? Our goal in conducting the study was to supplement the research we had done for our book, The Invisible Gorilla. The book focuses on everyday illusions, cases in which people’s intuitive beliefs about how the mind works are faulty. In writing the book, we realized that nobody had ever conducted a national survey to measure how pervasive those beliefs are. Our PLoS One paper reports the results from a subset of the items in the survey,... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5174665 Mon, 29 Aug 2011 11:53:28 +0100 5174665 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5174667&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2F28%2Fthe-curious-case-of-phineas-gage-and-others-like-him%2F If you’ve ever taken an introductory psychology class, then you probably know the story of Phineas Gage, the 25-year-old railroad worker whose personality dramatically changed after a rod pierced his skull. Gage lost portions of his frontal lobe and went from being a kind and mild-mannered man to rude and unrestrained. On September 21, 1848, The Boston Post reported on the incident. The article was called “Horrible Accident” and said: As Phineas P. Gage, a foreman on the railroad in Cavendish, was yesterday engaged in tamping for a blast, the powder exploded, carrying an instrument through his head an inch in length, which he was using at the time. The iron entered on the side of his face, shattering the upper jaw, and passing back of the left eye, and out at the top of the head.... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5174667 Sun, 28 Aug 2011 12:17:17 +0100 5174667 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5169573&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2F27%2Fzimbardos-infamous-prison-experiment-where-the-key-players-are-now%2F It’s arguably one of the most controversial experiments. It all started in the basement of the psychology building at Stanford University on August 17, 1971 after psychologist Phil Zimbardo and colleagues took an ad out in the paper stating: “Male college students needed for psychological study of prison life. $15 per day for 1-2 weeks.” Over 70 people volunteered for the Stanford Prison Experiment. Twenty-four healthy, smart college-aged men were picked and randomly assigned either to be a guard or a prisoner. The aim of the study was to explore the psychology of prison life and how specific situations affect people’s behavior. But the experiment didn’t last very long — six days to be exact. Zimbardo was forced to pull the plug because of the disturbing behavior of the guard... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5169573 Sat, 27 Aug 2011 12:04:17 +0100 5169573 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5182067&cid=t_107391_122_f&fid=36582&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FSharpBrains%2F%7E3%2F83QTuZxBx3c%2F Obesity linked to Cognition (HealthCanal): - “Obese people tend to perform worse than healthy people at cognitive tasks like planning ahead, a literature review has found, concluding that psychological techniques used to treat anorexics could help obese people too.” - “According to a review of 38 studies on cognitive function and obesity by researchers from the University of NSW, obese people have a tendency toward “reduced executive function”, meaning planning, goal-oriented behaviour and decision-making.” - “Obesity may both cause and be caused by the reduced executive function, said review lead author Dr Evelyn Smith, from UNSW’s School of Psychiatry.” To read article: click Here. To access study: Click on A review of the association between obesity and cognitive fun... SharpBrains blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5182067 Fri, 26 Aug 2011 16:09:46 +0100 5182067 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5169611&cid=t_107391_122_f&fid=36582&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FSharpBrains%2F%7E3%2F83QTuZxBx3c%2F Obesity linked to Cognition (HealthCanal): - “Obese people tend to perform worse than healthy people at cognitive tasks like planning ahead, a literature review has found, concluding that psychological techniques used to treat anorexics could help obese people too.” - “According to a review of 38 studies on cognitive function and obesity by researchers from the University of NSW, obese people have a tendency toward “reduced executive function”, meaning planning, goal-oriented behaviour and decision-making.” - “Obesity may both cause and be caused by the reduced executive function, said review lead author Dr Evelyn Smith, from UNSW’s School of Psychiatry.” To read article: click Here. To access study: Click on A review of the association between obesity and cognitive fun... SharpBrains blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5169611 Fri, 26 Aug 2011 16:09:46 +0100 5169611 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5159198&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2F25%2Fcan-religion-or-spirituality-help-ward-off-depression%2F People of all shapes, sizes, colors and nationalities get depression. There seems to be little rhyme or reason to whom it strikes and when. Many people swear by certain things to help them keep depression away. Some people use exercise, while others throw themselves more into their work. Others take a daily dose of a herb like St. John’s Wort or fish oil, because of the association these ingredients have had with a reduction in depression in some studies. But what about religion? Can a strong sense of spirituality or religion help you ward off depression? According to new research that followed a group of people over 10 years, the answer is a qualified “Yes.” The new longitudinal research out of Columbia University wanted to followup on previous research demonstrating th... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5159198 Thu, 25 Aug 2011 15:10:27 +0100 5159198 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5159201&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2F24%2Fis-it-really-mind-over-matter-the-mind-and-body-are-one%2F You have probably heard the phrase mind over matter, which implies the mind and matter are separable.  Or maybe you have heard it’s all in your head, or it’s mental.  Both of these phrases imply the separation of mind and brain (or body). So to explore this issue, I’d like to share some videos that discuss the unity of mind-body.  They can help us better understand how inseparable the mind and brain (body) really are. Mind vs. Brain: In the above video, Yale psychologist Paul Bloom says, “The mind is a product of the brain.  The mind is what the brain does.” Can we overload our brains? Steven Pinker, a scientist at Harvard, discusses the mind-brain myth in the video above.   Substance Dualism *Mirror* This is an excellent video (above) that discusses and re... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5159201 Wed, 24 Aug 2011 11:29:31 +0100 5159201 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5159214&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34761&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedblitz.com%2F%7E%2F26858236%2F0%2Fneuromarketing%7EIncognito-by-David-Eagleman.htm Book Review: Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman Incognito is a look inside our heads: Eagleman, a neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine, looks at various aspects of how our brains work and how those functions manifest themselves in our behavior. In one chapter, he looks at our senses and how [...] CommentsSweet, I was looking for a new read, might check this one out! ... by David BrainsRelated StoriesNudge by Thaler and SunsteinThe Upside of Irrationality by Dan ArielyWhat Don Corleone Could Learn from Guy Kawasaki (Source: Neuromarketing) Neuromarketing blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5159214 Tue, 23 Aug 2011 16:57:55 +0100 5159214 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5159204&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2F22%2Fweb-surfing-at-work-helps-you-be-more-productive%2F Thank goodness the Wall Street Journal isn’t known for its outstanding health reporting. In a story written by Rachel Emma Silverman, she reports on some preliminary research recently presented at a management conference. Like a lot of research that gives us “surprising” results, it was done on a single group of 96 undergraduate students at a single college campus. And the task designed for the college laboratory setting by the researchers would be difficult to characterize as analogous to most people’s work environment or jobs — it was highlighting every single letter “e” or, in the second part, “a,” while reading. The question the researchers asked — Can surfing the Internet help you to become a more productive employee? The an... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5159204 Mon, 22 Aug 2011 18:23:31 +0100 5159204 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5159936&cid=t_107391_180_f&fid=38612&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fpickthebrain%2FLYVv%2F%7E3%2FER0ZwakDAC8%2F I’ve discovered a powerful remedy for self-destructive habits that is so simple I wondered how I missed it over the years. My self-destructive habit involved eating junk food late at night, yet my discovery will work for any chronic, self-defeating behavior. Do you do things every day that you wish you didn’t? Most people wish they had control over certain behaviors, from addictions like smoking, drinking, gambling and junk food to emotional behaviors such as anger outbursts and yelling. Other seemingly stress related habits plague millions, such as biting fingernails, fidgeting or even shopping too much. We are creatures of habit, but sometimes our habits get the best of us, even though we understand the consequences. Science Daily recently reported on a University of Alberta study in... PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5159936 Sat, 20 Aug 2011 06:26:34 +0100 5159936 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5139876&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2F18%2Fwhy-you-cant-make-a-good-decision-at-500-pm-decision-fatigue%2F We live in the most prosperous society on Earth at this moment. You can walk into any Gap or Target store and choose from more than 2 dozen different types of jeans (and in some cases, more than 3 dozen). All of that choice comes at a price, however. It’s called “decision fatigue” and its full impact is only starting to be fully understood by psychologists and researchers. Our brains can suffer from “mental fatigue,” just as our bodies can become physically fatigued after a long workout. What is so surprising about this phenomenon is just how little people appreciate the importance of mental fatigue and its resulting decision fatigue — even when making decisions that can be life-changing. John Tierney in The New York Times has the lengthy story (5,350 w... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5139876 Thu, 18 Aug 2011 13:17:30 +0100 5139876 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5139877&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2F17%2Fquiz-do-you-make-other-people-happy%2F As put forth by the Second Splendid Truth: One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy; One of the best ways to make other people is to be happy yourself. Everyone accepts the Second Splendid Truth, Part A; the Second Splendid Truth, Part B often isn’t as clear to people. But to focus on Part A here — how do you know if you’re making other people happy? What are some signs? Are the following statements true for you: Do people seem to feel comfortable confiding in you? Do people follow your recommendations? Are you a source of material comfort or security for someone else? Do people whom you’ve introduced often go on to have a continuing relationship? Do people seem to drift toward you? Join a conversation that you’re having, sit down next... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5139877 Wed, 17 Aug 2011 16:46:16 +0100 5139877 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5139879&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2F16%2Fis-addiction-simply-a-brain-disease-it-is-now%2F Among addiction experts and researchers, there’s been a long-running debate as to whether drug or alcohol addiction, and even “behavioral addictions” such as compulsive gambling, are actual diseases or not. It’s not just a matter of semantics — if researchers can trace addiction’s root causes to an actual medical malfunction in the brain, perhaps that disease could be directly treated. Who am I to disagree with a “four-year process with more than 80 experts actively working on it?” Their result? Addiction is a “chronic brain disorder and not simply a behavioral problem.” I suppose if we wanted, one could argue that all mental disorders can be viewed as “brain disorders” and not “simply behavioral problems.”... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5139879 Tue, 16 Aug 2011 16:39:38 +0100 5139879 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5130968&cid=t_107391_133_f&fid=35095&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FAutismsEdges%2F%7E3%2FxgguL-RQVg8%2Foctopuss-garden-by-sea.html (Source: Autism's Edges) Autism's Edges blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5130968 Mon, 15 Aug 2011 02:18:00 +0100 5130968 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5130817&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2F14%2F2-must-try-mindfulness-practices%2F “Just as an untamed elephant can do damage, trampling crops and injuring people, so the untamed, capricious mind can cause harm to us and those around us.” So writes Jan Chozen Bays, M.D., a physician and Zen teacher, in her book How to Train a Wild Elephant & Other Adventures in Mindfulness: Simple Daily Mindfulness Practices for Living Life More Fully & Joyfully. How often have you let negative thoughts run your life? Let a punitive perspective take over so you end up beating yourself up for the smallest of supposed offenses? Or just experienced the days like you’re listing through a boring book, going through the motions but skimming the significant stuff? Something that can help is mindfulness. According to Chozen Bays, “Mindfulness unifies our body, heart and mind, br... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5130817 Sun, 14 Aug 2011 11:02:49 +0100 5130817 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5125806&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2F13%2Fthe-idiots-guide-to-dealing-with-idiots%2F Idiots. The world is full of them. How hard it is for us, non-idiots, to put up with them. But to get our jobs done, our kids fed, and our pets groomed, we must deal with them. Idiots come in many shapes, forms, and types, but the ones that frustrate me the most are those who don’t believe in any form of mental illness. These creatures maintain that all mood disorders are cute, creative stories crafted by persons who enjoy obsessing, ruminating, and crying their eyes out… a wealthy bunch who can’t think of anything better to do than come up with a make-believe tale about a few neurons wandering around the limbic system afraid to ask for directions, just like Moses. We must tune out the idiots to achieve any kind of sanity or serenity. But how? Here are four ways that have work... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5125806 Sat, 13 Aug 2011 11:07:11 +0100 5125806 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5125862&cid=t_107391_129_f&fid=27216&url=http%3A%2F%2Flifewithadhd.com%2Fadhd-research%2Fchild-behavior-is-adhd-behavior-therapy-the-answer.php How on earth can you deal with defiant kids ? No pill exists for that ! It is now a well established fact in the medical profession that ADHD treatment should be a comprehensive one which will include a good dose of behavioral modification alongside with medication, diet, exercise and school support. In spite of taking medication, child behavior will not change at all in the long term. It may well get worse. There may be some improvements in symptoms such as restlessness, fidgeting and better focus and improved concentration but these are only skin deep. In the long term, the medication will not cure ADHD and if child behavior is left unchecked, it is unlikely that the child will outgrow ADHD and he will have a handicap for the rest of his life. Going back to the defiant kids, there may al... Life With ADHD blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5125862 Fri, 12 Aug 2011 23:00:00 +0100 5125862 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5125807&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2F12%2Fwomens-sex-noises-and-orgasm-screams-voluntary-or-not%2F According to this study, whether they know it or not, women appear to vocalize during sex not to express their own enjoyment so much as to help the man reach climax. This is in keeping with the idea that we all have sexual scripts in our head of both our idealized sexual encounter, as well as what we believe our partners want: Both men’s and women’s perceptions of their partners’ ideal duration of foreplay and intercourse were found to be more strongly related to their own sexual stereotypes than to their partners’ self-reported sexual desires, suggesting that people rely on sexual stereotypes when estimating their partners’ ideal sexual scripts (Miller & Byers, 2004). Maybe these vocalizations are a part of that idealized sexual script, or at least done i... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5125807 Fri, 12 Aug 2011 15:42:29 +0100 5125807 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5118607&cid=t_107391_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FsIhHwzm_3Z0%2F By Jim HarperWith the Department of Homeland Security constantly spinning out new projects and programs (plus re-branded old ones) to investigate you, me, and the kitchen sink, it’s sometimes hard to keep up. But I was intrigued with a report that behvaior detection officers are getting another look from the Transportation Security Administration. Behavior detection is the unproven, and so far highly unsuccessful (Rittgers, Harper), program premised on the idea that telltale cues can reliably and cost-effectively indicate intent to do harm at airports. But there’s a new behavior detection program already underway. Or is it interrogation? Due to a bottleneck at the magnetometers in one concourse of the San Francisco airport (no strip-search machines!), I recently had the chance... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5118607 Thu, 11 Aug 2011 12:43:58 +0100 5118607 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5118711&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2F10%2F3-facts-you-might-not-know-about-freud-and-his-biggest-addiction%2F You may know that Sigmund Freud, the famed founder of psychoanalysis, had a fascination with cocaine and abused it for many years. But you might not know these three facts that relate to Freud’s longstanding interest in cocaine. Howard Markel, M.D., Ph.D, professor of medical history at the University of Michigan, documents all this and more in his comprehensive, beautifully written book An Anatomy of Addiction: Sigmund Freud, William Halsted and the Miracle Drug Cocaine. 1. Freud was initially attracted to cocaine because he wanted to help a close friend. One of Freud’s dearest friends, Dr. Ernst von Fleischl-Marxow, was heavily addicted to morphine, and Freud initially believed that cocaine could cure him. A brilliant man and talented doctor, Fleischl-Marxow had an accident while do... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5118711 Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:18:48 +0100 5118711 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5118712&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2F09%2Ffacebook-tied-to-poor-mental-health-in-teens-kids%2F You know it’s a good time of the year for psychology “news” when the American Psychological Association holds its annual convention. Why? Because they push out a bunch of sexy press releases about presentations at the conference. Case in point, “Social Networking’s Good and Bad Impacts on Kids,” a presentation that presents a seemingly-random selection of research findings about social networking websites like Facebook from the past few years. This quickly gets turned into an exclusive focus on the negative aspects of the talk — “Facebook tied to poor mental health in teens: What parents must know” (CBS News), “Too Much Technology Breeds Health Problems in Teens” (Patch.com), and of course the inevitable, “Is constant &#82... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5118712 Tue, 09 Aug 2011 21:43:50 +0100 5118712 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5107600&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2F08%2Fbipolar-disorder-missed-when-presenting-with-depression%2F Coming as a surprise to more than a few mental health professionals, a new study out today suggests that bipolar disorder is often missed in patients who present only with major depression. The study examined 5,635 adults seen at community and hospital psychiatry departments in a number of different countries. The discrepancy was reported because of the use of “bipolarity specifier criteria” that are broader than the DSM-IV criteria, the standard for diagnosis of mental disorders by mental health professionals. Using the broader bipolar criteria developed by the researchers found an additional 31 percent of patients who could have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. So what’s really going on here? Are professionals really “missing” bipolar disorder? Or have ... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5107600 Mon, 08 Aug 2011 15:49:39 +0100 5107600 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5107603&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2F07%2Fnegawatts-the-positive-psychology-behind-negative-energy%2F Almost every way we make electricity today, except for the emerging renewables and nuclear puts out CO2. And so, what we’re going to have to do at a global scale, is create a new system. And so, we need energy miracles. ~Bill Gates A typographical error led Amory Lovins to coin the phrase negawatts. In a brilliant 1989 keynote address to the Green Energy Conference in Montreal he outlined what has become the blueprint for a radical business and energy concept. Pay people to do nothing. Twenty-plus years later the idea is deeply taking hold. Fast-forward to Dr. Ron Denbo who was recently featured on a TED global ideas project. He is the Founder and CEO of Zerofootprint, an international company that provides software to measure and manage carbon footprint.  Individuals, governments ... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5107603 Sun, 07 Aug 2011 10:24:31 +0100 5107603 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5096340&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2F04%2F8-practical-pointers-to-help-your-child-pay-attention%2F Getting kids to pay attention is hard enough. But thanks to today’s technological advances, it can become an even bigger challenge. For instance, a University of Washington study found a link between toddlers watching TV and diminished attention spans by seven years old. Another study from UCLA found that kids who used technology had less reflective thought. Interestingly, however, they did have greater visual-spatial skills. “Technology is producing learners with a new set of cognitive strengths and weaknesses,” said Lucy Jo Palladino, Ph.D, psychologist, attention expert and author of Dreamers, Discoverers & Dynamos: How to Help the Child Who Is Bright, Bored and Having Problems in School, a guide for kids who are inventive thinkers, crave novelty and are strongly drawn to dist... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5096340 Thu, 04 Aug 2011 15:49:03 +0100 5096340 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5096341&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2F04%2Fdoctor-is-my-mood-disorder-due-to-a-chemical-imbalance%2F Dear Mrs. ——– You have asked me about the cause of your mood disorder, and whether it is due to a “chemical imbalance”. The only honest answer I can give you is, “I don’t know”—but I’ll try to explain what psychiatrists do and don’t know about the causes of so-called mental illness, and why the term “chemical imbalance” is simplistic and a bit misleading. By the way, I don’t like the term “mental disorder”, because it makes it seem as if there’s a huge distinction between the mind and the body—and most psychiatrists don’t see it that way. I wrote about this recently, and used the term “brain-mind” to describe the unity of mind and body.1 So, for lack of a better term, I’ll just refer to “psychiatric illnesses.” Now, this notion of... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5096341 Thu, 04 Aug 2011 10:35:19 +0100 5096341 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5096345&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F08%2F02%2Fthe-critical-thinking-coach-interview-with-stephen-haggerty-part-2%2F This is part 2 of an interview with Stephen Haggerty (read part 1 here), a Critical Thinking Teacher of the Year award winner at Eastern Kentucky University. Does one need to be highly intelligent to be a good critical thinker? Highly intelligent…what does that mean?  Does that term imply book intelligence? Street smarts?  I would argue anyone could engage in higher-level thinking if they are trained in the terminology and how to apply it. It takes a lot of practice to be a critical and creative thinker who communicates effectively, but I do believe if one is dedicated to being more successful in life, then they can learn to apply the principles of critical and creative thinking through effective communication. It seems some critical thinking advocates view critical thinking as nothin... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5096345 Tue, 02 Aug 2011 11:10:16 +0100 5096345 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5097005&cid=t_107391_140_f&fid=34844&url=http%3A%2F%2Ftheicarusproject.net%2Fdownloads%2Fhurting-yourself Self-injury is a common behavior in our society. Only a few forms are seen as problematic. Shame often thwarts an open exchange about experiences. "Hurting yourself" is a workbook that aims at encouraging reflection and generating awareness of various different aspects of self-injury from a non-coercive, self-compassionate, and harm reduction perspective.    read more (Source: The Icarus Project - Navigating the Space Between Brilliance and Madness) The Icarus Project - Navigating the Space Between Brilliance and Madness blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5097005 Tue, 02 Aug 2011 06:25:37 +0100 5097005 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5077768&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2F29%2Fdbs-for-depression-still-mixed-results%2F Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a treatment long used for Parkinson’s disease. But in the past decade, some researchers have also examined its use for the treatment of severe clinical depression. Severe major depression is a serious problem in society, because some studies estimate that up to 30 percent of those who attempt to be treated for it find they have “treatment resistant” depression — that is, traditional treatments simply don’t work very well. Deep brain stimulation has mixed results. As we reported on back in February, a long-term followup of 20 patients found an average response rate to DBS of 64 percent. Not shabby, but also not the hopeful, guaranteed cure it was once held out to be. Maiken Scott, the behavioral health reporter for Philadelphia... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5077768 Fri, 29 Jul 2011 15:39:07 +0100 5077768 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5077776&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34761&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedblitz.com%2F%7E%2F26553851%2F0%2Fneuromarketing%7ELicense-to-Misbehave.htm In Dietary Decoys, we saw that adding salads to a restaurant menu actually increased sales of french fries. Research in Taiwan exposes an equally odd fact: if we take a nutritional supplement like a multivitamin, we are MORE likely to exercise less and make unhealthy food choices. Behavioral Licensing Researchers at the National Sun Yat-Sen [...] Comments“Vitamins may or may not enhance health — the jury’s ... by PagePsst . . . Don't tell anyone but tin foil actually helps to ... by Jeff LibertPlus 2 more...Related StoriesPrediction Power: Asking Gets ResultsFurry Cat Ears Show Your MoodApologies Really DO Work (Source: Neuromarketing) Neuromarketing blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5077776 Fri, 29 Jul 2011 14:47:36 +0100 5077776 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5077687&cid=t_107391_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fsurgeons-have-a-bad-reputation%2F2011.07.29 This article is meant to raise the awareness of the costs—both in dollars and in human misery—of incivility in the practice of medicine by looking in particular at the case of surgeons. Uncivil behavior brings misery wherever it occurs.  If the individual tends to behave in an uncivil fashion prior to medical school and prior to residency, (more…) *This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living* (Source: Better Health) Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5077687 Fri, 29 Jul 2011 14:00:00 +0100 5077687 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5069530&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2F27%2Flunch-wars-win-the-battle-for-our-childrens-health%2F Oh how happy I was to see the new book Lunch Wars: How to Start a School Food Revolution and Win the Battle for Our Children’s Heath by Amy Kalafa, producer of the award-winning documentary “Two Angry Moms.” I get on my soapbox all too often about this very issue, because I have one child who is so sensitive to food that teachers can tell if he ate a cookie at lunch, and the other possesses about as much will power as I have when it comes to saying no to cinnamon-flavored soft pretzels. Why, in the world, would they offer seven-year-olds the option to buy Klondike bars, cinnamon-flavored soft-pretzels, Doritos, and Gatorade? I think the answer has to do with budgets. But in the process we are raising fat kids whose academic progress is compromised by all the crap they shove in their ... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5069530 Wed, 27 Jul 2011 16:56:50 +0100 5069530 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5069531&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2F27%2Fthe-dangers-of-letting-your-online-persona-do-the-talking%2F Last week, while taking a break from work, I found myself reading through a friend’s personal blog. While everything was well written, and while the author herself did a careful job remaining anonymous to most of her readers, I couldn’t help but cringe at some of the stuff she was writing about. Personal stuff. Stuff that, once it’s out there, you just can’t take back. Part of my cringing was due to the fact that about a year ago, I was right there with her. I’ve had a personal blog for years, and it used to be the one place where I could completely dump my emotions. A creative writer who has to work (on non-creative writing) quite a lot to pay the bills, I don’t always get to spend the hours a day I’d like to on my own pieces — so whenever I... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5069531 Wed, 27 Jul 2011 10:13:22 +0100 5069531 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5069532&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2F26%2Four-expectation-affects-food-likes-and-dislikes%2F How we taste can be dramatically affected by suggestions and expectations. Does pouring plain old tap water into fancy bottles make it taste better?  Yes.  At least in it did in a Penn & Teller episode on bottled water (please watch this video- very entertaining).  Penn & Teller went inside a southern California restaurant that featured a water sommelier that dispensed extravagant water menus to the patrons. The patrons had no idea that all of the fancy bottles of water were filled with the same water from a water hose in the back of the restaurant. Patrons were willing to pay $7.00 a bottle for L’eau Du Robinet (French for faucet water), Agua de Culo (Spanish for ass water), and Amazone (filtered through the Brazilian rainforest’s natural filtration system). How do cues pri... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5069532 Tue, 26 Jul 2011 17:32:06 +0100 5069532 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5057762&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2F23%2Fthe-critical-thinking-coach-interview-with-stephen-haggerty%2F Stephen Haggerty is a 2011 recipient of Eastern Kentucky University’s Critical Thinking Teacher of the year award.  The award is given to recognize “outstanding faculty members who have had an effect on developing their students’ critical/creative thinking skills.” (Read more about the award at Think EKU.) In this two-part interview I discuss critical thinking with Stephen Haggerty. What is the primary goal of critical thinking? If I am a critical thinker, I am thinking things through before making choices.  In other words, a fundamental goal of critical thinking is to be able to consider multiple perspectives before deciding to act upon information, a person’s request, or even something like buying car or a house. A critical thinker in school will be more success... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5057762 Sat, 23 Jul 2011 16:44:52 +0100 5057762 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5050663&cid=t_107391_106_f&fid=36682&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FSutureForALiving%2F%7E3%2FMX2hMszmwuw%2Fbarbers-of-civility.html This article is meant to raise the awareness of the costs—both in dollars and in human misery—of incivility in the practice of medicine by looking in particular at the case of surgeons. Uncivil behavior brings misery wherever it occurs.  If the individual tends to behave in an uncivil fashion prior to medical school and prior to residency, then that individual is likely to behave in an uncivil behavior in practice.  Medical school and residency aren’t “finishing schools” in that regard. Medical schools seem to have become aware of this simple fact.  Recent news articles report some medical schools will begin interviewing for “people skills” in their applicants --  NY Times article by Gardiner Harris: New for Aspiring Doctors, the People Skills Test. I app... Suture for a Living blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5050663 Thu, 21 Jul 2011 11:15:00 +0100 5050663 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5050716&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2F20%2Fthe-psychology-of-a-heat-wave%2F As the U.S. and Canada enter into a heat wave, I get a lot of questions about how heat impacts human behavior and our moods. So three years ago, I wrote a blog entry that reviews the research about weather affects our moods and behavior. It’s still a good overview of the research in this area and worth the read. But it’s nice to highlight a few points from that article, as well as other research, that demonstrates how the weather — and especially hot weather, in this case — can impact our mood. Does a heat wave lead to more violence? Do we have more or less energy during high humidity? What about depression and anxiety? Read on for the answers. Heat waves come and go nearly every year in some part of the world. What makes them especially difficult for indigenous po... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5050716 Wed, 20 Jul 2011 18:32:10 +0100 5050716 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5050718&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2F19%2Fdepression-and-empathy-in-couples%2F Discussions focused on eliciting support, with one partner playing the role of help seeker and the other playing the role of help giver. The couples were given an alarm that beeped after 6 min, at which point they switched roles and continued the conversation for an additional 6 min.” In the second part, each individual reviewed their recordings separately and after watching the discussion in 30-second segments, paused the recording and wrote down the thoughts and feelings they experienced at that time during the interaction. They were also asked to infer and write down their partners’ thoughts and feelings. In the third part of the study, five coders independently judged “the degree of similarity between perceivers’ and targets’ statements by examining the taped discussi... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5050718 Tue, 19 Jul 2011 16:15:54 +0100 5050718 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5050721&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2F18%2Fbed-sharing-seems-okay-for-toddlers%2F While not particularly popular here in the U.S., bed sharing arrangements are a little more common in many other countries, especially when sleeping quarters may be scarce. A new study just published suggests that such bed sharing between parents and their toddlers and young children probably don’t result in any kind of long-term psychological or social problems. The study followed a sample of 944 low-income families who were enrolled in the Early Head Start program, and followed the toddlers and parents over the course of five years. Once other factors were accounted for — such as the family’s socioeconomic status, the mom’s educational level, ethnicity and parenting style — the negative outcomes associated with bed sharing went away. This suggests that bed s... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5050721 Mon, 18 Jul 2011 17:06:36 +0100 5050721 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5036275&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2F17%2F3-handy-ways-to-help-your-child-overcome-negative-thinking%2F Negative thinking isn’t something that just plagues adults. It also plagues kids. In the book Freeing Your Child From Negative Thinking: Powerful Practical Strategies to Build a Lifetime of Resilience, Flexibility and Happiness, child psychologist Tamar E. Chansky, Ph.D, writes that for kids with a “negative thinking bias,” negative thoughts become “the default, the first, last and final word.” Kids simply don’t realize that they have a choice in whether they internalize these thoughts. Instead, they start to see these inaccurate beliefs as absolute truths. Fortunately, Chansky says that parents can help! Whether your child expresses negative thoughts occasionally or on a regular basis, you can help them overcome these harmful patterns of thinking. Below are three activities to... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5036275 Sun, 17 Jul 2011 10:17:59 +0100 5036275 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5036278&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2F16%2Fexpectation-affects-our-food-likes-and-dislikes%2F What is expectation assimilation? It’s the notion that our taste perceptions are biased by our imagination, and if you expect a food to taste good it will.  However, expectation assimilation also works in the opposite direction.  If you expect a food to taste unpleasant it will (Wansink, 2006). At a cafeteria in Urbana, Illinois, 175 people were given a free brownie dusted with powdered sugar (Wansink, 2006).  They were told the brownie was a new dessert that may be added to the menu.  They were asked how they liked the flavor and how much they would pay for it.   All of the brownies were the same size and had the same ingredients.  However, the brownies were served on a china plate, on a paper plate or on a paper napkin. Those who received the brownie on a china plate said t... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5036278 Sat, 16 Jul 2011 10:28:53 +0100 5036278 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5036279&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2F15%2Fsport-psychology-and-its-history%2F My boyfriend, an avid golfer, always says that golf is mainly a game of the brain. That is, your mental state has a lot to do with your success on the course. And, not surprisingly, it’s like that with other sports. Psychology can give players an edge. As Ludy Benjamin and David Baker write in From Séance to Science: A History of the Profession of Psychology in America, “Indeed, in so many instances when physical talents seem evenly matched, it is the mental factors that will make the difference in winning or losing.” That’s where sport psychology — also sometimes referred to as sports psychology — comes in. So how did sport psychology start and evolve? Early Experiments In America, sport psychology’s roots date back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries when se... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5036279 Fri, 15 Jul 2011 16:35:35 +0100 5036279 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028453&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2F13%2Fwhy-sugar-is-dangerous-to-depression%2F You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to appreciate the link between sugar and depression. Anyone who doubts the relationship need only to spend a night in our house and see what type of behavior happens when two kids consume 12-ounce cans of Coke or Sprite — and the demonic demonstrations that happen after a 7-11 slurpee, especially if it’s red or blue, or God forbid, a mix. People who suffer from depression are especially vulnerable to sugar’s evil power. I am so sensitive to white-flour, processed foods that I can practically set an alarm to for three hours after consumption, at which time I will be cursing myself for inhaling the large piece of birthday cake at the party because I am feeling so miserable. That doesn’t stop me from eating dessert at the next gathering, of c... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028453 Wed, 13 Jul 2011 19:34:30 +0100 5028453 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028455&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2F13%2Fwishy-washy-help-in-making-good-decisions%2F Anyone who knows me well will tell you that I’m a tad indecisive, not about everything, but most things. Here’s a typical experience: I’m at a restaurant, perusing (i.e., studying) the menu and pondering. I ask what everyone else is having, and ponder some more. Then I chat with the server. If I’m wavering between two dishes, I ask what’s the better option. If I just have one meal in mind, I focus my questions on that dish. After I get the answer, sometimes, I think some more. Aside from being a super fun dinner date (fortunately, my boyfriend and friends just laugh it off now…most of the time), I clearly have decision issues. So what’s my problem — and yours if making simple daily decisions feels like you’re gearing up for the choice of a lifetime? An articl... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028455 Wed, 13 Jul 2011 10:15:03 +0100 5028455 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028457&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2F12%2Fmatthew-israel-founder-of-judge-rotenberg-steps-down-in-disgrace%2F We missed reporting this at the end of May when it happened, but I like to close the loop on stories we’ve discussed in the past, so I thought it relevant to mention here. We’ve previously detailed how the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in Canton, Mass. has a “treatment” for out-of-control children where electric shocks are given in order to curb their behavior (ala BF Skinner). We’ve also noted the horror of the incident where a former patient was able to make a single phone call and cause the staff to shock two children in its care over 100 times. Now, finally, the founder of the school, Matthew Israel, has agreed to step down from the Center in order to avoid prison time. In an agreement reached with the state’s Attorney General, he will be on pro... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028457 Tue, 12 Jul 2011 15:50:56 +0100 5028457 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5028459&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2F11%2Fi-am-so-not-sorry-an-exercise-in-exposure-therapy%2F One form of cognitive behavioral therapy is exposure therapy, where your brain is supposed to form new connections and rewrite the language of your amygdala (fear center), so that it doesn’t associate every dog with the pit bull who took a bite out of your thigh in the fourth grade. By doing the exact thing that you most fear, you are, essentially, telling the old neurons in your brain to take a hike so that new ones, who don’t know anything about the pit bull, can now live inside your brain and tell you that everything is peachy. Yeah, well, that’s the theory. So you jump into a pit bull fight and say, “Here, doggie, doggie, you want a treat?” If he doesn’t take your leg off, you are good to go! If he does take your leg off, you have much more exposure therapy ahead of you&#82... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5028459 Mon, 11 Jul 2011 15:35:27 +0100 5028459 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5008304&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2F08%2Fhow-to-calm-down-after-a-fight%2F You’re on the couch and he’s in the bed, but neither of you is sleeping. After the heated argument over your summer vacation destination, he stomped angrily upstairs and you sit sobbing on the couch. He wants to go to camping with tents and backpacks and you want to stay at a resort by the ocean. Arguments are part of every relationship, but how we respond to them is crucial. Our reaction to conflict or any stressful event is based on our life experiences and genetics. We all have those friends who are so laid back that nothing affects them and we also have friends who become frazzled over the smallest situations. But to successfully manage conflict, we need to manage our stress first. If you cannot quickly calm yourself down, you will not be able to hear what your partner is real... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5008304 Fri, 08 Jul 2011 14:54:48 +0100 5008304 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5008307&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2F07%2Fthe-psychology-of-the-casey-anthony-trial%2F So Casey Anthony was found not guilty of murder, meaning we can go back to our everyday, regular lives. On July 5, the jury found Casey Anthony not guilty of first-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter, and aggravated child abuse (but found her guilty of four lesser, misdemeanor offenses related to her interrogations). What? You mean you “want answers” as to why she wasn’t found guilty? We all want answers in our lives. We yearn for answers. People spend years in therapy looking for answers. But life isn’t always so neat, nor does it always provide easy-to-understand answers to such a tragic series of events that led to the death of Casey Anthony’s toddler, Caylee. So the short answer is — there are no answers. You’re looking for justice in a worl... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5008307 Thu, 07 Jul 2011 10:13:09 +0100 5008307 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5008308&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2F06%2Fever-had-such-an-intense-interest-in-a-subject-that-learning-was-easy%2F As I’ve noted here before, I’ve recently become obsessed with the sense of smell — which has been an interesting experience, for several reasons. One reason: this obsession has reminded me about the nature of learning. I’ve been struck by how much I’ve learned in the last few weeks. I went from knowing almost nothing about the scent of smell to knowing… well, quite a bit more. And without any effort, any drilling, any assignments on my part. Quite the contrary. I’m gulping down books, jumping around websites, eager to learn more, more, more. The same thing happened when I was working on my Churchill biography. In college, I’d taken classes that covered World War II, and I had to force myself to do the reading, and I struggled to memorize the facts. But through the l... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5008308 Wed, 06 Jul 2011 17:45:37 +0100 5008308 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5008312&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2F05%2Fapproaches-to-knowledge-interview-with-nathaniel-b-jones%2F Dr. Brian Jones has a PhD in exercise science and is a full-time professor at the University of Louisville where he teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses. He approaches all his courses with a scientific mindset, emphasizing the importance of critical thinking. Recently, Dr. Jones sent me a file containing one of his lectures on critical thinking. The lecture was for college students, but after reading the file I thought the subject matter would be great for everyone to know, not just those who are attending college. In the following interview, we discuss important points on critical thinking and approaches to knowledge. I think most people know that the media is not the best source for reliable information.  Yet, many seem to almost exclusively turn to the media for knowledge. ... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5008312 Tue, 05 Jul 2011 10:22:38 +0100 5008312 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4997828&cid=t_107391_151_f&fid=35818&url=http%3A%2F%2Frecoveryissexy.com%2Frecovery-sets-us-free%2F Freedom is what recovery is all about. Not only are we free from addictive behavior, but we are free to become who we are and enjoy all that life has to offer. We may not hear bands playing and see fireworks every day, but we will know a new dimension of peace and serenity. Although recovery does not guarantee freedom from pain and distress, it promises us greater resources for coping with trouble. With the help of abstinence and the Twelve Steps, we become free to work toward resolving our difficulties instead of escaping into false solutions. We must remain strong and guard the freedom that comes with abstinence. Whatever threatens abstinence should be avoided: we don’t want to transfer one obsession to something else, such as compulsive shopping, or addictive relationships. To re... Recovery Is Sexy.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4997828 Tue, 05 Jul 2011 03:53:43 +0100 4997828 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4992756&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F07%2F01%2Fis-anyone-normal-today%2F Take a minute and answer this question: Is anyone really normal today? I mean, even those who claim they are normal may, in fact, be the most neurotic among us, swimming with a nice pair of scuba fins down the river of Denial. Having my psychiatric file published online and in print for public viewing, I get to hear my share of dirty secrets—weird obsessions, family dysfunction, or disguised addiction—that are kept concealed from everyone but a self-professed neurotic and maybe a shrink. “Why are there so many disorders today?” Those seven words, or a variation of them, surface a few times a week. And my take on this query is so complex that, to avoid sounding like my grad school professors making an erudite case that fails to communicate anything to average folks like me, I often ... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4992756 Fri, 01 Jul 2011 15:03:11 +0100 4992756 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4984498&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2F29%2Fthe-illusion-of-confidence%2F We often overestimate our abilities, and overestimate the abilities of others who exude confidence.  Are we correct in thinking the athlete who radiates confidence must be competent in her/his sport?  The salesman who speaks with extensive knowledge and confidence must know what they are talking about, right? These scenarios are often manifestations of the illusion of confidence. Confidence is often considered a “true” signal of the extent of one’s memory, knowledge, skill, and ability.  However, confidence is often misleading and not congruent with ability.  This type of unwarranted confidence leads to “epistemic irrationality,” or more commonly known as simply delusion and self-deception. The illusion of confidence has two distinct but related aspects.  Fi... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4984498 Wed, 29 Jun 2011 19:12:36 +0100 4984498 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4975941&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2F28%2Fmarsha-linehan-what-is-dialectical-behavioral-therapy-dbt%2F Last week the New York Times ran a fascinating piece on Marsha Linehan, Professor of Psychology at the University of Washington and the original developer of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), a modification of standard cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), but including elements of acceptance and mindfulness. Her work has been designed specifically for people who harm themselves, for those diagnosed with borderline personality (BPT), and those who suffer from pervasive suicidal thoughts and/or attempts. For the first time in her life, the mental health expert disclosed her own story (that we also discussed on the blog yesterday), which involved hospitalization at the age of 17 that lasted longer than two years. Benedict Carey, author of the interview with Linehan, writes: No one knows h... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4975941 Tue, 28 Jun 2011 14:45:03 +0100 4975941 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4976128&cid=t_107391_133_f&fid=39137&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcommunity.advanceweb.com%2Fblogs%2Fot_9%2Farchive%2F2011%2F06%2F27%2Fsometimes-you-ve-just-got-to-chill-out.aspx Probably the single most successful parenting trick we used throughout the wedding process was allowing A. to get away and "chill out" whenever she needed to do so. Planning and participating in a wedding is a highly stressful and exhausting activity...(read more) (Source: From Inside the Puzzle: Raising a Child with Autism) From Inside the Puzzle: Raising a Child with Autism blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4976128 Mon, 27 Jun 2011 15:19:00 +0100 4976128 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4968579&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2F24%2F9-myths-misconceptions-and-stereotypes-about-adhd%2F Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects about four percent of U.S. adults (Kessler, Chiu, Demler & Walters, 2005). Still, many myths, stereotypes and downright fallacies abound — everything from questioning the very existence of ADHD to downplaying its seriousness. Below, we spoke with two experts who treat individuals with ADHD to set the record straight. 1. Myth: ADHD isn’t a real disorder. Fact: ADHD is a mental disorder with a strong biological component (like most mental disorders). This includes an inherited biological component, notes Stephanie Sarkis, Ph.D, a national certified counselor and licensed mental health counselor and author of four books on adult ADD, including Adult ADD: A Guide for the Newly Diagnosed. For instance, studies have identified sever... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4968579 Fri, 24 Jun 2011 18:17:58 +0100 4968579 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4960119&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2F22%2Fare-low-carb-diets-bad-for-the-brain%2F Are low carbohydrate diets bad for the brain? Ketogenic diets (low carbohydrate diets) promote the increased use of ketone bodies–soluble compounds produced by the body when fatty acids are broken down–by the brain. But, is this safe? When examining epileptic children who spend years in ketosis, or the accumulation of higher than normal ketone bodies, there seems to be no negative effect on cognitive function, except fatigue in the beginning stages of the diet (Hale, 2010). In addition, ketogenic diets are used as treatment for some diseases.  Klepper and colleagues (2003) reported that ketogenic diets have been used for decades to treat intractable childhood epileptics, but they can also be used for treating other conditions such as glut 1 deficiency syndrome and pyruvatedehy... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4960119 Wed, 22 Jun 2011 21:58:36 +0100 4960119 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4960121&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2F22%2Fcultivating-self-compassion%2F When something has gone wrong, when there’s been a mistake made, no matter how small, many people are all too quick to point the finger — at themselves. They flog themselves for any failure, letting their self-esteem bend and bow at the face of disappointments and triumphs. For many, self-esteem is shaky at best. But there’s something you can build that’s more substantial than self-esteem. Something that doesn’t waver and can actually boost your well-being — and your performance isn’t a factor. According to psychologist Kristin Neff, Ph.D, in her book Self-Compassion: Stop Beating Yourself Up and Leave Insecurity Behind, that something is self-compassion. Being self-compassionate means that whether you win or lose, surpass your sky-high expectations or fall short, you sti... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4960121 Wed, 22 Jun 2011 15:12:04 +0100 4960121 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4952984&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2F21%2Ftiki-barber-football-retirement-and-depression%2F As a reminder that depression strikes anyone, at any time, for any reason or no reason whatsoever, I give you Tiki Barber. For those of you unfamiliar with Mr. Barber, he was a professional (American) football player who decided to retire four years ago at age 32. A good time to retire as a football player, as your body starts to show its age against the physicality of the game. He took jobs as a sports commentator at NBC, both in their sports division and for “The Today Show.” But Mr. Barber’s depression appears to be directly related to a number of events that occurred in his life after his retirement. And now he says he wants to get back into the game, at age 36. His real problems appear to have started when it was revealed he was having an affair with a 23-year-old N... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4952984 Tue, 21 Jun 2011 15:37:49 +0100 4952984 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4952987&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2F20%2F4-ways-to-manage-oppositional-defiant-disorder-in-children%2F Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) is a childhood disorder that affects anywhere from 6 to 10 percent of children. It is characterized by a negative set of behaviors in a child directed toward the adults in their life, and can sometimes be mistaken for disorders that share some characteristics, such as conduct disorder and even attention deficit disorder. The diagnosis of Oppositional Defiant Disorder is given by mental health professionals to describe a set of behaviors a child is exhibiting that include: Often loses temper Argues with adults and authority figures Refuses to comply with adult requests Blames others for his mistakes Deliberately annoys people Is easily annoyed by others Is angry/resentful and spiteful/vindictive. Sound like a child you may know? If a child exhibits fou... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4952987 Mon, 20 Jun 2011 15:12:36 +0100 4952987 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4952988&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2F20%2Fbetter-by-mistake-an-interview-with-alina-tugend%2F Afraid to make a mistake? Don’t be. According to author Alina Tugend, the best way to become an expert in your field is by making mistakes, lots of them, but to cooperate with the brain on learning from them. In her new book, Better By Mistake: The Unexpected Benefits of Being Wrong, explains the science of making mistakes and why learning from them is vital in a culture of perfectionism. Tugend has been a journalist for nearly 30 years and for the past six has written the ShortCuts column for the New York Times business section. She has written about education, environmentalism, and consumer culture for numerous publications, including the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Atlantic, and Parents and is a Huffington Post contributor. I have the honor of conducting an exclusive in... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4952988 Mon, 20 Jun 2011 11:06:34 +0100 4952988 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4934329&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2F16%2Fwe-need-better-filters-smart-alerts%2F When I review the research and write about the intersection of human behavior and technology, I’m constantly amazed by how far we’ve come. In just 5 years, social networks have become not only “all the rage,” but also a must-have for a significant portion of the U.S. population. In just 10 years, video online went from a mess of different, incompatible formats to YouTube and its competitors, revolutionizing the way many people engage with entertainment online (and to a lesser extent, information). In just 15 years, the Internet and technologies it has enabled has transformed not only many people’s workplaces, but the very connectedness and relationships we have with others. Let that sink in for a few minutes. In just 15 years, a set of technologies has started... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4934329 Thu, 16 Jun 2011 13:48:03 +0100 4934329 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4934332&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2F15%2Fcan-bad-journalism-impact-your-respect-for-journalists%2F Miller-McCune, whose tagline reads, “Smart journalism. Real solutions,” recently published an article entitled, Dumb Entertainment Can Have Impact Your IQ: Can Watching ‘Jackass’ Turn You Into One? (I am not making up that first part.) So you’d think it would be an article describing a study about the effects of either entertainment or watching a movie on one’s IQ. Except it’s nothing of the sort. The study described in the article looked at 81 college student responses to reading a story about a man with a directionless life, and then gave them a short, general knowledge survey the researchers made-up just for this study. If you’re having a hard time seeing how this relates to watching a movie or measuring one’s IQ, then you’re n... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4934332 Wed, 15 Jun 2011 15:11:22 +0100 4934332 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4934335&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2F14%2Fwhen-our-intuition-leads-us-to-bad-decisions%2F Six years ago, Malcolm Gladwell released a book entitled Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. In his usual style, Gladwell weaves stories in-between descriptions of scientific research the support his hypothesis that our intuition can be surprisingly accurate and right. One year ago, authors Daniel J. Simons and Christopher F. Chabris, writing in The Chronicle of Higher Education not only had some choice words for Gladwell’s cherry-picking of the research, but also showed how intuition probably only works best in certain situations, where there is no clear science or logical decision-making process to arrive at the “right” answer. For instance, when choosing which ice cream is “best.” Reasoned analysis, however, works best in virtually every other si... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4934335 Tue, 14 Jun 2011 14:39:28 +0100 4934335 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4934338&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2F13%2Fbipolar-disorder-tips-for-reducing-relapse%2F For many mental illnesses relapse is part and parcel. Bipolar disorder is one of these. What’s especially unnerving for people is that relapse can seem random, as though you go to bed feeling one way and wake up another, feeling hints of mania or depression. Why relapse occurs is largely unknown. But we do know certain facts based on research findings, according to Joseph R. Calabrese, M.D., director of the Mood Disorders Program at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, in this excellent article in bp Magazine on relapse: “Those who are diagnosed with bipolar II are more likely to relapse than those with bipolar I. Their episodes of depression, mania or hypomania are often shorter than the episodes experienced by those with bipolar I but tend to return more of... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4934338 Mon, 13 Jun 2011 11:34:54 +0100 4934338 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4934580&cid=t_107391_129_f&fid=27216&url=http%3A%2F%2Flifewithadhd.com%2Fadhd-research%2Fadhd-behavior-is-therapy-the-answer.php At last the tide is turning. The American Academy of Pediatrics is now advising its members, doctors and parents that a child who has mild ADHD behavior problems should first be treated with behaviour therapy rather putting him on ADHD meds straight away. They are also recommending that when the medications fail, as they often do, then behavioral intervention is much more preferable than finding other drugs which might or might not be suitable for the poor child. Now this is sound parenting advice but it has taken a very long time to surface. More good news has come from the White House! Gregory Fabiano has won an award for his research into ADHD in which he advocates that behavioral interventions are much more effective in changing ADHD behavior than the conventional medications. Dr. Fabi... Life With ADHD blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4934580 Sun, 12 Jun 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4934580 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4921518&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2F10%2Fcan-you-have-too-much-happiness%2F I can safely say that I think few of us struggle with having too much happiness. We turn to the happiness gurus to help us increase our happiness for a reason — who wouldn’t want to be happier? Pretty much all of us do. For many of us, the pursuit of happiness is not only something we’ve grown up on, it’s something we’ve come to expect as a right. I mean, it’s right there in the Declaration of Independence! But like everything in life, too much of a good thing is a bad thing. This includes the pursuit of happiness. Too much happiness can be just as detrimental in your life as not having enough. That’s the finding anyway of Gruber and her colleagues (2011), in a recent review of the happiness research. Let’s see what they had to say. Too Muc... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4921518 Fri, 10 Jun 2011 15:25:45 +0100 4921518 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4921519&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2F10%2Fbest-of-our-blogs-june-10-2011%2F One of the unexpected gifts that come when you get healthy is the sudden realization that everyone around you isn’t. Awhile back Gabrielle of the The Therapist Within talked about the black sheep of the family as being the scapegoat. Sometimes after stepping back and working on your own stuff, you realize that you were not the big problem that you thought you were. Maybe it was your parents, your friends or even your partner that unintentionally made you the big bad black sheep so that they could be okay with their own idiosyncrasies. In your light, it made their shadows not so bad. So you’ve broken away from the pack and rediscovered yourself. The question is, “How do you venture back?” It’s summertime and that may mean gathering for friend’s birthdays ... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4921519 Fri, 10 Jun 2011 10:20:58 +0100 4921519 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4921521&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2F09%2Fhow-our-intuitions-deceive-us-part-2-interview-with-daniel-simons%2F In part one of this interview, we began exploring the limits of human perception with Daniel Simons, a Psychology professor and co-winner of an Ig Noble prize.  This conversation is part two of that discussion. Assuming you can name only one, what is one of the most popular myths associated with attention? How about one for memory? We assume that we will automatically notice anything that appears before our eyes, regardless of what else we’re doing.  But, in reality, we’re only aware of a tiny subset of the world around us, and our awareness depends critically on the focus of our attention. Without focusing our attention, we can look without seeing.  We tend to miss unexpected objects and events because they do not attract our attention. And, without our attention, we don&#8... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4921521 Thu, 09 Jun 2011 10:15:05 +0100 4921521 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4911572&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2F07%2Fhow-our-intuitions-deceive-us-an-interview-with-daniel-simons%2F In 2004 Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris received the Ig Nobel Prize in Psychology, awarded for “achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think,” for the experiment that was the inspiration for their popular book, The Invisible Gorilla, and website. Daniel Simons is a Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Beckman Institute at the University of Illinois. His research focuses on the limits of human perception, memory, and awareness, and he is best known for his research showing that people are far less aware of their visual surroundings than they think. We recently sat down with Simons to talk about his current work. In celebration of the June 7th release of the paperback edition of The Invisible Gorilla you guys are starting a charity campaign. Ple... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4911572 Tue, 07 Jun 2011 18:16:55 +0100 4911572 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4902484&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2F06%2Fidentifying-and-avoiding-contaminated-mindware%2F Broadly speaking, there are two key problems that contribute to irrational thoughts and behaviors: processing problems and content problems. The processing problem is reflected in our tendencies to be cognitive misers.  We naturally engage in thinking that is rapid and computationally inexpensive.  This cognitive thriftiness often serves us well, but at other times it can lead to less than optimal decisions.  Content problems include- mindware gaps, and mindware contamination. Mindware (a term invented by cognitive scientist David Perkins) is defined as rules, procedures and other forms of knowledge that are stored in memory and can be retrieved in order to make decisions and solve problems (Stanovich, 2009). A mindware gap occurs when the tools of rationality — scientific think... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4902484 Mon, 06 Jun 2011 12:08:04 +0100 4902484 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4902487&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2F04%2Fa-look-inside-the-mind-of-schizophrenia%2F Schizophrenia is one of the more debilitating types of mental illness. Over a year ago, I wrote an article for Psych Central about living with schizophrenia. In the beginning, I featured an excerpt from E. Fuller Torrey’s, M.D., excellent book Surviving Schizophrenia: A Manual for Families, Patients and Providers, because it captures the confusion and misinformation about this disorder. “Your daughter has schizophrenia,” I told the woman. “Oh, my God, anything but that,” she replied. “Why couldn’t she have leukemia or some other disease instead?” “But if she had leukemia she might die,” I pointed out. “Schizophrenia is a much more treatable disease.” The woman looked sadly at me, then down at the floor. She spoke softly. “I would still prefer that my daughter had ... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4902487 Sat, 04 Jun 2011 18:04:57 +0100 4902487 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4893555&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F06%2F03%2Fmy-therapist-wont-stop-yawning-in-session%2F Psychotherapy is often described as an art as much as it is a science. The professional relationship between a therapist and their client can be a tricky one. Especially when it comes to bad habits of either the therapist or the client. One of these bad habits is especially frustrating to clients — a therapist’s constant yawns during session. People often read into a yawn far more than what is usually meant — or not meant — by the behavior. Part of the problem is yawning itself — we don’t really know why people yawn in the first place. So a person often will assume the worst — “I’m boring him with what I’m talking about.” But that’s often not the case. The only thing we know for certain about why humans yawn is that t... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4893555 Fri, 03 Jun 2011 16:14:56 +0100 4893555 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4893970&cid=t_107391_180_f&fid=38612&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fpickthebrain%2FLYVv%2F%7E3%2F0ELAP4Sw14I%2F I work with family — husband, offspring, in-laws and their partners. A while back, I was going through some difficulties. My mother’s terminal cancer, my own health problems, and the start of a new business venture are three that spring to mind. It was a stressful period and looking back, I can see that I was in a bad mood a lot of the time. Sometimes I was snappy with my co-workers. My husband and sons didn’t take it personally. My sister-in-law, on the other hand, did. I know this, not because she confronted me, but because she’d grumbled about me to another relative who took it upon himself to admonish me. Although I hadn’t meant any harm, and the other relative had only heard one side of the story, I took his reproach to heart, albeit grudgingly. It forced me to see that I ha... PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4893970 Wed, 01 Jun 2011 04:10:51 +0100 4893970 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4883675&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2F31%2Fbad-research-popular-sex-search-terms%2F People like sex. They like sex so much, they spend a lot of time searching for it online. Go figure. (You can tell I’m about to delve into really highbrow, heady stuff here…) Researchers Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam recently published a book, A Billion Wicked Thoughts, detailing their analysis of 400 million searches they collected from the Dogpile search engine. Of those 400 million searches, 13 percent (55 million) were for erotic content. How did those 55 million searches break down? Let’s find out… but let’s also look at the methodology of these researchers to see if their findings are worth the paper that they are printed on. (If you think not, you’re probably right.) So here’s what people on Dogpile search for when it comes to sexual interests. N... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4883675 Tue, 31 May 2011 17:53:38 +0100 4883675 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4883676&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2F31%2F10-steps-to-conquer-perfectionism-2%2F Perfectionism. It’s the enemy of creativity, productivity, and, well, sanity. In The Artist’s Way, author Julia Cameron writes: “Perfectionism is a refusal to let yourself move ahead. It is a loop — an obsessive, debilitating closed system that causes you to get stuck in the details of what you are writing or painting or making and to lose sight of the whole.” But you don’t even have to be creating anything to be crippled by perfectionism. It can also frustrate your efforts as a mom, a wife, a friend, and a human being. Because no one and no thing is perfect in this blemished world of ours. I tackle this adversary everyday. And although my inner perfectionist clearly has hold of my brain many days, I do think I am handcuffed less often by the fear of mes... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4883676 Tue, 31 May 2011 10:52:40 +0100 4883676 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4876419&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2F29%2F7-good-reasons-to-cry-the-healing-property-of-tears%2F New York Times reporter Benedict Carey referred to tears in a piece as “emotional perspiration.” Given that I sweat a lot and hate deodorant, I suppose it makes sense that I weep often. But I’m not going to apologize for that, because after a good cry, I always feel cleansed, like my heart and mind just rubbed each other’s backs in a warm bath. In his intriguing article, “The Miracle of Tears”, from which I’ve borrowed some of the research for this post, author Jerry Bergman writes: “Tears are just one of many miracles which work so well that we taken them for granted every day.” Here, then, are seven ways tears and the phenomenon we call “crying” heal us physiologically, psychologically, and spiritually. 1. Tears help us ... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4876419 Sun, 29 May 2011 10:58:25 +0100 4876419 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4876421&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2F28%2Fhelping-others-is-good-for-your-health-an-interview-with-stephen-g-post-phd%2F Mahatma Gandhi once said that “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” I have benefited from that advice, for sure, especially in the months that I was crawling out of a very severe depression. An expert on the perks that come with helping others is bestselling author Stephen G. Post, author of The Hidden Gifts of Helping: How the Power of Giving, Compassion, and Hope Can Get us Through Hard Times (Jossey-Bass, 2011). He is Professor of Preventive Medicine, Heard of the Division of Medicine in Society, and Director of the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care and Bioethics at Stony Brook University. Visit him on his website at www.stephengpost.com/hiddengifts. I have the privilege of conducting an exclusive interview with him for... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4876421 Sat, 28 May 2011 10:07:20 +0100 4876421 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4872161&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2F27%2F8-tips-for-teenage-depression%2F Teenagers are moody. Absolutely. Fluctuations in hormones cause anger outbursts, irritability, emotional hysteria, bursts of anger, defiant behavior, and weepiness. So it’s very difficult to tease apart teenage drama from legitimate depression and other mood disorders. However, it’s worth the effort because depression and other mood disorders that begin in adolescence often become much more serious and difficult to treat as adult disorders. A 1996 study by the National Institute of Mental Health estimated that more than 6 percent of adolescents, between the ages of 9 and 18 years old, suffered from depression during the six-month period of the study, and almost five percent suffered from major depressive disorder. Moreover, many of the 20 percent of people who suffer from depression a... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4872161 Fri, 27 May 2011 15:27:51 +0100 4872161 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4862628&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2F25%2Fpoliticians-and-sex-the-type-t-personality%2F Colleague and psychologist Dr. Frank Farley has an interesting op-ed over at the LA Times the other day about some of the underlying psychological motivations that may explain why politicians stray from their marriages. In the article, Dr. Farley refers to the “Type T Personality” — the T stands for Thrill. He makes the argument that we elect the politicians we do because we’re drawn to their bold ideas, their intensity, their charisma. But those same qualities that may make them a good politician (we don’t really know, because there hasn’t been a lot of research done in this area yet), also may put them at greater risk for engaging in unethical relationship behavior, such as cheating on their spouse. Politicians, like Hollywood celebrities, are also con... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4862628 Wed, 25 May 2011 15:45:32 +0100 4862628 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4862629&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2F25%2Fthe-critical-thinker-academy-2-interview-with-kevin-delaplante%2F This is part two of a two-part interview of Kevin deLaplante, a professor of philosophy and founder of The Critical Thinker Academy. Check out part one here. What is your favorite book on critical thinking? I often get requests for book recommendations. It’s hard because critical thinking requires so many different kinds of skill development, and no single book is going to cover everything. Also, people are usually interested in specific issues or topics, and once I know what those are it’s easier to recommend sources. My “starter kit” recommendation is to pick a good introductory book on basic argumentation and fallacies written from a logic/philosophy perspective, plus a good introductory book on the psychology of reasoning and decision making (something in the “biases ... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4862629 Wed, 25 May 2011 13:58:39 +0100 4862629 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4862631&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2F24%2Fself-exploration-getting-to-know-thyself%2F Many of us go through life skimming the surface of our identities. That is, we don’t truly dig deeply into our thoughts, feelings, desires and dreams. Part of the problem is that we’re always on the go. When to-do lists keep swelling, self-exploration takes a backseat. How can it not, when we barely find time for self-care? Specifically, self-exploration involves “taking a look at your own thoughts, feelings, behaviors and motivations and asking why. It’s looking for the roots of who we are — answers to all the questions we have about [ourselves],” according to Ryan Howes, Ph.D, psychologist, writer and professor in Pasadena, California. Having a deeper understanding of ourselves has many benefits. It “helps people understand and accept who they are and why they d... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4862631 Tue, 24 May 2011 15:14:26 +0100 4862631 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4862747&cid=t_107391_129_f&fid=27216&url=http%3A%2F%2Flifewithadhd.com%2Fadhd-research%2Fadhd-treatment-through-behavior-therapy.php ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) is a common psychological disorder that often becomes perceptible once a child starts preschool. Millions of children are diagnosed with ADHD each year, many of them before the age of six. The most prevalent form of treatment is typically prescription medication, which may help to reduce the symptoms of ADHD so the child can function normally in a school setting. Unfortunately, drug medications are not without side effects and can be addictive. For these reasons, many parents seek treatment for ADHD through behavior therapy. Behavioral therapy, also known as behavior management, is shown to have positive results on ADHD children. The goal of behavior therapy in ADHD children is to increase the desired behaviors. This is typically achieved thr... Life With ADHD blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4862747 Mon, 23 May 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4862747 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4862633&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2F23%2Fthe-critical-thinker-academy-interview-with-kevin-delaplante%2F The Critical Thinker Academy is a site that offers video tutorials on a wide range of critical thinking topics, such as logic, argumentation, and critical reasoning and essay writing. Philosophy professor Kevin deLaplante, with over 14 years of teaching experience, developed the videos. In the interview below, deLaplante provides detailed answers to various questions on critical thinking.  If you are interested in critical thinking and its implications I am sure you will enjoy this two-part interview. In a nutshell, what is the Critical Thinker Academy? The Critical Thinker Academy is a website that hosts video tutorial courses on a variety of topics related to logic, argumentation and critical thinking. It also has some courses on essay writing. I produce all the content for the site, a... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4862633 Mon, 23 May 2011 20:35:15 +0100 4862633 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4852941&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2F22%2F5-ways-to-silence-your-inner-critic%2F A few years back, Health Journal columnist Melinda Beck penned an amazingly accurate and helpful article in the Wall Street Journal about the self-criticism that so often accompanies depression and anxiety. Not only was I delighted that she approached such a difficult and complicated aspect of our illness with compassion and insight, but I was ecstatic to see myself as one of the “experts” mentioned with suggestions on how to silent the annoying voice that says we are incapable, weak, and worthless. Depression and self-criticism, of course, are great companions. Beck writes: Unrelenting self-criticism often goes hand in hand with depression and anxiety, and it may even predict depression. In a study of 107 patients in the latest issue of Comprehensive Psychiatry, David M. Dunkl... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4852941 Sun, 22 May 2011 10:35:44 +0100 4852941 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4852942&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2F21%2Fthe-link-between-creativity-and-eccentricity%2F It’s common knowledge that creatives can be eccentric. We’ve seen this throughout history. Even Plato and Aristotle observed odd behaviors among playwrights and poets, writes Harvard University researcher Shelley Carson, author of Your Creative Brain: Seven Steps to Maximize Imagination, Productivity and Innovation in Your Life, in the May/June 2011 issue of Scientific American. She gave several examples of creatives’ strange behaviors: “Albert Einstein picked up cigarette butts off the street to get tobacco for his pipe; Howard Hughes spent entire days on a chair in the middle of the supposedly germ-free zone of his Beverly Hills Hotel suite; the composer Robert Schumann believed that his musical compositions were dictated to him by Beethoven and other deceased luminaries fro... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4852942 Sat, 21 May 2011 16:30:10 +0100 4852942 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4852943&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2F21%2F6-steps-to-get-anyone-yourself-included-to-do-anything%2F I am not promising these things. A motivational coach, consultant, therapist, and award-winning faculty member at Yale School of Medicine is. A guy named Michael V. Pantalon. He has a bunch of credentials like publishing articles in the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American Medical Association, so I read though his book, Instant Influence: How to Get Anyone to Do Anything—FAST with curiosity. I have a lot of projects that I was hoping he could help me with. I have not had enough time to accurately test-drive his recipe of influence; however, I think I’m coming with a bit of a handicap considering my strong urge to want to please people. I only have to hear a vague “I don’t really see it that way,” to abandon my way and go with someone else’s. However,... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4852943 Sat, 21 May 2011 10:36:08 +0100 4852943 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4848003&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2F20%2Fmyths-about-rationality%2F Rationality has been a popular topic of discussion for many years.  There is a huge body of literature, popular and scholarly, that addresses rational thinking skills.  It seems as if everyone has an opinion on rationality.  Rationality is often misunderstood, and the word loses its importance when it is defined in terms so broad or ambiguous that it can mean virtually anything.  This confusion has contributed to myths concerning rationality. In a recent interview I asked cognitive scientist Keith Stanovich: What are the two most common myths about rationality? I am aware there are more than a few, but if you were limited to discussing two, what would they be and how do we combat these erroneous thoughts? Here is Dr. Stanovich’s answer: I discuss many of these in all my books, ... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4848003 Fri, 20 May 2011 16:33:15 +0100 4848003 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4841579&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2F19%2Fmyths-about-memory%2F Memory is important in everyday judgments and decision-making.  In some way or another, memory affects most aspects of our lives.  It is no surprise that there are many myths about memory. Memory involves processing of information in different stages: sensory, short-term, and long-term.  However, the mechanics of memory are not my concern in this article. Here, I’ll focus on a couple of popular myths about memory.  Donald Varakin, cognitive scientist, sheds light on these myths. So I posed the following question to Dr. Varakin… I am aware there are numerous myths about memory.  What have you found to be the two most common myths? It’s probably hard to limit it to two, but assuming you can only give us two, what would they be? Here’s Dr. Varakin’s reply: ... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4841579 Thu, 19 May 2011 20:30:39 +0100 4841579 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4841479&cid=t_107391_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fmost-americans-dont-know-what-healthy-eating-means%2F2011.05.19 Only one in 10 respondents to a national survey could estimate how many calories they should consume in a day. Seventy-nine percent make few or no attempts to pay attention to the balance between the calories they consume and expend in a day. These and other piquant findings from the online 2011 Food and Health Survey fielded by the International Food Information Council Foundation (IFIC) struck home last week as I smacked up against my own ignorance about a healthy diet and the difficulty of changing lifelong eating habits. The confluence of my failure to gain weight after cancer treatment and a blood test suggesting pre-diabetes meant that as of last Tuesday, I have been on an eat-specific-types-of-food-every-hour-and-write-it-down regimen.  And despite a lifetime of recommending that p... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4841479 Thu, 19 May 2011 12:00:13 +0100 4841479 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4841989&cid=t_107391_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FTUOHhGEtWzc%2F Adverse event data from the third quarter of 2010 show the risks of serious psychiatric side effects of Chantix, the smoking-cessation drug, were previously underestimated because Pfizer apparently failed to correctly submit hundreds of these episodes to the FDA, according to an analysis by the Institute for Safe Medicine Practices, a non-profit that regulary reviews the FDA adverse event database. Notably, the ISMP found 150 cases of completed suicides, some of which dated back to 2007, that were not reported promptly as suicides within 15 days as required. Instead, the drugmaker apparently coded the suicides as “expected adverse events” among 26,000 such events, and added these to a quarterly periodic report, which is how less important, non-serious side effects are sent to t... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4841989 Wed, 18 May 2011 16:02:13 +0100 4841989 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4841585&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2F17%2Fnew-study-says-treating-mom-helps-childrens-mental-health%2F In this study, researchers learned that children’s improvement, in terms of both depressive symptoms and social functioning, is associated with the time it took their mothers to get better.” I sort of cringe when I read those facts because it took me two years to get better when I was severely depressed. My kids were the ages of one and three when my symptoms began, and they were three and five when I finally regained some stability. And yes, there were huge behavioral ramifications. Especially in my son. I suspect much of the anxiety he suffers today goes back to that frightening time in his life. Wall Street Journal columnist Melinda Beck writes about the new study in this week’s “Health Journal.” Beck mentions a report published in the journal Pediatrics that says at early a... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4841585 Tue, 17 May 2011 22:15:42 +0100 4841585 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4841586&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2F17%2Fthe-healing-power-of-laughter%2F A year and a half ago, John McManamy interviewed me on the topic of humor in relation to mental health in a post he called “On the Dark Side of Humor.” I explained to him that of all my tools to combat depression and anxiety, humor is by far the most fun. I realize I run into trouble with some folks who think there is nothing funny about being depressed and not able to get up from bed. But even if you have a broken funny bone while buried in the Black Hole, the minute you surface I think it’s helpful to look back and poke fun of what just happened. If that is at all possible. I wasn’t always able to laugh at myself. In fact, on my dad’s deathbed, he urged me to have more fun. That was his only wish. I took life WAY too seriously and was annoyed by people who didn’t. And then it... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4841586 Tue, 17 May 2011 18:05:20 +0100 4841586 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4828984&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2F16%2Fgood-perfectionism-versus-bad-perfectionism%2F Although perfectionism undoubtedly brings me suffering and pain, I’ve come to appreciate the snobby part of my personality because it also bear gifts, especially over time. For the last three years, perfectionism has placed me in an okay spot in a terrible economy. Had I not invested so many hours into networking and writing blogs the last five or so years, sometimes on top of full-time employment and other responsibilities, I would not have a job right now. And spending a night or two recently with friends of friends I knew back in high school made me proud of all the therapy and recovery I have done since graduating. Had I not held myself to a high standard back then, I wouldn’t have quit drinking at the age of 18, and may still be hitting the bars at night. Perfectionism can even be... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4828984 Mon, 16 May 2011 16:00:07 +0100 4828984 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4820854&cid=t_107391_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Ftips-for-physicians-dealing-with-difficult-colleagues%2F2011.05.12 Recently I attended a CME course entitled “Dealing with Difficult Colleagues.”  It was part of my medical malpractice company’s risk management series to teach physicians/nurses how to lessen our risk of being sued. This lecture was given by Linda Worley, MD who is a psychiatry professor at UAMS.  She is a good speaker, easy to understand, engages the crowd, and knows her subject. My only complaint would be that it focused only the “angry” or “frustrated” physicians who exhibit unprofessional behavior and did not include the ones whom you suspect might be difficult due to impairment (illness, drugs, alcohol). Difficult colleagues can impact a team (in office, OR, or hospital) by creating low morale, high staff turnover, inefficiency, decreased patient satisfaction, increase... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4820854 Thu, 12 May 2011 21:00:00 +0100 4820854 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4820923&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2F12%2Fthe-stupid-complex%2F Nowhere in the DSM-IV does it mention “the stupid complex,” but I’m telling you it’s an epidemic these days. I used to suffer in silence. But ever since I’ve come out of the closet, I swear I find a fellow sufferer every day. At my last therapy session, I was telling her how scared I was that everyone was going to find out that I was inherently stupid. She laughed out loud and said, “Do you know how many times I hear that a day?” Oh. Good. Then it’s not just me. I don’t know when it started. It could be a result of being a twin, and needing to form a sense of identity separate from my sister. Since she stole “tomboy” early on, I became “the brain,” except that mine didn’t work, but no one really knew that but me. And I was able to keep it a secret all throug... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4820923 Thu, 12 May 2011 15:35:01 +0100 4820923 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4813363&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2F10%2Fconquering-performance-anxiety-a-primer-for-all-phobias%2F Public speaking is the king of phobias. That’s according to Taylor Clark, author of the insightful book, Nerve. He writes: According to a 2001 poll, more than 40 percent of Americans confess to a dread of appearing before spectators. (In some surveys, fear of public speaking even outranks fear of death, a fact that inspired Jerry Seinfeld’s famous observation that at a funeral, this means the average person would rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy.) To get to the solution of this phobia — which can help us with all our other phobias — Clark tells the story of cellist Zoe Keating. Today her music is featured everywhere from National Public Radio to film scores to European ballets. Clark attended one of her performances and comments, “Keating seemed entirely obl... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4813363 Tue, 10 May 2011 14:30:33 +0100 4813363 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4803233&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2F09%2Fpsychologys-history-of-being-mesmerized%2F All words have a history. But some are particularly interesting to explore when it comes to psychology — because they’re directly born from it. How many times have you been mesmerized by something, so captured by it that it was like you were in a trance? The word “mesmerize” dates back to an 18th century Austrian physician named Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815). He established a theory of illness that involved internal magnetic forces, which he called animal magnetism. (It would later be known as mesmerism.) Mesmer believed that good physical and psychological health came from properly aligned magnetic forces; bad health, then, resulted from forces essentially being out of whack. He noticed a treatment that seemed to work particularly well in correcting these misaligned force... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4803233 Mon, 09 May 2011 15:35:51 +0100 4803233 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4794896&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2F06%2Fthe-greek-miracle-how-ancient-greek-philosophy-can-save-you-or-at-least-improve-your-life%2F Former nightclub owner Nicholas Kardaras died ten years ago. That’s right. For a few minutes his pulse was flat. Then he “pulled a Lazarus” as he describes it. He was revived and clung to life for a bit with the help of a respirator. When he finally emerged from his coma, he was a changed man. Plato, Pythagoras, and the other ancient Greeks saved him. That’s what he says in his new book, How Plato and Pythagoras Can Save Your Life. A drug addict living the glamorous life, rubbing elbows with the likes of John F. Kennedy, Jr., Tom Cruise, and Brooke Shields, he decided to turn all of his time and energy toward ancient Greek philosophy? Why? Kardaras writes: After my post-coma resurrection, I was desperate to better understand the universe and my purpose within it; I guess that a ne... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4794896 Fri, 06 May 2011 17:45:18 +0100 4794896 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4789333&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2F05%2Fshould-you-tell-your-boss-that-you-have-adhd%2F When you have any mental health condition, it can be hard to know if you should disclose your diagnosis at work, particularly to your boss. It’s a thorny topic. For instance, you might be worried that others will judge you negatively because of the pervasive stigma in our society. Yet, you might need certain accommodations that you’d like to ask for. Also, many people are relieved to get their diagnosis — finally having a name for their disruptive symptoms — and want to share it with others. So what can you do? ADDitude Magazine has an excellent article on this topic by Wilma Fellman. I interviewed Fellman a few years ago for an article about succeeding in the workplace when you have ADHD. Her take? She advised readers against telling supervisors about their ADHD. ... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4789333 Thu, 05 May 2011 12:13:11 +0100 4789333 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4771209&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F05%2F01%2Fdr-jon-lapook-living-with-ocd%2F In case you missed it, Dr. Jon LaPook, chief medical correspondent for the CBS Evening News, penned an important post on the Huffington Post about OCD. For his CBS segment, he interviewed Jeff Bell, KCBS radio broadcaster and author of “Rewind, Replay, Repeat: A Memoir of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder” and “When In Doubt, Make Belief: Life Lessons from OCD.” In his Huffington Post piece, Dr. LaPook writes: “It’s my OCD.” I hear that on and off from friends and patients who half-jokingly use the term to describe overly careful behavior (such as double-checking to make sure the stove is off) but don’t actually have obsessive-compulsive disorder. True OCD can be a devastating disease. Patients have intrusive, uncontrollable thoughts and severe a... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4771209 Sun, 01 May 2011 12:31:58 +0100 4771209 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4768045&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2F30%2Ftaming-our-brains-amygdala%2F In The Emotional Brain, Joseph LeDoux, a professor of neuroscience at New York University, explains the “fear system” in laboratory animals — such as monkeys — and humans. The almond-shaped clump of tissue called the amygdala can be a real troublemaker. Whenever you sense potential danger (26 voice-mails on your cell phone coming to life like the Nutcracker), the amygdala triggers an “oh, crap!” reaction, pumping adrenaline and other (not so great) hormones into your bloodstream. A fraction of a second later, the higher, more educated, evolved, sophisticated (Harvard professor type) region of the brain gets the signal and takes on the case, digging for the truth, sometimes accusing the amygdala of being an over-reactive alarmist. Unfortunately we experi... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4768045 Sat, 30 Apr 2011 11:48:34 +0100 4768045 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4762798&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2F28%2Fmotivation-iq-tests-more-than-intelligence%2F One of the common misconceptions about psychological testing is that even the so-called objective psychological tests (usually done on a computer or paper-and-pencil tests) tap into a single “truth” about the person. And that there is very little subjectivity in such tests. In fact, one’s approach to taking a psychological test has a big impact on the test’s results — and the interpretations of those results by a trained psychologist. The problem is that psychologists — and worse, the legal system — uses these tests as not only an indicator of where a person is in their life right now, but as a predictor of their future potential. If something as simple as one’s motivation can have a significant impact on one of these scores, what does that m... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4762798 Thu, 28 Apr 2011 17:24:30 +0100 4762798 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4762799&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2F28%2F10-quick-stress-busters%2F Stress is like dark chocolate. A little of it won’t kill you. In fact, small blocks here and there can be good for you, or at least give you a reason to get of bed in the morning. But chronic and severe stress can damage your body and mind, blocking the fluid communication to and from most organs — especially in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and in the limbic system, the brain’s emotional center. Believe me, you want these two systems–much like the House and Senate — running as smoothly as possible, with low levels of the delinquent stress hormones in your bloodstream. Which is why I have handy some tress busters. I use an average of five a day. Today I’m using all ten. Here they are, and good luck! 1. Simplify. Cut your to-do list in ha... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4762799 Thu, 28 Apr 2011 11:11:39 +0100 4762799 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4758787&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2F27%2F8-reasons-why-waiting-in-line-drives-us-crazy%2F I’m a very impatient person, and standing in a slow-moving line is one of those very small, maddening aspects of life that drives me crazy. As often happens, however, when I learned more about the experience, it became more interesting to me. I happened to read a paper by David Maister, The Psychology of Waiting Lines. The piece is aimed at people who operate stores, restaurants, doctors’ offices, and other places where people fuss about being kept waiting. Of course, most of us are the ones standing in line, not the ones controlling the line, but I was fascinated by getting this insight into my own psychology. Maister’s main point is that the actual time we’re waiting may have little relationship to how long that wait feels. Two minutes can pass in a flash, or two ... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4758787 Wed, 27 Apr 2011 12:49:52 +0100 4758787 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4753757&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2F26%2F7-tips-for-coping-with-finals%2F It’s that time again if you’re a college or graduate student — time for finals. It’s also time to self-sabotage, to get in your own way in terms of effective studying. We stress out more than usual, even when we’re on top of the material, because of the anxiety surrounding test-taking. But you don’t have to stress out about final exams. You can actually do better (and feel better about your performance) if you keep the stress at bay and focus on simple study skills over the next few weeks. Here’s a few tips for coping with finals to get you started. None of these are going to be eye-opening or stuff you don’t already know… But sometimes we need to be reminded of the things we already know, to drive home their importance. 1. Schedule yo... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4753757 Tue, 26 Apr 2011 15:45:49 +0100 4753757 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4747650&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2F24%2Fwillpower-self-control-can-be-learned%2F I’m a little astounded by how quickly some people are willing to just throw up their hands and, rather than learning how to gain more willpower and self-control in their life, use technology tools as a substitute for learning those skills. Or suggesting how we seem to be at the mercy of social networking sites, which have some sort of undeniable power over us, our choices and our behaviors. I’m talking about the article in today’s Boston Globe from Tracy Jan bemoaning how college students nowadays are “tangled in an endless web of distractions.” The article reads like college students are saying, “The Internet and Facebook are just too darned addicting, I can’t help myself!” It’s gotten so bad that some college professors — even a... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4747650 Sun, 24 Apr 2011 16:49:05 +0100 4747650 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4747651&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2F24%2Fanalyzing-the-thinking-process-interview-with-diane-halpern%2F Diane Halpern is a professor of psychology at Claremont McKenna College; she is the former president of the American Psychological Association and former president of the Western Psychological Association.  Halpern has won many awards for her teaching and research, including the 2002 Outstanding Professor Award from the Western Psychological Association, the 1999 American Psychological Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching, and the Silver Medal Award from the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education.  She has also authored a variety of books. Here are some of Halpern’s views on the thinking process. What is the goal of critical thinking?  Is critical thinking rational thinking? Critical thinking is good thinking or clear thinking—it involves analyzing the think... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4747651 Sun, 24 Apr 2011 12:16:37 +0100 4747651 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4744819&cid=t_107391_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fcartoon-characters-influence-childrens-cereal-preferences%2F2011.04.23 Based on their experience during countless schleps to the market, moms know that kids pick cereals whose boxes have cartoon characters on them. Previous research by Yale scientists explained the phenomenon: kids say that the stuff poured from such boxes tastes better than the same stuff when poured from a cartoon-less box. The same thing happens when kids pick graham crackers, carrots and gummy fruit snacks. Pictures of Shrek, Dora the Explorer, Scooby Doo and their kin make just about anything taste yummier, it seems. Can this observation be leveraged to encourage kids to select healthier foods? Yes, it turns out. But the story isn’t as straightforward as you’d think. To study the impact of licensed media spokescharacters and other nutrition cues on kids’ taste assessment of food... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4744819 Sat, 23 Apr 2011 16:00:07 +0100 4744819 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4734204&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2F21%2Fi-am-the-most-important-person-you-know%2F I am not a narcissist, but I am the most important person you know. When I’m talking to you. When you read an essay or article of mine. When you’re in a meeting with me. When you’re sharing a meal or a drink with me. In olden days — like 10 years ago — we would call this “attention.” We would say, “Oh, look, you’re paying attention to what I’m writing” or “It’s nice of you to pay attention when I’m talking.” And yes, I know how important your social network is to your fragile ego, your delicate self-esteem. That you need to understand and be reassured that nothing more important is going on in your world. That you’re not going to dump me in mid-conversation for a potentially better conversation ... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4734204 Thu, 21 Apr 2011 15:39:20 +0100 4734204 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4734207&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2F20%2Fstages-of-change-and-motivation%2F In my tutoring for SAT preparation, I have come across themes and variations on the essay questions. One of the most common SAT essay questions is the topic of change and motivation. In one phrasing or another, the SAT asks if we believe that change can come from external sources or if true change comes only from within. Change, motivation, perception of reality — they are all cousins. At my husband’s work as a milieu therapist at a psychiatric hospital, he evaluates patients on their “stage of change” in order to gauge their insight into their condition. The vast majority of the people he runs into are in “pre-contemplation;” they don’t know why they’re in the hospital at all. They create wild confabulations about how the tortured cat deserved it, how they were framed,... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4734207 Wed, 20 Apr 2011 12:43:11 +0100 4734207 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4734208&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2F19%2Fwant-a-happier-marriage-unrealistically-idealize-your-partner%2F If ignorance is bliss, then delusion is even better — if you’re in a new marriage, anyways. So says new research from investigators at the University at Buffalo, who examined 193 newly-married couples over three years to see what kinds of variables might predict greater marital satisfaction. How could this be? Weren’t we always told the common wisdom — that we needed to be realistic in our relationships, and not look for that Knight in Shining Armor who comes to our rescue (or a Maiden trapped in a castle tower who needs rescuing)? Apparently the common wisdom may need to be revisited, because continuing to idealize your partner long after the glow of the wedding fades away seems to help keep you happy. Read on to learn more… This isn’t the first resear... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4734208 Tue, 19 Apr 2011 17:59:56 +0100 4734208 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4723944&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2F17%2Fa-general-theory-of-love-part-2-the-science-of-attraction%2F “When love is not madness, it is not love.” ~Pedro Calderon de la Barca “Love must be as much a light, as it is a flame.” ~Henry David Thoreau “Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.” ~Zora Neale Hurston To be loved means being free to be yourself in the presence of another person.  It is the mutuality of this experience that we each crave.  Somehow we know when it is near, and ache when it is lost. We have all had it: the look, the feeling, and the sense of awe in the presence of the person we are attracted to.  But is it more than just the infusion of the catecholamine neurotransmitter, dopamine, or the mammalian hormone oxytocin? Yes. You most likely know that the limbic system is the seat of emotions and it regulates the type, degre... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4723944 Sun, 17 Apr 2011 15:50:10 +0100 4723944 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4723946&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2F16%2Fcan-drug-rehabs-treat-mood-disorders%2F Awhile back the Washington Post ran an excellent article by Maia Szalavitz entited, “So, What Made Me an Addict? Experts Debate Whether Disease or Defect Is to Blame.” This question is so crucial to how we treat persons suffering from both addiction and mental disorders, and especially how we deal with those with dual-diagnoses. Just after I was discharged from Johns Hopkins Hospital, a friend of mine strongly encouraged me to go away to a halfway house of sorts for three or more months … where they treat addicts primarily, and some persons battling mental illness … in order to allow time to heal. I ran it by my doctor. Did she think three months of AA meetings and yoga and group therapy would pull me out of my depression? Her response was interesting, and one I re... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4723946 Sat, 16 Apr 2011 12:10:54 +0100 4723946 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4719880&cid=t_107391_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F1aPkIMF85rM%2F By David RittgersTSA screeners and behavior detection officers may give you extra attention if you complain about security protocols (video at the jump). Former FBI agent Michael German sums up my feelings pretty well: It’s circular reasoning where, you know, I’m going to ask someone to surrender their rights; if they refuse, that’s evidence that I need to take their rights away from them. And it’s simply inappropriate. In related news, the GAO recently told Congress that the TSA’s Screening Passengers by Observation Technique (SPOT) is not scientifically grounded. The GAO testimony is available here. More Cato work on TSA screening here, here and here. TSA: If You Object to Giving Up Your Rights, We Should Take a Closer Look at You is a post from Cato @ Liberty -... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4719880 Fri, 15 Apr 2011 19:52:08 +0100 4719880 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4715014&cid=t_107391_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FpYq3k6eZCQ4%2F Four years after the merger between the CVS drugstore chain and the Caremark pharmacy benefits manager, which has spurred numerous investigations and lawsuits over anticompetitive concerns, a handful of consumer groups have written the US Federal Trade Commission to ask the agency to break up the company. Why? The groups charge CVS Caremark limits choice through various programs, the merger has given CVS unfair advantage over other retailers, patients are steered toward CVS and confidential patient information is improperly shared. Such concerns have already prompted investigations by the FTC and attorneys general of 24 states. CVS Caremark has previously said it is cooperating with the probes. “There is strong evidence that the CVS Caremark merger has harmed consumers,” says the lett... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4715014 Fri, 15 Apr 2011 12:18:08 +0100 4715014 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4709247&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2F14%2Ffomo-addiction-the-fear-of-missing-out%2F As serendipity often strikes randomly, I was reading an article in The New York Times by Jenna Wortham the other day at the same time I was reading the chapter in Sherry Turkle’s new book, Alone Together about people who fear they are missing out. Teens and adults text while driving, because the possibility of a social connection is more important than their own lives (and the lives of others). They interrupt one call to take another, even when they don’t know who’s on the other line (but to be honest, we’ve been doing this for years before caller ID). They check their Twitter stream while on a date, because something more interesting or entertaining just might be happening. It’s not “interruption,” it’s connection. But wait a minute… ... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4709247 Thu, 14 Apr 2011 10:15:24 +0100 4709247 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4704714&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2F12%2F6-things-every-kid-should-know-about-a-parents-depression%2F Depression never happens in a vacuum. Like a ripple in the water, a parent’s illness can’t help but affect her offspring. Different studies have documented how depression in a new mother clearly affects her interactions with her baby or toddler. Depressed mothers are more withdrawn, less responsive to their infant’s signals. “Their facial expressions and displays of emotion [are] more muted or flat, and their voices [are] monotone,” explains Ruta Nonacs in “A Deeper Shade of Blue.” “They [remain] disengaged and [do] little to support their child’s activities or exploration of the environment.” A mother’s depression also affects grade-schoolers and adolescents. When parents fail to meet the needs of the people under their care, some kids begin to act out, have ... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4704714 Tue, 12 Apr 2011 15:05:43 +0100 4704714 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4696685&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2F10%2Fgetting-the-love-you-want-over-and-over-again%2F In his New York Times bestseller, Getting the Love Your Want, psychologist Harville Hendrix explains why people who grew up in homes — well, a little like the one in the 2006 flick Little Miss Sunshine — without proper emotional nurturing seek dysfunctional relationships as adults. He explains the low brain — our more reptilian thought process that can’t handle anything different than what it already knows and reverts to fear as its primary gear — and the new brain, the cerebral cortex that is conscious, alert, able to reason and think logically. He writes: What we are doing, I have discovered from years of theoretical research and clinical observation, is looking for someone who has the predominant character traits of the people who raised us. Our old brain, trapped in t... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4696685 Sun, 10 Apr 2011 18:05:02 +0100 4696685 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4696686&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2F10%2Fvirginia-heffernan-on-internet-addiction%2F I’ve been saying it for as long as it’s been around — “Internet addiction” is an unhealthy focus and fascination on the technology, as though it caused people to enjoy spending time interacting with it. If people are using the Internet to socialize — on Facebook, Twitter, etc. — how can we turn around and characterize that as a bad thing? Would we engage in the same negative characterization if we were referring to someone who simply did this over the telephone? Or face-to-face? Of course not. And that’s the disconnect that happens when psychologists throw out these not-well-thought-out terms to describe something they are concerned about. They turn it into a dysfunction through inadequate and poorly theorized labels, that then get picked up ... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4696686 Sun, 10 Apr 2011 14:29:57 +0100 4696686 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4693333&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2F08%2Fthe-forbidden-fruit-in-relationships%2F A long-term, stable romantic relationship with a committed, caring partner has many psychological benefits, which we know from the oodles of psychological research published about them. So it’s a good thing to try and protect one’s relationship from external influences. One of the most difficult to recover from and damaging influences is cheating. If cheating will harm a relationship (and cheating appears to be one of the primary reasons cited in many, if not most, relationship breakups), what can be done to minimize it? After all, isn’t it human nature — and the nature of temptation — to constantly look for desirable alternatives? One of the ways people look to protect their long-term relationship is to simply remain inattentive to those alternatives. Researc... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4693333 Fri, 08 Apr 2011 17:30:13 +0100 4693333 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4693396&cid=t_107391_129_f&fid=27216&url=http%3A%2F%2Flifewithadhd.com%2Fadhd-research%2Fconfusion-over-adhd-behavior.php This article will attempt to bring a little clarity into the debate and help clean up the mess and confusion made by this academic pie fight. There are researchers in the middle ground between the extremes who are changing the paradigm of what ADH Read More (Source: Life With ADHD) Life With ADHD blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4693396 Thu, 07 Apr 2011 23:00:00 +0100 4693396 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4684428&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2F07%2F5-ways-to-better-cope-with-stress%2F When trying to manage stress, Richard Blonna, Ed.D — a nationally certified coach and counselor and author of Stress Less, Live More — said that many people mistakenly look for a Band-Aid approach. They look for one approach to work with all stressors in all situations at all times. But realistically you can’t rely on one technique. For instance, diaphragmatic breathing is an effective stress reliever but you might not want to use it in a certain situation because you’re feeling self-conscious and don’t want to bring attention to yourself, he said. Similarly, while Blonna is a big believer in meditation, he said it doesn’t work if you’re stuck in traffic, since it’s dangerous to close your eyes. Instead, “What we need is a toolbox that’s full of techniques tha... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4684428 Thu, 07 Apr 2011 18:35:42 +0100 4684428 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4684432&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2F05%2Fcoming-to-america-can-increase-depression-anxiety%2F I chalk this up to the category, “This is news how, exactly?” Here’s the finding in a nutshell — “After arrival in the United States, [Mexican] migrants had a significantly higher risk for first onset of any depressive or anxiety disorder than did non-migrant family members of migrants in Mexico,” the authors report. Wow, surprising. You mean going to a foreign country, not necessarily knowing anyone, not necessarily having any job or job prospects, and not necessarily knowing the language can negatively impact your mental health? Do tell. The researchers “compared a sample of Mexican-born migrants (259 men and 295 women) after their arrival in the U.S. with a sample of non-migrants in Mexico (904 men and 1,615 women) on their risk for first onset of a de... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4684432 Tue, 05 Apr 2011 22:21:19 +0100 4684432 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4684770&cid=t_107391_151_f&fid=35818&url=http%3A%2F%2Frecoveryissexy.com%2Fcoping-depression-in-adult-children-of-alcoholics%2F Coping Behavior and Depressive Symptoms in Adult Children of AlcoholicsThis research examined whether adult children of alcoholics (ACOAs) would report more depressive mood symptoms as compared to non-ACOAs, whether coping behaviors differed as a function of ACOA status, and whether specific coping behaviors were related to depressive mood symptoms in ACOAs.Participants were 136 college students categorized as ACOAs and 436 college students categorized as non-ACOAs.As compared to non-ACOAs, ACOAs reported significantly more symptoms of depressive mood.On the COPE Inventory, ACOAs reported higher use of the following coping strategies:Withdrawal and defend themselves physically, cognitively and emotionally,Denial,Focus on Venting of Emotions,Humor, andSubstance Use.For both the ACOA and non... Recovery Is Sexy.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4684770 Tue, 05 Apr 2011 14:51:08 +0100 4684770 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4670170&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2F02%2Fdo-you-feel-like-a-fake-2%2F When I was in grad school, I was a fake, a phony, a fraud. Or at least I felt that way — very much. I felt like the program made some exception to accept me, that I really didn’t deserve to be there, that I wore my stupidity on my sleeve and that soon the professors and powers-that-be would find out and kick me out. That never happened. (I actually left after receiving my Master’s to pursue writing.) But it didn’t quell my fears. Even when I received high grades and positive feedback and praise, I still felt a gnawing discomfort that I just didn’t belong in such a smart place. I also wasn’t the only one. My cohort and I talked regularly about feeling like our department had a made a mistake in admitting us. We worried about keeping up, regularly questioned our i... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4670170 Sat, 02 Apr 2011 19:20:51 +0100 4670170 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4670172&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2F02%2Fhow-to-be-afraid-an-interview-with-taylor-clark%2F Today I have the honor of interviewing Taylor Clark, author of the BRILLIANT book Nerve: Poise Under Pressure, Serenity Under Stress, and the Brave New Science of Fear and Control. It’s amazing material, so I wanted to learn even more. 1. In all your interviews and discussions with brain experts, what study or piece of research about fear was most helpful to you in trying to overcome your own fear? I actually have two answers to this question — or, rather, one answer and one clarification. I’ll offer the clarification first, because it’s absolutely vital to understanding how to deal productively with our fears: trying to “overcome” anxiety and phobias by doing battle against them just doesn’t work. (Believe me, this is a lesson I had to learn the hard way.) Even though an... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4670172 Sat, 02 Apr 2011 11:56:39 +0100 4670172 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4670173&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F04%2F01%2F33-favorite-self-help-books-of-psychologists%2F Since the response was good from my post on 15 quotes that motivate and inspire that I pulled from LinkedIn group, The Psychology Network, I joined a few weeks ago, I thought I’d publish their recommendation for good self-help books, too. Since most of them are mental health professionals (unlike me, who just pretends she is), their list lends credibility and might be a good one to review every now and then either for yourself or in your work with patients. 1. Freedom From the Ties That Bind: The Secret of Self Liberation by Guy Finley 
 2. I Ain’t Much Baby, But I’m All I’ve Got by Jess Lair, Ph.D. 3. The Anxiety & Phobia Workbook, Fourth Edition 
by Edmund J. Bourne 

 4. Women with Attention Deficit Disorder: Embrace Your Differences and Transform Yo... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4670173 Fri, 01 Apr 2011 16:34:35 +0100 4670173 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4642673&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2F28%2Fpediatrics-gets-it-wrong-about-facebook-depression%2F You know it’s not good when one of the most prestigious pediatric journals, Pediatrics, can’t differentiate between correlation and causation. And yet this is exactly what the authors of a “clinical report” did in reporting on the impact of social media on children and teens. Especially in their discussion of “Facebook depression,” a term that the authors simply made up to describe the phenomenon observed when depressed people use social media. Shoddy research? You bet. That’s why Pediatrics calls it a “clinical report” — because it’s at the level of a bad blog post written by people with a clear agenda. In this case, the report was written by Gwenn Schurgin O’Keeffe, Kathleen Clarke-Pearson and the American Academy of... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4642673 Mon, 28 Mar 2011 19:05:36 +0100 4642673 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4642675&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2F28%2Fdelusions-keep-up-with-the-times%2F Would you imagine the content of people’s delusions would change with the changing times? Well, according to Vaughan Bell writing over at Mind Hacks, they do. Research that analyzed the content of people’s delusions over the past few decades found that people’s delusions do indeed change. They recorded the content of the delusions for every patient with psychosis and while they didn’t find that the level of delusions changed, they did find that they tended to relate to the social concerns of the time. …more patients after 1950 believe they are being spied upon is consistent with the development of related technology and the advent of the Cold War. Delusional content tended to reflect the culture at the time, with focus on syphilis in the early 1900s, on Germans during... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4642675 Mon, 28 Mar 2011 14:55:28 +0100 4642675 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4642676&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2F27%2F8-survival-tips-for-the-spouse-of-a-terminally-ill-person%2F The other day, I had the honor of interviewing Owen Stanley Surman, M.D., a practicing hospital psychiatrist known internationally for his work on psychiatric and ethical aspects of solid organ transplantation. Following the death of his wife, Dr. Surman devoted six years to writer a memoir, The Wrong Side of an Illness: A Doctor’s Love Story, which includes a deeply personal and unique view of events both tragic and transcendent. He now lives in Boston with his new wife. Question: What words of wisdom would you give the spouse of a person struggling with chronic illness or terminally ill? Dr. Surman: Chronic illness and terminal illness have a pervasive impact on how we live our lives and in our sense of identity. Loss of a loved one affects the part of ourselves that has led us to ... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4642676 Sun, 27 Mar 2011 15:02:30 +0100 4642676 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4642799&cid=t_107391_129_f&fid=27216&url=http%3A%2F%2Flifewithadhd.com%2Fadhd-research%2Fresearch-on-adhd-who-is-worried-about-behavior-therapy.php Did you know that the most popular ADHD drug Ritalin has been on the market for over forty years? Naturally, on reading that you might be a little reassured that there has been some research on ADHD and the long term effects of this drug. Well, there hasn’t been any research like that and even if there had been, the drug companies are keeping it well hidden! Basically we have not moved forward at all and medication is now restricted to amphetamines like Ritalin, anti-depressants and some new non-stimulant drugs like Strattera. Research on ADHD and its causes has not made much progress either and only about two of the genes responsible have been discovered. The sad thing is that very few neurologists and pediatricians will come forward to condemn the mass drugging of America’s c... Life With ADHD blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4642799 Sat, 26 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4642799 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4636480&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2F25%2Fare-gambling-problems-more-common-than-drinking-problems-maybe-not%2F Research out of the University at Buffalo by John Welte and colleagues suggests that gambling problems — pathological gambling, to be specific — are more problematic than alcohol dependence in older adults. Some of the findings are interesting. But one finding stood out for me as being a bit sensationalistic. That finding was that pathological gambling — something other studies have consistently pegged in the 0.8% to 2.0% range of adults (see Stucki & Rihs-Middel, 2007) — is more common than alcohol dependence (which studies put in the 3.8% range, see Keyes et al., 2009). Past research has shown that alcohol dependence (also known as alcoholism) is something that occurs in the adult population at twice the rate of pathological gambling. In Welte’s (2011) s... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4636480 Fri, 25 Mar 2011 15:45:42 +0100 4636480 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4636660&cid=t_107391_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2F_LncIHegHag%2F Normally, a high price for a medication prompts outrage and accusations from consumers, politicians, doctors and insurers. Now, though, there is the courtroom spectacle of an attorney for GlaxoSmithKline charging Abbott Labs with being greedy, stifling competition and creating an illegal monopoly after more than quadrupling the price of its Norvir med. The pill is used in AIDS cocktails. The background: Abbott sells a combo pill called Kaletra that includes Norvir and its own protease inhibitor. Glaxo claims Abbott raised Norvir’s price - but not the Kaletra price - in 2003 in order to boost Kaletra sales at the expense of other protease inhibitors that require Norvir as a booster. In other words, Abbott allegedly tried to use Norvir to create an illegal monopoly. A Glaxo lawyer told a ... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4636660 Fri, 25 Mar 2011 13:27:32 +0100 4636660 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4631520&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2F24%2Fgot-regret-the-top-10-american-regrets%2F Americans share a lot of the same regrets in life — lost love, family spats, missing a career or educational opportunity. So says new research out of Northwestern University from a telephone survey conducted by researchers on 370 American adults. The researchers asked people to describe one regret in detail, with the rationale that whatever regret they described would be the one that is most memorable. Regrets based on inaction were held on to longer over time, versus those based upon some action the person took. So what are the top ten regrets held by Americans? The Top 10 American Regrets Here are the subjects that survey respondents most commonly described they held the greatest regrets about: Romance, lost love – 18.1% Family (e.g., family arguments) – 15.9% Educati... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4631520 Thu, 24 Mar 2011 12:26:00 +0100 4631520 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4627006&cid=t_107391_140_f&fid=35443&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FTheSplinteredMind%2F%7E3%2FxvJpTZODnZM%2Fchasing-rainbows-for-information-pot-of.html Yesterday was a day filled with addiction. Ah, the sweet glow of the screen. The endless stream of information just a tap away in my iPad. Twitter. Facebook. Links, links, links!I woke up very under the weather. Perhaps it was because Mother Nature had a bad case of Psuedo ADHD this month—not sure which season it was."Ooh! I want Spring!Ooh! Ooh! I want more snow!Ooh! I'll do both!Ooh! Ooh! A rainbow!"She's been like a newborn puppy frolicking about after butterflies, though truth be told, the butterflies have had the good sense to wait for Mother Nature to make her mind up this year before making an appearance. Yes, I realize that the caterpillars have to arrive first. Don't mess with my metaphor.At any rate, yesterday I was not as frolicsome as a puppy or as flittery as a butterfly. In... The Splintered Mind by Douglas Cootey blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4627006 Wed, 23 Mar 2011 15:00:02 +0100 4627006 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4622288&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2F22%2Fhow-well-do-you-multitask-between-the-tv-and-the-computer%2F This study hints at the generational shift that is occurring and that researchers are starting to document in studies such as this. Younger adults are used to consuming media simultaneously, from multiple sources, and enjoy doing so. Older adults (that is to say, middle-aged adults and older) do less of this, and tend to enjoy it less. At least according to this single study. Last, the researchers conclude: The brevity of gaze durations on both computer and television content in this multitasking environment suggests a fracturing of attention with rapid attentional shifts and reorientation; both media seem to have limited ability to “hook” a participant into extended runs of attention. Television attention is especially composed of very quick gazes overall, supporting the contention th... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4622288 Tue, 22 Mar 2011 15:25:45 +0100 4622288 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4622289&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2F22%2Fbest-of-our-blogs-march-22-2011%2F What is it about childhood books and television shows that are so wise and still applicable to us as adults? This morning I got a newsletter from beliefnet.com sent with quotes from Mister Rogers. I grew up with his melodic voice singing goodbye to me as he took off his shoes for the day. And I always felt comforted in hearing it. But I didn’t know how wise he was until I read this: “There is no normal life that is free of pain. It’s the very wrestling with our problems that can be the impetus for our growth.” It also made me think about all of the children’s books in my life that affected me as a child and still influences my life today. Has anyone else been impacted by Shel Silverstein’s books, for example? My cousin bought me The Missing Piece as a y... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4622289 Tue, 22 Mar 2011 10:53:57 +0100 4622289 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4615465&cid=t_107391_180_f&fid=38612&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fpickthebrain%2FLYVv%2F%7E3%2FrWWqhtL4Sbg%2F There is so much in life that we just tolerate. Some of it we have to deal with (taxes, bad weather, traffic). But there’s a good portion of stuff that we tolerate even when we don’t have to. We step around things, overlook irritations, and mindlessly accept energy drains. Perhaps we’ve become so immune to these tolerations that we don’t recognize the negative impact they have on us. Sometimes just recognizing the things we are tolerating in life gives us a renewed sense of hope and energy. If you don’t know what’s pulling you down, it feels impossible to make your life better. Even small changes and shifts with these life tolerations can result in dramatic improvement in your outlook and mood. However, when you address some of your bigger tolerations, y... PickTheBrain | Motivation and Self Improvement blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4615465 Mon, 21 Mar 2011 06:05:22 +0100 4615465 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4615272&cid=t_107391_129_f&fid=27216&url=http%3A%2F%2Flifewithadhd.com%2Fadhd-research%2Fan-update-on-parenting-tips-adhd-and-behavior-issues.php Here are a few parenting tips, ADHD and other news which I wanted to pass on to you. First, getting the child ready for school can be hell. Given that ADHD kids are slow, forget even which clothes to put on first and then have a hypersensitivity to certain fabrics, there is more than enough there to upset even the best planned routine in the world. The problem of selecting clothes is solved just by having a different shelf for each complete outfit. You can easily buy stacking shelves or get plastic containers to organize their wardrobe differently. The other problem of tags irritating their skin is a real turn off for kids because they have a tactile hypersensitivity. Actually tags drive me mad so I know exactly how irritating this can be! The easy solution is to cut them off but then ther... Life With ADHD blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4615272 Sun, 20 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0100 4615272 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4615189&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2F19%2Fcompulsive-hoarding-and-6-tips-to-help%2F It’s been awhile since I covered the topic of compulsive hoarding, because the last time I did I posted photos of my nut collection and book pile, and the next thing I know I was contacted by Discovery Disney to be fixed on some hoarding special show. Seems like that’s kind of a pattern, now that I think about it. I go public with my stuff … I get invited onto shows! Well, anyway, I was reading an article in the Fall 2007 issue of The Johns Hopkins Depression & Anxiety Bulletin — an interview with Gerald Nestadt, M.D., M.P.H, Director of the Johns Hopkins Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Clinic and Jack Samuels, Ph.D., an assistant professor with a joint appointment in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Me... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4615189 Sat, 19 Mar 2011 18:30:05 +0100 4615189 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4615190&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2F19%2Fwhat-hurts-your-facebook-friends%2F With Facebook and other social networking websites such an integral part of many people’s lives, you have to wonder — what kinds of things do people do that hurt their social networking “friends?” It’s a brave new world online, where a misstep on a social networking website like Facebook can result in hurt feelings between real friends. A researcher was interested in figuring out (Tokunaga, 2011) which of our online behaviors on social networking websites were more likely to lead to the greatest hurt feelings amongst our online “friends.” He found three specific things a person can do that can lead to hurt feelings on sites such as Facebook and Myspace. Here’s what he found out. The researcher’s sample consisted of 197 undergraduate st... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4615190 Sat, 19 Mar 2011 11:51:43 +0100 4615190 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4610847&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2F18%2Fmancession-and-male-depression-open-your-minds-and-shut-your-mouths%2F I used to think a woman’s depression rate was two or three times that of a man’s simply because of the hormonal roller coaster she gets to ride from the time she first gets her period in junior high (or now in first grade — okay, maybe not that early) until she can stop buying sanitary items or, even better, stop making her husband buy them for her. But now I’m not so sure. Women are giving more weight these days to domestic tasks like raising kids and keeping the house in order than to their menstrual cycle and the biological trauma of childbirth. Because, in sync with Dr. Boadie Dunlap’s editorial in the British Journal of Psychiatry, as we switched roles in our home, the adjustment has been much more difficult than the simple plan we forecast in Quicken: my income increase... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4610847 Fri, 18 Mar 2011 18:16:34 +0100 4610847 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4605874&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2F17%2Fpessimism-vs-optimism%2F Imagine you divided everyone in the world into two psychological groups. You put all the optimists on one side and all the pessimists on the other (let’s leave the realists aside for now). Amongst the optimists the conversation would all be about fantastic plans for the future and how things can only get better. Meanwhile the pessimists are having what might seem to the optimists like a depressing discussion. Far from working out how to make their dreams come true, they’re worrying about all the things that might go wrong. They’re worried that even the things they have will be taken away from them by some cruel twist of fate. To the optimists, the pessimists seem too down on everything, always just a little too keen to pour cold water on any exciting plans. To the pessimi... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4605874 Thu, 17 Mar 2011 13:34:58 +0100 4605874 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4600535&cid=t_107391_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fenough-about-physician-empathy%2F2011.03.16 Is anyone else tired of hearing about how important empathy is in the doctor-patient relationship? Every other day it seems a new study is talking about the therapeutic value of empathy. Enough already! It’s not that I don’t believe that empathy is important — I do. I also believe the data that links physician empathy with improved patient outcomes, increased satisfaction, and better patient experiences. A recent study released in Academic Medicine reported that “patients of physicians with high empathy scores were significantly more likely to have good control over their blood sugar as well as cholesterol, while the inverse was true for patients of physicians with low scores.” Findings from this study by Hojat, et al. are consistent with a 2009 study by Rakel, et al. which f... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4600535 Wed, 16 Mar 2011 19:00:36 +0100 4600535 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4580955&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2F14%2Fdiet-coke-and-depression%2F When you are a recovering drunk, you don’t have a ton of options at parties. I used to be an avid Diet Coke drinker. But last summer my sister scared the well you know out of me when she started talking about what aspartame can do to your system. I am chemically sensitive as it is, and many of you are, too, probably — which is why I don’t drink alcohol and gave up smoking. But I was curious if Diet Coke was really that dangerous. I did some research, and as you well know, every paranoia will be confirmed eventually by some article on the web. I found an article about Diet Coke on John McManamy’s website about Diet Coke . What was particularly interesting to me was the relationship between aspartame and depression and bipolar disorder. Says John: In 1993, Dr Walt... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4580955 Mon, 14 Mar 2011 10:15:06 +0100 4580955 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4575097&cid=t_107391_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2011%2F03%2F11%2Fstressed-out-working-from-home-join-the-club%2F I love it when I read a study that confirms what I’ve been feeling or thinking. Psych Central’s Senior New Editor Rick Nauert discussed a few days ago a new study in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior that says women find it especially stressful to receive work-related communication at home, even when the phone calls or emails are within the working hours they defined. Much more so than men. Meaning, if the boss emails or calls a guy, even if it’s outside normal working hours, the typical male doesn’t think much of it, takes care of it, no problem. A woman? Even it happens within 9 to 5, she frets a little. Why? Think long and hard, even if you aren’t Catholic… Guilt. And here it is again … Guilt. Guilt. Guilt. Boy do I know that feeling. B... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4575097 Fri, 11 Mar 2011 17:22:26 +0100 4575097 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4570547&cid=t_107391_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fbehavior-vs-disease-a-new-way-to-look-at-health%2F2011.03.10 What is the leading cause of death in the United States? Heart disease? Cancer? No, it’s smoking. Smoking? Yes, depending on how you ask the question. In the early 90s, McGinnis and Foege turned the age-old question of what people die of on its head by asking not what diseases people die of but rather what the causes of these are. Instead of chalking up the death of an older man to say lung cancer, they sought to understand the proximate cause of death, which in the case of lung cancer is largely smoking. Using published data, the researchers performed a simple but profound calculation — they multiplied the mortality rates of leading diseases by the cause-attributable fraction, that proportion of a disease that can be attributed to a particular cause (for example, in lung can... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4570547 Thu, 10 Mar 2011 16:00:06 +0100 4570547 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4566354&cid=t_107391_167_f&fid=38271&url=http%3A%2F%2Frebeccascritchfield.wordpress.com%2F2011%2F03%2F09%2Fkudos-from-clients-this-is-why-i-love-my-job%2F Here’s a lovely message I received from a client today. Hello my Registered Dietitian Just wanted to remind you how much I appreciate you and all the passion and dedication you have for your profession! I am a healthier me b/c of you and I (along with my fiance my family and friends) THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH!! What makes you so special is that you are so much more than any other RD … you have the ability to connect on a personal level (at least that’s what I have experienced). I will forever be grateful for you knowledge, support, care and commitment to my health. I just love my job so much. To be able to help people change their own lives is the most wonderful feeling. (Source: Balanced Health and Nutrition Rebecca Scritchfield's Blog) Balanced Health and Nutrition Rebecca Scritchfield's Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4566354 Wed, 09 Mar 2011 23:02:06 +0100 4566354