Food. Body Image. Kids & Teens. Depression. Sex. Mental Illness Linked To Chronic Physical Illness Risk. Why willpower matters – and how to get it. In the smart restaurant of a very smart hotel in the West End of London, Roy F Baumeister, eminent American social psychology professor, orders a lunch of fish and chips, and then decides not to eat the chips. "I won't eat something that's not good for me unless it's absolutely perfect, and it's going to give me real pleasure," he says.
"I'm afraid ... Well, it just didn't look like these were going to do either. " What willpower, you might say. You'd be right; the chips looked pretty good. But Baumeister is also, coincidentally, a leading authority on that very subject, and has just published a smash-hit book on it with New York Times science writer John Tierney. Willpower: Rediscovering Our Greatest Strength distills three decades of academic research (Baumeister's contribution) into self-control and willpower, which the Florida State University social psychologist bluntly identifies as "the key to success and a happy life". But without willpower, it seems, we're actually rarely OK.
Blowing off steam? Why an outburst of swearing increases our stress levels. By Daily Mail Reporter Updated: 12:09 GMT, 1 August 2011 It's news that might surprise foul-mouthed celebrities such as Gordon Ramsay and Wayne Rooney. But scientists now believe that swearing actually increases, not decreases, our stress levels. This is because using foul language triggers a reaction deep inside the emotional centre of the brain, according to a study. Pressure cooker: Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is famed for his foul-mouthed diatribes. The research contradicts the long-held belief that uttering a string of profanities when something goes wrong is a natural way of letting off steam. Lead researcher Professor Jeffrey Bowers, of Bristol University's School of Experimental Psychology, said: 'Taboo words generate emotional reactions in part through verbal conditioning - that is, through a simple form of learning, the sounds of taboo words become directly associated with emotional centres in the brain.
Early Adversity, Adult Misery: How Small Events Trigger Depression - Hans Villarica - Life. A new study confirms that childhood wounds don't always heal--and explains why some challenges reopen them and others don't The brain does something weird when confronted with stress: It kills off neurons that could help it defend itself, and prevents new brain cells from forming in the hippocampus, a region associated with healthful stress responses. For years, mental health experts have tracked how this biological chain of events plays out in real life. Numerous studies on victims of childhood abuse, loss, or parental separation have documented how such woes make them more vulnerable to stress and, consequently, depression in a process called stress sensitization. They tend to go through more depressive episodes and get depressed following relatively minor problems. They're wounded indefinitely.
The team conducted in-depth interviews with 100 adults who had gone through episodes of major depressive disorder but had been asymptomatic for at least six months. Image: apdk/flickr. Addiction: On The Wagon. Alcoholism may not necessarily be a life-long disease. In fact, a myriad of scenarios can affect an individual's recovery. By Willow Lawson , published on May 01, 2005 - last reviewed on September 29, 2008 Once an alcoholic, forever an alcoholic, right?
Not according to a 2005 government study, which found that 40 percent of people with alcohol dependence were in full recovery a year after tackling their addiction . Roughly 20 percent of problem drinkers abstained from alcohol completely, but about the same number reported that they drank occasionally without a relapse. Still, half of the alcoholics in the survey were struggling over the long term—25 percent were still dependent and another quarter were only partially in remission. Not surprisingly, life circumstances were linked to recovery. The Surprising Truth About Addiction. Change is natural. You no doubt act very differently in many areas of your life now compared with how you did when you were a teenager. Likewise, over time you will probably overcome or ameliorate certain behaviors: a short temper, crippling insecurity. For some reason, we exempt addiction from our beliefs about change.
In both popular and scientific models, addiction is seen as locking you into an inescapable pattern of behavior. Both folk wisdom, as represented by Alcoholics Anonymous, and modern neuroscience regard addiction as a virtually permanent brain disease. No matter how many years ago your uncle Joe had his last drink, he is still considered an alcoholic.
But this fatalistic thinking about addiction doesn't jibe with the facts. Kicking these habits constitutes a dramatic change, but the change need not occur in a dramatic way. Consider the experience of American soldiers returning from the war in Vietnam, where heroin use and addiction was widespread. 'The Demise of Guys': How video games and porn are ruining a generation. Video games can go wrong when the person playing them is desensitized to reality, the authors say. Authors argue that video games and porn create "arousal addictions"Young guys are digitally rewired in a new way that demands constant stimulationVideo games go wrong when the person playing them is desensitized to reality Editor's note: Psychologist Dr.
Philip Zimbardo is a professor emeritus at Stanford University and is world-renowned for his 1971 research, the Stanford Prison Experiment. Zimbardo teamed up with artist and psychologist Nikita Duncan to write "The Demise of Guys: Why Boys Are Struggling and What We Can Do About It," released Wednesday by TED Books. (CNN) -- Is the overuse of video games and pervasiveness of online porn causing the demise of guys? Increasingly, researchers say yes, as young men become hooked on arousal, sacrificing their schoolwork and relationships in the pursuit of getting a tech-based buzz.
Video game and porn addictions are different. Dr. Play Better Golf By Playing Bigger Holes. Here are some quotes we have all heard (or said ourselves) on the golf course or at the ball diamond. On a good day:"It was like putting into the Grand Canyon""The baseball looked like a beach ball up there today" On a bad day:"The hole was as small as a thimble""I don't know, it looked like he was throwing marbles" The baseball and the golf hole are the same size every day, so are these comments meaningless or do we really perceive these objects differently depending on the day's performance?
And, does our performance influence our perception or does our perception help our performance? Jessica Witt, an assistant professor of psychological science at the University of Virginia has made two attempts at the answer. First, in a 2005 study, "See the Ball, Hit the Ball", her team studied softball players by designing an experiment that tried to correlate perceived softball size to performance. Researchers at Vanderbilt University may have the answer. Study reveals wanted objects are seen as closer. We assume that we see things as they really are. But according to a new report in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, if we really want something, that desire may influence how we view our surroundings. Psychological scientists Emily Balcetis from New York University and David Dunning from Cornell University conducted a set of studies to see how our desires affect perception.
In the first experiment, participants had to estimate how far a water bottle was from where they were sitting. Half of the volunteers were allowed to drink water before the experiment, while the others ate salty pretzels, thus becoming very thirsty. The results showed that the thirsty volunteers estimated the water as being closer to them than volunteers who drank water earlier. Our desire for certain objects may also result in behavioral changes. These findings indicate that when we want something, we actually view it as being physically close to us.
8 Reasons to Cheer for Psychotherapy and to Broaden Its Availability. Is therapy effective? According to a new large-scale review of therapy effectiveness research studies conducted by the American Psychological Association, the effectiveness of psychotherapy is very real. The impacts of psychotherapy are positive both on the psyche and on the body.
In addition to easing emotional distress, psychotherapy helps reduce the need for physical health services and produces long-term physical as well as emotional health improvements. Yet over the last decade the use of psychotherapy to treat people with mental and behavioral health issues has decreased. Interestingly, during this same period the use of medications to address emotional problems has increased, according to government and insurance industry data. “Every day, consumers are bombarded with ads that tout drugs as the answer to their problems. One speculation is that consumers need more information about therapy, how it works, and its effectiveness. 1. 2. 3. 4. 6. 7. 8. How Psychotherapy Changes the Brain.
Cognitive Therapy Works As Well As Antidepressants, But With Lasting Effect After Therapy Ends. PHILADELPHIA -- Cognitive therapy to treat moderate to severe depression works just as well as antidepressants, according to an authoritative report appearing today in the Archives of General Psychiatry. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and Vanderbilt University, challenges the American Psychiatric Association guidelines that antidepressant medications are the only effective treatment for moderately to severely depressed patients.
Either form of treatment worked significantly better than a placebo, but the researchers demonstrated that cognitive therapy was more effective than medication at preventing relapses after the end of treatment. "We believe that cognitive therapy might have more lasting effects because it equips patients with the tools they need to learn how to manage their problems and emotions," said Robert DeRubeis, professor and chair of Penn's Department of Psychology. The Family Meal. —Robin Fox I recently prepared a lecture on parenting from a positive psychology perspective. Although psychologists have had much to say about parenting, often the focus has been on eliminating undesirable actions on the part of kids, like talking back, tantrums, and tattling. These behaviors are of course annoying, but what about encouraging desirable actions?
A depressed child after all seems well-behaved, if by that we mean one who causes no hassles, at least in the short run. But parents want their children to be more than moribund. One of the points I usually make about positive parenting concerns versus . That said, I realize that my advice to spend quantity time with one's kids is a bit glib given the real world and its demands. But adults also spend a fair amount of time per day eating. First, the bad news. Now, the good news. Is it the meal per se that is magic? Increase the number of family meals you share. Other people matter.
Reference. Judith Warner: Why The Connection Between Food and ADHD Is So Tenuous. “The Diet Factor in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder,” the much-cited study released by the journal Pediatrics this week, did not make much of a case for using dietary change to treat Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). But it did make an interesting case for using food control to treat parents’ angst about their kids’ ADHD. The study’s authors, J. Gordon Millichap, a neurologist, and Michelle M. Yee, a nurse-practitioner, who both specialize in ADHD at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, carried out a critical review of all the research literature dating back to 1976 listed by PubMed, the U.S.
National Library of Medicine’s database of articles from scientific journals, relating to the use of diet and dietary supplements in treating ADHD. (MORE: Warner: Getting Distracted from the Real Issues of ADHD) They found iron supplements and zinc to be interesting ideas. As we all know, cutting sugar can’t hurt.