January 2012
6 posts
The books and journal articles all psychologists... →
Every month since January 2008 The Psychologist has featured a One-On-One interview page in which leading psychologists are asked, among other things, to name one book or journal article, either contemporary or historical, that all psychologists should read. Here’s a handy link-filled list of the answers so far…
Imprisoned by the past: Unhappy moods lead to a... →
Evidence suggests that mind wandering is a frequent accompaniment to an unhappy mood. Building on such work, two laboratory experiments used mood induction to assess whether the greater frequency of mind wandering in a low mood is also accompanied by a shift towards a focus on events from the past. Experiment 1 induced moods via video and induction of an unhappy mood was associated with a greater...
“It is a curious emotion, this certain homesickness I have in mind. With...”
– Carson McCullers
"Relationships are not static ideals; they are...
(via Psychology Today’s recent cover story, “Are You With the Right Mate?”)
“…Romance itself seeds the eventual belief that we have chosen the wrong partner. The early stage of a relationship, most marked by intense attraction and infatuation, is in many ways akin to cocaine intoxication, observes Christine Meinecke, a clinical psychologist in Des Moines, Iowa....
Physical Abuse and Domestic Violence Change a... →
When children have been exposed to family violence, their brains become increasingly “tuned” for processing possible sources of threat, a new study reports. The findings, reported in the Dec. 6 issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, reveal the same pattern of brain activity in these children as seen previously in soldiers exposed to combat.
The study is the first to...
Traumatic Experiences May Make You Tough (APS) →
via The Association for Psychological Science:
“Your parents were right: Hard experiences may indeed make you tough. Psychological scientists have found that, while going through many experiences like assault, hurricanes, and bereavement can be psychologically damaging, small amounts of trauma may help people develop resilience.
“Of course, everybody’s heard the aphorism, ‘Whatever does...
December 2011
7 posts
“We know what we are, but not what we may be.”
– William Shakespeare, Hamlet
The Ability to Love Takes Root in Earliest Infancy →
via The Association for Psychological Science:
“The ability to trust, love, and resolve conflict with loved ones starts in childhood—way earlier than you may think. That is one message of a new review of the literature in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal published by the Association for Psychological Science. “Your interpersonal experiences with your mother during the...
Facing Panic Attacks Head On (Psych Central) →
via Psych Central:
“A couple of days ago, Laura wrote a blog on how anxiety can morph into panic. Many people experience episodes of mild to moderate panic here and there—a few of the common triggers for such episodes include looming deadlines, upcoming parties, and presentations to work groups. However, some people experience panic at a much more intense level, to the point that they...
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Anxiety: Three Messages to Avoid Giving Kids... →
Kids don’t generally develop anxiety disorders all on their own. Oh sure, genes and biology have some influence, but these factors largely just predispose kids in the direction of acquiring problems with anxiety. The wrong messages can push both anxiously disposed kids as well as otherwise normal kids in the direction of struggling with anxiety for the rest of their lives.
If you’re a parent or...
“I have frequently seen people become neurotic when they content themselves with...”
– Carl Jung
Swearing Relieves Pain, But Not If Over-Used... →
Cursing can provide effective, short-term pain relief say researchers, but not if over-used: the effect is much greater for people who do not make a habit of it. Richard Stephens and Claudia Umland from the School of Psychology at the University of Keele in the UK, report findings that shed new light on the use of swearing as a response to pain in the 14 November online issue of The Journal...
Symptoms Of Chronic Widespread Pain Improved By... →
Patients who received a short course of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) over the telephone from trained therapists reported that they felt “better” or “very much better” at the end of a six-month treatment period, and also three months after it ended. The Arthritis Research UK-funded trial led by the University of Aberdeen working with the University of Manchester...
November 2011
11 posts
“A sense of life meaning ensues but cannot be deliberately pursued: life meaning...”
– Irvin D. Yalom, The Theory and Practice Of Group Psychotherapy
Is Empathy In Our Genes? (CNN) →
A large part of how we relate to people emotionally may be hardwired into our DNA. A new study suggests that character traits such as being open, caring, and trusting are so strongly linked to a certain gene variation that a total stranger, simply by watching us listen to another person, may be able to guess whether we have the variation with a high degree of accuracy.
Previous studies have...
3 tags
“A wonderful fact to reflect upon, that every human creature is constituted to be...”
– Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
More than 20% of American Adults on Behavioral... →
NEW YORK (AP) — More than 20 percent of American adults took at least one drug for conditions like anxiety and depression in 2010, according to an analysis of prescription data, including more than one in four women.
The report, released Wednesday by pharmacy benefits manager Medco Health Solutions Inc., found that use of drugs for psychiatric and behavioral disorders rose 22 percent from...
4 tags
5 Gifts of Being Highly Sensitive (World of... →
by Therese Borchard
Today I have the pleasure of interviewing Douglas Eby, M.A./Psychology, who is a writer and researcher on the psychology of creative expression, high ability and personal growth. He is creator of the Talent Development Resources series of sites (including HighlySensitive.org) at http://talentdevelop.com. I know many of you are “highly sensitive” and enjoy articles on that...
Learning Alternate Memories to Replace Problem... →
Emerging research suggests a method to prevent relapse to an old harmful behavior is to match a new behavior to the originating stimulus.
Researchers base the new approach on the fact that behavior associated with addictions, phobias, and even post-traumatic stress disorder are difficult to treat. And the unwanted behaviors can be painful and harmful problems.
Another reason for a new approach...
Fatherhood Helps to Improve Dads’ Behavior... →
CORVALLIS, Ore. – After men become fathers for the first time, they show significant decreases in crime, tobacco and alcohol use, according to a new, 19-year study.
Researchers assessed more than 200 at-risk boys annually from the age of 12 to 31, and examined how men’s crime, tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use changed over time. While previous studies showed that marriage can change a man’s...
“I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.”
– Carl Jung
October 2011
7 posts
Neurotics experience more immersion when watching... →
Descriptions of neurotics are typically unflattering: they’re fearful, tense people, prone to catastrophise and will often shy away from challenges. Well, here’s some more uplifting news for folk matching this personality description. A study of film immersion has found that people who score highly in neuroticism (as measured by agreement with statements like “I worry a...
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Supressing the 'White Bears' (APA's Monitor on... →
Meditation, mindfulness and other tools can help us avoid unwanted thoughts, says social psychologist Daniel Wegner.
“Try to pose for yourself this task: not to think of a polar bear, and you will see that the cursed thing will come to mind every minute.”
That observation comes from “Winter Notes on Summer Impressions,” Fyodor Dostoevsky’s 1863 account of his...
All the Single Ladies (The Atlantic) →
“…In the 1990s, Stephanie Coontz, a social historian at Evergreen State College in Washington, noticed an uptick in questions from reporters and audiences asking if the institution of marriage was falling apart. She didn’t think it was, and was struck by how everyone believed in some mythical Golden Age of Marriage and saw mounting divorce rates as evidence of the dissolution of this...
Truman Syndrome →
“Truman Syndrome is a form of psychological delusion in which the patient believes that he or she is trapped inside in a reality television show, or that people are monitoring his or her every move. The name for this syndrome is a reference to The Truman Show, a 1998 film which revolved around a character who was living his entire life on camera without being aware of it. To those of sound...
“He’s been building that boat for seven years that I know of… Every time he gets it nearly finished he changes it and starts over again. I think he’s nuts. Seven years on a boat.”
Doc was sitting on the ground pulling off his rubber boots. “You don’t understand,” he said gently. “Henri loves boats but he’s afraid of the ocean.”
...
September 2011
13 posts
How Your Greatest Insecurities Reveal Your Deepest... →
“In my decades of practice as a psychotherapist, this is the insight that has inspired me most:
Our deepest wounds surround our greatest gifts.
I’ve found that the very qualities we’re most ashamed of, the ones we keep trying to reshape or hide, are in fact the key to finding real love. I call them core gifts.
It’s so easy to get lost in the quest for self-improvement....
“Can we forgive ourselves? The nearest we can come to forgiving ourselves is to...”
– Claire Weekes
“The richer–that is, the more varied and complete–the individual’s emotional...”
– Otto Frank, “Love, Guilt and the Denial of Feelings” (1927)
In a Married World, Singles Struggle for Attention... →
Here’s a September celebration you probably didn’t know about: It’s National Single and Unmarried Americans Week.
But maybe celebration isn’t the right word. Social scientists and researchers say the plight of the American single person is cause for growing concern.
About 100 million Americans, nearly half of all adults, are unmarried, according to the Census Bureau — yet they tend to be...
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“Medication isn’t a crutch, it’s a bridge between feeling awful and feeling...”
– Dr. Ronald Pies, professor of psychiatry at SUNY Upstate Medical University and Tufts University School of Medicine, on how he responds to those who view antidepressants as merely “covering up the real problem” or as “a crutch”.
Fathers' presence linked to enhanced intellect,... →
Fathers who actively engage in raising their children can help make their offspring smarter and better behaved, according to new research from Concordia University.
Published in the Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, the long-term study examined how fathers can positively influence the development of their kids through hands-on parenting.
“Fathers make important contributions in...
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“About a third of my cases are suffering from no clinically definable neurosis,...”
– Carl Gustav Jung
(via sociologic)
Jung Love: Sabina Spielrein, a forgotten pioneer... →
A new film starring Keira Knightley documents the torrid and ultimately tragic life of Sabina Spielrein, patient, pupil, rumoured lover of Carl Jung, and one of the forgotten pioneers of psychoanalysis.
August 2011
4 posts
“Our task is to listen to the news that is always arriving out of silence.”
– Rainer Maria Rilke
“I would say that the thrust of my life has been initially about getting free,...”
– Ram Dass
The Neuroscience of Changing Toxic Thinking... →
A very helpful overview of the interplay between our conscious and unconscious minds, and the role our own thoughts play in determining how we act and feel.
Excerpt:
Whether you understand its messages or not, your subconscious continually communicates with you through emotion-based action-signals to let you know where you are in relation to where you want to be. You’re not going to like this,...
4 tags
June 2011
1 post
We Feel Fine →
We Feel Fine is an exploration of human emotion on a global scale.
Since August 2005, We Feel Fine has been harvesting human feelings from a large number of weblogs. Every few minutes, the system searches the world’s newly posted blog entries for occurrences of the phrases “I feel” and “I am feeling”. When it finds such a phrase, it records the full sentence, up to...
May 2011
4 posts
“Forgiveness is having given up all hope of having had a better past.”
– Anne Lamott, Operating Instructions