Mindfully Healing

Allow yourself to consider these question for better mental health. Asking yourself the ‘big questions’ about life is linked to lower depression and anxiety, new research finds. People who do not resist existential concerns about the meaning of life have better mental health. Fear of confronting these kinds of questions, though, is linked to problems regulating the emotions. Professor Julie Exline, study’s co-author said: “Religious and spiritual struggles — conflicts with God or religious people, tough questions about faith, morality, and the meaning of life — these are often taboo

The criminal psychopath is not just born: he is also made. ‘Extreme’ styles of parenting are linked to criminal psychopathy in later life, research finds. Interviews with criminals have found that many have a history of either total parental neglect or of rigidly controlling, authoritarian parents. All criminal psychopaths have a history of grotesque physical and/or psychological abuse during childhood. Of course, parents cannot be blamed for everything — after all, some children have awful upbringings and don’t become criminal psychopaths. However, explained Dr Aina Gullhaugen, the study’s first author,

Study tests if antidepressants really help depressed people feel better in the long run. Over nine years, depressed people were better off if they had no treatment at all than if they took antidepressants, new research finds. In addition, depressed people that got adequate treatment without medication did better nine years later than those who got adequate treatment with medication. It may be that taking antidepressants causes more harm than no treatment whatsoever in the long run. These effects could be the result of many factors that others have suggested.

Many people are attracted to a younger partner, but is it worth it in the long run? The best age gap for marital satisfaction is…none at all, research finds. In the long run couples who are mismatched in age tend to be less satisfied, even if they are better off at first. Both men and women are initially particularly satisfied when they get a younger husband or wife. Professor Terra McKinnish, who co-authored the study, said: “We find that men who are married to younger wives are the most satisfied,