Mindfully Healing

Psychologists tested the effect of a week-long break from Facebook on people’s mental health. Here’s what they found. There is a brand new treatment available which can increase your concentration, boost your social life and increase your happiness. It’s totally free. You can start right now. It doesn’t require any drugs, or meeting psychologists or anything else at all. Want to try it? Of course you do. It’s called ‘Taking-A-Week-Off-Facebook’. The ‘treatment’ is based on a study by the Happiness Research Institute, which is a Danish think-tank. They split 1,095

Depressed and suicidal people use these unexpected words more often. People who are depressed use language that focuses more on themselves, research finds Depressed people tend to use the words “I”, “myself” and “me” more than those who are not depressed. This reflects the fact that depressed people often feel disconnected and alone. A second linguistic signal of depression is the use of more ‘absolutist’ words, such as “totally”, “completely” or “always”. Depressed people tend to have a more black-and-white view of the world — there is little room for

The every day coping mechanism that is naturally used by resilient people. Nostalgia can help fight loneliness and may also protect mental health, a study finds. Thinking back to better times, even if they are tinged with some sadness, helps people cope with challenging times. People who are more resilient naturally use nostalgia to help themselves feel better, the researchers also found. The study’s authors write: “Nostalgia, a sentimental longing for the past, is a self-relevant and social emotion: The self almost invariably figures as the protagonist in nostalgic narratives

The cause of Alzheimer’s is not just in the brain. Alzheimer’s disease could be a problem that involves the whole body, according to new research. Alzheimer’s — the most common form of dementia — has usually been thought of as only a brain disease. However, research now suggests the disease could be triggered elsewhere in the body. Chinese research has shown that amyloid-beta — the protein thought central to Alzheimer’s — can contribute to the disease even when it comes from outside the brain. The findings suggest drugs that might

Depression frequently recurs but therapy and drugs are not the only answers. Seeking out social relationships may help people to recover from depression. Building a social support system helps people stay depression-free. In addition, people who find activities they enjoy recover better from depression. By contrast, people who are aggressive loners are at a heightened risk of depression recurrence, research finds. Those who do not seek out social relationships find it harder to recover from depression. Aggression can also make it difficult to for these type of people to heal.

Study finds beneficial effect of these two personality traits together on depression. Being extraverted and conscientious helps to reduce the risk of depression in neurotic people, new research finds. People who are highly neurotic typically look at the world in a negative way. They also find it hard to deal with stress and can experience a lot of negative emotions. However, it seems being social and organised helps to ameliorate the effect. Dr Kristin Naragon-Gainey, the study’s first author, explained: “If someone has high levels of extraversion they might be

New brain cells in the hippocampus — an area critical for memory — were reduced by 40%. Even moderate alcohol intake could reduce the brain’s ability to produce new cells by 40%, research suggests. Regularly having as little as 3 to 4 alcoholic drinks could reduce the structural integrity of the adult brain. Ms Megan Anderson, the study’s first author, said: “Moderate drinking can become binge drinking without the person realizing it. In the short term there may not be any noticeable motor skills or overall functioning problems, but in

30 years worth of research reveals that 50% of people benefit from this simple treatment. Sleep deprivation can rapidly reduce the symptoms of depression, 30 years of research suggests. Around half of people with depression who are sleep deprived under controlled, inpatient conditions feel better quickly. Many see improvements in just 24 hours, in comparison to the weeks it can take for antidepressants to start working. ‘Wake therapy’, as it is sometimes called, involves staying awake all night and the next day. Around 50% of people find their depression improves

New theory may explain the complex set of symptoms seen in autism. People with autism often display a complex and confusing range of symptoms, including hypersensitivity to sound, problems interacting with others and repetitive behaviours. Scientist have long wondered what all these — and other, seemingly unrelated symptoms — have in common. Now MIT researchers are testing a brand new theory: that autistic children have difficulties predicting what is going to happen next, and it’s this problem that is at the root of autism (Sinha et al., 2014). Without the

Despite the hardships of ageing, people generally feel happier as they get older. The secret to getting happier with age is learning acceptance, research suggests. Part of acceptance is learning to engage with negative emotions, which might seem an odd way of reducing them. However, older people experienced less anger and negative emotions, the study found. At the same time, they also showed increase levels of acceptance. Acceptance, is not about giving up, but about engaging with emotions, both positive and negative. As the study’s authors explain the… “…goal of