These Parenting Behaviours Cut Suicide Risk 7 Times

Missing out these simple parenting behaviours increases suicide risk in adolescents. Children who are not shown by their parents that they care are significantly more likely to contemplate suicide, research shows. The study’s authors identified three behaviours which, when lacking, were linked to suicidal thoughts in adolescence: Telling the child they are proud of them. Telling the child they have done a good job. Helping them with their homework. Adolescents who were rarely or never told by their parents they were proud of them were five times more likely to

High Intelligence Has This Effect On Your Happiness

“Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.” — Ernest Hemingway People with higher IQs are more likely to be happy, research finds. The finding goes against both Hemingway and the popular idea that being intelligent is somehow predisposes people to unhappiness. Dr Angela Hassiotis, who led the study, said: “We found that IQ is associated with self-reported happiness, as levels of happiness were lowest in the lower IQ groups and highest in the higher IQ groups. This is particularly relevant when considering the current political debates on

Children of Trauma Can Present Challenging Behaviors

After years of struggling with infertility, Julia and Samuel finally decided to adopt. They were thrilled when a social worker called with news of a pair of brothers who needed a home. It took a few months of paperwork, but then they were elated to welcome home “Matt”, 3 and “Rett”, 2.
Their new family life was exciting and tumultuous. Rett, the younger child, made the adjustment easily. But Matt had a more difficulty, waking multiple times each night crying, and struggling to pay attention in preschool. When he was in kindergarten, a teacher noted that he isolated himself from peers, often sitting alone, reading books. And though the adoptive parents showered him with love, Matt wasn’t connecting to them, lashing out in angry fits and often attacking them verbally.
Things got worse. When Matt was in second grade, he set a small fire in the family’s basement.
A school psychologist diagnosed him with attention deficit disorder, conduct disorder, and difficulties socializing with others. The school offered counseling as well as a behavioral treatment plan to support him at school. The therapist instructed his teachers and parents to provide structure and plenty of positive reinforcement when he acted appropriately, and swift consequences when he didn’t.
Over time, though, the support plan proved ineffective, and Matt gained a reputation as a loner who had no friends and spent long hours playing video games. At 13, he threw a kitchen pot at his mother and threatened to kill her. Desperate, his parents alerted police.
Where did his challenging behavior come from? When the family came to my psychology practice, the parents told me Matt’s behaviors had concerned them from Day One. They knew that he had been abused and neglected as a toddler, yet hoped that the security and love from them would help him thrive. But nothing they could say or do seemed to get through.
Matt’s behaviors — social disengagement, setting fires, threatening his parents — all reflected a brain and body on constant defense. His social Isolation revealed that he lacked a healthy brain/body connection. His aggressive behaviors were an early signal that he detected danger or threat in his environment — even when it was safe.
Unfortunately, the supports offered by the school, his doctors, and previous therapists overlooked this foundational challenge. Instead, he was prescribed medication for his behaviors and attention deficits, and an intervention plan focusing on rewarding certain behaviors and punishing others. To make matters worse, the three systems that should have been helping Matt — the education system, the medical system and the mental-health system — were all operating independently of each other when they should have been in concert.
The biggest problem was that the adults in Matt’s life tried to change his behaviors without first helping him to understand the trauma he held in his body and brain. They overlooked the hidden reason for why he acted the way he did: automatic responses left over from his earliest years, when he sensed life threat from the very people on whom he depended.
Nobody in Matt’s life saw the value of examining what these early behaviors revealed about the effect of trauma. They failed to recognize that Matt’s behaviors were signs of vulnerability in the basic foundation of emotional development. In short, he lacked the ability to make himself feel calm in mind and body. But instead of confronting and overcoming that reality, Matt came to think of himself as a bad person — and others as even worse. He developed a narrative: others are out to get me and must be punished. Subconsciously, his behavior was a preemptive strike coming from a traumatized brain. Unfortunately, many of our treatment strategies for such traumatized, vulnerable children involve punitive measures which only serve to reinforce a child’s sense of isolation and hopelessness.
Matt’s struggles vividly illustrate why we need to incorporate the insights of neuroscience to help us understand the true underpinnings of mental health conditions. Instead of blaming these children, we need to help them and their parents understand the roots of their challenges. Until we do, young people like Matt will continue to suffering unnecessarily, harming themselves and others in the process.
The post When Trauma Underlies Challenging Behaviors: New Answers for Vulnerable Children appeared first on Mona Delahooke, Ph.D. – Pediatric Psychologist – California.

Depression Can Be Treated With Magnets, Research Finds

The procedure doesn’t require anaesthesia or sedation, taking around 40 minutes per session. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is an effective long-term treatment for depression, research finds. TMS involves stimulating the brain using magnetic fields. Magnetic pulses are directed towards the left prefrontal cortex, to stimulate areas of the brain linked to depression. The pulses help to excite neurons at the site of stimulation and in other connected areas of the brain. The magnetic pulses are similar to those used for MRI brain scans. TMS has been cleared by the US

The Classic Sign Of A Social Anxiety Disorder

The Classic Sign Of A Social Anxiety Disorder

Are you just shy or is it a social anxiety disorder? The classic sign of a social anxiety disorder is a strong fear of embarrassment or humiliation in social situations, research finds. Bear in mind that many people are apprehensive in unfamiliar social situations or with those they do not know. Social anxiety disorder is more than being shy. To be a social anxiety disorder, the fear should be so great that the social situation can only be born with considerable distress. Either that or social situations are often avoided

Here’s What Suicidal Thoughts Do To The Brain

Here’s What Suicidal Thoughts Do To The Brain

First study to find these changes in the brains of depressed people experiencing suicidal thoughts. People experiencing suicidal thoughts have a certain type of inflammation in their brain, new research finds. Microglial cells activate as part of the body’s inflammatory response. The researchers found that these immune cells were more active in depressed people who were also having suicidal thoughts. The study suggests that neuroinflammation could play an important role in suicidal thoughts and behaviour. It may also offer another route to treat this type of depression: through the use

How Dementia Can Be Prevented For One-In-Three

How Dementia Can Be Prevented For One-In-Three

There are 9 risk factors for dementia, which can all be reduced. One-in-three cases of dementia is a result of manageable lifestyle factors, a new report from 24 international experts concludes. There are nine risk factors identified by dementia experts: low levels of education, midlife hearing loss, physical inactivity, high blood pressure (hypertension), type 2 diabetes, obesity, smoking, depression, and social isolation. These risk factors account for 35% of dementia cases. In other words: changing or managing these factors will help fight off dementia. Addressing high blood pressure, obesity and

When These Muscles Are Fitter Your Brain Is Also Fitter

When These Muscles Are Fitter Your Brain Is Also Fitter

The brains and bodies of identical twins were compared over ten years. Stronger leg muscles are linked to better brain ageing, a new study finds. It’s the first time a connection has been found between power in the lower limbs and healthy ageing in normal people. The study suggests that increasing levels of simple exercises like walking or even standing for longer may lead to healthy cognitive ageing. The study followed 324 identical female twins over a ten-year period. Fitness and lifestyle habits were measured by researchers. They also gave

Insomnia Is NOT Just “All In Your Head”, Genetic Study Finds

Insomnia Is NOT Just “All In Your Head”, Genetic Study Finds

Insomnia is the most common complaint people have about their health. Insomnia is not just “all in your head”, neuroscientists have found. For the first time, seven risk genes have been identified for insomnia. This could be the first step in understanding the biological causes of insomnia. It helps to show that insomnia is not — as is sometimes claimed — just a psychological condition. Professor Van Someren, one of the study’s authors, said: “As compared to the severity, prevalence and risks of insomnia, only few studies targeted its causes.

How Children Inherit Anxiety And Depression From Their Parents

How Children Inherit Anxiety And Depression From Their Parents

New study provides insights into how parents pass anxiety and depression onto their children. An over-active network of brain areas is central to how children inherit anxiety and depression from their parents. The network consists of three regions in the brain which work together to control the fear-response. Genes passed down from parents to children influence how these three regions function together, the new study finds. Professor Ned Kalin, one of the study’s authors, said: “Over-activity of these three brain regions are inherited brain alterations that are directly linked to

Top 3 Signs People Are Falling Out Of Love

Top 3 Signs People Are Falling Out Of Love

What makes people stay in relationships and what makes them want to leave? People who are married or just dating give similar reasons for wanting to leave their partner. These are (1) issues with their partner’s personality, (2) a breach of trust (often, cheating) and (3) partner becoming distant or disconnected. People give slightly different reasons for wanting to stay together. For people who are married, the top reasons to stay together are the investment they have already made in the relationship, family responsibilities and the barriers to leaving (e.g.

A Surprising Sign Of High Intelligence

A Surprising Sign Of High Intelligence

The link to intelligence is especially strong in women. People with higher intelligence are more likely to use drugs, research finds. The link is particularly strong for women. This is despite the fact that higher IQ is often linked to living a healthier lifestyle. The study’s authors write: “In this, the largest study to date to examine the relationship between childhood IQ and illegal drug use, high IQ scores were associated with increased illegal drug use in adolescence and adulthood. These associations were independent from life-coursesocial position, and associations were