How To Stop Beating Yourself Up

When was the last time you heard from your inner...

How To Read Someone’s Emotions From Their Eyes

Whether people widen or narrow their eyes gives you a huge amount of information about their emotions. When the eyes narrow it signals that someone is discriminating, research finds. This could mean they are angry, suspicious, aggressive or contemptuous. When the eyes widen, though, it means they are highly sensitive to the information they are receiving. This could mean their are interested, awe-struck or even feeling cowardly. The way the eyes move to communicate emotions is linked to how we actually use our eyes for vision. For example, narrowing our

Autism Acceptance: How Celebrating Differences Can Stop Bullying

It seemed like simple gesture. A college football player who was visiting a middle school spotted a red-haired sixth grader eating lunch alone, so he joined him. Then the boy’s mother posted a photo on Facebook capturing the moment: her autistic son sitting across a cafeteria table from Travis Rudolph, the Florida State University wide receiver. “This one day,” she wrote, “I didn’t have to worry if my sweet boy ate lunch alone.” The heartwarming image spread on social media, and news stories reported that after that, the boy’s popularity

Depression: This Tiny Change to Diet Has Protective Effect

• Next article in this series: This Way of Socialising Cuts Depression Risk In Half• Previous article: Depression Caused By How People See The Future, New Study FindsThis small change to your diet could be enough to reduce the risk of depression. A Mediterranean diet including fruits, vegetables and legumes can prevent depression, a large new study finds. People only had to make relatively small changes to see the benefits. The scientist think that depression could be partly down to a lack of essential nutrients. The study included 15,093 people

Attachment and Adult Love

Attachment and Adult Love

Attachment and Adult Love Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT-C) is based on a new paradigm for understanding adult love relationships. The premise is basically this: humans have the need for secure attachment relationships across the life span not just in...

This Is The Number 1 Cause of Ill Health Worldwide

This Is The Number 1 Cause of Ill Health Worldwide

Depression is the leading cause of disability and ill health worldwide. There are over 300 million living with depression around the world. This represents an increase of 18% between 2005 and 2015, according to figures put out by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Almost 50% of people who are depressed do not get any treatment, even in high-income countries. Two important reasons are: Lack of support for people with mental health problems, and stigma. The WHO is currently running a year-long campaign called “Depression: let’s talk”. Dr Shekhar Saxena, Director

Revealed: The Type of Music That Makes You Feel Most Powerful

Revealed: The Type of Music That Makes You Feel Most Powerful

If you want to get pumped up before a big event, what type of music should you choose? Music has already been shown to have all kinds of effects on the mind, like making you happier, reducing pain and bringing people together. Now a new study finds that music of the right kind can transform the listener’s sense of power. The study, published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, was inspired by the pre-game routines of athletes (Hsu et al., 2014). Dennis Hsu, who led the study, explains:

Suicidal People Are 7 Times More Likely To Recover Completely With This Resource

Suicidal People Are 7 Times More Likely To Recover Completely With This Resource

The single factor which helps 38% of formerly suicidal people back to complete mental health. Having someone to confide in is one of the most important factors in recovery from mental illness, a new study suggests. People in the study were experiencing suicidal thoughts, usually as a result of mental illness or substance abuse. Mr Philip Baiden, the study’s lead author, said: “We found that among formerly suicidal individuals, those who have someone they could confide in were seven times more likely to have complete mental health, after adjusting for

How Being Lonely Affects The Symptoms Of A Cold

How Being Lonely Affects The Symptoms Of A Cold

The psychological factor that affects colds. People who have strong social networks have less severe colds than those who are lonely, new research finds. Lonely people, though, were no more or less likely to get a cold than socially connected people. Loneliness has already been linked to other physical problems, said Ms Angie LeRoy, the study’s first author: “Loneliness puts people at risk for premature mortality and all kinds of other physical illnesses. Previous research has shown that different psycho-social factors like feeling rejected or feeling left out or not

2 Factors Found To Underlie Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

2 Factors Found To Underlie Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

What really underlies obsessive-compulsive disorder? Confusing imagination with reality and being out of contact with reality are linked to OCD, a new study finds. People with OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder) are known to dissociate themselves from reality. Instead they rely heavily on their imagination. A survey of 75 people with OCD found that they experienced ‘inferential confusion’: essentially getting fantasy and reality mixed up. Dr Frederick Aardema, who led the research, said: “It seems that people with OCD are so absorbed by their obsession due to inferential confusion that there is

The Best Way To Stay Motivated From Start To Finish

The Best Way To Stay Motivated From Start To Finish

There are two types of motivation you need to reach goals. People motivate themselves in different ways depending on where they are in pursuing a goal, new research finds. At the start, people motivate themselves with hopes and dreams of reaching their goal. For example, someone wanting to lose weight might think about the clothes they will be able to wear. Psychologists call this ‘promotion motivation’ as the study’s authors, Dr Olya Bullard and Dr Rajesh V. Manchanda, explain: “Promotion motivation encourages people to focus on hopes and aspirations, it

Supporting Children on the Autism Spectrum

Supporting Children on the Autism Spectrum

Thomas was proud of his young son “Roger’s” remarkable knowledge of birds. Roger’s grandmother, an avid bird watcher, had shared birding books and toy bird replicas with the boy when he was young, and he had shown such great enthusiasm for the topic that at age 3, Roger could identify more than 50 types of birds. But when the boy was diagnosed with autism, a therapist took a more guarded view of Roger’s intense interest. The therapist described the boy’s constant chatter about birds as “stimming”—short for self-stimulating behavior. Suddenly,

Gestalt Theory

Gestalt Theory

Gestalt Theory Gestalt in German means “whole self” and was developed to be an existential, phenomenological, and process-based therapy. The initial goal is for clients to gain awareness of what they are experiencing in the “here and now.” The awareness process...

Suicide, the ripple effect

Suicide, the ripple effect

Suicide, the ripple effect Suicide has an across the board and unfavorable impact on the survivors abandoned. The misfortune experienced by numerous suicide survivors is so significant they may never be able to accept the loss. According to the Center for Disease...