Meet our new therapist! – Hannah Lenertz

Hannah Lenertz, MPS, LADC Hannah has clinical experience in treating individuals, couples, and groups, with issues related to grief, anger, depression, anxiety, relationships, co-occurring disorders, and trauma. She will be practicing out of our location. If you are interested in…

How Infidelity Affects Mental Health

No one ever wants to be on the receiving end of...

What Your Toilet Paper Reveals About Your Personality

This is the closest PsyBlog gets to toilet humour. Do you hang your toilet roll with the end of the paper hanging ‘over’ or with the end hanging ‘under’? According to a survey by Dr Gilda Carle, ‘over’ people are more assertive. Assertive people are more likely to be in leadership roles and to have a take-charge attitude, says Dr Carle. Those hanging the roll ‘under’ are more likely to be submissive. Submissive people tend to be more agreeable, flexible and empathetic, says Dr Carle. To create the toilet paper

This Drug Helps The Depressed Feel Positive Emotions

Depressed people experienced feelings of unity, transcendence of space and time and a loss of boundaries. Psilocybin – the active part of magic mushrooms — can help reduce depression symptoms and reawaken the emotions, new research finds. The stronger the ‘mystical experience’, the more the hallucinogenic drug helped. People whose depression was most improved reported a more mystical experience, including feelings of unity and transcendence. Although antidepressants like Prozac can often help those who are depressed, they reduce both positive and negative emotions. Psilocybin therapy, though, may revive brain activity

Neurotic People Have A Surprising Mental Advantage

Neurotic People Have A Surprising Mental Advantage

Over-thinking worriers enjoy this unexpected psychological advantage. High levels of creativity may go hand-in-hand with neuroticism, a new study finds. It’s because the area of the brain which is linked to creativity also has the tendency to over-think things and worry. Neuroticism is characterised by negative thinking in a range of areas. For a long time neurotic people were thought to have a heightened perception to threat. This doesn’t fit the facts, though, explains Dr Adam Perkins, the study’s first author, said: “…it’s pretty difficult to explain neuroticism in terms

The Best Way To Boost Mental And Physical Health

The Best Way To Boost Mental And Physical Health

A survey of 30,500 people in the UK across 4 years reveals dramatic mental and physical benefits. Improving sleep quality leads to dramatic mental and physical health benefits, new research finds. The boost from better sleep is equivalent to winning $250,000 on the lottery or taking an 8-week course in meditation. Quality of sleep is more important than quantity, the researchers also found. The conclusions come from a survey of 30,500 people in the UK across 4 years. The researchers also found that lack of sleep led to greater use

How To Understand Any Subject More Deeply

How To Understand Any Subject More Deeply

Study suggests way to achieve a more sophisticated understanding of any subject. Arguing with yourself can be a highly productive exercise, a new study finds. Imagining both sides of the argument helps people reach a deeper, more sophisticated understanding of the subject, the researchers found. Ms Julia Zavala, the study’s first author, said: “Envisioning opposing views leads to a more comprehensive examination of the issue. Moreover, it impacts how people understand knowledge — constructing opposing views leads them to regard knowledge less as fact and more as information that can

Electronics ban: What about the parents?

If you’ve never had to raise your children without the benefit of the electronic gadgetry, one can understand the panic the FAA’s ban on electronics is having on parents. The laptop & iPad ban endangers all travelers by preventing parents from entertaining melt-down prone toddlers on long international flights — Ian Brown (@igb) March 21, 2017 Have children ever flown on international flights before without the benefit of an iPad, for example? Has it ever been done? It has, the BBC is assuring people in the wake of the laptop

‘Suicide hotline, can you hold?’

Last spring, a report found that 23 calls to the veteran’s crisis hotline went to voicemail. The Veteran’s Administration inspector general said he didn’t even know there was a voicemail system. Politicians said all the things you’d expect politicians to say. The VA said it was hiring additional staff to comply with the inspector general’s report. And then nothing really changed. The VA started having the unanswered calls roll over to a backup crisis center, not run by VA, and a new report, issued today, finds that a fourth of

This Simple Realisation Linked To 80% Depression Recovery

This Simple Realisation Linked To 80% Depression Recovery

Six months later, 80% had recovered from depression, researchers found. Rumination — thinking about the causes and consequences of depressing events — is common in depression. However, simply realising that you don’t have to ruminate can be liberating, new research suggests. When people learned to reduce how much they ruminated, 80% had recovered after six months (including 10 weeks of therapy). Professor Roger Hagen, who led the research, said: “Anxiety and depression give rise to difficult and painful negative thoughts. Many patients have thoughts of mistakes, past failures or other

The Drugs That Will Make You Better At Chess

The Drugs That Will Make You Better At Chess

Common drugs can give you a 5% better chance of winning at chess. Caffeine, modafinil and Ritalin can all make you better at chess, new research finds. The study shows that cognitive enhancers like these can boost performance even when someone is not tired. For the study 39 male chess players were given either caffeine, modafinil, Ritalin or a placebo. They then played time-limited games of chess against a powerful programme. Professor Klaus Lieb, who led the study, said: “We were surprised to see that players on the drugs played

How To Sleep Better AND Improve Memory 26%

How To Sleep Better AND Improve Memory 26%

People in the study slept better and their memory was boosted. Special sounds during sleep can improve sleep and boost memory, new research finds. The gentle sounds were timed to coincide with natural ‘brain waves’: the waves of electrical activity in the brain. People in the study were able to recall 26% more words they had learned after being exposed to the sounds during sleep. Dr Phyllis Zee, a study author, said: “This is an innovative, simple and safe non-medication approach that may help improve brain health. This is a