Mindfully Healing

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

People in the study were encouraged to think about conflicts in their relationships in a new way. “How will I feel in one year about this current conflict in my relationship?” Asking a question with a future-orientation helps people feel more positive about their relationship, a study finds. People feel more forgiving and interpret their relationship in a more positive light when they think about it from a future perspective. Mr Alex Huynh, the study’s first author, said: “When romantic partners argue over things like finances, jealousy, or other interpersonal

Posting this type of image online linked to depression. People who are depressed can be identified from their social media photos 70% of the time, new research finds. Depressed people have a tendency to post (literally) darker pictures. They are also more likely to use a filter to convert their images to black-and-white. Dr Christopher Danforth, who co-authored the study, explained the signs to look for: “Our analysis of user accounts from a popular social media app revealed that photos posted by people diagnosed with depression tended to be darker