Mindfully Healing

Spice extract has fewer side effects than pharmaceutical antidepressants (includes suggested supplements and dosage). Extract of saffron, the exotic spice, is a safer alternative to pharmaceutical antidepressants in mild to moderate depression, recent studies find. Saffron has fewer side effects and is just as effective in some cases. The conclusions come from a review of six separate studies that included 230 clinically depressed patients. Using saffron as an antidepressant was compared with both Prozac and Tofranil (generically known as fluoxetine and imipramine). All the studies were high-quality randomised controlled trials

Not all depression symptoms are easy to spot. When depressed, people have a distorted view of the past, new research finds. When they look back, people experiencing depression feel that the bad things that happened to them were inevitable. Worse, they feel there was nothing they could do about them. Dr Hartmut Blank, one of the study’s authors, said: “Depression is not only associated with a negative view of the world, the self and the future, but we now know with a negative view of the past.” What people feeling

…and the 12 linked to the least satisfaction with life. The clergy are the happiest and most satisfied workers in America, a large US survey finds. 87% of them reported being very satisfied with their work. They are closely followed by physical therapists, 80% of whom were very satisfied with their work and firefighters, 78% of whom were very satisfied. Dr Tom W. Smith, the study’s author, explained the common thread in these different jobs: “The most satisfying jobs are mostly professions, especially those involving caring for, teaching, and protecting

Psychopaths do not particularly like classical music — no matter what film portrayals of psychopaths like Hannibal Lecter might suggest. Psychopaths prefer rap music, a new study finds. Songs like “No Diggity” by Blackstreet and “Lose Yourself” by Eminem were both linked to higher psychopathy scores. In contrast, pop songs like “My Sharona” by The Knack and “Titanium” by Sia were linked to the lowest levels of psychopathy. The conclusions come from research in which 200 people were played 260 songs, along with taking tests of psychopathy. Psychopaths are actually

The face shape is also linked to being more aggressive and higher survival of hand-to-hand combat! For short-term relationships, women are most attracted to wider faces, research finds. Men with wider faces are seen as more dominant and aggressive. Dr Katherine Valentine, the study’s first author, said: “Our study shows that within three minutes of meeting in real life, women find more dominant, wider-faced men attractive for short-term relationships, and want to go on another date with them.” For the study, the researchers measured men’s facial width to height ratio,

This colour has a primitive effect on attraction, psychological research finds. Wearing the colour red makes both men and women more attractive to the opposite sex, studies find. When men wear it, red sends signals of status and dominance to others. When women wear it, the extra pull on men may have deeper, biological roots. The study’s authors write: “Our research demonstrates a parallel in the way that human and nonhuman male primates respond to red. In doing so, our findings confirm what many women have long suspected and claimed

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

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

The type of people most likely to be psychopaths, narcissists and manipulators. People who have a tendency to stay up late are more likely to exhibit anti-social personality traits, like narcissism and psychopathy. Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy — menacingly called ‘the Dark Triad’ — were all linked with the preference for late bedtimes in research published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences (Jonason et al., 2013). Dr. Peter K. Jonason, explained: “Those who scored highly on the Dark Triad traits are, like many other predators such as lions and

The top two psychological causes of infidelity. Men and women cheat on their partners at about equal rates. According to various studies, somewhere between 40% and 76% of people cheat on their partners over the course of their relationship. The type of people most likely to cheat are those with ‘avoidant attachment styles’. In other words: these are people who find intimacy uncomfortable. They are the kind of people who want to avoid being too attached to one person. This could be because of poor parental relationships when they were