Mindfully Healing

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

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.

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

It has incredible psychological and physiological power. Holding someone’s hand is enough to reduce their pain and even synchronise breathing and heart rates, new research finds. Dr Pavel Goldstein, the study’s first author, said: “The more empathic the partner and the stronger the analgesic effect, the higher the synchronization between the two when they are touching.” The study is the latest in the area of interpersonal synchronisation. This is how people’s physiological measures automatically synchronise to those who are around them. People automatically synchronise their footsteps when walking together and