Psych Central Blogs

Psych Central hosts a number of blogs highlighting different concerns in mental health and psychology, bringing fresh perspectives, ideas and news updates in small, digestable nuggets. Below, you'll find an index of the most recent entries from our blogs.

World of Psychology

5 Clues You Should Be Letting Go of Something

By Therese J. Borchard on Saturday, November 07th, 2009 in World of Psychology

Awhile back I discussed Eileen Flanagan's book, The Wisdom to Know the Difference. If you'd like to learn more about her, visit her website at www.EileenFlanagan.com. Therese: What are five clues you should be letting go of something? Eileen: 1....

Best of Our Blogs: November 6, 2009

By John M Grohol PsyD on Friday, November 06th, 2009 in World of Psychology

I'm attending the 25th Annual Rosalynn Carter Symposium on Mental Health Policy today, and I'll write more about the inspirational work this organization has been doing for 25 years shortly (not just in Georgia, but throughout the entire...

How Do You Treat Empty-Nest Depression?

By Therese J. Borchard on Friday, November 06th, 2009 in World of Psychology

Several mom friends of mine have lately come down with a bad case of "empty-nest depression" -- moms who just dropped off their youngest offspring to college, or moms having difficulty keeping busy now that the youngest is...

Bye Bye Asperger’s Syndrome?

By John M Grohol PsyD on Thursday, November 05th, 2009 in World of Psychology

Is the diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome -- a mild form of autism mostly diagnosed in boys -- heading the way of the dodo bird? A new article in the New York Times suggests that the new revision of the diagnostic manual...

Group Therapy for Binge Eating

By John M Grohol PsyD on Wednesday, November 04th, 2009 in World of Psychology

Binge eating disorder is characterized by a person having frequent episodes of eating what others would consider an abnormally large amount of food, while at the same time feeling out of control -- the personal feels like they...

Anxiety & OCD Exposed

Beyond Mindfulness

By Charles H. Elliott, Ph.D. on Tuesday, November 03rd, 2009 in Anxiety & OCD Exposed

My wife, Dr. Smith, and I are big fans of mindfulness approaches to therapy and we’ve included discussions of mindfulness in most of our self help books within the For Dummies series (including Borderline Personality Disorder For Dummies). In brief, Mindfulness is typically described as involving focused attention on experiences...

OCD: Feeling, Thinking, Doing

By Laura L. Smith, Ph.D. on Monday, November 02nd, 2009 in Anxiety & OCD Exposed

  Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) involves feelings, thoughts, and behaviors.   For the vast majority of people with OCD, the feeling of anxiety is prominent. A man with OCD might have an obsessive thought that a doorknob is contaminated and the thought of touching the doorknob causes...

Bipolar Beat

Bipolar Medication Spotlight: Sleep Aids

By Candida Fink MD on Friday, November 06th, 2009 in Bipolar Beat

With this post, we continue our biweekly series on medications used to treat bipolar disorder and related symptoms. This week, we focus the spotlight on medications that can help you sleep. Before we crack open the medicine cabinet, I’d like to say a few words about bipolar disorder and sleep....

What’s It Like to Be Married to Someone with Bipolar Disorder?

By Joe Kraynak on Tuesday, November 03rd, 2009 in Bipolar Beat

When we were in Slovenia a couple weeks ago, Cecie and I did an interview for a televised report on bipolar disorder. The interviewer asked me what it was like to be married to someone with bipolar disorder. I stammered and stuttered, not really sure how to answer and then...

Celebrity Psychings

Where Does Rihanna Go From Here?

By Alicia Sparks on Friday, November 06th, 2009 in Celebrity Psychings

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past week or so - or, for some reason, haven’t visited anything online except your email - I’d be willing to bet you’ve at least caught a whiff of Rihanna’s upcoming interview with Diane Sawyer tonight on ABC’s 20/20....

Bid To Meet Glenn Close At 3rd Annual Karla Smith Foundation Dinner Auction

By Alicia Sparks on Thursday, November 05th, 2009 in Celebrity Psychings

If you were excited about the chance to bid on “God of Carnage” tickets and schmooze time with James Gandolfini and Marcia Gay Harden, you might also be happy to know that at its third annual dinner auction, the Karla Smith Foundation is going to accept bids to...

Depression on My Mind

The Fort Hood Massacre: A disturbed psychiatrist, a gun and the reality of war

By Christine Stapleton on Friday, November 06th, 2009 in Depression On My Mind

I will go to my therapist’s office this afternoon. I will sit in the waiting room and read an old magazine. Another client will walk from a hallway that leads to my therapist’s office, pass through the waiting room and leave. My therapist will poke her head out, smile and...

The Rosalynn Carter Symposium on Mental Health Policy: Make time to listen on Thursday and Friday

By Christine Stapleton on Tuesday, November 03rd, 2009 in Depression On My Mind

On Thursday former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, 82, will do what she has done for over 30 years - bring together doctors, policy makers and consumers to draft policies that will decrease stigma and discrimination against people with mental illnesses and promote positive policy change on mental health issues. Mrs....

Family Mental Health

Parents - Supporting An Adult Child Gone Amok

By Erika Krull, MS, LMHP on Friday, November 06th, 2009 in Family Mental Health

Many parents now set aside decent sized chunks of money to fund their children’s college education.  Not everyone can do this, but it is certainly something many parents work at for years.  So when you finally start sending off some of that hard earned money and you find that...

Study Says Parents More Satisfied With Life When Married

By Erika Krull, MS, LMHP on Thursday, November 05th, 2009 in Family Mental Health

I found this interesting article on an Everyday Health e-newsletter that I received this morning.  It discusses the results of a study claiming that having children adds to the happiness of a married couple, but not so much for unmarried parents. As I always say when referencing studies, this...

Healing Together for Couples

Reclaiming Sexual Intimacy in Your Relationship

By Suzanne Phillips, Psy.D., ABPP on Thursday, November 05th, 2009 in Healing Together for Couples

It takes more than just showing up to reclaim or renew a good sexual relationship. Would you just show up on the dance floor to dance the tango together? Apart from the fact that you may have no interest in the tango – probably not. To really dance, you...

‘Til Trauma Do Us Part: The Impact of Trauma on Sexual Connection

By Suzanne Phillips, Psy.D., ABPP on Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 in Healing Together for Couples

Because trauma affects you physically and emotionally, it inevitably impacts your conscious and unconscious desire for closeness and connection. Traumatic events of both a sexual and nonsexual nature can have a devastating impact on a couple’s sexual intimacy. After rape, female victims often distrust and avoid intimate relationships and may...

Mindfulness & Psychotherapy

The Science of Mindfulness: An Interview with Shauna Shapiro, Ph.D.

By Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D. on Friday, November 06th, 2009 in Mindfulness & Psychotherapy

Today I bring you one of the leaders in the field who goes to the heart of the intersection between mindfulness and psychotherapy. Shauna Shapiro has co-authored The Art and Science of Mindfulness: Integrating Mindfulness into Psychology and the Helping Professions, with Dr. Linda Carlson and has published over 50...

Exploring the Upside of Depression

By Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D. on Wednesday, November 04th, 2009 in Mindfulness & Psychotherapy

Sharon Begley, science editor for Newsweek and author of The Plastic Mind: New science reveals our extraordinary potential to transform ourselves, just wrote an interesting article titled The Upside of Depression. In this article she reviews some recent research that basically flies in the face of the “Happiness” surge and says...

360 Degrees of Mindful Living

Static vs. Dynamic View of Perfection

By Pavel G. Somov, Ph.D. on Friday, November 06th, 2009 in 360 Degrees of Mindful Living

State (Static) View of Perfection As a perfectionist, you think of perfection as a state.  As you clean your kitchen or your car or your desk, you fantasize about preserving the state of perfection that you have accomplished.  If you can only get it right, then it’ll remain perfect from...

Still Reading About Mindful Eating?

By Pavel G. Somov, Ph.D. on Friday, November 06th, 2009 in 360 Degrees of Mindful Living

Reading about mindful eating can get you only so far.   Just like reading about what “sweet” is.  At some point, you have to set aside all these books on mindful eating, all these descriptions of mindful eating (this post included), and set a precedent of mindful eating.  Here’s what Chogyal Norbu...

Therapy Unplugged

What Does Overeating Mean to me?

By Sonia Neale on Wednesday, November 04th, 2009 in Therapy Unplugged

My therapist asked me a question today. What does overeating mean to me? Food is my best friend and my worst enemy, an evil entity that stalks me in unsuspecting moments. Food is a drug, not unlike heroin. Food is life. Food...

Not Another High School Reunion?

By Sonia Neale on Saturday, October 17th, 2009 in Therapy Unplugged

Going to school and coming home to your parent’s house afterwards is no big deal – unless you’re 47 years old and it’s your second 30th school reunion in four months and you need a crash-pad for the night. Only this time it was with Brother School Mazenod...

Channel N

Brain-Based Sex Differences

By Sandra Kiume on Friday, November 06th, 2009 in Channel N

Neuroscientist Lise Eliot discusses her book on sex differences in the brain....

Cognitive Enhancement Debate

By Sandra Kiume on Wednesday, November 04th, 2009 in Channel N

Ethics of cognitive enhancing drugs....

Weightless

Disordered Eating in Teens: How Parents Can Help

By Margarita Tartakovsky, MS on Friday, November 06th, 2009 in Weightless

Obesity in teens is a big problem but so is disordered eating. Several years ago, it seemed like every media outlet was shouting from the rooftops about the childhood obesity epidemic. Back then, I wondered how the obesity panic was going to affect kids and teens. Scaring and shaming kids...

Minding Women’s Magazines: Asinine Advice

By Margarita Tartakovsky, MS on Wednesday, November 04th, 2009 in Weightless

Women’s magazines are packed with eating and exercise advice. Churning out new, novel ways to eat less and work out more is their bread and butter. So to an extent, I can understand why advice may be hit or miss. I get that it’s tough to come up with creative...

PsychSplash

Dyslexia the Gift

By Psych Central Resource Editor on Wednesday, November 04th, 2009 in PsychSplash

Why is Dyslexia a gift? For: ConsumersTopics: Behaviour Management, Child and Adolescent, Coaching, Educational Psychology, Pediatric Depression, Teaching, YouthFeatures: Advertising,...

Presentations of Science Base

By Psych Central Resource Editor on Tuesday, November 03rd, 2009 in PsychSplash

This is a prototype system containing presentations from experimental psychology. We hope that it can guide both students and teachers...