Author: admin
-
3 Ways Mindfulness Meditation Makes Therapy Work Better
Loren Soeiro, Ph.D. ABPP If you practice mindfulness meditation, you probably know that it can lower your stress level, reduce anxiety, and improve low moods. You might also be aware of its health-improving properties. According to the National Institutes of Health, mindfulness meditation may be able to reduce your blood pressure, help you cope with chronic pain, and even make it easier to…
-
How to Improve the Human Ability to Forecast
Thomas Suddendorf Ph.D. There are many good reasons to complain about human foresight. For one thing, we are often lousy at taking a longer view, being guided instead by the prospects of a quick buck, the whims of the daily news cycle, or likes on social media. We persistently predict our projects will be finished within…
-
Can Getting a Massage Improve Mental Health?
Jennifer Gerlach LCSW I remember a psychologist suggesting I get a massage. I felt myself a bit aback. Massage seemed to me like an expensive placebo. She shared about massage assisting with emotional release and healing of trauma. Years later, after receiving a massage in physical therapy for neck pain, I found myself surprised. Not only did the pain decrease,…
-
Coping with a Parent Who Has Mental Illness
By Eric Levine, Ed.D., with Courtney Kelly One in 14 American children has a parent with a mental health condition. And children whose parents are struggling with mental illness become adults whose parents are struggling with mental illness. Whether or not this means that they also become their parents’ caretakers, it guarantees they’ll have to manage a thorny,…
-
A Key Tool for Disability Employment and Neuroinclusion
Ludmila N. Praslova, Ph.D. Disability is an often forgotten aspect of diversity and inclusion at work. And one of the saddest ironies in the history of work is that the COVID-19 pandemic, with all the death and damage, might be the closest the workplace has ever come to disability and neurodiversity justice. A study by the Economic Innovation Group showed that while the initial pandemic-time…
-
How Meditation Can Support Pelvic Health
Jeff Krauss M.D. This post was written with contributions from Kandis B. Daroski, DPT, and Bijal Toprani, DPT. Taking a deep breath is a proven technique to help reduce blood pressure and relieve stress in adults. But could that deep breath also help support pelvic health? For years, controlled breathing techniques have been used as part of yoga practice and taught in…
-
15 Facts You Need to Know About Loneliness
Susan Krauss Whitbourne PhD, ABPP If you’ve ever been, or are, lonely, you know that it’s a tough feeling to live with. Whether it’s a new emotion for you, brought about by recent changes in your personal circumstances, or a more chronic aspect of your life, chances are that you’d like to find a way to ease the…
-
How Autism Can Affect Communication During Therapy
Claire Jack Ph.D. Many therapists tell me that, with hindsight, they’re sure that some of their past clients were autistic. These therapists often feel that they used to have preconceptions about how autistic people present socially, which meant they sometimes failed to notice potentially autistic traits in their clients. It’s of course important that therapists not jump to…
-
The Falsehood of “Having It All”
Ilene Strauss Cohen Ph.D. I grew up believing I could “have it all.” Personally, “having it all” meant getting married, having children, and having a career I love. At the same time, I maintain my friendships and close relationships with my family of origin and stay healthy by working out and eating right while having time to myself.…
-
Better Together: How We Can Build Connected Communities
Tyler J. VanderWeele Ph.D. Humans, Aristotle observed, are political animals. We do not typically live alone, but in a community. We receive many of the conditions for our survival as a gift from others: no one chooses his or her mother tongue, or the caregivers who provide nurture and support in infancy and childhood. One result of…