In 1994, the American Psychiatric Association removed sexual addiction (Then formally known as, “Hypersexuality,”) from the DSM-V – their expansive psychiatric bible that defines mental health disorders. It wasn’t strange or surprising – and it certainly wasn’t incorrect to remove it.
Read moreRead moreConfrontational methods are practiced nowhere else in the world-for good reason. Interventions are deeply humiliating. They imply a moral and psychological superiority among those staging the intervention. They remove a person’s autonomy, and removing the opportunity for choice is thoroughly dehumanizing. They deflate a person’s already deflated sense of self. Further, interventions also induce shame, guilt-feelings that actually reduce the likelihood of change.
Read moreProcrastinators, take note: If you’ve tried building self-discipline and you’re still putting things off, maybe you need to try something different. One new approach: Check your mood.
Often, procrastinators attempt to avoid the anxiety or worry aroused by a tough task with activities aimed at repairing their mood, such as checking Facebook or taking a nap. But the pattern, which researchers call “giving in to feel good,” makes procrastinators feel worse later when they face the consequences of missing a deadline or making a hasty, last-minute effort, says Timothy Pychyl (rhymes with Mitchell), an associate professor of psychology at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and a researcher on the topic.
Read moreBut although I got treatment, I quit at around the age when, according to large epidemiological studies, most people who have diagnosable addiction problems do so-without treatment. The early to mid-20s is also the period when the prefrontal cortex-the part of the brain responsible for good judgment and self-restraint-finally reaches maturity.
According to the American Society of Addiction Medicine, addiction is “a primary, chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory and related circuitry.”
Read morePeople who are overconfident in their own abilities are considered more talented by others than they really are, a new study finds.
These overconfident individuals are probably more likely to get promoted, to become the leaders of organizations and even nations.
On the other hand, people who are not so confident in their abilities are judged as less competent than they actually are.
Read moreScience has shown we actually can thank a phenomenon called experience-dependent neuroplasticity. “It’s a fancy term to say the brain learns from our experiences,” says Rick Hanson, neuropsychologist and author of the book Hardwiring Happiness. “As we understand better and better how this brain works, it gives us more power to change our mind for the better.”
Hanson assures he isn’t just talking new-age mumbo jumbo.
Read morePast research has suggested that infidelity is one of the leading causes of divorce. But what drives a person to become unfaithful?
Thanks to a new study published in Contemporary Family Therapy, we now have an inside look into why married women cheat.
Researchers Michelle Jeanfreau, Anthony Jurich, and Michael Mong conducted case studies on four women aged 24 to 51 who cheated on their spouses and whose marriages subsequently ended in divorce.
Read moreThere are a limited amount of places where one can do drugs. Of those places, drug users select a certain few places where they prefer to do drugs and then do drugs most often at a select number of places that are convenient. Essentially, a regular drug user will often have a regular place to take their drugs. After they’ve done drugs regularly in the same place, the connection is made. A bathroom, a bedroom, a certain club, will always be associated with drug use. People trying to quit drugs often talk about how they have to avoid their old haunts because they feel a rush of anticipation.
Read moreSimply put, the more intensely you are attracted to someone, the more likely you are to repeat an old pattern. This is kind of bad news if you want to be swept off your feet. It’s fun to be swept away, madly in love, but let’s say you have decided to try it a different way.
You are being cautious, you are only relating to people who seem sincere, responsible, grown-up. And yet here comes someone who is all those things and wildly attractive too!
Society tells those struggling with addiction too, “Just quit it.”
It sounds so logical and so simple to those uttering the words — and every addict agrees with the plan and even pulls it off for short periods of time.
Then religion comes alongside and delivers what we believe is a more compassionate message: “With the help of Christ (And a little guilt — er, accountability — from your Promise Keepers group) just quit it.”
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