Read moreChanging supply does little to change demand when it comes to drugs of abuse. Why? Because addiction is a chronic brain disease that changes the function and structure of the brain, and because people often use drugs to cope with painful emotions. Neither of these problems is cured by making drugs less available.
Read moreFor more than a decade, researchers have known that all major psychological disorders – including depression, anxiety and even schizophrenia – are associated with an excessive tendency to rumination. When faced with depressive or anxious urges, your mind often goes into overdrive by becoming excessively engrossed in thoughts.
Read moreThe new Lars von Trier film Nymphomaniac: Volume I is the confessional tale of Joe (Charlotte Gainsbourg), a traumatized, shame-filled, hypersexual woman. We first encounter her lying in an alley in a pool of her own blood. She is discovered there by Seligman (Stellan Skarsgård), a kindly man who takes her in and nurtures her with hot tea, a warm bed, and an empathetic set of ears. To him, Joe conveys her lifelong history of sexual acting out. What a lot of the people who see this film will likely wonder is: How realistic is this movie? Do women like Joe really exist?
For years, the party line on family violence has been the starkly one-sided view of the above-linked PDF. Basically, the message has been that there is always a victim and a perpetrator — the latter of which gets to live in servile fear until (usually) she flees and justice is served (or she ends up dead.)
Read moreRead moreThe authors conclude by saying:
“Given the negative outcomes we find associated with more time spent on homework, our study calls into question the desirability of such diligence and the utility of assigning large quantities of homework in high-performing schools. […] any homework assigned should have a purpose and benefit, and it should be designed to cultivate learning and development.”
It seems the horrible, wasteful, idiotic culture of pointless ‘busywork’ is alive in well in some high schools.
Read moreBut no matter how comfortable it is, no matter how much Warren, Venn, NAMI or Big Pharma, or anyone wants it to be THE cause, it’s not.
The facts are clear: the majority of people in treatment for substance use have histories of childhood trauma. And as many as 90% of the people receiving care in the public system have histories of childhood trauma, most notably abuse and neglect. An even bigger truth is that there are lots of things in addition to abuse and neglect that overwhelm children-and parents – leading to what is frequently diagnosed as mental illness.
Read more“Ambivalence in expressing emotions indicates oneself dissatisfaction with the way one expresses emotions,” says Awada. “The more ambivalent you are, the less you are able to communicate your emotions satisfactorily, and the more you are likely to be uncomfortable with your partner.” For example, when angry individuals avoid talking so as not to be misunderstood, or express themselves more aggressively than they intended to, they are communicating ambivalently. In Awada’s study, these situations are associated with a more difficult adaptation to the pain in the couples. “In addition, the ambivalence of both partners is related to greater emotional distress and more sexual and relational difficulties in the couples,” says Awada.
Read moreThis strategy is known as a variable ratio schedule of reinforcement and is the same tactic used in slot machines; you can never predict when you’re going to win, but you win just often enough to keep you coming back for more.
Steve Sharman, a Ph.D. student in psychology at the University of Cambridge researching gambling addiction, explains that the impression that we are in control of a game is key to its addictive nature and is vital when playing a slot machine, for example. “The illusion of control is a crucial element in the maintenance of gambling addiction … [as it] instills a feeling of skill or control,” he says.
Read moreThey analyzed crime rates in all 50 states between 1990 and 2006. During that time, 11 states legalized medical marijuana: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
Using FBI data, the researchers looked at rates of murder, rape, assault, robbery, burglary, larceny and auto theft.
Read moreFemale desire, according to Meana, is activated when a woman feels overwhelmingly desired, not rationally considered. Female erotic literature, including all those shades of gray, is built on this fantasy. Sexual desire in this view does not work according to our expectations and social values. Desire seeks the path of desire, not the path of righteousness. It thrives not on social order but on its negation. This is one reason all religions and societies try to control, contain, limit and re-direct it.