Implicit Bias Leads to Explicit Danger
There has been considerable and well-deserved publicity regarding cases where implicit or explicit police bias has led to unwarranted arrests and shooting of unarmed black individuals. The Starbucks case illustrates how a black man waiting at a place of business can be construed as loitering or engaging in disorderly conduct. A black man standing in his backyard with a telephone in his hand can be shot as a potentially dangerous suspect. About 22-25% of people shot and killed by police in 2017 were unarmed black men (Sullivan, Anthony, Tate, & Jenkins, 2018). How many of these shootings were necessary?
It is similarly ...
Source: Psych Central - May 11, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Thea Amidov Tags: Bipolar Personal Stories Policy and Advocacy Psychological Assessment Psychology Treatment Bias Bipolar Disorder Hospitalization Prejudice race Source Type: news
Are You Experiencing Emotional Abuse and Not Aware of It?
You may not think you’re in an emotionally abusive relationship or minimize it. You may not consider your partner abusive because they seem caring and loving towards you, until you do not comply.
An abusive partner can be extremely loving when you make yourself available to meet all their needs and give them all your undivided attention. In fact, it is when the partner stops meeting the needs of the abuser that the tantrums, tears, insults, silent treatment or other forms of punishment are used to get their way. In many cases, an emotional abuser is co-dependent on their partner to make them happy, and make up for all t...
Source: Psych Central - May 9, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Nancy Carbone Tags: Abuse Codependence Narcissism Personality Relationships & Love Self-Esteem Self-Help Emotional Abuse emotional blackmail Punishment Source Type: news
Is All Our Photo Taking Worthwhile?
New research sheds light on what’s working and what’s not.
Smart phone cameras have turned many of us into de facto members of the paparazzi. Every event from the mundane to the glorious is shared in the moment or preserved for the future. But do our efforts pay off as intended?
Whatever your motivation is for taking photos, it’s worthwhile to have a clear view of what’s working and what’s not. For example, recent studies offer conflicting and sometimes surprising results on how photo taking impacts our memory and quality of experience.
One of the common complaints waged by those who dislike the boom ...
Source: Psych Central - May 4, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Amy Fries Tags: Anxiety Memory and Perception Motivation and Inspiration Self-Help Technology Active Listening Attention comparison Distraction Experience Mindfulness nonvisual memory Present Moment worry Source Type: news
Do I Have to Lose Me to Love You?
As codependents we lose ourselves in relationships, unaware that losing our Self is the greatest despair. When the relationship inevitably ends, it’s devastating because we are lost. We lack autonomy because that task wasn’t completed by adulthood. Often there are power struggles, characterized by repeated, unresolved arguments, either about a single recurring issue or numerous trivial things. Many of them boil down to the question of who has control, whose needs will be met, or how intimate they will be. Intimacy problems are a common symptom of codependency. Avoidance of intimacy, and the vulnerability that occ...
Source: Psych Central - April 24, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Darlene Lancer, JD, MFT Tags: Abuse Codependence Narcissism Personality Relationships & Love Self-Esteem Autonomy Boundaries Closeness Codependency Denial dependent personality Emotional Abuse Guilt Identity Independence Intimacy Manipulation Resent Source Type: news
Medication-Assisted Treatment Needs Community Support
Communities like Portsmouth, Ohio, regularly make national news for waves of overdoses. On any given day, nearly 100 people across the country die due to opioid overdose. The problem always feels like an uphill battle, and often a losing one for social workers and drug counselors who hope to get clients on the path to sobriety.
Evidence shows that one method, medication assisted treatment (MAT), works; however, for MAT to be truly effective, it takes an entire community.
What Is Medication Assisted Treatment?
Medication assisted treatment is an evidence-based recovery process that combines traditional therapies and detox p...
Source: Psych Central - April 23, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Desiree Patton Tags: Addictions Alcoholism Medications Stigma Substance Abuse Addiction Treatment buprenorphine probuphine methadone naloxone naltrexone acamprosate evidence-based treatment medication-assisted treatment recovery Source Type: news
Book Review: How to Be Yourself
At its worst, social anxiety can make ordering a cup of coffee a daunting task, and can make a party feel like a house of horrors. From what direction will humiliation spring? Is it any wonder people with social anxiety learn to cower at home, safe from threats?
Full-on social anxiety can be greatly life limiting, but even those of us who don’t suffer from the worst of it will find useful strategies for those moments of “do I belong?” and “can I handle this?” in psychologist Ellen Hendriksen’s new book, How to Be Yourself: Quiet Your Inner Critic and Rise Above Social Anxiety.
In a warm and friendly tone, Hendr...
Source: Psych Central - April 20, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Sophia Dembling Tags: Anxiety Book Reviews Happiness Mindfulness Neuroscience Psychology Self-Help Social Phobia Source Type: news
6 Ways to Navigate Anxiety
Anxiety is frustrating. You feel like a stranger inside your own body. You feel like there are mini explosions inside your head, inside your heart. Sometimes, you shake. Sometimes, you sweat. Sometimes, the sensations are hard to describe: You simply feel off or downright terrible.
Your thoughts race each other around a very large track for hours. Sometimes, these thoughts speak of inevitable, impending doom. Sometimes, they’re more subtle, whispering and strengthening your self-doubt.
And, naturally, you let these anxious thoughts and sensations dictate your life.
You let your anxiety determine whether you go to the mov...
Source: Psych Central - April 19, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S. Tags: Anxiety Disorders General Habits Self-Help anxiety tips anxious thoughts managing anxiety navigating anxiety struggling with anxiety Source Type: news
Book Review: From Anxiety to Love
“My anxiety journey was one of the worst, most terrifying experiences of my life. Yet once I allowed it to become my greatest teacher, it also became one of the best,” writes Corinne Zupko.
In her new book, From Anxiety to Love: A Radical New Approach For Letting Go of Fear and Finding Lasting Peace, Zupko shows readers how anxiety can become an awakening, directing us on a new pathway toward love and inner peace.
“Every experience you have can serve one of two purposes – and you get to choose which. It can help you awaken to the peace that is already in you, or it can help you stay unaware of this peace,” writes...
Source: Psych Central - April 18, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Claire Nana Tags: Anxiety Book Reviews Happiness Mindfulness Self-Help Spirituality Source Type: news
Affect Dysregulation and C-PTSD
One of the most important features of Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD) is that of ‘affect dysregulation’. The meaning of this somewhat opaque sounding term is perhaps made clearer by using its synonym: emotional dysregulation. It consists of strongly felt emotions, in particular anger and fear, which seize the sufferer rendering him or her powerless to control them. These emotional outbursts can be terrifying both for the victim and anyone else present, lasting anywhere from seconds to a few hours. They are typically prompted by minor stimuli that most people would barely react to, if at all and are perp...
Source: Psych Central - April 13, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Fabiana Franco, Ph.D. Tags: Abuse Bipolar Psychology Psychotherapy PTSD Trauma affect dysregulation Bipolar Disorder C-PTSD Child Abuse child neglect Childhood Trauma Comorbid Disorders complex ptsd complex trauma Coping Skills Dissociation Emotiona Source Type: news
Exposure and Response Prevention Therapy for OCD
This article titled “Common Pitfalls in Exposure and Response prevention (EX/RP) for OCD” by Seth J. Gillihan was published in the Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders in May 2012 and discusses various mistakes that well-meaning therapists might make while using ERP therapy. For example, some therapists don’t encourage their clients to go far enough in their exposures — to do what is most difficult for them. Other therapists might choose the wrong type of exposures, or even interfere with proper therapy by encouraging the use of distraction. Some other topics discussed in the article, which I h...
Source: Psych Central - April 10, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Janet Singer Tags: Caregivers Family Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Parenting Psychology Psychotherapy Treatment anxious thoughts Avoidance Desensitization exposure Exposure Response Prevention Therapy Obsessions Ocd Rituals Source Type: news
The Damaging Beliefs of Bipolar Disorder
When writer Elaina J. Martin was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, she felt “less than.” “I felt like other people were better than me, less damaged than I was.”
In the first few years of her diagnosis, psychotherapist Colleen King, LMFT, worried she’d never be able to function at a higher level. “During those years of struggle, I saw myself deteriorate, become less capable, and felt like a failure in many ways.”
Bipolar disorder is a difficult illness that can shatter one’s self-worth and sense of self.
Beliefs tend to differ in different people, depending on the person’s circumstances. But largely, psych...
Source: Psych Central - April 8, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S. Tags: Bipolar Disorders General Self-Esteem Self-Help Stigma Bipolar Disorder Depressive Episode managing bipolar disorder Mental Health Stigma Negative Beliefs Sense Of Self Source Type: news
Bullying and Mental Health Consequences
According to the American Psychological Association, bullying is a form of aggressive behavior in which someone intentionally and repeatedly causes another person injury or discomfort. Even though bullying commonly happens in childhood, the impact can last well into adulthood. Duke University recently conducted research that shows the rates for agoraphobia and panic disorders greatly increases with bullying. Mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and low esteem haunt many adults who were once bullied in childhood.
In previous generations, many children were supposed to handle their own issues. “Let them work ...
Source: Psych Central - April 7, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Rebecca Lee Tags: Abuse Anger Anxiety Bullying Children and Teens Parenting School Issues Students Adolescence Coping Skills cyberbullying Envy Insecurity Jealousy online harassment relational bullying sexual bullying Source Type: news
Book Review: 5 Types of People Who Can Ruin Your Life
High conflict people are everywhere among us. Because we are often caught off guard by them, Bill Eddy, author of 5 Types of People Who Can Ruin Your Life says we are also often unprepared for how to deal with them.
“There are five types of people who can ruin your life. They can ruin your reputation, your self-esteem, or your career. They can destroy your finances, your physical health, or your sanity. Some of them will kill you, if you give them the opportunity,” writes Eddy.
Kara is one example. While she initially drew the attention of Tom with her unique ability to pull him out of his shell and capture the attent...
Source: Psych Central - March 29, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Claire Nana Tags: Book Reviews Borderline Personality Narcissism Relationships & Love Self-Help HCP high conflict personalities personality types Social awareness Source Type: news
Book Review: The Pocket Guide to the Polyvagal Theory
I came across the polyvagal theory some time ago in my ongoing study of finding ways to help people recover from trauma. I have come to realize that there is so much to this theory that pervades all of our behavior and feelings. Stephen Porges’ polyvagal theory is truly phenomenal.
Porges’ book, The Pocket Guide to the Polyvagal Theory: The Transformative Power of Feeling Safe is another in the Norton series on interpersonal neurobiology and was written to give a nontechnical overview of the theory. It is organized in the form of edited interviews and conversations, mostly with Ruth Buczynski of the National I...
Source: Psych Central - March 28, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Stan Rockwell, PsyD Tags: Book Reviews Neuroscience Psychiatry Psychological Assessment Psychology PTSD Trauma eastern philosophy Polyvagal Theory Psychophysiology Source Type: news
Discovering Your True Self — Who You Really Are
Codependents often wonder what is normal. They feel insecure and wonder how others perceive them. Many tell me they don’t really know themselves. They’ve become people-pleasers, editing what they say and adapting their behavior to the feelings and needs of others. Some sacrifice themselves — their values, needs, wants, and feelings — to someone they care about. For other codependents their behavior revolves around their addiction, whether it’s to a drug, a process, such as sex or gambling, or to pursuing prestige or power in order to feel secure. They usually do so to the detriment of themselves and loved...
Source: Psych Central - March 27, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Darlene Lancer, JD, MFT Tags: Abuse Addictions Alcoholism Anger Binge Eating Codependence Eating Disorders Personality Relationships & Love Self-Esteem Substance Abuse Abusive Relationships Authentic Self Codependency Dysfunctional Family emotional needs Source Type: news
