Most people worry from time to time. A new research study, led by a Case Western Reserve University faculty member in psychology, also shows that worrying can be so intrusive and obsessive that it interferes in the person’s life and endangers the health of social relationships. Many of these people suffer from what is called generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), says Case Western Reserve psychologist Amy Przeworski. Included in this report is video interview with Przeworski.
As anyone who has been subjected to the mocking playground game knows, parroting can be annoying. Yet gentle mimicry can act as a kind of “social glue” in human relationships. It fosters rapport and trust. It signals cohesion. Two people who like each other will often unconsciously mirror each other’s mannerisms in subtle ways – leaning forward in close synchrony, for example – and that strengthens their bond.
The greater the severity of a child’s Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) symptoms, the more negative impacts on the child’s health-related quality of life from the perspective of the child and the parent, a new study by a Baylor University psychologist has found. Researchers compared children with ADHD in different types of treatment settings and found that children with ADHD being treated by a general pediatrician have better overall health-related quality of life and family functioning than children with ADHD being treated in a psychiatric clinic.
People with sexual performance anxiety are more likely to cheat on their partners. That is just one of the curious findings of a new study by a University of Guelph professor on the factors that predict infidelity. Men who are risk-takers or easily sexually aroused are also more likely to wander; for women, relationship issues are stronger predictors of unfaithfulness.
As children become teenagers, it may be more challenging to regularly include them in family meals, but doing so is key to heading off such problems as eating disorders, obesity, and inadequate nutrition in adolescence, said Barbara Fiese, a University of Illinois professor of human development and family studies and director of the U of I’s Family Resiliency Center.
Training teenagers to look at social situations positively could help those with anxiety and may help prevent problems persisting into adult life, new research from Oxford University is beginning to suggest. The researchers found that tasks designed to prompt either positive or negative interpretations of unclear situations can shift how healthy teenagers think about such events. The approach is called ‘cognitive bias modification of interpretations’ or CBM-I.
The human brain may simulate physical sensations to prompt introspection, capitalizing on moments of high emotion to promote moral behavior, according to a USC researcher. Mary Helen Immordino-Yang of the USC Brain and Creativity Institute and the USC Rossier School of Education found that individuals who were told stories designed to evoke compassion and admiration for virtue sometimes reported that they felt a physical sensation in response. These psycho-physical “pangs” of emotion are very real — they are detectable with brain scans — and may be evidence that pro-social behavior is part of human survival.
What is an open heart?
The Practice
Put no one out of your heart.
Why?
We all know people who are, ah, . . . challenging. It could be a critical parent, a bossy supervisor, a relative who has you walking on eggshells, a nice but flaky friend, a co-worker who just doesn’t like you, a partner who won’t keep his or her agreements, or a politician you dislike. Right now I’m thinking of a neighbor who refused to pay his share of a fence between us.
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