Feeling high levels of distress, fear and hostility prior to undergoing an angioplasty or other interventional radiology procedure may lead to a poor outcome, according to research presented December 3rd 2016 at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) in Chicago. A release from the society quotes study author Nadja Kadom,… Continue reading Patient Mood Can Impact Medical Procedure Results
Category: Mental & Emotional Health
Your mental health, including your psychological & emotional health, impacts our daily life. Learn more about the most common mental disorders.
Home-Delivered Meals Reduce Loneliness
When Congress passed the Older Americans Act in 1965 to support elderly people who were struggling — often alone — to continue to live at home, a major plank of the legislation provided for home delivery of meals to ensure their adequate nutrition. In the midst of the holiday season 2015, a study done at… Continue reading Home-Delivered Meals Reduce Loneliness
5 Steps to De-Stress Holiday Travel
The holiday traveling season is here, complete with long lines and unforeseen delays. This can test even the most experienced traveler, and have even more of an effect on those of us who aren’t so enthusiastic about the prospect of getting on a plan. Not everyone has an intense fear of flying that leaves them… Continue reading 5 Steps to De-Stress Holiday Travel
Caregiving and Cancer
Caregiving is more often than not an unexpected event. Many caregivers have a daily routine caring for a loved one. Some caregivers continue working; some stay at home to caregive. Most important is the caregiver’s ability for self-care including attending to healthcare and medical needs. Care-receiving is also an unexpected and unwelcome event; who wants… Continue reading Caregiving and Cancer
Depression Afflicts Seniors Earlier than Thought
If you think older people are happier than younger people, think again. A recent study led by a lecturer at the University of Bradford, UK, suggests that people get more depressed from age 65 onwards. The study, led by psychology lecturer Dr Helena Chui and recently published in the international journal Psychology and Aging, builds… Continue reading Depression Afflicts Seniors Earlier than Thought
Finding Wholeness in A Fractured World
Happiness can seem like an endless journey fraught with many, often contradicting theories. There’s what you should and shouldn’t do; training states of mind; economic considerations; health; family; meaning; philosophy; spirituality – the list goes on. But what actually works? “As a newborn, they found me on a frigid winter’s day inside a brown paper… Continue reading Finding Wholeness in A Fractured World
Talk Therapy Better Than Light Therapy for Preventing SAD Relapses
Are you prone to the winter blues? Cognitive behavior therapy is probably your best bet for preventing annual recurrences of the disorder, according to a University of Vermont study published online November 5th 2015 in theAmerican Journal of Psychiatry that question’s light therapy’s status as the gold standard for treating SAD, or seasonal affective disorder.… Continue reading Talk Therapy Better Than Light Therapy for Preventing SAD Relapses
5 Behaviors That Help Teens Learn To Bounce Back
As a parent or grandparent of teens, you know that adolescence is a time of high stress for many youngsters. Although some young people navigate these difficult years with reasonable aplomb, many struggle and are unable to cope as they run into troubles in school, at home or in their neighborhoods. That’s where adults can… Continue reading 5 Behaviors That Help Teens Learn To Bounce Back
Choosing the Right Antidepressant
Depression is a difficult condition to deal with – and choosing the right medicine can be almost as complicated. There are a lot of choices today, but their effects may be unpredictable, according to the Mayo Clinic. As a result, the Mayo experts say, patients can spend months or even years looking for the right… Continue reading Choosing the Right Antidepressant
In-Person Contact Is Critical to Seniors’ Mental Well-Being
In a study of adults aged 50 years and older, the probability of experiencing depressive symptoms steadily increased as the frequency of in-person, but not phone or written/email contact, decreased. The article was published in October 2015 in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. A release from the publisher reports that people without in-person social… Continue reading In-Person Contact Is Critical to Seniors’ Mental Well-Being
There’s Still Time to Make Your New Year’s Resolutions Happen
Remember those New Year’s resolutions you made on January 1? You’ve got about two months left in the year to make them happen. But if you forgot about your resolutions back in February, you can still finish the year off strong. “Whether it’s losing weight, quitting smoking, getting organized or climbing out of debt, everyone… Continue reading There’s Still Time to Make Your New Year’s Resolutions Happen
Anxiety: Is It “All In Your Head?”
Everyone suffers from anxiety occasionally. And it’s not always a bad thing. Anxiety before a test, for example, can help us study harder. If we want to do well on a job interview, we’ll be spurred to do our homework on our prospective employer. But it’s a problem if anxiety becomes so exaggerated or severe… Continue reading Anxiety: Is It “All In Your Head?”
Massage Therapy Could Help You Live Longer
Aging well requires you to constantly be in check with your mind and body. How often do you take time to really relax? If you sit staring at a computer screen all day at work, and then go home and “relax” in front of the TV for a couple hours, you’re still staring at a… Continue reading Massage Therapy Could Help You Live Longer
Food May Be Addictive
An international group of researchers has found that food craving activates different brain networks in obese patients than it does in normal weight patients. The team believes that this indicates that the tendency to want food may be “hard-wired” into the brain of overweight patients, becoming a functional brain biomarker. A release on August 30th… Continue reading Food May Be Addictive
Forgiveness Helps Women More Than Men
Older women who forgive others are less likely to report depressive symptoms, even if they themselves don’t feel forgiven. But older men, on the other hand, suffered a higher level of depressive symptoms when they had forgiven someone but felt unforgiven themselves. The results, from researchers in the University of Missouri College of Human Environmental… Continue reading Forgiveness Helps Women More Than Men
Spouses of Stroke Survivors Face Lingering Health Issues
Caregiver spouses of stroke survivors are at an increased risk of mental and physical health issues that may continue for years, according to research published in August 2015 in the American Heart Association journal Stroke. A release from the association notes that Swedish researchers evaluated 248 stroke survivors below age 70 (average mid-sixties), and their… Continue reading Spouses of Stroke Survivors Face Lingering Health Issues
Patients Can Be Emotional Burden to Doctors
The greater a patient’s emotional need, the more likely he or she is to view their doctors as devoid of emotion, according to a new study published in Social Psychological and Personality Science. At the same time, the study said, those patients expect their doctors to be able to absorb their emotions and experiences. The… Continue reading Patients Can Be Emotional Burden to Doctors
Why Do We Decide to Delay Gratification?
Researchers have identified parts of the brain that are involved in deciding to delay gratification. In a paper recently published in the European Journal of Neuroscience, researchers from McGill University, in Montreal, demonstrated that the hippocampus (associated with memory) and the nucleus accumbens (associated with pleasure) work together in making decisions of this type.… Continue reading Why Do We Decide to Delay Gratification?