L.A. Rehab Blog
What goes on at an L.A. rehab? One way to get a sense of it, read the rehab’s blog.
No such thing? Not so: Here’s one from Beit T’Shuvah.
(If you find others, please let me know.)
Sex, Alcoholism, Dementia, Depression, and Facebook
An especially alluring set of news headlines at PsychCentral today:
- Scientists Closer to Finding Cure for Alcoholism
- Your Dementia Risk Rises if Spouse Has Dementia
- Electromagnetic Stimulation (rTMS) for Depression
- Some Mood Disorders Stay with Us As We Age
- Social Media Doesn’t Help in the Classroom
- Older Men Benefit From Talking About Sex
- Exploring Causes for Postpartum Depression
- Insight on Late-Life Depression
The Moral Life of Babies
Do we start out with a sense of right and wrong or not? A long exploration in the NYT Magazine:
[T]he current work…on baby morality, might seem like a perverse and misguided next step. Why would anyone even entertain the thought of babies as moral beings? From Sigmund Freud to Jean Piaget to Lawrence Kohlberg, psychologists have long argued that we begin life as amoral animals…
The Pill Turns 50
A birthday write-up from the Los Angeles Times:
It was supposed to make every child a wanted child, give women control over their bodies and grant couples worry-free sex…
On Placebos
Olivia Judson looks at the placebo effect. Regarding the testing of an ulcer drug versus a placebo:
Intriguingly, the results varied from country to country, with Brazilians showing no placebo effect and Germans having a strong one. Why? No one knows, but it doesn’t appear to be because of anything inherently German: trials of drugs for hypertension found a weaker placebo effect in Germany than in other countries.
“My Kid Wouldn’t Do That”
A study shows parents tend to have a skewed views of their teen’s behavior.
“Parents…had a very hard time thinking about their own teen children as sexually desiring subjects…At the same time…parents view their teens’ peers as highly sexual, even sexually predatory.”
Parental Estrangement
Tara Parker-Pope looks at a “silent epidemic“–children who refuse all contact with their parents.
“It’s possible for a parent to feel like they were doing something out of love,” he said, “but it didn’t feel like love to that child.” Friends, other family members and therapists can often help a parent cope with the loss of an estranged child. So can patience: reconciliation usually takes many conversations, not just one.
Green Exercise
A study says exercising for just a little bit–but outdoors, in nature–is good for mood and well-being.
Green areas with water added something extra. A blue and green environment seems even better for health…From a health policy perspective, the largest positive effect on self-esteem came from a five-minute dose.
Precision Change
OCD meets CBT: The Data Driven Life profiles people precisely measuring what’s going on in their lives.
A few months ago, Barooah began to wean himself from coffee. His method was precise. He made a large cup of coffee and removed 20 milliliters weekly. This went on for more than four months, until barely a sip remained in the cup. He drank it and called himself cured.
The Middle-Aged Brain
The middle-aged brain is “better than ever,” says Barbara Stauch, author of a book on the subject:
The thing the middle-aged brain shares with the teenage brain is that it’s still developing. It’s not some static blob that is going inextricably downhill…during this period…we’re better at all sorts of things than we were at 20.