By tensing your muscles before relaxing them, you enable yourself to relax them more thoroughly after you release, letting go of physical tension more effectively. Fortunately, it can be easily learned and practiced virtually anywhere. Research shows that relaxing your body physically can also release psychological tension and stress, minimizing your stress reactivity and decreasing your experience of chronic stress. There are other effective ways to minimize psychological and emotional stress, but PMR can offer you one more tool to manage stress, which can help you to build your resilience overall....

Friday Fix: Episode 168 When someone is gaslighting you, you’ll likely second guess yourself. Gaslighters are good at convincing you that you’ve lost touch with reality. While gaslighting is most often discussed in terms of romantic relationships, it can occur in other relationships too. Your boss, friends, extended family, or even your doctor may gaslight you. Gaslighting can stem from an issue of power and control. It may also result from someone trying to get you to depend on them....

In order to change your thinking, it’s helpful to first become aware of these thought patterns. Once you understand the way you think, you can learn to address and reframe your thoughts. Types of Irrational Thoughts The following categories are common types of irrational thoughts. Forecasting When you’re forecasting, you’re predicting a future event that hasn’t happened. Predicting that the worst will happen is also known as catastrophic thinking. For example, say you have a fear of flying....

We’ve all had bad days. And oftentimes, a day that starts out bad just keeps getting worse, snowballing into a really bad day. This is a common experience—the long day’s journey into stress and frustration; we’ve all been there. But why? Why does a bad morning so often lead to an entire day gone bad? There are actually several reasons for this. Sometimes there’s a ‘domino effect’ with negative events, where one bad thing leads to another....

Exposure Therapy Exposure therapy is considered to be a behavioral treatment for PTSD. Exposure therapy targets behaviors that people engage in (most often avoidance) in response to situations or thoughts and memories that are viewed as frightening or anxiety-provoking. For example, a rape survivor may begin to avoid relationships or going out on dates for fear that she will be attacked again. If not addressed, avoidance behavior can become more extreme and interfere with a person’s quality of life....

Branded versions of ibuprofen include Motrin, Midol, and Advil; however, there are several generic versions as well. While some ibuprofen medications require a prescription, non-prescription strength ibuprofen is available over the counter at most supermarkets and drugstores. Ibuprofen is available in the form of tablets, capsules, chewable tablets, and liquid medication. “Most people think of addiction as either abusing prescription medications, excessive alcohol use, or substances one may obtain in a dark alley, not an over-the-counter medication that is thought to be safe and effective for people as young as 3 months old....

Perhaps it’s because INFJ is the rarest MBTI personality type, making up only 1% to 3% of the U.S. population. Or maybe it’s because they’re walking, talking contradictions. INFJs are easy-going perfectionists. They’re both logical and emotional, creative and analytical. Learn more about what it means to be an INFJ personality type below. Key Characteristics of INFJ If you are an INFJ, it means that you are likely to have certain characteristics....

Genes and Illness Before discussing whether there is a genetic basis for OCD, let’s review some basic genetic concepts and how they relate to illness. Genes act as the body’s blueprint for making different proteins. These proteins are used to manufacture an enormous number of tissues and biochemicals. Interestingly, different people can have different versions of a given gene. These different versions are sometimes called alleles. While some diseases like cystic fibrosis are thought to be caused by one specific gene, most diseases, including mental illnesses like OCD, are thought to be caused by a combination of many different genes....

How People With ADHD May Be Perceived People with ADHD often lack focus, wander off task, talk excessively, fidget, and act impulsively. Children commonly present with hyperactivity, and as they age, they may struggle more with attention, leading to academic difficulties. The disorder is often misunderstood by others. People who don’t understand the symptoms of ADHD may label children with ADHD as unmotivated, lazy, or problem children. Adults with ADHD may be seen as irresponsible or flighty because they struggle to remember important details or obligations and they have a hard time staying on task....

Cultures impacted by colonization tend to contribute to oppression on the basis of binary gender. It’s important for those who are not members of the Hispanic and/or Latinx communities to learn more about how machismo is part of the culture, and how patriarchy can harm all genders in a given community. Ideologies Have Always Caused Harm Jimenez explains that machismo contributes to adverse health outcomes for men and those who interact with them, especially in the case of women and children, but cautions that this is not unique to Latinx culture....

While magical thinking can be fun and harmless, it can become disruptive. Mental health conditions like generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are often associated with disruptive types of magical thinking. This article covers the definition and examples of magical thinking, what psychology says about this phenomenon, and when magical thinking may become disruptive—especially for those with mental health disorders. Who Engages in Magical Thinking? Magical thinking often occurs in young children under the age of 5....

Chronic pain can be treated with prescription and over-the-counter medications, but the latest issue of Psychological Science in the Public Interest (PSPI) looks at how psychological interventions can be part of the treatment plan. “For the last 16 years I have never found a case of chronic pain that was only physical,” says Los Angeles, California-based holistic health consultant Peter Bedard, who has an MA in consciousness studies and extensive training in hypnotherapy and alternative health....

Researchers analyzed the demographics and language of 184,631 individuals regarding relationships on Reddit over approximately 12 years and found that communication problems were the most commonly mentioned. Considering how difficult it can be to seek help, this research may provide insights into how to support healthy relationships. Coping With a Breakup on Reddit This study explored the discussion of relationship issues on Reddit to understand help-seeking among the general population and found users with an average age of 24 years, and most between the ages of 18 and 24....

There has been a growing interest in the potential mental health benefits of CBD in recent years. A 2019 research letter published by JAMA Network Open reported a significant increase in Internet searches for CBD in the United States. While search rates remained steady between 2004 and 2014, there was a 125.9% increase between 2016 and 2017. In April 2019 alone, there were 6.4 million Google searches for CBD information....

What Is Mentalization? Mentalization is a term for your ability to recognize your own mental state as well as others’ emotions, separate from actions. It includes being able to think about feelings and understand that these thoughts may have an impact on the actions that you and others take. For example, imagine that you are meeting up with a friend after her salon appointment. When she arrives, you mention that you don’t think her new haircut is flattering....

History As autism has become more recognized, psychologists have lobbied for it to be considered a different way of functioning rather than a disorder. The concept of neurodiversity was introduced during the fight for autism awareness and rights. Sociologist Judy Singer (who is autistic) coined the term in 1997. Though neurodiversity was coined in reference to people on the autism spectrum, it has since come to encompass additional ways that brains can function, such as in people with ADHD and dyslexia....