Most children are naturally cautious with adults they don’t know. For the most part, a fear of unfamiliar people is healthy and helpful. However, children with disinhibited social engagement disorder do not have this fear. Kids who have DSED aren’t afraid of strangers. In fact, they are so comfortable around unfamiliar people that they wouldn’t think twice about climbing into a stranger’s car or accepting an invitation to a stranger’s home....

How Common Is Existential Depression? “Everyone experiences [a level of] existential depression at some point in their lives and it is very common to find it as one moves through the challenges of the maturation process,” says Jed Turnbull, PhD, LCSW, CHT, a licensed social worker, and therapist. Common questions people may ask themselves that can trigger feelings of existential depression: What is the meaning of life? Why is there suffering?...

Born in response to high levels of work stress and a spike in rates of autoimmune disease, forest bathing was also adapted to improve the economy of rural areas that lost people migrating to cities. Forest bathing has become an eco-friendly, healthy antidote to our tech-saturated world. It turns out that walking and relaxing in this type of immersive experience amongst the trees may offer various health benefits. That’s why forest bathing is also called forest therapy....

Who Is Most at Risk of Experiencing Medical Gaslighting? Women and people of color are especially likely to experience medical gaslighting. Research on various medical conditions has repeatedly shown that women’s and people of color’s symptoms are less likely to be taken seriously than those of White men. Marginalized groups also experience other disparities in the quality of the care they receive. Women Are More Likely to Have Their Symptoms Attributed to a Mental Health Condition For example, one study found that when men and women have the same symptoms of coronary heart disease, doctors were significantly less certain of a diagnosis in women patients, and women were twice as likely as men to have their symptoms attributed to a mental health condition....

Toxic femininity refers to the adherence to the gender binary in order to receive conditional value in patriarchal societies. It is a concept that restricts women to being cooperative, passive, sexually submissive, gentle, and deriving their value from physical beauty while being pleasing to men. If toxic masculinity encourages violence and domination in order to uphold an unequal power dynamic, then toxic femininity supports silent acceptance of violence and domination in order to survive....

Characterized by the presence of odd or unusual feelings, thoughts or behaviors, positive psychotic symptoms may include: Auditory hallucinations such as hearing voices that other people cannot hearVisual hallucinations, or seeing things that are not really thereTactile hallucinations, or feeling things that are not really thereGustatory hallucinations, or smelling things that are not really thereDelusions, or strongly held beliefs or ideas that are odd and unlikely to be trueDisorganized thought and speech such as making up words or speaking incoherentlyDisorganized behavior such as sudden agitation, odd behavior, or staying in unusual poses for long periods of time...

A low IQ score is anything 70 and below. A low score and other indicators might suggest that a person has an intellectual disability. Anything over 140 is considered a genius IQ score. For context, while there is no evidence that he was ever tested, is it estimated that Albert Einstein had a score of around 160. While IQ can predict things such as academic success, experts caution that it is not necessarily a guarantee of life success....

To make things worse, a new study, published in Current Biology, has found that thinking about all of the above (and then some) can make us even more tired, accelerating the path to total mental burnout. “Nobody knows what mental fatigue is, how it is generated, and why we feel it,” says the first author of the study Antonius Wiehler, of Pitié-Salpêtrière University Hospital in Paris, France. “It has remained a mystery despite more than a century of scientific research....

For people with ADHD, stimming can serve as a way to focus their attention and control their impulses. It can also help them calm down when they’re feeling overwhelmed or stressed out. If you have a loved one with ADHD, it’s important to understand why they stim and how you can help support them. Here are a few things to keep in mind: Stimming is not necessarily harmful and does not always need to be discouraged....

Rumination can become a habit. The good news is that habits can be broken, even habits of thought. Learn more about rumination and its role in your life, and see what you can do to stop ruminating. Stress can also impact our ability to get quality sleep. But by practicing good sleep hygiene, such as avoiding using televisions or computers before bed, going to bed the same time every night, and darkening the room, you may get better sleep....

Why We Prefer Certain Seasons While there is little research looking specifically at the psychology of seasonal preferences, researchers have found that seasonal changes in temperature and light can have an impact on moods and behaviors. Those born in the spring and summer months, for example, are thought to be more likely to have excessively positive temperaments and were more likely to experience rapid shifts in mood. Those born during the winter months, on the other hand, may be less likely to have irritable temperaments....

What Is Forgiveness? Because it’s so often thought of in religious contexts, forgiveness can be a difficult word to succinctly define. That said, Joanna North, a philosophy professor at the University of London, described the idea behind forgiveness in her book, “Wrongdoing and Forgiveness”: “The value of forgiveness lies in the fact that it essentially requires a recognition of the wrongdoer’s responsibility for his action, and secondly that forgiveness typically involves an effort on the part of the one wronged: a conscious attempt to improve oneself in relation to the wrongdoer....

If this describes how you feel, don’t fight the need for extra rest. Take naps when you can and get to bed earlier than usual. Your body will bounce back with a little time. On the opposite end of the spectrum are the ex-smokers who have difficulty getting any sleep at all. Insomnia is also a common symptom of nicotine withdrawal. If you find yourself experiencing insomnia during the first few weeks after you quit smoking, try a few of these natural remedies to ease your discomforts....

Psychotherapies for anxiety help people address these thoughts in different ways. In psychodynamic psychotherapy, the roots or underlying (sometimes called unconscious) reasons for anxiety are unearthed. In cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), thoughts are actively challenged or tested by behavioral experiments (for example, doing something that you are anxious about to experientially learn that the outcome will be okay). In acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), as in CBT, there is an emphasis on becoming more aware of the thoughts as thoughts and not truths....

ADHD Increases the Risk of Excessive Computer or Video Game Use People with ADHD are more prone to addiction of all types, so they are particularly susceptible to cyber addictions that involve computers, video games, and the Internet. Offerings of the cyber world provide engaging stimuli that change consistently, giving ADHDers a medium that seems attuned to their cerebral hard wiring. Additionally, the social anxiety that is sometimes associated with ADHD can be a factor in cyber additions....

It draws from learnings from the Outward Bound Process Model, which helps its participants overcome their self-limiting beliefs. A study of Outward Bound participants who had participated in a 21-day course found better outcomes for recidivism (refers to the likelihood that a person who committed a crime will do so again) than those teens who did an intensive outpatient therapy program instead. Types of Adventure Therapy There are three major types of adventure therapy: wilderness therapy, adventure-based therapy, and long-term residential camping....

Anxiety Attacks There is no formal psychiatric definition of “anxiety attacks.” When the term is used, people are most often referring to a panic attack, which does have a definition. In a panic attack, a person feels sudden and intense fear, even to the point of terror, without the presence of actual danger. Some symptoms are pounding heart, chest pain, sweating, light-headedness, nausea, shortness of breath or choking sensations, trembling, and feeling detached from reality....

For example, research has found that people who eat diets high in processed, high-fat, and high-sugar foods are more likely to have anxiety than people who follow diets richer in complex carbohydrates, lean proteins, fruits, and vegetables. Healthy eating habits can mean the difference between a day filled with jitters and a day of calm and peace. Below are tips for healthy eating to help people with anxiety to improve overall wellness and reduce feelings of anxiety....

Meet Mark Goulston Mark Goulston is a psychiatrist who learned the value of listening to people. His wisdom has led him to become a consultant to many major organizations and a hostage negotiator trainer. He is also the author of several bestselling books, including Just Listen, Get Out of Your Own Way, and Talking to Crazy. Why Mark Goulston Is Mentally Strong Dr. Goulston has used some unconventional approaches in mental health treatment....