One of the reasons risky behavior is so common during adolescence is because the teen brain isn’t yet fully developed. Consequently, teens struggle to think about long-term consequences. In addition, they experience the “not me” phenomenon. They never imagine that injury, pregnancy, or accidents could happen to them. Tracking At-Risk Behaviors The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tracks certain youth-at-risk behaviors that they have deemed important and observable in their Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS)....

Looking at rats in a controlled laboratory setting, researchers introduced stress through several scenarios, such as by restraining them or forcing them to swim in a container where they couldn’t touch the bottom. They then tested the rats’ gastric emptying rate—how quickly food leaves the stomach—of a solid meal, along with assessing their hormone levels. Thirty minutes before the stress tests, researchers injected the rats with a saline solution (control) or a drug designed to trigger the release of oxytocin....

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive health condition, which means it gets worse over time. Unfortunately, there is no cure for this condition; however, it can be managed with medication and surgery, often for a significant period of time. The average life expectancy of a person with Parkinson’s disease is similar to that of a person who does not have the condition. Symptoms The symptoms of Parkinson’s disease fall into two groups: motor symptoms and nonmotor symptoms....

Perception relies on the cognitive functions we use to process information, such as utilizing memory to recognize the face of a friend or detect a familiar scent. Through the perception process, we are able to both identify and respond to environmental stimuli. Perception includes the five senses; touch, sight, sound, smell, and taste. It also includes what is known as proprioception, which is a set of senses that enable us to detect changes in body position and movement....

In most cases, the person does not know that the treatment they’re receiving is actually a placebo. Instead, they believe they’ve received the real treatment. The placebo is designed to seem exactly like the real treatment, yet the substance has no actual effect on the condition it purports to treat. The placebo effect is much more than just positive thinking, however. When this occurs, many people have no idea they are responding to what is essentially a sugar pill....

Though side effects may occur, especially in the first few weeks of treatment, most will disappear on their own as your child’s body adjusts to the medication. “For most children, the benefit of treatment outweighs any potential side effects,” says Michael Goldstein, MD, neurologist and vice president of the American Academy of Neurology. In the meantime, here are some simple strategies parents can implement to minimize common side effects....

While relaxation techniques often form part of a more comprehensive treatment plan, these are strategies that you can also practice on your own at home. Four strategies in particular that have been used are diaphragmatic breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, autogenic training, and guided imagery. Diaphragmatic Breathing Diaphragmatic breathing, or deep breathing, is the practice of expanding your diaphragm as you breathe, so that your stomach rises and falls, instead of your chest....

A parent or caregiver may not have fulfilled all of their child’s needs; when the child grows into an adult, they may need to learn how to give themselves what they lacked as a kid to improve their health and well-being. Where Did the Concept of Reparenting Come From? Originally, the term reparenting was developed within a psychoanalytic theory called transactional analysis. A key element of transactional analysis suggests that we operate in three ego states: parent, adult, and child....

Restoring a body malnourished by anorexia nervosa may take many months or even years. Patients with anorexia nervosa should generally be under the care of a treatment team, which commonly includes a medical doctor, a registered dietitian nutritionist, a psychotherapist, and a psychiatrist. Anyone beginning nutritional rehabilitation must be aware of the potentially fatal refeeding syndrome. This article begins with the necessary precautions to avoid this potential side-effect. It then offers strategies for outpatient nutritional rehabilitation, suggested meal plans, additional weight gain strategies, and suggestions for overcoming common challenges to recovery....

This article discusses Rubin’s scales measuring liking and loving and his theories of the main components of love. Rubin’s Elements of Love According to Rubin, romantic love is made up of three elements: Based on this view of romantic love, Rubin developed two questionnaires to measure these variables. Initially, Rubin identified approximately 80 questions designed to assess the attitudes a person holds about others. The questions were sorted according to whether or not they reflected feelings of liking or loving....

Knowing what to share and what not to share is an important communication skill for couples to learn and use in their marriage. It may also be something that can help or hinder peace and harmony with your spouse. Keeping Secrets and the Right to Privacy Privacy refers to your personal boundaries about your history, thoughts, opinions, and experiences separate from your partner and relationship. Secrecy, on the other hand, involves something that you are intentionally hiding from your partner....

This article explores the characteristics of self-acceptance, discusses its importance, and suggests some strategies that can help you learn to accept yourself. Characteristics of Self-Acceptance According to Dr. Marcum, these are some of the characteristics of self-acceptance: Being able to see yourself fairly accurately and recognize what you are and aren’t good at Embracing all the parts of yourself—even the negative ones—and being happy with who you are Accepting your values, preferences, resources, feelings, intuitions, and actions—both past and present Recognizing your strengths and accomplishments without being overly vain about them Learning to acknowledge your weaknesses and faults without beating yourself up over them or engaging in overly excessive negative self-talk Having a positive attitude toward yourself and holding yourself in high regard, without the need for others’ approval Seeing yourself as a whole human being, rather than defining yourself by any one characteristic, incident, ability, or weakness Being able to love and respect yourself...

What Does Therapy for Children Look Like? Children’s brains are different from adult brains. Between ages six and 12, children are still developing the ability to think about concrete operations (such as adding and subtracting). It isn’t until adolescence, or ages 12 to 18, that kids and teens are able to do more complex thinking such as considering abstract concepts, reasoning new ideas from known principles, and considering many points of view....

The study, which was published last month in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, involved a series of experiments with more than 2,000 adults, as well as a field study. The results showed that adults who thought about children became more compassionate and helpful. The presence of kids also made adults more likely to make charitable donations. The Study In an effort to understand how the presence of children could affect compassionate motivation and behavior in adults, a group of researchers from the United Kingdom and the Netherlands recruited 2,054 adults to participate in a total of eight experiments....

These findings may help inform additional treatment options for veterans and other individuals dealing with this disorder. Researchers say this data could aid in creating and implementing preventative measures for veterans who have been deemed at-risk for PTSD. Mapping Veteran Genomes In conducting this study, saliva was collected from 2030 European-American U.S. military veterans in order to map their genomes—which looks at the location of genes and the distance between them....

While the presumed goal of the clinical trial criteria is accuracy, efficacy, and objectivity, there is a recurrent issue of marginalized populations making up low percentages of participants within clinical trials across the board. A recent study published in JAMA Network Open reviewed 230 trials based in the United States, including over 219,000 participants, to answer the question: “Do vaccine clinical trials equitably represent individuals who identify as members of underrepresented racial/ethnic groups, are women, and are people aged 65 years or older?...

Suicide is one of the leading factors of postpartum death and researchers have found that since 2001, the rates have increased. A recent study published in JAMA Psychiatry showed that depression is something that should be assessed both before giving birth and a year postpartum. What Did The Study Show? The study showed the results of 595,237 individuals who had children and were surveyed both one year before and after childbirth....

This article discusses the health risks associated with tar in cigarettes. It also covers the risks of “light” cigarettes, secondhand smoke, e-cigarettes, and thirdhand smoke. What Is Tar in Cigarettes? Cigarette tar is a term used to describe the toxic chemical particles left behind by burning tobacco. This substance forms a tacky brown or yellow residue. It is not the same as tar used on road surfaces. Tobacco is best known for three major dangers:...