Scientists Highlight Link Between Stress and Appetite

Posted on August 14, 2011 by

ScienceDaily (Aug. 12, 2011) — Researchers in the Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI) at the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Medicine have uncovered a mechanism by which stress increases food drive in rats. This new discovery, published online this week in the journal Neuron, could provide important insight into why stress is thought to be one of the underlying contributors to obesity.

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Can Blaming Others Make People Sick?

Posted on August 13, 2011 by

ScienceDaily (Aug. 11, 2011) — Constant bitterness can make a person ill, according to Concordia University researchers who have examined the relationship between failure, bitterness and quality of life.

Read the full article on:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110809104259.htm

 

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Three subtypes of gamblers, study finds

Posted on June 20, 2011 by

According to a study published earlier this year, there are over two million people in America with  pathological gambling, and another four to six million are considered problem gamblers. Furthermore, there may be up to three different subtypes of people with serious gambling problems, ccording to David M. Ledgerwood, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences at Wayne State University. These include the emotionally vulnerable (EV), whose parent(s) more likely to have psychiatric problems; the behaviourally conditioned (BC), who got caught in the rewards associated with the game rather than for soothing emotional problems and the antisocial impulsive (AI) who are more likely to have antisocial personality disorders. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110315141230.htm

Therapy for these different subtypes addresses the unconscious associations each type has: the emotionally vulnerable identifies emotional comfort with gambling, the behaviourally conditioned associates with the highs of winning and the antisocial impulsive escapes social interactions through gambling. All these forms of unconscious associations can be dissociated through process-experiential and solution-focused therapy.

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Taiwan Study Shows Children as Young as Ten Vomit to Lose Weight

Posted on June 17, 2011 by

A study in Taiwan has found that 13% of the 8,673 girls and 7,043 boys who took part in the research admitted they made themselves sick to lose weight, with younger children being more prone to the practice and of the children who do this, boys (16%) outnumber girls (10%).

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110616081809.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ftop_news+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Top+News%29

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High Fat Diet May Damage Weight-Control Neurons

Posted on June 9, 2011 by

The results of a study presented at The Endocrine Society’s 93rd Annual Meeting in Boston show a possibility that brain injury may be a consequence of the overconsumption of a typical American diet offers a new explanation for why sustained weight loss is so difficult for obese people. The high fat consumed may cause damage to, and eventual loss of, critical weight-regulating neurons. The inability to shed kilos and continued weight gain in obese people may be due to brain damage caused by the high fat diet. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110608161533.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ftop_news+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Top+News%29

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Marijuana use and cognition impairment

Posted on June 8, 2011 by

Research shows that people who start using marijuana at a young age and those who use the greatest amount of marijuana may be the most cognitively impaired. These findings were presented at Neuroscience 2010, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, held in San Diego.

In another study that  challenges the increasingly popular belief that smoking marijuana is less harmful to health than smoking tobacco, researchers in Canada are reporting that smoking marijuana, like smoking tobacco, has toxic effects on cells. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090805110741.htm

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Violent behaviour linked to gray matter.

Posted on June 7, 2011 by

ScienceDaily (June 6, 2011) — A brain imaging study suggests that men with a history of violent behavior may have greater gray matter volume in certain brain areas, whereas men with a history of substance use disorders may have reduced gray matter volume in other brain areas, according to a report published online by the Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

The full article can be found at: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110606171410.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Ftop_news+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Top+News%29

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Mind Body Therapies Becoming More Popular

Posted on May 10, 2011 by

A study shows that the use of mind body therapies is on the rise, most of which have been referred by medical professionals.

Mind Renewal uses mind-body therapy for physical ailments such as chronic pain, but only as a supplementary form of treatment to medical treatment.

A summary of the study can be found at:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110509161642.htm?

Posted in Chronic Pain Management | Leave a comment

Subconscious Conditioning of the Mind

Posted on May 10, 2011 by

A new study shows that when people are exposed to fake vivid print ads of fictitious products, it produces false memories that lead them to believe they have actually used these non-existent products. What’s more, the subsequent attitudes towards these products are as strong as genuine product experiences.

This confirms the hypnotic principle that what you see gets imprinted in your subconscious, particularly when the imagery is vivid and intense.

In working with anorexics and self-harm clients, I have found that many sufferers began having the problem shortly after viewing images of anorexics and self-harm injuries online. Particularly for high visual people, intense images (both positive and negative) can have a profound subconscious effect on the human psyche.

The old saying “see no evil, hear no evil” is pretty good advice. And of course, the famous bible verse “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (Philippians 4:8) is also a great idea to get yourself positive!

A summary of the study can be found at:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110509114019.htm?

 

Posted in Anxiety Attacks, Self Harm | Leave a comment

Depression May Have Positive Benefits

Posted on May 5, 2011 by

A new study has found that depression may promote analytical reasoning and persistence. A forthcoming article in the  Journal of Abnormal Psychology provides evidence that depression has positive side effects. In a simulated computer game with a known optimal strategy,  depressed participants approximated this optimal strategy more closely than non-depressed participants.

A summary of the article can be found at:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110504155113.htm?

The saying that there is a silver lining in every cloud seems to hold true for depressed people. However, I expect most depressed people would rather be free from the condition than have a somewhat higher analytical functioning and persistence!!!

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