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World of Psychology


Mental Health and Wellness

Five Things You May Not Realize Can Affect Your Mental Health

Did you know diabetes affects your mental health? From depression to relationship problems or mood swings, too much or too little glucose (sugar) circulating in the blood can trigger behavior and thought patterns that may seem unrelated to how much insulin is released by your pancreas. Out of control glucose levels influence how you feel and make decisions, your beliefs and, yes, your attitude, a very necessary component of your overall care. 
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General

How to Engage in Mindful Social Media During Challenging Times

How each of us carries ourselves in this world greatly affects our experience together. And with news and social media occupying such a central part of our daily activity, it’s easy to forget to investigate our own behavior. We are so impulsively quick to post and tweet about the issues of the day that we often leave love out of the equation. Why does this matter? Because there is nothing more important in human life than love.

We need to take a good look at the news and social media today. Listen to what’s dominating our conversations, even within our like-minded circles of friends. Anxiety. Worry. Fear. Anger. The love we all need is muted or missing.
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Relationships

Feeling Trapped or Abandoned: When Relationships Run Hot or Cold

By nature, humans are wired for connection. We seek out others to share our lives with, with the goal of forming lasting and intimate bonds. So feeling trapped or abandoned in an intimate relationship shouldn’t be a common thing, should it? Actually, these experiences are common for partners who wind up repeating cycles within intimate relationships that they may be unaware of. Feeling trapped or abandoned are commonly seen in the push-pull dynamic found in unhealthy relationships; both styles often represent two sides of the same coin.
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Communication

Staying Home Doesn’t Have to Mean Being Alone

While things appear to be slowly opening up again in many parts of the world, many people continue to feel hesitant to leave their homes, fearful of exposure to COVID-19. The resulting sense of isolation, depression, and anxiety are keeping mental health hotlines busy.

Without sounding too rosy, is there the possibility of extracting something positive from the turn inward that circumstances are now offering? A telephone survey of 818 Hong Kong residents of age 18-60 during the SARS epidemic in 2003 offers glimmers of hope. 

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Addiction

Podcast: A National Non-Profit is Born From a Random Encounter

In today’s Psych Central Podcast, Gabe talks with Jamie Tworkowski, the founder of To Write Love on Her Arms, a non-profit movement dedicated to helping people who are struggling with addiction, depression, self-injury and suicide. Jamie shares how the idea for the non-profit was born in 2006 after he spent 5 days with his new friend Renee who’d recently been turned down for rehab. After writing about the experience and posting it on Myspace, people began to respond with their own stories, and the seeds for the non-profit were planted.

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Binge Eating

Emotional Eating and the Coronavirus

“Since we’ve been in quarantine,” announces Susan, a binge eating client, “I can’t stop overeating. Now that I’m in lockdown, I wish I had lockjaw!”

Danny laughingly echoes the same feeling: “Now that I can’t go to work, I’m involved instead in many diverse activities at home throughout the day -- there’s snacking, grazing, munching, nibbling, noshing, chowing down, and sometimes even eating meals!”
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Creativity

Journal Prompts to Help You Process Your Emotions

Journaling is one of the best practices for feeling your feelings—which is especially important if you typically pretend your feelings don’t exist. Many of us weren’t taught how to process our emotions—or even to name and acknowledge them.

Many of us were taught the opposite: Feelings are inconvenient, embarrassing, or dangerous. So, we walk around not knowing much about the emotions swirling inside our own brain and body.
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Publishers

Walking: Good for the Body, Good for the Soul

Take advantage of this simple activity.

Although it is one of the best and most underrated forms of exercise, there are many benefits to walking. It is a low-impact sport compared to running, and is especially healthy for your heart, lung, and body metabolism. At the same time, walking improves your mood, memory, and posture. More importantly, you can do it anywhere and it won’t cost you a thing, unlike going to the gym.

But walking can also be so much more than merely a physical exercise.

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