By Rick Nauert PhD

A new study examined the sexual satisfaction — or dissatisfaction — of heterosexual couples in long-term relationships. Researchers discovered sexually satisfied couples use a variety of methods to keep sexual passion alive.

The study is one of the largest studies to date to scientifically examine what contributes to a satisfying long-term sex life. Researchers discovered foreplay, setting the mood, mixing it up, and expressing love are all factors that satisfied couples said they do regularly.

“Sexual satisfaction and maintenance of passion were higher among people who had sex more frequently, received more oral sex, had more consistent orgasms, incorporated more variety of sexual acts, took the time to set a mood, and practiced effective sexual communication,” said David Frederick, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology at Chapman University and lead author of the study.

“Almost half of satisfied and dissatisfied couples read sexual self-help books and magazine articles, but what set sexually satisfied couples apart was that they actually tried some of the ideas.”

To gauge sexual satisfaction over time, couples were asked to rate their sex satisfaction in the first six months together and then rate it for now. Dr. Frederick’s team learned that the overwhelming majority (83 percent) of people reported they were sexually satisfied in the first six months of the relationship.

Only half of people, however, reported currently being satisfied (43 percent of men and 55 percent of women), with the rest feeling neutral (16 percent of men and 18 percent of women), or dissatisfied (41 percent of men and 27 percent of women).

Another set of items addressed whether respondents believed their sexual passion was the same, less, or better now than early in their relationship.

“We looked at common romantic and sexual behaviors that are rarely assessed in the literature but are likely important contributors to sexual satisfaction,” said Dr. Frederick.

“For example, while sexual variety is deemed important for sexual satisfaction, evidence on the effectiveness of specific forms of variety — such as showering together or wearing lingerie, or use of sex toys — is lacking.”

Specifically, the research team found that sexually satisfied men and women engaged in more intimate behaviors, such as cuddling, gentle and deep kissing, and laughing together during sexual activity. Partners also incorporated more acts of sexual variety such as trying new sexual positions or acting out fantasies more frequently. Additional tactics to improve satisfaction included setting a romantic or sexual mood such as lighting candles or playing music, and using communication effectively, such as saying “I love you” during sex or sending a teasing text earlier in the day.

Researchers also found that sexually satisfied men and women gave and received more oral sex, orgasmed more frequently, and had sex more frequently.

Some key findings of the research included:

Satisfied men and women were more likely to report that their last sexual encounter with their partner was “passionate,” “loving and tender,” or “playful”. Nearly half of sexually dissatisfied women (43 percent) said that they were “just going through the motions for my partner’s sake” compared to only 13 percent of sexually dissatisfied men during their last sexual encounter. Few people reported feeling pressured into sex by their partner (two to three percent).
About half of satisfied men (49 percent) and women (45 percent) reported their last sexual encounter lasted more than 30 minutes, compared to only 26 percent of dissatisfied men and 19 percent of dissatisfied women.
Satisfied men and women were more likely than dissatisfied men and women to say they: tried a new sexual position, wore sexy lingerie, took a shower or bath together, talked about or acted out fantasies, gave or had a massage, went on a romantic getaway, tried anal stimulation, made a date night to have sex, or used a sex toy together.
Feeling desired by their partners appears to be more of a problem for men than for women. Only 59 percent of men compared to 42 percent of women reported they felt less desired by their partner now than in the beginning. In contrast, two-thirds of men compared with half of women reported feeling as much desire, or more desire, for their partner now as in the beginning of the relationship.
Most men and women reported feeling the same or more emotional closeness during sex now than in the first six months of their relationship (69 percent of men and 72 percent of women). Less than half of dissatisfied men and women, however, felt this way.
Dr. Janet Lever, a co-author on the study, stated “It was encouraging to learn that more than one-third of couples kept passion alive, even after a decade or two together. That won’t happen on auto pilot; these couples made a conscious effort to ward off routinization of sex.”

The study, called, What Keeps Passion Alive? Sexual Satisfaction is Associated with Sexual Communication, Mood Setting, Sexual Variety, Oral Sex, Orgasm, and Sex Frequency in a National U.S. Study, appears in the The Journal of Sex Research.

Researchers examined more than 38,747 married or cohabiting heterosexual men and women in the U.S. who had been with their partner for at least three years. The average age of the sample was 40 years old for women and 46 years old for men.

Source: Chapman University

By Traci Pedersen

Children with vision problems that are not correctable with glasses or contacts, such as color blindness or lazy eye, are more likely to present with symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), according to researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

For the study, researchers looked at the data of 75,000 children ages four to 17 as part of the National Survey of Children’s Health. The findings show that more than 15 percent of children with vision impairment also had an ADHD diagnosis, compared with 8.3 percent of children with normal vision.

The researchers suggest that parents of children with both vision impairment and symptoms of ADHD should discuss these issues with their doctor.

“If a child seems to have attention problems in addition to vision problems, his or her parents may wish to discuss their child’s vision with their pediatrician and consider an eye examination as well as discussing the attention difficulties,” said lead researcher Dawn DeCarlo, O.D., Director of the UAB Center for Low Vision Rehabilitation.

The national study was carried out in response to DeCarlo’s observation that many of her patients with vision impairment also had symptoms of ADHD. As part of the study, researchers asked if the child had a vision problem not correctable with glasses or contacts. These types of vision problems might include color vision deficiency or lazy eye (amblyopia) as well as more severe types of vision impairment.

A previous paper reported an increased prevalence of ADHD among the children in her clinic.

DeCarlo cautions that just because these types of vision problems are associated with ADHD, it does not necessarily mean that one causes the other or vice versa.

“Because we do not know if the relationship is causal, we have no recommendations for prevention,” DeCarlo said. “I think it is more important that parents realize that children with vision problems may not realize they do not see as well as everyone else.”

DeCarlo says a follow-up study involving pediatricians and eye care professionals to confirm the children’s conditions would add to the findings.

In conclusion, if a child presents with both conditions, DeCarlo suggests correcting the vision problems first in case they are contributing to the ADHD symptoms. “I wouldn’t worry about their developing ADHD,” DeCarlo said. “I’d get them an eye exam and see if it fixes the problem.”

The findings are published in the journal Optometry and Vision Science.

Source: University of Alabama at Birmingham

By Traci Pedersen

Young adults with a high body mass index (BMI) may have poorer episodic memory (the ability to recall past events) than their healthy weight peers, according to a new study at the University of Cambridge.

While only a small study, the findings add to the growing body of evidence that excess body weight may be associated with changes to the structure and function of the brain and its ability to perform certain cognitive tasks optimally.

Nearly 69 percent of U.S. adults and about 60 percent of U.K. adults are overweight or obese. Obesity increases the risk of physical health problems, such as diabetes and heart disease, as well as mental health disorders, such as depression and anxiety.

“Understanding what drives our consumption and how we instinctively regulate our eating behavior is becoming more and more important given the rise of obesity in society,” said Dr. Lucy Cheke.

“We know that to some extent hunger and satiety are driven by the balance of hormones in our bodies and brains, but psychological factors also play an important role — we tend to eat more when distracted by television or working, and perhaps to ‘comfort eat’ when we are sad, for example.”

In previous studies, obesity has been linked with dysfunction of the hippocampus, an area of the brain involved in memory and learning, and of the frontal lobe, the part of the brain involved in decision making, problem solving, and emotions.

Based on these associations, researchers wanted to know whether obesity could have a direct effect on memory.

“Increasingly, we’re beginning to see that memory — especially episodic memory, the kind where you mentally relive a past event — is also important. How vividly we remember a recent meal, for example today’s lunch, can make a difference to how hungry we feel and how much we are likely to reach out for that tasty chocolate bar later on,” said Cheke.

The researchers evaluated 50 participants aged 18-35, with BMIs ranging from 18 through to 51. A BMI of 18-25 is considered healthy, 25-30 is overweight, and over 30 is obese.

The participants completed a memory test known as the “Treasure-Hunt Task,” where they were asked to hide items around complex scenes (for example, a desert with palm trees) for two days. They were then asked to remember which items they had hidden, where they had hidden them, and when they were hidden.

The findings revealed a link between higher BMI and poorer performance on the tasks.

The researchers say the findings may suggest that the structural and functional changes in the brain previously found in those with higher BMI may be accompanied by a lowered ability to form and/or retrieve episodic memories.

Since the effect was demonstrated in young adults, it adds to growing body of evidence that the cognitive impairments linked to obesity may be present early in adult life.

Since this was a small, preliminary study, the researchers caution that further research is needed to fully determine whether the findings can be generalized to overweight individuals in general, and to episodic memory in everyday life rather than in experimental conditions.

“We’re not saying that overweight people are necessarily more forgetful,” Cheke said, “but if these results are generalizable to memory in everyday life, then it could be that overweight people are less able to vividly relive details of past events such as their past meals. Research on the role of memory in eating suggests that this might impair their ability to use memory to help regulate consumption.”

“In other words, it is possible that becoming overweight may make it harder to keep track of what and how much you have eaten, potentially making you more likely to overeat.”

Cheke said this work is an important step in understanding the role of psychological factors in obesity.

“The possibility that there may be episodic memory deficits in overweight individuals is of concern, especially given the growing evidence that episodic memory may have a considerable influence on feeding behaviour and appetite regulation,” she said.

The findings are published in The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.

Source: University of Cambridge

By Janice Wood
A new imaging study shows that intense exercise boosts two critical neurotransmitters — glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) — resulting in better mental fitness.

Published in The Journal of Neuroscience, the study’s findings offer new insights into why exercise could become an important part of treating depression and other neuropsychiatric disorders linked with deficiencies in neurotransmitters, which drive communications between the brain cells that regulate physical and emotional health.

“Major depressive disorder is often characterized by depleted glutamate and GABA, which return to normal when mental health is restored,” said lead author Dr. Richard Maddock, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California Davis Health System.

“Our study shows that exercise activates the metabolic pathway that replenishes these neurotransmitters.”

The research also helps solve a question about the brain, an energy-intensive organ that consumes a lot of fuel in the form of glucose and other carbohydrates during exercise, the researcher notes.

“From a metabolic standpoint, vigorous exercise is the most demanding activity the brain encounters, much more intense than calculus or chess, but nobody knows what happens with all that energy,” Maddock said. “Apparently, one of the things it’s doing is making more neurotransmitters.”

To understand how exercise affects the brain, the team studied 38 healthy volunteers. Participants exercised on a stationary bicycle, reaching around 85 percent of their predicted maximum heart rate.

To measure glutamate and GABA, the researchers conducted a series of imaging studies using a powerful 3-tesla MRI to detect nuclear magnetic resonance spectra, which can identify several compounds based on the magnetic behavior of hydrogen atoms in molecules.

The researchers measured GABA and glutamate levels in two different parts of the brain immediately before and after three vigorous exercise sessions lasting between eight and 20 minutes. They also made similar measurements for a control group that did not exercise.

They found that glutamate or GABA levels increased in the participants who exercised, but not among the non-exercisers.

Significant increases were found in the visual cortex, which processes visual information, and the anterior cingulate cortex, which helps regulate heart rate, some cognitive functions, and emotion.

While these gains trailed off over time, there was some evidence of longer-lasting effects, the researchers reported.

“There was a correlation between the resting levels of glutamate in the brain and how much people exercised during the preceding week,” Maddock said. “It’s preliminary information, but it’s very encouraging.”

The findings point to the possibility that exercise could be used as an alternative therapy for depression, he added. This could be especially important for patients under age 25, who sometimes have more side effects from selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), anti-depressant medications that adjust neurotransmitter levels.

For follow-up studies, Maddock and the research team hope to test whether a less-intense activity, such as walking, offers similar brain benefits. They would also like to use their exercise-plus-imaging method on a study of patients with depression to determine the types of exercise that offer the greatest benefit.

“We are offering another view on why regular physical activity may be important to prevent or treat depression,” Maddock said.

“Not every depressed person who exercises will improve, but many will. It’s possible that we can help identify the patients who would most benefit from an exercise prescription.”

Source: University of California, Davis Health System

New research suggests there are three distinct types of action that bring palm to face
By David Z. Hambrick

We all make stupid mistakes from time to time. History is replete with examples. Legend has it that the Trojans accepted the Greek’s “gift” of a huge wooden horse, which turned out to be hollow and filled with a crack team of Greek commandos. The Tower of Pisa started to lean even before construction was finished—and is not even the world’s farthest leaning tower. NASA taped over the original recordings of the moon landing, and operatives for Richard Nixon’s re-election committee were caught breaking into a Watergate office, setting in motion the greatest political scandal in U.S. history. More recently, the French government spent $15 billion on a fleet of new trains, only to discover that they were too wide for some 1,300 station platforms.
We readily recognize these incidents as stupid mistakes—epic blunders. On a more mundane level, we invest in get-rich-quick schemes, drive too fast, and make posts on social media that we later regret. But what, exactly, drives our perception of these actions as stupid mistakes, as opposed to bad luck? Their seeming mindlessness? The severity of the consequences? The responsibility of the people involved? Science can help us answer these questions.
In a study just published in the journal Intelligence, using search terms such as “stupid thing to do”, Balazs Aczel and his colleagues compiled a collection of stories describing stupid mistakes from sources such as The Huffington Post and TMZ. One story described a thief who broke into a house and stole a TV and later returned for the remote; another described burglars who intended to steal cell phones but instead stole GPS tracking devices that were turned on and gave police their exact location. The researchers then had a sample of university students rate each story on the responsibility of the people involved, the influence of the situation, the seriousness of the consequences, and other factors.
Analyses of the subjects’ ratings revealed three varieties of stupid mistakes. The first is when a person’s confidence outstrips their skill, as when a Pittsburgh man robbed two banks in broad daylight without wearing a disguise, believing that lemon juice he had rubbed on his face would make him invisible to security cameras. Or, in what is widely regarded as one of the top mascot failures in history, when Wild Wing of the Anaheim Ducks caught himself on fire attempting to leap over a burning wall (cheerleaders pulled him from the flames and he returned to action later in the game, unhurt). “This story of Duck a l’Orange County is no canard. A duck could get fired for this, or at least demoted to the Rotisserie League,” the New York Times reported.
The confidence-skill disconnect has been dubbed the Dunning-Kruger effect, after a study by social psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger. Dunning and Kruger had Cornell undergraduates perform tests of humor, logic, and grammar, and then rate how well they think they performed compared to other subjects in the study. The worst performing subjects, whose scores put them in the 12th percentile, estimated that they had performed in the 62nd percentile. Summarizing the findings, Dunning noted, “Poor performers—and we are all poor performers at some things—fail to see the flaws in their thinking or the answers they lack.” When we think we are at our best is sometimes when we are at our objective worst.
As any number of political scandals illustrate, the second type of stupid mistake involves impulsive acts—when our behavior seems out of control. In the scandal that became known as Weinergate, former U.S. representative Anthony Weiner sent lewd texts and pictures of himself to women he met on Facebook. (After resigning, Weiner continued his cyber-dalliances under the nom de plume Carlos Danger, and then fell prey to the Dunning-Kruger effect when he overestimated his support in the 2013 New York City mayoral primary; he received 5% of the vote.) More recently, in Michigan, state representative Todd Courser, a Tea Party conservative, admitted to sending an anonymous email to Republican Party operatives and members of the media falsely claiming that he had been caught having sex with a male prostitute, with the aim of making expected revelations that he had an affair with fellow representative Cindy Gamrat seem like part of a smear campaign. In an audio recording of a conversation secretly made by a staff member, Courser described his self-smear strategy as a “controlled burn of me” designed to “inoculate the herd” against the as-yet-unmade allegations.
The final variety of stupid mistake involves lapses of attention—Homer Simpsonesque D’oh moments. As arguably the best example from American sports history, in the 1929 Rose Bowl, University of California star Roy Riegels recovered a fumble and returned it 65 yards the wrong way. Riegel’s blunder set up a safety for Georgia Tech, which turned out to be the deciding factor in the game. Minnesota Viking Jim Marshall, a two-time pro-bowler and team captain, duplicated the feat in a 1964 game against the San Francisco 49ers, prompting Vikings coach Norm Van Brocklin to remark after the game, “Jim, you did the most interesting thing in this game today.” Aczel and colleagues’ analyses revealed that subjects viewed this category of stupid mistake as the least stupid.
It is, of course, unrealistic to think that we could ever eliminate human error. To err will always be human. However, this research gives us a better description of our failings and foibles, and a place to start in thinking about interventions and prescriptions to help us err less. This research also reminds us of our shared human frailties. We are all prone to overestimating our abilities, to making impulsive decisions, and to lapses of attention. This simple realization makes stupid mistakes seem, perhaps, a little less stupid — and a little more human.

By Traci Pedersen
Despite the widely held view that narcissists have extremely high self-esteem, a new study shows that the traits of narcissism and high self-esteem are far more distinct and unrelated than conventional wisdom has led us to believe.

After reviewing the research literature, investigators from several universities discerned the following differences between narcissists and those with high self-esteem: Narcissists feel superior to others but don’t necessarily like themselves. In fact, narcissists’ feelings about themselves are entirely based on others’ opinions of them. On the contrary, those with high self-esteem don’t think of themselves as superior to others, and in fact, tend to accept themselves regardless of what others think about them.

“At first blush, narcissism and self-esteem seem one and the same, but they differ in their very nature,” says lead researcher researcher Eddie Brummelman at the University of Amsterdam (UVA). “Narcissists feel superior to others but aren’t necessarily satisfied with themselves.”

Research also shows that narcissists have little need for warm, intimate relationships. Their primary aim in life is to show others how superior they are, and they constantly crave and seek admiration from others. When narcissists receive the admiration they desire so badly, they feel proud and elated. But when they don’t get the attention they crave, they feel ashamed and may even react with anger and aggression.

People with high self-esteem, on the other hand, are satisfied with themselves and do not feel a sense of superiority over others. Instead, they perceive themselves as valuable individuals, but not more valuable than others. They desire close, intimate relationships with other people and do not need to be excessively admired. Those with high self-esteem rarely become aggressive or angry towards others.

Furthermore, aside from the differences in nature and consequences, narcissism and self-esteem have remarkably distinct childhood origins, and they develop differently over the lifespan, the authors point out.

In summary, high self-esteem is a positive, life-enhancing quality, while narcissism is an unhealthy trait that ultimately leads to unhappiness. Intervention efforts should help those with narcissistic traits develop true self-esteem.

“The distinction between narcissism and self-esteem has important implications for intervention efforts. Over the past few decades, Western youth have become increasingly narcissistic. It is therefore important to develop interventions that curb narcissism and raise self-esteem,” says Brummelman.

Brummelman conducted the research with Sander Thomaes at Utrecht University and University of Southampton and Constantine Sedikides at the University of Southampton.

Their findings are published in the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science.

Source: University of Amsterdam

By Janice Wood
A new study shows that the age at which an adolescent starts using marijuana affects which parts of the brain will be affected.

Researchers at the Center for BrainHealth at the University of Texas at Dallas found that study participants who began using marijuana when they were 16 or younger had brain variations that indicate arrested brain development in the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for judgment, reasoning, and complex thinking.

Those who started using after age 16 showed the opposite effect, demonstrating signs of accelerated brain aging, according to the study, which was published in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience.

“Science has shown us that changes in the brain occurring during adolescence are complex. Our findings suggest that the timing of cannabis use can result in very disparate patterns of effects,” said Francesca Filbey, Ph.D., principal investigator. “Not only did age of use impact the brain changes, but the amount of cannabis used also influenced the extent of altered brain maturation.”

For the study, the researchers analyzed MRI scans of 42 heavy marijuana users; 20 participants were categorized as early onset users with a mean age of 13.18, while 22 were labeled as late onset users with a mean age of 16.9.

According to self-reports, all the participants, who ranged in age from 21 to 50, began using marijuana during adolescence and continued throughout adulthood, using at least once a week.

According to Filbey, in typical adolescent brain development, the brain prunes neurons, which results in reduced cortical thickness and greater gray and white matter contrast. Typical pruning also leads to increased gyrification, which is the addition of wrinkles or folds on the brain’s surface.

However, in this study, MRI results reveal that the more marijuana early onset users consumed, the greater their cortical thickness, the less gray and white matter contrast, and the less intricate the gyrification, as compared to late onset users.

This indicates that when participants began using marijuana before age 16, the extent of brain alteration was directly proportionate to the number of weekly marijuana use in years and grams consumed.

In contrast, those who began using marijuana after age 16 showed brain changes that would normally manifest later in life: Thinner cortical thickness, and stronger gray and white matter contrast.

“In the early onset group, we found that how many times an individual uses and the amount of marijuana used strongly relates to the degree to which brain development does not follow the normal pruning pattern,” she said.

“The effects observed were above and beyond effects related to alcohol use and age. These findings are in line with the current literature that suggest that cannabis use during adolescence can have long-term consequences.”

Source: Center for BrainHealth at The University of Texas at Dallas

By Traci Pedersen
People who survived the Holocaust faced a significantly greater risk for developing schizophrenia compared to those who were indirectly affected, according to a new comprehensive study conducted at the University of Haifa in Israel. Among all survivors, the highest rates of schizophrenia were found in those who had been born into the Holocaust.

“The exposure to protracted multiple maximal physical, social, and psychological adversities of the Holocaust increased the risk of survivors developing schizophrenia,” said researcher Stephen Levine, Ph.D.

Holocaust researchers have long documented how survivors were at greater risk of emotional distress and various psychiatric disorders, such as sleeping disorders. However, until now no study has examined the effect of Holocaust exposure on the risk of developing schizophrenia.

For the study, the researchers examined comprehensive population-based data on 113,932 European Jews from nations where the Holocaust occurred. The population was split into two groups.

The first group included those who were indirectly exposed to the Holocaust. Although they had immigrated to Israel before the Holocaust began in their country of origin, they still had relatives, friends, or colleagues who were exposed to it.

The second group included those who were directly exposed to the Holocaust. These individuals did not immigrate to Israel until after the end of the Second World War.

The findings reveal that individuals with direct exposure to the Holocaust had a 27 percent higher chance of developing schizophrenia than those who were not directly exposed to it.

Furthermore, within the directly exposed group, people with the highest risk of developing schizophrenia were those born during the Holocaust and who continued to experience it afterward. This group’s risk of developing schizophrenia was 41 percent higher than the group with indirect Holocaust exposure.

The researchers note that the disruption of normal neurological development in childhood most likely increased the risk of developing schizophrenia. This would support the hypothesis that neurological development in young children is a critical period for subsequent development later in life.

“The study results are not entirely intuitive, as scholars disagree as to the consequences of Holocaust exposure,” Levine said. “Some researchers claim that Holocaust survivors were stronger and healthier. Selective mortality induced by the Nazis systematically murdered more vulnerable people, leaving the fittest to survive. This school of thought would anticipate that survivors would be at a reduced risk of developing schizophrenia.

“Conversely, other scholars have argued that irrespective of the fact that the strongest survived, protracted exposure to extreme trauma made Holocaust survivors vulnerable to developing schizophrenia. This study is consistent with the latter argument.”

Source: University of Haifa

By Traci Pedersen
The long-term risk of suicide is three times higher for adults who have suffered from a concussion during the workweek, compared to the general population, according to a new study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ).

The risk for suicide was even greater if the concussion occurred on a weekend, which may suggest people are more prone to severe concussions through recreational accidents rather than accidents at work.

“Given the quick usual resolution of symptoms, physicians may underestimate the adverse effects of concussion and its relevance in a patient’s history,” said Dr. Donald Redelmeier, senior core scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) and a physician at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario.

“Greater attention to the long-term implications of a concussion might save lives because deaths from suicide can be prevented.”

In 2010, there were 38,364 deaths from suicide in the United States and 3,951 in Canada. Concussion is the most common brain injury in adults. Each year, there are about four million cases of concussions in the United States and about 400,000 in Canada.

“The link between concussion and suicide is not confined to professional athletes or military veterans,” said Michael Fralick, a coauthor and medical trainee at the University of Toronto.

For the study, researchers looked at anonymized records for 235,110 patients with concussion over a 20-year period in Ontario, Canada, using diagnostic codes from the health insurance database.

The investigators specifically compared concussions that occurred on a weekend or a weekday to distinguish between recreational and occupational injuries. The mean age of the patients was 41 years, about half were men, and the majority lived in cities. Most had no prior suicide attempt, hospitalization or past psychiatric disorder.

After a follow-up period of nearly nine and a half years, the researchers found that there had been 667 suicides. Patients diagnosed with a concussion on weekdays accounted for 519 suicides and an absolute suicide risk three times the population norm (29 suicides per 100,000 people a year).

Patients who had suffered from a concussion on weekends accounted for 148 suicides and an absolute suicide risk four times that of the population norm (39 per 100,000 a year).

The mean time from concussion to subsequent suicide was 5.7 years. Additional concussions were linked to a greater risk of suicide. Most of the patients had visited their family physician in the month before suicide. The most common mechanism was a drug overdose, and the average age at death was 44 years.

Previous research has shown an association between concussion and suicide. However, “no past study, to our knowledge, has focused on concussions and tested the potential difference between weekends and weekdays,” write the authors.

“The increased long-term risk of suicide observed in this study persisted among those who had no psychiatric risk factors and was distinctly larger than among patients after an ankle sprain.”

The researchers hope these findings will help doctors and patients better understand the risks of concussion and prevent possible suicides.

Source: Canadian Medical Association Journal

Rick Nauert PhD
For many children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), symptoms decrease as they age. For some children, however, the symptoms persist, and a new study implicates persistent parental criticism.

“Why ADHD symptoms decline in some children as they reach adolescence and not for others is an important phenomenon to be better understood. The finding here is that children with ADHD whose parents regularly expressed high levels of criticism over time were less likely to experience this decline in symptoms,” said Erica Musser, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology at Florida International University and lead author of the study.

The study appears in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology.

Musser and her colleagues studied a sample of 388 children with ADHD and 127 without, as well as their families, over three years. Of the children with ADHD, 69 percent were male, 79 percent were white, and 75 percent came from two-parent households.

The researchers measured change in ADHD symptoms over that period and measured the parents’ levels of criticism and emotional involvement.

Parents were asked to talk about their relationship with their child uninterrupted for five minutes. Audio recordings of these sessions were then rated by experts for levels of criticism (harsh, negative statements about the child, rather than the child’s behavior) and emotional over-involvement (overprotective feelings toward the child).

Measurements were taken on two occasions one year apart.

Only sustained parental criticism (high levels at both measurements, not just one) was associated with the continuance of ADHD symptoms in the children who had been diagnosed with ADHD.

“The novel finding here is that children with ADHD whose families continued to express high levels of criticism over time failed to experience the usual decline in symptoms with age and instead maintained persistent, high levels of ADHD symptoms,” said Musser.

While the findings indicate an association between sustained parental criticism and ADHD symptoms over time, this doesn’t mean one thing causes the other, said Musser.

“We cannot say, from our data, that criticism is the cause of the sustained symptoms,” she said. That is, a cause-and-effect relationship between a hypercritical parent and the extension of ADHD symptoms can not be inferred from the current study.

Nevertheless, improved parenting behavior as well as other interventions to reduce symptoms may be beneficial.

“Interventions to reduce parental criticism could lead to a reduction in ADHD symptoms, but other efforts to improve the severe symptoms of children with ADHD could also lead to a reduction in parental criticism, creating greater well-being in the family over time.”

Source: American Psychological Association/EurekAlert

By Rick Nauert PhD
A new study has discovered that meditation and aerobic exercise together reduce depression.

The Rutgers University study found that this mind and body combination, done twice a week for only two months, reduced the symptoms for a group of students by 40 percent.

Researchers believe the study shows that an individual, personal intervention can relieve depression at any time and for no cost.

The study has been published in the journal Translational Psychiatry.

“We are excited by the findings because we saw such a meaningful improvement in both clinically depressed and non-depressed students,” said lead author Dr. Brandon Alderman, assistant professor in the Department of Exercise Science and Sport Studies.

“It is the first time that both of these two behavioral therapies have been looked at together for dealing with depression.”

Researchers believe the two activities have a synergistic effect in combating depression.

Alderman and Dr. Tracey Shors, professor in the Department of Psychology and Center for Collaborative Neuroscience, discovered that a combination of mental and physical training (MAP) enabled students with major depressive disorder not to let problems or negative thoughts overwhelm them.

“Scientists have known for a while that both of these activities alone can help with depression,” said Shors. “But this study suggests that when done together, there is a striking improvement in depressive symptoms along with increases in synchronized brain activity.”

Researchers followed men and women over an eight-week program. Participants included 22 suffering with depression and 30 mentally healthy students.

At the end of the study, group members reported fewer depressive symptoms and said they did not spend as much time worrying about negative situations taking place in their lives as they did before the study began.

This group also provided MAP training to young mothers who had been homeless but were living at a residential treatment facility when they began the study. The women exhibited severe depressive symptoms and elevated anxiety levels at the beginning of the study.

However, by the end of the eighth week, they too, reported that their depression and anxiety had eased. The women also reported feeling more motivated, and were able to focus more positively on their lives.

Depression, a debilitating disorder that affects nearly one in five Americans sometime in their lives, often occurs in adolescence or young adulthood.

Until recently, the most common treatment for depression has been psychotropic medications that influence brain chemicals involved in regulating emotions. Cognitive behavioral therapy or talk therapy can also reduce depression but the intervention takes considerable time and commitment on the part of the patient.

Rutgers researchers say those who participated in the study began with 30 minutes of focused attention meditation followed by 30 minutes of aerobic exercise. They were told that if their thoughts drifted to the past or the future they should refocus on their breathing, enabling those with depression to accept moment-to-moment changes in attention.

Shors, who studies the production of new brain cells in the hippocampus — part of the brain involved in memory and learning — says even though neurogenesis cannot be monitored in humans, scientists have shown in animal models that aerobic exercise increases the number of new neurons and effortful learning keeps a significant number of those cells alive.

The idea for the human intervention came from her laboratory studies, she says, with the main goal of helping individuals acquire new skills so that they can learn to recover from stressful life events.

By learning to focus their attention and exercise, people who are fighting depression can acquire new cognitive skills that can help them process information and reduce the overwhelming recollection of memories from the past, Shors says.

“We know these therapies can be practiced over a lifetime and that they will be effective in improving mental and cognitive health,” said Alderman.

“The good news is that this intervention can be practiced by anyone at any time and at no cost.”

Source: Rutgers University

By Janice Wood
A new study shows that people with sleep apnea show significant changes in the levels of two important brain chemicals.

This could be the reason so many people with sleep apnea — a disorder in which a person’s breathing is frequently interrupted during sleep, as many as 30 times an hour — report problems with thinking, such as poor concentration, difficulty with memory and decision-making, depression and stress.

Researchers at the University of California Los Angeles School of Nursing looked at levels of the neurotransmitters glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid, known as GABA, in a brain region called the insula. This area integrates signals from higher brain regions to regulate emotion, thinking, and physical functions, such as blood pressure and perspiration.

They found that people with sleep apnea had decreased levels of GABA and unusually high levels of glutamate.

GABA is a chemical messenger that acts as an inhibitor in the brain, which can slow things down and help keep people calm. It affects mood and helps make endorphins, researchers explain.

Glutamate, by contrast, is like an accelerator. When glutamate levels are high, the brain is working in a state of stress, and consequently doesn’t function as effectively. High levels of glutamate can also be toxic to nerves and neurons, the researchers noted.

“In previous studies, we’ve seen structural changes in the brain due to sleep apnea, but in this study we actually found substantial differences in these two chemicals that influence how the brain is working,” said Dr. Paul Macey, the lead researcher on the study and an associate professor at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Nursing.

Macey said the researchers were taken aback by the differences in the GABA and glutamate levels.

“It is rare to have this size of difference in biological measures,” he said. “We expected an increase in the glutamate, because it is a chemical that causes damage in high doses and we have already seen brain damage from sleep apnea. What we were surprised to see was the drop in GABA. That made us realize that there must be a reorganization of how the brain is working.”

He added that the study’s results are actually encouraging.

“In contrast with damage, if something is working differently, we can potentially fix it,” he said.

“What comes with sleep apnea are these changes in the brain, so in addition to prescribing continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP, physicians now know to pay attention to helping their patients who have these other symptoms,” he continued. “Stress, concentration, memory loss — these are the things people want fixed.”

A CPAP machine helps an individual sleep easier, and is considered the gold standard treatment for sleep disturbance.

In future studies, the researchers said they hope to determine whether treating sleep apnea using CPAP or other methods returns patients’ brain chemicals back to normal levels.

If not, they will turn to the question of what treatments could be more effective. The researchers said they are also studying the impacts of mindfulness exercises to see if they can reduce glutamate levels by calming the brain.

The study, conducted at the University of California, Los Angeles Sleep Disorder Center, was published in the Journal of Sleep Research.

Source: University of California Los Angeles

By Traci Pedersen
Around 10 percent of primary care patients who are prescribed antidepressants for depression or anxiety have undiagnosed bipolar disorder, according to a new UK study published in the British Journal of General Practice (BJGP).

Bipolar disorder is a mental illness characterized by strong fluctuations in a patient’s mood, energy, activity levels, and the ability to carry out everyday tasks. Approximately eight percent of the population suffers from recurring depression, and about one percent suffers from bipolar disorder.

Bipolar disorder can be difficult to diagnose initially as many patients tend to seek help for the troubling symptom of depression first. Patients who have experienced symptoms of mania (such as increased energy and activity, increased confidence, over-talkativeness, or being easily distracted) often don’t recognize these symptoms as significant or problematic and therefore don’t mention them to their doctor.

This often leads to inappropriate treatment, such as the prescription of antidepressants without mood-stabilizing medication. Many bipolar patients respond very poorly to antidepressants alone as they can intensify mania and worsen the disorder. When bipolar disorder is diagnosed, drug treatment should include a mood-stabilizing drug such as lithium, with or without an antidepressant.

The study, conducted by researchers from Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and the School of Medicine at the University of Leeds, involved young adult patients from general practices.

The researchers discovered that among patients aged 16-40 years who had been prescribed antidepressants for depression or anxiety, around 10 percent had unrecognized bipolar disorder. This was more common among younger patients and in those who reported more severe episodes of depression.

These findings suggest that health care professionals should review the life histories of patients with anxiety or depression, particularly younger patients and those who are not responding well to medication or treatment, for evidence of bipolar disorder.

“Bipolar disorder is a serious problem, with high levels of disability and the risk of suicide. When it is present in depressed patients it can easily be overlooked. Under-diagnosis and over-diagnosis of illnesses bring problems,” said Dr. Tom Hughes, consultant psychiatrist at Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Leeds.

Hughes added that he hopes these new findings will help doctors and patients better recognize bipolar disorder, which he calls an “important and disabling condition.”

Source: University of Leeds

By Rick Nauert PhD
New research suggests overparenting, known as helicopter parenting, may hinder a child’s development. Investigators found this can occur when parents become too obsessed with homework, particularly in middle school and high school.

Investigators from Queensland University of Technology (QUT) followed 866 parents from three Brisbane Catholic/independent schools.

They found those who endorse overparenting beliefs tend to take more responsibility for their child doing their homework and also expect their child’s teachers to take more responsibility for it.

“There is concern this greater parental involvement in ensuring homework is completed, particularly in high school, is actually impacting the child’s ability to take responsibility for their homework or understand the consequences of their actions,” said QUT Clinical Psychologist Dr. Judith Locke.

“The irony is a helicopter parenting style with the goal of fostering academic achievement could be undermining the development of independent and resilient performance in their children.

“Parental involvement is a child’s school experience is considered an important factor in their academic success and homework is a key aspect of that.

“However it seems some parents may take the notion too far and continue to assist children at an age the child should be taking most of the responsibility for their academic work, such as the senior school years.

“Parental assistance with homework should slowly reduce as a child gets older and daily parental involvement in an adolescent’s homework would be developmentally inappropriate.

“These parents appear to not only help their child more, they also expect their child’s teachers to help them more, particularly in the middle school and senior school years.

“We know from recent research, that there may be a point where parental assistance ceases to be beneficial, especially as children reach adolescence and young adulthood, and can result in poor resilience, entitlement, and reduced sense of responsibility.”

Dr. Locke said studies in America which reported on parental over-involvement in a student’s university life found it to be extremely detrimental.

“Some parents choose their adult child’s subjects, edit, or complete their assignments and badger lecturers to improve their child’s grades,” Dr Locke said.

“When these parents are making these decisions or providing academic pressure it has been found the adult student disengages from their education and often has increased depression and decreased satisfaction with life.

“The results of this study may go some way to explain why some parents are continuing to be highly involved in their adult child’s academic life.”

The study will be published by the Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools.

Researchers used the new Locke Parenting Scale (LPS) overparenting measure to quantify parenting involvement. Participating parents completed online questionnaires about their parenting beliefs and intentions, and their attitudes associated with their child’s homework.

“Parental help can be constructive by showing interest and coaching them to complete their work, but unconstructive assistance includes telling a child the right answer or taking over from them when they are completing school tasks,” Locke said.

“Those who scored highly on the LPS measure in our study may have been reacting to greater academic difficulties of their child and without an objective measure of the child’s academic skills we cannot rule that out.

“However, this study is one of the first to indicate that overparenting may result in parenting actions and expectations of their child’s school which may not enable children to fully develop academic responsibility and self-regulation skills.”

Locke believes future research should examine whether extreme parental attitudes and reported behaviors have a negative effect on students or result in children taking more responsibility for their homework.

Source: Queensland University of Technology

By Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S.
Happy Marriage MythsThere are many myths about what a healthy marriage looks and feels like. When we start seeing these myths as facts, we get into problematic territory. Many myths create unrealistic standards, which when we bring into our homes and apply to our relationship can hinder them. For instance, if you think you should only attend therapy when your problems are dire, you might be waiting way too long.

Below, Lena Aburdene Derhally, MS, LPC, a psychotherapist and relationship expert, shared three myths and the associated facts, along with several practical tips.

Myth: Our problems are too minor for counseling

Many of the couples Derhally sees feel shameful about going to therapy because their friends say that it means they shouldn’t be together or they’re a lost cause. But Derhally is actually a big proponent of attending therapy or a workshop early on in your relationship when issues are still minor. For instance, you might attend premarital counseling.

Most of the unmarried couples she sees find that their issues can be resolved. And when they work through them before getting married, they create a strong foundation and a renewed bond, said Derhally, a certified Imago Relationship therapist practicing in Washington, D.C.

“[N]o one in life teaches us how to be in a relationship, what contributes to relationship dynamics or conflict, and effective communication skills for couples.” Even couples who have good relationship skills will come in for a maintenance session or to reconnect, she said.

That’s because minor issues can evolve into big problems. “Problems in marriages can arise when we keep things under the surface for a long time because they don’t feel like something egregious or a big deal.” Addressing those feelings and concerns stops them from metastasizing.

What issues do couples typically work through? According to Derhally, these might include anything from resolving conflict in a peaceful way to appreciating each other’s differences (“instead of being triggered by them”).

When is a good time to seek therapy? For instance, seek therapy when you have trouble communicating with your partner, you keep having the same argument without any resolution, or you feel disconnected from your partner, Derhally said.

Myth: Monotony is bad for my relationship

We often hear in the media that monotony is bad for a marriage. We’re told that we must keep things fresh and exciting or our relationship will be doomed.

But while it’s important to spice things up, Derhally said, it’s more important to appreciate our spouse in the everyday. “Routines and predictability also bring a level of safety and stability in times when everything else seems chaotic.” Feeling safe and trusting our spouses are important for a healthy relationship. Plus, it’s simply impossible to sustain excitement in a relationship all the time, she said.

How can you appreciate your partner? “It may sound morbid but I tell people to try to picture your life without this person. What would your life look like and what would you really miss?” Derhally also suggested focusing on your spouse’s positives and on the good your partner brings into your life versus the negative and what your spouse isn’t doing.

Myth: I have to put my spouse first. Always.

Derhally frequently hears people say that a successful marriage involves putting your spouse first and foremost. “While it is true that your partner should be a top priority, to think that your partner will and should always be your number one partner is unrealistic.” She shared this example: You have very young children whose needs have to come first (since they can’t care for themselves). Or you have a sick parent who requires your care and attention.

Instead Derhally suggested thinking about it this way: “Your partner should always be one of your top priorities.” Maybe your spouse is “equal to the needs of the children, and sometimes external factors require your partner to be present for someone else.” The key is for couples to come back to each other and reconnect regularly.

For more, read Derhally’s piece, a response to this viral article about “how American parenting is killing the American marriage.”

“If we accept the reality that relationships can sometimes be boring, sometimes be monotonous [and] that life will throw us curveballs [which won’t] always allow our spouse to put us first…, we can find the beauty in imperfections in our relationships,” Derhally said. Because relationships are messy, and they don’t necessarily follow smooth paths. And we can refocus on the strength of our bond, she said.

By W. R. Cummings
Did you know the term “ADD” is no longer used in the fields of medicine and psychology?

It’s true. ADHD is now the only term used, but it’s broken up into three different classifications. A person can have “Inattentive ADHD,” “Hyperactive ADHD,” or “Combined ADHD.”

I want to explain the differences of these to you because it’s important for people to be properly informed. The general public is still using the term “ADD,” which is no longer accurate and can cause miscommunication errors when used inappropriately. For us to fully understand the people in our lives who have ADHD, and for us to be able to help them in the way they need, we have to know what’s going on with them ,specifically.

Just because Billy has ADHD, and Susie has ADHD, and Jimmy has ADHD, that does not mean that Billy and Susie and Jimmy will all show the same symptoms of the disorder. We need to be able to distinguish between the three different types, and we have to learn not to stereotype anyone!

Each person/kid/teen with ADHD is so different.

Here are the three different types of ADHD…

According to WebMD, “Inattentive ADHD” manifests in the following ways:

— Daydreaming
— Shifting from task to task without finishing anything
— Becoming easily distracted
— Missing important details (habitually)
— Making careless mistakes in homework and tests
— Getting bored quickly
— Having trouble getting organized (for example, losing homework assignments or keeping the bedroom messy and cluttered)
— Seemingly not listening when spoken to
— Slowness to understand information
— Having trouble following instructions

* * * * * *

Contrastingly, WebMD explains that “Hyperactive ADHD” (or “Impulsive ADHD”) manifests in the following ways:

— Fidgeting (not being able to sit still)
— Seemingly not listening when spoken to
— Talking incessantly
— Trouble doing quiet tasks, such as reading
— Touching and getting into everything
— Running from place to place
— Banging into people or objects
— Acting like he or she is “driven by a motor”
— Constantly jumping or climbing (on furniture or other inappropriate places)
— Not having patience
— Blurting out comments at inappropriate times
— Interrupting conversations or speaking out of turn
— Trouble waiting for a turn or standing in line

* * * * * *

There’s also a third type of ADHD, though, which encompasses both of the previously stated branches of ADHD. It’s called “Combined ADHD,” and it manifests with the symptoms of both Inattentive ADHD and Hyperactive/Impulsive ADHD.

People who have Combined ADHD have a hard time paying attention and listening to what’s being said, but they also can’t sit still or stay quiet. Whereas Inattentive ADHD kids are kind of known as the “daydreamers,” and Hyperactive-Impulsive ADHD kids are known as the “goers,” Combined ADHD kids are known as the “daydreaming goers.”

They have double the symptoms, and, therefore, double the obstacles when it comes to learning and functioning within society’s walls.

If someone you love has been diagnosed with Combined ADHD, and you’d like to help them live more easily, you can find helpful advice here through “Right Diagnosis.”

* * * * * *

Please keep in mind that all diagnoses come with varying levels of intensity/severity. Two children can be diagnosed with the same type of ADHD (Hyperactive ADHD, for example), and one child will only show hyper-activeness sometimes, while the other will show it twenty-four hours a day. Every person is different, especially if other diagnoses are added in, too, like Autism or OCD.

No two cases are ever identical so try to remember that we can’t put people in boxes. We can only spend time with them, learn who they are on a deeper level, and offer them help in the specific way they require.

* * * * * *

Do you have any questions about the three different types of ADHD? If so, feel free to comment below. We’d love to help!

Do you know someone who’s been diagnosed with one of these three branches of ADHD? Let us know about that, too! Matching up parents/families of children with ADHD is kind of our specialty.

Do you have any advice to give for any of these three types of ADHD? Throw it all our way. We love to hear practical, life-changing advice that people are actually implementing into their daily lives.