If you were afraid to drive over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, as I am, would it help you to watch a friend do it first? New research suggests that watching someone else safely interact with a supposedly harmful object—like a spider, clown, small space, or ginormous bridge—can extinguish our conditioned fear responses and prevent them from resurfacing later on....
As much stigma as there lives in American homes regarding mental illness, it’s much worse in other countries. Gayathri Ramprasad grew up in Bangalore, India, where traditional Hindu culture has no concept of depression. There was no doctor to diagnose her anxiety disorder as an adolescent girl nor medicine to treat the condition. Now, as...
A good friend of mine recently considered applying for an executive position at her marketing firm, a step up the managerial ladder from her job. The position paid a higher salary but would require some late nights, weekend work, and would involve more of the administrative tedium that bored her to death. She procrastinated completing...
Grief and depression share similar symptoms: sadness, tears, lack of appetite, difficulty sleeping. It is easy to mistake one for the other. When people experience major upheavels–such as the death of a loved one or pet, a move to a different community, or dealing with a life-threatening illness in a loved one or yourself—it is...
Awhile back I mentioned a few strategies that help me be productive at work. Everyday Health’s Madeline Vann names 8 Career Success Strategies for Bipolar Disorder in a recent feature. I excerpted from her piece below: 1. Set Up Some Structure “Ideally a very structured work environment would go a long way to preventing stressors,” says...