In July 2009, a woman brought her husband to the hospital where our colleagues work in western Kenya. She reported that for several years he had been behaving abnormally, sleeping poorly, hearing voices that no one else could hear, and believing that people were talking about him and plotting to harm him.
Although depression and anxiety affect millions of people worldwide, there’s still much we don’t know about them. In fact, we still don’t fully understand which brain regions are involved in depression and anxiety, and how they differ between people with varying symptoms.
Europe is dealing with its “second wave” of COVID-19. And governments seem powerless to stem the tide. Dutch political leaders find it difficult to convince their citizens to wear face masks.
- By Sarah Mane
One day at a retreat - I was quite young at the time - I was in a group, and we were asked to fall deeply still and find a restful place within. Then, when we opened our eyes, we saw a projected image of a beautiful peach-coloured rose...
- By Evita March
We cannot psychoanalyse Trump from a distance, though I am sure many of us have tried. We can, however, apply psychological theories and models to understand the denial of defeat.
- By Rick Lewis
We might say there are two types of mind within us -- the mind that is generative and the mind that is receptive. Generative mind keeps us awake at night, playing nonexistent chess games with the circumstances of our lives.
Trust is a crucial component of effective public health policy. It is also a two-way street. People need to trust the authorities – universities, employers, the government – that are asking them to behave in a certain way, but they also need to feel trusted by these authorities.
What is guilt? Most people know the answer. It's the feeling of responsibility for doing something wrong, or having done something wrong in the past. I would say we all have this feeling of guilt. It's universal. We've all made mistakes, sometimes big ones. And feelings of guilt are too often the result.
The success of second lockdowns around the UK will depend not just on people following the general rules but also on positive cases and their contacts self-isolating entirely.
COVID-19 has been a humbling experience. From a frayed pandemic early-warning system to a shortage of personal protective equipment for front-line workers, public health experts have been playing catch up. But it has also been a teachable moment.
Already experiencing pandemic fatigue, many of us feel ill-prepared for another lockdown. Yet this is what we must do, and maybe not for the last time.
All’s well that ends well, wrote William Shakespeare in 1623. The words may still seem to ring true today, but turns out they don’t. We have just busted the old myth in a recent brain imaging experiment, published in the Journal of Neuroscience.
Children are naturally inquisitive and tolerant. Many constantly ask questions. At some point, most of them – most of us – just stop. Why does this happen?
Ever had the feeling that you can’t make sense of what’s happening? One moment everything seems normal, then suddenly the frame shifts to reveal a world on fire, struggling with pandemic, recession, climate change and political upheaval.
The medieval Japanese experienced crises that inflicted tragedies and unexpected deaths on many ordinary people
Many of us have been holding back and storing unfelt emotions. What's the purpose? Unfortunately, the reason behind suppressed emotions is self-defeating. Holding back from "feeling your feelings" is usually how we try to protect ourselves from being hurt. However...
A new study explores why people make a “non-click” choice, a decision to not respond to some social media posts, even when they spend time as “lurkers” of the content.
Our frustration is palatable now, in a hate-filled political environment where misinformation and outright lying has become the norm. Who to vote for, what to do? No wonder ideas like stocking up on ammunition seem reasonable to some people. But there’s another option: vote for peace.
Some of our fears are so slight, or come up so rarely, that we ignore them for the most part. Yet, all our fears are with us constantly whether or not we acknowledge their presence. They reside in our subconscious and create havoc in our life. Whether your fear is of death or of spiders, that fear runs your life.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently revised its guidance to acknowledge that COVID-19 can be spread through tiny airborne particles, known as aerosols.
- By Jean Walters
You have been instructed to worry and fret all of your life. This has occurred through all sorts of means—school, friends, religious doctrine, literature, television, movies, history, and family. The idea of worrying about your family has even been exalted as a form of love. It is NOT! Worry is a mental construct that obstructs flow and naturalness.
- By Jay Maddock
Pandemic fatigue is not unique to precautions like sticking with social distancing, masking up and keeping your hands washed.
For those of us who insist on seeing the glass half full, even when the miserable brigade point out that it’s also half empty, COVID-19 poses particular challenges.