Maia Szalavitz

Maia Szalavitz is a neuroscience journalist obsessed with addiction, love, evidence-based living, empathy, fertility and pretty much everything related to brain and behavior. Szalavitz is the co-author of Born for Love: Why Empathy is Essential — and Endangered (Morrow, 2010) and The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog (Basic, 2006), both with Dr. Bruce D. Perry. She is the author of Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids (Riverhead, 2006), the first book-length exposé of the “tough love” business. Szalavitz’s work has been published in TIME Magazine, the New York Times, Elle, Scientific American Mind, the Washington Post, New Scientist and Psychology Today, among many others. She is the winner of the American Psychological Associations Division 50 Award for Contributions to the Addictions.

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Stoned Driving Nearly Doubles the Risk of a Fatal Crash

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People who drive within three hours of smoking marijuana are at nearly twice the risk of being in an accident that leads to serious injury or death, compared with sober drivers, according to a new review of the research.

The Relationship Between Bullying and Depression: It’s Complicated

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Depressed kids may become targets for bullies, a new study finds.

New Diagnosis in Teen Tic Disorder: What Is PANDAS?

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A doctor says the Le Roy teens’ mysterious tic disorder may have been set off by strep infection.

Is Twitter Really More Addictive than Alcohol? The Vagaries of Will and Desire

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Twitter and Facebook are harder to resist than alcohol and cigarettes, but so is the urge to work, according to new research on people’s daily struggles with self-control and desire.

The Le Roy Teen Mystery: How to Treat Mass Psychogenic Illness

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A psychologist talks about how “contagious” psychological disorders may be fanned by fear, anxiety and the media.

Siblings Brain Study Sheds Light on the Roots of Addiction

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Why do some people get addicted while others remain immune to the lure of drugs?

How Massage Helps Heal Muscles and Relieve Pain

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Massage may work as well as drugs like aspirin or Advil in easing pain from intense exercise.

Mysterious Tics in Teen Girls: What Is Mass Psychogenic Illness?

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About a dozen upstate New York girls have been diagnosed with a psychogenic disorder. Does that make their symptoms any less real?

Updated Guidelines for Treating Babies Exposed to Drugs in the Womb

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The question of how best to help babies who have been exposed to drugs in the womb — including prescription pain medications, antidepressants and illicit drugs like methamphetamine and cocaine — can be an emotionally charged issue.

‘Mind Reading’: Q&A with Susan Cain on the Power of Introverts

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Are you the quiet, retiring type? You’re not alone. To find out more, read TIME’s cover story, “The Upside of Being an Introvert,” available to subscribers here.