Parents Allowed: Family-Focused Therapy Works Better for Teens with Eating Disorders
Treatment for anorexia has traditionally focused on individual rehabilitation of the patient, often in a residential treatment center away from the family.
Szalavitz's latest book is Born for Love: Why Empathy Is Essential — and Endangered. It is co-written with Dr. Bruce Perry, a leading expert in the neuroscience of child trauma and recovery.
Maia Szalavitz
Maia Szalavitz is a neuroscience journalist obsessed with addiction, love, evidence-based living, empathy and pretty much everything related to brain and behavior. She 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. Her 2006 book, Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids (Riverhead, 2006) is the first book-length exposé of the “tough love” business. Szalavitz 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 has been awarded the American Psychological Associations Division 50 Award for Contributions to the Addictions and the Media Award from the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology.
Articles from Contributor
Study: Why Child Abuse Investigations Don’t Help Kids
Child welfare agencies have a thankless task: investigate reports of child maltreatment and determine, first, whether they are true or false, then whether more damage will be done by a) leaving children in a potentially harmful …
What’s in Your Marijuana? Some Pot Doesn’t Rot Your Memory
Want fewer “Dude, where’s my car?” moments but not ready to give up the weed? A new study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry suggests that variations in the chemical makeup of different strains of marijuana are …
30 Years Since ‘Jimmy’s World’: The Media and Drugs
This week marks the 30th anniversary of one of journalism’s most embarrassing events: the publication of “Jimmy’s World,” a completely fabricated front-page story about a child junkie in Southeast Washington, D.C.
Mansplaining: Stressed Men Feel Your Pain Less, But Women Feel It More
Ever go to your guy for support only to get off-the-mark advice? New research suggests that physical differences in the brain’s response to stress may be to blame. When stressed, men show less activity in brain regions needed to …
If I’m Drunk, Then You Stepped On My Toes On Purpose
Why does heavy drinking sometimes lead to violence? A new study — nicely examined by the British Psychological Society on its blog here — offers one clue.
Why Spoiled Babies Grow Up to Be Smarter, Kinder Kids
Can extra nurturing during infancy make your child kinder and smarter?
Common Sense v. Politics: Should Federal Addiction and Alcohol Agencies Be Merged?
It seems like a no-brainer. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) currently has two bodies devoted to studying problems of addiction: the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the National Institute on …
Addiction Files: Recovering From Drug Addiction, Without Abstinence
In this installment of Healthland’s series on addiction, we speak with Howard Josepher, a former heroin addict who has been an energetic and committed advocate for people with addictions for more than 40 years.
Mad Men’s Jon Hamm Knows a Thing or Two About Beating Depression
Mad Men‘s dashing Jon Hamm, the actor who plays confident, masterful adman Don Draper, hasn’t always felt so on top of things.
Will the Government’s Drug Take-Back Do Anything to Reduce Misuse?
Uncle Sam wants your drugs! This Saturday the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is sponsoring a nationwide prescription drug “take-back,” at 4,000 locations around the country.
How Religion Was Edited Out of AA’s Bible: Early ‘Big Book’ Manuscript Soon to Be Published
The “Big Book” of Alcoholics Anonymous has long been seen as holy writ by AA members. But for the first time ever, recovering alcoholics, scholars and the public will have access to the original manuscript, including editorial …
Phony Cancers and Self-Inflicted Acid Attacks: A National Outbreak of Munchausen’s?
The stories boggle the mind: in August, a 28-year-old Washington woman claimed to be the victim of a mindless acid attack, and almost won the ultimate prize in attention-seeking — an appearance on Oprah — before admitting she …
