The best cure for loneliness may not be seeking the company of others, but rather, just the opposite: focusing inward and addressing the negative thoughts that underlie loneliness in the first place.
Mental Health
Looking Too Short or Fat on Film? A New Program Can Fix That
New software developed at Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Informatics can change the shape of an actor’s body onscreen, giving him longer legs, a more muscular torso or narrower hips.
Why We Strive for Money Over Time — and Why It’s a Mistake
An old cliché says time is money. A newer cliché, from Oliver Stone, says money never sleeps — which is essentially the same assessment as the older one. But why are we pretending there’s a contest here?
Prop 19 Analysis: Will Marijuana Legalization Increase Use?
As California moves toward the legalization of marijuana — next month, voters will decide on Proposition 19, the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010 — a key question remains: could the new law produce a whole …
Were You Born This (Un)Happy, or Did You Marry Into It?
In the burgeoning field of happiness research, most scholars have favored the idea that a person’s level of happiness has a set point, like the float ball in a toilet tank.
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.
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.
Survey: 9% of Americans Are Depressed
Nearly 1 in 10 Americans suffers from clinical depression and 3% have major depression, according to a 2006-2008 survey of 235,000 adults from 45 states, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. The survey, …
Psychology vs. Psychiatry: What’s the Difference, and Which Is Better?
Psychologists and psychiatrists tend to hate each other. The reasons are historical: beginning even before Freud, psychologists held enormous power over the cultural imagination. The whole idea of psychiatry — an explicitly …
Clues to the Genetic Roots of ADHD
Too much soda, candy and bad parenting have been cleared of full blame for children’s hyperactivity and uncontrollable behavior — at least according to a new study that has identified certain genetic abnormalities associated with ADHD.
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.
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 …