PSYCHNOTES
JUNE 24, 2010
Body Image and Marital Satisfaction
Women's positive body images were found to
be associated with greater sexual frequency
in their marriage and a higher marital
satisfaction rating by both partners. A
significant part of the satisfaction in the
marriage was due to the woman's feelings of
sexual attractiveness and not due to her
overall self-esteem, her body mass index, or
neuroticism (Meltzer & McNulty, 2010). These
researchers suggest that marital issues may
be addressed, in part, by improving the
wife's body image.
Meltzer, A.L. & McNulty,
J.K.(2010).
Body image and marital satisfaction:
Evidence for the mediating role of
sexual frequency and sexual satisfaction.
Journal of Family Psychology,
24(2), 156-164.
JUNE 20, 2010
ADHD: A Problem With Restraint?
A number
of cognitive functions have been proposed to
be involved with Attention
Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in
adults including:
1)
inhibition—the ability to restrain oneself
from a behavior or decision;
2)
fluency—the ability to verbally identify
words while processing certain information
such as just saying words that start with a
certain letter;
3)
planning—the ability to predict and
organize;
4)
working memory—how much information can be
retained for 10-15 seconds; and
5) set
shifting—ability to refocus attention
between tasks or to another task.
In a
study of diagnosed but never medicated
adults with ADHD, Boonstra et al (2010)
found that the problem areas were inhibition
and set shifting. They suggested that ADHD
may be have more related to problems with
inhibition than to problems with attention
as there were no significant differences for
fluency, planning, and working memory.
Boonstra, A.M., Kooij,
J.J.S., Oosterlaan, J., Sergeant, J.A.,
Buitelaar, J.K. (2010).
To act or not to act, that's the
problem: Primarily inhibition
difficulties in adult ADHD.
Neuropsychology,
24(2), 209-221.
JUNE 19, 2010
Mindfulness and Flow in the Workplace
The concept of flow in which an individual
is fully engaged in an activity with a high
level of focus/concentration, intense
enjoyment, confidence, and transitions into
peak experiences requires a state of
mindfulness. Mindfulness is the practice of
focusing on the immediate experience and
allowing irrelevant thoughts to diminish.
Researchers Nielsen and Cleal (2010) studied
flow in the work environment and found that
tasks including planning, problem-solving,
and evaluation were more likely to involve a
flow state than more stable job demands.
It appears that these tasks may be more
likely to involve a creative thinking
process which may more naturally elicit a
state of flow. However, by practicing
mindfulness techniques we may be more able
to develop a flow across job characteristics
thus increasing enjoyment and productivity
in the workplace.
Nielsen, K. Cleal, B. (2010).Predicting
flow at work: Investigating the
activities and job characteristics that
predict flow states at work.
Journal of Occupational Health
Psychology,
15(2), 180-190.
Read:
Why Are
Meditative Relaxation and Mindfulness
Important?
View Qi Gong
Videos
JUNE 16, 2010
The Pesky Chemical Causing Social Memory
Problems
Ever wonder why you have more trouble
remembering names or birthdays in a socially
stressful situation? Researchers Merz et al
(2010) found that individuals who respond to
stress with a rise in cortisol level (also
known as the stress hormone) have a
significant decrease in memory retrieval.
However, those who did not have the cortisol
increase under the same stress conditions
did not experience impaired social memory.
Merz, C.J., Wolf, O.T. & Hennig, J. (2010).
Stress impairs retrieval of socially
relevant information. Behavioral
Neuroscience, 124(2), 288-293.
JUNE 15, 2010
"I Think She Wants Me!" A Study of Sexual
Misperception
Researchers Farris et al (2010) showed that
men under a moderate influence of alcohol
were more likely to misperceive women's
friendliness as sexual interest. However,
they were able to correctly interpret the
meaning associated with conservative or
provocative clothing indicating that not all
judgment deteriorated only that associated
with nonverbal ambiguous cues.
This
research may have implications regarding
issues such as date-rape in which the man
and woman's perception of the event may
vary.
Farris, C., Treat, T.A. & Viken, R.J.
(2010). Alcohol alters men's perceptual
and decisional processing of women's sexual
interest. Journal of Abnormal
Psychology,
119(2), 427-432.
JUNE 14, 2010
Violent Video Games Cause Aggression
Whether or not individuals have a difference
of opinion regarding violent video games, a
statistical review of previous research
studies controlling for weaknesses in design
demonstrated a causal link between playing
violent video games, increased angry
thoughts, increased emotional response, and
increased aggression. Not only that but a
connection was found between violent video
games and a reduction in empathy for others
and acting in ways that benefit others
(Anderson et al, 2010).
Many people disagree that such a connection
exists because they don't want to believe
that the video games they enjoy can be
harmful. They also point out examples of
people who play violent games and who are
not aggressive. The nature of research must
be understood in that individuals who are
outside the norm always exist, but for the
most part, this research shows that people
experience an increase in aggression and
decrease in the concern for the welfare of
others.
Anderson, C.A., Shibuya, A., Ihori, N.,
Swing, E.L., Bushman, B.J., Sakamoto, A.,
Rothstein, H.R., Saleem, M. (2010).
Violent video game effects on
aggression, empathy, and prosocial behavior
in Eastern and Western countries: A
meta-analytic review. Psychological
Bulletin,
136(2), 151-173.
98(3), 405-419.
JUNE 13, 2010
How Do You Handle Rejection?
In an online dating interaction, those lower
in self-esteem tended to respond to
rejection with negative self-statements,
self-blame, and criticism of the rejector.
Not only that, but they also experienced the
physiological response of increased cortisol
reactivity (the stress hormone). Researchers
Ford and Collins (2010) indicated that the
self-blame characteristic of low self-esteem
linked to the increased cortisol reactivity
which appeared to increase the negativity
toward the online partner. In addition, they
question the potential health consequences
of rejection given the stress reaction of
increased cortisol which has previously been
shown to be linked to heart disease.
Ford, M.B. & Collins, N.L. (2010).
Self-esteem moderates neuroendocrine and
psychological responses to interpersonal
rejection. Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology,
98(3), 405-419.
Read:
Rejection Sensitivity, Irrational Jealousy,
and Impact on Relationships
JUNE 11, 2010
Mindfulness May Prevent Relapse
Substance abuse relapse is strongly
connected to depressive symptoms causing
cravings. Researchers (Witkiewitz & Bowen,
2010) suggest that the relationship between
negative emotion and substance abuse relapse
can be modified by using mindfulness-based
relapse prevention. The mindfulness practice
may provide an alternative method to reduce
negative emotions which contribute to
cravings.
Witkiewitz, K. & Bowen, S. Depression,
craving, and substance use following a
randomized trial of mindfulness-based
relapse prevention. Journal of
Consulting and Clinical Psychology,
78(3), 362-374.
Read:
Why Are
Meditative Relaxation and Mindfulness
Important?
View Qi Gong
Videos
JUNE 10, 2010
To Cry or Not to Cry?
In therapy it is generally considered
beneficial for clients to express their
emotions. However, there appears to be an
optimal level of emotional expression that
is related to successful therapeutic
outcome. In other words, too much or too
little emotion during therapy sessions may
not be beneficial (Carryer & Greenberg,
(2010).
A therapist helps the client navigate the
path of expressing emotions. For those who
tend to hold in their emotions, it may be
necessary to help release the emotions, but
too much might be overwhelming when they are
not used to it. For those who are too
emotionally expressive, they may need
cognitive methods to help reduce the
intensity of the emotions.
Carryer, J.R & Greenberg, Leslie S.
Optimal levels of emotional arousal in
experiential therapy of depression.
Journal of Consulting and Clinical
Psychology,
78(2), 190-199.
JUNE 9, 2010
Lying Online: Be Careful What You Read
An interesting study by Naquin et al (2010)
showed that more people were willing to lie
when using e-mail as compared to paper and
pen communication even when assured that the
lie could not be discovered either way. I
wonder if perhaps communication online
appears less “real” to people than when
having to physically write. Whatever the
cause of this phenomena, as users of online
communication we need to be cautious when
evaluating information particularly when it
is anonymous.
Naquin, C.E., Kurtzberg, T.R., Belkin, L.Y.
The finer points of lying online: E-mail
versus pen and paper. Journal of
Applied Psychology,
95(2), 387-394.
JUNE 8, 2010
Fountain of Youth: Exercise Slows Mental
Decline
For those over age 50, the amount of
exercise in which a person engages can
predict two and a half years later the
amount of cognitive decline. Those who are
inactive were shown by Aichberger et al
(2010) to have reduced verbal fluency and
recall compared to those who were at least
moderately active even when other health
factors were examined. The researchers
suggest that physical activity may be
especially important when other risk factors
for mental decline are present such as
depression or health conditions.
Aichberger, M.C., Busch, M.A., Reischies,
F.M., Ströhle, A., Heinz, A., Rapp,
M.A.(2010).
Effect of physical inactivity on
cognitive performance after 2.5 years of
follow-up: Longitudinal results from the
Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement
(SHARE). GeroPsych: The Journal of
Gerontopsychology and Geriatric Psychiatry,
23(1), 7-15.
Read:
Wellness:
How to Reduce Illness and Its Effects
JUNE 7, 2010
Is Rage Worth the Physical Suffering?
Individuals with explosive rage are more
likely to suffer the health consequences of
heart disease, hypertension, stroke,
diabetes, arthritis, back/neck pain, ulcers,
headaches, and other chronic pain.
Researchers McCloskey et al (2010)
controlled for other risk factors of these
illnesses indicating that smoking, body
mass, substance use, past injuries, and
major depression did NOT account for the
differences in health.
Explosive anger is an out-of-control episode
that is extreme. In other words, normal
anger is not necessarily associated with
these health consequences. However, this
research does indicate that for those with
explosive anger episodes it may be important
for health reasons to learn methods of
managing anger. These methods include stress
management techniques and cognitive
challenging of the irrational angry thinking
style.
McCloskey, M.S., Kleabir, K., Berman, M.E.,
Chen, E.Y., Coccaro, E.F. (2010)
Unhealthy aggression: Intermittent
explosive disorder and adverse physical
health outcomes. Health Psychology,
29(3), 324-332.
Download
Relaxation Audio
JUNE 6,
2010
Is Mindfulness-Based Therapy Effective?
An
examination of 39 research studies which
included a variety of medical and
psychiatric conditions showed that
mindfulness-based therapy is an effective
and promising approach to treating anxiety
and depression in various populations
including cancer patients and those with
anxiety and/or depressive disorders (Hofmann
et al, 2010).
Mindfulness practices can easily be
incorporated into your life to help improve
mood and reduce stress. Numerous methods
are available so that each individual is
likely to find one that fits his/her
personality style.
Hofmann, SG., Sawyer, A.T., Witt, A.A. Oh,
D.
The effect of mindfulness-based therapy
on anxiety and depression: A meta-analytic
review. Journal of Consulting and
Clinical Psychology,
78(2), 169-183.
Read:
Why Are
Meditative Relaxation and
Mindfulness Important?
JUNE 5, 2010
Security in Relationships Related to Less
Dishonesty
In a series of studies, Gillith et al (2010)
showed that insecurity in a relationship was
related to increased lying and cheating. In
fact, increasing the sense of security was
more effective in reducing dishonesty than
improving mood.
Gillath, O., Sesko, A.K., Shaver, P.R.,
Chun, D.S. (2010). Attachment,
authenticity, and honesty: Dispositional and
experimentally induced security can reduce
self- and other-deception. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology,
98(5), 841-855.
Read:
When You
Have Been Betrayed
JUNE 4, 2010
Lunch Break or Stress Break?
To determine the most effective method to
reduce stress at work, researchers Krajewski
et al (2010) assigned call center agents to
either a 20 minute progressive muscle
relaxation group or a small-talk group. The
results indicated that only the relaxation
reduced afternoon strain.
Often we think we are relaxing when we take
a break such as talking to co-workers, but
only by achieving a deeper state of
relaxation are we able to minimize stress
over a longer period of time.
Krajewski, J. Wieland, R. Sauerland, M.
Regulating strain states by using the
recovery potential of lunch breaks.
Journal of Occupational Health Psychology,
15(2), 131-139.
Download
Relaxation Audio
JUNE 3, 2010
Stress Management Treatment
for Insomnia
Although
both depression and stress may be related to
increased problems with insomnia, negative
sleep-related thoughts that lead to a cycle
of insomnia tend to occur with stress but
not as much with depression. Therefore,
Brand et al (2010) suggest stress management
as an important treatment for insomnia.
In
particular, stress management needs to
address not only relaxation methods but the
negative thoughts. Such cognitions may
include worries about not being able to
sleep and the effect it will have the next
day resulting in less ability to sleep.
Brand, S. Gerber, M, Pühse, U.,
Holsboer-Trachsler, E. (2010).
Depression, hypomania, and dysfunctional
sleep-related cognitions as mediators
between stress and insomnia: The best advice
is not always found on the pillow!
International Journal of Stress Management,
17(2), 114-134.
Read:
Why Are
Meditative Relaxation and
Mindfulness Important?
JUNE 2, 2010
Forgiveness
Isn't Always the Best Policy
When the perpetrator of an offense does not
make amends indicating that the victim will
be safe and valued, forgiveness may have the
negative effect of decreasing the victim's
self-respect and positive sense of self
(Luchies et al, 2010).
Many times I have worked with individuals
unable to forgive infidelity although they
had decided to remain married. Typically,
the unfaithful spouse is encouraging their
partner to "forgive and forget" due to the
discomfort of facing the consequences of
their behavior. A better attidude may be
that when a spouse causes harm, he or she
must make amends for the transgression
before forgiveness can be obtained which may
mean listening to the pain, comforting the
grief, and reassuring the spouse.
Luchies, L.B., Finkel, E.J., McNulty,
J.K.,Kumashiro, M. (2010). The doormat
effect: When forgiving erodes self-respect
and self-concept clarity. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 98(5),
734-749.
Read:
When You
Have Been Betrayed
JUNE 1, 2010
Qi Gong Exercise Shown to Improve Mood
Similar to other forms of exercise, Qi Gong
exercise has been shown to reduce anxiety,
depression, anger and fatigue. Although
these effects may not be unique to Qi Gong,
the research by Johansson et al (2008) shows
that gentle movements can be effective for
improving mood just as aerobic exercise and
other mind-body therapies.
Johansson, M., Hassmen, P., Jouper, J.
(2008). Acute effects of qigong exercise
on mood and anxiety. International
Journal of Stress Management, Vol 15(2),
199-207.
See Qi
Gong Demo Videos
Some people may be curious as to why this website is
dedicated to the "pursuit of excellence" when I am
constantly warning about the dangers of
perfectionism. To address this question we must
differentiate between the pursuit of excellence and
the need to be perfect. These concepts are not only
different but can be considered antagonistic to one
another. In fact these concepts are so opposed to
one another that excellence can best be attained by
giving up the demands of perfection.
What is Perfectionism? Perfectionism
is the individual's belief that he or she must be
perfect to be acceptable. Perfectionism is black and
white with no gray area. Anything other than perfect
is failure. Perfectionism is an attitude, not
necessarily a behavior. In other words, two people
can engage in the same behavior such as trying to
win an Olympic gold medal but one can be pursuing
excellence and the other is demanding perfection.
The difference lies in the thought process about the
goal or behavior, not in the goal or behavior
itself.
READ MORE...
Listening to the weather forecast one frigid day, I
realized how much we are influenced by the
catastrophic thinking of the media. The weatherman
reported, "The weather has brought more
misery
to the St. Louis area." Certainly, the weather was
causing problems that day. An ice storm caused car
doors and locks to be frozen so that people had a
great deal of trouble getting into their cars.
However, I thought, unless someone was in the middle
of nowhere with no cell phone and they were unable
to open their car door because of the ice, this was
not "misery." Instead, I would call it an
"inconvenience." Most of us walked out to our cars
to find that we couldn't open the door, went back
inside a warm house or office, and found some
solution to our problem.
READ MORE...
For many years when my husband and I were first
together I would ask him "When are things going to
get better?" We were dealing with the usual
stressors that couples face: not enough time, not
enough money, and the inevitable random events such
as family conflict, deaths of loved ones, illnesses
and injuries. In addition, for most of our early
years together I was in school and struggling with
the balancing of demands of advanced education,
part-time work, and a family.
But I had the belief that we were working towards
this perfect life that one day would emerge shining
a rainbow of happiness forever over us. My husband,
inclined more toward the practical, just answered my
question of "When are things going to get better?,"
with "Another six months." That answer typically
pacified me for awhile because I thought I could
handle any amount of stress for six months.
However, a point would occur when I once again I
asked my husband "When are things going to get
better?" Once again, he would answer "Another six
months." This scenario occurred fairly routinely
for many years.
However, fortunately during this time I had
experiences that began to teach me about my
expectations of life. In particular, when I was
completing my internship at the Veterans
Administration Medical Center I had the opportunity
to work on the spinal cord injury unit. That
experience forever changed my thinking. In
particular, I was struck by the differences in
attitude among the patients.
READ MORE...
"Sometimes agendas are beneficent and
sometimes they are self-serving, but agendas
always exist. Therefore, to fully evaluate the
statistics, the agenda of the reporter needs to be
considered."
Not a day goes by when I don't throw down the
morning newspaper complaining about the use of
statistics in an article. In our world the media
liberally sprinkles statistics throughout articles
and television programs to support a point of view.
The problem, however, is that statistics are
frequently misleading if not outright inaccurate.
Without a clear understanding of the nature of
statistics and the definitions of statistical terms,
the public believe the statistic-supported
statements as if they are fact. In addition,
without understanding the agenda of the journalist
or analyst using the statistics, the public accepts
these "facts" uncritically.
READ MORE...
Frequently, I am asked how to handle irrational
jealous feelings. Usually, the individual
recognizes that her feelings are unreasonable with
no valid evidence but feels incapable of controlling
the jealousy. In addition, the person usually
recognizes the destructive nature of indulging in
the feelings and the resulting behavior. Such
behavior typically involves excessive questioning of
her spouse, suspiciousness, and accusations. Many
spouses become extremely frustrated with this
behavior because they have no way of proving their
faithfulness. This leads to an escalating cycle of
anger which is used as further evidence by the
jealous spouse that her suspicions are correct.
The jealous spouse often desperately wants to stop
the behavior but finds that he can't control the
thoughts which makes him feel miserable. He
believes that if he can just prove his suspicions
one way or another, he will feel better. The
unfortunate fallacy in this thinking, is that trust
can never be proven; it can only be disproved. The
definition of trust is the
belief that
something is true. Therefore, without evidence to
the contrary, if we want a satisfying relationship,
we have to
choose to trust the person we
love.
READ
MORE...
RECOMMENDED BOOKS...
"I
don't have any willpower."
"I'm weak."
"I'm lazy."
"I can't do it."
Do these statements sound familiar? Too often, our
self-statements about weight management interfere
with our efforts and lead to failure. By changing
how we think about developing a healthy weight we
are able to change the behaviors that can lead to
success.
Not long ago I conducted a little experiment with my
cardio-kickboxing class. After an intense class I
told them to get the heaviest weights they could
curl 8-10 times. I spent a minute telling them to
focus on feeling tired, that they had just worked
out hard and they couldn't do anymore. Then, they
were to curl the weights to exhaustion. Once they
finished, I spent another minute telling them to
focus on having energy, feeling good, feeling
refreshed, and knowing they could do more. Once
again, they lifted the weights to exhaustion. The
results were that out of nine people, only one did
fewer lifts the second time! And typically, when
someone lifts weights to exhaustion they should not
be able to lift as much the second time when it is
only a minute later. Although this was not a
controlled scientific experiment, it was a
demonstration to my class to show how powerful our
thinking can be. What this exercise showed was how
positive thinking overcame the natural exhaustion of
the body and created a self-fulfilling prophecy of
lifting more weight because the participants
believed that they could.
READ MORE...
