Category Archives: Mental Health

The Truth About Exercise Addiction Many people become physically active to look and feel better and to get healthy. But physical activity may become addictive for a small number of people. So how many of us are at risk? Katherine Schreiber, co-author of The Truth About Exercise Addiction: Understanding the Dark Side of Thinspiration, is a New York City-based writer pursuing[…]

Building Mental Strength to Protect Against Stress The effects of chronic stress can slowly deteriorate health and productivity. At first, you might dismiss minor issues like poor sleep or irritability, but over time, stress can take years off your life. Even a single life event, like the loss of a loved one or unemployment, can[…]

Does Willpower Research Perpetuate Moral Misconceptions About Addicts? Willpower, often equated with self-control, plays a significant role in managing temptations. According to Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength by Roy Baumeister and John Tierney, willpower operates like a muscle—it can be depleted and strengthened. Glucose fuels this mental resource, suggesting that physical factors influence self-control.[…]

You Want to Be Together All the Time: Wonderful or Obsessive? “Too much of a good thing is wonderful.” — Mae West Romantic love can feel all-consuming, often compared to addiction because of its powerful focus on another person. Love brings constant thoughts and interactions, but does this mean it’s unhealthy? Should this constant preoccupation[…]

A Response to a Recent “debunking” of The 12-Step Program By John F. Kelly and Gene Beresin In a recent National Public Radio show on WBUR Radio Boston, Dr. Lance Dodes discussed his new book which attempts to debunk the science related to the effectiveness of 12-step mutual-help programs, such as Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), as[…]

5 Approaches That Work in Relapse Prevention Relapse rates for addiction are notoriously high, falling between 40 and 60 percent according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The relapse rate is even higher among young adults, particularly those who began using drugs in early adolescence, have weak social support networks, abuse multiple drugs, or have co-occurring mental health disorders. These[…]

Eight Basic Emotions That Underlie Eight Psychological Disorder Clusters I have written in past about the basic structure of emotions and identified eight basic emotions- four of them paired together viz. Fear-Disgust; Sadness-Anger; Joy- Love/Attentiveness and Interest-surprise. I have also tried to carve psychopathology at its joints, and come up with a psychological disorders taxonomy that places all major psychological disorders[…]

Preventing Addiction Through Conscious Parenting Parenting offers a powerful opportunity to shape a child’s future, steering them away from addiction. Recognizing how parenting choices influence a child’s emotional health is key to breaking the cycle of addiction. The Role of Parents in Shaping Futures Most parents do not deliberately harm their children, but certain unconscious[…]

Out-of-control-shopping i Primarily Driven By Poor Credit Card Management Did you know that approximately 10 percent of adults in western countries are believed to have a compulsive spending disorder? Their spending habits lead them to lose control over their buying behavior, and this trend is on the rise. Interestingly, these shopaholics are addicted to buying[…]

Drug, Alcohol, & Behavioral Addictions Have One Thing in Common: Compulsion I said I’d use the next few posts to share what I learned at a recent conference on behavioral addictions. I should emphasize that the conference, held in Budapest, was billed as the First International Conference on Behavioral Addictions. The idea that gambling, hypersexualized behavior, eating[…]