Worldcrunch
Researchers say “sickness behavior” mimics mild depression as immune cytokines signal the brain to conserve energy, making people listless and withdrawn. Yet it differs from true depression and varies widely depending on mindset, stress and loneliness.
New studies from Finland, Denmark and Norway suggest that mental health disorders might spread through social contact. But how strong is the effect — and should we call it an epidemic?
Young people have been living in a world of escalating drama for the past five years, since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s also a challenge for parents. The seven-point plan of a leading researcher can help navigate these unprecedented times.
Many people want to sleep better, but available solutions either have little effect or severe side effects. Ultimately, there’s really only one approach that seems to work.
The author indulges himself in some summer reflection about the world and himself, and what future his children will build.
Thanks to athletes like Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka and Teddy Riner, who have opened the conversation, psychological counseling is no longer a taboo in the world of high-level sports. The Paris Olympics will be a showcase of champions who are doing the hard work.
The lesser known Phlegraean Fields, near Naples, are now making headlines in Italy because of intense volcanic activity. Together with Vesuvius, they evoke fears in the heart of Neapolitans, but they are also a part of who they are.
Fathers are not usually home alone for weeks with their children. As Argentine journalist Ignacio Pereyra reflects on his own experience, and what he gained from it, he also asks himself what it takes for a society to recognize how much becoming a parent can change a person.
Children and teenagers whose parents are in prison report depression, anxiety and a drop in school performance. New laws meant to protect them are not properly applied.
An emotional rollercoaster for parent and child alike.
Zambia’s traditional counselors are rethinking the country’s puberty rites, which some argue are detrimental to girls’ well-being.
Our Naples-based psychiatrist tries to relieve a patient of his anxiety over a very specific delusion of persecution.
You swipe until your fingers are sore, seeing the same poses over and over again, the same buzzwords and backgrounds. Online dating feels so hopeless because it has killed any notion of individuality.
As with people, some dogs may be more neurologically prone to anxiety. But canine stress is often mistaken for mischief.
The war in Ukraine has been going on for a year. Many have died, fled or been traumatized — day after day and night after night. Such harrowing experiences leave deep wounds. But there are ways to overcome traumatic experiences.
Rain often brings deadly flooding and property damage to neighborhoods around Brazil, where people are organizing to address the worsening problem.
It has long been assumed that psychotherapy can do no harm at worst. But new research makes clear that for some people, it can have very serious, even life-threatening, consequences.
Personal empowerment is a modern social value that fuels loneliness, anxiety and depression. The remedy for those is not pills or “programs,” but kindness and sociability.
Feeling overworked but not yet burned out? Often the problem is “burn-on,” an under-researched phenomenon whose sufferers desperately struggle to keep up and meet their own expectations — with dangerous consequences for their health.
One day a patient, after listing all his phobias, asked me: “Dottoré, be honest, who’s worse off than me?” “The ones,” I replied, “who say they aren’t afraid of anything.” ____________________________ Learn more about Worldcrunch’s exclusive Dottoré! series here.
Putin talks like a paranoid. Biden like an atherosclerotic with frontal dementia. At this point I’ve started thinking that to end this war, more than diplomacy, we need an entire psychiatric ward. ____________________________ Learn more about Worldcrunch’s exclusive Dottoré! series here.
We live as if suspended in time, cautiously looking toward the future with a polite apprehension that I’ve never experienced before. Another proof of this came at the end of Maria’s visit today when I said: “See you next month!” Instead of answering with the usual: “Do we really have to see each other again?,” […]
Many Muslim female students lament that several of their Hindu friends have turned their backs on them, despite the fact they have been friends for several years.
Burnout doesn’t just occur in the workplace. Pressured by unrealistic perfectionism and a cult of performance, parents are also increasingly affected by a similar weight at home that becomes too much to bear. Here’s how to recognize the symptoms and act before before it’s too late.
Every pang or cough could be the virus, or something worse.
With COVID-19 vaccines working and restrictions lifting across the country, it’s finally time for those now vaccinated who’ve been hunkered down at home to ditch the sweatpants and reemerge from their Netflix caves. But your brain may not be so eager to dive back into your former social life. Social distancing measures proved essential for slowing COVID-19’s spread worldwide – preventing upward of an estimated 500 million cases. But, while necessary, 15 months away from each other has taken a toll on people’s mental health. So how can people be so lonely yet so nervous about refilling their social calendars? […]
A developmental psychologist in Turkey offers some answers.
Severe heat doesn’t just threaten the physically vulnerable such as babies and the elderly. It also poses a serious risk to those suffering from anxiety.
Invented by Buddhist monks, secularized and developed by Western science, mindfulness seems to be everywhere. But the aim is to make the most of life, not to seek nirvana.
Being overly shy isn’t always a simple personality trait, something kids will “grow out of…” It can also reach the point of clinical illness. How to know when your child needs treatment.
As it turns out, elephants don’t just have good memories, but are also able to sense when others are in distress and console them — by cuddling them. According to a new study, their version of a snuggle and a “shh, don’t worry, I’m here,” are chirping and a trunk hug, Le Temps reports. Just […]
School life can be pretty merciless. Kids have an astonishing repertoire of nasty things they inflict on other kids. But what factors play a role in which kids are the victims and which the perpetrators? Why do some wind up on the receiving end of the nastiness, and others become the ones meting it out? […]