Chronic pain affects millions and often resists medical treatment. German researchers are exploring how the brain’s pain matrix can be retrained, offering hope to those trapped in cycles of constant pain.
Tag: mental health
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behavior” mimics mild depression as immune cytokines signal the brain to conserve energy, making people listless and withdrawn.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.
Chatbots weren’t designed for mental health, but they’re increasingly used for therapy. What are the risks and benefits?
Pessimism weighs on both body and mind. But research shows optimism can be trained, and even small steps can make a difference.
It is easy to feel buried by the avalanche of bad news from around the world. But we have a duty to gratefully enjoy the moments of our lives, come what may.
As AI begins to guide users through sensitive topics like suicide, the legal and ethical lines that once protected tech companies are being tested.
People in recovery from eating disorders and OCD increasingly seek support from coaches, but some experts are wary.
Since January, a wave of self-immolation in Tunisia has brought a phenomenon that’s existed since the revolution back into the spotlight, signaling both social and individual unrest.
Outdated labels are giving way to a new diagnostic model that sees personality traits on a spectrum. The newest revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) introduces a shift in how we understand, treat and talk about personality disorders, focusing less on rigid categories and more on individual patterns and distress.
Federal authorities have stripped New York City of control over its notorious Rikers Island jail complex, plagued by violence and drugs. The prison, once slated for closure, still holds nearly 7,000 detainees.
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?
Talking about sexuality and embracing feminist theory collectively is key to dismantling the patriarchal scripts that normalize sexist and sexual violence. By integrating theory with emotion and practice, we reclaim pleasure, rewrite consent, and forge healthier, more egalitarian relationships.
Research has shown how isolation or loneliness can cause mental and physical ailments. Being alone is an objective state but feeling lonely is a fuzzier predicament. One recurring trait among lonesome people is a sense that nobody really cares about them anymore.
How are you feeling? Is it time to stop? Is it me or my therapist? Here are the questions to ask if you’ve taken that plunge.
Literature is filled with characters suffering from mental health issues… and with authors who weren’t necessarily much better off. In a fascinating book, a psychiatrist and a journalist attempt to unravel the mysteries of these minds.
In the 1950s, despite an outward appearance of fulfilled lives, American housewives endured a hidden malaise — “the problem that has no name” — a silent yet pervasive discontent. Self-esteem, which has long been neglected among women, can be nurtured and developed, for both personal and collective wellbeing.
Many people sabotage themselves, ignore their peak performance and work inefficiently. Here are 10 insights from brain research that can help you become five times more productive.
Stepping into the wild is more than just a journey — it transforms the way we think and feel. Here’s the science to prove it.
Fertility clinics should provide easy access to mental health support for those undergoing IVF treatments. Some of them do, many do not.
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.
Some people seem to breeze through a 40-hour workweek, housework, workouts, and personal projects, while others barely make it to the couch after work. But what if you, too, could become one of those high-energy people?
Trump could succeed in portraying himself as “unpredictable and unrestrained” without seeming unhinged. But if he comes off as hopelessly irrational, he is unlikely to get what he seeks.
The Netherlands allows medically assisted euthanasia for extreme mental suffering. Some doctors question the guardrails.
Motivate them or leave them alone? Be honest or say nothing? It is not easy to deal well with depressed people. But psychology professionals say that those closest can often help even more than trained experts. That doesn’t mean it’s easy. Here’s how to help…
We always want to go higher, faster, further. Understandable. But ambition creates pressure, making our everyday lives harder than they need to be. Die Zeit columnist Kilian Trotier makes the case for enjoying the average.
The Australia government has passed a bill that will ban teenagers under 16 from using social media, in a bid to protect children from social harm. But research shows these platforms a very specific and much-needed role in the lives of transgender youth.
For centuries, doctors have taken women’s diseases less seriously, saying they were psychological or made up. But now, social media is helping these women report their misdiagnoses and confront an unjust system.
The World Health Organization estimates that mental disorders impact one in four people worldwide. To help respond to mental health issues, a first aid training program was created in Australia in the early 2000s and has become available in France over the past five years.
Usually an insult, “runaway” could be a compliment for those who dared to emancipate themselves — particularly in Italy, where a majority of 18- to 34-year-olds still live with their parents. It’s time to set our children free.
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 country’s Constitutional Court ruled on Sept. 20 in favor of maintaining the death penalty, in line with the position expressed by an overwhelming majority of the population. Yet, capital punishment remains controversial for a country that sees itself as East Asia’s model democracy.
As a child in Albania, Luan learned it was dangerous to owe money to the wrong people. Now an adult in Italy, he is struggling with a gambling addiction and is trying to get back on his feet.
Maria Branyas Morera, the world’s oldest person who has just passed away at age 117, once talked about the importance of socializing in old age. Even if the aging and elderly tend to wind up confined to family circles, studies have shown the often untapped benefits of friendship in our later years.
Uganda’s anti-homosexuality laws offer plentiful reasons for transgender, gay and other gender and sexual minorities to seek asylum abroad. But some heterosexual people have seen an easy ticket out for themselves.
A psychologist discusses with three individuals who are navigating diverse identities, as queer and Dalits, while battling anxiety disorders, ADHD and persistent depression.
Across a planet that gets hotter each summer, long school vacations are completely out-of-synch with a society that tends to require both parents are working. Are there solutions inside or outside of nuclear families?
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.
Worldwide, PCOS is often missed in teenage girls as they go through puberty. Jane Dipika Garrett draws on her own struggles with the disorder to boost awareness — and self-acceptance.
Updated July 23, 2024 at 11:00 a.m. On this day in 2011, Amy Winehouse was found dead in her home in the Camden neighborhood of London. The cause of her death was determined to be accidental alcohol poisoning. How old was Amy Winehouse when she died? Amy Winehouse was 27 years old at the time […]
Narcissistic and other deeply self-involved parents can turn their children into diffident, dysfunctional adults. But it’s never too late to help yourself and decide to step away from their toxic discourse and manipulative games.