Triumph by Trepanation is a short (47 page) book by Nina Rabinowitz that describes how she was able to find healing from an anxiety disorder. The book begins with her youth in a New Jersey suburb. She was expected to follow the standard “New York Jewish Roadmap” of what constituted acceptable life choices. She describes …
What does the gate control theory of pain have to do with a mental health blog? Well, co-occurring mental illness and chronic pain are remarkably common. For example, among people with fibromyalgia, over 50% experience depression. The rates of anxiety disorders are also over 50%. People with depression and anxiety disorders are also at increased risk to …
The Gate Control Theory of Pain – What It Means for Pain Control Read More »
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week’s term is sleep. It’s something we all need to do, but what exactly does it involve? When we’re asleep, we have altered consciousness and decreased reactivity to sensory stimulation from the environment. The brain’s energy consumption drops significantly, which …
I have an issue with pseudoscience masquerading as science. Whether these ideas have any associated value or not isn’t my concern. My problem is when science-like concepts are used to trick people into believing that an idea is something that it isn’t. My current rant is about dopamine fasting. I recently heard about this from …
Resilient by psychologist Rick Hanson looks at how to build resilience given what we know about the neuroscience of learning. Despite being grounded in science, it’s refreshingly practical and simple. The book begins by identifying three basic human needs (safety, satisfaction, connection) and ways to meet those needs (recognizing, resourcing, regulating, relating). These are set …
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychological terms. This week’s term is memory. Memory is highly complex. There are multiple different types, as well as multiple areas of the brain that are involved. Memories not only need to be encoded in the first place, but they also need to …
We’ve all heard of the “chemical imbalance” explanation for mental illness, and in particular, depression. While this term has supported the argument that mental illness is actually an illness, it’s also a gross simplification of mental illness in terms of what’s actually going on in the brain. I wonder if perhaps this terminology is no …
Is Chemical Imbalance a Useful Simplification of Mental Illness? Read More »
Let’s think about the phrases “it’s just anxiety” and “it’s all in your head”. Â Let’s unpack them and consider them in terms of what we know about the brain and the body.
