Work smarter by taking a break. Discover 5 reasons why work breaks can lift your productivity, creativity, and motivation.| Psychology Today
Can exposure to depression cause you to become depressed? The answer might surprise you.| Psychology Today
Every suicide is a tragedy, and to some degree a mystery. Suicide often stems from a deep feeling of hopelessness. The inability to see solutions to problems or to cope with challenging life circumstances may lead people to see taking their own lives as the only solution to what is really a temporary situation, and most survivors of suicide attempts go on to live full, rewarding lives.| Psychology Today
Why do some people develop debilitating obsessions and compulsions?| Psychology Today
Explanation of the symptoms of OCD, including a list of the most common obsessions and compulsions.| Psychology Today
Loneliness is a problem of epidemic proportions, affecting millions from all walks of life. But while its roots are complex, remedies may be within reach.| Psychology Today
Resilience is the psychological quality that allows some people to be knocked down by the adversities of life and come back at least as strong as before. Rather than letting difficulties, traumatic events, or failure overcome them and drain their resolve, highly resilient people find a way to change course, emotionally heal, and continue moving toward their goals.| Psychology Today
Midlife or middle age is that transitional period of life between young adulthood and old age. Middle-aged people often undergo significant changes in their relationships, jobs, and health and their appearance.| Psychology Today
Gratitude is the expression of appreciation for what one has. It is a recognition of value independent of monetary worth. Spontaneously generated from within, it is an affirmation of goodness and warmth. This social emotion strengthens relationships, and its roots run deep in evolutionary history—emanating from the survival value of helping others and being helped in return. Studies show that specific areas of the brain are involved in experiencing and expressing gratitude.| Psychology Today
There’s far more than just raging hormones behind the risky behaviors that so many adolescents engage in.| Psychology Today
Sensation-seeking, also called thrill-seeking or excitement-seeking, is the tendency to pursue new and different sensations, feelings, and experiences. The trait describes people who chase novel, complex, and intense sensations, who love experience for its own sake, and who may take risks to pursue those experiences.| Psychology Today
The glass is half-empty, and storm clouds loom overhead, never with a silver lining. Pessimists get a lot of flak for their inclination toward negativity and their tendency to expect the worst in most situations. Besides taking a toll on their mental health, their physical health may take a beating, too. Pessimism, while it may be useful in isolation or in moderation, is associated with anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, hostility, high blood pressure, and heart disease.| Psychology Today
Chocolate or strawberry? Life or death? We make some choices quickly and automatically, relying on mental shortcuts our brains have developed over the years to guide us in the best course of action. Understanding strategies such as maximizing vs. satisficing, fast versus slow thinking, and factors such as risk tolerance and choice overload, can lead to better outcomes.| Psychology Today
Anxiety is both a mental and physical state of negative expectation. Mentally it is characterized by increased arousal and apprehension tortured into distressing worry, and physically by unpleasant activation of multiple body systems—all to facilitate response to an unknown danger, whether real or imagined.| Psychology Today
The right words to avoid defensiveness and maintain dignity.| Psychology Today
Writer Anaïs Nin opined that “Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.” As Nin conveys, friendship can elicit joy, companionship, and growth—enriching our entire experience of the world.| Psychology Today
Psychotherapy, also called talk therapy or usually just "therapy," is a form of treatment aimed at relieving emotional distress and mental health problems. Provided by any of a variety of trained professionals—psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, or licensed counselors—it involves examining and gaining insight into life choices and difficulties faced by individuals, couples, or families. Therapy sessions refer to structured meetings between a licensed provider and a client with a...| Psychology Today
Nutrients fuel the body and brain's energy needs. This fuel allows humans to function and flourish—to breathe, to speak, to play, to learn, and to reproduce. Humans evolved under very different circumstances than today; sustenance was often in short supply, and it was advantageous to snatch up sugars and fats that could provide a boost of energy. These evolutionary roots are at odds with the modern world, in which food is, in many places, overabundant. Cravings can be difficult to control. ...| Psychology Today
Memory is the faculty by which the brain encodes, stores, and retrieves information. It is a record of experience that guides future action.| Psychology Today
The ability to pay attention to important things—and ignore the rest—has been a crucial survival skill throughout human history. Attention can help us focus our awareness on a particular aspect of our environment, important decisions, or the thoughts in our head. Maintaining focus is a perennial challenge for individuals of all ages, and people have long sought out strategies, tricks, and medications to help them stay on track.| Psychology Today
Cognition refers, quite simply, to thinking. There are the obvious applications of conscious reasoning—doing taxes, playing chess, deconstructing Macbeth—but thought takes many subtler forms, such as interpreting sensory input, guiding physical actions, and empathizing with others.| Psychology Today