Mental Health & Wellbeing

Be Smart – Be Active

As a Health & Physical Education teacher from waaaay back, I’ve always had a passion for PE and seen it as being a vital part of any well-balanced school curriculum. However, it seems to be common practice for schools to reduce the amount of time kids spend doing physical activity as soon as it is [...]

Sexualisation A Danger To Teen Health

In the teenage parties of my youth, there was always a room left in darkness, furnished with armchairs and couches, where couples could retire from the melee to "pash on" in privacy. By midnight, adolescent hormones being what they are, there was barely a spare place left. Reliably, one of those left out of these [...]

Quick test can help spot depressed teenagers

A few minutes spent filling out a widely accepted mental health assessment in a health care provider's waiting room could make a big difference for some teenagers suffering from depression, according to new study from a nursing researcher at The University of Texas. - University of Texas at Arlington via Quick test can help spot depressed [...]

The Science of Your Racist Brain

When you take a look at the emerging science of what motivates people to behave in a racist or prejudiced way, though, matters quickly grow complicated. In fact, if there's one cornerstone finding when it comes to the psychological underpinnings of prejudice, it's that out-and-out or "explicit" racists—like Sterling—are just one part of the story. [...]

Grandma’s Experiences Leave Epigenetic Mark on Your Genes

Your ancestors' lousy childhoods or excellent adventures might change your personality, bequeathing anxiety or resilience by altering the epigenetic expressions of genes in the brain. - Dan Hurley via Grandma's Experiences Leave Epigenetic Mark on Your Genes | DiscoverMagazine.com.

Self-Harm In Children – Please Help

The National Children’s Commissioner is examining how children and young people under 18 years can be better protected from intentional self-harm and suicidal behaviour. Article 6 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child gives to every child the inherent right to life.[i] United Nations guidelines for periodic reports to the Committee on the Rights of [...]

Is ‘Sluggish Cognitive Tempo’ A Valid New Childhood Disorder?

Sociology influences medicine more than we like to admit. One only needs to look at the history of psychiatric disorders – a term used broadly here to incorporate developmental disorders – to see how “normal” in one era is often deemed “abnormal” in another. And how the dividing line between these two ends is often [...]

Don’t Be A ByStander!

Last week I wrote of my personal experience of being bullied for years at school. The feedback I received through the comment section and social media, whilst supportive, indicated that bullying is so widespread. And not just in school, but in all areas of the community. The question is why? Why is bullying so prevalent? I [...]

Is misused neuroscience defining early years?

Here's the thing: what if it's over-baked? What if the claims made for neuroscience are so extreme that most neuroscientists would disown them? What if the constant references to "brain scans of neglected children" actually just meant one brain scan, from one highly contested study? What if synaptic development were a bit more complicated than [...]

Want to Be Happier? Keep Your Focus

Nearly half the time we're awake, our thoughts drift to topics unrelated to whatever we're doing. We think about the fight we had with our spouse when we're driving or replay events from a friend's wild party while brushing our teeth in the morning. We text incessantly while watching TV and phone mom during laundry-folding [...]

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