Cross posting

Alcohol is the most widely consumed drug worldwide. For many, drinking is as much a part of daily life as having dinner. Although we consume it regularly, we don't really know what it does to us, or why it causes some of us to suddenly find streaking naked through a college campus a brilliant idea. Alcohol, according to conventional wisdom , is a depressant. Yet, that doesn't fully explain alcohol's effects. People often drink to liven up a party, not mellow it out. A few drinks can spark energy, elation, and excitement; it gives you a buzz. Alcohol may be more than simply a depressant. Classification of drugs can be explained by their chemical targets within the brain. Stimulants may influence dopamine or norepinephrine. Depressants target a chemical called GABA, the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter within the brain. As early research failed to show that alcohol targeted a specific receptor, scientists speculated that alcohol non-specifically altered cell membranes. … [Read more...] about Your Brain on Alcohol

Source: Marcos Calvo/ istock The topic of pornography is a difficult discussion to have for many people. There seems to be a cultural and social panic about it. Much of what is online and in books on the subject demonize porn, creating fear . The instant access to pornography through devices is relatively recent. It is easy to be in a panic about it if we think that porn is everywhere, only a few taps away, invading the private space of our homes. People are free to think of pornography whichever way they want to think of it. Watch it or don’t watch it. It doesn’t bother me. I’m neither pro-porn nor anti-porn. However, what bothers me is the vast amount of wrong facts about porn that is grossly misleading the public and unscientific. There is so much misinformation that the real science gets drowned in so much noise. The focus of this post is to bring some facts back to the debate. Some of these may be uncomfortable truths. But as a clinician, I’m led by clinical … [Read more...] about The Myths About Pornography

Source: Free-Photos, heblo, & Chickenonline/Pixabay (Modifications: Arash Emamzadeh) Negotiation is a big part of life. For instance, you negotiate with your boss for a higher salary or more fair distribution of the workload, with a car dealer or home seller for a better price, and—the most difficult of all—with your little one about eating broccoli. Negotiations occur between businesses and political parties too, but, needless to say, these groups are represented by individuals. For example, the “ Iran Nuclear Deal ” resulted from a series of intense negotiations between representatives of Iran, the US, the UK, Russia, Germany, France, and China. Similarly, Trump’s economic sanctions on Iran and his strategy of maximum pressure —which may have included the killing of Major Suleimani and potential cooperation with Israel in the killing of nuclear scientist Fakhrizadeh in November—was supposedly intended to force Iran’s representatives to come to the negotiating … [Read more...] about The Psychology of Negotiation, Explained

Psychopaths are callous, remorseless, and exploitative individuals. Psychopaths have a characteristic way of communicating. Consider Ted Bundy, a serial killer who could likely meet the criteria for psychopathy : If you watch his 1977 prison interview, available in part on YouTube , you may find something peculiar about how Bundy talks, expresses emotions, and gestures. The question I would like to address in this post is whether we can identify psychopaths by examining how they communicate. To answer this question, I will summarize the findings of a recent study, published in the February issue of the Journal of Psycholinguistic Research , which reviews characteristics of psychopaths’ communication . 1 Psychopathy is sometimes confused with psychopathology (mental illness), psychosis (delusions and hallucinations ), and other similar-sounding words, so before discussing the present study, let me very briefly describe what psychopathy means. Who are … [Read more...] about You May Be Able to Identify a Psychopath by the Way They Talk

Body image is a complicated concept, as it encompasses perceptions, thoughts and feelings about the body over time. As people age, the focus on body features tends to shift predominantly onto facial attractiveness including the skin, eyes, cheekbones and jawline. It follows that facelift procedures are some of the most common aesthetic surgical procedures undertaken by those over 40 years of age. While the primary goal of facelift surgery is to create an outward appearance that reflects the patient's inner spirit and sense of beauty, studies have not shown any relationship between the degree of facial aging and the amount of patients’ concern. Furthermore, there is no documented association between the amount of objective improvement after facelift surgery and patient satisfaction. To fully understand the impact of facelift procedures on mental health, we need to examine patients’ underlying motivations for surgery, the immediate postoperative effects, and longer term quality of … [Read more...] about The Psychological Impact of a Facelift