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A recent review in the Journal of the Medical Association reminded readers that “...cigarettes remain the leading preventable cause of death” and that smoking “kills half a million Americans each year.” But as the reviewer points out, the cigarette epidemic has become invisible because of the more urgent needs of the Covid-19 pandemic. Somehow the few television ads showing the physical devastation, and ultimately premature deaths caused by nicotine addiction don’t seem to have the same impact as nightly television broadcasts of hospital wards jammed with Covid-19 patients requiring heroic measures to stay alive. Some of those patients may be in need of intensive care because they are smokers, according to several reports and warnings from the American Cancer Institute, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the World Health Organization ("WHO"). The WHO published a review of the current studies on smoking cigarettes as a risk factor for coronavirus in June. … [Read more...] about The Difficulty and Wisdom of Quitting Smoking During the Pandemic

The silver screen of Hollywood past often included white plumes of smoke as men and women lit each other’s cigarettes and puffed on cigars in so many major films. Flash forward 50 years and you are hard-pressed to find examples of smoking actors.  When you do, the question for modern viewers is, how do they look now?  Research has examined exactly that question and provides some surprising answers. As Coy Callison et al. noted in a study aptly entitled “The Aura of Tobacco,” “Movie nerds don’t smoke; should they try, they don’t manage to do it quite right.” [i]  True, and they are no doubt healthier for it.  What about famous, attractive movie stars?  Other researchers have uncovered some surprising answers. Hollywood Role Models Source: Image by Enrique Meseguer from Pixabay David Hines et al. examined whether smoking cigarettes in popular films increased the likelihood that viewers would light up.[ii]  They had a sample of 151 college students ranging in … [Read more...] about Is Smoking Still Glamorous?

Source: Image by Enrique Meseguer from Pixabay Do young people still smoke cigarettes ?  Many people are surprised to hear, that the answer is yes.  Although we are decades past the promotion of cigarettes as a personality enhancer or a weight loss aid, smoking apparently remains linked with body image , both physically and psychologically. Overestimating Benefit, Underestimating Danger Ninfa C. Peña-Purcell et al. (2018) studied the association of cigarette smoking with perceptions about self-confidence and body image, in addition to emotional benefits and health hazards.[i] Using a sample of college students, they found smokers more likely to perceive resulting emotional benefits and enhanced body image as compared with nonsmokers; results that are consistent with prior research. Acknowledging the potentially lifetime dangers associated with cigarette smoking, in addition to the likelihood of taking it up during college years, Peña-Purcell et al. found that … [Read more...] about Why Young People Still Smoke Cigarettes

Despite the bewildering array of current systems of therapy, when you get right down to it, the most effective ones all emphasize three major interventions: exposure for anxiety, behavioral activation for depression , and assertiveness skills training for most social and interpersonal difficulties. It must be understood, however, that no matter how knowledgeable and technically skilled a therapist is, unless he or she first develops a strong therapeutic relationship with his or her client, even the most powerful methods may prove ineffective. Indeed, as the late, great Dr. Arnold Lazarus often said, “The therapeutic relationship is the soil that enables the techniques to take root.” Thus, provided a strong alliance exists between client and therapist, these methods will usually be extremely effective. While a detailed discussion of them is beyond the scope of this post, I hope this “peek through the keyhole” will provide the essential ideas and stimulate further interest. … [Read more...] about And The Three Best Therapy Methods Are…

Home Pregnancy parenting Postnatal Postnatal oi-Shamila Rafat By Shamila Rafat on October 19, 2020 Postpartum Depression, or PPD as it is more commonly referred to as, is defined as "an irritable, severely depressed mood" that can be seen in new mothers. [1] Clinical studies have revealed that PPD affects up to 15% of mothers. [2] Recent research in the field has come to the finding that there are various biological as well as psychological factors that place an expectant mother at a higher risk for developing PPD after giving birth. Studies have revealed that women at a higher risk for developing PPD include inner-city women as well as mothers of pre-term infants. [3] Generally, many new mothers tend to get depressed after giving birth. With the focus shifting to another individual and the need to cope with the new erratic schedule, offering less time for sleeping, a majority of women go through the … [Read more...] about What Is Postpartum Depression (PPD) In New Mothers?