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The image of inhaling the vapor from electronic cigarettes – vaping – is presented by some as an innocuous substitute to smoking traditional cigarettes. It is true that vaping might pose less danger than cigarettes and can wean people off smoking,
“Oh man, [withdrawal] was hell,” said Andrea “Nick” Tattanelli, a 39-year-old mortgage banker who reported engaging in vaping for more than 20 years, in a USA Today article. Mr. Tattanelli said quitting left him depressed.
Malissa M. Barbosa, DO, an addiction medicine specialist, wonders whether vaping is the best way to get patients to stop smoking. “The thing is, the studies aren’t fully available around vaping, and I’m very conservative. This is new, and I say, ‘Why aren’t we thinking of traditional means of quitting?’ ”
Vaping is more addictive than smoking traditional cigarettes “because the concentrated liquid form is more quickly metabolized,” said Dr. Barbosa, area medical director of CleanSlate Outpatient Addiction Medicine in Orlando.
And as the number of vapers grows, evidence is mounting that, rather than using it as a stepping stone to becoming nicotine-free, vaping is increasingly being used by adolescents as a form of delivering nicotine.
“We know how hard it is to quit smoking,” said Michael J. Blaha, MD, MPH, a cardiologist who serves as director of clinical research at the Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. “[With vaping], we’re really dealing with much of the same problem. Early on, there were some reports vaping was less addictive, but that’s still something that can be debated.”
In the United States, vapers include nearly 4 million middle and high school students. Surgeon General Jerome M. Adams, MD, MPH, has suggested raising prices as a strategy aimed at curbing adolescent use.
Impact of gratitude on the brain
The beginning of a new year can be a time for reflection that can include a sense of gratitude for a relatively happy and secure life. And, according to an article at theconversation.com, the ability to have a sense of gratitude is good for well-being.
“Not only does gratitude go along with more optimism, less anxiety and depression, and greater goal attainment, but it’s also associated with fewer symptoms of illness and other physical benefits;” wrote Christina Karns, PhD, research associate in psychology at the University of Oregon, Portland.
A feeling of gratitude stimulates a part of the brain that controls the release of neurochemicals that confer pleasure. The benefits of gratitude aren’t just between the ears. Feeling gratitude can motivate people to pay it forward as altruistic behavior that helps others. Put another way, feeling good about life can trigger kindness.
Research by Dr. Karns and her colleagues also has demonstrated that this link between personal good feeling and altruism can be learned and accentuated. “So in terms of the brain’s reward response, it really can be true that giving is better than receiving,” wrote Dr. Karns, who also is affiliated with the Center for Brain Injury Research and Training at the university.
Imagine if the recipients of such goodwill, in turn, did some good for others, and they for others, and so on.
Did talk radio host save a life?
Talk radio can be filled with acrimony and argument – but it also can save lives. As reported in the Guardian, a show hosted by British TV and radio personality Iain Lee is different in that Mr. Lee sometimes connects with his audience by riffing on his own struggles with depression. A recent show extended the audience connection in a lifesaving way.
Mr. Lee received a call from a listener who reported overdosing on drugs with the intent of suicide. In hearing of that intent, Mr. Lee kept the caller on the line for 30 minutes. At one point, he responded: “Shut up, man, I know you want to die, brother, but I love you. I love you. You may want to die, but we can talk about that tomorrow.”
The response got through to the caller, who reportedly lay on the pavement outside a nightclub. Meanwhile, the call was being traced, and emergency medical personnel responded.
When Mr. Lee learned that the caller had been located and was still alive, he broke down on air. Later, he tweeted: “Tonight we took a call from a man who had taken an overdose … Long periods of silence where I thought he’d died. That was intense and upsetting. Thanks for your kind words. I really hope he makes it.”
A trip to Walmart can include therapy
A Walmart in Carrollton, Tex., is trying out a new service for customers: It is including an on-site mental health clinic. As reported by the Dallas Morning News, the idea is to make mental health care convenient and bring people who otherwise might forgo help through the clinic door.
“Twenty years ago, we would never imagine going to a retail location for a flu shot. You’d make an appointment with your primary care,” said Russell Petrella, chief executive of Beacon Health Options, which runs the in-store clinic. “The idea of bringing these services to places where consumers – potential patients – are more comfortable is getting more and more accepted.”
Initially, therapy was $25 for a 45-minute session with an individual or family. Prices will rise to $110 for an individual and $125 for a family early in this year. Lower prices are available for people who demonstrate a financial need.
The location for this trial run was deliberate. Texas has a disproportionately large number of residents without mental health care, ranking 49th in the nation, according to a 2018 report by Mental Health America.
Greg Hansch, public policy director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Texas, said he is encouraged by novel types of care like the Walmart clinic. He would like to see further integration of mental health care into schools, workplaces, and other retailers. “You remove some of that stigma if you can make services part of a person’s everyday routine,” he said.
Smartphones and the teenage brain
The explosion in smartphone use since 2012 has coincided with increased rates of depression in adolescents. Reduced sleep might be one reason. Teenagers in the United States routinely rack up 6 hours a day on social media, which includes texting and other online activities. “For teens in particular, it’s catnip,” said Jean M. Twenge, PhD, professor of psychology at San Diego State University and author of “I-Gen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy – and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood” (Atria Books, 2017).
A smartphone is no substitute for face-to-face interactions, and offers little training in verbal communication and problem solving. A consequence of a smartphone-connected youth, according to Dr. Twenge, could be worsened mental health.
But there is some good news. Some teens are working to curb their smartphone use. Stopping the use of a smartphone as a relief for boredom, setting self-imposed time limits of phone use, and not succumbing to the wired world’s tendency to ratchet up anxiety are helpful strategies that can make smartphone use more productive.
The image of inhaling the vapor from electronic cigarettes – vaping – is presented by some as an innocuous substitute to smoking traditional cigarettes. It is true that vaping might pose less danger than cigarettes and can wean people off smoking,
“Oh man, [withdrawal] was hell,” said Andrea “Nick” Tattanelli, a 39-year-old mortgage banker who reported engaging in vaping for more than 20 years, in a USA Today article. Mr. Tattanelli said quitting left him depressed.
Malissa M. Barbosa, DO, an addiction medicine specialist, wonders whether vaping is the best way to get patients to stop smoking. “The thing is, the studies aren’t fully available around vaping, and I’m very conservative. This is new, and I say, ‘Why aren’t we thinking of traditional means of quitting?’ ”
Vaping is more addictive than smoking traditional cigarettes “because the concentrated liquid form is more quickly metabolized,” said Dr. Barbosa, area medical director of CleanSlate Outpatient Addiction Medicine in Orlando.
And as the number of vapers grows, evidence is mounting that, rather than using it as a stepping stone to becoming nicotine-free, vaping is increasingly being used by adolescents as a form of delivering nicotine.
“We know how hard it is to quit smoking,” said Michael J. Blaha, MD, MPH, a cardiologist who serves as director of clinical research at the Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. “[With vaping], we’re really dealing with much of the same problem. Early on, there were some reports vaping was less addictive, but that’s still something that can be debated.”
In the United States, vapers include nearly 4 million middle and high school students. Surgeon General Jerome M. Adams, MD, MPH, has suggested raising prices as a strategy aimed at curbing adolescent use.
Impact of gratitude on the brain
The beginning of a new year can be a time for reflection that can include a sense of gratitude for a relatively happy and secure life. And, according to an article at theconversation.com, the ability to have a sense of gratitude is good for well-being.
“Not only does gratitude go along with more optimism, less anxiety and depression, and greater goal attainment, but it’s also associated with fewer symptoms of illness and other physical benefits;” wrote Christina Karns, PhD, research associate in psychology at the University of Oregon, Portland.
A feeling of gratitude stimulates a part of the brain that controls the release of neurochemicals that confer pleasure. The benefits of gratitude aren’t just between the ears. Feeling gratitude can motivate people to pay it forward as altruistic behavior that helps others. Put another way, feeling good about life can trigger kindness.
Research by Dr. Karns and her colleagues also has demonstrated that this link between personal good feeling and altruism can be learned and accentuated. “So in terms of the brain’s reward response, it really can be true that giving is better than receiving,” wrote Dr. Karns, who also is affiliated with the Center for Brain Injury Research and Training at the university.
Imagine if the recipients of such goodwill, in turn, did some good for others, and they for others, and so on.
Did talk radio host save a life?
Talk radio can be filled with acrimony and argument – but it also can save lives. As reported in the Guardian, a show hosted by British TV and radio personality Iain Lee is different in that Mr. Lee sometimes connects with his audience by riffing on his own struggles with depression. A recent show extended the audience connection in a lifesaving way.
Mr. Lee received a call from a listener who reported overdosing on drugs with the intent of suicide. In hearing of that intent, Mr. Lee kept the caller on the line for 30 minutes. At one point, he responded: “Shut up, man, I know you want to die, brother, but I love you. I love you. You may want to die, but we can talk about that tomorrow.”
The response got through to the caller, who reportedly lay on the pavement outside a nightclub. Meanwhile, the call was being traced, and emergency medical personnel responded.
When Mr. Lee learned that the caller had been located and was still alive, he broke down on air. Later, he tweeted: “Tonight we took a call from a man who had taken an overdose … Long periods of silence where I thought he’d died. That was intense and upsetting. Thanks for your kind words. I really hope he makes it.”
A trip to Walmart can include therapy
A Walmart in Carrollton, Tex., is trying out a new service for customers: It is including an on-site mental health clinic. As reported by the Dallas Morning News, the idea is to make mental health care convenient and bring people who otherwise might forgo help through the clinic door.
“Twenty years ago, we would never imagine going to a retail location for a flu shot. You’d make an appointment with your primary care,” said Russell Petrella, chief executive of Beacon Health Options, which runs the in-store clinic. “The idea of bringing these services to places where consumers – potential patients – are more comfortable is getting more and more accepted.”
Initially, therapy was $25 for a 45-minute session with an individual or family. Prices will rise to $110 for an individual and $125 for a family early in this year. Lower prices are available for people who demonstrate a financial need.
The location for this trial run was deliberate. Texas has a disproportionately large number of residents without mental health care, ranking 49th in the nation, according to a 2018 report by Mental Health America.
Greg Hansch, public policy director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Texas, said he is encouraged by novel types of care like the Walmart clinic. He would like to see further integration of mental health care into schools, workplaces, and other retailers. “You remove some of that stigma if you can make services part of a person’s everyday routine,” he said.
Smartphones and the teenage brain
The explosion in smartphone use since 2012 has coincided with increased rates of depression in adolescents. Reduced sleep might be one reason. Teenagers in the United States routinely rack up 6 hours a day on social media, which includes texting and other online activities. “For teens in particular, it’s catnip,” said Jean M. Twenge, PhD, professor of psychology at San Diego State University and author of “I-Gen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy – and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood” (Atria Books, 2017).
A smartphone is no substitute for face-to-face interactions, and offers little training in verbal communication and problem solving. A consequence of a smartphone-connected youth, according to Dr. Twenge, could be worsened mental health.
But there is some good news. Some teens are working to curb their smartphone use. Stopping the use of a smartphone as a relief for boredom, setting self-imposed time limits of phone use, and not succumbing to the wired world’s tendency to ratchet up anxiety are helpful strategies that can make smartphone use more productive.
The image of inhaling the vapor from electronic cigarettes – vaping – is presented by some as an innocuous substitute to smoking traditional cigarettes. It is true that vaping might pose less danger than cigarettes and can wean people off smoking,
“Oh man, [withdrawal] was hell,” said Andrea “Nick” Tattanelli, a 39-year-old mortgage banker who reported engaging in vaping for more than 20 years, in a USA Today article. Mr. Tattanelli said quitting left him depressed.
Malissa M. Barbosa, DO, an addiction medicine specialist, wonders whether vaping is the best way to get patients to stop smoking. “The thing is, the studies aren’t fully available around vaping, and I’m very conservative. This is new, and I say, ‘Why aren’t we thinking of traditional means of quitting?’ ”
Vaping is more addictive than smoking traditional cigarettes “because the concentrated liquid form is more quickly metabolized,” said Dr. Barbosa, area medical director of CleanSlate Outpatient Addiction Medicine in Orlando.
And as the number of vapers grows, evidence is mounting that, rather than using it as a stepping stone to becoming nicotine-free, vaping is increasingly being used by adolescents as a form of delivering nicotine.
“We know how hard it is to quit smoking,” said Michael J. Blaha, MD, MPH, a cardiologist who serves as director of clinical research at the Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. “[With vaping], we’re really dealing with much of the same problem. Early on, there were some reports vaping was less addictive, but that’s still something that can be debated.”
In the United States, vapers include nearly 4 million middle and high school students. Surgeon General Jerome M. Adams, MD, MPH, has suggested raising prices as a strategy aimed at curbing adolescent use.
Impact of gratitude on the brain
The beginning of a new year can be a time for reflection that can include a sense of gratitude for a relatively happy and secure life. And, according to an article at theconversation.com, the ability to have a sense of gratitude is good for well-being.
“Not only does gratitude go along with more optimism, less anxiety and depression, and greater goal attainment, but it’s also associated with fewer symptoms of illness and other physical benefits;” wrote Christina Karns, PhD, research associate in psychology at the University of Oregon, Portland.
A feeling of gratitude stimulates a part of the brain that controls the release of neurochemicals that confer pleasure. The benefits of gratitude aren’t just between the ears. Feeling gratitude can motivate people to pay it forward as altruistic behavior that helps others. Put another way, feeling good about life can trigger kindness.
Research by Dr. Karns and her colleagues also has demonstrated that this link between personal good feeling and altruism can be learned and accentuated. “So in terms of the brain’s reward response, it really can be true that giving is better than receiving,” wrote Dr. Karns, who also is affiliated with the Center for Brain Injury Research and Training at the university.
Imagine if the recipients of such goodwill, in turn, did some good for others, and they for others, and so on.
Did talk radio host save a life?
Talk radio can be filled with acrimony and argument – but it also can save lives. As reported in the Guardian, a show hosted by British TV and radio personality Iain Lee is different in that Mr. Lee sometimes connects with his audience by riffing on his own struggles with depression. A recent show extended the audience connection in a lifesaving way.
Mr. Lee received a call from a listener who reported overdosing on drugs with the intent of suicide. In hearing of that intent, Mr. Lee kept the caller on the line for 30 minutes. At one point, he responded: “Shut up, man, I know you want to die, brother, but I love you. I love you. You may want to die, but we can talk about that tomorrow.”
The response got through to the caller, who reportedly lay on the pavement outside a nightclub. Meanwhile, the call was being traced, and emergency medical personnel responded.
When Mr. Lee learned that the caller had been located and was still alive, he broke down on air. Later, he tweeted: “Tonight we took a call from a man who had taken an overdose … Long periods of silence where I thought he’d died. That was intense and upsetting. Thanks for your kind words. I really hope he makes it.”
A trip to Walmart can include therapy
A Walmart in Carrollton, Tex., is trying out a new service for customers: It is including an on-site mental health clinic. As reported by the Dallas Morning News, the idea is to make mental health care convenient and bring people who otherwise might forgo help through the clinic door.
“Twenty years ago, we would never imagine going to a retail location for a flu shot. You’d make an appointment with your primary care,” said Russell Petrella, chief executive of Beacon Health Options, which runs the in-store clinic. “The idea of bringing these services to places where consumers – potential patients – are more comfortable is getting more and more accepted.”
Initially, therapy was $25 for a 45-minute session with an individual or family. Prices will rise to $110 for an individual and $125 for a family early in this year. Lower prices are available for people who demonstrate a financial need.
The location for this trial run was deliberate. Texas has a disproportionately large number of residents without mental health care, ranking 49th in the nation, according to a 2018 report by Mental Health America.
Greg Hansch, public policy director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Texas, said he is encouraged by novel types of care like the Walmart clinic. He would like to see further integration of mental health care into schools, workplaces, and other retailers. “You remove some of that stigma if you can make services part of a person’s everyday routine,” he said.
Smartphones and the teenage brain
The explosion in smartphone use since 2012 has coincided with increased rates of depression in adolescents. Reduced sleep might be one reason. Teenagers in the United States routinely rack up 6 hours a day on social media, which includes texting and other online activities. “For teens in particular, it’s catnip,” said Jean M. Twenge, PhD, professor of psychology at San Diego State University and author of “I-Gen: Why Today’s Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy – and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood” (Atria Books, 2017).
A smartphone is no substitute for face-to-face interactions, and offers little training in verbal communication and problem solving. A consequence of a smartphone-connected youth, according to Dr. Twenge, could be worsened mental health.
But there is some good news. Some teens are working to curb their smartphone use. Stopping the use of a smartphone as a relief for boredom, setting self-imposed time limits of phone use, and not succumbing to the wired world’s tendency to ratchet up anxiety are helpful strategies that can make smartphone use more productive.