Recent quotes:

Fertility app 'Dot' found to be as effective as other family planning methods -- ScienceDaily

The researchers found that the app had a typical-use failure rate of 5 percent and a perfect-use failure rate of 1 percent, which makes Dot comparable to family planning methods such as the pill, vaginal ring, and other fertility awareness-based methods. "More and more women are using apps as a family planning method, so having an option backed by strong evidence of effectiveness is critical," says Victoria Jennings, PhD, principal investigator of the Dot effectiveness study and director of the IRH. "Women must be able to base their app choice on solid evidence about how well the method works and what's involved in using it. That's why it was so important that an app like Dot undergo a rigorous effectiveness trial conducted according to established study guidelines used to study other methods."
#apps #docbots #family - sciencedaily.com

Are Emotional Disorders Really Disorders of Love? - Mad In America

I now want to boil down the role of love in our lives into a simple observation: Nearly all human personal or emotional success depends upon being able to give and to accept love, and nearly all human personal failure reflects an inability to do so. My own working definition of love is “joyful awareness”—the experience of happiness over the existence of something or someone, including whatever or whomever inspires us, from family and friends to nature and God. From experiencing romantic love to admiring heroes who lift our ideals; from enjoying the birds that flit about us in our backyard to watching children or animals play—love is an enthusiastic engagement in life. When we love people and pets, as well as God, we became able not only to give love but also to receive it.
#paleotherapy #psychiatry #family #loving-kindness #joy - madinamerica.com

Faster. Slower. How We Walk Depends on Who We Walk With, and Where We Live. - The New York Times

People in Uganda, it turned out, walked much more quickly than those in Seattle when they were by themselves, their pace averaging about 11 percent swifter than lone walkers in the United States. But they were slower in groups. Both men and women in Mukono strolled at a more leisurely pace when they were with others, especially children. Their pace when accompanied by children was about 16 percent slower than when they were alone, whether they carried the children or walked beside them. The opposite was true in Seattle. There, people sped up when they walked with other people. Men were particularly hurried when walking with other men, but both men and women increased their pace if they had children in tow. Their average walking speed when they carried or accompanied children was about 20 percent speedier than when they walked alone.
#community #children #walking #socializing #family - nytimes.com

Food allergies linked to childhood anxiety -- ScienceDaily

Among the children with a food allergy, 57 percent reported having symptoms of anxiety compared to 48 percent of children without a food allergy. Approximately 48 percent of the children had symptoms of depression with or without a food allergy. "Management of food allergy can be expensive both in terms of food shopping, meal preparation, and the cost of epinephrine auto-injectors, which expire annually," said Renee Goodwin, PhD, in the Department of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health and lead author. "These demands could result in higher levels of anxiety for those with fewer financial resources and further heighten anxiety symptoms in children and their caregivers." The results suggest that food allergy is particularly linked to elevated social anxiety and fear of social rejection and humiliation.
#anxiety #allergy #family - sciencedaily.com

Participants' perceived benefits of family intervention following a first episode of psychosis: a qualitative study - Nilsen - 2014 - Early Intervention in Psychiatry - Wiley Online Library

Patients and family members reported benefits that could be classified in five categories: (i) developing insight and acceptance requires understanding of the fact that the patient has an illness, and recognizing the need for support; (ii) recognizing warning signs requires an understanding of early signs of deterioration in the patient; (iii) improving communication skills is linked to new understanding and better communication both within the family and in groups; (iv) Learning to plan and solve problems requires the ability to solve problems in new ways; (v) becoming more independent requires patients to take responsibility for their own life.
#psychosis #family - onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Older mothers are better mothers, study suggests: Children of older mothers have fewer behavioral, social and emotional difficulties -- ScienceDaily

"We know that people become more mentally flexible with age, are more tolerant of other people and thrive better emotionally themselves. That's why psychological maturity may explain why older mothers do not scold and physically discipline their children as much," says Professor Dion Sommer. "This style of parenting can thereby contribute to a positive psychosocial environment which affects the children's upbringing," he concludes. The study of the correlation between maternal age and children's social and emotional development was carried out when the children were 7, 11 and 15 years old respectively. The results have been published in the scientific journal European Journal of Developmental Psychology.
#parenting #children #family - sciencedaily.com

Parents of children with serious heart defects may be at risk of PTSD -- ScienceDaily

Health professionals know that mental health issues in parents can lead to long-term cognitive, health and behavioral troubles in their children. Researchers reviewed published data from 10 countries. Among parents of children with critical congenital heart defects, researchers found: Up to 30 percent had symptoms consistent with a diagnosis of PTSD, with more than 80 percent showing significant symptoms of trauma; 25 percent to 50 percent reported elevated symptoms of depression, anxiety or both; and 30 percent to 80 percent reported experiencing severe psychological distress; In comparison, the prevalence of PTSD in the U.S. general population is 3.5 percent, with 18 percent meeting criteria for any anxiety disorder in the last year, and 9.5 percent meeting criteria for any mood disorder.
#parenting #children #family #PTSD - sciencedaily.com

The Surprising Historical Significance of Fortune-Telling | Cody Delistraty

The capitalist ethos of self-mastery is undermined by the possibility of luck leading to success without proportional labor. As a result, games of luck tend to be sidelined in capitalist societies, looked down upon as pastimes of the poor and lazy.
#econ #family #Marx #luck #capitalism - delistraty.com

Persistent ADHD associated with overly critical parents: High levels of criticism over time related to continuation of symptoms, study says -- ScienceDaily

Parents were asked to talk about their relationship with their child uninterrupted for five minutes. Audio recordings of these sessions were then rated by experts for levels of criticism (harsh, negative statements about the child, rather than the child's behavior) and emotional over-involvement (overprotective feelings toward the child). Measurements were taken on two occasions one year apart. Only sustained parental criticism (high levels at both measurements, not just one) was associated with the continuance of ADHD symptoms in the children who had been diagnosed with ADHD. "The novel finding here is that children with ADHD whose families continued to express high levels of criticism over time failed to experience the usual decline in symptoms with age and instead maintained persistent, high levels of ADHD symptoms," said Musser.
#ADHD #family - sciencedaily.com

Study of Holocaust survivors finds trauma passed on to children's genes | Science | The Guardian

The team were specifically interested in one region of a gene associated with the regulation of stress hormones, which is known to be affected by trauma. “It makes sense to look at this gene,” said Yehuda. “If there’s a transmitted effect of trauma, it would be in a stress-related gene that shapes the way we cope with our environment.” They found epigenetic tags on the very same part of this gene in both the Holocaust survivors and their offspring, the same correlation was not found in any of the control group and their children.
#DNA #epigenetics #family - theguardian.com

Jakes Brewer meets the future

When we went to have an ultrasound for this baby, I wasn't sure if I wanted to know the gender, we did not know with Georgia, so I told the ultrasound tech, just put it in an envelope and we'll decide later, and by the time we got to the end of the ultrasound, the baby was not cooperative and in a bad position, by the time we got to the end of the long ultrasound, she had forgotten what I had told her, and she made sure I was looking away when she wrote on the screen what we're having. He was still looking, and I was looking at him, and he was like, "Whoa whoa whoa!," and he has a very good poker face. I was like, "Do you know now?," and he said, "Yep," and we being us, I didn't bug him about it, and he didn't let anything slip. That was three weeks, a month ago, and what is truly wonderful about that, is that forever more, I will know, and his son or daughter will know, that he met them that day, in that room, in a way that none of us have met this one yet, and he got to know him or her for a month, in his mind, and come up with names, and think about the future.
#children #love #family #famous-last-words - townhall.com

It turns out parenthood is worse than divorce, unemployment — even the death of a partner - The Washington Post

On average, new parenthood led to a 1.4 unit drop in happiness. That's considered very severe. To put things in perspective, previous studies have quantified the impact of other major life events on the same happiness scale in this way: divorce, the equivalent of a 0.6 "happiness unit" drop; unemployment, a one-unit drop; and the death of a partner a one-unit drop.
#happiness #children #family - washingtonpost.com