I often get asked about what a friend or family member can do if a loved one communicated that he or she is thinking about suicide. This issue is not addressed nearly as often as it should be, hence I wanted to provide some information for those who might notice signs of suicidal behavior in others and are unsure of what to do about it.
Continue reading What to do if someone you know is thinking about suicide
Have you ever had an experience like this: you’re surrounded by many people and yet you feel very alone. In fact, you might have even attempted to voice how you felt to someone else only to be shamed for feeling this way, “you shouldn’t feel lonely, look at all the people around you,” or better yet “other people have it much worse than you, you should be grateful for what you have.”
Continue reading Lonely in the crowd: the power of connection in fighting the depression blues
I’ve long been telling my patients that stress is dangerous for their health and that it can lead to a plethora of dangerous health hazards. However, some recent studies, in addition to a fantastic talk by Kelly McGonigal, a fellow compassion researcher and my mentor, made me rethink my stance on stress.
“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion” (The Dalai Lama)
Compassion is the ability to recognize the suffering of another being and the desire to alleviate that suffering. Compassion is different from empathy in that it does not only involve the ability to experience the physical or emotional pain felt by another being, but also the aspiration to alleviate that pain.
I am a big proponent that learning should be fun. After all, learning should be reinforcing rather than aversive, making the students want to learn more. Recently, there has been a great amount of research in using games (video games, board games, and computer games) in the classroom to facilitate learning.
What is the Fraud Syndrome?
Fraud Syndrome* is my term to describe the belief that one isn’t good enough to have the opportunity that he or she has and that sooner or later, everybody will find out. We have all experienced some self doubt at some point, feeling that “I’m not good enough.”
What is PTSD?
According to the DSM-IV-TR, in order to meet the criteria for PTSD, the individual has to have witnessed or experienced (directly or indirectly) a traumatic event and then developed symptoms, which cause significant impairment or distress and last over 1 month.
Continue reading Using comic books and games to help treat PTSD
