In his excellent New York Times opinion piece on July 11, 2021, organizational psychologist Adam Grant discussed the influence of social interactions on our emotions. In his essay, “The Joy We’ve Been Missing,” Grant proposes that “peak happiness lies mostly in collective activity.” He utilizes the concept of “collective effervescence” coined by the French sociologist…
It’s not uncommon for me to receive a call from someone who has decided to talk to a psychologist that practices Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). They usually confess that they don’t know what CBT is or that there are different approaches to doing therapy. If this comes as a surprise, you are not alone. Many…
There is something about stepping outside on a warm, sunny day that lifts any doldrums and clears the mental cobwebs. I have often wondered if there is any biological basis for improved mood when the weather warms up. It turns out that there are a plethora of studies conducted on this topic. It is quite…
The pandemic and its associated consequences have been responsible for a skyrocketing of mental health issues. One such study cited a quadrupling of self-reported anxiety/depression symptoms during the pandemic compared with numbers from the prior year over a similar period. The mental health effects of the pandemic have been most strongly felt by young women,…
A friend recently remarked that he had PTSD thinking about this time last year, as the COVID pandemic began to entirely collapse his reality along with the rest of us. I easily related to his distress and was reminded of a useful concept called the anniversary reaction. The overlap between anniversary reaction and posttraumatic stress…
We all know by now that stress is bad for our immune system. We’ve heard it a million times, especially since 2020. But did you ever wonder how, exactly, a feeling of unhappiness or worry can turn into swollen glands or a fever? How can something so intangible as a feeling cause such a physical…
Do you ever find that you’re going through the motions of life without fully being present in the moment? How many times have you driven somewhere only to forget the entire trip completely or eaten a meal without remembering how it tasted? How often do you sit and take in the sights and sounds around…
I don’t know about you, but I used to enjoy going out. I looked forward to having a Saturday night dinner with my husband and friends, a day of soccer games and plans with my teenagers, and vacations (remember vacations?). I thought I would miss it all when March turned into April, then December arrived, but the…
On a rare evening when there was no sports practice pick-up and no homework to supervise, I sat down to watch one of those ubiquitous talent contests on television. A magician was the next performer. I watched through the mundane banter and setup for his routine, the fluidity of his hand movements as he manipulated…
Almost half of the U.S. adult population plans to visit a casino and gamble at some point in the next year. Las Vegas casinos alone average over 50 million visitors per year. Still, most gamblers lose money, so how do the casinos entice people to play games designed to take their money? Casino operators employ…