Posts by Neil Petersen
From Childhood Trauma to Adulthood Empathy?
If there’s a good side to suffering, it might be that it can make you more attuned to the suffering of others. A new study from researchers at City University of New York, University of Cambridge, and University College London suggests that traumatic experiences in childhood might be linked to heightened empathy in adulthood. According…
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Climate Change Has Mental Health Costs Too
This week, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that we have a window of 12 years before our chance to limit global warming to a 1.5C rise in temperatures slips away. Failing to cap global warming at 1.5C would mean more severe food and water shortages, more poverty, more severe weather, more heat-related…
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Quality Might Matter More Than Quantity in Loneliness
Loneliness has a bad rap, and it’s not entirely undeserved. The emotion of loneliness has been linked to both physical and mental health problems. As I wrote last year, for example, loneliness might contribute to the onset of depression. Not all loneliness is created equal, though. A new study suggests that some types of loneliness…
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Giving Advice Might Be Better Than Receiving It
You find yourself in a situation where you’re struggling. You don’t know what to do. Your confidence is starting to flag. Is it time to seek out some advice from other people? Actually, it might be time for you to give advice. In a new paper titled Dear Abby: Should I Give Advice or Receive…
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Can Job Interviews Uncover Narcissism?
Woe be to the employer who hires a promising applicant only to discover that they are an exceptional narcissist. The employer isn’t the only one to suffer, either. For example, if the newly hired narcissist turns out to be a doctor, that’s bad news for patients as well. This latter scenario was the inspiration for…
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How to Cope With Waiting
Waiting isn’t known for being fun. It’s not generally fun when you’re waiting in line at the supermarket, and it’s really not fun when you’re waiting for a piece of life-altering news like a job offer. In fact, previous research has found that, on average, people consider waiting for uncertain news as unpleasant as receiving…
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Repetition Makes Fake News More Believable
If you want something to be believable, just repeat it. Let me say that again: if you want something to be believable, just repeat it. A new study by researchers at Yale University shows that blatantly false “news” articles become easier to believe when people have been exposed to them before. The study also suggests…
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4 Steps to Prevent Burnout
Burnout at work is a common phenomenon, but it’s still one that mental health professionals don’t completely understand. Why do some people eventually become emotionally exhausted by their jobs? And is this a workplace problem or a mental health problem? Psychologists don’t even agree on whether burnout is the same as depression, or whether it’s…
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More Evidence That Happier People Live Longer
A new study adds weight to the idea that happiness and physical health go hand-in-hand. The study, by researchers in Singapore, looks at two groups of people who have been previously underrepresented in research on the health effects of happiness: people over the age of 60 and people in non-Western countries. In the study, 4,478…
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Going Gluten-Free Changes What Potential Romantic Partners Think of You
It’s unclear whether going gluten-free has any health benefits for people without celiac disease, but that hasn’t stopped the diet from catching on. Last month, a Gallup poll found that one in five Americans make a point of including at least some gluten-free food in their diet. Those who opt for a gluten-free diet are…
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