Posts by Neil Petersen
The Dark Side of Celebrity Worship
We live in a society that is obsessed with celebrities. But if you have concerns that idolizing someone you’ve never met might not go hand-in-hand with good mental health, you could be on to something. People differ in the extent to which they care about celebrities. Research on the topic has consistently indicated that having…
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We Need to Learn More About People Who Flourish After Depression
We know a decent amount about people with depression. At this point, quite a few studies have been done on people who have depression. But we know less about people who used to have depression – and especially about people who used to have depression but are now flourishing. A new paper by researchers from…
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Why Meaning in Life Means Better Mental Health for Teens
As I’ve written about before, having a sense of purpose in life is consistently linked with better mental health. It’s hard to be happy when you’re also wondering what the point of it all is. Of course, people’s sense of meaning in life isn’t necessary a fixed quantity. Some studies have suggested a general tendency…
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How to Parent a Young Adult
We think of “parenting” as something that’s done for children, but of course you don’t simply stop being a parent the moment your children reach adulthood. The quality of a parent-child relationship can make a real difference for emerging adults, at least according to a new study from researchers in Spain. So what characterizes a…
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Why Trying to Find Your Passion Might Backfire
Find your passion. It seems like such self-evidently good life advice. But it’s worth stopping to think about what it means to “find” your passion. The implication behind this phrase is that your passion already exists somewhere, and you just have to uncover it. What if passion is something that develops over time, though? What…
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Study: People You Meet Probably Like You More Than You Think
A theme that often comes up on this blog is that people tend to be biased in their judgments about themselves and about the way other people see them. In many situations, it’s as if people are wired not to see themselves accurately. On one hand, people tend to overestimate their own traits in a…
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Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Anxiety: It Works for Both Teens and Adults, but Not Necessarily in the Same Way
A common treatment for anxiety disorders is cognitive-behavioral therapy, or CBT for short. CBT aims to help people develop effective coping strategies for addressing stressful situations and managing their emotions. It provides a set of techniques that people can use to confront negative thoughts and negative behaviors, hence the name. Because CBT involves engaging with…
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Teenagers Who Self-Harm, 20 Years Later
When mental health conditions appear during the teenage years, one of the most complex questions is what the long-term implications are. Some conditions tend to be life-long, but for behaviors like self-harm, it’s harder to know what to expect over the course of decades. Part of the reason our knowledge in this area is still…
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The Health Benefits of Playfulness
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. It also makes him less healthy, less physically fit and less likely to lead an active life. That second part isn’t from the original proverb. Rather, it’s from a study published this month in the journal Frontiers in Psychology. In the study, researchers looked to…
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The Psychological Toll of Taking a Selfie
Snapping a selfie might seem like the most frivolous, inconsequential act. But on a deeper level, selfies are potentially tied up with questions of how we see our bodies and present ourselves to others. Posting a selfie to social media might be a more emotionally loaded behavior than it seems at first glance, an idea…
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