Posts by Neil Petersen
Perfectionism and Insomnia
Perfectionists might find that when they lie down for the night, their sleep is anything but perfect. A growing collection of studies are highlighting a link between perfectionism and insomnia, as well as giving clues about why that link exists. Last year, a study of 334 people spending the night in a sleep laboratory found…
Read MoreWhat Weekend Exercise Means for Monday Morning
People choose to spend their precious weekend hours in different ways. Sometimes taking it easy and recharging your batteries is just what you need to start the next week off fresh. Other times, you might find that planning a physically active weekend is the antidote to stress. Why is it that weekend exercise can boost…
Read More
Is Creationism the Ultimate Conspiracy Theory?
I’ve got one heck of a conspiracy theory for you. It goes like this: contrary to what scientists say, everything in the natural world exists because someone created it that way, not because it’s the result of evolution. The idea that the natural world was deliberately designed to function the way it does is an…
Read More
Optimism, Brooding Rumination and Mental Time Travel in Everyday Life
We all engage in what psychologists call mental time travel. It’s not as futuristic as it sounds. Essentially, it’s just the ability to think about our past and future experiences. While we all engage in mental time travel, we don’t all do so the same amount, and we have different preferences as far as where…
Read MoreWho’s Afraid of Needles?
Do you hate giving blood, getting an IV, or doing really any medical procedure that involves a needle? You’re not alone. Recently, a pair of researchers conducted a meta-analysis of previously published studies on the fear of needles. One of their goals was to come up with an estimate of how many people have a…
Read MoreSelf-Compassion Consistently Linked With Mental Health in Teenagers
Being able to treat themselves with kindness might make a real difference for teens when it comes to mental health. That idea makes intuitive sense, and now a meta-analysis by researchers at University of Edinburgh suggests it has a substantial amount of scientific evidence to back it up. The theory that self-compassion and mental health…
Read MoreStigma Toward Borderline Personality Disorder Is Improving
People with borderline personality disorder struggle with symptoms that range from fear of abandonment to difficulties with emotion regulation to self-harm. Unfortunately, they’ve also traditionally struggled with another problem: stigma from mental health care providers. Stereotypically, borderline personality disorder is considered hard to treat, and people with borderline personality disorder are seen by clinicians as…
Read More
Viral Outrage Can Make People More Sympathetic
It’s a familiar pattern now: first, someone says something offensive online. Then their ill-advised social media post goes viral, subjecting them to trial by Twitter and Facebook. Paradoxically, because the consequences of viral outrage can come to seem out of proportion with the initial offense, this process might ultimately make the person who made the…
Read More
Emotional Skills Can Undo the Link Between Stress and Cardiovascular Health
Ongoing stress is looking like an increasingly guilty suspect in sabotaging people’s health. The American Psychological Association now cites chronic stress as a risk factor for heath disease, high blood pressure and stroke. But does chronic stress have the same effects on everyone? Probably not. A recent study by researchers at Yale and University of…
Read MoreThe Roles of Shame and Guilt in Anxiety
Psychology researchers have become increasingly interested in the idea that people who are more prone to feelings of shame and guilt are at higher risk for mental health conditions like anxiety disorders. The emotion of shame in particular is now being viewed as a possible culprit that needs to be explored in treating these conditions.…
Read More