A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
Thinkstock One of the smallest parts of the brain is getting a second look after new research suggests it plays a crucial role in decision making. A University of British Columbia study published today in Nature Neuroscience says the lateral habenula, a region of the brain linked to depression and avoidance behaviors, has been largely [...]
Alamy I saw cuts on her leg and she told me she had fallen over on sharp grass during PE. I actually believed her at the time. I didn't think about it anymore until I saw cuts on her arm. That is when it clicked. That was at least 2 years ago now. [...]
What type of parent are you? Designed by Wes Mountain, CC BY-ND What’s the best way to raise your child? It’s a question that has provoked the publication of numerous books, and seen authors race to coin the next quirky name for a new style of parenting. And it turns out there are [...]
Getty Images Having worked with police forces in Australia and the United Kingdom identifying those who sexually prey on children, people are always asking me how you can tell a paedophile from everyone else. Well, I can tell you one thing – they don’t have horns and tails. They look and act like [...]
Research indicates that there are generally low levels of mental health literacy in the community. General beliefs and misunderstandings about mental health affect community responses to eating disorders. Understanding the facts about eating disorders can reduce stigma, increase awareness and consequently improve the prevention, early identification and help-seeking among sufferers. The National Eating Disorders Collaboration (NEDC) have identified five common misconceptions about [...]
Natasha Devon, sacked last week as a mental health champion for young people. Photograph: Ken McKay/Rex We live with an epidemic of anxiety. In 1980, 4% of Americans suffered a mental disorder associated with anxiety. Today half do. The trends in Britain are similar. A third of Britons will experience anxiety disorder at some [...]
Credit: Lucy Nicholson/REUTERS There’s a little too much wishful thinking about mindfulness, and it is skewing how researchers report their studies of the technique. Researchers at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, analysed 124 published trials of mindfulness as a mental-health treatment, and found that scientists reported positive findings 60% more often than is [...]
Helping others boosts your mood more than helping yourself, new study suggests. Credit: Kelvin Murray/ Getty Images When we’re having a rough day, many of us tend to treat ourselves to some form of retail therapy, a favorite dessert or going out with friends in hopes of feeling better. But a new study published [...]
Stock Images Words are hard to get right, particularly in science. Not only do the same words mean entirely different things whether you’re using them in regular conversation or in a scientific context (hello, "theory"), but the more we use certain words and phrases, the faster they can lose their original meaning, or [...]
It’s a simple but beautiful dream: a fine Burgundy with lunch, a few post-work Belgian beers, some rosé with dinner, then maybe a dram of peaty Scotch to end the night. But while a European lifestyle may appear more elegant than another game of ‘Edward Scrumpy Hands’, drinking in this way isn’t necessarily healthier.“It’s wrong [...]
