What activates the pleasure and reward centers of the brain, calms parts of the brain associated with fear and anxiety, and is available to anyone without a prescription? Long-term relationships. Researchers Bianca Acevedo, PhD and Arthur Aron, PhD took ten women and seven men who had been married an average of 21.4 years and did […]
Expanding our Capacity to Love Others (and Ourselves) through Mindfulness
Doctor, nurse, therapist, social worker . . . . . . we all have roles we identify with, both personally and professionally. But, what do these roles we play have to do with experiencing unconditional love, and how can changing our awareness impact our sense of it? In this video clip, Ram Dass, PhD, […]
PTSD and Emotional Trauma Affects Partners of Veterans Too
It’s common knowledge that caring for someone with PTSD sometimes leads to secondary trauma. But researchers at the University of Utah wondered just how bad that secondary trauma could be. Could the partners of veterans with PTSD suffer just as much, if not more, than the veterans themselves? Catherine Caska, a graduate student in clinical […]
Can empathy change the brain’s response to pain?
As a psychologist, empathy is obviously important. When people feel like they’re getting compassion and understanding, they are much more likely to make the changes that up until now have felt all too scary. But can empathy change our experience of pain? Does it have any impact upon how the brain responds to pain? Researchers […]
Can Mindfulness Meditation Strengthen Relationships?
Being “good” at relationships doesn’t just happen – we often have to work at it . . . and one trait that can strengthen relationships is empathy. So how do we cultivate it in our patients and ourselves, and how does mindfulness meditation fit in? Jennifer Mascaro, PhD and her colleagues at Emory University wanted […]