Health

Topic Areas

Children

Even a Bit of Lead Is Bad for Kids' Psychological Development: Superman couldn't see through lead, but doctors and psychologists did, exposing lead's damaging effects on children's psychological development.

Lessening PKU's Damaging Effects on Children: Much of the neurological havoc wreaked by the rare genetic disorder phenylketonuria (PKU) can be prevented through early, thorough, and continuous care.

Massage Therapy May Heal What's Ailing You: A caregiver's touch can put preemies on the road to normal development and also relieve adults' suffering.

HIV/AIDS

Risky Business: Curbing Adolescent Sexual Behaviors with Interventions : Psychological research shows that comprehensive sex education and HIV prevention programs are effective in reducing high-risk sexual behavior in adolescents.

The Role of Psychology in End-of-Life Decisions and Quality of Care: Psychologists can contribute to end-of-life care before illness strikes, after illness is diagnosed and treatments begin, during advanced illness and the dying process, and after the death of the patient, with bereaved survivors.

Understanding How People Change Is First Step in Changing Unhealthy Behavior: Stages-of-change research has been used to develop dozens of behavior change programs, including HIV prevention, to help people live longer, healthier lives.

Men's Health

Men: A Different Depression: According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), about six million American men suffer from depression every year. Yet psychologists know that men are far less likely than women to seek help not only for all mental-health problems, but depression in particular.

Mental Health

Being Gay Is Just As Healthy As Being Straight: Evelyn Hooker's pioneering research debunked the popular myth that homosexuals are less mentally healthy than heterosexuals, leading to significant changes in how psychology views and treats people who are gay.

Bright Lights, Big Relief : Treating Seasonal Affective Disorder

The Effects of Trauma Do Not Have to Last a Lifetime: Most people will experience a trauma at some point in their lives, and as a result, some will experience debilitating symptoms that interfere with daily life. The good news is that psychological interventions are effective in preventing many long-term effects.

Exercise Helps Keep Your Psyche Fit: Exercise is an effective, cost-effective treatment for depression and may help in the treatment of other mental disorders.

Exposure Therapy Helps PTSD Victims Overcome Trauma's Debilitating Effects: War veterans, crime victims, accident survivors and others exposed to trauma are finding help through therapy that mentally takes them back to the trauma in a controlled environment.

Facilitated Communication: Sifting the Psychological Wheat from the Chaff: If psychological research does not always give us hoped-for answers, it does help us sift potent reality from wishful thinking, and focus our energy on real solutions.

School-Based Program Teaches Skills That Stave Off Depression: Roll over Prozac! Nipping depression in the bud by teaching thinking and problem-solving skills to children may be the wave of the future.

Turning Lemons into Lemonade: Hardiness Helps People Turn Stressful Circumstances into Opportunities: Research shows hardiness is the key to the resiliency for not only surviving, but also thriving, under stress.

Pain

Getting in Touch with Your Inner Brainwaves through Biofeedback: Biofeedback cures illness, boosts performance, helps people relax and even is used to help children with Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder.

Hypnosis for the Relief and Control of Pain: Hypnosis is likely to be effective for most people suffering from diverse forms of pain, with the possible exception of a minority of patients who are resistant to hypnotic interventions.

Pain, Pain, Go Away : Chronic pain due to disease, disorder or accident affects nearly a third of the U.S. population every year. With arthritis, fibromyalgia, and low back or muscle pain among the top offenders, chronic pain takes a toll in the pain itself as well as associated disability and emotional distress, lost productivity and high medical costs.

Want Better Health? Use Your Head! Research suggests that psychoeducational techniques like guided imagery can reduce pain and promote healing after surgery.

Rehabilitation

Behavioral Training and Oven Mitts Become a Recipe for Recovery: Research on how animals respond to injuries leads to an effective new therapy for stroke victims.

Cochlear Implants: For Many an End to Silence: Many formerly deaf people can now hear, in part, because of psychology.

Stress

Getting in Touch with Your Inner Brainwaves through Biofeedback: Biofeedback cures illness, boosts performance, helps people relax and even is used to help children with Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder.

The High Costs of Caregiving: Caring for loved ones with chronic disease such as dementia can be exhausting. Health-care and social-services providers have turned their attention to helping caregivers stay healthy and strong.

Occupational Stress and Employee Control: Employee control over work can reduce stress and enhance motivation and growth. Several key findings have prompted employers to search for ways to give workers a greater sense of control, to improve health, productivity and morale.

Open Up! Writing About Trauma Reduces Stress, Aids Immunity: Writing about difficult, even traumatic, experiences appears to be good for health on several levels.

Stress Weakens the Immune System: Stressed out? Lonely or depressed? Don’t be surprised if you come down with something.

Substance Abuse

Accentuate the Positive: Vouchers Help Drug Abusers Stay in Treatment: Whether it’s a pay raise for exceptional job performance or boosting a child’s allowance for helping out more around the house, we respond to positive reinforcement. Psychological research shows that positive reinforcement can also be highly effective in drug abuse treatment.

Have Your Children Had Their Anti-Smoking Shots? Attitude inoculation dramatically reduces teenage smoking rates.

Prison Substance Abuse Treatment With Aftercare Reduces Recidivism: Psychological research shows treating prisoner's drug problems while in and after prison helps keep them off drugs, out of prison and employed.

Understanding How People Change Is First Step in Changing Unhealthy Behavior: Stages-of-change research has been used to develop dozens of behavior change programs, including HIV prevention, to help people live longer, healthier lives.

Other Health Topics

Danger Ahead: Risk Communication Leads to Healthier Living: Psychological research shows efforts to change people's judgments about the risks associated with health-related behaviors can successfully change those behaviors.

Getting A Good Night's Sleep With the Help of Psychology: Cognitive behavioral therapy is becoming the "treatment of choice" for many people with insomnia.

Heart to Heart: Transplant Medicine: Psychologists play an increasing role in the cycle of transplantation, helping to increase organ donations and ensure that recipients have a better quality of life.

The Hidden Menace of Multi-tasking :Reminders of stereotyped inferiority hurt test scores.

Marital Education Programs Help Keep Couples Together: In the United States, couples marrying for the first time have approximately a fifty percent chance of divorcing. Psychologists are helping couples' "I do" last a lifetime through development and application of scientifically tested relationship education programs.

Scanning the brain: New technologies shed light on anatomy, activity.

To Motivate Healthy Behavior, It's Often Not What You Say, But How You Say It: Psychologists find that framing health messages a certain way makes a difference in cancer prevention efforts.

You're Getting Very Sleepy: More sleep would make most Americans happier, healthier and safer.