Raw fruit and vegetables provide better mental health outcomes

That is the simple message from University of Otago researchers who have discovered raw fruit and vegetables may be better for your mental health than cooked, canned and processed fruit and vegetables.

Dr Tamlin Conner, Psychology Senior Lecturer and lead author, says public health campaigns have historically focused on aspects of quantity for the consumption of fruit and vegetables (such as 5+ a day).

However, the study, just published in Frontiers in Psychology, found that for mental health in particular, it may also be important to consider the way in which produce was prepared and consumed.

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Are You Crippled by the Fear of Leaving No Legacy Behind?

Often the biggest existential distress that we carry is the idea that no-one will remember us when we are gone. Initially, we know that our friends and family will hold who we are, but after a generation, these people are likely gone too.

At the end of life, the pressure to leave an unquestionably relevant legacy can be crippling for people, particularly for young people. When coupled with the limited energy that people have when they are unwell, the very nature of what people expect to achieve in the world shrinks, and the really important pieces come into focus.

When time is seen to be limited, every moment can take on a weight that has never before been experienced.

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Possible Cures for Narcissistic Personalities and Behaviors

Recently there was a rare request from an honest reader who felt they have narcissistic tendencies but couldn't find any guidelines on how to reduce these habits.|

 I commend this reader for being aware enough to realize this and also for taking steps to ask for help!

There isn't any behavioral malady that can't be corrected, especially if you are aware of it. One can usually integrate opposite behaviors to remedy the imbalance.

In the case of narcissism, when someone feels like they are operating with self-serving behaviors more often than not, it's good to check your motives before you act. If you find that the motive is to get something without giving something back, you will experience problems in your relationships. Becoming aware of these motives will help you re-direct to ask yourself questions and over time to be able to self-correct to act less selfish.

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Spur Your Creativity With This One Daily Activity

With only ten minutes and a little practice, you can develop a habit that can drastically improve your life. Technology and digital media have made it extraordinarily easy for all of us to stay connected and informed. In addition to a regular stream of news, we have podcasts and audio books to oc...

10 Simple Habits Proven to Make You Happier

         

A new survey of 5,000 people has found a strong link between self-acceptance and happiness, despite the fact that it's a habit not frequently practised.

For their survey, they identified ten everyday habits which science has shown can make people happier.The finding comes from a survey carried out by the charity Action for Happiness, in collaboration with Do Something Different.

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The anatomy of procrastination – and how pupils can beat it

Procrastination is more instinctive than you might imagine. The art of avoidance comes from our lower mammalian brain, which is equipped for survival. It's adapted to focus on what we need immediately, making it harder to focus on attention-demanding, longer-term tasks.

For schoolchildren, getting the brain to engage in tasks that are not recognised as valuable survival goals or potential sources of pleasure is even harder. It's not until our 20s that we develop the mature neural networks that override the lower brain's reactive responses. This means that young people may need help resisting distractions to achieve their goals. Here are some ways you can assist your students in breaking through the roadblocks of procrastination.

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7 Things You Shouldn’t Say to People in Therapy

You may judge, but therapy saved my life.

My best friend and I are constantly playing phone tag. But there's one person who promises to have my undivided attention once a week, no matter what: Dr. R, my therapist.

For the past 2.5 years, we've spent 55 minutes every Tuesday evening together, and for that, I'm grateful.

My adventures in therapy began during my sophomore year in college, when I walked into my campus's mental health center after a close friend suffered a mental breakdown.

4 Ways You're Sabotaging Your Life

We were so alike, I knew that if I didn't do something, my fate would be similar. Now, five years later, I consider that decision the best choice I've ever made.

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2015/09/01/7-things-you-shouldnt-say-to-people-in-therapy/

Stress Is Your Brain Trying to Avoid Something

Stress exists in every workplace, and all of us have probably tried a few trendy stress-management approaches. But rather than trying the latest fad, it may be more effective to understand how stress works and where it comes from, so that you can create your own methods for dealing with it.

Stress is an emotional response; like all emotional responses, it emerges from the functioning of the motivational system. Your motivational system engages goals and gives them energy so that you can pursue them. Simply put, when you succeed at your goals, you feel good, and when you don't succeed you feel bad.

Stress is a negative emotion, so the first thing we can see about stress is that it reflects a goal you are not currently achieving.

https://hbr.org/2015/08/stress-is-your-brain-trying-to-avoid-something

What It Really Means to Love Yourself: 3 Aspects of a Deeper Self-Care

We often hear that it's important to love yourself. Sounds good, right? But what does it actually mean to love and care for yourself?

For some people, self-love might mean taking a warm bath or pampering themselves with a massage or manicure, which might help us. Yet, the elusive self-love that we seek requires something deeper.

Self-love means finding peace within ourselves — resting comfortably within the depths of our being. We might find temporary respite by doing something to nurture ourselves. But a deeper inner peace requires cultivating a certain way of being with ourselves — a warm and nurturing attitude toward what we experience in life.

The suggestions that follow are derived from Focusing, developed by Dr. Eugene Gendlin. Sometimes called the Focusing Attitude, this is simply a way of being nonjudgmentally kind, present, and mindful toward whatever we happen to be experiencing.

Gendlin has stated, "The client's attitudes and responses to the felt sense need to be those of a client-centered therapist." In other words, we need to have empathy and unconditional positive regard for whatever we are experiencing inside.

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2015/08/22/what-it-really-means-to-love-yourself-3-aspects-of-a-deeper-self-care/

8 Creative Techniques to Cope with Painful Emotions

Many of us have a hard time coping with negative emotions. This makes sense. "Painful feelings like anxiety, sadness, anger and shame tap into the parts of our brain that are connected to survival," according to Joy Malek, M.S., a licensed marriage and family therapist. For instance, the anger we feel when we're hurt is the same as the flight, fight or freeze response we experience when our survival is seriously threatened, she said.

We also tend to learn very early that getting mad or crying is not OK, said Meredith Janson, MA, LPC, a therapist in private practice in Washington, D.C. who specializes in expressive arts therapy. "As a mother of a toddler myself, I see every day how children can easily become overwhelmed by their feelings of sadness, frustration and anger. There is a temptation to distract the child or to cheer them up in order to make all the 'fuss' stop."

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