PT Staff

Neurotransmitter of the '90s

Offers a look at the effects that serotonin, one of the seven chemicals that transmit impulses between neurons, has on the brain. Why it is unlike any of the other neurotransmitters; How it affects much of our mental life; Example of the case of suicidality; Serotonin imbalance; Where surging serotonin may bring on bliss; Relation to obsessive-compulsive disorder; More.

A Blast from the Past

Angry or stressed out at work? It may be starting at home.

Under the couch

Reports that therapists in private practice are being threatened with physical harm by the very people they are trying to help. Increased violence in our society; Female therapists especially worried; The kind of people that threaten violence.

The Best-Stressed List

Working single women are more stressedthan their married counterparts.

A round-up of rapists

Discusses that the answer to the question of why men rape is far more complex than once thought. Feminist viewpoint; Behavioralist theory; Types of rapists; Date rapists; Potential rapists; Sexual aggression; Comments from Gordon Nagayama Hall, associate professor of psychology at Kent State who recently coordinated a national forum on rape.

Athletes and drugs: A separate pace?

Offers a look at the problem of athletes and drugs. Disturbing use about drug use; Athlete reported believing that deals are cut all the time with federations and governing bodies; Big-gun athletes get passed over in the drug testing; Ben Johnson got caught; Many athletes discouraged with the prolific use of anabolic steroids (HGH); General feeling among elite athletes is that most Olympians are using performance-enhancement drugs; More.

Pot shot

Offers a look at why marijuana is losing popularity as a cool after-school activity. Large-scale change in the perception of risk; Statistics; Nature's own burn-and-learn drug policy; Attitudes being influenced by media; Use of illicit drugs is also falling.

Beyond Boris

Discusses the new generation of Russian men, raised with fear and without fathers, who lack the psychological stuff for leadership while the equivalent generation of women is only becoming conscious of personal, let alone, political power. Economic emotional health now in the hands of the family, not the state; Unrelenting grip of the grandmothers; Wounds of the men's self-esteem and masculine identity; 'Babushka Syndrome'; More.

Red, white, and blue, blue, blue

Looks at the latest update on clinical depression and shows how the numbers are still increasing--particularly among the young. According to the National Institutes of Mental Health, a culture of pessimism is manifest in the decreasing age at which depression sets in, an increasing rate of teen suicide, and a 2-3-times higher rate for women. Existence of temporal trends; More.

Sayonara, Shyness

Discusses Morita therapy, a psychological treatment for shyness, based on the notion that all emotions are a part of life. Named for the late psychiatrist Shoma Morita; Attempts to change behavior; Breaking the shyness barrier; Details.

The talking cure

States that speech rate is a strong index of short-term memory span. Recent discovery that the two are linked in kids; Link established in adults for some time; Adrian Raine's report in 'Child Development'; Short-term memory is the power behind recall; Importance of short-term memory in childhood.

Loud and unclear

Discusses ways in which people act when they sense that communication breakdown is total. Speaking louder as a remedy; Importance of changing the content of the message rather than volume; Cognitive effort; Comments from Charles R. Berger, professor of rhetoric and communication at University of California Davis; Berger's study results.

Memory's highways

Offers a look at a study that provides clear evidence in humans of selective activation of the hippocampal region of the brain in association with memory function. Contradicts the long-held belief that language is processed on the left side of the brain; Jogging memories; PET scans (positron emission tomography); New application of imaging devices.

Risky business

Reports that research on problem-solving demonstrates there are better ways to discover and measure risk. J. Frank Yates' book 'Risk-Taking Behavior'; Basic rules to consider; Importance of involving others in your decision; Simulating the risk; Importance of talking to experts and reading books on the subject; Being aware of emotional factors.

Hidden victims

Explains that in the horrid world of sexual child abuse, the mother of the molested child is often overlooked as a victim. Frequently blamed for not preventing the attack; Desperate need of counseling; Quicker recovery with counseling; Heaviest emotional baggage carried by those who were sexually abused themselves; Denial of abuse.

Getting Older, Getting Better

Keep having great sex, or even better sex.

The comeback couch

States that after two decades of decline, psychoanalysis is back with new popularity. Made famous by Sigmund Freud; Purged of classic orthodoxies; Made female friendly; Additional differences from the original therapy; More than 50 percent of the new analysts are women; Factors that are spurring interest.

Screening for an Alcoholism Gene

Technology has come up with a new wayto screen for alcoholism.

Not so quietly into the night

States that one of the fundamental accomplishments in life is to develop a sense of self. David Kahn, Ph.D. believes that those who live long enough get to partake of a last stage in adult development--deconstruction of the self. Most obvious deconstruction is in the physical being; Collapse of social world; Different orientation to time; Details.

Uncertainty in Beijing

States that Asians and Americans have vastly differing conceptions of the self: autonomous in the West, interdependent in the East. Differences show up experimentally; Study by Frank Yates; Details; Results.

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