Psychology Around the Net: August 31, 2019

It’s Labor Day weekend and the unofficial end of summer here in the United States. What kind of fun are you getting up to this holiday weekend?

This week’s Psychology Around the Net offers some tips for letting go of unhealthy relationships, a trick for arguing without fighting, one doctor’s commentary on biological psychiatry, and more.

Read up, then go enjoy the holiday!

Workers Are Afraid to Take a Mental Health Day: Ryan Bonnici, chief marketing officer of G2 and a board member of Bring Change to Mind, talks the moral and financial incentives businesses have to prioritize their employees’ mental health, how one of the most effective steps business leaders can take is opening up about their own mental health, and the path that led him to being more forthright with his employees about his own mental health.

Could Marriage Stave Off Dementia? A new study from Michigan State University suggests marital status and dementia could be linked; specifically, married people are less likely to experience dementia as they grow older, while divorced people — especially divorced med — are twice as likely as married people to develop dementia.

“Letting Go” of Unhealthy Relationships: Letting go of social or romantic relationships that have served their purpose can be tough — especially when you struggle with a fear of loneliness. You might find yourself worrying that you’re making a mistake, or hanging on simply because you don’t want to be alone. It’s true that there’s no quick fix to moving on from an unhealthy relationship and the emotions attached to it, but there are several helpful ways to work through the process of letting go.

Argue Like You’re on Camera: Ever notice how you tend to behave a little differently on camera? Even if it’s just a smidge? Well, now you might be able to use that for good. The next time you feel an argument brewing, tap into that “I’m being recorded” feeling. It might just help stop a basic argument from turning into an all out I-wish-I-hadn’t-said-that fight.

Poverty: The Newest Medically Treatable Brain Disease: Poverty often involves suffering and distress, symptoms that affect normal functioning, and high overall mortality rate. There’s evidence of abnormal biochemistry and even genetic predisposition, and that medication can ease symptoms like hunger and coldness. Does this all sound fairly absurd to you? It does to Dr. Lawrence Kelmenson, too, and he uses it to make a case that “biological psychiatry is a ridiculous farce that’s really about shutting people up, by dismissing (invalidating) their complaints as mere ‘symptoms’ to be drugged away.” Thoughts?

Use This 4 Step Technique to Decide If You Can Trust Your Feelings or Not: Your feelings can be your best friends…or your worst enemies. Without realizing it, you might suppress your emotions, or marginalize or ignore them. You might not have a solid enough understanding of how emotions work. Feelings can be both powerful and mystifying, but with a little work you can learn how to connect with your feelings, determine whether you can trust them, and use the they way they were meant to be used.