David Kessler, the former Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, argues that all mental health issues, including addiction, depression, and overeating, can be explained by “capture”—a process where focusing on selective stimuli results in adverse behaviors. In opposition to current research, Kessler argues against the notion of chemical imbalances and offers capture as a common mechanism which accounts for all forms of mental illness.
Relieve Your Anxiety by Singing It
Some therapists are using Songify, a music app, to have patients make recordings of their worried thoughts—and get rid of them.
The underlying principle is that singing your thoughts separates you from their meaning. Almost all people (something like 80 to 90 percent of the population), experience intrusive thoughts—weird little niggling things they don’t particularly want scrolling through their heads.
.. The underlying principle is that singing your thoughts separates you from their meaning. Almost all people (something like 80 to 90 percent of the population), experience intrusive thoughts—weird little niggling things they don’t particularly want scrolling through their heads.
.. By telling yourself not to think about something, he says, “you’re increasing the number of associates that remind you of it.”
.. Songify was only released four years ago, and it’s even newer to the therapists who use it. But the process behind the Songify technique, called cognitive defusion, has been around for decades. Before the app came along, therapists would have their patients sing their worries to common melodies.
.. “As you try not to think that, you have to remind yourself of it to see if it’s gone away,” Hayes said. “And there it is again.”
.. “As you try not to think that, you have to remind yourself of it to see if it’s gone away,” Hayes said. “And there it is again.”
.. He said it tends to work best with people who realize their fears are slightly irrational, or at least are being over-thought. (Someone who just lost his job and is facing very real worries about making rent, for example, might not be the best candidate.)
.. He said it tends to work best with people who realize their fears are slightly irrational, or at least are being over-thought. (Someone who just lost his job and is facing very real worries about making rent, for example, might not be the best candidate.)
.. Other people put their worst thoughts on t-shirts, or send themselves emails that say, “Did you know you’re unlovable?” “You start playing with your own dark side and give yourself some distance from it,” Hayes said.
.. The point isn’t to suggest that the person’s worries aren’t scary, says Winston, it’s to develop “a different relationship with the thought.”
The Crackpot Index
A simple method for rating potentially revolutionary contributions to physics:
.. 20 points for every use of science fiction works or myths as if they were fact.
.. 20 points for naming something after yourself. (E.g., talking about the “The Evans Field Equation” when your name happens to be Evans.)
.. 20 points for talking about how great your theory is, but never actually explaining it.
.. 30 points for suggesting that Einstein, in his later years, was groping his way towards the ideas you now advocate.
.. 30 points for allusions to a delay in your work while you spent time in an asylum, or references to the psychiatrist who tried to talk you out of your theory.
.. 40 points for comparing yourself to Galileo, suggesting that a modern-day Inquisition is hard at work on your case, and so on.
The Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships: Decoding Social Mysteries Through the Unique Perspectives of Autism
Born with autism, both authors now famously live successful social lives. But their paths were very different. Temple’s logical mind controlled her social behavior. She interacted with many adults and other children, experiencing varied social situations. Logic informed her decision to obey social rules and avoid unpleasant consequences. Sean’s emotions controlled his social behavior. Baffled by social rules, isolated and friendless, he made up his own, and applied them to others. When they inevitably broke his rules, he felt worthless and unloved. Both Temple and Sean ultimately came to terms with the social world and found their places in it. Whether you are a person with autism, a caregiver in the autism community, or just someone interested in an “outsider” view of society, their powerful stories will enthrall and enlighten you.