It may come as no surprise that spending time in nature is good for mental health. But if you are interested in how and why exactly nature can help with people’s mental health, see the article below.
Category: Research
Psychology YouTube Channel
The BC Psychological Association recently created its own YouTube channel, which already hosts videos by psychologists on a variety of topics including neurodiversity, social anxiety, the usefulness of mindfulness, etc.
An Alternative to New Years Resolutions
So many of us make lofty New Year’s resolutions at the start of the year. But research shows that this is not an effective way of making changes. Check out this article to find out what the research suggests instead:
New research suggests that focusing on one’s life purpose and meaning is associated with reduced depression and anxiety. A quick way to increase a sense of meaning is to identify values and principles.
One of the instinctual reactions to a negative mood or a bad feeling is to try to get rid of it. But we now know that trying to get rid of feelings or moods may not only make us feel worse, there also is research that suggest negative moods can actually be useful.
With AI systems becoming increasingly accessible, not just professionally but also personally, we urgently need research about their psychological effects and impacts. Here is some illuminating research that begins to shed light on this.
Nutrition and Mental Health
One of the hot topics in psychology right now is the relationship between nutrition and mental health with a flurry of research suggesting that nutrition could be an effective first-line intervention. Several large-scale studies show a clear link between mental health and the Mediterranean Diet, for example.
The Science of Rewatching Shows
Do you have a particular TV show or shows you keep rewatching? If so, 1) you are not a lone and 2) there is some science that may explain why.
Nature Walks Decrease Low Mood
I remember encountering a psychologist while hiking in Iceland and we talked about some of the differences in our conceptions of what leads to people’s suffering. And she said that one of her primary approaches is to send people with mental health challenges into nature. This hot-off-the-press research supports that she was right, especially in terms of decreasing low mood by taking nature walks.
The holidays can been notoriously stressful for people. Here’s a video of a clinical psychologist giving tips for the holidays.