Pacific Standard May-June 2013 Cover

Marijuana Buffers Pain of Social Exclusion

May 17, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
marijuana-blunt

Why smoke marijuana? Users would probably reply that numbed-out bliss is its own reward. But if smoothing out the harsh edges of reality is your goal, what bruises are you attempting to avoid? Newly published research suggests that, at least for some, the answer is: The intense discomfort of social exclusion. “Marijuana has been used to treat physical pain,” reports a research team led by University of Kentucky psychologist Timothy Deckman, “and the current findings suggest it may also reduce emotional pain." Given the drug's long-term health effects, “This may reflect a poor ... Read More

More like this: Findings, Science
Tags: , , , , ,

What Does It Take for Traumatized Kids to Thrive?

May 6, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
traumatized-kids-3

Paine High School was a shambles when Jim Sporleder arrived to serve as its new principal in the spring of 2007. Housed in a run-down, brown-brick building with metal security screens on its windows, the “alternative” secondary school served 77 of Walla Walla, Washington’s most challenging students. And for years, by nearly all accounts, it had served them exceedingly poorly. About half of Paine’s students had been ordered to attend the school by a judge; most of the rest had been ejected by the city’s mainstream high school due to behavioral problems. Students weren’t the only ... Read More

More like this: Health, May-June 2013
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Placebo Effect Produces Higher Test Scores

March 24, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
(PHOTO: TRIFF/SHUTTERSTOCK)

Scientists are increasingly convinced of the power of the placebo effect. Believing that one is receiving treatment when you're not—say, in the form of a pill that supposedly contains a powerful drug that is actually just sugar—can produce surprisingly strong results, at least for some patients, some of the time. Newly published research suggests a placebo process can produce a similarly positive outcome for test-takers. In short, the belief that you have access to the answers makes it more likely you will get them right. “People have powerful psychological resources to deal with ... Read More

More like this: Findings
Tags: , ,

Key to Happiness: Keeping Busy Without Feeling Rushed

January 7, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
(PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK)

Who among us are the most happy? Newly published research suggests it is those fortunate folks who have little or no excess time, and yet seldom feel rushed. This busy but blissful group comprises 8 to 12 percent of Americans, making it “a small and unusual minority within the general population,” writes University of Maryland sociologist John P. Robinson. According to his analysis, the happiness level of this group is 12 to 25 percent higher than that of those of most Americans. What’s more, while the general population’s happiness level is going down, theirs is increasing: 53 ... Read More

More like this: Findings
Tags: ,

Meditation: Strong Preventative Medicine for Heart Patients

November 13, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment

Meditation is usually thought of as a practice of healthy, well-off white people and Asians. But newly published research suggests it can produce hugely significant health benefits in a very different demographic group: African Americans with heart disease. A study that followed 201 African Americans for an average of five years found those who meditated regularly were far more likely to avoid three extremely unwelcome outcomes. Compared to peers participating in a health-education program, meditators were, in that period, 48 percent less likely to die, have a heart attack, or suffer a ... Read More

More like this: Findings, Health
Tags: , ,

Tango Your Way to Mental Health

August 29, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment
Tango Dancers

Dancing around life’s inevitable difficulties while retaining mental and emotional balance can require some fancy footwork. For those suffering from stress and depression, newly published research finds a promising self-help program involves literally getting out on the dance floor. It’s hard to feel blue while you’re doing the tango. “Preliminary results suggest that tango dance is an innovative and promising approach, as effective as mindfulness meditation in reducing levels of self-reported depression,” writes a team led by psychologist Rosa Pinniger of the University of New ... Read More

More like this: Culture & Society, Findings, Health
Tags: , ,

Fear Powers Zombie Bugs

August 6, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment
Zombie Grasshopper

File under “Career change.” While the rest of us mopes suffer the nine-to-five in our stuffy cubicles, ecologist Dror Hawlena spends his days picking through lizard poop, gluing spiders’ mouths shut, and dissecting grasshopper guts under a microscope. He’s tracked leopards, ibexes, and wild boars. When field trips takes him out of the office, they take him waaay out of the office, to the Yale-Myers forest, the Negev Desert, Glacier National Park, the Balearic Islands, and the Wadi Rum valley, in Connecticut, Israel, Montana, Spain, and Jordan, respectively. His coworkers are guys like ... Read More

More like this: Environment, Uncategorized
Tags: , , ,

Who Needs Dr. Phil When You Have Dr. Fido?

July 30, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment

For some of us, dogs and cats are more than just pets. They’re blood pressure meds with wet noses. A new study suggests having your pet nearby—or even thinking about him or her—can boost confidence and reduce stress, along with its physical symptoms. But there’s a caveat: This dynamic only applies to owners who feel a loving connection to their feline or canine companion. If you think of Fluffy as a flea-infested nuisance, no benefits. “Proximity to a pet can empower its owner,” writes a research team led by psychologist Sigal Zilcha-Mano of the Interdisciplinary Center in ... Read More

More like this: Culture & Society, Findings, Health
Tags: , , ,

Have You Heard the One About the Guy with Prostate Cancer?

June 25, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment
Man talking to therapist

When I was a graduate student in psychology, I worked at a cancer center. One of my responsibilities was to meet with new patients as they received, drip by drip over many hours, chemotherapy infusions. In one corner of the clinic, a woman I’ll call Lisa was battling breast cancer. Lisa’s friends had organized a complex and complete support tree for her, with meal delivery, dog walking, child care, and bill paying. Lisa snuggled into a quilt they had stitched for her. Lisa was never alone. Nearby sat “Rick,” a sinewy, divorced man in his early 60s, fresh from his latest surgery for ... Read More

More like this: Health, July-August 2012
Tags: , , ,

Just Breathe: Confirming Meditation’s Benefits

June 20, 2012 • By • Leave a Comment
Profile of Face with Swirls

IN THE SPRING OF 1985 THINGS STARTED TO GO WRONG. A jittery teenager held a pistol to my wife’s head and robbed us a few blocks from our home in Houston. A few months later, I had too much to drink at a party and felt as though I was asphyxiating. At the emergency room, they decided I was just hyperventilating but the next morning I woke up feeling disoriented, with tingling extremities. Our doctor thought I had mononucleosis, so I spent the next three weeks resting, obsessing about what was wrong. Before long, I was taking antidepressants and seeing a therapist. We spent months unraveling ... Read More

More like this: Health, July-August 2012
Tags: ,