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You are what you eat or so the saying goes. But is it true? A new review published in the Journal of European Neuropsychopharmacology looked at nutritional psychiatry and what the research says about mental health and the food we consume. While there is data that shows an association between mental health and nutrition, research is lacking when it comes to causality. [More]

A new study published in the Journal of Family Systems and Health looked at whether Parenting Journey, a 12-week parenting program based on the principles of family systems theory, helps parents manage stress and improve family strengths. This is the first study of the impact of Parenting Journey on parent-reported outcomes. While there are many parent training programs, researchers say there is still a need for effective supports that can be delivered in the community to parents of different races and backgrounds. [More]

To learn new things, we must sometimes fail because when a challenge is too simple, we don’t learn anything new. According to a study in the journal Nature Communications, learning is optimized when we fail 15% of the time [More]

Older refugees can experience high rates of depression even decades after immigrating. A study that looked at Canadians between the ages of 45 and 85 found that refugees were 70 per cent more likely to experience depression when compared with those born in Canada, even if they immigrated decades earlier. [More]

I’m not a huge basketball fan, but when the alert that Kobe Bryant died suddenly in a helicopter crash came on my screen, I immediately felt shock. I felt this sense of sadness and tried to make sense of how someone so known and famous, could be taken so suddenly. I have felt similar emotions when other famous actors or athletes passed. It is completely normal to feel sadness or grief when someone famous dies. There are several reasons we might feel these intense emotions. [More]

Researchers from the University of Arizona have found that rather than putting on a fake happy face at work, it is better to make an effort to actually feel the emotions you display. [More]

How’s your New Year’s resolution diet coming along? This is about the time people start to fall off the wagon, if it hasn’t happened already. Have you been craving sugar? Has the yummy sweetness been your downfall? Well take heed. Researchers are finding sugar to be as addictive as drugs and alcohol so you've got a mighty opponent to contend with. A recent study published in Scientific Reports looked at the effects sugar can have on the brain. [More]

More than 34 million adults in the US currently smoke cigarettes, and more than 16 million live with a smoking related disease. But after decades of anti-smoking campaigns, what drives this behaviour? Do emotions factor into it? Researchers from Harvard University set out to find an answer. [More]

Imagine this: You’re five years old and you've just been given your favorite treat. Maybe it's a marshmallow or maybe it’s a lollipop. Whatever it is, you want to devour it instantly but are told that if you wait a certain amount of time and don’t eat it until that certain amount of time is up, you’ll get another treat of the same variety, thereby increasing your tally to two treats. What would you do? What would you say a five-year-old would do? And why does it matter? [More]

Exercise, meditation, yoga, breath work, it does not take therapy or a therapy blog for you to know that these practices help with stress. What many people do not yet know is the WHY behind the practice. [More]