Theravive Home

In an earlier post for Theravive, I examined how cartoons and comics might be a useful way to educate people on mental health concerns. This fall, I interviewed Cara Bean to learn about the process behind Vermont’s Center for Cartoon Studies released “Let’s Talk About It: A Graphic Guide To Mental Health” about its use for education. Recently, there was an article in the Open Library of Humanities about the perceived value in using comics to teach mental health professionals. [More]

In a recent study, researchers surveyed 200 movies released between 1977 and 2019 with content about mental illness and found box office returns were higher than average. Those same movies received 15% of Oscar nominations during the time period. While the article still needs peer-review, the findings show that we, as a society, are doing a better job of talking about mental health. [More]

The common perception is that introverts are thriving from the pandemic lockdown from the pandemic. No longer are they required to go to events and regularly interact with other people since distancing is now required. But a recent study of 2,000 Americans found that introverts experienced more loneliness than extraverts during this time and do not take the initiative to interact with others. [More]

New research in the September 2020 issue of Personality and Individual Differences lists 40 reasons people have trouble making friends. The most important factors included “Lack of time” and “Introversion”. I asked experts to share their thoughts on how people can overcome these barriers to making friends. [More]

A new study in Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice suggests that problems with sleep quality (and potentially quantity) predict forward-looking entrepreneurial intentions. Lack of sleep may result in shifting attention spans and hyperactivity - both behaviors of ADHD. The hypothesis is these behaviors are connected to an increase in entrepreneurial activity. [More]

Recently, Vermont’s Center for Cartoon Studies released “Let’s Talk About It: A Graphic Guide To Mental Health”, a 24-page comic book geared toward middle and high school students. Cara Bean, a cartoonist and art educator who collaborated on this project, shared her experience with this project. [More]

Despite some detrimental impact on vulnerable individuals, a recent survey did not find a large increase in loneliness as a result COVID-19. Instead, they found remarkable resilience in response to it. Some participants perceived more social and emotional support during the pandemic. [More]

Millions of patients and doctors are using telehealth for the first time and likely will continue doing so for the foreseeable future. Although the end of COVID-19 is not yet in sight, patients continue to need routine medical care. The benefits of technology are beyond what we could have imagined decades ago, but we’re experiencing cognitive overload, brought on by our dependence on technology, bringing a whole new set of health problems. [More]

Gallup, the group behind CliftonStrengths, discussed the importance of knowing employee’s strengths in their “State of the American Workplace” report. While there is bias, since they provide a tool to measure strengths, the value of it is worth exploring. [More]

Recent research in the Journal of Marketing found that smartphones enhance “consumer self-disclosure” Results from three large-scale field studies and two controlled experiments show that people self-disclose more when generating content on their smartphones versus personal computers. Reasons could be feelings of comfort with the phone, a tendency to focus on the disclosure task on hand or emotional association with the device. [More]