A recent study out of Ohio State University found that Acetaminophen may be numbing emotions in addition to physical pain. Acetaminophen is a common compound found in multiple over the counter drugs, the most widely used being Tylenol. There have been numerous studies measuring the effectiveness of acetaminophen on different forms and intensities of pain, but this study is the first to examine the possible emotional impact of acetaminophen.
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As if inscribed today, the crisp etching “James Cockburn 8th Durham, L.I.” followed by the inscribed date “April 1, 1917” was discovered on the walls of the cave like tunnels in Naours, France. The date provided clues to the World War I time period in which thousands of soldiers left such markings in the stone walls. Archaeologist, Gilles Prilaux, made the surprising discovery while studying the Naours tunnels as a lens into the middle ages. The Naours tunnels are far from the front lines of the WWI battlefields, yet 1,821 soldiers from the U.S., Australia, Britain, and Canada made their way into the underground tunnels for reasons that are now being further explored by historians.
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Amanda Knox travelled to Italy as an exchange student in 2007. She was twenty years old. It has been reported that her stepfather, Chris Mellas, believed that Amanda was too naive to live abroad. He surely could not have imagined that she would be arrested and tried four times for the murder of Meredith Kercher.
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Astronaut and veteran Scott Kelly, 51, is preparing to live a full year in the international space station in order to study the impact a year in space could have physically, mentally, and emotionally. The objectives of this mission are to study the potential biological, as well as psychological, impacts of prolonged time in space on a human being. This mission could have broader implications as NASA looks to the future in creating space stations for human beings, as well as possible hubs on the moon where individuals would live and work.
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For most of us, meeting with misfortune and struggle is a part of life. In fact, surviving adversity is often viewed as beneficial and necessary. According to one Danish Proverb: “A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man be perfected without trials.” When a person survives life’s difficulties and demonstrates the ability to withstand all of the stress that goes along with it, he or she is described as “resilient”. The Oxford Dictionary defines resilience as “The ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape.”
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In the mental health field, music has been used as an effective mode of therapy since the 1800’s (American Music Therapy Association, 2015) and is still widely used today for many mental health issues and disorders. In particular, it has been found to be highly effective for those with dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.
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Vicarious Trauma, also called compassion fatigue, secondary trauma, or secondary stress, is a type of trauma that sometimes occurs for people who helps others through very difficult situations and emotions. We know that this type of trauma is a risk for those in the helping professions, like counselors and first responders. But it is also possible for others who witness a traumatic event, or who are close to someone who has experienced trauma, to develop symptoms of Vicarious Trauma.
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For most people the sound of chewing, typing, utensil scraping and breathing are background sounds. They are just a part of life and certainly do not produce an emotional response. However, for some people, hearing these sounds lead to feelings of anger.
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Sleep shouldn’t be a luxury that we only grant ourselves on Saturday mornings. It’s a necessity if we want to have a healthy mind and body. Sleep gives us a chance to recharge, heal, and process our experiences. Lack of enough good quality sleep not only makes us grumpy, but it can also negatively impact our memory, our mood, and our overall health and well-being.
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There are some eastern philosophies and treatments that aren’t as well known here in the west, but which may offer alternatives and help for those struggling with conditions like anxiety and depression. Two such approaches are Morita Therapy and Naikan Therapy, which both have their origins in Japan. With a little investigation, we can see that Japanese therapies like Morita and Naikan have different philosophies about why people suffer and develop symptoms of mental illness and how they can recover and feel better.
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