What all parents need to know to support their teens in college

With the semester well underway, your college student is probably juggling a lot—classes, homework, exams, and writing assignments—all while managing friendships, jobs, and other responsibilities. This balancing act can be tough for any young adult, but it’s often especially challenging for students with ADHD. In high school, your teen may have benefitted from built-in structure and support systems (e.g., teachers, parents) that helped them stay on track and meet their goals. In college, those supports tend to fade, leaving students to navigate much more on their own.

As a parent, you can play an important role in helping your student adjust to these new demands. Sometimes this means offering a little extra “scaffolding”—gentle support and guidance—to help them build the skills they need to thrive on their own. That’s exactly why I wrote Mastering the Transition to College: The Ultimate Guidebook for Parents of Teens with ADHD. It’s packed with practical information and strategies to help you and your teen navigate these years successfully. This blog post offers a first look at some of those tips, so you’ll have tools ready if your student starts to struggle, academically or otherwise, this semester.

1. Communication and collaboration are key. You probably know from the high school years that giving unsolicited advice to your teen can backfire. Pushing too hard often leads to resistance. Instead, try to use a calm, collaborative tone. Let your teen know you’re there to support and guide them, but that they are in control of their own decisions. Approaching conversations this way helps your teen feel respected and more open to brainstorming solutions with you.
2. Set goals. Before you can help your teen make changes, it’s important to first understand what they want. Ask about their goals, not just in academics, but in all areas of their life that matter to them. Once you know their priorities, you can work together to map out what steps are needed to get there. This also makes it easier to guide them without feeling like you’re imposing. Some of these steps may be addressed in the tips below.
3. Help your teen establish an organizational system. This may sound obvious, but it’s incredibly powerful: having a clear system to track tasks and deadlines is a game changer. Encourage your teen to choose a system that works for them. It could be a paper planner, a phone app, or a calendar on their laptop. The key is sustainability, so expect some trial and error as they experiment. Whatever they choose, the idea is that the system should be sustainable. The goal is to help them feel in control of their time, not overwhelmed by it.
4. Encourage your teen to develop a system for completing tasks. College life means that the to-do list is rarely empty. Your teen may feel as if their tasks are never-ending… as one is completed, another is added to the list. Therefore, developing a method for triaging what needs to get completed and by when will be crucial. An approach that balances what is important vs. what is urgent is often a good place to start.
5. Discuss all available campus resources with your teen. College campuses offer a lot of support to help your teen succeed. However, students (and parents) often find it difficult to know what resources are available and how to access them. Resources may be academic in nature (e.g., tutoring, office hours, advising, academic accommodations, writing center), mental health related (e.g., student health center, counseling center, skills groups), or logistical (e.g., career services, resident assistants). Knowing what resources to use, when, and how to access them will be essential for ensuring a successful college career. Further, if your teen needs more support than your conversations with them or my book can provide, finding a licensed professional may be a helpful next step. Outside help can be an important part of your teen achieving success.

I hope these tips provide you with a solid starting point in supporting your teen with the transition to and through college. For even more guidance and detailed advice as to how to implement these strategies, check out my book Mastering the Transition to College: The Ultimate Guidebook for Parents of Teens with ADHD.

^{Feature image: photo by Joshua Hoehne via Unsplash.}

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5 books to master your transition to college [reading list]

As the days get cooler and autumn approaches, it’s the perfect time for a fresh start. Back to school is here. Whether your teen is heading off for another year at college or just beginning the transition, we’ve curated a selection of helpful guides to make the journey smoother. These titles are perfect companions for navigating this exciting new chapter.

Mastering the Transition to College: The Ultimate Guidebook for Parents of Teens With ADHD

Sending a teen off to college is a thrilling milestone, but for parents and caregivers of teens with ADHD, it can also bring unique challenges. Mastering the Transition to College is designed to ease those concerns by offering expert advice, practical strategies, and proven tools to help teens thrive both academically and emotionally during this transition.

Learn more about Mastering the Transition to College by Michael C. Meinzer

College Mental Health 101: A Guide for Students, Parents, and Professionals 

College Mental Health 101 offers more answers, relief, resources, and research backed information for families, students, and staff already at college or beginning the application process. With simple charts and facts, informal self-assessments, quick tips for students and those who support them, the book includes hundreds of voices addressing common concerns.

Learn more about College Mental Health 101 by Christopher Willard, Blaise Aguirre, and Chelsie Green

Supporting Your Teen’s Mental Health: Science-Based Parenting Strategies for Repairing Relationships and Helping Young People Thrive

Teen mental health issues are rising at an alarming rate, and many families are unsure of how to best help their children. Supporting Your Teen’s Mental Health is an essential resource for parents and caregivers looking to support teenagers who are struggling with mental health concerns. Written in a conversational tone by psychologist and fellow parent Andrea Temkin-Yu, the workbook is a thorough, evidence-based guide to essential parenting strategies that have been proven to help improve relationships and behavior.

Learn more about Supporting Your Teen’s Mental Health by Andrea Temkin-Yu

If Your Adolescent Has Autism: An Essential Resource for Parents 

While adolescence can be a tough time for parents and their teens, autistic teenagers may face specific challenges and need targeted support from the adults in their lives. The road ahead can be difficult for parents and caregivers, too, especially because the teenage years can involve surprising changes in their child and in society’s expectations of them.

Learn more about If Your Adolescent Has Autism by Emily J. Willingham

The Parents’ Guide to Psychological First Aid: Helping Children and Adolescents Cope With Predictable Life Crises 

Just as parents can expect their children to encounter physical bumps, bruises, and injuries along the road to adulthood, emotional distress is also an unavoidable part of growing up. The sources of this distress range from toddlerhood to young adulthood, from the frustration of toilet training to the uncertainty of leaving home for the first time. 

Learn more about The Parents’ Guide to Psychological First Aid edited by Gerald P. Koocher, Annette M. La Greca, Olivia Moorehead-Slaughter, and Nadja N. Lopez 

Check out these books and more on Bookshop and Amazon.

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Back to school for happy and healthy kids

Every September, caregivers and kids alike prepare for one big change: the start of a new school year. As the weeks of summer draw to a close, families are cramming in the last moments of summer fun while simultaneously gearing up for school drops offs and new classroom schedules. While it can be an incredibly exciting time, filled with first day of school outfits and new school gear, it can also be incredibly stressful. This can be particularly true for teenagers who, compared to younger kids, are facing higher academic demands and social pressure while experiencing the major physical and developmental changes that come during adolescence. On top of that, a 2023 Center of Disease Control report showed that teens of today have higher rates of mental health concerns, such as anxiety and depression, and that suicidal thoughts and behaviors are increasing. This can make the return to school daunting for teens, as well as parents who are worried about how their child will manage the transition and demands of the year. 

Fortunately, there are several tools that parents and caregivers can use to prepare kids and teens for the first few weeks in September. This includes setting clear expectations, skills to encourage helpful behavior, and strategies that help kids feel supported by their parents.  

Setting expectations 

While many kids prefer to keep their heads in the sand when it comes to a new academic cycle, it can be incredibly helpful to set expectations for the school year a few weeks in advance. The most basic version of this includes outlining differences between summer versus school schedules, such as changes to sleep and wake times, limits to screens, or daily responsibilities. This preview can help kids’ brains prepare for the upcoming shifts in their daily lives and make the transition a little smoother. It’s also a great idea to talk to kids about how the upcoming school year might be different than the last one. This could include providing information on class size, the structure of the day, or increased expectations. The goal is not to scare your kids about everything coming their way, but rather to provide them with simple clear information in a manner that builds excitement. For example, “It’s so fun that you get to go to go off-campus for lunch this year. I bet it will make the day feel way more interesting!” Or, “I know high school is bigger than middle school. It may feel a little overwhelming, but it’s also such a great time for you to see how capable you are.”  

Encouraging positive behaviors 

Once expectations have been set, parents can also work to encourage brave or skillful behavior. This may include things like taking more responsibility (e.g., managing their own communication with teachers and coaches), growing outside of their comfort zone (e.g., joining a new club or social circle), or challenging themselves with new opportunities or roles (e.g., a first job or harder courseload). This most effective way to do this is through a skill called “labeled praise.”  

Labeled praise is when you show appreciation for a specific behavior or characteristic your child is demonstrating. When it comes to a new school year, parents can look for opportunities to praise preparation, flexibility, and bravery. For example, “I know you really loved your teachers last year, and I appreciate how openminded you are about your new schedule.” Another parent may say, “Great call on getting to bed a little earlier this week. It’ll make the start of school so much easier!” For teens who haven’t mastered brave or skillful choices, parents can offer cheerleading and encouragement. Phrases like “I know you’re going to do a beautiful job making friends because you’ve done it before!” or “10^th grade is tough, and I have total confidence that you’re going to find a way to balance everything” send a message that they really believe in their kid. This can go a long way towards encouraging positive behaviors.   

Providing validation 

When you do notice your child having a hard time, whether it’s nerves, low mood, or difficulty organizing themselves for a new semester, it’s always a great idea to offer validation. Validation is a skill used to show somebody that you can see their perspective or understand where they are coming from. Validation can be a tricky skill to master for caregivers because it is sometimes hard to put yourself in your child’s shoes, or you are eager to get them to see a new perspective. For example, when your child complains about their new math teacher who they have heard is a hard grader, it’s tempting to say “Nah! I’m sure it’ll be fine!” This may work for some kids. However, it can come off as dismissive and hard to believe for a teen whose anxiety or stress is high. Instead, try validation: “It makes sense that you’re nervous based on what you’ve heard!” While you aren’t agreeing with your child’s worries, you are acknowledging them, and that can help increase a sense of connection and communication. Once your child feels understood, they’ll be better able to think clearly about the situation and problem solve as needed.  

As you navigate another year of permission slips, homework, and extracurricular activities, remember that you have a handful of tools in your pocket to help ease the way. With a little bit of preparation, encouragement, and support, you and child can start the school year off on a great foot.  

^{Feature image: Photo by Wajih Ghali on Unsplash.}

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The concept of emotional disorder

In August 2024, a special report on ‘ecological medicine’ was published in Psychiatry Online. The authors of the report describe ecological medicine as “the structured and deliberate use of connectedness and interaction with plants, animals, and other species to generate a therapeutic effect for individuals.” While few would doubt the value of spending time in the natural world, the suggestion that we need medicine to mediate our connection to nature is a striking one. Surely nothing could be more direct and immediate than the sense of awe we feel when we gaze upon the vast night sky, or the sense of renewal we feel when wandering in a spring meadow? And surely, too, it is more than just our health that is affected by this engagement; we are affected.

That the concept of ecological medicine seems to be pointing at something so familiar, and yet seems to be expressing it in such a striking and novel manner, gives us pause to reflect. How have we arrived at a point in our civilisation where it seems sensible to describe as a medical discovery the idea that “other species are worthy of respect”, and that the recognition of inter-species reciprocity that is enabled by participating in ecological medicine “serves to counteract some of the societal elements contributing to society’s epidemic of mental health problems”?

This manner of approaching our sense of connection with nature is, arguably, emblematic of a sweeping cultural trend:

Today, we speak of ‘mental health’, often treating this as synonymous with the notion of flourishing itself. To accept the notions of ‘mental health’ and ‘flourishing’ as synonymous with each other involves a commitment to the conjunction of the following two claims:

C1 takes mental health to be sufficient for flourishing, whilst C2 takes it to be a necessary condition. C1 is the stronger of the two claims insofar as it asserts that nothing else—apart from being mentally healthy—is required for human flourishing. C2, unlike C1, allows for the possibility that there may be other conditions besides that of mental health that are also necessary for human flourishing—conditions pertaining to other domains of value such as ethics or aesthetics (domains that are of course salient in our connection with nature). But even the weaker claim, C2, imports a medical connotation into our conception of human flourishing that would have once seemed novel, perhaps even puzzling. Aristotle in the Eudaimian Ethics, for instance, takes health (like wealth or honour) to be a means by which we might come to flourish, rather than as tantamount to flourishing itself. How did this connotation appear, signalling the shift towards the medicalisation of our understanding of what it means to flourish?

Here is one story of the origin of this connotation (told by Martin Seligman, a founding father of the positive psychology movement): if (severely) distressing emotional experiences are cast as states of pathology, as contemporary psychiatry does, then it isn’t a huge leap (although it is a substantive one) from this claim to the idea that being in a state opposite to this—that is, enjoying a preponderance of pleasant emotional experiences—amounts to a state of wellness, a state of wellbeing, indeed a state of flourishing. This chain of inference is one of the major paths we have taken that has led us towards the medicalisation of our conception of flourishing. If this is right, then recovering alternate, non-medicalised conceptions of human flourishing, conceptions that might well return to us the expressive power to capture (amongst other things) our immediate connection with nature that we intuit, will involve a dissection of the concept of emotional disorder.

What, then, is the basis of the claim that (severely) distressing emotional states constitute states of pathology? From what general concept of disorder is this identification derived, and in light of what conception of our emotional lives might this identification be motivated? Surprising lines of inquiry emerge in the course of this exploration, all of which point to the pivotal role that our emotions play in the myriad ways we appraise our lives and make sense of ourselves. One particular line is worth mentioning here: it is often assumed that the medicalisation of our understanding of human flourishing signifies progress, at least in the sense that it yields an understanding that is informed by scientific knowledge. But this line of inquiry invites us to consider whether human flourishing is something we should seek to understand exclusively in scientific terms (as the invocation of the idea of progress implies). Indeed, is it something we should seek to understand in scientific terms at all? A systematic investigation of the value of emotions in human life suggests that there are visions of human flourishing that invite, indeed compel, not the detachment of the scientific gaze, but our immersion in life through the exercise of our rational agency. It is in appreciating the trade-offs between these alternative conceptions of human flourishing, and the appraisals they lead us to make of our emotional experiences, that we arrive at a clearer reflective understanding of our current predicament. It is in so doing that we may recover our power to express the immediate connection we feel with nature when we plant an acorn and tend its growth.

My aim is not to argue in favour of any particular conception of flourishing—and so I do not, for instance, claim that it is a mistake to medicalise our sense of connection with nature. It is rather to display as perspicuously as possible some of the conceptual structures that guide our ongoing quest to live happier and more enlightened lives. This quest has, for the most part, taken a very distinctive shape over the past half century: we pour billions of dollars each year into the enterprise of improving our ‘mental health’. It is ultimately for us to decide, individually and collectively, whether thinking of our flourishing in terms of the notion of ‘mental health’ is a good thing to do—rather than being, merely, something we’ve simply ended up doing.

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In the spirit of Oswald

It’s been more than 60 years since the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Those who remember where they were and what they were doing on that fateful day in 1963 are becoming smaller in number. Since that afternoon in Dallas, Lee Harvey Oswald has been viewed as a glory-seeking sociopath who, according to every official account, acted alone. No one offered him the adulation or hero worship he so desired.

That is, perhaps, until now. For today’s potential assassins and mass shooters, there could not be a better role model than this isolated extremist seeking fame and achieving it, albeit the short-lived kind. Now, among certain young people, Oswald is achieving the admiration he sought.

Thomas Matthew Crooks’ thinking may have been remarkably like Oswald’s when he took the shot at Donald Trump. Both were outcasts by all accounts—bullied, isolated, and in desperate need of validation. Oswald’s bullet hit his target; Crooks’ only grazed his. But while the distance from Oswald’s nest in the Texas Schoolbook Depository to Kennedy’s limousine was some 265 feet, Crooks’ bullet had to travel roughly 400 feet. Crooks’ shot was more difficult and surprisingly accurate in light of the fact that years earlier he had failed to make the high school rifle team because he was such a bad shot.

Oswald’s name surfaced again in reference to rooftop shooter Robert Crimo III, who killed seven people and injured dozens of others during a Highland Park Fourth of July parade in 2022. A famous photo of Crimo features a newspaper announcing Oswald’s murder taped to an otherwise bare wall behind him.

Mass shootings have become commonplace in the modern world. But as every incident and shooter is analyzed, new common denominators are emerging—a link between shooters of the past and those of the present. More often than not, these perpetrators are neither insane nor delusional. But they are political extremists, with their beliefs constantly reinforced by others of the same mind: their violent acts are in fact due to their extreme overvalued beliefs.

An extreme belief “is one that is shared by others in a person’s cultural, religious, or subcultural group. The belief is often relished, amplified, and defended,” forensic scientist Tahir Rahman states. “An extreme belief may grow more dominant over time, more refined, and more resilient to challenge. Thinking becomes simplistic, binary, and absolute. The individual has an intense emotional commitment to the belief and may carry out violent behavior because of it.”

Extreme Overvalued Beliefs include:

• The 9/11 attacks;
• Unabomber (Ted Kaczynski);
• Oklahoma City bombing;
• Boston Marathon attack;
• Dylan Roof (hate crime);
• Thomas Matthew Crooks (attack on former president Trump).

Crucial to Rahman’s discourse is the fact that the post 9/11 world set the stage for a breakthrough—the Terrorism Radicalization Assessment Protocol (TRAP-18), developed by psychologist and FBI consultant Dr. J. Reid Meloy. The TRAP-18 is a structured and scientifically tested approach for threat assessment that has undoubtedly saved numerous lives. Importantly, the TRAP-18 helps professionals identify potential attackers before the violence starts. Behaviors of potential assailants fall into two categories: distal characteristics (of which there are 10) and proximal warning signs (of which there are 8). Distal characteristics include personal grievances, failure to affiliate with a group (rejection from those with like beliefs), and criminal violence. Proximal warning signs include things like fixation, a sudden burst of energy in the perpetrator, or a directly communicated threat.

Oswald was not unknown to the state department and other federal agencies of 1963. If FBI and Secret Service units had access to current threat assessment tools, he might never have made it as far as his sniper’s nest in the Texas School Book Depository. To thwart potential future offenders, TRAP-18 needs to be utilized to an even greater degree, Rahman feels.

Threat Analysis

To do this, Rahman has created a four-part threat analysis to identify facts and circumstances that would lead a reasonable person to believe that an individual is committing or is attempting to commit a criminal offense (poses a threat to self and/or others). This assessment tool takes away personal bias and instead focuses on actual behavioral signatures, in doing so avoiding profiling people based solely on their race, ethnicity, etc.

1. Threats due to psychotic delusions (fixed, false, idiosyncratic)

“My neighbor is a space alien and is trying to kill me.”

“Satan has instructed me to kill them.”

Commonly seen in: Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder with psychosis, Depression with psychosis, Drug-induced psychosis.

Treatment: Secure weapons with law enforcement, antipsychotic medications, emergency civil commitment to a mental health facility, case management.

2. Threats due to Extreme Overvalued Beliefs

“I am going to be a professional school shooter.”

“The West is at war with Islam.”

“Black people are replacing White people.”

Intervention: Secure weapons with law enforcement, treat co-occurring problems (e.g. mood, anxiety, drug use), crisis response teams, unique behavioral management (e.g. family, group, and individual therapy), case management.

3. Threats due to obsessions (intrusive, unwanted thoughts)

Usually pose a low risk of harm to others.

“I can’t stop thinking that I might hurt someone.”

Treatment: OCD medication, talk therapy, OCD foundation.

4. Threats due to addictive/behavioral issues, alcohol/drugs, paraphilias, domestic violence, or personality disorder (e.g. Psychopathy)

Treatment: Secure weapons with law enforcement, drug rehabilitation centers, medication- assisted treatment, (family, individual, and group) therapy. Sometimes jail or prison is the only answer.

Since 2014, the U.S. has witnessed more than 4,000 shootings involving multiple victims. More often than not, mental illness or delusional thinking is blamed. But in truth, what lies beyond these facades may be as diverse as the cultures from which they spring.

Extreme Overvalued Beliefs lie at the heart of many incidents. Once that is recognized, the steps toward preventing radicalization may well be doable.

_{Featured image by Dakota L. via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0.}

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Speech, AI, and the future of neurology

Imagine what your life would be like if you did not know where you are or who you are with, and a young man told you, “We’re home and I’m your son.” Now imagine how you would feel if your body became still when you want to walk or shaky when you try to keep still. Do it. Take a moment and think about it.

Those who do not need to imagine are the 55 million people living with Alzheimer’s and the 10 million living with Parkinson’s, respectively, as they experience similar challenges every day. While these figures raise concern, future projections are alarming: by 2050, the number of cases is expected to double in high-income countries and triple in low/middle-income countries. Things are particularly bleak in the latter, as they account for 60% of the cases but less than 25% of global investment in research, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.

With growing patient-per-clinic ratios and soaring inequities across the globe, how will we detect these diseases early and massively enough for timely intervention? What solutions could balance the scales of brain health worldwide? An unsuspected answer involves combining natural speech and artificial intelligence. Yes, this sounds like another flight of imagination, but it all rests on solid science.

Tracking diseases

Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are neurodegenerative disorders, characterized by progressive atrophy of distinct brain regions. Alzheimer’s usually begins with neuron degeneration in the hippocampus and temporal lobe, affecting memory and several other abilities. In Parkinson’s, neuronal degradation begins in the basal ganglia, leading to motor and cognitive difficulties. Yet, this is just the tip of the iceberg. For patients, these diseases are disabling and often fatal. For families, they undermine emotional stability, financial solvency, and quality of life. For governments, they challenge health systems’ infrastructure and finances. Thus, these conditions project from the brain onto society, tracing a devastating trajectory.

That is why timely detection is crucial. Early diagnosis can mitigate the impact of symptoms, reduce their emotional burden on patients and caregivers, increase time to plan neuroprotective habits, and reduce costs by favoring routine over emergency care. Note that these diseases are incurable. Rapid and mass detection is our best alternative; and this is precisely where the need for innovation emerges.

Today, diagnosis rests on interviews with specialists, extensive paper-and-pencil tests, and, when conditions allow, brain MRI studies and biomarker assessments. These procedures are invaluable, but imperfect. Many countries lack enough qualified personnel and appropriate technology (and when these resources exist, their costs can be prohibitive). Furthermore, outcomes depend on the judgments of examiners, who vary in training and experience. Moreover, assessments are usually stressful and appointments take weeks or months. Worse yet, these limitations are exacerbated as patient numbers increase and socioeconomic disparities between countries deepen. An urgent need thus arises for new affordable, user-friendly, scalable, and immediate approaches.

Red flags in speech

This is where digital speech biomarkers come into play. Suppose that Tom, who is pushing 70, has been showing signs of cognitive decline and you suspect he might be suffering from Alzheimer’s. What if you asked him to recount a memory and an app detected traces of the disease in his speech? This non-invasive, low-cost approach offers real-time results without the need to visit a clinic, sparking great enthusiasm. Yet, how exactly does it work?

The key is that when we speak, we engage multiple brain regions that are affected by these diseases. Some, such as the hippocampus and the temporal lobe, are involved in accessing words as discourse unfolds; others, like the basal ganglia, coordinate the physical movements during speech production. So, if such regions were atrophied, one would expect alterations in the types of words used, their articulation, or other relevant aspects. By testing specific linguistic dimensions, we can uncover the integrity or dysfunction of those brain areas.

The first step is to record the natural speech of individuals with and without a given disease (the more, the better). Subsequently, complex algorithms quantify multiple aspects of the recording (say, speech rhythm) and its transcription (say, word properties). These metrics are used to train computational models that learn the typical speech characteristics of diagnosed individuals and healthy ones. Once the model is trained, it is presented with acoustic and linguistic measures from Tom, and, essentially, queried with this question: “Model, based on what you’ve learned, does Tom have the disease or not?”

In a recent study, our team identified Alzheimer’s disease with nearly 90% success via word property analysis. The model learned that patients, compared to their healthy peers, use words with higher frequency (‘doctor’ rather than ‘physician’), lower specificity (‘dog’ instead of ‘poodle’), and more common sound sequences (like ‘bat’, which resembles ‘cat’, ‘fat’, ‘mat’, ‘rat’, ‘bet’, ‘bit’, ‘bought’, ‘boot’, ‘bad’, ‘bag’, and ‘ban’; as opposed to ‘giraffe’, whose sound sequence is quite unique). Indeed, these lexical properties predicted the patients’ level of cognitive decline and brain atrophy. The reason is quite simple: word selection is a central function of semantic memory, which becomes impaired since the onset of temporo-hippocampal atrophy in Alzheimer’s. When navigating semantic memory, people with the disease prioritize the most accessible parts of their vocabulary, consisting of frequent, unspecific, and common-sounds words. And the more severe their disorder is, the simpler the words they favor.

In another study, we detected Parkinson’s disease with over 90% accuracy by measuring motor aspects of speech. We found that patients, compared to healthy individuals, leave longer pauses between words and produce less recognizable sounds. These patterns even differentiated between disease variants. Once again, the finding is clear. Speech production requires coordinating movements of the tongue, lips, and vocal cords, among other organs. Since basal ganglia atrophy affects motor skills, these actions in people with Parkinson’s prove slow, shaky, and imprecise. The audio signal carries traces of these alterations.

The breakthroughs do not stop there. These methods can anticipate who will develop specific conditions in the future. Some studies also suggest that they outperform standard tests in estimating disease severity and discriminating between syndromes. The approach has been validated with data acquired in hospitals and over the phone, incorporated in clinical trials, and harnessed by user-friendly apps. These are critical milestones towards rethinking clinical assessments.

A story in the making

For all its promise, this story is only beginning. The approach requires more validation, especially in large groups of patients. New studies should focus on vulnerable populations to balance the abundant data coming from high-income countries. More generally, a digital medical culture must be cultivated for clinicians to incorporate computational tools. Of course, these milestones demand concerted efforts of scientists, medical professionals, patients, family members, companies, and policymakers. None of this is easy or immediate. The path from science to clinical practice and public policy is long, crooked, and uphill.

Fortunately, this is not an isolated endeavor. Various teams are working on other digital tools for disease detection, including eye-tracking devices, motion sensors, and gamified cognitive tests. Speech analysis is part of a vast movement pushing for clinical equity through technological innovations.

To conclude, imagine that we can detect these diseases before Tom shows symptoms of decline. Imagine doing so by reducing the social gaps among world nations. And imagine a future where all this needs no longer be imagined. If such a day ever arrives, it will be through disruptions like this.

_{Featured image by TungArt7 via Pixabay.}

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Better together: coupling up to watch TV and talk synchronizes brain waves

Scientists are a step closer to finding out just why watching TV together and talking is such a popular pastime. Watching the same movie stimulates similar neural activity across brains: a phenomenon referred to as inter-subject correlation. Subjects sitting in the same room and talking over the content have been shown to increase various other measures of brain synchrony.

Now it turns out that we don’t even need to be discussing what’s on the screen to get more in tune with each other during the next show.

Lead author Dr. Sara De Felice, Professor Antonia Hamilton, and other colleagues at University College London used functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure brain activity in 27 pairs of adults as they each watched two different episodes of the short BBC children’s cartoon Dipdap. In between the episodes, the subjects talked over trivial facts unrelated to the show, such as exotic animals and musical instruments. The researchers then compared the data on brain activity recorded during each episode to see if the non-relevant chatter had affected mental synchrony.

Their results, published in Oxford Open Neuroscience, showed increased brain synchrony over the right dorso-lateral pre-frontal cortex (DLPFC) and right superior parietal lobe (SPL) in familiar pairs (housemates, friends, or partners) watching the cartoon together compared to pseudo pairs who had not met, and who watched the short film alone. These results are in line with previous studies into these brain regions which indicate that the DLPFC is associated with functions like working memory, abstract reasoning, and cognitive flexibility while the SPL receives significant visual input, and is also associated with reasoning and memory, as well as attention.

The study also found that co-watching after a conversation was associated with greater brain synchrony over the right temporoparietal junction (TPJ)–an area of the brain famous for allowing other perspectives (theory of mind)–compared to co-watching before a conversation. This effect was significantly higher in familiar pairs engaging in conversation with each other than in pseudo pairs who talked to someone else.

“Two things are surprising and novel here,” says Dr. De Felice (now at the University of Cambridge). “First, having a chat resulted in brains also synchronising afterwards. Second, the chat didn’t have to be related to the movie to see this effect.”

Brain games

The scientists selected fNIRS for this research as it uses light to map blood flow in response to neural activity at sites across the head, allowing the study of natural face-to-face interactions because subjects aren’t physically confined in a noisy fMRI machine.

“fNIRS is non-invasive and robust to movement, allowing the measurement of brain activity from people as they act and interact normally,” says Dr. De Felice. On the downside, its lag time of around five seconds makes it much less spatially and temporally accurate than other techniques.

The researchers found no significant differences in the other five brain regions selected for measurement.

“Brain synchrony was observed in three areas (the DLPFC, SPL, and TPJ) which play a key role in our ability to interact with others, understand intentions and emotions, and interpret other people’s perspectives,” explains Dr. De Felice. “It makes sense that we observe synchrony over these areas during co-watching of the BBC Dipdap cartoon, where the watcher is encouraged to follow and predict what the puppet will face next.”

She suggests the findings, along with those from numerous other studies, could indicate that brain synchrony extends to and from further behaviours: “This might explain why people who spend considerable time together often find themselves in greater agreement with each other than with those they’ve never met. Through such interactions, individuals can develop a shared reality, both physically and mentally.”

The next challenge is to better explore the causal relationship between synchrony and social interaction, examining if altering this synchrony using brain stimulation would alter the parameters of interaction, she says.

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Mental disorder or something magical?

Each generation finds their own way of understanding mental distress. The ‘shell-shocked’ soldiers of World War I were understood at the time to be of weak character, although now we might diagnose them with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Victorian women were subject to ‘hysteria’ and fainting fits, something we might now understand as non-epileptic seizures. The way that we understand distress is deeply rooted in our culture and time, but it doesn’t feel like that to us. We tend to think that the way we understand things now is the right way, superior to previous generations and other cultures.

Which makes our current time a particularly interesting one to be working in mental health. The dominant way to understand mental distress in the West in the last 70 years has been the medical model. This sees distress and unusual behaviour as symptoms of an underlying mental disorder. Diagnosing clinicians compare a person’s experiences to lists of criteria and give them (or not give them) a diagnosis. That diagnosis should lead to treatment, which should then (hopefully) lead to an improvement in symptoms. 

This system is one of categorisation. It matters which diagnosis a person gets because that will affect the services they receive. Get a diagnosis of PTSD and you’ll find yourself offered very different treatment than if you are given a diagnosis of ADHD, even if your symptoms have similarities. The system is pragmatic and structures many mental health services. A psychiatric diagnosis is a description, rather than an explanation. It gives a name to a cluster of symptoms.

However, in recent decades, the fundamental principles of the diagnostic system have been undermined by neuroscientific and behavioural genetic research. Research has failed to find biological correlates for the diagnostic groupings defined by the manuals (called DSM and ICD). According to behavioural geneticist Robert Plomin, instead of finding ‘genes for schizophrenia’ as expected, large scale studies have shown that many genes combine in tiny, cumulative, and generalised effects. Studies of mental health have consistently found dimensionality. Symptoms such as anxiety, or hearing voices, or low mood vary across the whole population, and a diagnosis draws a line where none exists in nature.

The implications of this for how we conceptualise mental health are profound. Researchers are working on dimensional frameworks and influential neuroscientists argue that a reliance on diagnostic categories is holding back advances in research. It has become increasingly clear that diagnostic groups may be practical, but they don’t reliably reflect distinctions between people.

However, alongside this revolution in how scientists understand mental health has come the advent of social media and a huge cultural shift. Here the way in which psychiatric diagnoses are understood have also changed dramatically in the last few decades, but in a very different way.

On social media, psychiatric diagnoses have become identities and online communities have formed around them. ‘Mental health influencers’ post about their symptoms and put their diagnoses in their bios. Some of their followers start to define themselves in the same way, or even to develop new symptoms. We are only just starting to understand how influential social media can be.

For many, these diagnoses signify far more than a list of symptoms. They provide an explanation as to why they are the way that they are and validation that their life struggles are not their fault. The mainstream media have also adopted this narrative, with articles published with titles like ‘My New Life: Being Diagnosed with ADHD in My 40’s has Given Me Something Quite Magical.’

This has led us to the strange situation where just as scientists are moving away from grouping people by diagnosis, more people than ever before are thinking of themselves as belonging to a diagnostic category. Many are self-diagnosing, and several clinicians have informed me of official complaints after they told service users that they didn’t fit the criteria. If a person sees a diagnosis as the key to something magical, it’s understandable that they are furious if it is withheld.

There has always been a gulf between how the general public understands mental health and how scientists and clinicians conceptualise it. What perhaps is new is that many now see a diagnosis as their route to compassion and community, as an affirmation of who they are. This was not what the medical model was designed for, and it is not well-suited to the task. Psychiatric diagnoses were intended to identify pathology in order to provide treatment.   

Waiting lists soar as a result, and when a person finally does see a clinician, expectations can be very different to the reality. Anger grows when people are not able to get the diagnosis they feel they need or when their diagnostic assessment doesn’t provide the validation they were hoping for.

We’re in the middle of a cultural clash in the way that we understand mental health. As science is pushing us towards reconsidering diagnostic categories, those same categories are becoming ever more important in popular culture. This inevitably leads to tension. ‘Mental disorder’ or ‘something magical’—can a diagnosis be both at the same time? Or are there other ways to understand mental distress entirely?

_{Feature image by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash.}

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The hidden toll of war

During war, the news media often focus on civilian injuries and deaths due to explosive weapons. But the indirect health impacts of war among civilians occur more frequently—often out of sight and out of mind.

These indirect impacts include communicable diseases, malnutrition, exacerbations of chronic noncommunicable diseases, maternal and infant disorders, and mental health problems. They are caused primarily by forced displacement of populations and by damage to civilian infrastructure, including farms and food supply systems, water treatment plants, healthcare and public health facilities, and networks for electric power, communication, and transportation.

Increasingly, damage to civilian infrastructure is caused by targeted attacks—as a strategy of war, resulting in reduced access to food, safe drinking water, healthcare, and shelter. When water treatment plants and supply lines are damaged during war, people often have no choice but to drink water from sources that may be contaminated with microorganisms or toxic substances. Healthcare facilities have been increasingly targeted during war; for example, during the first 18 months of the war in Ukraine, there were 1,014 attacks on healthcare facilities, which injured and killed many patients and healthcare workers, and caused much damage, which reduced access to healthcare for many people.

Globally, there are now more than 108 million people who have been displaced from their homes, many as a result of war. Most of these displaced people have been internally displaced within their own countries, often facing greater health and security risks than refugees, who have fled to other countries. And during war, many more people live in continual fear that they may be forcibly displaced.

Major categories of communicable diseases during war include diarrheal diseases and respiratory disorders. These diarrheal diseases result mainly from decreased access to safe drinking water and reduced levels of sanitation and hygiene, leading to increased fecal-oral transmission of bacterial and viral agents. Among respiratory disorders, measles is of great concern because it is highly contagious and associated with high mortality rates among unimmunized children. Another major concern is tuberculosis, which can spread easily among war-affected populations and is difficult to treat without continuity of care. Crowding in bomb shelters, refugee camps, and other locations during war facilitates the spread of both diarrheal diseases and respiratory disorders. Disruption of public health services leads to reduced access to immunizations and reduced resources to investigate and control outbreaks of communicable disease. During war, bacterial resistance to antibiotics increases because people have decreased access to antibiotics and therefore take inappropriate antibiotics or shortened courses of treatment.

Malnutrition often increases during war, thereby increasing the risks of acquiring and dying from many communicable diseases. Infants and children are at greatest risk of becoming malnourished and suffering from its adverse health consequences. Micronutrient deficiencies during pregnancy can lead to birth defects. And severe malnutrition during war can increase the risk of hypertension, coronary artery disease, and diabetes in later life.

During war, exacerbations of preexisting cases of noncommunicable disease increase, mainly because of reduced access to medical care and medications for treating common chronic diseases. For example, a survey by the World Health Organization in Ukraine in 2022 found that about half of the respondents experienced reduced access to medical care and almost one-fourth could not acquire necessary medications that they needed. Without these medications, people with hypertension were at increased risk of myocardial infarction and stroke, people with asthma were at increased risk of life-threatening attacks, people with diabetes were at increased risk of serious complications, and people with epilepsy were at increased risk of seizures.

War exerts adverse effects on reproductive health. Access to prenatal care, postpartum and neonatal care, and reproductive health services are frequently decreased. As a result, complications of pregnancy, including maternal deaths, occur more frequently and there are increased rates of infant deaths and of infants being born prematurely or with low birthweight.

Mental and behavioral disorders occur more frequently during war, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety, alcoholism and drug abuse, and suicide. There are many contributing factors to increasing the risk of these disorders, including physical and sexual trauma, witnessing of atrocities, forced displacement, family separation, deaths of loved ones, loss of employment and education, and uncertainty about the future.

Violations of human rights and international humanitarian law occur frequently during war. In addition to those already mentioned, these violations include gender-based violence, summary executions, kidnapping, denial of humanitarian aid, and use of indiscriminate weapons, such as antipersonnel landmines.

The possible use of nuclear weapons represents a profound threat whenever nuclear powers are engaged in war, partly because these weapons could be launched by accident or because of misinterpretation or miscommunication. Even a small nuclear war could cause huge numbers of deaths and severe injuries and could lower temperatures globally, leading to widespread famine.

Environmental damage during war can result from chemical contamination of air, water, and soil; presence of landmines and unexploded ordnance; release of ionizing radiation from nuclear power plants or conventional weapons containing radioactive materials (“dirty bombs”); destruction of the built environment; and damage to animal habitats and ecosystems. In addition, war and the preparation for war consume large amounts of fossil fuels, which generate greenhouse gases, which, in turn, cause global warming.

Protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure during war and improved humanitarian assistance can reduce the indirect health impacts of war. But the only way to eliminate these impacts is to eliminate war. The risk of war can be reduced by resolving disputes before they turn violent; by reducing the root causes of war, such as socioeconomic inequities, militarism, ethnic and religious hatred, poor governance, and environmental stress; and by strengthening the infrastructure for peace. Peace can be achieved and sustained by rehabilitating nations and reintegrating people after war has ended, strengthening civil society, promoting the rule of law, ensuring citizen participation, and holding aggressors accountable.

Barry S. Levy is the author of From Horror to Hope: Recognizing and Preventing the Health Impacts of War (Oxford University Press, 2022). He is an Adjunct Professor of Public Health at Tufts University School of Medicine and a past president of the American Public Health Association.

_{Featured image: Markus Spiske via Unsplash, public domain.}

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Beyond God and atheism

What are we doing here? What’s the point of existence?

Traditionally, the West has been dominated by two very different answers to these big questions. On the one hand, there is belief in the traditional God of the Abrahamic faiths, a supreme being who created the universe for a good purpose. On the other hand, there is the meaningless, purposeless universe of secular atheism. However, I’ve come to think both views are inadequate, as both have things they can’t explain about reality. In my view, the evidence we currently have points to the universe having purpose but one that exists in the absence of the traditional God.

The theistic worldview struggles to explain suffering, particularly in the natural world. Why would a loving, all-powerful God choose to create the North American long-tailed shrew that paralyses its prey and then slowly eats it alive over several days before it dies from its wounds? Theologians have tried to argue that there are certain good things that exist in our world that couldn’t exist in a world with less suffering, such as serious moral choices, or opportunities to show courage or compassion. But even if that’s right, it’s not clear that our creator has the right to kill and maim—by choosing to create hurricanes and disease, for example—in order, say, to provide the opportunity to show courage. A classic objection to crude forms of utilitarianism considers the possibility of a doctor who has the option of kidnapping and killing one healthy patient in order to save the lives of five other patients: giving the heart to one, the kidneys to another, and so on. Perhaps this doctor could increase the amount of well-being in the world through this action: saving five lives at the cost of one. Even so, many feel that the doctor doesn’t have the right to take the life of the healthy person, even for a good purpose. Likewise, I think it would be wrong for a cosmic creator to infringe on the right to life and security of so many by creating earthquakes, tsunamis, and other natural disasters.

Looking at the other side of the coin, the secular atheist belief in a meaningless, purposeless universe struggles to explain the fine-tuning of physics for life. This is the recent discovery that for life to be possible, certain numbers in physics had to fall in a certain, very narrow range. If the strength of dark energy—the force that powers the expansion of the universe—had been a little bit stronger, no two particles would have ever met, meaning no stars, no planets, no structural complexity at all. If, on the other hand, it had been significantly weaker, it would not have counteracted gravity, and the universe would have collapsed back on itself a split second after the big bang. For life to be possible, the strength of dark energy had to be—like Goldilocks’ porridge—just right.

For a long time, I thought the multiverse was the best explanation of the fine-tuning of physics for life. If enough people play the lottery, it becomes likely that someone’s going to get the right numbers to win. Likewise, if there are enough universes, with enough variety in the numbers in their ‘local physics,’ then statistically it becomes highly probable that one of them is going to fluke the right numbers for life to exist.

However, I have been persuaded by philosophers of probability that the attempt to explain fine-tuning in terms of a multiverse violates a very important principle in probabilistic reasoning, known as the “Total Evidence Requirement.” This is the principle that you should always work with the most specific evidence you have. If the prosecution tells the jury that Jack always carries a knife around with him, when they know full well that he always carries a butter knife around with him, then they have misled to jury—not by lying, but by giving them less specific evidence than is available.

The multiverse theorist violates this principle by working with the evidence that a universe is fine-tuned, rather than the more specific evidence we have available, namely that this universe is fine-tuned. According to the standard account of the multiverse, the numbers in our physics were determined by probabilistic processes very early in its existence. These probabilistic processes make it highly unlikely that any particular universe will be fine-tuned, even though if there are enough universes one of them will probably end up fine-tuned. However, we are obliged by the Total Evidence Requirement to work with the evidence that this universe in particular is fine-tuned, and the multiverse theory fails to explain this data.

This is all a bit abstract, so let’s take a concrete example. Suppose you walk into a forest and happen upon a monkey typing in perfect English. This needs explaining. Maybe it’s a trained monkey. Maybe it’s a robot. Maybe you’re hallucinating. What would not explain the data is postulating millions of other monkeys on other planets elsewhere in the universe, who are mostly typing nonsense. Why not? Because, in line with the Requirement of Total Evidence, your evidence is not that some monkey is typing English but that this monkey is typing in English.

In my view, we face a stark choice. Either it is an incredible fluke that these numbers in our physics are just right for life, or these numbers are as they are because they are the right numbers for life, in other words, that there is some kind of “cosmic purpose” or goal-directedness towards life at the fundamental level of reality. The former option is too improbable to take seriously. The only rational option remaining is to embrace cosmic purpose.

Theism cannot explain suffering. Atheism cannot explain fine-tuning. Only cosmic purpose in the absence of God can accommodate both of these data-points.

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Of language, brain health, and global inequities

One of the greatest public health challenges of our century lies in the growth of neurodegenerative disorders. Conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and frontotemporal dementia stand as major contributors to disability and mortality in affluent and under-resourced nations alike. Currently affecting over 55 million individuals, their prevalence is expected increase significantly by 2050—especially in less developed countries, where risk factors are most impactful and mainstream clinical approaches least developed.

Language research in the fight against neurodegeneration

Against this background, researchers from various fields are searching for new, affordable, and scalable digital innovations to facilitate diagnosis and other clinical tasks across the globe. Speech and language assessments have emerged as crucial tools, offering robust insights for detecting, characterizing, and monitoring these diseases. For instance, individuals with Alzheimer’s often struggle with word retrieval, experience difficulties in constructing grammatically complex sentences, and exhibit challenges in understanding or expressing figurative language. These linguistic deficits appear in early and preclinical disease stages, differentiate Alzheimer’s from other forms of dementia, allow predicting the onset of core symptoms, and even capture brain anomalies that typify the disorder.

These clinical applications can be boosted through artificial intelligence tools. New digital technologies allow capturing specific alterations in recorded or written language samples in a non-invasive, patient-friendly, and cost-effective way. Such is the type of solution required to reduce clinical disparities across low-, middle-, and high-income countries. Multicentric research initiatives, large grants from leading funding agencies, and science-based companies are spearheading exciting projects to validate and expand this novel framework. However, a critical challenge looms large: the lack of linguistic diversity in the field threatens its scalability and undermines its potential for more equitable testing worldwide.

Disorders of language vs. disorders of languages

The field is marked with inequities. Less than 0.5% of the world’s 7,000 languages have received any attention in this research field. Also, although English is spoken by roughly 17% of the world’s population, it accounts for nearly 70% of all published studies on speech and language in neurodegeneration. Moreover, large language models and feature extraction tools are available for only a handful of languages. Of course, none of this would be a major issue if links between language anomalies and brain dysfunctions were universal across the world’s languages—if that were the case, we could rely on the abundant findings from English and apply them to patients worldwide, irrespective of their language. Unfortunately, the reality is much more complicated.

As it happens, cross-linguistic differences deeply influence the presentation of speech and language symptoms, challenging the universality of existing diagnostic criteria and candidate disease markers. For instance, a sentence production study showed that Italian-speaking persons with Alzheimer’s could be identified by their tendency to omit subjects, a phenomenon notably absent in their English-speaking counterparts. The distinction lies in the inherent structure of the languages. Unlike English, Italian allows deducing sentence subjects from verb conjugations (the Italian verb ‘camminiamo’ inherently implies a first-person plural subject, whereas the English verb ‘walk’ requires a preceding ‘we’ to convey the same meaning). More strikingly, linguistic anomalies may be diametrically opposed between languages. For example, research on Alzheimer’s shows that different pronouns (words like ‘I’, ‘their’, ‘ours’) tend to be overused among English-speaking patients and underused in Bengali-speaking patients—relative to healthy speakers of the same languages. This, too, likely reflects differences between both languages, as Bengali grammar includes many more (and morphologically more complex) pronouns than English. Succinctly, the linguistic markers that may signal a given disease among speakers of one language may not be relevant among speakers of another language.

Taking action

These findings underscore the need to consider language diversity when examining the linguistic impact of neurodegenerative conditions. Such is the call we raised in our recent article in Brain (García et al., 2023). Researchers must broaden the representation of languages, incorporating diverse linguistic communities to identify shared and distinguishing properties. Multicentric collaborations, harmonized protocols, and cross-linguistic tools must be forged for a more inclusive and comprehensive understanding of neurodegeneration across regions and cultures. The path forward requires overcoming core challenges, such as establishing robust pipelines for comparing outcomes across languages, disentangling linguistic and non-linguistic sources of heterogeneity, and securing funds for language research across underrepresented regions. Ideally, local-global connections should be prioritized to integrate country-specific needs and resources with leading worldwide trends.

Promisingly, strategic efforts are being made in this direction. Consider, for example, the International Network for Cross-Linguistic Research on Brain Health (Include). Supported with initial funds from the Global Brain Health Institute, the Alzheimer’s Association, and the Alzheimer’s Society, Include aims to foster trans-regionally equitable approaches to language-based neurodegeneration research. The network has grown continually since its launch in November 2022. It now has over 140 members spanning 80 centers sites across 30 countries. Five network-wide projects are being run, targeting diverse phenomena across multiple languages in large cohorts of persons with Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and frontotemporal dementia variants. Include is also leading awareness-raising actions, such as the Language Diversity and Brain Health webinar series, hosted in collaboration with the Bilingualism, Languages, and Literacy Special Interest Group of the Alzheimer’s Association’s Diversity and Disparities Professional Interest Area. Initiatives like these can make a difference towards fairer language-based research on brain dysfunctions.

The bottom line

Speech and language assessments hold a valuable key to unlocking generalizable insights on neurodegeneration. To harness their full potential, however, we must bridge the linguistic gap in research, embracing more diverse samples and more inclusive practices. These actions are vital to ensure that valuable tools for equitable brain health assessments do not turn into a new source of global inequity.

_{Feature image by Studioroman via Canva.}

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Could lonely and isolated older adults be prescribed a cat by their doctor?

Many older adults struggle with isolation and loneliness. Could cats be the solution? At the same time, many humane societies have more cats to rehome than they can manage. Could lonely older adults be the solution?

Researchers at the University of Georgia and Brenau University developed a novel program where older adults were paired with a foster cat coming from a local humane society, with the opportunity to adopt. A Human-Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI)-funded feasibility study explored the impact of this program on the older adult participants and the cats. Researchers explored how fostering a shelter cat could impact loneliness and well-being in older adults living alone. They also wanted to learn if these older adults would be more likely to adopt their foster cat after common barriers, such as pet deposit fees, were paid by the study. Could it really be a win-win situation?

The study enrolled adults aged 60 and older living alone and without any pets. Participants completed health surveys before placement with cats and completed follow-up surveys at 1-month and 4-months post-placement. Participants could choose to adopt their foster cat any time between 1- and 4-months post-placement. If participants chose to adopt their foster cat, the study paid the adoption fee, and a 12-month post-placement survey was completed.

Findings from the study revealed that loneliness scores significantly decreased at the 4-month mark after the cat fostering began. A similar 4-month improvement that approached statistical significance was observed for mental health. However, at the 12-month follow-up, loneliness scores were no longer statistically significant. The researchers suggest that these one-year reports were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in a substantial proportion of older adults experiencing elevated levels of loneliness. 

Alexis Winger and Ambi

Alexis states that before she got Ambi, “I lived alone, and the loneliness was becoming oppressive. Ambi has brought an end to oppressive loneliness. There are still times when I am away from people too long, when I have no one to talk to and lonelines settles in, but then Ambi settles into my lap or just runs through the room, and I am not alone. Ambi has brought me smiles, laughter, responsibility and love.”

The day that Alexis picked out Ambi at the Athens Area Humane Society to foster. Alexis states “I didn’t expect to find a cat for me at the first visit, but as I walked in, my eyes connected with hers in the end cage. The minute she was in my arms, she was mine.”

This is a picture and text message that Alexis sent to Sherry Sanderson, one of the researchers in the study, during the Pandemic.

Photo Credit: Alexis Winger

Alexis still gets lonely occasionally, but it is not the oppressive loneliness she felt before she got Ambi. Alexis says “Ambi has brought me an end to oppressive loneliness.”

Photo credit: Photo and text message Alexis Winger sent to Sherry Sanderson.

What about the cats? Almost all (95.7%) of study participants decided to adopt their foster cat at the completion of the study. Dr. Sherry Sanderson, the team lead and Associate Professor at the University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine, noted: “Our results show that by removing some perceived barriers to pet ownership, including pet deposit fees, pet adoption fees, pet care supplies and veterinary support, we can not only help older adults live healthier, happier lives but we can also encourage the fostering and adoption of shelter cats into loving homes”.

Dr. Kerstin Emerson, a Gerontologist in the College of Public Health’s Institute of Gerontology, Health Policy & Management at the University of Georgia, and an investigator from the study states, “In May of 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General stated that loneliness and isolation is an epidemic in this country, and their report placed an emphasis on the urgent need for a cure.” Dr. Don Scott, a Geriatrician and Campus Director of Geriatrics and Palliative Care from the Augusta University-University of Georgia Medical Partnership and also a researcher from the study, added, “The ill effects of loneliness and social isolation, particularly for older adults, are well-documented, and more strategies are needed to improve health outcomes for this population.” The investigators from this study plan to do a larger scale study. The hope is when an older adult seeks to prevent or ward off loneliness and isolation, they will collaborate with a support team prepared to explore feline companionship as part of an individualized holistic approach to care, and there will be programs in place and funding available to support this new approach to treating loneliness in older adults.

Judith Atkins and Bashi

Judith is semi-retired from nursing, but she still provides nursing care to some of the residents in the Senior Living Residence that she lives in. When recently asked what Bashi means to her, Judith sent back the following reply:

“He (Bashi) has been a comfort to two of my neighbors. While providing nursing care to a resident who was in hospice care, Bashi stayed with her until she died. I also took him to visit a resident with cancer and breathing problems when I went to visit. I also took Bashi to the nursing home to visit two people I took care of there.”

Judith went on to say, “He still enjoys catching balls and batting them into the hall closet, continues to steal straws from my drinks and claims all boxes. Best of all, he still likes my left shoulder to put his head on to make sure his world is okay. At night at times, I find him asleep on a pillow by my head. His love of people is unlimited, and he will try and go in any apartment with the door open to be loved on by strangers. He escapes into the hall to force me to exercise chasing him, and needless to say he is always the winner.”

Judith was ready to enroll in the study just days before the Pandemic occurred, and the Foster Cat Study was shut down for six months. Once the study resumed, participants were no longer allowed to go to the shelter to pick out their cats to foster. Rather Dr. Sanderson, would go to the shelter and send them pictures and videos of available cats they may be interested in. The picture on the left is from the very first time Judith met Bashi in her apartment. The picture on the right shows that their Human-Animal Bond remains strong. Photo credit: Sherry Sanderson

Judith and Bashi getting ready to make the rounds in the building to visit people. Photo credit: Sherry Sanderson

Judith and Bashi love to hold birthday parties at the Senior Living Residence where they both live. Here are pictures from Bashi’s second birthday party. Photo credit: (L) Sherry Sanderson; (R) Judith Atkins

_{Feature image by Pietro Schellino via Unsplash, public domain.}

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10 things direct reports must do to get the most out of their 1:1 meetings

1:1s are crucial in promoting positive outcomes such as increased employee engagement, higher retention rates, more innovation, and overall success for the team member, manager, and organization. A lot of focus is placed on the manager’s role in orchestrating 1:1s, where they are responsible for addressing direct reports’ practical and personal needs. However, it is also important to recognize that direct reports have agency in 1:1s and should play an active, not passive, role in the effectiveness of these meetings. When direct reports feel empowered to seek help, there are benefits to both the individual and organization.

As an employee, you need to take an active role in your 1:1s to get the most out of them. These 10 key behaviors are critical in making sure you are receiving the help that you need to grow in your career:

1. Know what you need: be ready to discuss your own needs, hopes, and goals, not just what you think you should say to your manager.
2. Be curious: do not just have a curious mindset, but also engage in curious behaviors such as asking questions, listening, and challenging yourself to discover new things.
3. Build rapport: get to know your manager on a personal and professional level by learning about their interests.
4. Actively engage: get the most out of your meeting by doing things like asking questions, expressing yourself, taking notes, and paying attention to non-verbal communication like maintaining good eye contact.
5. Communicate well: strive to be clear, concise, focused, honest and pay attention to voice infliction and tone. For difficult conversations, consider practicing before bringing them to your manager.
6. Problem solve: come to your 1:1 not only with your problems but also possible solutions. Be ready to constructively discuss counterarguments and differing viewpoints.
7. Ask for help (constructively): seek assistance from your manager that encourages independent problem solving. This includes asking to recommendations or help of others when your manager cannot assist you.
8. Ask for feedback: ask specific questions that focus on receiving suggestion on future behaviors such as “I want to improve at X, do you have any suggestions on how to get better at this?”
9. Receive feedback well: show that you are appreciative of the feedback by thanking your manager and asking further questions about issues that were raised.
10. Express gratitude: let your manager know you are grateful for their time and feedback.

Finally, as you proceed with these behaviors, it is important to keep in mind the science around asking for help. Namely, help-seeking behaviors have been categorized by social psychologists into two main types: autonomous help-seeking and dependent help-seeking.

Autonomous help-seeking can be understood as seeking information that enables individuals to be independent, accomplish tasks, and solve problems on their own. This tends to promote long-term independence—similar to the adage, “Give a person a fish and they’ll eat for a day but teach them to fish and they’ll eat for a lifetime.”

Dependent help-seeking, on the other hand, refers to searching for a “quick fix” and an “answer” from someone else. This style of help-seeking conserves time and effort and leads to immediate gratification, but typically doesn’t yield long-term self-sufficiency. Interestingly, job performance ratings have been shown to have a positive relationship with autonomous help-seeking, but a negative relationship with its counterpart—dependent help-seeking.

Bottom line: do your part in the 1:1 to maximize its value to you and approach it as an opportunity to learn to be the best you can seeking meaningful insights that enable you to thrive and grow both short-term and long-term. 

_{Featured image via Unsplash (public domain)}

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How the US healthcare system is failing people with eating disorders [infographic]

People with eating disorders often do not receive sufficient support within the United States healthcare system, which can have a devastating emotional and monetary impact on patients and their families. Issues that need to be addressed include a lack of awareness of serious mental illness, insufficient research funding, healthcare coverage, and rigorous treatment that would lead to earlier identification.

This infographic illustrates some of the statistics and case studies included in Pamela K. Keel’s article on eating disorder treatment in the US healthcare system.

Keel is a Distinguished Research Professor and Director of the Eating Behaviors Research Clinic in the Psychology Department at Florida State University, and an advocate for greater awareness and treatment for people with eating disorders.

Read her full analysis in this blog post: How the healthcare system is failing people with eating disorders.

OUPblog - Academic insights for the thinking world.

Supporting a loved one who self-injures [infographic]

The stigmatization of self-injury remains common. Such stigma makes it difficult for people to reach out about their experience, even when they may want support. Further, many people who do not have lived experience, but who are concerned about someone who does, want to offer support but are unsure about how to navigate this. The application of a person-centered approach when discussing self-injury can be used to foster more appropriate discussions, which will leave individuals with lived experience feeling more understood and validated.

Starting a supportive dialogue with a loved one who self-injures can make a big difference in their journey to recovery. For tips on starting this conversation, read our infographic adapted from Understanding Self-Injury by Stephen P. Lewis and Penelope A. Hasking.

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How to recognise and treat an episode of psychosis [infographic]

Psychosis is a rare experience and often misunderstood within society. It often first occurs in late adolescence or early adulthood—an exciting but often tumultuous time of role transitions and challenging new opportunities such as college and employment. An episode of psychosis can be frightening for those undergoing it, and for their loved ones, and navigating through evaluation, treatment, and recovery can be a stressful and isolating experience. It’s important to spread awareness that with the right support, those experiencing psychosis can take an active, informed role in their care and journey to recovery.

Learn more about the symptoms, stages, and treatments for psychosis in the infographic adapted from The First Episode of Psychosis, which supports young people and their families experiencing the initial episode of psychosis.

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Understanding Depersonalization and Derealization Disorder [infographic]

What if our perceptions of our own thoughts, or the world around us, changed in an inexplicable way? What if the world suddenly seems strange and unfamiliar? This is the story of millions of people worldwide who experience depersonalization/derealization disorder (DDD). This condition causes a serious disruption in a person’s experience of the self that alters their entire world.

Depersonalization is the third most common psychiatric symptom, yet clinicians and lay people still know little about its presentation and treatment. While it can indeed be a symptom accompanying other mental illnesses, it is also a full-blown disorder itself, recognized by every major diagnostic manual.

Learn more about the symptoms of DDD in the infographic adapted from the second edition of Feeling Unreal by Daphne Simeon and Jeffrey Abugel.

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Supporting researchers at every career stage

Academia is a complex ecosystem with researchers at various stages of their careers striving to make meaningful contributions to their fields. In support of furthering knowledge, academic journals work with researchers to disseminate findings, engage with the scholarly community, and share academic advances.

Oxford University Press (OUP) publishes more than 500 high-quality trusted journals, two-thirds of which are published in partnership with societies, organizations, or institutions. The remaining third is a list of journals owned and operated by the Press. Fundamental to this list of owned journals is our mission to create world-class academic and educational resources and make them available as widely as possible, including expanding our fully open access options for authors. As a not-for-profit university press, our financial surplus is reinvested for the purpose of educational and scholarly objectives of the University and the Press, thereby fostering the continued growth of open access initiatives and supporting the scholarly community.

How do we support researchers in different career stages through our journals?

Early Career Researchers: nurturing talent

For early career researchers (ECRs), having their work published in a reputable journal is a crucial step in establishing their academic reputation. OUP journals provide several avenues of support including:

• Mentoring and guidance: Some journals provide mentorship programs or editorial support to help young researchers navigate the publishing process.

Featuring Oxford Open Immunology and Oxford Open Energy:

Two of our Oxford Open series journals, Oxford Open Immunology and Oxford Open Energy run dedicated ECR boards, which provide a key channel for direct engagement between ECR participants and our high profile academic senior editorial teams. Activities are planned throughout the year and may include assisting with facilitating journal webinars, joining ECR board meetings to discuss journal strategy and direction, suggesting and coordinating special collections or commissioned pieces on highly topical areas of research.

• Open access initiatives: 120 of the journals we publish are fully open access and the vast majority of the remaining journals offer authors open access options, making research freely available for a global audience to read, share, cite, and reuse. This helps early career researchers, and researchers of all stages in their career, gain visibility of their work and reach a wider readership.

Featuring our Oxford Open series:

The Oxford Open series is underpinned by a set of guiding principles, which include an emphasis on open research, with each journal having been developed in a bespoke way to best serve the needs of its own research community.

Hear more about OUP’s approach to OA published and the Oxford Open series in The Oxford Comment podcast.

Many of our Oxford Open journals offer article types that are specifically developed for ECRs to start their publication journey, these may take the form of a Rapid Report, Short Communication, or Perspective article, for example. We regularly invite ECRs to submit their work to the journal, often in collaboration with their mentors or supervisors as appropriate.

Mid-career researchers: advancing expertise

As researchers progress in their careers, they require journals that can help them deepen their expertise and broaden their impact. OUP journals provide several avenues of support including:

• Cutting-edge research: OUP journals prioritise publishing high-impact, innovative research, allowing mid-career researchers to stay updated with the latest advancements in their fields.

Featuring Exposome:

Exposome is the home of cutting-edge research from the emerging field of exposomics. The journal sits at the systematic intersections of environmental science, toxicology, chemistry, and public health and policy, and it calls on daring science from a broad community of investigators to provide a forum for engagement, redefine our understanding of the human exposome, and critically advance the field.

Editor-in-Chief Gary W Miller outlines the need for this new field in the inaugural editorial.

• Editorial and reviewer roles: Many researchers at this stage are invited to serve as peer reviewers or editorial board members to further contribute their knowledge to the academic community and enhance their own expertise.

Featuring STEM CELLS Translational Medicine:

For over 10 years, STEM CELLS Translational Medicine has served as a home for timely and important research to advance the utilization of cells for clinical therapy. The journal’s peer reviewers play a critical role in ensuring that the research published in the journal serves the needs of this research community by helping move applications of these critical investigations closer to accepted best patient practices and ultimately improve outcomes.

STEM CELLS Translational Medicine is proud to work with mid-career researchers, and reviewers of all career stages and encourages researchers to join the journal’s network of expert peer reviewers where researchers can get a first-hand look at the quality of research that is required and preview cutting-edge scientific work that helps them stay atop their field.

Established researchers: global recognition

For established researchers, maintaining a high level of visibility and recognition in the academic world is paramount. OUP journals provide several avenues of support including:

• Prestige and impact in the field: OUP journals are known for their prestige and rankings in their relevant fields. Publishing in our journals can bolster an established researcher’s reputation.

Featuring Nucleic Acids Research:

For almost 50 years, Nucleic Acids Research (NAR) has provided the scientific community with detailed and constructive editorial feedback resulting in publications of the very highest standard. The quality of content has been demonstrated in this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which cited this article from NAR as one of three publications fundamental to the research recognized by the award.

Edited by a fully independent team of leading academic researchers, the journal serves as a beacon of trusted and high-quality research in a rapidly advancing field. Having flipped to fully OA in 2005, NAR has opened the doors to rigorous, impactful research, sharing knowledge globally and it remains at the cutting edge of molecular biology science.

• Leadership opportunities: As a partner to academic research, all of OUP’s journals are edited by members of the academic community, longstanding experts in their own fields. Our journals therefore offer established researchers the opportunity to take on leadership roles within journal editorial boards as associate editors or editors-in-chief, helping to shape the direction of the journal and their fields.

Featuring Oxford Open Neuroscience:

Oxford Open Neuroscience is run by a representative group of five active scientists who are subject specialists, rather than a single editor-in-chief. Representing the needs of that community and making science-based decisions, the journal’s senior editors act as ambassadors for their individual fields.

As a researcher-led publication with a focus on diversity, transparency and innovation, Oxford Open Neuroscience is a fully open access alternative to more traditional neuroscience journals and enables researchers themselves to propel the field into a new publishing era.

OUP’s owned journals are more than just platforms for publishing research, they are invaluable partners in the academic journey of researchers at every career stage. From nurturing early career talent to supporting mid-career researchers in advancing their expertise and providing global recognition for established scholars, our journals contribute to the growth and success of the academic community. As the world of research continues to evolve, our journals will remain dedicated to supporting researchers around the world, ensuring knowledge is disseminated, shared, and celebrated.

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Making psychology a reflexive human science

As the thousand flowers of psychological research bloom in the fields of popular understanding, we ought to reflect upon the nature of the explanations our field proffers. 

The model of the rational computable subject leaves out much that makes us human. For one it does not adequately convey the relation between culture and biology. It is time we admit the insufficiency of the positivist project; we should not tie our hopes of explanation too tightly to the experimental paradigms we develop to operationalize prevalent metaphors of mind (Koch, 1999; Danziger, 2008). 

Joseph Henrich’s reflections on the cultural context of empirical research further suggest that the majority of our findings reflect a very small WEIRD sample of the human population. Lack of context obscures the significance and meaning of research results. Empirical psychology ought to foreground historical and cultural context so that in addition to deriving descriptive principles of mechanism, psychologists can discursively approach the phenomena as part of our broader cultural projects. 

Drawing from historical and anthropological forms of analysis will allow psychology to better encapsulate how the mind emerges from and reflects back onto its particular cultural context. 

History and context can expand empirical psychology

An interdisciplinary psychology must posit explanation at multiple levels, from description of the mechanics of receptor function to the discursive space of identity. Mixing these distinct layers of explanation would allow the mind sciences to express the phenomenological reality of the contextual setting of individual minds. Anthropology is designed to secure such stories and will help us describe what epistemic use psychology fulfills in a given locale. For example, psychology is used in the West to assess pathology and provide therapeutic interventions for mental suffering. 

If tradition is the self-encounter of the human mind, horizon is the vantage point of knowing the relative significance of a finite position. History then allows for a broader understanding of the reflexive links between knowledge and practice. As Gadamer (2004) surmised, we understand the horizon of the questions we ask by regaining concepts from the past in a way that includes our own comprehension of them. Deployment of psychology in concordance with an historical anthropology enriches our understanding of the symbolic sphere we inhabit. According to Roger Smith (2019: 17), “Historical knowledge contributes narrative, and the understanding of narrative is fundamental to the notion of being human; human self-knowledge and action are mutually constitutive, or, belief changes a person and what a person does changes belief.” 

We also know from history that many causes are best characterized as chaotic or through complexity theory due uncertainty, the interdependency of variables, and the contingent nature of agency (Gaddis, 2002). The historical method of developing narratives seems to be crucial to our imaginative appraisals of truth and knowledge and should be considered in its own regard as a shaping influence upon the nature of belief and explanation in psychology. Observation, imaginative sense-making, and perspective-taking are themselves sources of knowledge rather than artifacts in the scientific process (Osbeck, 2019).

Models should allow for variability, design limitations, and failure rates. Heuristics should be understood as pragmatic applications that we substitute for deductive knowledge (Wimsatt, 1976). Our theories should be so robust and valid that failure of replication does not threaten the foundation of the field. To counteract these crises, psychologists can develop familiarity with levels of analysis above and below the brain and the person. In this way, we can develop generative models which are open to inter-field integration. 

It is time empirical psychology adds historical and anthropological methodology so that in addition to descriptive principles of mechanism and verificationism a new generation of psychologists will approach the mind with a view to more discursive, contextualized, and empathetic explanation. Some community psychology is already moving in this direction, but we also need laboratory and theoretical research to adopt this approach. Making psychology a more reflexive human science would bestow a sense of scope and context and allow for more effective communication with humanists and natural scientists. 

Exciting frontier work that integrates types of explanation are being undertaken in the study of affect, pain management, and the gut-brain axis. Such work expands and investigates the embeddedness and multilevel integration of mind and body. Focusing on such phenomena has the potential to unify subjective/mental and objective/material aspects of mind because it concerns the precise relations between bodily mechanisms and enculturated conscious experience. Using anthropology, we can see healing as the pragmatic goal of such work in the historical context of a shift from dualism to monism. Through a more thorough understanding of our mythological frames, we can better understand the motivations of the unique form of shared understanding that is psychological explanation.

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Rethinking the future of work: an interview with Phil McCash

Meet co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Career Development Phil McCash. Phil is a qualified career development practitioner and currently works as an Associate Professor at the University of Warwick’s Centre for Lifelong Learning where he is Director of Graduate Studies and teaches on postgraduate courses in career development and career coaching. His work addresses the context, theory, and practice of career development in the contemporary world.

Discover his thoughts on career development and the future of work.  

1. What initiatives can organizations put in place to enhance their employees’ careers?

One of the best ways organisations can enhance their employees’ careers is through access to career coaching. Career coaching can be accessed through external providers or delivered internally by suitably trained members of staff.

The key to this training lies in helping the career coach learn how to forge an appropriate relationship between the career coach and the employee. This tends to be seen nowadays as a form of learning alliance. The alliance needs to be initially agreed in relation to the initial, middle, and end phases of career coaching interactions.

Once established, this coaching relationship can be used to support the career learning of employees in relation to a wide range of topics including career influences, workplace relationships, and career management styles. As part of their training and development, career coaches also need to engage in reflexivity and assessment.

Read Phil McCash’s article “Cultural Learning Theory and Career Development” in The Oxford Handbook of Career Development (2021) for more on cultural learning theory and coaching.

2. What are the most common obstacles in career development?

One of the biggest problems identified in the career development field is the decline in decent work. This rise in precarious work is resulting in work instability and poverty for growing numbers of workers throughout the world. The reduced availability and quality of jobs globally has negative consequences for the individual, community, and society. Ellen Gutowski and others argue for the necessity of decent work for all.

A further and related issue is social justice. Career development theory and practice have the potential to foster a sense of belonging and well-being by facilitating the construction of meaningful life-careers. Social justice issues are integral because they are concerned with fairness and equity, (in)equality, cultural diversity, psychosocial well-being, and societal values. Barrie Irving argues that we need a deeper understanding of social justice and the multiple and complex influences on how “career” is interpreted and “opportunities” are presented. Such an understanding should provide critical insight into the effects of wider sociocultural and political concerns affecting what is deemed possible in the shaping and enactment of career.

3. Can career theories be applied globally?

Career theories from the Global North have sometimes been imported and applied uncritically in the Global South countries. These theories were developed in different socioeconomic and cultural contexts than those of the Global South, which can generally be characterized by vulnerability and instability. Marcelo Ribeiro argues that these theories and practices must be contextualized if they are to be of assistance to the users of career development services. Through intercultural dialogue, we need to contextualize theories to assist people with their career issues and foster social justice. We also need to understand career theories and practices produced in the Global South (Latin America, Africa, and developing countries of Asia) and their potential as an alternative to expand the mainstream career development theories from the North. Such theories can be understood as a Southern contribution to the social justice agenda.

4. How does increased flexibility impact employees and organizations?

Increased flexibility and its impact have been debated in the field of organisational studies for many years. Organizational career development theory highlights three different perspectives on career.

First, and most commonly, organizations are seen as the context that constrains and enables individual careers. Second, careers may be valued as enhancing or limiting organizational performance and subject to talent management practices. Third, careers can be conceptualized as an ongoing process of interaction between individuals, organizations, and the broader social context.

The move from a focus on organizational careers to highly flexible, self-driven, boundaryless careers in the 1990s overemphasized individual choice and individual responsibility. These ideas became the accepted rule, leading to a divided workforce, with real choice available only to some categories of workers. The psychological contract between individual and organization was largely undermined, and the role of the organization and the importance of contextual and structural factors were relatively neglected.

To move forward, Kate Mackenzie Davey argues that this opposition between organization structure and individual agency is best avoided. The future of organizational career development theory requires an understanding of both the individual and social context, and their interaction over time.

5. What do you think the world of work will look like in 10 years?

Debates about the future shape of the working world feature regularly in the field of organisational and managerial career studies. Hugh Gunz and Wolfgang Mayrhofer propose a Social Chronology Framework in which the study of careers should be seen to involve the simultaneous application of three perspectives: being, space, and time. Building on this, they emphasise the importance of a coevolutionary perspective. Within a bounded social and geographic space, career development happens based on configurations of individual and collective career actors who provide context for each other and coevolve together. They argue that this approach can suggest new ways of seeing established career development arrangements.

In addition, the world of work is inevitably shaped by public policy frameworks. Christian Percy and Vanessa Dodd set out a conceptual model of the economic outcomes of career development work. It is centred on the financial metrics that are most important to stakeholders at three different tiers of the economy. These tiers include individuals, organizations/employers, and the state. Empirical examples from the literature are provided to show that financial impacts can be identified at each tier. The limitations of the model and the evidence base are discussed. In addition, a critical examination of a narrow focus on economic outcomes in public policy is presented in order to convey the limitations of an economistic rationale for career development.

Taking this further, Pete Robertson explores and questions the aims of public policy for career development. In the early years of the twenty-first century, an international consensus emerged in the literature describing the intentions of governments when they seek to intervene in the careers of their citizens. He makes a case for a broader conception of the socially desirable outcomes from career interventions. Drawing on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, he proposes a systematic framework of six types of policy goal for career development services:

1. labour market goals
2. educational goals
3. social equity goals,
4. health and well-being goals,
5. environmental goals, and
6. peace and justice goals.

The latter three categories represent new or relatively neglected areas of focus. The proposal highlights cross-cutting themes of social justice, sustainability, and societal change within public policy for career development in the coming years.

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Rethinking the future of work: an interview with Eduardo Salas and Scott Tannenbaum

Introducing the authors of Teams That Work: Eduardo Salas and Scott Tannenbaum. Their work draws on a strong body of evidence to reveal what really drives team effectiveness in organizations. Eduardo Salas is the Allyn R. & Gladys M. Cline Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychological Sciences at Rice University, a prolific author, and active consultant. Scott Tannenbaum, as the President of the Group for Organizational Effectiveness, has advised hundreds of organizations globally, including more than 75 Fortune and Global 1000 companies across every major business sector.

Read an interview with the authors exploring aspects of teamwork and the future of work.

What are the building blocks for a successful team? 

We think the science is clear here. Teams that have some degree of task interdependence need a number of “key ingredients” in order to be effective. To begin, role clarity is a must. Then the team needs to have a compelling reason to be a team. That is, clear, valued goals and a purpose. The team leader matters—a leader who orchestrates the functioning of the team moment-to-moment by providing guidance, support, and caring for team members’ well-being and focus. They set the tone for the behavioral norms and how to resolve conflict and move ahead. This means the team members must perceive they have psychological safety to raise issues of concern. And finally, to mature, evolve, and be resilient—teams need a discipline of debriefing. Engaging in reflections of what transpired and how they can improve.

What is the difference between good and bad team communication?

The funny thing about team communication is that there is a belief that “more is better.” But research shows that “better is better” and not more. In fact, from our experience the best teams are relatively quiet. That does not mean there is no communication going on, there is, but its timely and efficient. We think that what matters in teams is to hold robust information exchange protocols—protocols that allow for clear and accurate exchange of information and encourage team members to share unique information that others don’t possess.

How do we develop and support the next generation of leaders in a more remote world?

Yeah, the world of work has changed. Hybrid work might be the new normal. Although some organizations are going back to in-person too. In a “remote world” the teamwork issues are more challenging. More salient. Teams must pay more attention to the building blocks we noted as they are less likely to just “happen.” For example, it often takes longer to create psychological safety and mutual trust in a team when some teams members are remote, while others are collocated. So, organizations need to provide team and leader development and tools that mimic the new remote world. For team training, it can be helpful to use “simulations” as a means of building teamwork “muscles” that are relevant to the context they work in.

How does increased flexibility impact employees and organizations?

Flexibility has two sides. Personally, most employees want flexibility, including having some degree of control over where and when they work. But employees also need to know where and how to communicate and coordinate with co-workers… and it is more difficult to maintain an awareness of who is available and who has the latest information when team members have a great deal of personal flexibility. To attract, retain, and engage employees, employers need to allow ample flexibility. And they then need to provide the tools, resources, and processes that enable them to coordinate effectively.

What do you think the world of work will look like in 10 years?

From the teamwork and collaboration angle—teams are here to stay, whether they are in person, remote, virtual or some hybrid form. More collaboration will be needed. People will be more connected, there will more networks that need to coordinate, communicate, and cooperate to succeed. We think a disproportionate share of breakthroughs, innovation, and knowledge generation will come from multi-disciplinary teams. 

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Finding purpose for the corporate office

Over two decades ago, a new type of fictional TV series debuted on the BBC that established a foothold between reality TV and sit-com. The Office brought the viewer into a familiar, yet mundane environment loaded with caricatures of people they ran into on a daily basis and thereby blurred the line between fiction and reality. The format was so effective at creating tension between characters that it verged on cringe-worthy, especially when Ricky Gervais was in the role of David Brent. Common character arcs played upon power dynamics between boss and employee, ill-advised office romance, and useless business procedures, creating a solid foundation for the 10 global incarnations of the show. Regarding the American version, we remember fondly the rivalry between Jim and Dwight, the incompetence of Michael as manager, and the growth of Pam from receptionist to sales associate. The characters got deeper and the call-backs grew stronger as the show navigated nine seasons and 201 episodes, an amazing run for any show, especially considering its humble back-drop of Dunder Mifflin, a fictional wholesale distributor of paper and office supplies.

The Office was not the first TV series to depict the workplace, but it was probably the most effective at capturing what many of us experienced on a routine basis, due to the show’s mockumentary style. Sitting in a conference room for sales training, calling HR to resolve a personal dispute, and participating in a community service day were instantly relatable. In March 2020, the pandemic drew to an end this version of the corporate office, as a new normal of work was ushered in based upon virtual collaboration technology. The depiction of Dunder Mifflin has become more akin to a time capsule of the corporate office’s heyday than an enduring depiction of the workplace. Three years later and employee expectations are firmly set on hybrid work, averaging between two or three days from home each week. Moreover, a majority of employees are prepared to quit their jobs if employers do not offer the flexibility they desire. When pressed about whether employees desire greater flexibility in either where or when they work, they place greater weight on work hours, yet both forms of flexibility have become table stakes when defining a desired employee experience for attracting and retaining talent.

It is ironic that Dunder Mifflin was a paper company, as the primary purpose of a corporate office was based in large part on the creation and retention of documents. Around the same time as the premiere of The Office, early signs of a dwindling sense of purpose for the physical corporate workplace began, as companies introduced the concept of “the paperless office.” E-mail replaced letters and document retention transferred to large computer servers. Such a move did not immediately eliminate the need for a physical office, as employees still required computers, phones, scanners, printers, and fax machines to do their jobs. Office life continued, with confidential documents circulating from desk to desk via a sealed manila envelope and assistants printing important documents just in case the computer crashed. Soon after, the provision of work laptops and Blackberry phones further chipped away at its purpose. Employees embraced the ability to work from anywhere, including the local coffee shop. Office space that was designed for a world based upon paper was out of step with modern day working, as evidenced by the empty bookshelves and file drawers of a traditional office. Despite a lack of purpose based upon paper or technology, employees still traveled to the office, if nothing more than out of habit.

When the pandemic occurred, a major shift to virtual work occurred out of necessity and those in corporate settings adapted magnificently to a new way of working. Any apprehensions that collaboration technology was not ready for wide scale adoption were quickly put to rest and with them, the last meaningful purpose for a physical office. If meetings, workshops, and trainings could all be done from anywhere, how much value was left for informal water-cooler types of conversations and do they in any way justify a full return to the office, now that most health concerns have abated? It is important to note that many jobs never shifted during the pandemic; for those working in manufacturing, healthcare, or similar industries, their jobs are inherently linked to a physical environment where virtual work may not be an easy or effective option. For jobs based upon paper, the story is different, with occupancy rates in downtown settings still trailing pre-pandemic levels and likely to stabilize to around 20% lower than before.

So where does this leave the corporate office and what are the long-term ramifications for hybrid and remote work? To keep the physical office relevant, employers are searching for the core reason why employees should bother to travel in. Should the office act as a connector, primarily to foster conversations and innovation, or should it be considered a magnet, pulling employees in for key events and professional development? Alternatively, should it transform into a hub fully embracing the blend between work and personal time, with onsite facilities like day care? Regardless of the model, the effects of hybrid and remote work on psychological well-being will be experienced for years to come. Beyond the fatigue already felt by employees from attending endless video conferences, as well as the intrusion of work into personal time, there are likely some very real consequences for interpersonal relationships. For example, helping behavior relies upon individuals knowing that they are on point to be helpful, which is confused by the anonymity offered by virtual work and leads to free-riding. Alternatively, with less opportunity for intimate interactions, repairing strained relationships will likely become harder. As a third example, corporate identity is less pronounced without the experience of walking into a physical office, which can lead to a more transactional mindset amongst employees and a lack of shared social norms about acceptable performance.

In many ways, the relevance of the physical corporate office has been under fire for decades, but the pandemic accelerated the shift and eliminated any remaining hesitations about the feasibility of hybrid and remote work. Without finding a new purpose, it is unlikely that the antics of The Office will be repeated in the same way or frequency as before. We might look back at the series in a different way, more of a time capsule than the mockumentary that it was intended to be. With little of the original purpose for the corporate office left, it may be time for a reinvention of what the workplace should be, one that embraces the new reality of work and blends our personal and professional lives to a much greater extent. Instead of the towering skyscrapers from the twentieth century, a visual representation of an apartment above a storefront might be a closer depiction to where we are heading. If that means one less character like David Brent, then the future of work might be alright after all.

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Rethinking the future of work: an interview with Veronica Schmidt Harvey and Kenneth P. De Meuse

Veronica Schmidt Harvey and Kenneth P. De Meuse, editors of The Age of Agility, offer valuable insight into the concept of “learning agility” and strategies that promote more effective leadership. They are both experts in the field of leadership practical experience developing healthy skills that help both individuals and organizations to thrive. 

Why is “learning agility” an important trend in organizations? 

There are several reasons. First: the pace of change. Most will agree that the world of work is a turbulent place. It only takes looking back at the COVID pandemic to recognize how quickly our world can be turned upside down! Then we can think of such recent trends as quiet quitting, AI, the virtual workforce, the mental health crisis, and on and on. Consequently, both leaders and organizations are recognizing that survival of the fittest equates to “survival of the agile.” Organizations that cultivate leaders who are learning agile are much better prepared to deal with change.

A second important reason is that organizations need high performing leaders. Challenges with an adequate leadership pipeline consistently show up on surveys as one of the things that keeps CEOs up at night! And the evidence is clear that learning agility is one of the most robust predictors of leadership success as measured by: 

• leadership potential
• performance 
• levels of effectiveness 
• promotions 
• advancement 
• international assignments
• salary increases 
• faster speed to competence in a new role

In fact, a meta-analysis conducted by Ken in 2019 found that learning agility is a stronger predictor of leadership performance than IQ, EQ, or job experience. It is not just hyperbole to say that the effectiveness of leadership in organization depends on the levels of learning agility among their leaders.  

Third, we believe the development of learning agility can help in diversifying the leadership pipeline. Research indicates that learning agility when properly assessed does not disproportionally screen out women, minorities, individuals over 40, or other marginalized groups. Organizations increase their objectivity and level the playing field for all employees and applicants alike. Supporting the development of learning agility shows promise for not only expanding but increasing the diversity of leadership pipelines.

Is learning agility a new concept? 

Although agility is a term that is clearly trending, the concept of learning agility does have considerable history. At least dating back to the early 1980s, organizations began to recognize the importance of identifying individuals with the potential to learn from their experiences and adapt to changing circumstances. Dr Morgan McCall and his colleagues at The Center for Creative Leadership published the now-classic book The Lessons of Experience in 1988. Veronica’s own dissertation in that same year focused on how successful leaders learn from their experiences rather than solely in a classroom (Schmidt, 1988).

The specific term “learning agility” was first coined more than two decades ago by Drs Mike Lombardo and Bob Eichinger (2000). They agreed with McCall that a primary indicator of leadership potential is learning agility, aptly describing it as “knowing what to do when you don’t know what to do.” While learning agility is a relatively new compared to some other psychological constructs, it is not simply a “shiny-new-object” that is likely to become irrelevant any time soon.

How would you describe learning agility to someone unfamiliar with the concept? 

Researchers have used a number of different definitions. And, like many complex constructs, there are differences in opinion among them. The following two definitions are frequently used: 

1. “The ability and willingness to learn from experience and then apply those lessons to perform well in new and challenging leadership situations” (De Meuse, 2017) 
2. “The self-regulated behaviors, strategies, and habits that enable learning at an accelerated pace, facilitate more agile adaptation to dynamic conditions and result in more effective leadership” (Harvey & Prager, 2021).

Despite multiple definitions, as we describe in Chapter 19 of The Age of Agility, there is considerable consensus among researchers and practitioners alike that learning agility is a “metacompetency.” One can think of learning agility as a “whole body exercise” involving (a) how we perceive things—the perceptual; (b) how we process information—the cognitive; (c) how we regulate our emotions, and (d) how all of these are manifest in our observable behavior. Learning agility is the ability and willingness to learn from experiences and the attitudinal, cognitive, and behavioral flexibility to apply those lessons to perform effectively in current and new leadership roles.

What are the most successful methods of developing agility in employees and organizations? 

As part of writing Chapter 6 for The Age of Agility, Veronica and her colleague Raphael Prager and took a deep dive into reviewing the literature on developing learning agility. As a result, an evidence-based model was that focuses on five sets of behaviors and strategies that can be learned:

• Observing includes mindful awareness of situations and experiences as well as the ability to scan and forecast what will be needed in the future.   
• Doing includes seeking information and experiences, experimenting with different behaviors, and deliberately practicing new ways of responding.  
• Connecting involves learning with and from others by asking for help, observing role models, learning through coaches and mentors, and seeking feedback.  
• Thinking includes cognitive strategies such as reflection, understanding the mental filters that may be biasing our actions, approaching situations with curiosity, and adapting a learning mindset.
• Mobilizing involves learning to set goals, regulate emotions, maintain focus and discipline, and recognize when resilience and periods of renewal are needed.

How do we develop and support the next generation of leaders in a more remote world? 

As we explore new ways of working, one of the best ways we can support the next generation of leaders is to accurately identify them by assessing for learning agility along with other predictors of leadership. Then once identified, offer them numerous opportunities to develop their learning agility. It is incredibly empowering to have confidence in one’s own capability to learn what to do no matter what life may throw at you. A colleague Anna Marie Valerio and Veronica recently published an article in the Consulting Psychology journal on “Coaching to Develop Learning Agility.” It is likely one of the most critical things that leadership coaches can do! 

How does increased learning agility impact employees and organizations? 

The negative impact a poor leader can have on a team and in an organization is hard to overstate. The proper application of learning agility can help minimize such mistakes. Moreover, the promotion and hiring of effective leaders (regardless of age, gender, or minority status) sends a powerful signal to all employees that they matter and management has their back!

What do you think the world of work will look like in 10 years?

One thing that is certain is that it will look considerably different than it does today! It is impossible to predict with any precision what those change will be. However, we do feel certain that those leaders with strong learning agility will be better equipped to successfully respond. Perhaps, Alvin Toffler said it best in his book Future Shock (1970), “The illiterate of the twenty-first century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.” And he wrote it more than 50 years ago!

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Rethinking the future of work: an interview with Adrienne J. Colella and Eden B. King

Introducing the editors of The Oxford Handbook of Workplace Discrimination: Adrienne J. Colella is Professor and the McFarland Distinguished Chair in Business at Tulane University, and Eden B. King is Associate Professor of Industrial Organizational Psychology at George Mason University. Their work synthesizes research across psychology, sociology, and management, and inspires a new era of scientific practice on understanding and reducing workplace discrimination.

Adrienne and Eden share their insights on workplace discrimination and the future of work. 

What can organizations do to tackle workplace discrimination?

Workplace discrimination cannot be eradicated by a single policy or process. Instead, organizations need to develop strategic, comprehensive initiatives that cut across levels, units, and talent management cycles. Aligned with such strategy, leaders need to be visibly committed and held accountable to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Ongoing transparent assessment and accountability for DEI will help to ensure positive change. Finally, organizations need to create and sustain a culture where respect, empathy, and justice are core values.  

How can academic research practically reduce discrimination within organizations?    

Academic research can help to inform practice by providing robust evidence regarding the unique experiences of people who face discrimination as well as the strategies that are most effective in addressing these issues. In other words, good science can inform good practice. 

How do we develop and support the next generation of leaders in a more remote world?

Leader development requires the opportunity to engage in a variety of challenging tasks and to receive feedback about performance. The specific nature of the experiences, and the ways in which feedback is transmitted, are constantly evolving with technology and the environment. At the core, then, leader development will be the same—challenging tasks and feedback—but the conditions will evolve. It is yet to be seen whether the nature of leadership and the traits and behaviors which make leaders effective will also change in a more remote world. 

How does increased flexibility impact employees and organizations?

Like most things, the increase in remote work has both positive and negative implications. On the positive side, many people have found flexibility for opportunities to engage with family and leisure activities. In addition, people with disabilities and chronic health conditions have found better access to work. On the negative side, however, remote work can create challenges for human connections, increase loneliness, and blur the lines between work and home in a manner that is exhausting. And, of course, many types of work (especially low wage jobs) cannot be done remotely, potentially exacerbating socioeconomic divides. Experience and evidence in the upcoming months and years will help us understand for whom, how, when, and where flexibility can yield the most positive effects.

What do you think the world of work will look like in 10 years? 

Given the rapid, unexpected changes we have experienced in the last few years, this question is really difficult to answer. We expect that rapid advances in technology will come with both unforeseen advantages and disadvantages for employers and employees and that the notion of “going to work” will change. Beyond this, we can’t predict. 

Visit the Rethink Work hub for more organizational psychology insights

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OUPblog - Academic insights for the thinking world.

Rethinking the future of work: an interview with Joe Ungemah

Dr Joe Ungemah, author of Punching the Clock, examines whether the future of work is compatible with maintaining the social fabric of the workplace and the psychological needs of workers. His work seeks to make connections between the psychology underlying human behavior and the social world we live in, translating scientific theory into simple and straightforward insight that can be applied in the workplace and beyond.

What are the key differences between pre-and post-pandemic work? 

The first thing to remember about the difference between pre- and post-pandemic work is that the change has been felt differently by workers across jobs and industries. Service workers or those working jobs that are location dependent do not have the same ability to work remotely and therefore, their ways of working may be relatively unchanged. Yet for those in office environments, trends like remote, hybrid, and gig work have left a permanent mark on the workplace. 

From a psychological vantage-point, the social distance created by these new ways of working poses challenges to the establishment of common social norms, shared identity, and clarity around performance expectations, as the cues and opportunities for social interaction are limited. Counteracting promises of increased flexibility, many workers are feeling the fatigue created by endless hours of remote meetings and the temptation for work hours to creep into personal time. In this way, behavior has not kept pace with changes in technology.

How can academic research make a practical improvement to worker well-being? 

There is a wealth of psychological literature on behavior and motivation that is ready for application into the workplace. There are so many insightful experiments from social and occupational psychology specifically, on the big topics like altruism, obedience, and conflict, that have not made their way into leadership development programs or practical advice for companies. If companies were to adopt a more humanistic perspective, by digging into the human drivers that corporate policies and procedures influence, greater employee well-being is likely to result. Right now, employees are calling out for a combination of financial, social, emotional, and physical well-being, which can be better informed by looking across disciplines and considering the workplace just like any other social environment where human drivers are at play.  

How do we develop and support the next generation of leaders in a more remote world? 

Remote, hybrid, and gig work pose distinct challenges for leaders to navigate. They will likely face employees who have a transactional mindset, less developed social networks, and inconsistent understandings of work expectations. Yet, they are likely to be more open to share their personal lives and have greater opportunities to work across geographies and cultures. As such, leaders will need the time and capability to set and communicate clear vision and goals, help employees navigate the organization, and capitalize fully on opportunities for social interaction. At the same time, these leaders might require coaching for themselves on how to attend to their own needs, even as they help others.

How does increased flexibility impact employees and organizations? 

Much of the attention on the topic of flexibility has focused on physical location (i.e. working from home instead of the office), however this is just one type of flexibility. Employees are also calling out for a say on when they work, with control over start and end times or the ability to work a 4-day week, prioritizing this type of flexibility over physical location. When flexibility is not provided, research by EY (Work Reimagined Employee Survey, 2021) discovered that 54% of employees were willing to quit their jobs. Employers have responded by providing leniency on working hours, offering unlimited paid time off, and providing home office equipment, yet at the expense of empty and eerily quiet offices.

What do you think the world of work will look like in 10 years? 

I think in time, we will see the pandemic as just one step along a journey away from the traditional office. Twenty years ago, offices were built on a need for record keeping. Pushes towards a paperless office made file drawers disappear and bookshelves go empty, yet the office hung on due to needs for employees to access computers and other technology. Laptops and cell phones took that need away, leaving personal interaction and collaboration as the core purpose. The pandemic taught us that even that was not sacred and video conferences were an effective mechanism to get work done. 

We have seen so much change in such a short time that it is difficult to predict what the future will hold. It is only in hindsight that we can see the progression of technology and how it can fundamentally change behavior and needs.

Visit the Rethink Work hub for more organizational psychology insights

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OUPblog - Academic insights for the thinking world.