“We have examined this in different ways,” said Margaret Clark, faculty author and psychology professor. “In studies of marriage we’ve found that what people report they do for their partners is a better predictor of what they think their spouse does for them than are the spouse’s own reports of what was done.”

“Most surprisingly,” she said, “when Edward Lemay, a senior Yale graduate student, brought people into the lab and asked leading questions to make them feel supportive or non-supportive of their partner, the first group reported that their partner is more supportive toward them than did the second group.”

Responsiveness in this instance means anything a person does that promotes the partner’s welfare, such as helping with tasks, providing comfort and information, encouraging a person to strive toward goals, including a partner in desirable joint activities, and providing symbolic support, such as words of affection, hugs, and sending greeting cards.

Clark and co-authors Lemay and Brooke Feeney, a Carnegie Mellon University professor, report findings from three studies, all of which suggest that only a small fraction of how people gauge their partners’ responsiveness to their needs is based on what the partners do. Most of it is based on what they themselves do and feel.

“We are calling this projection of responsiveness,” Clark said, “which means seeing your relationship partner as behaving in the same manner toward you as you do toward that partner. That is, you see your partner as about as responsive to your welfare as you are to your partner’s welfare, regardless of the partner’s true behavior.”

The researchers said they conducted the studies because an essential feature of the health and well-being of a mutual communal relationship is believing that one’s partner cares about one’s welfare and will attend and respond to one’s desires, needs, and goals. Not only do people who care about their partners perceive that their partners in turn care about them, they become more satisfied with their relationship over time.

“Sadly, the flip side is true too,” Clark said. “Those who are uncaring believe their apathy is reciprocated, which undermines their satisfaction.”

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 92: 834-853 (May 2007)

PRESS CONTACT
Jacqueline Weaver
203-432-8555

2009 “Perceptions of Stress in Adults”, a part of APA Study, Stress in America survey results show that adults continue to report high levels of stress and many report that their stress has increased over the past year. Additionally, many adults are reporting physical symptoms of stress.

75% of adults reported experiencing moderate to high levels of stress in the past month (24 % extreme, 51 % moderate) and 42 % reported that their stress has increased in the past year. 43 % of adults say they eat too much or eat unhealthy foods as a result of stress. 37% report skipping a meal because they were under stress.

While 44 % of adults report that they exercise or walk to relieve stress, many Americans also say they rely on more sedentary activities to manage stress (49 % listen to music, 41 % read, 36 % watch TV or movies more than two hours per day, and 33 % play video games). Although these activities may be helpful in alleviating stress, they do not improve overall physical health or maintain a more healthy weight than more active forms of stress management.

Overall, many adults say they have felt the physical effects of stress in the past month:

• 47 % of all adults report that they have lain awake at night;
• 45 % report irritability or anger;
• 43 % report fatigue;
• 40 % report lack of interest, motivation or energy;
• 34 % report headaches;
• 34 % report feeling depressed or sad;
• 32 % report feeling as though they could cry; and
• 27 % report upset stomach or indigestion as a result of stress.

“The prevalence with which Americans continue to report increasing and extreme stress levels is a real concern,” said Dr. Nordal. “Also, people say that their levels of stress and lack of willpower are preventing them from making lifestyle and behavior changes that are necessary for improving and maintaining good health. It’s clear that people need tools and support to better manage extreme stress in order to prevent serious health consequences. Unfortunately, our current healthcare system does not do a very good job in this regard. And insurance companies often don’t cover preventive services or the kinds of services people need in order to better manage chronic illness.”

The results of the 2009 “Stress in America” survey by the American Psychological Association found that while 85 % of Americans say their stress level has remained the same or increased in the past year, just 4 % of people use therapy as a way to combat that stress. This reflects a decrease in therapy usage related to stress. In 2008, 7 % of people said they saw a mental health professional to manage their stress.

In fact, Americans are more likely to eat (28%), smoke (14%), shop (15%) or watch TV (36%) than see a therapist as a stress management technique.

“We need to make Americans aware that seeing a mental health professional such as a Marriage and Family Therapist is a wise, effective way to manage stress that’s getting in the way of daily life,” said Patsy Pinkney-Phillips, Ph.D., president of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists Board and a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. “If you’re experiencing high levels of stress, talk therapy can help you get through it.”

The same report indicates that adults seriously under-appreciate the stress their teens and tweens endure in their daily lives. That pretty much sums up the appreciation most adults have for their own levels of stress day-to-day.

Most adults will acknowledge their true levels of stress only when pinned down about it or when they experience physical symptoms. And even then many will deny those symptoms believing a pill or better boss or less demanding spouse or change in some other external environmental issue will take care of it. Although those kinds of changes can decrease stress to some degree, they are usually much harder to manage and control than internal stress mechanisms – resources one can learn to harness at will.

That’s the good news! Stress can be easily managed by you from within you. You don’t have to wait for your employer to mellow out or ease up on you. You can take care of your stress yourself without indulging in health reducing behaviors such as smoking or vegging out on the couch in front of the tube.

If your health insurance carrier (assuming you have one) does not provide coverage for mental health (a likely situation), you can learn powerful stress management techniques such as the Rapid Eye Technology Immediate Release Technique (IRT), Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), and Self-Hypnosis for free from a trained professional practitioner. Just ask!

“I failed! I’m so stupid!”

Ever heard that before – in your own head?

It’s a logic level leap.

What? You’ve never heard of logic levels? Well don’t feel bad – lots of people haven’t heard of them. In Neurolinguistics, logic levels are basically a hierarchy of experience.

Rapid Eye Technicians are familiar with NLP logic levels – they are represented in the Circle of Creation Walk. Basically there are 8 logic levels (named and described by Robert Dilts, 1991):

1. Environment
2. Behavior
3. Capabilities
4. Beliefs
5. Values
6. Identity
7. Mission/Vision
8. Spirituality

Logic level leaps are errors in cause and effect thinking. We misidentify the cause from the effects we experience. Let’s look at two logic levels, Behavior and Identity. Behavior is the level of action (do) whereas Identity is the level of being (be). Over time, this confusion of logic levels creates a situation in which the person believes they ARE what they DO. Sound familiar?

Many people run with the following logic levels leap:

“I did poorly on my math test.” — (behavior level isolated to one environment)

“THEREFORE”

“I must be stupid.”               — (leap to the identity level)

Some people take anything that they have done well or continue to do well and attribute it to outside forces (attempting to abrogate their responsibility). They say, “I got lucky.” Or maybe, “It must have been fate.” Or, “It was a fluke.” Or, “It was God’s will.” As a result, they do not increase their own belief in themselves. They perceive all of their successes at the behavioral level. When something goes bad or horribly wrong, they integrate the result at the identity level. Consequently, they increase their belief in their own “incompetence”.

Alternatively there are those people who take anything that they have done well or continue to do well and integrate it into themselves at the identity level, thereby increasing their own confidence in themselves and their abilities. Anything that gets them less than stellar results they chalk up as a learning experience and an indication to do something differently (leaving it in the behavioral level). They perceive the action at the behavioral level where it belongs and choose to assign the positive aspects to identity level:

“I did poorly on my math test.” — (behavior level isolated to one environment)

“THEREFORE”

“I will study differently in the future.” — (leaving the negative aspects assigned to the behavior level)

***

“I did well on my math test.” — (behavior level isolated to one environment)

“THEREFORE”

“I am a success.” — (leap to identity level)
Positive reinforcing positive identity; negative reinforcing change in behavior.

To turn the negative pattern around, one must put the logical levels in their proper places and use them beneficially. This can be done with RET by addressing the “I AM” (identity) levels with the Core Belief Scrambler, Should Scrambler, and Life Skills – this will set the stage for reversing the already upside-down logic. For the technician, it’s a simple matter of listening for logic leaps (“My wife left me, so I must BE a failure.” “I didn’t get the job, so I must BE incompetent.” “I’m stupid – I’ll never pass the test.”). Then applying the Scramblers with some instruction on logic levels as I’ve described in this article.

The very awareness of logic levels and how we make logic leaps may awaken some to how they can use them beneficially for themselves and others.

“This research has important implications for consumer welfare,” explain Jiewen Hong and Angela Y. Lee (both of Northwestern) in the February issue of the Journal of Consumer Research. “While self-help remedies are saturating the market, resisting temptations remains a strenuous process and a constant struggle for many people. The data reported in this research offer an important step toward understanding self-control and highlight the benefits of adopting the right goal pursuit strategies.”

“[We] find that when people adopt goal pursuit strategies that fit with their promotion or prevention focus, they have better self-control. In contrast, their self-control is weakened when they adopt goal pursuit strategies that conflict with their focus,” the researchers explain.

They conclude: “Self-control is not just about doing the right things, but also about doing things the right way.”

Jiewen Hong and Angela Y. Lee, “Be Fit and Be Strong: Mastering Self-Regulation through Regulatory Fit.” Journal of Consumer Research: February 2008.

“Going back to the days of Sigmund Freud, psychiatrists and mental health experts have suggested that repression of traumatic memories could lead to health problems. Yet we have found little evidence that repression had an adverse health impact on combat veterans exposed to psychological trauma many years later.”

Joseph Boscarino, Ph.D. and Tulane University investigator Charles Figley, Ph.D., have been studying the effects of repressed memories in Vietnam war and other war veterans to help understand the relationship between repressed memories and physical ailment and longevity.

For years I had worked under the belief that horrific traumatic experiences should “come out” to be resolved or relieved of their emotional charge – and that suppressing those memories was tantamount to denial – leading to terrible life consequences. I’ve worked with hundreds of clients, many of whom were veterans. For those who chose to disclose their traumatic emotional baggage, swift release of the psychic energy often produced a noticeable increased sense of well-being and life satisfaction – that lasted.

However, according to Boscarino and Figley, a percentage of veterans (and by extension, some civilians) who have experienced traumatic events have a built-in coping mechanism that appears to repress traumatic memories in order to make life more satisfying and livable. And the strategy works well for them!

In these cases, “Repression is a self-regulator and a method of memory management,” Dr. Figley said. “In other words, ‘keeping your stressful memories inside or it will kill you’ is a myth.”

To both practitioner and veteran, I would say – “If what you are doing is working well for you, no need to ‘rock the boat’ for the sake of therapy.” Like my old pappy used to say, “If it ain’t broke – don’t fix it!”

To that I would add – just because you experienced traumatic events does not necessarily mean you need therapy to “resolve your issue” or that you must have repressed memories that will affect you physically if not properly dealt with – usually by expressing them. Maybe all you need to do is continue to do what you’re doing now. Sometimes the hunt for repressed memories itself is more traumatic than the memories sought after – and can cause more psychological damage than repressing the memories.

However (and this is important) – if someone close to you suggests therapy, take them up on the idea. And if you suddenly find yourself acting out for no reason whatsoever – like losing your temper when your wife tells you she’s going to brew another cup of coffee or sit in a different chair – or maybe you start losing sleep at night due to recurring nightmares – consider therapy to relieve you of some suppressed emotional charge. The investment may just make the difference between “just getting by” emotionally and loving and living your life to the fullest.

A researcher at the University of Missouri-Columbia has found that girls who talk very extensively about their problems with friends are likely to become more anxious and depressed.

The research was conducted by Amanda Rose, associate professor of psychological sciences in the College of Arts and Science. The six-month study, which included boys and girls, examined the effects of co-rumination – excessively talking with friends about problems and concerns. Rose discovered that girls co-ruminate more than boys, especially in adolescence, and that girls who co-ruminated the most in the fall of the school year were most likely to be more depressed and anxious by the spring.

“When girls co-ruminate, they’re spending such a high percentage of their time dwelling on problems and concerns that it probably makes them feel sad and more hopeless about the problems because those problems are in the forefront of their minds. Those are symptoms of depression,” Rose said. “In terms of anxiety, co-ruminating likely makes them feel more worried about the problems, including about their consequences. Co-rumination also may lead to depression and anxiety because it takes so much time – time that could be used to engage in other, more positive activities that could help distract youth from their problems. This is especially true for problems that girls can’t control, such as whether a particular boy likes them, or whether they get invited to a party that all of the popular kids are attending.”

The study involved 813 third, fifth, seventh and ninth grade students. The participants answered questionnaires that assessed co-rumination, depression, anxiety and the quality of their best friendship in the fall and spring of the school year.

Ironically, although co-rumination was related to increased depression and anxiety, Rose also found that co-rumination was associated with positive friendship quality, including feelings of closeness between friends. Boys who co-ruminated also developed closer friendships across the school year but did not develop greater depressive and anxiety symptoms over time.

“For years, we have encouraged kids to find friends who they can talk to about their problems, and with whom they can give and receive social support,” Rose said. “In general, talking about problems and getting social support is linked with being healthy. What’s intriguing about theses findings is that co-rumination likely represents too much of a good thing. Some kids, especially girls, are taking talking about problems to an extreme. When that happens, the balance tips, and talking about problems with friends can become emotionally unhealthy.”

Rose said adolescents should be encouraged to talk about their problems, but only in moderation and without co-ruminating.

“They also should engage in other activities, like sports, which can help them take their minds off their problems, especially problems that they can’t control,” she said.

The study, “Prospective Associations of Co-Rumination With Friendship and Emotional Adjustment: Considering the Socioemotional Trade-Offs of Co-rumination,” was published in the July issue of Development Psychology.

Adapted from original press release. Source: Bryan C. Daniels, University of Missouri-Columbia

I’m not a believer in one or more Gods, but I do find it interesting that just considering thoughts of a higher being or God can foster altruism and generosity – especially in a world where religion has been at the root of horrible wars and atrocious behaviors.

For many years, Rapid Eye Technology has encouraged clients and students to consider a higher power when dealing with stressful thoughts and emotions. Apparently, a recent study confirms the usefulness of that concept.

I figure that what you believe is your business – and ask that you not impose your beliefs on me or others. I think that an exemplary life is the best missionary tool for your belief system. Happiness tends to breed happiness. If a belief or belief system – religion – will cultivate that sense of happiness and peace, then I’m all for it.

I also believe that altruism and generosity are not exclusively the property of believers in God or a higher power. Learning to love and appreciate people as worthy of respect also tends to foster altruism and gratitude.

Whatever does the trick, I say… Read on for details of the study…

From the press release:

In a study to be published in the September issue of Psychological Science journal, researchers investigated how thinking about God and notions of a higher power influenced positive social behaviour, specifically cooperation with others and generosity to strangers.

UBC PhD graduate Azim Shariff and UBC Assoc. Prof. Ara Norenzayan found that priming people with ‘god concepts’ — by activating subconscious thoughts through word games — promoted altruism. In addition, the researchers found that this effect was consistent in behaviour whether people declared themselves believers or not. The researchers also found that secular notions of civic responsibility promote cooperation and generosity.

“This is a twist on an age old question — does a belief in God influence moral behavior?” says Shariff. “We asked, ‘Does the concept of god influence cooperative behavior?’ Previous attempts to answer this question have been driven by speculation and anecdote.”

The research, conducted between September 2005 and July 2006 with 125 participants, is the first of its kind in North America. According to the researchers, there is little replicable empirical data using moral behavior and religion as measures. As Shariff notes, UBC is the first to apply an implicit priming technique to capture and assess subconscious motives or goals, and their associated behavioral outcomes, to this area of concern.

Priming is an experimental procedure used by cognitive and social scientists, mainly in psychology and economics, to obtain indicators of social tendencies by implicitly inducing relevant thoughts. As priming operates largely outside explicit awareness, subjects are unlikely to consciously revise their behaviors or beliefs, the researchers say.

The researchers undertook two related studies. In both studies, groups were randomly assigned to the religious prime or to the control group. Participants in the religious prime group were given a word game and had to unscramble sentences (using spirit, divine, God, sacred and prophet). Those in the control group were given the same task with non-spiritual words. After this task, all participants played an anonymous dictator game, whereby subjects were given 10 one-dollar coins and asked to make a decision of what to keep and what to share with an anonymous recipient.

The researchers were surprised by the magnitude of the positive results for the religious prime in both studies. Sixty-eight per cent of subjects from the religious prime groups allocated $5 or more to anonymous strangers, compared to 22 per cent from groups where neutral or no concepts were activated.

In the second study the researchers also investigated the strength of the religious prime relative to a secular prime. They used concepts of civic responsibility and social justice to prime subjects (with target words civic, jury, court, police and contract) and obtained almost identical results.

“We did not anticipate such a subtle prime, simply getting participants to unscramble sentences with a few key words, having such a large effect on people’s willingness to give money to strangers,” said Shariff. “These are compelling findings that have substantial impact on the study of social behaviour because they draw a causal relationship between religion and acting morally — a topic of some debate. They by no means indicate that religion is necessary for moral behaviour, but it can make a substantial contribution.”

The article is available online at: www.psychologicalscience.org/media.

Secondary trauma includes experiencing symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress such as having nightmares or flashbacks, being easily startled and avoiding situations that remind one of the original trauma. Sometimes called vicarious trauma, it can seriously impact the mental health of counselors, first responders, critical care nurses and others in healthcare professions involved with treating those exposed to traumatic events, Boscarino said.

The study found that involvement in World Trade Center recovery effort was the primary reason why social workers experienced secondary trauma.

The research also showed that a positive work environment for social workers helped reduce secondary trauma and prevent job burnout.

“Listening to a person’s traumatic experiences can be a very difficult experience for a clinician,” Boscarino said. “Sometimes caregivers need emotional support of their own and if they don’t get it, they can become emotionally ill.”

The goal is to study this issue among a larger group of healthcare professionals and develop a more definitive tool for diagnosing secondary trauma, Boscarino said.

The research team for this study also included Richard E. Adams, PhD of Kent State University and Charles R. Figley, PhD of Florida State University.

As a Rapid Eye Technician and trainer, I have worked with hundreds of healthcare professionals who have asked about this very problem. How does one work hour after hour day in and day out with trauma survivors without taking on their “stuff”?

There are a number of useful ways including the free RET Self-Care (for RETs and others). Instructions are available by calling the Rapid Eye Institute at 503-399-1181 (M-F, 9-5 PT). Another useful tool is the free Emotional Freedom Technique from emofree.com. These are quick fixes that can add many useful years to a practitioner’s tenure.

The goal is to keep one’s sensitivity to the plight of others while not taking on the energy of their situations and experiences.

The research was funded by the U.S. National Institute of Drug Abuse and the Council on Spiritual Practices.

I don’t recommend using psychotropic drugs or other pharmaceutical means to achieve altered states of mind because such drugs tend to be uncontrollable. That is, you take the drug and then, if you have a bad “trip”, you must wait for the drug to exit your system before you can expect any relief.

I’ve worked with several people who have had bad LSD trips in which they were traumatized by the experience and needed help to overcome the effects of the trauma. Prominent among those feelings was the awful realization that they could not escape the effects of the drugs until the drug either exited their bodies or the person died – one fellow was sure he was going to die or worse after taking 3 LSD tablets. He was horror stricken at the thought that he’d have to endure unspeakable mind terrors with no end in sight.
I remain unchanged in my opinion – I don’t like psychotropic drugs of any kind. I admit the value of those drugs prescribed to control serious psychological conditions like schizophrenia and other pathologies. But for recreation – I say, “find a way to experience your spirituality that gives you more control of the trip.” Spirituality in the above study was probably nothing more than a “tickling” of the brain structures previously shown to enduce spiritual experiences in brain surgery patients. In those cases, “spiritual” experiences were nothing more than halucinations.

You don’t need “Magic Mushrooms” to have a truly spiritual experience. Self-inquiry along with some tenacity and maybe some professional help can bring about therapeutic results destined to be of value.

Research out of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), presented at the Neuroscience 2009 meeting in Chicago, IL, demonstrated signs of enhanced neural stimulation in parts of the brain that control decision-making and reasoning in the brains of middle aged and older first time Internet users after only seven days of internet use – specifically, doing searches.

They contend that learning to use the Internet stimulates neural activation patterns and could enhance brain function and cognition in older adults.

As a long time habitual web surfer, and aging Baby Boomer, I’m absolutely delighted to read this! On the other hand, I’m left with one less excuse for forgetting where I left my keys – again!!

Senior research associate at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA and study author Teena D Moody told the press, “The results suggest that searching online may be a simple form of brain exercise that might be employed to enhance cognition in older adults.”

I suppose it’s a little like doing mental jumping jacks – what you exercise you tend to strengthen. The same was said long ago when video games were studied to see if playing them had any deleterious effects on students and young adults. It seemed then that playing video games helped older adults in a number of ways both physical and mental. This new study out of UCLA goes to show that you don’t have to get beat up on the virtual battle field to enhance mental capabilities and stave off mental aging – you can do it quite easily just by surfing the web. Now that is some good news for us non-gamers.

Co-author Dr Gary Small, a professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute, who has written a book titled iBrain that describes the impact of new technology on the brain and behavior adds, “We found that for older people with minimal experience, performing Internet searches for even a relatively short period of time can change brain activity patterns and enhance function.” Sweet!

The aging brain changes over time – atrophy, in which cell activity slows down, deposits like amyloid plaques, and tau tangles increase, impacting cognitive functions like thinking, learning and memory. Basically, the more we use our brain, the better off we are as we age.

The study showed that after just seven days of using the Internet at home, novice Internet users showed brain activation patterns that were very similar to those seen in a group of experienced Internet users.

Even for experienced internet users like me there is good news – in previous studies, the UCLA researchers showed that older adults with previous Internet experience searching the Internet experienced a twofold increase in brain activity compared to those with little or no experience. Even sweeter!

“Googling” and “Binging” and “Yahoo-ing” may just slow your brain aging – keeping your brain sharp as you get older. For us “older” folks, that’s really good news. As computers and web surfing gain popularity among the up-coming older generations, more of us will reap the benefits over time.

“Neural activation patterns in older adults following Internet training.” TD Moody, H Gaddipati, GW Small, SY Bookheimer. Poster Session 382.3/GG2, Human Cognition and Behavior: Aging Studies Presented Mon, Oct 19, at Neuroscience 2009 in Chicago.