Motivational interviewing helps patients identify reasons to change.

If change were easy, people wouldn't have to make resolutions every New Year. Anyone who wanted to give up smoking, become sober, or lose weight would do so.

The reality is that changing behavior — especially overcoming an addiction — is difficult. Motivational interviewing is a therapeutic technique many clinicians use to help a patient identify personal reasons for undertaking the hard work of behavior change. Although originally developed for the treatment of alcohol dependence, motivational interviewing is now used to help patients overcome other types of substance abuse, stop smoking, ...

 

Options include lifestyle changes, psychotherapy, and medication.

People with insomnia — the inability to sleep — may be plagued by trouble falling asleep, unwelcome awakenings during the night, and fitful sleep. They may experience daytime drowsiness yet still be unable to nap, and are often anxious, irritable, and unable to concentrate.

Insomnia is one of the most common types of sleep disturbance, at least occasionally affecting about one in three Americans. Epidemiologic studies suggest that 9% to 15% of Americans experience problems functioning in the daytime as a result of insomnia. Because insomnia often occurs in conjunction with a ...

A large study provides one more reason to kick the habit.

Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia are the biological equivalents of slow-motion train wrecks. These degenerative brain disorders take years to develop. Some factors that predispose people to develop dementia — such as advanced age and genetic profile — cannot be changed. Scientists are therefore searching for modifiable risk factors that would help people reduce their risk of developing dementia.

One area of focus is cigarette smoking. The research so far is preliminary, but it suggests that smoking increases risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and other types ...

A study of adolescents with anorexia found that those who participated in therapy that involves other family members had higher rates of remission than those who received individual therapy.

An analysis of dozens of longitudinal studies bolsters the belief that strong social relationships contribute to longevity.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which has been associated with baseball legend Lou Gehrig since he was diagnosed with the disease in 1939, is a devastating and currently incurable illness. Motor neurons (brain cells that control muscle movement) degenerate and die, leading to a progressive paralysis that eventually robs people of the ability to breathe on their own. The illness forced Gehrig to retire from baseball immediately, and he died two years later, at the age of 37.

Dr. Ann McKee and colleagues at the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at Boston University published an article in the September ...