Mental Health Archive

An analysis of records of 5,635 participants in the Health and Retirement Study linked regular book reading with a 20% reduced risk of dying over a 12-year period. 

Animal-assisted therapy can be your best friend when it comes to mental support.

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They say a dog is man's best friend, but when it comes to better health, any type of animal bonding will do.

Research shows that interaction with animals like dogs, cats, and even horses can have both immediate and long-lasting impacts on your mental well-being. Done more formally in a medical context, it's known as animal-assisted therapy (AAT).

A study published online Aug. 8, 2016, by BMJ Open found that volunteering seems to confer greater benefits for general well-being in middle and older age than earlier in life. 

The science of neurogenesis suggests it's possible to create neurons that improve your memory and thinking skills.

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There are many aspects of aging you cannot prevent, but surprisingly, memory trouble is not one of them.

"The dogma for the longest time was that adult brains couldn't generate any new brain cells. You just use what you were born with," says Dr. Amar Sahay, a neuroscientist with Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital. "But the reality is that everyone has the capacity to develop new cells that can help enhance cognitive functions."

Lower your dependency on medication by altering your perception of pain.

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Everyday pain becomes more constant as you age. It can vary from morning aches to occasional joint flare-ups to recurrent episodes that interfere with your life and overall health.

Yet pain has a valuable role. It alerts your systems to potential injury so you can seek treatment. "Pain is similar to blood pressure, which becomes a problem if the levels become too high," says Dr. Jianren Mao, director of the Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Translational Pain Research. "Only when pain becomes intolerable should you resort to medication or other types of treatment."

British researchers tested whether behavioral activation therapy alone is as effective as cognitive behavioral therapy. The results were almost identical for both groups, with two-thirds of each group reporting a reduction of depressive symptoms of at least 50%.

A recent study showed that behavioral activation can be an effective alternative to cognitive behavioral therapy for treating depression. This type of therapy emphasizes engaging in activities that can improve mental health, for example, connecting with people. Its advantage is that it takes less time and is less expensive to train people in behavioral activation so it may mean more therapists available at lower cost.

Harvard Medical School authors have written a new book entitled Organize your Emotions, Optimize Your Life, that explains a way to frame how your mind processes a range of emotions. An adult version of the children’s movie Inside Out, the book proposes that the human psyche has nine inner “voices.” By addressing the distinct needs, agendas, and emotions people can better address life challenges, big and small. In this post we apply this model to getting your kids back to school in a positive and productive way.

Often considered an ailment of only military veterans, this condition also can affect many older men.

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Mention post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and most people immediately think of military veterans. While this group is highly susceptible to PTSD, research has shown that older adults, specifically men, are also vulnerable.

PTSD is a potentially debilitating condition that can occur in people who have experienced a natural disaster, war, terrorism, serious accident, violent personal assault, or similar traumatic event.