Dr. Stephen C Hansen, PsyD LCP

07/12/2025

https://www.yahoo.com/creators/lifestyle/story/anxiety-isnt-the-problem-10-things-we-need-to-understand-to-better-cope-with-anxiety-171353396.html

Seeing anxiety as a problem may be a problem. In this article a seasoned licensed mental health counselor, educator, and advocate explores the real problem and offers 10 key points to help better manage anxiety.

07/11/2025

Scientific American

Stephen Shore, an autistic professor of special education at Adelphi University, has said: “If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism.” This quote is popular in the autism community and among researchers because it reflects something they grapple with all the ti...

07/08/2025

Scientific American

Kids' Brains Before Drugs

Researchers scanned the brains of 10,000 kids as they grew into adolescence. Children aged nine to 11 underwent regular brain scans for three years. In separate interviews, the participants and their parents provided information on the kids’ diets and any substance use. The scientists found that the brains of children who started experimenting with cannabis, ci******es or alcohol before age 15 were physically different from those who did not—the differences were there before the individuals first tried a substance. Their brains had preexisting enlargements in many brain regions and they had larger brains overall when the study began compared with those who did not use drugs.
Why this is interesting: Having a large brain and other traits like curiosity and openness to new experiences are associated with intelligence. But when curiosity is coupled with a strong drive to seek intense sensations and a willingness to take risks without considering the consequences, it’s also linked to a higher likelihood of trying drugs. Such brain differences could be from genetics or childhood exposure to trying circumstances, both of which have previously been associated with addiction risk. The brain differences noted in this study were only linked to early initiation of drug use—not necessarily to addiction itself.
What the experts say: So-called “risky” traits have real benefits in life, says Patricia Conrod, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Montreal. For example, a tendency to seek new experiences can be critical for success in science, medicine and the arts. A willingness to take risks is useful in occupations ranging from firefighting to entrepreneurship. The trick is to help young people manage such predilections safely.

11/26/2024

https://www.yahoo.com/news/inside-body-aging-unfolds-remarkably-143534490.html

Recently, scientists at Stanford University began to wonder why identical lab mice, bred with the same DNA and brought up in identical conditions, wound up so different in their old age. Some mice could ace cognitive tests and race around on their running wheels. Others would forget simple tasks and...

08/22/2024

08/22/2024

08/05/2024

A cruel side of evolution. Adult male lions will kill cubs to send their mother's into estrus and start their own gene pool, as may be seen in this case. Otherwise, it makes no evolutionary sense for a species to kill its offspring.
Even in humans, "Martin Daly and the late Margo Wilson, the two Deans of Modern Evolutionary Psychology, discovered, in their analysis of homicide data from Canada and Detroit, that stepchildren, those who live with a stepparent (usually, a stepfather), are anywhere from 40 to 100 times as likely to be murdered or maimed as those who live with two biological parents in the household."

On the livestreamed explore.org webcams, a large bear in Katmai National Park and Preserve attacked a cub, a violent event underscoring the harsh realities of Alaska's wilderness.

05/31/2024

https://themighty.com/topic/mental-health/what-not-to-say-psychiatric-medication/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=HAU_05272024_05302024&utm_source=cordial&cid=5ee25d9940826947a8400163

It's hard to believe anyone thinks it's OK to say #7.

05/25/2024

It's easy to feel that something bad will happen if we don't maintain our habitual vigilance by thinking, judging and planning. Yet this is the very habit that keeps us trapped in resisting life. Only when we realize we can't hold on to anything can we begin to relax our efforts to control our experience. - Tara Brach

05/07/2024

https://mail.yahoo.com/d/folders/1/messages/AOW8q1o-utMqZjohXAUggPkb0kQ