Adeeba Tariq

Anxiety is characterized by a sense of dread in anticipation of a negative outcome. It consists of a cognitive and physical component. Thought patterns are the fuel that triggers a host of physical symptoms such as muscle tension, fatigue, and sleep difficulties. When anxiety spikes, it can be difficult to untangle from the web of worry thoughts. Popularized by Christine A. Padesky, the following anxiety equation can help you work through such thoughts:Anxiety = Danger / Ability to Cope According to this equation, anxiety spikes when you overestimate a threat and underestimate your ability to deal with it. In other words, you feel powerless when confronted with a potential danger. You can reduce anxiety by feeling safer in a particular setting. Reflecting on the odds of a potentially negative outcome can help you achieve this. As an example, I have worked with people who did not fly on a plane due to a fear that the plane would crash. A helpful exercise is to understand the odds that one’s fear will become a reality. Large commercial airplanes had one fatal crash for every 3.7 million flights in 2020. For comparison’s sake, you are more likely to be struck by lightning, which is estimated at 1 in around 500,000. Putting your fear in perspective is an essential step to reduce anxiety. We often treat our fears as imminent and inevitable even if they have a low risk of occurrence. However, many of our fears are hypothetical scenarios that never come to fruition. Understanding the odds can help you feel safer in a particular setting. The second lever of the anxiety equation considers how capable you are to deal with a stressor. As an example, imagine you are enjoying a leisurely walk in the woods and a bear suddenly ambushes you. Not only is your life in grave danger, but you were not prepared to deal with a predator who is stronger and faster than you. Your predictable surge in anxiety stems from feeling powerless in this scenario. Life is littered with daily challenges that provoke feelings of powerlessness such as working for an abusive boss, dealing with a health scare, or a sudden job loss. These scenarios pose a serious threat to one’s sense of safety and well-being. There are two strategies to reduce feelings of powerlessness. The first is to focus on taking the necessary action to improve your odds of overcoming the hardship. For example, you may deal with the abusive boss by reporting them to their superior or HR. For the health scare, you would closely follow the recommendations of your healthcare providers and adopt a healthier lifestyle. Finally, you may respond to a job loss by cutting back on your expenses, updating your resume, and even working with a recruiter. Taking action in the face of adversity is challenging. It is easier to avoid a problem and hope it will miraculously disappear rather than take action to address it. Anxiety wants you to shut down and put your head in the sand. The problem with avoidance behavior is that it is more likely to exacerbate an already difficult situation rather than solve it. For example, not taking action following a job loss is likely to compound your financial hardship. Likewise, not standing up to an abuser teaches them that there are no consequences for their unacceptable behavior. By not taking any action, you are relinquishing all control, which ultimately renders you powerless. Hence, your best bet is to take action in the face of adversity. When you take action within your sphere of control, you can make a difficult situation more manageable. Your sphere of control is not limited to taking action in response to a stressor. It is equally important to proactively develop the necessary skills to cope with anxiety when the need arises. As an example, a rigorous review of different studies has shown that meditation can improve anxiety. Practicing meditation on a consistent basis is a great way to sharpen this tool and have it readily available for future anxiety-provoking situations. The second way to reduce feelings of powerlessness is to look in your past and remember previous challenges that you have overcome. No one wishes hardship on themselves or loved ones. However, such experiences serve as a guiding light to navigate present and future difficulties. They are evidence of your resilience and ability to overcome. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/anxiety-in-high-achievers/202203/simple-formula-help-solve-the-riddle-anxiety

Ego effectiveness refers to the ability to act in accordance with one’s ideal view of oneself. New research published in the Journal of Personality indicates that heightened ego effectiveness is related to several positive relationship outcomes, while lower levels of ego effectiveness are linked to several negative consequences. “It occurred to us that people do things that they, themselves, know are not the best things to do. For example, they pass up on opportunities due to anxiety or they yell at others while knowing that this is probably not a good idea. We developed a way of assessing these variations in ego alignment,” said study author Michael D. Robinson, a professor at North Dakota State University. For their research, Robinson and his colleagues surveyed 183 undergraduate students and 212 individuals recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk crowdsourcing platform regarding their personality traits and relationship dynamics. All of the participants were involved in a romantic relationship at the time of the study. To examine ego effectiveness, the participants were presented with ten scenarios involving potential threats, dilemmas, or challenges in romantic relationships. Each scenario was paired with four potential ways to respond. The participants were first asked to rate the effectiveness of each way of responding to the scenarios. They were then presented with the ten scenarios and asked to indicate how they would respond. Those who had a close alignment between what they thought they “should do” and what they thought they “would do” were considered to have high ego effectiveness. The participants also provided the names and email addresses of three friends or family members who knew them fairly well. The researchers reached out these individuals to obtain peer reports about the participants’ personality, attachment style, and other factors. Robinson and his colleagues found that participants with higher ego effectiveness tended to report being more satisfied and committed to their romantic relationship. Heightened ego effectiveness was also associated with increased relationship responsivity and engagement. In other words, those who exhibited higher ego effectiveness were more likely to agree with statements such as “I listen when my partner shares her/his deepest feelings.” Participants with higher ego effectiveness also appeared to deal with relationship problems in systematically different ways. Those high in ego effectiveness were more likely to take direct action to overcome a relationship problem and less likely to rely on problematic practices such as denial and disengagement. Those low in ego effectiveness, in contrast, were more likely to report engaging in aggressive relationship behaviors, such as hitting, pushing, or grabbing one’s partner. They were also more likely to attempt to manipulate their partners. The findings provide evidence “that some people have changed themselves such that they do what they think they should do. Others act and react in ways that are not aligned with any sort of ego considerations. Such differences matter quite a bit in the conduct of one’s relationships,” Robinson told PsyPost. However, the researcher noted that “we still do not know how or why some people are ego effective individuals. Longitudinal studies would also be of interest.” “What we emphasize, in part, is the value of the new technique in determining whether the person operates in an ego-consistent manner,” Robinson added. “The method is more reliable (and less inferential) than previous manners of assessing ego strength or related constructs.” The study, “Aligning the Self and Reaping the Benefits: Ego Effectiveness in Romantic Relationships“, was authored by Michael D. Robinson, Roberta L. Irvin, and Michelle R. Persich. https://www.psypost.org/2022/03/a-psychological-concept-called-ego-effectiveness-appears-to-play-a-major-role-in-relationship-functioning-62787

Research shows three types of people: those who prioritize happiness, those who prioritize meaning, and those who enjoy richness. People who value meaning and richness will feel more satisfied when their work feels more valuable. Seeing your work as a craft can propel you to do better work and help you build resilience. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-practice/202203/how-be-happy-work

Conversation isn’t formally taught how writing and speech are, so most of us have to pick up the rules independently. Good conversation requires quickly detecting themes across different comments and expressing new ideas that add to these themes. Although conversation feels casual and spontaneous, it is a remarkably complex act that takes devoted effort to master. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/defining-memories/202203/what-makes-good-conversation

A new study of brain development in shortly after birth may provide insights into how early life events can affect wiring patterns in the brain that manifest as disease later in life – specifically such disorders as schizophrenia, epilepsy, and autism. Researchers focused on two types of brain cells that have been linked to adult neurological disorders: neurons in a modulating system nestled deep in the brain and other neurons in the cortex, the brain’s outermost layer, that counteract excitation in other cells using inhibitory effects. The modulating cells send long-range cables to the cortex to remotely influence cortical cell activity. The study is the first to show that these two types of cells communicate very early in brain development. A chemical released from the modulating cells initiates the branching, or arborization, of axons, the long, slender extensions of nerve cell bodies that transmit messages, on the cortical cells – and that arborization dictates how effective the cells in the cortex are at doing their job. Though there is still a lot to learn about the impact of this cellular interaction in the postnatal brain, the researchers said the study opens the door to a better understanding of how neurological diseases in adults may relate to early-life events. “It’s known that abnormal early-life experiences can impact kids’ future sensation and behavior. This finding may help explain that kind of mechanism,” said Hiroki Taniguchi, associate professor of pathology in The Ohio State University College of Medicine and senior author of the study. “This study provides new insight into brain development and brain pathology. It’s possible that during development, depending on animals’ experiences, this modulating system activity can be changed and, accordingly, the cortical circuit wiring can be changed.” Taniguchi completed the work with co-authors André Steinecke and McLean Bolton while he was an investigator at the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience. The research is published today in the journal Science Advances. The study involved chandelier cells, a type of inhibitory neurons in the cortical section of the brain, and neurons of the cholinergic system – one of the systems that monitor the environment and the internal state, and send signals to the rest of the brain to trigger memory and appropriate behaviors. “Both of these types of cells have been separately studied in the context of adult functions or modulations so far. The developmental role of cholinergic neurons in the brain wiring remains poorly understood,” Taniguchi said. Chandelier cells are named for the spray of signal-transmitting synapses (called synaptic cartridges) at the branch terminals that resemble candles of a traditional chandelier, a pattern that gives them inhibitory control over hundreds of cells at a time. “These cells have output control,” said Steinecke, first author of the study who is now working at Neuway Pharma in Germany. “Chandelier cells can put a brake on excitatory cells and tell them they’re not ready to fire. As inhibitory cells, chandelier cells are thought to regulate waves of firing – which is important, because the waves contain information that is transmitted over large distances of the brain.” Previous post-mortem studies have shown that the synaptic terminals located at the end of chandelier cell axons appear to be reduced in the brains of patients with schizophrenia. “This axonal ‘arbor’ being reduced suggests they don’t make as many connections to downstream targets, and the connections themselves are also altered and don’t work that well,” Steinecke said. source: https://neurosciencenews.com/experience-acetylcholine-neurodevelopment-20160/

Those low in narcissism tend to enhance their partner early in their relationship, but high narcissists don't. Narcissistic individuals, particularly men, tended to have partners who viewed them especially positively early in the relationship. The partners of narcissists may be missing out on the key relationship benefits of being enhanced. It's a good read. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/close-encounters/202203/how-narcissists-view-their-romantic-partners

Divorce is widespread in the U.S. For instance, roughly 1 million American women divorced in 2019. Though divorce is more costly for women than men, women are more likely to ask for a divorce. Many report greater satisfaction after divorce. Female-initiated divorce may be related to mismatches between men and women in the areas of interdependence, caregiving, and mate preference. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/finding-new-home/202203/research-sheds-light-why-women-initiate-divorce Also share your insights about this matter.

Permissive parents may do many things right, but they don't manage to give their children enough structure or limits. New research shows the link between permissive parenting and self-control problems in adulthood. Cultivating an internal voice that holds you accountable with compassion can allow you to structure and limit yourself far more effectively. Details are in this link. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/childhood-emotional-neglect/202203/permissive-parenting-can-lead-adult-self-regulation-problems

Today I wanna talk about the effects and trails of aging. Meeting the shadows of age doesn't have to be painful.We can find a spiritual practice that fits who we are now. The result: We can shift from "hero" to "elder" and from "role" to "soul." https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/shifting-role-soul/202203/the-treasures-late-life

Socializing with fellow humans has a great effect on one's mental health. Seeing your friends and family once in a while will blow off some stream from your routine and it will truly make your heart happy.Socializing with other humans has been linked to better health and a longer life.Two studies published in 2021 found that beyond a certain point, more socializing is not always better. Seeing other people weekly or monthly could be as good for health and longevity, or maybe better, than seeing them daily. For complete details you can check this article out. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/living-single/202202/little-bit-socializing-goes-long-way

Came across a wonderful article about ACT (Acceptance and commitment therapy). This article will definitely tell you all about it. Give it a read. I think it's very helpful if you want to need some help overcome negative emotions. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/02/19/act-therapy-techniques/

It's an article about, three simple exercises to process buried emotions and heal unresolved traumas. I really enjoyed reading it. Check it out guys as we all need to work on our emotions and traumas at some point in life, we can do these exercises to help us. https://amp.mindbodygreen.com/articles/exercises-to-heal-unresolved-trauma#aoh=16456918182410&csi=1&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s

Validation can be particularly powerful in building safe and supportive relationships with others. Youth feel more regulated and express more satisfaction in their relationships with parents when they feel validated by parents. Physiological responses, such as reduced heart rate, have been found to occur simply from hearing validating statements. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/raising-mindful-kids/202202/psychological-and-physiological-power-validation

Hello guys, read this interesting article about the power of touch. It explains 4 Ways to Harness the Power of Touch in our relationships. Do check it out. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulfillment-any-age/202202/4-ways-harness-the-power-touch-in-your-relationship

I read an article today which I liked. It has useful information about forensic phycology. Like what is forensic psychology. What are the job responsibilities. What's a day like in the in the life of the forensic psychologist, and some other useful aspects. You guys can check it out if you are considering this career. https://www.psychology.org/careers/what-is-forensic-psychology/

Hello, i want to know about ways to handle depression because of hormonal imbalance and PCOS/PCOD in women. They say the stress is very bad for pcos, also having pcos means you have hormonal imbalance and alot of stress Hormones in your body. It's interrelated. Any advice about how to deal with pcos depression and stress?

Hey guys, found a article online about some tips to deal with your suicidal friends or family members. Its helpful, give it a read and may be we can save someone's life by saying the right things at right time. :) Also do share your insights about this sensitive topic. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-to-do-when-a-friend-is-suicidal-1065472

How can someone gets better sleep when he/she has an episode of anxiety and stress right before bedtime, which leads to no sleep all night.