Psychology news

• U.S. Senators Accuse Russia of Genocide, Citing Child Abductions

  03-12-2025 16:23 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: United Press International - Health NewsRussia is engaged in genocide by abducting Ukrainian children and forcing them to adopt Russian names and culture, several U.S. senators claimed in a hearing Wednesday. The hearing was convened to evaluate evidence and allegations that Russia has taken tens of thousands of children since invading Ukraine in early 2022. To date, British officials have helped find more than 600 Ukrainian children who were abducted and taken to Russia, according to...
  
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• Scientists Discover First Gene Shown to Directly Cause Mental Illness

  03-12-2025 16:23 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: Science Daily - Top HealthScientists have discovered that a single gene, GRIN2A, can directly cause mental illness—something previously thought to stem only from many genes acting together. People with certain variants of this gene often develop psychiatric symptoms much earlier than expected, sometimes in childhood instead of adulthood. Even more surprising, some individuals show only mental health symptoms, without the seizures or learning problems usually linked to...
  
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• Brief Social Media Break Linked to Better Mental Health

  03-12-2025 16:23 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: NPRIf you've ever skipped social media for a week or two because you sensed it was feeding your anxiety or dampening your mood, you might have been right. A new study in JAMA Network Open found that cutting down on social media use even for a week was associated with improved mental health in young adults. Likewise, a recently published meta-analysis concluded that limiting social media was related to a significant boost in "subjective well-being."
  
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• Field Experiment Reveals Psychology Behind "Batman Effect"

  03-12-2025 16:07 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: PsyPostA recent experiment conducted in the Milan subway system has found that the presence of a costumed superhero can significantly increase the willingness of commuters to help a stranger. The findings suggest that unexpected visual stimuli in public spaces may disrupt the psychological "autopilot" that governs daily routines, making individuals more aware of their surroundings and the needs of others. The research was published in npj Mental Health...
  
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• Asthma More Common Among Kids Whose Moms Have Eating Disorders

  03-12-2025 16:07 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: United Press International - Health NewsWomen with an eating disorder are 26% more likely to have children who suffer from asthma, a new study has found. The findings, published Tuesday in the journal Thorax, were based on pooled data from seven earlier European studies involving nearly 131,500 mother-child pairs. The research team speculated that eating disorders and the associated stress might affect the lung development of a gestating fetus.
  
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• U.S. Government No Longer Commemorating World AIDS Day

  03-12-2025 11:40 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: Google News - HealthThe United States is not commemorating World AIDS Day this year—an event marked every December 1 since 1988. The day is meant to raise awareness of efforts to fight the deadly disease and remember those died from it. Globally, nearly 40 million people are living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, including about 1.2 million people in the United States. In the U.S., about 13% of people who have HIV don't know it—a driver of the virus'...
  
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• Kooth Expands with Acquisition of Kismet Health

  02-12-2025 21:14 via pr.com
  Kooth (AIM: KOO), a global leader in digital mental health and one of the fastest-growing youth mental health providers in the United States, announced its acquisition of Kismet Health, a telehealth platform designed to support developmentally appropriate and family-centered care. [PR.com]
  
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• Seattle & Los Angeles Telehealth Therapy for Anxiety, Perinatal, Postpartum, and Infertility Support- Now Taking New Clients

  02-12-2025 14:17 via pr.com
  Molly Reback, MSW, LICSW, offers virtual therapy for clients ages 16+ in Seattle and Los Angeles, specializing in anxiety management with a focus on perinatal and postpartum transitions and fertility challenges. She is now taking new clients and adding additional clinic days. [PR.com]
  
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• Scientists Uncover Five Stages in Human Brain Development

  01-12-2025 16:52 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: Science Daily - Top HealthA study of nearly 4,000 brain scans from newborns to 90-year-olds suggest that our neural wiring evolves through five major stages from birth to late old age. These phases are separated by turning points that mark big shifts in how the brain is organized. The most surprising discovery is that adolescent-style development lasts into our early thirties. The study, by a research team at the University of Cambridge, appears in the journal Nature...
  
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• Northwestern Agrees to Pay Trump Administration $75M to Regain Funding

  01-12-2025 16:52 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: NPRNorthwestern University has agreed to a $75 million payout to the Trump administration to settle a discrimination investigation into the school and to restore federal funding that had been frozen, the Justice Department announced on Friday. "Today's settlement marks another victory in the Trump Administration's fight to ensure that American educational institutions protect Jewish students and put merit first," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in...
  
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• If toxic humility is a thing, I definitely have it. But perhaps there’s another way | Emma Beddington

  30-11-2025 15:00
  We’re taught that modesty is good and pride is bad. This ignores the fact that telling ourselves we’re OK is actually beneficial What’s your favourite thing about yourself? Stylist’s Love Yourself campaign asked over 400 women that, and published eight pages of their answers. People mostly picked low-key, quite specific stuff – “I can cook something out of nothing”; “I’m really strong”; “I can talk to anyone”; “I&rsquo
  
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• How can we navigate difficult conversations these holidays? Buddhism offers some guidance | Making sense of it

  30-11-2025 15:00
  Choosing to bring intentionality to our speech challenges our tendency to abandon and disconnect from those we do not agree withMaking sense of it is a column about spirituality and how it can be used to navigate everyday lifeWhen it comes to difficult conversations, I have a way to go. I often swing between hyper-assertiveness and retreating entirely, but both avoid vulnerability. I often tell myself silence is “skilful”, though it can easily turn into passive aggression. And avoida
  
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• Does ‘laziness’ start in the brain?

  30-11-2025 13:00
  Understanding the surprising mechanism behind apathy can help unlock scientific ways to boost your motivationWe all know people with very different levels of motivation. Some will go the extra mile in any endeavour. Others just can’t be bothered to put the effort in. We might think of them as lazy – happiest on the sofa, rather than planning their latest project. What’s behind this variation? Most of us would probably attribute it to a mixture of temperament, circumstances, upb
  
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• ChatGPT-5 offers dangerous advice to mentally ill people, psychologists warn

  30-11-2025 13:00
  Research finds OpenAI’s free chatbot fails to identify risky behaviour or challenge delusional beliefsChatGPT-5 is offering dangerous and unhelpful advice to people experiencing mental health crises, some of the UK’s leading psychologists have warned.Research conducted by King’s College London (KCL) and the Association of Clinical Psychologists UK (ACP) in partnership with the Guardian suggested that the AI chatbotfailed to identify risky behaviour when communicating with menta
  
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• ‘Desire in one of its rawest forms’: what do we know about limerence?

  29-11-2025 20:00
  For everything from pop music to poetry, overwhelming infatuation offersinspiration and storylines. But when might this tip over into something a little less healthy?For months after her relationship ended, Anna* couldn’t stop thinking about him.Each morning she’d wake with a jolt of grief; an intense, almost physical feeling that morphed into thoughts of him that consumed nearly every waking hour. Continue reading...
  
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• Rage rooms: can smashing stuff up really help to relieve anger and stress?

  29-11-2025 13:00
  Venues promoting destruction as stress relief are appearing around the UK but experts – and our correspondent – are unsureIf you find it hard to count to 10 when anger bubbles up, a new trend offers a more hands-on approach. Rage rooms are cropping up across the UK, allowing punters to smash seven bells out of old TVs, plates and furniture.Such pay-to-destroy ventures are thought to have originated in Japan in 2008, but have since gone global. In the UK alone venues can be found in l
  
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• AI Can Already Do the Work of 12% of U.S. Workforce, MIT Study Estimates

  27-11-2025 17:14 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: CBS News - U.S. NewsArtificial intelligence can do the work currently performed by nearly 12% of America's workforce, according to a recent study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The researchers, relying on a metric called the "Iceberg Index" that measures a job's potential to be automated, concluded that AI already has the cognitive and technical capacity to handle a range of tasks in technology, finance, health care, and professional services.
  
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• Common Nutrient Deficiency May Be Silently Harming Young Brains

  27-11-2025 17:13 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: Science Daily - Top HealthScientists studying young adults with obesity discovered early indicators of brain stress that resemble patterns seen in cognitive impairment. The group showed higher inflammation, signs of liver strain and elevated neurofilament light chain, a marker of neuron injury. Low choline levels appeared closely tied to these changes. The results hint that early metabolic disruptions may quietly influence the brain long before symptoms emerge.
  
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• Trump Climate Policies Could Lead to 1.3 Million More Deaths, Analysis Finds

  27-11-2025 17:12 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: ProPublicaAdvances in environmental science are providing a detailed understanding of the human costs of the Trump administration's approach to climate change. Increasing temperatures are already killing large numbers of people, but a new analysis suggests that President Trump's "America First" agenda of expanding fossil fuels and loosening regulations will add substantially to that toll, with the vast majority of deaths occurring outside the United...
  
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• After Sexual Abuse, Preacher Tells Young Girls to Forgive and Forget

  27-11-2025 17:11 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: ProPublicaThe girl pleaded not to go. She fought with her father on the drive over, screaming and crying, but was forced to meet with a preacher and Clint Massie, a church member who had touched her genitals and groped her under her shirt. Then the girl's dad and the preacher allowed Massie to hug her, after which they regarded the matter to be resolved. Accordingly, she was told to "forgive and forget" the abuse, which had been happening to her since...
  
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• Why Forced Gratitude Might Make Some Teens Meaner Online

  27-11-2025 16:20 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: PsyPostA new study suggests that teaching gratitude to adolescents may have complex and sometimes unintended consequences regarding online behavior. Although a seven-day program designed to foster appreciation successfully reduced overall cyber-aggression, it proved less effective for boys and students with moderate levels of existing gratitude. These findings, published in Scientific Reports, highlight the need to tailor interventions based on student...
  
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• AI Gives Coal Plants a Lifeline As Trump Eases Air Pollution Limits

  27-11-2025 16:11 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: Politico Energy and ClimateThe Trump administration is allowing coal plants to release more pollution at a time when utilities are opting to save their aging coal facilities from retirement so they can power artificial intelligence. Those twin trends—weaker pollution safeguards and increased coal use—could accelerate rising temperatures and degrade the health of people living near coal plants whose emissions are linked to heart disease, respiratory illness, and lower IQs.
  
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• Week-Long Social Media Breaks Linked to Improved Mental Health

  27-11-2025 16:02 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: United Press International - Health NewsResearchers tracked 295 adults ages 18 to 24 who agreed to limit their social media use for seven days. Each participant was paid $150 to be in the study. For the study, these young adults shrunk their average screen time from just under two hours a day on social platforms down to about 30 minutes a day. The study, published Monday in JAMA Network Open, showed the biggest improvement in people who initially had more serious depression symptoms.
  
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• ICE Detained Record 600 Immigrant Kids in U.S. Federal Shelters in 2025

  27-11-2025 16:02 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: ProPublicaSince the start of this year, some 600 immigrant children have been placed in government shelters by ICE, according to government data. That figure, which has not been previously reported, is already higher than the tally for the previous four years combined. And it is the highest number since record-keeping began a decade ago.
  
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• Same-Sex Marriage Must Be Recognized Across EU, Court Rules

  27-11-2025 16:01 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: DW- top storiesA court in Poland was incorrect in a decision not to recognize a marriage between two Polish citizens in Germany, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled on Tuesday. The Polish court did not recognize the marriage because Polish law prohibits same-sex unions. "Refusing to recognize a marriage between two Union citizens, is contrary to EU law because it infringes [the] freedom and the right to respect for private and family life," the ECJ said.
  
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• Sudanese Women in Chad Grapple With Trauma of Wartime Violence

  26-11-2025 07:02 via socialpsychology.org
  Source:Al JazeeraThe brutality of Sudan's war is spilling across the border into Chad, where women and children fleeing the violence are arriving with deep trauma and almost no access to psychological support. Eastern Chad has become a refuge for tens of thousands escaping the conflict that erupted in 2023 and has since grown into the world's largest humanitarian crisis. Millions have been uprooted, many carrying the physical and emotional scars of abuse and...
  
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• NatureQuant® Awarded Patent for NatureScore® and NatureDose® AI-Powered Environmental Impact Measurement Model

  25-11-2025 14:09 via pr.com
  NatureQuant’s foundation technologies analyze environmental and personal data to unlock actionable nature exposure intelligence. [PR.com]
  
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• Statement from Psychologist on Councilwoman Yaeger’s Islamophobic Remarks and the Double Standards Surrounding Religious Hate

  24-11-2025 20:35 via pr.com
  Dr. Azadeh Weber condemns Councilwoman Yaeger’s “proud Islamophobe” remark, highlighting the danger it poses to Muslim women, children, and community safety. Dr. Weber advocates dignity, accountability, and a zero-tolerance approach to religious discrimination. [PR.com]
  
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• Meta Shelved Study on Mental Health Impacts of Facebook, Instagram

  24-11-2025 08:05 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: United Press International - Health NewsMeta shelved an internal study linking the use of Facebook to effects on users' mental health, according to a brief filed in a California federal court. The filing, released Friday by the court, is part of a multi-party lawsuit accusing social media networks such as Facebook, YouTube, SnapChat, and TikTok of being aware of and hiding information that their platforms are harmful to the mental health of children and young adults.
  
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• How the Orange Days Were Inspired by Dominican Feminists

  24-11-2025 08:05 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: DW- top storiesThe Mirabal sisters were murdered after resisting the Dominican Republic's sexist dictator Rafael Trujillo. Their bravery inspired the UN's International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, founded in 1981 to honor victims of gender-based violence. The aim was not only to commemorate the Mirabals but to underscore that violence against women is more than personal—it's connected to broader political and social systems of power...
  
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• Who Are Afrikaners, at Center of Trump's Dispute with South Africa?

  23-11-2025 17:02 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: NPRWhen the G20 meeting kicks off in South Africa this weekend, one country will be conspicuously absent: the United States. President Trump has decided to boycott the conference over what he regards as discriminatory treatment of Afrikaners by the South African government. Afrikaners are the largest subset of the country's White minority—the group that oversaw South Africa's racist system of apartheid until 1994, when Nelson Mandela was elected...
  
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• France Probing Musk's AI Chatbot After It Posted Holocaust Denial Claims

  23-11-2025 17:02 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: PBS News HourFrance's government is taking action against billionaire Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok after it generated French-language posts that questioned the use of gas chambers at Auschwitz, officials said. Grok, built by Musk's company xAI and integrated into his social media platform X, wrote in a widely shared post that gas chambers at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp were designed for "disinfection with Zyklon B against typhus" rather than for mass...
  
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• World Health Organization Calls for Safeguards in Healthcare Uses of AI

  23-11-2025 17:01 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: United Nations NewsUse of artificial intelligence is accelerating in healthcare, but basic legal safety nets that protect patients and health workers are lacking, warned a report from the U.N. World Health Organization's office in Europe. The report, based on survey responses from 50 countries, is the first comprehensive assessment of how AI is being adopted and regulated in health systems across the region.
  
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• Can Vaping Help Wean People Off Cigarettes? WHO Weighs In

  23-11-2025 16:53 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: NPRTo vape or not to vape? That is the question sparking a heated debate this week in Geneva, where over 1,400 delegates have gathered to discuss the World Health Organization's tobacco control treaty and what they call "the tobacco epidemic." Anti-smoking advocates are sharply split on vaping, but WHO staked out its stance on the issue this month in a strongly worded position paper, slamming the idea of using e-cigarettes as a tool in smoking...
  
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• Pub quiz cheating may not be a matter of life and death - but it can feel that way | Janice Hallett

  23-11-2025 15:00
  Weeks before the Manchester cheating story broke, I published a murder mystery novel with almost the same plot. It’s no coincidenceYou probably saw the recent story about a publican who grew suspicious of a team that won his pub quiz every week. He and his staff set about trying to discover exactly how they were cheating. Do you fancy testing your knowledge and recall of topical news? Before you read the next paragraph, for one point name the pub, and for two points name the suburb of Manc
  
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• Homesickness is a form of loss which may never grant closure. But a heart in two places can still find joy | Gaynor Parkin

  23-11-2025 15:00
  For those who live far from home, feeling a mix of grief and gratitude is not as contradictory as it may seemThe modern mind is a column where experts discuss mental health issues they are seeing in their work“I don’t have the words to describe it properly, I just feel I’m in the wrong place and I don’t want to be here.”For the past few years, *Suzanne has travelled each year halfway around the world to visit family and close friends in her birth country. While the
  
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• Sakura Designs Celebrates 20+ Years of Handcrafted Spiritual Jewelry This Holiday Season

  22-11-2025 16:30 via pr.com
  Handmade mala prayer beads and jewelry from Boulder since 2005. BuddhistMala.com offers meaningful gemstone prayer beads crafted by Dawn Boiani, inspired by her years in Nepal. Shop small and local this holiday season. [PR.com]
  
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• Organization Warns Against Giving Children AI Toys

  22-11-2025 15:41 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: United Press International - Health NewsToys that use artificial intelligence to interact with children might seem like a fun idea, but one organization is warning against them. The nonprofit Fairplay released an advisory Thursday warning parents to avoid artificial intelligence-based children's toys this holiday season. AI toys are chatbots embedded in children's toys—such as plushies, dolls, action figures, or kids' robots—and use AI technology designed to communicate like
  
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• Personality’s Link to Relationship Satisfaction Differs in Men and Women

  22-11-2025 15:40 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: PsyPostA study of 3,780 adults in Australia, Denmark, and Sweden found that the link between personality and relationship satisfaction differed for men and women. Extraverted men were more likely to have a romantic partner and tended to be more satisfied with their families, an effect less pronounced in women. In contrast, the link between agreeableness and family satisfaction was stronger for women. The results appear in the Journal of Research in...
  
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• Large Study Finds 4-Day Work Week Improves Employee Health

  22-11-2025 15:40 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: PsyPostA large-scale international study suggests that reducing the work weeks to four days without cutting pay leads to improvements in employee well-being, including lower burnout and better physical health. The research tracked nearly 3,000 workers and indicated that the health benefits were largely driven by better sleep and a stronger sense of work ability. The findings were recently published in Nature Human Behaviour.
  
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• Climate Talks End Without Roadmap to Phase Out Fossil Fuels

  22-11-2025 15:26 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: PBS News HourUnited Nations climate talks in Brazil reached a subdued agreement Saturday to deliver more money to countries hit hardest by climate change to help them adapt to extreme weather's wrath. But the agreement doesn't include an explicit map to phase out fossil fuels or strengthen inadequate emissions cutting plans, critics complained. "A climate decision that cannot even say 'fossil fuels' is not neutrality, it is complicity, said Panama's...
  
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• Secret Chemical Traces Reveal Life on Earth 3.3 Billion Years Ago

  21-11-2025 16:45 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: Science Daily - Top NewsResearchers have discovered chemical traces of life in rocks older than 3.3 billion years, offering a rare look at Earth's earliest biology. By combining advanced chemical methods with artificial intelligence, scientists were able to detect faint molecular patterns left behind long after the original biomolecules disappeared. Newly analyzed fossils, including ancient seaweed, helped validate the method and deepen understanding of early...
  
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• Lab-Grown Models of Human Brains Are Advancing Rapidly

  21-11-2025 16:43 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: SciencePop a few human stem cells into culture, provide the right molecular signals, and before long a mock cerebral cortex or a cerebellum knockoff could be floating in the medium. These neural, or brain, organoids—typically, just a few millimeters across—are not "brains in a dish," as some journalists have described them. But they are becoming ever more sophisticated and true to life, capturing more of the brain's cellular and structural intricacy.
  
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• Brain Implants Show Promise for Treating Depression

  21-11-2025 06:24 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: United Press International - Health NewsBrain implants that deliver electric pulses can ease depression in people who aren't responding to psychiatric drugs, a new study reports. Half of a small group of people who received brain implants experienced significant improvement in their depression symptoms, researchers reported Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications. Further, more than one-third wound up virtually depression-free following the treatment, which is called deep brain...
  
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• Analysis Sheds Light on Motives of Sex-Related Serial Killings

  21-11-2025 06:24 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: PsyPostNew research provides evidence that sexually motivated serial killers are often driven by a combination of grandiose entitlement and deep-seated emotional vulnerability. A study analyzing 45 serial offenders suggests that while many of these individuals display arrogance and a need for admiration, they are often characterized by intense feelings of resentment and hypersensitivity. The findings appear in the Journal of Police and Criminal...
  
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• Global Climate Progress Visible But Major Emitters Lag, Report Finds

  21-11-2025 06:17 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: DW- top storiesCountries are making uneven-but-visible climate progress as per capita emissions edge downward, renewable energy surges, and over 100 countries adopt net-zero targets, the latest Climate Change Performance Index has found. But the report says far more progress is needed to meet the Paris climate agreement goal of holding global warming to 1.5C above preindustrial levels. To meet that goal, the world must halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
  
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• Researchers Find Eating Disorders Have Long-Term Health Effects

  21-11-2025 06:06 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: United Press International - Health NewsEating disorders can harm a person's physical and mental health in ways that linger for years, a new study reports. Anorexia, bulimia, binge eating, and other such disorders carry a risk of health problems like diabetes, kidney or liver failure, broken bones, and premature death, researchers said. This risk is high in the first year after an eating disorder diagnosis, but it can persist for years, researchers reported Tuesday in the journal BMJ...
  
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• COP30 Draft Agreement Leaves Out Mentions of Fossil Fuels

  21-11-2025 06:05 via socialpsychology.org
  Source: United Press International - Health NewsCOP30 is a meeting of United Nations countries, held this year in Brazil, to formulate a plan to stop—or at least mitigate—climate change and its effects. According to the BBC, countries such as Saudi Arabia, Russia, and India—whose economies depend on either the sale or significant use of fossil fuels—are blocking a deal to reduce their use. In response, other countries are threatening to walk out of the talks, which have b
  
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• Florida Author Reinvents Self-Help with Humor & Heart

  20-11-2025 16:17 via pr.com
  Florida author L.S. Smith reinvents self-help with her bold, funny new book "Screw Up Like a Genius." Blending humor, honesty, and real-life insight from 25+ years as a counselor, Smith flips perfection culture on its head and shows readers how mistakes can spark confidence, resilience, and joy. A refreshing, uplifting guide for anyone tired of unrealistic self-help and ready to embrace being human. [PR.com]
  
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• Ask young Reform voters their views | Brief letters

  19-11-2025 18:26
  Canvassing opinion | From A Lane to the bus lane | GWR wifi | Suits in the White House | Blancmange rabbit | NarcissismThe Guardian may get a better idea of why some young people support Reform UK by asking actual Reform voters who work in shops, offices and factories in “red wall” towns and cities such as Mansfield, Grimsby and Derby what they think, rather than three students, an environmental activist and a youth equality organiser (How should we tackle Reform and the rise of
  
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