Psychology news

• 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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• 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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• 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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