Media Multitasking & Mental Health

[Adelaide]

Using multiple forms of media at the same time - such as playing a computer game while watching TV - is linked to symptoms of anxiety and depression, scientists have found for the first time.

Michigan State University's Mark Becker, lead investigator on the study, said he was surprised to find such a clear association between media multitasking and mental health problems. What's not yet clear is the cause.

"We don't know whether the media multitasking is causing symptoms of depression and social anxiety, or if it's that people who are depressed and anxious are turning to media multitasking as a form of distraction from their problems," said Becker, assistant professor of psychology.

While overall media use among American youth has increased 20 percent in the past decade, the amount of time spent multitasking with media spiked 120 percent during that period, Becker said.

Clear association between media multitasking and mental health problems

I'm willing to bet it's a distraction more often than the cause. I find that whenever I'm most upset in some way, that I "media multitask" more. When I'm relaxed and content, not so much.

[Peter1469]

I can have the TV on, the radio on, and play an action based video game. No mental health issues here.

[waltky]

Sometimes I feel so unnecessary...

Why feeling like a fraud can be a good thing
Sun, 24 Apr 2016 - Why it can be good to feel like you're a fraud

If you feel inadequate or that you are likely to be "found out" at work, you're probably not alone. It's part of a phenomenon called the "impostor syndrome" and it's very common, writes journalist Oliver Burkeman. "I have written 11 books but each time I think 'Uh-oh, they're going to find out now,'" the novelist Maya Angelou once said. "I've run a game on everybody, and they're going to find me out." Angelou was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, and won five Grammys for her spoken recordings, plus a myriad other awards. But the "impostor phenomenon" - sometimes known as impostor syndrome - had her firmly in its grip. Public acclaim didn't dent the feeling that, deep down, she was a fraud, who didn't have a clue what she was doing.

You've probably felt the same. Most of us have. Yet a crucial element of the impostor phenomenon is the sense that you're the only person to suffer. So you may not find it reassuring to learn that Angelou felt it too. "Sure," you tell yourself, "she thought she was a fraud - but I really am one. And any day now, I'll be rumbled." But the truth is you're far from the only sufferer. I have discovered the impostor phenomenon lurking in the minds of authors, artists, musicians, businesspeople - even a brain surgeon. "Part of you knows you're not as good as you're pretending to be," says Henry Marsh, a neurosurgeon and author of the memoir Do No Harm. "But you have to come across as being relatively competent and confident."

Author Frances Hardinge won the 2015 Costa Book of the Year Award for her novel The Lie Tree - but still, she says, with every new project, there's a "part of my brain that tells me that this is the book… where I disappoint everybody, and people see me for the fraud I am." The underlying fear, says artist and musician Amanda Palmer, "is that someone's going to come knocking at the door. "I call these fictional people the Fraud Police, and they're just going to tell you: 'We figured it out, and we're taking it all away.'" It's long been noted that women seem to experience impostorism more frequently and acutely than men, probably because of pre-existing sexist stereotypes that call their professional competence into question.

Also, according to impostorism expert Dr Valerie Young, women are more likely to explain setbacks and failures as resulting from their lack of ability, while men are more prone to blame outside factors. But nobody is immune - and though the phenomenon was first identified in the 1970s, psychologists say it seems to be ever more relevant in today's hyper-competitive, economically insecure world. "Despite often overwhelming evidence of their abilities, impostors dismiss them as merely a matter of luck, timing, outside help, charm - even computer error," Young writes in The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women.

Find out more

[waltky]

When Granny's brain's on fire she talks a blue streak...

Study: Talk Therapy Changes Brain Wiring in Mental Illness
January 19, 2017 | WASHINGTON — For the first time, researchers have shown that talk therapy improves symptoms in people with mental disorders. They say it strengthens connections in the brain, with long-lasting improvements.

Talk therapy has tended to get short shrift in the treatment of people who have been diagnosed with mental illness. Usually, medications are the first treatment doctors reach for to lessen symptoms of psychiatric disorders. This is especially true in the case of people who suffer from psychosis marked by abnormal thoughts. Psychosis is common in schizophrenia and some severe forms of depression. But researchers at King's College London have shown that a combination of medications along a kind of talk therapy, known as cognitive behavior therapy or CBT, not only improves symptoms in people who suffer from false beliefs, but the changes can last a long time.

Liam Mason is a clinical psychologist at King’s College who led the study published in the journal Translational Psychiatry. Using brain imaging, Mason and colleagues saw connections between two brain regions strengthen in patients following a six month course of CBT. The improvements occurred between the amygdala, the part of the brain that controls fear and emotion, and the frontal lobes, which are involved in thinking and reasoning. “And what we are really excited about here is that these stronger connections appear to be linked to long term improvement in people’s symptoms and recovery, even as much as eight years later,” said Mason.

An image illustrates activity in a human brain.

In the original study, a group of participants suffering from psychotic symptoms took medication. Some also received cognitive therapy, while the others did not. Researchers saw an improvement in brain connectivity in those who had talk therapy that was not seen in the non-CBT group. Investigators then followed 15 of the 22 CBT patients for eight years, using medical records and questionnaires. They found the participants’ level of recovery and well-being was still improved, without additional therapy.

Mason says the finding shows an association between talk therapy and long-term recovery in patients who had been haunted by paranoid beliefs. “Traditionally, the only interventions or treatments that have been offered are medication and even surgery in the past as well,” said Mason. "So I think, and the whole research team are really excited about, these findings that show that actually it's possible to have these brain changes from psychological therapies as well.” Investigators will now try to confirm their findings in a larger study of patients with mental illness. Researchers hope the results could lead to more refined and improved treatments for people who suffer from psychiatric illness.

http://www.voanews.com/a/talk-therap...s/3683598.html

See also:

Sauna Visits May Help Keep Brain Healthy, Study Finds
January 19, 2017 — Regular visits to the sauna can help lower the risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer's disease as well as dying of heart ailments, a Finnish study suggests.

Researchers at the University of Eastern Finland found a link between sauna visits and memory diseases after following more than 2,300 middle-aged Finnish men for more than 20 years. In the study, men who went to the sauna four to seven times a week were found 66 percent less likely to be diagnosed with dementia, and 65 percent less likely with Alzheimer's disease, than those taking a sauna once a week. "We have taken into account other lifestyle factors, like physical activity and socioeconomic factors.... There is an independent effect of sauna on these outcomes," said Jari Laukkanen, senior researcher and a professor of clinical medicine at the University of Eastern Finland.

He noted that the study only indicated an association between the sauna and memory diseases, and the findings would have to be fleshed out through further studies with different age groups, other nationalities and women. The findings, published in the journal Age and Ageing in December, suggested however that the health benefits of sauna could extend from the heart to the brain.

People emerge into the cold open air from a free sauna set up for the holidays in the historical center of Helsinki, Finland

Previous results of the follow-up study have shown that men who spent time in a sauna seven times a week were less likely to die of heart problems, compared to those who only partook once a week. "In the sauna, the heart rate increases and we start to sweat. This is a bit like physical exercise," Laukkonen said. "After sauna, you may have lower blood pressure, and blood pressure is an important risk factor in cardiovascular and memory diseases. This may be one possible explanation for our findings," Laukkanen said.

Regular bathers at the Finnish Sauna Society, which has around 4,200 members in Helsinki, agree that good health many be linked to the relaxing effects of sauna visits. Club members go to the sauna several times a week, and in winter cool off with a swim in the icy Baltic Sea. "I feel relaxed after sauna, and it's a place where I can have a nice conversation with my friends. The social aspect is the best thing about sauna, when you get older," Hannu Pitkanen, a senior member of the sauna society, told Reuters.

http://www.voanews.com/a/finland-stu...a/3683393.html

Uncle Ferd goes to the sauna to chat up the ladies.

[MisterVeritis]

I can have the TV on, the radio on, and play an action based video game. No mental health issues here.

LOL...that you are aware of...

[Beevee]

I can have the TV on, the radio on, and play an action based video game. No mental health issues here.

Perhaps one don't realise it until it's too late.