7 Thoughts That Are Bad For You

Our personalities do more for us than determine our social circles. Temperament can impact a person's physical health.

"The idea that behavior or personality traits can influence health is one that's been around for a long time. We're just now getting a handle on to what extent they do," said Stephen Boyle of Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina.

From those with a chill demeanor to the completely frazzled types, mental factors are ultimately tied to physical health. And while a highly neurotic person might deteriorate more quickly than others, not every character trait will kill you. Some might even boost lifetimes.

Lack of Self-control

Late for appointments? Can't keep your desk organized? No self-control? These seemingly benign qualities could take a toll on your health.

A review of more than 20 studies and nearly 9,000 participants revealed people who are conscientious -- organized and self-disciplined, as opposed to impulsive -- live two to four years longer than others. Study researcher Howard S. Friedman of the University of California, Riverside, suspects the boost in lifetime can be attributed partly to the fact that highly conscientious individuals are less likely to smoke or drink to excess, and live more stable and less stressful lives. The study is detailed in a 2008 issue of the journal Health Psychology.

Anxiety

The jitters can put a strain on your noggin, research suggests. Compared with the highly frazzled, individuals with a mellow demeanor who are outgoing may be less likely to develop dementia, which can be caused by Alzheimer's disease and other illnesses. The claim is based on a study that followed more than 500 elderly individuals for five years. Among the outgoing extroverts, dementia risk was 50 percent lower for participants who were calm compared with those who were prone to distress.

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Christmas Carols For The Disturbed

1. Schizophrenia --- Do You Hear What I Hear?

2. Multiple Personality Disorder --- We Three
Kings Disoriented Are

3. Dementia --- I Think I'll be Home for
Christmas

4. Narcissistic --- Hark the Herald Angels Sing
About Me

5. Manic --- Deck the Halls and Walls and House
and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and
Town and Cars and Buses and Trucks and Trees
and.....

6. Paranoid --- Santa Claus is Coming to Town
to Get Me

7. Borderline Personality Disorder --- Thoughts
of Roasting on an Open Fire

8. Personality Disorder --- You Better Watch
Out, I'm Gonna Cry, I'm Gonna Pout, Maybe I'll
Tell You Why

9. Attention Deficit Disorder --- Silent night,
Holy oooh look at the Froggy - can I have a
chocolate, why is France so far away?

10. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder -- - Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells,
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle
Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells,
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle,Bells, Jingle
Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells,
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle
Bells , Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells,
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle
Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells,
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle
Bells, Jingle Bells

Thanks Barbara!

12 Ways to Manage Anxiety

If your mind were a diesel engine, anxiety would be the leaded gas that was accidentally poured in and responsible for all the burps and stutters. Even more so than depression, I think, anxiety is the big disabler in my life, with a capital D, which is why I try to nip it in its early symptoms. That doesn't always happen, of course, but here are some techniques I try.

Recognize the Reptilian Brain

My therapist friend Elvira Aletta gives a brilliant neuro-psychology lesson in one of her posts where she explains the two parts of our brain: the primitive part containing the amygdala--which is responsible for generating and processing our fear and other primal emotions--and our frontal lobes: the neo-cortex or the newest part of our brain, which is sophisticated, educated, and is able to apply a bit of logic to the message of raw fear that our reptilian brain generates.

Why is this helpful? When I feel that knot in my stomach that comes with a message that I am unloved by the world, I try to envision a Harvard professor, or some intellectual creature whacking a reptile on the head with a book, saying something like "Would you please just evolve, you overly dramatic creature?"

Exaggerate Your Greatest Fear

I know this doesn't seem like a good idea, but truly it works. I learned it from a fellow Beyond Blue reader who explained on a combox: "Tell your fear to someone else and make sure to be as dramatic as possible, with very descriptive words and emotions. Then, when you've told every detail you can think of, start over again. Tell the entire, dramatic story, again with very elaborate descriptions. By the third or fourth time, it becomes a bit silly."

My friend Mike and I do this all the time. He will tell me how he is afraid he has diabetes, and that his leg will have to be amputated, and then he won't be able to drive a car with one leg, and because of that his wife with leave him, and he will be a single, lonely old man with one leg. Funny stuff, right?

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The Psychology of Mass Shootings

The view from one of the bullet holes resulting from Charles Whitman's mass killing of 14 people, leaving 31 others injured, from the University of Texas tower in 1966. The tower where Whitman was perched is framed in the bullet hole.

The shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, in October 2009 were brutal and shocking. But they are hardly an anomaly: two days after the killings, two other mass shootings occurred: one in Tampa, Fla., and one in Portland, Ore. Mass killings have had a long and painful history in the United States. Normally perpetrated by male aggressors, the motivations for these occurrences vary, ranging from acts of revenge, twisted showings of compassion, fervent ideology, and, most often, a person who for one reason or another, snaps.

What causes someone to commit mass homicide? Newsweek asked experts about the various motivations that can lead to these tragedies.

Click the banner pic to see the full article..

Via