Author Archives: R. Marc Andrews

Depression on the Rise in Colleges?

Aug. 12, 2010 — Some mental health problems, including moderate and severe depression, are more common among college students today than in the past, according to a study that looked back 12 years.

I have seen this trend in my own work with gay and lesbian collage students. I think it is important to point out that the increased mental health problems are not so much the result of being gay on collage campuses as was the case 5 years ago, there still remains as constant percentage where this is the case. But as the article points out more early diagnoses and I would add the increased stress that collage students face with a very different job market to face after graduation.

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I Fought Fate, and Fate Won | Guideposts to Happiness

Fate is stronger than me. It may also be wiser. When I quit fighting fate, I find that my life is better than it seemed. There is more to enjoy than I realized, and I learn it is possible to tolerate considerable discomfort and still feel basically happy.

A good article on how to enjoy the life you have as you work towards the life you want. some thing i think we often forget in all our efforts to become some thing other than where we are. how much more life can be if we enjoy where we are and where we want to go.

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HIV Infection Does Not Negatively Impact Life Satisfaction And Work Lives Of People With HIV (AIDS 2010) – The AIDS Beacon

Several studies presented at the 2010 International AIDS Conference found that being HIV positive does not affect measures of overall life satisfaction or the ability to have a normal working life.

A lot of good research came out the the AIDS 2010 International Conference.

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Smartphone Addiction

Computer technologies can be addictive because they’re “psychoactive”; they alter mood and often trigger enjoyable feelings. Email, in particular, gives us satisfaction due to what psychologists call “variable ratio reinforcement.” That is, we never know when we’ll get a satisfying email, so we keep checking, over and over again. “It’s like slot machines,” Greenfield says. “We’re seeking that pleasurable hit.

This one hit home for me. I have been noticing that I am checking email and texts all the time. So I have taken the advice at the end of this article and turned off my alerts. The idea of variable ratio reinforcement is very true. It seems worth going through all those email for Viagra just to get to an email from a friend. Not any more!

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