LATEST PSYCHOLOGY

Happy Saturday, sweet readers!

This week’s Psychology Around the Net gives tips on how to spot unnecessary opioid prescriptions, offers ideas for emotional self-care you might not have thought of, takes a look at legislation requiring mental health disclosures by students, and more.

Parents Are Leery of Schools Requiring ‘Mental Health’ Disclosures by Students: Legislation passed after the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida requires Florida school districts to ask whether a new student has ever been referred for mental health services, and some parents are wondering: Will this actually help troubled students, or increase the stigma of mental illness?

How Netflix’s ‘Maniac’ Uses Mental Illness to Interrogate What It Means to Be Normal: Without giving anything away, Netflix’s new show Maniac “tackles the idea of achieving normalcy despite mental illness by thrusting its characters into bizarre, otherworldly landscapes.” [SPOILER ALERTS IN ARTICLE]

How to Spot an Unnecessary Opioid Prescription: Opioid addiction is devastating so much of our country; it’s no secret, and if you live in an area that’s suffering particularly hard, you don’t need any fancy studies to prove it. According to new research, one thing that could be contributing to opioid addiction is an inappropriate prescription. Here are a few ways you can talk with your doctor and determine whether an opioid prescription is necessary.

8 Ground Rules for Better Emotional Self-Care: These tips go way beyond just taking some time to yourself.

Octopuses On Mood Drug ‘Ecstasy’: By giving particularly unfriendly octopuses the mood-altering drug ecstasy, scientists say they’ve found preliminary evidence of an evolutionary link between the social behaviors of humans and the sea creature. Says lead investigator Gül Dölen, M.D., Ph.D., “The brains of octopuses are more similar to those of snails than humans, but our studies add to evidence that they can exhibit some of the same behaviors that we can […] What our studies suggest is that certain brain chemicals, or neurotransmitters, that send signals between neurons required for these social behaviors are evolutionarily conserved.”

Why Emotional Labor May Be Physically Hurting Women: Despite the strides we’ve made in equality, studies show the bulk of the “second shift” (all the family- and household-related work — everything from physical work like cooking and cleaning to mental tasks like planning vacations and coordinating schedules) falls on women. Not only does this affect women mentally by increasing stress and anxiety, but also it can hurt them physically.

from World of Psychology https://ift.tt/2zEPXtu