You Don’t Need a “Trigger Warning.” You need Treatment.

Posted on by

shutterstock_209615056

H/T NYTimes.

According to Harvard Psychologist, Dr. Richard McNally…

Proponents of trigger warnings are deeply concerned about the emotional well-being of students, especially those with trauma histories. Yet lost in the debate are two key points: Trauma is common, but P.T.S.D. is rare. 

Epidemiological studies show that many people are exposed to trauma in their lives, and most have had transient stress symptoms. But only a minority fails to recover, thereby developing P.T.S.D. Students with P.T.S.D. are those most likely to have adverse emotional reactions to curricular material, not those with trauma histories whose acute stress responses have dissipated. 

However, trigger warnings are countertherapeutic because they encourage avoidance of reminders of trauma, and avoidance maintains P.T.S.D. Severe emotional reactions triggered by course material are a signal that students need to prioritize their mental health and obtain evidence-based, cognitive-behavioral therapies that will help them overcome P.T.S.D. These therapies involve gradual, systematic exposure to traumatic memories until their capacity to trigger distress diminishes. 

Rather than issuing trigger warnings, universities can best serve students by facilitating access to effective and proven treatments for P.T.S.D. and other mental health problems.

 

The Two Shall Become One: Married People Become BIOLOGICALLY Similar, New Study Says.

Posted on by

shutterstock_234539329

In a study presented at the annual meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, University of Michigan researcher Shannon Mejia and her team looked at health indicators from 1,568 married couples across the United States. The couples were separated into two groups: those who had been married for about 20 years, and those who had been married for about 50 years. Overall, Mejia found that the couples had striking similarities in kidney function, total cholesterol, and grip strength.

Mejia and her fellow researchers found that there was similarity in the biomarkers beyond the race, education, and age factors that they statistically accounted for. The strongest example was in total cholesterol: The math says that 20 percent of the outcome for total cholesterol is attributable to couple membership.

The similarity between members of couples goes against what Mejia calls the “independence assumption” in the United States: Your health is thought to be individualistic. After all, it’s yourbody that the doctor investigates, not your partner’s. But as Mejia’s work indicates, environments matter.

Because of the nature of the data she’s working with — a large-scale longitudinal study — Mejia can’t really isolate the mechanisms of couple health concordance. She points to the work of University of British Columbia psychologist Christiane Hoppmann, who takes a more granular approach. Hoppmann zooms in on the mechanics of coupledom, finding, for instance, that members of couples who share greater intimacy have lower levels of cortisol, a hormone associated with stress.   READ MORE

When scripture tells us that, “the two shall become one” we often think of that in philosophical and spiritual terms.  Most people don’t take that verse literally, but the research consistently says we should.  In addition to the above research, other studies have found that the body responds to break-ups and divorce in the same way it responds to physical injury.  Divorce, in particular, has potentially very serious long term health consequences.

To learn more about having the kind of marriage that promotes health and well-being across every dimension of your life, check out For Better…FOREVER! A Catholic Guide to Lifelong Marriage–2nd Edition Revised and Expanded.

Surprising (Negative) Effects of The Pill on Behavior, Dating, and Marriage

Posted on by

shutterstock--The Pill

I am working on a project about some of the lesser-known effects of the birth control pill on a woman’s psychological, relational, and behavioral well being. I came across some fascinating, high-quality research I thought I’d share a bit of what I found so far.

Although the psychological and behavioral impact of hormonal contraceptives has been a largely understudied area until recently, a review of scholarly research-to-date in the journal, Evolutionary Psychology, found significant cause for concern.  The author states, “Women who use HCs report higher rates of depression, reduced sexual functioning, and higher interest in short-term sexual relationships compared to their naturally-cycling counterparts. Also, HC use may alter women’s ability to attract a mate, as well as the mate retention behaviors in both users and their romantic partners. Some evidence even suggests that HC use alters mate choice and may negatively affect sexual satisfaction in parous women, with potential effects on future offspring” (Welling, 2013, p. 718).

Regarding the issue of mate attraction and retention, a subsequent study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences supported Welling’s (2013) earlier observations, finding that women are attracted to different types of men depending upon whether they are on or off hormonal contraceptives and that marital stability can be negatively impacted when a woman who was on HC’s at the beginning of their relationship subsequently discontinues HC use (Russell, McNulty, Baker, 2014).

For more about the truth about God’s plan for sexuality, check out Holy Sex!  The Catholic Guide to Toe-Curling, Mind-Blowing, Infallible Loving.

REFERENCES

Russel, V.M., McNulty, J., Baker, L. et al. (2014). The association between discontinuing hormonal contraceptives and wives’ marital satisfaction depends on husbands’ facial attractiveness.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. vol. 111 no. 48. 17081–17086  Retrieved September 11, 2016 at http://www.pnas.org/content/111/48/17081.full

Welling, L. (2013). Psychobehavioral effects of hormonal contraceptive use.  Evolutionary Psychology, 11(3): 718-742

Every Child Left Behind: “Smart” Atheism or “Stupid” Faith?

Posted on by

 

Image: Shutterstock

Image: Shutterstock

            Catholic children as young as 10 years old are renouncing God and quitting Church, claims a new study by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown.  According to lead researcher, Dr. Mark Gray, children are finding that faith is “incompatible” with what they are learning in school, and the older the child becomes, the more this is the case.  According to Gray, “this is a generation that is struggling with faith in ways that we haven’t seen in previous generations.”

This is disturbing news for faithful parents. Our children are being besieged with the message that atheism is “smart” and faith is “dumb.” But there is a more provocative challenge presented to Catholics by this dilemma. Namely; how long will we keep teaching our kids to have a stupid faith?

“Stupid” Faith?

By “stupid” faith I mean one that doesn’t make experiential sense. Faith is only “stupid”—and, therefore, susceptible to allegedly “smart” atheism—when a person has not experienced Jesus Christ in a real and personal way. An experience of Christ is even more essential than good catechesis. Why? Because if I have experienced Christ personally, I know he exists.  If Stephen Hawking wrote a book denying the existence of my mother, I wouldn’t have to be an expert in quantum physics to know that he was writing nonsense.

Of course, intellectual formation in the form of good catechesis is also critical.  The second component of a “stupid” faith is the inability to explain why we believe what we do.  Sadly, many Catholic kids are afflicted with this malady as well, but this is actually of secondary importance to experiential encounter with the person of Christ. If I have a Ph.D. in theology, but haven’t experienced God’s love personally, my faith is a house built on sand. Essentially, the only reason atheism seems so “smart” to today’s youth is that while most Catholic kids are sacramentalized, and some are even adequately catechized, very few are actually evangelized.  That job falls squarely on mom and dad.  The Church will baptize our kids, and Catholic schools may catechize them, but parents are best equipped to bring their children to a meaningful, personal encounter with Jesus Christ.

Every Child Left Behind

Because of this, the Church tells us families are the first “schools of faith.” Unfortunately, the vast majority of these Catholic “schools” are getting a failing grade. A separate study, also conducted by CARA, found that only 17% of Catholic families pray together and only 13% say Grace at Meals together. This research sadly shows that most Catholic families are not living their faith in any demonstrable way at home.  If 83% of kids came out of school unable to read we would, rightly, be up in arms. Well, 83% of Catholic kids are “graduating” as spiritual illiterates from their family schools of faith. What are we going to do about it?

What Happened?

            Our post-Christian culture has not caused this problem.  It simply shined a light on it.  It used to be that Catholic parents who did a poor job evangelizing their children could at least count on the culture to nudge their kids back to Church.  Maybe they wouldn’t be “Christian heroes” (as Cardinal Marx recently put it) but at least they would go through the motions and, in time, maybe they’d catch a deeper faith by marinating in the smells and bells.  This approach—which never worked well—is now hopelessly doomed.  The prevailing culture now sneers at churchgoing.  More and more, you will have to choose to go to Church—not because anyone will be disappointed if you don’t—but because you care deeply about the person you’re going to encounter when you get there (i.e., Jesus Christ in the Eucharist) or you won’t go at all.

Today, it falls more and more to parents to give their children a personal and meaningful experience of the love of God—not by simply dragging them to Mass and enrolling them in religious education–but by giving kids tangible evidence of God’s love in family life through meaningful family prayer, strong family rituals (e.g., specific times to work, play, talk, and pray together), casual but meaningful discussions about how God is impacting the family’s life, and an cultivating an intimacy within the home  rooted in each family member trying to love each other as God loves them.

A Call To Action 

            This latest CARA study is not a chance to impotently cluck about the godless culture.  It is a reminder to Catholic parents—and the whole Church–that if we want to raise faithful kids, we need to help our kids encounter Christ as the most important member of our families and the source of the warmth in our homes. If you’d like to discover more ideas for making this happen in your home, check out Discovering God Together: The Catholic Guide to Raising Faithful Kids. 

Relationship Problems? Be Careful Who You Talk To!

Posted on by

shutterstock_248504056

New research in the Journal of Personal and Social Relationship shows that talking to your best friend about your relationship problems may very well lead to even bigger relationship problems!  According to the authors of the study,

There appears to be link between discussing problems with your partner and greater romantic love. This could mean that discussing problems strengthens feelings of love. Of course, it could also be that couples who are more in love are more likely to discuss problems or that the problems they’re discuss are less severe (e.g., “I don’t like that shirt you wear.” Vs. “I don’t like your personality.”).

When your relationship experiences problems and challenges, it is important to discuss them with your partner.  Discussing your issues with a best friend may actually be counterproductive. It is important to note that relationship work with one’s friend and partner are not mutually exclusive. You can discuss issues with both. Most likely, the problems with best friend relationship work arise when it takes place in place of relationship work with the partner.

Overall, it seems the best takeaway is to deal with relationship problems at the source. After all, your partner is in a much better position to fix what’s wrong.   READ MORE HERE.

I actually discuss this in When Divorce Is Not An Option:  How to Heal Your Marriage and Nurture Lasting Love which explores the habits that separate happy from unhappy couples.  The 8th habit is “Seek Healthy Support.”  Spouses who first try to speak to their mate about their concerns and, failing that, are careful to seek help from people who are both impartial and able to offer new tools or ideas are MUCH happier in their relationships than spouses who seek support from friends who will take their side or are in the same relationship boat.    People in happy marriages are much more likely to attend workshops and retreats on marriage improvement, read books on improving their relationships, or go to counseling.  Couples who are less happy tend not to do these things. Instead, they tend to take their problems to people who will take their side, join in their complaints, and support them in keeping things the way they are.

If you are struggling in your relationship, tell your spouse about your concerns first, but if that doesn’t seem to be working, be sure to turn to sources that can offer you something new and work for your mutual good.  And if you’d like to learn more about seeking faithful professional support for improving your marriage, please visit the Pastoral Solutions Institute to discover how our tele-counseling practice can assist you in experiencing the marriage God wants you to have.