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“The most important thing you can do with your children is play with them!” said Dr. Bruce Perry, noted child psychiatrist and author. He was answering the question, “How do we prepare our children to go back to school next fall?” Perry, a brain expert specializing in how children are impacted by trauma, gave a presentation on his neuro-sequential model of brain development to more than 800 people at an Austin Ed Fund event Monday evening. The co-author, with Oprah Winfrey, of the new book...

More and more people have adopted pets over the last year , as spending time with animals is a research-backed way to lower stress and anxiety. And yet, you don’t need to own a pet to reap the stress-reducing benefits. If pet adoption isn’t an option for you, you can still find comfort in visiting a friend’s pet, visiting the dog park on your lunch break, or taking a trip to a petting zoo over the weekend. They calm our nerves in high-pressure situations When we’re feeling particularly...

By Alison Giovanelli and Arthur J. Reynolds, Preventive Medicine, July 2021 Abstract Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) have been definitively linked with cross-domain life course well-being. While scales measuring the ten “Conventional” ACEs (ACEs-C; intrafamilial experiences of abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction) are parsimonious, use of such scales alone may fail to capture crucial information about adversity, particularly in youth growing up in underresourced areas. Patterns and...

It’s been more than a year since the COVID-19 pandemic changed life as we knew it. Many families across the country have been living in “survival mode.” Tweens and teens continue to experience a range of emotions , including sadness, anger, and fear. If left unresolved, these feelings can take a toll on health and well-being. When it comes to teens’ emotional and mental health, they are experiencing a crisis, says Dr. Edith Bracho-Sanchez , a primary care pediatrician and assistant professor...

In 1999, an adult in my private practice remembered their difficult birth in their body while receiving bodywork from me. It was an eye opening moment. I had just had my first baby and was a newly graduated Biodynamic craniosacral therapist. We are trained to ask about the birth process in our adult clients because of the compressive forces on the body particularly the cranium. My client told me that she felt her lifelong depression was associated with her near death at birth, and what...

New research sheds light on the physiology of gratitude, bringing us closer to being able to understand and harness the health benefits of this powerful emotion. How Gratitude Strengthens the Mind-Body Connection Given the clear relationship between mental and physical health, I thought that understanding what happens in the brain when we feel gratitude could tell us more about the mind-body connection—namely, how feeling positive emotion can improve bodily functions. I also thought these...

"Attachment Trauma is the severe disruption or dysfunction of the infant-maternal bond. This can result from stress and dysfunction in the family, mental health problems in the mother, and/or extended separation from the mother. These are traumatic experiences regardless of when they occur during childhood. However, when they occur during the first 2 years of life they have a uniquely damaging impact, leading to Attachment Trauma." Originally posted at CPTSDFoundation.org: ...

By Alisha Haridasani Gupta and Alexandra E. Petri, The New York Times, March 4, 2021 Congress is considering a new bill that could provide women across the country who face pregnancy discrimination a clear channel for recourse. It took only eight years, six legislative sessions and thousands of lawsuits — including one that made it to the Supreme Court — to get to this point. And now it might finally pass. The new bill , known as the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, or PWFA, was first...

By Ashley Nguyen, The Lily, March 1, 2021 LaToya Morris felt “terrified” throughout her pregnancy. Last year, as she neared 35, Morris constantly worried about experiencing a miscarriage or stillbirth. “Every day was a struggle for me,” Morris said. “I was scared that I was going to lose my baby.” [ Please click here to read more .]

By Lindsay Braman, February 15, 2021 By now, most counselors, pediatricians, teachers, and other people who work with children know about ACES: The “Adverse Childhood Experiences” scale. ACE’s predict , based on measuring the number of traumatic or adverse events experienced, which kids are likely to struggle developmentally and emotionally as they mature. (You can take the ACES quiz here ). New results from a survey based on a study of 6188 adults at Johns Hopkins shows that there are 7...

What Produces the Healing Power of Sound? We can feel it when we turn on the radio and our favorite song happens to be playing, or when we sit quietly and listen to the rain. There is a palpable peace when we are absorbed in quiet and a different kind of rejuvenation when we hear the wind in the trees. There is no doubt that sound has subtle, but profound effects on our body, minds and spirits. How exactly does sound work, though, to heal us? Sound and the Golden Number The possibility for...

What is psychological abuse? Psychological violence is a form of influence of one person on another, in which the harm done is measured not in "physical units", but in psychological ones. The most common forms of psychological abuse include humiliation, insults, threats, intimidation, and they are not necessarily verbal. Violence is not always aggressive, even with a smile on your face you can humiliate a person. What can the psychological abuse of a child lead to? The consequences of...