WHAT TYPE OF RELAXATION DO YOU NEED TODAY?

We all are aware that there are many stressful aspects of life.  What you may be less aware of is the need to create time to relax as well as what might be the best type of relaxation for you.  In my recently published book with Janice B. Longobardi, R.N. titled "I Can't Take it Anymore: How to Manage Stress so It Doesn't Manage You", available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1542458056, we discuss these issues.  Here's an excerpt from that chapter:

"I'm so stressed out".  If we had a dollar for every time we have heard that from a mental health patient, primary care clinic patient, or consulting client, we would have a considerable bonus.  American business loses millions of dollars each year to stress related illnesses.  However, stress is a choice, not an inevitability. Whether you have a high stress job such as a neurosurgeon, manager of a company, or are a worn out parent, you can feel that you experience unmanageable stress.  You likely desire relaxation but are unsure if you can achieve it.  As we have emphasized earlier, your thoughts are critical in creating your feelings of stress.  However, we want to offer you other alternatives.  All are based on activating our natural relaxation response, a deep state in contrast to the stress response.  What happens to you when you activate the relaxation response?  The following are typical responses:
•    Your heart rate decreases
•    Your breathing becomes slower and deeper
•    Your blood pressure drops or stabilizes
•    Your muscles relax

The relaxation response also increases your energy and focus, reduces aches and pains, improves your problem-solving abilities, and interferes with illness.   It’s important that you find the right relaxation procedure for you.  While there is no one technique best for everyone, you should choose one that matches well with your needs, preferences, and ways you tend to react to stress.  Remember the fight/flight response we have discussed multiple times in this book? Well, depending on how you react to stress may influence the choice of relaxation technique that works best for you.  This was well described in an article (no author cited) on relaxation techniques for stress relief at HelpGuide.org:  
The “fight” response. If you tend to become angry, agitated, or keyed up under stress, you will respond best to stress relief activities that quiet you down, such as meditation, progressive muscle relaxation, deep breathing, or guided imagery.
The “flight” response. If you tend to become depressed, withdrawn, or spaced out under stress, you will respond best to stress relief activities that are stimulating and energize your nervous system, such as rhythmic exercise, massage, mindfulness, or power yoga.
The immobilization response. If you’ve experienced stressors and become too challenged to act at all, your challenge is to first stimulate your nervous system enough to a fight or flight response (above) so you can employ the appropriate stress relief techniques. Choose physical activity that engages both your arms and legs, such as running, dancing, or tai chi, and perform it mindfully, focusing on the sensations in your limbs as you move.
It is important that you find ways to make relaxation a regular part of your daily life.  Plan for at least 10-20 minutes per day.  Some techniques can be adapted to other routines in your life such as while waiting for appointments, commuting on a bus or train, walking the dog.  It’s also helpful if you set a time each day to practice, practice when awake and alert but not drowsy, focus on your regimen, don’t become discouraged if you have some obstacles.  

What's most important is that you get started with an activity which suits your style and temperament.  For more details, you can acquire our book at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1542458056.                                         .

As always, change your thoughts (and actions) and change your results.

Dr. Paul Longobardi

For information on these and related topics, please see my website at www.successandmindset.com

STRESS MANAGEMENT AND DIABETES

Today is American Diabetes Association Alert Day.  It is designed to help all of us be aware of the risks for diabetes and the need to stay aware of healthy living to either avoid developing the disorder or manage it better if you already are so diagnosed.  If you want to take a short self-assessment as to your risks, you can go to diabetes.org/alertday.  In my recently published book with Janice B. Longobardi, R.N., "I Can't Take It Anymore: How to Manage Stress so It Doesn't Manage You", available on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/1542458056, we discussed some stress management tips/strategies to help better manage your diabetic condition.  I include these below directly from the book:

1.  Change stress producing situations, when possible.  For example, it is well known that people reduce stress to the extent that they manage their time well and don’t let themselves overcommit and become overwhelmed by events.  If you improve your organization skills and learn problem-solving skills, you reduce your likelihood of allowing yourself to become excessively stressed and then worsening your diabetic condition. 

2.  Initiate relaxation procedures.  You can try yoga, meditation, mindfulness, deep breathing, or progressive muscle relaxation (PMR).  Our favorite is PMR, in which you practice tensing and relaxing major muscle groups in sequence while combining pleasant visual imagery and proper breathing. In fact, a study published in the journal Diabetes Care showed that just five weekly sessions of a relaxation therapy can reduce blood sugar levels significantly.

3.  Learn about cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and its benefits.  In addition to learning to relax, CBT assists you in evaluating your problematic, catastrophizing, and often overgeneralized thoughts leading you to feel tense, frustrated, and upset.  You can learn to react differently to the challenging events in your life through re-evaluating your thoughts and thus your emotions.  As we always say, "Change your thoughts and change your results".  

4.  Use your social support network.  Talk to a trusted friend or confidante about your concerns.  Talking about problems can help lessen the stress associated with them.  Don't have a social support network?   Maybe this is a good time to develop one.  Also, you can speak with your spiritual leader or other members at your place of worship.  If nothing is working, consider talking with a mental health professional.

5.  Maintain healthy eating, sleep, and exercise routines.  As mentioned earlier, exercise can help lower blood sugar, so a stressful phase is not the time to stop your program.  Exercises in groups, e.g. aerobics, water aerobics, dance or yoga classes could be a lot of fun and help maintain accountability and comraderie.  

6.  Develop relaxing routines, such as starting a hobby, taking walks, or joining a class you like.  You can attend pleasant activities such as the theater and movies.  These activities will contribute to a more pleasant outlook on life as well.

7.  If the above still is not working, know that there are antianxiety medications available which may help.  You may need the medication for the short term only as some of the medications are addicting.  See your medical care provider.

 
It is very clear that diabetes is a condition possibly initiated by but at least worsened by the presence of stress.  The areas of glycemic control and self-care management both are negatively impacted by stressors.  It is important that individuals take control of their health and one way to do this is by managing effectively the stresses in your life.  

Dr. Paul Longobardi

For a copy of the complete book, please go to https://www.amazon.com/dp/1542458056. 

For additional information on these and other topics, please see my website at www.successandmindset.com

WORKPLACE STRESS AND NEUROSCIENCE

Last night, I watched a disturbing segment on the TV program series "60 Minutes".  In it, they highlighted the increasing trend of replacing American workers with foreign workers and pressuring the displaced American workers to train their replacements.  Now that's stressful.  In my recently published book "I Can't Take It Anymore: How to Manage Stress so It Doesn't Manage You", co-authored with Janice B. Longobardi, R.N., I discussed the role of stress in the workplace and the impact of neuroscience knowledge on it.  I am giving an excerpt of that topic from the book, available from Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1542458056

If you ever have held a job, you have experienced workplace stress.  It is a part of work life no matter how much you enjoy your job and work.  You may have a project to complete on short notice, a demanding supervisor, or too many job demands, among other work challenges.  Yet, when the demands are chronic, you can feel excessively challenged and/or overwhelmned. These demands can lead to decrements in your physical and mental health.  These effects can include problems such as headache, stomachache, sleep disturbances, short temper and difficulty concentrating. Chronic stress can result in anxiety, depression, insomnia, high blood pressure, a weakened immune system, and overeating.  What can you do to handle these situations more effectively?  Well, some of the answers are included in strategies discussed already.  However, there is yet another factor to consider, namely the role of social support in our lives and its capacity to reduce stress.

Workplace stress is common.  Management studies have estimated $300 million lost to work related stress conditions per year.  According to the American Psychological Association workplace survey (2012), 65% of Americans rated their job as a major source of stress.  At the same time, only 37% of those surveyed thought they were doing a good job of managing their work related stressors.

Some common workplace stressors include: unchallenging work, few opportunities for growth or advancement, excessive workloads, and lack of control over work conditions.
How can brain science help us to understand and achieve stress management in the workplace?  There increasingly is evidence that various relaxation techniques for stress can help us concentrate and focus better, strengthen our brains, and reduce age-related brain atrophy.  These techniques consequently influence company success factors such as increased workplace productivity.  Strategies for reducing stress include meditation, yoga, and progressive muscle relaxation.  In the last few years, there have been a number of research studies, predominantly with meditators.  The results have shown that meditators developed stronger connections between different regions of their brains and showed fewer signs of brain atrophy of white matter tissue, critical for brain connectivity.   Additional recent studies noted that individuals who practiced mindfulness meditation for one half hour per day for just eight weeks had changes in gray matter density in the hippocampus, an area associated with memory, as well as in the amygdala, associated with stress.  Increasing activity in the caudal anterior cingulate cortex, in the frontal area of our brain, has been associated with more brain activity for those characterized with a growth mindset as described by Dr. Carol Dweck of Stanford University (Dweck, 2008).  Also, in an article in the Los Angeles Times titled "Mindful Management", author Robin Rauzi (2013) noted the existence of Executive Mind classes in the MBA program at the Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University. Meditation and the power of attention are taught as core skills for leaders and managers.  She also observed that multiple mainstream companies such as Google and General Mills have in-house programs to increase mindful approaches and credit such with increasing their productivity.

     Given the above, it should be clear that we need not wait for the company retreat to reduce our stress and burn-out.  Most such retreats involve time for self-contemplation, relaxation, meditation.  Perhaps leaders, entrepreneurs, small business owners, and network marketers might planfully and proactively promote such strategies in the work environment.  They all involve a focusing of one's attention, breathing, visual imagery, emotions, and bodily sensations.  

In my next post, I'll provide some additional tips from the book, which is available from Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1542458056

As always, change your thoughts, change your results.  Good luck on your journey.

Dr. Paul Longobardi

For information on these and related topics, please see my website at www.successandmindset.com

STRESS RELIEF AND FAITH/SPIRITUALITY

I have written a lot lately about stress management.  In fact, I have just published a book with co-author Janice B. Longobardi titled "I Can't Take It Anymore: How to Manage Stress so It Doesn't Manage You", available at Amazon Books, https://www.amazon.com/dp/1542458056  

So how does faith and spirituality assist you in managing stress?  Our priest at church yesterday included references to our book in his sermon on the travails of Abraham in the Book of Genesis.  So, I thought that I would include a section on this topic from our book.  I hope it is helpful to you in your life's journey.  

Faith is a belief or trust in God, while spirituality is an attachment to religious values. Whichever term you prefer, the concept can be used to successfully reduce stress and improve quality of life.   At its core, spirituality helps to give our lives context. It's not necessarily connected to a specific belief system or even religious worship. Instead, it arises from your connection with yourself and with others, the development of your personal value system, and your search for meaning in life.  For many, spirituality takes the form of religious observance, prayer, meditation, or a belief in a higher power. For others, it can be found in nature, music, art, or a secular community. Spirituality is different for everyone.

How can spirituality help with stress relief?  Spirituality has many benefits for stress relief and overall mental health. It can help you:
1. Feel a sense of purpose. Cultivating your spirituality may help uncover what's most meaningful in your life. By clarifying what's most important, you can focus less on the unimportant things and eliminate stress.
2. Connect to the world. The more you feel you have a purpose in the world, the less solitary you feel—even when you're alone. This can lead to a valuable inner peace during difficult times.
3. Release control. When you feel part of a greater whole, you realize that you aren't responsible for everything that happens in life. You can share the burden of tough times, as well as the joys of life's blessings with those around you.
4. Expand your support network. Whether you find spirituality in a church, mosque or synagogue, in your family, or in nature walks with a friend, this sharing of spiritual expression can help build relationships.
5. Lead a healthier life. People who consider themselves spiritual appear to be better able to cope with stress, and heal from illness or addiction faster.

Many different research studies have established a connection between faith/spirituality and stress relief.  In general, studies and scientific reviews have shown promise in demonstrating that the greater the amount of religiousness (faith) that people have, the greater the positive effects on their mental health and stress reduction.  

In one review (Smith et al, 2003), researchers reviewed over 147 studies that questioned over 98,000 subjects.  Their goal was to determine if a person’s amount of religiousness had any effect on depression or depressive symptoms, as well as perceived stress. Their conclusion showed a promising association between the two. The more religious a person was, the fewer depressive symptoms they experienced. Furthermore, they found that this inverse relationship between religiousness and depressive symptoms might be stronger during high-stress times. This was consistent with the conclusion that faith/spirituality mediated reactions to stress situations, particularly those potentially contributing to depression, a frequent reaction to prolonged stress.

There have been other studies as well on how faith/spirituality improves mood, which is helpful in stressful situations.  Law et al (2009) studied church attendance and marital status in relation to mood among older adults.  In the study, 791 older adults were followed for eight years. Researchers concluded that church attendance exhibited a protective effect with respect to the health of the older adults. It was further theorized that having a sense of purpose could explain this protective effect.  There have been some studies showing a connection between spirituality and a slowing of the effects of dementing illness in older adults (Hill, 2006; Kaufman, Anaki, Binns, & Freedman, 2007).  Explanations have been offered in terms of the buffering effects of the production of endorphins (hormones known to be related to feelings of well-being) in spiritual moments. 

So, take heart that your faith/spirituality likely is helping you cope with stressors in your life. As always, good luck on your life's journey.

Dr. Paul Longobardi

For information on these and related topics please see my website at www.successandmindset.com.  Again, for a copy of our book, please follow this link https://www.amazon.com/dp/1542458056  

ARE YOU WORKING YOUR PROPER HOURS?

We just celebrated yet another special day.  No, it was not Presidents' Day.  Rather, Work Your Proper Hours Day was February 24, 2017, a Friday this year.  It is the day when the average person who does unpaid overtime finishes the unpaid days they do every year, and starts earning for themselves.The day recognizes the millions of people at work who regularly do unpaid overtime, giving their employers billions of dollars of free work.  If you are one of those people, consider how well or poorly you are balancing your life and what effect this is having on your mindset.  Then, consider four tips below to help you make the most of your own time:

1.       Take a proper lunch break.  Read something interesting, get some fresh air and take a walk.  You’ll be surprised how much more refreshed you will feel when you go back to work.

2.      Engage in stress reduction.  Take several short breaks during the day to close your eyes, breathe deeply and say “relax” to yourself when you exhale as you imagine a pleasant scene.  Overwork and stress are detrimental to your mental and physical health.  I and my co-author Janice B. Longobardi, RN, have written extensively about this in our newly published book "I Can't Take it Anymore: How to Manage Stress so It Doesn't Manage You", available at Amazon books.  https://www.amazon.com/dp/1542458056

3.      Leave work on time and enjoy your evening.  Enjoy your relationships whether with a significant other or with your children. They will all appreciate it and you will feel better and more relaxed when you retire for the night.

4.      Give yourself mental permission to enjoy your own time.  You can affirm to yourself that “I work best when I care for myself”.  If you repeat it several times, before long you will get in the habit of working your proper hours.  AND YOU WILL ENJOY YOUR LIFE MORE.

Implement the above suggestions and you will regain more charge of your time and life.  As always, remember that when you Change Your Thoughts You Change Your Results.

Dr. Paul Longobardi

For more information on these and related topics, please see my website at www.successandmindset.com

HOW TO USE NEUROSCIENCE TO CHANGE YOUR THOUGHTS

Up until several decades ago, scientists thought our nervous system was fixed and incapable of regeneration.  However, we are learning that we can reshape our neural pathways to make us more successful and happy.  Scientists call this neuroplasticity and it involves the rewiring of neural circuits in our brain.  Even more amazing, what you think about can have as much power as what you actually do.  When I was younger and my piano teacher asked me how much practice I'd done, I would tell her that I'd done not much real practice but a lot of imaginal practice.  While she never accepted that, scientists at Harvard Medical have shown that there was more truth to my statement than even I had thought.  They conducted a study with volunteers who were asked to learn and practice a five-finger piano exercise.  Half of the volunteers were asked to actually practice two hours per day for five days.  The other half merely thought about practicing, holding their hands still while playing the music in their heads.  At the end of five days, both groups underwent a neural stimulation task allowing scientists to infer the function of the neurons.  It turned out that the same area of the motor cortex, involved in piano playing, had grown in the volunteers who thought about playing in an organized manner, just as the cortex grew for those who actually played.  This also has been noted for basketball players who imaginally practiced making free throws versus players who didn't think about it.  The players who imaginally practiced performed better at free throws than those who did not practice imaginally (it's still better to do actual practice but visual imagery helps). 

So, it appears clear that mental training can change the physical state of the brain and that the brain doesn't know the difference between real and imagined exercise.  My piano teacher would have been amazed.  However, there is a problem and that is that negative experiences and thoughts can hinder our brain functioning.  Work in neuroendocrinology at Stanford University has shown that stress is associated with neural degeneration because of the production of cortisol which shrinks the hippocampus of our brain, one area known able to regenerate new neurons.  Therefore, depending on what you think, you can expand or contract brain connections leading to more or less ability to learn new information and function in new situations.   How can this be applied to your life? 

As I mentioned, the brain has a difficult time distinguishing between reality and imagination.  If you can limit your exposure to negative thoughts, people, and excessive stress, you can reduce their effects on your brain.  Instead, here are several applications:

1.  Resist the tendency to use negative and self defeating language.  This is a tenet of the mindset view as what we tell ourselves repeatedly becomes ingrained psychologically and neurologically as well.  Avoid limiting words such as "never", "can't", instead try "When I can", "How can I . . ."

2.  Use superlatives.  "I'm fine" rather than "I'm OK".  This takes you to a new energy level.  Humility in life often is esteemed but doesn't always do your brain well.

3.  Think larger than what you want.  Set your intention larger than you desire.  As you do so, you expand your thinking and begin to consider ways to make the larger goal more attainable.

4.  Begin and end communications and your day positively.  This sets the positive tone which helps keep dopamine, a neurotransmitter, flowing in your brain.  This contributes to increased sense of well being.

5.  Affirmations and declarations.  Begin to compile a list of affirmations, positive statements about yourself as you are and/or expect to be, e.g. "I connect well with clients and bring value".  Taking several minutes each day to repeat these sets your brain on the way to positive reshaping. 

So changing your thoughts changes your brain and your results.  Take control.

Dr. Paul Longobardi

For more information on these and related topics, please see my website at www.successandmindset.com

TIPS TO MAINTAIN YOUR FOCUS

So how are you doing in the New Year?  Hopefully you have not lost sight of your goals.  One of the key factors to ensure your success is the degree to which you are able to focus.  To maintain productivity and achieve the results you want, it is important to focus.  The correlate is that the lack of focus contributes to increased stress.  

In today's fast moving world,  maintaining your focus is one of the biggest personal productivity challenges. You can lose much mental and physical energy due to mental overwhelm and information overload. This sense of overwhelm and inability to keep up with the daily flow of information, interactions, and distractions is a significant cause of stress and decrease in productivity for many people.

Why is your mental energy not as focused as you would like right now?  In working with thousands of patients and clients over four decades, see if any of the following apply to you: easy distractibility; negative thoughts and self-talk; excessive self-criticism; perfectionism; unrealistic multitasking; low self-esteem; information overload; procrastination; poor sleep and diet; lack of exercise?

Imagine how greater focus could increase your energy and productivity and reduce your stress level.  Consider some of the following seven tips to help you maintain more laser focus:

1. Stop multitasking 

If you are easily distracted as you try to concentrate on a project, you are not alone. Mental distractions create energy dissipation. Think of all the distractions throughout your typical day: a phone rings, an urgent email pops up, somebody interrupts your train of thought, etc. A common response is to multitask, but multitasking doesn't work. Our brains cannot do parallel processing if it requires conscious awareness. Multitasking is really rapid task switching. The more complex and unfamiliar the tasks are, the longer it is going to take to switch between them. Multitasking causes distractibility and interferes with the completion of either task. 

2. Create awareness and use mindfulness. 
We can experience more focus if we become aware and give our full attention to the present moment. As we cultivate awareness, we gain a state of clarity. Similarly, when we are truly present and aware, our perception is heightened. We notice things we wouldn't otherwise. We experience more insights. We respond to situations as they arise without stress or worry generated by mental distractions. To experience this mental clarity, consider the use of mindfulness, meditation, or progressive muscle relaxation.  Close your eyes, turn off any sound, and be still and quiet for a few moments. Neuroscience research suggests the brain needs about two seconds to deactivate the current circuits and enable an insight to emerge into conscious attention.

3. Identify, write down, and challenge your disruptive and disturbing thoughts. 
When you feel hampered by persistent negative thoughts, write them all down and set the time when you will review the list. Writing thoughts down decreases their negative influence on the mind. When your scheduled time comes, review the list and determine which thoughts actually have any truth to them.  Globally judgmental statements about yourself such as "I can't do this; I never do things right" deserve to be challenged and changed.  See earlier posts for more tips about how to change your thoughts.  

4. Break down your projects into achievable pieces.  

Decide why you are doing the project or task in the first place.  This  provides motivation and momentum to move forward.  Break your project into well-defined goals that will serve as the milestones for your work. Use SMART goals: Specific; measureable; achievable; realistic; time limited.   Make them big enough to really stretch your comfort zone. You likely often underestimate what you can achieve.  Most people do.  Instead, visualize your outcome.  The power of visualization often is underestimated in terms of mental focus.  See the outcome occurring for you.  Identify the cost of your goal.  Set deadlines for each goal.  Schedule portions of your day when you can accomplish a piece of the overall project and achieve a milestone.  Breaking down your goals into achievable pieces helps maintain a focus which reduces stress.  

5.  Be willing to accept uncertainty.

How comfortable are you with uncertainty? What stops some people from pursuing their dreams and their mission is fear of the unknown. Interestingly, uncertainty can actually add to your motivation.  When you take risks, you face uncertainty and unknown likelihood of reward. The anticipation of uncertain rewards has been linked to increased production of the neuromodulator dopamine, which is responsible for a more focused attention and more pleasurable experience. A degree of uncertainty helps keep your interest, motivation, and excitement going.  

6.  Celebrate your victories.  
Don't wait for the next holiday to start a celebration. Celebrate victories large and small during your day.  If you wait for only a major accomplishment, you may lose motivation, interest, and focus.  We all should be able to celebrate something each day.  Look for your accomplishment and celebrate it.  It helps keep your mindset in a more positive frame by doing so.    

7.  Find people who help elevate you.    

Sometimes, all we need to do to get energized is to talk to certain people.  It often is said that you should try to be around people who are doing what you want to do or are where you want to be.  Most likely these will not be people who drain your energy and focus but rather encourage or stimulate you to increase your energy and focus.  

As you take more personal responsibility for your energy it likely will have the effect of attracting more people with positive energy into your life. With some practice and conscious choice, you will be that person with the focus and personal energy around whom others want to be. 

Think about what one improvement you can make today to maintain your focus and productivity better.  

Dr. Paul Longobardi

For additional information on these and other topics, please visit my website at www.successandmindset.com. 

SHOULD AN EMOTIONAL SUPPORT ANIMAL BE WITH YOU ON YOUR NEXT FLIGHT?

Emotional support animals (ESA) are back in the news again.  These are animals purported to provide support solely by their presence, in contrast to Service Animals (SA), who have been trained to perform a task for a disabled person.  There have been several television stories over the last several days questioning whether the use of and approval process for ESAs  is being abused.  The television commentators exposed a range of unqualified persons performing overly short evaluations and issuing letters in support of persons having ESAs on airline flights. Other issues raided on television included the possibility of untrained ESAs (predominantly dogs) becoming vicious and/or interfering with the functioning of trained SAs.  Some months ago, I wrote a post on this topic and am reposting it in the spirit of the current times.  I believe it adds clarity to the issue.  Read on.

While waiting to board an airplane from Houston, Texas, to Belize, I met a man who was travelling with his Emotional Support Animal (ESA), a lovely Goldendoodle.  In case you're as perplexed as I was, that is a mix of a Golden Retriever and a Poodle.  He had a business in Belize and was travelling with the dog, who occupied a window seat with the man on the plane.  That got me rethinking the issue of when is your animal a pet and when is it a therapeutic aid, a topic also discussed by Rebecca Clay in an article in the Monitor on Psychology for September 2016.  In the mental health area, there are Emotional Support Animals (ESA), Service Animals (SA, including Psychiatric Service Animals), and Animals for Assisted Therapy (AAT).  The main distinction is that the ESA provides support by its presence alone while a SA has been trained specifically to perform tasks for someone with a disability, such as reminding them to take their medication or checking a room and turning on lights for a person with anxiety.  

Emotional support animals make sense, given the large literature on animals’ ability to reduce human stress and anxiety and provide other health benefits, says psychologist Aubrey H. Fine, Ed.D., a professor of education at California State Polytechnic Institute in Pomona and editor of the "Handbook on Animal-assisted Therapy: Foundations and Guidelines for Animal-assisted Interventions" (2015). Dr. Fine did suggest that some people may be abusing the ESA concept so they can have their pets with them.  Individuals can go online, answer some questions, and receive a certification and jacket for their dog.  In fact, the issue of need for the ESA is a clinical/forensic question involving determination of mental health disability of the individual as well as demonstrated clinical benefit of having the animal present.  The evaluation should be conducted by a licensed mental health professional.

Additionally, there is not much research to support the claim that emotional support animals help people more than traditional pets.  This is according to co-authors Cassandra L. Boness, Jeffrey N. Younggren, PhD, a psychology professor at Missouri, and Jennifer A Boisvert, PhD, a private practitioner in Beverly Hills and Long Beach, California (Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 2016). Their review of the literature revealed little evidence that emotional support animals are effective, The co-authors indicated that "The research we did find was inconclusive".

The certification of ESAs appears to have become a growing industry. There are a number of online commercial entities that specialize in providing SA or ESA certification for dogs and other animals without ever having seen or evaluated a person or their animal. For instance, the United States Dog Registry provides three levels of certification: SA dogs, ESA dogs and therapy dogs. In their advertising, the U.S. Dog Registry states that certification will allow the animal (ESA, SA, or therapy dog) to fly in a commercial airplane for free and will allow the dog in all housing regardless of an existing pet policy.

The media has taken note of the topic of airline accommodations being made for ESAs.  In a 2014 New Yorker article titled, “Pets allowed: Why are so many animals now in places where they shouldn’t be?” author Patricia Marks reported that the National Service Animal Registry, a private commercial enterprise that sells certificates, vests, and badges for helper animals, signed up 11,000 animals online in 2013, even though the animals may not have merited certification. In a USA Today (2015) article, the editorial staff took the position that while SAs were acceptable, ESAs infringed on others' rights and reflected an exploitation of law and regulation by animal lovers. The article was critical of how some online commercial entities provide ESA certification.  As I noted above, some commercial entities render a letter in support of needing an ESA without a licensed mental health professional seeing or evaluating an individual or their pet in person. There are commercial services specializing in online and telephone disability assessments and offering letters of certification to those thought to qualify.   

It is easy to see how an industry has developed around the certification of ESAs, allowing pet owners to have their pets travel on commercial aircraft at no cost. Nonetheless, it is clear to me that these commercial evaluative services are questionable from a professional standards perspective and inconsistent with existent psychological ethics and forensic standards. This media publicity and industry has implications for my fellow psychologists as they might be pressured by patient requests for a letter of evaluation in support of their need for an ESA or certification of their pet.  In fact, at a former clinic where I worked, it was not uncommon to have patients requesting such letters from their clinicians.  

So what are we to do about all this?  It is clear that Service Animals provide specific valuable services.  Animals used in Animal Assisted Therapy also provide clear benefit in a carefully planned clinical program.  And we all love our pets.  But what are we to do about Emotional Support Animals?  It would appear that, given the paucity of empirical evidence to support the concept, more careful evaluations are in order conducted in person by licensed mental health professionals. These evaluations would need to meet more specific criteria such as those suggested by attorney John Ensminger and neuropsychologist Dr. J. Lawrence Thomas in Law and Human Behavior in 2013: 

1.  Confirm that the individual actually has a mental health diagnosis.

2.  Explain clearly how the animal helps lessen the severity of the mental health condition.

3.  Describe how the individual and animal interact, which assumes that the evaluator meets with both.

4.  Explain clearly the possible negative effects of the individual not having the animal with them.

5.  Note any training the animal has had from a qualified trainer, if appropriate.

This appears to be an issue gradually getting out of control.  What is needed is a mix of compassion as well as evaluations marked by more scientific rigor.  This will assist all the travelling public.

Good luck on your journey (and airplane flight) as always.

Dr. Paul Longobardi

For information on these and related topics, please see my website at www.successandmindset.com. 

FIVE TIPS ON MAINTAINING A HEALTHY MINDSET DURING THE NEW YEAR

We all intend to keep positive and frequently make New Year's resolutions to do.  Like so many other resolutions or goals, we often have no specific idea how to do what we resolve and no plan as well.  To help you maintain your most positive mindset in this new year, see below for five tips which will help you if you implement them.   

1.       Be grateful for what you do have.  Even when you are going through challenges, there are many things for which you can be grateful.  Take several minutes at the start and end of each day to recognize those things.

2.      Understand and accept that you will have challenges, everyone does.  Adopt the SUE strategy to overcome them.  Treat the challenge as specific (not general or always occurring), unstable (doesn’t always happen to you) and external (not internal and a reflection of your deficiencies).

3.      Surround yourself with positive people.  The people you have around you have a big impact on you in terms of how you see yourself, how successful you are, and how you spend your time.  If all you hear is negativity that is what you will come to think.  Make a conscious effort to be around more positive people.

4.      Have a clear plan for your day and week.  As the old saying goes, “If you don’t know what route to take to Rome, any one will do but you won’t get there”.  The same is true for your life. If you know what you want to accomplish, you will focus more on those goals.  Daily plans lead to weekly goals and you will accomplish more.

5.      Have an exercise plan.  It is well known that regular exercise contributes to mental health as well as physical health.  It combats depression and improves your mood.  Build this activity into your daily routine, preferably in the morning. 

     So, may I suggest you start by implementing one tip per week over the next five weeks and then incorporate them into your daily routine? 

Good luck.  Remember, change your thoughts, change your results.  

Dr. Paul Longobardi

For more detail and  information on these and related topics, please see my website at www.successandmindset.com 

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS AND NEUROSCIENCE PERSPECTIVES

Well, here we are approaching the New Year.  Many of you are setting new goals for yourselves. Why is it that so often you neither persist with nor achieve them?  Alas, out of the few people who do set goals, most don't take goal setting seriously, don't do it scientifically, and do it only once each year.  In all my work with coaching clients, client consultees, and patients, I always emphasize and teach goal setting and mindset change first.  Only then do I deal with issues of problem solving, decision making, time management, or any other area.  Until your specialized knowledge area is combined with goals and mindset, your knowledge will not allow you to accomplish much or maintain any changes made for very long.  

So what can neuroscience tell us about goal setting?  

1.  Repetition is a good way to embed a goal in your non-conscious mind.  I've always been told that "repetition is the mother of all learning".  However, it's also true for goal setting as well.  It turns out that neuroimaging of the brain shows us that initially setting a goal is a conscious activity.  However, it is in the non-conscious mind areas that behaviors become consolidated to the point of being unconscious and automatic, what we know as habits.  In fact, becoming unconsciously competent is a cornerstone of success for many people, and occurs through repetition.  New neural patterns form only after they've been repeated enough times.  If you make resolutions and don't continue to repeat and reinforce your desire for these goals, then no new neural connections are made and no new habits occur.  The best example of this is the frequent resolution by people to lose weight in the new year.  The goal is not repeated regularly and does not strengthen in the brain.  It also is true that 21-30 days are needed to consolidate a new habit on a neurological basis.  When you repeat your goals again and again, programming occurs in the subconscious mind.  You are best advised to rewrite your goals daily, think about them positively, repeat them, and visualize them occurring.  You can't force this.  It needs to be a process of creating new patterns of thinking and visualizing, as well as clearing away self doubts (mindset issue). So, it's not the resolution that you set once but the thoughts and visual images you focus on all day that create your new long term behavioral change by making the behaviors unconscious and automatic, i.e. a habit.

2.  Use emotion to create energy for your goal.  The strength and number of neural connections associated with a thought or behavior increase when you're in an emotional state. Unfortunately, too often this process occurs for negative thoughts and behaviors reinforcing avoidance and escape.  But it can work as well for positive thoughts and behaviors. Neuroimaging findings indicate that neural connections are stronger when formed with high emotion.  This also is why many "casually" formed resolutions fail as they are set with no emotion.  You're prone to become ambivalent, uncertain, and intermittent in carrying out your goal, particularly at the first obstacle.  Do not take goal setting lightly or casually.  Whatever your goal is, it's about your life and that's important. We know you can rewire your brain.  All the research in brain plasticity tells us so.  

3.  Take your goal setting seriously.  Rewrite goals daily.  Think about them constantly. Visualize yourself accomplishing them.  Then take massive action to accomplish them and soon your behaviors will become automatic.

May 2017 be the most happy and successful year of your life.  Best wishes for the New Year.

Dr. Paul Longobardi

For information on these and related topics, please see my website at www.successandmindset.com.

SCHEDULE YOUR SUCCESS FOR THE NEW YEAR!

Well, the New Year is soon upon us and we'll be inundated with talk of resolutions, even though most resolutions are discarded within the first month of the new year.  Why is it that some of what we think of as our best intentions do not happen? What are a few thoughts as to how you can make your goals become a reality for you?  One strategy is to schedule your success. 

I have spent weekend days saying how much I will get done and then find that I spent the time reading the newspaper, checking Facebook, going for a walk, until the day is gone.  I thought that I had made a decision to get some work done.  Alas, neuroscience tells us (and me!) that there is an illusory quality to the concept of "decision making".  It is only an abstract object in our minds. As such, I never really experience the "weekend" but rather one moment after another.  In each moment, I never directed myself behaviorally to take action.  Other actions, as noted above, took precedence, were more comfortable, presented less resistance to me. 

So when are we the most productive and follow through the most with our intentions?  It is during those times which are scheduled.  When you act based on a schedule, there is nothing better than the desired action.  If I exercise at 7 AM every day, I don't have to think about what should I do or when should I do it.  If you compare this to an intention to "exercise tomorrow", there is all manner of activity in which I can engage, e.g. drinking another cup of coffee, watching the TV news, etc. giving me resistance to my intention to exercise.  When we think about decision making, note that if we have not created a clear, defined, and strong behavioral pattern to perform an action, it does not occur.  This is particularly true when our intended action goes up against well developed patterns of coffee drinking, reading the newspaper, watching TV, etc.  If you want to do a certain act, don't worry about "self discipline" or motivation.  Schedule the act specifically, condition yourself to do it without fail, and after 21 days minimum it will become a habit like so many others we have.

I'm sure you've heard how most people spend more time planning and scheduling their vacation than other areas of their lives such as careers, family, finances, etc.  You don't have to become a "time nut" to schedule your success.  Just pick one or two goal areas important to you, perhaps exercise or improving your financial knowledge, and schedule regular times to do the activity.  The time does not have to be excessive.  In the examples I just gave, starting with 15 minutes a day per activity would be great if you're currently at zero time.  Just schedule it and stay with it for three weeks, you're on your way.

Best wishes for your scheduled success.

Dr. Paul Longobardi

For information on these and related topics, please see my website at www.successandmindset.com

TIPS ON HOW TO STAY STRESS FREE DURING THE HOLIDAYS

We are all well aware that the holiday season can bring on immense amounts of stress. Between the shopping, social events, extra hours at work, and extracurricular time expected of you overall—things can get a bit hectic. So how can you remain stress-free, no matter in what circumstances you are?   Here are a few helpful tips on how you can obtain that stress-free state of mind you wish to have this holiday season.

Tip number one - maintain healthy habits through the holiday season, no matter how hard it can be. If you’re at a holiday party or a get-together with friends, don’t overindulge in the calorie-loaded treats sure to be there. This will only add stress and guilt, or if you do indulge, give you eater’s remorse. To help curb this, enjoy a healthy snack before heading to parties, this will curb your hunger, and you will be less likely to chow down on all of the food present. Also, just not overdo it—get proper rest and maintain your physical activity.  This is still just as important as ever.

Tip number two -The holidays are meant for vacations! Or at least some time to yourself. If you’re unable to take a weekend trip, try to at least make some time for just yourself. Whether you are sitting with your favorite book and album playing, or you’re taking a walk around your neighborhood, having time alone is healthy and conducive to clearing your mind. As you take this alone time, be mindful of slowing your breath, really take it all in and help restore your inner calm.

Tip number three - Don’t feel pressured to be a part of everything. There is obviously going to be a lot going on this holiday season with family, friends, and co-workers. If there is something you do not want to do, simply say so! There will always be next year, or next weekend for that matter. Don't give away control of your time and your life to others or events, you are responsible for your choices, make wise ones. Be mindful of what is best for you, and what you want, not what everyone else wants.

Don’t let your holiday demands get the best of you. Step back and take a breather every now and then. Take care of yourself as we end 2016, so you can start 2017 on the right foot! 

Dr. Paul Longobardi

For information on these and related topics, please see my website at www.successandmindset.com..

INCREASING TEAM COHESION DURING THE HOLIDAY SEASON

Well, it is the holiday time of the year again.  You're trying to run your business in the midst of holiday excitement, stress, and some distractibility on the part of employees.  Yet, team cohesion, or that sense of "we-ness" and being part of a supportive organization, should not be ignored at this time of year.  If you do so, you risk having employees less well connected to the company culture and mission. 

What can you do during this holiday season to increase employee motivation and cohesion? Here are three strategies:

1.  Show appreciation during the holidays.  As mentioned earlier, it's a stressful time of the year.  It’s important to remember to recognize and appreciate your employees.  You can express this in several ways from less to more expensive.  You can let them know your appreciation during an appropriate meeting.  You could send them thank you cards noting your appreciation.  Depending on the size of your group, you can take them out to lunch or dinner.  This was a personal favorite of mine when I was in management and took the team out and let them know how grateful I was for their work, loyalty, and commitment to the organization..  It always was highly appreciated.    

2.  Create a congenial and friendly environment.  Realizing that the holiday season is a busy and hectic one for employees, you can ensure that the workplace is a welcoming, relaxed, and enjoyable place for your employees to be.  Nobody needs to come to a chaotic and tense workplace at any time of the year.  During the holiday season it is even worse.  Work to create a cohesive venue showing appreciation as discussed in the first strategy.  Also remember to be aware of yourself.  You always set the tone for the mood of the company.  Take care to manage your own stress levels.  If you are frenetic that will affect others.  Model the positivity you want from others and you will get it.  

3.  Consider a holiday event in the workplace.  No matter what are the personal beliefs of your employees, you can create a company or team event to foster team cohesion and bring together your employees in a positive manner.  I have been in management settings where there have been large organizational events on site but also where departments or teams had smaller events on site.  Be sure not to place too much responsibility on employees for the event or it can become only one more stressing event during the holidays.  I always found it appreciated by all who attended.

Remember that the way you handle the holiday season serves to wrap up the current year and kick off the next year.  Consider what message you want to send during this time.  It is a golden opportunity to build a higher level of team cohesion while having some fun. 

Dr. Paul Longobardi

For information on these and related topics, please go to my website at www.successandmindset.com.  
 

ARE EFFECTIVE LEADERS BORN OR MADE?

As I have reflected on the recent presidential election, I have thought about what it takes to be an effective leader.  Are they born leaders or a product of the times in which they serve?  I came across a post I wrote approximately one year ago on this topic.  I am reposting it as we consider what makes effective leaders.  

Just this week I was reading an article in the Los Angeles Times by Michael D'Antonio titled "Trump's royal inheritance" (12/3/15).  In that article, the author, who has written a biography of Mr. Trump, attempted to explain some of what he described as Mr. Trump's rejection of "basic standards of decorum".  Rather than explain it as a psychological malady, he discussed this throughout the article in terms of Mr. Trump's view of his own leadership traits as an innate ability.

Putting aside Mr. Trump's candidacy for President of the United States (now President-elect), I was intrigued by the question raised, namely the title of this article: Are effective leaders born or made?  This is the most basic and frequently asked question about leadership.  The reality is that research on the topic leads to the answer both, but mostly made.  In research summarized recently in the journal Psychology Today, estimates were that leadership is approximately one-third born and two-thirds made.  This makes some sense when we observe that to lead effectively an organization or military unit is quite complex.  It is not reasonable to expect a person would be born with all the requisite skills to do this complex job.  

On the other hand, based on research, there do appear to be some inborn characteristics predisposing individuals to be leaders.  Research suggests that extroversion, assertiveness, analytic skills, and social intelligence are associated with obtaining leadership positions and leader effectiveness.  So can you become a leader if you are not born with the above skill-sets? Fortunately, the answer is yes as many skills of leadership can be learned through training and self development.  The range of leadership competencies also includes good written and oral skills, self-confidence, self-awareness, emotional stability, and openness to new experiences. All of these are trainable and subject to experience whether you are extroverted or introverted.  

 As Erika Andersen wrote in a Forbes article on leadership (Are Leaders Born or Made?, 2012), "becoming truly self-aware means to cultivate, on a daily basis, an accurate sense of how you show up in the world and what motivates you".   She noted that the majority of leaders with whom she'd worked were not self-aware and offered three recommendations:

Reflect on your own actions as impartially as possible
Invite feedback
Listen well

In working with and coaching numerous leaders over the years, I have found as well that both self-awareness and openness to experience are critical factors related to how well prospective leaders will develop. Those more open to feedback and learning embody a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset, in which you either are born a leader or not (credit Dr. Carol Dweck for this distinction).  As has been shown, mindset is the ingredient driving success to include good leadership.  Most of the time in work with leaders, it is their mindset where I have to do the most work.  Almost all other factors can be developed and trained.  So the good news is that if you seek positions of leadership, you are advised to seek out training and self development. With reasonable self awareness, openness to new experiences, and a mindset working for you rather than against, your chances of success are good.  As always, change your thoughts and change your results.

Dr. Paul Longobardi

For information on these and related topics, please see my website at www.successandmindset.com. 

IS THERE ANYTHING YOU CAN LEARN ABOUT STRESS MANAGEMENT FROM OUR PRESIDENTS?

Lately it has seemed that we deal with endless stressful events.  The President is in the middle of much of it.  The President has to deal with political friction, economic worries, and global terrorism.  The two political parties have just managed the stresses of a contentious presidential election.  Various levels of government leadership must be vigilant about many issues including the possibility of an attack on our country.  No matter who you supported in the recent election, how do you keep your perspective in the midst of such challenges?  While there are multiple ways to manage stress including proper sleep, diet, maintenance of support systems, and taking time off, I earlier noticed four strategies which I believe have served our leaders well and may also serve you.  Consider the following:

1.  Eliminate Negative Self-Talk.  When was the last time you heard any President or major leader putting themselves down or voicing negative thoughts about themselves?  It's not that they don't have them.  Instead, it is the ability to notice what you're thinking, write it down if needed, and thereby loosen the power you give to the negative thought.  Blair Singer, a coach/trainer I've studied, talks about "little voice management" and how your use of extremes such as "never", "worst", and "overwhelmned" are both not true and interfere with your best functioning.  The brain does not know what is true but rather responds to your degree of negativity.  Eliminate your negative self talk.

2.  Restructure your perspective.  When you are feeling stressed, your tendency is to blame the circumstances for your upset and worry.  Would it not be easy for Presidents to blame external events and crises for why they feel stressed?  However, the key is how you respond to the challenges.  In a famous book titled Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl described his imprisonment in a Nazi death camp.  He noted that although everything in his life could be controlled, no one but he could control how he reacted to his circumstances.  In taking control to restructure his perspective, he adapted to an exceptionally traumatic and stressful circumstance.  Have you ever heard a President say "Everything is going wrong", "I'm a complete failure", or "Nothing will work out"?  I doubt it.  Instead, to correct this tendency to which we are prone, identify and challenge the thoughts/statements/beliefs causing the distress.  After all, none of the above statements are true and your mindset influences your brain.  Presidents have advisors and cabinets to help them with this but you can do it yourself.

3.  Practice breathing.  How do you feel when you hurry speaking without taking regular breaths?  Probably more tense.  The practice of being aware of your breathing is common to many relaxation strategies including meditation, yoga, and progressive muscle relaxation.  When you feel stressed, focus on your breathing for just a minute or two.  This keeps your mind from straying onto worrisome events and slows you down. Have you ever seen a President with pressured speech?  No, they take the time to pace themselves and this helps them maintain a calm attitude even in the face of crises.

4.  Practice gratitude.  Take time to note, say, write down, or share several things each day for which you are grateful.  It works to help improve mood, lessen tension, and increase energy.  Research studies have shown that it helps reduce the stress hormone cortisol, which may be involved in the improvements noted.  

While few of us, including me, face the stresses of a death camp or pressures of life and death world events, our daily world confronts us with many challenges.  How you respond to these challenges influences your mood, energy, well being, and physical health.  The good news is that you have more control over your response than you might have thought.  While stress is inevitable, your response is a choice.

Dr. Paul Longobardi

For more information on these and related topics, please go to my website at www.successandmindset.com.

STRESS AND DIABETES

Do you or a loved one have diabetes?  If so, you know that this is a disorder that causes blood glucose (sugar) levels to rise higher than normal. This is also called hyperglycemia. Type 2 diabetes is the most common form of diabetes.  Also, you likely know that your body doesn't use insulin properly.  Over time, your pancreas can't keep up making the extra insulin needed to process the high levels of glucose.  The prevalence, or number of people with the disorder, was 29.1 million Americans in 2012, or 9.3% of the population.  The incidence of diabetes is increasing and this clearly is a major medical problem across our country.  Medical complications can include stroke, heart disease, kidney problems, foot ulcers, blindness, and peripheral neuropathy (lessened sensation in the feet), among others.  

If you have type 2 diabetes, you know that certain foods — particularly foods that are high in carbohydrates — can greatly elevate your blood glucose (sugar) levels. However, you likely are less aware that there are numerous stress related factors, e.g. chronic work and relationship problems, reduced sleep, chronic illness, that can interfere with the ability to maintain proper blood sugar levels. According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), emotional stress can cause blood sugar to elevate significantly. As blood sugar control is the key to successful management of Type 2 diabetes, it’s worth knowing how stress affects you and to find coping strategies to deal with your stressors.  

So how does stress affect your blood sugar level?  When you are under stress, stress hormones like epinephrine and cortisol are activated since one of their major functions is to raise blood sugar to help boost energy when it's needed most. Think of the fight-or-flight response. If you are confronted with a life threatening danger, you need your blood sugar level higher to handle the danger. If you are not diabetic, you have compensatory mechanisms to keep blood sugar from getting out of control.  However, if you are diabetic you don't have enough insulin to keep the blood sugar at a proper level.  Over time, you become at risk for the negative medical outcomes noted above.  Emotionally upsetting events like relationship breakups or significant work difficulties place physical stress on your body.  If you have diabetes, you are at risk to have elevated blood sugar levels.  It even has been shown that some "happy" events can be stressing enough in a positive sense to effect the same problematic elevations of blood sugar levels.

It's possible to make the problem worse because, when under stress, you may sleep less, exercise less, and eat less well.   You may eat unhealthfully, i.e. junk food or comfort food like candy or chips.  Since exercise helps to lower blood sugar, reducing this activity under stress can make the problem worse.  

So what can you do to reduce your level of stress in the service of managing your diabetes? One of the major strategies on which most experts agree is to help yourself become more aware of your stress level and how you feel when you are under stress.  Often we fail to recognize the daily stressors such as busy times at work or holiday activities which may alter the blood sugar level.  If you can begin to record stress levels and events at the time you take blood sugar levels, you soon will establish a helpful level of self-monitoring.  You will be more aware of your stressors and take some action as well as recognize the need to adjust your medication if you are taking it.

Here are a few other stress reducing strategies to help you better manage your diabetic condition:

1.  Initiate relaxation procedures.  You can try yoga, meditation, mindfulness, deep breathing, or progressive muscle relaxation (PMR), about which I've written in other posts.  My favorite is PMR, in which you practice tensing and relaxing major muscle groups in sequence while combining pleasant visual imagery and proper breathing. In fact, a study published in the journal Diabetes Care showed that just five weekly sessions of a relaxation therapy can reduce blood sugar levels significantly.
2.  Learn cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). In addition to learning to relax, CBT assists you in evaluating your problematic, catastrophizing, and often overgeneralized thoughts leading you to feel tense, frustrated, and upset.  You can learn to react differently to the challenging events in your life through re-evaluating your thoughts and thus your emotions.  As I always say, "Change your thoughts and change your results".  
3.  Use your social support network.  Talk to a trusted friend or confidante about your concerns.  Talking about problems can help lessen the stress associated with them.  Don't have a social support network?   Maybe this is a good time to develop one, you might see my posts on this topic as well.  If nothing is working, consider talking with a mental health professional.
4.  Maintain healthy eating, sleep, and exercise routines.  As mentioned earlier, exercise can help lower blood sugar, so a stressful phase is not the time to stop your program.
5.  Develop relaxing routines, such as starting a hobby, taking walks, or joining a class you like.
6.  If the above still is not working, know that there are antianxiety medications available which may help.  See your medical care provider.  

Diabetes is a serious medical condition.  Managing your emotional stressors is a key part of keeping the condition in check.  Your reaction to the stressors of life is a choice.  Make it a healthy one.  Good luck on your journey.

Dr. Paul Longobardi

For information on these and related topics, please see my website at www.successandmindset.com

BULLYING AND THE BRAIN

Have you noticed that bullying is in the news a lot these days?  Is your child being bullied? Were you bullied as a child?  Are you or someone you know being bullied in the workplace now?  No matter where or when it occurs, bullying has become an increasing presence in our society.  Of course, bullying has been around as long as there have been people.  Nonetheless, the latest Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates for this year are that for heterosexual youth, approximately 19% and 14% of heterosexual students had been bullied on school property or electronically bullied, respectively, during the 12 months before the survey. Percentages rise for LBGTQ youth.  In the workplace, CareerBuilder.com, a major job search engine, found in their recent survey of over 5,600 people that one in four people is bullied at work, or 25% of the workforce. Other research has even indicated that in some industries 50 - 75% of the population is bullied.  Just what is bullying?  Bullying is intentional aggressive behavior designed to undermine the well-being of another person.  We know that it comes in various forms to include physical, verbal, intimidation, and of late cyber-bullying, i.e. using cyberspace to intimidate others.  Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms have become fair game for cyber bullying, which is terrifying for both its anonymity and pervasiveness.

What are the effects of bullying?  The psychological effects of chronic bullying include depression, anxiety, isolation, low self-esteem, body image issues, in some cases drug abuse,  and, in extreme cases, suicide.  Victims may experience changes in sleeping and eating habits, and a loss of pleasure in activities. They may not feel motivated which can lead to lower school and work performance.  Lost productivity and turnover in workplaces secondary to bullying are increasing.  Psychological reactions to bullying can result in increases in health complaints as well such as headaches or stomach issues.

In the past, I have written often about the effects of stress on our mental and physical well-being. Now, recent research into the brain has shown how the stress of being bullied affects the brain. Our body needs stress hormones such as epinephrine and cortisol to help us perform tasks better, improve our memory, increase heart function, and even make our body more resistant to infection. Some stress helps us perform at our very best. However, when you suffer chronic and persistent stress such as with bullying, there are negative effects on your body. What are some of these brain effects of high levels of stress-induced bullying?

First, high levels of cortisol also can damage and kill neurons, especially in the hippocampal region. The hippocampus is the part of your brain responsible for consolidating information– transferring it from short-term memory to long-term memory.  Damaging neurons in the hippocampus can lead to learning and memory problems that interfere with school and work performance.  Second, there are studies indicating that those who have experienced bullying show abnormalities in their corpus callosum. The corpus callosum is a bundle of fibers that are vital to the brain because it connects the left and right sides of the brain (hemispheres). This structure is needed for cross hemisphere processing of visual, memory, and other stimuli. In those who are bullied, it has been found that the neurons in this part of the brain were impaired because they had less myelin. Myelin is an insulation coating on neurons that helps speed up signals. If there is less myelin, neuronal signals travel slower which is significant considering signals in the brain travel within milliseconds. This may be associated with cognitive deficits, impaired ability to focus, concentrate and complete tasks. Third, there are some studies showing that bullying changes levels of certain neurotransmitters such as vasopressin and serotonin. In animal studies aggression has been associated with altered levels of neurotransmitters such as vasopressin and serotonin. In humans, high levels of vasopressin are associated with increased aggression, while higher levels of serotonin are known to inhibit aggression.  

The more neurological information we learn about bullying and the brain, the more people will hopefully take bullying seriously. If you or a loved one is experiencing any of the above negative effects, consider getting help or taking action to stop it. Standing up for yourself can save you from a possible lifetime of bad consequences.  Bullying is not a rite of passage to be endured.  If a person is being bullied they should tell someone; a parent, teacher, or counselor (school setting), or a supervisor or manager (workplace setting). Parents must take an active role in their child’s life and safety. Supervisors and managers also must take an active role in the lives of their supervisees.  If a person is a witness to a bullying event then it is their responsibility to step in whether by taking up for the victim or by getting someone in authority right away. The bystander effect (seeing bullying but being too afraid to get involved) is no excuse and can cause further future damage to the victim and the bully. Saying nothing is almost as bad as committing the bullying acts itself.  

Change is always possible.  Bullies and victims alike can change their behavior.  Finding positive outlets for bullies and encouraging friendships for victims have been shown in some settings to assist in reducing these problem behaviors, with all their negative consequences. For lonely individuals with a propensity for becoming victims, having just one friend may be enough to protect them.  Teachers and workplace supervisors can help structure such relationships.

We can change our lives by what we do and by our perspective on ourselves and our lives. May you have continued good luck on your journey.  

Dr. Paul Longobardi

For information on these and related issues, please see my website at www.successandmindset.com

YOUR BRAIN AND SPENDING MONEY

The holiday season is quickly approaching and you will be persuaded, cajoled, guilt induced, and otherwise encouraged to part with your money.  Are you more or less susceptible to such influences by both your psychological history and the state of your brain?  As a psychologist, I certainly acknowledge the influence of both our experiences and our brains on our current behaviors.  This is the old nature/nurture debate which has been around seemingly forever.  I wrote a post on May 3, 2016 titled "Is mothering instinctive or learned?" in which I discussed nature/nurture relative to mothering.  So you might want to think about the influences of nature and nurture on your spending before the coming onslaught of marketing.

Now I go to a variety of seminars.  I went to one called the Millionaire Mind Intensive.  It is based to a large extent on the best selling book by T. Harv Eker titled "Secrets of the Millionaire Mind".  In both the book and at the seminar, a major premise is that we have come to our beliefs about money (so-called "money blueprint") secondary to our life experiences, e.g. from parents, authorities, etc.  During the seminar we were encouraged to consider whether we were predominantly savers or spenders.  However, while many people believe that money handling habits solely come from parents or caregivers, some current research is showing that our habits aren’t just based on conditioning and money management lessons we learned as kids. There are spenders and savers in the same families, kids who grew up in poverty and still develop great wealth, and heirs who blow the family fortune.

So what brain forces shape the way you view money?  In his book "Coined:The rich life of money and how its history has shaped us", author Kabir Sehgal noted three ways in which the state of your brain influences your financial behaviors:

1. Money heightens neural activity

When you are negotiating about money, your nucleus accumbens is stimulated.  This is a part of the brain tied to reward circuits. In one study, researchers scanned the brains of 12 people as they played games for money. Mr. Sehgal wrote that everyone in the group experienced heightened neural activity, especially in the nucleus accumbens. When the researchers compared their brain scans with those of addicts who were high on cocaine, they found they were almost identical. Thus, money stimulates reward centers in the brain.

2. Brain scans reflect risk-taking behavior

Mr. Sehgal noted another study examining why investors make irrational financial decisions. The researchers found they could predict whether a participant would choose to buy a riskier security, like a stock, or a less risky one, like a bond, just by scanning their brains. The subjects who had naturally elevated stimulation of their nucleus accumbens would most likely buy the stock.

3. Ties to the emotional areas of your brain
 

In an article by Suzanne Kearns in Money Crashers titled "Psychology of money-How saving and spending habits are programmed in your brain", she discussed a study in which participants’ brains were scanned as they pretended to make buying decisions. Researchers observed activity in an area of the brain called the insular cortex, which is stimulated when you experience something unpleasant. The more stimulation in the insular cortex, the less likely you are to keep doing what you’re doing. When it comes to money, insular cortex stimulation can reduce your spending.  Researchers concluded that people who have more insular cortex activity in their brains are more likely to be savers, and those with less tend to be spenders.  Spenders can end up in financial trouble later in life, and savers can end up with regrets because they did not spend. Recognizing which one you are can help you reach a healthier balance, just as I learned in my seminar.

Spenders have a difficult time delaying gratification.  What can you do to cut back on spending?  Kearns offers the following suggestions in her article:

1.  Never use credit cards or other lines of credit. By using cash, you force yourself to consider just how much you’re spending.
2.  Withdraw cash from your bank account yourself, so that you can see the dwindling balance.
Pay as you go.  Pay for everything as it comes, and you’ll better understand how all that money goes away.
3.  Be vocal about your savings goals. If you tell close friends and family how much you intend to save and by what date, they’ll hold you accountable. This is one of the several things I ever learned in social psychology classes.  Making a "public" pronouncement makes you more likely to carry out the promised activity.  
4.  Reward yourself when you meet your savings goals, but only by spending a responsible percentage of what you saved.
5.  Stop and ask yourself before each and every purchase whether or not you truly need the item. Know the difference between needs and wants.
6.  Look at the future, no matter how uncomfortable it is. Ask yourself questions like how much money you’ll need to retire, or how you’ll pay for your child’s college education.

Savers don't get away either.  Savers sometimes miss out on life's joys based on feeling uncomfortable when spending, even when some of the joys may be inexpensive.  So it may be time for savers to loosen their grip on the money and enjoy spending a little more.  Kearns has some tips here as well:

1.  When it’s time for something pleasurable, like a vacation, distance yourself by paying with a credit card. You’ve already set your budget and you have the cash to cover it, so now you can take your mind off of the expense and relax.
2.  Be vocal about your spending goals. When you’re planning to make an exciting purchase, even if it sounds like a boring necessity, tell everyone you know and set a date to close the deal.  Remember, it's the social psychology power of a public pronouncement.
3.  Treat your purchases as a reward for something that you’ve done well, so they’ll take on more value in your mind.
4.  Ask yourself about your future:  Do you really want to have regrets over the things you didn’t do because you wouldn’t spend some money on enjoyment?

One other good idea for both savers and spenders comes from Dr. Thomas Gilovich, a psychology professor at Cornell University.  He noted that often we assume that there is more value when we buy a material object rather than an experience like a concert or vacation.  This is because we think we will be happier for a longer time because the object lasts longer. However, recent research does not support that assumption.  Adaptation leads us to be happy with material objects initially but that happiness does not last.  So Dr. Gilovich suggests that rather than buying the latest gadget, invest money on experiences like traveling, learning new skills, going to exhibits or other events.  He noted that "Our experiences are a bigger part of ourselves than our material goods;  You can really like your material stuff. You can even think that part of your identity is connected to those things, but nonetheless they remain separate from you. In contrast, your experiences really are part of you. We are the sum total of our experiences."

So invest (spend) in your experiences.  You will remember and value them as well as be happier about them over the long run.  Examine the psychological influences on your mental "money blueprint".  As always, your mindset (core set of beliefs) has great power over your financial spending habits.  However, be mindful that your brain is susceptible to some extent in driving you toward being a saver or a spender.  Best wishes for successfully navigating the spending challenges of the upcoming season.  

Good luck on your journey.

Dr. Paul Longobardi

For information on these and related topics, please see my website at www.successandmindset.com

PSYCHOLOGICAL AND HEALTH EFFECTS OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT

Sexual harassment has been in the news recently.  Allegations at Fox News led to the resignation of longtime executive Roger Ailes.  Accusations in the presidential campaign against Donald Trump have become a lead story.  Much of the attention has focused on the alleged perpetrators.  But just what are the effects on the victim?

First, let's clarify the range of sexual harassment.  Sexual harassment can take many forms. Sometimes, it’s just a single sexist comment, an off-color joke, or a comment about how good someone looks. These one time incidents, though annoying, probably won’t have a long term effect on the victim. However, there are some harassment victims who are subjected to humiliation, unwanted advances, inappropriate touching and oft repeated lewd comments. For these victims, the harassment can take its toll on the person's mental and physical health.

Second, how prevalent is sexual harassment?  Most estimates indicate that approximately 33% of women and up to 16% of men have experienced some form of sexual harassment in the workplace.  These are lower end estimates.  Some surveys have suggested that incidence rates can go as high as 70% for women and 45% for men.   Of course, sexual harassment can occur in any venue, not just work.

Third, while victims of sexual harassment can experience strained relationships in the workplace, they are at increased risk for numerous health and psychological effects.  Here are some key effects:

1.  Negative change in worldview

What are the effects of experiencing street harassment or inappropriate comments at school or in the workplace?  What is it like to be groped, ogled, objectified, left to be uncomfortable? Experiences like this are not simply unpleasant at the time, but often inform a woman’s worldview for years to come.  They change the way women behave and effect their sense of safety and security in their world.  The negative experience continues long after the incident itself in how victims relate to others, plan for events, dress, and view themselves.  

2.  Depression

Many victims of sexual harassment suffer from chronic, long term depression.  They have self doubt, frequently blame themselves, feeling responsible for what happened.  I have treated numerous individuals with depression who have histories of sexual harassment and abuse in their backgrounds.  They have pent-up hostility, often having been pressured to maintain silence and "not make a big deal of it".  They often are accused of being overly sensitive and are re-victimized.

3.  Post-traumatic stress disorder

Many studies have found a link between experiences of sexual harassment and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which includes re-experiencing the trauma and avoiding people or things that may remind the victim of the harassment.

4.  Blood pressure

In a 2008 study in the journal Social Science Medicine, authors Kriegera, Chena, Waterman, Hartman,  Stoddard, Quinn, Sorensen, and Barbeau questioned 1200 Boston union employees about sexual harassment in the workplace and gave them a health exam. Researchers discovered that victims of sexual harassment, 23 percent in all, experienced elevated heart rates and other physiological effects such as stress which can lead to cardiovascular disease.   Sexual harassment may trigger the same type of physiological reactions as stress, which is thought to raise the risk of cardiovascular disease.  I've written about this link in past posts on stress and cardiovascular effects.

5.  Sleep problems

When victims of sexual harassment experience mental and emotional problems, it often leads to such problems as loss of appetite, headaches, weight fluctuations, and sleep disturbances. Sleep disturbances can in turn lead to other serious health problems, such as hormonal imbalance, an increased risk of high blood pressure as mentioned above, and a weakened immune system.  The sleep problems in part may be because victims experience stress and anxiety and this affects sleep habits.  

6.  Suicide

Sexual harassment can increase the risk for suicide.  This is due to the effects of depression, anxiety, and the changed world view of victims.  Studies indicate increased suicidal behavior following sexual assault.  However, in surveys up to 15% of women who had experience sexual harassment, including unwanted sexual touching, reported making suicidal attempts within the past six months.  

It is clear that sexual harassment has enduring psychological and health effects for many victims.  The high incidence of such behaviors necessitates continuing interventions in schools and workplaces. We need as well a fundamental shift in the way we treat women and model appropriate behavior for young men in their relationships with women.  For victims of sexual harassment, if you think you are suffering from the effects noted above, reach out and get assistance.  There is no need to suffer without help.  Good luck on your journey.

Dr. Paul Longobardi

For information on these and related topics, please see my website at www.successandmindset.com

ARE YOUR RELATIONSHIPS HELPING YOUR LIFE AND BRAIN?

There is little in life that brings us more pleasure or pain than the nature of our relationships.  If they are unhealthy, they interfere with your well being, fulfillment, and enjoyment of life.  Bad relationships can affect your health and your brain.  Relationships influence your long-term health in ways every bit as powerful as adequate sleep, a good diet, and not smoking. There are numerous research studies noting that people who have satisfying relationships with family and friends are happier, have fewer health problems, and live longer.

Poor relationships and limited social connectedness is associated with depression and later-life cognitive decline, as well as with increased mortality.  There is much scientific investigation into the biological factors that account for the health benefits of connecting with others. For example, healthy relationships have been found to help relieve harmful levels of stress, which can adversely affect coronary arteries, insulin regulation, and the immune system. Another line of research suggests that positive relationships reduce the release of stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline.

When we are in healthy relationships, our brain sends messages that help us feel calm and vibrant. These brain messages traverse key neural pathways.  They include our dopamine reward pathways and the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, an area stimulated when we enhance our relaxation through such strategies as meditation.  When we are cut off from others, these neural connections are less able to function and we often suffer irritability, anger, depression, and chronic physical illness.  However, when we feel well connected to others the neural pathways receive the stimulation they need and we feel more calm, confident, healthy, and productive.  

The dopamine system becomes associated with the good feelings and healthy relationships we initially have, such as with our parents as infants.  However, if that system becomes disrupted secondary to poor relationships, then people often seek out other ways to stimulate the dopamine system, such as substance abuse, gambling, or excessive spending.  Nonetheless, you can strengthen those healthy pathways through awareness and improving your relationships. 

So, can you think of a relationship in your life that needs to be improved?  Most of us have at least one such relationship.  Here are a few keys to successfully relating to others and helping your brain:

1.  Learn to give people what they need rather than what you need.  Not everyone responds to situations the same way we do.  Your and my perspectives are different from others.  Take the time to find out what the other person wants in the relationship.

2.  Engage in relational reflections.  From time to time, reflect on and think of a positive moment in a relationship you have or had.  What this does is help you activate the healthy dopamine neural pathways I mentioned earlier and diminish the activation of the stress systems.  

3.  Restructure your brain and refresh.  As I have noted numerous times, and as made famous in Napoleon Hill's book "Think and Grow Rich", we become what we think about most of the time. If you begin to feel stressed in a relationship, reinterpret that response as your overactive stress system as well as take some deep breaths.  In fact, why is it necessary that you believe that someone (boss, spouse, child, etc.) is driving you crazy?  You can choose how you respond particularly when you know that your responses are more a product of your thoughts than the neural reactions.  

4.  Think of others first and you will find your relationships changed for the better.  I know that we often are encouraged to look out for ourselves because we are told that no one else will do so.  However, that is not the way to build and improve relationships.  Yes, there will be misunderstandings. It's important to maintain communication and keep the previous three principles in mind.

As you can see, the state of your relationships mirrors your physical and mental health and well being and affects your brain for good or bad.  Yet, good relationships with others may be one of the easiest health strategies to use.  You don't need to take pills, buy fancy exercise equipment or go to a gym, or spend much money.  There are many ways you can improve your relationships, build your social connectedness, and help your brain.  It's your time.

Good luck on your journey!

Dr. Paul Longobardi

For information on these and related topics, please see my website at www.successandmindset.com