3. September 2010 by John Schinnerer.

From ScienceDaily (Sep. 1, 2010)

‘Mindfulness’, the process of learning to become more aware of our ongoing experiences, increases well-being in adolescent boys, a new study reports.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge analyzed 155 boys from two independent UK schools, Tonbridge and Hampton, before and after a four-week crash course in mindfulness. After the trial period, the 14 and 15 year-old boys were found to have increased well-being, defined as the combination of feeling good (including positive emotions such as happiness, contentment, interest and affection) and functioning well.

Professor Felicia Huppert of the Well-being Institute at the University of Cambridge said: “More and more we are realising the importance of supporting the overall mental health of children. Our study demonstrates that this type of training improves well-being in adolescents and that the more they practice, the greater the benefits. Importantly, many of the students genuinely enjoyed the exercises and said they intended to continue them — a good sign that many children would be receptive to this type of intervention.

“Another significant aspect of this study is that adolescents who suffered from higher levels of anxiety were the ones who benefitted most from the training.”

For the experiment, students in six classes were trained in mindful awareness — mindfulness. Mindfulness is a ‘way of paying attention. It means consciously bringing awareness to our experience, in the present moment, without making judgements about it’. Students in the five control classes attended their normal religious studies lessons.

The training consisted of four 40 minute classes, one per week, which presented the principles and practice of mindfulness. The classes covered the concepts of awareness and acceptance, and taught the schoolboys such things as how to practice bodily awareness by noticing where they were in contact with their chairs or the floor, paying attention to their breathing, and noticing all the sensations involved in walking.

The students were also asked to practice outside the classroom and were encouraged to listen to a CD or mp3 file for eight minutes a day. These exercises are intended to improve concentration and reduce stress.

All participants completed a short series of online questionnaires before and after the mindfulness project. The questionnaires measured the effect of the training on changes in mindful awareness, resilience (the ability to modify responses to changing situations) and psychological well-being.

The researchers found that although it was a short programme, the students who participated in the mindfulness training had increased levels of well-being which were proportional to the amount of time the students spent practicing their new skills.

Professor Huppert continued: “We believe that the effects of mindfulness training can enhance well-being in a number of ways. If you practice being in the present, you can increase positive feelings by savouring pleasurable on-going experiences. Additionally, calming the mind and observing experiences with curiosity and acceptance not only reduces stress but helps with attention control and emotion regulation — skills which are valuable both inside and outside the classroom.”

The success of this initial study has recently led to the creation of an exciting 8 week mindfulness curriculum for schools in both the state and private sectors. This new curriculum, which includes games and video clips, should have even greater benefits.

For further information, see http://mindfulnessinschools.org.

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by University of Cambridge, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
1.    Felicia Huppert, Daniel Johnson. A controlled trial of mindfulness training in schools: The importance of practice for an impact on well-being. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 2010; 5 (4): 264 DOI: 10.1080/17439761003794148

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13. August 2010 by John Schinnerer.

It’s August 12th! Less than 2 weeks left before school starts!

You know what time it is!

Time for Back to School Rehab!

Teacher: ‘So students, did everyone have a wonderful Summer?

Okay, glad to hear it.

Now I know you’ve spent the past 3 months playing video games, tweeting and texting on your phones, and fondling the remote control mindlessly, so it’s time for some brief solution-focused group therapy.

How many of you can focus on one thing for longer than 3 seconds?

How many of you have heard of a handheld wireless tool called a ‘book?’

Let’s see a show of hands please….hold them up. Okay, 2 of you.

In that case, let’s talk about addiction.

Johnny, I need you to stop moving your thumbs.

Yes, just use your thoughts, dear. Really, you can stop fidgeting using your mind!

I know it’s difficult, dear. Just give it a try.

The withdrawals from your iPhones, video games and laptops seem just as bad as nicotine detox.

Addiction is when you can’t stop thinking about where your next fix is coming from. So if all you can think about is getting home to fire up WOW or COD, you just might be addicted!

Call of Duty (COD)

Addiction is when you spend all your energy focusing on how your going to get your next fix. So if you are counting the seconds from first period to the end of the school day while worrying about playing Angry Birds on the iPhone, you just might be addicted!

Remember, quitting technology cold turkey can be brutal.

So if you need a fix during the school day, we were just got in some brand new Kindles. You can use them in the meantime to quiet those nasty eye twitches and finger tics.

Alright. I’m glad we had the chance to have this little chat. There’s the school bell.

ON YOUR MARK…

GET SET…

LEARN!’

Enjoy!

John Schinnerer Ph.D.

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2. August 2010 by John Schinnerer.

This weekend, my wife and hosted a party with several families, all of whom had three plus children.

The older boys (ages 10-15) went out to play a game called ‘Bigger and Better’. This is a game where you start with something small (and worth little) from your bedroom. Then you go door to door and ask neighbors if they are willing to trade your item for an item that is either ‘bigger’ or ‘better’.

It seems to be a constructive, positive activity to keep the boys occupied safely.

They began the night with one size D battery. I don’t even know if it was charged or not!

About an hour and a half later, we got a phone call. The boys needed a ride as they had successfully traded their way up from the battery to a working 32″ color TV, a BBQ and a Jonas Bothers poster. I think the poster was part of a package deal as there are no real JoBro fans at home!

Not a bad way to entertain the boys. We’re not sure who gets the TV - maybe a charity!

Have a great Sunday!

John Schinnerer, Ph.D.

http://www.GuideToSelf.com

Teaching anger management tools to men

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11. June 2010 by John Schinnerer.

Okay, I don’t normally blog this much in one day, but there’s just SO MUCH great stuff to share with you!

 Here is an article from the Minnesota Post on a study that came out today on how mothers’ voices elevate cortisol levels as much as their hugs in their children. Our bodies are frigging amazing!

‘

‘Study finds a mom’s voice alone helps reduce markers of stress

By Susan Perry | Published Wed, May 12 2010 11:02 am

From Minnesota Post

According to a new study, there’s a good biological reason why we call our moms when we feel anxious or worried (and why our kids call us).

Doing so helps reduce stress. In fact, the study found that the sound of a mother’s voice on the phone is just as comforting (biologically speaking) as her hug.

For the study, published in today’s issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, University of Wisconsin (Madison) researchers recruited 61 girls between the ages of 7 and 12. None had a history of abuse or neglect.

The girls were given a standard stress test for kids: Without prior warning, they were asked to make a timed impromptu speech and to perform some difficult math tasks in front of a panel of strangers.

After the test, the girls were randomly assigned to one of three groups. One group was immediately reunited with their moms, who comforted them with physical contact, like hugs, as well as words. A second group received verbal reassurance from their moms via a telephone call. And the third (control) group watched what the researchers deemed an emotionally neutral movie — “March of the Penguins.”

Saliva and urine tests were taken before and at various points after the stress test to measure fluctuations in two hormones: cortisol and oxytocin. Cortisol is known as “the stress hormone” because stress triggers its release in the body. The primary function of oxytocin, sometimes dubbed the “cuddle hormone,” is the facilitation of labor, lactation and the mother-infant bond. Its release is also known to reduce cortisol levels.

Hormonal ups and downs

The study found that all three groups of girls experienced an increase in cortisol levels after performing the speech-and-math-stress-test (a sign that the test worked). But how long and how elevated those levels remained varied from group to group.

An hour after the test, the cortisol levels of those girls who had been given either physical or phone access to their moms fell to statistically similar levels (although the fall occurred most rapidly among the girls who saw their moms). In addition, their oxytocin levels increased to “conspicuously similar levels.”

No such drop in cortisol — or increase in oxytocin — occurred in the movie group of girls.

The researchers conclude (in rather jargon-y language) that “vocal cues may be a viable alternative to physical contact for servicing human relationships.’

Original article is here.

In terms of the findings of the study ‘Social vocalizations can release oxytocin in humans’, I think this is in keeping with a couple of things.

First, we are beginning to understand the importance of touch as a means of communication. A study done at UC Berkeley showed that 6-8 emotions can be conveyed blindly (no sight involved) merely with a one second touch to the forearm.  We’ve known for a couple years that hugs release oxytocin which counters the cortisol levels. Oxytocin is the neurotransmitter that is involved with bonding, nurturing, caring, and trust. Women tend to have more oxytocin in their systems than men.

Second, communication with mom seems to be (from these findings) a powerful way to activate the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) which acts as the brakes for our systems. So there seem to be multiple avenues by which mothers can communicate with (e.g., voice and touch, sight and smell) and activate the PNS which helps calm their children down.

The interesting part of this study is the finding that voice alone seems to have the same powerful effect as a hug from mom.  In general, kind hugs release oxytocin in humans. I wonder what the parameters are with voice? In other words, are there other voices which cause oxytocin to be dumped into the bloodstream? For instance, does the voice of a friend cause an equal elevation in oxytocin levels? How about the voice of a girlfriend/boyfriend/spouse/child? How good of a friend does the person have to be to elicit oxytocin?

I also wonder if dad’s hugs and dad’s voice have a similar effect. Or does the elevation in oxytocin depend on how involved the dad is with his children? All great questions!

Have a fantastic day!

John Schinnerer, Ph.D.

Teaching Real Men Real Emotions

Author of the award-winning Guide To Self: The Beginner’s Guide To Managing Emotion & Thought

Guide To Self, Inc.

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18. May 2010 by John Schinnerer.

Guide To Self, Inc.

 A unique, new, longitudinal study found that there is a tremendous blow to the earning ability of adults who suffered from childhood psychological conditions such as depression and anxiety. What’s more, the study found that, upon becoming adults, such children have less chance of getting married, achieve less educationally, and earn roughly 20% less across the course of their lifetime. By adversely impacting their earning potential, the long-term financial consequences of childhood psychological disturbances exceeds $2.1 trillion dollars when summed across the lifetimes of all such U.S. citizens. The study comes out in the June 2010 issue of the journal Social Science & Medicine.

‘Childhood psychological disorders can cause significant long-lasting harm and can have far-reaching impact on individuals over their lifetimes,’ stated James P. Smith, the study’s head researcher and corporate chair of economics at RAND, a nonprofit research organization. The study points out the tremendous benefit ‘of identifying and treating these problems early in life.’

The data comes from a massive study which tracked U.S. families for 40 years and found that childhood psychological disorders adversely impact some major indicators of success and happiness in life. The design of the study is unique in that siblings from the same family were tracked over time. Then, those siblings who had a childhood psychological disorder were compared to a sibling who did not have a psychological difficulty.

Siblings with depression, anxiety, rage, ADHD or a substance abuse disorder as a child earned $10,400 less per year on average as compared to siblings who did not have any such problem.

The study also reports that individuals who had childhood psychological difficulties had an 11% reduced chance of marrying than their siblings who did not report psychological problems.

An additional interesting finding is that those who had childhood psychological difficulties stopped their education a half year earlier than those who did not report such difficulties. The gap in education was even bigger for those who had drug or alcohol problems.

‘Not all of the people who have psychological problems during childhood will carry these problems into adulthood,’ stated Smith. ‘But they are 10 to 20 times more likely than others to have these shortfalls during adulthood. There clearly are large economic costs during adulthood caused by childhood psychological conditions.’

The ongoing study involves a nationally representative sample of over 35,000 people from roughly 5,000 U.S. families spanning the past 40 years. Approximately 6% of the participants stated they had some sort of psychological difficulty as a child. This is consistent with the percentage of children with a psychological disturbance across the United States. Roughly 4% of the participants reported suffering from childhood depression. Two percent stated they had substance abuse issues as a child. And another 2% reported having another psychological issue, such as anxiety or extreme anger. Some participants had coexisting disorders (e.g., depression and substance abuse issues).

The take home message here is the urgency of proper early intervention. For a thriving and productive life, psychological issues need to be identified and treated early in life.

About the Author

Dr. John Schinnerer is in private practice helping executives, adults, and teens learn anger management, stress management and the latest ways to deal with destructive negative emotions. He also helps clients discover satisfaction with life via positive psychology. His practice is located in Danville, California. He graduated summa cum laude from U.C. Berkeley with a Ph.D. in psychology. He is collaborating with the University of New Zealand on the International Wellbeing Study to look at what we do right and what make for a meaningful, thriving life. Dr. Schinnerer has been a speaker, executive and psychologist for over 10 years. Dr. John Schinnerer is Founder of Guide To Self, a company that coaches clients to their potential using the latest in positive psychology. Dr. John Schinnerer hosted over 200 episodes of Guide To Self Radio, a prime time radio show, in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Dr. Schinnerer’s areas of expertise range from positive psychology, to emotional awareness, to moral development, to executive coaching core competencies. Dr. Schinnerer wrote the award-winning, “Guide To Self: The Beginner’s Guide To Managing Emotion and Thought,” which is available at Amazon.com. His blog, Shrunken Mind, was recently recognized as one of the top 3 in positive psychology on the web (http://drjohnblog.guidetoself.com).

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