sven van zanten

  Depression is on the rise. A study conducted by the World Health Organization found an increase of 20 percent in depression cases within just a decade. I work on a university campus. One might expect such a place to feel vibrant and energetic, but lately there seems to be more fatigue and malaise. Even for me, on some days it can feel hard to face the world. As a scholar of ancient philosophy and a practicing stoic, I have found great solace in the works of Roman stoic philosophers such as Marcus Aurelius, emperor of Rome, and Epictetus, teacher of Stoic philosophy and a former slave. What tools do these ancient thinkers offer to deal with depression? Of course, I must add here that clinical depression, which is a serious health issue and should be treated by a professional, is a different matter than the sort of ordinary depression and fatigue that most of us might feel from time to time. What is stoicism? Stoicism is based on the idea that the goal of life is to live in agr

  With the increasing swirl of interest around mindfulness, resilience and innovation we can’t forget that there are many who have trodden this path before us with important lessons we can borrow. Stoicism is the branch of ancient western philosophy that focuses on mindfulness, resilience, creativity and more, all of which allows us to flourish and live the good life, achieving eudemonia (translated from Greek as happiness, or human flourishing). The principles have had a profound influence on Western thought, and compared to other schools of philosophy often consumed by intellectual enterprise and endless debate it’s bracingly practical and straightforward. Whilst stoicism hasn’t been popular for a while it’s making a comeback with a strong international following. Whilst it’s seen by some as a western form of Buddhism, helping to overcome destructive emotions, it actually originated in the Greco-Roman Empire. It had three principle leaders: Marcus Aurelius, who wrote dail

  Neuroscientists gain a deeper understanding of how LSD affects molecular brain activity by Eric W. Dolan     The dopaminergic system appears to play an important but overlooked role in LSD’s effects on consciousness, according to new research published in the journal Psychopharmacology . The findings provide new insight into the neurophysiological mechanisms responsible for the unique effects of psychedelic drugs. “Psychedelic research is back and making up for lost time after a long period of legal restriction. These drugs produce profound effects on consciousness, offering scientists a powerful tool to try and link brain mechanisms to our subjective experience,” said study author Timothy Long (@lawn_tim), a NIHR Maudsley BRC PhD student at King’s College London. “Most LSD research so far has suggested it acts on a single target in the brain to produce its effects – the serotonin 5-HT2a receptor. However, it is known to have other targets, including dopamine receptors,

  Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy reduces activation in brain regions related to self-blame in patients in remission from depression     New research suggests mindfulness-based cognitive therapy protects remitted depressed patients from relapse by reducing tendencies toward self-blame. The findings were published in Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging . Major depressive disorder is a common mental health issue with a relatively high relapse rate. In an effort to reduce the likelihood of relapse, Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) trains depressed individuals to respond to negative self-thoughts with acceptance and compassion, and studies suggest that the approach is effective. Researcher Kate Williams and her colleagues wanted to delve further into the effectiveness of MBCT, by investigating changes in the brain after treatment. As the reduction of self-blame is thought to be a key component in avoiding a relapse into depression, the researchers were particularl

  Key points Denial is the brain’s way of making sure that one doesn't get too high a dose of grief too soon. Grief takes time because it can entail accepting the loss of one's previous role and redefining oneself. Sometimes, the strongest feelings of grief—known as “acute grief”—begin to lessen within a few months. I like to play a game with the college students in some of my psychology courses. I hold up some juicy prize—a gift card to a local coffee shop, bookstore, or restaurant—and promise it to the first person who can name the five stages of grief . Invariably, at least three students prattle them off within a few seconds, making it very hard to know who deserves the reward. What’s particularly amazing is that many of these students have never taken a psychology class before. Among the general public, one of the most commonly known and accepted psychological concepts is that grief proceeds in stages. If you already are familiar with the stages of grief,

  New research turns what you thought you knew about your life on its head.    What do you recall as your life’s most important events? Were they the ones you planned, or did they seem to occur entirely due to luck, accident, or coincidence? Everyone can tell at least one story in which something either really great or really terrible happened without warning. As you think about such an experience from your past, how did you eventually come to interpret that event? Did you regard it as fate? Did you feel that it fit into some higher purpose? Perhaps you decided to go from one room in your home to another, juggling a coffee cup, laptop, and phone. As much as you tried to hold onto it, the cup slipped out of your hand, causing you to lose your balance. Down you go, your ankle twisting painfully beneath you. Several hours later, you’re in a cast, relegated for the next few weeks to using crutches until the ankle heals. You may see some hidden meaning in all of this. Maybe

  New studies shed light on the mysterious process by which psilocybin can rapidly improve depression symptoms     Up to 30% of people with depression don’t respond to treatment with antidepressants. This may be down to differences in biology between patients and the fact that it often takes a long time to respond to the drugs – with some people giving up after a while. So there is an urgent need to expand the repertoire of drugs available to people with depression. In recent years, attention has turned to psychedelics such as psilocybin , the active compound in “magic mushrooms”. Despite a number of clinical trials showing that psilocybin can rapidly treat depression, including for cancer-related anxiety and depression , little is known about how psilocybin actually works to relieve depression in the brain. Now two recent studies, published in The New England Journal of Medicine and Nature Medicine, have shed some light on this mysterious process. Psilocybin is a hallucino

  Many people think Stoicism is merely a synonym for "emotionless" or, at most, a dusty ancient-Greek philosophy . While, yes, Stoicism originated with such ancient illuminati as Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius, it's far beyond “emotionless.” And Stoicism is more widely adopted today than one might think: from the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks staff to rapper LL Cool J and broadcaster Michele Tafoya. Plus, Stoicism's devotees have included George Washington, Walt Whitman, Frederick the Great, Eugene Delacroix, Adam Smith, Immanuel Kant, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. What is Stoicism? It asks us to do good while staying calm, to focus on what’s important and under our control, not wasting thoughts let alone time on what we can't affect. Easier said than done, especially with all the modern pressures that beset even successful people. To help, Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman have written the just

  We can't tell what stress is doing to our body; what we don't know can harm us.    Stress is not just what happens to you, or a feeling, or upsetting thoughts. It's all of the above, and more. The severity of the stressors we face, and our thoughts, feelings, and bodily responses, can differ in the levels of stress they indicate. Coping effectively with one component of stress may not help with others. So much has been written about stress that you might think everything that can be said has been said. But there are issues that are not widely recognized and yet have importance both scientifically and for the individual. Stress has multiple components. There are “stressors,” events and conditions that initiate stress; cognitive mediators, such as the perception and interpretation of stressors; stress responses, such as negative emotions and physiological changes; coping activity, our mental and behavioral efforts to manage stressors and their subjective

  Psychedelic experiences and mindfulness linked to better psychological wellbeing     A new study has found a positive association between mindfulness practice, psychedelic use, and overall psychological wellbeing. The findings have been published in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs . “Psychedelics as a topic is exploding back into both popular culture and academic study, the potential here is tremendous,” said study author Tianhong Tim Qiu of Western University. “Rightfully, much of present research is focused on clinical/medical applications, often as alternative treatments for mental health disorders. However, many users have claimed (anecdotally) great benefits to their own psychological wellbeing. That is, healthy people may also experience profound enhancement of their lives induced by psychedelics and often outside of any clinical context.” “The motivation for this study is simple: I sought to find out if ordinary people who use psychedelics experience some measur

  Have you ever had the sense that your reactions to relatively minor stressful events are bigger than other people's? Do you see other people reacting calmly to challenges, like urgent home repairs, unexpected changes at work, or being slighted by someone, but you feel very rattled by these circumstances? If you've ever had a sense you overreact to stress, and would like to take stress in stride more, here are some suggestions. 1. Self-compassion. Self-compassion is a great, practical strategy for increasing your cognitive and behavioral flexibility. What's beautiful about self-compassion is that it doesn't matter the cause of the stress or of your reactions. Regardless of the causes, self-compassion will help you feel less assaulted by the stress and allow you to access the most skillful, creative (as in creative problem-solving) parts of yourself. I've written plenty of guides to self-compassion, so I won't reinvent the wheel. You can read th

Sven van zanten Published in the journal of Personality and Individual Differences , researchers were interested in investigating the associations of dispositional optimism and pessimism with cognitive abilities in adulthood. They found that young adults with higher dispositional optimism and lower pessimism had higher reasoning skills and higher pessimism was related to lower scores on memory tests for middle-aged adults. Previous research shows that optimism is related to positive health and wellbeing outcomes, whereas pessimism is associated with health-related risks and maladaptive behaviors. According to intellectual investment theories, it is suggested that personality traits can affect cognition abilities. For instance, joy promotes creativity and negative emotionality activates people’s thought-action repertoire to prepare them for quick decisions in threatening situations. People with optimistic views tend to pay attention to positive information and believe the