Blog Topic: Psychology

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  When It Comes to Calorie Consumption, Is Knowledge Power?

  December 20, 2017

  Over-consumption of calories has been a key driver of rising rates of obesity. By May 2018, restaurants, grocery stores, and other food establishments with 20+ locations will be required to post calorie information on their menus. The hope is that making such information more visible will encourage consumers to choose – and restaurants to offer – lower-calorie items. But will it work?

  Nutrition Psychology Public Health
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  “Snowflakes” and Selfies: Misconceptions of Millennial Self-Care

  August 07, 2017

  Between “killing” entire industries (chain restaurants, breakfast cereal, napkins, etc.), documenting the aforementioned murders via Snapchat, and finding new ways to combine healthcare and the arts, us Millennials are rather busy—but we leave plenty of time in our full schedules to worry. So I took to Twitter to ask my peers about the health concerns that keep them up at night.

  Mental Health Behavioral Health Psychology
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  Summer Break: Time to Learn or Time to Let Kids Be Kids?

  July 12, 2017

  Summer is becoming a time during which certain children are prone to experience summer learning loss — the loss of academic skills and knowledge over the summer months – and parents are desperately fighting to prevent their children from falling behind. When it comes to keeping their kids academically focused over the summer, Penn Medicine's Martin Franklin says some parents might be overdoing it.

  Education Psychiatry Psychology Public Health
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  Resident Physician Magazine Breaks Silence and Stigma through Creative Expression

  July 07, 2017

  When he was approached by a colleague about writing for a magazine with the theme “unspeakables and ineffables,” Lary Campbell had one idea for a personal essay that kept coming to mind. He had doubts about sharing it, though. The colleague, Lisa Jacobs, knew Campbell was an accomplished playwright and filmmaker who would be a talented contributor to the second issue of the magazine she had founded, Penndulum. She didn’t know that Campbell was HIV positive.

  Psychology Public Health LGBT Infectious Disease
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  Drinking to Blackout: What Happens When Young Brains get Boozed

  June 14, 2017

  Though alcohol has become an integral part of many social functions, especially holidays, few people truly understand the damage that too many drinks can do to your body and your brain. In fact, years of chronic alcohol use can actually contribute to a person developing a serious brain disorder that affects cognition, movement, and memory.

  Brain and Behavior Behavioral Health Psychology Psychiatry
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  The Obsession with Pimple-Popping

  June 02, 2017

  There’s no grey area when it comes to the eruption of pimple-popping videos floating around the internet. People either “pore” over them, or burst out in horror just seeing the links. I happen to like them. They’re incredibly grotesque, I admit, but also inexplicably gratifying to me – and many others. That’s why they’re all over YouTube, bubbling up on Facebook feeds, and popping up in news stories.

  Dermatology Psychology
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  Facing Our Fears: Why it Works

  May 17, 2017

  Everyone fears something. In fact, it is estimated that more than 19 million Americans suffer from specific phobia. But the things that we fear and the extent to which we fear them can vary greatly from person to person. In his role as the associate director at the Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety, David A. Yusko, Psy.D., sees dozens of patients living with a variety of debilitating phobias.

  Psychiatry Psychology
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  "13 Reasons Why" and the Difficult Subject of Teen Suicide

  April 28, 2017

  Netflix's "13 Reasons Why" has received significant attention, not all of it positive, for the graphic way it portrays suicide, sexual assault, and bullying. For Steve Berkowitz, MD, director of the Penn Center for Youth and Family Trauma Response and Recovery, the show fails to adequately handle the subject of teenage suicide in a number of ways — some all too common.

  General Interest Public Health Psychology Trauma
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  Effects of Smoking and Alcohol on Smell and Taste (It’s Not What You Think)

  April 10, 2017

  Smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol can wreak havoc on the organs, but what do these two vices do to the senses? Considering what's known, overdoing it presumably damages a person's sense of smell and taste—however, the work of Richard Doty, PhD, the director of the Penn Smell and Taste Center, along with colleagues at Harvard University, suggests it may be more nuanced.

  Research Public Health Psychology Ear Nose and Throat
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  Putting the ‘Plastic’ in ‘Synaptic Plasticity’

  March 03, 2017

  We’ve all seen 'em: Children displaying prowess far beyond ours in areas we considered ourselves capable. They make up for a lack of experience with the ability to learn at an extraordinary pace, surpassing their elders quickly. You may be relieved to know there’s a term, and full scientific explanation, for this phenomenon—beyond just your being out of touch.

  Aging Brain and Behavior Neurology Psychology