Today I have the honor of interviewing Ryan Howes, a clinical psychologist and college professor who blogs. Howes earned his masters degree in theology and PhD in clinical psychology from Fuller Theological Seminary, where he studied spirituality, men’s issues and psychodynamic therapy. He teaches graduate students at Pepperdine University and Fuller and is co-author of [...]

One of the myths surrounding mental illness is that it escapes successful folks … that the poor, weak, and ambition-free folks are the ones waiting for their prescriptions at Rite-Aid.
I know better. Because I’ve seen so many of my successful friends fall into the Black Hole unable to surface to light on their own. I’ve [...]

While visiting family over the weekend, I thought you might enjoy these classic entries from our past.
10 Years Ago on Psych Central

When Tragedy Provides
My essay about the Columbine tragedy, which also just celebrated its 10 year anniversary a few months ago. Tragedy reminds us that we’re human and gives us a chance to reconnect with [...]

One of the myths surrounding mental illness is that it escapes successful folks … that the poor, weak, and ambition-free folks are the ones waiting for their prescriptions at Rite-Aid.
I know better. Because I’ve seen so many of my successful friends fall into the Black Hole unable to surface to light on their own. I’ve [...]

Ever wonder who uses Internet dating services like Match.com and eHarmony.com? The answer may surprise you. I think, “Well, gee, everybody uses them!” But that’s not the case. There’s a particular psychological profile that researchers have discovered of users of Internet dating services.
The researchers (Kim et al., 2009) surveyed 3,345 folks in the U.S., of [...]

Quick! Tell me what order you are in the family and what that means to you. Were you the youngest, the baby, who was taken care of, protected (perhaps spoiled) and not left to make your own decisions? Were you the oldest, who had all the pressure and demands placed on you to “set an [...]

You may remember the Virginia Tech tragedy more than two years ago, when a student at the university, Seung-Hui Cho, opened fire one day on his classmates, killing 32 folks and himself on April 16, 2007. What you may not have known is that Cho’s mental health records from when he was seen at the [...]

Quick! Tell me what order you are in the family and what that means to you. Were you the youngest, the baby, who was taken care of, protected (perhaps spoiled) and not left to make your own decisions? Were you the oldest, who had all the pressure and demands placed on you to “set an [...]

Tough economic times affect everyone. Even, apparently, the ability to look at data in a rational and logical manner.
When your data tell you that your psychiatric hospital bed capacity is hovering around 97 percent, many folks would consider that a sign that perhaps more psychiatric hospital beds are needed.
But in Massachusetts, apparently the reverse is [...]

Today’s interview is with happiness expert Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ph.D., who is Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside and the author of “The How of Happiness.” In 2002, Lyubomirsky was awarded a Templeton Positive Psychology Prize. Currently, she holds a 5-year million-dollar grant (with Ken Sheldon) from the National Institute of Mental Health [...]