Psychology Today Blogs
Sexual Disinhibition
Can a change in sexual behavior indicate a neurological problem? As my husband and I were interviewing Joy Milne, a retired nurse in Perth, Scotland on her ability to detect Parkinson’s Disease (PD) through smell only, she revealed to us a surprising fact about...
Musky Smell and Parkinson’s Disease
Can a change in body odor indicate a neurological problem? Source: Chris Gilbert, MD, PhD As my husband, Eric Haseltine, and I landed in Edinburgh, Scotland one month ago, we were welcomed by heavy black clouds and relentless rain. But the temperature was warmer than...
Saving Dogs’ Lives Can Save Human Lives
The story of two dogs and their common training for scientific breakthroughs. According to the American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, approximately 3.3 million dogs enter U.S. animal shelters every year. Of those, 1.6 million are adopted each year but...
Could a Passion for Dogs Lead to a Nobel Prize?
Our best friends might save our lives in a new way. When Dina Zaphiris was a little girl, she often was asked by friends and family what she wanted to do in life. Her answer was always, “I want to work with dogs! I want to be the best!” Dina indeed became a...
Better Recognizing Vocal Emotions Can Improve Relationships
Unconscious voice changes can give away true deep emotions. As my boyfriend and I were having a casual dinner at a quiet Chinese restaurant, my boyfriend (who later became my husband) was telling me about his day when suddenly his voice unintentionally changed...
New Diet Ideas From the Artificial Sweeteners Controversy
Finding hope from conflicting data. When my husband started drinking diet sodas and using artificial sweeteners (AS) in his coffee, his weight went up. I didn’t think much of it until I attended a Continuing Medical Education (CME) conference for physicians...
Decreasing Pesticide Intake Can Improve Fertility in Women
Some fruits and vegetables are better than others. In a JAMA Internal Medicine article published online on October 30th, 2017, Yu-Han Chiu MD and colleagues studied the association between pesticide residue intake from consumption of fruits and vegetables...
Sex Talk
A simple way for both partners to have more intense orgasmsHave you ever tried giving your genitals a voice? If your clitoris and vagina had a voice what would they say? What are their secret desires? If your penis had a voice, what would it say? This is the...
Tap Into the Inner Genius You Didn’t Know You Had
The story of acquired savant syndrome and what we can learn from it. Derek was a 39-year-old sales trainer with no musical skill when he dove head first into a very shallow swimming pool while visiting his mom. He suffered a severe head concussion and was taken to the...
The Latest News on the Obesity Epidemic
New consequences and what you can do about it. A study, published this week in Vital Signs, a publication from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and based on data from the 2005-2014 United States Cancer Statistics, confirms that being overweight puts...
Surprising New Discoveries About Humans’ Sense of Smell
Source: Nadezda Parizskaya/Shutterstock Joy could smell a musky odor coming from her husband’s neck area, but she didn’t think much of it, until six years later, when he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Joy and her husband were attending a Parkinson’s disease...
A New Approach to Treating Hard-to-Cure Illnesses
Carla came to see me a few years ago after four separate physicians had failed to help her. When she shuffled into my examining room --the first appointment of my day-- I could see right away she wasn’t well. Stylish clothes hung loosely on her 5’11’ frame, suggesting...
The Danger from Cell Phones Is Not What You Think
You’ve doubtless heard that microwave radiation from cell phones could pose health risks. Although the National Cancer Institute recently found that there is scant evidence that cell phone radiation causes cancer, there is clear evidence that cell phones pose a...
3 Important Sex Questions
When Jill (not her real name) married Boris, she was a 22 year old virgin. She had saved herself for the one man she loved and was proud of it. Yet, the wedding night proved to be unexpected. She had put candles everywhere in their beautiful spacious hotel room. ...
A Simple Trick to Turn Holiday Pain Into Pleasure
For many, family holidays such as Christmas are stressful. One simple mind trick can help you appreciate them in a genuine positive way: use your inner time machine, press the fast forward button then reset. Eva was a patient of mine who always was very stressed out...
Do You Know When to Confront Your Doctor?
Doctors can be intimidating. But having the courage to confront them can save your life and the life of your loved ones. Laura was 62 years old when she started having rectal pain and a little rectal bleeding after each bowel movement. At first, she didn’t worry, but...
A Recipe for Finding True Love
I picked the wrong man to be my first husband because my parents were pressuring me to get married. I hadn’t met many men at that point of my life, and nobody had taught me how to find true love: not high school, not medical school, not even my parents. So I...
When, Why, and How to Say No
Source: A and N photography/Shutterstock The holiday season is just around the corner, which means that you probably have a number of family interactions ahead of you—and the stresses that go with them. Most of us are taught to be nice and make family gatherings...
A Five Second Health Secret Your Doctor Will Never Tell You
Doctors treat illnesses with complex, high-tech solutions and ever more sophisticated drugs. But what if there were a solution to complex, longstanding health problems that’s free, fast, fun and immediately available to all? Click on this link to see an example of...
Unexpected Ways to Address the Obesity Epidemic
This weekend, my fiancé and I went for a walk in a nearby park to try the new Pokemon augmented reality game. In addition to catching a whole bunch of Pokemons, we walked 3 miles instead of our usual 2 miles, we stayed outside 2 hours instead of our usual 1 hour...
