There is no topic that hasn’t a psychological component. The recent issue of the American Psychological Association Monitor is full of reports that attest to this fact.
Recently, the Monitor notes, the APA publicly debunked the physical discipline of children citing the solid longitudinal research that finds that such discipline does not improve behavior and, in fact, exacerbates emotional, behavioral, and academic problems. “Hitting children does not teach them right from wrong … Children do not need pain to learn … We don’t allow aggression among adults. It’s a sad double standard that we don’t give our children the same protection against violence” notes Elizabeth Gershoff, a psychology professor at the University of Texas.
There are many options for effective parenting without resorting to negative, or bordering on abusive, measures. Books on parenting by Daniel Siegel and John Gottman have been highlighted in past columns here. A recent book to help parents is “Mindful Parenting” by Kristen Race. She discusses ways to engage with children at all stages of development and gives clear “recipes” for how to get even a toddler to relax. (See her book for “animal breathing” as just one example.)
The research of psychologists stretches beyond the study of children and parents to environments worlds away from each other. Ashlee Consolo, and Neville Ellis are studying communities in Labrador and Australia and are discovering an “ecological grief” that is common to both due to the effects of climate change. Life on their lands is being decimated. Consola says, “… in 2009, the Lancet[British Medical Journal] identified climate change as the biggest public health challenge of the twenty-first century … I think there’s an increasing recognition that mental health is a part of that.”
The more we understand about our own bodies and our developing brains and the more we learn about our world, the more we recognize how much mental health is affected by everything!
Further Reading:
“Physical Discipline is Harmful and Ineffective,” Eva Glicksman, Monitor on Psychology, May 2019;
“Mourning the Land,” Lea Winnerman, Monitor on Psychology, May 2019;
“Mindful Parenting,” Kristen Race, St. Martin Press, New York, 2013.
About Kayta Gajdos
Dr. Kathleen Curzie Gajdos ("Kayta") is a licensed psychologist (Pennsylvania and Delaware) who has worked with individuals, couples, and families with a spectrum of problems. She has experience and training in the fields of alcohol and drug addictions, hypnosis, family therapy, Jungian theory, Gestalt therapy, EMDR, and bereavement. Dr. Gajdos developed a private practice in the Pittsburgh area, and was affiliated with the Family Therapy Institute of Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, having written numerous articles for the Family Therapy Newsletter there. She has published in the American Psychological Association Bulletin, the Family Psychologist, and in the Swedenborgian publications, Chrysalis and The Messenger. Dr. Gajdos has taught at the college level, most recently for West Chester University and Wilmington College, and has served as field faculty for Vermont College of Norwich University the Union Institute's Center for Distance Learning, Cincinnati, Ohio. She has also served as consulting psychologist to the Irene Stacy Community MH/MR Center in Western Pennsylvania where she supervised psychologists in training. Currently active in disaster relief, Dr. Gajdos serves with the American Red Cross and participated in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts as a member of teams from the Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.Now living in Chadds Ford, in the Brandywine Valley of eastern Pennsylvania, Dr. Gajdos combines her private practice working with individuals, couples and families, with leading workshops on such topics as grief and healing, the impact of multigenerational grief and trauma shame, the shadow and self, Women Who Run with the Wolves, motherless daughters, and mediation and relaxation. Each year at Temenos Retreat Center in West Chester, PA she leads a griefs of birthing ritual for those who have suffered losses of procreation (abortions, miscarriages, infertility, etc.); she also holds yearly A Day of Re-Collection at Temenos.Dr. Gajdos holds Master's degrees in both philosophy and clinical psychology and received her Ph.D. in counseling at the University of Pittsburgh. Among her professional affiliations, she includes having been a founding member and board member of the C.G. Jung Educational Center of Pittsburgh, as well as being listed in Who's Who of American Women. Currently, she is a member of the American Psychological Association, The Pennsylvania Psychological Association, the Delaware Psychological Association, the American Family Therapy Academy, The Association for Death Education and Counseling, and the Delaware County Mental Health and Mental Retardation Board. Woven into her professional career are Dr. Gajdos' pursuits of dancing, singing, and writing poetry.
- Web |
- More Posts(250)
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading...
Comments