For more than 10 years, I served as a psychologist consultant at a retirement community. In all those years, I never met anyone who had “come out” as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender—LGBT. It certainly isn’t because LGBT is new, but it might be because the LGBT community avoids residing in such places for fear of discrimination or because when someone from the LGBT community…
Tom Bunn, the author of “Panic Free,” started out as a pilot. In that capacity, he tried for years to help people who feared flying. Then, eureka — a solution — which, he says, not only quells the fear of flying, but also manages panic states encountered on the ground as well. After years of study, he learned that the real issue of panic is…
Go take a hike! We talk about “human nature” a lot, but it turns out humans themselves need nature. Researchers are finding that, all across the life span, being outside in natural settings, walking, playing, just sitting, helps both brain and body functions. The response by some to these findings may be “Well, duh!” It may be common sense and intuitive to know that humans…
A bunch of bunnies enchanted young patients, parents and personnel at Chester County Hospital on Friday, April 19, 2019. For more than a decade, the Chester County Sheriff’s Office has teamed up with the hospital to spread cheer during the Easter season. This year’s bunnies included a 5-foot-6, cuddly costumed version, a basket of stuffed animals, and Chester County Sheriff Carolyn Bunny Welsh. Cpl. Brad…
How are you at reading the emotions of others or assessing your own personality? These are among the topics briefly covered in a recent (April 2019) publication of Monitor On Psychology. When researchers asked participants in a study to note the “happiness levels of both black and non-black people photographed with either ‘real’ smiles (which involve movement of muscles at the corner of the eyes) or…
The TV series “Madam Secretary” tackled the topic of vaccinations recently. In this episode, a young child, whose parents had not gotten her vaccinated, contracted measles and as a result, suffered cognitive impairment. As a child, I remember being very ill with the measles. I also remember being ecstatic to join all the children lined up at the firehouse a few years later to receive…
The YMCA of Greater Brandywine believes that team sports are an important way to help kids develop, not only physically, but in learning important life skills, such as leadership, teamwork, good sportsmanship and responsibility. However, a report by the Aspen Institute indicated 70 percent of kids drop out of sports by the age of 13 because they say it’s not fun anymore. To help combat…
Ever been homesick? Most of us have. “Homesickness is the distress and functional impairment caused by an actual or anticipated separation from home and attachment objects such as parents,” state Christopher Thurber, and Edward Walton, M.D., in Pediatrics: 119 (Jan 2007, p 192-201). (Also available on the web: https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/119/1/192.) Even though, as a high schooler, I had spent one summer in a journalism camp in…
Getting prompt treatment for a stroke is of major importance. That was one of the lessons driven home to Chadds Ford Business Association members during a lunch meeting at Crozer Keystone’s Brinton Lake Facility. Dr. Erol Veznedaroglu, a neurosurgeon and the director of Drexel Neurosciences Institute at Drexel University’s College of Medicine was the guest speaker. Known as Dr. Vez, he told the group that two…
Some people go to a chiropractor because of back or neck pain. Others go for a sense of overall wellness. But Joseph Schneider, a chiropractor whose practice is in the Chadds Ford Business Campus, says his practice goes farther. Schneider runs Hope Brain & Body Recovery Center at 6 Dickinson Drive and says he’s not just a chiropractor but a functional neurologist as well. His…
Hockessin resident Marisa Maddox will be one of the 29 people featured in a new PSA in Times Square this March for Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. Maddox a colorectal cancer survivor, is an awareness ambassador for Fight Colorectal Cancer the country’s leading advocacy organization focused on colorectal cancer policy and research. The PSA will launch during the NASDAQ Opening Bell Ceremony on Feb. 27 at…