Tag Archives: children

Living With A Psychopath

We watch it on television. We read about it in tabloids. We become armchair experts on the subject, sometimes even joking around and accusing each other of being one. But, what is it truly like to live with a psychopath?

What is a Psychopath?

According to the DSM-IV-TR, the diagnosis of “psychopath” does not exist. That seems hard to believe considering the fact that we hear the word so often in our culture.

Dr. Stephen Diamond wrote a great article on how we often hear about violent behaviors and seem to instantly diagnose the perpetrator as a psychopath, without really taking all the necessary factors into consideration (and usually without the qualifications or experience to make the claim in the first place). Continue reading

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The Rise of Eating Disorders in Children

Over the course of the past 20 years, eating disorders have grown significantly, affecting both males and females of all ages. While this issue has been nationally recognized, it appears as though it’s only becoming worse. With stick thin models gracing every magazine and the “ideal” body being almost unattainable, the risk of eating disorders is increasing, especially among the younger generation.

Over 50% of teenage girls use unhealthy weight control behaviors including excessive fasting, improper dieting, skipping meals completely, vomiting, taking laxatives and smoking cigarettes (Lyness, 2011). While boys experience these difficulties to a lesser extent, they are not completely immune to them. Continue reading

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Sir Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill Creativity? (Video)

A profound talk by Sir Ken Robinson on human intelligence and the pressing need for an education system worldwide which nurtures childhood creativity. He argues that schools today are geared towards stigmatizing wrong answers (which subsequently restricts creativity and freedom of expression in students) and makes the point that creativity is something we slowly unlearn as we get older and become molded by the “rules” of general society.

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Family Structure and Aggression among Children/Adolescents

Happy family. Parents and kids in a line

Looks can be deceiving

Several features of the home environment are known to have a significant impact on aggression among children and adolescents. One feature that has received much attention in the psychological literature is family structure. Sheline, Skipper and Broadhead (1994, cited in Summers and Bakken, 2006) found that when compared to non-violent children, violent youngsters are about six times more likely to have unmarried parents and 11 times as likely to live with their fathers only. Other studies suggest that a lack of contact with fathers may also increase aggression. Pfiffner, McBurnett, and Rathouz (2001, cited in Summers & Bakken, 2006), for example, found a gradual rise in violent behavior starting with youths who lived with both parents, increasing for those who had some contact with their fathers and increasing further for those who had no contact with their fathers.  Similarly, Fagan and Rector (2000, cited in Smith & Green, 2007),  found that children from father-absent households usually harbor feelings of hostility, associate with deviant peers and get involved in negative activities. Continue reading

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