Brilliant Blog

Whenever the young man heard a plane screeching by overhead, he would scream so uncontrollably that everyone in his Afghanistan village grew to despise him.
His hysterical outbursts — fallout from growing up in a homeland where bombs and bullets had been raining from the sky for decades — embarrassed his parents so much they dumped [...]

A Mashpee woman has been sentenced on charges that she practiced as an unlicensed psychologist and mental health counselor for more than 10 years, Attorney General Tom Reilly announced today.
Tama Judd, 58, of Mashpee, pleaded guilty today before Judge Carol Ball in Suffolk Superior Court to one count each of practicing psychology without a license [...]

Overnight cramming sessions might hurt students’ exam grades rather than help them, and naps before games might help athletes improve their performance.Those were the findings this semester of a Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts sophomore, Danielle Durand, whose study of 10 students, under the supervision of psychology professor Peggy Brooks, Ph.D, indicates people retain factual [...]

In Connie Isbell’s classroom at Red Bridge Elementary School, classical music provides a backdrop. One third-grader thumbs through Inkheart, the 534-page fantasy novel he’s reading for fun.
The six boys who are the sum total of this classroom aren’t simply gifted. They’re way-over-the-top when it comes to smarts. This room and the one next to it [...]

A newly identified imaging compound that shows how Alzheimer’s disease ravages the brain could lead to better tools to diagnose the disease and better ways to evaluate new treatments, a new study shows.
In brain imaging studies, the compound, known as FDDNP, bound to the plaques and tangles within the brain that are the characteristic features [...]

Pooled results from 22 clinical trials show that psychological interventions help individuals with chronic low back pain experience less actual pain, less pain-related interference with daily living, less depression and work-related disability, and greater health-related quality of life.
Dr. Robert D. Kerns, who led the analysis, told Reuters Health, “The data across randomized, controlled studies are [...]

An Emory University initiative to study and treat childhood depression has received a $2 million boost from J. Rex Fuqua, president and CEO of Atlanta-based Fuqua Capital Corp., a private investment firm.
Fuqua, 57, who is also managing director of Fuqua Ventures, endowed a chair in child psychiatry at Emory University School of Medicine.

“Depression, mood disorders [...]

Authorities say a student brought a rifle to school and shot himself to death Tuesday at Springfield Township High School in Montgomery County in Erdenheim, Pennsylvania.
The student’s death is reported in a statement the school district has posted on its Web site. The district says no one else was injured.
“We have received a report that [...]

After years of colicky debate over which method is best for getting babies to fall asleep by themselves, experts have a soothing new message: just about all the techniques work, so pick one you are comfortable with and stick with it.Despite their apparent differences, most of the behavioral approaches reviewed in the October issue of [...]

This is a wonderful, lengthy new article from New York Magazine:
People who are suffering from burnout tend to describe the sensation in metaphors of emptiness—they’re a dry teapot over a high flame, a drained battery that can no longer hold its charge. Thirteen years, three books, and dozens of papers into his profession, Barry Farber, [...]

In 1982, a survey of clinical psychologists ranked Albert Ellis as the second most influential psychotherapist in history. Carl Rogers, who helped popularize the idea of the self-concept, was No. 1.
Sigmund Freud was No. 3.
To his admirers, Dr. Ellis, now 93, remains a giant with important things to say.
For more than 30 years, Dr. Ellis, [...]

William M. Meredith, a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, whose behind-the-scenes work in psychometrics revolutionized longitudinal studies analysis, died at his El Cerrito home on Monday, Dec. 4. He was 77.  
During five decades of work in statistical analysis, Meredith was particularly active in the areas of aging and educational testing. [...]

Decades of medical research prove that mother’s milk has extraordinary health benefits for babies. But does breast-feeding also make babies smarter, as some advocates claim?
The current scientific evidence points in both directions, making a definitive conclusion impossible.
“Whether or not breast-feeding is truly associated with a child’s IQ is open to debate,” said Dr. Cathy Spong, [...]

In this post-Sept. 11 world of global terrorism and local school shootings, attitudes are changing about campus acts once winked at as teenage pranks.
A 17-year-old Carlsbad High School boy was arrested in mid-November, a week after police alleged that he used a pay phone on campus to call in a bomb threat on Nov. 8 [...]

We’ve all either seen one, or been one ourselves — the person who shows up for work despite a high fever, hacking up a lung and spewing disease along his path. Often, the sickened employee is rewarded with such accolades as “what a trooper,” or “such dedication,” while others slowly roll their chairs (and eyes) [...]

Alan E. Kazdin, the John M. Musser Professor of Psychology, Child Psychiatry, and Institute for Social and Policy Studies at Yale, has been named President of the American Psychological Association (APA), the largest association of psychologists worldwide.
Kazdin, who also directs the Yale Parenting Center and Child Conduct Clinic, will begin his leadership of the 150,000-member [...]

Offering additional depression screening and care may save employers about $3,000 per 1,000 workers over five years, according to a cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analysis reported in the December issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
In addition to its toll on patients’ health and well-being, depression is estimated to cost tens of [...]

A convicted pedophile has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for convincing a teenage boy to kill and dismember his mother.
Edwin Gimenez pleaded guilty Sept. 18 to second-degree murder in the death of Madeline Irene, 46, whose remains were found in bags in the Black Rock Channel.
“It would be an understatement to [...]

Fort Pierce Westwood sophomore Isaac Virgin takes head injuries a bit more seriously after suffering his first concussion this fall. The Panthers quarterback was knocked unconscious after a hard hit by three defenders in a game against East Ridge on Sept. 8. He was out a short time, but lay motionless for more than 20 [...]

The gap in IQ scores between African-Americans and whites narrowed over the 20th century, agreed experts at a debate held here last week. They disagreed, though, on exactly when that narrowing occurred.
In a paper published in October in Psychological Science, William T. Dickens and James R. Flynn suggest that black Americans began to catch up [...]