Are You Depressed?

Ever felt sad, down, in the dumps? Have things gotten so dark that you've felt like giving up? It's not an uncommon sight with almost 460,000 Australians aged 16 to 60 suffering from an affective disorder (disorders centred around mood, including Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)) of some kind at one point in their lives.

It's said that in Australia roughly one in four people have suffered from anxiety-related symptoms at some point within the last year, and about one in 20 have suffered from depression-related symptoms in the same time frame. Again, it's not an uncommon sight.

Let's get things straight, when we're talking about depression what do we even mean? Well, the term depression is actually an Anglo-French word (depressio) that came about in the 14th century. It's noted as meaning to be "pressed down".

What have some people identified as feeling when they're depressed? You got it, 'down'. We hear that word tossed around without understanding its inception, but that's beyond the point of this post. What I'm going to focus on here is what depression actually means in the clinical sense, and how it might apply to you!

The DSM-5 notes that affective disorders have a number of common features: feelings of sadness, emptiness, irritability, all accompanied by physiological and cognitive (i.e. pertaining to our thought processes) changes that limit the person's capability to function (APA, 2013). What differs between these disorders are their temporal duration, timing, and presumed cause.

But what are these disorders? We've already mentioned MDD, but surely there are others. After all, the DSM doesn't do things half the velocity... 

You'll see a list of just a few of them below:

1. Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (a new addition to the DSM-5 that has come under scrutiny given the potential to diagnose temper tantrums as mental disorders)

2. Dysthymia (a prolonged period of depressive symptoms)

3. Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (basically the mood swings that include depression-like symptoms when a female's on her period)

You can see why everyone's not too convinced with the DSM's way of pathologising behaviour. But that's fodder for another post (I've summarily discussed some changes in the new DSM and the scrutiny they've endured in a previous post). 

In all seriousness I'm now going to run through the new DSM requirements for the diagnosis of MDD, an increasingly lethal disorder.

In order to be diagnosed with MDD, the person needs to satisfy at least five of the following criteria over a two-week period:

1. Depressed mood observable to others and/or self

2. Decreased interest in activities you once found enjoyable

3. Weight loss or weight gain

4. Insomnia or hypersomnia

5. Motor agitation (observable agitation in terms of movement in the body)

6. Fatigue

7. Worthlessness and guilt

8. Lessened cognitive ability

9. Recurring thoughts about death and suicide (a clinician's guide to suicide risk assessment can be found here)

In terms of making a diagnosis, the clinician will attempt to ascertain a plethora of other details (e.g. whether there are psychotic or melancholic features), but for this post's purposes, the latter criteria is sufficient.

Depressive disorders have been associated with a largely increased suicide risk (although there are many factors involved to determine that risk), therefore if a person identifies with the latter criteria it'll be in their best effort to seek professional help, wherever they reside.

It's my advice that if you've read this post and have found these symptoms in yourself or somebody that you care about, seeking local medical and psychological/psychiatric help would be something to consider seriously. 

I'm sure you've heard somebody respond 'I'm fine!' with agitation in their voice when asking them how they are. What I like to remind people is that when some of us say that we really mean 'I'm frustrated, insecure, neurotic, and emotional!'. A little acronym that just about sums up this post.

References

American Psychiatric Association (APA). (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Images retrieved from:

http://angryjogger.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/running-to-overcome-depression.jpg

http://www.perthbraincentre.com.au/wp-content/uploads/Constraint-Induced-Therapy.jpg

Suicide Risk Assessment for Clinicians

I remember undertaking my first suicide risk assessment. It included a client that came to the organisation I worked with at that moment and I was scheduled to perform the intake session. 

Details were collected, substance use history documented, and finally we get to a triage type mini suicide risk assessment section (an area that asks the clinician to briefly detail past and current suicidality and thus determine the risk).

The client had lost his job, drank excessively, and described that he had some suicidal intent. To his absolute credit, he'd come for the intake from across town, a journey that also included a 45 minute walk. He was determined to get help.

I was a little shaken (though not visibly I'm told) when he'd described that he'd had the means (a shotgun) and has called off prior attempts to take his life. This man obviously was ambivalent towards dying.

I determined that he was a medium to high risk suicide client, and went to a colleague to consult. After consultation and my colleagues assistance in negotiating with the client, we set him up for counselling sessions, and determined his suicidality as medium risk.

So that's the extent of my initial contact with a suicidal client. After that, I'd familiarised myself with the literature, and have consulted with others about how to best approach these clients. And so I came across the SIMPLE STEPS Suicide Risk Assessment formulated by Dr Jason M. McGlothlin. In his book Developing Clinical Skills in Suicide Assessment, Prevention, and Treatment, he describes this assessment model for suicidal clients. 

In his interview with Rebecca Daniel-Burke of the American Counseling Association (ACA) he looked into these steps along with treatment options at greater length. It's those steps (similar but more expansive than the American Association of Suicidology's IS PATH WARM acronym to suicide risk assessment) that I'm going to list in this post.

The acronym is as follows:

S: Suicidal
I: Ideation

M: Method

P: Perturbation

L: Loss

E: Earlier Attempts

S: Substances

T: Troubleshooting

E: Emotional Diagnosis

P: Parents and Family

S: Stress and Life Events

Basically we want to ask, (1) Is the client suicidal? If they're younger clients you might want to look into what they actually know about the meaning of suicide, and their ideas about death. If the client tiptoes around this question you might want to probe them a little deeper, but what we need as clinicians is a thorough understanding as to whether the client shows any signs that they are or have been at risk of suicide.

Next we look at ideation. (2) What are the client's thought processes like around suicide? How are their thoughts structured? Measuring on an ordinal scale rather than numeral scale might be helpful. For example, does the client want to live and not die? Does the client not care whether they die, but they don't want to take their life? Does the client want to take their life? And, does the client want to take their life and they know how to?  We also look at the clients responses in a temporal way. For example, we might ask them: On a scale of 1 to 10 how likely are you to commit suicide in the next 72 hours? That gives us a sense of how serious the situation is for the client, and how far they're willing to take it.

Method looks at the means of completing suicide. (4) Does the client have access to the means in which they want to take their own life? Remember, we're not assessing for the lethality of of the means, but rather we're assessing the client. If the client thinks that their chosen method of suicide might be lethal (say, taking 7 valium) it's not up to us to determine whether it actually is lethal, but rather the clients intent and access to the means. Does the client have access to the valium? A gun? Bullets? Etc.

Perturbation is basically assessing the pain that the client's in. (5) What makes you want to take you life? This question of pain accompanies the question of how likely the client is to complete suicide using a scaling question. If we ask how likely are they out of 10 to complete suicide and they rate themselves a 3 or 4, then we could look at what it might take for them to reach a 5 or 6. Little steps in determining the client's level of pain might be the key to knowing how to proceed in being a helper.

Loss is next. (5) What's your experience around loss, both perceived and actual? What this question might serve with the assessment - though it could definitely (as with the others) be formulated in a different way - is to find what precipitating factors might serve the client in their thoughts of suicide. The clinician must keep in mind that perceived loss might actually be more debilitating than actual loss. Perceived loss refers to the anxiety around losing something. Whether it's a partner, job, health, or life, it's a loss that's not certain. It's an anxiety about what might be to come and thus there's no sense of closure. Contrast this to actual loss we see that there's the possibility of achieving a sense of closure and working on from there. Once we've understood the client's sense of loss we can begin to understand how this relates to their thoughts an potential actions towards suicide.

Looking for earlier attempts at suicide is next. (6) Have you attempted suicide in the past? This question can prompt the client to discuss the circumstances around any prior attempts. The more attempts the more potential to complete suicide. As the clinician gages the severity of prior attempts, how long ago, and the number of prior attempts, he or she could open a dialogue around the circumstances prior to attempting suicide and seeing how this might relate to treatment.

Substance use is next. (7) Are you currently on any substances or medications at the moment? That question attempts to understand whether the client's use of certain medications or substances (whether licit or illicit) might be contributing to his or her considerations towards suicide. Seeing whether the client is medicine compliant (i.e. actually taking their medications) might serve to find whether any prescriptions that might be helping them handle a diagnosed mental illness are actually serving their purpose. If not, then the clinician could see whether discussion around this might be useful with the client. Understanding the content and frequency of illicit or licit substance use with the client could also serve to gage what probable contribution this might have to the client's ideation. For example, if the client is using a depressant (e.g. alcohol) they could be more likely to commit suicide when they're in their low mood. Using illicit substances that alter brain chemistry and functioning could also increase the client's attempts towards completing suicide.

(8) How are your problem-solving skills? Understanding what a client's troubleshooting skills are like serves to determine the trajectory of suicidal behaviour. For example, if the client accidentally trips over and straight away thinks of suicide they could be more prone to actually completing suicide. When problem-solving skills aren't there then the brains capacity to think of other solutions to what could ultimately end in taking one's own life is compromised. Furthermore, knowing what immediately preceded the client's thoughts of suicide could assist to determine how adequate their problem-solving skills actually are. This could also be an area that the clinician and client could collaborate on in terms of a treatment context; to work on one's troubleshooting skills.

Emotions. These get us into a whole lot of trouble, and if handled suboptimally one could be headed towards a dark place. (9) What emotions are you experiencing when you feel suicidal? Working towards an emotional diagnosis assists the clinician in understanding what contributors could be at work in the intricacy of suicide. What's usually spoken of in this context is when the client's are experiencing a sense of worthlessness, helplessness, hopelessness, loneliness, and/or depression. If the client identifies with one or more of those factors, the clinician will be better equipped to know how to proceed.

Asking question about family history and suicidality or mental illness is also beneficial in the process of suicide risk assessment. (10) Have your parents, or anybody else in your family suffered with anything similar to what you're suffering through? Studies have found that parental depression can contribute to a number of negative outcomes including less than ideal parenting practices and children suffering from similar symptoms, symptoms that could lead to suicidal ideation. Genetic factors also contribute towards a number of diagnoses of mental illness. Therefore as a clinician progresses through an assessment, questions oriented towards understanding family history are essential.

Finally, we want to get a sense of the way stress and life events have contributed to the client's behaviours. (11) How have you been able to handle stress in the past? In a previous post I've detailed important ways that'll hopefully help a person overcome their negative ruminations. Clients that are so focused on the anxieties and stresses of life given certain life events haven't been able to manage their stress levels to the best of their ability. That way, when a clinician's enquiring about the client's stress levels he or she will get a sense of how the client normally reacts to life events. Being able to capture and slow these thoughts about various life events that are perceived negative might wok well in a therapeutic context.

So there we have it, a very valuable resource to aid with suicide risk assessment for the clinician!

Note: The SIMPLE STEPS model presented in this post is a summarised version of what's presented in the ACA interview with Dr. McGlothlin noted earlier

Images retrieved from:

http://religion.lilithezine.com/images/Suicide-03.jpg

http://www.psychotherapybrownbag.com/.a/6a010537101528970b0120a5fb4736970c-320wi

http://lilinhaangel.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Pen-and-Paper.jpeg

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Are You a Narcissist?

In a prior post I spoke about the narcissism that's seemingly ubiquitous in social media. It's all about me, me, ME! Well, isn't it? Don't we have our profile for a reason - to post about ourselves? Maybe. But that's not what this post is about. It's not a rant against the self-centredness of social media, but an attempt to question you...

Are YOU a narcissist?

James Doty's a professor of neurosurgery, and has founded the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University. Given he's founded such a centre you mightn't call him a narcissist would you? Well, in his lifetime he's racked up tens of millions of dollars and has given it away. But before then he was living for the penthouses, fast cars, and the rich life. It was about his 'wants' being satisfied rather than the selfless needs of others. Does that necessarily make him a narcissist? Or a reformed-narcissist? It depends on how you define the term. 

The term narcissist comes from the story of Narcissus, a super handsome hunter found in Greek Mythology. It's said that he was walking by a pool of water and saw his reflection. "Damn I'm good lookin'" he thought to himself. With that thought, he fell head-over-heels in love with himself. 

If we define being a narcissist that way - a person that's truly in love with themselves - then we'd probably won't find as many people to call narcissists as we once thought (or maybe you might). 

Taking it a step further, let's look at a psychiatric understanding of the term narcissist. Now, in psychiatry and psychology we've put together a term to describe a disorder that's narcissistic in nature. It's called narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). With it comes a conglomeration of symptoms and signs that are potentially damaging to the personality of the beholder. It' the latter that I'm going to focus on today.

So what's NPD? Let's find out.

The DSM-5 (2013) describes NPD as "a pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration, and lack of empathy." What's that mean? It's basically saying that when you think you're all that, when you want others to notice you, and when you can't put yourself in the shoes of others, you could be suffering from NPD. 

That's probably all teenagers right? Not too convincing...

Well, let's break it down a little bit more. In order to be diagnosed with NPD a person's got to satisfy five criteria.

1. Inflated self-importance

2. Fantasies of limitless success

3. Sees self as only associated with "special" people of high regard

4. Craves admiration

5. Sense of entitlement

6. Exploits people

7. Lacks empathy

8. Envious

9. Arrogant

If you've got any of those five, you might be in the running of being labelled a narcissist. But wait! There's more! 

To actually be considered a prime candidate for the diagnosis of NPD you must qualify for significant disturbances in your life (for the most part). So, if you're 'symptoms' are causing duress for yourself or others. Having a significant impact on your family life, career prospects, relationships with others, and so on, you might very well be 'suffering' from NPD.

So how do you treat it?

Well you could admit yourself to hospital and get a team of specialists to take a look at you (only in the extreme cases though), or you could - and this is my preferred method - seek individual psychotherapy. 

The latter could address your sense of self. Why you need to be seen in such an inflated manner. Get to the bottom of thoughts, emotions (if there are any), and behaviours. 

But then again, since you probably know the best, you might end up becoming the therapist, right?

References

American Psychiatric Association (APA). (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Images retrieved from:

http://www.matrixbookstore.biz/img_narcissus.jpg

http://www.thomasvan.com/wp-content/files/57596-49806.jpg

http://sparkfreedom.org/files/2013/04/narcissism-disorders.jpg

Are You...

The current post marks the beginning of a series that I'll delve into which deliberates on you're mental state. Are you narcissistic? Are you depressed? Are you anxious? Are you manic? Are you still reading this? Well, you get the idea. 

I'll be making use of the the DSM-5 in these posts. What's the DSM-5 I hear you ask? It's been referred to as the psychiatrist's bible. It's full title is as follows: The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th edition). 

Psych's have been super busy both applauding and scrutinising this latest edition. For example, you can be diagnosed as clinically depressed if you've lost somebody recently. That's just one of the issues that comes up in the debate. You can see more criticism of the current edition here, but that's fuel for another post anyway.

What this series of posts will explore are some of the main features of personality or reactions to environmental phenomena that leave a significant imprint on your psyche. 

These posts will explore some of the main features of depression, narcissism, anxiety, and a few other "disorders" that appear in the latest DSM. 

They'll make use of real-world examples in order to ascertain whether you identify with some of these features, and advice on how to proceed if you do find yourself in want or need of change.

I look forward to these upcoming posts, and I look forward to any responses, queries/questions that you find yourself wanting to express. 

The topics covered shall be as follows:

1. Are you a narcissist?
2. Are you depressed?
3. Are you addicted?
4. Are you manic?
5. Are you traumatised?
6. Are you anxious?
7. Are you antisocial?
8. Are you paranoid?
9. Are you avoidant?
10. Are you dependent?
11. Are you an obsessive-compulsive?
12. Are you psychotic?
13. Are you anorexic?
14. Are you an indulger?
15. Are you sleepy?
16. Are you sexual?

Image retrieved from:

http://www.deliberation.info/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Censorship2.jpg

S.T.U.N. Yourself!

CBT. You might've heard of it. It stands for cognitive behaviour therapy and has focuses on setting up thoughts for reality testing. What's that mean? It means that when there's an identification of distorted negative beliefs (or cognitions) about oneself, bringing these to the fore through the use of testing them against the backdrop of "reality" might prove beneficial is ridding yourself of them.

You fail in a maths quiz, or relationship, or whatever; this brings a sneaky thought to mind: "I'm a failure! I never succeed at anything. I'm always gonna be a failure." Where this thought most likely will lead is to negative behaviours that are formulated in accordance with that belief such as, trying less in what you're doing; avoiding relationships; retreating into yourself, etc.

One technique that's been tried and tested in ridding oneself of these thoughts, or at least challenging them, has been the S.T.U.N. technique. 

What's the S.T.U.N. technique?

Mark Walsh from integration training on CBT Techniques

It stems from the theoretical backdrop of Aaron T. Beck's, MD, cognitive therapy, or CBT. Formulated by psychotherapist Roger Mills the S.T.U.N. technique asks you to Spot your thinking. When you've spotted this thinking (generally "bad" cognitions) ask whether it's actually True for you. If it proves that it's true (or untrue) ask yourself whether it's Useful. If you find that it's not useful then you might decide you have to do something about it. That's when you create a New story (just as real as you thought the negative story was) and test that against reality. When you realise that this new story is serving you better, you're more equipped to handle the situation that was initially distressing.

Spot.

True?

Useful?

New.

Understanding that there's a plethora of stories out there that could either serve you well, or not so well, the onus is on yourself to seek and find these "stories."

To some it's not as simple as that, and in that case they may benefit from seeing a counsellor, psychotherapist, or psychologist. However, if you come across those "sneaky little intrusive thoughts" you'd do well to S.T.U.N. them into reality!

Image retrieved from:

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Stop and Smell the Roses: The Science of being Mindful

Prior to sitting and writing this post I was out in nature. Strapping on my Brooks Glycerin running shoes and heading out to get my fill of Vitamin D a thought reached my consciousness, "I think I should write on mindfulness."

While walking down my street, reaching and breaking off and fingering the Callistemon bottlebrush that grows locally I began to formulate the structure of this post. I'd wanted to write on being mindful for a while, but never quite got around to it.

I smiled, closed my eyes and enjoyed the warm rays of sunshine as they projected onto my forehead. Spreading out my arms I felt the cool wind responsible for the goosebumps that were reluctantly showing themselves upon my bare skin. I breathed in the scent of freshly cut lawns (quite a difficult feat given my semi-blocked nose) and went on walking about.

I thought about the discussion in the psychology field regarding our deprivation of nature to the happening of the concrete jungles we surround ourselves with on a day-by-day basis.

Not too long ago (relatively speaking) in our evolutionary history our ancestors were trudging along to nature without the slightest clue that it's neurologically beneficial for us. 

Since the industrial revolution we've faced, and are quite accustomed to our lives of supply and demand; of solitude and production; of constriction and restriction. Most of us have forgotten what it's like to be outside. We suffer from vitamin deficiencies, of mood disorders, of a plethora of addictions given how we've found ourselves living in the here-and-now.

But should I even use the term "here-and-now"? That designates that we're conscious of what's happening to us here and now. But we're not! That's why writing this has been so important to me - I want to introduce you to the "here-and-now". To introduce you to owning your current experience rather than living a life of distraction.

I want you to "stop and smell the roses."

What is mindfulness?

Stemming from Buddhist philosophy, being mindful is allows a person to take in their surroundings and focus on the senses. Although thoughts are quite intrusive, being mindful doesn't mean we should bottle down our thoughts in favour of concentrating on our five senses, but to acknowledge them and put them aside for later (or bracket them).

When the psychology field got its grasp on mindfulness techniques things changed. We have Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy where we address cognitive concerns (like anxious thoughts and the behaviours these might lead to) in a mindful way - we attempt to understand our experience phenomenologically (i.e. understanding our experience as based on our senses) and understand our thoughts in such a way that we can test them against our actual reality (i.e. reality testing).

When we're mindful, in the therapeutic context, we're able to slow things down; to take hold of the situation through a number of relaxation techniques (e.g. controlled breathing) and effectively set ourselves up to a happier and healthier life.

Neuropsychologist Dr. Rick Hanson asserts that if we're able to "light up the brain circuits that relieve worry and stress" through mindfulness based techniques we'll be well on our way towards more "positive relationships and inner peace."

In his interview with Gestalt counsellor Clinton Power from the Australian Counselling Directory, Hanson deliberated upon the brain's ability to reformulate itself and create better functioning neural pathways if we're able to undertake various changes in thought and behaviour. We're able to self-direct our brains towards preferential plasticity!

So how can we be more mindful?

It can honestly start with stopping to smell the roses. By putting on your walking shoes and taking in your surroundings you're better adept at changing your neural circuitry for the better. 

By being mindful in what you eat, feel, smell, and so on, you're well on your way to a happier and healthier self.

Clinical psychologist Raina Jardin notes three simple steps to becoming more mindful in everyday life. They're as follows:

1. One Minute Exercise: Sit in front of a clock and focus your entire attention on your breathing and nothing else, for the minute. This can be a great quick way to get present during the work day, just use the clock on your taskbar.

2. Mindful Eating:  Eat your meal slowly, paying full attention to which piece of food you select to eat, how it looks, how it smells, its texture and taste – how you cut the food, the sound of your knife and fork or chopsticks against the plate, the muscles you use to raise it to your mouth.

3. Mindful Walking: While walking concentrate on the feel of the ground under your feet and your breathing. Observe what is around you as you walk, notice what you can see (other walkers, trees, cars), notice what you can smell (ocean air, food as you walk past cafes, the earth), notice what you can feel (e.g., the wind or sun on your face), notice what you can hear (leaves crunching under your feet, the clinking of cutlery in cafes, birds etc).

So get on it!

Images retrieved from:

http://www.philosophywa.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/mind_full.jpg

http://stylonica.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/nature.jpg

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Making Anxiety Your Friend

This post has been a long time coming, but finally it's here! I've wanted to describe the relationship between our thought patterns and the effect they have on our body for a while and I've figured out just how to do it... 

I came across a TED Talk that featured a health psychologist by the name of Kelly McGonigal. I am convinced that if there was one video you were to watch this year, you'd do well to watch this one below.

McGonigal describes the interrelation between the way we think about stress, and its effect on our body.

For people that experience super high stress levels, altering the perception of this stress has been deemed to lower your risk of death by upwards of 40%!

Take the following for example:

You're at home, on Facebook. You're scrolling through your news feed. Lo and behold, you come across a post that's been commented on by a number of your friends. This post has made reference to you in a derogatory way. You're steaming! You feel your shoulders tensing up. Your heart's beating hard. Your hands are sweating. You find your mouth dry, and you're losing breath. You're down right stressed now. How could this be any good for you?

Well, here's how... 

When we learn to understand our stress response as something that could be seen in a positive light, we learn to change our psychology towards a courage-orientation.

How does this look?

When you feel your heart's beating quicker, you can tell yourself "Hey, that's okay. My body's preparing me for action." When you're breathing quicker say to yourself "It's fine, that just means my body's getting more oxygen to my brain." You see, when we understand our response not as something that's going to put us through the rough and tumble physiologically, but something that's preparing us to stand for what we value (in the latter instance, our reputation) we're able to take our body into our own hands. We're able to stand up and say "I'm in control, and I know where to go."

Your blood vessels, instead of constricting (a determinant to cardiovascular disease in extremely anxious people) remain healthy. Your body's not on the down and out, but getting ready to up and go!

Our evolutionary ancestors, when confronted by a wild animal could definitely understand how this would look like. With their body ceasing digestion, their adrenalin pumping, heart pacing, and mind fixed they're either able to escape the predator, or defeat it. You'll either fly (run away) from your problems; fight (choose to tackle them head on); or freeze (not know what to do or where to go).

The path is up to you!

One final tidbit before we end will be the fact that anxiety makes us social! Yes, you got it right, it gives us the opportunity to be social. 

Let's talk about oxytocin. It's a stress hormone. It's as much a part of the stress response as the adrenalin released to get us ready for tackling stress. But here's the kicker... It's a hormone that fine tunes our social habits. It's released when cuddling, having sex, talking to others, being close - essentially, it's a hormone that allows our sense of self be surrounded by those we love. 

Studies have shown that when we reach out to others in times of stress rather than bottling it in we're better equipped to handle life's challenges. In fact, when we reach out to others we're significantly less likely to end up dead than when we don't! When oxytocin's released it works not only to make us feel good, but also to heal damaged heart cells. You see, the heart has special receptors for these hormones, and they act in such a way to repair the heart-hurt previously experienced.

There's a potential, by changing the way you think about stress and reaching out to others in times of stress, to reverse the thrashing our heart has taken in the past. Our body's got a built-in mechanism to combat hurt in the toughest times. What is it? It's being social!

Images and video received from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcGyVTAoXEU

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