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Mom Was Right: Clean Your Room
People are apparently sensitive to information they get from the environment to the point that it influences decisions they make about what is moral and what is acceptable behavior. For emotionally sensitive people, the message from environmental cues seems to be a particularly strong. My experience is that the environment affects the mood and identity of emotionally sensitive people. Bon: I love the Emotionally Sensitive Person blog over at Psychcentral. Here is a post about an orderly environment and the effects on an emotionally sensitive person. Mom Was Right: Clean Your Room By KARYN HALL, PHD In his book Redirect: The Surprising New Science of Psychological Change, Timothy Wilson described…
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Research on Temper Tantrums
Children’s temper tantrums are widely seen as many things: the cause of profound helplessness among parents; a source of dread for airline passengers stuck next to a young family; a nightmare for teachers. But until recently, they had not been considered a legitimate subject for science. Now research suggests that, beneath all the screams and kicking and shouting, lies a phenomenon that is entirely amenable to scientific dissection. Tantrums turn out to have a pattern and rhythm to them. Once understood, researchers say, this pattern can help parents, teachers and even hapless bystanders respond more effectively to temper tantrums — and help clinicians tell the difference between ordinary tantrums, which…
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Sounds like Childhood Borderline: new diagnostic category called disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, or DMDD
They might as well call it “childhood borderline”: latimes.com/health/la-he-child-temper-20111010,0,3234089.story latimes.com Child mental disorders: New diagnosis or another dilemma? A proposed new diagnosis for outbursts and tantrums sparks debate in the psychiatric community. Would it help parents desperate for answers, or just add to the confusion? By Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times October 10, 2011 advertisement The final straw for Carolyn Alves came last fall when she tried to help her daughter Cecelia dress for kindergarten. The volatile 6-year-old had worked herself into a frenzy as she tried on outfit after outfit, rejecting each as unacceptable. The tantrum at full bore, she scooped up a pile of clothes and hurled them…
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Ten signs of possible Borderline Personality Disorder in children
While Borderline Personality Disorder is not generally diagnosed in children, many with the disorder feel that even as a child, there were symptoms and signs of the disorder. When my wife and I had an educational assessment done of our emotionally- sensitive daughter when she was eight years old, the “social and emotional functioning” section of the assessment sounded very much like childhood borderline. After meeting numerous people with Borderline Personality Disorder and their families, I have identified several signs that a parent can be on the look-out for. These are by no means a diagnostic guide, as I am not qualified to diagnose any mental disorder and there is…
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Reinforcement and “Behaving Better”
Reinforcement, especially positive reinforcement, is a powerful teaching tool. You could more accurately say “training” tool. You have probably used reinforcement in your life without even realizing it. Consider potty training. If you have ever potty-trained (or as many modern texts call it “toilet taught”) a toddler, you know how difficult that task can be. However, all kids eventually learn to use the potty – I don’t know of a case of a kid going into high school without knowing how to use the potty. Potty training provides an excellent example of positive reinforcement and the ignoring of “backsliding.” That is the essence of this tool. When you teach a…
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Book Review: Overcoming Borderline Personality Disorder
Overcoming Borderline Personality Disorder by Valerie Porr is perhaps the most up-to-date and complete book for family members of people with BPD published to date. When I read the book, I couldn’t help but think that Ms. Porr had the therapists and mental health professional more in mind than the family members. It appears as though she is trying to dispel many myths about BPD that exist not only in the family environment but also in the mental health community. This book is steeped in scientific research, including research involving the biological under-pinnings of BPD. It includes many skills for family members from both DBT and mentalization based therapy (MBT).…