If you have an interest in psychology then you know how fascinating it can be. It covers such a broad range of topics that they may even seem endless!

It has grown to be very popular in today’s society since it handles important issues like human behavior and can improve our lives. Along with that, it covers a lot more and will be helping someone who needs it: like all of us!

Looking to learn more about psychology? This list of the Top 5 Best Psychology Blogs will be for you!

1). Psychology Today

• This website is one of the most well-known blogs about psychology. It discusses countless topics from mental health, personality, personal growth, relationships, and family life. The website has written numerous of articles that cover these issues to help you and to use them to understand situations and grow. You can find therapists on their site that are willing to speak with you if needed. Psychology Today has tests you can take to better yourself also. It has offers for you to subscribe to magazines, trending topics, and other news to look into that might be interesting- all easy to navigate through!

Source: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us

2). Anxious No More

• That is right, psychology can even help people with anxiety. If you are dealing with anxiety then you may want to check this blog out. It deals solely on this issue and aims to help people dealing with different factors that can make us anxious. The blog gives tips for stress, ways to reduce or deal with anxiety, and support-call groups. It is an informative place for people to get together and learn ways to deal with it. It may look like a simple blog when you click on it, but it deals with a sensitive issue that we all face at one point in life.

Source: http://anxiousnomore.blogspot.com/

3). The Family Therapy Blog

• This blog deals with helping and strengthening families and marriages for the better. It allows for an open area for people to read or chat with those to create a dialogue. It can deal with issues from domestic abuse, struggling parents, relationships, children, and professional tips for couples. The articles cover these topics, and the blog provides resources for people interested or needing help. This family therapy blog also gives reviews to couples for marriage counselors.

Source: https://thefamilytherapyblog.com

4). Human Factors Blog

• This amazing blog deals with the factors of human and everyday life since 2007. It deals with how people may react or interact with the objects, nature, and even people in their life. It stresses the point about how important society factors can bring a cause and effect to the way we perform, get motivation, lose stress, and create perspectives on tasks. It also discusses the opposite of these and what might bring about negative reactions. Using human factors, it dives into a variety of topics from academia, games, history, multi-tasking, signs, and many others. It can be a helpful website to learn information on this aspect of psychology – as it provides topics for young and old!

Source: http://humanfactorsblog.org/category/aging/

5). Psych Central

• This blog dedicates itself on backing up its name. Psych Central covers so many topics that it is the perfect website to help, learn, or grow from what it writes about. It provides professional help with mental health, depression, bipolar, and ADHD. It discusses these topics at excessive lengths to help the reader understand what these issues can bring to people (and how to help solve or reduce). It does not only just cover these important issues, however. It also brings in psychology over addictions, parenting issues, relationships, personalities, panic and anxiety, and sleeping troubles. It gives you options to take quizzes on every one of these topics, helps with finding you a therapist, and gives the news of what is trending in terms of psychology. With all the ways this blog tries to help you, it is one you do not want to miss out on!

Source: https://psychcentral.com/

Psychology is truly fascinating for what it can bring to communities and help in areas we may struggle with. With blogs like the ones listed above, it is no wonder they are popular with the benefits they bring. Make sure to check them out and get more knowledge on these topics today!

Recently, a large population-based study comparing siblings with and without stress disorders found that stressed individuals were much more likely to have a serious cardiovascular disease with an onset before 50 years old (Hong, et. al, 2019).

Individuals with more significant stress suffered more significant cardiovascular problems. The risks of acute and serious cardiovascular problems (e.g., heart attack), were the greatest near the period of time around the onset of the stress disorder.

So, the first 6 months after a stressful event is a “high-risk” window. What does this mean? If you are encountering high levels of chronic stress or have just suffered an acute high-stress event, your heart health is more likely to suffer. When we encounter a threat, the body responds by releasing stress hormones (e.g., cortisol, adrenaline, etc.), accelerating heart and respiration rate, resulting in that “stressed” feeling.

This response helps the human body deal with a predator who might be chasing us. However, in our modern society, these stress responses are not so helpful because we encounter relatively few animal predators (e.g., tigers are not generally chasing us through the jungle). However, we encounter problems during which staying calm and responding thoughtfully are usually more helpful. For example, when your boss (the predator in this situation) confronts you with a problem with your project, you are not likely to physically fight or physically run-away (the fight or flight system isn’t helpful here). You are more likely to be well-served by taking a breath and attempting to engage in logical thoughts in order to deal with your boss and the situation presented to you.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) can help. Cognitive-behavioral therapy helps clients identify the thoughts and behaviors that are no longer serving them well. When encountering high-stress situations, people are likely to use more mistakes in thinking, resulting in more suffering. The goal of CBT is to help you develop a pattern of thinking and doing that works and that is logical. In the case of an acute stressor (e.g., the death of a loved one, involvement in a high-stress job, the lack of support in new and challenging situations, a traumatic attack or assault, etc.), CBT involves learning how to integrate the traumatic/stressful situation into your own narrative about your life, which many of us need a little help with. The first step is to identify the types of mistakes in thinking that you might habitually make (e.g., black-and-white thinking, magnification, discounting the positive, mind-reading, fortune-telling, etc.).

Once you and your therapist have identified your typical mistakes, the next step is to understand how that mistake in thinking might be affecting the way you feel (e.g., angry, sad, scared, disgusted) and what you do in that situation (e.g., retreat, engage in conflict, insult others, etc.). Next, you and your therapist will learn to challenge your typical ways of thinking and determine if a more logical or helpful way of looking at the situation would work. Looking at the situation in a different way can result in feeling better and acting in a way that improves your chances for success. CBT also involves the client practicing these techniques at home so that you can learn how to have more logical and helpful thoughts on a daily basis.

Dr. Calbeck has extensive training and experience in providing CBT. Make your appointment today to reduce stress and improve your psychological and physical health.

Huan Song, H., Fang, F., Arnberg, F.K., Mataix-Cols, D., Fernández de la Cruz, L., Almqvist, C., Fall, K., Lichtenstein, P., Thorgeirsson, & G., Valdimarsdóttir, U.A. (2019). Stress-related disorders and risk of cardiovascular disease: population-based, sibling controlled cohort study. BMJ (British Medical Journal), vol 365.

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Original Post: https://www.drkaiacalbeck.com/stress-and-cardiovascular-disease/