Tuesday's Psychology Tips: Are Smart Phones and Computers Turning Us Into Vulcans Like Dr Spock on Star Trek

Thought for the Day: It is amazing how dependent we become on our computers. Yesterday, while anxiously awaiting to pick up my new computer with all my programs loaded into it, I felt somewhat handicapped when I tried to work on my cell phone. Although I was able to upload a photo, when I tried to post it to my blog it would only capture a video that was not related to the post. Late last night, I was thrilled to get my new computer. It is faster, lighter and far more powerful than my 7 or 8 year old Mac. I was planning to write about the days of awe between the Jewish New Year and Day of Atonement, but something else which seems related arose in light of my new acquisition. It's a longer "tip" than usual, but I hope you will take the time to read it and let me know what you think about these important issues.

While talking to a colleague about the benefits of new technology, we wandered into the down sides, dangers and challenges it represents for parents, children and people of all ages. On the one hand, technology has opened new avenues of communication with people worldwide. The opportunities to communicate with people are endless. It's easy and quick to just write a text, tweet or send an email to anyone, anywhere in the universe. Skype makes it possible to talk and even see the person in real time, whether they are around the corner or on the other side of the world. There is no doubt in my mind that these communication techniques as well as the wealth of internet support groups and chat rooms can be invaluable resources.

However, there are dangers and challenges that worry me both professionally and personally, as well. Could all the technological advances be jeopardizing our ability to connect face to face and maintain real relationships? Could smart phones and computers turn us into dumber human beings with limited, robotic interpersonal skills? Are immediate gratification and shorter attention spans produced by the speed of technology actually impeding our ability to delve deeper into both concepts and relationships? Will we become like the fictional character, Dr Spock, on Star Trek who was incapable of understanding or expressing human emotions? 

Read on to see some of the questions it is raising for me...

Tuesday's Psychology Tip: Make Time Your Best Friend (Part I)

Thought for the Day: I started this post yesterday, but am not even sharing what I wrote. Ironically, I had too little time to complete it. Perhaps the scope was too broad for a simple psychology tip and I will use it some other time. Since the Jewish High Holidays start this evening, I saw most of my clients on Monday and Tuesday leaving too little time to write a post I would be willing to publish. Either way, it serves as a lesson about making time your best friend. Best friends are flexible and forgiving with one another. I hope you will be as well. So today, I will be posting Tuesday's Psychology Tip right now, followed by Wednesday's Words of Wisdom later today. To do this, I need your help.

I'm also going to do something slightly different today. I always try to make my posts thought provoking. Today, I want you, my readers, to do more than just think about the post. I'd like to give you an thought provoking assignment. Although it could take longer, all I ask is that you spend one to five minutes on the assignment today. You can come back to it when you have more time, but for today, take just a few minutes. It will help you turn time into your best friend.   Read on to see the assignment...

Tuesday's Psychology Tips: Simple Depression Busters

Thought for the Day: Yesterday, I got a note from HealthTap. The app told me I had saved a life and that the person I helped had sent a thank you note. I checked to see what question was to see why my answer was seen as a life saver. I decided to share it here. I tried to give some simple ways to overcome depression. I shared things that anyone could try in addition to psychotherapy and medication which are surely needed for severe depression. Hopefully, these tips will help others cope with depression until they can start psychotherapy.Here's the question and my answer...

Tuesday's Psychology Tips: If You Have Chronic Pain You Should Know This...

Thought for the Day: On Tuesdays I have been sharing Psychology Tips. Often the tips come from my 100 character Tip Taps on HealthTap with some additional advice related to the short tip. Recently, there I took part in a competition between HealthTap's over 62,000 doctors nationwide. In preparation for the launch of an expanded site with new features including primary care skype consults, all the doctors were asked to write additional Tips. The doctor who posted the most tips would be invited to a retreat in California. I decided to put my thinking cap on and wrote tips daily for the month of June. I'm proud to announce that I won the competition and will be going to California in September. I am looking forward to the opportunity to meet the doctors who have developed this cutting edge service that is helping millions of people every day. In addition, I am proud to have again placed as the Top Psychologist nationwide on HealthTap.

I wrote so many tips, that when I received a thank you note from a 49 year old woman who was helped by the tip, that I had forgotten writing it! I decided to share it here today, since many people may not know the benefits of hypnosis for pain management. The tip in the image above is:

"If you have chronic pain, you should know this.,,you can control it better with hypnosis."

Often, when someone is suffering from chronic pain, their doctors try all the procedures and medications they can, only to tell their clients that they need to learn to cope with the pain. Sometimes they refer them to clinics for chronic pain. Unfortunately, many physicians do not know that hypnosis can help. Here's a brief overview of how and why it can be worth pursuing...

Tuesday's Psychology Tips: There Are No Failures In Life, If...

Thought for the Day: It's Tuesday and time for me to share another psychology tip. I have been writing a lot of tips for HealthTap lately and this one was to help people improve self esteem. "There are no failures in life, if you learn from your mistakes." It is all too easy to let mistakes make us feel like failures.

Tuesday's Psychology Tips: You Don't Have To Be Lucky To Live Longer

Thought for the Day: Research has shown that doing 5 of these things will lengthen your life by 10 years of you start by the age of 40. If you start earlier, you may lengthen your life expectancy even more. 

Tuesday's Psychology Tips: Your Kids Are Watching You: Be the Best Role Model You Can Be & You Will See the Results

Thought for the Day: I've been sharing tips on Tuesdays that I wrote for HealthTap. This one is on parenting school aged kids. Yesterday, I also posted a comment on a great Parenting Forum on Our Parenting Spot. Since it is clearly related to the Tip below, I am sharing the question and my response from there as well. Be sure to check out the raffle at the end of this post for your chance to win a free copy of The Wake Up and Dream Challenge.

TipTap: School Age Kids Health

    

HAIKU

Your school aged kids are watching you Be the best role model you can be and you will see results.

Dr. Barbara Lavi

Clinical Psychology

However, be careful since the quote above, "Your school aged kids are watching you. Be the best role model you can be and you will see the results," is true for both positive and negative results. It works both ways. Positive role models produce healthy, supportive well behaved children. Negative role models will see results that that may not be as flattering. On Our Parenting Spot the question was raised: "Should a parent try to fight a child that has bullied their child?"  What do you think about parents intervening in their children's arguments?

Tuesday's Psychology Tips: Do You Take Your Anxiety Out On Your Stomach, Head or Neck?

Thought for the Day: Today, I chose a question that I answered on HealthTap from someone wondering whether their depression and anxiety could be "residing" in their stomach. I could have inserted multiple other questions about almost every body part you could think of from head, back, heart to chest. The answer would be the same simply inserting different body parts. Although the psychosomatic or influence of our emotional health on our physical health has been proven in multiple studies, it is always necessary to have a physician check to be sure that there is nothing medically wrong with the body part before assuming that it is purely a psychological issue. However, psychotherapy can help. Even if there is a medical problem for which you are being treated, like migraine headaches, reducing the emotional issues may help by reducing the stress you put on that part of your body. Here's my answer with a bit more elaboration than allowed on HealthTap:

Dr. Barbara Lavi answered:

Severe depression/anxiety, not on medication, & would like to know why I get this awful feeling in my gut as if my depression is residing in my stomach?

Different people

take out their anxiety on different parts of their bodies. Common figures of speech reflect this tendency, I.e., "it's a pains in the neck," "I need this like a hole in the head," "It gives me heartache." In your case, "It makes my stomach turn."

Tuesday's Psychology Tips: How to Stop a Cyberbully

Dr. Barbara Lavi answered:

Need docs help! I am bullied and cyberbullied everyday ! I'm very sad . :( please help me , I need solutions !?

Bullies tend to take advantage of people when they see it is working. If they are cyberbullying you, stop reacting  to them, don't give them ammunition. Report their behavior to the Internet provider, block their comments and/or change your email, login name or leave the platform so they cannot keep contacting you. If the bullying is in the real world, not cyberspace, join new groups avoid places where the person confronts you for a while. Speak with a therapist  to build your confidence.

(This is a real question that I answered on HealthTap with minor editing.)

Reproduced from HealthTap.com This is one of many questions I have answered on HealthTap a wonderful online site where you can askk all medical questions and get answers from doctors 24/7. You can follow me or other experts on their site.

The Christmas Countdown Sale benefitting The Blind Judo Foundation is still going on. Grab a copy for yourself and/or gift it to family and friends, It can also help you build self esteem which will reduce the chances of becoming a target for bullies. You do not need a Kindle to download the e-book to your computer, phone or ipad.