What is the most important thing in life? Happiness? Not so according to Viktor Frankl... “It is the very pursuit of happiness that thwarts happiness." The key to a life well lived is not the quest for happiness per se, but rather having meaning in your life. Read more...

As humans have become disconnected from nature, we have seen a corresponding increase in all manner of mental health problems... I was fortunate to have been able to present on this topic at Nature for Life, sponsored by the Lanark County Public Health Unit.

Dr. Smith’s team at Purdue University show that exercise reduces the severity of ADHD symptoms in young children.

A new study helps confirm what most parents know already. That having close relationships with your kids helps them cope with stresses such as cyberbullying. It makes sense from an attachment perspective. Kids are vulnerable to bullying when they worry or care too much about what their peers or bullies think. On the other hand, a child who is closely connected or attached to parents, will draw their sense of self-esteem, validation and acceptance from their parents. Because they do not rely on the bullies (or their peers) to meet their need for feeling validated or accepted, they will be thus more resilient and less vulnerable... In addition, note that most likely it is not family dinners per se that is the key, but rather the simple act of spending time with your child so that they can communicate with you... To that end, most likely 1:1 time between child and parent would be just as good as family dinners, if not more high yield...

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This study suggests that getting your Omega 3’s may be helpful not just for children/youth but for caregivers too! Evidence for Omega 3’s has been mixed, but the problem is that many studies have been too short to show differences with Omega 3 fatty acid dietary supplementation. This longer term study (6-months) seems to suggest Omega 3 fatty acids may be helpful for children/youth with behaviour problems.
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Can there be a link between the rising rate of ADHD diagnoses in children and adolescents and the proliferation in fast-paced media aimed at children?   Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is characterized by symptoms such as attention problems, hyperactive behaviour, and impulsivity in children, usually leading to disruptions at both home and school.  While children in developed nations are routinely stimulated by television shows, movies, and video games, research studies investigating a potential link with ADHD symptoms fail to show a consistent relationship.

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We live in a wondrous times, surrounded by technology that just a generation or two ago would have been considered science-fiction. In the old days, people talked on telephones (that were connected to the wall!), and the only way to watch a television show was on television, and the only way to watch a movie was to actually go to the movie theatre. How times have changed... Unfortunately, we are now realizing that all our technologies come with a dark side... Many children and adults have become so connected to their technology that they are disconnecting from their parents, and each other...

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Parents are in a much more powerful position than they realize. A new study of over 1300 3rd to 5th graders found that parental monitoring of children’s media has ripple effects that extend across several different areas of children’s lives out into the future.  For this study, my colleagues and I talked to children, their parents, their teachers, and even their school nurses, once at the beginning and once at the end of a school year. e asked parents whether they set limits on the amount of screen time their children were allowed to have each day, and also on the content of media their children were allowed access to. As one might expect, setting limits on the amount and content of children’s media is generally effective at reducing time on TV and video games and at reducing violent media exposure.

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Why does it seem like more and more youth and adults are struggling with mental health issues? It may very well be, that our modern, technological society is to blame, by getting in the way of that which we require most for mental health... Secure attachments, i.e. deep meaningful, relationships with one another, preferably face to face... This is a presentation that I recently gave to Open Doors, Lanark Community Programs and Lanark Mental Health for Mental Health Week, May 2014.
View the presentation here: Attach to me if you can: Why it’s so hard to parent today’s children and youth.