by Michael Heitt | Mar 17, 2016 | health, self care, sleep
There are several topics that seem to come up with patient after patient and I find myself making the same suggestions over and over again. One of these topics is sleep hygiene. Simply stated, sleep hygiene is a way to describe your behaviors and habits related to...
by Michael Heitt | Mar 15, 2016 | benefits of therapy, human behavior, Psychotherapy
In a recent presentation, US Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy said, “If there was a factor in your life that could reduce your risk of having a heart attack or a stroke, that could increase your chances of living longer, and would make your children less likely to...
by Michael Heitt | Feb 10, 2016 | benefits of therapy, medication, Psychotherapy, side effects
The American College of Physicians has released a new clinical guideline on the treatment of depression in the Annals of Internal Medicine. They suggested that psychotherapy is as effective for treating depression as antidepressants, and “given its relative...
by Michael Heitt | Jan 27, 2016 | benefits of therapy, medication, Psychotherapy
The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) now officially recommends that primary care health clinicians screen all of their patients for depression. Though this is wonderful, this is very, very long overdue. The costs associated with depression and other mental...
by Michael Heitt | Nov 19, 2015 | human behavior, relationships, sex
A really interesting paper just came out today that looked at, and challenged, the widely held belief that the more frequently you have sex the happier you are… and they discovered that this was simply not true. What the researchers did find was that most healthy...
by Michael Heitt | Nov 18, 2015 | benefits of therapy, brain, human behavior, Psychotherapy
I teach a great professional development and clinical consultation class at Loyola University Maryland. Yesterday morning my doctoral students and I had a great discussion about what makes psychotherapy work (among some other very stimulating discussions). This...
by Michael Heitt | Oct 8, 2015 | benefits of therapy, PTSD, stress, trauma
In the midst of a traumatic life event, our bodies have a knack of taking over; adrenaline pumps around the body and our natural survival instinct kicks in. But in the aftermath of such an event when the body’s defenses have come down again, we can begin to feel...
by Michael Heitt | Oct 8, 2015 | Disruptive Professionals, human behavior
The Washington Post ran an article about a Tel Aviv University study of the effects of physicians’ disruptive behavior on patient safety. As discussed in previous posts, there is a clear link between disruptive behavior among physicians (and other...
by Michael Heitt | Jul 21, 2015 | Aging, human behavior, relationships, safe sex
A recently published article in the Annals of Family Medicine, yielded data that busted inaccurate stereotypes and myths about sexuality and aging in women. Nearly six out of ten women over the age of 60 reported being sexually active. The study interviewed more than...
by Michael Heitt | Jul 6, 2015 | human behavior, socialization
Some recent research (summarized nicely in the WSJ) has shown a nice correlation between socializing and life longevity (and quality). It’s no surprise though, as we are social animals. Surely some people are more extroverted than others and some people really...
