Psychology Around the Net: October 6, 2018

This week’s Psychology Around the Net takes a look at college students and mental health, a new mental health startup app from former Uber executive Andrew Chapin, whether or not a reverse psychology video is effectively getting younger people to vote, and more.

Massive Survey Finds 1 in 3 College Freshmen Struggle with Mental Health: Research from the World Health Organization surveyed close to 14,000 college freshmen from eight countries and found that 35% struggled with mental illnesses, the two most common being major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. The lead researcher, Columbia University Psychology Professor Randy P. Auerbach, says these findings represent “a key global mental health issue.”

Cultivating Your Tech Team’s Morale: 10 Ways to Motivate and Inspire Happiness: Honestly, I think these tips apply to most if not all industries.

Insurance System Still Discriminates Against Mental Illness. Time to Fight Back: Patrick J. Kennedy — former Rhode Island congressman, former member of the President’s Commission on Combatting Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, and the founder of The Kennedy Forum (which recently launched Don’t Deny Me) — reminds us that under the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, most insurers are required to cover illnesses of the brain “no more restrictively than they cover illnesses of the body”; however, 10 years later many insurance companies aren’t complying with the law and he wants us to know we have the right to appeal unjust denials.

This Video Uses Reverse Psychology to Get You to Vote — and It’s Bizarrely Effective: Could this video nudge voters of younger generations to get to the polls this November?

Former Uber Exec Andrew Chapin Takes the Wraps Off His Stealth Mental Health Startup: Although he continued to resist therapy, Andrew Chapin struggled so severely with his mental health during his time at Uber and other jobs, he admits there were days when he thought getting hit by a car while walking through Manhattan would be preferable to going to work. After that sobering realization, Chapin left Uber in 2016 to start working on Basis, an app designed to help people deal with depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues through conversations via video or chat.

Periodontal Disease Bacteria May Kick-Start Alzheimer’s: According to a new study from researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago, long-term exposure to the bacteria of periodontal disease causes the brain neurons in mice to inflame and degenerate in a way that is similar to how Alzheimer’s disease affects humans. The study’s findings suggest periodontal disease, which is common but preventable, could initiate Alzheimer’s disease.

from World of Psychology https://psychcentral.com/blog/psychology-around-the-net-october-6-2018/