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When you’re raising a toddler, you want everything to proceed by the book: when they start sleeping through the night, when they start enjoying solid foods, when they start walking and talking. But when things don’t happen exactly when or how you’ve read they might, it can be stressful, like if your toddler begins to stutter. “You are not the cause of your child’s stuttering. It is a myth that parents and caregivers cause stuttering by talking about it or bringing attention to it,” says Danielle L....

Follow Now: Apple Podcasts / Spotify / Google Podcasts Every Monday on The Verywell Mind Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Amy Morin, LCSW, interviews authors, experts, entrepreneurs, athletes, musicians, and other inspirational people about the strategies that help them think, feel, and do their best in life. Meet Dr. Kelsey Crowe Kelsey Crowe, PhD, heads Empathy Bootcamp, a company that trains people to be more empathetic. She earned her doctorate in social welfare from the University of California, Berkeley and she has taught social work classes at California State University....

There is no shortage of resources on how to support communities of color but the work is far from done and white supremacy persists. A study published in Social Psychological and Personality Science found that whites with mindfulness training were 3 times more likely to help Black people in staged scenarios that followed. Key Takeaways White people with mindfulness training were three times more likely to help a Black individual in staged scenarios....

You’ve probably heard the saying “birds of a feather flock together.” And when it comes to friendships, this statement often holds true. People often form friendships with others who are most like them. While it’s comfortable to find camaraderie with people most like you, there are some drawbacks to not diversifying your social network. This article discusses those pitfalls and provides some tips on how you can diversify your circle of friends....

This pandemic has meant a great deal more uncertainty for most people, which will likely have far-reaching consequences as time progresses. A recently published study in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry is particularly relevant as it found that untreated health anxiety in children and adolescents may contribute to challenges in adulthood. Key Takeaways Health anxiety often refers to excessive worry about severe illness even when there is no cause for concern....

Attitudes are often the result of experience or upbringing. They can have a powerful influence over behavior and affect how people act in various situations. While attitudes are enduring, they can also change. Attitude Definition: In psychology, an attitude refers to a set of emotions, beliefs, and behaviors toward a particular object, person, thing, or event. This article explores what attitudes mean in psychology and how they are formed. It also covers how attitudes impact behaviors and factors contributing to attitude change....

What Is Attribution in Social Psychology? In social psychology, attribution is the process of inferring the causes of events or behaviors. In real life, attribution is something we all do every day, usually without any awareness of the underlying processes and biases that lead to our inferences. For example, over the course of a typical day, you probably make numerous attributions about your own behavior as well as that of the people around you....

Alzheimer’s disease is a brain condition that impacts memory, thinking, and behavior. It is a progressive and irreversible form of dementia that is the fifth leading cause of death for adults over 65. There is also no cure for the condition, which is why people often wonder if there is any way to prevent Alzheimer’s disease. This article explores whether Alzheimer’s can be prevented, including some of the factors that researchers believe impact the onset of the condition....

Pregnancy cravings can come on strong. If you feel a sudden urge to wolf down some fish tacos or sink your teeth into crispy oven-baked fish, you may wonder which types of fish are safe for you to eat. While eating fish has many benefits for you and your unborn baby, some kinds of fish need to be eaten in limited amounts or even avoided completely. This includes fish that are high in mercury, like shark, swordfish, king mackerel, marlin, bigeye tuna, and more....

For the most part, twins and multiples share the same birthday. However, depending on the time of day the babies are born and how long the timespan is between each baby’s birth, twins can be born on different days. Twins are defined as two offspring born together, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are born on the same date. Multiples are generally born only a few minutes apart. If delivered by cesarian section, the interval between births is usually only a minute, maybe two....

Headaches are a common discomfort of pregnancy. From hormone changes to the sudden end of drinking coffee to not sleeping well, there are plenty of reasons pregnancy can bring on a headache. Headaches may be a pain in the neck (well, more like a pain in the head) but they are usually not dangerous for moms and babies. Here’s what you need to know about the causes, prevention, and treatment of headaches during pregnancy....

Personality disorders can be confusing since many have similar or even overlapping characteristics. In order to better differentiate one from the next, the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) grouped the various disorders into three clusters, each of which is characterized by a shared and distinctive personality feature. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), 9.1 percent of Americans over 18 have at least one personality disorder....

Do you have a little escape artist on your hands? If you think a crib tent will put a swift and safe end to those dangerous, late-night jailbreaks, think again. Available for standard cribs, portable cribs, and play yards, crib tents offer protection from insects while preventing children from climbing out of their cribs. However, evidence suggests that these popular mesh crib coverings could be dangerous—even deadly. Safety Stats and Recalls Between January 1997 and April 2012, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) received 27 reports of product failures concerning crib tents manufactured by Tots in Mind, Inc....

What Is Displacement? Displacement is a psychological defense mechanism in which a person redirects a negative emotion from its original source to a less threatening recipient. A classic example of the defense is displaced aggression. If a person is angry but cannot direct their anger toward the source without consequences, they might “take out” their anger on a person or thing that poses less of a risk. Defense mechanisms are one way the mind unconsciously attempts to reduce anxiety and restore emotional balance....

There are few things as comforting as having another person take the time to understand what you’re going through truly. Being seen in such a clear way can alleviate the stress of difficult situations. However, such an expression can be taxing for the empathetic person. Unlike expressing removed compassion for a person, empathy requires a greater immersion into others’ struggles. This voluntarily brought on mental weight can make some people closed off to expressing empathy....

Family fitness—exercising and and otherwise living a healthy lifestyle as a group—is for every family, large and small, young and old, urban and rural. By sharing physical activity and nutritious foods, your family can improve your health and enjoy your time together. Use active games, smart snacks, youth sports, and more to create healthy habits for your whole “home team.” The Big Benefits of Family Fitness Those habits can provide lots of good things you probably already know about....

A nutritious diet is an important part of a healthy pregnancy, but there are some foods that you should avoid when you’re pregnant. However, if you mistakenly consume something on the list of foods to avoid, try not to panic and give your healthcare provider a call. The foods are on this list to reduce risk—they won’t automatically make you sick if you eat one. There are also misconceptions about what you can and can’t eat during pregnancy....

Whether your child is struggling in a particular subject or you want to address learning gaps from COVID-19 or another life event that’s caused them to miss school, hiring a tutor can be hugely beneficial. Tutoring provides valuable one-on-one time for your child, and regular sessions also give your child an opportunity to work through homework assignments, stay organized, learn how to plan ahead, and prep for tests. Overall, there are three primary types of tutoring available:...

Productivity isn’t about working long hours or frantically typing away at your computer for hours and hours each day. It is all about being smart about how you spend your time to use it in the best way possible. Productivity Being productive means getting the most out of your time. It means being efficient and effective with your work. There are a lot of things you can do to be more productive....

Anger is a powerful feeling that is a normal part of the human experience. Everyone has felt angry at one time or another. Anger itself is not a bad thing. But, if you express your anger in unhealthy ways, it can become a problem. Learning how to develop an anger management plan can help you cope with situations that sometimes lead to increased anxiety and panic symptoms. It’s not unusual for people with panic disorder, agoraphobia or another anxiety disorder to experience frustration because of their condition....