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For many people with ADHD, it is hard to resist impulsive spending. Impulsivity is one of the major symptoms of ADHD, so it is not uncommon for those with ADHD to buy first and think later. Sure, impulsive spending may leave you with the challenge of storing all of your new purchases. But the real issue is that it can quickly lead you down the path to debt. Here are some simple tips to keep your finances in better order by gaining control of impulsive spending....

No matter what type of addiction you may have, every day can feel like a battle. As a result, it is important to find the right treatment program. Although you may feel like there is no way out, recovery is possible if you find the right program for you. The first step is recognizing that you have a problem and that you want things to be different. Once you are able to admit that, you are well on your way to recovery before you ever set foot in a treatment center or a counseling office....

Slides, wave pools, lazy rivers—water parks have it all! They provide the perfect way to cool down, release some energy, and have fun as a family. After checking (and double-checking) your list of things to bring, there’s another equally-important list to memorize: water park safety precautions. “When going to a water park, the same water safety measures apply as visiting a pool or body of water,” explains Florencia Segura, MD, FAAP, a pediatrician at Einstein Pediatrics in Virginia....

The term “positive discipline” may sound a little hokey. After all, can punishment really be positive? And shouldn’t discipline sting in order to teach your child a lesson? Before you jump to any conclusions, however, consider that positive discipline may be an effective way to teach your children valuable life lessons. While it still involves giving kids negative consequences for misbehavior, it also involves taking steps to prevent behavior problems before they start....

Children show behavior from an early age that is extroverted or introverted. Most people believe that an extrovert is a person who is friendly and outgoing. While that may be true, that is not the full meaning of extroversion. An extrovert is a person who is energized by being around other people. This is the opposite of an introvert who is energized by being alone. Learn how an extroverted child may behave....

If you’re going through a difficult time, you might feel that you’ll benefit from mental health support. If you’re in crisis, a crisis counselor at a mental health hotline can listen to you and provide you with adequate care. If you’re in danger of harming yourself, they will be equipped to send emergency services to your location. This article provides an overview of mental health hotlines that you can contact, and it describes the purpose of hotlines and what happens if you’re at risk of harming yourself....

What Is Magical Thinking? Magical thinking is the belief that your thoughts, feelings, or actions will affect someone’s behavior or the outcome of a situation. Many of us engage in magical thinking from time to time. Superstitions fall into the category of magical thinking, such as avoiding the 13th floor of a building or needing your lucky pencil to take a test. While magical thinking can be fun and harmless, it can become disruptive....

Naltrexone is a drug used primarily in the continued management of alcohol dependence and opioid addiction. How it helps in each case differs. For alcoholism, the treatment can help quell one’s desire to drink. In contrast, the drug works to actually thwart the actual effects of opiates on the brain. Naltrexone is sold under the brand names Revia and Depade. A long acting injectable form is marketed under the trade name Vivitrol....

Positional plagiocephaly is the flattening of the back or sides of an infant’s head. This very common condition, which is also called posterior or deformational plagiocephaly and flat head syndrome, is primarily due to sleep position and tight neck muscles, called torticollis. Tight or weak neck muscles prevent a newborn from turning their heads, which can result in excess wear and weight on one spot. While it may be alarming to notice flattened areas on your baby’s head, the condition does not impact brain development....

Findings from a recent study published in the Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease outline a unique way to identify stress in pregnant women: hair. Samples of hair were obtained from pregnant women and examined for levels of cortisol. It turns out the samples containing higher levels of cortisol were more often from moms carrying baby girls. Key Takeaways A recent study found some correlation between higher levels of cortisol and female fetuses....

Lifetime sports are those you can play for your whole life. Finding a sport that you enjoy is one of the keys to exercise adherence—otherwise known as sticking with it once you start. You can’t win or reap all the physical and mental health benefits of sport if you don’t continue to play it. Additionally, it’s much easier to find the time (and money) for exercise when it’s also a fun pastime—even a passion....

What Is the CRAFT Approach? Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT) is intended to help family members of people with a substance use disorder learn how to steer their loved one away from substance abuse. It is a great method for helping someone that’s refusing treatment or refusing to admit they are no longer in control of how much they consume. Instead of an old-school intervention where the family and friends get together and confront the person in an attempt to enroll them in a rehabilitation program, the CRAFT method encourages close significant others (which the program calls CSOs) to reward their loved one when they choose sobriety or show control....

What Is the Self-Serving Bias? The self-serving bias is a type of cognitive bias that involves taking personal credit for successes while blaming negative outcomes on external factors. Although this bias sometimes means evading personal responsibility for your actions, the self-serving bias also acts as a defense mechanism that protects self-esteem. The self-serving bias occurs in a wide range of settings, including school, work, interpersonal relationships, consumer choices, and sports. It is influenced by a range of different factors including locus of control, motivation, age, and culture...

Social issues are problems that affect large groups of people and can affect how well a society functions. Teens can face social problems just like adults can. They may even be more susceptible to these challenges because their brains are still developing and their bodies are changing quickly. Social issues and what we might think of as “teenage problems” can affect emotional and physical health. Advances in technology also mean that today’s teens are facing new and different social issues....

You’ve probably heard many different opinions about electrolyte drinks. If you eat a balanced diet and workout for shorter durations, an electrolyte drink likely isn’t necessary—you should be able to recover with plain water and food. However, if you engage in high intensity exercise of any duration or exercise for over an hour, especially in hot conditions, you might consider using an electrolyte drink to help you rehydrate more quickly....

An absolute threshold is the smallest level of stimulus that can be detected, usually defined as at least half the time. The term is often used in neuroscience and experimental research and can be applied to any stimulus that can be detected by the human senses including sound, touch, taste, sight, and smell. For example, in an experiment on sound detention, researchers may present a sound with varying levels of volume....

Sound sensitivity is one of many sensory issues that can affect a person whose ADHD brain struggles to filter out irrelevant sensory input to focus only on the details and information that matter. ADHD Symptom Spotlight is a series that dives deep into a hallmark or overlooked symptom of ADHD each week. This series is written by experts who also share their tips on managing these symptoms based on firsthand experience and research-backed insights....

What Is Bereavement? Bereavement refers to the state of having experienced the loss of a loved one. It most often refers to the time after a loss when emotions are at their most profound. This time is marked by intense grief and tremendous sorrow. The term is sometimes used synonymously with grief and mourning. How people experience this time of grief can vary from one person to the next. While bereavement is usually associated with death, it can also occur after other significant losses....

In the vast majority of cases, psychologists cannot prescribe medications to their patients. However, there has been a recent push in several states to grant psychologists prescribing privileges, and there are actually already a few places where psychologists do have prescribing privileges. Where Can Psychologists Prescribe Medications? Psychologists are able to prescribe medications anywhere in the military and the Indian Health Service if they are credentialed in Louisiana or New Mexico....

Typically, when a parent applies for government assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (also known as SNAP, the benefits of which are commonly referred to as food stamps), they have the option of including their children, meaning that they can file for individual assistance or family assistance programs. However, the state would prefer for children of single parents to receive child support over public assistance, whenever possible. For that reason, in cases where a single parent who is not receiving child support requests public assistance on behalf of their child, the state will usually initiate a child support case—regardless of whether the parent wants a case or not....