“According to a study that will appear in the March 2011 print issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, depression recurs in almost half of adolescent patients. The greatest predictors of a return to depression included:

* Being female. According to the report even more than half of females experienced a recurrence of depression.
* Being in short-term treatment who did not respond well to treatment.
* Having a co-occurring anxiety disorder (61.9% had a recurrence)

Although most depressed teens who receive treatment do recover from their initial episode of depression (96.4 percent), the high experience of recurrence points to a need for improved therapies. Recurrence often occurred two or more years after the initial experience.”

2. Emotional Intelligence Predicts Job Performance

“Emotional intelligence is a strong predictor of job performance, according to a new study conducted at Virginia Commonwealth University that helps settle the ongoing debate in a much-disputed area of research.

‘The Relation Between Emotional Intelligence and Job Performance: A Meta-Analysis,’ which has been published online by the Journal of Organizational Behavior and will appear in a future issue of the journal, builds upon years of existing studies in the area of emotional intelligence, which is a measure of someone’s ability to understand the emotions of themselves and others. The resulting analysis indicates that high emotional intelligence does have a relationship to strong job performance — in short, emotionally intelligent people make better workers.”

3. Neuroscience Meets Magic

“Falling in love affects intellectual areas of the brain and triggers the same sensation of euphoria experienced by people when they take cocaine, researchers from Syracuse University reveal in an article in Journal of Sexual Medicine. The study, called ‘The Neuroimaging of Love’ found that several euphoria-inducing chemicals, such as vasopression, adrenaline, oxytocin and dopamine are released in 12 areas of the brain that work simultaneously.”

5. High Level of Practical Intelligence a Factor in Entrepreneurial Success

“General intelligence is not enough. Practical intelligence can mean the difference between entrepreneurial success or failure. Psychologists have identified multiple kinds of intelligence, but a University of Maryland researcher’s study has found one–practical intelligence–to be an indicator of likely entrepreneurial success.

J. Robert Baum, Director of Entrepreneurship Research at the University of Maryland, defines practical intelligence as ‘an experience based accumulation of skills and explicit knowledge as well as the ability to apply that knowledge to solve every day problems,’ he said. In other words, practical intelligence can be referred to as ‘know-how’ or common sense.

Learning orientation has an impact on entrepreneurship success. Some people learn little from their experiences and therefore don’t acquire the practical intelligence necessary to begin a successful business venture, said Baum. Practical intelligence is the result of an experimental hands-on operating style that leads to specific learning. ‘Those with high practical intelligence tend to develop useful knowledge by doing and learning, not by watching or reading,’ he said.”

6. Blind Dog Uses Echoes To Find His Way Around

“A dog born without eyes is finding his way in life after teaching himself to ‘see’ like a bat – using echolocation. Rowan, a German Spitz, barks and then listens to the echoes to help him tell where he is in relation to his surroundings.”

Editor’s Note: I was surprised when I first heard about humans using echolocation, but now dogs?

7. Top 50 Psychiatrists Paid by Pharmaceutical Companies

“Who were the top 50 psychiatrists in the U.S. paid by the top seven pharmaceutical companies?

This past week, ProPublica, an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest, recently decided to answer that question by compiling a list of 384 physicians and health care providers who earned more than $100,000 total from one or more of the seven companies that have disclosed payments in 2009 and early 2010.

We combed that list and found the top 50 psychiatry earners for the past two years (2009-2010). You can click on any name below to learn more about the physician.”

8. Is Autism Really A Form of Synesthesia

“Synesthesia is one of the more highly publicized conditions where neural cross-talk results in ‘cross-sensory percepts;’ an involuntary association of, say, colors to letters, or smells to sounds…

Now for autism. A new report details observations that high functioning autistic spectrum folks who have savant-like talents may be hyper-perceptive — they may have superhuman powers to sense things. But, not all things — just certain things. Perhaps this hyper-perception is really a hyper-wiring connection: like synesthetes.”

The study (PDF download) was done by several researchers at the Emotion, Health, And Psychophysiology Laboratory at Harvard University. It is further evidence on the power of positive appraisal on physiology and performance. One of the researchers, Wendy Berry Mendes, says this effect may even be stronger for athletes, “because physical exertion drives up adrenaline levels, they’ve got even more nervous energy to channel.” (PT, p. 14)

I one time read that the adrenaline rush we feel from something like a roller-coaster or an exciting movie is very biochemically similar to the stress response we experience before something like a job interview or a hard day at work.

The raw energy in itself is never necessarily a bad thing; it all depends on where we direct it. If we are wasting it all on concerns, worries, and negative thoughts, then we have less energy to concentrate on doing a good job. The same is true no matter what environment you are in, whether it is in the office, at home, or on a football field.

But when students in the experiment were told that their nervousness was positive, they were probably no longer thinking, “Oh no! I am so worried that my mind might go blank!” and instead their inner voice began saying, “Aha, I feel the energy and I am pumped!”

The meaning behind the emotion makes all the difference. It is the arrow telling us where to focus our attention; and where attention goes, energy flows.

With practice I believe we could all do better at transforming our negative energies – like anxiety, frustration and depression – into a more focused and positive form of concentrated energy, like that which I describe in my recent article on flow.

The power of belief and meaning

The only difference between the two groups of students was that one believed their nervousness was good; so when they became more aroused during the exam it meant something positive and beneficial was occurring.

How we interpret the meaning of our internal experiences can have a world of difference in how we behave and act. Two individuals can have very similar pasts and memories, but one may look back at those memories and feel crippled, while another looks back and is inspired by all the things they have learned.

While we may not always choose what we experience, it is always the individual who chooses what to take away from that experience – and that is part of what makes humans so self-empowering (and at the same time so self-defeating).

When something negative is happening to us we often feel helpless, as if it is out of our control; but if we take our experience and put a positive frame around it, then it becomes an ability and not a crutch.

Click here to read a more recent article I wrote about beliefs: Beliefs and Your Map of Reality.

Letting the energy build

The students who were told that nervousness was a good thing also showed greater signs of stress through a saliva test. This may imply that because students found their nervousness to be positive, they were less willing to fight or resist it, and more willing to let it build up. The more, the better – right?

And maybe they are right, because the more energy that builds up, the more focus they can apply towards answering questions correctly. Perhaps it was even this difference that allowed these students to score better on the GRE in the first place – they let the energy flow through them.

Too fanciful or a path towards a better self?

I admit these findings and suggestion can sometimes sound a bit too fanciful or idealistic. At the very least channeling our energy in such a way is “easier said than done.” But certainly this is something worth practicing.

If through the power of our beliefs we can shape our reality in subtle but effective ways, then this is something worth our effort and attention. Hopefully future studies will reveal more about these psychophysiological mechanisms and how we can use them to build both a better self and a better world.