The Artsy Cure

Ever wondered if transporting yourself in a fictional world can make you a better person in real life? Well, the good news is that it kind of does, not in a moral sense, but it might help you increase your empathy! Many research studies have suggested that both the experience of reading fiction and the extent to which a reader feels ‘transported’ by the narrative are linked with empathy. And not only through reading, few studies even show that empathizing to characters in movies might help in increasing your emotional intelligence and empathy. Narrative empathy means the sharing of feelings and perspective-taking which is induced by hearing, viewing, reading or imagining narratives of another’s situation.  Empathy is one’s ability to understand and experience another person’s psychological or affective state (i.e., imagine the self in someone else’s shoes; Borke 1971; Krebs 1970; Zahn-Waxler and Radke-Yarrow 1990). Two components of empathy are Cognitive and Affective. Cognitive em...

Now that the meaning and implications of Helicopter parenting are established, it is important to get straight to business with regards to preventing it, for it is a silent killer of a child’s individual spirit. You might have come across a couple of parents or a single parent from a couple who may have exhibited this sort of a behaviour; but as observers there is not much that we can do about it (for obvious reasons). It is thus important to attempt psycho-educating helicopter parents and other parents for the good, because hovering around their child is not a mandatory condition for his/her growth and safety, and helicopter parents need to know that; after all, they are humans and they too have a life and they too will someday get exhausted. Here are some tips for transforming from helicopter parenting to healthy parenting: Your child is not a project - Many parents unknowingly objectify their children by thinking of them as “projects”. It doesn’t stop there; parents start to ov...

Parents have been bestowed with the responsibility of looking after their off-spring’s welfare, by the law of nature. This law also indicates letting go of those responsibilities after some point in time during the course of one’s life. Without any disregard to the natural law, a concept has been studied in the field of Psychology and Research about parents’ tendency to overly indulge themselves in their child’s life ; t he term coined for this is Helicopter P arenting . This concept can be better understood as an unwanted and unnecessary intervention probed by parents just to make their child’s life 'simple' , or in some cases to enhance the chances of success for their child. Helicopter parents, also known as cosseting parents , have more than required concerns and interest in their child’s life; be it academics or their child’s love life, helicopter parents want to know it all and need to have a say in it. The term was officially coined by Foster Cline and Jim Fay (1990)....

Humans have an inherent tendency to engage in self-defeating thought processes. We muddle our coherent stream of consciousness with such unnatural thoughts that they leech away all the beauty from the world. To be tethered to reality, we must be aware of certain lies that we automatically tell ourselves on the daily basis, or in face of any event. There’s a common adage that the way you think has a bearing upon your behavior. This can be understood easily by calling into mind the image of a priest: as their thoughts are centered upon understanding the mysteries of the universe, their demeanor and actions are nothing but serene, and at ease. But not all of us have the privilege of such nirvana dwelling in our minds. We, instead, are rather chaotic, and it distinctly reflects upon our daily lives: our thoughts are cluttered, we trip and stumble upon them, and we always find ourselves close to a meltdown. While it is easy to blame the world for inducing perpetual distress, it is in fact t...

Ever been in a situation where  a friend or a close family member of yours opened up to you about how they have been feeling low for the past couple of months or something related to mental distress and you didn’t know the right words to say or make them feel better?   People usually in such situations make statements like “Don’t worry, it gets better with time” or “It’s nothing, it’s just in your mind.” While one might assume there is no harm in saying these statements, they don’t understand how difficult it must have been for their friend to open up about the issues they have been dealing with.  The recent advancements in the field of mental health have shed light on the importance of a concept known as ‘Psychological First-Aid’ (PFA). Although it's gaining more popularity in the modern days, it was first coined in the 1940s. P FA may be defined as a compassionate and supportive presence designed to mitigate acute distress and assess the need for continued mental health...