ProfNet Experts Available on Depression, Bob Dylan, More

NEW YORK, March 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Below are experts from the ProfNet network who are available to discuss timely issues in your coverage area.

You can also submit a query to the hundreds of thousands of experts in our network – it's easy and free! Just fill out the query form to get started: http://prn.to/queryform

EXPERT ALERTS

• New Study Reveals Playing Video Games Might Help People With Depression
• Helping Mental Health Patients Feel Safe
• Bob Dylan's Nobel Prize and Newest Album, 'Triplicate'

MEDIA JOBS

• Markets Editor – OPIS
• Reporter – FundFire
• Senior Communications Strategist – Southern Poverty Law Center

OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES

• Why People Are Jerks on Social Media – and What Brands Can Do About It
• Cracking the Facebook Code: How LittleThings Conquered the Social Network
• Blog Profiles: Science Blogs

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EXPERT ALERTS:

New Study Reveals Playing Video Games Might Help People With Depression
Dr. Frieda Birnbaum
Research Psychologist, Psychoanalyst
Dr. Birnbaum is available to discuss a study by the University of California, Davis on whether gaming allows sufferers to feel more in control of their mental health issues. Scientists assessed 160 student volunteers who said that they suffered from mild depression. Using six, three-minute games, the study found that in the majority of cases, playing the specifically designed game helped people feel they had some control over their depression, and that portraying depression as a condition caused by external factors led gamers to play for longer periods of time. Researchers concluded that might mean that they felt like they had more control over their situation. Says Dr. Birnbaum: "Video games can be an effective means of helping an individual to improve their mental health. In video games, when certain boards are completed, the player is rewarded with advancement and more stimulation. At a basic level, video games can teach a person that good things can be attained with concentrated effort. Understanding and putting this concept to use can have a positive impact on a depressed individual. Video games can also challenge a person's reflexes, intellect, and critical-thinking skills. Some individuals who are depressed have a limited perspective both on themselves and the world around them. Video games that push players to expand their thought process could actually help these players if they apply this type of thinking in their lives. While there are many benefits of video games, there are also negatives. Some of these include playing too often and having limited connection with the outside world. Balance is the key."
Based in the New York metro area, Dr. Birnbaum is author of "Life Begins at 60: A New View on Motherhood, Marriage, and Reinventing Ourselves." She's an expert on depression, women's issues, and attaining happiness.
Contact: Ryan McCormick, [email protected]

Helping Mental Health Patients Feel Safe
Wendi L. Dumbroff, MA, LPC
"Mental health practitioners must strive to provide a confidential, safe, and non-judgmental environment where their clients feel heard and understood. Therapy is a journey the patient and therapist take together to help create positive change in their lives."
Dumbroff, a Licensed Professional Counselor in private practice, has extensive experience counseling individuals, families, and couples around many different matters, including all aspects of sexual issues, which she can speak in-depth on. She provides a safe, non-judgmental, sex-positive environment and is a huge proponent of the positive outcome from couple and sex therapy. She is very much the "Dr. Ruth" for the 21st century. She is based in New Jersey.
ProfNet Profile: http://www.profnetconnect.com/wendidumbroff
Contact: Amy Delman, [email protected]

Bob Dylan's Nobel Prize and Newest Album, 'Triplicate'
Sal Fallica, Ph.D.
Adjunct Faculty, Communications Department
Adelphi University, Garden City, N.Y.
"Bob Dylan will receive his Nobel Prize in a small and private ceremony, with just him and the Nobel Prize committee; no media will be present. Awarding Dylan this literary honor is thrilling to his many musical fans and champions in the literary and academic worlds, while at the same time creating a kind of awkwardness for those whose work is more obviously literary. What is the significance of awarding the Nobel Prize to Dylan? In a sense, this award highlights the hybridization of the various art forms – music, words and voice. The Nobel Prize committee is making a statement as to the realities and ascendancy of the written and spoken and sung word in a global electronic culture. Of course, this award given at this point in our cultural history is also testimony to Dylan's fans, especially his many fans in the literary arts, and so the award is actually a referendum on them. At the same time, giving Dylan this award does make the Noble Prize committee suddenly relevant and important. So, awarding the prize to Dylan actually helps them stay relevant in a world which has seen the general decline in prestige of the written word."
Dr. Fallica is an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Communications at Adelphi University in Garden City, NY. His article, "Bob Dylan and Spectacle Culture," appeared in the book "Boomers and Popular Culture." He is teaching a course entitled "Bob Dylan and American Culture" in the Adelphi University's Honors College next year.
Website: http://www.adelphi.edu
Contact: Kali Chan, [email protected]

MEDIA JOBS:

Following are links to job listings for staff and freelance writers, editors and producers. You can view these and more job listings on our Job Board: https://prnmedia.prnewswire.com/community/jobs/

• Markets Editor – OPIS
• Reporter – FundFire
• Senior Communications Strategist – Southern Poverty Law Center

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OTHER NEWS & RESOURCES:

Following are links to other news and resources we think you might find useful. If you have an item you think other reporters would be interested in and would like us to include in a future alert, please drop us a line.

• WHY PEOPLE ARE JERKS ON SOCIAL MEDIA – AND WHAT BRANDS CAN DO ABOUT IT. It's almost impossible to interact on social media without seeing nasty arguments or scathing comments between people who, in real life, are probably nice. So why do social networks often breed negativity? At a recent Social Media Week panel, Len Kendall and Nicole Rehling of Carrot – The VICE Digital Agency, explored the psychological causes of negative conversations on social media: http://prn.to/2o3cT0c
• CRACKING THE FACEBOOK CODE: HOW LITTLETHINGS CONQUERED THE WORLD'S BIGGEST SOCIAL NETWORK. In today's digital culture, Facebook success is something all publishers dream of. In a little more than two years, LittleThings has found what works. The brand has 10 million social followers and garners more than 280 million video views per month. And with 52.9 million uniques a month, it's also a top 100 comScore site, beating out the likes of Mashable, Mic, Upworthy and Refinery29. Here's how they do it: http://prn.to/2nkpsTL
• BLOG PROFILES: SCIENCE BLOGS. Each week, PR Newswire's Audience Relations team selects an industry/subject and looks at a handful of sites that do a good job with promoting and contributing to the topic. This week, the team looks at science blogs: http://prn.to/2opUAPy

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