Posted in anxiety, blogging, diagnosis, psychology in the media on May 22, 2008 | No Comments »
An automatically generated link led me to a very nice old post at We Worry: A Blog for the Anxious about discriminating between anxiety disorders. Apparently weworry.com received some accolades last year (see the website), so you might want to check it out, particularly if you have questions about anxiety. For instance, If you click [...]
Posted in FAQ about psychology, anxiety, blogging, panic attacks on May 22, 2008 | No Comments »
Well, at PANIC!, there’s an excellent first-person account titled: “My first panic attack”. The piece does a nice job of describing how a mundane moment is exploded by total panic. In fact, if you’re interested in the subjective experience of panic disorder, you’ll find post after post of well written descriptions of and musings on [...]
Posted in anxiety, brain and behavior, consumer interest, depression, diagnosis, psychology in the media, psychotropic drugs on March 4, 2008 | No Comments »
Yet more on the SSRI theory of depression. Here’s the full headline of a thought provoking press release from Florida State University: Media Perpetuates Unsubstantiated Chemical Imbalance Theory of Depression. The piece focuses on a few often overlooked facts: (1) That depression is caused by a “chemical imbalance” remains unproven and (2) That SSRIs [...]
Posted in anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive, perfectionism, psychology in the media on December 4, 2007 | No Comments »
The scourge of perfectionism.
We call it perfectionism. Nice article in the New York Times today about the way the culture encourages both obsessive attention to detail and compulsive behavior. Much of what therapists do is dealing with the damaging results of people stuck in the mindset of “black-and-white thinking”, a sad by-product of perfectionism (either [...]
Posted in FAQ about psychology, anxiety, diagnosis, panic attacks on November 29, 2007 | No Comments »
Like a heart attack.
When someone comes into an emergency room complaining of a heart attack, they are treated as though they are having one. But they may be having a panic attack. The symptoms — difficulty breathing, cold sweat, chest pain, rapid heart beat — are identical. Panic attacks occur unpredictably, and are not associated [...]
Posted in FAQ about psychology, anxiety, parenting on July 6, 2007 | 2 Comments »
How much praise is too much?
Recently there have been some articles on the negative effects of praising children. One trend in these articles is to confuse self-esteem with narcissism. It is a healthy, realistic view of one’s self and abilities. But self-esteem is a phrase with a lot of baggage. The rampant lack of [...]
Posted in FAQ about psychology, anxiety, depression on June 19, 2007 | No Comments »
Making that first call is tough. There are so many reasons we are told not to: “I should stand on my own two feet.” Or “Therapy is for crazy people.” Here are a handful of reasons you might want to consider seeking help:
You are depressed but are not sure why.
You are anxious but are [...]
Posted in FAQ about psychology, anxiety, depression on June 6, 2007 | No Comments »
Here are some common reasons people come in for therapy:
Trouble in relationships. marriage, friendships, coworkers.
Life transitions. Adolescence, marriage, change of career, divorce, empty nest, retirement — each of these phases poses unique challenges.
Anxiety. Many life transitions are tough on the nerves.
Depression. Sometimes we don’t even realize we are depressed. If you are suffering from apathy, [...]
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