Is My Teenager Depressed or Just Moody? 8 Questions to Consider Before Getting Help
Teenagers are supposed to be moody, right? One moment they are happy and laughing about a silly Youtube video and the next they are slamming their door to their room and crying into their pillow. You tell yourself “Its just hormones,” and try to brush it off. Chances are you are right. Most teenagers do fluctuate in mood to some extent and that is normal. I have a friend who even nicknamed her teen the “Threen-ager” because her daughter resorted to teen meltdowns when she didn’t get her way.
But how do you know if your teen is just moody or if he or she is depressed or even anxious? Knowing the difference coul...
Source: Psych Central - October 5, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Amy Topelson, MA, MA, LPC, NCC Tags: Children and Teens Depression Parenting School Issues Students Suicide Source Type: news
Why Accepting a Diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder Is So Difficult —and What Actually Helps
One of the biggest challenges in treating bipolar disorder is actually accepting the diagnosis. Because, of course, if you don’t believe you have an illness, you won’t focus on managing it.
Psychotherapist Sheri Van Dijk, MSW, RSW, has run a group for individuals with bipolar disorder for over a decade. When she starts teaching the skill of Radical Acceptance, about 95 percent of her clients say they’re currently struggling or have struggled with accepting their diagnosis.
Because acceptance is hard. And it’s hard for various reasons.
It’s hard because acceptance entails grief and loss. “[T]here is a loss of wh...
Source: Psych Central - October 4, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S. Tags: Bipolar Disorders Family General Psychotherapy Self-Help Stigma Treatment accepting bipolar disorder accepting diagnosis bipolar disorder self-help bipolar disorder tips bipolar disorder treatment family support Source Type: news
10 Simple Ways to Relieve Depersonalization
Depersonalization Disorder is a persistent feeling of being disconnected from your body and thoughts. It can feel like you’re living in a dream, or looking at yourself from outside your body. The world may feel like it’s flat and unreal, as if it’s in 2D or behind a pane of glass.
Depersonalization Disorder can be an intensely frightening experience. It’s generally brought on by trauma (from violence, abuse, panic attacks) or, as is becoming more common, a bad drug experience. It’s also a surprisingly common condition: It’s estimated that 50% of all people will experience feelings of depersonalization a...
Source: Psych Central - October 3, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Shaun O' Connor Tags: Anxiety Dissociation Dissociative Personal Stories Psychology Self-Help Trauma Depersonalization Source Type: news
Complex PTSD: Trauma, Learning, and Behavior in the Classroom
Complex post traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) occurs with repeated ongoing exposure to traumatic events. Often CPTSD is a result of early traumatic relationships with caregivers. In this article we consider the effects of early traumatic relationships on learning.
Many children with a history of trauma have trouble with learning in the classroom and do not perform as well as their peers. The connection between early interpersonal trauma and learning is particularly relevant when considering the ability to maintain attention and concentration. Often, early traumatic relationships impair more than emotion regulation abiliti...
Source: Psych Central - October 2, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Fabiana Franco, Ph.D. Tags: Abuse Attention Deficit Disorder Bullying Children and Teens PTSD School Issues Students Trauma C-PTSD Childhood Trauma Classroom Behavior complex post-traumatic stress disorder Source Type: news
Sexual Assault: What Is It? How to Empower Recovery for Survivors
Despite growing awareness, sexual assault is not going away. In fact, every 98 seconds, someone in America is sexually assaulted, reports RAINN, a leading support provider for sexual assault survivors.
Most incidents of rape or sexual assault — 69% — happen to people between ages 12 and 35. Each of us can learn something and do something safely to make a huge difference to reduce risk, prevent trauma, and help more people heal.
Victims include men, women and children. Assaults are most often carried out by someone they know. Sexual assault is most prevalent among younger women:
9 in 10 victims of rape are f...
Source: Psych Central - September 29, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Robyn Brickel, MA, LMFT Tags: Abuse Domestic Violence PTSD Stigma Students Trauma Violence & Aggression Women's Issues Source Type: news
Book Review: What Your ADHD Child Wishes You Knew
While ADHD can rob children of the executive functioning skills that are pivotal in life, it can also rob both them and their parents of the very relationship that can help improve those skills.
More often than not as ADHD children struggle to complete tasks, remember important items, and focus attention long enough to hold a conversation, their parents find themselves equally frustrated, and most likely, not in the best place to parent them.
What is missing is understanding. In her new book, What Your ADHD Child Wishes You Knew: Working Together to Empower Kids for Success in School and Life, Sharon Saline, Psy.D., offers...
Source: Psych Central - September 27, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Claire Nana Tags: Attention Deficit Disorder Book Reviews Children and Teens Disorders Family General Parenting Psychology Students Treatment books on adhd childhood adhd book what your ADHD child wishes you knew Source Type: news
Deprogramming Codependent Brainwashing
Codependency is learned. It’s based on false, dysfunctional beliefs we adopt from our parents and environment. The most damaging belief codependents learn is that we’re not worthy of love and respect — that we’re somehow inadequate, inferior, or just not enough. This is internalized shame. Last year, I published a blog, “Codependency is based on Fake Facts,” explaining the effects of this programming, which squelches our true self. Romantic love that’s mutual can for a brief time liberate our natural, true self. We get a glimpse of what it would be like to live unshackled by shame and fear — why lov...
Source: Psych Central - September 27, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Darlene Lancer, JD, MFT Tags: Abuse Borderline Personality Codependence Narcissism PTSD Relationships & Love Brainwashing Emotional Abuse Source Type: news
Book Review: Ethics Challenges in Forensic Psychiatry & Psychology
I used to work at a community mental health center. A client could be there totally on his or her own (which was the exception) or could have been referred by any of the following, and sometimes by more than one: state probation and parole (which sometimes included out-of-state referrals), community corrections local probation, federal probation and parole, DUI and drug possession probation, child protective services, adult protective services, juvenile probation, direct referral from various court systems, special justice ordered outpatient care in lieu of inpatient hospitalization, etc.
The referral could include an eva...
Source: Psych Central - September 25, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Stan Rockwell, PsyD Tags: Book Reviews Caregivers Children and Teens Disorders Dual Diagnosis Education Ethics & Morality Family General Medications Policy and Advocacy Professional Psychiatry Psychological Assessment Psychology Psychotherapy Treatm Source Type: news
Book Review: Understanding Antidepressants
One in five Americans will have a major depressive episode in their lives and many will seek help from a mental health provider, which may include treatment with medication. As with all medication, there is no one-size-fits-all treatment plan when it comes to antidepressants. The terminology alone is confusing. There are SSRIs, tricyclics, and other drugs that have off-label uses.
For those who take antidepressants, it is a challenge to find the right one. Some work better than others for individuals, and family members may not understand why it is difficult to find something that “works.” In Understanding Antidepressa...
Source: Psych Central - September 23, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Tina Arnoldi Tags: Antidepressants Book Reviews Depression Disorders General Medications Psychology Treatment book on antidepressants understanding antidepressants Source Type: news
Book Review: Social Courage: Coping & Thriving With the Reality of Social Anxiety
“Most people who feel trapped by shyness or social anxiety will settle with the status quo and never seek help, be it from a knowledgeable therapist or from finding a scientifically based self-guided program and tackling it on their own,” writes Dr. Eric Goodman.
Instead, social anxiety becomes a sort of silent suffering that is endured for years, coloring the way we think, interact, and feel when around other people.
Yet, the idea that social anxiety is a disease that needs to be cured is just one of the many myths that often keeps us from getting help.
In his new book, Social Courage: Coping and Thriving With the Re...
Source: Psych Central - September 22, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Claire Nana Tags: Anxiety Book Reviews Disorders General Habits Loneliness Memory and Perception Mindfulness Motivation and Inspiration Psychology Self-Esteem Self-Help Social Phobia books on social anxiety social anxiety book social courage Source Type: news
Book Review: DBT Therapeutic Activity Ideas for Working with Teens
Teenagers are the greatest enigma. Maturing, yet still young in so many ways, teenagers are in a unique place in life, and when each young person brings with them not only a diagnosis, but a personality, a temperament, dreams, talents, struggles, and histories, the best therapies are designed that take all of this into account, giving room for each teen to be treated individually.
In her interactive work, DBT Therapeutic Activity Ideas for Working With Teens, Carol Lozier takes all she has learned about working with teenagers with borderline personality disorder, depression, anxiety, and other emotional sensitivities and c...
Source: Psych Central - September 21, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Bethany Duarte Tags: Book Reviews Children and Teens DBT Disorders Family General Parenting Psychology Psychotherapy Self-Help Students Treatment DBT book DBT book for teens DBT therapeutic activity Source Type: news
Book Review: The Anxiety Management Workbook
Although it is a normal human emotion and an adaptive response to threatening situations, anxiety can feel overwhelming, often trapping us in a loop of automatic thoughts that lead to physiological responses that convince us something is wrong.
The result is a host of behaviors that help us avoid anything that triggers our anxiety, but which, over time, only causes it to increase.
Moreover, should we reach for something to help us calm down — such as alcohol, a cigarette, or marijuana — it can make our anxiety even worse.
Overcoming anxiety, says Renee Mill, takes more than a little practice. In her new book, T...
Source: Psych Central - September 19, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Claire Nana Tags: Anxiety Book Reviews Disorders General Healthy Living Mindfulness Motivation and Inspiration Neuroscience Psychology Relaxation and Meditation Self-Help Treatment anxiety management book anxiety management workbook anxiety work Source Type: news
Book Review: The Anxiety Management Manual
Anxiety can feel paralyzing. It can keep us from doing the things we love. It can keep us from pursuing our goals. It can keep us from enjoying our lives. Yet anxiety need not be a roadblock. “Even if you have a genetic tendency for anxiety, or you have been anxious for a long time, it is still possible to make changes,” writes Renee Mill.
In her new book, The Anxiety Management Manual: A Therapist Guide for an Effective 10-Session CBT Treatment Program, Mill harnesses a powerful yet succinct treatment program complete with a 4-step procedure to effectively begin the process of stimulating the brain circuitry that resu...
Source: Psych Central - September 19, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Claire Nana Tags: Anxiety Book Reviews Disorders General Memory and Perception Mindfulness Motivation and Inspiration Neuroscience Psychology Relaxation and Meditation Self-Help Stress anxiety management book anxiety management manual Source Type: news
Couples Therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder
How can couples therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder help to overcome splitting behavior? Can couples therapy help BPD?
Those suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) are usually depicted as having stormy relationships. One moment, the person with BPD can’t wait to leave their relationship, and the next moment, things are all good in their relationship.
The relationship can feel very confusing for their partner, who gets mixed messages when they feel pushed away, and then pulled back into the relationship again. They may feel blamed or accused of not loving their partner, and then expected to for...
Source: Psych Central - September 18, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Nancy Carbone Tags: Borderline Personality Codependence General Relationships & Love black and white thinking splitting borderline personality disorder Source Type: news
Book Review: Trauma & the Struggle to Open Up
Our relationships can be our greatest source of pain, and yet without relationships, we cannot heal from pain. For some people, the pain is too overwhelming and avoidance seems the only option. Others may try to be open about their experiences and find themselves feeling too exposed, too vulnerable, and worse off than before.
In either case, healing from trauma requires that we find and allow ourselves to experience a healing relationship.
In his new book, Trauma and the Struggle to Open Up: From Avoidance to Recovery and Growth, Robert T. Muller, who is also the author of Trauma and the Avoidant Client, takes us inside th...
Source: Psych Central - September 17, 2018 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Claire Nana Tags: Book Reviews Disorders General Memory and Perception Personal Stories Psychology Psychotherapy PTSD Trauma Treatment books on trauma trauma book Source Type: news
