Trauma After Abuse
Codependency robs us of a self and self-love. We’ve learned to conceal who we really are because we grew up pleasing, rebelling against, or withdrawing from dysfunctional parents. That sets us up for trauma. As adults, even if we’re successful in some areas, our emotional life isn’t easy. Looking for security and love, most of us struggle to get into or out of relationships. We may remain in unhappy or abusive relationships or try to make painful ones work. Many of us would be content just to find a reprieve from ongoing anxiety or depression. After the Breakup However, ending a relationship isn’t the end of our pr...
Source: Psych Central - July 10, 2019 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Darlene Lancer, JD, MFT Tags: Abuse Codependence Domestic Violence PTSD Trauma Violence & Aggression Abusive Relationship Estrangement Guilt no contact Traumatic Experience Source Type: news

What to Do If You ’ re Feeling Anxious Right Now
You have a big presentation. You’re taking an important exam for your license. You’re defending your master’s thesis. You need to talk to your best friend about something that’s been bothering you. You need to talk to your boss. Or you’re about to do something else that’s making you nervous. Either way, whatever the activity, task, or situation, the anxiety feels like it’s coursing through your veins. It feels big and overpowering and dramatic. And all you want is for it to go away. Understandably. Because anxiety is very uncomfortable. And who likes to feel uncomfortable? According to...
Source: Psych Central - June 26, 2019 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S. Tags: Anxiety Career Disorders General Self-Help Stress Work Issues Achievement Anticipatory Anxiety anxiety tips Cbt Courage Managing Stress navigating anxiety self-compassion Stress Relief Source Type: news

The Most Effective Therapies for Treating Bipolar Disorder
You’ve been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, or maybe your loved one has. And you’re wondering, what’s the best treatment? What actually works? What the heck do I do? Because bipolar disorder is a chronic, complex condition, managing it can feel overwhelming and downright confusing. But thankfully there are effective, research-based treatments that really work. Medication is the mainstay of treatment. However, the best way to treat bipolar disorder is with a comprehensive approach, which includes “ongoing psychosocial interventions to help maintain health and to respond to breakthrough symptoms when they occur,”...
Source: Psych Central - May 24, 2019 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S. Tags: Bipolar Disorders General Psychotherapy Self-Help Treatment Bipolar Disorder bipolar disorder treatment Cbt IPSRT managing bipolar disorder opposite action Source Type: news

Book Review: Birth of a New Brain: Healing from Postpartum Bipolar Disorder
“I was caught in a whirl of racing, obsessive thoughts, which is how many people describe their bouts of mania. Instead of noticing my baby girl’s sweet scent or feeling her rose-petal soft skin, all I could think was, I must write this idea down, and this, and this…,” writes Dyane Harwood. In her new book, Birth of a New Brain: Healing from Postpartum Bipolar Disorder, Harwood offers an unfiltered, unedited and heart-wrenching journey through postpartum bipolar disorder and reminds us all that, even in the seemingly worst circumstances, hope can remain. Harwood’s story begins in the delivery room, a place where ...
Source: Psych Central - May 20, 2019 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Claire Nana Tags: Bipolar Book Reviews Disorders Family General Medications Memory and Perception Motivation and Inspiration Personal Stories Postpartum Depression Psychological Assessment Psychology Stigma Stress Suicide Treatment Women's I Source Type: news

Book Review: Differently Wired: Raising an Exceptional Child
A trip down a bookstore aisle will reveal that there are as many different approaches to parenting as there are books to choose from. For every approach, there is an expert and a book to go along with it. In this modern age, there is probably a blog, too. The common theme between all these books is a problem to fix, a habit to address, or an issue to figure out. Then there is Differently Wired: Raising an Exceptional Child in a Conventional World, a book as differently wired as the children it refers to. While it will be on the same shelf as a book about dealing with a “problem child,” Differently Wired isn’t a book ...
Source: Psych Central - May 15, 2019 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Bethany Duarte Tags: Autism / Asperger's Book Reviews Caregivers Children and Teens Disabilities Disorders Family General Motivation and Inspiration Parenting Pediatrics for Parents Personal Stories Psychology School Issues Self-Help Stress Stu Source Type: news

Book Review: Healing Relational Trauma  with Attachment-Focused Interventions
For a young child, traumatic experiences can lead to a pattern of mistrust, anticipation of further trauma, avoidance, and difficulty relating to others. Their development can be compromised. Their sense of self can become fractured, and their lives become merely an expression of their trauma. Helping children like this requires a deeply sensitive clinical approach that begins with the children’s relationships. “When children develop patterns of survival that involve them relying on themselves, not others, they do so out of a profound mistrust that others will meet their needs and will do what is best for them,” ...
Source: Psych Central - May 11, 2019 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Claire Nana Tags: Abuse Book Reviews Caregivers Children and Teens Communication Disorders Domestic Violence Family General Memory and Perception Parenting Psychology Psychotherapy Relationships & Love Self-Esteem Trauma Treatment books ab Source Type: news

The Importance of Healthy Living in the Treatment of Complex-PTSD
Treatment for complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) happens on many levels. In order to heal emotionally and mentally, we need to support the physical body as well. Research has found extensive comorbidity for C-PTSD and major depressive disorder (MDD) (95% lifetime, 50% current), as well as anxiety disorders.1 In addition to the higher prevalence of depression and anxiety, depressed patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) tend to experience more severe symptoms.2 Addressing Anxiety and Depression as Part of Treatment for C-PTSD We now know that our physical bodies are interconnected with the function...
Source: Psych Central - May 8, 2019 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Fabiana Franco, Ph.D. Tags: Abuse PTSD Source Type: news

Why Narcissists Act the Way They Do
Narcissists can be charming, charismatic, seductive, exciting, and engaging. They can also act entitled, exploitative, arrogant, aggressive, cold, competitive, selfish, obnoxious, cruel, and vindictive. You can fall in love with their charming side and be destroyed by their dark side. It can be baffling, but it all makes sense when you understand what drives them. That awareness protects you from their games, lies, and manipulation. Narcissists have an impaired or undeveloped self. They think and function differently from other people. They behave as they do because of the way their brain is wired, whether due to nature or...
Source: Psych Central - May 5, 2019 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Darlene Lancer, JD, MFT Tags: Narcissism Personality Narcissistic Personality Disorder Selfishness Source Type: news

Book Review: Healing a Community
When something as devastating as a mass shooting occurs, it is hard to know where to begin the process of healing. With so many people affected on such a mass scale, there is chaos, uncertainty, confusion — even for mental health providers. “Despite their best intentions, most clinicians are not adequately trained to work with people suffering from complicated grief and complex trauma, the psychological phenomena that often result from these tragedies,” writes Melissa Glaser. In her new book, Healing a Community: Lessons for Recovery after a Large-Scale Trauma, Glaser, who coordinated the Newtown Recovery and Res...
Source: Psych Central - April 9, 2019 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Claire Nana Tags: Book Reviews Children and Teens Disorders Family General Grief and Loss Memory and Perception Psychological Assessment Psychology Psychotherapy PTSD Trauma Treatment Violence & Aggression books on mass shootings books on mass Source Type: news

C-PTSD and Relationships
Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD) is a term that researchers developed to explain the pathology that results from ongoing and prolonged exposure to trauma.1 Individuals suffering from complex trauma present different symptomatology in comparison to those with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This is because, in addition to the typical symptoms of PTSD, individuals with C-PTSD may also develop mood and behavioral disorders. They can develop physical health conditions as a result of chronic stress. Substance abuse is also high among survivors of abuse. (Substance abuse may offer a mechanism for controlling...
Source: Psych Central - April 2, 2019 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Fabiana Franco, Ph.D. Tags: Abuse PTSD Relationships & Love Child Abuse Childhood Trauma Emotional Regulation Interpersonal Relationship Neglect Source Type: news

How to Really Support a Loved One Who ’s Struggling with Their Mental Illness
You know your friend is struggling with depression or anxiety or some other mental health issue, but you don’t know what to say. You feel like anything you think about saying just sounds stupid and patronizing. You also aren’t sure what to do. After all, you don’t want to intrude. You don’t want to be pushy, or bulldoze over their privacy. Or you already feel overwhelmed by something difficult in your own life. Still you want to help. You just wonder, How? Psychotherapist Colleen Mullen, Psy.D, LMFT, noted that many of us worry that we’ll just make the other person more upset or uncomfortable by revealing that we...
Source: Psych Central - March 31, 2019 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S. Tags: Caregivers Disabilities Disorders Family General Relationships & Love Self-Help Anxiety Bipolar Disorder Compassion Depression Empathy Friends loved ones Mental Health mental health struggles Mental Illness support Source Type: news

Book Review: The Inflamed Mind: A Radical New Approach to Depression
Through discoveries in immunology, we know that inflammation has an impact on physical illness. What remains unclear is how inflammation influences thoughts and behaviors — a question that intersects the fields of immunology, neuroscience, psychology, and psychiatry. In The Inflamed Mind: A Radical New Approach to Depression, Edward Bullmore explores how inflammatory changes could impact the way the brain works, resulting in symptoms of depression as a result of the inflammation. Bullmore is certainly knowledgeable about this area. A psychiatrist with expertise in neuroscience who is in the development stages of anti...
Source: Psych Central - March 30, 2019 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Tina Arnoldi Tags: Antidepressants Book Reviews Depression Disorders General Medications Neuroscience Psychological Assessment Psychology Self-Help Stigma Treatment books about depression Cognition Depression Treatment Edward Bullmore Inflamm Source Type: news

My Life with Bipolar Affective Disorder
I made a film on the weekend. The idea had come to me as I was walking to work on Friday morning. The others wouldn’t be back until Monday, so it was something to do to pass the time. It was going to be a film about being alone in the empty house, and about myself, about them. It used to be like that every night — where I used to live — in a neighborhood so poor, in an apartment so small with a horrible smell that did not disappear, an apartment without hot water, or heating. There, in that life, there was nothing; there was me at the kitchen table staring blankly at the wall, there was silence, isolation...
Source: Psych Central - March 27, 2019 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Jeannie Tags: Bipolar Personal Stories Source Type: news

How to Leave a Narcissist or Abuser
Once in love with a narcissist, it’s not easy to leave. Despite the abuse and your unhappiness, you may be ambivalent about leaving because you still love your partner, have young children, lack resources, and/or enjoy lifestyle benefits. You may want to leave, but feel stuck, and don’t understand why. Outsiders often question why you stay, or urge you to, “Just leave.” Those words can feel humiliating because you also think you should. Why It’s Hard to Leave When we fall in love, it’s natural to become attached and form a romantic bond. Narcissists, especially, can be exceedingly charming, interesting, and enl...
Source: Psych Central - March 25, 2019 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Darlene Lancer, JD, MFT Tags: Abuse Bullying Codependence Domestic Violence Narcissism Relationships & Love Self-Esteem Self-Help Women's Issues Emotional Abuse Narcissistic Abuse Narcissistic Personality Disorder trauma bonding traumatic relationship Source Type: news

Book Review: Transformation in Troubled Times
“The willingness to bear with our wounds opens our eyes and potentially our hearts to what is going on around us. A wounded planet is also potentially a healing planet,” write Chris Robertson and Sarah Van Gogh. Their new book, Transformation in Troubled Times: Re-Vision’s Soulful Approach to Therapeutic Work is an invitation to reconsider the opportunity that every wounding offers — to once again restore our faith in the process of healing. Much of the work of the therapist is to sense the possibility that exists in the connection between the ego and the soul. The authors explain, “Each therapy session is an...
Source: Psych Central - March 23, 2019 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Claire Nana Tags: Book Reviews Communication Disorders General Grief and Loss Memory and Perception Psychology Psychotherapy Spirituality Trauma Treatment books about the client-therapist relationship books about therapy conscious pain Re-Visi Source Type: news