Author: admin
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How the U.S. Is Failing Moms on Maternal Mental Health Care
Melissa Rampelli Ph.D. The journey of motherhood is often romanticized, but beneath the surface lies a complex landscape of challenges that can significantly impact a woman’s mental health. Up to 20 percent of pregnant individuals and new mothers are affected by maternal mental health (MMH) conditions, including anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (1). Approximately 75 percent of MMH conditions…
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How to Tell That Drugs for Depression Are Starting to Work
Samuel L. Pauker, M.D., and Miriam Arond If you have been depressed and finally decide to have your doctor prescribe an antidepressant for you, it’s natural that you want it to take effect quickly. But it can take many psychiatric medications up to three months to become fully effective and, unfortunately, many doctors don’t prepare their patients…
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The Story of Your Life
Phil Stark, AMFT Sometimes clients have to change therapists. They might be receiving free or reduced-price mental health care at a university or training site, and when the student or trainee therapist they work with graduates or moves on to private practice, they are assigned a new therapist. I was in this situation once with…
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The Vicious Cycle of Health Anxiety
Brittney Chesworth Ph.D., LCSW Health anxiety is the excessive worry about becoming seriously ill. Health anxiety is associated with maladaptive thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors. If you have health anxiety, you know the routine. It can go a little something like this: This is an example of the vicious cycle of health anxiety. See the diagram below. You…
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Grounding Techniques for Anxiety
Rubin Khoddam Ph.D. In the hustle and bustle of modern life, anxiety has become an all-too-familiar companion for many individuals. The constant pressures and uncertainties can leave us feeling overwhelmed, disconnected, and lost in a whirlwind of worries. Fortunately, there’s a lifeline that can help us regain control and find calm amidst the storm: grounding techniques. Understanding…
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How to Balance Self-Care and Productivity
Alice Boyes Ph.D. You might’ve heard of the TikTok trend “bed rotting,” meaning to stay in bed all day relaxing. The trend promotes spending the whole day in bed for self-care, and to resist pressures to be productive. To avoid the downsides of bed rotting—like it potentially disrupting your sleep rhythms—consider these alternative ways to…
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The Psychology of Happiness
Lawrence R. Samuel Ph.D. It is safe to say that the pursuit of happiness—a phrase penned by the Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence—has served as a primary ambition for many Americans throughout the nation’s history. It was soon after World War I when—as I posit in Happiness in America: A Cultural History—the modern concept of happiness…
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What We Know About Youth Mental Health Visits to the ER
The Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research It’s well-established that youth mental health has suffered in recent years—with wide-ranging factors contributing to the problem including the proliferation of social media among young people and the isolation created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, the U.S. Surgeon General reported that 44 percent of U.S. high-school students feel persistently sad…
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Recent Drug Addiction Statistics for Boston and Massachusetts
Baystate Recovery Services Massachusetts is ranked #8 in the rate of drug-related deaths that occurred in 2019, reports the CDC. That year, the state had 32.1 drug-related deaths for every 100,000 residents. Heroin is the top illicit drug of use in Boston and the entire state. Plus, it has contributed to thousands of overdose deaths in…