Tag: empowerment
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Supporting Mental Health Through Disaster Prevention
Ilan Kelman Ph.D. The phrase “natural disasters” is a misnomer, because we can choose to avoid harm from the environment’s perils. Gaming can change our psychology by instilling cooperative strategies necessary for preventing disasters. Producing confidence in avoiding disasters can help our mental health. Imagining a disaster is scary. Contemplating death, disruption, and devastation can…
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Focus on Children’s Wellness: Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week
Weil Cornell Medicine It’s normal for children to experience sadness, irritability and anxiety every now and then. Sometimes it can be hard to tell whether your child is dealing with standard day-to-day stressors, such as juggling homework, sports, and social activities, or if it’s something more serious. In observance of Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week, Weill…
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You Can’t Control Your Teen, But You Can Influence Them
Emily R. Kline Ph.D. Teens of overly-controlling parents are likely to circumvent the rules or withdraw emotionally, damaging the parent-child relationship. The less parents engage in a power struggle, the more likely teens are to relate from a place of maturity. Parents who are able to position themselves as trusted, credible advisors are more likely…
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Depression, Serotonin, and the Gut
Team Biotic – Nicole Cain, ND, MA New findings explore SSRI efficacy and dysbiosis in major depressive disorder. A new report indicates a direct correlation between gut dysbiosis, major depressive disorder, and SSRI efficacy. Although the gut makes more than 90% of the body’s serotonin, gut-derived serotonin does not cross the blood-brain barrier. Instead, a…
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How to Deal With Morning Anxiety
Andrea Wachter LMFT If you commonly wake up in the morning filled with anxiety, you are not alone. Many people wake up with fight-or-flight sensations and feel baffled as to how they can already feel anxious when their feet haven’t even touched the floor yet. A variety of factors can play a part in morning anxiety: excess stress,…
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Understanding the Limits of Psychiatric Diagnoses
Daniel Marston Ph.D. Psychiatric diagnoses often do not say much about what is happening with a person. Psychiatric terms do not carry much meaning if all they focus on is symptoms and not how conditions impact a person’s functioning. There are alternatives to the widely-used DSM-5 for better understanding the causes and impacts of psychiatric…
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Why Are Old Habits So Hard to Break?
Jessica Koehler Ph.D. Behavior change is a challenging endeavor, requiring intentional and consistent effort to modify actions and habits to attain desired objectives. The field of psychology offers valuable insights into the factors that make behavior change a challenging endeavor. By understanding these underlying concepts, we can better comprehend why altering our habits can be…
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The Urgency for Love as a Healing Force
Jan Bonhoeffer M.D. Love. We all talk about it, but how much do we really understand this mysterious force field? We refer to love frequently in poetry, religion, and mysticism. “The universe would disappear without the existence of the force [of love],” said Gandhi. When the Beatles released “All You Need Is Love,” more than…
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Teaching Vulnerability in Clinical Supervision
Amir Levine Ph.D. A newer clinician I supervise recently asked me, “What do you believe is the most important quality a therapist should have?” Reflexively, I answered, “Access to our vulnerability.” Source: wowowG/Shutterstock In all my years of supervising clinicians and observing my own process, I have found that our ability to tap into and…
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What We Can Do About the Teenage Mental Health Crisis
Douglas Newton M.D., M.P.H. Turning concerning headlines into positive action. If you are concerned after seeing repeated headlines sounding the alarm about a nationwide teenage mental health crisis, you are not alone, and there are things you can do to help the teenagers in your life. Reading the news, you cannot escape the fact that American teenagers…