Unraveling Anxiety’s Tangled Knot
By Robert Gerzon, LMHC
Anxiety disorders are the number one mental health problem in America, affecting one out of six Americans each year. During the last few years the word anxiety has escaped the bounds of psychology and leaped into the larger social, economic and political arena. Our minds are oversaturated with contradictory worldviews. Anxiety thrives on this uncertainty and confusion.
Building Better Boundaries
By David Sternberg, LICSW
Recently, several women in their 20s have come to see me because of their troubling relationships with their mothers. These young women are smart, ambitious, and otherwise successful in their careers and intimate relationships. But when it comes to their mothers, they haven’t developed the skills necessary to maintain healthy boundaries and enter therapy depressed, anxious, or sometimes both.
Breathing Technique Can Calm Emotion of Fear
By Dr. Bradley Olson
If the emotion of fear becomes intense or overwhelming, it's helpful to breathe deeply, from the lower abdomen as in a yoga exercise, and simply continue to follow one's breath.
Could Anxiety Be Putting You at Risk of Panic Attacks?
Out of the blue, you feel terror. Your heart is pounding. You're dizzy and you can't catch your breath. You begin to sweat profusely and perhaps even feel pain in your chest. You're certain that you're on the brink of a heart attack--or even, as inexplicable as it may seem, fear you're going to die. You may have just had a panic attack.
Anxiety…I Have It and I Don't Want It…Now What?
By Dr. Dorothy McCoy
It’s not uncommon for automatic negative thoughts and feelings of fear to rise up in the face of anxious situations. When this happens, it can seem as if the emotional consequences are unendurable and it’s tempting to go to whatever extreme measures it may take to avoid confronting the situation. But when this course of action (or, more precisely, inaction) is taken, the opportunity to defeat the fear is lost.
Panic Attacks: Surviving the Unexpected
If you’ve ever experienced a panic attack, you’d know it. It is hard to describe the feeling of having one, but it is something similar to the feeling of suffocating or having a heart attack. Panic attacks can happen at any time, even while you are sleeping. The best thing you can do is learn to realize when you are having a panic attack and how to handle it when you are.
Finding Your Way Back From Depression and Anxiety
By Susan Pazak, Ph.D.
Whatever you have been through, whatever symptoms you may be experiencing, can be addressed and modified by first identifying how you view your current circumstance or situation. If you sincerely desire change, seek out the necessary help to assist in the process.
Becoming Fully Alive Through Bioenergetic Analysis
By Nicole Cardoza Dockter, LCSW
Bioenergetics explores the language of the body. In Bioenergetic therapy, one learns to "tune in" to bodily sensations, particularly as they accompany thoughts and emotions. One comes to understand how they relate to important issues and relationships. As bodily awareness grows, one forms a stronger, fuller sense of self.
Navigating the Turbulent Waters of Change
By Jim Weinstein, MFT
Many changes, particularly gradual ones, can be negotiated relatively effortlessly and painlessly. But at dozens, or perhaps even hundreds of times in life, changes occur that are abrupt (perhaps unexpected, perhaps not) and often painful, even if the changes are so-called "positive" ones.
Claustrophobia at the Dentist's
by Selma Holm, R-CSW
A simple, yet excellent, technique to quell your anxiety at the dentist's is to slow down your breath. Do this through the yoga technique of correct breathing from the diaphragm, and focus your slow breathing there.
Why Me?
Scientists aren't quite sure why some people get anxiety disorders. Different people exposed to the same situation can react in very different ways. Part of this difference may be in the genes they have inherited. For example, children of parents with panic disorders have a higher incidence of behavioral disorders very early in life, before you would think major environmental impacts would occur.
When Anxiety Emerges--and Persists
Many of the nearly 20 million Americans who suffer from an anxiety disorder don't reach out for help--perhaps because they're unaware they have a treatable condition, or because they fear what others will think. But the sooner a person gets help, the quicker he or she can feel good again--often feeling calm and "back to normal" for the first time in many months or even years.
Feeling Anxious?
Anxiety disorders affect nearly 20 million Americans each year. They come in many forms and in varying degrees, sometimes out of the blue, sometimes after painful or traumatic experiences. But however anxiety disorders manifest, effective research-based treatments--which include certain types of psychotherapy, medication or a combination of both--can reduce many symptoms in a matter of weeks.
Anxiety in Developmentally Disabled Adults, Adolescents and Children
By Grant Kono, LCSW
While I have an extensive background in understanding and treating anxiety in developmentally disabled adults, adolescents and children, the following information is meant to be anecdotal in nature. The ideas I present can generally be found in mainstream research, however, they are not necessarily completely supported by theories and literature that are considered to be mainstream.
Prosperous Meditation: No Time Like the Present
By Frank Nichols, LCSW
While many think of procrastination as laziness which certainly is a bad habit, for the most part procrastination is really about fear of change. The ideas that “there is no time like the present” or “strike while the iron is hot,” or the pleasure one can get by making a list and crossing items off that list certainly promotes self in the face of procrastination and helps one move along in their life.
Finding Strength to Help Us Through Hard Times
By Dominique Marguerite, Ph.D.
When we are physically or psychologically threatened or injured in some way, we often become angry. This form of excitation is instinctive and healthy, but it sometimes turns into destructive action and violence.
Don’t Panic!
By Stanley E. Hibbs, Ph.D.
Does this ever happen to you? Out of nowhere, you experience a number of troubling physical symptoms. You heart begins to pound or you have difficulty breathing. You might experience chest pains or stomach upset. Perhaps you fear that you are dying or about to go crazy.
Why Women Have Trouble With Self-Confidence...
By Colette Dowling, LMSW
Women actually learn low self-confidence; they're trained for it. Studies show that girls--especially smarter ones--have severe problems with self-confidence. They consistently underestimate their own ability.
Overcoming Performance Anxieties
By Mitchell Milch, CSW
Performance anxieties are like fire alarms that signal danger. They appear to exist outside of us but, in truth, are projections of fear inspired recollections and/or apprehensions of what could’ve, should’ve or would’ve happened to us during childhood.
The Myth of the Tormented Artist: Destiny or Decision?
By Jennifer A. Neely, CSW
This article explores the myth of the artist who suffers to invoke the creative process. It cites the lives of several successful people from various disciplines who have overcome their inner demons and continue to flourish creatively.
Meditation
By James Fuller, Ph.D.
Meditation is potentially a very effective way to discipline the mind. Essentially, it is a focusing technique which provides a neutral, grounded point where the mind can learn to go and let go. The effects of meditation are subtle, and accumulate gradually over time.
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