Anxiety

As much as we may not always want to believe it, sleep is critically and crucially important for not only our mental health, but our physical health as well. We need sleep. Ideally 8+ hours every day. It doesn’t matter how much or how little we enjoy sleep, it doesn’t matter if we have things we have to do – we need to prioritize sleep in order to better care for our mental health. But…

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety and stress related condition where a person has a recurring, intrusive thought that triggers distress, and responds to that thought with some type of behavior to relieve that stress. For example, they may have a recurring fear that they are going to catch an illness (obsession) they respond by washing their hands (compulsion). Obsessions, as recurring thoughts, all occur behind the scenes in a person’s mind as these…

Most of us know, instinctually, how difficult it can be to live with a mental health disorder like anxiety. It is a frequent, difficult challenge that impacts your work, relationships, sleep, and so much more. But sometimes, we take some types of anxiety more seriously than others. For example, while we may seek a therapist for issues like panic attacks, we often do not seek therapy for other forms of anxiety – especially phobias. Phobias…

Most of us are spending too much time on our phones. It’s an issue that seems so minor, but it’s causing us to neglect our kids/relationships, avoid responsibilities, and more. It also affects our mental health. Scrolling and phone time are known to increase anxiety and stress, prevent sleep, and increase the risks of burnout. If phone time causes so many issues, then why do we do it? And, relatedly, why don’t we notice that…

Anxiety is a mental health condition. One of the symptoms of anxiety for many people, however, is fear over the person’s health. Anxiety causes such a wide variety of physical symptoms related to the heart – such as a rapid heartrate, trouble breathing, and lightheadedness – that it’s easy to understand why so many people have heart-related anxieties develop. Rest assured, your heart is designed to handle this. While everyone’s individual heart health may vary,…

The last post we made spoke about how and why addressing our phobias is important, even if it’s a phobia of something we do not often encounter. Today, let’s expand on the ways that phobias can affect our long and short term mental health. Let’s talk for a moment about social anxiety. Social anxiety is, itself, often considered a phobia. It is often referred to as “social phobia,” though it is sometimes treated differently than…

Phobias are a form of anxiety where a specific “thing,” called a stimuli, results in significant and extreme anxiety. For example, a person could have “Acrophobia,” which is a fear of heights. Or they could have “arachnophobia,” which is a fear of spiders. A person experiences a phobia when there is a specific living thing, item, event, or situation that causes them this fear. These anxiety responses can be intense – so much so that…

Panic disorder can be overwhelming, leaving those who experience it feeling frightened and confused by the sudden and intense physical and emotional symptoms. Panic attacks are also unique in that they are very physical and difficult to understand. While panic attacks can be brought on by extreme stress during major life events, many times they appear to be first triggered by almost nothing at all. While environmental factors and personal experiences often contribute to the…

We’re entering holiday season, and that means that many of us are going to see family that we either haven’t seen all year, or have not seen in such a group setting. In some cases, these may be individuals we haven’t seen in *years* and in other cases it may be the only time that an entire family is located in the same place at the same time with nowhere else to go. We were…

Work stress is a pervasive issue that affects professionals across industries. From high-pressure deadlines to interpersonal conflicts, work-related stressors can lead to significant physical and mental health concerns if left untreated. While many individuals may believe that stress is simply a part of professional life, prolonged and unaddressed work stress can negatively impact job performance, personal relationships, and overall well-being. Working with a psychotherapist can provide effective tools and strategies to manage and alleviate work-related…